The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

 PC
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 12985 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10,547 out of 12985
  2. Mixed: 1,375 out of 12985
  3. Negative: 1,063 out of 12985
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  1. Desdicado
    Jan 23, 2012
    8
    Ok first thing to tell you is that I have finished this game, all the major quest lines and am starting my second play thru, this time as a mage, rather than melee shield combo. This is a very good game, with some pretty major irritants. Ok, what's good, the main quest lines are well done, the world is huge and looks pretty good (thanks to mods) it has that "just one more quest" feelingOk first thing to tell you is that I have finished this game, all the major quest lines and am starting my second play thru, this time as a mage, rather than melee shield combo. This is a very good game, with some pretty major irritants. Ok, what's good, the main quest lines are well done, the world is huge and looks pretty good (thanks to mods) it has that "just one more quest" feeling that will keep you up to 2am and mods add to it all the time, lightsabres? yes please. Ok, so what is not good, too many draughar, are those the only enemies? it seems like it too often. Too many bandits, I would have liked much more enemy variety. Loot, any stuff you find is generally only useful at low levels, even the Daedric artifacts and unique items are no good, you can craft better items yourself. You basically collect money to no good purpose as all I ever bought were crafting supplies. The townsfolk, bethesda seem to have hired 4 voice actors for the whole game, James Hetfield, another guy, a norwegian female and another woman, that's it. And they all spout the same line again and again "EVERYTHING'S for sale!" etc
    People don't look great but mods help this. I also HATED that they'd dumbed down the RPG element of the game by removing stats and streamlining skills. Anyway, I will probably play it thru again, so it must be good, but it could have been better!    … Expand
  2. sc0TTi
    Dec 27, 2011
    8
    some great stuff, but not polished. dragon fights are terrible, and that includes boss fights. not enough tough single enemies to really get into a technical duel with. graphics are 360 level. great quests though, and great npcs
  3. jocksson
    Nov 11, 2011
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is awesome! Played about 8 hours now, what impressed me the most though was when i were doing a random quest then got a note from a courrier with a black hand that said "WE KNOW". Then when i had rested i woke up at an old shack. And had to execute a random person, that was insane, apparently i got to join the dark brotherhood. The story so far i great, the sound is a 9/10, amazing. Graphics could be better though (will blame consoles). Also the landscape is visually amazing and very creative.10/10, this game is a masterpiece.… Expand
  4. Artomoz
    Dec 31, 2011
    8
    While The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim does not revolutionize the RPG genre it sure does bring fresh new content to the table. From epic scenery to ferocious dragon battles. The world of Skyrim left more to desire though, wishing for a more ambient and interactive world to explore. Don't get me wrong the world itself and detail of design of this game is amongst the best I've ever seen theseWhile The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim does not revolutionize the RPG genre it sure does bring fresh new content to the table. From epic scenery to ferocious dragon battles. The world of Skyrim left more to desire though, wishing for a more ambient and interactive world to explore. Don't get me wrong the world itself and detail of design of this game is amongst the best I've ever seen these past years. That's the main reason why I did not give this game a 10/10. Lost 1 point for lack of ambiance amongst the world. Exploring the world itself can take time and not to mention playing on "Master" difficulty will add plenty of hours to main quests and side quests. Whilst playing on anything below "Master" will definitely leave you wanting for more since the main quest is a bit short but can be elongated if the difficulty setting is changed. Then again, there are plenty of other quests the game provides you that will keep you busy through months, that is if you're the perfectionist or adventurer type. There are plenty of crafts to master from smithing to enchanting weaponry. I took another point off due to the basic level up system Skyrim has, while there are a variety of options there's not enough to say it is a true RPG leveling system. It follows more of the likes of Dragon Age, which is simplistic and does not really leave room to create unique characters from pures to hybrids. The giants are stronger than dragons debate I can say it is the difficulty level you're playing and the dragon you're fighting. A regular dragon is amongst the easiest, whilst a frost dragon can 1 hit KO the character. Most of these people complaining about the length obviously didn't take the time to change the difficulty setting of the game and just basically rushed through the main story instead of allowing themselves to enjoy this game. There's tons of books scattered around to collect that provide knowledge of certain areas, characters, history, organizations, and ect that can keep you busy reading if you're the person who enjoys expanding you're knowledge about Skyrim. I have to agree with some people stating some side quests left more to desire and that's another reason why I'm not giving this game a 10/10. About glitches and bugs found in Skyrim, we have to understand this is an open world sand box game so expect plenty of bugs and glitches. There's really nothing game breaking other than some words cannot be learned due to a bug on the game but does not necessarily impair you from completing quests.Overall this game is worth the $60.00 for players who are RPG fans. Many people claim this game is repetitive but which game isn't? FPS games = shoot/mission over/ cinematic/ infiltrate shoot/ mission over/ cinematic. That debate loses plenty of credibility fast as this game provides plenty of other options to keep yourself busy and away from monotonous dungeon clearing.… Expand
  5. ApfelGanja
    Dec 12, 2011
    8
    Skyrim is a great game, with a massive world, hundreds of side quests, and enough gameplay to keep you in front of your rig for a couple hundred hours at least! But I can't give this game a 10 or even a 9 due to the technical issues. The game is filled with bugs to the brim (and the occasional crash, although rare) and although Bethesda have promised us a patch, i haven't seen any patches.Skyrim is a great game, with a massive world, hundreds of side quests, and enough gameplay to keep you in front of your rig for a couple hundred hours at least! But I can't give this game a 10 or even a 9 due to the technical issues. The game is filled with bugs to the brim (and the occasional crash, although rare) and although Bethesda have promised us a patch, i haven't seen any patches. The menu is a console port, even an idiot can see that, and the gameplay does have some glitches and combat does get repetitive sometimes. But overall, I'm really enjoying this! I'm only level 27, but I've been to every town or city there is, and there's always plenty to do!… Expand
  6. Yllems
    Dec 14, 2011
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Truly, a joy to play. Skyrim has a lot of great points and bad points that just can't be ignored. The Great. At first, the leveling and skill tree changes kind of bothered me, but I grew to like the changes, it's a little bit more simplified over oblivion for the leveling, moving to just magicka/health/stamina but the skill trees give a lot of room for diversification. There is a ton to do, so much so, it's hard to know for sure if you've done everything in an area. I particularly like the choices that are presented in some of the quests, for example, when joining the brotherhood. I liked the addition of the shouts in the game, gave a lot of the casting abilities for those who choose not to be a mage. I thought it was a cool idea to move the stars from what you were born under to the stones and I loved how they got rid of the greater and lesser skills and can level everything equally. I loved the enchants, as overpowered as they are, there's still a certain joy in completely destroying your enemy with gear that you've made.

    The Bad: Holy bugs batman... I've been running the game on a top of the line system and get game crashes about every 30min-1hr and get weird graphical gliches as well (which seem to go hand in hand most of the time). I had a companion quest bug out on me because I had cleared out the dungeon while exploring that they were gonna send me to and had to use console commands to fix it after waiting a month in game. Also had a similar story trying to get the house in windhelm, had to use console commands for that one too (who knew you couldn't do brotherhood quests first?). While I like the skill trees, It's doesn't take long to figure out that most of the skills in those trees are worthless (anyone else notice how light armor fully perked is completely worthless when held up against heavy armor fully perked?) and I was surprised and disappointed how many of the top tier perks fell into the worthless category. I was a bit bothered that mages can run around in heavy armor without any penalties, truly, it makes no sense why the mages at the college are all wearing cloth. Playing through on master difficulty is still too easy with the crafting skills as they are, especially enchanting, which can and does completely invalidate magicka altogether (sucks to find that out halfway into the game as a mage after power leveling your magicka). I REALLY wanted at least one item, just one, to be better than something I could make myself. (wth is the point of doing all those shrines if they're all gonna be worse than what you've got?)

    All in all, I know it sounds like I didn't like the game, but after putting in over 240 hrs, I just can't say that I didn't love it. The reply value is high, the entertainment value is high, the story is riveting, I just ended up having to gimp myself and not use certain skills to make it harder. (Currently playing through only using thief stone skills +1hd on master)    … Expand
  7. Ormik
    Nov 18, 2011
    8
    I have one piece of advice for those considering this game on the PC. Find a decent UI mod, or get an xbox 360 controller hooked upto your PC and play it that way.

    Almost all of the menu screens DO NOT use a mouse interface, and simply have you arrow left or right to select items. This is insane. Anyone who has played these games knows that you don't have a hand anywhere near your arrow    I have one piece of advice for those considering this game on the PC. Find a decent UI mod, or get an xbox 360 controller hooked upto your PC and play it that way.

    Almost all of the menu screens DO NOT use a mouse interface, and simply have you arrow left or right to select items. This is insane. Anyone who has played these games knows that you don't have a hand anywhere near your arrow keys, do you? No. Mouse and WASD.

    That said, I was planning to play with a 360 controller anyway, and only fired up the game originally (sans controller) so see how it looked. I was happy to see that after plugging in the controller it instantly recognized it and mapped all of the buttons to the exact same layout as playing it on the xbox. This made life easier, but the default PC UI is still quite a disappointment.

    Other than that, it is an addictive game with a beautifully crafted world that sparks far more intrigue in me than the general plains/hills of TES: Oblivion.    … Expand
  8. elfelixg
    Nov 14, 2011
    8
    Out of 10:
    Graphics: 8 - not the very best, at times I feel they could have done better, I have a high end PC and even though it looks nice I wanted a longer draw distance. Sometimes up on the top of the mountains the surrounding lower areas go grey.
    Sound: 8 - music is superb. Overall sound is good. There are a few sound failures such as a dog just feet away from you sounding like its on    Out of 10:
    Graphics: 8 - not the very best, at times I feel they could have done better, I have a high end PC and even though it looks nice I wanted a longer draw distance. Sometimes up on the top of the mountains the surrounding lower areas go grey.

    Sound: 8 - music is superb. Overall sound is good. There are a few sound failures such as a dog just feet away from you sounding like its on the other side of a hill. Things like that take away from the overall experience which is still good. Some of the voice acting is fantastic, some others not.

    gameplay: 8 Free roaming is great, the 1 v 1 is ok. Glad you can get a 3rd person perspective sometimes. I wish blocking were a bit faster on the reaction time. By the time you see a swing starting on your enemy it is usually to late to react. Swinging any weapon has little else to do other than clicking the mouse button over and over. Animations of certain special kills are nice.

    Lasting appeal: 8.5 It is a single player game, but so far, I have been playing the hell out of it and I still have a ton more to do. Game feels like it will take a month to finish.    … Expand
  9. Picklez
    Nov 21, 2011
    8
    This is comming from someone whos played like 3 hours of the game. Although I can safely say ill will be playing at least another 10 without getting bored. Graphics look well maybe not astonishing, its no crysis although the effects for weather are quite nice to look at. If im gonna be honest character creation is good enough for me at least some more body shape and hairstyle options couldThis is comming from someone whos played like 3 hours of the game. Although I can safely say ill will be playing at least another 10 without getting bored. Graphics look well maybe not astonishing, its no crysis although the effects for weather are quite nice to look at. If im gonna be honest character creation is good enough for me at least some more body shape and hairstyle options could be lovely although i cannot ask for allot more. The gameplay itself is good fun. Walking tends to get annoying but its not too extreme and wont really throw you off. I wish the choice of weoponry was a little bit more broad (im talking about the first couple of hours) Gave it an 8 instead of a nine as it reminded me too much of Fallout.… Expand
  10. charl13dontsurf
    Nov 11, 2011
    8
    First the game is gorgeous, love the atmosphere of another TES game. However... my impressions are mixed between the love for the series and the potential - and how they mangled the menus and interface for the PC.

    Even in the character creation screen I found it frustrating switching between mouse and keyboard just to tweak how my guy looks. You can't mouse into the next setting and I ran    First the game is gorgeous, love the atmosphere of another TES game. However... my impressions are mixed between the love for the series and the potential - and how they mangled the menus and interface for the PC.

    Even in the character creation screen I found it frustrating switching between mouse and keyboard just to tweak how my guy looks. You can't mouse into the next setting and I ran into a problem several times where I had to back out using the top menus with my mouse because the context menus were stuck.

    Then there is the inventory system. Ick. I still think that top navigation and splitting the areas out below is way better than this side scrolling system. Do weapons only have two stats? Damage and weight? lol. Where are the more detailed stats like swing rate etc. You can't even view how items look without exiting out of the menu, standing still and pivoting to see your character.

    The skills menu is another area where while it looks pretty for the first bit, you should really have an option where you can condense it into a single overview screen.

    There needs to be a better way to swtich weapons and spells besides using favourites. I don't like having to pause the action every 2 minutes to switch my loadout from bow to dual wield, to spells etc. Cumbersome.

    In my opinion though, menus are pretty easy to change. The actually game plays well and the story captured my interest immediately. The crafting, harvesting and other elements are pretty well done. This is only a first impressions rating. I might have to buy it for PS3 or just hookup my PS3 controller to the PC in order for me to get beyond the cumbersome menu systems though. Looking forward to playing it more this weekend!    … Expand
  11. TinyTurdlet
    Nov 11, 2011
    8
    I am very happy with the outcome of this game. I can't say that it doesn't have issues that is why I gave it an 8 instead of a 9 or 10. The Visuals look quite good on my PC. Someone had said how it eats up their 8800 gtx. That's cause that is like 5 generations old video hardware. The game feels like a new experience. The dual-wielding is a concept that I've wanted to see and definatelyI am very happy with the outcome of this game. I can't say that it doesn't have issues that is why I gave it an 8 instead of a 9 or 10. The Visuals look quite good on my PC. Someone had said how it eats up their 8800 gtx. That's cause that is like 5 generations old video hardware. The game feels like a new experience. The dual-wielding is a concept that I've wanted to see and definately adds for a different dynamic.. The scenery is appropriate and pretty. I haven't run into any off-putting bugs at this time. The voice acting is quite the step up from Oblivion (70+ voice actors compared to TES IV's 12). The only major problem I have is that it is optimized for consoles. The interface, inventory, favorite items vs quick keys all felt cumbersome at first. I'm getting used to it, but I shouldn't be required to conform to what I can do with 5 buttons. The Elder Scrolls have previously been PC first games which made them incredibly enveloping when they came out. I've certainly had a couple Ooohh's and Ahhhh's in this but I can only imagine what it could have been if it were designed with the PC in mind first.… Expand
  12. Elsingo
    Nov 11, 2011
    8
    This game deserves an 8, it has good graphics, voice acting can now and then be realy horrible imo. Cant judge on the whole story but from what ive seen so far it has a solid story and fun combat.
  13. ineffable
    Nov 12, 2011
    8
    Perhaps it's a bit early for me to be writing a review (only played about 4 hours), but I'm gonna go ahead and call it - this game is really good. I'm not a huge Elder Scrolls fan - I found Oblivion to be boring. The landscape, the story, everything about it seemed like some half-assed Tolkien ripoff. This game displays more personality, has a landscape that is interesting and pretty (notPerhaps it's a bit early for me to be writing a review (only played about 4 hours), but I'm gonna go ahead and call it - this game is really good. I'm not a huge Elder Scrolls fan - I found Oblivion to be boring. The landscape, the story, everything about it seemed like some half-assed Tolkien ripoff. This game displays more personality, has a landscape that is interesting and pretty (not cut-and-paste woodlands), and shows improvement in almost all ways. It has flaws. The combat is a bit better than Oblivion (especially archery) but still feels stiff. The voice acting can be pretty wooden, and some (very little) of the dialogue has made me cringe. But it's well worth the money.

