Help me out here Forumners!

Everyone keeps talking about how Skyrim is so mind bogglingly huge, how there's a depth to it that's never been seen, how its so big and meaty. Is everyone forgetting that it's been done before? Look at Morrowind, there was easily as much content (especially once you take the modding community into account), but everyone's acting like Skyrim is something completely new. Can you explain why this is?

Also, why are people seriously talking about DLC? They'll put the modding tools out for it eventually (they better at least), so, why would anyone buy DLC for it when you can just mod it in for free?

Don't get me wrong, Skyrim is a fine game, but I'm just confused why everyone is so astounded by it.

They will make expansion packs and not dlc.

I don't think its so much being astounded as it is being excited. At least for me. I knew the game would be massive and I could customise my dude but knowing roughly what I'm getting in to doesn't change the fact that its executed as well as it is.
And for people playing on consoles DLC is a big deal cause there's no mod community.

You'd be surprised how many people don't know what mods are or understand them.

Another one of these threads. Great.

@ShadowConqueror said:

Another one of these threads. Great.

@ShadowConqueror: Another one of these replies. Great. Wonderful contribution to the conversation. Thank you for your well thought out, meaningful post =)

I've never heard anybody say they were astounded or that it's new.

@Gladiator_Games: Use the search feature before you make threads. It's there for a reason.

@Gladiator_Games said:

Help me out here Forumners!

Everyone keeps talking about how Skyrim is so mind bogglingly huge, how there's a depth to it that's never been seen, how its so big and meaty. Is everyone forgetting that it's been done before? Look at Morrowind, there was easily as much content (especially once you take the modding community into account), but everyone's acting like Skyrim is something completely new. Can you explain why this is?

Also, why are people seriously talking about DLC? They'll put the modding tools out for it eventually (they better at least), so, why would anyone buy DLC for it when you can just mod it in for free?

Don't get me wrong, Skyrim is a fine game, but I'm just confused why everyone is so astounded by it.

Morrowind is my favorite game of all time, but I think you underestimate the huge difference in usability between morrowind and skryim. Morrowind is a very dense game, that does a very bad job of showing you all the stuff you can do in it.

As for DLC, as much as I love what the mod community has done in the past, the majority of mods are either mediocre to poor in terms of quality, or really really really creepy sex and sexually explicit mods that make me feel uncomfortable to be playing the same game as the people who made and use those mods.

I don't think it's completely new but it's something that gamers have been starving for as no other game out there can compete with what Skyrim (Bethesda games) do. I never played Morrowind but played Oblivion (which I know a lot of fans says Morrowind was better) but they have improved so much from those games it is kind of astounding. This is not like a million other FPS games that come out every year it is a one of a kind experience that no other game can deliver. This is why I think so many people say so many great things about the game, no one else is doing this in this scale.

The only knock I can put against it after 100 or so hours of play time is the need for better melee combat and a better sense of relationships with NPC's, an area where Bioware shines through in my opinion. It would of been nice to see some companions with unique story lines, but when you look at how much content they put into the game it's hard to complain without feeling like an asshole.

As for DLC I will buy it (I play on PC) becuase it will most likely be of a high quality standard that no or very few mods can match. I want to support the game and it's makers so that they can continue to make awesome games, that's how it works.

I've never heard anybody say they were astounded or that it's new.

Its the cleanest in terms of lack major of major bugs (outside of the PS3) that Bethesda has ever put out. There are still issues (the UI is a terrible, terrible mess) and bugs that will pop up but compared to other Bethesda releases it actually works (outside again the PS3) so in that sense it is a surprise.

@Gladiator_Games: the game isn't without it's flaws, however i think the reason many people seem to enjoy this game so much has to do with how well everything within that scope has been designed and put together, not simply that it offers a ton of content--yes, that has been done before.

also, i'm not sure if i understood your last comment, but the implication i gathered was that modding content for a game is practically interchangeable, if not better than content designed by the developers in the form. if the question was why would i prefer the developer's content over modding, the answer is almost always going to be subjective don't you think? besides, it is the developer's game, they authored it, so it's safe to assume they probably know a little more about their world and narrative better than a community of modders.

It's a really good game don't be so shocked that so many people like it

Because it's far more of a shared experience this time, and that's always fun.  Skyrim has made a far bigger splash than even Oblivion did (and I remember that being a pretty big deal at the time), and certainly more than Morrowind. 
 
It seems like it's really grabbed people at the right time, and satisfied an audience which was crying out for an alternative.  Skyrim has kicked ass in terms of Steam sales, is the UK's #1 game for Christmas in retail sales and has pretty much ended the fallacy that games need to be shooters in order to push big numbers.  It's taken the commercial success of the new Fallout games and proven that it can be repeated without a game having to be shooter-based.  It's kind of a big deal and has the potential to be extremely influential -I think in a positive way- in terms of how AAA game development is viewed.

