sea's (Mostly Technical) Skyrim Initial Impressions

[Technoviking]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI3_y_V4bpA

I always felt Skyrim needed to look more like WoW

I'm not sure if this is noticeable to everyone, but at least on my IPS monitor the difference in the colours is absolutely astounding. After seeing both versions side by side, without the mod the world seems incredibly... washed out? I'm not sure which terms to use. My English sucks. <.<


[edit]
That being said, I suppose it could ruin the atmosphere for some people? Looks like the feel of the game will definitely be different.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

That makes two of us that have patience and don't crave instant gratification. I wonder if there are more of us?

resist instant gratitification, more like have more things on the having fun list higher up than 'play a bethesda game on release date without mods'

right now it is below 'find out how bad the transformers 3 movie is' on my list of priorities

I HIT THINGS WITH HAMMER AND TAKE POTATO I'M HAVING A GREAT TIME

he says, knowing he paid for the game without any discount whatsoever

the difference in the colours is absolutely astounding

r u srs bro, this isn't a magic bullet by any means
the first shot for example looks way too contrasty with the shadows darkened to heck, like someone just applied hard light 100% on top of it

well it certainly looks warmer overall and more 'high fantasy', I think if I was playing I might go with an in-between on luminosity changes and keeping the saturation

also I think the coldness of the palette is a valid direction, consider if the mod was the other way around

 

[Technoviking]

r u srs bro, this isn't a magic bullet by any means
the first shot for example looks way too contrasty with the shadows darkened to heck, like someone just applied hard light 100% on top of it

well it certainly looks warmer overall and more 'high fantasy', I think if I was playing I might go with an in-between on luminosity changes and keeping the saturation

also I think the coldness of the palette is a valid direction, consider if the mod was the other way around

I was just looking at the colours, I suppose. It's as if I was suddenly seeing a whole lot more of them and it seemed really nice. But I am no expert when it comes to these kind of things.

As far as the mod goes, you can fine tune the settings yourself it seems. At least that's what I gathered from the mod's website. Considering that, I suppose it's worth giving a shot at least. See if you find settings that you like?

 

[Gregz]

Worst guards ever.

Don't forget these guys:

 

[Gord]

r u srs bro, this isn't a magic bullet by any means
the first shot for example looks way too contrasty with the shadows darkened to heck, like someone just applied hard light 100% on top of it

well it certainly looks warmer overall and more 'high fantasy', I think if I was playing I might go with an in-between on luminosity changes and keeping the saturation

also I think the coldness of the palette is a valid direction, consider if the mod was the other way around

I was just looking at the colours, I suppose. It's as if I was suddenly seeing a whole lot more of them and it seemed really nice. But I am no expert when it comes to these kind of things.

As far as the mod goes, you can fine tune the settings yourself it seems. At least that's what I gathered from the mod's website. Considering that, I suppose it's worth giving a shot at least. See if you find settings that you like?

Color filters seem to be the latest fad. I suspect some desaturation filter to be at work in Skyrim.
The "mod" here is actually a nice technique, imho.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I HIT THINGS WITH HAMMER AND TAKE POTATO I'M HAVING A GREAT TIME

he says, knowing he paid for the game without any discount whatsoever

What do you take me for? Got it for $48 as opposed to $60.

 

[Gerrard]

The worst part is, no mods are going to fix the shitty combat.

Also, I met a snow bear earlier, it killed me in 4 hits, dealing more damage then dragon breath.

 

[Crispy]

How is the combat shitty other than the fact that a very powerful animal killed you in four swipes?

 

[sgc_meltdown]

What do you take me for? Got it for $48 as opposed to $60.

that's like 9 games during next months sale that you could have budgeted for

you've changed I don't know you anymore

 

[Black]

We'll just remove him from our majestic bro list.

 

[Gerrard]

How is the combat shitty other than the fact that a very powerful animal killed you in four swipes?

I already wrote about it a few pages back.

- Enemies don't react to being hit
- Blocking with weapon does nothing
- Can't control what attack I perform (unless it's a power attack)
- Some very overdrawn animations making it feel even more sluggish, since you can only walk while stuck in attack animation
- Greatswords have only 2 normal attacks, horizontal swings from left/right, and you can't even choose which to perform, it always starts from the right
(And even though I didn't try, I can bet that they share the animations with axes and hammers too, just showing how fucking lazy Bethshit is)

To expand form this, there are only two weapon types in the game: one handed and two handed. There's no difference between then except for looks and damage values, I'm pretty fucking sure there's no damage type like slash/stab/blunt. The only difference comes from skills that add something to particular type of weapon.
\Also add shitty hit detection and no localized damage (which means no headshots with bows).

Overall the combat is clunky as fuck and it feels like you have no control over your character half of the time.
Funny how no review mentioned this, considering how much time you spend fighting.

