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deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

I will open by saying that in general I am not a fan of playing games. Sure I love to get involved in the competitive aspect and this can be seen in my choice of games over the years such as Guild Wars with it's competitive PvP aspect and of course the Blizzard RTS games. My passion lies with management or following teams, players and leagues rather than getting good at a game myself. It is a rare exception where I find myself thoroughly enjoying playing a game. Skyrim was one of the few times I genuinely wanted to keep playing, and being such a significant event I thought I'd express why I found it so enjoyable in a format I have never attempted before, a game review.

My history with the Elder Scrolls series is brief. Before playing Skyrim I knew of Morrowind and Daggerfall, and heard good things about them but never had the patience to play it myself - I generally avoided single player games. Oblivion was an exception as I found it on sale with the two expansions, but it really never caught me and I didn't really like it enough to continue much past the lower levels. I now know that the Elder Scrolls series has a rich history of Role-playing, open games ranging from Arena with randomly generated terrain, through the action focus of Redguard spanning 1994 to now.

Overview
So on to the review itself. I'd like to cover the various aspects from plot to graphics but I'd rather focus on why I enjoyed this game from the perspective of someone who rarely enjoys playing a single-player game. Having seen the graphics and much of the gameplay through streams like Trump and Day[9] I had a fair idea of what to expect in terms of controlling my character without spoiling too much of the plot. While the graphics of this game are much priased, and deservingly so, that is not really something that jumps out at you right away. As the game opens you are a captive criminal without any idea why in typical TES fashion, but rather than breathtaking scenery you get your simple wagon heading to the gallows with some Skyrim native criminals. Instead, the immersion begins early, as controls are quite restrictive early on (as makes sense with bound hands) but you find yourself listening intently to the conversation with your fellow ne'er-do-wells and getting a feel for what is going on in the country and the feelings of the people. Character creation was also improved over Oblivion - similar functions but your characters just look a lot better.


Shortly after the action begins and I will try to avoid spoilers but the process of escaping the crumbling city does a reasonable job of teaching you the ropes, especially if you have played Oblivion or other first-person games. One thing I didn't like at this point was how long the tutorial went and, later, the fact that you must go through it with each new character.

The Cities
Shortly after the tutorial you will soon find yourself in the first town or city. I say shortly, but really the game lends itself to the obsessive compulsive as I found myself frolicking through fields with my muscled tiger-man picking wild mountain flowers quite. Now the graphics came to the fore, as the scenery even in this simple valley walk to the first small town was alive and you really feel like a part of the world. I entered the first town, bags brimming to overflow with various posies, and met my first non-scripted ("radiant"?) NPCs. It was worth noting at this point that the voice acting, character detail and behaviour, facial expressions and dialogue options are much improved over Oblivion and do much to raise the immersion level of the game.


The cities are an absolute joy to explore. While some don't feel as big as in previous titles or as epic and populated as some areas in other games they more than make up for in character and charm. From the seedy underworld found in Riften, through the Dwarven influenced architecture of Markarth to the grandness of solitude I spent many of my first hours in the game simply exploring the cities and talking to as many of their inhabitants as possible. The atmosphere for most of the towns is spot on and they feel a lot more organic than those in many other RPGs which can feel basically like a noticeboard for side quests and loot dumps. Instead, no NPCs feel useless and they do their best to keep them in character - you will find a merchant in a less well off area of town has more random items for sale as if they sell what they can in desperation, while others have very structured items for sale that are obviously relevant to other items they sell.

The Landscapes
Woth a brief paragraph mention are the landscapes and outdoor scenes in Skyrim. While many of the encounters lack the personality found in the cities the atmosphere is there in spades. The variability of the terrain and the dynamic weather really add to this and all of the landscapes are well realised, from the snowy and rugged peaks of the mountains to the dusty dungeons and crypts. I found myself exploring for most of the start of the game rather than completing quests and I don't doubt I am alone in this.

The Quests
As I understand, the main feature for the AI was the so-called Radiant AI where quests and interactions with NPCs vary a little depending on your previous quests and choices. It would require a second playthrough to fully appreciate, but from what I have experienced of it it's a lot of fun and does make a significant difference for some of the larger quests. It was more telling than in previous titles and many other RPGs I've played.

