Reviews VideoGame / The Elder Scrollsv Skyrim

"To me they mark the pinnacle of Eastern RPG's, providing the kind of experience I always look for in RPG's.."

Umm, Skyrim and the rest are all Western RP Gs through and true. I don't know what you meant by that.

" I don't like this namby-pamby wishy-washy 'play it how YOU want to play' method, I want to be able to sculpt my character from the getgo to level in a certain way. "

Why? Nothing is stopping you from only using one kind of weapon, and you certainly can sculpt your character a certain way right at the start. I just posted to ask the first question, taking on the second because it kind of seemed pointless just to point that out.

"Umm, Skyrim and the rest are all Western RP Gs through and true. I don't know what you meant by that."

I have literally no idea what your sentence is supposed to mean.

"Why? Nothing is stopping you from only using one kind of weapon, and you certainly can sculpt your character a certain way right at the start. I just posted to ask the first question, taking on the second because it kind of seemed pointless just to point that out."

It takes about five levels at least for any of your skills to start becoming distinct from the others. As in, it's an incredibly slow burn before I start feeling like my character is a mage or a warrior. Daggerfall's system (As easy to abuse as it was) allowed you to tailor all your characters strengths skills and weaknesses from the start.

I think s/he meant that Skyrim and the rest of the Elder Scrolls series are Western RP Gs rather than Eastern RP Gs (JRP Gs) as your review had said. S/he's right too, because JRP Gs are primarily defined by preset protagonists, limited customisation, limited or non-existent player agency and linear worlds that focus on the main plot and don't let your character wander about much, unless it's to grind and/or complete a couple sidequests. Essentially, Skyrim is the antithesis of Eastern RP Gs, particularly since it wasn't even made in the East. (Not that geography really matters here: RP Gs like Of Orcs And Men and OFF are both made in France, yet their gameplay is pure JRPG.)

NTC 3 pretty much said everything I wanted to say. I was trying to keep the word count down for more interesting and relevant comments, while still getting my points across. NTC 3 got my point across better than I could anyway...

Clarifying in my own words: What did you mean by calling it an Eastern RPG? The Eastern RPG genre is where games like Pokemon, Final Fantasy, or Persona. They generally have a rigid "Focus on this!" plot with little sandbox elements. Most also have turned-based combat, with something like a menu to choose attacks from. First person shooter (slasher?) like elements generally don't exist in ERP Gs either. We have a list on TV tropes of "Eastern RPG" traits, and Skyrim and the rest of the Elder Scroll games have few, if any, of these traits.

In essence, what I am trying to say is that Skrim is as Western as a sunset. As such, I am wondering why you consider it to be an Eastern game, and what you where referring to by calling it that. I hope that cleared some things up.

I play Skyrim for the experience, not the story. If I played it for the story, I could easily talk about how the Civil War questline is superior to the whole "cliche force of destruction". I haven't exactly finished the game, but I think that having the chance to do things like take down a dragon, massacre an entire city, and learn about this world's lore while exploring a beautiful world is much better than having to read about it in a book.

Basically, my point here is, would you rather have a game with lackluster gameplay and a good story? Or would you rather sacrifice some of the substance for the gameplay? And let me remind you, that no matter how good your game's story is, if it doesn't have some form of enjoyable gameplay, then I might as well be watching a walkthrough.

Now to your review....

"A bit of a blow since the graphics aren't all that amazing, especially when you look at things up close..."

- The graphics still hold up even today. I've seen games with worse graphics. And although the graphics aren't the most amazing things in this game, the amount of detail they put in some of its structures is astounding. I once saw ants moving along a trunk of a tree once I looked close enough. It's stuff like this that tells you that the developers weren't fucking around when making this game.

"I don't like this namby-pamby wishy-washy 'play it how YOU want to play' method, I want to be able to sculpt my character from the getgo to level in a certain way."

- Well if that is your preference then its obvious why you have had a hard time with this game. You have to gradually gain the skills that you desire unlike in most other RP Gs.

"some truly hilariously abysmal animations that look utterly unfinished (Wolf-Aela in the underforge come to mind)"

- Have you been playing on PC or something? It looked alright to me. Now the glitches on the other hand....

"and the fact that the two main story threads of Alduin and the Civil War end with very little resolution or reward to the player. To me it feels like they should have just made one of those the focus and added more to them."

- Critically I agree. They really should have made the Civil War the focus but since I'm playing mostly for the experience I'm pretty indifferent to it.

"Here you're getting batted about by those two tards in the Blades, or working alongside those braindead jackasses in the Thieves Guild (Damnit Karliah, Mercer Frey is about as threatening and dangerous as a poodle). Plus constantly fighting dragons feels more like a chore, and many shouts grow to feel kinda useless."

- I kinda agree with the dragons bit but I still kinda find it fun (Why don't they use shouts?)

Idk about the Guilds but I can say that some shouts are kinda useful. The Relenting Force shout feels useless (to me) but the Aura shout (the one where you can see life forces) helped me a bunch on the open world of Skyrim. The Ice form shout helped me a ton to get some free shots on high level creatures, and one shout even gives you invincibility for a few seconds. Not all of them are useless but yeah I can see where you're coming from.