Dovahkiin
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review
Fus Ro Deh? No no, umm… Fus Ri Bah? Nope that’s not it…. Uh… oh I know! FUS RO DAH!!!!! Oh hi sorry about that! Was just practicing my dragon,… wait what? What do you mean… what do I mean? The Elder Scrolls V: SKyrim was released man, there be dragons that need slaying.
Bethesda FINALLY released its fifth installment within its Elder Scrolls Series, and wow ladies and gentlemen, just wow. Very few games have left me utterly speechless after having the pleasure of playing them, and Skyrim is no acceptation. It is perhaps one of the most perfectly crafted universes ever created in Gaming. A vast fictional world that is filled with anything from dark excursions into the crypts of Skyrim’s past to hopefully unlock the secrets of the dragons, to huge scale battles between rival factions as the very map around you changes with every battle. Even after more than a hundred hours of playtime, I still stumbled upon quests and items that led to new and exciting experiences. Skyrim isn’t just one of the best games of 2011 (Skyrim actually won Game of the Year at the 2011 VGA’s), but possibly one of the best role-playing experiences ever dawned.
The universe of Skyrim is exactly what you would expect from the lore would tell you. A harsh and bitter landscape littered with chains of foreboding mountains, harsh frozen wastelands, and spots of calm and peaceful beauty. And the very inhabitants of this northern territory are to par with their environment. Hefty, hairy, and bulk males and females make up the majority of Skyrim’s population. But it doesn’t stop at just characters; even the towns have their own reflective flavor. Instead of perfectly shaped buildings of the usual society, Skyrim’s cities are made up of mangled and crude wooden and stone structures created for functionality, not comfort. Now this will change as you explore the towns, you will notice some cities are more wealthy then others and how each city has it’s own personality and look. Now at first glance that may seem like the place you’d want to vacation, but please read further into the travel guide. Bethesda did an unbelievable job when it comes to the presentation and look of Skyrim, down to the pixel. Every area in the game feels how it should feel. Dark and scary catacombs deep underground the landscape of Skyrim; have an ominous presence to them, with their dark lighting and degrading stone walls. And high atop a mountain brutalized by Skyrim’s winter winds and endless snow, I felt almost a chill run up my spine, was I actually getting cold? These are the visuals that you take yourself aside from all the fighting and simply just enjoy the world around you. Taking the time to adventure to every area and uncover every aspect of every region. There were numerous times where in the northern most parts of Skyrim, the inhabitable frozen wastlelands, which I merely just stood there and looked. Taking in the scenery and acknowledging the fact that its companies like Bethesda that don’t just make a video game, but a world.
But enough about the artsy stuff, when do I get to kill someone, what can you do in this game? Well that’s just it, you can do anything. The Elder Scrolls are built on the foundations of “do whatever you want to do” and it is because of the persistence of this foundation that the game has done so well. You may be walking along a road and run into a stranger heading home to his village. What do you do? Kill him? Loot his body and sell his stuff to the local broker? Ask for his assistance as that nearby dragon that’s been circling you for the last thirty seconds just landed? Or do you just walk on by? It’s the fact that you made a decision and there was a consequence that makes this game so great, there’s a certain cause and effect to it. Equal and opposite reaction – physics lesson! You could have discovered that by killing him, that that stranger was with a group of assassins on their way to assassinate a local jarl, and with this news you play the hero and save the day, and eventually you become Thane of that city and are given a wonderful young lass to do with as you wish. Err sorry, getting ahead of myself.
So who are you? Who’s the main character? Aside from a few presets due to storyline, you are once again, who or whatever you want. You follow the conquest of the newly awakened Dovahkiin. Basically, you have this magical mojo in your blood that is directly connected to the dragons of this world (Tamrial). Not sure if it’s a mixed parent thing, like daddy was a dragon and mommy was a human, but anyways! You are the ultimate dragon slayer, one who increases in strength with every death of a dragon. How so you may ask? You absorb their souls! Duh! Every dragon you kill, the player receives a soul, and then you can spend these souls on thu’ums or better known as dragon shouts. These unstable shouts range from all sorts of uses, some make you run faster, some make you breathe fire, and some make dragons appear from the sky and reign death upon your enemies. Fun stuff! However it is up to you, the player, to decide how you want to use your power. Shall it be for good or evil? Will you actually help the world you reside in, or watch it be torn apart by a civil war?
Now Skyrim isn’t completely shy of technical issues, they do exist. However they are nothing in comparison to the game as a whole. Problems occur in a range of fields, including the over use of A.I. phrases that can ruin immersion where two guards standing next to each other say the same response, general movement glitches where being stuck led me to reload a previous saved game, and minor graphical glitches in things such as armor and weapons. But one cannot judge a game on such minor issues when the game itself is gigantic. To root out these problems wouldn’t be like finding a needle in a hay stack, but rather finding a needle in fifty hay stacks.
Bethesda has wowed the Gaming community once again with its award winning release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Skyrim is a prime example of the sheer possibilities that video games can bring to the world. Not only can companies take the gamer into a new and innovative world, but also make it interactive and fun. Skyrim will become an incredibly influential medium for companies attempting to delve into the RPG field Bethesda has taken such a grasp over. Not so much as a competition, but more so as a company to take example of, and mimic. Bethesda can now sit back and watch as their creation flourishes into a phenomenon over the gaming public; Skyrim will become a title to remember and cherish. But not too far back! I still want to see what Elder Scrolls VI will be like!
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