Things Skyrim could have done better...

[GregoryMeee]

Skyrim is a great game. That doesn't mean it's flawless. What do you wish Skyrim would have done better? Mine would have to be the character saves, the factions, the lack of unique creature( Draugr, Draugr Wight, Draugr Deathlord etc,) and the sneak mechanics. Anyways, what do you think Skyrim could have done better?

 

[HappyFaceClown]

FAR from flawless.. where to even begin on this one... first lets start with less glitches, less glitches, LESS GLITCHES.
did i mention less glitches? yea... that would have been great.. and with all the patches its had there really is no excuse.
i STILL can't join my favorite group the dark brotherhood, and the only fix seems to be uninstalling dawnguard.. thats some 100% top notch bs!!

 

[GregoryMeee]

Yeah, I thought of saying glitches and then for some reason wrote it off as a no-brainer

 

[DdraigGwyn]

More varied dialog . Hearing the same comments over and over reduces the realism. If storage limits are not the problem, then I would like to see all of us having the chance to record a character's dialog. Maybe we could bid on the chance to be Ferengar (worst voice job ever) or BS could reward devoted fans with becoming the voice of a specific NPC. Tied into this would be a more realistic interaction: don't tell the ArchMage he should go to the college to learn magic; recognize a customer who is in your store for the 50th time etc.

 

[BG5150]

We should be able to knock people out for a while instead of killing them.

A fishing diversion would be nice. (Don't like almost all other RPG's have some sort of fishing?)

I don't know if it's my system or settings, but there are times the enemy sees me and they are out of range of my sight. All I see is a lightning bolt or arrow coming at me.

Sometimes the follow AI is screwy.

Disenchanting stuff should give at least a little skillup. There are only a finite number of times you can disenchant things.

 

[Tryn]

I have to say that while bugs are always frustrating, given the immense size of Skyrim I'm impressed that there aren't more of them than there are.
Every time I play this game I marvel at the graphics. Take a single blade of grass and watch it blow in the wind and then keep the lighting and perspective right from any angle. Now do that (rendering) for every object in the whole scene and not bog things down to a crawl--awesome! Don't even get me started on water... the ripples caused by rain drops and wading... it just blows me away.
Given the above I can be very forgiving, but here's 10 things I think could have been improved from a game-play and enjoyment perspective:
1) more voice-over voices
2) more color... the scenes are beautiful but everything (indoors and out) is over-all too gray
3) on the major quest lines try to provide more than one means to achieve each step then, if one technique bug-fails hopefully the other succeeds (this at the expense of significantly more coding)
4) don't make horses fight... they lose
5) make eating more beneficial
6) allow a "follower shout" which would bring your follower to you from wherever they've managed to get themselves stuck or from wherever they've been asked to stay
7) my wife says: better looking guys
8) at the beginning of the game MAKE the player create a piece of armor, a weapon and a spell just to learn how
9) Thane's are supposed to be highly respected individuals so sprinkle in some random respectful dialog... perhaps automatic discounts and free lodging in that city
10) more varied house plans depending on where one elects to build

 

[BG5150]

2) more color... the scenes are beautiful but everything (indoors and out) is over-all too gray

4) don't make horses fight... they lose
5) make eating more beneficial
6) allow a "follower shout" which would bring your follower to you from wherever they've managed to get themselves stuck or from wherever they've been asked to stay

I like these. I was actually ruminating on the color scheme last night.

And was also wondering why food only gets you 5 hp. Sure, at level 2, banging down a couple cabbages might help, but there is absolutely no need to put apples or cheese wedges in the hard dungeons.

So, maybe add a cooking talent, a la World of Warcraft. Similar to alchemy, but with larger restorative effects that cannot be consumed in combat. (Replenish all health at once, but you have to eat it when no enemies are around.

And being able to summon a follower somehow would be cool.

It's like you were in my brain last night. GET OUT!

 

[ride_on]

I loved archery in oblivion, for some reason I struggled to hit anything when I first started playing skyrim, and it still to me seems very much inferior to swords and spells. Apart from lucky hits on dragons, those are fluffing immense.

