The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim

Overview

Skyrim... I've been waiting for this game since Oblivion made my soul burn with regret and disappointment. In Oblivion I felt like I was being fed the same mystical world that we saw in Morrowind, but without any of the mysticism. I felt like I was being slogged through mediocre content and presented with creativity that was only just barely capable of being called "creativity" at all. Better graphics required certain features be removed, because whole cities were now loaded in a separate instance. No more flying! Granted, we can't fly in Skyrim, either, but I don't feel like flying should exist at all in Skyrim. Skyrim is practically a whole new world, with new rules and new expectations.

Freaking Beautiful

The Good

Skyrim... Beautiful, sweet, amazing Skyrim. The design of the world. The feel of the environments. The people you walk by. Everything feels cold and remote without feeling like I'm trekking through vast amounts of arbitrary land, or like I'm surrounded by cookie-cutter meat-heads. Running into camps throughout the land and patrolling Stormcloak soldiers gives even the most mundane locations personality.

And the dragons. Sneaking through the woods on my Dark Elf Ranger is badass enough. Especially when I sniff out a monster, and get a clean head-shot with my trusty Elven Bow. But when my stealth kill is brutally interrupted by the flame-breath of a flying beast that I can only fathom took weeks to design, I nearly cry with joy.

Things are so simple. And yet so varied. I can't describe it. For instance, the crazy system of character-creation in Oblivion allowed you to do some funky stuff. But you didn't NEED it. It wasn't necessary. In Skyrim, you can still create a custom look, but it's so much more simple. Pre-made features such as nose-sizes and shapes make it much faster to get a look you like without having to mess around with the editor.

God. I just want to say that the game is freaking beautiful, one more time.

The Bad

I own the PC version, and it's buggy as Hell. Textures sometimes shift to the "distance" version, so water looks very blotchy and lacks detail. It should be noted that these things usually only happen at certain angles for me, and are corrected when that instance is refreshed.

Mountain Climbing Horses. It's funny, but kinda scary, too. I was running down a mountain and ended up colliding with and climbing up an invisible mesh. I thought I was going to fall and die, and hadn't saved recently. I managed to get back down, but the issue remains.

See what I mean?

Ooooh... knocking on a game this awesome is difficult. I've heard that some quests and objects are bugged. I haven't experienced this myself, but sometimes quest markers send you to nowhere, or objects like gates and doors don't do what they're supposed to do.

In Conclusion

Bethesda. You've created the game of games. Skyrim is what I've been looking for all these years. The incredible simplicity of an incredibly vast world is an invisible beauty. The gigantic feel of everything. The bold adventurers and brave warriors of the north are actually FELT in the design. It's a weird thing to describe. I could almost believe that you time traveled and stole a whole piece of the frozen European north.

In short, this game is both breathtaking and amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better game.

Comments

Comments Disabled

Recent Activity

My Tron Style Working Environment
Article posted by Brianith
November 22, 2011 08:30AM

Skyrim Official Trailer
Video posted by Brianith
November 18, 2011 07:05PM

The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim
Review posted by Daniel
November 19, 2011 07:33AM

It's SKYRIM!
Article posted by Brianith
November 18, 2011 07:22PM

Donations & Sponsors

Follow Game Slayer on Facebook!