The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
PlayStation 3
Nostalgia Factor:
I know, I know. I’m super late to the party, you don't have to tell me. Skyrim came out in 2011 and I am just now playing it here in 2019. Eight years late is better than never, right?
My history with the Elder Scrolls series is a short one. I played Oblivion for the PS3 for only a couple of days back in 2009 or 2010. At the time, I wasn’t familiar with open world games like this. I wandered around aimlessly, unsure of where I was and what I was supposed to be doing. I often found myself overburdened with items and unable to move, which irritated the crap out of me. I wanted to collect everything! I quickly came to the conclusion that the game was as dull as dirt and that all of the good reviews were wrong. I traded Oblivion in to the used game store for a few bucks in store credit. Probably a poor decision on my end, as I now want to try it again and see if I would like it now that I know how these kind of games work. Oh well. It’ll happen someday.
Story:
Skyrim throws you right into the action at the beginning of the game, which for story purposes is a wise decision on the game makers’ behalf. The game begins with you and several other prisoners bound up on the back of a wagon. You are being taken to your execution. The other prisoners are being executed because they were attempting to lead a rebellion against the Imperial rulers of Skyrim. You are being executed because you were discovered on Skyrim’s border, attempting to sneak your way in. The bad guys assume that you are with the rebellion. Where your character came from and what his or her back story is, the game never explains. You are a blank slate.
Eventually your wagon reaches the execution site. I was having major Army of Darkness flashbacks at this point. You’re an innocent bystander caught up with a band of rebels, being lead to your execution. One of the prisoners runs and is shot in the back with an arrow. I expected my character (a badass female warrior) to plead for her life, only to have Henry the Red pop up and tell her “I don’t think they’ll listen, lass.”
Before you can be beheaded, a dragon appears in the sky and attacks the city. This is a big deal, as dragons haven’t been seen in Skyrim for thousands of years. All hell breaks loose, and you end up running away and escaping. This is where the game truly begins. You’re given a vague directive to head to a nearby city, where there are people that can help you find work and get back on your feet again. You can follow instructions, or you can head off and do some exploring. It is up to you.
There are two main storylines that you will get caught up in. One is the civil war, which continues to ravage Skyrim. Because I’m a rebel, it seemed only natural that I ended up joining the rebellion. I am curious how things would have gone if I’d picked the other side. The other main storyline involves the dragons, and why they have returned. Your goal is to find the head honcho of the dragons and take him out of the picture. I expected a giant, complicated narrative, but Skyrim’s main plot is actually pretty simple and straightforward. What IS complicated is the lore and the history of the world of Skyrim. You’ll find books scattered about as you play that tell the story of Skyrim and its people. Some NPCs give you quests that have unique storylines of their own. Other NPCs will tell you stories and fill you in on important past events.
The game doesn't end when the main quest ends. Far from it. There are dozens and dozens of towns and villages, each filled to the brim with unique characters, quests, and missions. It is a seemingly endless game. I don't even have any of the DLC, just the base game. I can only imagine how much lore is packed into the game's DLC.
Gameplay:
It is going to take me forever to break down completely how this game works, so I’ll just give you the basics. Skyrim takes place from either a behind-the-back or a first person perspective; you can pick between the two. I’d suggest first person, as the third person view is completely useless. The analog stick moves your character, the D-pad brings up a quick select menu on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. Your character can jump, open chests, flip levers, loot corpses, ride horses, climb ladders, interact with objects, and talk to people. You can buy and sell things at stores, change equipment, sleep at inns, take on quests from strangers. This is an RPG, so you level up as you play. You spend experience points picking certain attributes you want to excel in.
As far as combat goes, you have several different methods of attacking. You can attack long distance by firing arrows from a bow, you can engage enemies up close in weapon-to-weapon combat, or you can cast magic against them. I found myself using a good balance of all three. My character became very proficient in two-handed attacks, probably because all of the most powerful weapons in the game were two-handed. I like how when you finish off enemies, the game occasionally zooms in and shows you brutally killing them in slow motion. Right off the bat, I was carving people up left and right, feeling like a total badass. I will admit, this is one of the hooks that got me saying "Skyrim is awesome!!!" when I first started playing it.
Basic game progression consists of talking to characters and taking on missions. Pausing the game allows you to view all your open missions. You can toggle between quests you want to take on, and quests you want to put off until later. Having a quest selected makes its location visible on your map. Skyrim is a massive place, so luckily the game allows for fast traveling. The only catch is that you have to physically discover a location first before you are allowed to fast travel to it. But that's expected.
As I mentioned earlier, the game has two major storylines - the Skyrim civil war and the battle against Alduin, the leader of your dragon foes. The game is filled to the brim with characters who will give you side quests as well. Some are short and to the point, like deliver this letter for me. Others are longer and more intricate in story. You can also join up with groups like the Companions, the Thieves Guild, and the Dark Brotherhood, all of whom have unique missions you must complete in order to gain admission to them. Then there are more difficult and more story driven missions once you become a full-fledged member. You can learn magic at the College of Winterhold. You can hunt bounties. You can take on jobs like cutting and selling wood. You can wander and explore with no end goal in mind. There is no right or wrong way to play Skyrim. Well, I mean, you don't want to go around committing crimes or getting caught killing people, as you'll be attacked and a price will be put on your head. If you are caught, you have to either pay a fine, go to jail (which is a pain in the ass), or escape.
