Skyrim - Review | A Mile Wide and An Inch Deep

A review/critique/retrospective/analysis of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, an open-world RPG with unprecedented heights and a vast, expansive world that ultimately feels far shallower than its epic landscape and grandiose mountain ranges would suggest. It's not a bad game, but feels lacking in many important aspects that I usually find most appealing about open-world RPGs, which makes the overall experience merely "average" with occasional spikes of brilliance. This review is based on the plain, "Vanilla" version with no DLC and only minimal quality-of-life mods installed like SkyUI and Amazing Follower Tweaks, among a few other cosmetic ones. Note that those mods do not alter the vanilla gameplay experience in any significant way, and that I played for about 10 hours before installing any mods at all.
I originally reviewed Skyrim on my blog back in February 2012, shortly after the game first came out, and had many of the same criticisms and conclusions to make about it then as I did now, though some of my opinions have changed slightly with the benefit of extra time and a subsequent replay. You can read that review here, if you desire: thenocturnalrambler.blogspot.c...
0:00:00 - Introduction
0:02:55 - Disclaimer
0:04:02 - World Design
0:13:38 - Role-Playing
0:23:51 - Quests
0:33:15 - Progression
0:42:01 - Combat
0:45:51 - Bugs and Technical Issues
0:51:24 - Things I Like
1:01:00 - Conclusion
Blog:
thenocturnalrambler.blogspot.com
Twitch:
/ thenocturnalrambler
Patreon:
/ thenocturnalrambler
#TheElderScrolls #Skyrim #Review

[@TheNocturnalRambler]

This review was originally posted on my Patreon page on October 22nd, along with a few other shorter videos and articles cataloguing my playthrough with analytical thoughts and entertaining observations. I'm currently playing through The Witcher 3 and will be posting similar Patreon-exclusive content on that game, leading up to the full review, so if you're interested in seeing a little more content from me between reviews, or else just want to show your appreciation for the effort I put into these reviews, then consider supporting me on Patreon (link in description). Besides granting you access to extra special content and an earlier look at my reviews before they go public, it also helps me to be able to play and review games more frequently. Thanks for your consideration, and thank you for watching.

[@voramok5366]

Oh wow, I was just rewatching your G3 sucks video and wanted to ask, if you were planning to upload a vid anytime soon Glad to have you back onboard

[@leonarderasmus3410]

Do you plan on making a video on The Witcher 1, or perhaps include it in your TW3 one?

[@TheNocturnalRambler]

@@leonarderasmus3410 It would be nice to replay TW1 again, but I don't have plans to do so any time soon as I have several other games that I want to get to after TW3. I'm still overdue to replay the rest of the Risen games and Arcania, after all, plus a couple others on my radar that I picked up recently.

[@distantthunder12ck55]

Every time I restart Skyrim determined to complete it I end up stalling in the tedium and boredom before I make it through an entire playthrough. Same with Dragon Age Inquisition.

[@asmogames5661]

So wheres your starfield review? :)

[@moss42069]

I went into Skyrim after Morrowind and I was really disappointed. Especially by the guilds. Morrowind did guilds so well with the requirements, quests, and the interactions between them. The fact that different guilds and houses rivaled each other in added much more replayability and roleplaying potential. Why did Bethesda dumb them down so much?

[@tukkek]

"Why did Bethesda dumb them down so much"? Because casual players don't find it acceptable not to beat every single quest in the game on a single character, so you need to be able to complete Fighter, Thief and Mage guild quests on a single character regardless of your "class", as it now means absolutely nothing as the reviewer says. Yes, it's ridiculous and it completely breaks down any sense of role-playing but that's SKyrim (and modern AAA "RPGs") for you.

[@Everyonesbuddy829]

@@tukkek If the game is dumb down the more players will come. The more players the more money.

[@larsrons7937]

I agree. Guilds, their requirements, quests and interactions were much better, more profound and elaborate in Morrowind (which was really the best). Also Oblivion was a lot better. Skyrim has lost all depth there could be in the guilds. They are empty,,they are air, they have no substance.

[@irieite9666]

Wow I'm the mages guild leader, I only know 2 spells and became a member 3 hours ago. Oh well, that's cool I guess. So do I have any duties to perform as Leader of the guild? Toldfirr "Oh no, the job is all perks" Oh OK, what perks are there? Toldfirr "Uhhhhh..... Gotta go"

[@void9399]

@@tukkek You can literally do the same thing in Morrowind. You only need to use the trainers to raise a single skill that they ask for to level 90, and with that you can complete all the missions of that faction.

[@MazorKuziaki]

-Empty Space isn't inherently bad, it's only bad when there's nothing to do. That doesn't mean you have to put landmarkers or NPCs or quests. It could mean there's space for you to build a campsite, fish, dig, tame an animal as a permanent pet/mount. Basically, if your game design doesn't include things your character can make use of in empty space, don't have empty space. You can't even climb trees! -One of the few good roleplaying decisions they gave you is that you can choose to destroy the Dark Brotherhood, but that's also a little shallow and no one seems to care after the fact.

[@TheNocturnalRambler]

Well said. My problem isn't so much the empty space itself but that it doesn't feel incorporated into the gameplay in a meaningful way, as it feels like it's literally just there to stretch the world out to make it bigger and more spread apart. To use a contrasting example, I'm reminded of Pathologic, which is an open-world adventure game set in a small city that's dying from a deadly plague; that game has a lot of empty space in the map where there isn't much in the way of meaningful content, where you simply have to traverse the environments to get from one quest objective to the next, but that process plays into the very act of survival because it's in those long treks where you have to monitor your status gauges, manage limited supplies to maintain those gauges, scrounge the trashbins for supplies, trade with random passersby, avoid plaguebearers or plague-clouds and work your way around infected districts, and so on. Time also passes in real-time, and with you having scheduled appointments to make you also have to make sure you're getting places in time so you don't miss them and fail the objective, possibly failing the entire game in the process. So even though you spend a lot of time in that game just walking to your next destination, without a lot of notable content to do in-between quest locations, it still has active gameplay mechanisms keeping you engaged in the process of simply navigating across town. Unlike in Skyrim, where it feels like you're just biding your time waiting for the next thing on the compass to come into range almost like waiting at a loading screen.

[@asdergold1]

Destroying the DB is also not rewarding. And it's just kill all in the sanctuary and done. Pretty boring, could have been Astrid escapes and you somehow get involved with the penitus oculatus and have to find out information about the brotherhood and its members and hunt them down and then the sanctuary. Already more interesting.

[@Zodroo_Tint]

@@TheNocturnalRambler So it seems like if Skyrim would have been combined with a survival game it would be better for you. It definitely would be better for me. I never liked the eat & heal mechanics, I like to eat for hunger and heal myself for injury. I liked the Green Hell very much for two reason, first it was really dangerous to walk through the jungle but after a while I managed to feel myself home in the jungle so every long walk was exciting and fun, second I liked the backpack mechanic. What I dislike in Bethesda games is the inventory system, I was doing it first but in Fallout4 I just moded the game to unlimited carry weight and even in Skyrim I used the Heaven Bag mod. In Green Hell what I enjoy the most is the backpack management. Sad thing is Bethesda games doesn't evolve. Skyrim was a good game, but after 10 years and 110 releases it is not good anymore, it is old and outdaded. what I can forgive for a 10 years old game I can't forgive for Skyrim what is still a today's game.

[@maudley]

Platforming is one of my favorite ways to make use of empty space, and the platforming in this game is awful. You can't even sprint jump.

[@KafanskaTV]

i don't agree with that. Not every inch of space must be usable or have an icon or activity or whatever. It's part of building a believable world, and a believable world has plenty or empty space between hub A and hub B. This is why I prefer Skyrim's or RDR2's world to any of Ubisoft's world which, while beautiful, then to cram up too much stuff into the world just so that you never feel like you're without an "activity" even for a second. And sometimes that's precisely what I want.. just to take in the world without an activity there.