    And as for the people talking about what a buggy mess it is... well, it has a patch out. I patched it before playing and I have not had any graphical bugs or crashes. It's worked perfectly.    … Expand
  14. coffee
    Nov 12, 2011
    8
    Yes it's a console port so the graphics are garbage and the menus are worse. Those two things are the games biggest downfall. After you get over that it's all good. To all the people who say there are no hotkeys I say, BULL@#*% ! Learn to play, fools. To all the people who are giving this great game 0s, 1', 2s etc because it's a console port I say, welcome to the future of gaming. NearlyYes it's a console port so the graphics are garbage and the menus are worse. Those two things are the games biggest downfall. After you get over that it's all good. To all the people who say there are no hotkeys I say, BULL@#*% ! Learn to play, fools. To all the people who are giving this great game 0s, 1', 2s etc because it's a console port I say, welcome to the future of gaming. Nearly EVERYTHING is a console port these days and unfortunately it's only going to get worse. This is an Elder Scrolls game through and through, nothing more and nothing less. The atmosphere is better this time round, as are a few other things but it's still just an Elder Scrolls game. It's not a 10 but it certainly isn't a 5 either. People should learn how to review a game before they jump on here sprouting their bull#@*$ scores.… Expand
  15. Verdan
    Apr 26, 2012
    8
    After i got this overhyped game, i had very high expectations. For me the graphics were very good, i was hoping the character i play to talk aswell and more choses in dialog´s. Story wise the game was letdown. General idea was awesome, but it took too long to get the general idea what is going on and side missions (Factions) gave cryptic ideals about their goals and how youAfter i got this overhyped game, i had very high expectations. For me the graphics were very good, i was hoping the character i play to talk aswell and more choses in dialog´s. Story wise the game was letdown. General idea was awesome, but it took too long to get the general idea what is going on and side missions (Factions) gave cryptic ideals about their goals and how you fit in em. Exploring the world and quick travels did make it simple, but you had feeling you are part of something huge. Sadly the main storyline was over pretty quickly and i lost interest doing side mission that led nowhere. Dragon fights were funny for a while, but then you are stuck just hoping the thing lands so you can keep going somewhere. Overall good game with awesome graphics (My standards).… Expand
  16. DeagleHS
    Nov 13, 2011
    8
    Amazing with a splash of disappointment. I've re-written this a few times and I'm just going to say the things that are annoying me - the disappointments. Although this is much to love. The graphics are MASSIVELY outdated. I brought Metro 2033 for $5 recently and it's graphics where better. I know graphics aren't what a game is all about but when I started the game (on ULTRA) I thoughtAmazing with a splash of disappointment. I've re-written this a few times and I'm just going to say the things that are annoying me - the disappointments. Although this is much to love. The graphics are MASSIVELY outdated. I brought Metro 2033 for $5 recently and it's graphics where better. I know graphics aren't what a game is all about but when I started the game (on ULTRA) I thought I'ld accidently set it on Medium or low. lol I swear I rechecked the video setting 5 times to make sure it wasn't a mistake. I'm gonna say it - it's the outdated console's (xbox and ps3) that are to blame. The console's manufacturers are milking their current box's for all there worth and the effect it has on PC games is developers working with making new gen games based on crappy crappy outdated hardware. As we all know the money is where the console noobs are at. So we will continue to get S word lol graphics until a new console gen emerges. From the youtube video's I was so excited to look at an artifact (sword, shield or food) and look at it in amazing detail but Nooooo. To support much of what i've been saying have a look at RAGE - similar situation. The detail level is horribly low and this was another disaapointment. Then there is the console port - ok it's a OK console port but there are obvious things like the GUI settings for the console pads LT and RT - WTF how could you overlook taking this out of the PC release.
    OK im off the whole consoles are to blame section
    Combat: Having so much fun with stealth and Archery - good job here. Melee combat has been slightly improved but still have a while to go to be interesting. Haven't touched magic - not playing that character yet.
    More voice actors and this has improved but still needs improvement. Characters are still rather stiff.
    Love how NPC's are more aware of your actions and comment as such. I was having fun using my shouts in town and a guard came along and told me to shut up lol. I love the random encounters.
    So why am I giving the game an 8/10 with all this complaining. Despite the short coming's and a few area's the game is still as immersive as ever and im enjoying it. The graphics were full DX11 and not DX9 overlook the rest of the issues. This is a open world game and realistic graphics really does help you be in this world.    … Expand
  17. catraven70
    Nov 13, 2011
    8
    I waited a very long time for this game to be released. I was floored when I first popped Oblivion in my system. With regret, I didn't feel those same emotions at the beginning of Skyrim. As I continue playing, I am enjoying my experience but there is something missing. Where is all the pomp that Oblivion had ? Theme music anyone? Nope. I did truly expect more from Skyrim then what I'mI waited a very long time for this game to be released. I was floored when I first popped Oblivion in my system. With regret, I didn't feel those same emotions at the beginning of Skyrim. As I continue playing, I am enjoying my experience but there is something missing. Where is all the pomp that Oblivion had ? Theme music anyone? Nope. I did truly expect more from Skyrim then what I'm getting, but since it's Elder Scrolls...ah well ..sigh… Expand
  18. tvangste
    Nov 13, 2011
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. combats ok better than oblivion but still ok...the skill set up wasnt as good it makes u to op. every single questline just ends nothing nice happens after u complete them like in oblivion when u finish the questline everyone loves u and u get the imperial dragon armor and its awesome cuase u feel great about it, this one u defeat a dragon in a different dimension get sent back to skyrim and u get no dialogue no more quests from the main storyline and u recieve nothing. all u get is a cutscene of dragons flying away...but even after u kill all the leader dragons there is still dragons around. all the guilds were only about 3 hours each lacked any really fun story in the guild and they ended the same way as the main story the thieves guild had a darker story than the dark brotherhood, good armor rarely dropped, all the dungeons had reused parts and 60% of the time u were fighting skeletons which got annoying since every single skeleton was a one hit kill after a while. It feels like u are in a small world the entire game, while the graphics are really good all the npcs look like poop. It feels like ur given no freedom, or too much freedom its hard to tell either one can be good or can be bad in this case it doesnt help the game out too much....thats why im giving this game a 8 out of 10.… Expand
  19. Zeusbot48
    Nov 14, 2011
    8
    A solid title offering beautiful, if inconsistent, graphics, tons and tons of content, a surprisingly fun combat system and fantastic storyline(s). However, the game is plagued by bugs and terrible AI. NPCs will walk into walls, get stuck, get in your way, and clip on stairs and terrain. The quest and item mangement interfaces could use some work too. You get one category for all theA solid title offering beautiful, if inconsistent, graphics, tons and tons of content, a surprisingly fun combat system and fantastic storyline(s). However, the game is plagued by bugs and terrible AI. NPCs will walk into walls, get stuck, get in your way, and clip on stairs and terrain. The quest and item mangement interfaces could use some work too. You get one category for all the quests that aren't part of the main storyline, and it will fill up with a daunting list of dozens of mix and match objectives, but very little useful info on where to go to complete them. If you zone out for a second during the dialogue (easy to do as you usually have to listen to someone drivel on for 5 minutes until they tell you where to go next) you are going to have to google it and pray. As for items, they are broken up into categories in your inventory, but when you put them in the storage chest in your house, they are no longer split up by category. Get used to scrolling through hundreds of items to find the Tiger Balls you need for that potion. The graphics are mostly magnificent, but I did find myself underwhelmed at times by areas that weren't as well polished. The game generally plays like Fallout 3, but with a much more satisfying and amusing combat system. Overall: if you can look past the bugs and minor quibbles (and you probably will) a magnificent RPG that will provide many many hours of entertainment.… Expand
  20. Arvelayne
    Nov 14, 2011
    8
    For reference I've played 22 hours this weekend, and am level 17.

    Graphics In some ways they are better then Oblivion (although I haven't finished my little comparison screenshot project yet), but I side with those who say that Bethseda have slacked here. I think the modelling is better, but the textures are somewhat lacking. I also think the spell effects look cracking. Sound    For reference I've played 22 hours this weekend, and am level 17.

    Graphics In some ways they are better then Oblivion (although I haven't finished my little comparison screenshot project yet), but I side with those who say that Bethseda have slacked here. I think the modelling is better, but the textures are somewhat lacking.

    I also think the spell effects look cracking.

    Sound and Music

    Because sound is so important in a game like this, I deliberately went out and bought myself new speakers (a set of Creative T10s). This is was a damn good move, and it made a huge difference.

    The music I've heard so far is good. There are, however, some issues with characters talking over one another during conversations.

    The voice acting is fine, although some accents are a bit comical. Because of the scale of the game it is impossible to have every single character individually voiced, but it's certainly a lot better than Oblivion.

    Interface

    I actually like the new system. It's certainly a lot more usable than Oblivion, although very buggy. Container crash anyone? I like the favourites system, but I still haven't worked on number key bindings yet. Bethseda have slacked and should have opened up keymapping so that people could go the whole hog though.

    One thing I would also like to see is the ability to create sets of items, which could be named and accessed from favourites.

    Levelling, Skills and Perks

    I like the new system for levelling. I tried playing Oblivion three times (yes THREE), always got lost trying to min/max my stats. Simple is better in this case.

    The perks system is straightforward, and the reduction in the number of skills helps.

    Combat

    Again better than Oblivion, although I do get lost easily in close melee. Strafing is god where you can get space, as is line of sight, especially against hard/multiple opponents. I agree that it feels a bit detached at times though.

    Some mobs are ridiculously OP in melee, and can one or two shot you no matter what you try. It means that you have to adjust your play style, and run away or sneak more. It's just annoying to have to bounce back to the last save.

    In the end if you really want to kill something that's hard, turn the difficulty down.

    Magic

    The magic system is the same sort of thing as before, a tried an tested formula, although I disagree that a lack of custom spells is a bad thing. It makes you think about what you're doing, rather than power levelling (see later).

    I haven't gotten to the more complex spells so it does all seem a little samey right now, but I suspect things will improve.

    Also someone complained about the simplicity of the spells in another review. What were you expecting? Magic rabbits firing rainbows at unicorns? Or a Summon Bridge spell? Crafting/Enchanting

    Seems like a good system, although I haven't had much experience of it. I like that you have to destroy items to get enchants, which is fairer than the spellcasting based Oblivion system.

    Quests

    In general it's the normal type of thing. You're usually sent to the far side of the map from where you are (at least for main quests), but then that just allows you more reason to explore. I haven't had any experience of the new random quest system yet, but in general no complaints.

