Skyrim Wired Names Skyrim Best Game of 2011

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/12/best-games-2011/?utm_source=UniBul+Blog&pid=2338

Much has already been written about the way Bethesda’s open-world role-playing game allows players to direct their own narratives. Skyrim completely lives up to its raison d'être, creating a world so vibrant, it's easy to buy into the illusion that it actually exists. Granted, some of the bugs and glitches are hard to swallow, particularly on the PlayStation 3 version (which we did not review). But you’d be hard pressed to find another game with this many meaningful choices.

Ultimately, when we think about the games that stood out most in 2011, Skyrim will take center stage for both ambition and execution. The game is at its best not during its grandest moments but during the little details that flesh out its world, those bits of environmental storytelling that make every sight worth seeing. From a bustling wizards' college to an abandoned lighthouse filled with corpses, the landmarks in Skyrim are peculiar and unparalleled.

Perhaps the biggest testament to Bethesda’s success is that though I’m over 80 hours in, and even though my shelf is stacked with all sorts of other new games, I just can’t stop playing Skyrim. --Jason Schreier

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I think there was room for improvement in terms of specific player choices and consequences for some quests.

However, the degree of freedom, to be able to completely blow off the main quest, or to pursue your own narrative, joining any one of six major factions, each with a lengthy questline, or by participating in any out of 410 unique marked quests, was exhilarating.

What are your thoughts about freedom of choice in Skyrim?

You have to explain what you mean by "freedom of choice" CC. Do you mean choices and consequences or freedom to choose?

zahratustra said:

You have to explain what you mean by "freedom of choice" CC. Do you mean choices and consequences or freedom to choose?

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I think both of these are relevant.

If you have some great consequences, but there are only two or three decision points in a game, does that outweigh freedom to make lots more choices along the way that have perhaps less impact on the ending?

No, but I would like Skyrim better if it did have less of the second kind and more than two or three of the first

I guess I'm in the minority but I could care less about "choices and consequences" in quests. The game still has great quests even if you don't have huge choices in each quest line, and that's all that matters. Besides, there's plenty of choice in the game of what content to pursue. The game gives you unlimited freedom in how you tackle things, including quests. That's a great amount of choice right there.

Making choices in quests is cool, but it's not the end all be all of quest design. I played Mass Effect and Dragon Age and I don't think that style of questing is any better than Skyrim's. Honestly, I'd rather be led through a great quest with no choices, rather than go through a dull quest with 3 choices. And the few quests in Skyrim that do have actual choices to make are great. And they are great for the very reason that most quest lines don't give you a lot of choices, so the few that do are very well done. I quite like the balance of quests they have in the game.

The bottom line is - are the quests good? If the answer is yes, who cares about how they are executed? Skyrim's quests range from good to great, that's all I care about. Even the simple fetch quests and miscellaneous tasks are fun. Why people need to dissect the quests beyond that is beyond me.

zahratustra said:

Do you mean choices and consequences or freedom to choose?

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The former is practically non-existent and the latter is the laziest way out for the developer, like bioware's bisexual companions.

Yup and too often you have no real choice at all!

Wired will cater for the lowest common denominator in gaming - I really couldn't see them awarding anything BUT Skyrim. Big budget, Big Sales, Big PR budget, Big..erm…other stuff. I certainly don't put any more stock in their opinion than I do the other main stream press. I think they conflate a pretty and well realized game world with a good gameplay experience.

Good choice on their behalf. I think we need to wait till we get all the patches/mods/dlc/expansions to make a final judgement but I think Skyrim has the potential to be the best rpg of this decade.

Not a surprise it got RPG of the year, definately was mine. The differance between it and the witcher 2, is that I never felt forced to play skyrim to advance the game.

I think most people found the game extremely compelling and engaging at the start. Once it starts to become more repetitive, and its shallowness starts to show, people lose interest, and opinions change...

I'm almost ready to stop with exploring maybe 70% of the world. Although I haven't explored at least one of the more interesting underground locations (apparently), and finished none of the quest lines (except for becoming the thane for 3 towns, and a few temple and daedric quests).

I may switch to a new mage character to change it up.

Yeah, I am thinking of creating a sneaky ranger but I am not sure if I can be bothered...