Skyrim Elder Scrolls V Review
Skyrim is the fifth and latest edition to the Elder Scrolls series. It was released in November 2011, taking the spot light from previous game Oblivion. The title was said to be in development for a long six years, so there are high expectations of this single player RPG by American game developing company Bethesda. Much like the previous games it’s an open world platform. The map is incredibly expansive, and is concentrated heavily in the north of Cyrodiil (Oblivion map). It also includes nine brand new cities that make their debut in the series.
The story begins in the back of an Imperial horse cart being taken to your death by decapitation, which rather leaves your characters passed to be interpreted the way you want to. The game is based on the reawakening of Dragons which were thought to be legends, and the role of your character is Dragonborn (born to slay Dragons). That’s about as far as we’ll go in terms of story, due to spoilers, but just assume that Dragonborn is not immediately executed for reasons unknown as it would render the game pointless!
The game can be played in both 1st and 3rd person but before the latter can be accessed you must choose your race and adjust its features to your liking. A chance to get creative with the range of options that the game has to offer. The 10 races included are as follows: Khajiit, Orc, Redguard, Wood Elf (Bosmer), High Elf (Altmer), Dark Elf (Dunmer), Breton, Argonian, Imperial, and the Nord. And although this list may persuade you to think that Elves are the most common beings, it is actually the Nords who take this role. The big burly men that can be found in almost all of Skyrim’s settlement’s who dislike other races being in their territorial area. The reason for why they’re at war with the Imperials throughout the game.
After surviving execution you are let loose in the world of Skyrim, you’re able to travel by foot (or purchase a horse in cities stables) wherever you want or complete any missions you so choose. Because your character lacks a past it is easy to choose any set of quests that you like, although most people immediately peruse the main quest-line which consists of Dragon slaying, there are also the four main guilds. These are the Companions (mercenaries that keep the peace), College of Winterhold (college where magic is learnt), the Thieves Guild (self explanatory), and the Dark brotherhood (assassins). The latter two do the least good in society, so if you feel like a career in evil these are for you. Once you’ve joined a guild you receive money, quests and new kit. Unfortunately it has to be said that some of the quests aren’t as fun or interestingly set out as in the prequel.
Despite the lack of online play Skyrim has an almost unending amount of game play; some say over 300 hours worth and there is a new mission generator that will keep you going, comprised of shorter jobs, such as killing bandits, giants or Dragons, which can be obtain through most inn keepers.
Skills/Levels- You’ll start the game at Level 1 and work your way up at your own pace, increasing skills contributes to levelling up and each skill can increase to 100. You can keep levelling up until Lv81 (bit odd, eh?) when you have all your skills on 100. Your Level not only shows your experience on the game but also each Level allows you to increase your Stamina, Health or Magicka, and also gives you a perk. Perks improve a single skill even further e.g. Increasing light armour strength by 20%. Unlike previous title Oblivion, levelling up is a much quicker process. Plus there were no perks beforehand, which in general makes the game a lot less interesting. These new and improved features mean that you can level up by being good at least something, instead of a select few things (such as in the previous game).
Health, Stamina, Magicka - You start the game with 100 points on each and can increase any one of your choice to increase by 10 points when levelling up. Over time this will make your character stronger. The bars drain depending on what you do, however they will charge back up over time. Health, on the other hand, takes longer to recharge.
Health: Take more damage from your opponent, when the bar runs out you die.
Stamina: Use more power attacks, sprint further distances, when the bar runs out you are out of energy and are less capable of chasing, running away or power attacks.
Magicka: The use of any Magic, the more powerful spells take up more points each time, when it runs out no more Magic until it recharges.
It’s up to the user to choose which of the three they concentrate more on (usually health) or you can distribute them equally to make your character strong in every aspect.
Locations- The map is pretty big with many different places to discover, including Cities, villages, mines, caves, camp, Dragon sites etc. Cities show up on the Map straight away and other locations can be discovered or told to you by NPC’s. Once a location is visited you can fast travel by selecting it on your map. This allows you to appear there immediately, even though a few game hours will go by (depending on distance) this saves you the trouble and time of walking/riding there.
Houses can be purchased and furnished in each city and are useful to store your loot and gear in. If you get married your wife lives there and cooks for you, although eating isn’t a necessity, it’s still a nice perk.
