Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

So, Skyrim has been out for 7 days now, and I figured it was time to give ya'll a rundown on how the game is going for me, so far. Honestly, if there's anyone still left on the fence about this game, I'd be pretty fucking surprised. I've already put well over 40 hours into this game, with no clear end in sight. There is so much to do, so many options available to you, it can be daunting, even a bit overwhelming. There are hundreds of caves, mines, ruins, forts, towns, camps and oddities to explore around the world. It's so freaking huge, but holy shit, is it beautiful. I'm constantly finding myself in awe of things I come across. The attention to detail is bloody amazing. From the strange things you'll find to the random comments people around you will make. There are numerous large questlines to follow, similar to previous TES titles. Skyrim has it's own versions of the traditional Guilds. Mages, Fighters and Thieves, the return of the Dark Brotherhood. Tons of other questlines of varying length, Radiant Quests that you can quite literally do forever. Tasks you can pick up in town or out in the wild. Easter Eggs everywhere, keep your eyes open. Honestly, when I first heard the Strategy Guide for Skyrim was over 650 pages long, I was stunned, but after spending a brief amount of time in-game, I'm not surprised anymore.

The game has a few bugs, I'd be lying if I said it was perfect, but I will say they're relatively few. Save often, and save in more than one slot. You'll thank yourself for it later. I've only come across a debilitating bug one time during a Quest where I could not complete my objective. I had to reload a much older game save and lose a lot of spent time & experience. I learned my lesson and now save more often. Autosaves can also save your ass. I've been playing the game on the lowest difficulty. I'm still having a great time and it is still quite often challenging. There are no benefits, aside from bragging rights I guess, to playing on harder difficulties.

The crafting is extremely well done. Smithing is brand new and amazing, while Alchemy & Enchanting have had a bit of an overhaul. The combination of all 3 can produce seriously powerful results. I still have yet to complete the Main Quest on either of my two characters, but I feel absolutely no reason to rush to the "End" of the main story. On my newest character, a very melee-oriented, heavily armored, Shield-Bashing Master Smith, I'm just running around the world doing random dungeons & caves, not really doing any actual quests unless I stumble upon them. And I'm really enjoying myself.

So, in the insanely unlikely chance anyone out there is still undecided for this game, I have this to say to you: If you like Action/RPG's at all, then you need to own this game. Period.

If I had a rating system, this would get 5/5 Stars or score a Perfect "10" purely for appearance, sound, music score and addictive gameplay.

Game On, Brothers & Sisters

-Keredain-

Skyrim!

As a lot of people are I am very excited for The Elders scrolls IV: Skyrim. If you are like us we are fans of the Elders Scrolls from way back, my friends and I played the living shit out of Morrowind for the original X-box, and even played it on the PC. I can think back to that game and for some reason it just sticks in my head, I can remember the quests I can remember the feel of it, Oblivion didn’t come close to capturing the huge scale of the game.

Dravic the Bloodtaker was born out of Morrowind, and has continued to be my adventuring sidekick for the rest of the Elder Scroll games. I spent countless hours developing that character, and making him into an all powerful god. I looted every cave; found every overly powerful weapon did every quest I could. Then the inevitable happened, I became so powerful I had to kill everything in the game.

Nothing was safe from my reign of terror, lowly NPC, guards and wizards they all fell before the Bloodtaker. With the power of my homemade spells I would levitate over cities and literally kill every walking NPC with the power of my AoE nuke. These are the kind of things that are missing from Oblivion, these kinds of freedoms. If I want to kill a town with my awesome powers of awesomesauce I should be able to.

I hope that when Skyrim is released, it will carry with it this kind of freedom. It’s not that I want to kill everything in the game I just want the freedom too. I want to be so powerful, NPCs run for cover.  I was around level 120 at the end of Morrowind, and I had a long sword skill around 2,000 something. Yes I used a glitch, (get over it). From the videos I have seen of Skyrim it seems they are bringing back the feeling of power to the player, I never felt that way in Oblivion I felt like I was held back, by the main story and the lack of authority given to my player.

I have nothing but hope for the Elder Scroll’s series, they seem to be fixing a lot of the issues that Oblivion had. Bringing all the power back to the player, fixing the combat animations, duel wielding, and better main storyline, everything about this game is going to be fantastic. If I had the money to blow I would buy that collector’s edition for $150 bucks or whatever the ridiculous price is. Until then I will see you in Tamriel!