Popular Post Remilia Scarlet Posted November 3, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted November 3, 2015 (edited) SPECIAL NOTE: This is only my third review for an RPG, and first for one of this magnitude. My sincerest apologies if I missed anything. I had a monstrous task ahead of me when reviewing this game, and tried to include everything I could while keeping it within an acceptable length. I made it a point to include the expansion packs (Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn) in the review, so do not worry about that. The expansion packs can be found at the end of the review for those of you who want to know if they're worth buying. CONTROL YOUR STORY. PART I Character creation, story, world and combat November 11, 2011, a date that many millions of gamers hold dear to them. It is the date that an epic had been graced upon us. Skyrim. A game that became much more than a game. An RPG that embraced the very meaning of role-play, and expanded upon it like no other title has before. Skyrim is unique, special. Bethesda has crafted something that millions yearned for, and introduced many more to a genre that had before completely mystified them. Skyrim set world records upon release, and it continues to be one of the most well-supported RPGs of recent times, with a very strong modding community dedicated to adding new content and fixing bugs Bethesda failed to correct. Aside from that, Skyrim in general is just addicting. Bethesda outdid themselves in the immersiveness of the world they created, and the Creation engine (built specifically for Skyrim) does a wonderful job realizing this world. It's difficult to describe the feeling one gets when playing Skyrim, but try to imagine the most sublime feeling possible, and add to it the feeling of euphoria one gets when achieving something great. That is Skyrim for me. And, I hope, you as well. Let's get to it. A Broken Land Skyrim places players in a war-torn country almost right off the bat. As in all previous entries, the player character is a political prisoner, although this time you are on your way to the chopping block. It seems kind of extreme for someone whose only crime was illegally entering the country. Joining you is a horse thief and the Jarl of Windhelm (a city in Skyrim), Ulfric Stormcloak, who has been arrested and sentenced to death for literally shouting the High King of Skyrim, Torygg to death. On your way to the execution site, Ulfric provides some interesting information on the war tearing the province apart. The Nords, the native race of Skyrim, and the Imperials, the faction that hails from the province of Cyrodiil, are fighting to determine Skyrim's fate in the war. The Nords want total independence, but the Imperials wish for Skyrim to remain part of Cyrodiil's empire. The introductory sequence is beautifully played out, with some interesting dialogue between Ulfric and the horse thief. Once the procession reaches Helgen, the player is given the ability to create their character. The amount of options given to players is staggering, and you can spend a good twenty to thirty minutes fiddling with the sliders. You are given the option of choosing from multiple races: Nord, Orsimer, Dunmer, Altmer, Khajiit, Redguard, Imperial, Bosmer, Breton and Argonian. Each race has a unique set abilities that set it apart from the other playable races in Skyrim. For example, Imperials have a special skill called Voice of the Emperor that calms all hostiles within a certain radius for a set period of time, while Orsimer can enter a rage mode to deal heavy damage in combat. The character creation system is incredibly deep and intuitive. The character creation system is incredibly deep and intuitive, with sliders on just about everything from body shape to the angle of your character's nose. You get nearly two dozen hair styles, each unique to the race you pick, and nearly thirty different body markings such as scars and tattoos. There's even a slider for wrinkle density! At the time of release, I had never seen a system so advanced in an RPG as the one in Skyrim. After the character creation process is finished, players enter a name and their character is called forth by an Imperial guard. Depending on your character, you will get various dialogue from him. I played as a Nord, and was welcomed home, albeit sadly as it was my execution. The player is sent to the chopping block, and is about to be killed when a great bloody dragon attacks the town. Alduin, the prophesied World Eater, has arrived. Setting the town ablaze, chaos erupts as panic-stricken guards and citizens rush about unsure of what to do. You are ushered into a tower by Ulfric, who cuts your bindings and helps lead you to safety. Fire crackles and buildings collapse as Alduin unleashes his terrible fury on the hapless townsfolk. At the end of the attack, you are given the choice of joining either Ulfric and his rebellion or the Imperials and their quest to conquer Skyrim. After making your decision, you are led to the peaceful wayside town of Riverwood, and this is where Skyrim truly opens up. After completing a few petty quests you are instructed to go to the town of Whiterun and request aid from Jarl