The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC)

[Imperator of Rome]

Keep in mind though that professional reviewers, whether we're talking about something like Skyrim or an MMO, will have virtually unrestricted access to it for anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple days ahead of release. Obviously the typical gamer does not have this benefit lol.


Like I stated in the sticky for this section please feel free to update and re-write your submissions. The more refined you can make your review the better informed readers will be. Also, just to let you know I'm highly considering giving your review my seal of approval to be featured in the newest Silver Shield (so if you read this Bolk before I get to you take note). That being said if there are any updates, changes, and edits you'd like to do to your work please either do so here in the topic or feel free to send me an updated copy.

That's actually a great idea. I'll be interested in knowing about any other good changes Skyrim has other then the difficulty(which is my main concern really). Smithing and such can be modded in as far as I am concerned.

[Copperknickers II]

Can you use an XboX controller with Skyrim?

[Silent Assassin]

Can you use an XboX controller with Skyrim?

Yes you can

[snuggans]

i made a heavy edit to the review, mostly added aspects i neglected to mention before, removed very little, score is the same and general tone is the same but it's been balanced to better reflect the score. also added more screenshots.

[Huberto]

Absolutely agree with OP about the graphics problems and UI and the larger issue of console ports. I don't know whether we'll ever get PC v.s. console sales numbers for Skyrim but I am confident a very substantial number of sales were PC sales.

I play at a high res and there are moments where this game looks amazing and other distracting what the is that?? moments. There are many triumphs in this game of course which makes the problems stand out more.

They have my $60 and my 30 hours at this point -- I am sure I will sink many more hours into Skyrim. Yet I will judge them ultimately on whether they will support their game and not rely on PC mods to git 'er done.

[DisgruntledGoat]

I noticed the snow was brought up as a negative due to texture quality. But do people realize that the snow is procedural not a texture. The engine paints the snow on the textures passed on the geometry etc. That was what Todd meant when he talked about procedural dynamic snow. They don't have texture artists painting each surface with snow. Far from it, they told the game there is snow in these regions but snow on these surfaces. That's why we get flickering snow and what appear to be low res snow textures. The next obvious step is truly dynamic snow, where the snow builds up on surfaces as the game plays rather than when the game loads.

[snuggans]

I noticed the snow was brought up as a negative due to texture quality. But do people realize that the snow is procedural not a texture. The engine paints the snow on the textures passed on the geometry etc. That was what Todd meant when he talked about procedural dynamic snow. They don't have texture artists painting each surface with snow. Far from it, they told the game there is snow in these regions but snow on these surfaces. That's why we get flickering snow and what appear to be low res snow textures. The next obvious step is truly dynamic snow, where the snow builds up on surfaces as the game plays rather than when the game loads.

although that's an interesting factoid, the point is that it just looks bad, not whether it's a hand-made texture or generated from a system.

still, even many of the real textures in the game suffer from poor resolution, they obviously look fine from far away but for example it would be silly forcing yourself not to look down at the ground in order not to notice the blurriness that's there. it's a shame that you've got improved lighting, animations, and effects but then they botch it up with simple texture res? even vanilla Oblivion's textures give some of these Skyrim textures a run for their money and that shouldn't happen, it's a 6 year old game. for a PC that's running true 1920x1080 and not the often upscaled 1080 that consoles see or more commonly 480 and 720, you can't have this happening because it becomes obvious, you don't even have to run up to it and look at it point-blank. even the distance between the the player and the screen factor into this, as monitors are usually a lot closer to the player's face than a TV would be; the micro should not be tossed aside. still it doesn't take much to notice that other components of the game other than graphics are tailored for consoles. PC just seems like an afterthought with this release.

[The Holy Pilgrim]

Lol this vid is funny But honestly I have seen only one of the bugs shown opn that video, I'm playing the PS3 version. Still there will always be players unstatisfied which is normal but people should know that it's a Bethesda game, we all know it as bugs on released but IMO Skyrim as less bugs then Oblivion when it was released.

Huh. I have yet to suffer from any of the bugs I saw here

Well, maybe except for the occasional low texture, but I honestly don't mind it.

[Fracchione]

need to know about combat before buy.......

oblivion combat sucked, fallout3 one too, in melee, while VATS was awesome... given that skyrim has no VATS, whatta do?

snuggy dude said "entertaining", whatta means? elaborate..

[snuggans]

there was a section in the review dedicated to combat but anyway if you think that combat in Oblivion was horrible then i just can't see you liking the combat in Skyrim as it's fundamentally the same but with some improvements and additions here and there. they did use one thing from VATS and that's the death animations in slow mo.

