6 things that could have made Skyrim better.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is a wonderful game, with a scope and scale rivaled by few.  It does however have some things I'd like to see changed.

Part A:  The Annoyances:

6.  An entire land of chatty Kathys.

In Skyrim, every single entity that can talk, does.  I'm all for the myriad of directions the game points you in at once, I'm all for the dialogue web that's woven almost non-stop by the inhabitants of Skyrim, but please, oh please make it something I initiate unless it's directly related to a quest.  There are several cities and areas that you travel through quite extensively and the people there never fail to repeat their codes messages with the spirit of a 5 year old.  Skyrim is 100% extroverted, which if you're introverted like me, you'll realize just how annoying that is.  Also, if you get married (and are married in Real Life) you'll understand that the programmer of the "love" dialogue isn't married.  There were several times I almost murdered my in-game wife for being ridiculous with the "love".  It was a lot easier to stomach once I took the pick-pocket equipped items perk and stripped her down.

5.  Load screen info.

It's cool you can rotate the 3D models on the load screen, it's also cool that you give lore info and more as the game loads, but please don't lie to me.  Bears aren't hostile unless provoked?  I guess walking within 100 yards of their designated areas provokes them, not to mention the fact they can see through every stealth item, skill, and perk in the game to try and claw your face off.    Things also repeat quite frequently based on what you're doing in the game, which is fine, but still annoying.


Part B:  The Irritations

4.  Skill based leveling.....only.

Fantastic idea, leveling your character based on leveling skills, based on how much you use them. An Idea that I initially loved, until I maxed out the skills I wanted to play using and was stuck on level 38.  To finish leveling to 50 (for the trophy and perks) I had to resort to either grinding out levels using skill trees I didn't care for or using some of the strange and silly exploitable skills the game has.

3.  Loading screen zoning woes:

The outside world in Skyrim is, for lack of a better term, GIGANTIC.  This area is one seamless zone and if you were to travel straight from one side to another on foot, it could take you upwards of 30-45 minutes.  With that said, it's very confusing then to be subjugated to small dungeons with multiple zones within.  Every house in every town is it's own zone, some even have several zones inside.  It makes little to no sense, and takes a player out of the game experience frequently.  Also, picking locks of doors is an automatic zone + trespass (if it's owned)  Which to me doesn't make sense.  Maybe I just want to pick the lock to work on my lock-picking skill, why do I have to zone in, get yelled at, and zone out again just to level my skill?  It gets old.

Part C:  The Game-changers.

2.  Lag and bad programming in general.

I understand a lot is going on in the game and some lag is inevitable.  With that said, there are times (on PS3) the game won't run anymore if you don't understand the rules.  For instance, having a higher bounty in any hold makes the game laggier in that whole area.  Having a high bounty in all areas (for one of the trophies) just about makes the game unplayable.  If you're OCD about looting and selling items you'll not notice a thing, but if you leave shitty stuff where it lies like I do, the game lags more and more as it progresses.  I realize it's a multi-plat game, ported here and there, but the developer has to answer for it.  Any cross-platform game should be identical to it's counterpart, otherwise it's a dis-service to the fans who only have that option.

1.  Perks for LIFE

Skyrim is single player.  Once you buy it, you're in it for yourself and your character.  Skyrim also has a million quests, favors, and world-changing events.  Why is it then that there isn't a quest line for re-specing perks.  Make it a one-time use thing, make it only available till level 30, make them able to be removed for the entire level they were chosen on, make it something.  At the least they could have for-warned the player just how shitty some perks are before they take (waste) them.

Great game, I liked it so much I had to write about it.

-CadDad

Fun With Character Creation

I picked up SoulCalibur V the other day. Compared to SoulCalibur IV, there really hasn't been much of a change in gameplay. Where the fun lies is in the Creation mode, where you can modify and create new fighters.

In SCIV, I made a number of characters from other video games and a few comic book characters. In SCV, I chose to go a different route and am currently working on making a number of fast food icons.

Right now I have three fighters made. First was Ronald McDonald, built off of Astaroth's style and using a giant hammer. Next was Wendy, using the ring blade of Tira. The latest is Colonel Sanders with Raphael's fighting form.

I have The Burger King planned, and was suggested by CadDad to make the Hamburglar and the Noid. I'm thinking I'll need to unlock a few more outfits for those two before I can successfully create them.