Greetings GAFers. I have been wanting to express my thoughts on Skyrim for quite some time now. As a person who thoroughly played Morrowind and the Tribunal expansion. As well as Oblivion and the Shivering Isle's expansion. There are alot of mixed emotions I have with Skyrim. And when I say mixed I simply mean a composition of feelings there are full of joy and some with utter bitterness. I will do the best I can to recall my rants/raves about the game. It has been a few weeks since I beat the game.
Well for starters I felt like Bethesda did a excellent job at striking the balance between creating a world that is ''foreign'' yet also ''familiar''. The Province/Country of Skyrim has elements of mystery as well as majesty. Major Cities like Solitude had a familiar ''feel'' to its appearance. Were as Windhelm gave you the vibe of a city with a great history reaching as far back to Ysgramor himself. It really helped give me idea's to imagine of what Atmora cities may have looked like before Proto-Nedic people came to Skyrim. And when it comes to the wilderness that environments were nicely varied. Going from places like The Throat of the World to the most inner depths of Blackreach was absolutely epic and enthralling at times. Bethesda did a great job with Skyrim and making it a place that had strong variation that really gave you the desire to explore every inch available.
Then when it comes to class/leveling/skill system. I chose to go with a Orc Warrior with heavy armor and two-handed weapon setup. I was very pleased with the experience I had with this setup. Being able to utilized some of the perks in the block tree with two-handed weapons was cool. Even though it is not as effective as a shield. Being able to block then power bash a opponent only to cripple them with a power attack by a warhammer while wearing heavy armor made my Orc truly feel like a force to reckon with. On top of the Berserker Rage that was always held on reserve for my ''oh shit'' moments.
I am glad that Bethesda decided to combine certain skills and remove a lot of the redundant aspects that the previous games had. I don't see a problem with simplifying a element in your game that was never really complicated to begin with. Like what they did by having you choose Magicka/Health/Stamina and leveling those stats up directly instead of having to indirectly level those skills up by picking attributes. Also with skills when it comes to stuff like acrobatics or athletics (two skills I felt that were really redundant) that were done away with or combining skills like Daggers/Swords/Maces/Axes and just making a simple ''Two Handed/One Handed/Dual Wielding just felt ''right'' when playing and leveling up skills of my choosing. Now with the perk system they can truly implement unique abilities that can only be acquired by leveling up a particular skill. Like with ''Sneak'' and being able to do a silent roll, or being light footed to avoid setting off traps. Then having a ability like ''Cleave'' from the Two Handed skill. Allowing you to completely wreck three bandits simultaneously was awesome.
Even though with video games becoming more mainstream. I felt like the consolidation that was done with Stats/Skills was appropriate but Bethesda did not compromise the ''Identity'' of those said skills. So you still ''felt'' like a Warrior/Rogue/Mage when leveling up and choosing perks (which I felt further increased your own sense of identity and uniqueness). And with so may perks to choose from, even if you were increasing the scope and power of your character little by little it gave me a great sense of progression going from Zero to Hero. From being this lowly person who was on his way to execution to rising above the ruins of Helghan and truly becoming this legend. I really felt like when I hit the level 40 zone and up I truly had become this ''Dovahkhin''.
Now onto the quests (from the main quest all the way to the random miscellaneous ones). Starting with the four main guild quests, I was really underwhelmed with ''The Companions'' quest chain. Even though you come to learn of their ''curse'' and become a pivotal part in helping them reaching their redemption. It was nice to learn more about Ysgrammor and the origins of the companions. While the overall scheme was nice, parts like the reforming of ''Wuuthrad'' felt really anti-climatic. But in the end It felt really cool knowing you helped The Companions redeems themselves from their plight.
The Thieves guild quest chain felt more complete and fulfilling. It starts out with the simple theme of using your uncommon talents to make profit and keep a low profile. And then nicely builds up by learning the true nature of the guild leader Mercer Frey. And ultimately helping the Thieves guild return to their former glory. Overall this quest chain was nicely done and truly fulfilling.
The College of Winterhold while alluding to some really cool and great ideas never really becomes fulfilled and while what you experience in this quest chain is really cool. It just felt too damn short and kinda cheap. Especially with the Archmage Savos Aren having such a brief existence in the quest chain. I felt like that dude just got thrown to the wayside simply because Bethesda didn't really know what to do with his story/character.
The Dark Brotherhood I felt was really freaking awesome. I would rank it slightly below the Thieves Guild quest chain because of how the leader of the Falkreath Sanctuary Astrid totally disregarded the old ways of the Dark Brotherhood by no longer heeding the call of the Night Mother and Sithis. And I will say it again I really loved the development of the quest chain and the characters that inhabited it. But there were certain ideas that I really wished ended up being fleshed out. Like how the ghost of Lucien Lachance makes a reference of their being something amiss within the void (The Dwelling place of Sithis/Night Mother) while choosing wether or not to let Cicero live. And when you learn that the Falkreath Sanctuary is basically the last known residents of the Dark Brotherhood. And then when you finish the quest chain. You really wonder what Bethesda plans to do next with the Dark Brotherhood considering how close they were to the brink of utter annihilation.
