I still can’t get over The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Are there any games that can replace it? I want to try something newer, with better technology, but I hope they can be as rich and interesting as Skyrim.

    • PonyOfWar@pawb.social
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      2 months ago

      I was about to recommend this too. Probably the closest thing to Elder Scrolls that isn’t actually Elder Scrolls or a mod. Excellent game, and quite an impressive achievement considering it’s an indie developer with nowhere near the budget of a Bethesda game.

        • buttmasterflex@piefed.social
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          2 months ago

          Somewhat similar to Skyrim combat with the addition of parrying, dodging, and quick-swap hotkey consumables like potions, throwable potions (called splashes), throwing knives, food, and weapon oils (flame, frost, poison). I think magic combat is much better than Skyrim. Spells have light and heavy attack options, and you can wield any combination of spells and weapons (other than if you have a 2 handed weapon). You can have up to 4 sets of magic and/or weapons in your inventory slots to quickly swap between. Stealth combat is more difficult than Skyrim. Sneaking close to enemies requires more situational awareness, and the stealth skills aren’t as overpowered as Skyrim.

        • aGlassDarkly@piefed.zip
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          2 months ago

          A bit absurd, in my limited experience. I did a bow with a one-handed rapier-like sword and a parrying dagger in my one playthrough so far. The bow was irritating to aim and arrow flight seems weirdly inconsistent on distance, but when it lands it’s about as overpowered as sneak archery in Skyrim.

          The parrying is similarly strong — enemies could kill me if I wasn’t paying attention, but you can parry the majority of attacks, including things that seem impossible, like parrying a bear biting you, and the parrying dagger’s window is overly forgiving and overly spammable to the point that I had to stop myself from using it sometimes. I think parrying with other weapons is less silly, but I didn’t mess with them enough.

          I also didn’t try the magic, so someone else can pick that part up, but it looked pretty extensive.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          2 months ago

          It’s very Souls-inspired, but (as someone who has played a good number of souls games) it’s done fairly poorly. It’s still far more interactive than TES games, but it’s clunky. It’s not bad, just bad compared to the Souls games, which are particularly good, but the rest of the game is quite different from a souls game. It’s basically if you take the bonfires and combat system from a souls game and stick it in a narrative focused RPG.

          • Kühlschrank@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Hm as someone who holds Fromsoft mechanics as the standard for gaming it sounds like this might be a game I’ll either love or I’ll hate. Definitely love the idea of having the rest of the game different from Soulslikes. But if combat isn’t tight it’s likely I’ll bounce off of it or slog through just to see the end. I could hardly get myself to finish Witcher 3 even though I loved everything about it except the combat.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              2 months ago

              It’s worth a shot. You can get it pretty cheap sometimes. Honestly though, yeah, I think it’s probably better for people who haven’t played many souls-likes. For me, it feels clunky and super easy to cheese because I’m used to what it’s trying to do, and I know to use the mechanics to my advantage. I spent a good few hours with it, but eventually stopped playing. I didn’t dislike it, but I put it down one day and then never had the interest of coming back.

        • Mika@piefed.ca
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          2 months ago

          On hard difficulty, it feels like soulslike / tes mixup. The combat is dynamic and most enemies of your level would hit hard, but blocks, dodges and dashes are there.

          But on the other hand, more things can be improved with gear and level to absurd proportions, like improve iframes on dodge or extend parry window to like more than half a sec.

        • LostCarcosan@lemmy.today
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          2 months ago

          In addition to what everyone else said, the summons are pretty cool, as well. You can summon multiples of a creature as well as direct them all to attack a specific enemy if there’s one fucker in a group that needs a jumping, and you can consume your summoned creatures to regain mana (or health, it’s been a while since I played last and I can’t remember exactly.)

          There’s also a spell that causes targets to explode into cheese. And it works on your summons. So, infinite cheese is neat, I suppose

    • danciestlobster@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      I also came to recommend this, I have played a lot of the game. Same exploration and basic leveling mechanics, similar balance of silly humor and serious story, really fun underrated game

  • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Ok you want something as rich and interesting as skyrim, so I’m assuming open world games are your jam.

    There are three games you should play.

    1. Red Dead Redemption 2 - it’s a Western, the world is very believable, and it makes you feel like you’re really part of it. You can follow the main story line, or you could spend your days hunting and fishing. You could travel from town to town playing every poker game you can find. You can conduct train robberies, breed horses, really, there’s just a whole lot to do.

