So, most of the regular posters here know I only play adventure games. I'm very poor with actiony type challenges, so I never really considered other genres before. Today, one of my favorite fantasy authors blogged about this game, and it sounds like some parts of it (the exploration) I would like.

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/news/

How difficult is the actual gameplay? Do you just die over and over again until you get it right? We do have a PS3 console, but the controls look very complicated. Do you use a keyboard or mouse to play? Do you need to have played the preceeding games?

Skyrim isn't that hard of a game, you can use either a keyboard and mouse, or a controller.

The actual gameplay isn't diffcult, combat wise it's just aiming and hitting things, the depth of combat can change depending on what type of skills you want to use (IE magic, Melee combat, Range combat, mix , etc).

If you die, you just load a save. You can Save and load as you wish, it's not a "checkpoint" style save system. So if you save often , you can get back to where you were with little time.

I would recommend that you get the PC version. There have been reports of severe frame rate issues and memory leaks for the PS3 version, and the PC version allows for modding, which is one of the joys of the series.

I think the combat is hard, harder than Oblivion.  

Combat happens a lot--randomly, and 99% of the quests require combat.  To survive, you'll need to get rather deft with not only sword/shield, staff, or bow/arrow, but also protective and healing spells and potions.  Another weapon is a shout, and you gain those by earning "words" after a quest. To use a shout, you must, activate it with a dragon soul that you obtain by killing dragons.

This game is no walk around the park.  I remember playing Oblivion for the first time, never having played a serious shooter or fighting game.  I was terrified.  I had a very hard time killing someone--on a skill level, and an emotional/moral one.  Today, two years later, I still do not like killing people or animals, but I've distanced myself from it somewhat.  But I do not "love" the fighting portion of the game, but I"m fairly good at it, in my own way.

Originally Posted By Halcyon

I think the combat is hard, harder than Oblivion.  

Set the game to Easy, of course)  That said, you get  warnings that someone will attack in a second.  More times than not, someone will speak "Did you hear something?"  "You'll be sorry you showed up." ...stuff like that, before the villain appears to kill you, which they do rather quickly.  Bears will growl first.  Wolves will howl.  Skeevers have a little growl.  

ragons will bellow up in the air.  

 

Combat happens a lot--randomly, and 99% of the quests require combat.  To survive, you'll need to get rather deft with not only sword/shield, staff, or bow/arrow, but also protective and healing spells and potions.  Another weapon is a shout, and you gain those by earning "words" after a quest. To use a shout, you must, activate it with a dragon soul that you obtain by killing dragons.

 

This game is no walk around the park.  I remember playing Oblivion for the first time, never having played a serious shooter or fighting game.  I was terrified.  I had a very hard time killing someone--on a skill level, and an emotional/moral one.  Today, two years later, I still do not like killing people or animals, but I've distanced myself from it somewhat.  But I do not "love" the fighting portion of the game, but I"m fairly good at it, in my own way.

That whole aspect of it is distasteful to me. Does the exploration and environment make up for that? I'll check out some gameplay on you tube. Too bad you couldn't just explore the gameworld without being threatened or challenged all the time.

you could use some console cheats to make all enemies friendly, or make yourself immortal.

But i don't think i would like skyrim without the combat, i think it would become boring rather quickly.

The graphics aren't stunning enough (instead i would recommend the witcher 2) and there aren't a lot of puzzles to keep you happy.

You don't have to kill people in Skyrim, the game offers enough choice that you can get around it......

Interesting, although I had hoped to see the player tame a dragon. I had to wonder if you could you still somehow absorb the soul and just render the poor thing soul-less.  No, I think I'll continue as is, if it shoots at me I shall shoot back. It's almost funny that I've probably died more times in this game than in the last two Fallout games combined. That's OK though, with all of the offensive and defensive choices available and with a little luck I eventually get it right or run away.

As for PS3 or other console I was going to suggest Redbox or Blockbuster or similar local franchise that rents the game. (I know that Redbox charges $2/day) Since I don't own a console I'm not in a position to say whether or not it is an advisable means of determining if one likes the game or not prior to commitment of PC version purchase.  I'll leave that open for comment. 

I agree that Skyrim is not a beautiful game.  The graphics are rough, often bad, and the terrain is bleak and cold, as are the structures.  The dungeons are stunning, some of them, and most interiors are.

