Skyrim afterthoughts: I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow in the knee

It’s been almost a month with “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” and I still barely feel like I’ve scratched its surface. I hadn’t even completed one play-through yet before I started another and that second character’s game has played out pretty differently so far. I wanted to get out a few more points about the game that I didn’t think I conveyed in my review – so here they are.

-Favorite system is great and all but I wish the indication of what item is in what hand was a little clearer. I don’t have a huge HD TV and sitting across the room, the little L and R in the tiny arrow are indistinguishable. Would an arrow on the left and right side of the word been much more difficult to implement?

-As much as I talked up the outdoor environments, I didn’t really touch on the indoor areas at all. And I should have because Bethesda did a great job giving the myriad dungeons, caves, ruins, and towns each a different look and feel. Whereas dungeons and caves in “Oblivion” all had a similar feel to them, most areas in “Skyrim” have a unique design to them. It’s a real treat to be able to find, on my second play-through no less, new and interesting dungeons and ruins that I haven’t seen before.

-Tons of procedurally generated quests which actually amounts to, or makes it seem like, there are more quests than there actually are because, depending on how you play and the character traits you choose, the game will generate random encounters. For instance, my first character is mainly a melee fighter who uses little magic. My newest character (a Breton mage named Lothar) is already at level 10 and I’ve only played a few quests (including main quest missions) that I played in my previous play-through.

-While the new engine makes character models look great, the voice acting is still hit or miss. I didn’t want to use harsher terms because the voice-overs really aren’t that bad, just nothing special. And add in the repetitiveness of many NPC lines (you’ll hear the same lines from guards, blacksmiths, bandits and merchants all over Skyrim) and the voice acting in Skyrim can start to get on your nerves. A meme has already been born out of the repeated guard line “I used to be an adventurer like you until I took an arrow to the knee.”

-The difficulty of “Skyrim” is fairly well balanced. You’ll never feel too underpowered but by the same token, you’ll never feel too powerful either. Only one time (in over 70 hours of play) did I get stuck at the end of a long dungeon and needed to bump down the difficulty level so I could defeat an enemy.

-Speaking of the landscape, traversing it is fairly easy. In Bethesda games, I usually spend a fair amount of time jumping around on rocky cliff faces, trying to see if I can find/create a more direct route over rocks I know I’m not intended to be jumping on. In Skyrim, this approach seems more forgiving and it’s quite easy to get over some imposing obstacles. Companion pathing is not exactly great and they often have a hard time keeping up with my rather adventurous routes though.

-Lots of crafting available – smithing, enchanting, tanning, alchemy – and many schools of magic to learn spells in. Skyrim is a hostile land so Destruction and Restoration will probably be the most important to learn but each school can be useful in its own way.

-Speaking of crafting, there is a neat, easy trick to upping your Smithing ability. Despite your ability at the forge, you can always craft iron and hide objects. What you’ll need for this trick is a ton of iron ingots and leather straps. Once you’ve acquired those things (I’d recommend doing this in Whiterun since it has all the smithing tools you’ll need, plus it’s the only town I’ve seen with a smelter), go make as many iron daggers as you can. If you’re, let’s say, beneath level 40 in smithing, you should gain a new Smithing level for ever 3-4 daggers you make. I did this with my Ulf character (it’s especially helpful if you own the house in Whiterun, too, since it’s right next to the blacksmith shop) and went from never smithing anything to maxing out that ability in two days, tops. I’ve seen some people on the internet calling this strategy cheating – even though it totally isn’t. It’s a part of the game, folks. If Bethesda didn’t want you to take advantage of it, don’t you think they would’ve changed the amount of XP you receive from smithing daggers?

-The last point got me thinking about this – this is a Bethesda game so there are plenty of bugs. No game breaking glitches or anything outrageously serious, but in a game like “Skyrim” that contains so much content, it’d would be impossible for Bethesda to catch them all. Sure, some are annoying (a major quest in Dawnstar was pretty much shot for Ulf after the quest giver, who I was supposed to follow, decided to disappear forever) but most are kinda funny, like dragons flying backwards.

-I don’t know if there’s a level cap or not – I’ve read conflicting reports around the internet. I do know that skills are capped at 100, though. On one hand, I read that there is no cap. As long as you continue to upgrade your skills, you’ll continue to earn levels. Ulf, my warrior, is around level 43 and I’ve found that I’m running out of levels in the skills I use most often (like blocking and one-handed weapons). But on the other hand, I’ve heard that there is a soft level cap of 50, meaning that once you hit level 50, it is much harder to level up.

UPDATE: After a little searching I found a picture posted on reddit of a player who, allegedly, leveled up each skill tree and has an overall level of 81. But this is the internet, after all, so take it with a grain of salt.

-The level of detail on even a simple shield is pretty astounding. I think Bethesda knew it too because at loading screens (which there are many) it pops up a character, weapon, armor piece, statue, etc. and lets you rotate the piece and zoom in and out on it to really take in the incredible detail that went into each and every bit of the game.

