Comment

Comment on Starfield Is Bethesda's Lowest-Rated Game On Steam

Skyrim, while praised, has always been critiqued for being as wide as an ocean and as deep as a puddle.

I think most people who say Skyrim is shallow never dived below the surface (story/questlines, roleplay and combat mechanics), only fast travelling and rushing through questlines. Thing with Elder Scrolls is, all the games are shallow on the surface. But they all get bonkers if you have the patience to really observe the world (many of the stories are told via the environment), read the in-game books and seek out answers. For example, I don't think many people have given any thought to the Sleeping Tree near Whiterun and very few have an actual understanding of what it actually is. Without spoilers, Ysolda tells you the lead but dismisses it as a silly rumour. You'll find the answers in Infernal City and Lord of Souls.

source

Sort:hotnew top

CaptainEffort@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Unfortunately I disagree. It’s embarrassing but I have around 3k hours in Skyrim, split between the original 360 version, the PC version, and the PC version of SE. I’ve done every single quest multiple times and know virtually everything about the game.

That being said, I’d still call it shallow. Most mechanics are only surface level and don’t actually affect much of anything at all outside of combat, if even that. Quests don’t have choices, and how you interact with the world and those within it have no bearing on anything at all. Skyrim is effectively an action sandbox, with any rpg system being shallow or nonexistent.

I love Skyrim to death, albeit mostly for its modding scene, but even I can admit that it’s not some super deep game.

source
- Shurimal@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  
  Most mechanics are only surface level and don’t actually affect much of anything at all outside of combat, if even that.
  
  Correct. That's exactly my point. Mechanics have never been the strong point in any of the Elder Scrolls games. But the worldbuilding is something else altogether, that's where all the depth is, and it doesn't stop going deeper and deeper.
  
  source
  - CaptainEffort@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I mean fair enough I guess, but when an rpg’s rpg mechanics are practically non existent it kind of hurts the experience. Even if the world building is stellar.
    
    And I wouldn’t say mechanics have “never” been a strong point of these games. For all of Morrowind’s flaws, it had actual rpg elements. And that was along with some of the best world building the series has ever seen, before or since.
    
    source