Monday, July 16, 2012

Skyrim review blog post thing/

Skyrim.

Where do I begin? Such a massive game with untold amounts of hype
surrounding it. What single word can describe my overall Skyrim
experience?

Sigh.

That's exactly how I have chosen to begin this. "Sigh" is the
single word that comes to mind when looking back at my Skyrim
adventure.

The game begins in a marvelous theatrical fashion; in which you
are a prisoner, and are being hauled away to a chopping block.

You are in awe of the magnificent graphics, and well made presentation
into this intricate game world. After successfully making it through the
opening sequence; you are thrown into the game's world, and are free
to do as you wish. You can hunt the wildlife, mine, farm, delve into any caves,
help the citizens of Skyrim, or join a local faction. The world is yours.

Or so it would seem that way.

During your journey you may notice some instances that make no sense to
you. Such as flying mammoths, or goats falling out of the sky. You ignore
them; dismissed as minor bugs.

You encounter your first Dragon, and manage to slay it. You feel
accomplished, and absorb the soul; which grants you the ability to unlock shouts.
Later you encounter another of these ancient beasts, but something is wrong.
While the scaly menace is still very much a threat; you the player have
managed to absorb it's soul. The Dragon itself becomes invincible.

You begin to question if this is part of the game, or is it another bug?

You reload your save, and choose to fight the Dragon once more. You still
absorb it's sould before you should e able to, but this time; the skeleton
Dragon takes damage, and eventually falls to your arrows.

It's perfectly fine. Not a game breaking instance.

After collecting a nice little pool of gold; you decide it's time to
finally purchase a house. You are quite the happy little fellow, and
look around your new abode. It just so happens that you can place your
weapons on a display rack! Excited; you quickly put your best weapon of
choice on display. You look at your mighty blade, and feel satisfied.

Perhaps you can add some more items of value to this display. You save,
and make your way into another dungeon.

Upon returning from your recent dungeon battles; you look upon your
weapon racks, and notice that the item you had placed upon them has
vanished.

Oh horror of horrors!

You look around, but to no avail. Disgruntled by this; you decide to put
Skyrim on hold for some time. An update should be in order.

After placing the game aside for an amount of time; you decide to return.

You update, and everything seems to be working fine. It seems like most
of the bugs hav finally been cleared out.

Whilst exploring the vast landscape; the game freezes.

It's nothing important. Perhaps my PC/PS3/Xbox has overheated. You simply
reload your recent save, and are angered to know that your 'recent'
save was actually not all that recent.

You continue your adventure.

Once again; the game freezes. This time however; the save file has been
corrupted.

Skyrim is littered with bugs. Much more so than the previous games. These
bugs can quickly turn the experience into a nightmare.

With that said; what else is there to complain about?

Well, there are a few other matters, such as the lack of color. Many
first time adventure seeker may not notice this for quite an amount
of time in-game. It hit me while I was looking at an gold ingot.

It's suppose to look like gold. Isn't gold shiny, and you know; gold like?

That coupled with the fact that there aren't too many locations that are
interesting. Most of Skyrim does not stand out. Only a few areas will
really catch your eye.

These are nit picks compared to the game-breaking bugs.

On the plus side; the game is fun. Chances are you will encounter these
bugs, but will still feel compelled to continue the game. A true
testament of any great game.

Seriously though, test the game before release. Some of these bugs are
easily replicated, and the odds of the player encountering them are
high.

Great game, but the bugs. THE BUGS.

BUGS EVERYWHERE.

(By now the bugs are of no concern to you; thanks to patches, and such. Possibly. Maybe.)