Share Your Opinions on TESV Here. (No Spoilers)

[AnImpatientFan]

I thought I woud create this thread so we can share our opinions TESV. (Once we get it.)
It'd be interesting just to hear some of your opinions.

Please keep the thread spoier free.

[AnImpatientFan]

The street date in Australia broke!
The retailers have broken the release date!

In less than an hour and a half I should have the game!

8o 8o 8o

[Knight]

Installing my copy now Broken release date for the win

[Knight]

No, i demand that steam let me install the game!

[AnImpatientFan]

Oh Well...

"Cannot install Elder Scrolls V Skyrim because the game has not yet released."

[AnImpatientFan]

The game is really, really good.

A few things though:


Some quest AI's don't have full routines. (For instance Riverwood Trader always sits at his counter and Riverwood inn owners never sleep.)

The world now feels bigger but is actually the same size a Cyrodiil. It's probably still too cramped.

[jucklesjenk]

Huge improvement from Oblvion. Great game.

The menu (character menus ie for inventory) is a bit annoying IMO, because the buttons change, like to take stuff out of a chest is a different button to putting stuff in. Only a minor point, but one that bugs me slightly.

[AnImpatientFan]

:evil: I think the interface is okay on the Xbox gamepad but rather clunky on a keyboard.
I also don't like the removal of weapon-wear and the new health regeneration mechanic.

Apart from that:

I love how the world feels very dynamic, such as when you kill an unscripted dragon in front of the residents of a town and they start to congregate around it's body and proclaim you Dovakhiin! Although I'm sure it's just a good use of AI tricks and scripting it feels very real and unique every time something like that happens.

The world is also quite nice to just ride around. I haven't used fast-travel 25 hours into the game and the world really forces you to think where you are going. Do I go through the Vantheim towers pass? Do I go back around the Pale? Do I risk getting ambushed by bandits at Helgen?
The game world and landscape perfectly blends into the Radiant Storytelling so it's not just a sideshow or a launcing platform between quests.

The cities, although about the same size as Cyrodiils, have expotentially more organic life and things to do than the robotic and repetitive cities of Oblivion.

The quests also seem to take advantage of more complicated scripting and AI work. Some of the* [spoiler] sieges in the civil war[/spoiler] *are extremely well done. It feels like you are in the Lord of the Rings.
Quests such as Hircine's are particulary good, plenty of choices that don't just lead to different loot but to hours of extra gameplay.

The lore behind Skyrim also feels better embeded into the world this time. In Cyrodiil, if you weren't a lore buff you really couldn't know or learn much about the backstory of the world. Skyrim feels like the main character of TESV.

I also must compliment the environments of the game. I am still on the fence about whether The Rift Plateau, The Falkreath Forest, or the Karth River Canyon is my favourite environment but it doesn't matter! I would take all of them. Even when a region is just a grassy field it feels better than Oblivion in so many ways. The North Sea's icebergs are bloody amazing, High Hrothgars views are stunning and jaw dropping and the marsh of Morthal feels unique from your genetic fantasy marsh. The list goes on and on.

The graphics of the game are pretty good even when compared to the really, really heavy hitters of this year. (Battlefield 3 still has a substantial visual edge.)
I like how to some extent the environments make up and hide the rendering of textures and characters. It's only in almost completely empty areas that I notice the grass rendering in front of me.

I'm (half-sarcastically) worrying how we are going to get a mod to this standard!

_________________________

A few things I reccomend doing for those who have the game:

*MINOR SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO DISCOVER SOME THINGS FOR THEMSELVES*

Go to the Falkreath jail and talk to the guy in solitary confinement. (;
Ride from Falkreath to Markath then Solitude.
Flee from a dragon back to Riverwood and watch the epic fight with all you favourite friendly residents involved. (;
Kill a dragon in front of a passerby or townspeople. (;
Play on the hardest difficulty.
Interrupt to "business" of the Imperials as you first enter Solitude.
Go to Azuras Shrine.
Get Married, go to Riften, the temple of Mara and arrange a wedding. All the NPCs you have befriended and done favours for will come to see you wed!
Become a level 4 vampire. (Not tried this yet.)
Become a werewolf and go on a rampage through the streets of a city. (Need to complete part of a quesline first.) (Not tried this personally.)
Fall in love with Camila Varenius then get walked in on by...
FUS RO DAH! The kids dog, Stump, in Riverwood. (Cruel, savage and gets you a big bounty )
FUS RO DAH! Some chickens. (You get a bounty.)
FUS RO DAH! a random in a town. (You get a bounty.)
Whirlwind sprint everywhere and see how people react.
Visit the Grey-Quarter in Windhelm, a taste of Dunmer culture. Lore info about Morrowind in the 4th Era.
Read "The Great War" book in Whiterun castle war room behind the map on some bookshelves.

[jucklesjenk]

I think the cities are bigger, if only a little bit, but they are definitely better. Loads more life, with people selling at market stalls outside, smithing outside, children running through the streets etc. There's just more going on. The cities all feel unique as well. Sure, the architecture was different in each of the Oblivion cities, but that was all that was different. Here, the cities actually have the geography of the land influencing the way they are built (which looks magnificent) as well as the clans of the areas competing for control of the hold.

The AI is much better IMO, with people actually doing things during the day instead of just standing around or wandering, eg. blacksmiths use grindstones and tan leather.

One of the best things is that each dungeon actually feels different from the last. In Oblivion I couldn't be bothered at all with exploring the world because once you'd been in one dungeon, you'd been in all of them. In Skyrim, I'm dungeon delving for fun.

[Knight]

Absolutely loving this game, I have been walking around with my enchanted dwarfen battle-hammer for hours robbing and killing

Game suffers from a few AI issues and i believe theft is far too easy to get away with even on master difficulty but they are my only complaints.

I was also able to become a wolf in prison today(not sure how)... had a right old massacre.