Everything you need: unbiased reviews, product specs and great deals.
|
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for PlayStation 3The Empire of Tamriel is on the edge. The High King of Skyrim has been murdered. Alliances form as claims to the throne are made. In the...
Read More
The Empire of Tamriel is on the edge. The High King of Skyrim has been murdered. Alliances form as claims to the throne are made. In the midst of this conflict, a far more dangerous, ancient evil is awakened. Dragons, long lost to the passages of the Elder Scrolls, have returned to Tamriel. The future of Skyrim, even the Empire itself, hangs in the balance as they wait for the prophesized Dragonborn to come; a hero born with the power of The Voice, and the only one who can stand amongst the dragons!
Minimize
|
|
18 Reviews from Epinions.com
|
Elder Scrolls 5 Skyrim Computer Game
Does Skyrim Really Live Up Too All of the Hype?
I have never played any of the Elder Scroll games before, and I heard about Skyrim from a friend. He told me about all of the hours of game play and the open world environment, and I was interested. I went home and watched a couple of game play videos on YouTube by Bethesda and I must say, the game looked AMAZING! It looked like nothing that I had ever seen before. The graphics, the combat, the quests, the open world, and just the freedom. It all looked terrific!
After seeing all of the videos and hearing all of the talk about how great the game was, I decided to pre-order Skyrim. Skyrim was released on 11-11-11, and my local GameStop was hosting a midnight release of the game, so I thought that I'd go and pick up my copy then, which I did. I got home and started the game up, and let's just say I was far from impressed with the opening ten minutes of Skyrim. The camera view was odd and wobbly. Skyrim just seemed to completely suck, and I was extremely disappointed. After this, I decided to just turn the game off and go to bed because I was so mad that I had wasted my money on it.
The next day, I thought that I'd give Skyrim another chance. That was one of the best decisions that I have ever made. I started off on my first quest and was introduced to the leveling up system, combat, and the all around feel of the game. I have no clue what was wrong with the first ten minutes of the game, but everything after that moment has been great! The graphics are amazing, and everything else about Skyrim is truly breathtaking. In my opinion, Skyrim does in fact definitely live up to all of the hype.
The Storyline
At the beginning of Skyrim, it doesn't seem that there's much of a storyline to the game. It just seems like there are a bunch of random details that don't really matter. Those "random details that don't really matter" do in fact matter. Remember those details, because later on in Skyrim, they all start to make sense. It is not for about an hour or two of game play that the storyline starts to make sense. When the storyline starts to make sense, you will immediately fall in love with Skyrim just like I did. In the story, you will find out that your character is "Dragonborn." Being "Dragonborn" means that you are born of the lineage of Dragon and have great power over dragons. It is truly breathtaking. Also, throughout the story you will encounter many hostile dragons in combat. At one point in the story you are looking for the king and the king turns out to be a dragon named King Torygg. The use of dragons as characters in Skyrim may sound stupid to some people, but it is not. Bethesda geniously implemented the dragons into the game and they really have some great gaming engineers to pull of an excellent storyline like they did in Skyrim. I have honestly never played through a better storyline in my life.
The Weapons
The weapons in Skyrim are great! In my opinion, the weapons are better for damaging the enemy than using the magic. There are various weapons that you can buy and or pick up throughout the game. The weapons consist of artifact weapons, daggers, swords, great swords, war axes, battle axes, maces, clubs, hammers, bows, arrows, and staves. There are smaller weapons and you can carry one in each hand. You can even hold two different small weapons in different hands. Also, there are heavy weapons that require both hands to carry, but the heavier weapons do the most damage.
The Magic
Magic has several different uses on Skyrim. With magic, you can kill enemies, heal yourself, use dragon shouts, etc. There are fire and ice magic that you can use in defense for yourself against your foes, and many more. Also, there is replenishing magic that you can use to replenish your stamina and health. One other use of magic in Skyrim is dragon shouts. Dragon shouts are when you use the tongue of dragons to do certain things such as propel yourself forward for a very minimal period of time, clear debris, throw fire, summon beasts to aid you during combat, use your weapon faster, and have frost breath. There are many more dragon shouts that you can unlock throughout the game. Same as the weapons, you can have a different type of magic in each hand, or the same type of magic in both hands. Also, you can have a magic spell in one hand and a small weapon in the other. The magic and weapons are completely astonishing.
