One of the biggest, fully-featured and most addictive RPGs ever made... with some of the most ridiculous bugs to offer.
Ah, The Elder Scrolls… a series of games so fine, that they have reached worldwide fame. It all began in 1994, with the release of the very first 'TES' game - entitled "Arena". It was a huge game and a revolutionary RPG. Then there was Daggerfall in 1996, the second instalment of the series and also a very successful game that offered a free-to-explore world which was twice the size of Britain. In 2002, Elder Scrolls took its first step into the big world of 3D gaming with Morrowind. The game was a hardcore RPG with a dark atmosphere. By that time, The Elder Scrolls had already gathered a large following of dedicated fans - but it was not until the release of "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" that the series' fame elevated to such great heights. But enough of the past; you're here today to read about the fifth instalment of The Elder Scrolls - none other than "Skyrim". Now, you're probably expecting lines of text praising the game like it was sacred… Well, that's not just what you'll find here - you have been warned.
REVIEW:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is set in, as the name indicates, the frosty province of Skyrim. It has been two hundred years since the Oblivion Crisis (it's now the 201st year of the Fourth Era). The Aldmeri Dominion, a re-established empire of High Elves, is threatening everyone with their brutish military might (having already conquered the lands of Elsweyr, Valenwood and Hammerfell, as well as making an attempt at taking over Cyrodiil years ago) - stopped only by a few treaties. Meanwhile, the High King of Skyrim has been assassinated and a civil war begins to rage over the cold province. The Stormcloak rebellion wants to become independent from the collapsing Empire, while many other Nords wish to remain a part of it. Unfortunately for all of Tamriel, this division is the final event in a foretold prophecy that will lead to the return of the dragons, led by Alduin the World-Eater; the dragon lord and Nordic god of destruction.
You take on the role of Dovakhiin (Dragonborn), a mortal man or woman - the choice of gender is up to you. In traditional Elder Scrolls style, you start the game off as a prisoner and this time you're on your way to an execution staged by the Empire, where a group of rebels, their leader and your character (being mistaken for a rebel as well) are about to be beheaded one-by-one. Luckily, your execution is interrupted by a dragon attack. Soon after, you find out that you were born with the soul of a dragon & only you have the power to stop Alduin from ending this world. Thus begins an epic quest to save the world… So, in short, Skyrim's story is of decent length, takes some unexpected plot twists, has plenty of "WOW!" moments and utilizes better writing & dialogue than The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion did. Also, it all ends with a grand sequence of gameplay and conversations which I am not going to spoil.
Contrary to what you may have heard on your way to this review, Skyrim IS a truly gorgeous game. Though regrettably, that statement is not true in all aspects. You will see all sorts of varied environments in this game, so don't go in expecting just snow as there's much more than that. Here are a few examples for you to imagine: a forest filled with tall, green trees - growing on land of uneven heights - even on that huge, rocky mountainside, with a spectacular waterfall furiously rushing down the stone wall and diving into the river below; an autumn-coloured land, where red, orange and yellow leaves hang loosely from the branches of their trees - the occasional fox that runs in front of you, chasing after a rabbit, or an elk observing you cautiously from a distance; the snow-covered peaks of enormous scarps, a pack of wolves below searching for their next prey and a grumpy bear that loves to chase after horses. Even the full, dynamic day & night / weather cycle can make things look remarkable. Anyhow, most of these places look so beautiful that it's impossible to capture their whole essence in just a few words.
Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? It almost is, at times. Even character models and facial details have been vastly improved. Not to mention the combat and walking animations; they are incomparably better, cooler and more realistic than what we saw in Bethesda's previous games. However, now it is time to talk about the inconsistencies that can sometimes break this lovely picture. Everything looks wonderful from a distance in Skyrim and, unfortunately, it's when you take a closer look at this world that you realize it is not as perfect as you wanted it to be. There are low resolution textures all over the place. Honestly, I've rarely seen worse in other games - yet it's not the bad quality that's the case here - it's the quantity of these imperfections. Although Skyrim has fully shadowed environments, objects and creatures as opposed to Oblivion's 2005 graphics, even they are far from impressive. They look really good and blend in overall, but when looked at from up close, pretty much all shadows look pixelated and or blocky.