The levelling feature as introduced in Oblivion (to my knowledge) has thankfully been changed. Some areas, items or opponents are roughly levelled while some are a set level, or the level is set when you first enter the zone again encouraging exploration. The levelled areas aren't so tedious as in Oblivion where you die in a couple shots, but they do mean you can't rambo in both axes swinging and hope to come out alive.


The quests themselves are mostly great. There are very few collect X item quests and when they are, you don't go and grind them out from one place. Rather, you come across them in suitable and realistic places (nirnroot near swamps, gems in crypts and mines, etc.) and end up completing them over the course of 3 or 4 other quests just by exploring. This takes a lot of the tedium away from quest-focussed games and you really feel like you are in control and are not being forced to do anything. There are quite a few postman quests but in general they tell interesting stories about the characters and they are simple with the use of quick travel, plus encourage you to do a lot of exploring which really pays off. Of course they are not perfect and some of the crypt or cave clearing quests can get a little similar but it's a big improvement on what my impression of a quest was in an RPG.

My personal favourite quests are those involving the Daedra, as I love their characters. So evil and they almost always involve some kind of trickery or backstabbing where you can choose to kill your companion for personal gain. The items you get are well worth the sometimes longer quest lengths and it made me want to look up more about the Elder Scrolls lore outside of the game. I didn't role play much in that my hero just does any and every quest and will use the best gear available, but in regames I will consider theming my character to see if there's reward to be had there.

One disappointment was the odd difficulty of the game. There's not too much penalty for death and I found myself dying quite easily early on but once you can craft some nice armour and afford a bunch of potions you rarely have any trouble even encountering levelled opponents. After this the game feels mostly easy (though this is on default difficulty "Adept", and I may have to revisit at a higher difficulty level) and with plenty of loot I was pretty rich in no time, before level 30.

Combat and Magic
I can't remember how the magic worked in Oblivion, but it feels a lot stronger and simpler in this game. While switching between various spell, weapon and armour sets is annoying and takes some getting used to the fact that the game pauses while you do so really makes it a moot point. Item improvement and enchanting creates some interesting diversions from quests and gives you enough goals outside of the in-game achievements to keep you occupied. The combat is intricate enough but still simple, with options to dual wield for extra damage at the expense of block, use two handed weapons to deal massive hits that are easy to dodge and the use of bows (underpowered until you get perks later on. Magic isn't so much its own category (Mage) now, you can easily wield a sword in one hand and shoot bolts of potent lightning with the other or be more of a paladin with knight's weaponry and armour while using your offhand for protection and healing spells. This adds a lot to the personalisation and I always hated choosing a race or your typical 'warrior, rogue, mage' archetypes in other RPG games as you often felt you made the wrong choice and can't do anything about it. It's quite easy to switch your major focus in Skyrim and I think most people should appreciate that.


One downside is the lack of variety in spells and weapons compared to similar games. The number of total spells is lacking and the number of weapon and armour varieties is also quite low. This also means that if you want the top level gear you're going to have to settle for how Daedric items look and this could ruin the role-playing aspect for some people. If you want a 'Good' themed knight and he has to wear demonic looking armour to compete with the tougher opponents it's going to spoil the theme.

Music
Usually I use my own music in a game or turn it off in order to focus or talk on teamspeak but Skyrim was a game where I preferred to play with the sounds as they are meant to be. Aside from the obvious requirement to hear important dialogue, the soundtracks reminded me a lot of Guild Wars which was another game I thoroughly enjoyed the music. It is yet another thing that adds to the epic atmosphere and can define a situation in the game as tense, action-packed or relaxing.


Hope you enjoyed my attempt at a review, feel free to comment on anything I'm happy to talk about all things Skyrim! n_n Apologies in advance for not proof-reading this, it might be a bit all over the place.

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

I didn't like the clunky controls, it felt like it was designed for a console and not very intuitive for a PC game. :S And as you said combat control wasn't ideal, it felt really weird for me actually.

Then again I've only played till the first town before I (accidentally) killed some townsfolk and started fighting guards and died and got bored and stopped playing. D:

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

I was unimpressed at that point too, crAzerk and might have stopped playing if I hadn't seen how great some of the later game content was from watching streams.

When I first walked in to town I tested my new bow out on a chicken and got mobbed by the entire town but kept at it and it's definitely worth the time investment!