Balgruuf the Greater. However, he needs you to help his court mage in retrieving the Dragonstone, an ancient tablet that details the various nesting sites of the dragons. after completing this quest, a dragon attacks the western watchtower just outside of Whiterun. After defeating the dragon, my player character somehow absorbed the soul of the beast. Amazed at this feat of power, the guards speculate that I must be Dragonborn, one born with soul of a dragon and the ability to permanently kill them by stealing their soul. It is after this incident that players begin to get the gist of just how urgent things are. They are ushered to meet with the Greybeards, a monastic group of men who know how to control the Voice, the ability to shout words of power, or Thu'um, which is how Ulfric killed Torygg. They teach you to use the Voice, so that you may be able to defeat Alduin, who is prophesied to bring about the destruction of Tamriel. The first dragon soul. Now, if that all sounds a little confusing and convoluted, don't worry. You aren't alone. The main storyline presented a great plot, but it was very poorly executed, and very little is explained clearly, like why Alduin wants to destroy the world. He just... does. The entire premise of dragons is draw players in, and yet why they are actually returning is never explained. If it was, I missed it. However, the main quest's shortcomings are small and insignificant in the face of the game's triumphs. A Massive World to Explore Skyrim is absolutely massive. From huge mountain ranges to lowland marshes, you have literally an entire country's worth of exploration at your fingertips. Forests pepper the landscape, mist hangs over the tips of mountains, tundras stretch out into the distance. There's even a hot spring. Players can explore ancient Nordic tombs, caves, labyrinthine underground caverns, fortresses, etc. The landscape itself can prove a challenge to traverse as well, forcing players to find creative ways of navigating the mountainous landscape. The cities are varied and diverse. For example, Markarth is a city literally built into the side of a mountain, while Whiterun is comprised of stone masonry, straw, and wood. Markarth gives off an air of rigidness while you get the feeling of elegance and pride from Whiterun. Every town and city in Skyrim is unique in its own way. The environments of Skyrim are lush, gorgeous, and alive. NPCs (non player characters) are another matter, however. Each character has a routine they follow, and they rarely deviate from this routine, despite Bethesda's attempts to make them feel more organic. Although you would not notice this just playing, but nearly 2K hours of play time makes one notice things. They will always repeat the same lines of dialogue, although I cannot fault them for this. Bethesda had a limited cast of actors voicing nearly 400 NPCs in this game. Nearly every character sounds alike, as well, and this is where the understanding stops. Limited cast or no, these are talented people able to throw their voice all over the spectrum, and they didn't do that for this game? Please, someone explain this to me. How is it that these people, who voice hundreds of characters in other media, cannot change their voice for Skyrim? Despite that, the world of Skyrim still manages to be one of the most immersive in modern gaming, with lush, beautiful locations teeming with life wherever you look. Come across a stump, bend down and see the tiny ants parading across the bark. Bunnies chase each other in the foliage, foxes hide in the bush. Fish fump out of the rivers and bears wander through the mountains. Skyrim is a living ecosystem. The wind blows and causes the trees and grass to dance in its caress. The weather will actively change as well, though its effects are not always apparent. Snow, oddly enough, actually passes through solid objects at times. While the environments are wondrously varied and awesome, the dungeons, on the other hand, have a tendency to blend together. By that I mean there is little by way of variation. Nordic tombs all look as if they were mapped out from the same template. The stone work looks the same, the same traps and puzzles are recycled over and over, and the enemies are all the same with a deathlord thrown in. The same holds true for dwemer ruins as well. It's as if the guy in charge of creating the dungeons said "screw it!" and hit the Copy button. It's a pity because Skyrim has over 100 tombs and dungeons to explore. Fighting Alduin's Forces What would an RPG be without a fighting system? Skyrim has an intuitive system designed around ease of access and simplicity without sacrificing integrity. In other words, combat is made simple for the uninitiated, yet complex enough to keep it from becoming too boring. The game can be played from either the first person or third person perspective, depending on your tastes. First person is best for ranged weapons like the bow and arrow, but otherwise, third person is accommodating for all play styles. Being set in a medieval themed world, Skyrim has weaponry and combat mechanics suited for that lore. Swords, shields, maces, staffs, battleaxes, and the like pepper the landscape. Each weapon comes with