Still, even though Skyrim is not quite there in terms of technology for a PC game released in late 2011, it looks much better than its console brethren and you will most likely forget the fact that there are no DirectX 11 supported options when you look at some of those spectacular landscapes. Overall, it certainly doesn't look bad - it looks brilliant! But there are a few shocking surprises to be found in the game's textures and shadows that will disappoint all of you "graphics whores" out there. Though I guess this is also a good thing, because if you have a not-so-good computer, you'll still be able to play with only a few modern upgrades. With only 3.0 GB of RAM, a 2.4 GHz CPU and a Radeon HD 5670 (1.0 GB), I was able to play the game at Ultra settings with an splendid frame rate - so even if you haven't got any of the expensive tech out there, as long as you have a GPU that has decent power and is no more than 2 years old, as well as just a few gigs of RAM (surprisingly, you don't need any more than 2 GB since the game doesn't use any more than that - even if you have as much as 16 GB RAM), you should be able to run the game on "High" settings at least.
But enough about graphics - there are far more important things about games… Such as gameplay, or how the game plays (as the name suggests). The fundamentals remain the same as in Bethesda's other games - Morrowind & Oblivion are good examples here; Fallout 3 too - but it's with all the little details that the game differs from its predecessors. Sure, you are given a massive world to explore that's full of time-consuming quests & exciting adventures, mighty loot & valuable equipment, and so on. In that sense, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is much more than just an open world, role-playing game… It defines the whole genre of "open world".
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Before you jump in to the vast world of Skyrim and begin your adventures, you must create a character. Just like in all previous Elder Scrolls games, you can choose from 10 playable races. These are: Altmer, Argonian, Bosmer, Breton, Dunmer, Imperial, Khajiit, Nord, Orsimer and Redguard. Each of these varies greatly in appearance, some in height and both the Argonians and the Khajiit have tails. In terms of statistics, not much has changed from Oblivion here - each race still gains bonuses to some skills or resistances (sometimes even penalties), plus one unique power, which can be used only once per day, though at no Magicka cost. What has changed quite a bit from TES IV are the looks and customization options for each race. You can no longer control your character's hair length; however, you get much more hairstyle options. You can also add facial hair, scars, war paint, muscularity etc. Also, everyone just looks far better - especially the beast races (the Khajiit and the Argonians). Once you finish creating your character and get through the introduction sequence, you are free to do whatever you want.
To start off with, there are many more activities aside from quests and kill streaks to do than there were in Oblivion. In Skyrim you can: pick flowers and recover meat from hunted animals, cook food at a cooking pot or create potions at an alchemical lab using the ingredients you've gathered, mine for valuable materials at ore veins (if you have a pickaxe in your inventory), smelt any mineral ore you've gathered to make it suitable for forging, create or improve weapons and armour (at forges, grindstones and workbenches), convert hides into leather and enchant your favourite equipment with discovered magical effects. You can also do some tasks like chopping wood (or harvesting crops) and then get paid for your work at the farm. Heck, you can even get married (in addition to buying property in different towns), start brawls in taverns and play tag & hide and seek with kids! The world of the Elder Scrolls has evolved quite a bit and many of these changes were inspired by mods made earlier for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on PC.
One very big addition to the formula that I haven't mentioned yet are "Miscellaneous Objectives" (or "Miscellaneous Tasks"). These are like side quests, but they're usually much less complex, shorter and more like assignments. They vary from things as simple as making a delivery to going on a long adventure in order to recover a warrior's lost blade from a forgotten Dwarven ruin, that's located deep underground. Miscellaneous tasks employ Bethesda's new Radiant Quest system. The Radiant Quest system is basically a generator of these miscellaneous assignments. In short: some of these tasks can be found anywhere, in any place in the province of Skyrim and the reward, as well as the quest giver and destination, can vary from one player's experience to the other. Miscellaneous objectives are much less story-driven, but they do have backgrounds & are fully voiced with mostly unique dialogue. But if you think you won't like them, then don't worry, because there are plenty of full, story-driven side quests (even whole side questlines separate from the main quest) to complete.
