Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim (2012, RPG)

A Quest only for the Dragonborn

Graphics -9.5
Sound -9
Gameplay -8
Difficulty -8
Overall - 8.5

The Elder Scrolls Saga continues in this epic action adventure game set in the Norse land of Skyrim. Developed by Bethesda Studios, Skyrim closely resembles its other works such as Fallout 3. But make no mistake Skyrim is a world apart. The game often makes references to previous Elder Scrolls games such as referring to the "Oblivion Incident" as well as Morrowind Hence keeping true to its roots.

Skyrim offers a huge and open world, even from the get go you are allowed to explore this huge huge world. Spreading well over a 30 square miles, you'll spend hours upon hours of open world exploration and questing.  Filled with Dragons, monsters, wildlife and the occasional bandits Skyrim can be a dangerous world to explore at first. But as you gain in power traversing this world can be as easy as a walk in the park. You might be thinking with such a huge world exploration might get tiresome. This is where Skyrim truly shines as a open world game. Boasting arguably gaming's most beatiful graphics, travesing through Skyrim can be a feast to the eyes.

Just as its predecessor Skyrim offers you to play as a wide range of classes and races offering a high degree of re playability. And while the game has classes such as Mages, Warriors, Rouges and Archers Skyrim does not make a huge fact of it and hence does not limit you from developing your character the way you want. Hence your mage will not face penalties for waring heavy Armour nor will your Knight be limited in spell casting. As long as you have developed your character in a way that has met the basic requirements of the skill, you are good to go. This by far is one of Skyrim's best features. 

Expect to meet plenty of Dragons. Most of them will be unfriendly

While Skyrim is similar to Fallout its Leveling and Quest mechanics differ a lot. There is no concept of Experience points in Skyrim, instead you gain levels by leveling up your abilities. You can level up your magi skills, warriors skills or thief skills by virtue of use. This means you are not thrown in to the class you decide at the beginning of the game (as is the case of many games) but instead need to build up your character according to the class you want. If you want to build a tank that can hold up loads of damage you need to improve heavy Armour, shield and health skills. Else if you want a sniper that can take out targets from afar you need to focus on archery, stealth and light Armour skills. The choice is yours and make no mistake there is plenty to choose from. Leveling your lower level skills is easy a few clicks here and a few more clicks there and you easily level up your skill. However higher level skills can be time consuming and tedious. Skyrim does however give you a method of improving skills via NPC's but at a cost. You'll have to do a few quests or spend some gold in order to level up the skill in this manner. When you improve enough skills you level up. And at each level up you can improve either your health, magic or stamina ( need for melee combat) by 10. you also get a perk per level that you need to use wisely.

So might you ask what point do quests play. We''ll apart from holding this fabulous game together via its story line they also provide rewards such as skill upgrades, gold and  special items. In general quests can be broken into Main Quests, Sub Quests and Repeatable Quests. Main Quests do not necessarily mean it is tied to the main story line. Just as in Fallout 3 These quests branch out but are held together by a common story bond and provide a nice backstory to Skyrim. For example your main quest may be to fight dragons but at the same time you can choose to help one of few factions within the game. Sub Quests usually start off from some gossip or some reading material.  These can develop into main quests or just end quickly. Finally there are repeatable quests that are there to help you horn your skills and make some extra cash.

Other aspects include Creating items and Owning a house. Item Creation is a huge aspect in the game and it has 3 skills dedicated to it. Blacksmithing allows you to build and improve weapons and Armour, Enchanting allows you to add special effects to them such as fire or frost damage bonus to weapons and finally Alchemy allows you to create potions that might give you the extra edge needed to win a battle. Apart from this you can also own your very own house and even get married. Build up enough reputation within a kingdom and the Jarl ( King / Queen ) may appoint you as a Thane ( Sort of a Knight) and if you can pump in enough cash you can even buy your own property.

Making your own items can be fun

The gameplay is a absolute blast. You'll spend on average 100+ hours battling a wide range of enemies including Dragons. And in no way does the game limit your ability to engage in battle. Spells, Arrows, Stealth or Brute Force. How you kill your enemy is up to you to decide. This experience is further improved when you consider the games seamless combat mechanism. The only downside is that when your character reaches a high level you can pretty much blast off all enemies with  relative ease, even on the hardest setting. 

To aid you in your endeavor you can choose a companion. These companions are however few and far between and their AI is kinda messed up. Often they'll act as pack mules carrying the extra weight rather than do anything useful.  

As huge as Skyrim is it is inevitable that it is filled with its fair share of bugs. Graphic glitches, Broken side Quests and the rare crash may hinder your progress but thankfully these are few are far between and wont bother you too much. There are also other aspects of disappointment. These may contain Spoilers so you may not want to read on. Unlike in the Fallout series where almost every decision you made had a impact on the end game Skyrims decision making seems very shallow. And in some cases the game doesn't even allow you to choose. For example in one quest you must bring a priest in as a sacrifice. Once you trap him the dreada ( God like creature) traps you as well and forces you to kill him. This didn't bode we'll with me who happens to be a goody two shoes. Incidentally the main reason that your decisions don't count is the fact that there is no end game. Yes as unbelievable as it sounds there are no cinematic, no lengthy cut-scenes, no nothing. Which leaves you with a huge emptiness, especially if you decide to complete the Dragon-born quest line first. Finally the PC version does feel like a port at times. Lack of hotkeys, average inventory management system and pathing that sometimes do not work are some examples of this.

In summary these flaws are generally highlighted for someone who has played the Fallout series. You just cant shake that feeling of how complete the game would have been only if it had improved these aspects as it is in Fallout. Having said that Skyrim is a wonderful game that you would enjoy for hours to come. Even the most hardcore hater would play this game for what seems like a eternity. And with the endless amount of mods and DLCs streaming in you can expect plenty of bang for your money.

The Bottom line:
Skyrim is everything you could ever hope for in a sequel. And you'll play endless hours adoring, questing and enjoying every single aspect of it.