 

[DdraigGwyn]

I loved archery in oblivion, for some reason I struggled to hit anything when I first started playing skyrim, and it still to me seems very much inferior to swords and spells. Apart from lucky hits on dragons, those are fluffing immense.

I suspect this is why Archery gets combined with Sneak for many players. It's much easier to hit someone if he doesn't know you are there, and stands still while you have time to take aim.

 

[ride_on]

I suspect this is why Archery gets combined with Sneak for many players. It's much easier to hit someone if he doesn't know you are there, and stands still while you have time to take aim.

True dat, no more battlebows while melee creeps run at you. Took me about five days to get that stag on the far side of the river when going to Riverwood the first time, I make sure to kill it every new character I make now in remembrance of that day.

 

[LuChao]

We should be able to knock people out for a while instead of killing them.

A fishing diversion would be nice. (Don't like almost all other RPG's have some sort of fishing?)

I don't know if it's my system or settings, but there are times the enemy sees me and they are out of range of my sight. All I see is a lightning bolt or arrow coming at me.

Sometimes the follow AI is screwy.

Disenchanting stuff should give at least a little skillup. There are only a finite number of times you can disenchant things.

the Disenchanting does raise your skill early game I gained Enchanting levels just by disenchanting

 

[Mr Forz]

Frankly? Followers.

I've had my share of Skyrim and eventually headed back to Fallout New Vegas. I didn't expect much from the game after being spoiled by Skyrim's greatness, but its followers were a blast. You can get the story of every single one of them, they always have something to say related to the current situation, you could ask them what they thought of it and they all had something to bring and sometimes special interactions. Many of them were related to a faction quest and they had alot of different fates for the most part depending of what you decide. I find it lacking in Skyrim.

And while I think about it, another thing that could have been done better: Being Dragonborn, and its side effects.

You know, on Fable 3 you're bound to become King, it didn't matter how good or bad you were, you were still the King, people recognizes that title in all the corners of the world, even that group of bandits that you get to chase down the sewers will recognize you by name, in a funny fashion (I mean come on, the ruler himself single handedly cleaning his kingdom).

In Skyrim, you are Dragonborn, you can blow up the province when you sneeze, everyone you meet during your main quest tells you how powerful you are, you slay dragons and absorb their souls, blah, blah, blah. You slay Alduin. The guards will mention it, sure, but the rest of people, and most of factions will treat you like some trash the first moments you're with them. I expected alot of people would ask the Dragonborn about the Thu'um, shouting, different effects and all that, just right out of curiosity, but no, it's like, completly normal.

 

[HappyFaceClown]

surprised nobody has mentioned the annoying cheating ass infinite health having characters "essential NPC's" as most call them.. they are by far one of the biggest irritants on the game! most of them don't affect the story in any way so theirs no excuse what-so-ever for them to be invincible.. and you should have to deal with the consequences of your actions, THAT is one of the fundamentals of rpg's so having invincible characters is bs! no character in the game should be immune to all damage and half the time you never know their one of these dicks untill its too late, they're attacking, and you're screwed! i HATE those cheating assholes..

 

[Tryn]

surprised nobody has mentioned the annoying cheating ass infinite health having characters "essential NPC's" as most call them.. they are by far one of the biggest irritants on the game! most of them don't affect the story in any way so theirs no excuse what-so-ever for them to be invincible.. and you should have to deal with the consequences of your actions, THAT is one of the fundamentals of rpg's so having invincible characters is bs! no character in the game should be immune to all damage and half the time you never know their one of these dicks untill its too late, they're attacking, and you're screwed! i HATE those cheating assholes..

While you're right they obviously have to do this for a number of reasons. The main one is to keep quests from breaking. I believe the only ones that can't die are the ones that are needed to complete a quest. If you want to have some fun sometime, release your follower somewhere far... far away and follow them as they walk back home. They'll have all the usual encounters. If they couldn't go into subdue mode and recover their health they'd never make it.

 

[Daedra'Mc'Bitch]

I would definitely appreciate some better animation.

 

[Tryn]

I loved archery in oblivion, for some reason I struggled to hit anything when I first started playing skyrim, and it still to me seems very much inferior to swords and spells. Apart from lucky hits on dragons, those are fluffing immense.

