My review of Skyrim

[Jackal2233]

I just thought I would share with others my personal review of Skyrim. I've been a PC gamer since I started playing Prince of Persia, so I grew up with games, but always have been choosy with them. I've been anticipating Skyrim for ages, and I had a lot of fun with morrowind/oblivion + countless mods to enrich my gaming experience. The community was (still is) HUGE. I'm picky but I'm also realistic, I can spot when passion has been put into a game, or when it's meh.

 

In this review I've broken down the aspects of the game and reviewed/scored each one independently... first of all, let's judge the graphics.

 

GRAPHICS

I got a new rig for Skyrim, hoping to experience it amazingly well. Sure, my framerate increased dramatically compared to other games, but the graphics... a bit disappointing. It is VERY beautiful, and there is a lot of attention to detail, from the ants on the floor, to the bugs that fly around and shadows over birds as they fly overhead, it's great and very immersive... until of course, you look up close. The textures are rather low res, even at ultra setting, when using high-powered hardware. But of course, with texture mods it can look a LOT better.

Graphics Score - 8/10

Pros: Attention to detail, beautiful surroundings, immersive experience

Cons: Not fully taking advantage of modern PC hardware

 

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay of skyrim is excellent in my opinion, they removed the old leveling system where I had to plan out my levels for the 5x multiplier each level. But I still wished they kept the athletics and acrobatics skill. The thing is, when I'm exploring, I like to be proactive. In Oblivion each second of running improves my athletics skill, each jump improves my acrobatics skill, makes me a better and better explorer as time goes by. In Skyrim though... meh. As for the combat, I love it, it's not perfect, and I wish you can block as a dualwielder, but overall it's improved over Oblivion. My main gripe though, is STILL the lack of horse combat. As for the companions, they are disappointing, they can't even mount their own horses, or be told in regards to specific tactics, forcing me to use the console command for those or have to play around with their inventory. Pathfinding too, is a bug I swear they should have fixed by now. Even old-school FPS had better pathfinding, but I guess that may be an issue with level design (I noticed some dungeons had better pathfinding then others).

 

But aside from the system itself, the quests/infinite quests/radiant AI is MUCH improved. It has made fast travelling a NO NO for me, as a trip from A to B can always still turn out to be an adventure. That's what I love! Surprises! Skyrim still has its attention to detail, and rewards the patient gamer, which exceeded my expectations. The dragons are also excellent, when I first saw the trailer of a dragon crashing into the ground I thought "meh, just a trailer", but to experience it firsthand INGAME, it was a shocker.

 

Skyrim also evidently have taken note of many Oblivion mods, such as the flora mod (harvested plants show that they are harvested), companions themselves, sprinting, better leveled items (no more bandits with daedric weapons all over the place), and others which I find excellent. So there are pros and cons in terms of its gameplay. Overall I enjoy it, it's not perfect, it failed to meet some expectations but also exceeded others. I did have high expectations too, but it is still VERY enjoyable.

 

Gameplay Score - 7/10

Pros: Improvement over oblivion, radiant AI, infinite quests, rewards the patient gamer, great immersion

Cons: Some skills didn't need to be removed, horses could have been better, companions too.

 

STORY

Epicness and goosebumps is what I want from games. Skyrim's story is rich with lore but personally, by judging the main story alone, the excitement is a bit meh compared to the plot twists and turns I encountered with Bioware games (which spoiled me). I didn't expect much in this department, especially with FO3. Still, the lore is very rich, the world is amazing and it feels alive.

 

Also, the story DOES become epic, as the music kicks in (I'll cover that later)

 

Skyrim is not a linear game, and that's what I enjoy compared to Bioware titles, there are some quests however that don't give the player enough options, not going to get into the details, but it was a disappointment really. The saving grace however, is that as an elder scrolls game, you WRITE your own story, and the game does (most of the time) let you do so.

 

Story Score - 7/10

Pros: Non linear approach, you write your own story, rich lore, amazing world, plenty of options.

Cons: Story lacks the same epic proportions that I got from Bioware, some quests does not give you enough options for roleplaying.