    Exploring and Dungeons

    Lots to see, and I like the placing of stuff just in sight of something else (at least if you have a long view distance), so you're always running off to check something. Someone complained about the lack of mobs between places, but to be honest there are some that are just OP in melee (see above), so I'm glad of the rest. Dungeons are generally fine, and I like that you seemingly have to wait 30 days for them to respawn rather than 3, which is much more sensible than the 3 days in Oblivion. Summary and Fixes This is a good game. It's not perfect, and it needs some work to make it brilliant. Bethseda need to get the really big Bug Squasher (tm) out quickly to make sure that their audience gets the attention it deserves. Patch 1.2 had better be out by the end of the month at the very latest if they don't want to alienate people. That also goes for the graphics as well, although at least part of the blame should lie with AMD, who have slacked on getting Crossfire and performance drivers out. One up for NVidia, and a pity I don't have NVidia graphics cards. DLC is coming, but I don't know when. Right now I think Bethseda have at least till Xmas before people start to get gnarly, although you'll always have the hardcore that finish it in days. But then you could release new content every other day and they'd still be complaining about it not being fast enough. I believe that the overall score at present (8.5) is fair, as it would all kind of balance out. It would increase to a 9 or so if all the actually bad bits were fixed, or at least alleviated.    … Expand
  21. JimCorbett
    Jul 4, 2014
    8
    Although I don't think that Skyrim is worthy of the praise that most people bestow upon it, it certainly is one of the better RPGs that i've played. The sheer size and amount if content available is amazing. The gameplay is also fine, it's not great, but not bad either. Skyrim does however suffer from some serious problems. The way you level up is one of the biggest flaws I've found in theAlthough I don't think that Skyrim is worthy of the praise that most people bestow upon it, it certainly is one of the better RPGs that i've played. The sheer size and amount if content available is amazing. The gameplay is also fine, it's not great, but not bad either. Skyrim does however suffer from some serious problems. The way you level up is one of the biggest flaws I've found in the game. I get that they were trying to be unique and innovative, but it just doesn't work. You gain experience for your skills by using the thing associated it. For instance, you get levels in your One handed weapon skill tree by dealing damage with one handed weapons. Each time you level up with a skill, you get a little experience on the main counter. When this main counter fills, your character gains a level. This encourages you to use many different weapons and strategies but it's just not accurate nor fun. I've seen the game constantly described as "Story Rich" and as a fan of a good story, i was excited to try it out. Unfortunately the story and the story telling is just bad. There is absolutely nothing to get interested in and you won't care about the life of any of the NPCs at all (Other than your spouse and any adopted kids). There is also an insane amount of bugs and glitches still present in the game over 2 years later. It's a great game for RPG fans and medieval fans alike. Just don't expect the perfect game.… Expand
  22. BriTisH
    Nov 14, 2011
    8
    IM not a rpg guy got no were in oblivion but for some reason this game has me hooked , defiantly game of the year even with its random bugs pc performance is decent .
    grfxs are nice not amazing it has its good moments and its ehhh moments.
    Story .. i don't care i play games to do and see cool stuff skyrim delvers
  23. Rems
    Nov 16, 2011
    8
    Waited so long for this game, im happy to finaly have it. It looks too much like they made it out of fallout 3 but stil im glad to have it. Havent play much but im hoping for many hours of joy :)
  24. kjc001
    Nov 15, 2011
    8
    It's not perfect, but it's close. I'd actually go 8.5 even. I'd like to see more skills, I particularily miss acrobatics. Some staff melee couldn't hurt either. With all that you can interact with in the game, I was a little disappointed I couldn't use the boat to cross the lake as well. I'm over that, though. Maybe in the next title. ha
  25. UNOCK
    Nov 15, 2011
    8
    A great game by all standards, but struggling with allot of flaws. The Elder Scrolls universe only grows with Skyrim, and it's great storytelling. Like it's predecessors, there is so much more than the main storyline to experience. There's a world to explore, and something that is waiting to happen around every bend, and over every hill. However, the game struggles in some areas.A great game by all standards, but struggling with allot of flaws. The Elder Scrolls universe only grows with Skyrim, and it's great storytelling. Like it's predecessors, there is so much more than the main storyline to experience. There's a world to explore, and something that is waiting to happen around every bend, and over every hill. However, the game struggles in some areas. Explanations for how certain stories got to end up in skyrim are lacking, and feels like they were put there for a convenient link to the past games, rather than as a new and thrilling story for you. The game also struggles from several techincall problems. Quests that can't be completed, and things flying left and right because you brushed past them. Still, this game is definitely the RPG of the year, and after 30 hours of gameplay, I've barely scratched the surface of the games full potential. Some patches, and this game will be a solid game, that can be enjoyed for years yet.… Expand
  26. randombanana
    Nov 15, 2011
    8
    I wish i could give this game the 10 it deservesl The problem is that an awesome concept is hold back by the same thing that hold back oblivion. And i refuse to give it more credit as its predecessor when it has not improved on these basic things. This is why i will take on all the bad parts first. I am talking about game breaking bugs (found at least 1 in the main quest), dragons flyingI wish i could give this game the 10 it deservesl The problem is that an awesome concept is hold back by the same thing that hold back oblivion. And i refuse to give it more credit as its predecessor when it has not improved on these basic things. This is why i will take on all the bad parts first. I am talking about game breaking bugs (found at least 1 in the main quest), dragons flying through solid mountains, NPC's floating around and way more. Then there also is the console designed menu thats horrendous on PC, slow loading textures and generally pretty bad texture work from up close. But now the good part. The game may have some bad textures from up close but the environment is beautifull, you will be stunned by all the amazing views this game has to offer. There is an insane amount of fun to be had while not even following the main story and i think this counterweights all the bad parts of this game. Dragonfighting is **** awesome and most of the times there will be some epic situation like finding a blood dragon attacking a village of enemies and another dragon joining in on the fun. I personally like the dragon shout system although i find it hard to find a good use for some of the shouts like frost breath that does allmost no damage but has a long cooldown. all in all good game but if you plan on buying it wait till it got some bug fixes by bethesda or the community.… Expand
  27. holtafd
    Nov 15, 2011
    8
    The PC version of Skyrim is no doubt on of the most beautiful and sprawling worlds ever imagined. The game is so open in class development and how the player can interact with the world. However there are many problems with the user interface that prevent this game from true greatness. This game, is perfect for any RPG fans as it has been in the past.
  28. TheSleeve
    Nov 15, 2011
    8
    There are several shortcomings in Skyrim that keep it from reaching its full potential. First, the UI... It is painfully obvious that this game was designed to target the X360, and the PC version suffers as a result with a clunky user interface. Second, AI issues... I have played through the intro sequence only twice, and the second time through, there was a serious bug where my ally frozeThere are several shortcomings in Skyrim that keep it from reaching its full potential. First, the UI... It is painfully obvious that this game was designed to target the X360, and the PC version suffers as a result with a clunky user interface. Second, AI issues... I have played through the intro sequence only twice, and the second time through, there was a serious bug where my ally froze in place and left me to fend for myself. Third, the controls... It seems that very little care or caution was put into the PC control scheme, with awkward keyboard-only navigation of some menus, and Y-axis mouse sensitivity that scales with frame rate. - [][] - These three shortcomings aside, Skyrim excels in just about every thing it sets out to do. The main plot line is NOT the main attraction here. Skyrim is truly the spiritual successor to earlier games in the series such as Daggerfall, in the sense that it lets you simply exist in another world. Bethesda has created a virtual space for us to explore, experiment with, and spend time in, and it excels at keeping us entertained. - [][] - The character advancement system is interesting to explore, and the perks you can obtain are very satisfying. This system allows you to craft a unique set of skills for your character, and prevents you from simply from becoming all-powerful. - [][] - The difficulty scaling is implemented far better than it was in Oblivion. Everywhere you go, you get a sense that there are real threats to your safety, which keeps you in a constant state of alert. The perks, on the other hand, still give you a satisfying feeling that your character is constantly progressing. As a result, there is absolutely no reason to feel the need to level grind. I recommend playing the game on the hardest difficulty for maximum satisfaction. It's kind of like Left 4 Dead in that regard... playing on anything less than Expert is just boring... - [][] - I would like to give Skyrim a higher rating, but its shortcomings are difficult to forgive, especially considering how long this game has been in development. A great game, yes, but I kind of feel like PC gamers got the shaft, big time. I will therefore give it an 8.… Expand
  29. OmeNu
    Nov 15, 2011
    8
    i dub thee 8 out of 10. why because it has so much greatness with no eyefinity/surround support. and glitches galore. but it sure is a darn fun game

    come on Bethesda works. even Oblivion worked well with triple monitor. on a side note. how much better would it of been if you added directX11 tessellation. them rocks and dragons would look INSANE!
  30. Hazard
    Nov 22, 2011
    8
    Skyrim is an excellent game and probably one of the best of the year. It has fun and addictive game play beautiful scenery and graphics fun and rewarding quest lines and it has improved in leaps and bounds upon its already legendary predecessors. 

    Any game however is far from perfect and Skyrim has some major flaws to boast as well.  The first and most glaring flaw    Skyrim is an excellent game and probably one of the best of the year. It has fun and addictive game play beautiful scenery and graphics fun and rewarding quest lines and it has improved in leaps and bounds upon its already legendary predecessors. 

    Any game however is far from perfect and Skyrim has some major flaws to boast as well.  The first and most glaring flaw is the interface and menu system. On the PC it is very difficult to navigate and utilize quickly. You will find yourself selling and buying items you don't intend to and saying things in conversation that you don't mean to. 
    The save game sorting is also bad. Instead of sorting saves by character profile all games are lumped into one list that you gave to dig through to find your correct choice, also no quick save button is readily available that I have found which makes the games instability all the more frustrating. 
    As already mentioned the game is rather unstable and I have had to play through quite a bit of progression again due to crashes. 

    Some things are immersion breaking particularly the caves and barrows. I like that they used some different tile sets this time but all of the caves are lit up like you are in a jungle canopy rather than a cave and why do I figure out how to open a tomb that has been sealed for hundreds of years just to see a torch burning in a sconce on the other side?  

    Pathing is poor for NPCs and this can be exploited to kill monsters easily. It also makes having a companion a liability when it comes to traps they will get themselves killed constantly on easily avoidable traps and sometimes take you with them. There is also no way to discern their health easily to know if they need a heal. 

    Overall I recommend the purchase of the game. If you can wait try to get it on discount and if you have a decent PC get it on that platform.  TES series has a wonderful modding community and I hope many of the issues I have raised will eventually get fixed in patches or by the modders.     … Expand
  31. KurtW
    Nov 16, 2011
    8
    When Fallout 3 came out it was called by some 'the biggest mod for Oblivion'. It turns out the fifth Elder Scrolls release may as well be called 'the biggest mod for Fallout'. Bethesda have mixed what had proved so tremendously gripping in TES4 with some novelty concepts from their experiences with the Fallout franchise into... well, in my humble opinion NOT the game of the year. It cannotWhen Fallout 3 came out it was called by some 'the biggest mod for Oblivion'. It turns out the fifth Elder Scrolls release may as well be called 'the biggest mod for Fallout'. Bethesda have mixed what had proved so tremendously gripping in TES4 with some novelty concepts from their experiences with the Fallout franchise into... well, in my humble opinion NOT the game of the year. It cannot be denied that the freedom of choice and the sandbox-like, fully interactive environment are the best features the game has to offer.. The place for a third digit in the 'hours spent' count is there for a reason. The non-scripted dragon fights are also light years ahead of, for example, Bioware's DA series. The way one can interact with the humongous world is a treat in itself, what with all the crafting, alchemy, cooking, prospecting or even woodcutting. What I do not like about Skyrim, however, is that it's in no way as revolutionary as Oblivion was back in 2006. The solutions offered by the supposedly new Creation engine are one disappointing feature. Even with the settings maxed out (all the way, far beyond 'Ultra'), I keep asking myself why I bought a new rig earlier this year. If individual screenshots might capture some true eye-candies, the overall experience is that of... running around Capital Wasteland during wintertime. Working on the quality of TPP animations does not exactly mean improving the feel of combat, which apart from dual-wielding/casting does not appear in any way different than in Oblivion. It feels static, rolls or dodges are virtually not-existent. One change long awaited by the fans was going to involve the NPC faces. Those have improved since TESIV, however, regretful I am to say this, a DA2 character would run away in horror on seeing just any face from Skyrim (not to mention Triss Merigold who would probably kick the bucket on the spot). Before the release, Bethesda reps would also boast about how the voice acting had changed since Oblivion. This is only partially true. The lines used by merchants, trainers, or other characters you have to interact with at least every couple of hours, are surprisingly few, which makes the interaction repetitive and automatic. Since Skyrim is meant to be played for 100+ hours, it does not seem justified to place so much emphasis on the quality of spoken interactions in the main story line, while at the same time leaving the rest of the dialogues so much less appealing. Music is the feature which rarely can be find disappointing about Bethesda games and nothing seems to have changed in this aspect. All in all, the Skyrim development team seem to have decided on a safe approach. Almost nothing feels dumbed down, there are very few activities and quests in the whole game that do not feel entertaining. Still, the five-year gap between the two most recent ES games was apparently too short for Bethesda to make a leap into a new quality of gaming.… Expand
  32. irtimiD
    Nov 16, 2011
    8
    I have to give this game a 8 for several reasons. it is a very fun, addicting and huge game which allows for players to play how they want to, and pick different choices. The game play is fluid and the combat system had improved a lot from oblivion. There are many enemies which are all different difficulties and where some provide a challenge for the player, other are easy to kill afterI have to give this game a 8 for several reasons. it is a very fun, addicting and huge game which allows for players to play how they want to, and pick different choices. The game play is fluid and the combat system had improved a lot from oblivion. There are many enemies which are all different difficulties and where some provide a challenge for the player, other are easy to kill after reaching a higher level. The dialogue system is a lot nicer and does not pause the game like the previous game. Instead the players and the environment around the player carry on like in real life. There are issues with the game which i would like to point out; starting with the UI ( the menu). The main problem is for the pc users who use a keyboard and mouse, who find it difficult to make a selection because the menu has been designed for the console user. I ended up using my xbox 360 controller with my pc version because i found the game play, the menu and the character creation unbearable. Right from the start of the game where i was creating my character, the mouse felt out of sync and most of the time did not recognize my commands. Another problem that i have had was the frame rate messing up and occasionally textures going funny and showing me bright pink objects. The final downside to the game is in the menu layout i would like to see the character like in Oblivion which showed what items i was wearing and allowed me to rotate and zoom in onto my character. I really liked that feature in Oblivion because it helped me choose what items i wanted to equip. I am hoping that someone will make a mod that does just that. Overall though the positives outweigh the negatives and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an excellent game that provides hours of fun, and most of all you as the player choose how you want to play the game.… Expand
  33. skullzyer
    Nov 16, 2011
    8
    Once again a masterpiece from Bethesda. Game has beautiful graphics just like its predecessor. It can be enjoyed even on older graphic cards. Loving the fact that dungeons aren't made from the same schematic. All in all, good successor to Oblivion.
  34. C-BAT
    Nov 17, 2011
    8
    Skyrim stays in the wave of Oblivion.... and that makes a masterpiece that deserve his price. Graphics are good enough to be convice by the world . Some people says that textures aren't very beautiful for 2011 but for me the gameplay and the open word are more important in this kind of game, and these parts are a great success. You are free to do what you want....and that's the spirit !Skyrim stays in the wave of Oblivion.... and that makes a masterpiece that deserve his price. Graphics are good enough to be convice by the world . Some people says that textures aren't very beautiful for 2011 but for me the gameplay and the open word are more important in this kind of game, and these parts are a great success. You are free to do what you want....and that's the spirit ! It's a game with huge potential. I was just dissapointed about the interface at first but you get used to it.… Expand
  35. RediCe
    Nov 19, 2011
    8
    This is my first "The Elder Scrolls" game and I only heard about it not long ago and decided I'd try it out. The graphics look pretty interesting and sort of "shiny" but right away I noticed that there's a lot of fog and you can't really see your enemy from far away,they just spawn close.The game is very good and interesting but I don't like that it promotes using your keys or a controllerThis is my first "The Elder Scrolls" game and I only heard about it not long ago and decided I'd try it out. The graphics look pretty interesting and sort of "shiny" but right away I noticed that there's a lot of fog and you can't really see your enemy from far away,they just spawn close.The game is very good and interesting but I don't like that it promotes using your keys or a controller over a mouse, it's supposed to be a PC game! I would give this game a 9 but I do think it is a little overrated , for the PC at least...… Expand
  36. qwasm
    Nov 19, 2011
    8
    Great open world goodness with at least 100 hours of gameplay. My only complaints are:
    - Terrible UI. Its a shame to release a game in 2011 with such a **** UI.
    - Bad companion AI. They always get in your way and block the doors, or rush into dozens of enemies and die. You have almost zero control over them.
    - Spiders. I hate them.
  37. Kelz
    Nov 20, 2011
    8
    Skyrim is a really great game, i was on edge at first about whether i was going to buy it or not as i didn't really like oblivion but i'm glad i did it's very fun and very adictive and i'm happy with most of the changes that were made since the last game. One thing that is bad about the game is the UI i mean i can put up with it but it's very annoying with all that unnecesary scrolling andSkyrim is a really great game, i was on edge at first about whether i was going to buy it or not as i didn't really like oblivion but i'm glad i did it's very fun and very adictive and i'm happy with most of the changes that were made since the last game. One thing that is bad about the game is the UI i mean i can put up with it but it's very annoying with all that unnecesary scrolling and wasted space and of course there are a lot of annoying bugs but hopefully they will be sorted out soon. Skyrim is in general a really good game though there are some things that could improve it, there aren't really any interesting characters you can't really interact very much with anyone and there is no character development.… Expand
  38. Renkoku
    Nov 21, 2011
    8
    The latest installment of the The Elder Scrolls saga is amazing. I have already clocked in over 80 hours in the game, and I have enjoyed every second of it. Well, mostly.

