The Official "Countdown to Skyrim" Thread

[jd091]

Originally Posted by adamclark52

It does look a lot more polished but let's be fair, Oblivion is five years old now.

Not even that; the art style in oblivion was overall generic and mediocre compared to the awesome, unique style in Morrowind. They definitely brought that back for Skyrim, which is great to see.

[adamclark52]

I'll be getting it for Christmas, I'm really looking forward to it.

[SomewhereInTime72]

Is this really one of the best PC games ever? I'm having a hard time believing the hype, to be honest. And not just from my somewhat-biased-against-elderscrolls perspective, I just don't see why it's being held in such absurdly high regard.

[jd091]

Originally Posted by SomewhereInTime72

Is this really one of the best PC games ever? I'm having a hard time believing the hype, to be honest. And not just from my somewhat-biased-against-elderscrolls perspective, I just don't see why it's being held in such absurdly high regard.

Well, it's probably the best example of an open-world RPG that I've ever played, and I've played a lot of different RPG's. I think it just has so much hype because it's a game everybody is playing right now. If you own a computer, especially. Parts of it - perks, skill trees, crafting, enchanting, spells - are a complete departure from any Elder Scrolls game in the past, especially Oblivion. But in my opinion, it's all for the best. And every aspect about Oblivion that was good, they improved upon.

The new engine is fantastic, character models are great, and above all, the art direction and artistic style is fantastic. It reminds me of Morrowind to an extent: Skyrim feels like it has it's own unique culture. All the races seem to have their own artistic style, too. Redguards are now African nomads, Orcs are like Mongol Warriors, Imperials are Ancient Rome, High Elves are pretty much all the Thalmor (a faction that broke off from the rest of Tamriel and waged a huge civil war), etc. The lore is fantastic; I'm way more invested in the world, story, and history in this game than in previous ones.

Is it one of the best PC games ever? I don't know. I'll have to see how it is 10 years from now. Modding support hasn't even taken off until January when the creation kit is released, and the game is going to become infinitely replayable on the PC because of that. Sure, the story isn't anything compared to Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights, but the world is more important to the story in this game. It feels more fleshed out and immersive than past elder scrolls titles.

[SomewhereInTime72]

Well that does sound pretty awesome. I just hope I don't feel any regret if and when I cave and decide I gotta play this.

[adamclark52]

One thing I'm not digging is the view when I'm traveling. I like to play in third person view and I'm finding that when I have my sword sheathed the view is too zoomed in on my character and I can't see enough of the environment. Any way to change this?