The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Ahh Skyrim. Probably the most overrated game of this generation. Before you fanboys get your panties in a twist let me explain myself. I did give the game a six. This means it is playable. But it really is not worth your time. Why?

First off, and for me most frustrating is the needless complications. “But it's an RPG. You must not like the genre if you don't want complication.” Incorrect. I said “needless” complications. Myself, I have finished many an RPG and loved every second of it. So that argument, of me as a reviewer is bogus. Now, into these “needless complications.” The first thing I did not like about this game is how complicated selling and buying is. Now when I say complicated I mean tedious. There are a few reasons why. The first of which is that merchants will only buy certain things of you; a jeweler will by jewelery while a blacksmith will buy weapons and armor. As much as this is realistic, this is a video game. I would like to make only one stop. In this game you would be lucky to only have to stop in one town, let alone one store and that's if you can even find the correct stores before getting tired of wasting time walking around town.

This brings me to my second point and that is that merchants only carry a certain amount of gold on them. This depends on the merchant but it usually isn't over 800 pieces. By level 8 I was selling items that were worth more then that. This being the case I had to figure out where each individual shop was in each town just to sell the loot I had found. In other games this would take me 5 – 10 minutes. But in Skyrim, this easily took me 30 – 60 minutes each time, every time. That's if the store wasn't closed for a random reason on a weekday at 3 in the afternoon.

Now, after you have finally take the 30 minutes minimum that you need to sell your goods what good does it do you? Well, not much. You can save to buy a house for 5k to store dragon bones and the like. But the blacksmith doesn't sell anything exciting. He doesn't sell any epic weapons or armor that you would be excited to get your hands on.

When it comes to armor, you can craft after countless hours something useful, but the sane can not be said for weapons. I used the same sword pretty much the whole game. I used the Ancient Nordic Sword of Frost and an Iron set of armor for at least 75% of the game. Now I could upgrade the armor but there are three different things required to do that or make a new set. You need the anvil, the sharpening stone, and the work bench. This isn't a big deal. But these three things couldn't have been combined into just the anvil so I don't have to seek more out and spend less time in the exciting parts of the game? Without a change in gear it gets pretty boring. What about the gear you find? Well there aren't really any drops in this game. I have heard that there are rare drops but throughout my entire campaign I did not see one. Imperial gaurds dropped imperial armor every time. Rats dropped pelts and tails. And so on and so on.

The world is large but empty. When you do fight the residents you find in the world of Skyrim don't expect too much excitement. Hack and slash. Then hack some more. Then slash some more. It is an RPG but an action one. A little more depth would have been appreciated but I will digress when it comes to that. What I will say though when it comes to fighting is the potion system. You can pause the game at any time and use any number of potions. This being the case I never even bothered with restoration spells. What is the point? I can pause the game and have infinite heals without any wasted skill points. Although better then its predecessor, fights are still long and tedious. Both you and your enemy have a lot of hit points and you are just waiting for one to give way first. The game does have companions but don't expect them to speed this process up because they are virtually useless. Finally, when it comes to combat, I got tired of fighting the same dragons over and over. Give me a boss or something new and exciting. And the last boss behaved just like every other dragon that came before him just with even more hit points. Boring.

Now there are a few pros to the game; the environments look gorgeous, the character creation is a lot of fun, and the level up system is miles above the previous entry in the series. I would still prefer a little more customization but I had fun power playing my orc warrior (even if I did finish the game in six hours and at level 15.) Now I also know I didn't explore a lot of the side quest opportunities. But I was just so bored of the game by finishing the main plot that I had no ambition to play anymore. The main quest is supposed to be the main event. Having good sub-quests is no excuse for an uneasy main.

So where do we go from here? Well we don't buy Skyrim. We specially don't sing it's praises or Fus-Ro-Dahs. With tedious combat, a lack of enemies and loot, and a terrible story, you deserve better then this mainstream garbage. There are many better games to choose from on the market in the same genre that have also been released recently. Kingdoms of Amalur is an alright choice; a simplified Skyrim to make it more fun and mainstream. If you are a glutton for punishment go out and buy Dark Souls. This game is fully customizable per level and, although also lacking in loot, does much better justice for the genre.

Graphics: 7/10 - They character models are decent. The environments are awesome.

Sound: 8/10 - The music is spectacular. The voice acting isn't bad. It isn't great either.

Gameplay: 5/10 - My loot seldom changed. For an RPG, this is kind of a big part of the game. As I mentioned previous, I also had complications with the selling system and other smaller frustrations and complications. Bosses are also very boring because they are all exactly the same.

Lasting Appeal: 9/10 - If you enjoyed the game there is plenty of different builds to explore and sub-quests. 100s of potential hours.

Achievement Score: 235/1000

Overall Score: 6/10