An Elder Scrolls Analysis - Episode Three

[@thewerdna]

Fun fact, Nightgate inn has one of the best background detail stories. One of the NPCs staying there has a blades katana, and attacks you if you enter the inn while wearing Thalmor robes, indicating he is likely a former member of the blades hiding out there. There are no quests for this, so this is entirely just a background world building thing, something I wish Skyrim had more of.

[@willhowardlokoartyui]

Skyrim has a lot of it for being the game with AI complex enough to manage it, but not enough sadly. I hope more is added in TES 6

[@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842]

I literally never heard of it until this video. I heard of some other interesting locations I've never seen. Skyrim taught me to meander from place to place and never look too much, lest I want to get disappointed and shatter an fragile illusion of immersion... It almost feels, like some of the old Morrowind dev guard still lurk in the dark corners of Bethesda maintainance sector, adding the good bits of exploration on the run, whenever they could. :)

[@Dasaltwarrior]

Skyrim is the best 6 / 10 ever. Its world is ripe for more stuff like this, and the world building is often great when its not done with spoken dialogue. Its the reason why town and city mods are my favourite for the game, the soft world building they provide is fantastic. But damn is everything else either meh, or just straight up bad. The world and soundtrack carry this game hard.

[@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842]

@@Dasaltwarrior Jeremy Soule is the Godfather of the series.

[@Dasaltwarrior]

@@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842 The fact that there are hour long videos of his music set to random scenes of the game world speaks volumes for his work. His work on tes isn't all that different from other big high fantasy composers on the surface, but Soule's music has almost a zen quality to it that cant be replicated.

[@ERGOPROXY.]

You can really tell that there’s a heart and soul that was poured into these three videos. This wasn’t just a retrospective analysis of these games. It was equal parts diary entry, love letter, intervention, and eulogy. Thanks again for the content, NeverKnowsBest. Here’s to the hope we’ll find love again.

[@risingson7773]

🥂

[@bam_bino__]

Eh i found this to just be a series abt how morrowind was so great it was a gift from god himself… and the rest just shitting on every game following it… had he jusged each title on their own terms instead of morrowind did this and tha it might have been good as it stands now it just comes off as fanboyism for morrowind.

[@luisiana1121]

@@bam_bino__ though I see what you mean with his obvious disdain and apathy towards Skyrim and affability towards Morrowind, it’s difficult to only judge Skyrim only as its own game. Why do I say that? Morrowind and Skyrim are under the Elder Scrolls name: 3 and 5 respectively. They are made by the same people: Bethesda and have a 9 year gap between them. It’s expected to maintain good elements or even improve upon it in a way that makes sense relative to its lore, existing mechanics and storytelling. Though it is slightly unfair to ONLY see the game as a sequel without seeing it as its own game, it is a definite expectation to anticipate improvements based on previous iterations. Not saying skyrim is better or worse than Morrowind since I haven’t played Morrowind but the point remains.

[@oddmontsoddington8961]

@@bam_bino__ I like the videos but they do really come across as bitchy.

[@CMan790]

Not really. Guy just whines about everything. Every topic leads back to Morrowind best, everything else bad. It's ridiculous

[@zombbro]

After Oblivion: Bethesda: I think we should go more with a 'Dungeons and Dragons' approach Tood: Okay gotcha more dungeons more dragons Bethesda: No Todd no wait

[@henryviiifake8244]

Bethesda Softworks: 🤢🤮 Beshesda _"It-Just-Works"_ 😌

[@cyllananassan9159]

@@henryviiifake8244 TODD, Bethesda Softworks: lets make $7.5 BILLION, let´s monetize the crap out of it, cut all corners possible, lie to the fanbois , and sell to MICROSOFT🤢🤮

[@thrillainthemanilla1409]

@@cyllananassan9159 wasn’t really Todd doing all that lmao. It’s the company. Todd net worth is only a few million

[@cyllananassan9159]

@@thrillainthemanilla1409 wake up !!!, Todd defrauded the gamers by his own volition, , he is the BOSS at Bethesda

[@cyllananassan9159]

@@thrillainthemanilla1409 once upon a time devs were beholden to the fans, to the players, now it is dump this crap , cos i want need a second G5, this is his company, and after fallout 76 there is no more place for simps of lying and greedy $billions megacorp executives, so spare the simpimg, TODD is not a victim, he is a lier and a thief, and so is PETE hines

[@hj-ct2qi]

every side quest: noblewoman: "i am a well established socialite here in [city], i have a lot of connections and a lot of opinions, and i need your help with something." player: "ooh what can i do for you? should i attend your next social gathering and spread unfavorable rumors about your rival? should i quell an uprising amongst the peasants? should i ---" noblewoman: "i left a necklace in a cave full of draugr, please go get it for me and i'll give you 400 gold"

[@iamwritingrightnow8217]

i really hated fighting the daugr

[@nubberton1345]

Dragur in Nordic folklore are so much cooler than the ones we got, they just copied the name. Fighting giant level 100 zombies would’ve been more fun

[@devinmes1868]

​@@filmfan6226Not every quest was a fetch quests. That isn't Skyrim's issue. There are a number of interesting and well thought out quests in the game. The problem was just that there were too many fetch quests.

[@MrDj232]

​@@devinmes1868 The fetch quests were randomly generated by their radiant quest system. Every so often the game will pick a random NPC, a somewhat fitting item, and a random nearby dungeon to give players a new fetch quest.

[@johnreigjr8229]

I have watched/listened to this entire trilogy series and while it was excellent overall and filled with insight, there was one glaring omission which I felt compelled to mention: the music. The music of this series (by composer Jeremy Soule) is extraordinary and some of the best video game music of all time. The impact that it has on the gaming experience is profound and cannot be overstated. To play on your jaded ex-lover analogy, the sublime, seamless intertwining of this music and the epic game environments is like a marriage made in heaven. I am truly shocked that you never made a point of this once considering how thorough you were in your analysis otherwise.

[@cloudbloom]

I had the exact same thought. The music in these games are such an important part even from the beginning with Arena

[@RawJah]

@@cloudbloom Me too. I actually think the Score is the only thing about Skyrim noone ever argued about.

[@AaronNellessen]

Agreed. The Morrowind music was my favorite

[@iRemainNameless]

Morrowind music might just be the best OST to any game of all time for me. Something so familiar and welcoming. Just mentioning it makes me recall a great memory@@AaronNellessen

[@kevinbrennan117]

I literally had this exact thought when this series came out but never commented about it. You summed it up well. Fantastic series but a truly glaring omission indeed. I often listen to the soundtracks of these games., especially Skyrim, now that it is winter. And you are so right in saying, when refering to the ingame music - 'the gaming experiece is profound and cannot be understated'. So many moments in these games where I would be exploring and the a track would come in at the perfect moment, colouring my whole experience - I often remember the times I first heard certain tracks, and that's not even mentioning the more ambient 'Atmospheres' of Skyrim which I also love. Absolutely incredible soundtrack that I would go far to say has is my favourite thing about the TES.

[@merrickmorgan6890]

I want the hour+ long video going in on everything wrong with the perk tree and how you'd make it better.

[@cyberninjazero5659]

I think Vokrii SPERG SkyRe and Ordinator are great showcases of ways to improve the Skyrim perk system. More so the first three than Ordinator. Not because Ordinator is bad but because it makes certain design decisions that are irreconcilable with the intent of perks (Like one time use perks and perks that are overly "Gamey" and detract from immersion by adding MMO-Like Highlights)

[@ElJefeRules]

@@cyberninjazero5659 Ordinator isn't perfect but I love the variety and endless possibilities of character builds. Path of Sorcery is good too but it only covers magic skills.

[@cyberninjazero5659]

@@ElJefeRules Honestly I prefer Ordinators perks to Parh of Sorcerery. Which is funny because Path of Sorcerery is exclusively focused on Magic perks and yet Ordinator just has better ones

[@Phoenix-qv9hg]

Ordinator is awesome. Not flawless. But allows for a ton of builds variety.

[@Justanobody8472]

He never played the game more than once, he doesn't have the ability to make that video

[@blackenedwritings]

Can't wait for 2039 when we get the video about The Elder Scrolls VI, one year after it was released.