But if I were to choose a game to wander around peaceful and soak in the sights, this is not it.  This is a blood-on-cold-stone game.   If you can figure out the cheats mentioned above, you might want to try Oblivion to stroll around in.  Or, Fallout 3.  Nehrim is gorgeous, but it is rather complicated to load after you have Oblivion.

Still, your motivation is what drove me to Oblivion and take up a sword -- the action games had all the beauty.  

I find the setting extremely beauiful, the wind blowing snow around you as you stand at the peak of a mountain top overlooking a valley and city below. Or going further south east and seeing the fall leaves on tohe trees as the northern lights hang overhead.

The setting is "cold" yes, but not beauiful? I find the landscape in Skyrim to be wonderful, The setting has hardly ever been done in a game and done as well as it is in Skyrim.

There are a ton sof game sout there that have did "Generic green fantasy land" (Like in Oblivion) over and over, not to mention the cookie cutter dungeons. In Skyrim all the dungeons are hand crafted and you can tell it.

Surprised you label cutural consistency as cookie-cutter, Stiler.  In game-play, certain situations lead to the same solutions, but I like that.  

So be it.  One can see that Skyrim provides diverse experiences. But there is no escaping the fighting (and dying). 

Is Skyrim "beautiful"?  This is subjective, whether judging for you personally, or whether judging as an element of the game.  Me, I don't like being in Skyrim. If you like snow, ice, grouchy people, and hard environments, then it might be beautiful.  I guess.   It is extremely well done.  It is artistically to be applauded.  It is not, IMO, beautiful anywhere, except in a some caves.

Oblivoin and more so Nehrim are beautiful.  Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper is beautiful. URU is beautiful.  Skyrim depicts a world that is realistic and one that you must endure, not admire, IMO.  

What do you mean? In Oblivion they copy pasted dungeons, hence the term cookie cutter. HAs nothing to do with any cutural consistency. The dungeons in Skyrim were all hand crafted, so they feel more unique/different and it shows through a lot better.

Originally Posted By colpet

How difficult is the actual gameplay? Do you just die over and over again until you get it right? We do have a PS3 console, but the controls look very complicated. Do you use a keyboard or mouse to play? Do you need to have played the preceeding games?

I haven't played Skyrim myself, but it seems that, according to Yahtzee (in the first paragraph of this article), the difficulty of combat may depend heavily on your character build.  If so, perhaps it might be a good idea to look up a particularly effective build and use that.  (I believe that Yahtzee mentioned a conjurer getting bored for lack of difficulty, for example.)

Originally Posted By Stiler

What do you mean? In Oblivion they copy pasted dungeons, hence the term cookie cutter. HAs nothing to do with any cutural consistency. The dungeons in Skyrim were all hand crafted, so they feel more unique/different and it shows through a lot better.

Pretty much what I said--Skyrim interiors are the best. Oblivion vistas are beautiful, if you're just in the game to wander around.  I wouldn't want to wander around Skyrim's dungeons, hand-crafted or not.  A few are beautiful, as are Oblivion's, but most in Skyrim are similar and dull.

Originally Posted By Thaumaturge

Originally Posted By colpet

How difficult is the actual gameplay? Do you just die over and over again until you get it right? We do have a PS3 console, but the controls look very complicated. Do you use a keyboard or mouse to play? Do you need to have played the preceeding games?

I haven't played Skyrim myself, but it seems that, according to Yahtzee (in the first paragraph of this article), the difficulty of combat may depend heavily on your character build.  If so, perhaps it might be a good idea to look up a particularly effective build and use that.  (I believe that Yahtzee mentioned a conjurer getting bored for lack of difficulty, for example.)

There is no superhero character in Skyrim, and no lock-ins to abilities.  Any character can do anything well.  If you're looking to avoid fighting, use the console commands, fire up god mode, and run...fast...cause the baddies will follow you.  

Pretty funny Skyrim video, with some good lines.  

I have vben spending time in Oblvoin Dungeons, caverns, ruined Cities and barrows and have not yet found them steryotyped or boring. They are beautiful, atmospheric, ethereal, evocative, arctypal, artistic, mysterious, and endlessly interesting. Some have traps, some have dangerous beings of various sorts, but I have not yet not been suprrised. One time one of the ghouls followed me all the way back to the surface and even then it did not give up ...but kept chasing me...who knws why...but it did. Many have story or lore connected to them, and I have never tired of the, and I still have many to explore. I have not been to Skyrim, nor i am guessing, will I for some time, and certainly not until the price comes down. Can't really compare apples to oranges as game development, vision and technology and what it allows have kept evolving year after year. Not only did all the past development experience of Bethesda gong back many years get put into Skyrim but also literally thousands of mods created by hundreds of modders, with new ideas, concepts, principles and things developed by the communty that Beth's staff never dreamed of...all went into the soup. I am glad there are differences, and much to enjoy in both. And both will continue to evolve esp once the construciton set for Skyrim is released in January. The sky is the limit.

