History YMMV / TheElderScrollsVSkyrim

** Alduin, the BigBad of the game. He's a [[GutturalGrowler deep-voiced]] DraconicAbomination whose very power [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt threatens to end the entire world]].

** Alduin, the BigBad of the game. He's a [[GutturalGrowler deep-voiced]] DraconicAbomination whose very power [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt threatens to end the entire world]]. Enough said.

** Miraak, a former Dragon Priest with a cool Design who can [[CompellingVoice bend people to his will]], as well as the very ''first'' Dragonborn.

** Miraak, a former Dragon Priest with a cool Design who can [[ComepellingVoice bend people to his will]], as well as the very ''first'' Dragonborn.

** Miraak, a former Dragon Priest with a cool Design who can [[ComepllingVoice bend people to his will]], as well as the very ''first'' Dragonborn.

** Alduin, the BigBad of the game. He's a [[GutturalGrowler deep-voiced]] DraconicAbomination whose very power [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt threatens to end the entire world. Enough said.
** Miraak, a former Dragon Priest and the very ''first'' Dragonborn who can [[CompellingVoice bend people to his will]] and has a cool design to boot.

** Alduin, the BigBad of the game. He's a [[GutturalGrowler]] deep-voiced DraconicAbomination whose very power [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt threatens to end the entire world. Enough said.

** Alduin. He's a douche, but there's no denying that he's badass. Being a spiky black dragon will do that.
** Miraak is also quite the evil badass.

** The GOG version inexplicably changes file pointers unlike previous ''Fallout'' and ''The Elder Scrolls'' games released on the store, making several mods, mod managers, and custom launchers incompatible. It also, at least for the backup installer version that doesn't require GOG Galaxy, installs all language voice files to the game, bloating the installation size (something that the GOG version of ''Videogame/Cyberpunk2077'' and the original Steam ''Skyrim'' installer didn't do despite the same store)

** The ThievesGuild questline, for numerous reasons of both story and gameplay. Story-wise, many feel the questline is an IdiotPlot, find the members of the Guild except Brynjolf to be boring {{Jerkass}}es, dislike that the player spends most of the questline as an errand boy for Maven and then Karliah, and don't like the ButThouMust of the third act where the player ''has'' to sell their soul to Nocturnal in order to proceed with the questline. In terms of gameplay, the main questline doesn't actually involve stealing anything, more infiltrating places to question people or beat them up; and while the sidequests revolve around stealing, the player has to complete dozens of them to actually restore the Guild to power and gain tangible benefits for their membership. Finally, there is no option to remove [[TheDon Maven Black-Briar]] from power, nor any option to bring the Guild to justice (even just killing them all won't work, most of them are marked as Essential), so a player who wants to roleplay as a good character has to skip out on the entire questline and just let the Guild keep operating. Oh, and one Word of Power in the game is ''only accessible during the questline''; so if you're not willing to put up with them, you'll have to live with never getting all the words for Disarm.

** Eltrys, for (passive-aggressively) roping you into a quest that ends you up into a FrameUp, even if you have no interest in getting involved with the regional conflict.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Vampire attacks, which were notorious for getting townsfolk killed in the crossfire, have been heavily toned down in ''Special Edition''. They now appear initially in disguise, only becoming hostile when you approach them, and no longer bring an entourage of minions.

** Your adopted daughters may try to take on rabbits or foxes as pets, which is ordinary cute. A son, on the other hand, might opt for a mudcrab or a skeever or even a frostbite spider, which falls into this trope since they're tiny and more adorable than their bigger, annoying cousins.

** After the announcement of Skyrim Special Edition and Skyrim for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, many fans joke about Todd Howard being a seedy businessman who will do nothing but rerelease Skyrim for the rest of Bethesda's life. Tends to be accompanied by photoshops of Todd Howard's face to [[PaperThinDisguise vaguely resemble someone else]] [[ButHeSoundsHandsome to hype up the Skyrim rerelease]]. Has become somewhat of an AscendedMeme with the joke reveal trailer for ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnEW6dX_BmU Skyrim: Very Special Edition]]'' at E3 2018, which promised the game would be coming to Amazon Alexa, an electronic refrigerator, and the ''Etch A Sketch''. This meme has been extended to the point of Bethesda sneaking ''Skyrim'' into completely unrelated properties, usually in the form of other games unexpectedly transitioning into the ''Skyrim'' intro (the "Hey you, you're finally awake" meme below). UpToEleven with the announcement of Bethesda being bought by Microsoft and added to Creator/XboxGameStudios and that all Bethesda games will be added to the Xbox Game Pass, with the joke being that Todd Howard successfully sold and will continue to sell ''Skyrim'' every month for the rest of time.