    The game starts off very strong, and yet slow. I did not like being unable to control anything with my character for a while. But after you get control, the game really picks up. The game definitely shows a    The latest installment of the The Elder Scrolls saga is amazing. I have already clocked in over 80 hours in the game, and I have enjoyed every second of it. Well, mostly.

    The game starts off very strong, and yet slow. I did not like being unable to control anything with my character for a while. But after you get control, the game really picks up. The game definitely shows a collaboration of everything Bethesda has implemented into their other releases over the years. Some of these things improve the game, yet some hinder it. The shear amount of player choice is amazing. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of the game, even after completing several guilds and most of the main story.

    However, I feel like the guild quest chains are too short. While most of the quests were fun, I didn't feel as accomplished with the guild's completion as I had in Oblivion. And the minor objectives given at the end of a guild feel repetitive.

    The game looks great. The more neutral color tones work well with the rest of the game. Though, there have been several times where my frame rate suddenly drops and lags, or various textures don't render correctly and I'm left looking at a shiny variation or a pure white base model. Not to mention the countless times that the game shuts itself off on me. I am hoping that those issues are fixed in the upcoming patch.

    I have fun with this game. It is a good way to waste away hours in a blink of an eye. Although I love the game to death right now, I don't feel like it's worth a 10 rating. It's great, but not the overall best. Hopefully once more of the bugs have been fixed or the expansions and modding community add more to the game, it will become a game that deserves a perfect score.    … Expand
  39. ebonized
    Nov 22, 2011
    8
    Skyrim is a good game. But let's stop right there for a second - anyone claiming that the game is 'perfect' and 'the best game of our generation' are really exaggerating the game's strengths and massively downplaying its weaknesses. This game has MANY flaws, especially on the PC version. To deny them makes your review biased, one thing that a lot of people just don't understand (or don'tSkyrim is a good game. But let's stop right there for a second - anyone claiming that the game is 'perfect' and 'the best game of our generation' are really exaggerating the game's strengths and massively downplaying its weaknesses. This game has MANY flaws, especially on the PC version. To deny them makes your review biased, one thing that a lot of people just don't understand (or don't want to). You have to step back and look at the game from an objective perspective. So that's what I'm going to attempt to do right now. ::::PROS:::: 1.massive world 2. open ended 3. decent storyline and sidequests 4. well-designed and fun to explore dungeons 5. relatively immersive 6. highly customizable (playstyle, weapons, spells, etc) 7. PC version can be modded 8. some decent voice acting 9. magic is extremely satisfying (looks cool too) 10. easy to change difficulty allow you to change it to scale with your character 11. established lore that really sucks you into the world of Skyrim ::::CONS:::: 1. repetitive fetch/kill quests with no meaning 2. bad UI on PC - going through your "Misc" items with all the bugged and non-stacked soul gems is a nightmare 3. several immersion breaking problems 4. misplaced NPC dialogue (ie. being told by an NPC not to 'leave my stuff lying around' after they just killed me, or having an enemy say 'that was only a scratch!' AFTER I just chopped his head off - seems a lot of the dialogue triggers at the wrong moments) 5. feels too much like Fallout 3 and Oblivion - Bethesda does not seem to be really improving or changing too much of the same formula they've been using for years now -many sounds/textures are the exact same from Fallout 3) (eg. picking up ingredients/'ash pile') 6. graphics are good at a distance, but terrible up close > poor textures 7. many bugs - graphical glitches, crashes, quest bugs, getting stuck 8. horrible NPC AI (especially companions) - another thing Bethesda has not really improved upon 9. some poor voice acting/too many reused voice actors (ie. that one Slavic woman that seems to be cloned at least 3 times in every town) 10. crafting is generally not very fun - alchemy is overly diluted with 10 different ingredients that do the same thing, smithing requires you to create 5000 iron daggers to level, enchanting is ok 11. poor inventory management system (something that could have been improved for the PC) that makes 'the inventory game' a pain 12. The whole game in general sometimes feels more 'mechanical' rather then 'organic' By no means am I saying that Skyrim is a bad game. It can be incredibly fun and immersive and it offers countless hours of pure entertainment. However, its flaws are numerous, and I can't rightly give this game more than 8.0 out of 10. Thanks for reading!… Expand
  40. Helixeagle
    Nov 24, 2011
    8
    After reading some of the more 'harsh' reviews I have come to one conclusion, they are not playing the same game as me. While Skyrim doesn't deserve top marks (and I will explain why) it certainly doesn't disappoint.

    Starting Skyrim up for the first time is like visiting an old friend who you haven't seen in a while, it's heading into the unknown and yet that familiar excitement starts to    After reading some of the more 'harsh' reviews I have come to one conclusion, they are not playing the same game as me. While Skyrim doesn't deserve top marks (and I will explain why) it certainly doesn't disappoint.

    Starting Skyrim up for the first time is like visiting an old friend who you haven't seen in a while, it's heading into the unknown and yet that familiar excitement starts to flow back, finally you are given the chance to customize your looks and this is where the fun begins.

    First, the graphics. I'm really not sure why people say they are dated, and even comparing them to oblivion, they are more advance, I would say looking back that Oblivion was too bright and colourful which made it much more cartoony, but I can accept that, Cyrodiil was a completely different region to Skyrim. Skyrim is just grittier and darker due to a change of climate and a more realistic colour tone.

    The game has kept me interested for 30+ hours over the week, and I'm still going, I haven't even touched the main quest out of interest on exploring and side questing, each character you talk to has his own personality, and sometimes I find myself going out of my way to teach people a lesson for insulting me because I have felt a connection to my character, the game is rather addictive once you've settled in the world, and there is plenty to do (plenty is an understatement)

    One particularly cool feature is that sometimes a dragon will descend upon you, and the music kicks in and you are soon fighting this thing with just a sword and a bow, it all becomes rather epic as you weave and slash away at this beast that has come from nowhere, the music only entices the adrenaline as you feel like a true warrior. Great job on the music, it really draws you in and makes the game feel more complete.

    But with good points, there are also bad, and this game seems to bring a slight disappointment to the PC gamer in me, since this appears to be a console port, the game plays well minus a few bugs, however it is the menus and interface that it falls rather flat on. Text that you have your mouse over isn't necessarily the text highlighted and can create some rather annoying â    … Expand
  41. Jonathanp55
    Nov 27, 2011
    8
    It is a fun game. Great main story, fun game play, beautiful graphics, open world. But its not all good. The side missions, for example, the Mages Guild in this game just sucks. I mean, when you complete the mission, its like they say "good job, now here you win" and thats it! Blood graphics are still not impressive for an M rated game. ALOT of glitches in the game, usually major glichesIt is a fun game. Great main story, fun game play, beautiful graphics, open world. But its not all good. The side missions, for example, the Mages Guild in this game just sucks. I mean, when you complete the mission, its like they say "good job, now here you win" and thats it! Blood graphics are still not impressive for an M rated game. ALOT of glitches in the game, usually major gliches that probably are figured out by now. Overall a good game, but please Elder Scroll, work on side quests too!… Expand
  42. Sevvy88
    Nov 28, 2011
    8
    To put it short: brilliant game. I have been using every spare moment of my time since the game released to play it. I honestly can't remember being this immersed in a game since I first played World of Warcraft back in 2006 or so. That's really saying something considering most games do not impress me at all these days.

    Having never been a fan of the Elder Scrolls series before this    To put it short: brilliant game. I have been using every spare moment of my time since the game released to play it. I honestly can't remember being this immersed in a game since I first played World of Warcraft back in 2006 or so. That's really saying something considering most games do not impress me at all these days.

    Having never been a fan of the Elder Scrolls series before this game, perhaps my opinions is a little skewed. For me, this has been an entirely new experience that I thought may have only existed in MMO's, a market that is completely saturated at this current time. I was beyond surprised and pleased when I began my journeys through the harsh, beautiful, and vast world of Skyrim. The voice overs are good, only becoming cheesy or poor from time to time, the combat system is fun and feels rewarding br leveling your character up in real time by actually performing an action, and perks you receive from leveling up definitely make your character feel like more of a hero. That heavy armor may take up alot of your bag space, but trust me, once you fill out your perks, it's worth it! Other skills are improved upon in a similar, rewarding way. The game isn't without it problems. The game has several glitches, and many people have even run into game breaking bugs. If you play on PC, there seems to be a constant "crash to desktop" error as well that can be pretty infuriating when you are engrossed in the game. Having to constantly save due to a game's instability is unacceptable. Overall, the game is gorgeous and rewarding, though at times the bugs can cause you to want to rip your hair out. Given the massive size of this world and the adventures that take place in it though, most players will be willing to forgive them. The good far, far outweighs the bad. A game I will certainly never forget.    … Expand
  43. davoid15
    Dec 4, 2011
    8
    While there are certainly RPG elements, I would hesitate to call this a true RPG. Not that it is a bad game by any means, but fans of Fallout 3, New Vegas, Oblivion, or Morrowind may feel they are missing depth. The quests are fun, and the combat is intuitive. Magic scales poorly, however. Overall, a very fun game, but almost brainless compared to more full bodied RPG's.
  44. Knobaroo
    Dec 7, 2011
    8
    I would be traversing the wilds of Skyrim right now, however I took an arrow in the knee so must sit and write about what I have learned.
    First off, This game is in no way deserving of a 10! So many bugs. (long list, you can look they up as you come across them..... yeah you are not the first to have that happen) some you can work around, some that make you just drop a certain quest line.    I would be traversing the wilds of Skyrim right now, however I took an arrow in the knee so must sit and write about what I have learned.
    First off, This game is in no way deserving of a 10! So many bugs. (long list, you can look they up as you come across them..... yeah you are not the first to have that happen) some you can work around, some that make you just drop a certain quest line. (Saarthal the 6 pillarstones simply wont work for me..... cannot go any further. No workaround that I can find, previous saves don't clear up the issue)
    Do I expect it to be bug free? Would not dream of it. As a matter of fact, because it it a Bethesda game, I expect it, and would for some strange reason give it absolution from the rules of ratings. The price of this absolution is the highest score a gold Bethesda release can ever get is a 9. You know it needs patched even before you install it.

    Sights and sounds are amazing. This is the ultimate "Whats over the next hill" game. Graphics and textures seem to be held back to accommodate our uhh...... not quite up to speed, distant relatives on the console side of the family, but work nicely and set me into a fine state of immersion. So just a small hit here. (took me 2 hours to get sound to work, Bethesda logo war drums nothing. Was playing with headphones. Updated all drivers ya-da, ya-da, ya-da.... set audio from headphones to surround sound and fixed!)

    Lets talk Gravity for a moment. Although this game feels less "floaty" then last efforts, this bugs me more then all other Bethesda traits. Sneak your way through a cave and walk over a skull. It flies across the room like you kicked it with all your might.
    All this vertical terrine and I can just run down most steep cliffs without any fear of falling to my death. About the only time gravity kicks in is when I'm running up hill and get caught on a 6 inch lip in the hillside. I guess all those $$$$$ make them float around the office, and they perceive gravity a little different.
    That's my biggest pet peeve against Bethesda games. Big minus in the score column.

    All and all, at the end of the day I have a lot of fun, and would say that there are lots of adventures awaiting. 30 some hours into it, and I feel like I have just nicked the surface. Weighing good vs bad with this game is unlike most games ratings. It's more like your personal tolerance meter then a score. Some company's put out a 6 hour game today for the same price. I feel that I will not find most of the bugs before they are fixed, and I'll be playing this game for a long while. So I give the game an 8.5. This is the sum of the overall value to me. It is a lot of entertainment for the money, and the good outshines its unsightly blemishes.    … Expand
  45. Runic12
    Dec 12, 2011
    8
    A pretty solid game but I feel it was lacking somewhat when compared to Oblivion in a few respects, first of it seemed a lot less complex in regard to levelling, there were fewer skill trees with some of my favourites missing such as unarmed combat. This is probably due to Bethesda trying to market the game to a wider audience but it just feels a bit dumbed down. Otherwise the graphicsA pretty solid game but I feel it was lacking somewhat when compared to Oblivion in a few respects, first of it seemed a lot less complex in regard to levelling, there were fewer skill trees with some of my favourites missing such as unarmed combat. This is probably due to Bethesda trying to market the game to a wider audience but it just feels a bit dumbed down. Otherwise the graphics were a vast improvement and the horrible Bethesda face has finally been removed from speech. It has been made more accessible and streamlined and the world felt a lot bigger. There is a lot to do and find and the freedom is immense like every elder scrolls, I'm still eagerly awaiting the DLC.… Expand
  46. SirDucky9
    Dec 15, 2011
    8
    Amazing game. The level up system is really great and in depth. The variety of things to do in this game is enormous. If you simply want to wander around roaming the wilderness for animals, then fine you can do it. If you feel like going on a mass murder spree then the wish is yours. You may also do exciting quests or have fun throwing food at someones face. These are just the starts toAmazing game. The level up system is really great and in depth. The variety of things to do in this game is enormous. If you simply want to wander around roaming the wilderness for animals, then fine you can do it. If you feel like going on a mass murder spree then the wish is yours. You may also do exciting quests or have fun throwing food at someones face. These are just the starts to this amazing journey however for some people they are not even allowed to experience this amazing game due to massive bugs. I, myself have never had any of these although I know someone who cant even open a door without crashes. Another issue I have found is that i am bored. I have no idea why because I always had great time playing, but for some reason I still just don't feel like playing this game. Odd… Expand
  47. Egomaniacal
    Dec 20, 2011
    8
    The very best feature in Skyrim is ignoring what you're supposed to do. It's a compelling feature and one that also signifies shortcomings in different areas. It's an issue when the most fun you have is pointing your character in one direction and simply walking. Not because this isn't enjoyable -- it's mind blowing -- it's because it says that the main narrative isn't compelling enough toThe very best feature in Skyrim is ignoring what you're supposed to do. It's a compelling feature and one that also signifies shortcomings in different areas. It's an issue when the most fun you have is pointing your character in one direction and simply walking. Not because this isn't enjoyable -- it's mind blowing -- it's because it says that the main narrative isn't compelling enough to see through. There is more fun in exploring a random cave you stumbled upon and finding a new shout than it is exploring the civil conflict that is plaguing Skyrim. That said, doing whatever you want to do in a great setting is easily enough to sink triple digit hours into. In one playthrough I decided to head East for the majority of my questing and while many of the caves started to look the same, the little stories you find tucked away were unique. The game handles as one would expect of an Elder Scrolls title and in that it feels a little weak. Press a button and press it again and again and again and again. Once you're strong enough you simple charge up and smack things in one hit. Casting has a bit more variation but once you learn to summon certain companions the challenge evaporates here as well. Some of the skill trees are utterly worthless and should have been folded into others, but the game is still worth playing and getting lost it.… Expand
  48. Quickfire
    Dec 20, 2011
    8
    Dehydrated review

