RIP Skyrim, most overrated game of the decade.

I never got into Skyrim. I earnestly tried (Morrowind and Oblivion were major childhood experiences for me), but I just don't understand the appeal. There is no depth to the combat, which makes difficulty balancing impossible (and magic is too hard to specialise in). The empty vessel approach to the player character doesn't work because the main method of NPC interaction is through dialogue, but the player's dialogue choices do not allow for flexible characterisation (New Vegas pulled this off near flawlessly, for reference). The quests are linear and repetitive and predictable and the story is linear and predictable and, frankly, intellectually insulting (not to mention removed from the excellent Morrowind-era lore, utterly lacking any kind of memorable characters and incomplete as a basic story). Physically manipulating world objects is never taken past being a gimmick, and there is no Thief-esque joy to the stealth mechanics. The removal of tertiary attributes hurt role playing and character differentiation such that I am acutely aware that I am a floating camera observing the world which, disconcertingly, revolves entirely around me in every single aspect.

Basically, the gameplay doesn't flow at all and there's nothing else compelling that makes me want to play. Literally every aspect of this series is embarrassingly broken considering the way the artform has evolved, but I feel like the only person on the internet to feel that way.

I have a golden rule in how I perceive other people: almost everyone is rational. Skyrim is incredibly popular, and I'm not arrogant enough to believe that I'm in a tiny minority with good taste. Tell me people, what makes you like this game?

PS the DLC was garbage as well. I tried Dawnguard, which had all the narrative issues that the main game suffered from (plus some mind blowing plot holes). Hearthfire was a mod that they charged people to download. Dragonborn sounds like Dawnguard on a bigger scale (I wouldn't know - I stopped wasting my money after Dawnguard).

PPS I'm talking about the vanilla versions. I think modded Skyrim is probably one of the best things in gaming right now. Unfortunately I've never experienced it, but it's irrelevant to the discussion, which is "Is Skyrim an Objectively Good Game?"