Horse-riding is still a very large part of the game, just like it was in TES IV, but it's a little bit different this time. One major change is that horses can only be ridden in the third person perspective… No problem - even that has been improved with the new animations and better camera. Healthy horses can still be bought in any part of the province but they are all of equal speed and stamina (with two exceptions that can be earned through quests). Horses are slightly slower than they were in Oblivion in general (even though they can gallop for limited amounts of time when holding the sprint button), but their health regenerates at a much faster rate. Surprisingly, horses sometimes vary in behaviour. My first two mounts were quite obedient and kept close to my character when they weren't being used - yet my third horse loved to wander off. Unfortunately, there is still no mounted combat. Also, horses seem to be more help in fights than they were in the previous game. However, they can still become a nuisance when you're trying to fight a stronger enemy, as they can die on you often in those situations. Of course, they're not completely stupid (they will run from a losing fight), but they're not really that smart either.
Ah yes, talk of cleverness and AI pushes us towards the next topic: companions. Companions (not to be confused with "The Companions" - a joinable faction in the game) are your loyal comrades in battle. Non-Playable Characters may now join you in your travels; some for a price, and others for a friendly deed (that's right; if you help a stranger with something and they become friends with you, they may want to come with you on your adventures). Bad thing is: the AI. No matter who you take with you, they will behave in the same way. Well, they have different dialogue, equipment, looks and fighting styles - what I meant was that they're all equally senseless. Companions will often stand in doorways, blocking your way or ruin your sneaky approaches to attacks on enemies because of their carelessness. Of course, they can be very helpful (especially near the start of the game and/or when playing on harder levels of difficulty), but overall, they need quite a bit of improvement.
One of the biggest changes made from Oblivion in terms of levelling are the attributes (Strength, Intelligence, Speed and so on) - and that is because there are no attributes this time. Now, now, hold your horses; it actually isn't bad. You can no longer affect the speed of your character and how high they can jump through statistics and practice (though heavy armour can still have an impact on these factors), and progress in battle is handled differently. Instead of adding points to three of eight attributes (like in Oblivion), you add ten points to one of three attributes: Health (the total damage the player can take before dying), Magicka (much like mana, it is the magical energy used to cast spells) and Stamina (physical energy that is used for sprinting, executing power attacks and other things). You may also add a perk to one of your skills. Skill progression works identically to Morrowind and Oblivion, in the sense that with practice you get better; use a bow often and you'll find your archery skill rising fast, make a lot of weapons and you might gain some smithing skills etc. Perks only enhance this even further, by giving you permanent bonuses to damage, providing better prices at shops, allowing you to make more successful potions and so on. There are more than 250 perks available in total. Although they're called perks, they don't really resemble Fallout perks and are much more like "talents" in The Witcher games.
Also, Blade and Blunt skills are gone (all weapons are now divided into two main skills; One-handed and Two-handed - though you still get different types of blades, maces, axes etc.), Armourer has been expanded into Smithing, Security has been split into Lockpicking and Pickpocket, Mercantile and Speechcraft have been bundled together into a new skill called Speech. Acrobatics and Athletics have been completely removed (along with Hand to Hand), Mysticism is gone and its spells have been moved to other schools of magic. Marksman is now called Archery and Enchanting is a completely new skill. Some of these changes may sound a bit worrying to you, especially if you liked the old system, but in the end most of the alterations are successful and bring a more realistic experience to the table (even if losing athletics and acrobatics is the price). Though, one bad modification which cannot be justified in any way is the removal of custom spells. Conversely, if you're completely new to the series, these changes shouldn't bother you at all.
Combat in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is somewhat different from that of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, though thankfully all the modifications made here are for the better. Prime example of this is dual wielding. Much like the transition from BioShock (where you had to switch between plasmid & gun) to BioShock 2 (where you could use the two at the same time), in Oblivion you had to switch between spells and weapons and in Skyrim, you can dual wield anything you like as long as it requires only one arm each. You can now have combinations like sword & sword, sword & axe, mace & axe, sword and shield, spell and sword etc. You can even mix two different spells together, or use a more powerful version of one spell with both hands for a more dominant effect. Magic in general is much more varied, effective and impressive than it was in the previous games. In addition, there are Fallout-esque "finishing moves" in combat. These vary greatly upon whether you're carrying a large weapon, a smaller weapon, a bludgeoning weapon, a piercing weapon, and so on. Finishing moves don't always work as intended with glitches occurring more often than expected, but decapitating an enemy in an execution style or impaling them with your sharp blade is a very nice & rewarding change from normal battles.
