Yeah, I’d also recommend trying a different type of character. My experience as a sneaky archer/mage on the highest difficulty has been truly great. The major advancements from Morrowind to Oblivion to Skyrim have been in combat gameplay, dungeon design, better rewards for exploration by peppering the world with better stories. They have also done a really good job of supporting the controller with excellent force feedback, so that you feel something substantial when you sword hits an opponent, or when you’re near a giant and can feel his footsteps shake the land around him. Or if someone hits the shield in your left hand, you really feel it in your left hand as you hold the controllercontroller, which makes the melee combat feel so much more substantial than clicking a mouse button with no feedback.
peterb
3082
(all of that said - if you’re bored, you’re bored. I totally maxxed out on Skyrim last Winter, and then ignored it for a year, and just picked it up again this month and like it again. There’s no shame in feeling like you’ve reached a saturation point and need a break.)
One aspect that I forgot to comment on is possibly the biggest improvement over previous games in the series. Morrowind started off pretty hard, but as I leveled up, it became easier and easier until it just wasn’t fun to explore anymore because I was fighting supposedly the toughest enemies in the game only 40 hours in, having boring challenge-free combat, collecting grand souls left and right. So even though I’d only explored about half the area in the game, I just stopped caring and could never go back, not even when the expansions were released.
In Oblivion, I lasted a lot longer before becoming a god. After about 200 hours I had done all the major factions and explored about 70 percent of the map before the game became too easy. I tried upping the difficulty meter in the game, but that was just a meter which, as you turned it up, gave everyone in the world more hit points. It just made the fights more tedious and they lasted longer.
In Skyrim, they added discrete difficulty levels, and started me off by default on the hardest one (master). I can’t comment on the lower difficulty levels, but Master difficulty has been superb so far. I’m only 133 hours in, I’ve only explored about half the map and been to only 4 cities, but the game has been very challenging throughout. I hope it lasts.
Razgon
3084
how the heck can you be 133 in the game, and only have explored half the map? What do you do, roleplay sleep cycles as well? ;-)
Giaddon
3085
If you never fast travel and like to explore the dungeons and do all the quests in the cities, half the map can take a hundred, easy.
What Giaddon said. Plus the dungeons take a really long time on Master difficulty. Each section of a dungeon is a tactical challenge. For example, there can be three swordsmen, 2 archers and a magic userin the next section. In my first attempt i just go in guns blazing just to assess the situation. I die pretty quickly but now I know my enemies and I know the lay of the room.
In my next attempt I can see if I can sneak in and take out the toughest enemy in the room first, while everyone is unaware of my presence. Keep in mind that archers can kill me with one critical, and so can swordsmen, so it’s tough to determine the toughest enemy in the room sometimes. Usually most things I try fail before I figure out the right tactics given any particular room and its geography, and how many men I can take out before the others notice. Every room is interesting and challenging and usually takes a while. I don’t like using save and load tactics during a battle so I generally handle saving one situation at a time.
Rock8man, I’d just note that the expansions for Morrowind added much, much harder enemies. Even loaded up on artifacts they were a challenge. The trouble is (presumably to avoid breaking mods) they didn’t add any harder enemies to the main Morrowind world.
JeffL
3088
I have been playing Skyrim for a gazillion hours. One character, a stealthy archer who has his own sense of morals. E.g. He will not steal for the poor. I never fast travel, because I’m more into just roaming free play than extremely goal oriented play. That may be why I love it, and I can see why people who play such games to “win” or with a goal focus may like it less. Btw only level 51.
For me , there’s just never been a game that gives me such a free and open and dynamic world in which to explore. And create my own stories. It’s better than Morrowwind and Oblivion for that for many reasons already articulated.
Guess I’ll persevere for a bit longer, perhaps try out mounted combat, which is one of the new things in the series. I also remember reading about dual wield being fun, so perhaps I need to play a melee fighter focused character, rather than the mage/thief archetypes I normally play in these games.
One thing that dawned on me after posting last night, is that this is essentially the same engine from Oblivion/Fallout 3/New Vegas. The same awkward animations and the same kind of movement and character behavior. That’s why it feels so familiar, if you replace a sword with a lead pipe, your melee character can be wholly transplanted into New Vegas.
Some people mentioned that perhaps I need more of a focused story, and I think you’re right. I realized that what I actually want is to play another Mass Effect 3 or New Vegas. So, to avoid creating a new thread, let me ask this here: assuming I continue to be unable to get into Skyrim over the next few days, what would people recommend from the last few years, in the vein of ME3 or New Vegas, for someone burned out on TES style games?
Giaddon
3090
Dark Souls.
The Witcher 2.
I treated Skyrim as a walking simulator and bow hunting game. Loved it.
I doubt it.
One thing that dawned on me after posting last night, is that this is essentially the same engine from Oblivion/Fallout 3/New Vegas.
Yes, but there are enough improvements to make a difference to me. I should know. I played Shivering Isles a couple months before Skyrim. I absolutely hated it. I was pretty sick of New Vegas too after 30 hours. I can’t look at that engine anymore.
nKoan
3092
Some of my favorite moments in the game are just wandering around the countryside around Riften and Windhelm.
JeffL
3093
Yep, for me it is just what I want. An open world in which I can pretty much do whatever the heck I want.
I still haven’t been to the Riften side of the map. That’s the city you’re told to go to when you find your first ruby thingie right? I usually don’t visit cities unless there’s an in-game reason for me to go to that region via a quest. And so far in the game, I haven’t acquired any quests that need me to travel to that city. Outside of the game, I’ve also heard that’s where the Thief and Assassin’s Guilds are, so I’m looking forward to visiting that region one day. I’m sure I’ll eventually come across a quest that takes me there besides “oh look, a glowing ruby thing, I should go to this one city to get it appraised”.
Giaddon
3095
Oh man, the Rift is a great area. You’re in for a treat… Eventually.
JeffL
3096
Riften is indeed a fun and interesting place. :)
nKoan
3097
I’m not a huge fan of Riften itself, actually. I just think all of the countryside around it is awesome.
peterb
3098
The expansion is…awesome so far. You even get the Morrowind music, and the flora, without having to tolerate the hypershitty Morrowind UI.
EDIT: However, no one has called me “N’wah” yet.