perks and downfalls. For example, a two handed greatsword deals a ton of damage but is heavy, takes up space and is slow to use. Likewise a normal sword can be used in both hands to dual wield, but deals less damage and prevents any kind of blocking. This kind of stuff is critical if you hope to survive long in Skyrim where nearly everything is out to kill you. Players can dual wield any combination of one handed weaponry, including magic and swords together. What keeps combat interesting is that it allows players to dual wield any two combinations of one handed weaponry, including magic. Say, for instance, you wanted to deal quick damage but be able to heal on the spot without interrupting combat. You could wield Fireball in one hand and Quick Heal in the other, and would be able to use both at once without skipping a beat. The system also allows for wielding a traditional weapon alongside magic, allowing for a bit more variation and flexibility in Skyrim than what Oblivion offered. Leveling up works a bit differently in Skyrim than other RPGs. Whereas other RPGs let characters gain level up points based on the amount of enemies killed, in Skyrim it is based on skill training. Allow me to explain. In Skyrim, there are a total of 18 skills available to learn. Each of these skills has a unique perk tree that can be filled out with perk points earned by leveling each of these skills up. In other words, the more you train in a particular skill, the better you get, and the more you level up. Leveling up allows you to add a perk to either Magicka, Health, or Stamina. Magicka, as its name suggests, controls how much magic you can use in a given time period. Health is your level of life during combat, and Stamina controls power attacks, speed and carry weight in the inventory. Allowing players access to every ability in Skyrim is a great advancement from Oblivion, as it no longer limits character builds to specific classes, but as a result, it is easy to overlevel a particular skill too early, thus making it more difficult to train another skill. Each skill has 100 levels. Once a particular skill is maxed out it can be made Legendary, allowing players to respec the perks and level it again, aiding in increasing overall character level. Once all skills are made legendary, however, it is no longer possible to level up (this occurs at level 81). Continued in Part II: Alchemy, Lore and Questing Edited November 3, 2015 by AnimeDreama 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinach Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Excellent. Waiting for part II. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azaan60 Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 I don't wanna be THAT guy but it's actually Skyrims' 4th anniversary not 5th. But good read either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kubanga Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remilia Scarlet Posted November 3, 2015 Author Share Posted November 3, 2015 I don't wanna be THAT guy but it's actually Skyrims' 4th anniversary not 5th. But good read either way. Fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo_0113 Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Wow 2 thousand hours. I did every mission i found and also discovered and cleared every location and barely got 200 hours. Unless you mean multiple playthroughs of course. Great review BTW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABBUemo Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 I Love The Elder Scrolls, combined i've spent more than 2500 hrs in Tamriel over 4 games. Don't even get me started on Fallout! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remilia Scarlet Posted November 3, 2015 Author Share Posted November 3, 2015 Wow 2 thousand hours. I did every mission i found and also discovered and cleared every location and barely got 200 hours. Unless you mean multiple playthroughs of course. Great review BTW Yes, that's what I meant. I played Skyrim on PS3 and PC across multiple saves and characters. Several of my playthroughs were actually due to corrupt saves. Skyrim is my favorite RPG of all time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platypiwerfer Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 4th anniversary? Already? Bloody hell. I can remember the day this was released. I got my copy, started it and just listened to the main theme for ages. And now i suddenly feel old.