The Civil War quest chain was so damn cut and dry to me. The closest it got to being cool was searching for the Jagged Crown and at the very end where General Tallius talks about the Thalmor/Aldemeri Dominion wanting them to fight and kill themselves to make it easier to rule over Skyrim as well as the rest of Tamriel. The rest of the quest chain was ''go here, and kill [Insert Number] members of the opposing faction''. Really disappointed with this.
Then we come down to the main course with the Main Story quest chain. While the quality of it was superb and it does a good job of delivering the ''epic'' moments. I felt like it was too short. I did like learning more about the blades and the bloodline of the ''Dragonborn''. As well as Bethesda really enforcing the power of this ancient prophecy. But at times I felt like being the ''Dovahkhin'' was being shoved down your throat at times. And some of the dialogues options were so damn retarded at times. You had stuff that really borderlines ridiculous. On the scope of ''HAY GUYZ, I IS HERO AND AM HERE TO SAVE YOU FROM THE DARGONS!''. I really didn't like the design choice of their being literally only two blades left that were there to help you fulfill your destiny. As well as the conflict between the Greybeards and Paarthurnax and the Blades. You would really think they would find some common ground and figure out how to defeat Alduin instead of dividing themselves. I of course went with the Greybeards and Paarthurnax because they actually helped me develop into becoming the dragonborn of legend. Where as the blades did little to nothing to help me. Overall the quality of this quest chain was great. I just felt like instead of scaling and climbing the Mountain of Destiny to combat my great enemy at its peak. It felt like Bethesda decided to use a catapult to hull me at the top.
Voice acting seemed really hit and miss at times. And the funny thing is even though Oblivion had the same repeating voice actors (something that was complained about). I often recall finding those repeating voice actors to be more believable with the lines they needed to deliver. For the most part the voice acting in Skyrim was either annoying or unnecessary (Worst Culprits are guards and merchants). High points were Esbern (Max Von Sydow is the man). Hearing the dragons speak with the Thu'um. Lowest point had to be Ulfric Stormcloak (I am not that desperate for great voice acting, but I truly found the voice acting of this character dreadful). I will say Bethesda did the right choice by allowing conversations to be held in real time. But I think the KEY aspect that Bethesda is missing to truly have great dialogue is still missing. From someone who has played Dragon Age Origins I really liked being part of conversations that would consist of three or more people simultaneously. Even though it was all done in real time, you are still ''focused'' on one character at a time which was really turn off for me. At the very least guild quest chains as well as the main quest could have had sequences were you would conversate with several NPC's at once. I guess my main point is a dialogue system that does a better job at interconnecting the player with more than one NPC at a time. Were you get the feeling that you are experiencing the delicious cake as a whole instead of very tasty yet very small individual slices.
Almost forgot about the Daedric quest. Freaking brilliant. Loved them all really. Truly one of the highpoints of Skyrim.
Overall when it comes to quest and story related topics. There were a lot of cool idea's that were proposed to the player that never really got fulfilled. I really wished the world was more responsive and thorough with the choices you make in the game. For someone who did the Main Quest/Dark Brotherhood/Thieves Guild/The Companions/College of Winterhold/Civil War Quest. I didnt really get the feeling that the world was responding to my actions/accomplishments. I am not asking for someone to hump my leg, but I felt they did a better job in Fallout 3. The world really responded to the decisions you made in Fallout 3. And I wished Skyrim at least had a equal of response to the actions of the Dovahkhin.
Companions/Followers on the other hand seemed like they only existed to be your mule/donkey to carry your extra loot and spoils. Early on during leveling they are of course really helpful, but later on they become less and less useful. From playing New Vegas, and being spoiled by the great job Obsidian did with its companion paradigm. I was really underwhelmed with the way Bethesda handled the companion/follower paradigm. They really just exist to help you make more gold. (Which I didnt really need. I think i was at 350K level 53). And Marriage is a joke, (even though I personally was not remotely interested in courtship with any character. Mainly because I just didnt think it fit with the Dovahkhin prophecy.) , but I could see people being really interested in having a NPC to have courtship would be really disappointed.
I will not go deep into my rants, most of them have already been stated and people are aware of. I played as a Orc Warrior level 53 with 151 hours on the PD3 version of the game. While the experience was well worth it and I had a great time playing the game. My overall feeling was that Bethesda made the mistake of putting too much time in creating the world around you while leaving the inhabitants of the land lacking. Yes the game did indeed have great scale, but at times I found that beyond the exploration Skyrim. The game was lacking its charm in other areas. Bethesda I feel truly has great potential and will keep improving overtime. But with games on a scale such as this. They really need to take more time to polish the game before releasing it. Especially when you take into account how abysmal the performance of the PS3 version is.
Sorry if my post was too much. But I felt that since Skyrim is a game with alot of depth and scale. I felt it would only be appropriate to express my thoughts on the game with a post of equal scale. I am sure there are a few things I forgot to mention. But Skyrim is a game that is a good testament of how truly epic and great a game can be As well as how long Bethesda has to go before reaching their truly potential.
That was unexpected and awesome. But is there more to it? I was hoping we'd find out what the hell was going on. But my map says it's cleared. Still, that was awesome!