[@cyberninjazero5659]

Make it two. Have to give all of the expansions time to breathe

[@monstergelo1072]

at least it'll be released before beyond skyrim 😭

[@cyberninjazero5659]

@@monstergelo1072 I'm just waiting for Skyblivion fam (though I'd play Skywind too)

[@Grafiction]

To be quite honest, I don't think we'll all be alive until that day. But, I hope I'm wrong and our comments will be horribly dated til then.

[@GrandElemental]

I'll definitely watch the video, but probably skip the game.

[@Zaria_Dobbs]

I would unironically watch an hours-long critical dissection of skyrim perks, even if it had no editing to speak of

[@borislavarnaudov475]

I'll give you all of the analysis you need right here. They're shit. The entire leveling system in Skyrim was trash. You mean to tell me that in the base game, the only two ways to progress into the later stages of content (level 60 and up) I would either have to spend hours grinding skills that are completely irrelevant to the character I'm playing, or to have my character hit themselves with a brick hard enough to completely forget the fact that they've already mastered a certain skill? Yeah, that's a pretty shit way to expect for me to get all my late game perks. Also, the perks were shit. Barely any of them did anything new or interesting. Off the top, I can only think of Necromage and Shadow Warrior. Everything else is just a numbers buff, nothing to give you entirely new ways to make use of a skill. Scratch that, there are perks that give you new ways to use a skill. The dual cast perks, all of which are noob traps. Actually useless garbage, with a slight exception for Destruction, as it opened the path to Impact, allowing you to stunlock enemies as a mage because you sure as hell couldn't kill them with your pathetic damage. In case you didn't know, dual casting gives you only 10% extra effectivenes for 40% increased magicka cost. If you wanna know what perks should have been, look up Misti on the Skyrim Nexus. Implemented a system for major and minor skills to define your character, the different skill trees interact with each other, unique end game perks that you have to choose only one from per tree, and a lot of other cool shit. Another really cool perk overhaul is Adamant, but this one is mostly for mages. Dual casting is slightly overhauled and made completely baseline, with any perks related to it being interesting and cool as shit, such as dual casting flesh spells applying them to friendly targets around you.

[@BOO-ii3ni]

@@borislavarnaudov475 but i loved it

[@SPVA4]

@@borislavarnaudov475 mistake number 1 was not installing a perk mod. Anyone who plays bethesda games unmodded deserve to be laughed at

[@borislavarnaudov475]

@@SPVA4 Read the full comment.

[@nburdisso96]

You probably heard this a thousand times, but man, what an amazing job. The amount of thought and dept involved in your reviews is mind blowing. THANK YOU so much for creating this.

[@izaiahspears4984]

If this is depth then you should watch PatricianTV

[@JeremyStratton]

It's not that great. Mostly it's him telling people why he liked what he liked so much for 8 hrs. I guarantee YOU could do what he did.

[@lo-fihound1859]

"You haven't earned it." How fast I stopped the video, and jumped to part one. Thanks for the heads up. Love your content man.

[@alexsm3882]

I honestly felt like watching them out of order purely out of spite lol

[@Bollibompa]

@@alexsm3882 You're probably quite immature.

[@woodsyjones]

Sleepy Fish is the Lo-Fi god

[@GageypooGames]

Thank you for all the effort you put into these. One of my favorite creators in the “fuck long retrospective” style of video.

[@IHateNumbersOnNames]

H bomberguy, Shammy, there's one Im forgetting for sure, Cristopher Anderson?

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

@@IHateNumbersOnNames Joseph Anderson. And there are a ton more. KingK being one of the larger ones.

[@EinFelsbrocken]

@@IHateNumbersOnNames imagine watching gexplosiondude

[@bluraincoat]

@@IHateNumbersOnNames Salt Factory is also great

[@e2rqey]

@@IHateNumbersOnNames Those guys are all pretty good. But Noah Caldwell-Gervais is the greatest of all-time in my opinion. I highly, highly, highly, recommend watching his stuff.

[@kirkvanallen5202]

That ending was perfect. This series is the gem of KZbin.

[@DMIwriter]

Something about it ending with "Nerevar Rising" playing in the background really hit something deep down inside me

[@Deoxys_Used_Mimic]

I will never forgive the absolute heresy that is Level-Scaled Equipment. There is no excuse that a Deadric Artifact should ever be weaker than any weapon below Orcish just because I obtained it at a low level. ...and RNG-scaled equipment (like the necklace for becoming Guildmaster of the Thieves Guild) can die in a hole.

[@acbeaumo]

Everything you said resonates as true. After spending hundreds of hours playing Skyrim, modding Skyrim and creating mods for Skyrim, I am so intimately familiar with its flaws that I can no longer immerse myself in the game world any longer. The act of playing this game now feels like I'm just going through the motions.

[@Xegethra]

I started feeling that way while playing too....I was on auto pilot for most of it.

[@sectphiro607]

It's the only TES game I haven't finished, and I had the ps3 pre-order. It just gets so droll very quickly for me.

[@skate60331]

But that was after spending hundreds of hours...right?

[@K_Kobe]

I’m the same way I’ve been playing it for nearly a decade but it’s still cozy to play for me

[@oddmontsoddington8961]

You know how weak minded an opinion like that is? You no longer enjoy something because someone pointed out flaws. That's as if you really enjoyed Three Musketeers candy bars til someone explained how simple and mundane it was, so you don't like them anymore. WUT

[@MakerInMotion]

That feeling when the critiques are valid but you still love the game.

[@ianwalters11]

Oh yeah for sure. I sunk over 500 hours into PS3 version ( dread to think how much of that time was loading screens but I didn’t experience many bugs tbf) and another 500 on the PS4 special edition which was night and day better experience with hardly any load times and much improved graphics. I’ve bitten the bullet and paid for Anniversary upgrade and loving it. I’ve got every trophy so no need to worry about accidentally fucking up a mission (I got carried away with Dark Brotherhood on PS3 so by the time Hearthfire came out I’d already killed the NPC at Falkreath who sells you land to buy one of those 3 houses and I’d fucked up something else (or could have been a random dragon attack that killed them I can’t remember) so I could only build 1 house out of 3 so I really enjoyed putting the time into the 3 houses on special edition, I spent a crazy amount of time mining clay, wood and travelling the world buying up every goat horn etc..but l that time invested collecting all the ingots for nails abs hinges made it feel like I’d built the houses. I can’t see me bothering this play through, I’ll just explore and see where it takes me. Some of those new houses look cool with Anniversary and I got new quests to look forward to. The critique is valid for most part but it’s still a unique experience and better than anything else on offer, that’s why the world is still addicted to Skyrim. But come on Todd, hurry the hell up with ES6 we ain’t getting no younger mudda forker!

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

@@ianwalters11 I wouldn't say it is strictly "better than anything else on offer." Skyrim is explicitly just good at giving you a slow mindless drip of dopamine. If you want to compare Skyrim as a storytelling/artistic medium, it is in the bargain bin at best compared to many if not most of its competitors.

[@ianwalters11]

@@haruhirogrimgar6047 I see your point when you say it that way. I’ve tried with the Witcher 3 as they often get compared and I do like it but it doesn’t hook me in the same. Like you say though maybe that constant drip of dopamine is clouding my judgment. It sure is good at hooking you in despite the flaws in artistic/quality storytelling. Mind you I also got sucked in to the original Destiny I bought every DLC which is very unusual for me as I have strong feelings about the lack of quality content and rip off activities of companies (which makes it even more incredible I bought Destiny DLC as although most of it was good it was very expensive, end of year 1 pack The Taken King was £39.99). Story was practically non existent in game, ironically there was a lot of lore in Grimoire cards yet I couldn’t stop playing it, the constant promise of better loot and endless grinding to get those Exotic weapons and armour turned me into a hopeless addict. Two very different games but that gameplay loop grabbed me hook line and sinker.

[@vanessalawson68]

@@ianwalters11 oh wow I didn't know about Anniversary edition, I've played the special addition. I'll have to check it out!

