Game for your Buck: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim has hundreds of hours of gameplay. So I've decided that I will separate my reviews into different parts. The rating will be over what I've encountered and what I've done within the game so far. This means that the "Game for your buck" value is suspect to change over time.

This is part 2. Click to view part 1.

Perk System:

Look up to the stars and let them guide you in this innovative talent tree. You must choose a niche within the talent tree. Well, you don't have to but it's best to stick to a niche. I have a friend who started playing and he leveled into a little bit of everything. So, although resourceful, he wasn't really good at anything in the game. No definite weaknesses or advantages. I talked him into restarting and focusing on leveling his 2-Handed, Restoration and Heavy Armor skill so that he could become something of a Paladin. He did. He started kicking butt, smiting undead, healing his wounds and doing some epic warhammer finishing moves. He destroys everything but he's very weak to poisons and mages. So, the perks are only as good as you make them. Everything has advantages and disadvantages. Be sure to get perks that will always help you and focus less on strict situational advantages. The trees are also set up to pertain to certain class aspects. For example, the two main branches within alchemy are potions and poisons. So the bigger question is, are you a mage or an assassin? Oh? You're a mage-assassin? Then you can level both branches, but that will take much longer. As you only get one perk to spend per level.

Leveling System:

Quests do not award experience. They award physical rewards such as gold or the ability to trade with someone you couldn't before. The way you level your character is by... well, doing things. To level your restoration you must heal yourself or another when damaged. To level your blacksmithing you must create things. To level your destruction you must catch things on fire. You get the idea. Once you do one of those enough, your skill will level. When your skill in something is high enough, you can get perks you couldn't before. When your skill levels, you will get a chunk of experience for it. So quests are for adventuring! Not leveling. Plus, creatures don't respawn within seconds or minutes. This replaces the "grind" most RPGs have with adventure and a challenge.

Simplicity vs. Difficulty:

My mom can play this game. She's 40-something and sucks at videogames. Though this title is so immersive and so simple that she was (and is) able to play and enjoy the game. When I say simple I do not mean easy. This game is quite difficult and has many layers of leveling and quests that require great thought. Though, they've simplified aspects of the game. Not to make things "easier" but to make things less cluttered. Remember that haggle bar in Oblivion where you would slide the pricing up and down to try to get the most coin for your sell? Well, that's gone in Skyrim. Well, not gone, but simplified. You can still level (and now perk) your speechcraft, however, instead of dealing with this clunky nasty bar the game will simply give you the best deal possible for who you're talking to. "Casuals!" one may accuse, but that does not make things easier. The difficulty was not affected by any means. Anyone can slide a bar back and forth until they see a confirmation message. The problem is it's no fun. So it's gone.

Have you ever found a really cool chest piece and really good leggings in a game... that don't match? This has been simplified. Your chest piece and your leggings are the same thing in Skyrim. Not only does this look nicer, it's simpler (not easier) and you don't spend half the game comparing clothes. You spend half of this game killing dragons.

Vast Amount of Content:

I've been playing this game the whole week. I still haven't gotten bored and I keep finding such cool quests. I've only made one character so far. 'Nuff said.

Why Haven't you Bought this Game yet?

I know, I know, "It's $60!" is a perfectly good reason to have not bought this game yet... except for the fact that it's worth more than $60 dollars. That's the point of this blog. Value vs. Price. This is the only title I've ever played where I've been completely happy with that high of a price and would pay MORE to play more. I never thought I'd rate a game this high. That's why the bar graph for ratings only goes to $60... it's just that Skyrim broke it.

GAME FOR YOUR BUCK?