Is whacking an enemy with your sword until they fall down, or shooting magic at them until they die, or some combination, any more a test of skill? Skyrim's combat, for the most part, doesn't really require much in the way of skill, dexterity, or strategy. It's just, kind of, there.
A developer is responsible for testing their systems and ensuring that it's functional and balanced. There's really no getting around that. Sure, if these were little problems, I could understand - it's a massive game, after all. But we're talking about the economy and leveling system, fundamental parts of the game, and they are stupidly easy to break (by accident, no less!). They messed up. That's on them. Players shouldn't have to compensate on their behalf just to create a "balanced" experience.
I also don't see how the voice acting is bad.
...Did you mute the game?
The cast is somewhat better than Oblivion, I'll give you that, but that's not saying much at all. Beyond the main characters, which is where I think most of the VA budget went (seriously, they hired Claudia Christian and gave her practically nothing to do), the bad line readings and stilted dialogue are still very much present. Ferengar Secret-Fire is the norm, not the exception.
The infiltration of the Thalmor Embassy was one of the best experiences I've ever had in an ES game.
I remember that mission, and let me tell you... if that's the case, that speaks very poorly for The Elder Scrolls franchise.
The discovery of Sky Ruler Temple was epic
The hike up the mountain was probably the strongest moment of the main quest, but "epic"? Uh... let's not get carried away here.
As for that ending... see, the problem is, it's "cool" on paper. That doesn't mean the execution works. Hardly. The idea of going to the afterlife is neat, but they don't do anything with it. You just show up and walk down a path. Skyrim's biggest strength lies in its exploration, and here they give you no real freedom to explore whatsoever (you can go off the path but there's nothing to do or find, if I remember correctly). So you walk down the path, get some buddies, and face the big bad dragon... and that's it. You just hit him until he falls. It should feel like the epic culmination of your quest and instead it's... basically just another dragon fight. Sure, he might have some different attacks, but you've already killed tons of dragons by this point.
So you defeat him and save the universe. What do you get? What's your reward?
The modern day day equivalent of this. Then you go back to Skyrim and... nothing's changed. Nobody cares aside from maybe a few throwaway lines from NPCs here and there. Sure, your "character" (a practically mute cipher) is promised a seat, but that's something that we, the player, never experience. It's a narrative I.O.U. And that's terrible.
It's not enough to just tell the player "You've saved the world!" The first rule of narrative is "Show, don't tell" and it's all "tell" here.
"Unsatisfactory" doesn't even begin to do it justice.
(Also, another nitpick, but good god does it bug me. For a game all about free exploration they sure do like to lock your character in place every chance they get. Come on, Bethesda, Half Life 2 got this right 10 years ago!)
As for your last point, I don't know, have you played a little game called... Oblivion? Hell, just look at magic. No custom spells, spells aren't tied to schools of magic (so my restoration specialist can also just pull out necromancy spells without any points in there whatsoever), etc. Or how about armor going from six pieces to five. Weapons no longer degrade. The finishers feel completely out of place, and only serve to yank you out of combat. Just to name a few gripes.
I'm not against making changes or cutting features if they don't work (And let's not pretend that combat was ever TES' strong suit), but this goes beyond that. Skyrim feels stripped down, not refined, and I think it suffers for it.