[@gobuns2]

@@haruhirogrimgar6047 I just listen to podcasts while taking down bandits in some cave. I also bought Morrowind recently, to do the same thing but no way xd

[@AndrewIHanna]

Wake up son, new neverknowsbest video dropped

[@Sleepysunsetz]

Ah shi....

[@Hero_Of_Old]

Wake up Samurai

[@nickodotw]

Well, not even last night's storm could wake you. I heard them say we've reached Morrowind, I'm sure they'll let us go.

[@bonzos9305]

You’re finally awake...

[@valdris86]

That heartfelt letter to an ex was kinda beautiful, not gonna lie

[@Spyno41]

It was outright poetic! Hope to find someone that loves me as much as this guy loves Elder Scrolls

[@DATskorge]

@@Spyno41 i wish you luck in your quest bro

[@eirschu8973]

@@Spyno41 same...

[@Bassist-Beneath]

@@eirschu8973 just remember man, stay working on yourself and the rest will come together

[@stunnafan8905]

Nah bro it was straight ass

[@hallamhal]

I levelled up my One-handed Skill *in lieu* of impressing the opposite sex

[@EinFelsbrocken]

The opposite sex: *block 100*

[@igoronline]

You kids these days have it easy! Back in my day I fully leveled out multiple alts in WoW and Ultima Online *with* a girlfriend, while rehearsing with multiple bands every weekend for 4h each. Barefoot, and in the snow!

[@chack321]

@@igoronline While having to walk everywhere uphill in the pitch black at night without any navigation aids!

[@tonyvaldez9552]

i just got done watching all 3 of your Elder Scrolls videos. these are 100% what ive been looking for. im trying to learn game theory and game design. THIS what the high level insightfull analysis that ive been looking for and i have indeed looked far and wide. absolutely beautiful. i cant wait to watch all of your other stuff. thank you for this. ill be studying these videos again in the future.

[@Corrupted]

Playing skyrim gave me the same feeling I got after playing wow for over a decade. "What am I actually doing here? Just playing a game for the sake of wasting time?" - maybe skyrim just doesnt work well for people who question game design, but single player games rarely give me the feeling of wasting my time, I just don't experience anything at all after the first 15-20 hours. Playing many bad games gave me a more fulfilling experience than 60 hours of skyrim. It felt like it didnt add anything to my overall gaming "life" - I just did stuff, grinding ubi soft map markers in a single player mmo without character progression. The music is amazing and carries a lot, but playing it just made me feel so empty, in a really bad way - this might sound overly dramatic, but playing skyrim forever would probably be my gaming hell - it honestly gets me depressed, and I usually genuinely love dark/depressing games done well

[@Robert399]

Yeah I feel exactly the same. It's a game which can capture your interest for days but always leaves you wishing for your time back.

[@idnintel]

@@Robert399 I never played it but think I will try in VR with mods so it feels like you are there in this magical fantasy world. I think that will be the very key difference. Otherwise I agree I love games like arcanum, bloodlines, pathfinder kingmaker and shadowrun dragonfall over the shallow elder scrolls.

[@Robert399]

@@idnintel I'm glad to finally see Dragonfall on one of these lists :)

[@beetheimmortal]

Just mod it. I know it's not an excuse, but in my mind it's more of a blank canvas, which you shoild customize to your liking.

[@riftbandit223]

*sweats with 3000+ hours played on skyrim*

[@NeverKnowsBest]

For anyone wanting to know the background music used: The 'Skyrim Loop' is tico-tico no fuba The ending is Liebesleid (Love's Sorrow) The other song used at various times is Waltz Op. 64 No. 2 by Chopin Any other music is from Skyrim's OST. Also I am not currently planning to cover ESO or Enderal.

[@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842]

In recent Tom Scott's video the A.I. generates a video title that defines the last two decades of my experience with this series: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKiZeJ13hdV-q6M

[@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842]

@@zanmaru139 Isn't his point is that devs had been overrelying on that idea. It's like tropes. They are tools, they aren't necesarily good or bad, being aware of them can be helpful, but looking at everything through the lens of tropes and measuring everything to its tropiness (either to follow them or avoid them) may hinder your creative process.

[@RinaSC1]

@@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842 The issue I see in what NeverKnowsBest said is that "gameplay loop" is a technical term, it serves a purpose to be an educational term that (like @Zanmaru said) defines the core means a game engages the player with activities/challenges, which for most games tend to happen in a loop (or various loops of activities). Complaining about it comes across as one complaining about other technical terms in any other field, creative or technical, it's a bit silly. You made a comparison with tropes, and while I see and agree with your point about how measuring everything by them as a hindrance to creativity I don't feel tropes are an accurate one. I feel this way because, as I see it, "gameplay loop" isn't a tool but an integral part of what constitutes a game and the process of game design. Terms like "script", "sound direction", etc would likely be more accurate parallels in my opinion. Having said that, I understand his frustration, and I believe it comes from a similar place as my own with games journalists and KZbin game critics in general: technical terms get thrown around so much outside of their intended meaning by those that want to sound more intelligent than they actually are that sometimes one can't help but cringe internally each time they are misused

[@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842]

@@RinaSC1 That makes sense. I felt like NeverKnowsBest's point was more of a sentiment, rather than a condemnation of using technical terms in general. Design by commity, streamlining the pipelines, gameplay over logic type mentality, etc AT THE COST of trying to thinking about Skyrim as a living world, adapted as a video game which has gameplay loops to keep things fresh and engaging... It goes without saying, that some games thrive in embracing their artificiality, but others require a bit more sensitive approach.

[@DanKaschel]

@@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842 your point is born out by his other topics, such as the algorithmic approach to loot and dungeon length. Maybe it could be said that focus on the gameplay loop is a powerful tool for game analysis, but a poor tool for game design.

[@Arcian]

Damn, what amazing timing, I just sat down with a plate of food looking for something to watch while eating.

[@Kevinism]

Same, I've never switched from a TEDEd video so fast in my life.

[@Empowerless]

same

[@danieljames1622]

That's a god tier sub video drop sir

[@tecknyne1]

same here folks, seems something went right for me today, lets go !!

[@Hirnknaker]

bon appetite, en guete,

[@benl2140]

I would totally watch you go through every single perk in Skyrim.

[@ColdHawk]

Blackreach was so disappointing to me after the initial burst of excitement. This fantastic, strange, new ecosystem illuminated by a a magical orb and faintly glowing fungi… but populated with the same dull monsters we already knew. How amazing would it have been to have Blackreach as a whole new world with its own collection of terrifying darkness-hunting, bioluminescent creatures worthy of the nightmares of benthic fish? As it was, it fizzled. I was so excited to find this “secret” world within a world that I was a little crushed when I realized it was just more of the same.

[@christianschaller7873]

Blackreach was not even officially planned. It only ended up in the finished game thanks to the commitment of individual programmers..

[@ColdHawk]

@@christianschaller7873 - If that’s true then bless their hearts. Emerging into that dimly lit underworld was a moment that crackled with such high voltage potential.

[@TheOrian34]

@@christianschaller7873 We need those passionate developers more, aaah.

[@James-u1y]

@@TheOrian34god my soul hurts thinking of what it could have been

[@TheOrian34]

@@James-u1y Indeed it does... We still have some epic moments, like the secret dragon fight from shouting at the orb. But yeah.

[@ziglema1299]

Part two is some of the most interesting commentary I've seen on intentional design basically ever. Really incredible stuff.

[@herpestesedwardsii7862]

The poignant, touching narration over footage of you frantically hacking at a maggot T_T

[@andyb2977]

Part 4 Bonus Video will be you discussing every perk in the game, right?

[@ghostoflazlo]

I'm here for that 🥂

[@Don11037]

Then all the spells and there lore then the stones then the cover eso

[@jbark678]

Here's hoping

[@PepperoniMage]

I would actually love to have a video of you tearing apart the whole perk tree!

[@LordJaroh]

And maybe ways to improve things. The "what I would have done" video.

[@Nebelkorona]

After hearing the gameplay loop part I realized your videos are so great, because you treat games as an "experience" not a "product".