    2. Cyberpunk 2077 - this is RDR2 but in a scifi dystopian future where the corpos own everything, sex is for sale on every billboard and every ad break, and the only justice is what you can achieve on your own. You’ve got a ticking time bomb in your brain and no time to fuck around. In this world where you can’t trust anyone, somehow what really matters are the friends you make along the way. (seriously)

    3. The Witcher 3 - from the same studio that made cyberpunk, the Witcher 3 is truly a masterpiece of storytelling. The one caveat I have for this game is that it starts hard, almost “souls-like”. But get past that first rough hour and there is an extremely rich world with a seemingly unending collection of stories to become a part of. This may be the most skyrim-like of the games listed here, but you’re in for a treat, because this is a much better game than Skyrim.

    All three of these games are gonna make you feel real feelings, they’re all actually better at telling stories than Skyrim is. The Witcher 3 in particular loves to live in the grey zone, it’ll make you make ethical choices that matter, and you probably won’t like any of the possible outcomes. But this is a good thing!

  • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
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    2 months ago

    Witcher 3. That castle ruin over there? Might have some loot. Or a Cockatrice. Or a psychological horror story of 10 parts. Or nothing at all, who knows. And you might stumble over Excalibur by that lake.

    Also get the “Blood and Wine” DLC, absolutely worth it, even if you’re not into the story. And the HD Reworked mod if you like it more realistic and dark, one of the best reworks ever.

    Edit: there’s now Next Gen too, huh.

  • Folstar@lemmus.org
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    2 months ago

    Telling people what in particular you like about Skyrim is going to get you much better feedback as there are many, many games that are similar in some ways but not others.

  • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    This might just be too obvious, but nobody’s mentioned it… Have you played the other Elder Scrolls, like the Oblivion remaster?

    • popcar2@piefed.ca
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      2 months ago

      The Oblivion remaster is great. If you can get past the terrible performance, it’s very immersive and feels like Skyrim with a smaller world and more fun quests. The DLC included was also great.

      • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It really was! It was available for free on Gamepass, so even though I’d already done SO many playthroughs, I thought I’d check it out. I didn’t put it down until I had done almost literally everything.

        • BurntWits@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          I thought I was the only person who enjoyed the remaster. I got it for PS5 instead of PC because I wasn’t sure my PC could handle it, and it ran very smooth for me. I know some people had issues but I put around 80 hours in and never had any problems. I still play the original Oblivion if I wanna play keyboard and mouse but I think I prefer the remaster if I’m just gonna turn off my brain and play for a while.

        • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          2 months ago

          The expansion helped for sure, Shiv Isles.

          True though it was for sure smaller (unless you ever tried to “no fast travel” rule yourself then you’ll find out how big it is real quick lmao), but (and I concede Morrowind is just better, it just is there’s no way around it), but while Skyrim was large, effectively “who cares” because it was empty and dull and drab and gray. Cyrodiil is smaller but it’s absolutely gorgeous and vibrant throughout (even in the snow covered regions so that’s no excuse.)

          Furthermore, my fundamental issue with Skyrim is the quests are just…dull. The main line is ok (Oblivion’s was better and Morrowind’s better still), but the side quests are abject dogshit, and the side quests historically were my favorite part. I stole a goddamn Elder Scroll, I snuck past every Ancestor Moth, I became the mother fucking Gray Fox, and in skyrim “hey you remember that same dumb silver vase you stole from one dickhead’s house? Steal it again from another dickhead’s house. Gray Fox? Whodat?” I loosened the bolts on a man’s stuffed moose after sneaking through his crawlspace to avoid his paid security, and got a bonus for it, and eventually became The Speaker. In skyrim “go kill that guy. Cool do it again.” The most memorable part of The Brotherhood in skyrim was from oblivion, by Lucian Luchance’s ghost.

          I’m gonna be real, I kinda didn’t like skyrim and don’t think I’ll get 6. I’ll replay the oldies. My only real complaint with Morrowind is beast races can’t wear helmets and boots (I understand “human ones wouldn’t fit” but think given their existence in-lore it would make sense for them to have seen humans wearing them and gone “hey let’s do that for our shape.” I do however accept that the Cats and Lizards might still not though, Argonians being newly freed and technologically behind, and the Kitties need their claws but should have helmets, even if only leather.) My only real complaint with Oblivion is I wish they’d have left a bunch of shit from Morrowind like crossbows etc.

