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Played for about 3 hours so far. Coming from someone who loved Morrowind but thought Oblivion was watered down and bland, here are my impressions.
There are clearly some issue stemming from the fact that it's kind of a console port. The menus are not ideal (way too many clicks to get to what you want to do). The controls are a bit wonky at first. However I'm not too concerned about these things. Mods will fix the menus, and after some fiddling with the controls (including editing .ini files as discussed earlier in this thread) they become pretty solid. I'd definitely recommend upping the look sensitivity first thing - my mouse speed is quite fast but I had to pick it up just to turn 180 degrees on the default setting.
Besides those issues, I'm really enjoying the game so far. On the surface, it "feels" like Oblivion. The graphics and game engine are Oblivion-like, but everything feels a bit sharper. It's clear they were aiming to run the game on the same hardware Oblivion had to run on, current gen consoles. But I still think the graphics are pretty great, with a lot of effects they make up for the fact that there aren't all that many textures and the textures aren't super hi-res. Also distant land looks way better than it did in Oblivion, which is great for immersion overall.
Now although the game feels like Oblivion with it's graphics and engine, those were never the things that I really hated about Oblivion. Skyrim seems to have improved on Oblivion's real issues, the level system and the world's craftsmanship. In Oblivion, the world leveled alongside with you, but you didn't necessarily get much stronger with each level. It all depended on if you planned your skill advances to get 5x bonuses on your attributes. This wasn't as necessary in Morrowind, because the world didn't adapt to your level so closely. Having to plan your skill increases so precisely really cut into your ability to role-play your character.
In Skyrim, you don't have to worry about any of this. Your skills increase when you use them, so you can be any blend of character and not worry about your "build" giving you poor stats. Your character will always gain the same amount of "power" per level, with 10 points to health, magicka, or stamina plus one perk. This is cool because as you advance in level you basically choose how to become more specialized. And the perks noticeably improve your character so leveling is really satisfying. All in all the new system is fun to use and also allows you to roleplay as whatever type of character you want without having to worry about stats.
The world in Oblivion was boring. Dungeons felt randomly generated and the landscape seemed like an exercise in the clone-stamp tool. Morrowind had more diverse and interesting landscapes along with many types of dungeons. Some were mundane but that made finding the unique ones with real stories behind them all the more interesting. It looks like Skyrim will be similar to Morrowind. The dungeons I've come across have been big and have interesting layouts. They have lots of subtle details as well. Overall the landscapes and dungeons feel more hand-crafted in Skyrim which is a big relief from Oblivion.
Also I'm happy to find you can make the game somewhat difficult. I set the difficulty to the hardest level (master?). Fights with low level bandits and skeletons will be pretty easy still but you'll want to use a bit of strategy and will want to take the time to heal after fights. What's great is that occasionally (or perhaps at the end of large/high dungeons) you will find really tough enemies. At the top level of a huge bastion, I ran into a master vampire who dispatched me in two hits (ending me with his own critical stabbing animation)! It's great that those impossible challenges exist at a low level, so later when you kill that guy you really feel powerful.