[@TheAlphaLegionnaire]

Listened to every last minute of this series. You articulated everything I’ve said for years, and everything I wanted to, but didn’t quite know how. I look forward to seeing more. Subscriber count+1

[@alekssavic1154]

As a social sciences student, that mini-rant on having to use fancy words to talk about things in weird ways sums up my feelings about my experience perfectly.

[@saja201024]

As a PolSci student I gotta say it's not that simple, but since the irony of the narrator IS in the reductive view of terms/fancy words I have nothing to say haha

[@ImortalZeus13]

This happens in art circles too. While I was in art school I was taught the "proper way" to discuss art, and while some of the skills I was taught were useful, a lot of it is just lingual snobbery.

[@CallumDT]

I agree overall but there are some important notes to take. Nightengale inn does have a secret. Inside it is the former blade fulthiem, there are dozens of amazing lore/story driven clues and secrets in the game, watch camelworks and the epic nate. There are some caves in skyrim which have surprise attacks and or don't have any enemies. About 5 I know of. Still not great but it's there. Rise in the east is another quest which isn't in a dungeon and is actually on its own small island. Very cool and underappretiated quest, kinda lesser known. The legendary system is fantastic because players may want perks back to spend on other trees. Overall I take all on board and agree for the most part but I'm happy I could fight skyrims corner a little.

[@thesummerofmark]

OH HELL YEAH. I swear I was just wondering when you’d post the finale to this series

[@MrCameronK]

I thought the very same thing after discovering his channel last week and watching both Morrowind & Oblivion b2b. I’m curious to know what NKBs background is, educational & professional, because the talent he has to break down each game to such granular detail, compare them to previous entries in the game series, all whilst being able to present in a formulaic, captivating and easy to digest... journey. It’s fucking incredible. Oh and his vocab is top tier.

[@tamsirjames3793]

@@MrCameronK check out noah caldwell gervais they are the best imo. He's like the American version of this haha

[@henrycrabs3497]

Don't know what either of you are talking about, Joseph Anderson is the king of critique vids

[@tamsirjames3793]

@@henrycrabs3497 lmao his work rate is terrible though

[@VenomLion]

I want to thank you for all three of these videos. I'm sure they must've taken an ungodly amount of time to plan out, script, record and edit! You make great points in every one of them, and even though I haven't always agreed, these were exceedingly fun to watch!

[@CelynBrum]

I didn't get far in Skyrim until I installed the Frostfall mod. It completely changed how I interacted with the world. I couldn't travel in straight lines through freezing water, so I had to explore. I had to consider how I would eat and drink and sleep, so journeys took forethought and planning. Once I stumbled, freezing and drunk and half starved, into a remote inn that had absolutely nothing of interest to it... except it saved me from certain death by the elements. Skyrim has so much untapped potential that Bethesda didn't use. Edit: Pretty sure it was Nightgate Inn, actually.

[@jagoob]

"Skyrim perk system so bad I could make a better one in my sleep" ...no one show him the ff15 perk system or he will probably have an aneurysm.

[@templeofthesmilingjackalop9860]

They both commit the sin of locking parts of what should be the basic move set behind perk buys.

[@french_bread4961]

I know you may find it kind of "cringey", in a way, but I still love it when you end your videos like this one here. Because, it never seems forced. As in, when you end it like how you did here, you mean it. And it leaves me with a great sense of passion that you've always had for this subject, a fire which punctuating the sweet comfort felt throughout the video. It made me realize that I care to watch to your videos because you show that you really care to make them - like a conversation between two friends reflecting upon the days before, in earnest. Sorry if I wrote this comment in a manner which may be hard to understand, but I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate this kind of effort that you put into your videos.

[@JC-kl3uc]

There's nothing cringey about being genuine.

[@deusxyz]

Wholesome comment.

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

JC & Deus = commenter synergy

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

Heard that in JC voice & it only made it a billion times more wholesome & soulful. Never let them say they “augged” your humanity away, JC.

[@Hoevercruf]

I'm glad you mentioned Frostflow Lighthouse. That's my favorite place in the game. A tragic place with a story the player pieces together themselves.

[@margierules000]

i love this and while i have my disagreements in some areas, theyre all subjective- the one thing i do wanna note tho is that accessibility is an important factor of why skyrim was so successful- i'll use myself as an example: I have a neurodevelopmental disorder, and many games are impossible for me to play- i forget what the quest was that i was on, i open my map to see where i'm going and immediately forget as soon as i close the map where i was going, i struggle to remember names of people, all the NPCs look the same to me, i struggle with resource management- but like, i love video games, even though they seem determined to be unplayable to me- i played skyrim when it first came out bc my older brother had gotten it, and i loved it because i could go anywhere- if i was bored, i could wander in any direction- a black map marker meant somewhere i'd never been that i can explore, the little quest marker meant that even if i forgot what i was doing, i could just head in that direction and get there eventually- the quests were relatively simple and there was no being confused because i wasn't paying attention earlier, and that makes skyrim the first and only game that i've ever played without feeling confused- not only that, but when i take a break from it, i am never afraid to jump back in where i left off, because all i have to do when i get back in the game is continue following quest markers- there's a reason i still play the game regularly today, albeit with mods installed i mention this because often when the discussion comes up about how to make games better, the solutions proposed are often "remove accessibility features," and nobody means to do this, but things like quest markers, the player icon on the map, enemy markers, fast travel, the lack of a class right upfront, it's all accessibility features hidden in plain sight, and it's heartbreaking to see people insist time and time again that the key to a good game is to remove accessibility features. to be clear, i don't believe that every single game should scrap artistic vision for the purpose of being accessible, but rather that a triple-A game studio who is trying to create a game to appeal to as many people as possible is almost always going to prioritize these things because the choice is between having something that is maybe a little boring to people who aren't disabled, or having something that's unplayable to people who are, and disabled people aren't rare, mythic beings, we're a large portion of the gaming community

[@flowerthencrranger3854]

Hey, I read your comment, and it actually made me rethink some game mechanics. How do you think that a “accessible mode would function in complicated games(like most traditional CRPGs)

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

Good question to an excellent comment. I’m disabled too (autoimmune w/neuro issues) & unable to allocate resources to video games now but some fondest memories are gaming with my dude in 1st grownup relationship. He worked hard, rarely gave himself permission to do non-work but his industry included all kinds of graphics, so he took an aesthetic interest in video games. I surprised him with a PS2 for Xmas; PS3 few birthdays later. To our astonished delight, we got güd gaming together-i suuuuuck at fighting but find every dang collectable/secret + solve every puzzle. Hubby liked fighting, racing/speed trials , & platforming/timed jumping/etc (which I also suuuuuck at). I tried computer games as a kid & was so terrible at most, esp if they relied on reflex/fine motor skills, so gave up unless search/story type things, assumed gaming just wasn’t something I’d ever do ok enough to get joy out of it until I stumbled into my ideal game-buddy with complimentary interests/strengths. We both enjoyed story + aesthetics, was fun to be there “in” game even when I wasn’t holding the controller. &tho he’d happily play solo or w groups, I only had a good time when playing to our strengths & chatting about the character, worldbuilding, narratives, etc. Apologies for massive reply; original comment tickled my recall...at the time my neuro/CNS issues were un/misdiagnosed & it never occurred to me to recontextualize those experiences with my updated disability status. But as I read OP I realized my disability prob had a lot to do with our co-play system. Game analysis like Nkb & play-thrus are my comfort content; I use them like ASMR & watch-listen dozens of times to good longform ones, kinda trying to recapture how those game-plays felt. I’m grateful for OP bc that comment opened up a whole line of reflection I need to do, maybe figure out how to get that enjoyment back again. Thanku, YT Strangers🙏 . Lol probably no one will read this but just in case: we had a relatively amicable breakup after 9 years bc my illness kept hospitalizing me & he got intimate with someone he met thru work during those times he felt alone/abandoned/scared & revolted by his young partner ravaged by life-threatening illness. We’re both fine with each other; want the other to be + do well, but we’re not close or in touch more than occasional work stuff or run-ins. See: Tom Rush; “No Regrets”. Anyways it’s still sweet to be able to separate those good feelings from the specificity of him & consider how to bring the feelings back into my life now. He can stay linked in my good memories but I can hopefully find my way back into gaming again.

