An excellent game in many respects but falls short on some major areas.
Don't get me wrong, the game is excellent and is certainly a contender for Game of the Year. However, after the huge success of Fallout 3 I was expecting a little more from Bethesda in terms of the story surrounding Skyrim.
Nothing frustrates me more when playing a game than being reminded that I am playing a game and, unfortunately, Skyrim does that far too often.
You play as, essentially, a random adventurer who is thrown into the thick of things from the very beginning without any real explanation as to what you're doing or how you ended up where you are etc.
This wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact that that is EXACTLY how the previous two Elder Scrolls games have started.
It really takes me out of the experience when I know I'm basically a nobody with no ties to anyone or anything.
In Fallout 3 you had your dad you were searching for and your friends back in the Vault. Those types of nuances make the game feel much more real.
A sense of purpose is really what Skyrim lacks most. All the quests feel random and relatively short and there is no sense of accomplishment after they've been completed.
For example in order to join the Mages Guild in Oblivion you had to travel to every one of the major towns in the game and do errands/quests for the local guild representative.
In Skyrim, to join the equivalent (the College of Winterhold), you literally walk up to the main gate, talk to someone, cast a spell and POOF...you're in.
It worked this way with nearly every guild in the game and at the end of each of them you're left with little to no real perks or sense of achievement.
That kind of stuff bothered me more than anything else.
Also, I feel like my characters race didn't matter at all. Bethesda should've taken note from games like Dragon Age here.
I played a dark elf and constantly felt like I was being taken out of the game yet again when NPC's would talk about the "damn elves" and how awful they are when my character, an elf, is standing right there.
Perhaps this is just me being overly critical but when it comes to Bethesda and a series this huge I expected better.
For most people these are probably only minor hiccups and certainly not reasons to not play the game. I just hope they take note for the sixth installment and make it feel more like you're a part of the world as opposed to just a random nobody.