The Good vs Bad when it comes down to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
The Elder Scrolls series hasn't really been one to catch my eye until now. I rented Oblivion back near its release and didn't really like it all that much at the time. Then again, I was young and stupid. Years later the Fallout series returned, and Bethesda pulled me in as a huge fan of their open-world style and just about all of their games up to this point. Upon seeing many articles, pictures, and videos on Skyrim within a year before its release, I somehow gained high anticipation for this game. Was it as great as I had hoped? Find out by reading on in this review!
As a person who likes to play a game with an interesting story and cast of characters, I found myself more than pleased with Skyrim, and that is only the beginning of what I have to say. Though the story may not be completely original, there are times in which it feels that way. As you progress it tends to pull you in deeper, as opposed to most games that will either cause you to forget about the story through unnecessary moments or become bored with the story from annoying repetition or lack of entertainment/interest.
While on the topic of boredom, I'd like to say and make the fact that this game is far from boring quite clear. Aside from the introduction, this game is full of never-ending good times. No, really; the good times never end. Thanks to the games incredible depth, there are an infinite amount of side-quests to take part in, which pretty much makes the game endless even when you think it's coming to an end. I myself have only done a couple side-quests, which proved to be quite entertaining and variable based on who gives it. The leveling in the game is also great, seeing as how you gain experience based on how much you use the weapon, spell, or even skill as opposed to simply gaining experience from completing quests or killing things, putting skill points towards what you're interested in soon after.
Much like the games predecessor, the player is given an extremely large and beautiful map (which dare I say is the largest I've played from Bethesda) to explore with many different kinds of people, enemies, landmarks, and even towns to explore. There are actually over 100 locations to visit in Skyrim, and after completing the main story I only have about 40 of them. Fast travelling makes it a lot easier to get around, though if you like to take in the sights you could walk, take a horse, or even a carriage to major towns.
For the bad things about Skyrim, there are very few that hardly make that much of an impact on the score. One of these bad things is the fact that there are many times in the game that it seems as if the difficulty spikes drastically, no matter what difficulty you play on. I found myself changing the difficulty to Novice during a couple parts in the game and still died numerous times. I like the fact that the game is challenging and all, but for those who don't like a challenge and just wish to have fun, this could be bothersome.
Next, I'm sure that if you know Bethesda or have played any of their other massive RPGs (Fallout, Oblivion, etc.) you will know where this is headed and can stop reading here, but for those who don't I will fill you in. Though it's not necessarily the fault of Bethesda, the game can be quite buggy at times. This is mostly due to Skyrims enormous size but when you freeze, get stuck somewhere and can't move, or even find textures suddenly looking terrible, you may not think that way and blame the company or even the game itself.
Despite the games minor flaws, overall Skyrim is an amazing game that is definitely worth picking up whether you have played the others one or not, getting the game a 9.5 out of 10 from me. Thanks for reading this review, and I apologize if there were parts that didn't make sense. I would push the review off but have one more game to get to before the holidays! If you liked what you saw, be sure to follow me on either my Youtube Page (TrueFreakinGamers) or Twitter (thatSTERLINkid) and share your thoughts on whether you agree or disagree!