[@justinaysien1204]

Well said brother

[@CeramicShenanigans]

I agree completely, I'll pop skyrim on once in a while but I haven't played without mods in years. Interesting npcs and other immersive mods change the whole feel of the game and add stories and lore to different locations and towns. If it was just the vanilla game I wouldn't be able so much time into the game, not like I was able to do with Morrowind. Just watched these 3 episodes for the second time, great work I loved it all!

[@zacherylouis8660]

Your issue with the term "Gameplay Loop" doesn't seem like a problem with the term, but with an adherence to a philosophy that every game should focus on a gameplay loop without consideration for the rest of the game's material

[@gengegaming5467]

I paused the video to comment something really similar to this. The term "Gameplay Loop" is really helpful for designers to think about how the player will move through the game. The problem with Skyrim, and especially the loop that was discussed in the video, is that it's extremely apparent that it is a loop. After doing 3 quests with almost identical loops in an identical setting, you start to notice the pattern, and then after 8-10 quests it becomes tedious, especially if the gameplay can't isn't engaging or varied enough. Gameplay loops work best when it's not apparent it's the designed loop.

[@Tony_Regime]

there shouldn't be a "Gameplay Loop" in a story driven game like Skyrim. imagine you are reading a book and chapter 5 has the text "re-read chapters 2 to 4 inclusive", that is the feeling I get with "Gameplay Loops"

[@evanahearne1479]

Honestly I think avoiding terms like "Gameplay Loop" and "Ludo narrative dissonance" is silly. It means that you have to say "there is a disconnect between the story, characters, and themes of the game and its gameplay" every time you discuss the issue. Not using the terms does not come across as down to earth or grounded, better than the academics, it just comes across as pretentious, like a hipster trying to avoid something mainstream. Maybe if the widely understood terms were used, this wouldn't have had to be three videos at all.

[@AlanGresov]

Yeah that's not how gameplay loops work. Every game that has the majority of its content focused on a set of basic mechanics has a gameplay loop, that's how games work.

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

@@Tony_Regime Your first mistake was thinking Skyrim is "story-driven."

[@nickshapland9384]

Its so hard to think about a game you love so much in both an honest and critical way

[@nMsFreeStyleZ]

I decided to start again with the first episode before watching this one

[@Bundle85]

I like your digression on gameplay loops. I feel it speaks to a certain type of game design where thinking in terms of mechanical loops is really useful when trying to scale a game up from a core set of actions. This works really well for making player centered games (such as RE4, Doom, Guitar Hero, and Super Mario Bros) as the entire experience is sprung forth from what the player does, but you do highlight the downsides of relying on that being the simple framing devices needing to be actively attended to to avoid a meaningless context. By hyper-focusing on gameplay loops, you limit the potential of a lot of games that place the world before the player (such as Dwarf Fortress, Her Story, Myst, and The Outer Wilds [a game about a different type of loop]) and games that rely on unpredictability (such as Frog Fractions and Warioware Inc.). Reminds me of John Carmack's quote: "Story in a game is like a story in a p*rn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important." That may work for Doom, but not Marathon. Maybe gameplay loops are best thought of as writing prompts, a great way to build up your creativity, but could become a crutch.

[@mr_tete]

Skyrim with all its flaws was and still is a good game. Fans of the series are very well aware of the many problems and are not afraid to admit it. Unlike some other fandoms. I think the presence of a very large(maybe largest) and dedicated Modding community shows that the fans themselves still want it to be better. And their presence to this day is a testament to how good a game Skyrim is. Skyrim has flaws, but the good outweighs the bad. So much so that people who play the game, forget about the flaws. Dungeons for example were all more or less similar, with the same enemies and puzzle. But clearing dungeons and being rewarded with actual good loot still made the experience fun.

[@allknowingidiot1835]

I honestly just have to point out one thing that bothers me to no end before I continue to video. Skyrim absolutely has leveled items that punish the player for getting them early. Prime examples being the Nightingale armor and weapons. There aren't a ton sure, but they are definitely there. I remember feeling quite upset when I found out that doing the thieves guild first was the absolute worst thing you could do.

[@stephanmuller5804]

oh, i did that too.. But i also had 60-80 hours of gameplay not knowing how to get Dragonsouls. was quite fun untill then.. then those pescy dragons started polluting the whole of skyrim.. very annoying..

[@j4vik600]

Ah yes 1 hour mark is the New 10 minute mark

[@zidanelionheart]

So true

[@alanlee67]

J4Vik we just had a baby and all I can do nowadays while tending to a newborn is to watch KZbin on my phone so....god send

[@henrik1743]

Game critique / analysis are my covid happiness the last year pretty much

[@Corrupted]

@@henrik1743 so many good videos and games to play out there, its an alright timeline haha

[@SomeWetDude]

@@alanlee67 Congratulations! - From a stranger with a similar interest in the Elder Scrolls

[@nekrovulpes]

Unique items in Skyrim actually are still scaled, IIRC. You can end up getting piss weak versions of some stuff like the nightingale armour or daedric artefacts if you do the quests at a low level. Skyrim level scaling is better than Obvlivion, but not without its own problems IMO. You just totally get sick of killing bandits and such at some point because you know they'll never drop anything valuable.

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

Level scaling is the devil, and it should be exorcised from gaming. It's quite literally the purest form of "artificial difficulty" that you could ever devise. If you're going to create a completely procedurally generated world, then fine, you'll have to make such a system. But if you're going to make a handcrafted world, then it has no place.

[@Gum_Cuzzler]

@@MidlifeCrisisJoe Agreed. If you don’t want players to have access to OP endgame gear maybe just make the quests and dungeons that grant you that shit too hard for most under levelled players to complete.

[@peddazz2365]

@@Gum_Cuzzler or just tie them to certain stat/skill requirements.... oh wait skyrim got rid of those well whatever

[@imalittletoxicjustalittle]

how is artificially tying it to stats better? and how is putting it in front of super hard enemies any better? the end result of "you cant use it until later" still happens so it makes little to no sense other than personal preference. by OP's argument he actually would prefer oblivion scaled levelling cause bandits will drop better loot , personally i prefer how bandits work in skyrim as it makes more sense and actually allows you to become OP and will spawn better versions of bandits at higher levels with better gear in the midst of the cannon fodder bandits

[@peddazz2365]

@@imalittletoxicjustalittle It is less artificial than tying it to levels since it makes sense that you need certain stats or skills to use weapons or tool, like a certain amount of willpower to use a magical staff, a certain amount of strength to wield a Warhammer, or proper knowledge of how to handle some futuristic weapon, etc. it is more immersive it gives the player the option of how they want to reach the goal of being able to use the weapon, they could put fewer points into other stats, or invest more into certain skills that in order to be able to use a strong weapon sooner not only makes this character development more engaging for the player, it makes your characters more unique, instead of having the same shit available on the same level at the same point in the game every time, it also intertwines your equipment and loot system more deeply with your character giving the decision of how to skill your character more weight have you every played something like, gothic, deus ex, system shock 2, shadowrunner? honestly, both systems were garbage, oblivions bandits got loot that was way too valuable, while skyrims bandits were wearing what came down to a fucking uniform

[@travisdeppe9172]

I love hearing your thoughts. I'm not a fan of many of the games you've discussed, yet I am absolutely compelled to listen to you speak about them all. I find your take on things refreshing, disarming, intriguing, and delivered poetically. Your writing is fantastic. I'd love to see you branch out and use those talents to cover a variety of topics. I appreciate your hard work, I hope to see your success and renown grow. Thank you.

