Info about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR:

Official game description:
A true, full-length open-world game for VR has arrived from award-winning developers, Bethesda Game Studios. Skyrim VR reimagines the complete epic fantasy masterpiece with an unparalleled sense of scale, depth, and immersion. From battling ancient dragons to exploring rugged mountains and more, Skyrim VR brings to life a complete open world for you to experience any way you choose. Skyrim VR includes the critically-acclaimed core game and official add-ons – Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn.  
Dragons, long lost to the passages of the Elder Scrolls, have returned to Tamriel and the future of the Empire hangs in the balance. As Dragonborn, the prophesied hero born with the power of The Voice, you are the only one who can stand amongst them.

Release date: Apr 2, 2018

Categories: Open-World Exploration, Character Customization, Mod Support, First-Person Perspective, Action RPG, Fantasy, Sandbox, Non-linear Progression

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 85; verdict: Predatory Monetization; summary: The game is heavily criticized for being a 'cash grab' and lacking innovation. Users feel that the developers prioritized monetary gain over providing a quality gaming experience. The perceived greed and lack of effort in porting the game to VR have led to significant dissatisfaction among players.
- Mods: score 75; verdict: Mod Tax: High; summary: The analysis of user feedback for Skyrim VR reveals significant reliance on community mods to fix and enhance the game. Key issues include missing features, game stability problems, and frequent crashes without specific mods. Users express frustration with the base game's completeness and stability, often citing the necessity of mods like VRIK, HIGGS, and PLANCK for a playable experience. The modding community plays a crucial role in addressing these issues, with many users providing detailed guides and recommendations for essential mods.
- Steam Deck: score 60; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The Steam Deck experience for this game is marred by significant controller and input issues, frequent crashes, and instability, particularly when using mods. Additionally, users report insufficient battery life and a heavy reliance on mods to improve gameplay. These issues collectively lead to a frustrating and disrupted gaming experience.

- Hardware Profile:
  - Summary: Performance varies significantly across different hardware configurations, with some users experiencing crashes and instability, particularly on lower-end systems.
  - Sample size: 24 (3% coverage)
  - Audience skew: Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
  - Windows <8GB VRAM (negative, 13 reports): Users report frequent crashes and instability, especially on lower-end systems.
  - Caveats: 24 of 955 reviews expose hardware metadata.; Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence consistently suggests that the game is considered worth purchasing only when it is on sale, typically around $10 to $15. Many users mention that the full price of $60 is not justified due to the need for extensive modding to improve the game experience. The community sentiment indicates that the game is valued more highly when purchased at a discounted price, reflecting a fair base-price range that is significantly lower than the full retail price.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 100.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: 2.0h
  - Endgame: 100.0h
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides several direct references to playtime. One user mentions spending 'many hours' rediscovering the game, and another explicitly states having over 100 hours on their current character with the potential to spend another 100 hours. Additionally, a user reports taking 79 hours to reach level 30 on legendary difficulty, which gives a sense of the time investment required for significant progress. Lastly, a user mentions that standing up in VR for hours on end is tiring, indicating long play sessions.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: Skyrim VR starts as a boring and broken experience in its vanilla form but becomes highly enjoyable and immersive once mods and technical setup are completed.
  - Stance: Fun after setup
  - Anchor: Completion of mod installation and technical setup
  - Time to anchor: 1h 0m
  - Friction: Boring and broken vanilla version; Technical difficulty in modding; Steep learning curve for VR controls
  - Unlock drivers: Successful mod installation; Completion of technical setup; Familiarity with VR controls
  - Conditions: Use of mods; Following tutorials; Patience with setup process
- Player Archetypes:
  - Mod Enthusiast (deep sale)
    - Motivation: To enhance and customize the gaming experience through mods.
    - Playstyle: Highly customized and modded gameplay.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: modder; VR enthusiast
    - Reference games: Skyrim SE; Fallout 4
  - VR Enthusiast (sale)
    - Motivation: To experience the best VR gaming has to offer.
    - Playstyle: Immersive VR gameplay with community engagement.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: VR gamer; community member
    - Reference games: Skyrim SE; Vorpex
  - Bargain Hunter (deep sale)
    - Motivation: To get the best value for money.
    - Playstyle: Casual gameplay with a focus on cost-effectiveness.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: budget gamer; value seeker
    - Reference games: Skyrim SE; Fallout 4