 

SOUND/MUSIC

Ok, the sound effects are great, another example of how the devs learned from modders. The world is much more immersive. The music doesn't break the immersion either, as you explore, seeing the wondrous sights of the world, you won't get the immersion breaking effect of battle music kicking in as soon as you encounter a freakin' rat. I used the "better music system" mod in Oblivion, and when this was implemented in vanilla Skyrim, I was VERY delighted.

 

As for the soundtrack itself... it's f--king flawless. It gives me goosebumps from the days of morrowind, yet the new theme still fits in so well with the world of Skyrim. Jeremy Soule impressed me once again, and Todd Howard was wise to get him again. Overall, I have no complaints, the music is f--king awesome. Even though I didn't find the story that EPIC to my liking, the music... hell it MADE IT EPIC!

 

Score - 10/10

Pros: Pure EPIC

Cons: I can't hear it every second of the day

 

STABILITY

Skyrim has its bugs, and I've encountered my share too, including annoying crashes. The controls can also be a bit awkward for PC gamers, reassigning the keys don't do the same in the smithing/enchanting menus, making it a bit buggy. But overall, they did a farely decent job in my opinion considering I expected a ton more crashes/errors. I can play for hours with no bugs, but when I DO encounter a bug (because it's unexpected), it does annoy the crap outta me, but for a balanced review, I can't let frustration get in the way of a fair review.

 

Score - 7/10

Pros: It's still rather stable compared to what I expected with such a big game

Cons: Still signs of a lazy port with controls/graphics, bugs - including some gamebreakers

 

MODDABILITY

Still no CK.... ARGH!!! But thankfully, they are reusing the old system of BSAs/ESPs which allows modders to mod things WITHOUT the CK anyway which is excellent!

Score - N/A

 

CONCLUSION

 

Overall, Skyrim is an awesome game, it has its flaws but even though I'm picky I'm also realistic. You can tell by the attention of detail the devs have most definitely held nothing back, fans wanted werewolves, they got werewolves, fans wanted companions, they got companions. Some people loved Morrowind, others prefered Oblivion, Skyrim balances out the views of both, and comes up with great new features with its radiant AI, learning from the modders of Oblivion, and coming up with a game that definitely eats up your time.

 

Final Score - 8/10

Edited November 25, 2011 by Jackal2233

[Pushkatu]

Good review, +1 :thumbsup:

 

I share most if not all your opinions. Let's not forget that there's a new patch around the corner and hopefully even more bugs will be taken care of. There's also the CK wich I hope modders will get used and like. If it's not to complicated I might even try to make some little tweaks on my own, unless someone makes them first.

 

 

Cheers and beers,

Pushkatu!

[soot00]

Radiant AI is pretty cool. I just got my first Wowza moment. No spoilers in terms of dungeon name but there is a particular dungeon with rare ores I hit. The ores respawn I believe once every game time month. Anyways having been here several times I pretty much know the layout and the map is full view in terms of passages cause I been here before.

 

My recent trip however, things changed. Bandits took over the Mine. I found a note on the table at the early part of the entrance stating they took control. Upon clearing the mines and taking out the bandits, I ventured to the very end cause some rich ore veins are there. Only this time, I noticed a new mining tunnel opened up. New Bandits who took over made the Miners digg deeper? Who knows but it was pretty cool. This extra tunnel had me going in ever so deeper, probably had another 20 minutes easy of content added into the mines exploring. Was pretty amazed.

[Jackal2233]

Thanks :)

 

Yes, I'm hoping for the patch soon too, but some stuff ain't bugs, like certain quests, making it difficult to roleplay a knight character sworn to valor for example, and to defy the bad evil daedra! Except for Azura though, she's just really misunderstood! Mods can still easily fix it though, hell I might even make my own later lol, unless someone beats me to it.

 

I guess with the CK, and once mods start rolling in, catering to each and every individual's tastes, Skyrim will end up being 10/10 to everyone lol :laugh: That's the beauty of modding, and there's a certain joy to it too.

 

This extra tunnel had me going in ever so deeper, probably had another 20 minutes easy of content added into the mines exploring. Was pretty amazed.

 

Aye, it's the attention of detail that got put in this game that really counters its flaws. Reminds me of when Todd Howard was asked what was best about Skyrim, and he answered "the world". Heh, after playing countless hours of it, I have to agree.

Edited November 25, 2011 by Jackal2233