@BulletproofMonk said:

@MrKlorox said:

I've never heard anybody say they were astounded or that it's new.

This.

The intensity of yelling for it to be GOTY, and largely for those reasons (correct or not) puts the lie to that.

@MikeFightNight said:

Almost no Morrowind fan has anything but contempt for Oblivion at this point in time. This has been your: fanatical Morrowind attitudinal update.

as @twigger89 said Its something that exposes a lot of why Morrowind was great in a wonderfully accessible package. It does fall far short of Morrowind though.Specifically in number of ruins. Ruin running for artefacts is one of my favourite parts of Morrowind.

I am not enjoying it so much myself. It is better than Oblivion in a lot of key ways but the actual combat is still shit. That is a big deal to me.

I'm not interested in graphic mods. I want more quests and cool loot. Maybe more animals.

I'll buy good DLC because it's going to be better produced than 99.9% of fan mods. That's just a fact.

What's with the flood of contrarian views on Skyrim in the past few days?

The experience of playing Skyrim is new to me. This is my very first time playing an Elder Scrolls game ever, so in that perspective, one would find the experience new and astounding. And a lot of fun as well.

And I don't know, from what I've played so far, Skyrim isn't just interested in giving you lots of content just for the hell of it. I can say that it's been done before sure, but it's a well-made game (minus the horrible technical issues), so I can't complain much.

Aside from the obvious lack of conversation, the guy grumbling about this being the 100th post of the week questioning the excitement surrounding Skyrim is certainly topical. I don't lurk on GB nearly half as much as I used to, and this is probably the 10th thread I've seen of this nature in the past 4 days alone. Maybe it's time to give it a rest and let the game flesh out for a few more months?

At the time when Morrowind came out the video games weren't a billion dollar industry (or maybe it was the hell do I know) but there certainly wasn't 10 million TES players playing Morrowind.

I for one never played Morrowind but was amazed by Oblivion. Even more so by Fallout 3. And now that they took all those lessons and applied them to make their best game yet (except on PS3).

Also as far as I know every Bethesda game since Morrowind had story expansions/DLC and generally it's been pretty good.

@Vinny_Says said:

And now that they took all those lessons and applied them to make their best game yet.

This pretty much sums things up for me. Loved Morrowind to bits, Oblivion was decent, loved Fallout 3 - and Skyrim just rolls everything up and hits heaps of targets for me.

It's hard not to feel amazed when you're playing through a title in your favourite series and even little things jump out and make a good impression on you.

What's with the flood of contrarian views on Skyrim in the past few days?

I love every TES game since Daggerfall. But even back in the 90's I thought the world was too much module based. Everything about the worlds seemed like building blocks randomly put togheter, even to the point I knew exactly what was behind a corner even if I've never been there before. Skyrim is a more handcrafted ecperience in every way. And that's why I'm astounded.

I don't think anyone would argue that there's more depth in Skyrim than past Elder Scrolls games; but the layer of polish on the quest design, and the spread of that depth across the whole game is something Bethesda hasn't been able to do until now. You can literally walk anywhere in Skyrim and have something interesting happen to you, while in Morrowind a lot of it was empty space. Face it fanboys, Morrowind was boring as hell: I played the shit out of it too, but that game is well past its prime and has been trumped many times over by Skyrim.

I love every TES game since Daggerfall. But even back in the 90's I thought the world was too much module based. Everything about the worlds seemed like building blocks randomly put togheter, even to the point I knew exactly what was behind a corner even if I've never been there before. Skyrim is a more handcrafted ecperience in every way. And that's why I'm astounded.

I'm astounded by Skyrim and this thread. Heroin prices are astounding, too.

@Gladiator_Games:

We've already had this thread a few times before. Use the search option and add to those threads to tell us about your wonderment at our amazement.

@Gladiator_Games said:

Also, why are people seriously talking about DLC? They'll put the modding tools out for it eventually (they better at least), so, why would anyone buy DLC for it when you can just mod it in for free?

I totally agree! People are acting like there is a history of Bethesda titles and games with mods that still get DLC. Crazy talk.

Yeah, let me go ahead and download these free mods for my console version of Skyrim. Oh, wait...

@Axxol: @Axxol said:

Yeah, let me go ahead and download these free mods for my console version of Skyrim. Oh, wait...

i'd never begrudge one the option, so long as it remains only an option. also, you have to be careful around these parts. searching for sympathy as console owner typically ends in ridicule.

