>>16638538
challenge is one thing that makes a game interesting, not too challenging as that leads to frustration and repetiion, but so that skill is involved to some extent.
there's no skill in morrowind, oblivion, skyrim. the combat is just stand there with whichever weapon graphic you have and hit until it dies.
there is no perfect game, but they could have put some effort in instead of doing the exact same thing in every game.
some kind of pace in the story, not rushing you but a feeling of something moving along instead of feeling like I'm sorting thousands of shoeboxes filled with brickabrack in an eccentric hoarder's house after he's died and willed it to me.
enemies that you have to deal with in different ways instead of WHACKWHACKWHACK. so they have movement patterns, or resistances, or things you need to counter against.
tons of games have accomplished some or all of those things to an extent, but they just don't even try, like they feel they don't have to, because "big pretty world".
They put a lot of effort into making 1,000 very similar places, but then they just stop. There's no local customs to force you to fit in, no dangerous woods in that area you have to watch out for, it's just one big playground and everything's the same.
The cool moments come from discovering an interesting place they've built, but then you find out there are six other places just like it, and it feels a let down.
I don't say the games are worthless, but it just feels a shame that they have a good basis but do very little with it.
Just with a player skill based combat system, even as an option, it would add a dimension to the whole experience, some kind of thrill or emotion beyond sightseeing.
I played morrowind for a long time, but eventually just stopped because it was all the same.
Same happened in skyrim. I like the views, but all the npcs are the same, all the locations blend into each other, all the quests and so on.
I think with the right mechanics as underlying structures they could be amazing.