Skyrim's Most Crucial Flaws

Carl B. of RoboAwesome.com writes, "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will no doubt receive praise here on RoboAwesome, and it certainly should. It’s by far the greatest Western RPG of all time, beating out previous Elder Scrolls titles along with Jade Empire and Mass Effect 2. With over 20 hours on the game, I can’t help but notice some crucial flaws with the game — things that aren’t nit-picky. These flaws break immersion and make the game frustrating and hard to play."

[DonaldBeck]

glitches/freezes,texture loading, ect. still a great gane.

[ArabianKnight01]

I have not come across any issues yet, but if I had to gripe about anything it might be that you can practically max out skills/perks very early on in the game, I feel that with such a large world that it should take much more exploring b4 maxing out a single skill/perk, I like exploring for the sake of leveling not just to explore. I have enchanting maxed and smithing maxed so ive created dragon bone armor head to toe w/ enchantments that allow for zero consumption to magicka. Free magic ftw!

[Foxton01]

Raise the difficulty? On Master you WILL spend that mana, since you have to use wards and heals a lot more + more expensive attacks.

[ArabianKnight01]

Thanx for the advice, but yea I have it on Master I have my 360 setup to automatically set games to the hardest difficulty, and I always check game settings for good measure... I have not found master magicka yet but I am using expert magicka at zero consumption, as far as wards, bone armor with heavy armor perk (armor rating at 400 plus atm) almost maxed out w/ the use of slow time dragon shout plus a close wounds heal (which I rarely have to use them btw) keeps me worry free of dying. Stronger magicka should not be available unless you explore the depth of the game and get your ass handed to you many times in the process. If I travel of the beaten path and I struggle to get to the end of a cave or dungeon when I finally get there I find a crazy destruction spell for example it would make me feel accomplished (sorta like shouts)make me work for my levels/perks not buy it for a few gold, or make good magicka expensive so I will have to explore every cave and area to get enough lute to buy the magicka spells I want, as it stands I feel overpowered and the need to explore is minimal. I want a diablo stye level systems where its crucial to explore the whole world and still cant max out until a second play though at least.

[jrbeerman11]

you can grind enchanting and smithing very early to 100 to make the game much easier, solution to leveling early would to focus on other trees than those two, or to pick one of the two.

destruction magic, blocking, armor, sneak, archery, one hand, two hand, take longer to level, especially after 50 or so points.

[jrbeerman11]

if you want to find rewards for caves a and missions, a pure mage kind of loses out on that, so i agree with you there, but any character that uses archery, or swords, or even barehanded will get those rewards in many dungeons.

keep in mind that loot is also scaled to your level, so better items in higher levels.

although maxing smithing and enchanting will ruin that as well as you can make the best equipment for yourself.

my pure mage i used zero smithing and dabbled in enchanting, and when I finally finished the mages college i got some seriously crazy mage equipment that gave me that reward for finishing.

if I had made equipment to make destruction magic free, that equipment would have been useless.

wish smithing and enchantment wasnt so OP or even close to game breaking. but I can always choose to not use it.

[Shepherd 214]

for a guy like me who has constant navigation problems like getting off the interstate at the wrong exit ive never had problems with finding my way using skyrim's map.

but im sure that just enough people will complain so that bethesda axes a cool idea like a 3d map in the next game. thats the way it works with every game series.

[ZBlacktt]

This is not happening for every one though. I'm at 25 hours and loving every minute.

[Rage_S90]

I disagree playing the same mission 50x in a row isn't fun.

[Moduserous]

I have an arrow that's been stuck in me forever....

[Trainz]

Lol that sucks.

[FuseUnison]

I played for an hour and a half with an arrow sticking out of my head. Then I realized that there was a single steel arrow in my inventory. After I dropped it, the arrow was gone. Have you checked that? I felt silly when I found it in my game. Just throwing it out there. =)

[MagicAccent]

I had that bug too, but found a way to get rid of it:

Get shot again, it will disappear along with the new arrows.

[Sidewinder-]

Yeah, happened to me too. Was getting on my case.

(If you're on PC)

You gotta hit '`' (this being the key next to the '1' key for me) to open the console.

Operate a sex change to your character, which will remove the arrow(s). But, you will be the opposite sex, so do change sex again. Then you'll be back to normal, with no arrows in your ass.

Note that activating the console disables achievements for some dumb reason. Re-set the game and you'll be able to get them again ;)

http://www.gamesradar.com/s...

