I thought I'd review a big name in the gaming world for my first review. Skyrim is the fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls series, brought to us by Bethesda. Skyrim benefitted from a huge fan base mostly conjured up from the huge amount of Internet interest that happened before the game's release.
I know a lot of reviewers have given this game really good reviews. I want to look at it from an objective point of view. True, the graphics are good, as is the gameplay, and it's an all round fun game to play. The Elder Scrolls franchise is a game that is well-known for it's open world, it's almost endless reems of quests, and a bunch of other stuff you can lose yourself doing. You want to pick herbs for hours on end? Do it! You want to hunt animals in the wild? Sure!
What I liked about Skyrim was that it went back to its roots a little more than Oblivion did. Where Oblivion felt more at home in a European fantasy setting, Skyrim seemed to borrow more from it's predecessors than Oblivion did. They came back with the Dwemer ruins (a favourite) as well as some things that long-time fans may recall from the Bloodmoon expansion. Fast travel introduced another method - the horse carriage. I felt this harked back to the fast-travel systems in Morrowind a lot more, which was nice to have the alternative if you didn't want to map travel, walk, or horse ride it all the way across the other side of the huge map. What's more, this was only available to the major cities and towns, instead of being able to get a ride anywhere you wanted. I enjoyed that aspect of realism.
When I first stepped into the game I was awestricken. But I looked around on that little cart during the prologue and wondered if the trees were supposed to be like that. I was in awe of Alduin, until he started turning up everywhere and instead of being a general fear mongerer, being a general nuisance. There wasn't a single moment I found the main antagonist scary. These dragons weren't big enough for my tastes - I remember thinking that way back when the first trailer featuring gameplay was released.
The graphics were good. For about a month. Then I remember Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, other titles with style and beautiful execution in design. Then I'm not so sure. Skyrim looks good in the concept art but sort of... fails with the delivery. I still can't quite make my mind up about the redesign of the Mer races (that's the elven races), although it was more of another returning to roots scenario than an actual redesign. At least we are rid of the balloon faced people that haunted our Oblivion nightmares.
The plot seemed as though it would deliver. The game looks beautiful. The controls are straightforward. The skills menu is a work of art.
So why is it that it bored me within a month?
There are several reasons for this. One is the fact that it was dumbed down, yet again. Instead of always calling the Dunmer by their real name, they're constantly referred to as 'dark elves'. The Dwemer are always known as the 'dwarves', even though that's very inaccurate. What seems to have happened is that The Elder Scrolls acquired an even larger fanbase through Oblivion, and instead of catering to their old audiences by creating more beautiful, realistic lore for us to enjoy and gnaw on, they've dumbed it down for the general populace to enjoy as a more regular run of the mill roleplaying game. They simplified the levelling system, the alchemy system, and the magic system. For some of us those things were a welcome relief, but some of them just take more away from the atmosphere of the game series.
The plots were another reason I got bored. I didn't bother to do the Dark Brotherhood, the Companions, or the Civil War questlines. Why? Because I didn't see much point. The Thieves Guild was basically the DB Oblivion plot rehashed, although it proved to be one of the longest and best plotlines in Skyrim. The Mages Guild was disappointing. The main plot made the civil war redundant after a certain point. Did I have any motivation to do any of these, besides self-gain and sense of completion? No. Because it really doesn't affect the world. Bethesda should get George R. R. Martin to write their plots for The Elder Scrolls. At least they'd have some political intrigue to them, something that really made you want to continue with them and even start them. And something that didn't have you running somewhere to clear out a dungeon, find a lost sword, and bring it back. That kind of quest is everything I hate about roleplaying games of any type.
The enemies are repetitive. I must have fought over 1k Draugrs in my 70+ hours playing Skyrim. They get as dull as Daedra did. I would have liked it if dragon attacks actually meant something and seemed as random as they were meant to supposedly be. But after dying from a dragon attack in Makarth, reloading from five minutes previously, only to have the same dragon attack the same city... it didn't feel very random to me. Not even the type of dragon varied. It was exactly the same colour and type. I felt a little cheated when things like this started to happen.
Everything seemed very inconsequential in Skyrim altogether, and it seemed as though it was just another incidence of my character, the Dragonborn, solving all the problems that the citizens of Skyrim had. I need more opposition than a few evil elves and ancient dragons. I need them to burn down villages and arrest people in front of me. I need dynamic events which shape the world. I need something more than Skyrim appeared to offer but never delivered to me.
At least Jeremy Soule did another bang-up job of the music score.
7/10 - There was a lot lacking, but I had fun for 2-3 months before it became repetitive. Definitely not as engaging as previous installments.
