I don’t usually post details of full priced games in these forums; usually reserving that for games that are on offer, but the following game is (for me at least) going to be one of the best games I’ve ever purchased, soI though I’d share my initial thoughts on the game. Of course I’ve only played it for a couple of hours so far and have hardly scratched the surface, but already I’ve seen some amazing sights, fought some ‘baddies’ and deadly animals, run away from mammoths and giants and almost been beheaded. It’s unlikely to get any big reductions any time soon due to its status; much like the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series. You usually have to wait well over a year or more before you see a decent reduction in price for those games, even for a day or so, unlike most other games that you can often see with big reductions only weeks after their release.
My first impressions......Brilliant. The character models are a big improvement on Oblivion, the environments look even more amazing and things like bump mapping add even more realism to the game. I've only just started playing the game so this is just a taster. Also I've yet to upgrade to a DX11 graphics card so i'm probably not seeing the game in it's full glory, not that you need a DX11 card to appreciate the beauty of this game. I wanted to say to all game lovers, get this game, especially if you like Role Playing Games, Fantasy, Adventure, Sword fighting, dragons or open world games, it's probably going to be the game of the year ahead of games like Sonic Generations, Red Faction Armageddon, Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, Need for Speed: Shift 2, Shogun 2: Total War, Call of Duty Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 to name just a few fantastic releases this year (hmmm, well perhaps not Red Faction: Armageddon and Crysis 2, both of which were very disappointing compared to earlier releases). Steam said there were approximately a quarter of a million players online at the same time playing Skyrim on its first day compared to the blockbuster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which had about 86 thousand playing on its first day; and, according to Kotaku, for every Call of Duty MW3 player there was 10 Skyrim players on its first day of release. That is really saying something. :)
As soon as you appear in the Skyrim world you know it’s going to be an amazing experience. You start the game as a prisoner whose being transported to a city for execution together with several other prisoners. On arrival you are immediately taken to the block, where the leader of the resistance is beheaded, (I’m not posting any images that are bloody in nature as they are probably inappropriate for this forum) then it’s your turn. You are forced to kneel at the block and rest your head on it; while waiting for the fatal blow all hell breaks loose with a large dragon attacking the town. This is where you are then lead to an underground cavern by another escapee. You travel along well-worn underground corridors seeping with moss and rot. The walls echo a millennia of torture and despair with cages hanging from the walls and small iron bound cells scattered around, usually with the remnants of human looking bones scattered on the floor. You eventually break out into a natural cave system, where you follow your saviour to the outside world, on the way sneaking past a large grizzly bear. When I exited the cavern at night I could see a beautiful night sky with a large moon floating above the horizon and the sky was lit up with a myriad of stars. This was so much better than I remember my first glimpses of the last Elder Scrolls game when I left the sewers to start my journey (though at that time I was also awe struck at the beauty of the Vista that opened up before me when I left the drainage pipe from the Imperial palace). Carefully making my way down a steep cobbled road , occasionally stopping to gather a variety of herbs (which will later be used to craft useful potions and magical enhancements) I came across a fast flowing river with rapids and waterfalls along its path; It looked amazing. Following the advice of a fellow Skyrim player (pavid) and as the dawn approached I jumped into the river and could see salmon swimming around. It struck me that I was also caught up in a current, the first time I’ve ever experienced such a feeling in a video game before. I was carried over the first of a series of waterfall where salmon were trying to jump up against the current and landed in the plunge pool without any damage. Dragging myself to the banks I then started my journey to a nearby village, on the way killing a stag for it’s meat. All meat has healing properties in Skyrim. It was a beautiful beast, with large antlers. Standing proud, it seemed a shame to shoot him with my iron arrows. It took two arrows to kill the noble beast. Then I was attacked by savage wolves who had been stalking the stag. Using the broadsword I’d taken off one of the guards I’d killed back at the dungeon I quickly made mincemeat of the wolves with little damage apart from a bite to my leg.
The workmanship that’s gone into skinning this game is amazing. (It has been in the making for over four years). Everything looks ‘almost’ as you’d expect it would look if you went back in time to the dark ages or a time of knights and castles. NPC’s were much more animated than in previous versions of the Elder Scrolls and as yet every NPC I’ve talked to had a different voice actor playing the part. This is in sharp contrast to Oblivion (which was released five years ago) where the number of voice actors were relatively few, so you heard the same voice being used over and over (apart from Patrick Stewarts who was only used for the King, who was murdered at the beginning of the game).
I like the lock picking process compared to Oblivions method; they have used the coding from Fallout and re skinned it, though I'm not sure about the new inventory system yet; and I do miss the ability to customise the character I choose to play at the beginning of the game, which you can’t in Skyrim. You aren’t able to adjust your characters attributes either. All you get is a choice between several races, each with its own special abilities. Though once you start to level up you can improve skills that your character has. Another innovation with this new Elder Scrolls game is that side quests are unlimited and freeform, which means this game is going to have much more re-playability, especially when the modders start releasing extra content for the game. I’m hoping that Bethesda will release an expansion that adds even more land to explore, though what we get is already amazingly large. You also get a much improved in game map. Okay, now I’m off to make my fortune in Skyrim. Check out Skyrim: A Tourist’s Guide from PC Gamer. There are some excellent Screenshots showing you some of the best sights in the game that includes the far north and Icebergs, a city built on a land bridge, a pine forest, caves and dungeons as well as the best view of an aurora. Bethesda have done an amazing job. You can find more information about Skyrim over on Steam, Bethesda and Bethesda. All three sites have images and you’ll see a developers story on the Elder Scrolls site. Steam are selling the game for £34.99 (13% saving on the usual price of £39.99) though you can get it cheaper via one of the links on the elder scrolls site, for example from Game UK you can get a DVD copy for £29.99.