[Rainstorm81]

I had the same problem and i just stored all my arrows in a dead body and it disappeared, I had a arrow sticking out of my head for like 5-6 hours of gameplay

[KaBaW]

lol, I got hit by an ice spike from a vampire that's been stuck in me for some time.
Which is annoying to look at my dude, with a huge ass spike sticking through em.
Not to mention the big ass spike, but a radiating 'frost' around it, as well.. >.<

[RedDead]

Level scaling...it's noticable again

New vegas fixed this...Skyrim should of nicked it

[Desert Turtle]

Levels scale for dragons, but not for all enemies. I owned a dragon and then was mauled by a sabre cat shortly after...

[Rainstorm81]

same here , killed like 10 dragins including a blood dragon then seconds later get killed by a bear...its kinda crazy

[Hovis]

Bears and Saber tooth Cats are by far the scariest thing in that game.

They sneak up on you all stealthy then BAM....1/3 of your health gone...

[MEsoJD]

Oh god, some bears are scary as fuck. Cant believe how strong they are.

[KaBaW]

Hahah; glad I'm not the only one who is scared of the sabre tooth cats and bears!
I run from them suckers and shoot em with my bow, that gives me health every hit. (:

[AronDeppert]

Still....can't wait to play it. Of course by the time I have a gap big enough in my gaming all of these bugs will be fixed.

[Sidology]

I hate that I can't dual wield shields. Worst game ever.

[despair]

lol

[slayorofgods]

They better address this problem in a patch, I can't believe they released this game without making sure the dual wield shields option was available.

[theonlylolking]

I wouldnt say worst game ever over that but that is one of its flaws.

[camel_toad]

Ha well you can always dual wield shields in Dark Souls...

[bustabass]

I honestly laughed my ass off at that comment!!! Loving the game by the way!

[RoboSpiff]

still so fun.

[Modestmex]

Despite these flaws man i cant stop playing it!

[VampiricDragon]

Its a solid game. One of many solid rpgs this year

[FuseUnison]

I do have to say that, as far as the bird/snake/fish puzzles are concerned, the author's just not looking hard enough. There are clues for the animal puzzles EVERY time. However there are some lever puzzles that you just have to sit there and try out the different combinations of "this lever up, that lever down" to get all the doors/gates to open. Those can be frustrating when the wrong positions set off traps. =(

[despair]

"Most of these rooms give absolutely no indication of where these pillars should be turned, leaving players to guess for sometimes hours on end with the more “elaborate” pillar turning “puzzles.”"

actually thats not true, usually there is something that tells you exactly what to turn. For instance

*minor spoilers*

there was a dungeon where a woman wanted to do some necromancy and in her journal she made note of a certain book, in the chamber with the puzzle was a copy of the book and if you read it there were names of animals at the start of a few chapters(it was short) and if you put the animals on the puzzle in the order they were mentioned in the book it was correct.

*end spoilers*

I have done probably 8-10 puzzles and no time I didn't find the order from either observing the environment or a related item.

I agree on the Map though, it sucks somewhat but at least with major towns you can use road signs to guide you (its how I got to riften).

[jamboza]

i am going to guess u may know this already but ill say it anyways just in case
.....the game has a illusion spell that can tell u which direction u need to go for your quest without looking at the map (kinda like that yellow mist line in fable)

[despair]

yea Clairvoyance, but I never use it, I am one of those who love to get lost and find some random dungeon to clear out.

[MysticStrummer]

Yeah I've done lots of those puzzles because I make it a point to explore Nord burial sites looking for shouts. There are always clues in the environment or in a book, so far anyway. I liked Oblivion's map better also. The Court Wizard in Whiterun has a map of Skyrim in his work area and I'd rather have that style of map to look at.

[SageHonor]

The game seems great. I just dont want anything broken. Is it really this bad?? I have a PS3 by the way

[lastdual]

Wait until after the next patch is released. If it fixes the lag issue, then definitely pick up the game, but only if that problem is fixed. Most of the other glitches are just annoyances, but the lag seriously effects gameplay.

[FuseUnison]

People are blowing the whole "unplayable" thing WAY out of proportion. There are some frame rate drops every now and then after you've been playing for a few hours, but they don't last longer than a few seconds. If you find them annoying, all you have to do is save, quit to menu, re-load, and you're good for another few hours. Enjoy! =)

[MysticStrummer]

Exactly. Some people say to also turn off autosaves but that doesn't seem to make a difference to me. Saving, quitting, and restarting every couple of hours works though. "Unplayable" is false.

[BitbyDeath]

"Is it really this bad??"

In a word... No.

I've had a few jitters when fast travelling from one place to another which only lasts for about 3-5 seconds. I think it's understandable for a world this large though. Most open world games have these sorts of issues though, even Just Cause 2.