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

I died to a town mob after killing the first chicken I saw. I thought it was a slight overreaction on behalf of the townspeople but other than that the game has been amazing I look forward to sinking a whole ton of time into it and getting truly immersed.

Excellent review deL, seeing those screenshots got me fired up for a new play through. Might make a viking Nord and fight purely with fists, I hear you can do that.

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

I got it for xmas and ive been hooked for days Lvl 20 atm, really fun game

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

Awesome review. Thanks a lot for that work Del.

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

Oh I realised I didn't even mention the shouts under combat rofl. Anyway I love the shouts, sort of a fresh idea (mostly) and very useful. I find myself using them a lot and being creative with them can help you solve quests easier or in different ways. Some examples aside from the obvious use of fus ro dah would be the ethereal shout I used when in getting azura's star I kept dying to flame spells before I was teleported out of there. Ethereal form kept me alive those last few seconds Also throw voice I haven't unlocked yet but I can imagine that being very, very useful. Whirlwind jump opens up a lot of shortcuts and makes some puzzles easier. Race specific stuff like khajit's night vision is useful too when looking for loot in dark levels. I didn't pay much attention in Oblivion of these passive or racial abilities but the shouts really brought them to the fore and I hope to see it built on in future games (having dragonborn as a perk?)

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

excellent review del

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

One thing you didn't really bring up is how the story is presented. I'm going to be making comparisons to Morrowind here, Oblivion doesn't count because it was absolutely horrible.

The magic that was Morrowind came from the part where you literally get there on a boat, as a nobody. You're free to do whatever you want in this big open world, there's no real expectation for you to do anything. You go out and explore stuff and kill things and there's wonder around every corner and unicorns and rainbows, etc. In Skyrim (Oblivion did this too) you rock up and instantly you're somebody unique. You're there when the leader of the rebellion is to be executed, you're there when the first of the dragons comes back after a very long time, and not long after that you're dragonborn; the only dragonborn.

Aside from other general gripes (I killed Lydia out of frustration for her voice, horses have no personality, aren't realistic and have a passion for running into enemies and dying, map travel breaking immersion, LYDIA: KEEPER OF THE DRAGON BONES, etc), the other thing I hated was the scale. The only thing that Oblivion did right was that Imperial City had SCALE. It was grand and glorious, same with Morrowind. In Skyrim, it's nothing near impressive. Some dungeons were cool (the one where you get the Elder Scroll) but there was never any scenery that really blew me away.

It's still an Elder Scrolls game, where I can break into someone's house, steal all his mead and a few days later get attacked by his hired goons, but it missed that bit extra that could've made it the best thing ever. Still Game of the Year, still really darn good, but now I've finished the main quest, it's back to Morrowind (and ladder, of course).

Oh and it's not nostalgia talking, I got Morrowind like 3 months ago

(also, do you play CS:S? I was pwning someone named DeL today)

and to anyone who reads this who has Morrowind, Morrowind Overhaul v2.0 came out a week and a bit ago, make it look almost as good as Skyrim if you've got the juice for it

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

Great review DeL really great read.

You raise all the points I love about the game and Ruscour points out all the points im not too flash on! I will definitely play it through though!

My most hated point is how I have to use a whole crapload of dodging to win fistfights as a mage (but do them anyway to prove big nord-men that high elf mage-women can fight too), but whenever i dodge slightly too far, the crowd of onlookers decide they need to run through the middle of the fight to get in a circle around us again. Oh what's that you RAN ONTO MY FIST and now I have 20 people with swords murdering me. Gawdammit.

Morrowind Overhaul v2.0 ?? Ruscour How do I get this>? PM sent.

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

I played CSS a bit here and there ruscour but I never used the ID DeL. Maybe I should give Morrowind a go finally Dark Elves just really bore me though :/

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

Way too good as a review. Nice one deL

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

I really enjoyed the controls, i use a bow so it's pretty rad. Mainly because I remember melee in Oblivion and Morrowind was annoying.

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

I too fell for the infamous "Chicken Trap". LIke really, it's one chicken and you want to kill me? Can't i just buy you another chicken?

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

YAY i picked the kitty to!

Re: deL's Game Review: Skyrim
 

Great write up del, this game literally eats my soul when i play it.