-Skyrim never ceases to amaze me in every aspect. For instance, I haven’t stopped to admire a game’s background and scenery this much since RDR. During one mission, on my way to speak with the Greybeards, who live atop the largest mountain in Skyrim, The Throat of the World, I stood half way up the mountain and admired the scene – the sun just rising over the horizon, painting the snowy landscape a dull yet warm shade of orange. As I stood there, taking in the beauty of Skyrim, the game struck up a light, sublime melody of strings and choral arrangements, completing the setting. It just another of the innumerable but unforgettable moments “Skyrim” is capable of delivering.

-If you have even a mild form of ADD, you’ll never get anything done in Skyrim. Well you’ll do plenty of things, but goals you set or quests you mark (especially ones in unexplored areas and therefore can’t be reached by fast travel) will often go un-completed as you explore the land and find new towns, mines, castles, monuments, ruins – all the while collecting more quests that will continue to fill your journal. For instance, I found a few “unusual stones” in the course of my journey and was given a Miscellaneous quest (read: not even important enough to be considered a sidequest) to take it to an appraiser in the city of Riften. Having never explored the Rift region of Skyrim, I was in for a long walk to my destination. On my way there I ran into a group of Orcs who needed help defending themselves from giants trying to run them off their land, a repentant witch who needed my help killing her former witch friends and, just as I finally neared my destination, I became fascinated by new markings on my compass that I had never seen before and decided to investigate, all the while having to defend myself from rampaging trolls, sabrecats, bears and numerous other unsavory denizens of Skyrim along the way. That’s at least an hour or two of extra time added just making the trip to get some stones checked out. But “Skyrim” is so incredibly fun and well-crafted that you barely even notice time flying by.

I could probably keep going on and on about Skyrim, but I’ll stop right there. If you’ve got any of your own thoughts about the game – let me know in the comments!

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - FUS RO DAH!

“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.” The reason a lot of your friends haven’t been around lately. The reason why this blog hasn’t been updated in weeks. And it’s the game you’re probably wishing you were playing instead of reading this. “Skyrim” is nothing short of epic and developer Bethesda Softworks has a massive hit on its hands. Hell, “Skyrim” is the first Western RPG to be awarded a perfect 40/40 by the well-known Japanese gaming magazine “Famitsu.” This review, honestly, won’t be very in depth. Not because there isn’t much to discuss about this game – actually it’s the opposite. Trying to convey the experience that is “Skyrim” is like trying to describe the ocean to someone from Kansas – you can give someone an idea of what it’s like but they’ll never truly understand unless they experience it first hand. And trust me, you need to experience “Skyrim” first hand.

This installment of the popular Bethesda series takes players to the frozen northlands of Skyrim. The ancestral home of the Nords, Skyrim is embroiled in major political upheaval. As the Empire tries to extend its reach and power into Skyrim, it has been met with a significant amount of resistance from a group of Nords known as Stormcloaks. Led by the charismatic Ulfric Stormcloak, the rebellion is accusing the Empire of trying to diminish their traditional ways of life, while the Stormcloaks are seen as nothing but troublemakers stirring up unnecessary resentment for Empire. Players are free to choose a side in this brewing civil war, but aren’t forced to choose as there is a bigger threat facing Skyrim. Dragons, once thought to be only legend, have returned to Skyrim and are every day endangering more and more of the land’s citizens.

With dragons raining down death on the innocent people and a growing political rift, Skyrim is a dangerous place to be. At the game’s outset, players take up the (usual for Bethesda games) role of a random prisoner who, through unforeseen circumstances, is set free and given free reign. After spending a short amount of time on the main quest, it is revealed that the player is a Dovahkiin – a dragonborn, one born with the soul and blood of a dragon. As a dragonborn, the player is also able to use Shouts, the language of the dragon. Though it takes a lifetime for most to learn even the simplest Shout, being a dragonborn gives you an innate knowledge of Shouts and are able to use them effortlessly.

Now is about the time where writing this review will become difficult. Not just because I’d much (MUCH) rather be playing Skyrim than writing about it but because outside of improved graphics, updated gameplay and an improved engine, not much has changed for the “Elder Scrolls” series. Which, depending on whether you’re a fan of Bethesda’s games, could be great or unsettling.

The most obvious change to longtime fans of the series will be the major graphical overhaul. Those familiar with the way “Oblivion,” “Fallout 3,” and “Fallout: New Vegas” looked will most likely need to do a double-take when seeing “Skyrim” for the first time. Using an entirely new engine, “Skyrim” offers some of the most intensely vibrant and breathtaking environments ever seen in video games. More times than I can count I’ve stopped questing just to look around and take in my surroundings. From rocky plains, dense forests and the numerous jutting mountain ranges, complete with swirling snow that is rendered in real time, I often get more caught up taking in the sights of Skyrim than with finding a new home for my war axe inside the face of a roving bandit (aka a long-winded way of saying I’m usually more interested in looking at pretty stuff than fighting people).

