Skyrim
Like every other gaming blogger out there, except for a few stalwart refuseniks who know they'll give in sooner or later anyway, I have been playing Skyrim. Nina picked it for me on Friday, and had it installed on the XBox, patched, and so on, by the time I got in.
I didn't spend the whole weekend in it, but I think I put in a fairly solid 18 hours or so in total. I do not feel like I have done any more than scratch the surface of it yet. I'm at about level 9 out of the 50 base levels, and theoretical 81 total. So far I've followed what I think is the main quest line a bit, chased half a dozen side quests, done a small amount of crafting, and stood around marvelling at the scenery quite a bit.
The graphic upgrade from Oblivion to Skyrim isn't quite as immediately evident as I thought it might be. It sort of sneaks up on you in the first few minutes, particularly in the landscapes, and after a bit, I found myself standing there, just looking around, in mountain passes and the like, marvelling not at the graphics, but at the scenery. It is magnificent scenery.
Also, the Northern Lights. My gods, the Northern Lights. I actually went "WOW!" the first time I saw them, and spent a good ten minutes looking up.
It's not an easy game to review. I could try to tell you about the gameplay, but in reality, I stopped thinking about gameplay very early on, and started concentrating on doing stuff. I have had almost no thoughts about the mechanics of the game; I've been too busy trying to collect 5000 gold to get my first house. And so on. The game draws you in quite completely.
It's entirely possible that I will have some more coherent thoughts on the actual game sometime in the next few weeks, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Posted by Drew Shiel at November 14, 2011 3:27 PM