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Mods enhance gameplay experience (weight 0.52): Mods significantly improve the game, making it more immersive, enjoyable, and comprehensive. Many players consider the game one of the best fantasy experiences with extensive modding.
- Positive sentiment towards Skyrim (weight 0.27): Players express love for Skyrim and its VR adaptation. The game is considered a masterpiece and one of the best games of all time.
- High immersion in VR (weight 0.27): The game offers an excellent immersive first-person experience in VR. Players appreciate the immersive effect and the ability to experience Skyrim's world in a new way.
- Fun combat mechanics (weight 0.17): Combat mechanics, such as shooting with a bow and dual-wielding magic, are enjoyable. Players also find fun in using sword and shield combat.
- High playtime and potential (weight 0.08): Skyrim VR offers a large open world with many quests, leading to high playtime. The game has great potential, especially with modding.
- Technical and customization features (weight 0.08): The game supports Valve Index controllers and offers renowned character customization. It also benefits from a talented modding community.
- Niche but enjoyable experience (weight 0.05): While the game can be a niche experience, it is enjoyable when it works and offers a fun port most of the time.
- Positive experience at 60 FPS (weight 0.03): Players report an enjoyable experience when playing the game at 60 FPS, enhancing the overall gameplay.
- Russian language feedback (weight 0.03): Russian-speaking players appreciate the modding community for enhancing the game experience significantly.
- Portuguese language feedback (weight 0.02): Portuguese-speaking players find the experience of playing Skyrim VR enjoyable.

Common complaints:
- Mods are essential (weight 0.64): The game is widely criticized for being unplayable or of poor quality without extensive modding. Players feel forced to use mods to fix various issues and enhance the gameplay experience.
- Poor VR port and design (weight 0.39): The VR port of the game is criticized for being poorly done, with minimal effort put into adapting the game for VR, leading to a subpar experience.
- High cost, low value (weight 0.22): Many players feel that the game is overpriced, especially considering its quality and the need for extensive modding to make it enjoyable.
- Bugs and performance issues (weight 0.22): The game is plagued with bugs, crashes, and performance issues, which detract from the overall experience.
- Clunky gameplay mechanics (weight 0.19): The game is described as clunky, with buggy and unpolished interactions and movement, leading to a frustrating experience.
- Lack of interactivity (weight 0.15): The game lacks meaningful interaction with the world, characters, and objects, making it feel less immersive.
- Combat lacks depth (weight 0.14): The combat system is criticized for lacking physics, feedback, and immersion, making it uninteresting and disappointing.
- VR motion sickness issues (weight 0.13): Players report experiencing motion sickness and discomfort while playing the game in VR, which significantly impacts the enjoyment.
- Poor menu navigation (weight 0.1): The menu design is criticized for being confusing and difficult to navigate, especially in VR.
- Poor controller support (weight 0.08): The game's controller support is criticized for being confusing and poorly mapped, leading to a frustrating experience.

Gameplay feedback:
- VR gameplay and interactions (weight 0.24): The game offers VR gameplay, but the interactions and mechanics are not well-suited for VR, leading to a limited and sometimes flawed experience.
- Strong modding support (weight 0.22): The game has extensive modding capabilities, with a supportive community and detailed modding processes. This enhances gameplay and extends the game's longevity.
- Combat mechanics improvements needed (weight 0.18): Combat mechanics, including sword and shield combat, archery, and magic dual-wielding, need improvements. Players have noted issues with aiming and interactions.
- Interaction and equipment flaws (weight 0.14): The interaction and equipment systems are fundamentally flawed, affecting the overall gameplay experience. This includes issues with picking up objects and character clipping.
- Tutorial and menu navigation (weight 0.06): The tutorial area and menu navigation need improvements. Players have found these aspects to be lacking or difficult to use.
- Graphics and visibility issues (weight 0.06): There are issues with graphics quality and body visibility. These issues detract from the overall visual experience of the game.
- Innovative dialogue and movement (weight 0.05): The game features innovative dialogue options by speaking and various movement modes, adding unique elements to the gameplay.
- Game age and updates (weight 0.03): The game's age is showing, and there is a need for updates to address various issues and improve the overall experience.
- Cheap VR mod feel (weight 0.03): Some players feel that the VR mod has a cheap feel, which affects their overall experience and immersion in the game.
- Bugs and glitches (weight 0.03): The game has various bugs and glitches that need to be addressed to improve the overall player experience.