Um, so now we have three Skyrim threads?  Maybe we should keep this thread for more general comments about the game, and the other one for more personal and gameplay-related comments?  (Besides the obvious screenshot one).

In other words, how about we keep this the spoiler-free thread, and the other 2 threads for spoilers?

Anyway, re the "look" and "feel" of the games for Colpet's info.  I've not been through the entire Skyrim yet, but I have a feeling that Colpet might indeed enjoy a graphically updated Oblivion more. (..or even the vanilla one)  

I think she'd also enjoy Shivering Isles. (One of the Oblivion expansions)

 ...but taking into account that she usually likes games that are quite intensely packed with mechanical puzzles, and preferably zero dialogue, I'm not too sure that she'll enjoy any of these at all. Since she's not used to combat, she could always play with god mode on, but the Skyrim quests involve combat a lot more, than say, the Morrowind quests did.  She could always turn thief, mind you.

She might just as well play Gothic 3 or Risen with god mode on.  (Erm, though I'm not sure if there is a god-mode for Risen.  I think there might be one for Gothic 3 - Chris?)

Keeping this thread spoiler-free sounds reasonable to me. Personally I've never subscribed to the philosophy of thread economy.

As for the game, it -is- combat-heavy; I suspect you'd find it daunting, Jo. Traveler is quite right that Morrowing would be more gentle, but of course it shows its age. I'd say Skyrim is more gentle than Oblivion, though...

This has got me thinking about RPGs have the least combat. An interesting question, I'd say, but perhaps for another thread. 

Hmm, not sure why you say Skyrim is more gentle, JKing.  In Oblivion, there are quite a few things you can do around the towns and cities without combat, and especially if you join the mages or thieves guilds.  The main threats are out in the wilds, but god mode can fix attacks by wild beasts for you.  I feel sure you can simply run away from them, especially if you work on upping your speed with upgrades.  Skyrim has smaller towns, somehow, and more wilds with wolves and other animals you need to kill.

Yes, it's hard to think of any RPG's that have modern-ish graphics and pretty environments that don't require combat most of the time.  Drakensang 1 & 2, and Divine Divinity 2 have lovely settings, but they're all quite combat-heavy compared to the average AG.

Jade Empire has lovely graphics and environments, but it's quite linear and combat-heavy too.

The earlier RPG's such as Arcanum, wouldn't have nice enough graphics for a person just out to explore, I don't think.

Sorry, I meant that combat itself is less of a challenge. For the most part I've generally felt more powerful in Skyrim than Oblivion, and consistently so. 

As I said, though, it certainly is more combat-heavy; no argument there. 

I agree with all that, Chris.  But after playing Skyrim for nearly 200 hours, with its rough, rugged, and realistic terrain and characters, Oblivion looks like an entirely different game.  Oh wait...it is!  Let them both live and thrive.  I make frequent trips to Oblivion, its much improved cousin, Nehrim, as well as Fallout 3.  

Colpet, I'd say jump in and see what Oblivion or Skyrim are all about.  You might, like me, decide to put yourself on a learning curve and expand your gaming experiences. The rewards are many, including those wonderful, big worlds you long for.

Sorry, I meant that combat itself is less of a challenge. For the most part I've generally felt more powerful in Skyrim than Oblivion, and consistently so. 

As I said, though, it certainly is more combat-heavy; no argument there. 

This is probably due to the fact that you have a lot more options in Skyrim. Combat for a non-mage in Olbivion consisted of parry, sidestep/step back and attack. Combat for a mage consisted of throwing a few spells while trying to manage your mana supply. In skyrim combat for a non-mage also adds shouts and the ability (and sometimes need) to stagger your opponent, while a mage gets shouts, and the ability to combine spells. Combat in Skyrim is a lot more involved, and allows the player to influence its outcome to a greater degree, and it also involves a lot more movement. 

I'll see if I can find a demo to try.

Sadly the only game in this series that has a demo is Daggerfall, and that game is quite unlike any of the later games in the series (and as the game is free these days, there really is no point in playing the demo anyway).