    What an RPG should be. Takes best of past games and improves on it. Very few bugs, smooth gameplay, massive open world, one of the best modern games out there to play. This is a definite buy.
  49. Ztride
    Jan 20, 2012
    8
    A fun game with lots of things to do. However, the world doesn't feel very immersive mainly due to the ai. People you just spoke with will forget you in an instant and tell you something generic, such as they took an arrow to the knee or that you shouldn't steal from them. Combat is dull and ultimately depends on the number of health potions you've brought or the level of your stats. FastA fun game with lots of things to do. However, the world doesn't feel very immersive mainly due to the ai. People you just spoke with will forget you in an instant and tell you something generic, such as they took an arrow to the knee or that you shouldn't steal from them. Combat is dull and ultimately depends on the number of health potions you've brought or the level of your stats. Fast travel removes the excitement of exploration, but traveling is ineffective if you don't use it. Dispite having the choice of compainions, the world feels really lonely and there isn't really any characters with a lot of personality (especially guards). It still gets a 8 out of 10 because of the sheer amount of content.… Expand
  50. Gwelyan
    Dec 26, 2011
    8
    I had alot of expectations going into this game as I am sure alot of people did after playing oblivion. I felt most of the storylines was immersive and very nicely polished. The downside to this were that they were not long enough. After playing oblivion, my first thing I wanted to do was join the thieves and the assassins guild. The thieves guild lived up to my expectations and theI had alot of expectations going into this game as I am sure alot of people did after playing oblivion. I felt most of the storylines was immersive and very nicely polished. The downside to this were that they were not long enough. After playing oblivion, my first thing I wanted to do was join the thieves and the assassins guild. The thieves guild lived up to my expectations and the storyline was definitely one of the better ones. The assassins storyline on the other hand was very short and didn't feel very immersive at all. The combat next and again a big let down on what I was expecting, it got very repetitive very quick and was just basically a hack and slash for me with who emptied ones health bar first won. There is no real tactics for combat and is one of the biggest let downs in the game. Overall I must say that I enjoyed the game for the amount of time I put into it and would definitely recommend this game to anyone that loves the RPG fantasy genre.… Expand
  51. mikaelh
    Dec 29, 2011
    8
    This game is a bit broken because it is made for consoles. But if you download tens of mods (including graphics and optimizing mods) the game will be a very satisfying experience. 6 of 10 without mods, 8,5 of 10 with mods. Now I'm just waiting for Skyrim Steam Workship so I can handle my mods easily in Steam.
  52. kpax
    Jan 3, 2012
    8
    This is definitely a great game, but no way does it deserve the GOTY or the 100/100 scores you see from the critics. Visually it is amazing and Bethesda have truly done a fantastic job of making sure everything you see looks good - it really is a masterpiece of ingame world art. The attention to the layout of rivers, waterfalls, mountains, dungeons, towns, caves, snow, rain, etc, etc..This is definitely a great game, but no way does it deserve the GOTY or the 100/100 scores you see from the critics. Visually it is amazing and Bethesda have truly done a fantastic job of making sure everything you see looks good - it really is a masterpiece of ingame world art. The attention to the layout of rivers, waterfalls, mountains, dungeons, towns, caves, snow, rain, etc, etc.. fantastic. If only they had spent as much time with the depth of the quests and making sure it was bug free, it could have been the best game ever made.… Expand
  53. ristlin
    Jan 6, 2012
    8
    Skyrim was fun until I realized my side quest accomplishment of becoming the world's greatest wizard no longer mattered as soon as I step foot inside the thief's guild. Once again, I was just a grunt. The lack of side-quest persistence throughout the game, and its lack of impact on the main story, breaks much of the immersion built early on. Besides that, this game earns its title as theSkyrim was fun until I realized my side quest accomplishment of becoming the world's greatest wizard no longer mattered as soon as I step foot inside the thief's guild. Once again, I was just a grunt. The lack of side-quest persistence throughout the game, and its lack of impact on the main story, breaks much of the immersion built early on. Besides that, this game earns its title as the true successor to Morrowind. The combat is lively and exciting, adding depth to the already impressive dragon shout system that elevates you to a whole new pedestal of awesomeness. The game could do with more meaningful secrets to discover, but the content that is there is sure to leave you breathless for weeks, if not months, on end. Get this game, enjoy it.… Expand
  54. goldenaxe
    Jan 14, 2012
    8
    doesn't live up to my expectations unfortunately. But since I am a fan of the series and have played the previous game quite a bit, I'm still pleased. The game is less open ended then Oblivion IV, often you can't alter or end a quest line by killing a key person, they often act like you didn't kill them the next time you go visit them, and the menu system and controls are far too consoledoesn't live up to my expectations unfortunately. But since I am a fan of the series and have played the previous game quite a bit, I'm still pleased. The game is less open ended then Oblivion IV, often you can't alter or end a quest line by killing a key person, they often act like you didn't kill them the next time you go visit them, and the menu system and controls are far too console oriented, making it feel like it was just ported straight over to the PC without tweaks for controls. It is still fun, and I like ironic bugs in the game if they aren't messing with the quest direction too much.… Expand
  55. ChemicalBR0
    Jan 18, 2012
    8
    with 212 hours spent on this game (2 playthroughs) its gonna be pretty obvious that I love it.
    (i'm playing with a 360 controller) I agree with the people who say the pc control system is terrible.
    I tried keyboard and mouse for the first hour or so and it was a chore to say the least. bethesda should be ashamed. it was pc gamers who put them where they are today yet they fail to do any    with 212 hours spent on this game (2 playthroughs) its gonna be pretty obvious that I love it.
    (i'm playing with a 360 controller) I agree with the people who say the pc control system is terrible.
    I tried keyboard and mouse for the first hour or so and it was a chore to say the least.

    bethesda should be ashamed. it was pc gamers who put them where they are today yet they fail to do any optimization of the interface for us loyal pc gamers. however it is a fantastic game, there is so much you can do. the fact that you can level yourself up and make weapons and armour that are better than what you can find in the game is a BIG bonus if you ask me and not as others have stated a flaw. you get a great sense of achievement when you wipe out a team of enemies with weapons you have crafted yourself.

    the game is not without its flaws. the wooden npc's spouting the same lines over and over becomes a bit annoying, the fact that you can't craft an amazing bow but you can't make arrows to go with it, the sometimes dodgy animation. the swordplay isn't that great either, but seeing as i tend to play as a sneaky archer it doesn't really bother me.

    it won't be a game for everybody, if you like your action thick and fast stay away as there is a lot of exploring to be done where not much happens other than the odd bear or wolf attacking you.
    in this day and age of the average game lasting 8-10 hours and you ending up feeling ripped off, skyrim has the depth to keep you entertained for hundreds of hours
    you need to invest a lot of time in skyrim to get the best from it.
    you get a hell of a lot of game for your money.    … Expand
  56. peanutbutter
    Jan 19, 2012
    8
    Simply put, Skyrim is fun. There is a lot to do and a lot to explore. Eventually the quests get boring (with a few bursts of excitement I suppose) and you lose interest, mainly because of how long the game is. I found myself eventually just wanting to roam the world trying to find caves or treasures, ignoring all the quests.
    Skyrim is a pretty place. Very detailed and huge. With scary    Simply put, Skyrim is fun. There is a lot to do and a lot to explore. Eventually the quests get boring (with a few bursts of excitement I suppose) and you lose interest, mainly because of how long the game is. I found myself eventually just wanting to roam the world trying to find caves or treasures, ignoring all the quests.
    Skyrim is a pretty place. Very detailed and huge. With scary creatures and boring people in it.    … Expand
  57. BoydDaMilkman
    Jan 21, 2012
    8
    I find it hard to review this game. If I were to be legitimately honest and give my true opinions on this game I would upset a great many people that would see this. Do I hate this game? No, it is one of my top 5 games of 2011 but then again, there were only 7 or 8 games that i actually enjoyed of this year.

    Probably the thing that pisses me off the most about this game is the way in    I find it hard to review this game. If I were to be legitimately honest and give my true opinions on this game I would upset a great many people that would see this. Do I hate this game? No, it is one of my top 5 games of 2011 but then again, there were only 7 or 8 games that i actually enjoyed of this year.

    Probably the thing that pisses me off the most about this game is the way in which the story is told. The story is the same story we have seen in every RPG ever created, and if you really think about it. Itâ    … Expand
  58. Bjcal26
    Jan 24, 2012
    8
    Overall, it's your typical RPG. At first it's fun and exciting, but if you're not one to intently follow a story line, and just like to run around killing stuff and trying to level as fast as you can, than it's pointless to play this game really. The storyline, however, is fantastic, and the gameplay itself is really great.
  59. PeyoteCoyote
    Jan 24, 2012
    8
    I won't waste a lot of time repeating what's been said. I love open end games that take a lifetime to fully explore. However, one thing I absolutely despise are the "run around" quests in games that are basically there just to keep the player in the game so they can make claims that it takes x amount of hours to complete. Skyrim if full of these. Gets old real fast.
  60. SpiderCVIII
    Feb 5, 2012
    8
    Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an open-world WRPG with many weaknesses and only one real strength. The combat is uninspired and dissatisfying, the voice acting could use much more variety, the enemies could have been more diverse, and the main story could have had better presentation, but the one real strength about Skyrim is its longevity. The amount of quests in this game is enormous and theElder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an open-world WRPG with many weaknesses and only one real strength. The combat is uninspired and dissatisfying, the voice acting could use much more variety, the enemies could have been more diverse, and the main story could have had better presentation, but the one real strength about Skyrim is its longevity. The amount of quests in this game is enormous and the world is massive. There is always something to do in Skyrim during and well past the main quest line. Exploring the entire world of Skyrim is a great feat of its own, and clearing every quest in the game should easily net the determined player well over 200 hours. If you can get past Skyrimâ… Expand
  61. thegimble
    Feb 9, 2012
    8
    After playing Skyrim and reading most reviews i found the scores were too high. Graphically its very good as is the control system. The storyline is very good with the element of choice having an effect on what happens next really makes the game play stand out. All great but its full of bugs like i have not seen in a while just looking at other sources for the game its apparent thatAfter playing Skyrim and reading most reviews i found the scores were too high. Graphically its very good as is the control system. The storyline is very good with the element of choice having an effect on what happens next really makes the game play stand out. All great but its full of bugs like i have not seen in a while just looking at other sources for the game its apparent that there are loads of them as well which is killing the game play. A good game that could have been the best ever but spoilt by bug issues which seem common but with no updates to sort out.… Expand
  62. Kappetan
    Feb 9, 2012
    8
    I'm extremely dissapointed by the large number of people who feel the need to explain how they feel console ports kill "gaming in their reviews of this game based upon the UI alone. Yes its different. and yes it, as is, lends itself to the gamepad very well, but its not terrible, its just different. Yes the games is missing a few key components for a mouse and keyboard player (1-10 keysI'm extremely dissapointed by the large number of people who feel the need to explain how they feel console ports kill "gaming in their reviews of this game based upon the UI alone. Yes its different. and yes it, as is, lends itself to the gamepad very well, but its not terrible, its just different. Yes the games is missing a few key components for a mouse and keyboard player (1-10 keys Bethesda... c'mon) but nothing that would be considered a deal breaker. The graphics are not as people say less impressive than the HD texture pack for oblivion, it probably just seems like it to them because they can run oblivion on ultra and the sheer magnitude of shadows and moving plant-life in skyrim is probably more than teir pcs can handle. The main story line is decent, not spectacular (just like every other Elder Scrolls game), but the various in game guilds have excellent story lines to them, seeing as the two take up a similar amount of gameplay, i personally feel that this balances out. I bought the game release day and have never experienced a single crash (all settings maxed out) but i have had a few grapical bugs, usually involving entering towns, that were fixed upon reloading my previous save so yet again, i have a feeling that a lot of these negative reviews based upon graphics and crashes were people playing on inferior systems or with outdated drivers who tried to over-reach what settings they're capable of playing this game on.… Expand
  63. sickologist
    Feb 9, 2012
    8
    a beautiful and emmersive game, but crippling bugs and accidential ( yes, accidental) exploits make it infuriating. But once you can look over that, you find a game with beautiful scenery, innumerable ( but repetetive) quests, interesting enemies, npc's with varied personalities, and several items and enchantments. while I enjoyed a few of bethesda's other releases (ie- The Elder Scrollsa beautiful and emmersive game, but crippling bugs and accidential ( yes, accidental) exploits make it infuriating. But once you can look over that, you find a game with beautiful scenery, innumerable ( but repetetive) quests, interesting enemies, npc's with varied personalities, and several items and enchantments. while I enjoyed a few of bethesda's other releases (ie- The Elder Scrolls III- morrowind, and Fallout- New Vegas) more than skyrim, it's still enthralling and charming in it's own flashy, bloody way.… Expand
  64. ErebusMaligan
    Feb 10, 2012
    8
    A good game, with a few flaws that greatly diminish any replay value. Played a total 287 hours before i uninstalled though. Even one playthrough that hits all the major points is 60-80 hours easily, so well worth the money. First playthrough as a sneak archer finished. Second as a destro mage, quit at lvl 30 because it was beyond weak. Third 2h melee, almost completed, then just quitA good game, with a few flaws that greatly diminish any replay value. Played a total 287 hours before i uninstalled though. Even one playthrough that hits all the major points is 60-80 hours easily, so well worth the money. First playthrough as a sneak archer finished. Second as a destro mage, quit at lvl 30 because it was beyond weak. Third 2h melee, almost completed, then just quit out of boredom eventually. Once you've seen all the main quest stories once and have gotten a character to a point where it is powerful and you have all your abilities that you will ever really use, there is no point in continuing.

