I never was a classic RPG guy, on the contrary, for a long time I blindly hated the genre, I didn't understand what can be fun in fiddling in skill menus, ability trees, character generators, and such. But I slowly started to come around, the actual turning point was somewhere between TES3, and TES4, when Morrowind came I still couldn't be bothered with RPGs. But then came games like System Shock II, and DeusEx, that completely turned my world upside down. So when Oblivion was released I was waiting for it with my arms open.

But that's ancient history I hope Skyrim still interests some people so here goes:

I shall jump into the thick of it right away. The game uses the same engine as used by all recent Bethesda games. So all its known and hated shortcomings and stupidities are present here as well. Like the physics engine which sometimes produces outlandishly stupid things, flying objects, flying mammoths, But the AI isn't far behind either with its scuba-gazelles and such. Unfortunately these things can break the immersion right away for me. But the good news is that that's the end of major negatives, there were a few minor issues I'll detail later, but nothing game breaking.

To me the biggest failing of Oblivion was that the side quests were not interesting enough. They either involved boring, repetitive and menial tasks, or were trivial. There were a few small exceptions from this rule, but most side quest only had you clear a dungeon. Fortunately in Skyrim they seem to have paid much more attention to side missions, the main storyline doesn't even stand out. There are many side quests that are better and even longer than the main storyline. This game has a staggering amount of content in it. You think that you explored most of the map, and your realize that you barely touched on it. Thankfully the huge map doesn't automatically mean that you always have to take 20 minute treks all the time because the major hubs can be reached by carriage from the very beginning of the game for a small fee. So if you happen to get a quest that takes you to the other end of the map where you never been, it doesn't begin with 20 minutes of running through everything like in Oblivion, because you can "jump" to the nearest hub. But even if it were so it wouldn'tt matter because the designers have outdone themselves this time. The word is extremely rich and beautiful, there is always something to look at, no matter where you go. And when you think you can't be surprised anymore you realize that there is an entire hidden world beneath your feet...

What's not good about the game is usually inherited from the console version. One such thing is the menus, which is pathetic by PC standards, almost useless.

There is a feature in the game that seems welcome by most, but I hate it:You can't clear areas permanently. The next time you visit it will be crawling with enemies again, even though the map proudly displays the cleared subtext next to their names. And if you go there by fast travel you often end up in the middle of a fort with fifty enemies around you. They really didn't thought this trough did they? OK let's have the enemies respawn, it's only natural that someone would claim a cleared fort after a period of time. But then let's place the damn fast travel points in such a way that you don't end up in the middle. Anyway I see no reason why anyone would want to clear the same place again and again, I only go back to previously cleared areas to use as jump points to reach other undiscovered but nearby places.

Finally I want to suggest one thing. Don't put off the main storyline too long, try to finish it as soon as you can, because after a few levels it becomes childishly easy. While on level 10 I could barely defeat a dragon, which was very good and thrilling. But on level 30. Any dragon on the main quest can be done in a few hacks and all I see is dragon soul absorbed. And I didn't even max out any abilities yet, there was still plenty of room to improve.


+

  • Beautifully designed scenery  
  • The dungeons are not all the same, each seem unique  
  • There is probably more content in this game than 10 randomly selected other AAA games added together.  
  • Interesting side quests, there is much more than take it here, kill it, or collect it.  


-

  • After about level 25. the game suddenly becomes very easy. I could defeat legions in open battle if I wanted.  
  • Console style menus  
  • The game is tailored to the abilities of the consoles there is not enough scalability to use the additional resources available on PC  
  • Buggy, stupid phyisics  
  • Re-spawning enemies  
  • Most of the NPC-s involved in some quest are immortal, if their HP reaches zero they simply rest a little, and then they're all good again. And some of them can even be companions, so you don't have to do anything they'll kill anyone eventually, since they can't die.  
  • At the beginning of the game I killed someone in a city, but the body never disappeared, even after months it was still there, and each time I went there, there was a horrified crowd around it.  
  • Your alliances doesn't mean anything you can be a major member in rival organizations without any problems. By the end of the game I was some sort of leader in almost every group/brotherhood. But it was all worthless since you can't do anything you can't lead.  
  • I don't know about you, but to me the "I'm a prisoner but I don't know why" beginning has lost its novelty.  


Scoring card:

graphics : 8.0 (nice design, but ageing engine)
realization: 9.0 (some minor issues)
story: 5.5 (the main story is short, and not at all that interesting)
atmosphere: 9.0 (I only wish I could unsee the flying mammoths and the npc-s set on lower-earth orbit by giants)
gameplay: 8.0 (gets too easy on higher levels)
controls: 7.0 (the console style menu and inventory makes your life miserable)

Overall impression: 8/10