I love the archery in Skyrim (as well as that of Oblivion). If anything I overuse the bow/crossbow. Ariel's bow is just awesome to use. Shoot an arrow into the sun and watch the fireworks. It almost seems like cheating to stand on a cliff and pick off the bad guys below. I'm sure I probably benefit from playing this on a large screen TV where head shots are the name of the game, I may not be so "talented" on something smaller.

 

[HappyFaceClown]

surprised nobody has mentioned the annoying cheating ass infinite health having characters "essential NPC's" as most call them.. they are by far one of the biggest irritants on the game! most of them don't affect the story in any way so theirs no excuse what-so-ever for them to be invincible.. and you should have to deal with the consequences of your actions, THAT is one of the fundamentals of rpg's so having invincible characters is bs! no character in the game should be immune to all damage and half the time you never know their one of these dicks untill its too late, they're attacking, and you're screwed! i HATE those cheating assholes..

While you're right they obviously have to do this for a number of reasons. The main one is to keep quests from breaking. I believe the only ones that can't die are the ones that are needed to complete a quest. If you want to have some fun sometime, release your follower somewhere far... far away and follow them as they walk back home. They'll have all the usual encounters. If they couldn't go into subdue mode and recover their health they'd never make it.

naw.. sorry but i don't agree, this game uses a "save state" type save system as well as auto backup saves! that means you have plenty of options for a reload if you killed the wrong guy and screwed up your game. if they just HAD to do this the least they could have done is make none of them capable of attacking and/or make it so that all attacks go thru them, lots of other games do this but thats the method they use, why? so you won't get screwed for making an honest mistake, example- i can't count how many times i've had to run like a coward all because i shot at what i thought were bandits only to find it was companions, "they look just like bandits" and why are they invincible? i never join them anyway, i never cared for them, they have nothing to do with the story and what the hell are they doing roaming the wilderness anyway!!?? thats just bating imo.. uncalled for.
oh and what this guy does is he sits on you.

 

[Rimfaxe96]

I adore Skyrim and if the world was about ~40% more organic, I'd never stop playing it.
Give the NPCs more dialogue (as stated above), more different voices, and give them far more to tell about themselves.
I know that the least thing for example an Imperial Legate in the middle of a Civil War would have the nerve for to do would be telling me his life story, but why can't I do that with those who I've supposedly befriended, or at least the game says so? At that point I really wish Skyrim would have been a little bit more like "Harvest Moon" for DS; to befriend someone, you gotta spend time with them (well, talk to them at least once a day, but that's better than nothing) and if you want some chick to love you, you gotta get her presents she likes (in Harvest Moon the characters even had different tastes, I remember how I went all "Dafuq" when that one girl thought that the rare jewelry I had digged up for her in a dark mine with weird creatures attacking me were gross and disgusting).
That was wonderful at some point too; imagine you'd be wooing for a girl who's a hunter and you'd give her a few magic scrolls as present, absolutely useless! Along with an advanced speech skill, you should have been able to maybe even befriend the really 'tough guys' etc.

I could go on and on but alone for that system the waiting for TES6 would be extended by at least a year. Well, at least the part about the different dialogues and voices should be able to handle though, considering that it's become almost a trend by prominent people by now to borrow their voices to characters of games and movies. You don't need to pay everyone a few hundred dollars, Bethesda.

 

[GregoryMeee]

Wow, I agree with most everything on the page. And also, i never thought this would get so many responeses! Anyways, I can't MORE with HappyFaceClown. I think people can't really be expected to try to hold back from killing these 'Companions!' Also, I think they should add an option where you can set Essential NPCs on or off.

 

[Mr Forz]

For the essential NPC's, there are... many reasons. But most importantly quests could break if anything happens to them when you're around (like Vampire attacks or such). The drawback is that you can't fail quests. You're bound to leave them to rot in your journal or to finish them the way they tell you. Concerning the main quest I can somewhat understand, but I should be able to butcher the Jerks Guild since they show no relevance to me and that they piss me off in every corner of Riften with their cheap menaces and taunts.