The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review

[lord.jeff]

So, I've gone from being 'meh' about all the Skyrim hype until these last two days where I've been... well, this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9eGtyqz4gY

I just wonder, with all the dragons in the game, will a sneaky archer still be viable, or will it be gimped in such fights?

I dont think Stealth is an option when it comes to killing a dragon....

Maybe you can poison it's tea?

Keep away from my tea.

>.> Nothing is safe! DOHVAKIIIIIIIIN!
And do I spy a CulpeoFox drawing there?

That it is.

Wish I had money to spare for Skyrim.

 

[Odjin]

I'm not too familiar with the lore (only played the games, and only since Morrowind), but it doesn't seem like too much of a stretch, in general, to say that the dragons are mad at humanoids, or Tamriel, or they're just a**holes now. I mean, they're dragons. Unless the "backstab" is somewhere else, in which case please illuminate me.

It's comparable like saying Clark Kent tries to destroy the entire planet and multiplies every fixed interval so you have to kill him over and over again. The retcon of theirs is totally 180 degrees of the existing lore especially breaking anything left and right trying to force it through. Research a bit through the TES lore (find non-edited versions as they ret-conned stuff). Doing so you'll see that this all doesn't make one inch of sense no matter which way you turn it. But the story is not the only retcon they did. That said if somebody doesn't know the lore he won't notice the retcon problems. If you know the lore you are like face-palming yourself how one can rip apart his own franchise in such a way. Story is essential in an RPG as without story one RPG is the same as the next one as all share more or less the exact same game mechanics.

 

[Odjin]

cool story bro. I mean, I understood what you're saying with the dragons outside of the main quest, I know it would have been awfully annoying to run into Oblivion Gates every 20 yards before I started that main quest. But then you kinda lost me when you started blaming everything on it. Perhaps you didn't stick around in the review long enough to see that the reviewer did complain about the cardboard characters? But I digress, perhaps you should drink some Fortify Speechcraft potions :B

Nah, it's only one of the problems. I just outlined this one here so my bad if it looked like the only one. What goes for the review I read it to the end. I've seen this line too but calling this a complaint would be a bit far fetched. The reviewer makes it sound like that's all peanuts and not a problem because story and NPCs are unimportant. I do not share this opinion at all.

 

[Shjade]

Alas, poor lockpick, you were too young.

 

[Rayansaki]

I've only read the Guardian review (prominent UK paper, 5 stars) and the main reason I'm looking into the reviews so much is not to know whether the game is good or not, I think everything can assume it is, but how annoying the bugs are.

From what I've heard so far, they're not New Vegas bad.

Well, new vegas was obsidian, this was bethesda. Obsisian is crappier about fixing their stuff. Bethesda's games still suffer from bugs from the damn horrible engine all these games share, but they clearly dedicate more time into having their games run better.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Five stars, eh?

So... about as good as Dragon Age 2 then?

Good to know.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Sorry, but that shit-stirring opportunity was too good to miss.

Don't apologise, that happened, these people need to be reminded of their previous fuck ups. Seriously, I wish I could rep posts on these forums =D

A difference of opinion is not a "fuck up."

 

[Aureliano]

Gotta say, after spending a few solid hours playing I'm getting kinda bored. Not only is everything I've seen so far incredibly by-the-book fantasy, but aside from a few additional systems the game itself feels almost exactly like Oblivion.

Granted I'm not a bajillion hours in and can't speak about the 'full experience', and certainly points for improving the leveling system, but it's getting pretty hard to care about anything that's happening so far. Also seeing a lot of choices-that-aren't-choices. Screw over one side or the other, but at the end of the day I'm just about where I otherwise would have been.

It's not enough to actually put me off the game but there is pretty much nothing novel about Skyrim for me so far.

 

[MMMowman]

SOOOOoooo much detail.. I'm 6 hours in and there is so much stuff crammed in. You can catch butterflies! Forge armor. Fish jump up stream. Everything has been improved. A guard told me I shouldn't leave weapons laying around after I drop a battle axe on the ground. I'm really happy with it if you cant tell already.

 

[Ruwrak]

That it is.

Wish I had money to spare for Skyrim.

Awesome good sir. Love the artist

 

[ResonanceSD]

About an hour in...no dragons yet
Combat feels a bit more chunky and methodical. Lovely controls on the 360, everything works brilliantly. Game looks great for the most part. NPCs are much better in terms of animations and voice acting, and the dialogue so far is well written. The menus are a huge improvement on Oblivion. So my first impressions are very very positive. Now I just need real life to pause for the next 18 hours or so.

You're about to hit dragons.

 

[ReiverCorrupter]

From what Bethesda said in some of the pregame details archery is actually a lot more powerful than it used to be, with only one or two arrows being lethal. So actually a stealth archer might be one of the most powerful classes. The downside being that you can't backpedal quickly anymore so you can't keep running and shooting them as they come at you. Also I don't think you can carry that many arrows either.