[NoobJobz]

The only thing that has bothered me is a glitch that won't let me continue quests for the companions. I literally can't move onto the next quest. So looks like I won't get that achievement until a patch or I load an early save(which I very well may do). But other than that nothing has been all that bad IMO.

[DeFFeR]

What quest are you on?

[NoobJobz]

It was one called Bloods Honor I believe. I killed all the witches and took their heads but when I got back, the silver hand attacked and killed a few people. The mission after that won't start. I got the mission from the guy but it doesn't show up under my mission logs and nobody will talk to me. But I read online and apparently many people have the same problem.

[DeFFeR]

You need to talk to Vilkas? He talks about avenging Kodlak...

At least that's what I remember...

[NoobJobz]

I did talk to him but he never says anything about a mission. It said online that it was a glitch that happens when you start but don't finish a certain quest. Don't remember what quest they said.

[SITH]

I am on the same quest with 100 percent the same problem. The only way to move along and not in the proper quest is to literally kill some of the companions except farkas (you can't kill him anyways). Then he will give you radiant quest. This causes more glitches because elea (name spelled wrong) the huntress will constantly tell you, "these two are dead and won't be anymore trouble." That annoyed me so much I reloaded an old save before I killed the companions. So I abandoned the radiant quest I unlocked and decided to wait for a patch.

And the werewolf's in the game are ridicously weak. I get killed anytime I get into a fight. Morrowind's werewolf's where damn near unstoppable!

[AceofStaves]

As flawed as the game may be, I'm enjoying it more than 'Oblivion.' It's one of those rare games that I can't wait to get back to, once I've taken a break from it.

I haven't experienced any glitches with the game yet. *Knocks wood*

[BitbyDeath]

It is a million times better than Oblivion IMO.
Oblivion killed it for me when all the creatures and objects levelled up with you. Skyrim doesn't have that issue which makes it far more enjoyable to play.

[Sidewinder-]

Lol. The puzzles are baby-mode.

They require minimum brain-power.

Bet the first level of Lemmings would be too much for you.

[SasquatchXD]

My main problem was that I tried to get married after Lydia died and the wedding kept getting ruined, but I just went back to the cave where she died and destroyed the body and everything worked out.

As far as the maps and the puzzles, I like both. I wish we could zoom in a little more, but i love that I can look around a mountain and see which slopes are shallow enough for me to get up.

[Daganae]

So um yeah I have about 80 hours put into the game and this framerate thing has happened oh maybe twice lasted like 5 seconds and was so slight i barely noticed it... So either you guys have some shit Xboxs or mine is really good. But it can hardly be called an issue and it has in no way affected gameplay for me when it's happened... Oh by the way to the writer of this article thing whatever, if you had issues with the puzzles you you must have an IQ of a 3yr old... Just sayin...

[Daganae]

Oh by the way, any of you people wondering if you should buy it, BUY IT!! don't listen to these dumb things er read them I should say. If you have to read then to know if you want the game then make sure the people commenting aren't drama queens. Like the people who say you should buy it unless Bethesda fixes these "issues" are drama queens, or exaggerative I should say... Either one works. The game is awesome enough to overlook these "issues".... Anyone who isn't a drama queen by the way will say even with these, again "issues" it's still a great game. It I'd a great game and go buy it!!

[Daganae]

And ANOTHER thing, these bugs with quests and events and people falling through their house and such will be most likely fixed I assure you. bethesda no doubt plans on DLCs and will for sure work on patches to to add before they send out their DLCs...

[AcceptedWalnut]

My only gripe seems to be the map is missing some form of "Legend" where i can toggle on/off certain locations.

Would have been handy being able to only see mines on the map for example when i was hunting for ores.

Never has a game sucked me in so much though, i don't even feel like i've touched the main storyline, yet i've done so much in the game already.

[NarutoLikesCheese]

I play Skyrim on the PS3 and I have experienced the FPS drop but mine seems to fix itself after a few minutes...

My only real problem with the game is the noise my horse makes when it spawns next to me after a fast travel. It sounds so much like a dragon that I ALWAYS have a quick look up just in case!

[KaBaW]

lmao, I hear you. Once I fast traveled and my horse made it's ... threatening noise.
Therefor, I thought I was under attack, so I quickly drew my sword and turned ..
Before I realized what was behind me, I swung .. slashed my horse in the face. :P

[BitbyDeath]

Ha, i had the same sort of thing with Lydia.
For some reason she just drew her sword out as soon as we entered a cavern (usually she waits til i do it) so i immediately drew and started setting her on fire.

