Review - Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Review: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Pros: Revamped levelling and advanced combat system makes the game accessible to a wider audience.

Cons: Busy storyline and numerous quests make it easy to lose focus and become overwhelmed

Final Judgement: A must for any fan of Elder Scrolls or RPG’s (Roll Playing Game) but definitely not the title for the casual gamer.

http://www.elderscrolls.com/skyrim

Available for: PS3, Xbox, PC

Vikings! Mead swilling, axe wielding, village pillaging, fuck-you-and-your-culture-I-have-a-horned-hat wearing Vikings. If you think about what it is to be hard core, if you examine the tao of it, Vikings a.k.a. the Norse more or less have it on lock down. Only the Norse could come up with a story where the hero kills a dragon, bathes in its blood and then eats its heart. You may be asking: “Redcoat, why would he do this?” Well he was bored and an old man told him to. Some old guy said ‘Hey whipper-snapper, go have a dragon blood bath.’ and his response was: ‘Roger that old dude, dragon killing time.’ The Norse are also the men who believed the goal in life was to pick fights and die a warrior’s death. That way the top god Odin would put you on the guest list of the giant party that was the afterlife. There you would get pissed on mead with your dead buddies until the end of the world. At which point you go forth and die all over again in bloody combat while the world burns and I can only assume Odin wails away in the background on a guitar. As I said, the Norse, much like the Wu-Tang Clan ain’t noth’in to fuck with.

This is what the Norse looked forward to in the afterlife. Hardcore.

There really aren’t a lot of good games on the market that explore Norse Mythos or culture.  Too Human was essentially a sci-fi retelling of Ragnarok (the Apocalypse).  However, most people couldn’t finish the game because every time you died you had to watch a thirty second cut scene just so youcould respawn. Valkyrie Profile was another great game, but it was more just using the names and places as opposed to really following the Mythos.  

So here comes Skyrim, the fifth entry in the Elder Scrolls saga. Imagine my joy at picking up the game and being immediately inundated with Norse inspired story lines all mixed in with Dungeons, Dragons-esque fantasy, magic and role playing. Indeed, Role Playing Game + Norse Mythos = Win. Can it get better? I submit to you, that it cannot.

The game is not based on Norse Mythology but rather inspired by the culture and legends. Norse architecture dots the landscape of the game.  Norse titles such as “Thane” are bantered around and the world is populated with tall muscular and pale humans called Nords who have a distinct Scandinavian accent. The Norse legends are subtly woven into the main story lines. One legend in particular is central to the story and appears a few hours into game when you character learns he or she can “Shout” or project magic by uttering a word of power. Apparently this is a big deal as you are the first person in many years to possess this ability.

This is Sven... he's a Nord. Not Norse... Nord.

In Norse Mythos, Odin has this exact same power. The myth is described in the poem Havamal.  The poem follows Odin, the original Charlie Sheen, as he tries to prove how ‘winning’ he is by hanging himself from the tree of the world. He did this as a sacrifice… to himself. That’s right; he felt he was such a rock star from mars that the only person worthy of sacrifice to Odin was Odin. I would accuse Odin of being a narcissist but I’m fairly sure he’d kick my ass. Long story short, he hung around (tee-hee) for nine days on the tree at which point his sacrifice was so bat shit insane that he unlocked the mysteries of the Runes which were magic words he could utter or shout to create miraculous effects. A focus of the games story is your characters quests to harness the power of his voice by learning the runic language of dragons. Ability to kill people by saying a word, thanks Odin, that’s a sexy hook for a game.

"Hanging from a tree to get power? Duh... Winning."

Elder Scroll games are like a Universe in themselves, trying to catalogue everything that’s going on in them will break you. The good news however, is that each game has you create your own character which you then play in a unique land with an innumerable number of story paths available to choose. Because of this unparalleled freedom Bethesda is forced to make each individual game its own self-contained story that only shares a common thread of all occurring on the same planet with the same history. The developers simply couldn’t make a story that builds on its self as no one would be able to keep track of what was supposed to be going on. Simply put, you don’t have to play the previous games to enjoy Skyrim, there is really nothing for you to know, and you can pick it up blind and understand the story.