[@AniGaAG]

Your entire section on your dislike for technical terms such as gameplay loop really rubs me the wrong way. I myself am a writer - and I can tell you, yes, artists create art in a way that respects the technicalities of it. Sure, in the end I want to convey a character-driven narrative that makes the reader feel certain things at certain times for certain reasons, and in the end top things off with a message to impart to the reader on an emotional level as opposed to stating it outright. But that doesn't happen through pixie dust, strong feelings and being sentimental - no, I sit there and think about my chapter structure, where a narrative sequence can be bridged into a single chapter or where two are required, I think about the exact rhythm of the text spacing on my pages, I consider the exact timing of rising and falling tension as they relate to planned narrative acts, and so on. And just the same way, yes... in order to make you feel what they want you to feel, a game designer carefully lays out interlinking gameplay loops while avoiding ludonarrative dissonance and unintended structural breaks in the pacing. That is just how art works. If you consume it, just feeling is enough. But if you want to create it, critique it or analyze and appreciate it on a deeper level, then yeah, you need to look under the hood at the ordered chaos of wires, pistons, cables and engines. And funniest part: Just because you don't use those words, that doesn't mean you don't do that exact thing. In fact, you do it all the time, just like other critics do - you merely refuse to use those words out of what seems to be some manner of stubbornness motivated by sentimentality. Bottom line, yes, you are a legitimate critic - you just resist calling what you do and explain by the same terms everyone else does.

[@NewWorldSinner]

I literally had an intake of breath in excitement when I saw this

[@CErra310]

A Gasp?

[@NewWorldSinner]

@@CErra310 shit you right

[@CErra310]

:)

[@vicvera4636]

I love your videos, and although I don't share some of the ideas you have about games, I respect them. Your taste and passion for what you do are very motivating. I hope you keep creating more content as good as you have been doing so far.

[@benl2140]

The last 3 minutes of this video are a work of art.

[@nubberton1345]

I like how the entire Skyrim loop bit was a very passive aggressive rant on how dungeons are repetitive

[@Deathelement53]

Excellent video and all points were good. The only one I had an issue with was legendary skills. The reason a player would do this is because it let's you get level experience from this skill again so you can keep leveling up and getting perk points

[@mackadam5894]

At 29:16 was anyone else caught off-guard by the halfling NPC sitting in a bucket on the table with his knees pulled up to his chest?

[@gtfokthxbyecya]

Thats a NPC in the background, a bowl with two bread loaves is in the way......

[@mackadam5894]

@@gtfokthxbyecya I know... That's what makes it funny... That's the humor of my comment... Have a great day!

[@hamblepants5923]

lolol

[@JC-kl3uc]

Now I can't unsee it.

[@RHR1991]

I remember I played this game at the same time as Witcher 2 and unlike pretty much anyone else at the time, I liked the second The Witcher game more, and this video captures perfectly why. Despite being 10.000 times bigger, Skyrim always felt quite empty and dead to me whereas on the Witcher 2 the world was much smaller but also way more organic and interesting to explore.

[@lucifer0247]

I have to disagree, because of one thing the Witcher games, felt for me always like a play in a theater, its a good story and good characters, but the world itself feels belnd, empty , the NPCs do nothing, the world besides some spots is lifeless, not rly much to explore besides the tracks. No freedom, you cant enter in every house, you cant touch the items.

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

@@lucifer0247 Is entering every house or picking up random objects really that important compared to writing and characters to you?

[@AcceptGamingDKD]

@@haruhirogrimgar6047 well between a world where you can interact with almost anything vs a world were you can not I would say the world where every house is accessible and every item stealable to be the more believable world. I mean can you become Jimmy the silverware thief who steals all the utensils in a persons house in any other game besides a Bethesda game?

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

@@AcceptGamingDKD Idc about becoming "Jimmy the Silverware Thief." I could just be Geralt of Rivia and make hard ethical choices in a world with well fleshed-out (literally and metaphorically) characters. Or pick up SMT Devil Survivor and try to navigate an apocolyptic siituation with rapidly deteriorating social standards/responsibility. My draw towards a meritocratic society versus one based on equality being deciders of what happens with the option to be cowardly or self-centered. Or Play Rune Factory and build up my life & fall in love with the girl of my dreams while making friends in a new town. Or... If the developers wasted time on making it so I could go around habitually stealing silverware they wouldn't have time to make an actually compelling experience that engages with me on an emotional/logical/ethical level. Like, what can Jimmy actually do? He can level up his sneak skill, he can grab Silverware and sell it for a pittance. And then just do the same exact sh"t as Jack the Thieves Guild guy, except he might grab more silverware along the way for no reason other than your personal obsession with the concept.

[@AcceptGamingDKD]

@@haruhirogrimgar6047 that's called roleplay. I had a character named link that took every item off dead bodies because I could. I had so much stuff in my storage containers before I was finally done with the playthrough. Idk man maybe you like a story layed out for you but elderscrolls games have always been a make your own experience and roleplay a character that just happens to follow the questline sort of game to me.

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

Seeing a NeverKnowsBest upload is like seeing Gandalf crest a nearby hilltop, just as the battle seems darkest and all seems lost and for nought Thank you, -Gandalf- Never ❤

[@Shishimantaru]

One interesting observation is that while you feel like the dungeons shouldn't be the focus of these worlds, they always have been, and that's actually been something I noticed after going through this trilogy. Daggerfall is a dungeon-first game, with all of the impressive things people actually remember the game for a side-effect of adding flavor. Morrowind is a weird hellscape that still uses dungeons as the end point of a majority of it's combat-oriented quests. Oblivion's world is also very dungeon heavy, and while some of the most memorable quests don't always use them, the main quest is essentially a series of Oblivion-dungeon delves. I don't disagree that Skyrim has way, way too many dungeons that were almost certainly quasi-randomly generated, touched up to remove any blatant errors, and them placed in the world in a very game theory, calculated way. The good dungeons are really good, but they aren't the norm. However, dungeon delving seems to actually be a core part of the Elder Scroll's team gameplay ethos. Asking them to not make them the focus might not be realistic, as the part of the game that we the players think is the least impressive is actually something they view as the true core of the game. It's bemusing to realize that all of the parts of the games the players have come to value slowly felt like they were coincidentally good set-dressing to the dungeon delving they wanted you to do the more I watched this trilogy.

[@austins.2495]

God, I love pseudo-intellectualism.

[@Outpost-13-Hockey]

It's so funny you talk about Nightgale Inn. It's one of the places that really resonates with me, it's one of those locations in a game that feels like a place I have been, and very few games leave me with that sense that it's hard to pull apart fiction and reality.

[@MrAce1014]

I've never clicked on a video so fast in my life

[@ded2thaworld963]

😂 same

[@CorvoFG]

Stopped another vid to watch this one.

[@alanlee67]

Adam I was gonna leave the same comment

[@furankuchan]

I know...i think I hurt myself.

[@zhhsshhhd5949]

I cracked my screen

[@progamer461]

Been waiting for this to drop and its finally here, don't think I've ever clicked something that fast before, thought was gonna wreck, this the perfect thing to listen to while I make delivery's

[@tylertyler6418]

Let me say this- when you couple together Skyrim’s visuals with something you did not mention, the amazing soundtrack, you get an experience that is unlike anything else!

[@nyalan8385]

That point honestly makes the game worse for me. If the best part of the game can be replicated by playing the game soundtrack while sifting through stock photos of the Norwegian wilderness then what's the point of playing the game? To me a game like skyrim intends to be needs to suck me in and make me feel like I'm completely immersed in a world without me having to actively think about being immersed, and skyrim didn't do this for me at all

[@btchiaintkidding7837]

also weirdly, i have watched half of the video and he hasnt shown footage of playing as stealth archer. thats why he hates the combat loop . i am not even joking lmao . playing any other build in the game except stealth archer without any tweaks is not fun in the base vanilla game at all. the stealth mechanics in skyrim has its own weird caplmpy rules and mechanics that are engaging enough to facilitate the dungeon crawling loop. i mean it

[@nyalan8385]

@@btchiaintkidding7837 saying that all but one build of the game isn't fun is not a good defense of the game or gameplay loop at all. In fact it kinda just shows how bad it is

[@btchiaintkidding7837]

@@nyalan8385 it was just a statement and even criticism as well. i wasnt saying it in defense of skyrim lol. and yes, if u are not trying stealth archer the combat feels insanely and 10x lackluster and boring. the stealth may be dumb but still engaging at the least. i am not a stealth guy, but was basically forced to play like that cuz how sh^tty the combat is in other playstyles. also the enemy scaling is terrible if u play anything other than stealth archer, e.g.- in warrior build(aka vegetable soup build) enemy scales so much that game becomes harder so ur characters feels weaker as u keep levelling him up beyond lv5 lmao. running mage build has its own issues with levelling up, mage build is only fun once u get "impact" perk. only way to have fun as a warrior build and make the combat impactful is chug a veggy soup for infinite stamina for 12mins and keep using shield bash/power attacks to stagger enemies otherwise they just stand there taking hits without reacting. how lame. only saving grace is the world design and music and thats it

[@swedishplayer97]

"I killed more bandits than the entire population of Skyrim." Well, yeah, that's true for Oblivion, Morrowind and dozens of other RPGs too.