The atmosphere of the game has changed considerably since Oblivion. At first, I thought Skyrim was much more atmospheric, but with time, I realized that it was just different. If you're a fan of Morrowind, then Skyrim shouldn't take long getting used to since it also feels colder, darker and grimmer than Oblivion did. It is also much more violent. I had no trouble adjusting to this new feel - it's even more epic, if you ask me, but I understand that some may prefer Oblivion's warmer and less hostile atmosphere as opposed to the chaos found in Skyrim. Of course, there are still plenty places of impeccable beauty and silent serenity, but they still feel shadier than Oblivion's environs and remind me more of The Witcher and Morrowind than anything else. Music also plays an important part in crafting this carefully constructed atmosphere - and it certainly does not fail.
In terms of change and/or new content in combat, there are two more things to discuss: the new class system and shouts. Now, the new class system is that there are no classes to choose from. This is a big step away from your traditional RPG. In Skyrim, much like in Gothic 3, you are not restricted to the one & only path you chose at the beginning of the game - you have complete autonomy over the way you fight in the game. As my first character, I went for heavy armour and dual wielding swords. But as I played more of the game, I started refining my stealth skills and archery; none of my previous choices limited or destroyed my progress in the new paths I went for. Overall, this is a very radical change from the class system of traditional role-playing games, and in the end, it's much better than what it used to be. It allows for much more versatility and freedom in combat.
Let's move on to shouts then. "Shouts" are actually words spoken in Dragon Tongue (the language of dragons), but they carry such power, that they can be used as voice attacks projecting all sorts of harmful or protective energy. Since the player is Dovakhiin, he or she may use the 'Way of the Voice' during fighting. Whenever you encounter a hostile dragon and defeat it, Dragonborn will absorb its soul. Dragon souls may be used to unlock shouts, though all shouts must be learned beforehand. Each shout can consist of up to three words and you will have to learn all of them for the best effect. With shouts, you can do all sorts of different things. You may: stun and push enemies away, breathe fire onto them, encase them in solid ice, mark them with a deadly curse that eats away at their life energy & armour rating, summon a thunderstorm to bring down tougher foes, slow down time with respect to enemies, increase the speed of your attacks for a while and many more. Shouts do not use up your Magicka, but they do have a recharge time so they aren't as unbalanced as they initially sound.
I bet you're thinking now: "Hold on for a second, you've mentioned these dragons - they're new to an Elder Scrolls game, so what are they really like?" Well, they truly are quite a spectacle to behold. After you get to an early point in the story, where you have to fight a dragon for the first time, other dragons will start appearing around Skyrim at random points during your travels. Dragons vary in appearance, attack types and difficulty. When you first spot a dragon - circling around the peaks of tall mountains off in the distance - it will begin to descend its flight as you get nearer… Until it eventually begins to breathe fire through napalm-like, "fly-by" attacks. It will continue to stay in the air, occasionally landing on places out of your reach (like roofs of buildings) to deliver even more devastating blows. At some point in the fight, the dragon will land near you (right on the ground) and this is the best opportunity to slay it. In my opinion, dragons are one of the many things in this game that were created through many careful decisions and considerations, until eventually reaching the state of epic awesomeness they are currently in. Fighting dragons - in Skyrim - is definitely something to look forward to.
A very important part of any game; especially with open world, free roam, role-playing games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim; is the user interface. The UI of the whole game has been streamlined quite a bit, sometimes even too much, showing signs of "consolization" (which is fine on the consoles, but something that should not be present in the PC version). Everything now requires a lot of scrolling and clicking to get to what you need in the interface, and this is true to such an extent, that it is actually better to use the W, A, S, D and E keys in menus than the mouse. Now, the new UI isn't bad; it's just really not very PC-like and obviously more suitable for PS3 or 360 controllers than the keyboard and mouse. Also, all menus have this sort of "clean" look to them - it's something that not all gamers may find fully immersive and appealing… However, the map of Skyrim is rendered in full 3D making it much easier for the player to judge heights, distances between locations and choosing the fastest routes to desired destinations. Likewise a very useful, new feature is "favourites". You can now select items from your inventory and add them to your favourites menu. The favourites menu can be opened up during combat; items can be selected from it quick and easily.
