The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
About the Game
Two hundred years after the events described in Oblivion , the continent of Tamriel is in turmoil. The Emperor's throne remained without heir; the Blades, the Empire's elite guards, have been disassembled; elven nations began capturing territory from the Empire. The assassination of the King of Skyrim, Tamriel's northernmost province and home of the Nord race, led to a civil war between those who wish independence for Skyrim and those who wanted it to remain under the Empire's control. A prisoner is brought to a small town, awaiting execution for alleged involvement with the Stormcloaks, a group that was founded by the king's assassin, Ulfric Stormcloak.
Story & Setting
players may explore the vast environments of Skyrim from either first- (default) or third-person perspective, being unrestricted in their travels and free to either follow the main quest or undertake any side quests in any order. When the protagonist reaches a new level, players may increase their Health, Magicka, or Stamina, and a new perk may be added to one of their skills. The protagonist can serve out their sentence on the jail bed, or pick the lock and escape; however, going to jail is likely to cause current skill progress to be lost. As before, there are several groups, guilds, and the like that players may encounter and join, each with their own advantages or disadvantages, views on the current events of the world, and quests.
Gameplay & Core Systems
Just before the executioner's axe lands on the prisoner's neck, a dragon attacks the city, forcing most people to flee. Like its predecessors in the Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim is an open-ended role-playing game with action-based combat. It is possible to fast-travel to previously visited locations directly from the world map. players can also opt to buy (or steal) and ride a horse. Each race has their own perks and limitations, such as the Nords being resistant to cold or Khajiit having bonuses in stealth-oriented skills.
Standout Features
- Destruction: For instance, in order to reach higher perks with Destruction, destructive spells must be leveled up.
- Skill levels can increase either through extensive use, skill books, or even paying for training from certain non-playable characters.
- Fallout: The experience includes some features that were introduced in Fallout 3 .
- Enemy level-scaling is done in a similar way, as opposed to the more intrusive system of Oblivion .
- Also, the lockpicking system of the previous installment has been replaced with the lockpicking methods of the recent Fallout games.
- Players can craft, cook, or build any number of items depending on ingredients and skill levels.
- Alchemy allows players to make potions, Enchanting allows them to imbue armor and items with magical abilities (such as increasing the effectiveness of magic resistance), and Smithing allows them to either craft or improve weapons and armor.
- Smelting, Tanning and Cooking are a part of this mix as well: Smelting is the skill of turning raw mined mineral ores into usable ingots for Smithing; Tanning is the process of drying animal hides to make leather strips, useful in creating or improving armor and weapons; Cooking allows players to turn otherwise minimally useful food ingredients into much more beneficial meals.
Presentation & Atmosphere
Display support includes Progressive Scan (480p), HDTV 720p, HDTV 1080i, and HDTV 1080p. Audio support includes Dolby Digital and DTS.