Horses- unfortunately there is no variation, they cost 1000 gold coins (currency of Skyrim) and lack in comparison to previous title Oblivion. Where the more expensive horses were tougher and faster. However the Skyrim horses are better climbers which is especially useful in mountain terrain, something you’ll be travelling over a lot. Plus one of the latest updates allows you to swing your sword and shoot arrows from horseback. This saves you the trouble of climbing off to kill a wolf or something. It’s also nice to see there have been many updates even after a year of the titles release. Which shows the effort that the producers are still putting in to the game.
Smithing/kit- some new types of weapons and armour have been added in the latest instalment that can’t be found in the prequel. The most popular being Daedric (the strongest armour and most powerful weapons) as well as Dragon scale which is made from materials you’ll find on the dragons you kill.
Skills- The 18 skills on Skyrim are split into 3 groups:
Magic- Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Enchanting, Illusion and Restoration.
Stealth- Alchemy, Light Armour, Lock picking, Pickpocket, Sneak and Speech.
Combat- Archery, Block, Heavy Armour, One-handed, Smithing and Two-handed.
Standing stones can be found throughout Skyrim and once used it will make the increasing of certain skill(s) faster.
Combat- A feature that has definitely improved since Oblivion, it’s now more realistic. For example your opponent staggers when hit, and when blocking with shield or a sword the deflection causes harsh vibrations. But then on the same note, many enemies barely react when hit. There are options to increase certain aspects of fighting with perks and new moves to be obtained. When finishing off an enemy you are sometimes rewarded with a cinematic of their death e.g. Flight path of arrow, decapitated, jumping onto dragons head etc. Unfortunately, although archery is fun, it seems that the arrow will hit its mark even if you aim slightly to the left or right of your target; this isn’t very realistic and yet isn’t so bad that there’s no skill at all involved in shooting.
Dragons- these beasts are most probably the most impressive creation in the title, they can be found in the main Quest-line, in villages, dragon burial sites (where they’re resurrected) and dragon sites. They are also the most important creatures in the game and are becoming the dominant force within Skyrim. There are 7 different types including: Common, Blood, Frost, Elder, Ancient, Revered, and Legendary Dragons, (in order of strength and level). You unlock the more advanced types as your character increases in level. There are also some with names that pop up, the most important being Alduin. And several others that are unique.
Glitches- With many big games come many big glitches and to say the least this game is no different from the rest. At the very start, just after the opening scene and character design, I could see that, although your not meant to see your body unless in 3rd person, the shackles that should be round my wrists were simply floating in the air. This isn’t the only glitch however, people walking through walls (occasionally), flying animals such as horses or mammoths, and invisible creatures are not rare. Detail can sometimes go missing, for example I’ve often jumped off an indoor ledge and found myself falling through the sky, and then without dying reappeared in the place I was a minute before; weird.
I dare say it is also easy to use bugs and cheats to your advantage and make Dragonborn far more powerful than should be possible, and these methods are paraded all over YouTube, probably not for the best.
Pros
-Sharper graphics with detail that has increased massively (although bearing in mind that the prequel is now 7 years old)
-More realistic combat
-Some new varieties of armour, e.g. Daedric
-Perk and levelling systems
-Smithing improved, much easier to improve (unless you update the game because Bethesda thought it was to easy [on Xbox] made increasing your skill a slower process)
-Dragon shouts most impressive and to the point that you’ll not forget to use them
-Finishing moves are most satisfying
-Lots of effort was put into the Dragons behaviours
-More interesting landmarks
Cons
-Mission generator can be somewhat repetitive, and main quest lines are unlikely to carry you to level 81
-Lots of glitches and bugs
-Archery arrow path bias
-Some enemies far to powerful (I haven’t previously mentioned this but it cannot be overlooked)
-Fast travelling can take some authenticity away, plus no boats
-Loading times slow
Conclusion
Skyrim Elder Scrolls IV is a great game with many improvements over predecessor Oblivion; it has an epic beginning and interesting quest lines that allow you to build your characters personality and strengths from scratch. If you are interested in the open minded fantasy type approach to games, this one will not let you down. Role-playing games offer you a chance to get more creative even if their not always as exciting as on-rail games. Bethesda even seems to have made an improvement on the realism of the games environment; building on both the NPC’s emotion and the breath taking landscapes, even the song is enthralling. Having experience on both this and the prequel I’m sorry to say it is lacking the old at home sort of feeling, shame. Nevertheless this game is suitable for most adventurous people and at first guides you through the in game menu options and map so that you won’t lose yourself. I am hoping that Bethesda continue with the Elder Scrolls line with the same sort of standard we’re not used to.