    PROS: It's a great epic open world, and most of the main quest lines are actually pretty enjoyable (if not a bit predictable). Plenty of places to go, and really it's just fun to explore... at least at first. The world is very engrossing and entertaining despite any flaws. Personally i found the combat just fine, although others may disagree.
    CONS: The interface... the default interface and even with improved user mods is not great for pc. I didn't find it nearly as gamebreaking as some people, but there is an inherent disconnect between the keys and the mouse and which has priority on certain screens. The res of the textures isn't great and really requires a high res texture pack... after which it looks pretty great. Money has NO purpose after the very early game. On my first completion i had 300k in money and another 4-500k of stuff in my house. Following all the major quest lines doesn't really drive you to most of the minor cities. There are several i never visited even after doing all the major quest lines and finishing the main game quest. Eventually... all the tombs and ruins are just the same, gets a little tedious. Enchanting makes you an instant god once you get to 100... as does playing a sneak archer at all. If you max enchanting and blacksmithing (which there is no reason not to) you make more money than you can spend, you can buy all alchemy mats every time you are in town, and your gear will be better than anything you will ever find. Basically you can become a god at level 30 without having even left whiterun really. It makes no sense. The one exception being destruction mage which is completely broken, because at level 30 with max destruction, you can't even kill a bear without dipping into other trees and it still takes way too long. Destruction has no +damage enchants, so the damage scales incredibly poorly... in that it doesn't scale at all except for the perks in the tree which do not buff it enough. Dwarven ruins... all of them, are way too long and all look the same.    … Expand
  65. Gnomercy4U
    Feb 14, 2012
    8
    If you loved Oblivion you will love this game. It is what I expected when I heard about it being developed. With the recent release of the creation kit it can only get better, as it did with Oblivion. This game offers many unique paths you can take and many different ways down those paths. As with Bethesda tradition there are a variety of game-breaking exploits via tradeskills and were aIf you loved Oblivion you will love this game. It is what I expected when I heard about it being developed. With the recent release of the creation kit it can only get better, as it did with Oblivion. This game offers many unique paths you can take and many different ways down those paths. As with Bethesda tradition there are a variety of game-breaking exploits via tradeskills and were a lot of bugs upon release. The console commands could help you bypass the bugs to continue on your way but should that really be the way around them? Exploring off the trail is very rewarding and very exciting, quests are actually meaningful and generally not the usual "collect 10 wolf flanks," "kill 5 mudcrabs," or "pick up my dry cleaning and get me some coffee" that RPG's seem to love these days. There are many ways to improve this game, and they gave us the tools to do it as well. Any open-world RPG fan would be nuts to pass this over.… Expand
  66. NeasOlc
    Oct 26, 2012
    8
    While the game isn't perfect, and suffers from occasional bugs and a poor vanilla interface, the great thing about the PC version is it's openness to modding. A lot of the complaints in these reviews are remedied by mods that are free to download and use. The open world is great and Skyrim fixes a lot of the ugly repetition and bland generic landscapes present in Oblivion. The open,While the game isn't perfect, and suffers from occasional bugs and a poor vanilla interface, the great thing about the PC version is it's openness to modding. A lot of the complaints in these reviews are remedied by mods that are free to download and use. The open world is great and Skyrim fixes a lot of the ugly repetition and bland generic landscapes present in Oblivion. The open, classless character system adds even more freedom, and increases re-playability: even if you know the storyline, it can be fun to play with entirely different skills and a different race as you did before.… Expand
  67. ZootMan
    Feb 28, 2012
    8
    It's inevitable that this game undergoes scrutiny and praise in equal order. Skyrim is a world simulator first, and an action game seventh. I personally feel the melee combat is atrocious. Simply unacceptable for such a sub-par combat system that will carry you 60-100 hours potentially. My play through instead had me shooting arrows and blasting npc enemies with lightning, and the combatIt's inevitable that this game undergoes scrutiny and praise in equal order. Skyrim is a world simulator first, and an action game seventh. I personally feel the melee combat is atrocious. Simply unacceptable for such a sub-par combat system that will carry you 60-100 hours potentially. My play through instead had me shooting arrows and blasting npc enemies with lightning, and the combat in this way holds up very well. Limited, but enjoyable is how I would describe the encounters. Far, far improved beyond Oblivion, for sure. Another knock against this game- the amount of reused content in the environments. Especially concerning the Drauger ruins. Be prepared for identical looking dungeons...all that being said, this game will suck you in, and is a great improvement on Bethesda's previous products. Next from them, I want a focused 10 hour game.… Expand
  68. tamazetram
    Feb 17, 2012
    8
    part of me hates the game now but after 300 hours i guess i would be getting bored of almost anything!some great missions,especially with the side quests,main story is pretty bland but never really been an elder scrolls strong point anyway,it is very easy unfortunately which is why i am deducting 2 points,i have had to restart several times-all because once you've levelled up a bit it'spart of me hates the game now but after 300 hours i guess i would be getting bored of almost anything!some great missions,especially with the side quests,main story is pretty bland but never really been an elder scrolls strong point anyway,it is very easy unfortunately which is why i am deducting 2 points,i have had to restart several times-all because once you've levelled up a bit it's far too easy.even on master difficulty i found around level 30(you can level to 81)you are fairly invincible,apart from against mages for some reason.all in all a great game let down by lack of difficulty… Expand
  69. rpmcritic
    Mar 4, 2012
    8
    Bethesda has done an incredible job at recreating the elder scrolls, the Havok game engine creates the huge and extraordinary world of which is Skyrim. The endless Items and beautiful graphics and textures gives the game an extraordinary feel. Improvements to the game could be an MMO on the PC version and patches on some glitches within the game. Overall a Great story line and plenty ofBethesda has done an incredible job at recreating the elder scrolls, the Havok game engine creates the huge and extraordinary world of which is Skyrim. The endless Items and beautiful graphics and textures gives the game an extraordinary feel. Improvements to the game could be an MMO on the PC version and patches on some glitches within the game. Overall a Great story line and plenty of creatures to battle. I'm happy to see that the developers have kept the same game play as the Fallout series, yet tweaked it a little to fit the medieval theme... I hope the developers make a sequel to this brilliant series.… Expand
  70. fosuno
    Mar 6, 2012
    8
    TESV: Skyrim, at launch was a pretty shaky game with Bethesda bugs some players were unable to play the game for some part, however with the constant patching since then the game has stabilized and has become an actual enjoyable game. and with the release of the creation kit last month the PC has set its master race position in stone, by adding longevity to an already long game making it aTESV: Skyrim, at launch was a pretty shaky game with Bethesda bugs some players were unable to play the game for some part, however with the constant patching since then the game has stabilized and has become an actual enjoyable game. and with the release of the creation kit last month the PC has set its master race position in stone, by adding longevity to an already long game making it a must have if not for the vanilla game but for the modded game itself… Expand
  71. daniel11780
    Mar 7, 2012
    8
    This game,is definitely one of the most invested games that I ever played at!
    The biggest virtues of the game is his game play,and the size of the game world.
    The game play of the game is special,it isn't something that I saw in any other RPG game,and this what that makes him to turn to larger audience. You can play the game from first person or from third person,for the convenience of    This game,is definitely one of the most invested games that I ever played at!
    The biggest virtues of the game is his game play,and the size of the game world.
    The game play of the game is special,it isn't something that I saw in any other RPG game,and this what that makes him to turn to larger audience.
    You can play the game from first person or from third person,for the convenience of the player.
    There are three main classes-mage,warrior and thief-but differently from other games,you don't pick the class at the beginning of the game,but choose the right combination of skills to create the desirable character.
    One of the benefits of this system is that you can create a very powerful combination between classes like warrior-mage or thief-warrior.
    As mage you can choose different magic each hand,or the same magic in each hand,and use them as one combined stronger magic,or as warrior or thief you can use two daggers or small swords and use power hit to swing them both very fast and hit the enemy very hard.
    Skyrim graphics aren't to much impressive for today,however the graphical engine of the game is much better then the previous game,and the game makes up for it in the awsome game play and the enormous map.
    The AI in the game is something that disgracing the game.
    In most of the time when you don't want to be discovered,you just crouch and no one see you even if he looks right at you.
    Now we got to the game biggest disadvantage,the abnormal amount of bugs.
    There are so much bugs,that sometimes you can't keep playing the game until you solve the problem with other patches and updates,Bethesda,why do you so harry to release the game before you checks that there are no problems like that in the game?
    today there are a lot of updates that solve most of the bugs but still the game isn't clean of bugs.
    I believe that the people that read this already know the story,yet I will tell the story shortly.
    Your figure caught while he tried to enter to the kingdom of skyrim.
    Whe soldiers of the imperials trying to execute you,a huge,black dragon called alduin destroys the city and you success run away,and from there the story keeps going on,there is a giant riot in all of the big cities in skyrim because of the return of the dragons,it appears that you are the dragonborn,a man with blood and soul of the dragon,and the only one who can destroy alduin the son of the first dragon,that brings to life the dragons.
    The main story is so not reliable,you are the hero that supposed to save the world,and instead be treated like god or even king,you treated like a simple citizen and even less.
    the story of the game had such a large potential to be the best story of the year,and Bethesda missed it.
    In summery,this is the best RPG game that ever made,but with some more investment it could be the best-selling game!    … Expand
  72. Omap
    Mar 7, 2012
    8
    Buggy, laggy, clunky, consolized, and Fantastic. Skyrim is not so much an RPG as it is an "Adventure Simulator." that being said, it's launch was marred by bugs and clunky UI screens are a pain in the ass to navigate with a keyboard and mouse, as well as muddy textures and sometimes buggy lighting. luckily the player base has picked up where the devs have slacked, with UI mods, textureBuggy, laggy, clunky, consolized, and Fantastic. Skyrim is not so much an RPG as it is an "Adventure Simulator." that being said, it's launch was marred by bugs and clunky UI screens are a pain in the ass to navigate with a keyboard and mouse, as well as muddy textures and sometimes buggy lighting. luckily the player base has picked up where the devs have slacked, with UI mods, texture packs, model packs, and all you could ever hope for. this is why you buy Bethesda games on the PC, because while this game is about a 5/10 by itself, with all the mods at your fingertips, it is easily worthy of an 8.… Expand
  73. TheInquisitor
    Mar 8, 2012
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I think when talking about Skyrim we need to temper expectations with the reality of the gaming industry today. Gone are the days where the ACTUAL goal of the industry was to make really good games. The purpose now is to make money, so if we happen to get a really great game along the way, we should take the opportunity with both hands and let the industry know that's what we like. I think we've missed an opportunity with Skyrim, but at the other end of the spectrum. Nowhere near enough effort was put into the PC version (if the choice were up to me, I'd shaft the console versions completely and develop future TES games SOLELY for PC), as is shown by the terrible menus. The SkyUI mod looks much better and as soon as I finish this review I'm installing it myself. The menus on the PC version wreak of console and as a PC gamer I am offended by the utter contempt shown towards me in the way the menu system was essentially ignored.

    The combat mechanisms I can't really compare to any other TES because Skyrim is the first TES game I've played. What I can say is that if every blow dealt to, and by, the character was felt and had proper impacts then combat would just be annoying because as soon as you get hit, that's another second or two you're staggered and against more than one opponent it would simply infuriate most gamers, I suspect. As for people saying it's boring and bland...unless you want turn based strategic combat I think hack-and-slash is the best you're ever going to get.

    The tech tree are a bit of a worry as well because there are some I would simply never use. The alchemy tree, for instance, has been utterly useless to me. As has the Speech tree. On the magic side of things I've only used the Destruction and Restoration trees, but the other magic trees (Conjuration and Illusion) aren't in my sphere of playing interest so I can't comment on them. But destruction is well fun and blowing stuff up with Fireball or wiping out waves of Skeletons with Ice Storm is rather enjoyable. But Pickpocket and Lockpicking just seem like a waste of time in terms of spending perks on them when lockpicking only requires patience and pickpocketing only has to be done ONCE as a mandatory part of any quest in the whole game (as far as I know). The combat-based trees are pretty good I think and most of the perks are quite useful (not triggering pressure plates is a godsend in long dungeon crawls). Smithing and Enchanting, however are a problem. They are by far the most boring and costly to level up because of the sheer amount of raw materials needed to get your smithing to a high level. And enchanting items even purely as a means of increasing your enchanting level is time consuming and tedious. They should've been rescaled to allow much faster leveling than what is currently in place.

    The HUD (above and beyond the menu system) feels sluggish and slightly unresponsive to mouse movements ESPECIALLY in the menus and the world map. At times you can be just as prone to selecting the wrong fast travel destination as to selling the wrong weapon and finding yourself without your prized legendary-level Daedric bow.

    The difficulty levels in Skyrim seem to matter less and less as your character's strength increases. Currently as I play through on Adept difficulty, I might as well be playing on easiest for all the difficulty Trolls and Dragons are in the face of my Destruction magic but in earlier levels it does make a real difference in terms of whether you land that extra, and final, blow or whether you yourself get taken down by a finishing blow.

    As for the quests, I personally thoroughly enjoyed the main questline. I thought it was original, interesting, engaging and exciting, especially in some of the ruins. The main side-quests are also pretty good and were (and are) a lot of fun for me. The Dark Brotherhood and Thieves' Guild both return and equivalents of the Fighters' and Mages' Guilds also feature extended questlines. The complaints about most quests being "go here and kill this thing" or "go there and retrieve that thing" are unreasonable simply because it's not feasible to make a game where every side quest has a fleshed out plotline to it, especially in a game the size and scope of Skyrim. As for the lack of puzzles, I must admit that even I, a supreme fail at puzzle solving found so few puzzles to solve in this game that I was a little disappointed. Not only that, but all the puzzles were of the same type (more or less). On the topic of quests being linear, what else can they be? If they were totally open slather, giving free reign to players on finishing in whatever way they wanted, how would the game handle all the possible variables? I think linear dungeons is the ONLY way to make the game work.    … Expand
  74. Turtle16
    Dec 27, 2013
    8
    This game is very hard to grade. The game as it is only barely reaches 7 out of 10. Pros being amazing, rich and fairly consistent lore, huge and beautiful open world, more interesting quests, removing some completely pointless skills like athletics or acrobacy and atmospheric surroundings cons being many nearly idiotic flaws like poorly designed leveling, stupid AI behaviour, INCREDIBLYThis game is very hard to grade. The game as it is only barely reaches 7 out of 10. Pros being amazing, rich and fairly consistent lore, huge and beautiful open world, more interesting quests, removing some completely pointless skills like athletics or acrobacy and atmospheric surroundings cons being many nearly idiotic flaws like poorly designed leveling, stupid AI behaviour, INCREDIBLY slow arrows (I mean seriously, what the is up with that. Has every anybody in Bethesda even SEEN a bow?!), underpowered destruction magic and list goes on and on. However you have to consider that Skyrim is extremely mod-friendly and with some time spent on research and installation of mods the game gets 10 out of 10 easy. There's literally thousands of mods adding to the world and perfecting it in unimaginable ways or fixing whatever imbalance or poor choice may ill you in the vanilla game. For that Skyrim is definite must play. So far I am 150 hours in it and I am nowhere near finishing my play-through. One thing I must mention though. Skyrim uses old technology that forces limits on memory used and is very bad in utilizing multi-core CPUs. With some graphical enhancements the game gets very unstable because engine can't handle it even though your PC is completely up to it. All in all Skyrim when modded is one of THE best games of your life. But you'll have to invest quite a lot of work and time in it before you even start to play and your love for it is going to be tested.… Expand
  75. Nauglamir
    Mar 27, 2012
    8
    After Morrowind and Oblivion, this game manages to solve most of the weaknesses encountered in the previous Elder Scrolls installments. None-the-less, its whopping success is, for the greatest part, due to the winning comparison with the past two games of the series. The main quest, along with the well-designed guild quests, finally gives the player a good reason to play through the gameAfter Morrowind and Oblivion, this game manages to solve most of the weaknesses encountered in the previous Elder Scrolls installments. None-the-less, its whopping success is, for the greatest part, due to the winning comparison with the past two games of the series. The main quest, along with the well-designed guild quests, finally gives the player a good reason to play through the game in its entirety. The graphics, although very good on their own, are clearly a major overhaul of Oblivion's graphic engine, while the game's world is literally filled with beauty and ancient Norse lore, as it offers magnificent landscapes and a nice blend of towns, fortresses, burial sites and, for the first time, well-characterized dungeons scattered throughout Skyrim. The music score fits in well, while the general voiceover is not really something that will be remembered, even though with some exceptions. Besides, the attention shall now be paid to the cons of Skyrim. In the long run, most of the radiant quests encountered in the game turn out to be relatively shallow and menial, having your character (as for guild quests) become the chief of all of them after a bare set of three or four tasks. The feeling you'll have is that of a wondrous world partly filled with tacky quests and with a barren replayability factor; in addition, the perks are mostly useless, being a blatant old fashioned rpg facade with no real impact on the gameplay. In spite of these major quirks, however, the game works quite well, provided you are into the realm of fantasy lore. Had this game come out some two or three years earlier, it would have surely gotten an higher mark for my part.… Expand
  76. wood431
    Mar 29, 2012
    8
    I have never played an RPG before this game. The concept put me off. However, this game has provided me with an immersive world that is beautifully created. The quests are diverse and fun at the same time, and the mods available on the Steam workshop create a fully customisable game that I have taken full advantage of. The only downside is sometimes I may get a little bored and frustratedI have never played an RPG before this game. The concept put me off. However, this game has provided me with an immersive world that is beautifully created. The quests are diverse and fun at the same time, and the mods available on the Steam workshop create a fully customisable game that I have taken full advantage of. The only downside is sometimes I may get a little bored and frustrated with some of the NPC's predictable quests, and there are a lot of bugs (although that's to be expected for such a huge world.) I'm giving this an eight because it is not the perfect game, but it is a well deserved eight at that.… Expand
  77. jarakk
    May 2, 2012
    8
    this game better ten oblivios, obvisios..

