I've been playing games created by Bethesda Game Studios since the release of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and though none of them have been perfect, they have always managed to become some of the most addicting and immersive RPGs for my money. Like many gamers, I have been anxiously awaiting the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as if it was an actual plague upon my being. Role playing games can be a hit or miss depending on your preferences, but I have always particularly enjoyed fantasy settings with swords and sorcery. So it goes without saying that The Elder Scrolls series is a favorite of mine. I loved Fallout 3 but Tamriel's setting is just more appealing. That doesn't mean I haven't had my qualms with past games though. Morrowind and Oblivion's melee combat systems were stiff and lacked the flair I wanted in a warrior class as swinging a sword was a lot more like swinging a bat. The magic combat had more of an edge and could easily make the player feel a sense of power, but I prefer getting close to my enemies and cutting (or smashing) them down. There's also been other problems like glitches and bugs, ugly and boring character models, an annoying amount of fetch quests, confusing menu systems, and constant screen loading. Despite the flaws I can list, there has never been a single video game I have put as much time into as one from Bethesda Game Studios. The quest story telling, the dungeons, the customization on my character, the easter eggs and humor, the quantity of things to do, and the size of the game map and all its explorable features create easily the most addicting RPGs on the market. If you don't usually play RPGs or have never understood the appeal, Skyrim is a good place to start. Now that Bethesda is more seasoned with their games on consoles and this being the fifth entry in their swords and sorcery world, is Skyrim really worth all of the hype or is it just an improved Oblivion with new content? I've spent over 60 hours with the game just to answer that question.
For those that are unaware or just joining the series with the fifth game, you don't necessarily need to play the past installments. Skyrim is the name of the land you'll be exploring and home province of the fair haired viking-like race known as the Nords. It has a northern theme and atmosphere and should please fans of Norse culture, A Song of Ice and Fire novels from author George R.R. Martin, and the Game of Thrones series on HBO. The game opens with your character being escorted with other prisoners to your execution in the town of Helgen and introduces the political conflicts and civil war currently afflicting the land. After the introduction you are brought to the customization menu where you can create and name the protagonist of your game. Choose from 10 races; each of which have their own unique appearance and perk abilities. The customization is vastly improved over Morrowind and Oblivion and can easily take your first hour if you allow it. Everything from the face, body structure, hair, facial hair, scars, and war-paint can be suited to your liking; just make sure you're happy with the construction before you exit because there is not an edit feature. Unlike past Bethesda games and most RPGs in general, you won't be able to choose a class. This game is all about crafting your character to your desire by using the 18 skills offered throughout the experience: Two-Handed combat, One-Handed combat, Block, Archery, Smithing, Heavy Armor, Light Armor, Alchemy, Speech, Sneak, Pickpocket, Lockpick, Alteration, Restoration, Illusion, Destruction, Conjuration, and Enchantment. This essentially allows you to be what you want rather than just choosing from a list. Once you have established your identity and completed the striking opening tutorial, you're tossed into the open world and prepared to become completely enamored with the scale of the world and the activities available to complete. You are also introduced to the central story and main quest conflict: dragons. The main quest deals with an ancient Nordic prophecy that heralds the end of the world, and only the one born with the soul of a dragon and imbued with the gift of The Voice can stop it from happening. This is of course the role you play and you'll spend your time figuring out your destiny, why dragon's have returned, and what you have to do in order to save everyone. I definitely enjoyed the journey and felt as though the ending was fitting, but I was a tad bit underwhelmed. I couldn't quite figure out why but I suppose maybe I wanted some cool new loot and maybe a party or something, but instead by the end of the game you're simply tossed back into the world to explore or complete any unfinished quests. It was kind of one of those shrug your shoulders moments.
The main quest can be completed between 20 and 30 hours but you'll likely get sidetracked from it with everything else there is to do and good lord are there plenty of things to do. On top of the main quest there is the Companions guild, the Thieves guild, The College of Winterhold, the Dark Brotherhood, Daedric shrines, city quests, and an infinite amount of random quests generated via Skyrim's Radiant Story quest engine which is dependent on the decisions and interactions you make while playing. There's also about 150 dungeons to explore and of course dragons all around to slay. Dungeons and dragons are actually pretty important for this game if you want to improve your voice. Dragon battles are dynamic and will require you to use an arsenal to have an advantage over the beasts. With every dragon you bring down you will collect their soul for unlocking dragon shouts. Shouts are basically just speaking in the dragon language and give you special powers for fighting both dragons and other common opponents. They're learned by finding great walls with the words of power inscribed on them and in order to find them all you will need to hunt for dragon lairs and explore dungeons. As stated before, the game includes 18 skills for you to use and level with 240 perks distributed among the skills. You can level your skills by using them, reading books, or hiring a specific trainer that corresponds with the skill. The more you use your preferred skills, the faster your character will level up and allow you to choose a perk. You will only get to choose one perk for every level you gain so decide early which skills are the most important to you because while the game doesn't level cap, it does slow down quite a bit after level 50. The perk menu is very well designed and corresponds to constellations which map out the perks available for each skill. You'll be hard pressed to get bored in the game and can easily net over 100 hours in the first play through...but who only creates one character? I'm even more excited about my next character than I was before I started the game. Knowledge is power, baby.
Anyone with some experience in an Elder Scrolls game shouldn't have too much trouble getting a handle on Skyrim. It still feels and plays like the other games but carries a host of improvements that set it apart. The game functions best in first person view but a simple click of the right thumbstick will put you into the reformed third person perspective which is fun when you want to see how your character appears when dealing the fury. It's a nice aspect to the game but I found myself often going in and out of first and third person since the combat in third person is still a bit clunky. I had absolutely no problem with the controls in first person and found it fairly easy to control my character in intense battles that often had me facing multiple opponents alone. By pressing the B button you're brought to the menu system which is organized into four categories: Leveling, Magic, Items, and your Map. The map is now in 3D and keeps a record of all the places you discover while also marking the dungeons you clear. The magic menu houses all of your learned spells under their appropriate school along with your dragon shouts and special abilities. The item menu contains everything you have collected from weapons and armor to books, ingredients, and more. All of the items also appear as a 3D model to inspect while in the menu. You can hotkey items and magic by highlighting them in the menu and pressing the Y button, which then allows you to access them in game play via the D-Pad. Pressing the start button accesses the quest menu and also keeps a record of your accomplishments to view. Combat is entirely up to how you want to play and allows for plenty of tactical decisions on how you want to approach an area. The biggest change to combat is dual wielding, so you can map your weapons or magic to correspond with your left and right hand (or triggers rather). Go battle-mage style with magic in one hand and a weapon in the other, mix up your spells or combine them in each hand for supreme effects, charge in offensively with a weapon in each hand, tank around with a two handed weapon, or balance your offense and defense with a sword, mace, or axe combined with a shield. You're pretty free to decide on your play style. You can also do power attacks by holding down the trigger or triggers and pressing separate directions for different animations.
This feature review concludes on the next page, please click Page 2 below to find out our final thoughts on Bethesda's Skyrim.
