Skyrim Impressions
Written by Jeremiah Hisel, Bustercube Wednesday, 07 December 2011 06:00
It seems like Bethesda can do no wrong when it comes to making massive RPGs. Being an avid Elder Scrolls fan since Morrowind, and playing over 300 hours of Oblivion I was ready for a new challenge, and Skyrim delivers just that. The first thing to note is how amazing Skyrim looks compared to Oblivion, and yes I understand Oblivion is about six years old, but in my opinion Oblivion has kept the crown for being the prettiest game for the 360 since then, until now. The detail, and resolution really stand out, and prove Bethesda went all out for the fifth installment.
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Enter to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card.Skyrim, in contrast to Oblivion has a darker tone, and that tone is carried over into the landscape, being the frozen homeland of the nords means little sunlight, and heavy fog. Ambiance is key to this kind of game, and the attention to detail is astounding.
The game starts like most Elder scrolls games, you're dumped right in the middle of a story. It always seems like there's a story to how your character ended up where they are when you start playing, In Morrowind you start on a ship from unknown parts; why did you leave your homeland? In Oblivion you start out locked away in the imperial prison; what did you do? And in Skyrim you start out being sent to your execution; but for what? These are the questions that never seem to be answered, but once you start playing they won't really matter anymore.
Dragons! They have come back to Skyrim, and it's apparently your job to stop them. When I first heard that Skyrim would have dragons I was excited, but aside from the story, the dragons you'll be forced to fight are more of a needless hassle than a cool feature. It seems like fast traveling anywhere will result in fighting a dragon, and they're all generic dragons, there's nothing that sets them apart from any other dragon. Because you are a "Dragonborn," after killing a dragon you'll absorb it's soul, but I still don't understand what you get out of it, it's not EXP, or any new skills.
For the most part, things in Skyrim are the same as Oblivion except for a few things. They removed a few of the skills from Oblivion in Skyrim, there's no longer individual skills for blades, axes, or blunt weapons, now all weapons are categorized by two handed, or one handed. I don't mind this change at all, if anything it makes switching weapon types easier. Another change is that they removed some attributes, now there is only magika, health, and stamina when in Oblivion there were more like speed, agility, strength, endurance, etc. This change threw me for a loop at first because in Oblivion, blade and axe blunt damage is calculated with strength, weapon attributes, and the skill, but in Skyrim damage is calculated by the weapon attributes, skill, and the skills perks.
The next change is Perks. For anyone who hasn't played Fallout 3 or New Vegas, Perks are a sort of bonus, you'll choose one per level up, and that perk may give you something like extra damage using a certain type of weapon.
It seems to me alot of the changes from Oblivion to Skyrim are in the vain of Fallout. I can't blame Bethesda for it, I loved Fallout 3 and New Vegas, but it seems like with every iteration of The Elder Scrolls they dumb, or noob it down a little. I remember Morrowind had many more skills than Oblivion, and now there are less in Skyrim. A set of armor In Morrowind had 9 pieces: helmet, cuirass, grieves, right & left boots, right & left gloves, and right and left pauldrons. Oblivion had a set of 5: helmet, cuirass, grieves, boots, and gloves. Skyrim has 3: helmet, armor, and boots. I can't tell if this "trimming" effect is helping, or hurting the game.
I've played about 40 hours of the game so far, and I'm really enjoying myself. Overall, this game is excellent, aside from a few technical issues here and there.
I'll share a few small tips for new players: if you save a level up until you fight a tough enemy you can use it like a free restoration. Once your health is about to run out, open the level up menu, and select an attribute to level up, then after you exit the menu your health will be restored.
To quickly level up your smitthing skill, buy as many iron ingots and leather strips as you can, then go to the forge and make as many iron daggers as you can, because they only cost one of each and you'll be able to make a lot of them, and thus you can increase the smitthing skill quickly. I'll say once again I think Skyrim is an exceptional game, and my GOTY.
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Comments
-saying that you fight a dragon every time you fast travel is a bit of a stretch. I've played for about 40 hours, I fast travel more than once an hour and have only fought about 6 dragons.
-fighting dragons gives you dragon souls which allow you to unlock better dragon shouts.
-4 pieces of armor - armor, helmet, boots, gloves/gauntlets.
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