Character models and animation also benefit greatly from the enhanced engine. For example, those who played “Oblivion” will remember (perhaps not so fondly) how your character seemingly skated around the environment when played in the third-person view or how character models looked less like actual people and more like a cloning experiment gone horribly wrong. Character actions/animations in “Skyrim” have a much more visceral feel and look about them, giving players a deeper connection to the world they are affecting. Also, improved character models make NPCs (non-player characters) seem more like actual inhabitants of the world around you and less like pieces of the environment.

To further compliment the incredible visual aspects of “Skyrim,” Bethesda has once again composed and included an amazing arrangement of music and sound design. The music runs the gamut from soft, subtle melodies to pounding and epic at a moment’s notice and always at just the right time. The sound of swords clanging off shields, the sound of a dragon’s leathery wings flapping as it rains down death or the creak of musty skeletons as they advance on you all sound crisp and clear.

Though the visuals have received a major overhaul, the actual gameplay of “Skyrim” hasn’t changed a whole lot since “Oblivion.” Spells and weapons can be used by either hand and dual wielding spells can offer a supercharged version of that spell. Equipping a spell/weapon/shield in either hand can still be done through the inventory menu but “Skyrim” also features an incredibly useful “Favorites” menu. Accessed with the D-pad, any weapon, spell, potion, or piece of armor can be quickly equipped to either hand without needing to open the menu proper.

Speaking of menus, gone is the cumbersome and sometimes complicated menu system of “Oblivion.” Now, the most important aspects of your inventory can be accessed with the press of a button and a flick of the left stick. Pressing the B button brings up the menu selection screen. Up opens your skills, right opens your inventory (like weapons, armor, potions, books, etc.), down opens your map and left opens your magic menu. While the magic and inventory menus are fairly straightforward (also, just a note, your Active Effects are listed at the bottom of the magic menu so you can tell if you’re just suffering from a simple poisoning or picked up a full-blown case of vampirism), the map and skills menu have changed slightly.

Well the map is still a map – that can’t really change all too much. However, the look of it may catch you off guard at first. Rather than a hand-drawn representation of the game world (you know, like a map you’re holding and looking at) the map in “Skyrim” is a zoomed-out overview of the game world itself. Think of it as Google Earth view of Skyrim. As stylish as it is, I sometimes find myself wanting a more traditional looking map. The way the map is now it even includes cloud cover and can obscure your view of details on the ground, sometimes forcing additional exploring that could’ve been avoided with a clearer map. I appreciate Bethesda trying to do something different with the map but most of the time, I’d rather have a regular ol’ map.

While the change to the map wasn’t all that great, the latest stylization of the skills menu is perfect. Each skill tree (of which there are many) is now represented by a constellation. The great thing about “Skyrim’s” skill trees is that any character has the ability to become proficient in any skill. Some character races start off with increased stats in select trees (such as elves or bretons with magic) but in “Skryim,” the more a skill is used, the more it will level up and there is no pool of overall XP. What this means is, completing quests do not offer up XP points as a reward. Increasing individual skills goes to earning your next level, which offers an increase to magicka, health or stamina as well as a skill point that can be added to any skill tree. “Skyrim” is incredibly flexible in terms of allowing the creation of a character that perfectly suits your style of play. My character for instance (a level 41 Imperial named Ulf), is mainly a melee fighter who uses heavy armor and healing spells. As such, the majority of my points were invested into One-Handed weapons, Heavy Armor, Blocking, Smithing (to create some heavy-duty armor and weapons) and Restoration magic with a handful of points in things like Lockpicking, Archery, and Destruction magic.

Though creating a character has been cleaned up and streamlined, combat is largely the same as it was in “Oblivion.” The left and right trigger use whatever is equipped to that hand and combat usually boils down to “mash on the triggers until everything is dead.” To be honest, not every engagement is this simplistic. But for all that Bethesda has talked up the improved combat system, I haven’t noticed much difference between this game and its predecessor.

Even though the combat system may be largely similar to the previous “Elder Scrolls” game, the level of detail that is included in every aspect of “Skyrim” is just astounding. The amount of content available in “Skyrim,” and the variety of that content, can keep the average person occupied for an almost indefinite amount of time. Even a gamer like me, who becomes obsessed with seeing as much of a new game as possible, will probably never see all that “Skyrim” has to offer – it’s just that massive.

Sure, the overwhelming size and amount of content in “Skyrim” could be enough to frighten many away. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve seen plenty of friends’ gaming habits change substantially and many (socially well-adjusted) gamers just won’t have the time required to sink into “Skyrim.” But those who choose to delve into the amazing fantasy world will no doubt find more than enough to keep occupied with and will be treated to what will, no doubt, be the 2011 Game of the Year (sorry, Batman, you need to work on your timing better).