Skyrim was released one year ago to critical acclaim. Just about everyone in the gaming community was playing it and loving the hell out of it. But how do you feel about the game now?

My opinion hasn't changed on it really. I look back on my 2 or so months of playing it fondly but I have absolutely no desire to return. Skyrim was just a point in time for me I guess and since the DLC has been lackluster, it gave me no excuse to return. I have the PS3 version and even if the DLC was out I wouldn't even bother with it, just wasn't interesting to me. I'm just surprised that the tail of Skyrim didn't last longer considering I spent the majority of 2009 playing Fallout 3.

It's been a year already. Damn. I still think its pretty good, though I haven't played it since like February.

I return every now and then role-playing a new character in my modded game. I agree the game has lost its magic and wonder as the first time through it (I explored every dungeon of the map in the first playthrough), but it's still a beautiful place. I spent at least 200 hours in the game now, I have yet played the civil war and thieves guild quests, and most of the evil/jerk options.

Dawnguard was pretty boring. No need to stress over it. Fallout 3, favourite game of all time, but it's significantly shorter than Skyrim.

I've been playing Skyrim since release, and I still love it, jank and all. Oh man, that jank. I thought about buying the DLC, but seeing as how I haven't even finished the main storyline... a whole year later... I don't really see the point. I still have tons of stuff to do in that game.

Really nice setting, great art assets, but...

Underwhelming loot, kind of a lifeless world since nothing you do is remembered or referenced. Super tedious caves/dungeons and the combat is lame, the caves and dungeons really killed my enjoyment after about 20 hours.

Might jump back in, in the near future and just go for a different playstyle entirely because there's definitely more stuff to explore, I just wish the gameplay matched the quality of the world building.

Still a great game, but it seems like quite a few of us have already put 200 hours in. I'm looking forward to another playthrough when all the DLC is out and the mods have been refined into some amazing quality.

still need to play it. have it on steam just been playing games that i'm working on.

Still one of my favourite games though I've been staying away from it to finish my university years (logically) and playing through other games as well. I shall return to it when the next DLC is out and may just buy all the DLC and have a playthrough with plenty of mods.

The PS3 version is a colossal piece of shit, but I enjoyed the Companions quest line at least.

One of the best of this generation. Can't wait for the Dragonborn DLC to jump back into this bad boy.

I think it's telling that I haven't played Skyrim seriously since December. From a purely objective perspective, it's a far superior game than Oblivion, but whereas I've sunk hundreds of hours into the former, my current play count in Skyrim is a mere 57 hours. I could probably blame a few things, me not being 13 probably being the foremost, but the big dumb sandbox nature of Oblivion really appealed to me in a way that the newer Bethesda-style games don't quite match. Also, Skyrim is hella easy once your character reaches 50.

Still love the hell out of Skyrim. Put 97 hours into it, and it was one of my faves of last year.

Still haven't touched it... I want my first time playing Skyrim to be at its peak, on a PC that can run it at max settings, so I'm waiting until the time I can somehow afford one. Same deal with The Witcher 2.

A great game, but they defintely need to step it up next time. The loot was really boring compared to other games like borderlands or diablo. Also bethesda needs to learn to make characters more realistic in terms of reactions, dialogue, and animations. The game is so damn beautiful, but when you encounter other people that you aren't slaying it falls apart real quick for me.

Despite all of this it is easily one of the best games this gen. It is really a game you can just lose yourself in, and there are few games that offer an experience like it.

I haven't played it in about a month or two, but that is more due to me getting ahold of other games that I still need to finish than to me not having an interest anymore. Dishonored, Assassins Creed 3, Sleeping Dogs, Stalker: CoP, and a few others.

I loved what I played of it, but I never finished the main quest. I was always preoccupied trying to accomplish random personal goals I would set for myself. The upcoming Dragonborn DLC is exactly the excuse I need to dive back in. Apparently you go to Morrowind, and I don't need much more reason than that to check it out. Morrowind is still my favorite of the more recent three Elder Scrolls games, and the idea of revisiting some of those locations in HD is very exciting for me.