You also most definitely do NOT want to contract vampirism. I ignored it because I thought it would just go away, and I became a full fledged vampire. People would attack me on sight, and I couldn't accomplish any of my missions. I thought I had broken the game and would have to start over. Luckily, I was able to go online and find a way to cure vampirism. It was a pain in the ass, difficult as fuck journey. The first part was the hardest. I had to calm my bloodrage by feasting on a sleeping human, which was nearly impossible to do since any time I would enter an area inhabited by humans, everyone would attack me on sight. It took me hours before I accomplished this, and that was only the first part of the mission. The rest was a major pain in the arse as well. I digress.
What is impressive about Skyrim is that there is always something to do. If you get bored when playing this game, you're not doing it right. I put over 111 hours into Skyrim, which for me is absolutely unheard of. If I put 50 or 60 hours into a game, I consider it a really long game. Well, those games have nothing on Skyrim. I started this in the middle of January and I am just now finishing it right at the end of March. I did take a one week break when I had my PlayStation Now trial going on, plus I sunk some time into the Resident Evil 2 remake. But I've been playing Skyrim pretty regularly the whole time. That's almost two full months of playing. And I don't even have the DLC!
Graphics:
Skyrim came out for the PS3 in 2011, and it shows. I have been playing a lot of PS4 games lately, most notably the gorgeous Horizon Zero Dawn. Going from that game to an outdated looking Skyrim was definitely an eye opener for me. Not that Skyrim is ugly. I am sure it looked great for its time. I am also sure that the 5,627 different next-gen HD ports of Skyrim look amazing. But I am talking about the PS3 version here.
The characters look fine. Many of the cities and outdoor locations look really nice. As I said, it is not an ugly game, it is just not a particularly impressive-looking one. It could have something to do with the lack of color. The world of Skyrim seems to be stuck in this perpetual loop of snowy, foggy, ugly and depressing weather. All you see are muted greens, browns, grays, and whites. As big as the map is, the trees, walking paths, rivers, rolling hills, and mountains all start to look exactly the same after a while. Villages and their stone buildings seem charming at first, until you realize that there are dozens of them that are almost 100% identical. Same goes for a lot of towers and caves you explore. I can't complain about this too much, as the world of the game is so freaking huge. I am sure there is only so much that they can do as far as making each of the hundreds (thousands?) of locations in this game look different. But still, it is something you can't help but notice.
Sound:
While Skyrim's graphics may show signs of aging, its music and sound effects most definitely do not. I have recently played both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and I must say that Bethesda has knocked it out of the park with the voice acting once again. One of the first characters you meet in Skyrim is voiced by Michael Hogan, who played Saul Tigh in Battlestar Galactica. He is one of my favorite actors of all time. He also lent his voice to one of the first characters you meet in Fallout: New Vegas. I wonder if Bethesda did that intentionally as fan service to get the nerds to play their games. Anyway, it was absolutely great to hear his voice here, too. This only set the tone for the consistently excellent voice acting the whole rest of the way through the game.
Unobtrusive atmospheric music plays as you walk around cities, castles, and caves. When you are in cities, the sound of wind, running water, and the bustle of people make your environment feel believable. In taverns, people play instruments and the sound of conversation fills the air. Caves are gloomy and just sound... dank. I don't know how else to explain it. When you are outside exploring, the music gets a little more noticeable. Some of the orchestral scores that plays as you wander the map are freaking epic. There were times when I was exploring that I just had to stop, set down the controller, and soak in the game's music while look at the scenery. Those were the times I couldn't help but think to myself: man, I really freakin' like Skyrim.
Overall:
At the risk of sounding like a broken record: man, I really freakin' like Skyrim. I'll admit, at first I was a bit intimidated by the scope of the game. For years, I have heard people saying how time consuming Skyrim is. I think that is why I put off playing it for so long.
Once I started playing it, however, there was no looking back. The world of the game, the lore, the voice acting, the music, the story, the combat that made me feel like a total badass - Skyrim had it all. It says a lot that I pumped 111 hours into the game. Never would I do that for a game that sucked, or even a game that I thought was just okay.
It is hard for me to judge Skyrim, as although I had a very good time playing the game and I recognize the grand impact it's had on gaming in general, I still feel it has its flaws. Load times can be excessively long, especially when you are embarking on fetch quests that require a lot of fast travel. Each time you fast travel, it is like a 30 to 60 second wait, guaranteed. Some quests have you fast traveling four, five, even six different times back and forth to different locations. It gets tiresome looking at loading screens after a while.
Everything looks dull and colorless when you're walking around outside. There are a ton of recycled locations. The difficulty level spikes at certain times, seemingly at random. It's annoying when you accidentally do something to alert the city guard and have them start attacking you and trying to arrest you. Turning into a vampire was a MAJOR pain in the ass. Certain quests for organizations like the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild are very repetitive and grind-y feeling. Your companions are constantly getting in your way, blocking you in corners or stopping you from going through doors or up stairs. Especially that damn dog! I didn't find myself making much of an emotional connection with any of the characters, either. Even my own in-game spouse I didn't find very interesting!
The game is filled with glitches, too. The first time I played this game, it wouldn't save my progress. I played several hours before I realized that nothing was saving. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best, but when I came back the next day, I had to start over from the beginning again. Skyrim often froze at random times, mostly on loading screens or when I was fast traveling.
So no, this is not a flawless game, by any means. That is why it will not get a perfect score from me. But just so you know, it came close. The game is big, it's fun, and there is lots to do and lots to see. Skyrim has a great storyline taking place in an incredibly fleshed out fantasy world. I can't say Skyrim is for everyone, as I know that the slower pace of this game may put some people off. But those of you who like modern day RPGs and open world exploration games should definitely check this out. Ah, who am I kidding? You've already played it. I'm the last hardcore gamer in the world to play Skyrim!
Final Score:
A
If you liked this review, please check out some of my other game reviews:
Fallout 3