Changing Between Third Person and First Person Point of View
One thing that I was looking forward to in Skyrim and was greatly let down by was the switching between third person and first person point of view at any time with a single click of a button. You can in fact do this, it is just not as great as it sounds. Even though I am a fan of First Person Shooters, I have found out that I am not a fan of the First Person setting on Skyrim. I would just stick to using the Third Person setting. In the Third Person view, you can see very far around you in all directions and can see your enemies better while in combat. The First Person view is exactly the opposite of this. Your view is extremely cramped and you can only see very closely and not in all directions. The changing between third person and first person was definitely a let down for me.
The "Great" Leveling Up System
For anyone who has read any other online reviews about Skyrim, you may have read about the "great" leveling up system. Some people absolutely love the system and others absolutely hate it. I am in the middle; I don't feel that it's great, but then again, I do not feel that it is terrible in the least bit. It's really cool that when you level up in the game that you can upgrade a perk such as magika, health, stamina, etc. When you level up a perk, it gets a bit confusing. There are many branches coming off of the main perks that you can upgrade also, and it's just really hard to get the hang of. I believe that players of the previous Elder Scrolls games may understand this system better than I.
Open World
As you may have heard, Skyrim contains an extremely large open world. You can go anywhere in the world of Skyrim or do as you wish. In my opinion, it's just fun to wander around the world tinkering around with objects, fighting civilians, riding horses, etc. While wandering through the open world of Skyrim, it is very easy to get lost. For that reason, there is a map of the whole world that I find very handy. You can set a location marker inside the map, and when you close the map, that marker is on the top of the screen in the HUD, directing you to that location.
Should I Purchase Skyrim?
If you love role-playing games and love adventure games with some gritty combat, Skyrim is the game for you! There is not a doubt in my mind that you wouldn't like Skyrim if you bought it. Give it a try, it is an excellent game. Some may even call Skyrim the best role-playing game of all time!
Skyrim - The Best Role-Playing Game of All Time!
| Author's Rating: |
|
Pros: Open world, great for new players, superb storyline, graphics, controls, combat, weaponry, and navigational map.
Cons: The leveling up system doesn't make much sense, lags occasionally.
The Bottom Line:
In my opinion, Skyrim is the best role-playing game of all time. Give it a shot! You won't regret it!
Does Skyrim Really Live Up Too All of the Hype?
I have never played any of the Elder Scroll games before, and I heard about Skyrim from a friend. He told me about all of the hours of game play and the open world environment, and I was interested. I went home and watched a couple of game play videos on YouTube by Bethesda and I must say, the game looked AMAZING! It looked like nothing that I had ever seen before. The graphics, the combat, the quests, the open world, and just the freedom. It all looked terrific!
After seeing all of the videos and hearing all of the talk about how great the game was, I decided to pre-order Skyrim. Skyrim was released on 11-11-11, and my local GameStop was hosting a midnight release of the game, so I thought that I'd go and pick up my copy then, which I did. I got home and started the game up, and let's just say I was far from impressed with the opening ten minutes of Skyrim. The camera view was odd and wobbly. Skyrim just seemed to completely suck, and I was extremely disappointed. After this, I decided to just turn the game off and go to bed because I was so mad that I had wasted my money on it.
The next day, I thought that I'd give Skyrim another chance. That was one of the best decisions that I have ever made. I started off on my first quest and was introduced to the leveling up system, combat, and the all around feel of the game. I have no clue what was wrong with the first ten minutes of the game, but everything after that moment has been great! The graphics are amazing, and everything else about Skyrim is truly breathtaking. In my opinion, Skyrim does in fact definitely live up to all of the hype.