Played it again recently with mods, was still fun. On holiday now, might jump in for a few more hours

Much improved over Oblivion, but the loot was a major shortcoming. Even at level 50, chests were still giving me stupid stuff, like forks and leather armour.

Couldn't get into this one as much as Oblivion. Didn't feel there were as much unique quests + there was that mmo collecting crap. I missed the custom spell option and enchanting freedom. My theory is that you only really like your first Elder Scrolls game.

I put 600 hours into the game, all 5 campaigns, only 2 complete.

My biggest issue with this game is that, for how HUGE the world is, there is very little in it. Bethesda was too scared in making their game "imbalanced" even if it was inevitable to do so. We now have a game with a bunch of side quests that become very unrewarding once you reach the final armor and weapon tiers.

There's also very little enemy variety, and this is mostly because Bethesda put so much life into what is there. Every foe that is met in this game comes with incredible sounds, animations, and effects that it makes their fantastical presence almost believable. It does make this 100-hour journey a little stale though since you would expect things to change the more you leveled up, other than the names of certain Draugr.

Another issue is thievery. IT SUCKS. Very boring. Make thievery like Morrowind where lockpicking is in game, and make stealth more challenging. They really have to improve on pacifistic playstyles such as thievery.

Either way, Skyrim's a pretty cool game. They just have to take the leap and make some ambitious risks instead of "improving" on things. The DLC, however, is adding shit to the game that will fill up all the empty spots that the developers were too anxious to fill. We're getting more weapon types, more enemies, and simply more cool stuff to do. Let's hope Elder Scrolls VI: Elswyr/Hammerfell will do a better job at making a more overwhelming game.

I still feel good about it. I got sick of it after 300 hours and two different character builds. Too little time has passed since I quit playing it for me to be ready to dive back in with DLC or whatever, but it's still an excellent entry to the genre. I'm finding myself fighting the urge to give in to my GTA5 anticipation and start playing GTA4 again (especially after having just finished Sleeping Dogs), and I've been thinking about going back and giving Fallout New Vegas another shot instead. The two genres are different enough that I think it'll keep me from getting sick of the similarities. The worst thing that could happen would be getting sick of open world action games just before GTA5 comes out, but I don't have enough will power to go the final six months to avoid open world roleplaying altogether.
 
@Green_Incarnate said:

Couldn't get into this one as much as Oblivion. Didn't feel there were as much unique quests + there was that mmo collecting crap. I missed the custom spell option and enchanting freedom. My theory is that you only really like your first Elder Scrolls game.

My problem with Skyrim was that I S-ranked it. Once I had all the achievements my desire to play and explore it was gone... even though there was still a lot you could have done! So next time I wish for some really hard achievements that take some time and effort.

Nope, can't do it. I have over 300 hours in it, and I can't play it, not for another second.

I enjoyed Skyrim a lot when it came out and I still think it is a great game. The problem is that I have 200 hours sinked into one 56 level character that has done almost all quests in the game (if you don't count miscellaneous quests) and I need to forget most of that game before I can jump in again. In the meantime, it has been 4 years since I finished Fallout 3 so I started playing it again, dreaming of the day when Fallout 4 comes out...

Still love the game, really enjoyed returning to it for another 30 hours (I've now hit 180 hours in Skyrim) for Dawnguard and I'm looking forward to getting back into it again when Dragonborn drops (which looks fucking awesome). Definitely my favourite from last year, I still haven't done all of the main sidequests.

I got 70 hours across a few characters and still have tons to do in the game, i think its great and am looking forward to seeing Dragonborn. Its got its flaws for sure but most can be over-looked, as others have said though i think there biggest issues is still making the combat more interesting and less awkward. Thats where i hope they try and improve the most on the next game.