@studnoth1n said:

@Axxol: @Axxol said:

Yeah, let me go ahead and download these free mods for my console version of Skyrim. Oh, wait...

i'd never begrudge one the option, so long as it remains only an option. also, you have to be careful around these parts. searching for sympathy as console owner typically ends in ridicule.

What does "one the option'' mean?

Anyway, I'm not searching for sympathy, what in the hell are you talking about? The OP is asking why people are excited about DLC when they could just download free mods. There aren't any mods on the console versions, so I posted a sarcastic comment.

Because it's far more of a shared experience this time, and that's always fun.  Skyrim has made a far bigger splash than even Oblivion did (and I remember that being a pretty big deal at the time), and certainly more than Morrowind.   It seems like it's really grabbed people at the right time, and satisfied an audience which was crying out for an alternative.  Skyrim has kicked ass in terms of Steam sales, is the UK's #1 game for Christmas in retail sales and has pretty much ended the fallacy that games need to be shooters in order to push big numbers.  It's taken the commercial success of the new Fallout games and proven that it can be repeated without a game having to be shooter-based.  It's kind of a big deal and has the potential to be extremely influential -I think in a positive way- in terms of how AAA game development is viewed.

Because people got wrapped up in the hype.

Another Morrowind Aspie coming out of the woodwork. Skyrim is better than Morrowind, that's why people are making a big deal about it.

It's also not just a matter of content as it is all that content being worthwhile and interesting and well produced as opposed to glorified fetch quests, and all the systems at play actually meshing well where they didn't before.

@ShadowConqueror said:

Another one of these threads. Great.

@Gladiator_Games said:

Help me out here Forumners!

Everyone keeps talking about how Skyrim is so mind bogglingly huge, how there's a depth to it that's never been seen, how its so big and meaty. Is everyone forgetting that it's been done before? Look at Morrowind, there was easily as much content (especially once you take the modding community into account), but everyone's acting like Skyrim is something completely new. Can you explain why this is?

Also, why are people seriously talking about DLC? They'll put the modding tools out for it eventually (they better at least), so, why would anyone buy DLC for it when you can just mod it in for free?

Don't get me wrong, Skyrim is a fine game, but I'm just confused why everyone is so astounded by it.

Maybe less about it being new, but more because nothing this big that looks this good has been created before. It's been a while since we've had a game like this, so regardless of how much is truly new, it's exciting to have such a big sandbox to play it.

I've come to the conclusion that people play Skyrim for the exploration/atmosphere and LARPing potential. By LARPing I don't really mean live action roleplaying but what people loosely describe as "you can do anything in this game", and cynics refer to as "messing around".

There's a good definition here: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Roleplaying

Note that roleplaying doesn't really mean the stuff that's in conventional RPGs. Also skyrim isn't really that great in other gameplay aspects; it gets a free pass because the above; is what it does; and it does it rather well.

Another plus is there's a lot of content.

Things we usually expect from video games like good combat, AI, UI, game balance, endearing characters, good narrative, voice acting and so forth are not that important if you're in the demographic that this type of game appeals to.

Which is obviously not everyone. I found the game to be quite average honestly.

@EpicSteve said:

You'd be surprised how many people don't know what mods are or understand them.

Listen man, I keep trying but I can't do it. They never seem to work!

@Djstyles92 said:

@ShadowConqueror said:

Another one of these threads. Great.

@BrockNRolla said:

@Gladiator_Games said:

Help me out here Forumners!

Everyone keeps talking about how Skyrim is so mind bogglingly huge, how there's a depth to it that's never been seen, how its so big and meaty. Is everyone forgetting that it's been done before? Look at Morrowind, there was easily as much content (especially once you take the modding community into account), but everyone's acting like Skyrim is something completely new. Can you explain why this is?

Also, why are people seriously talking about DLC? They'll put the modding tools out for it eventually (they better at least), so, why would anyone buy DLC for it when you can just mod it in for free?

Don't get me wrong, Skyrim is a fine game, but I'm just confused why everyone is so astounded by it.

Maybe less about it being new, but more because nothing this big that looks this good has been created before. It's been a while since we've had a game like this, so regardless of how much is truly new, it's exciting to have such a big sandbox to play it.

Yeah, while it has it's problems, people enjoy it because it's a big world. It doesn't matter if something else did it before. Questioning everyone for being excited for this just because something did it before is actually, totally something a hipster would do.

You really can't appreciate Skyrim until you take an arrow to the...

Squirrel!

Allow me to clarify for everyone: Morrowind > Skyrim > Oblivion > Intimate Relationships with Other Human Beings.

Doesn't matter how good the games were before it. It still passes that special threshold.