The voice acting was bad
Worse then Oblivion where everyone was either derranged, Neighbourly, or Patric Stewart?
It's mostly something like this.
"
Jerry: Get back into the house kids
2 second pause
Jon&Tim:But I don't want to.
2 second pause
Jerry: I said get back in the house
2 second pause
Tim: But dad I want to watch the soldiers.
2 second pause
Jon: Yeah!
2 second pause
Jerry: For the last time, get back in the house.
2 second pause
Jon and Tim: Fine"
As for the general state of bugs on release there's the fact that they are claiming the review copies they are showing are Pre-alpha, which is laughable, considering pre-alpha code is not something you EVER EVER EVER show off. Pre-Beta maybe, pre-alpha no.
Alpha testing looks like this.
OK. Problem in the meshe exporter is causing me to fall through the world. Bug report and fix.
OK. Problem with the lighting is causing the world to go dark if it's set at absolute max, or absolute zero. Bug report and work around suggestion.
OK. Problem with the meshe exporter is causing the eyes of everything to make rapid orbits around their heads. Bug report and fix suggestion.
OK. the testbed cell we are using got corrupted by the changes we made in the exporters, fuck welll it was about time to replace them. Make a new test cell.
The bugs reported by the journalists were beta type bugs, not alpha type bugs.
I'm saying this as someone whose been payed to alpha and beta test games. And done it for free.
Anyway before I go into my next rant, chillax and listen to some music. I'd recommend some Ezra Furman and the Harpoons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN0RJMisB9k&feature=relatedThis rant is called Why Dragons? It's something I've been working on for a while.
Why Dragons? Why revive an ancient ally and make them enemies, when there's plenty of other stories to tell within the mythos.
First allow me to summerize the previous three game's plots.
Daggerfall, you are an unknown person shipwrecked after being sent toward the kingdom of Daggerfall to attempt to deliver a letter, and help quash a potential rebellion. The empire is in a state of near collapse, the events of arena have left the empires individual nations bordering on rebellion, and you have been sent to recover the key to the Numidium, a giant mecha/steam tank that Tiber Septim used along with the battlespire to conquer the world 300 years ago. After this because of the vast amount of player choice inherent in the plot, things become muddled. Eventually though the character sides with one of the 8 factions in the land of Daggerfall giving them the key, and it brings about an event called the dragon break, which is basically a plot kai, that implies that Akatosh saw the event and possibilities become muddled, and basically said fuck it and braids them together. Making all of them happen at once, but in a half assed method. The orcs formed their nation. The King of Worms became a god then Ar'kay decided fuck it, snapped the godling in half and sent the king of worms back to the earth, and made the god of worms grow dormant. For without death, there is no reason for a god of death. Each of the kings were brought into balance and the empire remained in control.
Morrowind, you are an unknown person brought by boat to the land of Morrowind, through a series of boring and tedious tasks you eventually discover you are the prophesized return of the ancient Dunmer godking Nerevar, who at one point united the tribes and houses in joyful upheaval to fight the dwemer, and the empire. Essentially the whole plot builds up the fact that you slowly discover that you are the Resurrection of this. But the ending if you read all the texts, and talk with the correct people, lends itself to the belief that, you are not in fact the Resurrection of Nerevar, but merely another pawn of Azura with no more merit than anyone or anything else. Just a weapon sent towards the enemy. Soon to be quickly forgotten. Anyway at the end of it, you kill the heart of lorkhan killing dagoth ur for the final time, and leaving the tribunal, powerful but now mortal. The expansions lead to you facing other god like beings from other prophesies. You kill Amalexia who had spent all this time waiting for her Snugglebunny Nerevar to come back from the dead. To the point of using shapeshifting clones to replicate him for bedroom activities. In short she had gone completely insane, and used the fact that the heart of lorkhan at this point had been destroyed(The expansion pretty much assumes you've played through the original game.) to kill her rival, the generally sarcastic, sadistic, heartless, machine obsessed, fuckwit Sotha Sil. Meanwhile Vivec sat in his city with full knowledge that he didn't fucking care what happened, he'd already essentially become an actual god, without riding on the coattails of a dead one. Seriously it's heavily implied he mastered the techniques of walking like a god. Which means by all rights and purposes, he is a god. After that, most of the tribunal being dead, an island less than a mile off the coast of a major city, is discovered, just in time for their prophesy to come into effect, the Blood Moon, when Hircine, one of the lesser daedra, comes to nirn to take all comers, you eventually duel him into submission.