    But a little mit more authentic woud be nice.
    More diffenrense in quests, not that big much walking into a dungeon and bring me item X...

    Graphic is nice, in far mods make the game much better..
  78. elhive
    May 7, 2012
    8
    You can say Skyrim's biggest advantage is also it's biggest flaw. I love sandbox games, and although I never really was a big fan of the Elder scrolls series I thought the freedom was certainly entertaining. But Oblivion was flawed on so many levels that I simply can't compare it to Skyrim. Yes, Skyrim is a much better game on every single way. Weapons and armor disintegration is gone andYou can say Skyrim's biggest advantage is also it's biggest flaw. I love sandbox games, and although I never really was a big fan of the Elder scrolls series I thought the freedom was certainly entertaining. But Oblivion was flawed on so many levels that I simply can't compare it to Skyrim. Yes, Skyrim is a much better game on every single way. Weapons and armor disintegration is gone and the dungeons are much more varied and interesting. Instead of repetative Oblivion gates you now have dragon fights but more importantly',the game looks and feels much better then it's laggy, buggy predecessor. The game has a ton of quests and will last for months,But here is the big problem: the game never has true high points. It's addicting, I'l give it that, but it doesn't have deep characters nor does it have an interesting story. It relies on it's endless replay value and sacrifices quality. It lacks focus and, as such, it was never memorable for me. Despite this, the game is fun and entertaining. The combat is excellent and the quests can be really grand and fun. The politics in Skyrim are actualy interesting and somehow held my interest of the story. The game is great, but it lacks focus, and Bethesda released it so buggy (let's not forget the broken PS3 version) that it's really a mixed bag here. People rave and praise it, and I can understand where the love is coming from, but it has it's flaws that shouldn't be passed by.… Expand
  79. addie_ho
    Jun 16, 2012
    8
    I can only give 8 to this game because it has so many bugs; i played it on pc. The main story is too short, i hope it could be longer. The faction quests are very interesting; i had a lot of fun during Dark Brotherhood quests. After i discover most of the dungeon and finished most of the quests, i do not know what i can do to get to highest level for both character level and skill level.I can only give 8 to this game because it has so many bugs; i played it on pc. The main story is too short, i hope it could be longer. The faction quests are very interesting; i had a lot of fun during Dark Brotherhood quests. After i discover most of the dungeon and finished most of the quests, i do not know what i can do to get to highest level for both character level and skill level. Maybe they do not want people to get all skills to lv100 on the a single character. Dual-cast destruction magic is too convinient, it breaks any enemies' attack. lol… Expand
  80. Andresitooo
    Jul 11, 2013
    8
    positives: phenomenal graphics, huge open world with lots of cool side missions for PLENTY of gameplay, Beautiful scenery and landscape, well crafted dungeons and lots of skills to choose from, great sound plus freaking dragons !

    negatives: Hearing a lot of the same voice actors, main story line wasn't that strong for an RPG (specially of this calibur), gameplay mechanics were outdated    positives: phenomenal graphics, huge open world with lots of cool side missions for PLENTY of gameplay, Beautiful scenery and landscape, well crafted dungeons and lots of skills to choose from, great sound plus freaking dragons !

    negatives: Hearing a lot of the same voice actors, main story line wasn't that strong for an RPG (specially of this calibur), gameplay mechanics were outdated and worst they were unbalanced (magic didn't do enough damage endgame plus you died way to quick while with melee types you would become a god (my melee character had light armor duel wield and illusion magic mixed with insane blacksmithing and enchanting i would kill master dragonds on hardest difficulty in like 2 or 3 double sword strikes).    … Expand
  81. 5hassay
    Dec 8, 2013
    8
    I first played this game after the last official patch. When I first launched it, I was in awe. The environments, the voice acting, the action, the pretty UI, the weather effects. I was so immersed and it felt amazing. However, about 15 or 20 hours later, things changed drastically.

    I realized that the poor leveling system from oblivion seemed to come over to skyrim unchanged.    I first played this game after the last official patch. When I first launched it, I was in awe. The environments, the voice acting, the action, the pretty UI, the weather effects. I was so immersed and it felt amazing. However, about 15 or 20 hours later, things changed drastically.

    I realized that the poor leveling system from oblivion seemed to come over to skyrim unchanged. Basically, the game gets more difficult in terms of combat (NPC's have more health and do more damage) as the player becomes more skilled in any of the skills available. Thus if you decide to enjoy yourself crafting some cool armour or playing with alchemy, you're going to get smashed with more powerful monsters (assuming you have a difficultly setting of expert or more). As a consequence I was motivated to NOT try all the cool skills out there and purely do whatever combat I had going (in my case melee). Also I basically had to drop archery for the same reason. That was lame.

    The combat still is really bad. The spell system seems graphically a bit nicer, but I only did melee and ranged. When you hit NPCs with a sword, to quote some person, "its like hitting them with a wet fish." Your sword just goes through them with no response. There is a blocking ability, but I don't know its purpose because you take essentially the same damage anyway.

    The AI still is dated (seems to be the same AI for the most part as Oblivion). Sure, a lot of NPCs have daily schedule where they go around doing stuff which is really cool. But often you'll see them walking into walls, and they look very robotic. Its still pretty immersive though, but those little blips you keep seeing really ruins it for you.

    There's still the issue of quantity over quality. In Oblivion there was hundreds of dungeons, but they were so generic and after a few you probably avoided going in them. Its pretty similar for Skyrim. For the first few tens of hours, you might not notice, but you soon will. Some dungeons can be very unique though, and they can be very awesome.

    At the beginning of the game you would notice a lot of politic stuff and that in the quests. That was really surprising and cool, but then the main quest line went more in the direction of "dragon born" which was kind of disappointing.

    In summary, this game is a great RPG, maybe a bit too quantity over quality, and too many technical issues, and more of a game where you can see it had great potential but it wasn't reached. However its a pretty fantastic game with mods. When I was following this game, there was a lot of cool stuff that was supposed to be in Skyrim, but alas Skyrim was not the result. However there's a bunch of fairly decent gameplay mods that fix this and expand: combat mods that make combat interesting, making lighting real, survival mods, so forth. For me I really need immersion to enjoy this game, and the vanilla game doesn't really supply that and kind of breaks it periodically.    … Expand
  82. hellcat5
    Jul 25, 2012
    8
    I look forward to the day when Bethesda releases, from any of it's studios, maybe I should group Zenimax with that too, a crash free game. So many games exist out there that run smoothly, without any issues. When Skyrim first came out, it would crash every few hours. I think they have that mostly fixed, but many people still report crashes. So, something with the framework isn'tI look forward to the day when Bethesda releases, from any of it's studios, maybe I should group Zenimax with that too, a crash free game. So many games exist out there that run smoothly, without any issues. When Skyrim first came out, it would crash every few hours. I think they have that mostly fixed, but many people still report crashes. So, something with the framework isn't stable. So, I don't give it a 9 or better because of the crashes. But, it is a fun game, and I don't have many issues with it now. The experience with this doesn't leave me going, "OMG! I must have more!" so the upcoming add-ons don't carry much force for me. Get those framework issues fixed, then release a nice solid game. This has a great replay value as long as it stays running for you.… Expand
  83. Gabcd
    Aug 6, 2012
    8
    4/5 (Good, but the potential is there to got to an easy 5) For some reason, Skyrim does everything better than its predecessors. For some other reason, I have played ridiculous amounts of it. BUT: I don't feel as attached to this game as I was with Oblivion. In Skyrim, I have not felt the need to play another character beyond the first. Maybe it's just me because it really looks like it's4/5 (Good, but the potential is there to got to an easy 5) For some reason, Skyrim does everything better than its predecessors. For some other reason, I have played ridiculous amounts of it. BUT: I don't feel as attached to this game as I was with Oblivion. In Skyrim, I have not felt the need to play another character beyond the first. Maybe it's just me because it really looks like it's got everything it needs.

    Try it, it's good.    … Expand
  84. Kyo
    Dec 17, 2012
    8
    Skyrim is a great game and my first of the elder scrolls series, but to me I feel like it was hyped more then it needed to be. My friends told me to get it that it was amazing, fun and just dumb not to own it. So I got it, at first I was very impressed but as I continued I found myself getting bored; after running into a dungeon for the millionth time it just lost my interest. I would findSkyrim is a great game and my first of the elder scrolls series, but to me I feel like it was hyped more then it needed to be. My friends told me to get it that it was amazing, fun and just dumb not to own it. So I got it, at first I was very impressed but as I continued I found myself getting bored; after running into a dungeon for the millionth time it just lost my interest. I would find myself just sitting there saying "Ill just finish this dungeon and go to bed" after forcing myself to pick it back up.

    Other then that that game is fun for the most part, the scenery and size of the world is amazing, the music is just beautiful and exciting, tons of quests, you can explore for hours and find new things and places it is worth the money.