 

[Stabwound]

According to the blurbs on loading screens, different weapon types have different attack speeds.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

What do you take me for? Got it for $48 as opposed to $60.

that's like 9 games during next months sale that you could have budgeted for

you've changed I don't know you anymore

Don't worry bro, I've for a few hundred bucks set aside just for the Steam winter sale. I'll be ok.

 

[Nael]

It's also VERY refreshing that bandits won't attack you on sight. They will track your movement as you get close, draw weapons and give you the sign that you're on their turf and should leave and will only attack when you get very close.

I liked this too. If you're sneaky you can observe some interesting behavior on their part two. I witnessed two bandits having a fistfight to decide who would be keeping watch. The winner went to bed in his tent and the loser stayed at the campfire. Its little details like that that make for at least a memorable experience. And aside from little scripted routines like that the combat AI does some particularly interesting things especially in ranged fights. I've had a couple of opponents run and hide from me when getting the best of them in an LOS dependant engagement.

Its just a shame that the companion AI isn't as sharp or interesting.

A moment of extreme lulz: I stole a horse. When I got off the horse, it literally flied away (or more like got "pulled") to its original position far away right before my eyes. Gave me a WTF moment.

A well trained horse will do the same thing in real life.

How is the combat shitty other than the fact that a very powerful animal killed you in four swipes?

I already wrote about it a few pages back.

- Enemies don't react to being hit
- Blocking with weapon does nothing
- Can't control what attack I perform (unless it's a power attack)
- Some very overdrawn animations making it feel even more sluggish, since you can only walk while stuck in attack animation
- Greatswords have only 2 normal attacks, horizontal swings from left/right, and you can't even choose which to perform, it always starts from the right
(And even though I didn't try, I can bet that they share the animations with axes and hammers too, just showing how fucking lazy Bethshit is)

To expand form this, there are only two weapon types in the game: one handed and two handed. There's no difference between then except for looks and damage values, I'm pretty fucking sure there's no damage type like slash/stab/blunt. The only difference comes from skills that add something to particular type of weapon.
\Also add shitty hit detection and no localized damage (which means no headshots with bows).

Overall the combat is clunky as fuck and it feels like you have no control over your character half of the time.
Funny how no review mentioned this, considering how much time you spend fighting.

Different types of weapons affect attack speed and armor penetration. Also I have noticed that the melee combat feels like shit until you are properly skilled. Until about 40 skill in 1handed I felt like I was swinging around a heavy sack of dirty laundry instead of a mace. But as i said around 40 my blows were more solid and you could see the result of it being felt by my opponents staggering and falling to their knees after landing power attacks. Sorry, but you don't come out of the box as a HeMan-like superhero. You have to work for results. So hang in their, sport.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

a few hundred bucks set aside just for the Steam winter sale

http://i.imgur.com/Xmq5F.gif

 

[Luzur]

been gaming Skyrim since friday, and met some 6-7 dragons by now.

the 6th one circled me for some miles towards Solitude, RAAWR'ing and being very annoying in general, before finally landing and then get stuck on a signpost.

the 7th one i just console-killed and walked on.

hopefully modders will fix that shit.

 

[Crispy]

Enemies don't react to being hit

Not with every hit, no, but bipeds do sort of slump over once you get them wounded enough. Then it's a matter of finishing them off with a powerful blowjob. You can also choose to shield bash, which is surprisingly effective.

- Blocking with weapon does nothing

I believe this to be partially true, and I'm glad it is. I can see being able to block a blade with a blade and I'm pretty sure you can as long as you're not dual-wielding, but that's the only non-blocking setup there is. Blocking with a two-hander should not be as effective as with a shield.

- Can't control what attack I perform (unless it's a power attack)

It might be nice to be able to have done this, but can you give an example how in a TES game? It's never been there. Set a hotkey for swipe vs. lunge? What?

- Some very overdrawn animations making it feel even more sluggish,

This is a balance issue, although I won't argue with complaining about a lack of varying animations. That would've been more icing to enjoy, certainly. Blades' animations finish quicker, by design.

since you can only walk while stuck in attack animation

I think this might be another balance issue, similar to how they reduced backwards movement. In Morrowind and Oblivion it was pretty easy to achieve near non-hittable status dancing around everywhere with sprint on.

- Greatswords have only 2 normal attacks, horizontal swings from left/right, and you can't even choose which to perform, it always starts from the right

Yes, see above (not Phelot, my above reply to this issue).

Bethesda just has never been known for their animations expertise. It is a shame, but that seems to be the extent of your complaints here, at least the valid ones.

 

[Crispy]

Man, I fucking failed my own TES lore check. Arena and Daggerfall allowed perpendicular and horizontal weapon swinging, so point there definitely conceded.