The Storyline
At the beginning of Skyrim, it doesn't seem that there's much of a storyline to the game. It just seems like there are a bunch of random details that don't really matter. Those "random details that don't really matter" do in fact matter. Remember those details, because later on in Skyrim, they all start to make sense. It is not for about an hour or two of game play that the storyline starts to make sense. When the storyline starts to make sense, you will immediately fall in love with Skyrim just like I did. In the story, you will find out that your character is "Dragonborn." Being "Dragonborn" means that you are born of the lineage of Dragon and have great power over dragons. It is truly breathtaking. Also, throughout the story you will encounter many hostile dragons in combat. At one point in the story you are looking for the king and the king turns out to be a dragon named King Torygg. The use of dragons as characters in Skyrim may sound stupid to some people, but it is not. Bethesda geniously implemented the dragons into the game and they really have some great gaming engineers to pull of an excellent storyline like they did in Skyrim. I have honestly never played through a better storyline in my life.
The Weapons
The weapons in Skyrim are great! In my opinion, the weapons are better for damaging the enemy than using the magic. There are various weapons that you can buy and or pick up throughout the game. The weapons consist of artifact weapons, daggers, swords, great swords, war axes, battle axes, maces, clubs, hammers, bows, arrows, and staves. There are smaller weapons and you can carry one in each hand. You can even hold two different small weapons in different hands. Also, there are heavy weapons that require both hands to carry, but the heavier weapons do the most damage.
The Magic
Magic has several different uses on Skyrim. With magic, you can kill enemies, heal yourself, use dragon shouts, etc. There are fire and ice magic that you can use in defense for yourself against your foes, and many more. Also, there is replenishing magic that you can use to replenish your stamina and health. One other use of magic in Skyrim is dragon shouts. Dragon shouts are when you use the tongue of dragons to do certain things such as propel yourself forward for a very minimal period of time, clear debris, throw fire, summon beasts to aid you during combat, use your weapon faster, and have frost breath. There are many more dragon shouts that you can unlock throughout the game. Same as the weapons, you can have a different type of magic in each hand, or the same type of magic in both hands. Also, you can have a magic spell in one hand and a small weapon in the other. The magic and weapons are completely astonishing.
Changing Between Third Person and First Person Point of View
One thing that I was looking forward to in Skyrim and was greatly let down by was the switching between third person and first person point of view at any time with a single click of a button. You can in fact do this, it is just not as great as it sounds. Even though I am a fan of First Person Shooters, I have found out that I am not a fan of the First Person setting on Skyrim. I would just stick to using the Third Person setting. In the Third Person view, you can see very far around you in all directions and can see your enemies better while in combat. The First Person view is exactly the opposite of this. Your view is extremely cramped and you can only see very closely and not in all directions. The changing between third person and first person was definitely a let down for me.
The "Great" Leveling Up System
For anyone who has read any other online reviews about Skyrim, you may have read about the "great" leveling up system. Some people absolutely love the system and others absolutely hate it. I am in the middle; I don't feel that it's great, but then again, I do not feel that it is terrible in the least bit. It's really cool that when you level up in the game that you can upgrade a perk such as magika, health, stamina, etc. When you level up a perk, it gets a bit confusing. There are many branches coming off of the main perks that you can upgrade also, and it's just really hard to get the hang of. I believe that players of the previous Elder Scrolls games may understand this system better than I.
Open World
As you may have heard, Skyrim contains an extremely large open world. You can go anywhere in the world of Skyrim or do as you wish. In my opinion, it's just fun to wander around the world tinkering around with objects, fighting civilians, riding horses, etc. While wandering through the open world of Skyrim, it is very easy to get lost. For that reason, there is a map of the whole world that I find very handy. You can set a location marker inside the map, and when you close the map, that marker is on the top of the screen in the HUD, directing you to that location.
Should I Purchase Skyrim?
If you love role-playing games and love adventure games with some gritty combat, Skyrim is the game for you! There is not a doubt in my mind that you wouldn't like Skyrim if you bought it. Give it a try, it is an excellent game. Some may even call Skyrim the best role-playing game of all time!
Back to all reviews
