Review: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I'm about to break a hundred hours in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and I don't think I've even scratched the surface of this game. With another 100 hours, I may have just half of the world completely explored. Too often I find myself jotting down a “to do list” to keep myself from wandering off on some path that is going to only get me lost on a line of other quests. That may come off as a complaint, but rest assured – losing yourself with the world of Tamriel is a joyous experience that will have many changing their vacation plans to staying at home instead of other activities. Curse you, Bethesda!

I like to consider myself an Elder Scrolls veteran. I've dabbled in Arena and Daggerfall. I traveled the lands of Morrowind and spent another hundred hours working my way through Oblivion. So when I heard about Skyrim, I thought nothing more of it than a game with a beautiful world and lots to do. Now that I've actually had a hands on experience of the game, I found myself dramatically turning and saying, “My God Jim... I had no idea.” What is really strange about that reaction is that I don't even know a Jim. The game just had me that impressed.


Please tell us what Skyrim is all about!


Sadly I can't tell anyone what Skyrim is about. When asked, my only answer for right now is, “I don't know!” I only know there is an uprising between the Skyrim factions and dragons flying out of every crevice. The true story of Skyrim is for the player to tell. They are not only given the Dragonborn hero to save the world with, but the almighty pen to tell their tale. The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is loaded with many different decisions to make, guilds to join, and factions to fight for. The only story I can tell you is that of my own travels, and I'm still uncertain on what I want to do.


That is just one of the elements that makes Skyrim such a fantastic game. Never before have I played such an open ended game where I get to affect just about everything that happens later on. Too many times have I played an open ended RPG that entices me with “decisions will effect your outcome,” only to find out that my outcome is a happy unicorn filled ending or a apocalyptic fires of hell ending. Everything else that happened during my playtime meant nothing, other than that one decision. With Skyrim, I have to think carefully before choosing a side or aiding a certain guild because that may in turn effect how others view me. If I decide to kill off one certain person, I may end up closing down an entire quest line somewhere later on in the game. Skyrim is a game that is going to have players make critical decisions (and use a lot of save states) about what type of person they want to be. This also means making a few new characters to play the opposite way on their second time around.


When looking at Oblivion and Skyrim, there are a lot of similar traits to be found. However, the differences are what people want, and Skyrim makes sure to steer clear of being an Oblivion clone. Unlike Oblivion, Skyrim has no class system. Players will build what they want to build through certain perk skills. There are no clear paths to becoming strictly a Nightshade or a Barbarian. If you want to be a glorious ax wielding illusionist who enjoys picking flowers in his off time, then go right ahead and do that. Skyrim also dropped some of the odd skills that were featured in Oblivion, such as skill ups just for running or increasing your acrobatics just by jumping everywhere. Bethesda was sure to focus just on the goodies, but also on making them interesting enough to keep players from becoming bored with them.


I've decided to take the route of an archery/thief combo as I've been known to play a lot of tank type characters with enormous swords. There is no doubt that I've been having a blast with my character, but while I adventure through Tamriel, I can't help but think what I'm going to make next. The game offers 70 levels, but the perks max out at 50. That is a hell of a lot of levels, but it allows players to get an early feel of what they want to do. I know I'll travel down the thief line a lot more, but I'm already poking into the arts of Alchemy and Blacksmithing. With all of these skills, Skyrim tries its best to give a clear understanding of what each treeline does. I can remember being slightly confused on my stats in Oblivion as I randomly selected certain statistics to boost after every level.


I've found that the style of play has changed a lot as well. Oblivion, in my opinion, was known for throwing the player right in the center of the world and saying, “Have at it!” My first five hours in Oblivion ended up with me traveling all the way to Anvil, wondering where the hell I was and what I was supposed to do. I believe I ended up descending into a dungeon where I was eaten by a zombie. It was a great way to get players to experience the openness of a big world, but it may have been a bit confusing to some. Skyrim erases all that and delivers an explosive opening scene and a very clear direction for players to follow. I normally complain how games these days tend to hold a player's hand through most of the content, but Skyrim does it correctly and then cuts the player off later in the game.
When Skyrim finally lets the player loose, they'll soon find the many wonders that Tamriel has to offer. There are many peaks in this cold and snowy land that allow players to look down in awe at the beauty Bethesda has bestowed upon us. The visuals are absolutely amazing. There have been too many times where I've guided off my planned course just to get a better look at something. This goes for being in dungeons as well. Cities can sprout up to the clouds from afar, rivers will sparkle and flow, and nature will populate those long journeys with different colored trees and plants. I was amazed in Oblivion and I was frightened in Fallout, but Skyrim has taken everything to a whole other level.