    The combat is kind of lack luster it feels very clunky and awkward most of the time like when you try to slash at someone it doesn't feel like you hit them, yet the kill cams are pretty amazing if not funny at times. To me Skyrim is a great game that was over hyped by fans. I went in expecting to have so much fun and an exciting experience, but got an average one instead much like a fantastic disappointment that was enjoyable. I know that sounds like I hated it, but I did enjoy it, it's just not my favorite game.    … Expand
  85. camcom
    Aug 9, 2012
    8
    This is a great example of a AAA game living up mostly to its potential. This is a very immersive RPG, and has a fantastic storyline. Everyone should be familiar with Bethesda's style of games by now, and this one doesn't stray to far away from the style of previous games made by them. One thing that has changed is the lack of bugs. (at least on PC) People can complain about graphics ifThis is a great example of a AAA game living up mostly to its potential. This is a very immersive RPG, and has a fantastic storyline. Everyone should be familiar with Bethesda's style of games by now, and this one doesn't stray to far away from the style of previous games made by them. One thing that has changed is the lack of bugs. (at least on PC) People can complain about graphics if they want (if you have a multi-thousand dollar rig then you may exceed the maximum performance needed for max settings, but i think it looks pretty at console settings). This game is surprisingly bug-less. Granted, there still are the minor glitches here and there, but i never came across any game-breaking bugs in my 55 hours with it. I would recommend this game to everyone who wants a great RPG experience without the need for grinding and a great story.… Expand
  86. somethingguy912
    Dec 7, 2012
    8
    From transitioning from One Era to another in the story (and for us, metaphorically), Skyrim does a great job of cleaning a lot of frustrations and putting every perspective that we love from RPG's: Dynamic Settings, Beautiful Enivornments, and Epic Combat. The Combat doesn't feel so static anymore, like as if your hitting a fence post with a nerf sword, first person combat can see you bobFrom transitioning from One Era to another in the story (and for us, metaphorically), Skyrim does a great job of cleaning a lot of frustrations and putting every perspective that we love from RPG's: Dynamic Settings, Beautiful Enivornments, and Epic Combat. The Combat doesn't feel so static anymore, like as if your hitting a fence post with a nerf sword, first person combat can see you bob up and down from running, sprinting, attacking, and blocking. The Status bars are also a plus as well, having them Symmetrically placed across the bottom of your screen, to minimalize HUD flogging when you want to get to the heart of this game: Environments. The Fog system in this game is by far the best I have ever seen from any game, that from looking at it it is almost pantomime to me. The Water system has improved a tad, but sometimes I tend to be swimming in invisible water due to glitches. Enchanting weapons is now a skill set, rather than those cores you'd retrieve from closing oblviion gates. Weaponry Combat is now divided between One-Handed and Two-Handed, rather than Maces and Swords, and while either one can be argued over which is better, I would prefer One-Handed. Although, trying to get re-acquainted with certain magic skill sets is a little trifling, considering that Mysticism no longer is a magic skill set and we are left with Illusion, Destruction, Restoration, Alteration and Conjuration. Mysticism's spells have been divided among each other skill set, which can make finding the particular spells difficult if you are not familiar with The Elder Scrolls. But most importantly, Skill Sets are a big improvement to this game. Leveling Up is now more diversified; if you leveled up just using Marksmanship, you can put a Perk into Enchanting if you feel like it, where in Oblivion it had you forced to increase skills based on what skill you used most. Also, Magicka, Stamina and Health also have their own perk points, where each time you can level up, you can add 10 points to either one. The Story, well, it has some strengths, but also weaknesses. IN terms of communication, Now all communication is in real-time, so when you communicate to one person, not everyone else will just freeze in place. Also, you won't have to stare at the NPC you are talking to face to face. In fact, you can actually move your first-person view while conversing, providing a more thematic and realistic ideal to communication. But to the story. Now, the Dragonborn Quest was epic, especially at the end when you finally face Alduin once and for all, but the other main quest, The Civil War Quest, was kind of shallow. Now, you can never win a civil war with one person, that never happens. Throughout the whole time you are doing this quest, you never actually feel any tension from your foe, either being the imperials or the stormcloaks. And when you do enter Enemy territory, you aren't even threatened from there. Even after thwarting Stormcloak Evasions, capturing cities and ransacking forts, all that the leaders ever do is just curse your name and talk passive-agressively towards you, not even once bothering to mention that In that case you'd be a High Profile Target for Assassination. I was glad to be done with it, considering that their idea of a civil war wasn't ideally the one I was hoping for. However, the other side quests are all interesting, and indeed, Every Dungeon, Crevice or area you find has their own story to tell. Books are still existant in this region, even some of the easter eggs from the earlier elder scrolls (the lusty argonian :P). It's even interesting to read books detailing events that happened during "The Oblivion Crisis", as they call it. The Relationships between each races is also very apparent, with circulating criticism's and racisms between lower class races (Argonian's, Khajiit, Dark Elves), and it allowed me to analyze the situation that was burgeoning all over Skyrim and possibly all of Tamriel. It allowed me to develop my character in a way that I thought I would never be able to do with games that would rather just kill first and ask questions later, I could actually have a character with real context and self-awareness of the problems that propel the lore forward. However, on a technical level, there are a lot of issues with this game that bother me. I can't see my oxygen level when going under water (although maybe this was for the tension), I can't see the weight limit for any companions (er, pack mules), before me, companions will constantly get in your way and act retarded, and most importantly, auto saving. While I originally embraced this idea of autosaving, I constantly get annoyed with trying to access my inventory while autosave saves when I don't need to and doesn't when I do need it to. Ultimately, this game shall be worth your money which I could say more for some of their DLC content.… Expand
  87. Nataraja
    Mar 10, 2013
    8
    This game just.... I am torn. Sometimes I think "Wow if my old pen and paper days of Dungeons and Dragons (I started playing that when Gary Gygax first started out with the Basic set...) could come to life this would be it!" and think it deserves a 10. Then "Damn this is buggy as all hell and to think I waited as long as I did and it still NOT FIXED!" and I want to give it a 5. TheThis game just.... I am torn. Sometimes I think "Wow if my old pen and paper days of Dungeons and Dragons (I started playing that when Gary Gygax first started out with the Basic set...) could come to life this would be it!" and think it deserves a 10. Then "Damn this is buggy as all hell and to think I waited as long as I did and it still NOT FIXED!" and I want to give it a 5. The visuals are stunning. The open world aspects are SO welcome as I love sandbox type of games. The immersion is great until you hit one of the numerous quest killing bugs. Perhaps the most central quest line, when you receive the greeting from the Grey Beards WILL NOT COMPLETE no matter how many times I try or do anything differently. I have watched goats floating in the air about 150 feet off the ground only to fall straight down and then start to roam around. But the voice acting good. The crafting is very fun. Re-playability, if you can tolerate the bugginess is high. I still find myself hopping into the game when I can because I do have fun with it. That is as long as I don't want to alt-tab from the game. When I come back in I get the double cursor bug with is WAY irritating. It is also SLOW to react at times and you can make the AI bug out pretty easily. With all of that said I can only give this an 8. Or should that be a 7. Or a 5. Oh no it should be a 10. And then there are the times when it turns into tedium... So 8 it is. Great potential, just not the best execution.… Expand
  88. TheHumbleCritic
    Sep 21, 2012
    8
    This game is pretty decent, although the user interface and the leveling system were **** **** there are mods like SKY UI to fix that.
    The story in my opinion was incredible, if not a bit short. It ran well with few bugs and no crashes on my PC but the in my opinion you couldn't really play it more than twice.
    I really honestly cannot understand why all you Morrowind and Oblivion fans    This game is pretty decent, although the user interface and the leveling system were **** **** there are mods like SKY UI to fix that.
    The story in my opinion was incredible, if not a bit short. It ran well with few bugs and no crashes on my PC but the in my opinion you couldn't really play it more than twice.
    I really honestly cannot understand why all you Morrowind and Oblivion fans are so butt hurt about this game. Just give it a decent chance and then maybe you'll understand..    … Expand
  89. not_batman27
    Sep 28, 2012
    8
    not the perfect rpg, but one of the best for sure! of course the game being a bethesda game results in massive bugs, lags and glitches. if you look over that its an awesome game! the combat system is almost perfect, the story line in the first total 50 hours of gameplay are amazing, but after that you see that the rest of the game, the last 50% of it, were almost the same as the firstnot the perfect rpg, but one of the best for sure! of course the game being a bethesda game results in massive bugs, lags and glitches. if you look over that its an awesome game! the combat system is almost perfect, the story line in the first total 50 hours of gameplay are amazing, but after that you see that the rest of the game, the last 50% of it, were almost the same as the first half. i loved it, even that i'm a fallout fanboy, lol.… Expand
  90. Expospeed
    Dec 6, 2014
    8
    Skyrim is a fantastic game, filled with exploration and adventure. The world is vast, and there is plenty to do. Absolutely recommended for all RPG lovers. My breakdown is as follows:

    1. Graphics: 9/10 - excellent, looks amazing on high-end rig
    2. Gameplay: 8/10 - satisfying combat, non-linear, do what you want when you want
    3. Story: 8/10 - totally immersive

    A must-have.
  91. Klewer
    Nov 15, 2012
    8
    One of the best modern RPG's released recently. Interesting quests and a strong story make it a must have for any RPG fan. Only falls down in the general nerfing of the gameplay compared to previous Elder Scrolls to cater to a console/casual gamer crowd.
  92. TheGamer31
    Aug 2, 2015
    8
    Easily one of the best RPG games out there. Amazing graphics that still hold up (for the most part) today, almost 4 years after the game's release. There are a lot of problems that can break immersion and keeps my score from being a 9 or a 10. For example there a handful of bugs in the game like the infamous giant glitch, or how sometimes bodies will sink through the floor or terrain, orEasily one of the best RPG games out there. Amazing graphics that still hold up (for the most part) today, almost 4 years after the game's release. There are a lot of problems that can break immersion and keeps my score from being a 9 or a 10. For example there a handful of bugs in the game like the infamous giant glitch, or how sometimes bodies will sink through the floor or terrain, or the also infamous intro glitch. There is also the problem that even though there are many decisions in the game none of them really change the game, and what I mean by this is that you can do a quest to kill somebody or retrieve some ancient artifact that is really hard to get and bring it back to someone, it doesnt do sh*t to the rest of the game world. That being said there are a lot of good things, like the music, gameplay, the base story, how large the world is, and the list goes on.… Expand
  93. MadGamer1258
    Nov 29, 2012
    8
    Well another game that really stroke my heart. I was able to spent like 200 hours exploring the huge world and still I am wondering how they was able to do it! So much space, so much quests, so much things to do and still it does not end! Well there are some quite damn bugs and other things but who cares. it is fun as a hell
  94. Benoit529
    Jan 4, 2013
    8
    This review is for those who haven't played the previous series and simply want a great RPG to play. Skyrim delivers in most aspects of it - the main quest line is intuitive and fascinating, and thoroughly challenging, and you can detach yourself from it at any time to explore the rest of Skyrim or do side quests. The world of Skyrim itself is absolutely massive and extremely well createdThis review is for those who haven't played the previous series and simply want a great RPG to play. Skyrim delivers in most aspects of it - the main quest line is intuitive and fascinating, and thoroughly challenging, and you can detach yourself from it at any time to explore the rest of Skyrim or do side quests. The world of Skyrim itself is absolutely massive and extremely well created - what I especially admire is how no two details, no two trees, are replicated anywhere else in the world. It shows a genuine desire to please consumers on Bethesda's part. The orchestral music that makes up the soundtrack somehow fits both the medieval lifestyle and ambient open air, all at once, which enhances the feeling of open-ended gameplay. What I especially love about this game is that the PC version allows you to make use of the command prompt and mod allocation should the current style of gameplay not suit your needs. You can use it to manually raise difficulty, create unique quest lines, or add your own textures. It's also Bethesda's way of tackling bugs - if you can't complete a quest because of a bug then all it needs is the command prompt to fix the bug for you. Some might say it's lazy of Bethesda's testing team and doesn't openly tackle the needs of consumers, but I think this can please everybody in each way they wish to play. I do have a couple of gripes though - the only word to describe the combat system is boring! You can't target your swings or pull off special tactics, it's simply click, click, maybe hold down click if you're a warrior, hold down click while moving backwards if you're a mage, stand far away and hold click if you're a bowman. There is almost no variety in any of the monsters, with the possible exception of trolls (I did have to employ tactics to bring down one of those behemoths!) Also, there is quite an evident issue that if you spend too long on the side quests you can over-level, in which case the main quest becomes a cinch, so it really could have done with some level adjustment on the wildlife AI's part. But once everything is summed up and rolled into this title, I can conclude that it is very much worth getting. Be wary of the (small) chance of disappointment because you'll be splashing out quite a lot of money for it.… Expand
  95. GBowles
    Jan 5, 2013
    8
    This game is a treat to play for the most part. At least 40 hours of exciting and involving gameplay, a beautiful world, interesting characters, open-ended quests and much more. Sadly, with this comes plenty of glitches and bugs, some minor gameplay issues and an absolutely appauling finale. I have around 90 hours of play time and after recently returning to Skyrim with a new character IThis game is a treat to play for the most part. At least 40 hours of exciting and involving gameplay, a beautiful world, interesting characters, open-ended quests and much more. Sadly, with this comes plenty of glitches and bugs, some minor gameplay issues and an absolutely appauling finale. I have around 90 hours of play time and after recently returning to Skyrim with a new character I felt the game had lost all of its fun. I'm likely to stay away from this game from now on. Great play time for the money but not the 'greatest RPG ever' some people name it.… Expand
  96. Zael
    Jan 9, 2013
    8
    Skyrim is fun. That's just an understatement. But, Skyrim is great graphics-wise and the gameplay is beautiful: scenery, combat, etc.. The thing I don't like about Skyrim is how short the storyline was. After I finished it, I was just doing some other "main quests". Honestly, a player can finish the game before level 30 if they focused mainly on combat and the main storyline. Me, I did aSkyrim is fun. That's just an understatement. But, Skyrim is great graphics-wise and the gameplay is beautiful: scenery, combat, etc.. The thing I don't like about Skyrim is how short the storyline was. After I finished it, I was just doing some other "main quests". Honestly, a player can finish the game before level 30 if they focused mainly on combat and the main storyline. Me, I did a lot of smithing and non-combat things. I especially love the lore about the Dwarves (Dwemer) and I like the Dwemer cities. But after a while, I just stopped playing. I have yet to do the Imperial/Stormcloak questline because I'm so torn between the two groups. Conclusion: Skyrim is fun, interactive and has many things to do.… Expand
  97. Pantheon
    Jan 13, 2013
    8
    As is usually the case, those giving this game a 1 or a 2 are just hating and those giving it a 10 are ignoring some real issues. Overall I can surely recommend the game, it's fun. The main story line is entertaining as are a number of the other quests --- special mention to the Dark Brotherhood line and thieves guild, just for the sneaking around. However, there are still way too manyAs is usually the case, those giving this game a 1 or a 2 are just hating and those giving it a 10 are ignoring some real issues. Overall I can surely recommend the game, it's fun. The main story line is entertaining as are a number of the other quests --- special mention to the Dark Brotherhood line and thieves guild, just for the sneaking around. However, there are still way too many repetitive boring quests. Furthermore, the game is just too easy. After getting barely acclimated there was no real issue with just maxing out the difficulty and rarely finding yourself in danger of actually dying. The Dragons themselves, after the shock of fighting the first one, are way too weak. The crafting systems are completely broken --- Smithing, enchanting and alchemy are very easy to advance ... and once advanced, you're pretty much invincible.

    I have to also agree with the criticism regarding many of the characters. For the most part they all seem oblivious to your character's great accomplishments. They mouth the same lines all throughout the game. It's a wonder more time and effort couldn't have been spent in adding lines and in having npc's recognize your character's level and major accomplishments. After a while you will notice the same actor doing the same voice for different nps's --- I mean the actor couldn't use another voice for the different npc's? That doesn't speak well for the actor's abilities, nor for Bethesda's attention to detail.

    Still though, the graphics are definitely better than in prior TES and I'll still give the game an 8 overall for its scope and breath the FIRST time through. I can't say I'm game for another play through, as I'm not sure there's anything left to discover nor will different choices create different outcomes. Think I'll just sit and wait for the next DLC.    … Expand
  98. skorzeny44
    Feb 16, 2013
    8
    good overall game but your player is a nobody throughout game a thane of all holds but no gratitude for saving world twice if your dragon blood shouldn't you have a new emperor quest. Post civil war there is no moot to name high king, plot holes everywhere dlc not so good should have been in original skyrim except for dragonborn so dragonborn should be the first dlc.
  99. Basem101
    Nov 20, 2013
    8
    after playing skyrim now i understand all the hype about it yes it is a legendary game the world of this game is just amazing big and fun to explore the soundtracks are good as well but i didn't like the gameplay that much in this game i found it a bit repetitive but other than that it is a good game that will keep you occupied for a long time
  100. leopoldmarsh
    Mar 27, 2013
    8
    The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a great game. It's beautiful, content-rich, and addictive. Hundreds of hours I've poured into this juggernaut of an RPG, and I've loved every single minute of it. However, this game is not without its flaws. Voice acting lacks variation, the main quest is obscenely short, characters and factions lack development (especially the main villain), combat isThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a great game. It's beautiful, content-rich, and addictive. Hundreds of hours I've poured into this juggernaut of an RPG, and I've loved every single minute of it. However, this game is not without its flaws. Voice acting lacks variation, the main quest is obscenely short, characters and factions lack development (especially the main villain), combat is shallow and repetitive, and by God, is this game glitchy. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this game. … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best PC Game of 2011
1
#1 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
2
#2 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
94

Universal acclaim - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Feb 29, 2012
    90
    Unfortunately, Skyrim trips and falls on its own (most probably, to make the cool-sounding deadline of 11-11-11) and just before it reaches perfection as the ultimate specimen of its genre, it self-destructs in a crucial aspect of game design: the interface and the peripheral components (inventory, journal, map, etc)... but that is not to say that Skyrim is anything but a truly majestic, epic RPG that will suck you right in its cosmos.
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  2. Armchair Empire
    Feb 14, 2012
    100
    Skyrim is definitely one of the best games of 2011, but if the DLC holds out, it might just be one of the best games of 2012 as well.
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  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 19, 2012
    90
    Skyrim is the best open world RPG you can get. A true evolution of genre is not flawless but still it is the game you love to live in. [Christmas 2011]
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