I’m so bloody excited for this game, so I decided to round up some of the stellar reviews from some of my favourite gaming sites.
I’ve dabbled in Elder Scrolls games before, but they always seemed to be the wrong combination of intimidatingly huge and mechanically clunky (not to mention kind of ugly). Skyrim is the chapter that’s finally pulled me in, and suddenly I find myself smitten with the series. Not just the games, but the lore, and the insane level of thought that’s been invested in the world of Tamriel. I have every intention of seeing this game to its end, even if that demands months of my life. It’s not a perfect creation by any means, but I can happily overlook the flaws for a little more time with my wonderful, deadly Lady. Now if you’ll excuse me, she and I have about 40 open quest lines to resolve, and there are only so many hours in the day for picking off bandits with well-aimed arrows from the dark.
Skyrim can do epic, that’s a given. It is, however, the little things that make The Elder Scrolls V what it is. The game is stuffed to its brim with tiny flourishes that seem so insignificant yet make the world of difference between a game that feels like a game, and a game that feels like it’s alive. Swimming in a river to catch some fish, dropping an unwanted item on the floor and having an NPC “helpfully” return it to you, gaining a trusty follower who comments on your actions and surrounding locations — these are the things that really place Skyrim a cut above the rest. Long after gamers have stopped recounting grand scrimmages against tribes of giants, talk will persist of that time an elf tried to sell a player some drugs outside of town, or the bandits that attempted to scare the hero away rather than blindly attack. To talk of such tiny details in a game where storm clouds can be summoned at will sounds silly, but without these minor touches, the overall ambitious scale would mean much less.
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is every single reason to love a Western role-playing game, condensed into a single comprehensive experience with nothing lost in the conversion process. It is a game that will drown those who step into its absorbing, overwhelmingly detailed world, a game that will bury you and refuse to let go. Yet your submergence will be agreeable, your burial ecstatic, and the hands placed around your throat welcomed like those of a lover’s. To play Skyrim is to enter into a relationship, one that provides feelings of empowerment, yet demands total submission.
Submit you will, for The Elder Scrolls V is the new zenith of role-playing games and it commands you to look up.
I have to agree. Plenty of games have set out to create open, lively worlds that feel just as human as the one we inhabit. Perhaps none has come as close as Skyrim.
An absolutely first-rate roleplaying game that combines an abundance of content with an abundance of quality. The outdated design elements are unfortunate but not so distracting that it ruins the depth of the story, the openness of the setting, or the visceral joys of combat.
Anyone else getting (or already have) Skyrim?
I want it badly as well but just don’t have the time to get sucked into the game. I’ll probably get round to it closer to Christmas time.
It’s coming out today, on my birthday; I’m going to be inundated with copies, and I will love EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. :D
After having exhausted the heck out of Oblivion and innumerable mods, the years-long wait for this sequel is over. I will have my copy in my grubby little hands within the day. Then bid me farewell for the year…
I’m so gearing up for Skyrim! I’m more of a video game watcher these days than a video game player but my roommate is nuts for the Elder Scrolls series and has been doing a countdown ever since the pre-order. I’m actually rushing to finish my NaNoWriMo project over half a month early just so I can watch her play it without any other obligations!
I’ve been waiting many long months for this day. Can’t wait to dive in!
I’ve been waiting for this for months, and picking up my copy tomorrow because of my work schedule. It is, by far, my most anticipated game – ever.
Thanks for posting up some reviews, Aidan, I’m going to crosspost a link.
My computer cannot handle it and it’s not on OnLive (and probably won’t be for a long time, if ever). So, not for a while :-(
What’s the big deal about this? I never heard of it until yesterday.
My computer can’t handle it and I have none of the newer consoles, so chances are I will be playing this years from now after fishing it from the bottom of a bargain bin on an old used console hooked up to my thirty year old television.
I’ve spent upwards of 80 hours already in the game and I’ve barely scratched the surface of the game. I am having even more fun than I anticipated (and I anticipated A LOT) just living in Skyrim, learning and improving my skills, making a purse-load of money, and of course taking on a mission now and again.