 

[Tel Prydain]

What about the dragons? Seems like a decent concept, but from what I've seen it's an ez mode fight, apart from their bloated HP. They don't do anything while circling in the air, and when they land they go through a lengthy animation that really telegraphs their attack, so you have all the time to dodge or find cover. It looks like they're the quintessential epic (majestic?) enemy: very showy but no real threat.

I've been 1-shot killed by dragons doing fly-bys more than once, and there have been times I've been trying to fight dragons that just wouldn't land... (fair enough I guess, I wouldn't land if I could rain death from above).
I had to drop the skill from Master to Expert because I was tried of the buggers offing me with a single attack.

 

[Gerrard]

Different types of weapons affect attack speed and armor penetration. Also I have noticed that the melee combat feels like shit until you are properly skilled. Until about 40 skill in 1handed I felt like I was swinging around a heavy sack of dirty laundry instead of a mace. But as i said around 40 my blows were more solid and you could see the result of it being felt by my opponents staggering and falling to their knees after landing power attacks. Sorry, but you don't come out of the box as a HeMan-like superhero. You have to work for results. So hang in their, sport.

I have 70 two-handed and am using an upgraded (epic) dwemer greatsword. It still feels like I'm hitting air unless it's some random bandit or a skeleton which die in 1 hit. Sometimes even power attacks don't stagger enemies.

It might be nice to be able to have done this, but can you give an example how in a TES game? It's never been there. Set a hotkey for swipe vs. lunge? What?

Same way every other action game with sword combat did? By pressing a direction with attack. Even Gothic had better combat controls, and combat in Gothic was also clunky as hell. Hell, even Morrowind had vertical/horizontal/stab.
Once again JK2/3 return with their unrivaled sword controls. How can you fuck this up while having a perfect example right before your nose?

Blocking with a two-hander should not be as effective as with a shield.

Considering that the same skills are for both parrying and shields (with a few exceptions like needing a perk to actually completely block damage from arrows with a shield ), shields are pretty useless too. Except they also add armor rating (which does fuck all as far as I can tell, same shitty system used since Morrowind I guess).


Enemies not reacting to getting hit is just pure derp. It feels wrong, it looks retarded, it doesn't make any fucking sense.

Oh yeah, and having horses without the ability to fight from horse back when every 50 meters something attacks you is also fucking stupid.

 

[Heresiarch]

I am wondering on what difficulties do you guys play on? I am playing on Master since the beginning, but to be honest, as a pure mage, I feel the difficulty to be even more random.

For example, when exploring the tombs, I can kill a normal Draughr with a dual cast firebolt, but any other above Restless it seems it takes forever to kill. The main problem seems that just exactly like in Morrowind and Oblivion, difficulty levels only affect the damage you receive and the health of the enemies, and magic damage in Skyrim doesn't scale, so difficulty can become absurdly high when facing tougher than normal enemies. A guy on the bethsoft forums tested it out, monsters at master difficulty seems to be 4x as tough as normal. Doesn't mean well for a mage since there is FUCKING NO WAY to increase spell damage with equipment.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I started on adept or whatever the default was, and I've since bumped it up to expert. Might try jumping to master here soon. On the bright side enemies seem to have way less HP bloat than in Oblivion, but the downside is with my honking big twohander I can slap people at a distance and get through a fair number of fights without even being hit. This is my biggest concern with Skyrim at the moment, probably going to be too easy even though it's harder than un-modded Oblivion.

Also is a shame that the dragons are so weak. Fought the first named dragon for the main quest, then had my first INFINITE DARGON randomly attacking a bandit camp I was checking out. Infinite dargon circled around and did strafing runs on the bandits and was mostly impressive looking, but did fuck all damage for the most part. I had a more tense fight tackling two trolls at once.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

I was on Master, but eventually just gave up and put it on Expert for the same reason. As a mage, the insane HP bloat just wasn't fun - boss draugrs and dragons were just battles of attrition to see if I could spam them to death before my potions ran out or they hit me once.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

HEY MULTIHEADED COW

I've been told Oblivion GOTY edition is $5 on Steam.

 

[7hm]

Playing it on expert. I did switch it to the level below that (adept?) when I was lvl 2 or 3 and had some thieves coming after me in the first village. They had a note saying I was a thief. I couldn't kill them on expert - one of the guys kept one shotting me.

Anyway I really like the game so far. I'm playing this on the proper platform (console) so won't be able to experience the mods, but the UI makes sense, even if it's far from perfect.

It feels a lot less plastic than Oblivion did. I like that the stupid dialogue games are gone. The only minigame being lockpicking is good.

Crafting is fun.

I haven't really done too much in the way of fighting tbh. Mostly just wandering around and doing sidequests. Decided I won't fast travel - which is actually an option in this game because of the carriages (major incline from oblivion's lack of a travel system... unless I misremember that).

Definitely got a Morrowind feeling from some of the Dwemer ruins and such that I saw while wandering.