So, all of the things I've mentioned about the game so far were worthy of any gamer's time with only a few flaws to pay for them… Or so it would seem. Unfortunately, there are loads of bugs in the game. And by "loads", I really do mean quite a lot. I've seen non-playable characters stand in pieces of furniture, a horse that galloped underwater and a dragon that flew right through a Cliffside… I'm also stuck with around three miscellaneous tasks that simply cannot be completed. In addition, my game crashed to desktop with no error messages & at random points in the game around three times (though this isn't that bad for over 100 hours of gameplay). Overall, many bugs & glitches can be found throughout the game - some are even game-breaking - but for a game of this scope, this is pretty much expected. Thankfully, the amount and severity of most of these problems are lesser when compared to Bethesda's previous titles. Furthermore, some of the issues are either not permanent, about to be fixed in upcoming updates or have already been repaired by modders… Yes, less than two weeks after release, there were already over a thousand mods for the game. And the modding tools weren't even out yet.
SUMMARY:
All of this is a lot to take in, especially if you're considering purchasing the game, so let's summarize.
The Good:
+ Lengthy and thrilling main quest to follow with some very good writing
+ Stunning environments produce a believable world that comes to life
+ Modern PCs should be able to run the game at decent settings no problem
+ Ten unique races to choose from, each with different bonuses and powers
+ Many more activities (aside from quests) to do than there were in Oblivion
+ Miscellaneous tasks are a good way of using the Radiant Quest system
+ Lots of side quests and side questlines for the player to complete
+ The majority of changes made to levelling and skills work out for the better
+ Dual wielding is an addition that was long overdue and works very well
+ Finishing moves add a lot of satisfaction to the combat of the game
+ Music does well in creating an atmosphere of a land ravaged by war
+ Shouts are a badass addition to the combat and function properly
+ The lack of playable classes creates new ways of playing the game
+ Dragons are tremendously well-designed and an epic part of Skyrim
+ Bethesda's largest and most full-featured game so far
The Bad:
- Low resolution textures are all over the place and can be an eyesore
- Shadows appeat blocky and often pixelated when looked at from up-close
- No DirectX11-supported graphics options at all, even for water & light
- Horses can get killed quite easily and there is still no mounted combat
- All companions in the game share one, identical inferiority: stupidity
- Some of the drastic modifications to levelling may be disliked by some
- The gritty, colder and gloomier atmosphere can put off fans of Oblivion
- The user interface has been streamlined just for the consoles
- Way too many bugs, glitches and crashes that can be encountered
CONCLUSION:
I really wanted to give this game a 10/10 rating. Why? Because it's so damn good! No other game has ever hooked me into an open world of such enormous size and amazed me with such a gargantuan amount of content. Wherever I travelled in this mammoth of a game, I kept stumbling upon more quests to complete. I've put over 100 hours into this, yet I feel like I've only scratched the surface of what there is to find. Unfortunately, the amount of trivial imperfections in-between all of Skyrim's good qualities put together escalates into quite an issue, and it ends up being that ultimate obstacle which stops the game on its way to reaching prime status. Another issue I had with the game is that I did not find it as immersive as I wanted it to be. Skyrim is absolutely fantastic, and probably the second most immersive game released by Bethesda, but its world still can't beat Morrowind's Solstheim, The Witcher's Northern Kingdoms and Gothic 3's Myrtana - in terms of atmosphere.
Nevertheless, that does not matter. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the finest role-playing games ever made and the most addictive and fully-featured open world I've ever been to in gaming. Furthermore - with future updates & patches, as well as free mods, it will only get better and perhaps one day it will reach the 10/10 grade. In the end, Skyrim is an extraordinary game that shouldn't be missed by anyone who loves games that allow the player to freely explore their environments. Stop "considering" this purchase; just get out there and buy it.
FINAL RATING: 9/10