You know what I realised, I realised how much I enjoy the way Borderlands 2 plays.

I've put 165 hours into it. I have to say I really like it.

I had the Bethesda experience I usually have. I like it, I play it way too much, I hate it. The experiences they create are just too shallow to last for the length of the game. It's a game of great first experiences that you repeat again and again until you are numb to anything you ever felt about them.

Still playing it, still loving it. I like that new patches sometimes means new content, like fighting while riding. I've played 600 hours plus so far and finding new and interesting experiences each play through.

Then again, I still play Fallout 3...

Got bored after 40 hours. Enjoyed some of the quest lines, but the combat just got tiring.

I still think its one of the most boring game worlds I have ever experienced.

Put like 150 hours into it, finished most big questlines, except for the Rebellion and the Main Quest. The game was absolutely amazing for the first 50 hours - and then Balancing started to break, which made the game a whole lot less interesting and even more tedious. My biggest dislike outside of broken balance are the limited funds traders.

Overall - I'd just wish Bethesda finally nails the balance between character progression and difficulty scaling, and that they'll lose some of the the tedium, like limited funds traders. Because of the broken balance and the tedium, I have zero interest in DLC.

I do however play with the idea of restarting the game with a new character. To refrain from stealth and crafting and all the crap that broke the camel's back, and go into trading and such, to alleviate some of Skyrim's tedium. And finally do the Rebellion and Main Quest to their conclusion.

I played 200 hours with one character during the end of last year, and since then I've made a few attempts to start a new character and go through again; in those 200 hours I didn't actually finish much, and I still needed to beat the story, the Mage's College line, the Dark Brotherhood, and the Thieves Guild. For some reason, even with added mods, I couldn't quite bring myself to start putting serious time into a new character. I think that once I've played all the 2012 games I want to play - still got to tick Dishonored, Mark of the Ninja, and The Walking Dead off the list - and once the new DLC is out, I'll give it another go at playing a mage.

The 200 hours I've played with that one character is some of the most fun I've ever had with a video game. I understand the game's criticisms, but it's so rare that I find a game to be as engaging, compelling, and epic as Skyrim. I spent a ridiculous amount of time in Skyrim doing pretty mundane things - not just diving into random somewhat same-y dungeons, but hours and hours crafting potions and building armour. It seems very silly in hindsight, but the fact that was willing to put that time in is an indication of just how friggin absorbed I was in that game, both its world and its mechanics.

In fact, if you asked me to make a top five games of the generation list, I'm pretty sure it would look something like this:

1a) Oblivion

1b) Skyrim

2) Dragon Age: Origins

3) BioShock

4) Fallout 3

5) Red Dead Redemption

I still haven't finished the main campaign.... uh... its a decent enough game and all I just don't really have much desire to go back to it. Even last year it wasn't my favorite game that honor went to the true GotY last year Saints Row The Third which was woefully robbed of its status on Giantbomb.com.

@lclay said:

I still think its one of the most boring game worlds I have ever experienced.

just for balance what would you say is the most exciting world you have experienced.

I went back to it recently and good lord is it ever the highest production Progress Quest I've ever played.
 
I can't remember one single character's name (apart from J'zargo obviously), the combat is just pausing to blast out all your most powerful attacks, and then pausing to keep healing, and whenever I enchant or craft an item I'm more interested in the highest value ones than the useful or fun ones, cos the game's really just about levelling up and unlocking the next tier. I guess I must've had fun exploring the world before, but once you're familiar with what's possible and what isn't, you can just see straight through everything.
 
It wasn't til I saw the Witcher 2 that I realised the monsters in Skyrim are boring as hell. A spider? A skeleton man? Is this Minecraft? You're allowed to have some fun with this, guys.

@lclay said:

I still think its one of the most boring game worlds I have ever experienced.

just for balance what would you say is the most exciting world you have experienced.

