Gaming Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review

on a 6970 here.. not too far but around level 6.. didn't get to play much yesterday

the game is a lot of fun and there is a lot to do.. there's little stone puzzles in a couple areas I've explored already.. they are much easier than tomb raider puzzles, and not even quite witcher 2.. so given the average consolebater- it should be just enough to roid rage those guys off their console and smear the cheetos all over their crotches

some more pictures.. the graphics aren't bad on a decent system- there's no armor degradation like in oblivion but then again- the crafting and ways to improve armor are better.. I like the in game menus myself

the game hasn't crashed either like early reports.. not once and I'm running a really old driver

only problem is.. there's so much content- just reading a book for example can blow away a lot of time.. clocked a lot of hours into oblivion I remember too just exploring.. might be playing this for months at this rate

 

You seem to be forgetting that game content is an important aspect...

 

only played 2 hours in.. not even ventured into outside world yet. The graphics are ugly. But you get used to it. I played Fallout 3 for hours on end. They need to sort out the User Interface.. its shambolic on the PC. Its true when people say its like an XBOX game. The game has sold amazingly well on Steam. someone at Bethesda needs the boot.. because the PC deserves more attention now

 

Damn straight.

 

I am sure it a great game but I am afraid the graphics look pretty dire to me.

Maybe you can not capture the magic in a static screenshot.

 

i play on a pc, the graphics are amazing. the water is so real and the distant mountains and weather storms are so life-like. i am still amazed that this game exists. very happy about it.

 

The graphics are OK, not groundbreaking but a step up from Fallout / Oblivion. The content, however, well it's excellent and well worth your time if you're
a fan of the series / genre.

 

awesome game. i skimmed most of it, and didnt read any comments, back to play skyrim. almost 300k players today on steam. cod crappy game only had 40k hahah. talk about a flop huh?

 

The game is overhyped and they have demonstrated clearly that console is the most important platform for them. Unfortunately the game will still sell more than it deserves on the pc as well because there are so many kiddies who are swept up in the sales hype. People also exhibit an annoying trait of convincing themselves something is good even when it's not. Living in denial. It happened with duke forever. A game so ugly and boring to play and yet many kiddies convinced themselves it was the best thing ever.

For me the situation is different. I have become increasingly annoyed by the games being released on pc with tired graphics and console retardation. A company like Dice is a diamond in a sea of glass gemstones because they recognize that actually graphics ARE important on a platform as powerful as the pc.

So many kiddies say who needs great graphics so long as the game is good? The answer is I do. I don't buy games on pc to get console ports with console textures and auto aim. For those who want ok graphics or who can't tell amazing graphics from average then play console games.

I will support dice and BF3 just because they made the effort to raise the standard for PC games. Even if skyrim is a good game I don't feel a lazy console port is worth supporting.

I look forward to more games using frostbyte 2 engine and also those indie developers working on games like HAWKEN on the Unreal UDK.

 

Been playing for a few hours now and I like it so far. I never got around to playing any of the other Elder Scrolls games, so I went into this with an open mind.


I'll admit that the technical aspect of the graphics isn't very good at all, but they still made it look good with the resources available. But then again, I prefer a world that is interesting and interactive to a world that looks pretty but feels cold and stiff.


The only things that bugs me at the moment is the narrow FOV (Found a fix, but can't seem to get it working properly) and the menu system could be a bit better. It works, but is confusing at first.

 

it's funny but all my time in oblivion came rushing back to me.. like putting something on the up key and having my character walk into a wall in sneak to max out my sneaking overnight xD

and maxing out my heavy and light armor by being evil early on.. letting the guards beat on me after I had legendary healing and decent gear.. found myself gravitating back towards that

it's almost the same game underneath it all..

 

Feathers clearly you are the kid here. Since 1988 I have gone through, almost every single RPG that came out. Many unheard of, even today. So graphics was never an issue. Even Elder Scrolls Arena that came out 17 years ago, had crap gfx compared to some other games of that era. But was good. Same as Daggerfall. The game was awesome, but the gfx worst than Ravenloft (example) which came out 2 years earlier.

The only thing that worth on all those 23 years of playing these type of games is the atmosphere of the game. That remains in memory, and not the gfx.

 

So you think liking every RPG out there makes u mature?

You may not care much about graphics but I do. If I play a 3d game I want it to push the technological envelope. If I play plants versus zombies I don't care about cutting edge. Skyrim was hyped on its graphics. Come launch we see it's another console port. As dice said, they want to bring back PC gaming and that means cutting edge. While you clearly don't care if you have a low res overhyped console port, I certainly do and this idea that great graphics = crap gameplay is just so much BS.

On a platform as capable as the PC, I want amazing graphics and gameplay for my 3d games.

Unlike u I want pc gaming to advance with everything from Ai, physics, graphics and gameplay. I am no longer willing to accept any old bollocks.

 

I don't understand people calling it a console port or calling it ugly, it's a massive map with a ridiculas amount of things to do in it & as such it looks fantastic, plus they support modding unlike most other game pubs.

















Beautiful game & love the fact that everywhere you can see you can wander off to it .

The AI is actually pretty smart too, if I get to a higher platform to pick enemies off with the bow, they try to hide when they know they can't fight me .

 

I am OTT sometimes. I haven't even tried Skyrim since I am in between motherboards and CPU's at the moment. I would like to see more PC optimised games but I would still give Skyrimmer a go.

Let's get real here, not every game can be cutting edge graphically. If the game is good then that's ultimately what counts. Still wanna see more PC optimised games though.

 

yeah wayne I dunno how you could call it ugly.. the menus can see as a legit gripe to some but that's really picking at it.. if you liked oblivion, and understood oblivion (it's not a game for people with ocd- never was), you'll like this..

adjusting the fov helps and some tweaks in the config files.. full 60 fps here

still can't run the shadows at ultra without dipping below 60.. maybe I should upgrade my driver- but really having no problems running shadows at medium.. looks just fine

 

Having played the game for fully a day I'm sorry to say I'm rather disappointed with it. Oblivion I found very easy and intuitive to grasp but not so Skyrim. I could easily hotkey items and switch between spells and weapons in Oblivion but in Skyrim you have to add items to a favorites menu and then apply hotkeys plus there's no HUD to remind you of what item is which key. Frankly I hate the new controls and menu system.

Graphically Skyrim looks old - it really hasn't progressed beyond Oblivion - same awkward character models and animation - its just clunky. And why can't they do water better? Just look at the hard straight edge of any river and tell me that looks right in a 2011 game.

95% is incredibly generous. I cant believe Im saying this as I loved Oblivion - put hundreds of hours into that game but Im really disappointed with Skyrim.

 

I am definitely going to give Skyrim a go.

I can however curb my enthusiasm until at least one more patch and a price drop.

I am sure this will be under £25 on Amazon within a month, so I will probably pick it up in a few weeks.

BTW there is a performance test on Toms Hardware:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/skyrim-performance-benchmark,review-32318.html

 

it gets better as you get farther in sleepy.. I got a buzz playing it so far

it's almost perfect really =] beat that red bearded corpse and took his swords- just ran into a bandit camp on the far west and one hitting everybody.. looks like my character is on the way to being the ribbeater again

I wish you could have taken his helmet..

 

I love people who buy a game for graphics. Watch a movie if that's what you want!