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon-Archon Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Wow, nicely done . This is incredibly detailed , you should try writing a guide. I think you''d be very good at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condemned09 Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Skyrim is my favorite ps3 game of all time you did an excellent job so far can't wait to read the rest of your review Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IzazaOzihaha Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Looking forward to part 2! I had only recently gotten this game for the PS3, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it so far! Even made sure it was the Legendary Edition to get the full content out of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Mayus Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 I don't think it takes 2000 hours to notice that the NPCs are just wooden cutouts that repeat the same thing over and over and over and over and over. Also while the character customization is extensive, you are playing a first person game (unless you happen to switch to 3rd person) so you will never see what you look like. Also you cover yourself in armour and a helmet so even if you do care what you look like you will never see it. That is my problem with games like this. While I enjoy playing them there just isn't that much to them. You say you have literally a country worth of land to explore (the word literally is misused but whatever) but that land doesn't mean anything when most of it is useless caves or tombs that are copy and pasted from the last one or you get to a place once and then just fast travel everywhere because it takes too long to run across the fields. The story is completely pointless as well. Nothing I do affects the outcome of things. I was a werewolf, mage master, head of the thief guild, aide to the supreme ruler of the land and had in my possession all the Daedric artifacts when I finally returned to the main story (I didn't want to chance on missing trophies so I skipped the main story until I beat everything) The part I left off at was obtaining the third part of the first Shout. So here I am decked out in every imaginable thing possible and the guy at the top of the mountain doesn't say "where the fuck were you for the last month and a half. I have been standing here waiting for you" or "Holy shit it is you, Dragonborne, the man who's quests and feats are legendary" No he says "time to learn the last Shout (or whatever he says). So that brings me to "immersion" which is something people love to say about games like this. How can you be immersed in a game that doesn't connect at all, who's NPCs don't matter and say the same thing over and over and over (alright already), where you can keep 32 dragon skulls in your house and no one cares, where I can be fighting a dragon and a guy runs up and is like "I have a letter for you" and not "THERE IS A FUCKING DRAGON RIGHT THERE" Like I said I had a blast with the game, it just isn't the be all-end all of games that people make it out to be. There are just too many small (and some large) problems with it that makes me go "yeah, it is a 7/10" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manumatik Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Good read! Skyrim belongs to a very special place in my heart. I put over 1000 hours roaming, making new characters and role playing this masterpiece; it is, by far, the BEST experience I ever had in a videogame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undead Wolf Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 I don't think it takes 2000 hours to notice that the NPCs are just wooden cutouts that repeat the same thing over and over and over and over and over. Also while the character customization is extensive, you are playing a first person game (unless you happen to switch to 3rd person) so you will never see what you look like. Also you cover yourself in armour and a helmet so even if you do care what you look like you will never see it. That is my problem with games like this. While I enjoy playing them there just isn't that much to them. You say you have literally a country worth of land to explore (the word literally is misused but whatever) but that land doesn't mean anything when most of it is useless caves or tombs that are copy and pasted from the last one or you get to a place once and then just fast travel everywhere because it takes too long to run across the fields. The story is completely pointless as well. Nothing I do affects the outcome of things. I was a werewolf, mage master, head of the thief guild, aide to the supreme ruler of the land and had in my possession all the Daedric artifacts when I finally returned to the main story (I didn't want to chance on missing trophies so I skipped the main story until I beat everything) The part I left off at was obtaining the third part of the first Shout. So here I am decked out in every imaginable thing possible and the guy at the top of the mountain doesn't say "where the fuck were you for the last month and a half. I have been standing here waiting for you" or "Holy shit it is you, Dragonborne, the man who's quests and feats are legendary" No he says "time to learn the last Shout (or whatever he says). So that brings me to "immersion" which is something people love to say about games like this. How can you be immersed in a game that doesn't connect at all, who's NPCs don't matter and say the same thing over and over and over (alright already), where you can keep 32 dragon skulls in your house and no one cares, where I can be fighting a dragon and a guy runs up and is like "I have a letter for you" and not "THERE IS A FUCKING DRAGON RIGHT THERE" Like I said I had a blast with the game, it just isn't the be all-end all of games that people make it out to be. There are just too many small (and some large) problems with it that makes