[@Wandering_Nowhere]

The feud between Nazeem and the player had more drama than the Civil War quest.

[@sapiensfromterra5103]

Funny how the emptiness of the wilderness is defended by realism, but how do they defend the "cities" then? There are castles in real life bigger than the cities in Skyrim.

[@Kevin5279]

You don't say

[@Kacpa2]

Camps in Gothic 1 are bigger than Whiterun a d far mkre interesting

[@Jorakful]

@@Kacpa2 Also in Gothic you don't have a questmarker. The Questgiver just gives you a direction and a target.

[@aligmal5031]

@@Jorakful also in gothic you can do a quest before taken it from the questgiver in gothic which came out 10 years before skyrim the combat was better and the animation changes the more you progress

[@Jorakful]

@@aligmal5031 i mean to be honest if you want to make a Combat System that is even more Boring and effortless than Skyrim than you would really need to try hard.

[@xenon333]

Even before watching this video, I know what it's going to say, and for myself, there came a point where I got bored of Skyrim. That point was when I realized that its world was dead and nothing ever happened without my involvement. The dragons were only impressive the first 5 times, then they just became a chore.

[@LiberatedMind1]

I am like 10 hours in, I can't stand it anymore.

[@TheRockLobsterMafia]

@@LiberatedMind1 oh man you really only gave it 10 hours? There is definitely a bunch of great quests and game play worth playing. That being said it's definitely not worth playing more than the main quests and dark brotherhood thieves guild and Mage college.

[@LiberatedMind1]

@@TheRockLobsterMafia I gave it more when I had classic years back. So there might be good quests buried in the game here and there, but the bulk is very derivative.

[@dominicaaaaa5547]

Feel sad to see everyone putting skyrim down haha it's a very flawed game but I still love it

[@vampmode9132]

@@dominicaaaaa5547 given the scope and the time it came out it's amazing, it didn't exactly hold up perfectly but it's still great

[@SNOWSOS]

You somehow managed to make a skyrim review interesting in 2020.

[@warlove5106]

Much like Skyrim people keep rerelasing them XD

[@PartyQuest]

agreed

[@BlackSailPass_GuitarCovers]

Why does the year matter? Good content is good content.

[@BlackSailPass_GuitarCovers]

@Ryan Vetter I see what you're saying, but that doesn't mean that the year the game/film/album released is relevant. Works of quality don't stop being good because they're older.

[@simongrozov1801]

Skyrim is more of a virtual fantasy dragon-slaying amusement park for the idle onlooker than an actual role-playing game.

[@asdergold1]

Can't call those disgraces dragons, really.

[@queengoblin]

Yes

[@Harp_and_Guitar_Moving_Forward]

I am dragonborn

[@kingofthegrill]

@@carringtondale Lunar 1 dropped 20 years ago and they even knew that "generic dragon slayer" was cliche.

[@_notCase]

Exactly.

[@paullucas7504]

I have tons of hours in Skyrim, and I genuinely enjoy the game. However, I do have to agree with your criticisms. "Oh you want to join our guild? Go do this mildly inconvenient task and then 2 more and we will not only let you join us, but you can be our leader!" The majority of every guild is just about clearing out another dungeon. Thankfully I enjoy the gameplay and building my character enough to keep playing. The fact that the Bard's college is literally just a fetch quest and there is no option to destroy the Thieves Guild is criminal. The story is bland and all of the character are so goddamn annoying that I would rather side with the dragons. Pretty much every NPC has a mental disability, and apparently you're the only one capable of getting anything done. You are forced down one lane for pretty much every main quest. Want to complete the companions? Gotta become a werewolf. Like imagine if you could join the silver hand, or not become a werewolf and still showing great power in battle which makes the circle reconsider their choice to become a werewolf. Imagine if the bard's college actually gave you the ability to sing and perform. Imagine if the destroy the dark brotherhood questline kept keep the same structure as the alternate where instead of your targets being random people with contracts, they are the surviving members who split after Astrid's death. Why can't I destroy the Thieves Guild with Mjoll?!?! Why can I not side with Paarthunax, and kick Esbum and Dolphin to the curb? There is so much to do in Skyrim, but you're always the one to do it and you can only do it one way.

[@kooroshrostami27]

Same for me, 98% of quests are really generic and dumb, with very few solid exceptions, even most of the main quests. NPC's are almost all deluded, blinded by prejudice and totally unreasonable in their plans and actions. But I enjoy taking out a dungeon or castle using sneak, archery, shouts, potions enough to keep me entertained and improving my character is satisfying cause it happens in an organic, learning by doing way and the world has enough atmosphere despite the fact that landscape and dungeons are extremly repetitive in design. If one merely considers Skyrim a loot and level open world action game and ignores the other aspects, then it's a decent game.

[@asiamatron]

Well said and I agree. I enjoy Skyrim but it is quite lacking when it comes to player choice in quests. Also too many quests involve going to a dungeon to kill, fetch etc and the dungeons get old after a while. I was very disappointed when I found out that the first quest I did for the Bard's college involved another fetch quest. The Thieves guild and Companions quest lines would've benefited from having another option for sure. The dark brotherhood alternate option is too limited and not fleshed out at all. It does also feel like becoming the boss of a guild is sometimes too quick. In Oblivion it felt like it generally took a lot longer to earn that title.

[@darkwaffle69]

I always thought it kinda made sense you became their leader, no matter what guild it is. You're basically doing all of the work while they are standing around bitching about how their luck has turned. I better become the leader if I'm a better mage, assassin, fighter, or thief than the rest of you combined. I slay dragons, burn werewolves, turn vampires to dust, and m basically the hero of everyone since I'm pretty much the only one who can make the world a better place at this point.

[@paullucas7504]

@@darkwaffle69 I'm not saying that you shouldn't become the guild leader, but the way you do it is too easy. The thieves guild and dark brotherhood require a lot of effort, but they are also the one's with the dumbest NPCs. Not to mention that there really isn't alternatives for these guilds for "good" characters. The companion's force you to become a werewolf or you can't proceed in the questline for some arbitrary reason. The mage's guild is actually even easier for warrior builds which is sad. Also you become arch-mage because the psijic order just shows up, takes the eye of magnus, and fucks off while saying "yep, you're in charge now." The blades, who are literally an organization created to serve the dragonborn, force you, the dragonborn, to do stuff or they throw a hissy fit. The bard's college is... we don't talk about the bard's college. These are just a few problems with these guilds' questlines. However, I still enjoy playing all of the questlines except the companion's because becoming a werewolf always feels like a chore.

[@cjaymeme]

This is a symptom of the game being as wide as an ocean but as deep as a puddle. Yeah, of course you can join the Thieves Guild or go to Mage's College. It's a pretty typical fantasy setting. However, all of these options are shallow. You join the College of Winterhold but don't do all that much other than be promoted. You join the Thieves Guild but never do any truly daring heists that feel grandiose. You have many large-scale options, but there is very little beneath that layer of choice. The game is bare-bones, but you can still see the skeleton of what it could and should be.

[@TheHazeKiller]

The love that Skyrim has received has given Bethesda the fatal conceit that their fanbase will accept any product finished or not, innovative, or not, buggy or not, or fun or not. This is why we have Fallout 4, 76, and even (I'm just predicting here) Starfield. That's why in 76's code there's a boss that's coded as just a reskinned dragon. No other developer would have gotten away with this kind of attitude.

[@TheHazeKiller]

@@frogglen6350 Shadow of Mordor, the nemesis system.

[@TheHazeKiller]

@@frogglen6350 It did, because it's a combat system that works. But I never brought up that aspect of the game as being innovative. Instead of trying to cherry-pick the parts of the game that aren't innovative to disprove me, try addressing the actual innovation I listed. And another thing, "no game since PS2" has been innovative, but you use a PS3 game as a gotcha when the game I mentioned used a very similar combat system. Wouldn't that make Arkham Asylum innovative?