Oblvion, god help me. Oblivion has you as a prisoner in the imperial city, unknown birthright and unknown crime, you're sent off on a quest by digital Jean Luc Picard, to deliver the amulet of kings to jaufre after he has been assassinated by a rebellious cult. Through a series of quests that likely could have been resolved by a quick jaunt around the imperial city looking at family trees. You discover Martin and save him, at the end of the game, he walks as Talos did, and becomes an avatar of akatosh for a brief period, becoming the dragon fires and sealing the world from oblivion all together. Only that violates every bit of lore previous. And you know what this is to raise questions not to bitch, so carrying on. You eventual discover that, somehow even Martins sacrifice wasn't enough, and Sheogorath has opened a door to his world, where you take part in the inner politics of the courts of mania and dementia, and the inner mind of Sheogorad, who is technically Jyggalag one of the lost daedra, the daedra of order. Who was chained to Sheogorad for some transgressions previous. The game ostensibly ends with you becoming Sheogorath. And thus fading into obscurity behind the face of a god.
This is the game that also covered the idea of the faceless hero. A concept that is also integral to the elder scrolls series. That of a person who is born into the world to enact a massive change, then to fade into unknown regions. The curse of this being that you can't form any meaningful relations, and you cannot really lead, you are cursed by fate to simply lead briefly then go where the lust for adventure tells you to go. The hero of daggerfall, ostensibly died at the end. The hero of arena, again died. The "Nerevarine/Pawn of Azura" went of the Akavir, likely seeking something. The hero of oblivion, became a god and because of it was doomed to never be recognized again.
Allow me to posit some different plots that I think would be in line with the elder scrolls key theme of "Political Intrigue Stirring a High Fantasy Adventure."
Sloads were contacted to provide slave labor and necromantic soldiers to maintain the dying empire, doing so is taxing the empire, with it's new democracy preventing them from raising taxes, but having them do everything they can to maintain their hold. As their credit slowly slips down the drain, and more any more lands are simply bought by the sload to alleviate debt. The story would be one of rebellion in Hammerfall the first province sold to the sload, as you, a newcomer who rediscovers the arts of the yokudan blade masters starts in a sload workcamp, where you pick up a stick and it forms a blade over it. You slowly retake hammerfall from the sload forming it into an empire all their own. The game would culminate with you accidently in a furious clash with a sload overlord, blowing up the city you were in. Nearly killing youself. You crawl away, still living and scarred to the point of unrecognizability. The lore in the next game would have sighting of you in the sload homelands taking the fight to them. You'd still have the bad ass unique type of magic. You'd still have a new enemy type in the sload and their various undead. And it wouldn't look like Oblivion 2 point 0. It wouldn't be generic fantasy.
Picture this. Nordic Lands, Sky's Rim, Akaviri everywhere, Skyrim was their foothold. Fighting has mostly died down, embargos are in place, you cannot get in or out of Skyrim, west Morrowind, and east High Rock, On the borders skirmishs are happening, but the blades have reformed, and are doing their best to defend the empires borders. Here you are in this landscape, son of the King of the Ko Po Tun, illegitimately, of course, given up to a small family, imprisoned in a rebel fortress for being a half breed. You quest then becomes, do you annihilate the akiviri for their transgressions against you and your mothers people. Or do you side with the Akaviri and promote control of the humans. Along the way you meet your brother a full dragon, who becomes your ally in this quest. You are Dovahkin, dragon born, doomed and predicted to be the herald of a new empire, whether akiviri or human. Boom instantly better and more concurrent than the current plot that we know of. Which is that Alduin the world eater gets angry and yells at the world some spawning dragons and you, so defeat him before he eats the world.
There was another one I had but honestly after writing all that I think I've done enough.