me go "yeah, it is a 7/10" Thank you! It's about time someone called this game out for it really is. You hit the nail on the head there. I get tired of all the people who treat Skyrim like it's the God of video games or something. Like all games, it has it's flaws, but people like to gloss over that fact. It's by no means a bad game, it's pretty damn good actually, but it's not the perfection people make it out to be. There are plenty of games out there that do many things better. From the mediocre combat, to the underwhelming plot, dumbed down RPG elements and the sheer repetitiveness of it all, people give this game way too much credit. Why would I force my way through copy & pasted dungeon #100, full of generic cannon fodder, just so some lifeless NPC can say the same repeated lines of dialogue to me as all the other ones have? Any game can have thousands of hours of gameplay if you repeat the same stuff over and over again. I'm not hating on anyone's opinion here. If you truly spent hundreds or thousands of hours in this game, then good for you. I just think there are much more interesting and engaging games out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remilia Scarlet Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 I don't think it takes 2000 hours to notice that the NPCs are just wooden cutouts that repeat the same thing over and over and over and over and over. Also while the character customization is extensive, you are playing a first person game (unless you happen to switch to 3rd person) so you will never see what you look like. Also you cover yourself in armour and a helmet so even if you do care what you look like you will never see it. That is my problem with games like this. While I enjoy playing them there just isn't that much to them. You say you have literally a country worth of land to explore (the word literally is misused but whatever) but that land doesn't mean anything when most of it is useless caves or tombs that are copy and pasted from the last one or you get to a place once and then just fast travel everywhere because it takes too long to run across the fields. The story is completely pointless as well. Nothing I do affects the outcome of things. I was a werewolf, mage master, head of the thief guild, aide to the supreme ruler of the land and had in my possession all the Daedric artifacts when I finally returned to the main story (I didn't want to chance on missing trophies so I skipped the main story until I beat everything) The part I left off at was obtaining the third part of the first Shout. So here I am decked out in every imaginable thing possible and the guy at the top of the mountain doesn't say "where the fuck were you for the last month and a half. I have been standing here waiting for you" or "Holy shit it is you, Dragonborne, the man who's quests and feats are legendary" No he says "time to learn the last Shout (or whatever he says). So that brings me to "immersion" which is something people love to say about games like this. How can you be immersed in a game that doesn't connect at all, who's NPCs don't matter and say the same thing over and over and over (alright already), where you can keep 32 dragon skulls in your house and no one cares, where I can be fighting a dragon and a guy runs up and is like "I have a letter for you" and not "THERE IS A FUCKING DRAGON RIGHT THERE" Like I said I had a blast with the game, it just isn't the be all-end all of games that people make it out to be. There are just too many small (and some large) problems with it that makes me go "yeah, it is a 7/10" I am touching on all of this in my review. I understand your criticisms and take them all into account, but for me, none of that matters. Skyrim for me is the pinnacle of role-playing games. I don't let faults like what you listed hold me back from enjoying Skyrim to its fullest. Aside from that, there are hundreds of mods that add to the immersion factor and allow you to tailor Skyrim to be the way YOU want it to be. And please, before you bite back with "but that was Bethesda's job!", remember that they specifically created this game to be modded to hell and back. On the world: it's not empty, nor is it useless. I frequently come across many useful items in my adventures. I love mixing potions and trying new combinations for alchemy, and Skyrim is littered with potential potion/alchemy ingredients from butterfly wings, dragonfly thoraxes, fungi, different grasses, even parts of certain enemies. How can you call the dungeons useless when every dungeon is filled with items to help you on your quests? Or countryside empty when you encounter bandits, trolls, wolves, foxes, hagravens, mammoths and giants, etc.? Several times I have encountered Imperial soldiers escorting prisoners of war to jail, or Dawnguard in battle with vampires, or common people fending off dragons. The argument that Skyrim is just a big empty countryside is flawed and untrue by the very nature of its randomness. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All4Nobody Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 Loved this game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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