The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Preview
Possibly the ultimate RPG
by Zee Salahuddin
previewed on PC
Who Am I?
As with the previous Elder Scrolls games, you have a very wide variety of customization options for crafting your character. There are some obvious options, such as gender, skin color, tattoos, hair styles, facial markings, jewelry etc. But there are several other options that include race, which will have a significant impact on how you play your class, though it will not be a strictly enforced aspect. You can choose to be a Khajiit, Redguard, High Elf, Orc, Breton, or a Nord.
In previous Elder Scroll games, you would make certain (ill-informed) choices at this stage, specifically related to your combat role and your birth sign, characteristics that have a significant impact on how your character plays. The problem with this early choice was that it gave players a very limited taste for the different types of combat roles, and didn’t allow for there to be any alteration once you left the starting area.
That is no longer the case. To counter rigidly defined choices in the beginning, Skyrim will allow you to be what you want to be, when you want to be. If you feel like playing a defensive class with a lot of healing spells, simply do that. If you wish to wield a two-handed battle-axe and charge into battle, by all means go right ahead. The more you use a particular combat style, the more efficient and effective you become at it, unlocking more perks and abilities in that skill tree as you proceed.
In short, you are no longer tied to one particular archetype from the start, and that is a beautiful thing.
NPCS and Jobs
In most RPGs, NPCs have always been largely two-dimensional and serve little purpose besides providing you with a shopping interface or acting as quest-dispensers. Even when a game attempts to give a “personality” to NPCs by showing them walking around town or in their homes, you realize that these beings are heavily scripted and simply going through the motions as dictated by a few lines of cyclical code.
Skyrim hopes to change all that. NPCs will literally have a life of their own. They follow the day’s cycle. They have jobs, and aspirations and personal motivations. In fact, if you see a woodcutter going about his business, you actually have the option of creating competition for him by cutting up wood yourself and taking over the job. Anything you see an NPC doing, you can do yourself - the choice is again yours for how you want to shape your experience.
There are also certain other subtle differences that make the game stand out. In a traditional RPG, talking to an NPC normally does two things. First, it focuses all of that NPC’s attention onto you, as if they have no life of their own and nothing important they need to finish, and the game world seems to freeze as you complete your dialogue with the NPC. Skyrim flips that archaic concept on its head. NPCs will no longer give you their exclusive attention. For instance, if you choose to chat with that woodcutter, he will not stop doing his job as you speak to him. He will continue his task, chopping wood or whatever else he was doing when you decided to come around and ruin his day, while simultaneously speaking with you. It feels natural, immersive and real.
Monsters to kill
Unless you have been living under a rock the last few months, it would be hard to miss one of the many gameplay videos the developers have released showcasing Skyrim. The world is populated with all manner of fauna. From people that reside in major cities and towns, to wildlife in the wilderness and from mountain giants to massive dragons, the world is teeming with life. Life that you can extinguish methodically everywhere you go. Naturally, the scale of difficulty will go up as you progress deeper into the heart of the world, but so will your skills.
As a Dragonborn, you have the unique ability to harness the power of dragons that you slay. Absorbing a dragon’s soul gives you access to shouts that can make the crucial difference between life and death. You can slow down time, give yourself combat or defensive buffs or allow you to move with blinding speed. There are a total of 20 shouts in the game, and they can be upgraded at places of power scattered throughout the game world.
The above is not to say that slaying dragons will be a walk in the park. Dragons are the toughest enemies in the game, armed with an ungodly amount of abilities and scripted with some of the most advanced dynamic AI the studio has ever produced. In fact, the developers claim dragon behavior, even for them, is largely unpredictable.
Loot to hoard
Do you play RPGs for sheer joy of amassing an obscene amount of virtual wealth and property? Well then Skyrim is the game for you. Anything and everything you see in the game world, ranging from a fancy hat an NPC is wearing to the arrows a skeleton archer is firing off at you in rapid succession can be obtained one way or another.
Each item you pick up is fully examinable in 3D, instead of showing up as a tiny 2D icon in your inventory. In fact, some of the puzzles require you to observe markings on certain items to determine the correct sequence for opening the door to that secret chamber. If you find a book in-game, you can open it in the 3D interface, and flip through the pages to read the contents.
Perhaps one of the most welcome features is the utter lack of item durability. In a welcome move, Skyrim has completely done away with the wear-and-tear system, allowing players to focus on enjoying the game world, instead of micro-managing every piece of equipment they possess.
