Reviews - Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[HEXUS]

Dragons return to Tamriel in Bethesda's epic RPG.

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[kalniel]

"Players choose a class that specialises in a particular area"

Oh no they don't

[Ferral]

I am gutted that I have to wait till Christmas before playing Skyrim, wife has told me not to buy it as she wants to get me the edition with the dragon statue. So started playing Oblivion again, replaced my disc version with the Steam Deluxe edition, hooked again already!

Cant wait for Skyrim though, ploughed around 240 hours into Oblivion first playthrough, will probably get about that out of it again this time round. Going on the cons on this review looks like it will be about the same playtime.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Kal which do u prefer? witcher 2 or this?

Im getting skyrim next month

[kalniel]

Kal which do u prefer? witcher 2 or this?

Im getting skyrim next month

Very hard to pick a preference - they are very different styles of game. The Witcher 2 is better looking, takes place in a better setting, has a better story, has better characters etc. But it's a finite, if intense, experience. Skyrim, like all Elder Scrolls games, might as well be infinite - you have to put in the imagination to bring the world to life a bit more, and gloss over the weaker points, but if you can do that then it's a proper little virtual world that you can come back to for years. In The Witcher 2 you play a story. In Skyrim you make a story.

So they're as good as each other really, they just do different things. I have more room in my life for the shorter intense experience, just because I have less free time than I used to, but I've got time for one long term game, so Skyrim might as well be that one, and I can fit in The Witcher 2, Diablo 3 etc around it. As a PC gamer you should get both.

PS Tarinder, they still don't choose a class. You only chose race, gender and name (and play with a brilliant character look generator - how many beards?!).

[Lucio]

My arguement against Skyrim is the clumsy PC port, the menus are horrid with a mouse, far too easy to misclick and close a screen.

Dragons are also a disappointment, far too hard to engage them when swooping overhead, plus the occasional random insta-kills.

Still, this aside it's definitely addictive!

[Lucio]

My arguement against Skyrim is the clumsy PC port, the menus are horrid with a mouse, far too easy to misclick and close a screen.

Dragons are also a disappointment, far too hard to engage them when swooping overhead, plus the occasional random insta-kills.

Still, this aside it's definitely addictive!

[dfour]

I have played about 5 minutes but am to addicted to bf3 atm to play much more. Love the look of it though and loved oblivion, how much of my life have elder scrolls games taken up

[McPhee]

I've played way too much Skyrim in the past week. The game is like crack. It doesn't help that it takes ages to do anything, so in order to feel like you've actually achieved anything you need to plough a couple of hours at a time in to the game. As a rule, there's no such thing as a quick quest. It might sound simple, but it rarely is, and there's always loads of stuff to distract you while travelling to the quest destination (on your criminally slow horse).

Criticisms from me so far?
Taking on groups of enemies in melee feels really awkward. They need to take some inspiration from The Witcher 2 there (or heck, even the Batman Arkham games).
Horses are far too slow.
I have high Sneak (somewhere around 70). I can stand right in front of a guard and he won't see me unless I move quickly. I actually got a Sneak Attack on someone's face earlier. I mean, what the...? What's level 100 going to be like?
No way to make arrows. I'm using an Elven bow with Iron and Steel arrows because I can't find a good supply of better. I've got a handful of assorted other arrows, but they aren't much use given the rate I burn through them (I can rarely be bothered to go looking for the ones that miss or recover them from corpses).

[kasavien]

I have high Sneak (somewhere around 70). I can stand right in front of a guard and he won't see me unless I move quickly. I actually got a Sneak Attack on someone's face earlier. I mean, what the...? What's level 100 going to be like?
No way to make arrows. I'm using an Elven bow with Iron and Steel arrows because I can't find a good supply of better. I've got a handful of assorted other arrows, but they aren't much use given the rate I burn through them (I can rarely be bothered to go looking for the ones that miss or recover them from corpses).

Sneaking is probably a bit over powered, i took on a draugr deathlord last night, from not very far away with bow and arrow, every time i hit him i expected him to say 'wtf just happened?!' he came looking for me, but never saw me even though i was hiding behind an urn right next to him Somethings are better at finding you though, I found that out when i tried to take on an arch necromancer with the same tactics.

I have a very odd build at the moment, i'm a sneaking, bow using, heavy armour wearing, desctruction mage at the moment. I love this game!!

I was playing it last night, and there's just so much to do, I thought i'd take a break from the main quests and just wander around and complete some of my miscellaneous quests. Before I new it, it was time for bed and that was another evening gone.

Great game

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Very hard to pick a preference - they are very different styles of game. The Witcher 2 is better looking, takes place in a better setting, has a better story, has better characters etc. But it's a finite, if intense, experience. Skyrim, like all Elder Scrolls games, might as well be infinite - you have to put in the imagination to bring the world to life a bit more, and gloss over the weaker points, but if you can do that then it's a proper little virtual world that you can come back to for years. In The Witcher 2 you play a story. In Skyrim you make a story.

So they're as good as each other really, they just do different things. I have more room in my life for the shorter intense experience, just because I have less free time than I used to, but I've got time for one long term game, so Skyrim might as well be that one, and I can fit in The Witcher 2, Diablo 3 etc around it. As a PC gamer you should get both.

PS Tarinder, they still don't choose a class. You only chose race, gender and name (and play with a brilliant character look generator - how many beards?!).

i got withcer 2 already. great game so far and i will get skyrim too

[nibbler]

Starting to think that since I get literally 0 gaming done at university I should get skyrim and properly do nothing over xmas.... or is that a terrible idea?

[kwai]

I've played way too much Skyrim in the past week. The game is like crack. It doesn't help that it takes ages to do anything, so in order to feel like you've actually achieved anything you need to plough a couple of hours at a time in to the game. As a rule, there's no such thing as a quick quest. It might sound simple, but it rarely is, and there's always loads of stuff to distract you while travelling to the quest destination (on your criminally slow horse).

Criticisms from me so far?
Taking on groups of enemies in melee feels really awkward. They need to take some inspiration from The Witcher 2 there (or heck, even the Batman Arkham games).
Horses are far too slow.
I have high Sneak (somewhere around 70). I can stand right in front of a guard and he won't see me unless I move quickly. I actually got a Sneak Attack on someone's face earlier. I mean, what the...? What's level 100 going to be like?
No way to make arrows. I'm using an Elven bow with Iron and Steel arrows because I can't find a good supply of better. I've got a handful of assorted other arrows, but they aren't much use given the rate I burn through them (I can rarely be bothered to go looking for the ones that miss or recover them from corpses).

have you tried robbing someone by placing a pot over their head?

[andyjohn3]

Can't wait to get this game (xmas present). I'm trying to finish off my other games in preparation. So does this game have a choice of different species like in Oblivion (Orc, High Elf, wood elf etc...)

[GingerNinjaRay]

This definitely deserved GOTY, not been so addicted to a game in a long time. Found myself counting down the hours to get home so I could play it, shame to hear mage's aren't as strong in later levels though

[j.o.s.h.1408]

i just bought my first house in Whitehall