Whoops.

[Banok]

What a RETARDED article.

yes the game has flaws but they are not the map or the puzzles.

the guy is obviously just a moron who cant figure out the puzzles or how to navigate.

[Xenial]

The puzzles aren't a problem. Sometimes you'll have to read books in dungeons to find the answer to puzzles. It's simple. The order the stones should be will be put in order in the book. Ex. Snake was a sneaky creature.....
Whale traveled many years searching.... Hawk ate many rats... etc..

[KaBaW]

I've only once spent about 20 minutes on one puzzle cause I couldn't find hints.
But, most of the puzzles [that involve a claw] have the order ON the claw.
Though I didn't realize that until later, where someone told me about it.

[RyuDrinksTheDew]

none of those are, "crucial flaws."

[SwampCroc]

I can understand the frame rate issues and stuff. my horse has gone invisble a few times but i just laugh...

as for the map... yeah the 3D is somewhat of a hassle... but I've already located 260 + locations.... everything does have a direct corresponding road or path that goes to it... some however are blocked off until you have unlocked that particular area... for example you can't go up to the "Throat of The World" until you are on the quest.. if you aren't on the quest you will be met with an electrified death from pillars that shoot at you.

and the puzzles nothing wrong with the puzzles at all... I've been playing for hours and hours and it's nothing like you describe it as a "puzzle in every other dungeon" obviously the puzzle revolve around special type artifacts... and this game is filled with special weapons/items... so yeah plenty of puzzles... and it can't just be a normal generic puzzle.. they have to incorporate it somehow into the lore of the Elder Scrolls... and they have done that job..

I don't have any issues at all other than a few annoyances like the horse thing and it's probably frozen my xbox 5 times or so... but other than that and even with those issues it isn't a biggie for me.. Oblivion froze more sometimes and lagged like hell when you started to accumulate mass quanities of items...

so yeah... SKYRIM... for the win.. all day.. don't bash something you can't comprehend... this game is larger than you, larger than life.

Argonius the Argonian
Level 25
Fire/Lightning Mage
16 Dragons Killed
57 Hours Played

[sohaben]

Youve only killed 16 dragons?

[SwampCroc]

yeah.. ain't killing all the dragons yet... I mean i've only done like less than 10 main quests..

just got the Staff of Corruption... Vaermina Daedric Items...

that's the last quest i just did...

[Panzerkanzler]

I'm not getting this game until the bundle with all the dlc comes. By then at least some of the bugs will be ironed out. I hope.

[SwampCroc]

you're missing out then

[Panzerkanzler]

Really? How? I'll be playing it later so I'm not missing anything at all. Except all the glitches.

[RoboSpiff]

im still loving this game despite the issues.

[oldfriend86]

People had problems with the puzzles?

[sohaben]

i know, rediculous, right?

[sohaben]

Im probably the only one who thinks this, but i honestly thought the stories were insamely short and didnt really flow correctly.

dont get me wrong ive put in about 60 hours and i absolutely love this game, but in almost all of the questlines i feel like it goes like this:

"your a noob and we hate you; thanks for doing that now your our leader" its especially evident in the College of Winterhold and the Thieves guild....the Dark Brotherhood was epic, i thought. The main quest was good, but you get like NO recognition for what you did. You became a world hero in oblivion after helping martin, but **SPOILER** after traveling to the afterlife to kill Alduin, nobody even recognizes it. Kind of disapointing.

I was just disapointed and i hope SOMEONE agrees with me lol

[fjtorres]

Those five issues *are* nitpicks.
Funny thing is that while he picks at those nits, the two *big*, questionable design decisions in Skyrim passed right by him.

Skyrim dropped *two* of the best features of Morrowind and Oblivion: Spellcrafting and arbitrary enchantments.
That means the experimentation potential of the game came down at least an order of magnitude.

It seems like every time they prettify the games they drop more and more of the freeform elements.

Yes, you can do a lot of things in Skyrim, but only those things *they* thought of. And there is no way they thought of everything that all of us gamers could've come up with.

The calling card of Elder Scrollss games has traditionally been "Do it *your* way* and most of that is now gone. So far the game looks like it will be fun but nowhere near as much fun as Morrowind or even Oblivion, where you could do stuff like things like lava-walking shoes, super-stealthing through the game without killing anybody, blasting foes miles high, killing guars with a spoon...
Gone.
Stacking spells, combining effects? Gone.
All gone.

Too much hard-wiring, not enough freeform gameplay.
Much like Bioware with Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age 2, Bethesda has simplified a lot of the fun out of the game.