[Fracchione]

bah, snuggy, you didn't analyze that very well

miles and miles of sentencies focused on absolutely minor aspects and just a little hint to the core of every game ( gameplay )

who cares if you can marry, buy, craft and travel long distances?

you critic the menus and not the combat???!!

blob

that said, well written piece, but users undecided about purchase like me (stupid noob fracciones) need more info on vital features, my dear

[snuggans]

bah, snuggy, you didn't analyze that very well

miles and miles of sentencies focused on absolutely minor aspects and just a little hint to the core of every game ( gameplay )

who cares if you can marry, buy, craft and travel long distances?

you critic the menus and not the combat???!!

blob

that said, well written piece, but users undecided about purchase like me (stupid noob fracciones) need more info on vital features, my dear

for the second time now, the combat was spoken about in the review, along with other things that heavily affect combat such as difficulty scaling, fatality animations and weapons.
i actually didn't mention anything about marriage, buying or traveling long distances so i'm starting to wonder if you even read my review.

[Imperator of Rome]

for the second time now, the combat was spoken about in the review, along with other things that heavily affect combat such as difficulty scaling, fatality animations and weapons.
i actually didn't mention anything about marriage, buying or traveling long distances so i'm starting to wonder if you even read my review.

Lol.Me neither dude.

[Fracchione]

those elements don't influence combat mechanics, snuggy, that's why you think I didn't read your review.... funny enough, because it has been a pleasure to read

[Musthavename]

Agree strongly with the points raised in the review. I would however give it a 9/10 as opposed to an 8/10, because whilst a lot of the "porting to PC" issues are annoying, they're not gamebreaking. Almost everything outside those niggles is flawless. But because of them, it's not enough for my GotY (which right now is going to Witcher 2, that said Skyward Sword came today).

To those who are contemplating buying it, it's still a fantastic game, which despite annoyances i've poured 40+ hours into within a week and can still see a huge amount of life left in the game.

[Daily]

This IS the game of the year. But it has so flaws that I cannot force myself to give it more than a 8 out of 10. It reminds way to much of Oblivion in many ways and stuff that they should have ironed out in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are still there.

Still GOTY!

[Tariq]

That's actually a great idea. I'll be interested in knowing about any other good changes Skyrim has other then the difficulty(which is my main concern really). Smithing and such can be modded in as far as I am concerned.

That is my main concern as well, while game is really great and is quite refreshment after this years total drops like DA2 and Gothic 4, i found leveling way to easy due to some skills being extremely easy to level(example, i left first village at lvl 15 and with Elven armor, meh).

That leaves T1-T3 armor and weapons completely useless.Even with 6x slowing down by mod it's still is way to fast.

Other then that, review is quite on mark, bad UI and mild consolitis are only negatives for me, but nothing that would stop me from playing it, and after 80+ hours of gameplay i have only run into 1 major bug with quests.

In any case, good review....

[snuggans]

i found leveling way to easy due to some skills being extremely easy to level(example, i left first village at lvl 15 and with Elven armor, meh).

That leaves T1-T3 armor and weapons completely useless.Even with 6x slowing down by mod it's still is way to fast.

on the other hand i've heard people that leveled up non-combat skills too much and upon stepping outside, even with advanced gear, they had enemies which gave them a hard time because they had not trained the essential combat perks which further improves the gear they obtained. but yes i agree that Blacksmithing leveling needs to be redone on the basis that the base iron daggers stop giving you the same skill even at 80 skill.

[Tariq]

on the other hand i've heard people that leveled up non-combat skills too much and upon stepping outside, even with advanced gear, they had enemies which gave them a hard time because they had not trained the essential combat perks which further improves the gear they obtained. but yes i agree that Blacksmithing leveling needs to be redone on the basis that the base iron daggers stop giving you the same skill even at 80 skill.

Yeah , i am aware of that people would over level with Blacksmithing.But there are some other skills (some combat ones ) as well.Blacksmithing and enchanting are way faster then alchemy for example and Block is easy to obtain as well.

I am hoping that they will address this in the patch (or someone with mod), because i was level 30 with only 3 MQ completed and right now at lvl 50 there is nothing that can hurt me , sadly.

Still game is really enjoyable ,i cannot repeat that enough.

[snuggans]

are you playing on Master atleast? on that difficulty the game should throw more higher leveled mobs at you and less of the lower leveled types but it also depends on your fighting style if you find the game too easy. i haven't experienced it personally but i've heard that magic is just generally overpowered whether you're receiving it or dishing it out, and archery can be quite overpowered as well. the game needs a bit of balancing in many areas, but as a sword-and-board playing on Expert i've had a few rage moments because some high level enemies would simply trigger the fatality animation and you would lose control of your character, dying instantly. i've also had super overpowered mages just take away 300 hp in 2 seconds so it's been a rollercoaster for me when it comes to difficulty.