First of all, I want to mention that I played this game with the Xbox 360. Experiences with bugs and graphics may vary depending on what you play it on.
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, (released back on Nov. 11, 2011) was very highly anticipated and hyped game. So does the game really follow all the hype? As a Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout player myself, I thought I’d give it a try despite not finishing the storyline to any of these previous titles. I am not really a hardcore fan of these titles like others may be, but Skyrim may be enough to change that.
Gameplay
Skyrim is an extremely non-linear game in a sense that you can do whatever you want and never even realize you never touched the main story missions. And even when you do finish the main story line, the game dumps you back into the game and you can go about your business as you wish. All in all this game is a quest based game.
You can play the game in either first person or third person. Most people play it in first person, but I ended up finding this Elder Scroll game very enjoyable in the third person. They did a much better job on the third-person view this time around, than previous titles.
I admit, I even found myself hooked on the crafting aspect of the game, which was surprising for me.
You can also get married and buy a house in Skyrim. However, this is not like Fable III where you can marry anyone and buy a bunch of houses. You can marry select people, (many in which you must fulfill a quest first) and only buy certain houses. Also note, you can only be married once at a time.
Graphics
This is really where the game takes the cake. Although I feel like the visuals do not come without a price. Though the load times are not as bad as I would have expected, I sometimes wonder if the game freezes a lot because of not only how pretty the graphics are, but how expansive the world is.
There were a few times I felt like the dungeons and caves were overly dark and dreary. I don’t mind the gloomy look but without a torch or a source of light, some areas were hard to see to get through.
That aside, I found the visuals of this game enchanting. They really did a great job building this world.
Xbox 360 note: I did not install the game to my hard drive, though I considered it once since I thought it would help the performance. I was told that by doing so, the graphics are not as detailed, but I cannot confirm this as I didn’t do it myself. But, it is something to keep in mind.
Music and Sounds
This was another high point in the game. The music fits the setting perfectly and never sounded misplaced. It only enhanced the world immersion.
After a while you will notice the voice acting to sound the same from character to character. That’s because it is. I may be a little off in numbers, but I heard that Skyrim has about six voice actors total. The voice actors did an excellent job, but I feel like they could have worked on adding a couple extra actors in there. And with a game as popular as this, I bet they wouldn’t have had to pay very much get people to do the voice acting, just to get their name out there.
Battle System
Some may argue that the combat system is very complex and deep. I beg to differ. Eventually, after you advance in levels even around the very beginning, you find yourself not needing to use very many different abilities to down regular enemies.
Skyrim has in addition to magic skills, Dragon Shouts. These shouts are given to you throughout the course of the game. While these seemed really neat at first, I found myself rarely using them unless it was to advance in the game’s story. The only Dragon Shout I felt like I used was the one that would pull the dragon to the ground so you could avoid aerial battle.
Though the combat was fun, it didn’t seem like anything ground breaking. You could build your character anyway you wanted. Each time you leveled up you got to choose between Health, Stamina, and Magic. In addition to this choice you also got to pick one skill point such as Archery, Alchemy, One-Handed, Lockpicking, etc.
Fighting is not the only way to level up in this game. In fact, simply buying and selling items a lot, lockpicking, or crafting weapons is another way to level up your characters general level. And might I add, in addition to being addicted to picking flowers alongside of alchemy, I enjoyed blacksmithing a lot.
Story
I enjoyed the story here, but it didn’t seem like anything as epic as I would have liked. I stayed mainly within the main story line and did not venture off as much as a lot of Elder Scroll players may do. I admit, I’m not much of a side quest type person. I know I know, many of you may say, “Well, Skyrim is all about side missions.” I do feel like I got my fill on the world doing all the crafting, minimal sidequests and the main storyline.
Enjoyment Level
Don’t take my game time as a way to rate my enjoyment level of this game. I may have not have put in 300 hours like some. Heck, I didn’t even get close to 100 hours in Skyrim. I clocked in about 55 hours in the game, reaching about level 35.
Since you can do whatever you want in the game, I chose to do mostly just the main mission, with a few side things. It is very easy to get distracted! I told myself at first I would ONLY do the main story quest when I started because I didn’t have time for everything in the game. I ended up get sidetracked with crafts, killing giants, dragons and finding new locations.
With a game as large and customizable as Skyrim, it’s impossible to touch on all the bases. I find this game highly recommended to RPG fans looking for a fun game to play. It not be the most innovative game or story driven as some, but I find it to be an overall well put together package (minus the bugs some may have experienced).
I give the game a strong B+ overall.
I considered giving it an A-, if it wasn’t for all the bugs on release day.