[@grayman4951]

@@frogglen6350 Asserting that "everything innovative/original has been done already" is a meaningless platitude unless it comes with a point. What's yours?

[@felloh6320]

You were right about Starfield

[@enomiellanidrac9137]

This aged well regarding Starfield.

[@pcprinciple3774]

2 massive problems not mentioned: 1. The core game design punishes you for becoming good at something! My first playthrough I levelled an archer build to 100 but then couldn't level further, so then i had to put down my bow and start using a heavy armour one handed swordsman build just to keep levelling! This is the opposite to how a game should work, you constantly have to use your weakest 'skills' to level up. 2. By the mid-game, the dungeon loot gets way more valuable than ay shop keepers can afford to buy from you unless you want to spend perks on them - which I didn't. This meant that after every fucking dungeon i'd need to walk around 3 towns just to find enough shops with enough money to sell my shit. This gets old real fast and in the end i just stopped picking it up in the first place and that killed my motivation to enter dungeons in the first place, which is half the game.

[@Ipsolus]

It doesn't entirely fix 2, but the Thieves Guild fences have 4k gold upon completing the optional side quests for the guild. With master speech, it's 5k. Then you can do the shop reset glitch; you sell what you can, exit the shop, save. Then punch them until they become hostile, reload, and they'll have their money back. Still... Big hassle, I don't blame anyone for modding fixes

[@pcprinciple3774]

@@Ipsolus i didn't honestly know that but i'm loathed to spend perks on speech. Thanks for the tip though.

[@sventobergte845]

yes its a mod, but try "Legacy of the Dragonborn" it changes Skyrim in the biggest way you could think of, because now everything "belongs in a museum!!" Its so sattisfying to find some Axe you never ever use, but you have a Shelf where it belongs and you can present it.

[@flying1dead155]

Same here so I started a thief that never joined the guild and all I stole was gold,nuggets gems ,jewelry and I married a shop keeper and if I remember right she was also my fence 😂 . Made the game fun also I had really really good luck

[@RobloxDeadzoneHacks]

@@Ipsolus what's the point if you have to glitch

[@MartinMillerGuitar]

Your channel is criminally underrated!

[@yorulaney8563]

Fucking martin miller on a channel like this :O

[@yorulaney8563]

Apart from being an absolute beast of a guitarist you also have a great taste in games sir

[@haveanotherpinacolada]

He needs to dye his hair blue and put startled pics if his face on the thumbnail.

[@jimjohnson6944]

For once I actually agree with this comment

[@skoomamuch356]

his BLOG review is.. which i am a avid reader

[@Windbend3r]

Skyrim is atmospheric and that’s the only great thing about it. SKYRIM IS LITERALLY 90% fetch quests LOL

[@bionicmanspeedruns]

Fetch quests don't have to be boring, it's just that many mainstream games don't know how to make them good

[@RobertEdwinHouse9]

@@bionicmanspeedruns fetch quest are boring in skyrim because the movement is fucking boring A fetch quest in gta,or spider man will never be boring for example

[@macss.6648]

Great review. Lots of fair points that normally feel taboo to mention for the fear of die hard skyrim fans. Well structured and on point.

I've kept saying that Bethesda is all about quantity over quality whenever it's discussed, but very few ever relates. I am constantly baffled by how immune to tedious repetition everyone else seem to be. Also, their games tends to have a unclear view of what the main story and objective is at any given time. You can find your self doing something but then realizing you're on track for a sidequest. Have to keep checking the quest log constantly to keep yourself on track and avoid all the nonsense filler that leads nowhere.

[@darkwaffle69]

Some people don't find it to be tedious repetition. And some that do, like that. People don't have to have the same opinion as you for it to still be true to you.

[@erikhendrickson59]

So many of Skyrim's limitations are a direct result of it being released on the 360/PS3. Those consoles had an insane 512MB of RAM in 2011, at a time when mid-tier gaming PCs had 4GB or more

[@valentinvas6454]

So why does Starfield play almost the same on the Series S and X when those are dozens of times more powerful?

[@JustRockMySoul]

man, your narration style is good. well edited, making a point, yet not boring at all. such a good gameplay summary and analysis. not many videos like this, most-likely because these older games (skyrim, gothic) aren't the biggest draws anymore or - like Elex - have been successful, yet not really mainstream. makes me appretiate your content even more, as i can see you're doing it for the passion. with the help of the distance of time and your skills you provide a reallly unique perspective on these games. also: excellent audio. the levels and the quallity of your voice recording. always room to improve, but i am sure with how professional your content already is, many people will like it.

[@TheNocturnalRambler]

Thank you for the kind words. I take pride in my work, and put a lot of time and effort into making what I consider to be high-quality content, so I'm glad to hear that effort is reflected in the final product and that people appreciate the work that goes into these reviews.

[@n3burgener]

Once again commenting for the sake of the KZbin algorithm. Still hoping it helps!

[@SkyrimExplorer]

As for Camilla leading us to Bleak Falls - it's very nice touch and pitty that very rare one. Perhaps all (most) quests were supposed to be described this way instead of just putting marker on the map but then they decided that it would be too much work.

[@underscore_5450]

This really highlights all my issues with most Bethesda games. They have the foundations of a great game but then you realize that the foundation is all there really is. There's all these functional systems, explorable areas, skills to learn, and they're all fairly bare bones. Skyrim at level 1 and Skyrim at level 100 pretty much looks and plays the same.

[@jimx45]

Morrowind was slightly better than the other ones. But yeah TES games tend to feel like you're eating plenty of bread and wine but there is no spice, no real meat going on.

[@kooroshrostami27]

Interestingly enough, you can take the title of this video literally and have another flawed world design element. The world of Skyrim literally doesn't have a lot of vertical structure to it. Sure in the distance you see mountains and valleys, but if you actually walk through the world inclinations are very flat and you pretty much walk more or less horizontally the whole time, with a few exceptions. If you actually try to climb the mountains steeply, you basically deviate from the intended way of exploration and glitch through the environment with nothing interesting to discover whatsoever. To be fair, almost every modern open world RPG has this flaw in their world design, and it's very often overlooked. In games like for instance Gothic on the other hand, you have a high level of topographic complexity and vertical structure, it is deep, it has vertical depth. There is a ton of places in the open world where you have slopes and paths going in all kind of directions over, under and through, with several layers to it. It helps the immersion and exploration quality immensly imo.

[@mrfender03294]

One of my biggest problem when it came out, where the repetitive dungeons. Since about 30 to 40% time you were unreground in some caves doing the same stuff and killing the same enemies over and over again. One of the reasons why I got bored early.

[@arnvonsalzburg5033]

Sounds like Dagerfall to me, nothing new under the sun :)

[@okagron]

@@arnvonsalzburg5033 At least Daggerfall dungeons are randomized, same for the enemies you get. Every single dungeon in Skyrim looks nigh identical and you fight the same enemies over and over. There's no random element to make the repetitive dungeon even slightly enganging.

[@LiberatedMind1]

@@arnvonsalzburg5033 That game is how old now, I think a game that is 15 years newer should've made some massive improvements.

[@boyman7823]

@@okagron lmao if you think skyrims dungeons are repetitive stay far away from oblivion.

[@davidgribble6313]

I feel like Skyrims dungeons are one of most interesting parts of Skyrim.

