Skyrim: Constantly on the Horizon
Skyrim in two words: Too Ambitious.
Skyrim in a bunch of other words:
Skyrim delivers what we have come to expect from Bethesda. From the moment your character wakes in the opening sequence it is immediately apparent that they spent a large amount of time developing an amazing atmosphere. The art direction and graphics are stunning, the voice actors are far from amateur, and the writing is superb. Skyrim's ambiance seeps past the screen and grasps you by your imagination. You become the hero you have made as simple decisions become seemingly large factors. The power to change the destiny of those around you becomes intoxicating. After some had invested up to 100 hours in one character, I pointed out to my friends that in the opening sequence you can choose to follow the Imperial or the Stormcloak. This detail became so important that half of them immediately abandoned their hard earned veteran characters to begin a new character. That is how influential the game becomes. It gives you so much power that you forget that the characters and environment are hard coded. Unfortunately for Bethesda, their ambition was the ultimate downfall.
The graphics may be beautiful and the environment may be incredibly expansive, but don't look to closely. If you love exploring the vast landscape before you then you have already found a handful of graphic glitches. From disappearing, re-appearing lakes to clipping bodies, Skyrim's graphics will amaze you then confound you as the schizophrenic scenery dances between meticulous and overlooked.
The story is invigorating as always. This isn't another take on Empire vs. Rebels. The writers did a great job of giving you sympathy for a tyrant and spite for the underdog. The dragons almost take a backseat to the powerful struggle and grey areas between unity and sovereignty. To aid the story Bethesda enlisted a talented cast of voice actors to provide beautiful narration for your journey. You will find yourself asking "where do I know that voice" as you pull up IMDB to soothe that nagging know-it-all inside you. This feeling will wane as you begin to hear the that voice spread across a multitude of characters. They pulled together a talented cast of voice actors, but a limited number of them. To populate an entire world of voices is expensive, but when that Elf sounded just like that Breton you start to become a little disenchanted. The same can be said for the writing. I love that the writers are devoted to tying the generations of games together like pearls on a string of ribbon, but when you recycle books from Oblivion that discuss the school of Mysticism in a game that has removed it from the rest of existence, well let's just say that some loose ends are best tied loosely than not tied at all.
The rest of Skyrim seems to care little for Lake Houdini and the questionable history books. The world of Skyrim reacts to you as you interact with its people. Things will change and the world will morph as you exchange blows with villains and kind words with friends. You may help an Orc princess escape a life of servitude, you may carry out a plot to kill a person you had once been assigned to protect. Skyrim wants you to know that it is as alive as you, it is a living, breathing world that has it's problems and it's solutions. Just don't ask too much of the game. It will dangle one of the coolest evil slaying orders in front of your face just to tease you. They will give you a father searching for a better future for his son then they will revoke his right to live, and don't even think about helping a driven Nord with her quest against a corrupt mead magnate and her shadowy cohorts. The game holds the cards and if you try to outwit the game, you may find yourself with a handful of broken quests. For an open-world RPG, at times the game feels like it is awfully linear.
But what about the actual game play? This is typical Bethesda as well. They have moved away from Oblivion's aggravating leveling system and towards a standard "pick your poison" point distribution system. In a way, that have stepped back from innovation and decided to go with a tried and true system. They have even weeded out the useless Mysticism school of magic and pumped up Alteration to a respectable collection of spells. It was obvious that the development team knew that some things were wrong in Oblivion. Although they made some other very questionable decisions. Alchemy and Lockpicking still suffer from their usual faults. They are fun to use, but not very practical to invest in. Blacksmithing and Enchanting on the other hand seem to be the most important skills in the game. If you want truly awesome gear, you are going to craft it. It will be tedious and time consuming. For anyone hoping to play a Monk character, you are out of luck. There are slim pickings for a character that wants to go toe to claw with a dragon. It is another way that the game gives the illusion of choice, but it is really pigeon holing you into playing a particular story line with a specific character build.
All in all, Bethesda's focus during development seems to have been player immersion. It was an ambitious goal and they put forth a large effort, but the effort was not large enough. Perhaps if they had made the game exclusive to one console or PC it would have benefited the end product. Maybe if they would have taken the Japanese approach and gave the player less freedom in creation and produced a more obviously linear world. No matter what they could have done, as it stands now the game feels unfinished at parts and just plain awkward at other parts. While the game wants to draw you in it also pushes you away. It wants you to make decisions, but then answers some questions for you. The whole game seems split between left and right, creativity and logic. It would be interesting to see what would happen if Bethesda gave another studio a crack at the next Elder Scrolls installment. Is it the game or the name that excites the fans the most? I will wait to see what they have in store for us. For now, Skyrim, like Oblivion, will remain on my shelf as the game that will always have equivocal expectations.
