Posted January 22, 2012
Skyrim was average at best.
Your opinion, of course, therefore incontrovertible. It mostly involved follow the arrow
I pity you if you tried to follow the arrow. That basically served as a marker on your map. Most of the time you couldn't get there following the arrow on your compass. (High Hrothgar, for instance). click attack at the right time
No, this was the common argument against Oblivion's combat. They actually fixed that in Skyrim. Even warrior requires some strategy and skill now. hear poorly acted dialogue.
Again, a bit unjust. This was a common and valid complaint with Oblivion. They really did fix this, there's a wide variety of voice actors, many of them with proper, real accents, and they do a fine job. Assassins creed series (except for AC1): was very good at doing what it did. Making you a stealthy assassin, and having some really cool missions, and good music. They didn't overload it with a free world, they just made a game that had one purpose.
I'm playing Assassin's Creed 2 right now. The game is good, but it's definitely a one-trick pony. The stealth system in Skyrim is inferior, of course, and parkour is nonexistent, but comparing the stealth/assassination in Skyrim, where it's a small part, to the stealth/assassination in a game based around assassinations, is a bit of a spurious argument. If we do that, then Assassin's Creed 2 is inferior to Soulcalibur, because the melee battles are inferior to the ones in SC2. The Thief Series: If you can find anything in Skyrim to rival the Shalebridge Cradle, I missed it, and missed out big time.
Can't compare. You're probably right, it's superior. All I can offer, not having seen it, is Blackreach - one of the most beautiful, haunting, eerie locations I've ever seen in a game. I'm bored now, I'll just say: Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, in fact most jRPGs, and The Witcher.
Uh...what? You can't compare jRPG's to western RPG's. It doesn't work. That's apples and oranges. I've played an awful lot of jRPG's, and they focus on linear gameplay, repetitive fixed combat mechanics, and (sometimes) strong character development for a few individuals. Granted, I've loved The Elder Scrolls since I first read "In the Waning Years of the Third Era of Tamriel, a prisoner born on a certain day to uncertain parents was sent under guard, without explanation, to Morrowind, ignorant of the role he was to play in that nation's history..." I don't resent your opinion, you're welcome to it, but criticizing The Elder Scrolls was cool when they released Oblivion, and considering how much work they put into addressing the issues from Oblivion in Skyrim, I think they deserve some credit.