The story begins in the back of an Imperial horse cart being taken to your death by decapitation, which rather leaves your characters passed to be interpreted the way you want to. The game is based on the reawakening of Dragons which were thought to be legends, and the role of your character is Dragonborn (born to slay Dragons). That’s about as far as we’ll go in terms of story, due to spoilers, but just assume that Dragonborn is not immediately executed for reasons unknown as it would render the game pointless!
The game can be played in both 1st and 3rd person but before the latter can be accessed you must choose your race and adjust its features to your liking. A chance to get creative with the range of options that the game has to offer. The 10 races included are as follows: Khajiit, Orc, Redguard, Wood Elf (Bosmer), High Elf (Altmer), Dark Elf (Dunmer), Breton, Argonian, Imperial, and the Nord. And although this list may persuade you to think that Elves are the most common beings, it is actually the Nords who take this role. The big burly men that can be found in almost all of Skyrim’s settlement’s who dislike other races being in their territorial area. The reason for why they’re at war with the Imperials throughout the game.
After surviving execution you are let loose in the world of Skyrim, you’re able to travel by foot (or purchase a horse in cities stables) wherever you want or complete any missions you so choose. Because your character lacks a past it is easy to choose any set of quests that you like, although most people immediately peruse the main quest-line which consists of Dragon slaying, there are also the four main guilds. These are the Companions (mercenaries that keep the peace), College of Winterhold (college where magic is learnt), the Thieves Guild (self explanatory), and the Dark brotherhood (assassins). The latter two do the least good in society, so if you feel like a career in evil these are for you. Once you’ve joined a guild you receive money, quests and new kit. Unfortunately it has to be said that some of the quests aren’t as fun or interestingly set out as in the prequel.
Despite the lack of online play Skyrim has an almost unending amount of game play; some say over 300 hours worth and there is a new mission generator that will keep you going, comprised of shorter jobs, such as killing bandits, giants or Dragons, which can be obtain through most inn keepers.
Skills/Levels- You’ll start the game at Level 1 and work your way up at your own pace, increasing skills contributes to levelling up and each skill can increase to 100. You can keep levelling up until Lv81 (bit odd, eh?) when you have all your skills on 100. Your Level not only shows your experience on the game but also each Level allows you to increase your Stamina, Health or Magicka, and also gives you a perk. Perks improve a single skill even further e.g. Increasing light armour strength by 20%. Unlike previous title Oblivion, levelling up is a much quicker process. Plus there were no perks beforehand, which in general makes the game a lot less interesting. These new and improved features mean that you can level up by being good at least something, instead of a select few things (such as in the previous game).
Health, Stamina, Magicka - You start the game with 100 points on each and can increase any one of your choice to increase by 10 points when levelling up. Over time this will make your character stronger. The bars drain depending on what you do, however they will charge back up over time. Health, on the other hand, takes longer to recharge.
Health: Take more damage from your opponent, when the bar runs out you die.
Stamina: Use more power attacks, sprint further distances, when the bar runs out you are out of energy and are less capable of chasing, running away or power attacks.
Magicka: The use of any Magic, the more powerful spells take up more points each time, when it runs out no more Magic until it recharges.
It’s up to the user to choose which of the three they concentrate more on (usually health) or you can distribute them equally to make your character strong in every aspect.
Locations- The map is pretty big with many different places to discover, including Cities, villages, mines, caves, camp, Dragon sites etc. Cities show up on the Map straight away and other locations can be discovered or told to you by NPC’s. Once a location is visited you can fast travel by selecting it on your map. This allows you to appear there immediately, even though a few game hours will go by (depending on distance) this saves you the trouble and time of walking/riding there.
Houses can be purchased and furnished in each city and are useful to store your loot and gear in. If you get married your wife lives there and cooks for you, although eating isn’t a necessity, it’s still a nice perk.
Horses- unfortunately there is no variation, they cost 1000 gold coins (currency of Skyrim) and lack in comparison to previous title Oblivion. Where the more expensive horses were tougher and faster. However the Skyrim horses are better climbers which is especially useful in mountain terrain, something you’ll be travelling over a lot. Plus one of the latest updates allows you to swing your sword and shoot arrows from horseback. This saves you the trouble of climbing off to kill a wolf or something. It’s also nice to see there have been many updates even after a year of the titles release. Which shows the effort that the producers are still putting in to the game.