          • AmbientChaos@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            Amen brother! After playing Morrowind and Oblivion and then getting Skyrim I was so disappointed. Feels like a mass appeal version of Elder Scrolls that was hollow compared to the other two

            • Allero@lemmy.today
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              2 months ago

              As someone who started with Skyrim, I still wait for Skywind to release. I honestly tried Morrowind, but for a modern generation of gamers, it’s simply unbearable as far as game mechanics, controls, animations etc. go. I stopped straight at Balmora, because I can’t get used to it. And OpenMW can’t fix all that.

              • AmbientChaos@sh.itjust.works
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                2 months ago

                100% fair! Personally I think Oblivion is better for those reasons too. Morrowind is really magical though, some of those more open systems provide opportunities that modern hand holding systems just can’t recreate. It is definitely worth the time to get accustomed too, kind of like acquiring the taste for craft beer or fine wine. Stuff that you originally found offensive might become some of your favorite parts. No map markers so you have to read and follow directions is a good example of that. On the surface, it’s a pain compared to modern games. But acquire the taste and suddenly you realize you’re paying more attention to the world around you, mentally mapping landmarks. It’s really immersive and cool in a way that walk towards this symbol isn’t.

                All that to say, your opinion is totally valid haha

                • Allero@lemmy.today
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                  2 months ago

                  I actually enjoyed not having quest markers! That gives a sense of discovery that felt fresh and new despite the old roots, and I hope Skywind won’t force quest markers on the user (although I also hope they will be added as an optional feature).

                  I just want to see things looking and moving more naturally, along with sensible keybinds and more.

              • AmbientChaos@sh.itjust.works
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                2 months ago

                Hard agree on Fallout 4! It was the same feeling I got from Skyrim. Something like “Ah, this series I love isn’t being made for me anymore”

                I got your back when the fight breaks out

          • Allero@lemmy.today
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            2 months ago

            My dude, I did a no fast travel run of Skyrim, so Cyrodiil won’t scare me :D

            As per quests - yes, they don’t really adapt to your current progress, and that might be a problem for some. It makes sense to complete all sorts of side quests alongside the main one. But still, I kinda like the feeling I can go somewhere and be pretty much no one even though I’m about to slay Alduin. Feels like a breath of fresh air.

            • SaraTonin@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              I didn’t mind the non-levelling quests so much but, for example, it takes zero time to become the Archmage of Winterhold, but then every magical person outside the college still treats you like a novice who can barely be trusted with a fetch quest. It’s a little immersion-breaking in both directions

            • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              2 months ago

              Not even just “they don’t adapt,” Skyrim’s side quests might as well not exist they’re so damn boring. “Oohhh a race war” who cares I want to steal cool and varied stuff!

              • Allero@lemmy.today
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                2 months ago

                The “race war” was actually one of the most entertaining parts to me - that’s an entire new dimension of struggle besides the main dragon story! Honestly, I think they could handle it better, adding more details, as it’s one of the major things we’re introduced to early on in the story.

                • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  2 months ago

                  Honestly I’m inclined to agree with that, and that’s my problem with it. It shouldn’t be the most interesting part but since everything else was so boring it ended up that way.

                  The major disappointment was that after III and IV had such rich lore and worlds, but by V they must have fired the guy that could write. Having seen what they could do vs what they released was just sad.

  • Cypher45@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 was great.

    But it’s a Medieval RPG, not fantasy. So you won’t find elves or orcs or magic.

    Edit: Actually nevermind, don’t play it, it’s too strict of an RPG, not for everyone, (i.e. fighting more than 2 people can kill you easily unless you master the combat, using a bow won’t give you the center reticle, saving the game needs a specific item or you need to sleep in a bed, wearing a helmet will limit your vision to the shape of the visor, etc)

    I suggested this because my Skyrim was modded to be a strict RPG as well.

  • ramius345@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Baldurs gate 3 is not quite the same thing, but has similar themes. You are an adventurer saving the world (most of the time) who collects an inordinate amount of items. It’s one of the only other games I have over 800 hours in.

  • it_depends_man@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Have you looked at the gothic remake? It’s probably not as big but it should scratch a similar itch. But it’s not as free form, you’re playing as a set (male) nameless hero.

    Otherwise… no not really. I could recommend wildly different games and genres that also feature exploration, but skyrim is just very good.