There are still funny quirks in the game. When that vampire killed me and my character dropped his mace and lifelessly slumped to the floor, he immediately noted "One man's trash is another's treasure, you should watch where you put your things!" Pretty BM imo 
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On November 12 2011 03:47 castled wrote:Played for about 3 hours so far. Coming from someone who loved Morrowind but thought Oblivion was watered down and bland, here are my impressions. There are clearly some issue stemming from the fact that it's kind of a console port. The menus are not ideal (way too many clicks to get to what you want to do). The controls are a bit wonky at first. However I'm not too concerned about these things. Mods will fix the menus, and after some fiddling with the controls (including editing .ini files as discussed earlier in this thread) they become pretty solid. I'd definitely recommend upping the look sensitivity first thing - my mouse speed is quite fast but I had to pick it up just to turn 180 degrees on the default setting. Besides those issues, I'm really enjoying the game so far. On the surface, it "feels" like Oblivion. The graphics and game engine are Oblivion-like, but everything feels a bit sharper. It's clear they were aiming to run the game on the same hardware Oblivion had to run on, current gen consoles. But I still think the graphics are pretty great, with a lot of effects they make up for the fact that there aren't all that many textures and the textures aren't super hi-res. Also distant land looks way better than it did in Oblivion, which is great for immersion overall. Now although the game feels like Oblivion with it's graphics and engine, those were never the things that I really hated about Oblivion. Skyrim seems to have improved on Oblivion's real issues, the level system and the world's craftsmanship. In Oblivion, the world leveled alongside with you, but you didn't necessarily get much stronger with each level. It all depended on if you planned your skill advances to get 5x bonuses on your attributes. This wasn't as necessary in Morrowind, because the world didn't adapt to your level so closely. Having to plan your skill increases so precisely really cut into your ability to role-play your character. In Skyrim, you don't have to worry about any of this. Your skills increase when you use them, so you can be any blend of character and not worry about your "build" giving you poor stats. Your character will always gain the same amount of "power" per level, with 10 points to health, magicka, or stamina plus one perk. This is cool because as you advance in level you basically choose how to become more specialized. And the perks noticeably improve your character so leveling is really satisfying. All in all the new system is fun to use and also allows you to roleplay as whatever type of character you want without having to worry about stats. The world in Oblivion was boring. Dungeons felt randomly generated and the landscape seemed like an exercise in the clone-stamp tool. Morrowind had more diverse and interesting landscapes along with many types of dungeons. Some were mundane but that made finding the unique ones with real stories behind them all the more interesting. It looks like Skyrim will be similar to Morrowind. The dungeons I've come across have been big and have interesting layouts. They have lots of subtle details as well. Overall the landscapes and dungeons feel more hand-crafted in Skyrim which is a big relief from Oblivion. Also I'm happy to find you can make the game somewhat difficult. I set the difficulty to the hardest level (master?). Fights with low level bandits and skeletons will be pretty easy still but you'll want to use a bit of strategy and will want to take the time to heal after fights. What's great is that occasionally (or perhaps at the end of large/high dungeons) you will find really tough enemies. At the top level of a huge bastion, I ran into a master vampire who dispatched me in two hits (ending me with his own critical stabbing animation)! It's great that those impossible challenges exist at a low level, so later when you kill that guy you really feel powerful. There are still funny quirks in the game. When that vampire killed me and my character dropped his mace and lifelessly slumped to the floor, he immediately noted "One man's trash is another's treasure, you should watch where you put your things!" Pretty BM imo
Thanks mate. I was searching for a short summary like this, from someone who really understood oblivion problems. Although my PC can't run Skyrim, I'm very happy that the game looks very promising in its first day. cheers.
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On November 12 2011 03:47 castled wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Played for about 3 hours so far. Coming from someone who loved Morrowind but thought Oblivion was watered down and bland, here are my impressions. There are clearly some issue stemming from the fact that it's kind of a console port. The menus are not ideal (way too many clicks to get to what you want to do). The controls are a bit wonky at first. However I'm not too concerned about these things. Mods will fix the menus, and after some fiddling with the controls (including editing .ini files as discussed earlier in this thread) they become pretty solid. I'd definitely recommend upping the look sensitivity first thing - my mouse speed is quite fast but I had to pick it up just to turn 180 degrees on the default setting. Besides those issues, I'm really enjoying the game so far. On the surface, it "feels" like Oblivion. The graphics and game engine are Oblivion-like, but everything feels a bit sharper. It's clear they were aiming to run the game on the same hardware Oblivion had to run on, current gen consoles. But I still think the graphics are pretty great, with a lot of effects they make up for the fact that there aren't all that many textures and the textures aren't super hi-res. Also distant land looks way better than it did in Oblivion, which is great for immersion overall. Now although the game feels like Oblivion with it's graphics and engine, those were never the things that I really hated about Oblivion. Skyrim seems to have improved on Oblivion's real issues, the