[@heretyk_1337]

Mere fact, that i HAVE TO complete most daedric quests, or they will just be forever in my journal, i HAVE TO join Thievs Guild etc. or that being assassin is actually more fun and has more unique quests, than destroying those assholes- was already enough for me. I was suppose to be hero of Skyrim- they even sing songs about my character... Better steal everything that ain't nailed down then! Better sneak around, slitting throats! That is what heroes do! I mean- Morrowind- i join one guild, and it makes me unable to join others, or even makes some hostile toward me... Skyrim? No consequences... I can be a member or even leader of Companions AND Leader of Thievs Guild... Ain't they suppose to be polar opposites in the way of life? Combat is just pure shit, magic is pretty basic- archery was fun, especially when they added kill cam and crossbows- that i admit. But i am a man of sword, so seeing those clunky, baseball swings with oversized swords and axes just made my install more mods... Frankly- if not for mods, that allowed me more freedom, i would ditch this game after first play through

[@jareddurr4320]

Agree with the Skyrim Critique but amW’s guilds aren’t that restrictive. Only the great houses will only let you choose one of them but outside of a few quests (which you can avoid) even if guilds are at “-3” reputation with each other they’re pretty chill with you joining someone else .

[@death_cab]

Skyrim was my first Elder Scrolls game. I'll always have a special place for it in my heart, but after playing it's predecessors I've realized just how flawed it is. Oblivion had clever, memorable quests with some good guilds and one of the best DLCs ever made, and the sheer amount of depth in Morrowind was insane. Skyrims thieves guild in particular is a joke. They're more like thugs. I only come back to Skyrim for the incredible modding community And I do SERIOUS coping to make up for the lackluster storytelling...

[@rockjianrock]

cosplay thugs, after the Nocturnal questline

[@lisbette1731]

Oblivion is just as shallow as Skyrim lol

[@-.sy.5367]

The most overrated game ever. Ive thought if some1 criticise it quickly gets very bad like/dislike ratio. But real review like this really appriciated to avoid consumer misleading as all popular media does about this game.

[@xHeigoux]

I mean, I played it in 2018 and had a great time just exploring the whole world before doing most of the main story or even joining the guilds. spent around 350 hours on the game. Since the world is so big I couldn't have done it without fast travel. I've been palying gothic 1 and 2 during the last 2 weeks and while those games invole running around a lot, the maps are much smaller and more packed and interesting imo.

[@AFT_05G]

@@xHeigoux World is not really that big,movement speed is slow asf and render distance is way too outdated for an open world game that came out in 2011 but that still depends on your size standards tho.For me it's a medium sized open world with huge amount of content.

[@nikolavideomaker]

Well, GTA 5 might be more overrated.

[@Kacpa2]

Skyrim is really mediocre being mild improvement over Oblivion some aspects and being worse in others. While TES series in general were always really mediocre overly popular series. Morrowind is guilty of bad gameplay and design and clubk being vastly inferior to Gothic 1 and 2 fro same exact time.

[@PolishGod1234]

@@MetalGearyaTV more like much better than Skyrim. Witcher 3 is a masterpiece (not perfect though), Skyrim is just average

[@Atilolzz]

I really appreaciate your great efforts reviewing this game. Making a one hour scripted and edited video sure takes immense effort and I m happy everytime I see a new video pop up

[@huckmart2017]

I think removing athletics and acrobatics was a mistake because of what you said about the dead space in the world design. The thing that makes elder scrolls special is the constant character progression through action. That system allows even mundane actions like running to the shop to sell bits of loot to feel meaningful by rewarding the player with character progression through athletics, acrobatics and mercantile. Removing these avenues of progression only draws more attention to the dead space in the world because moving through it is no longer rewarded meaningfully.

[@Mark0Kramar]

I really enjoy your content, here on KZbin and on your website as well. Your in-depth reviews and analytical approach has really opened my eyes and I don’t look at (or play) games the same way anymore. Thank you and keep up the good work!

[@olly3231]

What the hell? How does someone with such long and detailed videos have so little subs? Such a hidden gem, this channel.

[@element1111]

He has a blog as well, if you want to check it out. Lots of reviews there.

[@ralphiecifaretto8961]

Because his opinions aren't shared by most people.

[@AmberyTear]

Most people have an attention span of a goldfish.

[@wurzelbert84wucher5]

Late answer, but it's the algorithm: If you don't promote current day hot content, you won't see any growth at all. KZbin is mainly a superficial advertisement-platform, if big corporations don't see you as a proper advertising vehicle, you are screwed. The free internet is long dead now.

[@alessandrodelisi5884]

What a great video, and what an interesting and structured channel. So glad I've discovered you, now I'm on a binge watch of all your videos. Keep up the good work, it's greatly appreciated!

[@alexsm3882]

I never enjoyed skyrim as I did oblivion, even in the rare times I thought of playing it

[@DeadlyBreadcrumbs]

Thank you Nocturnal Rambler, you are the first RPG Reviewer who has a deep understanding of the genre. Having played Gothic 2 makes every other RPG look bland in comparison. Sadly most gamers don't know the game.

[@Kacpa2]

It makes me sad that Bethesda lazy and pitiful mediocrity outshined any chance for Gothic to be popular in the west and by proxy entire world instead of just being a cult classic in eastern europe and germany. If it was more popular we would have great Gothic 3 and more "Witcher 2/3"s in the world for people to enjoy and possibly more and greater gsmes built upon this basis. Instead we have mediocrity and pseudo rpg bullshit from Bethesda and copycats of it.

[@mimos7214]

Personally I haven't played gothic 2 but if you want some interesting roleplaying experiences I'd definitely suggest looking into CRPGs(Disco Elysium, Tyranny etc)

[@vast634]

An alternative to map markers on the compass could be a Map with a fog of war (to wee where the player visited before) and a general Region outline (area) for directions like "A cave in the Stone-Valley, next to an old tower-ruin"

[@CHNO-cm1rd]

So basically Morrowind

[@Xegethra]

@@CHNO-cm1rd Wouldn't be a bad idea. Morrowind was easy enough to get around, was sign posted and NPC's told you where to go/what to look for and your character writes it down.

[@redsky5357]

@@Xegethralol yeah those were the days

[@greazypozer]

yeah that's interesting and makes the roads and road signs serve more of a purpose which gives you the opportunity to do more, hopefully better encounters and add interesting locations around it, really the game is kinda already tailored to this so i don't see why they didn't add it

[@TerenceChiII]

Great analysis of a terribly overhyped game. Sad to see this being praised as one of "the best RPGs" by some people, just because they have never seen what a proper RPG looks like.

[@svartedauden3566]

like Gothic ;)

[@TerenceChiII]

@@svartedauden3566 indeed

[@woozleweazle6741]

@@svartedauden3566 all ways lead to gothic

[@writer7997]

especially Gothic 3 ;)

[@TerenceChiII]

@@writer7997 Gothic 3 is garbage

[@Bdubzs]

I always hated playing the companions story, nightingale and blades because of the same reason. I hate having to turn into a werewolf or pledging my soul to nocturnal it just didn’t seem right to me I always like to think that our soul is already owned by the dragon god but still, it’s almost like what’s the point of me doing all this just to be her slave lol. With the blades I loved them in oblivion but they were really weak in this one compared to them which is sad.

[@asiamatron]

Yeah I agree. What makes it worse for me is how the game railroads the player into becoming a werewolf, pledging their soul to Nocturnal etc. We aren't given the option to refuse and still continue with the quest. I think this is one aspect of the game which shows how limited Skyrim is in terms of player choice in some quests.

[@stinkfinga4918]

I figure if you offer your soul to enough gods they'll eventually have to fight over it

[@haveanotherpinacolada]

I enjoyed Skyrim for a bit when it was first released, but thought it wasn't anywhere near as good as Oblivion... which isn't anywhere near as good as Morrowind. They have milked the hell out of it at this point.

[@badtuber1654]

Maybe you are a Retro gamer, its a much better game.. It has everything from oblivion and more, with better graphics

[@TobiasT96]

@@badtuber1654 except it doesn't have anything that oblivion had. A lot of things were taken out, crafting spells for example, which they already watered down in oblivion coming from Morrowind.

