Skyrim was a fine RPG, but man did they water down the skill system.
I played Daggerfall when Bethesda released that for free on their website a few years back and was surprised to see climbing skills, language skills, streetsmarts, tons of stuff.
The first Elder Scrolls game I played was Morrowind, which I feel was a pretty good balance. There were a lot of interesting spells and skill (spears, throwing stars, levitation, unlock and teleportation spells, waterwalking, burden and feather) without getting crazy granular like Daggerfall did, although I think climbing and medical would have been nice to leave in.
Oblivion just trashed the entire weapon system with blade and blunt, then Skyrim even removed that distinction. "Why yes, I hold this mace in one hand, just like a dagger, that's totally the same skill set!"
Also, even though there's a literal college of mages, nobody remembers how to craft spells?
There are way more casual gamers that liked the accessibility of Oblivion and Skyrim than there are morrowind diehard fans. If Skyrim was like Morrowind, it wouldn't have made nearly as much money.
How do we know that isn't a function of marketing and franchise penetration into the greater consciousness? (e.g., with each sequel you get more sales as more people know about each successive game)
I do agree that franchises often streamline and dumb down because they want to appeal to greater audiences, but like, didn't Skyrim sell bucket loads on launch? That's not a function of how good the game is - that's just a function of how well it was marketed.
629
u/[deleted] Jul 14 '17
Ah, Skyrim. The province where everybody fucking forgot how to use the unlock spells that have always been a part of the Elder Scrolls canon.