level system and the world's craftsmanship. In Oblivion, the world leveled alongside with you, but you didn't necessarily get much stronger with each level. It all depended on if you planned your skill advances to get 5x bonuses on your attributes. This wasn't as necessary in Morrowind, because the world didn't adapt to your level so closely. Having to plan your skill increases so precisely really cut into your ability to role-play your character. In Skyrim, you don't have to worry about any of this. Your skills increase when you use them, so you can be any blend of character and not worry about your "build" giving you poor stats. Your character will always gain the same amount of "power" per level, with 10 points to health, magicka, or stamina plus one perk. This is cool because as you advance in level you basically choose how to become more specialized. And the perks noticeably improve your character so leveling is really satisfying. All in all the new system is fun to use and also allows you to roleplay as whatever type of character you want without having to worry about stats. The world in Oblivion was boring. Dungeons felt randomly generated and the landscape seemed like an exercise in the clone-stamp tool. Morrowind had more diverse and interesting landscapes along with many types of dungeons. Some were mundane but that made finding the unique ones with real stories behind them all the more interesting. It looks like Skyrim will be similar to Morrowind. The dungeons I've come across have been big and have interesting layouts. They have lots of subtle details as well. Overall the landscapes and dungeons feel more hand-crafted in Skyrim which is a big relief from Oblivion. Also I'm happy to find you can make the game somewhat difficult. I set the difficulty to the hardest level (master?). Fights with low level bandits and skeletons will be pretty easy still but you'll want to use a bit of strategy and will want to take the time to heal after fights. What's great is that occasionally (or perhaps at the end of large/high dungeons) you will find really tough enemies. At the top level of a huge bastion, I ran into a master vampire who dispatched me in two hits (ending me with his own critical stabbing animation)! It's great that those impossible challenges exist at a low level, so later when you kill that guy you really feel powerful. There are still funny quirks in the game. When that vampire killed me and my character dropped his mace and lifelessly slumped to the floor, he immediately noted "One man's trash is another's treasure, you should watch where you put your things!" Pretty BM imo
Thank you, this kind of analysis is exactly what I needed before I made a decision on whether to buy Skyrim or not. Any news on how fast the Steam download servers are operating atm?
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Not too used to the no-stats system. My character is overloading all the time because i am packing so much stuff (I am a mage and so naturally is already carrying much less stuff and no weight armor.) Almost tempting to enter the line that sets my carrying weight limit to infinity.
It's also a bit annoying that to sell your stuff, you need to go to the according seller (eg. to sell potion, you need to go to the potion dealer).
other than that, game is going well, AI improved quite a lot, no more random friendly kill.
Menu is ok right until the skill trees, I am kind of lost as which star it will go to if I click left/right
shouts is kind of cool, especially it helps for some dungeons' trap, making it more than just "go point A, kill, push some buttons, go point B....loop)
My biggest complain is that they took away the quest info. So if I wasn't paying attention or forgot something, it can be very troublesome.
In my case, I am supposed to go up the mountain to see someone (main quest) and the optional quests asks me to put something in the treasure box up there. the quest would only say "put the offering into the box" and do not specific on what are the offerings items.
But they really have improved a lot onto the gameplay. Landscape is beautiful and has a strong art direction to the different towns.
Story seems to be really complicated at start and it is kind of stopping me from joining any guild yet. but it happens to me on fallout as well, probably will just join one and have multiple walkthroughs
and one more thing to praise is the amount of dialogue there is for minor characters. I was walking around town and heard the guard warning me not to go somewhere because of vampire. Then I tried to talk to him and see if he has a vampire quest or not, I kept talking to him and he had more than 10 different lines (most of which are quite detailed and long)
there is NO persuasion wheel for speech, most of you would be happy to know (but I actually quite liked that system)
picklocking is still the same minigame
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On November 12 2011 03:15 Condor Hero wrote:
Never played this series before, but I think I'm going to buy it due to all the hype and slowly play through it in the next couple weeks.
Am I correct in understanding this is a single player campaign (aka it won't have the draw of Diablo 2 where you keep trying to farm good items or level etc.)?
I guess you could play through it with multiple characters?
its not a campaign, its a world you get thrown in and then you can do what you feel like.
The focus is not on slaughtering enemies!
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On November 12 2011 03:28 jj33 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 12 2011 03:19 Soulfire wrote:
So, I'm having some pretty obnoxious performance issues with a GTX 570 OC'd, and after some research, I pretty much have figured out why.
This game hardly ever utilizes 100% GPU - I'm getting 30 FPS in Riverwood and my GPU is running at 40%. Pretty sure this is due to my meh-worthy CPU, an i5 750. Gonna have to be OCing that soon I guess.
EDIT: Also having problems with lowish sound quality, particularly the music, even after the 44100 HZ sound quality change. Anyone else getting this too? when you say performance issues, just FPS? are you running on ultra? I have a i5 750 and gtx 570 as well and i would think this would be more than enough to run on ultra with no problems.