[@badtuber1654]

@@TobiasT96 Crafting Spells ? I never got to that part I allways get fed up with my characters and never advance the story, cause Im doing other random stuff lol. fun game, I play mostly assassins creed now origins/odissey

[@haveanotherpinacolada]

@@thrillainthemanilla1409 wrong. Skyrim is bland and boring. The combat in oblivion is better. All you do in skyrim is mash the button. Better graphics does not make a better game.

[@haveanotherpinacolada]

@@thrillainthemanilla1409 fair point. I just think it's more immersive, I like the amount of options you have in it. Armour pieces and what not.

[@ibearo8500]

This video hits the nail right in the head regarding the biggest problems I have with Skyrim. I would had more, but they it's so specific regarding someone's gaming history that a simple huge comment wouldn't be enough to make my point. Just wanted to add that by designing the world this way, without roleplaying limitations (being able to be part of any faction regardless of context, both for story or roleplay) actively diminishes the game's replay value. It would be preferable to have smaller playthroughs for others characters with content gated off, instead of one size fits all. By this point, with every TES release, I'm more excited to see what Sure AI does within Bethesda's Engine limitations. I'm actually curious to know what's your opinion of Enderal or Nehrim. I always felt like they were a cross between TES and Gothic design sensibilities. Congrats on a great new video, I hope to see more from you in the future. Cheers!

[@TheNocturnalRambler]

I've only played Nehrim, but only for a few dozen hours before getting distracted by the release of Risen 2 and never getting back into it. I definitely felt that Gothic influence, like you say, and found it to be a far more engaging experience than vanilla Oblivion in most regards. Lack of enemy-scaling combined with Gothic-style leveling made difficulty more challenging, and thus made getting stronger feel more satisfying, and I liked how the quests and world design seemed more closely interwoven. See my "Impressions" article on Nehrim from my blog, back in 2012 for a little more detail: thenocturnalrambler.blogspot.com/2012/04/impressions-of-nehrim-at-fates-edge.html

[@-.sy.5367]

Ive tried both Sure AI games. I think they made the same mistake as Bethesda. Both Nehrim and Enderal feels too big in terms of map size, also they feels empty: 1. in most friendly places NPC-s havent got dialogs/quests they just roaming around 2. Ive found many places which were totally empty 3. Most of real content is in dungeons and gets boring quickly like in Skyrim. A small developer team like Sure AI should make like 1/5 of the map size and content of Enderal. They really overshot their limits unfortunately. My conclusion of these games were: "They tried to make the biggest astouning world, but they missed the details everywhere - so it lost its charm in my eyes"

[@TMtheScratcher]

One good thing Skyrim does: It shows me how bad world building looks like and reminds me to put enough effort into creating the world for my pen and paper sessions :D It is incredible how bad the NPCs react to your choices and even settings and mechanics which are alreasy part of their world, but it does not feel like this at all (the is another good video pointing out how bad the magic system is from a writing and worldbuilding perspective, like trading and smithing weapons does not account to the fact that there is a novice spell for summoning swords and anyone could learn it for example)

[@LVega_]

Missed your videos! Looking forward to watch this thing.

[@thomsnvykovski6135]

What a treat! Great video as always

[@AphXMaster]

randomly found your video, +1 for the title, sums up vanilla Skyrim to a tee.

[@lf170]

I can't argue with many of your points, and yet, I've gotten sucked into this game countless times. It's comfort-food gaming. Nothing complicated or taxing. Something I play when I'm too tired to think or read pages of dialogue text or figure out puzzles. Kind of why I play Diablo 3 - somewhat mindless entertainment, but entertained I am. I will argue that it's vastness (shallow though it is... to a point), is one of the things that make it unique and immersive. It's the sum of its parts: the MUSIC, scenery, the occasional non-threatening animal, bandits or hostile creatures, world lore, that makes it an immersive experience. Did I appreciate Morrowind more? Hell yes. Is it playable today? Maybe? Not as much? It's clunky and shows its age. Plus, cliffriders.

[@MrMockigton]

wait wait wait, the tree in whiterun is supposed to disappear?!? i only ever saw these young tribes growing from the tree and thought "huh, yeah guess thats how it should be"

[@Yismir_Nick]

I always joke with my gf about how TES 6 will be "the construct" from the Matrix and the modding community will have to create the game :S

[@kasus123]

At this rate every new release being a broken piece of unfinished trash we might just see tes6 be a early alpha build for 60 dollars.

[@SpecialProjectY]

You mean like Daggerfall and onward? While Daggerfall was much, much bigger and guaranteed replayability the absolute heap of bugs nicknamed that game "Buggerfall".

[@117johnpar]

I would give my right leg for the depth of Skyrim in Starfield.

[@SludgeMan90]

Fantastic analysis. i really enjoyed this piece and I truly agree with every single point you have made. thank you! The best experience i had with this game was the first quest with the golden claw lol

[@bignaaasty5096]

Nice videos man. Started watching your stuff today after buying the Gothic collection. I see you're growing at a decent rate. Here's hoping that continues.

[@bignaaasty5096]

also side note im excited to watch your witcher review and would love a review for all the games. I've beaten the first two and poured a hundred hours into the third (I'm terrible at finishing or even playing single player games. you'd hate to see my steam library. So many games never installed. ) Hoping to at least finish the main story before Joseph Andersons monster of a vid comes out for it. and for yours as well.

[@CigEconomy]

I'm so glad people are finally coming around to this view that I've been saying since like 2012. I sunk a decent amount of hours in, but I never finished Skyrim and never came close to the amount of hours I put into Oblivion and Morrowind. There are some elements of good in there for sure, but it is just so basic, bland, and dumbed down compared to previous games. Oblivion suffers from many of the same problems, but overall, is a much more varied experience with better design and a much more interesting and vibrant world. I still go back to Oblivion occasionally, but I won't touch Skyrim. And Morrowind is an entirely different beast. That game is far superior to both.

[@darkwaffle69]

People aren't finally coming around to this. A lot of people have been thinking this since the beginning. They are the same people that buy every version of the game that comes out.

[@CigEconomy]

@@darkwaffle69 A small contingent of hardcore ES fans and old school RPG fans have been saying this from the beginning. The vast majority of people have been mindlessly praising it since the day it came out. I know people's opinions about it are changing because reviews like this used to get downvoted into oblivion (no pun intended). Ever since Fallout 4 and especially 76, people have been willing to see Bethesda for the crappy game dev they morphed into.

[@darkwaffle69]

@@CigEconomy Right but Fallout 76 being shit doesn't have anything to do with the quality of Skyrim. And no, people have been bitching about it quite vocally from the beginning. Why do you think eveyone talks about having to mod their game to make it playable? Praising this game isn't mindless. I don't give a shit about the story or lore or whether my choices matter. It's a fun game where I can kill stuff, craft stuff, and feel badass. There's nothing wrong with liking this game. They were still making decent stuff even shortly after this came out. Fallout 4 was amazing and FO76 was a major drop off in content and stability. But this was still long after Skyrim initially released.

[@maudley]

This was my first elder scrolls and it took me a while to realize how hollow it was. But not long enough that I bought it more than twice. Once on 360, once on PC after special edition. Mods could kinda patch the problems, but there's hardly a solid base to begin with. Better to just build your own in the engine

[@CigEconomy]

@@darkwaffle69 No they haven't been bitching about it "quite vocally" lmao what were you five years old when the game came out? The game has been lauded by most people as a masterpiece for a decade because it was the best selling game ES game by a large margin which means a lot of casuals played it and it was likely their introduction into the genre or series. The niche subreddit that you hang out in isn't a representative sample. I've watched/read dozens of reviews and critiques of the game over the years and they always received hate comments and dislikes and the game received glowing user reviews for years in spite of all the bugs and shallowness. And yes, Fallout 76 does matter because it led to a hate bandwagoning effect which made it acceptable/popular to hate on Bethesda. Before that they were seen as untouchable Gods by brainless consoomers much like CDPR with the Witcher fanboys. Even after the dumbed down Fallout 4 their reputation was still fairly strong. It's only been the last few years where I've finally seen that change.