Performance notes:
- Poor visual quality (weight 0.25): Players report poor image quality, blurry distant images, and low resolution, affecting overall visibility and immersion.
- Frequent crashes and performance issues (weight 0.14): The game experiences frequent crashes, often attributed to mods and general performance issues.
- VR performance problems (weight 0.14): The game has significant issues in VR, including poor immersion, terrible port quality, and specific problems like blurred vision and field of view rendering.
- Stuttering and jitters (weight 0.07): The game suffers from stuttering and jitters, which disrupts the gameplay experience.
- High system requirements (weight 0.06): The game requires a high-end PC to run smoothly, and system requirements increase with the use of mods.
- General bugginess (weight 0.06): The game is reported to be buggy, with various glitches and issues affecting gameplay.
- Movement and calibration issues (weight 0.06): There are problems with movement and height calibration, affecting the overall gameplay experience.
- Difficulty running on Meta Quest (weight 0.04): Players have difficulty running the game smoothly on Meta Quest, indicating potential optimization issues.
- Inconsistent performance (weight 0.04): The game's performance is inconsistent, leading to a varied and often unsatisfactory experience.
- Feels janky even with mods (weight 0.03): Even with mods, the game feels janky, indicating deeper issues that mods cannot fix.
- Medium space requirement (weight 0.03): The game requires a medium amount of space, which could be a limitation for some players.
- VR keyboard issues (weight 0.03): There are specific issues with the VR keyboard, affecting usability.
- Motion sickness during cart ride (weight 0.03): Players experience motion sickness during cart rides, which can be a significant discomfort.
- Bad internet connection issues (weight 0.03): Some players report issues related to bad internet connections, affecting online gameplay.

Recommendations:
- Wait for a sale (weight 0.14): Many players suggest waiting for a significant discount before purchasing the game, indicating that the game may not be worth its full price.
- Worth it for Skyrim fans (weight 0.04): The game is considered worth buying if you are a fan of Skyrim and have experience with modding, but only if purchased on sale.
- Not for motion sickness (weight 0.03): The game is only recommended for those who are not sensitive to motion sickness, indicating that it may cause discomfort for some players.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.4): Players are disappointed due to the poor quality of the VR port, which suffers from lackluster graphics, minimal interactivity, and a high reliance on mods to fix basic issues. Additionally, the high pricing and the necessity of extensive modding to achieve a satisfactory experience contribute to this sentiment.
- Frustration (weight 0.38): Frustration stems from the game's poor VR controls, frequent crashes, and the extensive need for modding to fix basic settings and gameplay issues. Players also report severe physical discomfort and difficulties in getting the game to work properly.
- Anger (weight 0.12): Anger is primarily caused by the game's high pricing despite minimal changes, numerous bugs, and poor performance. Players feel betrayed by Bethesda's lack of effort in properly porting the game to VR, relying heavily on modders to fix issues.
- Appreciation (weight 0.03): Players appreciate the efforts of modders who have significantly improved the game's experience. Mods are seen as essential for fixing the game's issues and enhancing gameplay.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.01): Enjoyment comes from specific gameplay mechanics like aiming a bow and dual-wielding magic, which are fun and engaging. The game is also enjoyable when enhanced with mods.
- Discomfort (weight 0.01): Discomfort is caused by severe motion sickness experienced during gameplay, particularly during cart rides. This physical discomfort significantly detracts from the overall experience.
- Love (weight 0.01): Long-time fans of Skyrim express love for the game due to its immersive experience and high replay value. The overall game experience, despite its flaws, holds a special place for these players.
- Gratitude (weight 0.01): Gratitude is felt towards modders for their efforts in improving and saving the game. Players acknowledge that without mods, the game would be significantly less enjoyable.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.01): Satisfaction is derived from the overall game experience when enhanced with mods. Players find the modded version of the game to be a more complete and enjoyable experience.
- Awe (weight 0.01): The VR experience itself inspires a sense of awe in players. The immersion and novelty of playing Skyrim in VR create a memorable and impressive experience.
- Disgust (weight 0.01): Disgust is caused by the game's unfixed bugs and poor performance. Players are repulsed by the lack of quality assurance and the game's unplayable state without mods.
- Joy (weight 0.01): Joy comes from positive experiences with specific gameplay mechanics, such as using a bow and interacting with the environment. These moments of fun and engagement bring happiness to players.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.01): Enthusiasm is driven by the highly enjoyable experience of playing the game with VR mods. The enhanced gameplay and immersion create a sense of excitement and eagerness.}