I have an i5 2500k, gtx 570 and yeah I get fps issues as well. Considering the game doesn't look THAT good to where I can't max it and get 60 fps smoothly. It looks nice and all but my computer should easily max it but whatever I can live with 40-60 fps hopefully mods or a patch comes through to optimize it a bit as right now its not as optimized as I would have hoped.
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On November 12 2011 03:15 Condor Hero wrote:
Never played this series before, but I think I'm going to buy it due to all the hype and slowly play through it in the next couple weeks.
Am I correct in understanding this is a single player campaign (aka it won't have the draw of Diablo 2 where you keep trying to farm good items or level etc.)?
I guess you could play through it with multiple characters?
Though it's exclusively single player, it's one of the best for continually running content even after you finish the game. There are always (talking about past games in the series of course) some long faction chains to completely work through, each with some story and more opportunities for loot and cash. It shouldn't feel like a "get through the story and start over" type gameplay; ideally (and it happens every time I play TES3/4) there's not only many paths to take but new things to stumble upon in every play through that you've never even seen before. Every single cave you come across or gentleman that runs up and asks for help is a fun, time-consuming distraction from the main quests and factions that really makes the immersion great.
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Hmmm...it seems as though my preorder on Amazon was just terminated-has anyone else gotten this problem?
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On November 12 2011 03:36 Soulfire wrote:Show nested quote +On November 12 2011 03:28 jj33 wrote:On November 12 2011 03:19 Soulfire wrote:
So, I'm having some pretty obnoxious performance issues with a GTX 570 OC'd, and after some research, I pretty much have figured out why.
This game hardly ever utilizes 100% GPU - I'm getting 30 FPS in Riverwood and my GPU is running at 40%. Pretty sure this is due to my meh-worthy CPU, an i5 750. Gonna have to be OCing that soon I guess.
EDIT: Also having problems with lowish sound quality, particularly the music, even after the 44100 HZ sound quality change. Anyone else getting this too? when you say performance issues, just FPS? are you running on ultra? I have a i5 750 and gtx 570 as well and i would think this would be more than enough to run on ultra with no problems. Yes, FPS. Actually turned quite a bit down from ultra and still having FPS problems. Have you seen how your system handles it yet?
I haven't gotten it for PC yet, but I plan on doing so.
I have it for 360 as of now.
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On November 12 2011 04:13 blade55555 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 12 2011 03:28 jj33 wrote:On November 12 2011 03:19 Soulfire wrote:
So, I'm having some pretty obnoxious performance issues with a GTX 570 OC'd, and after some research, I pretty much have figured out why.
This game hardly ever utilizes 100% GPU - I'm getting 30 FPS in Riverwood and my GPU is running at 40%. Pretty sure this is due to my meh-worthy CPU, an i5 750. Gonna have to be OCing that soon I guess.
EDIT: Also having problems with lowish sound quality, particularly the music, even after the 44100 HZ sound quality change. Anyone else getting this too? when you say performance issues, just FPS? are you running on ultra? I have a i5 750 and gtx 570 as well and i would think this would be more than enough to run on ultra with no problems. I have an i5 2500k, gtx 570 and yeah I get fps issues as well. Considering the game doesn't look THAT good to where I can't max it and get 60 fps smoothly. It looks nice and all but my computer should easily max it but whatever I can live with 40-60 fps hopefully mods or a patch comes through to optimize it a bit as right now its not as optimized as I would have hoped.
Yeah I think it is something with the game engine. I had the same issue but with Fallout NV but a patch fixed it for me. But I have ATI tho so it may not even be the same problem.
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So I'm in quite the bind
+ Show Spoiler [Early spoilers perhaps] +So I'm level 7, almost level 8. I'm currently in Windhelm. I got quests that basically send me around the entire damn world and I'm confused what to do. Basically everything is slapping my shit right now. I got a quest to go assault Northwatch Keep with some guys, to go hone my skills at some place in the far North form High Hrothgar, to go assassinate this teacher lady for this kid, and to go kill an Ice Wraith for the Stormcloaks. I'm so confused where I should even start, or if I've been blowing through content too fast or something.
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On November 12 2011 04:13 blade55555 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 12 2011 03:28 jj33 wrote:On November 12 2011 03:19 Soulfire wrote:
So, I'm having some pretty obnoxious performance issues with a GTX 570 OC'd, and after some research, I pretty much have figured out why.