[@iEatBass]

Another great video dude!

[@Synchro-tq1mo]

One of the best reviews of skyrim I vr seen on youtube

[@orpheusofthrace2304]

Such an excellent, concise review which explained my internal thoughts on the game, and in about an hour! I've played Skyrim on the 360 all the way back at release to now where I mod it on my PC. The modding community really does help to alleviate some criticisms, as you already know. It's too bad certain aspects of the game, like for example radiant quests w/o the quest giver saying where exactly the location you're going to fetch something, can't be done away with HUD hider mods, as you'll be reliant on quest markers in your map anyways... EDIT: There are mods to remove the quest marker on the worldmap. A better criticism is how the dialogue for the radiant quests and even non-radiant quests often don't specify the exact name or general location of the objective, or don't give hints on where the obj. is. Thus, you end up needing to use a quest marker anyways.

[@pawlle]

I'm always surprised how much better Oblivion's dungeons felt compared to Skyrim's, even though they were made by one guy. Anyways,great video,here is a comment to help with the algorithm! :)

[@asdergold1]

Yet every single person says the opposite. It's like they didn't actually play the game or went inside more than 5 dungeons, all of which were likely of the same type.

[@pawlle]

​@@asdergold1 Yeah,it's strange. I guess people felt that the dungeons were less repetitive in Skyrim because there was more detail in the environments. In their defence the cave-type dungeons in Oblivion do look very similar, but I feel like the layouts were very different which is what i appreciated more. Skyrim is a very weird game whenever its discussed, i feel like its a very average game, but people love it and hoist it as one of the best the RPG genre has to offer. IDK maybe it's just TES syndrome, whatever game you play first in the series the next one will be trash for you, it happened with Morrowind and Oblivion, and as Oblivion is my first in the series i feel the same way about Skyrim. Who knows :)

[@asdergold1]

@@pawlle it is quite a bit weird yeah

[@irieite9666]

@@pawlle I played Morrowind 1st and its my favorite. I still like Oblivion though. I just hate Skyrim. It's just boring to me.

[@pawlle]

@@irieite9666 Well you either kill my TES syndrome hypothesis or you are the exception to the rule that proves it! Considering Oblivion was the 1st game in the series i played, i will only be able to test this when TESVI releases.....in 2040.

[@SoCreaty]

I love your reviews!

[@WilliamBrinkley45]

Most of the people who love Skyrim never played the previous games in the series

[@hughesjanus]

I still play Morrowind to this day. I love Skyrim.

[@peacefusion]

started with oblivion, played skyrim, went back to Arena and daggerfall then morrowind. Yeah, skyrim is still the most immersive out of all of them. sorry morrowind fans, your game had long text quests but it cant hold a candle to user experience with proper voice quests and memorable exploration. oblivion, daggerfall, arena, they all pale in comparison to the latest in the series. skyrim is peak elder scrolls. thats the hard truth. it builds on features from every game and does them better. not that skyrim needs long text quests, but it has its own quest design because of older series. people say that the series gets "dumber" forward, but i think its better that each game doesnt just copy the older versions. it means the devs would rather try something new to the table than repeat old skill systems to be hard coded into the series.

[@Metaphix]

I agree with what you said about lvl scaling. This is the refined system too lol Oblivion was that turned to 11 it was awful.

[@Jan_Iedema]

I can agree 100% with the title of this video but this was the first ‘rpg’ I played at 11 years old and got me into the genre. So I can’t ever fault it to much because of the nostalgia it’s provided me with. Also playing this game in VR was just really cool.

[@JabJabCross123]

Love your content!

[@brittislove]

Skyrim is NOT an RPG. It is a boredom simulator for casuals

[@SkyrimExplorer]

Simulator of life 🙂

[@LeUberTroll]

I’m so glad there’s been a shift in the opinion of Skyrim. I tried a few times to get into it and haven’t been able to truly enjoy it. Makes me happy I decided to get dark souls

[@Harp_and_Guitar_Moving_Forward]

💀

[@fryingpanda9103]

honestly new vegas has ruined my perception of all Bethesda games. I just want to experience that feeling of playing new vegas for the first time. bg3 has gotten closer to that feeling than any Bethesda game

[@JuliusCaesar103]

I loved how you articulated your point about the loot in the game. I agree with all your points, that said I still put 400 hours into the game, I loved the aesthetic and music too much.

[@nocdeus]

Professional job. Great review!

[@NoMastersNoMistress]

Here's a reminder that BGS released Skyrimjob on 11/11/11 with the Main Quest BROKEN thanks to a fuck up with Esbern in Riften.

[@death_cab]

Classic Bethesda quality control!

[@monhi64]

Oh my god I forgot about skyrimjob. I feel like in 2012 all I could think about was how unfortunate the name sounded, just like pacific rim. But I haven’t heard someone use the phrase rimjob in years so I completely forgot

[@donaldhysa4836]

Hey you I am really happy I found your channel and I am gonna keep watching :)

[@PaulRoneClarke]

The same could be said of almost all AAA games. Especially open world ones. Made for the lowest common denominator. Every layer of added gameplay depth puts someone off the game. The deeper the gameplay the smaller the market you can sell it to. It is similar to the pareto effect. Each substantive increase in complexity may well reduce the viable market to the square root of its size were that complexity not added. - or at least reduce it by 80% (the other common definition of pareto) Indie and AA game companies know this. They are happy to sell to tens of thousands. AAA gaming publishers HAVE TO sell to millions. And if you HAVE TO sell to millions your game has to have no mechanics which complicate or alienate. Because people have no patience and have to have instant gratification.

[@bepisoilsnake]

welcome bacc

[@jwatches5589]

This is very well done. You’ve got yourself a new subscriber.

[@worldfamousgi86]

The same people that defend Skyrim's open world will complain that Fallout New Vegas has an empty world.

[@mastergame1311]

Nice video. I would also add that this game is basically a one-time thing as there is barely any variety in player options meaning that one's second playthrough will be almost exactly the same in the case of locations visited, quests completed and combat scenarios finished. It's almost like a GTA game in that regard.

[@animatron6661]

How dose this only have 6,000 views...

[@gygeson5888]

