I have 134 hours of gameplay in Skyrim. Yesterday I noticed I hadn't done the main quest beyond unlocking all of Unrelenting Force. I opted to finish it. After that, I've decided to officially give this game the snapple review.
The Snapple Review - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
I have never anticipated a game's release as much as I did Skyrim. When the official teaser came out, I literally got chills up and down my spine. It's hard for me to go back and relive that moment. So much has happened in my life since then that it has been hard to rank my emotions about Skyrim over the things in my life (you know, planning a wedding, being told to quit helping with said wedding plans and such). Even so, my expectations about were amazingly high. So, I'll just get down to the gritty. I'll start with what jumped out at me to begin with. I won't talk about the environments, just the game play.
1.) The Leveling and Attribute (or lack-thereof)
I was incredibly please that they got rid of the leveling systems from Morrowind and Oblivion. Oblivion's was worse because of the asinine scaling system. Skyrim's leveling comes incredibly fluid and feels much more rewarding compared to the previous games. You don't have to sleep to level up anymore, and you got the rewards instantly. I guess it's hard to revel over it, it comes as much more standard compared to other games. But it is missing something. The attribute system could have been
fixed instead of
removed. This is a role playing game. I expect to have Strength, Intelligence and Stamina (which IS technically in the game) in the game, at least. I always thought the Elder Scroll games had it right with the different attributes and how they governed skills. To save this review from becoming an essay, here is a link that explains the attribute system in Oblivion and why it was so absurd (
https://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Leveling). There were modifications (mods) for the PC version that allowed players to "beat" the system. I used them because it made the game feel less, annoying? I never understood why ALL bandits had glass armor when I was level 50. Why? They're bandits! Remember the words I used to describe this? Absurd and asinine.
Now, like I said I used modifications to fix this. There was one, which it's name escapes me, that basically allowed you to get the max attribute points as long as you leveled a skill that was related to it. In Oblivion, you could only pick 3 attributes to increase on a level up, so the mod wasn't incredibly broken. But you could tell that it made the game different. I don't mean that in a good or bad way. The game just felt abused at that point. Like, why can't I play this game correctly? Then I would go back and try and remember
why I installed the mod in the first place.
What could Skyrim have done? Well, I'm not a game designer. I'm a gamer. I don't see anything wrong with just picking the attributes you want to level. You know, like every other RPG does. Get a level, get 10 or so attribute points and spend them wisely. Skyrim essentially lets you do that now (Magicka, Health and Stamina). But attributes in Oblivion affected gameplay more. Strength increased the damage you did. What does Skyrim introduce to fix that?
Perks. You are given a perk point at every level up. You choose a perk you want to level up in one of your skills to make it become more powerful. While I think the system is cool, it has some glaring flaws. First of all there are more than 250 perks available and you only get
80 maximum perk points per character. What the crap? Oblivion's crappy system aside, if I wanted to be an omnipotent harbinger of doom and destruction, I
could be. In Skyrim, I'm limited by my perk points. It makes some skills ultimately useless or impossible to use without the use of perks. Just look at the perk trees in any of the schools of magic. If you see "spells of this level cost 50% less magicka to cast" you'll see my point.
2.) Feeling "part" of the world and quests.
I feel that Skyrim really nails this point. There are essentially two points that are missed. For spoiler purposes, I'll just say there is no drastic change after the Dark Brotherhood and the Imperial/Stormcloak quest-lines. But, you feel like the world lives and breathes around you. People know you're the Dovahkiin. But some people don't care, some people don't buy into that stuff. It's like the world is today. The NPCs around the world have their own problems. There is a civil war going on, who the crap cares about the Dovahkiin when they can't put food on the table? I also love the blatant racism in the game. Nords hate anything that isn't a Nord. It's great.
I've read numerous complaints about quests being easy or quest-lines being too fast. Well, yeah sort of yes to both. But did you listen to the NPCs? Did you read the texts given to you? Did you allow yourself to be immersed in the lore? I didn't do that all the time, but it's there for you. If you actually pay attention to the story, you'll realize how much life there is in the world.
Either way, I feel part of the world and I cannot complain.
3.) Dragons OMGOSH WTHECK! (20 levels later) Ughhh dragons, OMGOSH WTHECK DRAUGR DEATHLORD
This part is small. Dragons are awesome. But I want them to be annoying and strong no matter what. Why are bears at low levels more of a threat than Dragons?
4.) Anything I've missed...
Smithing+Enchanting+Sneak really need to be fixed. Smithing shouldn't be able to be leveled to 100 on just iron daggers. Enchanting shouldn't be the best money maker. And sneak is just insanely good at level 100.
Destruction needs a serious boost. It is essentially useless at higher levels.
Bugs happen in all games. In a game as huge as this? Just save often. Get a bug? Load an older save. It isn't hard, sheesh.
Well, I have to say that this game is amazing and is miles beyond Oblivion in most aspects. In a few parts, that I highlighted, it falls short. In January when the Creation Kit is released, I expect many of these things to be fixed with mods. But, I do feel that sense of "I'm not playing the game the way it was made" with mods.
For me, 10/10, 100/100. The flaws are vastly outshined by the amazingness of the rest of the game.
Topic: SKYRIM!!! (Read 267429 times)
