This game is hard to review, and I want to give the context that, in the terms of modding, I am only going to count visual overhauls for my score here. While Skyrim is one of the best games with mods I feel it would be unfair to score it off of that...
What the score I've given here does represent is the base game and base DLCs, which, in themself, are not that impressive (I spend more time modding the game to be more fun than I do playing it). Now to be completely transparent, I am a huge fan of Oblivion, I enjoy ESO and found new love in Daggerfall, but Skyrim just stumbles too much for me. The base game, while manageable, is completely bogged by poor story-writing and a bland world. While it is one of the defining open-worlds of the modern era, it is a definite stall. I think it boils down to the idea that there is very little base Skyrim offers that I can't find in another open world at this point in time. While my score is not reflective based on when the game released, I will say this is the state it is in today. However, there are parts of Skyrim that are really good, some side-quests are incredibly engaging and immersive, the DLCs all have their own merits (I f*cking love Dawnguard), but I think the problem that always sticks me is that there is nothing I can name about Skyrim that I enjoy about it. In a way it's a game that falters so badly on the RPG front, it's more fun to break it and do fun story content than to deal with the bland gameplay. While I would definitely recommend it with some fun mods (Inigo is a godsend) to spice up the world and such, the base game is just missing so many things that makes an RPG, an RPG. Coming from Oblivion that, while flawed, had a much more interesting story and characters I don't want to butcher on site, Skyrim storytelling and RPG-wise feel like steps-back in order to appeal to a lower demographic.
tldr: is Skyrim good? yes, but BASE Skyrim isn't all it's chalked up to be, DLCs are mild saviors
What the score I've given here does represent is the base game and base DLCs, which, in themself, are not that impressive (I spend more time modding the game to be more fun than I do playing it). Now to be completely transparent, I am a huge fan of Oblivion, I enjoy ESO and found new love in Daggerfall, but Skyrim just stumbles too much for me. The base game, while manageable, is completely bogged by poor story-writing and a bland world. While it is one of the defining open-worlds of the modern era, it is a definite stall. I think it boils down to the idea that there is very little base Skyrim offers that I can't find in another open world at this point in time. While my score is not reflective based on when the game released, I will say this is the state it is in today. However, there are parts of Skyrim that are really good, some side-quests are incredibly engaging and immersive, the DLCs all have their own merits (I f*cking love Dawnguard), but I think the problem that always sticks me is that there is nothing I can name about Skyrim that I enjoy about it. In a way it's a game that falters so badly on the RPG front, it's more fun to break it and do fun story content than to deal with the bland gameplay. While I would definitely recommend it with some fun mods (Inigo is a godsend) to spice up the world and such, the base game is just missing so many things that makes an RPG, an RPG. Coming from Oblivion that, while flawed, had a much more interesting story and characters I don't want to butcher on site, Skyrim storytelling and RPG-wise feel like steps-back in order to appeal to a lower demographic.
tldr: is Skyrim good? yes, but BASE Skyrim isn't all it's chalked up to be, DLCs are mild saviors