Smithing/kit- some new types of weapons and armour have been added in the latest instalment that can’t be found in the prequel. The most popular being Daedric (the strongest armour and most powerful weapons) as well as Dragon scale which is made from materials you’ll find on the dragons you kill.
Skills- The 18 skills on Skyrim are split into 3 groups:
Magic- Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Enchanting, Illusion and Restoration.
Stealth- Alchemy, Light Armour, Lock picking, Pickpocket, Sneak and Speech.
Combat- Archery, Block, Heavy Armour, One-handed, Smithing and Two-handed.
Standing stones can be found throughout Skyrim and once used it will make the increasing of certain skill(s) faster.
Combat- A feature that has definitely improved since Oblivion, it’s now more realistic. For example your opponent staggers when hit, and when blocking with shield or a sword the deflection causes harsh vibrations. But then on the same note, many enemies barely react when hit. There are options to increase certain aspects of fighting with perks and new moves to be obtained. When finishing off an enemy you are sometimes rewarded with a cinematic of their death e.g. Flight path of arrow, decapitated, jumping onto dragons head etc. Unfortunately, although archery is fun, it seems that the arrow will hit its mark even if you aim slightly to the left or right of your target; this isn’t very realistic and yet isn’t so bad that there’s no skill at all involved in shooting.
Dragons- these beasts are most probably the most impressive creation in the title, they can be found in the main Quest-line, in villages, dragon burial sites (where they’re resurrected) and dragon sites. They are also the most important creatures in the game and are becoming the dominant force within Skyrim. There are 7 different types including: Common, Blood, Frost, Elder, Ancient, Revered, and Legendary Dragons, (in order of strength and level). You unlock the more advanced types as your character increases in level. There are also some with names that pop up, the most important being Alduin. And several others that are unique.
Glitches- With many big games come many big glitches and to say the least this game is no different from the rest. At the very start, just after the opening scene and character design, I could see that, although your not meant to see your body unless in 3rd person, the shackles that should be round my wrists were simply floating in the air. This isn’t the only glitch however, people walking through walls (occasionally), flying animals such as horses or mammoths, and invisible creatures are not rare. Detail can sometimes go missing, for example I’ve often jumped off an indoor ledge and found myself falling through the sky, and then without dying reappeared in the place I was a minute before; weird.
I dare say it is also easy to use bugs and cheats to your advantage and make Dragonborn far more powerful than should be possible, and these methods are paraded all over YouTube, probably not for the best.
Pros
-Sharper graphics with detail that has increased massively (although bearing in mind that the prequel is now 7 years old)
-More realistic combat
-Some new varieties of armour, e.g. Daedric
-Perk and levelling systems
-Smithing improved, much easier to improve (unless you update the game because Bethesda thought it was to easy [on Xbox] made increasing your skill a slower process)
-Dragon shouts most impressive and to the point that you’ll not forget to use them
-Finishing moves are most satisfying
-Lots of effort was put into the Dragons behaviours
-More interesting landmarks
Cons
-Mission generator can be somewhat repetitive, and main quest lines are unlikely to carry you to level 81
-Lots of glitches and bugs
-Archery arrow path bias
-Some enemies far to powerful (I haven’t previously mentioned this but it cannot be overlooked)
-Fast travelling can take some authenticity away, plus no boats
-Loading times slow
Conclusion
Skyrim Elder Scrolls IV is a great game with many improvements over predecessor Oblivion; it has an epic beginning and interesting quest lines that allow you to build your characters personality and strengths from scratch. If you are interested in the open minded fantasy type approach to games, this one will not let you down. Role-playing games offer you a chance to get more creative even if their not always as exciting as on-rail games. Bethesda even seems to have made an improvement on the realism of the games environment; building on both the NPC’s emotion and the breath taking landscapes, even the song is enthralling. Having experience on both this and the prequel I’m sorry to say it is lacking the old at home sort of feeling, shame. Nevertheless this game is suitable for most adventurous people and at first guides you through the in game menu options and map so that you won’t lose yourself. I am hoping that Bethesda continue with the Elder Scrolls line with the same sort of standard we’re not used to.