The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
How do you top perfection? WIth past Elder Scrolls titles like Oblivion and Morrowind, it seemed as though Bethesda set an impassable bar. But as always, they have struck gold with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, blowing all other RPGs out of the water.
After choosing from one of 10 races, players are almost immediately thrown into the expansive, open world of Skyrim, a province of Tamriel and home to the Nords. Right from the get-go, veteran players will realize the absence of a class system when creating their character. At first I was disappointed, I mean what kind of Elder Scrolls game doesn't have classes? Well, about 25 hours into the game, I've changed my stripes. This absence is a major improvement over past games, as it makes each play-through much more immersive and diverse. Long-gone are the days of creating character after character to vary up your gameplay. With this new feature, each character you create has unlimited possibilities and isn't hindered by a specification. As your skills level up, so does your character's over-all level. This means that if you start off using two-handed weapons for the first 10 levels, you can easily switch to archery and keep leveling up.
Also changed are the menus; now streamlined and more slick. Whether or not you like the change is matter of preference. Personally, I felt it didn't need to be changed, but the new interface works very well. The only thing it truly lacks and one of the only things Bethesda did wrong with Skyrim was not allowing you to see your character on the inventory screen. Why they chose to leave this out is beyond me, but it sure doesn't improve the game. But in the end it's more of a nitpicking issue than an actual degradation of the game's quality.
Following the Elder Scrolls standard of complete freedom in exploration, players are free to go anywhere and do anything. However, an engaging main storyline holds it all together.
Amidst a bloody civil war between the Imperial Army (Empire loyalists) and the Stormcloaks (the rebels looking to secede from the Empire), you soon find out that your character is the last of the Dovakiin, or Dragonborn, a hunter of dragons who can speak their language. Being such, you'll have to fit the job description and take out all the dragons in Skyrim. At first I was skeptical about the inclusion of dragons, thinking that they would be too prevalent and would take away from the rest of the game. Boy was I wrong.
This addition to the series is a welcome one; taking on a dragon head-to-head is exhilarating. You'll need to hone your skills and your wits to beat them down. On a harder difficulty at a lower level, it may seem like an almost impossible task, but once you finish it off, you're on top of the world.
The main quest only makes up a small percentage of the actual game. Making your way through the massive landscape and doing random quests will make up the majority of your experience.
Drudging through the roughly 16 square-mile map is absolutely phenomenal, whether you're playing in first-person or the incredibly improved third-person view. By foot and horseback, you'll spend a great deal of time exploring; which is more rewarding than any other Elder Scrolls title. Over 300 points of interest – anything from a house full of witches to massive dungeons filled with bandits – lay scattered throughout the map, waiting to be sacked.
Players can choose to be a wandering loner looting dungeons, join one of the many factions around Skyrim or take the middle road and do whatever comes your way. Whatever you decide to do, the result will be a gratifying and rewarding – making any play style totally fun.
Skyrim features seven joinable factions; four classic and three new. Elder Scrolls veterans will recognize the old groups despite some new names: the College of Winterhold (Mage's Guild), the Companions (Fighter's Guild), The Dark Brotherhood and the Thieve's Guild. New factions include the Bard's College, the Imperial Army and the Stormcloaks. The groups are varied as always and provide up to 100-plus hours of play-time. Also, when choosing a faction, pick carefully. Joining one group may mean that another becomes unavailable.
Combat in Skyrim is better than ever. New to the series is the feature of dual-wielding; one of the best additions in the game. This means holding a blade in one hand and casting spells with the other, making for some of the most engaging and exciting combat for any RPG on the 360. Speaking of spells, magic aesthetic has also been drastically improved. Instead of shooting a cheesy little fireball, you're casting a prolonged spout of fire, burning up everything in its path.
Once again however, skills have been dumbed-down. Instead of specializing in specific weapons, they are all categorized into either one-handed, two-handed or archery. Again, this is more a matter of preference than an actual game flaw. For me, the more skills the better. However, I can see how this has streamlined the gameplay and how it would appeal to a more mass audience.
Besides magic and melee, another new feature is the addition of dragon shouts. Twenty of these shouts can be learned by finding inscriptions littered throughout Skyrim. Every shout you learn carries with it a different power; force pushing, slowing down time, fire breath, etc. Finding every shout should prove as quite a challenge, given the massive size of the map.
Like previous Elder Scrolls titles, Skyrim sets the bar for breadth of scope. Over 120 quests and hundreds of hours of gameplay are all presented with great design and an incredible attention to detail. Every village, city and dungeon is unique and the quests that take you through these areas are all incredibly well-written and designed. Crossing the harsh and unforgiving lands in between the great holds (major cities) of Skyrim is a journey in itself; you'll have to fend off enemies like giants, woolly mammoths, bandits, wildlife, trolls and of course dragons through green dales and snowy peaks. In layman's terms – this game is freaking huge!
But what good is a big game if the graphics can't hold up? Luckily for us, graphics in Skyrim are better than ever before. Again, attention to detail is the name of the game and Bethesda has truly outdone themselves in this respect. Everything looks great: the sprawling holds, the dark and gritty dungeons, the stunningly beautiful backgrounds and of course the characters and items. Turning this game on feels like stepping into another world, one that through detail in both graphics and writing feels totally immersive.
The musical score by Jeremy Soule is a perfect testament to the man's undeniable genius. Working off his compositions for both Morrowind and Oblivion, Soule has created a very unique, yet familiar, sound that encompasses the Nordic-feel of the game. The main theme, Sons of Skyrim, features the chanting of a barbarian-like choir singing in their native language of Draconic. Aside from the main theme, Soule's varied and illustrious compositions resemble his work on Morrowind more so than Oblivion, and fit the settings of Skyrim perfectly. This score defines the word epic.
Voice work in Skyrim is fantastic, as should be expected from the big names brought onto the docket, such as Christopher Plummer, Lynda Carter and my favourite addition to the cast, everyone's favourite chess-playing knight, Max von Sydow. I couldn't believe it when I saw that he was involved and I found that his Swedish accent fits perfectly with the Scandinavian nature of Skyrim. NPCs seem genuine and natural through their speech, giving the game world an added touch of realism.
Highlights of Skyrim include the inclusion of dragons, dual-wielding and Jeremy Soule's musical score. As for things I didn't care for, the only things that really stood out to me were the absence of a character image in the inventory screen and a messy save screen, similar to the one in Oblivion (take a lesson from BioWare and have separate save screens for each character). But these negative gripes are just nitpicking and do not take away from the overall gameplay at all.
All of my prior conceptions and aspirations for a new Elder Scrolls game have been undoubtedly met and passed. The creativity and skill poured into this game makes it, in my opinion, the best game of 2011, and what's more, the best RPG of all time. Bethesda has outdone themselves. More than just an RPG, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is truly a living, breathing world. But don't just take my word for it -- step into the shoes of the Dragonborn and get ready for the experience of a lifetime.
Skyrim awaits.