The beauty not only lies within the landscape of the game, but the people within it as well. One of the things I couldn't stand in Oblivion was how ugly everyone was and how every race looked the same, just with a different sized head (omit Argonians and Kahjits). The people of Skyrim can look just as ugly as Oblivion characters, but it's a beautiful type of ugly. Those who aren't stricken by ugliness actually look decent. They could have great war torn features or keep their simple, non exaggerated beauty. The best thing is that I can tell one race from another without having to measure their head. A Breton looks like a Breton, and a Nord looks like a Nord.


The sound is almost as equally amazing, but I found the settings to be too low most of the time. Even with them maxed I would have a hard time hearing everything. Some players may have to mess around with their computer's sound settings to correct the in-game sound issues. While it isn't really a huge problem, it's one that should be easily fixed within the game itself. Once everything is properly set, the music, sound effects, and everything else audio-related will fit right in. I just wish I didn't have to waste ten minutes messing with audio settings. That's ten minutes I could have been doing something in game!



Just like baking a cake, we toss in all of our ingredients. We have a great world, great visuals, and semi decent sound. Now we just add our game play, and we're ready to go. Playing through Skyrim has been a great experience for me. While it isn't 100% perfect, it's still enough to get one hundred plus hours out of me. Hunting bandits and game and exploring great heights are just the smaller things that I've done in game that have given me a lot of pleasure. When Skyrim kicks it up a notch, however, I'm really on the edge of my seat. Exploring dungeons in dark, dank areas below the surface really puts me in stealth mode. I'm creeping around from shadow to shadow, pausing to hear conversations amongst my enemies and listening closely for things that go bump in the dark. Bethesda really knew how to keep players enticed, but they still had one more epic surprise for their players. It was one that really drew the line between Oblivion and Skyrim.


Dragon fights are simply epic in this game. It's like actually playing out a scene in a movie done the right way (here's looking at you Call of Duty). When you hear that dragon's roar, you pause for a moment before quickly spinning around to see if there are any nearby towns or just somewhere you can take cover under. If it comes down to a battle, it's quite an epic one to be fought. Dragons will circle around overhead, swooping down on targets and leaving a trail of fire behind. When they pause and lower themselves for some close combat, they unleash streams of fire that set whatever is in their path ablaze. If you do end up being near a town, all of the guards and a few of the town's folk will run out to protect themselves. This turns battles into an all out war between player, city, and dragons.


Focusing more on the dragon itself, I can't help but find just a couple flaws with how they play out through the game. Understandably, I am a Dragonborn and because of that, I'm a bit tougher than your average Joe for a dragon to kill. As I progress further into the game and become more powerful, I can't help but think the dragons should be a bit more difficult than they are. Certainly an Elder Dragon may hand me my ass, but I don't think I should be downing Blood Dragons as quick as I do. Even after bumping the difficulty up to Expert, I still find them a bit simple to get rid of. What really is sucks is dying to a bear shortly after bringing a dragon down.


My only other beef with dragons is sometimes I get a troll dragon who would rather fly around burning everything but me. Even as an archer, I have a tough time catching up to these dragons who insist on avoiding me. What makes matters worse is they fly into towns and melt all the people inside. Those are the same people that gave me numerous quests! The whole time that this is happening, I hear a faint tune of “Trololo” in the background. I've had dragons up and leave me behind just to fight a couple of wolves, causing me to chase after them like some little kid. This could totally be a user error as there may be a way to taunt enemies, but right now I find it annoying when I run into these types of dragons.


When towns or countrysides aren't getting burnanated, players can set off on hundreds of different quests. Most likely these quests are going to tie in to other quests, creating quite a long journey to the end. The way these quests are created, though, is very addicting as players will end up spending three to four hours completing a quest line when they were hoping to only play for an hour. For me, it's questing done right for the most part. Gone are the days of collecting twenty crab shells only to collect twenty wolf fangs. Most of the quests I've completed in the game have me feeling like I really did something. The only quest that I could say may be a bit repetitive are the bounty quests, where players must eliminate a certain bandit. The good thing about those quests are the small chances of finding a worthwhile item sitting in a dark hole at the bottom of a dungeon.