[@artemgushin5228]

not for Morrowind btw, there are more NPCs there than in Oblivion and Skyrim even if you combine them together, about 2.5k

[@curtisgagnon2871]

@@artemgushin5228 yeah but they are all generic with the same dialogue options and responses.

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

Doesn't mean it's good.

[@curtisgagnon2871]

@Galahaund Lacerium not really. Why would everyone know the exact same things about pretty much everything and all give the sam es verbatim response? Where do you live where people are like that? A cult?

[@SonofSethoitae]

@@curtisgagnon2871 That isn't true? Plenty of them have unique things to say

[@Boomerrage32]

My God... You hit the nail on the head! I do pick up (almost) every single piece of junk and sell it to different vendors just to see my gold increase even though I know that I have nothing to spend it on. And I don't like the game, yet I still do have 336.7 hours of time logged into this game on my Steam account. I do exactly the same with the various Fallout games. I think it's just that I like the idea of liking these games. I don't really like them though.

[@yuqianwang7817]

They create dopamine loops so you get trapped into being "addicted" to it, even though as you gradually get used to the loop in the 300 hrs long play through so much so that it no longer excites you. You just end up doing them as habits more than anything.

[@onatgz]

take a shot everytime he says "dungeon." i'll keep the -ambulance- mortician ready. edit: i blame the game for this btw, not the critic.

[@TheHighBear]

More like morowind I swear I could predict when one is coming up

[@lollyblizowo4343]

You know what, it's been over a month since I saw the first one, I'm gonna rewatch the first two back to back first and treat this like one massive five hour movie. Cheers.

[@ryanharmer9979]

Planning on going back for all three once I finish this one!

[@four-en-tee]

There's nothing really "wise" about Skyrim, it's just a natural progression of Oblivion's design philosophy. The reason why Skyrim succeeded as well as it did is because It's a game that had the right amount of advertising backing it up, came out right before major graphical advances in the gaming industry started to plateau, and had the right amount of mod support keeping it alive. Even to this day, Skyrim hardly looks THAT dated (although it helps that it got a remastered port a few years later). On top of that, Skyrim got to piggy-back off of a lot of the world building from it's previous titles, so it got to still benefit from having a very rich lore despite the fact that a lot of the stories Skyrim brought to the table weren't very well written (well actually, let me rephrase that: the new books added in Skyrim and other related world-building lore was great, but the actual quest-line plots can be pretty hit or miss). That being said, it's streamlining of the class system was a pretty ingenious way of making the game more casual friendly. Granted, as someone who likes more hard limits from class systems in RPG games since it better defines one's character and exemplifies their inherent strengths/flaws, I really wish vanilla Skyrim's class & perks system was as mechanically impressive as something like Daggerfall, Morrowind, Fallout New Vegas or even Cyberpunk 2077 (which honestly feels the closest to Skyrim's class/perk system).

[@four-en-tee]

I want to add on a few things, but i also don't want to bloat my OP, so I'll add some additional thoughts here. 1) I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with wanting to do grand, big stakes stories for faction quest lines. The dark brotherhood especially was rather enjoyable, and part of that i think had to do with its pacing, not to mention that rather than progressing through the ranks, your guild is destroyed and you're charged with rebuilding it from the ground up. In the case of something like the College of Winterhold, i think if the game spent some more time at the beginning further acclimating you to the college before introducing the big stakes plot-line, it would've helped the quest tremendously. Like, an obvious comparison we can make is the stories and setting in the Harry Potter books. Those books spend a LOT of time showing us what normal life is like at Hogwarts, it explains how the different houses at the school work and what all the different classes are, and there's a lot of room for the story to breathe before the main conflict of the story truly presents itself to Harry and his friends. 2) If the game is going to send me to radiant dungeons, I'd prefer that it be handled similar to The Elder Scrolls Blades where you're simply taken there after a loading screen and are returned back to your "hub" so to speak after you've cleared the dungeon (your hub in this case being a given guild hall). That way, none of the actual world itself is being bogged down by radiant dungeons. Bethesda could have their radiant quests and radiant dungeons without it hurting the world design, and I don't think the players would necessarily be opposed to that since those who don't want to farm those quests for items and resources can just opt to not do them. One could argue that it's immersion breaking, but having radiant dungeons and quests to begin with is already immersion breaking, so i'm simply proving the best possible pitch that would preserve the rest of the world design. I imagine that's a hill that Bethesda is simply willing to die on.

[@BastosFC2]

@@four-en-tee chill out bud

[@innerstrengthcheck]

Great response!

[@nyalan8385]

@@BastosFC2 the guy is just expressing his thoughts for people to see, if you don't want to see them you can scroll past

[@cloudbloom]

Tfw you've played skyrim for so long that you have every single dungeon shown on screen memorized as he cycles through footage

[@Faygris]

Okay, the part about the Gameplay Loop™ should definitely be awarded a prize

[@michaelelliott5611]

Some bandits outside caves or mines won't attack you on site and warn you about coming close (Embershard Mine) Valheim Towers also has bandits blackmail you for gold and will leave you alone if you pay it or pass a speech check.

[@waluigi3515]

Skyrim needs more of that for it to be noticeable

[@bladeranne5005]

Yeah but you can count thpse on one hand when you end up gping trough hudreads of bandits

[@timespent3384]

The cheeky attitude in the intro is definitely welcome. It seems like your tone has become more playful in the last year or so, and it's great.

[@ezdayz9871]

Strapping myself in for another epic. Loving the content and production on this series.

[@ChaoticChalice]

I desperately need you to go through each of Skyrim's perk trees listing every problem you have with Skyrim's perks just to prove a point. Quality content. Sign me up.

[@KOSS800]

This trilogy was SUPERB. Thanks for the ride. I truly wish you success in this love endeavour of yours.

[@lipsontajgordongrunk4328]

I enjoyed this video but there are a few nitpicks I do have, I’ll add them as I come across them: • gear in Skyrim DOES scale to player level, for example the quest rewards from certain quest lines like the Thieves Guild has a variable that is impacted by player level that determines how powerful the enchantments are on the armor you receive. This applies I believe to pretty much all quest rewards with most capping out once you surpass level 35+ • there is a bit more nuance to the level up options than just always picking health, at least for stamina. If you play sword and board, stamina helps how much you block and are able to shield bash, a strategy which is immensely useful at almost all levels of combat and difficulty. Stamina is also your resource pool for “sniper aim” where you can slow down time when aiming with a bow, so it’s actually really good to have a fair amount of stamina because that gives you all the more time to line up that shot. • there is actually quite a few things you can dump gold into. Purchasing the homes and furnishing them in each of the keeps, training under-leveled skills each level, and then if you have Hearthfire, building and furnishing those homes will quickly eat into that 180k gold you have. And I’m saying this as someone who’s favorite ES game is Morrowind, so I feel like these are legitimate points that were missed.

[@Ppanos423]

I can forgive every single flaw of Skyrim, because until this day I have no words to describe the feeling of exploration. The music, the ambience, the scenery, everything was so perfect. Also I actually like the skyrim combat. I know its a bit basic, but everytime I pressed my mouse to fire an arrow, I felt that I was the one who was shooting it.

[@helenline1790]

Agreed.

[@Madhattersinjeans]

Don't let a miserable critic take away the fun you had in this game. Notice how he never lets morrowind be topped by anything in skyrim. At least not directly. I think this speaks volumes about his own biases. This guy wants morrowind 2.0. And will grind any game into dust if it isn't.