Eh. I'm not really digging it. I played it through once and tried making another character (magic) and then another (stealth). But the missions are pretty bad in Skyrim, in my opinion.

All you do is kill Dragurs. Fighting Dragons feels kinda janky. Stealth is way overpowered. Magic takes ages to become fun and useful.

I find it very hard to go back to and play again, as opposed to the previous Bethesda games (Oblivion, FO3, NW). I did play 178 hours, so it's not all bad, and I did enjoy it at release. It just doesn't have that "Come back and play" factor.

Tried modding the crap out of it, but it still feels boring to me.

Oh and pretty much all the factions are worse than in Oblivion.

I actually just started playing it a couple of weeks ago. I haven't had a ton of time to spare, so I'm only about 16 hours in. But for someone who never before played RPG's until recently, this game is FUCKING AMAZING.

Still love it. I just started replaying it in the lead up to Dragonborn 

Still great and as soon as Dragonborn comes out for PC, I plan on buying all the DLC and jumping back in. It's been a while since I've played, but now my Skyrim craving is finally starting to build up again.

One year later, I've still got Morrowind installed.

Skyrim is still the best game that came out last year, hands down.

On PC it is probably the most beautiful game I have ever played.

There is no other game that can immerse you as well as Skyrim does. The world is so gloriously crafted that every time I go back I see something new.

(EDIT: As a game, yes it's broken. Combat is fine (stop complaining, the slowmo kill cams are fantastic) but it's trivially easy and sneaking is broken. But in what game isn't sneaking broken? That's not why I play Skyrim though. That stuff is there by necessity it's the rest of the game that makes it amazing.)

Great game with too many bugs and problems really. Yeah, patched all to hell but it killed my first game/character for me as my companion's questline broke. A few months ago I restarted with an archer/stealthy character and played through the theives and d. brotherhood questlines and it was fun again. Like many have said itt, Bethesda has to incorporate more loot into their games, many more rares and uniques especially. Once you can make any weapon or armor with your desired effects some of the fun is really lost. Also there is this ES burnout affect I believe. After so many hrs. playing Oblivion it just doesn't feel 'new' anymore.

I just really hope the next-gen ES gets a new game engine that can handle all the data and everything going on in a huge world without all the bugs and glitches...spend the damn money and time already Bethesda.

Still love it, with the PC version im constantly finding new mods to expand my world, from new quests to new items and perk trees, with the way i like to play these gamesi can keep going back to skyrim and there will always be something for me to do

Skyrim peaked for me about 20 to 30 hours in when I had my first dragon battle on the side of a mountain in a raging blizzard. We were pounding on each other for what seemed like forever. I was finally running low on health and recovery options when he came in to finish me off and I smacked him in the face with my war axe, got the action cam of my jumping on his head and wailing on his skull over and over before he finally went down. Fuck yeah!

Nothing else in the game ever measured up to that one moment of sheer awesomeness. The game is full of wonderfully interesting characters, but none of the overarching stories really grabbed me in any way.

Loved what I played of it at the time (It was my favourite game of last year after all) and I still think it's a great game but I keep thinking to myself why I hold Morrowind in higher regard. Was it nostalgia? Was it the world? I've come to the conclusion that Morrowind was just a lot weirder and unique. The loot, the armour, the law it was just... Different. Skyrim had great designs but it all felt too Game of Thrones/LOTR-esque.

The main thing that prevents me from going back to Skyrim though is the best armour & weapons in the game were your own creation (with enchantments) whereas in Morrowind you kept finding items that were far beyond anything you could create even with Vivec's fabled soul shard. I havent played the DLC, but I doubt any of the weapons were as obscure as a fucking klingon cresent blade.

I bought the PS3 version. It was fucked for a while. Constant bugs, glitches, couple of lock-ups, a quest that I can't finish and no DLC. So considering all that you can guess how I feel about Skyrim.

My favourite game of all time. With each elder scrolls game I like them more.