Now that we've taken a quick look into the lands of Skyrim, is there anything that players could really dislike? Well, yes, there are a few things that drive me insane other than trolling dragons. I often find myself groaning in frustration or slamming the reload key, but nothing is too overly aggravating to have me simply quit the game. I often suffer through it, and once it's over, it was nothing more than a pinch on the arm.


While Skyrim has a lot of things that make it different from Oblivion, it still suffers from the clunky combat system that I never really enjoyed. While archery can be quite fantastic and casting may be as equally great, pure melee is nothing more than a button mashing mess half the time. That's not to say it is completely hopeless, but it needs a lot of work. Most melee fights will end up with a player charging into his enemy, and then repeatedly clicking until one or the other’s health gets too low. There really isn't any type of combo system or unique style to swinging a sword. The Witcher had timed strikes and many other games have a one-two-three type attack system. Fighting in Skyrim uses stamina and the only special way to use it is by holding down on your attack. Too often do attacks miss, wasting stamina which will force players into abusing their mouse buttons as they give up trying to be fancy.


Enemy hitboxes is an issue that will have archers pulling their hair out. There have been too many times where I'm hidden in a corner, preparing an arrow for a sneak attack, only to have it go right through my target. It doesn't matter if I'm aiming for the head or the chest. My arrow will simply pass right through them. This means I have to jump out of my hiding spot and hope they don't see me as I try to make up for my blown sneak attack. The big issue here is that I play a lot of sniper in other games, mainly first person shooters. I like to think that I understand how hitboxes work on moving targets and how to compensate for that. The problem here is, I'm not playing a first person shooter. I'm playing a role playing game. Furthermore, my target is standing completely still or sitting in a chair ten feet in front of me. There is no excuse for my arrow to pass through them. It's one of those things that gets me all worked up, but not enough to count it as a major flaw. I just wish it would get looked into.


At times, the AI in the game can be a little silly. It's too hard to get upset after shooting an enemy straight in the face and hearing them say, “I guess it was just the wind.” At other times I'll run into someone who has it out for me and says, “I don't have anything to say to you, get out of my face!” Two seconds later I interact with them and get a response of, “Hi there, glad to see you. Please, look at my wares.” It's more comical than annoying, but it may need some looking into. Things just need to match up in a correct way. Perhaps the faction system should kick in or be a bit more strict on who players can talk to after getting an unwelcoming statement.


The one frustrating thing about AI is when players have companions. While they make things a bit easier for squishier characters, they can also make things a lot difficult. It's a door that swings both ways. Companions can never really die (they can due to player fault or splash damage!), but they sure know how to get themselves in trouble. From my own experience, I've geared a companion up with some nice equipment and used her as an extra storage unit. While traveling through the mountains, I began to feel a bit lonely. After turning around, I find that she's disappeared. I retraced my steps and even traveled all the way back home to see if she glitched out. Normally waiting will have them appear by your side, but this wasn't the issue.

Sometimes companions will get stuck inside trees, giant rocks, or simple terrain. Most of the time they can pop out of it. Other times, which is somewhat rare, they will fall through the world and become really stuck. No amount of waiting will get them out either. Trying to pick up another companion will be out of the question as well. Instead players will have to reload from a previous save, losing any progress that they have made between that time. For me, that time was four levels as I relied too much on the quick save option. Before resorting to that, I searched high and low, spending a good hour back tracking through snowy peaks and moldy dungeons. My friend was nowhere to be found, costing me a lot of time.


The only other thing that may offset Skyrim is how players can mold the world to a certain style of their play. This is in no way a fault of Bethesda, but just the fault of some people being too awesome with open ended games. For those who really know how to take advantage of things, they will discover certain skills can be maxed to get everything their way. For example, a player who maxes pickpocket will be able to steal clothes right off others in clear daylight. That means they can buy up everything from a merchant, and then simply crouch to get their money back, as well as whatever the merchant is wearing. It's incredibly silly, and maybe a line should have been drawn, but that is only if the player wishes to play in that style. There are a lot of other silly ways to get free things or short cut through the game, but that is entirely up to the player themselves.


With all that said, Skyrim is quite possibly the best thing that has happened in 2011. This is going to be a game that I'll be playing well into 2012, and quite possibly playing through completely more than once. It's got everything to make it a five hundred hour game, much like Oblivion did. If you been putting this off, I'd advise against putting it off any longer. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is sure to top some charts, having three million copies sold within a 48 hour period. That doesn't even include the Steam sales, which has Skyrim beating out Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 since Skyrim's release on November 11. With that said, too much time has already been wasted, and I have to get back into the game. Farewell, real life.