[@MrMasterKaio]

I really like the Skyrim combat, too. It just let's you be 'more free'. Other games lock you onto the enemy for example, or you can't use the environmet to your advantage. That's not to say there aren't games with better combat, but for me personally, there aren't any first person RPGs with better combat than skyrim.

[@Ppanos423]

@@Madhattersinjeans Nah, he is not miserable. I think that he really like the elder scrolls, and he is very critical with them because he think they could be better.

[@roojackaroo8517]

@@Madhattersinjeans Yeah,the amount if whining I have seen about how Skyrim is not enough like Morrowind is crazy, like....just play Morrowind? Bethesda found something that works and is nigh universally loved(except for RPG elitist snobs) and will keep making games in this manner. Although I do agree with his criticisms of the perks, I cannot play Skyrim without the Ordinator Perks mod, so much wasted potential honestly.

[@toboterxp8155]

I think Gameplay Loop is primarily a term of game design, usurped by critics. Because from a design perspective it makes a lot of sense to think of activities in games that way, to ensure rewards feel useful (because they impact other aspects of the gameplay loop), and the player has something to do in case he lacks the creativity to come up with something himself.

[@JothamBate]

From a designers point of view, Gameplay Loop is really useful to identify because it can identify the structure around which you develop the game and you can use the gameplay loop to explain the game to other developers or pitch it to investors. It’s not really useful for players to know through, because it does sort of take away from the general enjoyment of games. Critics normally say it to sound clever.

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

Yes, and part of the problem is that too many games critics are wannabe games designers, so they pretend to fit into the club by using their terminology. Still, it's not a great term for even a designer to use if the point of the game doesn't mesh with that kind of design. That's really the whole point of this series: The Elder Scrolls came at the problem of designing an RPG world from one approach focused on immersion (whether mechanical, graphical, or emotional) as it progressed to its 3rd installment, and now has veered away from immersion towards addiction as its focus as it's moved away from it. "Gameplay Loop" is a great term for the game designer who wants to focus on designing dopamine addiction mechanics in games, it's terrible for a game designer who wants to make meaningful experiences or truly interesting worlds. The fact that it becomes core to discussions about Skyrim is extremely telling.

[@fergusofdalibor4264]

That ending is actually super cute, bro. It warmed my heart. I am literally sitting here playing skyrim (heavily modded) listening to your whole series. And yeah you're right. These games promise us grand adventure but keep pulling back on the sense of discovery part that makes them special. Thank God we have modders to complete the game. Hopefully the stories of ES6 will at least be good.

[@johnskelington]

The puzzles are the way they are in Skyrim in respect for the lore. They were designed with the most intelligent Nord in mind.

[@TheCtotheT]

The second he talked about that Inn a wave past over me of when I remembered having a strange fondness for it

[@unluckie1282]

Are you going to talk about Elder Scrolls Online? Due to production history, multiple changes and lore focused quests I think it would make a nice epilogue to the series.

[@nxamaya]

I think it deserves at least an honorable mention, it has quite a lot going on for the immersion, especially for an mmorpg, I was impressed.

[@snit22]

ESO is a symptom of the same problem.

[@billlyons7024]

This is the "Lord of the Rings" of game reviews. Please release the director's cut so I can binge-watch for 8 hours.

[@alexsm3882]

Patrician TV

[@CL33R]

i`m new to your channel but i can tell you genuinely enjoy making videos. Having over 1 hour long videos is something not many youtubers do. Keep it up.

[@DrSubtle]

After watching each part, multiple times, I feel like you didn't even scratch the surface of issues Skyrim riddled our experiences with, but well done in the aspects you touched, as always!

[@Drgsoul]

Perhaps the true elder scrolls were the friends we made along the way...

[@invock]

... what?

[@blonded0532]

Skyrim, despite its flaws, continues to be my favorite game of all time. Absolutely nothing else has been able to recreate it’s magic, and it’s a tragedy that it will probably be near 20 years in-between it’s and TES 6’s release.

[@roshtoux]

I know Elden Ring gets praised a lot and is a completely different type of game then Skyrim, but it brought back such a great sense of wonder and discovery that I haven't felt since I was 11 years old playing Oblivion for the first time. Games like Witcher 3 and RDR2 have come close to replicating that feeling, but Elden Ring is the first one.

[@Stellos812]

@@roshtoux Even though I've only got 35 hours in Elden Ring so far, I wholeheartedly agree with your statement. Skyrim has been my favorite game for over 10 years, and playing Elden Ring brings me back to those days when I'd spend hours wandering that frozen land. Of all the games to ever bring that feeling back after a decade, I never expected it to be a game like Elden Ring.

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

You have very low standarts or very deep nostalgia.

[@killadrill]

@@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051 that is not a counter argument

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

Lol Aldia is the 1st sin being a killjoy for zero reason🤡?

[@mmmtm8930]

The purpose of legendary skills resetting is to allow the player to continue to gain experience in that skill in order to keep levelling up and therefore obtain more perk points.

[@noxanneballadynasowacka6125]

This channel is the Joseph Anderson we never got.

[@MEGA_FIRE_DONKEY]

This multi-part deep dive was awesome. Thank you for putting so much work into this.

[@comradeeyebot]

Why did the "Hey Elder Scrolls, hit me up some time. We should go for coffee and catch up" get me right in the gut😭

[@Starkiller3481]

Lol

[@zaratustra00]

That's the only notification I am truly looking for on YT

[@Steeps444]

lmao literally finished my dissertation last night while listening to the oblivion review and this gets uploaded the next day!

[@joedatius]

I think the best way to describe the issues with Skyrims dungeons is that its the game design equivalent of missing the forest for the trees. You have this huge beautiful map but a massive amount of your time is spent in dungeons that aren't all that memorable so you end up with these grey blobs of memory of the time you spent in the game that is periodically spiked by actual meaningful experiences.

[@sirwolfwoods]

Man, just finishing the 3 of these up. Great work. Really enjoyed them. I will say, it does make me kind of sad watching people rip apart these games, especially Skyrim. I think I just play open world games different than a lot of people. I thoroughly enjoyed Skyrim, and I know you enjoyed it too, but these shortcomings didn't bother me as much. I avoided the radiant quests when I could. I adventured and explored, and never minded if I cleared a dungeon without a quest to do so. And if a quest took me back to the same dungeon, it didn't bother me. Skyrim was hardly a dungeon diver for me. I spent far more time above the surface than below. When an overworld is as enjoyable as Skyrim, I tend to avoid fast traveling. There are so many moments like finding Nightgate Inn that get missed by fast traveling. I also tend to ask myself regularly in open world games "does this sound like fun, or does it sound like a chore?" and if it's the latter, then I don't do it. If it sounds like fun later, then maybe I'll pick it up again. A lot of open world games suffer pacing issues and missions that feel like chores. Learning this, I try to fix these things by how I play them and it makes them quite a bit more enjoyable to me. Otherwise I agree with what you're saying as the most important things they can do better. I especially wish they'd develop their games without quest markers so we have to use a little bit of our heads to get stuff done. Loved that about Morrowind.

[@rickysavage9557]

It's insane how mods are still being made for this game.

[@hallamhal]

Even the Dawnguard DLC - you make a choice whether to join the Dawnguard or the Vampires, but either way you end up doing mostly the same quests

[@IxTHROWxTHINGS]

The Morrowind modding community is still strong as hell. It's seen a huge resurgence actually. I go back and play the game every year with a different set of mods, and it always feels like a new experience. Never saw any reason to go back to Skyrim, mods or not (And I've tried). Nothing seems to fix what Skyrim lacks, but the earlier games had.

[@benjaminschimpf421]

Watched all 3 til end. “Good enough for ppl to want it to be better” is succinct. Well done dude. Edit: WOW dude I appreciate your love lost come full circle. A love letter to an old flame. Brilliant. And brave if you to do. Braaaaaa vooooohhhh sir

[@fredhrodrigues9019]

I waited a long time for this, thank you. So many great memories from Skyrim. You are the best reviewer on KZbin.