Speaking of the story, Bethesda Software has claimed that this is the largest Elder Scrolls game to date and has three hundred hours of game play and story events. As a result the ten or so hours I’ve been able to put into the game so far really doesn’t scratch the surface of its plot and I’m not even going to comment on it beyond saying that what I’ve seen of the main plot line so far is engaging and original.  What I can talk about is the sheer amount of things that you can do in the game. You can, in fact, completely ignore the main quest of the game, and Skyrim won’t hold it against you. Everywhere you go in Skyrim you are going to find ruins to explore, people that can be friends or foes and quests to play through. The game offers several different guilds and associations that your character can join. Each of these groups has their own campaigns and story lines that you can experience and could be considered stand-alone plots. You are free to more or less to experience Skyrim and craft your experience as you see fit. The main plot is just an experience that Skyrim is recommending. I have to say it’s a refreshing change to have the freedom to do what you want in a game and not be reminded constantly about what the game feels you should be doing.   

Each of the people in this screen capture have a quest for you.

Skyrim also has made some major gameplay mechanic changes since the last entry in the series.

The first thing a veteran to the Elder Scrolls series is going to note is that the levelling system has been reworked. In previous instalments of the game, after selecting your race then gender and appearance, you selected favoured abilities and major skills. Using these abilities and skills caused your character to level up. The system was nice because you could create any combination of these skills and abilities that you wanted and then create a class name that was unique to your characters configuration alone. It also meant that you could take some rather silly skills such as athletics (your ability to run) as a major ability and level up by just running around a town. It also made it so your minor abilities were fairly difficult to develop. What it came down to is that you could create any character you wanted, but if you wanted to be able to play the game in a way that wasn’t a constant uphill battle you were forced to give up some of the skills you wanted for skills that were boring but made your life a lot easier.

The new leveling system has you star gaze to choose your characters path in life... there is something so very zen about that.

In Skyrim, Bethesda has done away with the complex levelling up and creation system. All characters now start the same. You level up by preforming any one of 16 skills.  The more you use any skill such as swinging an axe or shooting a bow the quicker that skill increases. As your skills increase your level increases. When you level up you choose to increase one of three attributes, mana (your ability to cast spells) health or stamina. You then choose one perk for the skills, such as making locks easier to pick or making your swords do more damage and that’s it. It’s simple, it doesn’t fence you in with a structured class and it gives you a lot more leeway to play your character how you want. The new system takes a bit of getting used to, but in my opinion superior to the old complicated one.

The combat system has also been reworked and improved. The first person sword play feels a lot more natural and less like you’re just repeatedly waving a stick in the direction of your foe. The game has also included pre-scripted critical hits and finishing moves.  For example, the action will now break away from first person to a cinematic third person clip of you running a monster through on your sword or beheading a crippled foe. These cinematic breaks add some much needed variation and visual pop to the combat of the game without interrupting the pacing of combat.

Get used to this... Dragons really, really don't like you.

Any fan of RPG or fantasy settings can find something that they will enjoy in Skyrim. However, Skyrim is probably not the game for someone who is either new to gaming or new to the role playing genre. Skyrim does not hold your hand, it places the experience of playing the game very much with the player. As a result, what the player puts in is what they will get out of it. Skyrim will tell you where you should go but the player has to be the one driving the story forward.   The game will also continue to barrage you with new quests and plots as you are trying to work through an adventure. This happens so often that I could easily see a player getting overwhelmed and not knowing how to proceed or which quest to tackle next.

So for fans of Elder Scrolls, Skyrim is a fantastic next chapter. For the casual or busy gamer, who likes to be able to pick up and put down games, Skyrim is definitely not the title for you. Its streamlined levelling system and revamped combat has made the game more accessible and easier to play but the game is vast and deep that it can be easy to lose yourself and your plot direction amongst the many plains and mountains in vast land of Skyrim.