This game hardly ever utilizes 100% GPU - I'm getting 30 FPS in Riverwood and my GPU is running at 40%. Pretty sure this is due to my meh-worthy CPU, an i5 750. Gonna have to be OCing that soon I guess.
EDIT: Also having problems with lowish sound quality, particularly the music, even after the 44100 HZ sound quality change. Anyone else getting this too? when you say performance issues, just FPS? are you running on ultra? I have a i5 750 and gtx 570 as well and i would think this would be more than enough to run on ultra with no problems. I have an i5 2500k, gtx 570 and yeah I get fps issues as well. Considering the game doesn't look THAT good to where I can't max it and get 60 fps smoothly. It looks nice and all but my computer should easily max it but whatever I can live with 40-60 fps hopefully mods or a patch comes through to optimize it a bit as right now its not as optimized as I would have hoped.
So basically, its a optimization issue. Realistically once all is optimized, the 570gtx should eat this game for breakfast yea?
thanks for the response, I'll probably wait to get it for PC, my 360 version will hold me off till then
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i5 2500k and ati 6870 (or 80 or whatever the number was, it was higher than 50 ^^) and the game runs smooth with viewdistance and shadows max.
Must be a driver issue specific with this game and the 570? Because my gpu isnt that great really.
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Sorry to ask. But how do I hotkey my skills/itens without putting them on my favorites and have to press Q to change it everytime.
EDIT nevermind, just got it.
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Aside from having to turn off mouse acceleration, I'm having quite the time in Skyrim.
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My speakers are reversed for some reason. Any idea on how to fix that? Left is coming from right and vice versa, it's pretty annoying haha, turning the wrong way because I heard someone talking.
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Just bought the house in white-run for the luls, and apparently there is a little second bedroom with an (Owned) Bed in it WTF?!
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So even setting Left to LM and Right to RM, selecting weapons for equipping must be done with the opposite mouse button as if the defaults were still on (L click if you want the weapon on the R hand, R click for left). Is this just an option I overlooked?
Also, do lower difficulty levels also produce lower amounts of XP and thus slower leveling as in some games?
Can't wait to buy a horse/house for travel and storage!
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The weight limitations and long distances you have to travel in this type of game(fallout, oblivion) always end up making me cheat, I'll hold on as best as I can in skyrim, promise!
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On November 12 2011 04:25 jj33 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 12 2011 04:13 blade55555 wrote:On November 12 2011 03:28 jj33 wrote:On November 12 2011 03:19 Soulfire wrote:
So, I'm having some pretty obnoxious performance issues with a GTX 570 OC'd, and after some research, I pretty much have figured out why.
This game hardly ever utilizes 100% GPU - I'm getting 30 FPS in Riverwood and my GPU is running at 40%. Pretty sure this is due to my meh-worthy CPU, an i5 750. Gonna have to be OCing that soon I guess.
EDIT: Also having problems with lowish sound quality, particularly the music, even after the 44100 HZ sound quality change. Anyone else getting this too? when you say performance issues, just FPS? are you running on ultra? I have a i5 750 and gtx 570 as well and i would think this would be more than enough to run on ultra with no problems. I have an i5 2500k, gtx 570 and yeah I get fps issues as well. Considering the game doesn't look THAT good to where I can't max it and get 60 fps smoothly. It looks nice and all but my computer should easily max it but whatever I can live with 40-60 fps hopefully mods or a patch comes through to optimize it a bit as right now its not as optimized as I would have hoped. So basically, its a optimization issue. Realistically once all is optimized, the 570gtx should eat this game for breakfast yea? thanks for the response, I'll probably wait to get it for PC, my 360 version will hold me off till then
Yeah idk whatever PC version is still better in my eyes and would rather just play it on PC and not buy for both even if I can't run it "max" with 60 fps yet 
i5 2500k and ati 6870 (or 80 or whatever the number was, it was higher than 50 ^^) and the game runs smooth with viewdistance and shadows max.
Must be a driver issue specific with this game and the 570? Because my gpu isnt that great really.
Yes but what is your fps? Also what resolution? I am playing 1920 by 1200, if I played on lower I could get constant 60 fps but I shouldn't have to, to do that.
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EPT
