So I was playing some Skyrim this weekend, and I finally realized some | |
of the reasons why it's just not quite as good as Morrowind. | |
1. The Dragon Battles | |
Battling a dragon should feel epic. You should feel elated and | |
accomplished when the battle is over. Unfortunately, in Skyrim, the | |
dragon battles feel tedious and tend to be either way too easy or way | |
too hard. I've actively started avoiding dragon battles because I just | |
don't enjoy them. However, I'm pretty sure that's going to hurt my | |
main quest progress soon, which brings me to my next point. | |
2. Main Quest Progress | |
I have no idea where I am in the main quest, what the last thing I did | |
for the main quest was, or which of my currently assigned quests have | |
anything to do with the main quest. I do not like this. Normally, in | |
TES games, I start, follow the main story for a while, then go off and | |
do my own thing for 10 or 20 character levels before jumping back into | |
the main quest line. I have now hit that point in Skyrim (for the | |
second or third time), but I have no idea where to go or what to do to | |
progress the main story. The fact that any quest that isn't deemed | |
miscellaneous is considered a "main quest" (according to the quest | |
log) seems wrong, since so many of those I would consider side | |
quests. The names and descriptions do very little to help know if they | |
are part of the main quest line (which according to The Internet, is | |
only about 12 quests). That brings me to my third point, and the first | |
time I'm going to directly reference Morrowind. | |
3. No Journal | |
I want the journal back. It was a part of Morrowind that I absolutely | |
loved. Not sure how I got a quest or who I got it from? Check the | |
journal. Not sure why some merchant is ripping me off? Check the | |
journal. Haven't played for a while and need a refresher? Check the | |
journal. Want to simply relive my adventures? I could sit back, break | |
out the journal, and enjoy the memories. I miss | |
that. Greatly. Speaking of people ripping me off... | |
4. Individual Reputation and Rapport | |
Remember in Morrowind, how if a merchant liked you, they'd give you | |
discounts and be more free with answering your questions? If they | |
didn't like you, they'd rip you off and not tell you a thing? The | |
reason they liked or didn't like you depended upon many things: what | |
race you were, how you treated them, your overall reputation, etc. If | |
someone didn't like you, you could even try to make them like you by | |
being nice or intimidating them into giving you what you wanted. There | |
were social consequences to your actions. There's nothing like that in | |
Skyrim. Of course, talking with people has changed dramatically. | |
5. Conversations with NPCs | |
I loved how, in Morrowind, when you were talking with someone, various | |
keywords would be links. You could click the link to get more | |
information on that subject or if you needed a quick reminder. The | |
more you spoke, the more options you had for subjects to ask about, | |
all individual to every NPC. If really felt more like a conversation, | |
even though you never saw what, exactly, you were asking. Now look at | |
Skyrim. You get a sentence, get a few ways to respond (often, not | |
enough choices for me), and that's about it. It is almost | |
*functionally* equivalent, but there's still something missing. Again, | |
it is just not as fun, and there's not as much consequence or reward | |
in speaking to people in Skyrim as there was in Morrowind. Speaking of | |
consequence... | |
6. Freedom and Consequence | |
When people talk to me about how open games are, how many choices they | |
can make, and how their choices have lasting consequences | |
(*cough*Fable*cough*), I just have to laugh a little to myself before | |
recounting the tail of that time in Morrowind where I got mad at a | |
main character, killed him, and was greeted with a prompt from the | |
game essentially saying "You've just created a meaningless world for | |
yourself. You can continue playing, or reload your game." The game | |
*let* me completely kill the main story line and, better yet, *let* me | |
keep playing! That, my friends, is an open game. That is being able to | |
living with the consequences of your actions. Freedom and | |
choice. That's TES in three words. Speaking of killing off main | |
people... | |
7. Scaling | |
In Morrowind, there was very little NPC scaling. Go somewhere at level | |
5 and get your ass handed to you. Go back at level 15 and put up a | |
good fight. Go at level 30 and wipe the bastards out. Discovering | |
somewhere that was too difficult and know, nay *vowing*, that you | |
would come back one day and utterly destroy them was extremely | |
satisfying. However, in more recent TES games (especially Oblivion, | |
but still in Skyrim) some NPCs scale. I recently went to a hold where | |
I killed every generic bad guy in one hit. The boss of that area wiped | |
the floor with me, no matter what I did. That seems unbalanced. Even | |
still, I'd be ok with that if I knew I could go level up and then come | |
back and crush him. While I might have an easier time, scaling means | |
that he will grow stronger, too (which makes logical sense, sure... if | |
I get stronger over time others would too, but this is where I'm | |
willing to trade real and logical for fun and destruction). It just | |
isn't as satisfying. There's a certain elation one gets from knowing, | |
absolutely *knowing*, that you are about to completely obliterate some | |
NPC you found while wandering around that had previously done the same | |
to you. Speaking of wandering... | |
8. Exploration | |
Exploring and wandering just doesn't feel as satisfying as it did in | |
Morrowind. The addition of quick travel is certainly part of that, but | |
even when I avoid using it, wandering just isn't as fun. Honestly, I | |
can't explain this one too well. I think this might just be a me | |
thing, and I'd be ok with that. I can say, however, that part of it is | |
the land of Skyrim itself. | |
9. Visuals | |
Skyrim just isn't as visually pleasing as Morrowind. I'm not talking | |
game graphics or anything like that. I mean the land itself, the | |
terrain, the scenes presented to the player. I know Skyrim is a | |
snow-covered, barren, desolate place. I still feel like it could have | |
been more visually pleasing and varied. Sure, I'm happy when I find | |
some forest area or a place with lots of color plants (which I | |
immediately harvest, and I must say, the decision to leave some of the | |
color of the plant after harvesting was a good move visually to help | |
offset Skyrim's natural blandness). I just feel like it could still be | |
more visually pleasing. This could be another thing that's just a me | |
thing, just my opinion. | |
10. Medium Armor | |
This is a minor nitpick, but I miss medium armor. For the first 30 or | |
so character levels, I was ok with just light and heavy, but now I've | |
grown to miss having that middle tier as an option. | |
*** | |
These are all the things I can think of and remember at the moment. If | |
I think of more, I might release a part two. I honestly didn't intend | |
for this to be a list of 10, so please don't treat it like a top | |
ten. These are in logical conversational order for the most part, and | |
I have no idea which I'd rank higher than others anyway. | |
*** | |
For disclosure and perspective, I should say that I do like Skyrim. It | |
just bores me faster and for longer periods that Morrowind did. I'll | |
admit I play both on Xbox, so I don't have or use user mods to change | |
anything (though I do have three official expansions for Skyrim). Even | |
if I did, I'm not sure I'd use them. I'm a bit of a purist when it | |
comes to games; I'm not much of a modder (with some | |
exceptions). Admittedly, I feel that Morrowind is the best TES game to | |
date, but I'm not closed minded. I waiting for the day when a better | |
TES game comes along. That day just hasn't come yet. |