First, thank you for a very fair and well-thought out review. I'm a huge Elder Scrolls fan and enjoy any discussion of these games. While I may find a lot more enjoyment from Skyrim than you do, it is still enjoyable to hear what others like or dislike in the game. I'm actually starting a Let's Play series of Skyrim, and Morrowind and Oblivion eventually, soon. My game is heavily modded and for my money there is a no better experience than a modded Elder Scrolls game. You are correct that the game needs to be evaluated on its "vanilla" merits though. It's not fair or reasonable to expect every player to spend the hours/days it requires to learn how to mod the game properly. The vanilla game is a bit shallow, although I still think it's worth the sixty bucks. It still provides a hundred plus hours of content that a first-time playthrough provides. It's only after this initial playthrough where the faults of the game start to become noticeable in my opinion. That's when you either put the game on the shelf or discover the wonderful world of mods. I still think, especially in todays AAA gaming market, that it's a great value. Especially because you can find the game heavily discounted at most times. One other point, I find this game compared to The Witcher 3 quite a lot and even compare them myself. While I immensely enjoyed The Witcher 3, I think the gameplay is mediocre at best. Character progression is not very exciting and the loot system consists of crafting upgrades every few levels or so. While vanilla Skyrim's loot system is nothing to write home about, it is a lot more exciting than yet another upgrade to my "Griffon Set." Yawn! I'm stuck using the same weapons the entire game, again with only incremental upgrades. No archer builds or two-handed swords for Geralt. In Skyrim, finding various loot is exciting that first playthrough. Yes, the vanilla system is shallow once you realize how the leveling system works. I found the Witcher's loot boring at the start. Even CD Project Red have stated that they feel the gameplay of The Witcher 3 was average and could be vastly improved. I really think CyperPunk 2077 is going to give us great gameplay and a great story. The story is where The Witcher 3 destroys Skyrim; however, you are also locked into playing Geralt. In Skyrim I can play an archer, assassin, pure mage, etc. The types of characters are only limited by my imagination. So yeah, you're pretty much spot on with most points. It is certainly not fair to rate Skyrim, or any game, based on what mods are available. It IS a far too common response by many fan boys to simply hand wave Skyrim's problems with "you can fix that with a mod." Having said that, for me the game becomes something else entirely with mods. The leveling and looting system, two glaring weaknesses of the vanilla game, can easily be fixed with Morrowloot a very popular mod which makes the leveling and loot system much like Morrowind. You can no longer enter dungeons at level one and must work to find that Daedric set. All high-level loot is static and hand-placed n the game. It is a must-have mod in my opinion. Combat, magic, the animations, a more detailed character creation process, and most every area of the game can be enhanced or "fixed" by the most incredible modding community in existence. My Skyrim SE is not even the same game anymore. My civil war quest line is deep and involved complete with strategic portions and epic battles. The cities are brimming with more buildings and NPCs to interact with. There are hundreds of unique armor and weapon sets that look amazing. The magic available is both deep and rewarding. There are followers, like Lucien and Inigo, that are close to playing the game with another person. They will comment on each quest and provide amazing role-playing opportunities. The quests, oh my god the quest mods! There are some of the most ridiculously good user created quest mods available, like The Forgotten city which actually earned its mod author a writing award. Legacy of the Dragonborn turns you into an archaeologist/Indiana Jones type. It makes treasure hunting so enjoyable. It also integrates a ton of other mods to enhance itself that it's like playing an entirely different game. My College of Winterhold is an amazing and wonderous place that FEELS like a school of magic. Also, no longer can a non-mage become the head of the college in my game. Playing a vampire or werewolf is also much more exciting in modded Skyrim. You are powerful from the start until the end. I could go on and on; however, this post is already way too long. I think, my point is made. Vanilla Skyrim is mediocre at best no doubt. It is also not fair to rate the game based on mods. No one should be expected to download even a single mod to have an enjoyable gaming experience. I would stress that if you are playing on PC or Xbox One to download at least the Unofficial Patch as it fixes nearly all of the issues with the game. The thing is though, and the reason for my dissertation, is that modded Skyrim is not simply a better version of the game - it is an entirely new experience. If you are even remotely interested in RPGs or open-world games, then I think you owe it to yourself to take a weekend and learn how to mod the game. It's not THAT difficult, although it does take time and has a bit of a learning curve. There are dozens of guides and videos to help you though. Modded Skyrim, Oblivion and Morrowind are some of the most incredible and deep gaming experiences around. I'm still playing all three in 2020 as are many many others. As I mentioned earlier, I'm even doing a Let's Play to explore my creativity. I've also been inspired by the many great role-playing Let's Plays already available. If you are patiently waiting for Cyberpunk 2077, why not dust off Skyrim and mod the game to your specifications. You may find an incredible gaming experience like I did. Thanks for reading and take care!

[@Harp_and_Guitar_Moving_Forward]

💀

[@kamenborisov8839]

I've never played Skyrim myself, I only played Morrowind and started playing Oblivion after that. Morrowind was my second RPG experience after the Gothic 1 and 2, it wasn't so bad but it wasn't quite it. I didn't know at the time what exactly put me off it, but later when I played more RPGs I found out thet Gothic was a unique experience. Oblivion lost my interest quite quickly, I didn't finish it exactly because it seemed so repetitive and shallow, not enaging and immersive. The character development system is a major defect IMO too, all that grinding and figuring out which skill you have to upgrade next, all the important skills developing last, that is just wrong. I reached a moment I just lost interest and stopped playing it. I don't intend to play Skyrim, but it would bring similar feelengs too most probably.

[@Kacpa2]

Its just more reasons to why people should be exposed to Gothic games. Because of them being less successful and loosing to Bethesda'a pitiful mediocrity they betrayed their own series trying to mimick stupid design from TES games with Gothic 3 with minkr come back with Risen 1, just for all gsmes PB made after being watered down TES copying mess again. Elex still is guilty of lots of this but is more Gothic like....tho horribly bad mechanics in Elex put me off. Foghting is much worse than Gothic II with annoying melee combat snd only ranged one being okay. Witcher II/III are only modern rpg game that draw from Gothic and have good melee combat.

[@kamenborisov8839]

@@Kacpa2 Yes, I agree. I liked Elex actually, the mele system is not the best, but still feels better than Oblicion, and probably Skyrim. I played the withcer 1 and 2, still havent tried witcher 3, but I find similarities to Gothic in the way they develop the games, they are enjoyable and the story is nice too, the combat in the first witcher was terrible IMO but 2 was fine.

[@eziospaghettiauditore8369]

Oblivion is amazing some of the best quests in gaming and the mechanics are much deeper more engaging than Skyrim

[@bionicmanspeedruns]

Skyrim is like Oblivion but way shittier

[@MBTIinRealLife]

great review. Thanks

[@GuyLogen]

I would like to know your top 10 open world games where the open world exploration feels rewarding and interesting.

[@jimx45]

I'll start you off with Gothic 1, Gothic 2, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Risen 1 Old ass games but the NPC involvement is leagues better.

[@hapotus410]

Good points and a great critique. I've gotten like 50 hours on this game on PC, but thousands probably on console. Combat is boring, leveling could use some tweaks and the quests can be repetetive. Smithing/enchanting leveling is also terrible if you don't exploit tf out of this game. But i don't think there a cozier game out there to play on the couch after the work. Music, ambience, and visuals just line up perfectly with the compact cities and empty open wilds in my opinion.

[@OttoVonBizmarkie]

I’ve always felt like Bethesda rpgs like Skyrim, fallout, and even starfield are like playing with virtual action figures or dolls they give you enough tools and visuals to creat fun scenarios but you have to use a lot of your own imagination to fill in the blanks

[@hideakiakio6698]

If you have only played bethesda's fallout games then I agree but fallout 1, 2 and New Vegas give you plenty of options to make your character your own.

[@dragonalias]

I don't usually comment, but for some reason you only have 5.7k subs, so... good video

[@Esthadingens]

Why do you have so few viewers, I don't get it. Your content is of such high quality, maybe not as flashy or overproduced but has just the right pacing and depth. Also this particular video pretty much mirrors my main gripes with the game. :D

[@TheNocturnalRambler]

My only assumption is that the games I review aren't popular enough to reach a wider audience, or else when I do cover a more popular game it just gets buried by more popular reviewers. Either way, I'm basically at the mercy of the KZbin algorithm and Word of Mouth to achieve any sort of channel growth, and so far I haven't had much luck in either category, outside of my recognition and involvement with the Gothic community. I'm just as stumped as you are, if not more. But thanks for your kind words and vote of encouragement!

[@noob_jr_2sjrkc]

I'd be interested in seeing a video about how exactly mods manage to fix most of that, since it seems like too many fundamental issues for fans to handle.

[@Maartwo]

I realized that in every playthrough I've done since finishing the vanilla game in 2011 involved installing alternate start mods WHERE I DISABLE THE DRAGONS. There's something fundamentally wrong in your game's design if their players disable the main "feature". Meanwhile I have been playing Morrowind since it was released and never finished the main quest since I am enthralled by the world and the roleplaying opportunities the different factions allow.

[@knotsocialmusic]

If Skyrim just removed the compass and had better dialog like Morrowind it would be nice, this game is so easy. It looks nice and thats it. Morrowind is ugly but you actually feel immersed.

[@blissband3601]

Tbh i love morrowinds graphics more than skyrims

[@SkyrimExplorer]

So much time has passed. Having so many copies sold Bethesda could at least rebuild questlines to the form they were originally meant to (even in form of some DLC). It is so obvious that College of Winterhold and Bards' College have so much content cut due to time constraints. And we got some CC crap instead. Anyways thank you for your work.