** "Impatience of a Saint" is basically the ''Dawnguard'' version of "A Return To Your Roots", except '''[[UpToEleven far, far worse]]'''. The same elements that made the former quest so [[SarcasmMode fun]] are still there (no quest markers, massive unmapped area). Instead of looking for relatively well visible plants that announce their presence with a humming noise, you need to find unremarkable scraps of paper on the ground, and you have no margin for error - unlike with the Crimson Nirnroot, there are '''no''' extra pages if there's one you just can't find. Unlike Blackreach, the Soul Cairn is a very monotone place where all the landmarks look similar, to the point that '''even with the help of guides''', [[GuideDangIt let alone without]], the locations of some pages can be hard to find, and remembering where you've already been and what you've yet to explore is a chore. Oh, and if you're fond of explosive spells such as Fireball, it is entirely possible to accidentally dislodge one of the scraps from its resting spot during a fight. Akatosh help you if that happens - even if the page by some miracle '''doesn't''' clip into the ground or the walls, making the whole thing UnintentionallyUnwinnable, good luck finding it again. As a final insult, unlike "A Return To Your Roots", instead of offering a unique and powerful effect as a reward (a chance to duplicate any potion you craft), "Impatience" awards nothing but [[PowerUpLetdown an expensive book and a necklace with effects that can be replicated by any high-level enchanter]], though perhaps this is for the best as it means that this hellish sidequest can be quite harmlessly skipped. If it weren't for the existence of "A Stone Unturned", this would probably have been by a very wide margin the absolute most annoying quest in the game.

* MagnificentBitch:[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/MagnificentBastard/TheElderScrolls See here]].

* AngstWhatAngst: Serana was turned into a vampire lord (it's implied that this was accomplished through her being raped by Molag Bal), caught up in a family war between her parents, and sealed away for centuries with an Elder Scroll, and when she wakes up her parents are more concerned with their respective plots against the other than with her safety or her wishes. All things considered, she takes it pretty well outside the handful of moments she calls out the relevant parties for their behavior.

** The Dragonborn:
*** Are you a heroic figure who protects the land from threats and rose to the top of several guilds due to your inherent skill and badassery? Or are you essentially nothing more than a reckless [[PhysicalGod demigod]] who abuses the power of the Thu'um for your own ends and to help you gain influence throughout Skyrim?
*** If you choose to play ''Dragonborn'' last, you've slain multiple Dragons, amassed an army of loyal followers and have, on several occasions, proven that you're not afraid to screw over a Daedric Prince. Besides him being openly malevolent (and you can choose to be that too), what exactly makes you any ''different'' from [[EvilCounterpart Miraak?]]

--> Here in his shrine\\

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Complaints about ''Skyrim'' being "simplified for the average gamer" are rife, but one point often repeated is that the game is supposedly too easy especially at higher levels. The difficulty curve of ''Skyrim'' admittedly isn't great, but then again, ''none'' of the mainline Elder Scrolls games have managed to have a "good" difficulty curve - ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsMorrowind Morrowind]]'' and of course ''Skyrim'' - all start off at varying levels of difficulty that drop a tad too quickly for peoples' liking once you level up enough; the only real difference being how fast it becomes easier. The sole exception - ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOblivion Oblivion]]'' - tries to fix this by more closely matching enemies to your level, but ironically enough is now infamous for having the ''worst'' difficulty curve out of all five.

** Interestingly for a while after its release, the ''Skyrim'' fandom was [[FandomRivalry rivals with the]] ''Videogame/DarkSouls'' fandom, with arguments as to which game was better setting off some impressive arguments across the internet (despite the fact that the games were very different in most respects). As time passed, however, both fandoms mellowed, with many ''Dark Souls'' fans even admitting that they like the ''Elder Scrolls'' games, and "Dark Souls-style" mods for ''Skyrim'' have practically become their own category among the modding community.

* HypeBacklash: Since its release, ''Skyrim'' is regarded as one of the best [=RPGs=] ever created. While it's true, commercially, gamers point out the game's various flaws and shortcomings, especially when it comes to story and characters. Some are irritated that ''Skyrim'' is treated like the second coming of lightsaber-wielding mecha Jesus, mostly by casual gamers who found ''Skyrim'' far more accessible than ''Oblivion'' or ''Morrowind''. And don't even try discussing ''Skyrim'' on /v/.

** Unsurprisingly, Hermaeus Mora, due to his tendency to get rather... physical with his tentacles. The voice doesn't help.

* UncannyValley:
** The new characters also attempt to carry on their daily duties while glancing at the player if you speak to them. While this is normally fine, sometimes it can break in crowded areas such as a tavern when multiple [=NPCs=] think the character is about to start a conversation; as a result, everyone stares at the player every time they look up from what they're doing.
** Adults have very distinct appearances. Children, clothing and hairstyles aside, look like clones. Worse, many of the animations for children weren't properly rigged. When a child NPC does something like sit down on a chair, or uses an Alchemy station, their dimensions will stretch out and make them the same size as the adults.

** The daedra-hunting Vigilants of Stendarr are played up as a kind of badass cadre of {{Knight Templar}}s, but it can be hard to take them seriously when one of them tries to sound badass while shpeaking a very notishable lishp.
-->''"The Mershy of Shtendarr doesh not ekshtend to daedra worshippersh."''

** Many fans equate the Vigilants of Stendarr with a real-life Inquisition who oppress, murder, and torture daedra worshippers. In-game, all they do is patrol the countryside, occasionally fight vampires and werewolves and wild atronachs, and in one case investigate a house with a dangerous shrine to Molag Bal, and don't really express the extreme fanatical views and violent behavior that many fans ascribe to them; in fact, they're known to kick people out for being ''too'' fanatical.