I did start a blog on this last November but I have put it off and put it off and well now I have decided to start it from scratch. Without further ado here it is.
When I decided what games I wanted last year, I didn’t know much about Skyrim or want it at all. It was a few days after it came out and I curiously clicked a link on the website of the retailer Game that I saw a trailer and I was having the game that day, no matter what!
Before I start I will be honest and say that although I have read all of Tolkien’s works (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion) and some of George RR Martin’s I am not the biggest fan of myths and legends. Similarly I am not a fan of RPG games, I have only tried a few, the last of which being Fallout: New Vegas. That I played for about ten minutes chucked the disc back in the box and sold it on eBay. What has surprised me if how much I have thoroughly enjoyed Skyrim so far.
Skyrim is a non-linear open world game. Almost every area and every building in the game is open to exploration. Games are touted to being large scaled but none of them compare to Skyrim. The map is vast with hundreds of areas to discover. The map is not only vast but aesthetically beautiful too; the graphics and game engine give a new added realism. Oblivion is good but not a patch on Skyrim. Everything is so vivid and life like, the snowy peaks, the gorgeous aurora borealis everything leaves you in complete awe.
Due to the non-linear nature of the game, the game is practically non-ending. There are so many side quests to do to complement the main quest that you can easily spend over one hundred hours in the game and barely scratch the surface. The main quest follows you, The Dragonborn, in your attempt to save a Skyrim in the midst of a civil war from the return of the dragons, led by Alduín. Alongside this you have other quests like joining the mages and the College of Winterhold. As well as the Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood and the civil war. You get the choice to pick which side you want to fight for, it’s your choice to fight for the Imperial or Stormcloak army. You are also able to do quests for NPC’s (non player characters) which involve retrieving items and artefacts from dungeons and so on and so forth.
The game is very in depth, first of all you must build your character and select a race such as Orc, Nord, Dark Elf, Imperial to name a few. Once you select your race you can then change almost anything from gender, facial features and their name. Your characters appearance is finalised but you may continue to customise them with their clothes and armour as you go through the game, whether you want them to be a mage in robes or a warrior in dragons armour, the choice is entirely yours.
As you play through the game by using your skills you gain experience which powers up your levels in various skill sets. The more you use something the more power and higher level you get at the skill. There are many skills that you use and build up throughout the game. The way you play the game influences how your character develops, those who prefer magic will become better Mages and see generally high skills with the following: Alteration, Conjuring, Destruction, Illusion, Restoration and Enchantment. People who prefer to slash and bash (like me) may find The Warrior perks more to their liking: Archery, Blocking, Heavy Armour, One Handed, Two Handed and Smithing. Finally people preferring subterfuge and sneaking will find The Thief perks preferable: Alchemy, Light Armour, Lock Picking, Pickpocket, Sneak and Speech. With all these perks there are a total of 280 perks to level. It will certainly keep you busy if you want to max everything out.
Aside from missions and exploration you can do many things in Skyrim like hunt, craft weapons and armour, pick vegetables, mine for ore, cook, chop wood, craft potions, buy horses and houses, get married. With so many things to do it is really hard to find the game tedious.
What adds to the game is its lush and moving soundtrack. I am a lover of soundtracks, especially film but I have never been taken by a gaming soundtrack like I have with Skyrim. From the main ‘Dragonborn’ theme to ‘The Streets of Whiterun’. The Streets of Whiterun is possibly my favourite piece of music from 2011, might also be my favourite instrumental piece from a soundtrack. I find it is absolute perfection; I could listen to it on a loop all day.
Although the game is a wonderful and amazing showcase of what is to come in the future of video games, it is not without its troubles. As with most Bethesda games the game does have the odd bug. This can (especially on the PS3) ruin the enjoyment of the game. There is a bug where some save games when they reach over 6mb in size show very noticeable lag on the game. This causes the frame rate to slow to an almost unplayable speed and many suffer games crashing. As of yet there has been no fix but I hope there is one in the future. I myself have not experienced any lag at all on my PS3. I have run into the odd bug here and there but nothing major that would cause me to stop playing.
On the whole it is a great game and I do think that everyone should at least give the game a try, even if you have never played an RPG before. Try it and you might like it, I know I did and I was practically an RPG virgin before November. I am very much looking forward to future patches solving the lag that many users have faced as well as some DLC and map expansions, not that I have explored more than 30% so far. I would also love to get my hands on the art book and statue of Alduín. It’s a shame they don’t sell them separately.