[@henrymusic350]

I think I'm going to pick up Skyrim thanks for the review your really underated

[@asterixobelix20]

As much as I enjoyed my first playthtough (well technically second, since my first bugged out so hard I couldn't finish a main quest and couldn't progress, not even after loading an hour old save), the problems of the game were really showing and they really became an issue when I started a 2nd (3rd) playthrough and realized I'm not having any fun. After I installed some mods I was having more fun, but after a while I realized I'm not playing Skyrim, I'm playing something that looks like skyrim with better graphics and some wacky stuff, like lightsabers. Kinda shame, that now looking back at Oblivion or Fallout 4, that these games have pretty much the same issues, first playthrough was a buggy fun, but later the fun parts faded while the issues were still there.

[@RottensFTW]

Hey have you tried Outward? What's your opinion on it. I got it recently on steam on discount Im yet to give it a go, it seems interesting. Want to say I'm enjoying your reviews I relate a lot, I come from a similar backgroud where I grew up playing Gothic and Dark Souls and these games I've sank numerous hours in. Also, Mass Effect?

[@CESSKAR]

Well, the music was good...

[@mfspectacular]

I'd imagine it's different on pc, but for xbone there's a few ui mods that's changes up the compass. Ome specifically removes undiscovered locations from it.

[@FishiestFillet]

Great video, well written and thought out. Commenting for algorithm. Good stuff.

[@NoOnesBCE]

I can't help but make constant comparisons to Enderal which in my opinion is so much better than the base game.

[@MichaelBsh]

Eventhough I don't agree with some of your points, I think your review is excellent! Looking forward to your other game reviews.

[@TheNocturnalRambler]

Thank you for the kind words. I try to look at things from a variety of perspectives and find objective reasonings for my thoughts and feelings, but I'm ultimately one person and things I find good/bad won't apply to everyone else's tastes or interests. May I ask what points specifically you disagree with? Feel free to defend the game as much as you like.

[@changedmynamee]

@Hagogsyou can state your disagreement without going in depth, you know?

[@PHmee]

Great analysis. Love all your works so far. Wish you can make a review of Dragon Dogma. I would like to hear your opinion of this game.

[@TheNocturnalRambler]

Thank you. I'm planning a video review for Dragon's Dogma some time in the future, but I've a few other games I want to get to first. I did write a written review of it on my blog, back in 2013, however, which you can read here if you'd like to know my thoughts from when I first played it back then: thenocturnalrambler.blogspot.com/2013/11/dragons-dogma-is-pretty-damn-good.html

[@alexandruperide170]

Great analysis!

[@siegeslied844]

Excellent work.

[@Turd_Rocket]

Glad someone else in this world not only dislikes this game but also doesn't consider it an actual RPG.

[@HickoryDickory86]

Regarding the mods, fixes, etc. and the contrast between Bethesda and CD Projekt Red... One the one hand, there's Bethesda, who keeps re-releasing the same game with all the same bugs, with only a few tweaks here and there, continuing to rely exclusively on the modders to do all the heavy lifting for them. CD Projekt Red, on the other hand, releases substantive updates with patches, bug fixes, tweaked UI based on player feedback, etc. In fact, worthwhile modder-made patches and fixes are often taken up by CDPR, integrated natively into the base game, and rolled out to the masses (on all platforms) with said updates. If the work has already been done unofficially, why not officially patch the game with it? Makes perfect sense to me. So, yeah, very different approaches, and one far more appreciated than the other. Bethesda have really gotten to the point of extraordinary laziness and blatantly taking their modding community for granted. Their lazy work ethic, old game design, and non-existent "learning from past mistakes" and "iterating over time" is pathetic at this point, and it's downright inexcusable. And seeing the absolute state of Starfield, I'm really sick of people laughing it all off and giving Bethesda a free pass while they brutalize others for the same exact stuff, like CDPR for the state of Cyberpunk 2077 at release, etc. And mind you, CDPR really focused on fixing Cyberpunk and have gotten it to an excellent state since its release. Let's see if Bethesda can be bothered to do the same with Starfield. (If we've learned anything from history, we know they won't. They'll rely on modders to do it all for them. Would be happy to be proven wrong, though; but I'm not holding my breath, either.)

[@HickoryDickory86]

@@MetalGearyaTV "u fanboy" followed by "Starfield is a complete and absolutely functional game, unlike Cyberpunk." Your lack of self-awareness is astounding. And I never talked about features. I talked about patches and bug fixes; and yes, CDPR has done that incredibly well since Cyberpunk's release.

[@sickerthanyouraverage701]

Great video, man. Been watching some of your Let's Plays, do you not stream anymore?

[@TheNocturnalRambler]

I haven't in a long while, partially because it's difficult these days for me to stream without getting interrupted, but also I just haven't had the energy lately to be mentally/socially "active" during a Let's Play. I want to do some random streaming sessions when I can, for what I'm currently playing now, but it would only be sporadic at best and not a full recorded playthrough.

[@matternicuss]

Skyrim is the worst RPG that I can recommend to absolutely everyone. It’s mechanically shallow, somewhat broken, and lacks meaningful choices... but its accessibility combined with its seemingly endless options for customization (mods) make it a must play regardless of one’s experience with the genre. By contrast, I have a hard time recommending a masterpiece like Gothic 2 to anyone but the most patient and dedicated of RPG players because of its unfriendly user interface and inaccessible design. I guess what I’m saying is that Skyrim is a fun casual experience that can be enjoyed by just about anyone, but you’re ultimately going to get the most out of it after piling on dozens of user mods. In that way, Skyrim is more of a “platform” for user creativity than a proper, coherent game. In other words, it’s a Bethesda game. Great review as always!

[@kobatroy3428]

I disagree with you. Good points but i enjoy playing this game.

[@matternicuss]

@@kobatroy3428 me too! I’ve invested hundreds of hours into Skyrim for a reason; it’s fun to play. It may be a poor RPG, but it’s still a great game.

[@kobatroy3428]

@@matternicuss Fair enough. Any examples of great RPG games

[@matternicuss]

@@kobatroy3428 Oh yeah, lots! There’s a great deal of variety in RPG subgenres, so I’ve listed a few of my favorites in each category. (Top down “isometric” RPGs) Baldur’s Gate 1/2 Icewind Dale 1/2 Planescape: Torment Fallout 1/2 Ultima 7 Divinity: Original Sin 1/2 Dragon Age: Origins (Open world / action RPGs) Morrowind Gothic 1/2 Witcher trilogy Mass Effect trilogy Dark Souls trilogy Bloodborne (First person dungeon crawlers) Lands of Lore Eye of the Beholder 1/2 Might and Magic 3-8 Wizardry 8 Wizards and Warriors Pool of Radiance (also “isometric”)

[@eziospaghettiauditore8369]

Baldur's Gate 2 baby

[@toodough1234]

It's rare to see depth on the internet nowadays, so I love your channel. You're kind of like the Joe Rogan of game reviews for me. :D Keep it up!

[@CESSKAR]

Thanks.

[@ashrasmun1]

46:38 so this is a bug? LOL I always genuinely thought it's a feature 🤣

[@TheNocturnalRambler]

It's technically a physics glitch that Bethesda comically decided was a "feature" after the fact, and left in. From what I've read, the game handles "overkill" damage by converting the excess damage into force, so if you get killed by a particularly strong attack it'll knock your character back with recoil, to make it look like a more devastating hit. With giants being so much higher level than you at the start of the game, they obviously do a ton of damage, which leads to a ton of force, which isn't always absorbed into the environment correctly, depending on the type of hit, which sometimes leads to your character essentially ricocheting off the ground and flying up into the sky.

[@TheMadTurtle]

@@TheNocturnalRambler So that's why I'm able to launch people with arrows like in The Scorpion King?