The real question is how they balanced the stealth aspect of the game. Remember how you could essentially make yourself invincible in Oblivion by wearing all chameleon enchantments? If your chameleon stat was over 100% you could smack someone in the face repeatedly and they couldn't fight back. I wonder if they fixed that. The NPCs should start swinging randomly or run away if they're getting hit by something completely invisible, but I guess that's a fairly complicated thing to program.

100% chameleon had the same effect as making you 100% invisible, but with the ability to do whatever you cared to without breaking it.

If you stacked enough spell effects to get it, it wasn't unintentional. Not really something in need of fixing, IMO. Don't like it? Don't do it.

No, you didn't get what I was saying. I was complaining about the AI just standing there and taking it when you're invisible. My problem isn't with chameleon itself, it's that the AI has only two settings in regard to stealth: 1) knowing exactly where you are and fighting you, 2) not knowing where you are and standing there obliviously like a human pincushion.

Unlike many other people, I enjoy feeling overly powerful in a game. A challenge is good of course, but in an RPG I like to feel like my high level character is a badass. I don't mind being overpowered, but when I am overpowered I like to play with my victims like a cat does with a mouse. I want to see them run around in a panic or try to mount some last ditch defense. It's kind of boring when the enemies just wait there to die. Sometimes they would run away in Oblivion, but most of the time they would just stand there and shout insults as though they were fighting me. It eliminates any sense of immersion.

Ideally, I'd like to see an alert system for enemies like you see in games like Deus Ex or Metal Gear Solid, where enemies could have different levels of alertness and search for you in an organized fashion. But I realize that's a pretty tall order on top of all the RPG stats and AI already in place in a series like the Elder Scrolls. Alas, we probably won't see really complex AI until at least the next generation. But the least they can do is program enemies to run for help when they're being attacked by an invisible enemy.

 

[Dott]

But the question is - will Yahtzee review it?

If so, the first thing he will nag about will be the mouse controls.
Sensitivity is fucked beyond measure.

 

[Pat8u]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review

Bethesda's latest is a true RPG epic that asks you what you want and then gives it to you.

Read Full Article

So Steve, you were caught in a battle against two sides, wizards dug-into defences and a dragon, and you survived? I thought as much. This game is pretty to be sure, a great solo fantasy adventure, but it sounds way to easy--none can beat your Mary Sue!

I also really don't like that you can get good at everything over time. So your warrior can also be an arch-mage? And a sneaky thief, and a potion-brewer? This is starting to get a bit ridiculous here, verisimilitude shattered. I knew it wouldn't put any restrictions into place, wouldn't want to risk people being offended or having different types of characters, because by the end of the game, we are all going to pretty much be the same--save cosmetic differences. We will all be warrior-mages-stealth-masters and potion-brewers.

Ptah!

This is a common but misguided complaint. There is an ultimate level cap, which means that you can only unlock a limited amount of perks and only have a limited amount of magic, health or stamina because you can only choose to increase one perk and one stat each each time you level up. Thus once you hit the level cap you're stuck with the stats and perks you have, though you can still level up your skills. That means that if you haven't increased your magic much when you hit the cap, you'll never be able to cast the highest level spells no matter how high your skill in magic gets, nor will you be able to unlock the perks that makes certain techniques like fire or ice more cost effective. Or alternatively, if you focus solely on magic before you hit the level cap then your character will always be vulnerable, no matter how much you increase your melee combat skills. Even if you reach 100 with swords you still won't have the powerful finishing moves unlocked by the perks. Or even worse, you won't be able to unlock the perk that decreases the amount of fatigue when you swing your sword, which, when combined with the fact that you haven't increased your stamina or strength and endurance, will keep your character from being effective with swords, even if the skill level is 100.

Also, if it's anything like Oblivion you should be able to scale the difficulty from the menu. Plus, while most creatures are leveled to you, there are bound to be many enemies and areas that will kill low level players.

yea a tip for everyone beware of ice trolls they are very hard for a low-level theif

 

[GeneralKrunk]

Turns out its just awful, if you like the elder scroll series your gonna be disapointed...

 

[Bravo 21]

well, the one thing I want to know is if they have done something about the way that damage from weapons works, because it just doesn't make sense to be chased by one guy, over several kilometers, when he has 20 something arrows sticking out of his chest. just a little bit of a game breaker for me, although that was oblivion, and this is SKYRIM!

 

[walrusaurus]

Is it wrong that when I saw the review, the first thing I thought was "Thank God, those damn Skyrim threads will FINALLY STOP." ?

lol you are sadly mistaken my friend. It'll get worse before it gets better. Its always darkest before the dawn. You gotta shit before you can get off the pot.

 

[Jumwa]

No, you didn't get what I was saying.

You're right, sorry about that.

I've apparently just heard the "I can make the game easy if I want to, so therefore it sucks!" complaint too many times.

Also, it took me absurdly long to respond to this because Skyrim has claimed my soul and shoved it in a gem.

 

[The Rascal King]

Yeah..... my exams aren't gonna go so well.

Exactly. Aww well, community college is certainly not a bad place to go.