Just a quick note to say that I have not yet finished the game and have only managed to get in about 30hrs of gameplay. I know I’ll get a lot of haters on this but seriously, the game really is that freaking big.
Oblivion burst onto consoles in the Spring of 2006. I remember being so amazed by the images I saw online and the intense hunger for a good long RPG, that I rushed out to pick up Oblivion the day it hit shelves. I was both impressed and unhappy at the same time. The Environments looked incredible but the characters all looked spectacularly brutal. I swear each character was only 2 generations removed from Apes walking upright. The gameplay itself was an RPG using a First Person Shooter Perspective which I found to be a little cumbersome, I was always getting lost and every single town I entered wanted me dead or to toss me in jail due to my own ignorance. The sheer size of the game also soured me on the whole experience because it was new and I had never before seen anything so big in a game….but after playing through Fallout 3 and New Vegas, I’m a new man and an old pro at exploring vast worlds…
***Possible Spoiler Alert – Scroll down to avoid***
The game starts off with a cart full of prisoners as they’re being taken to a fort to be executed. Once in the town, the player gets off the cart and begins their character customization. Right off the bat I noticed a remarkable improvement on the character models. From there we get to witness the execution of a prisoner when he’s laid down and beheaded with his head dropping into a basket and his lifeless body being kicked to the side. It’s now your turn to face the hold steel of the executioners blade when out of nowhere, a Dragon lands on a house and begins attacking and destroying the town thus leaving you to your own devices to escape and learn some of the fundamentals of the game which pretty well plays very similarly to it’s predecessor and the true beginning of your quest.
The story is not a direct sequel to Oblivion so much as it takes place a few hundred years later after the Empire began relinquishing territories to the Elven nations because there was no heir to the throne following the Emperors death. The player eventually learns that Skyrim’s civil war is last prophetic event foretold by the Elder Scrolls, which also speak of the return the Nordic god of destruction, Alduin.
Taking the form of a dragon, Alduin is prophesied to consume the world with his servants, the Jills (a race of black dragons). The player character is the last Doväkiin (Dragonborn), a dragon hunter anointed by the gods to help fend off the threat Alduin poses to Skyrim and Tamriel.
***End of Possible Spoiler***
***EDIT***Here’s an extra special follow-up post for all the people whose comments both made me laugh and shake my head. But let’s soldier on good reader. You’ve asked for more detail so here we go.
I will admit , that there is an aspect of the game that I found to be enjoyable though I’m not sure if it was a feature in previous games and I forgot to report back on it – Sue me I’m only human and do this for fun purely based on my love of all things videogames. That aspect of the game I speak of is called “Smithing”. Very early on in the game (right after the escape from the Dragon that’s destroying the town from the beginning***Ooops Spolier Alert!***) the player is introduced to Smithing of weapons and armor. Smithing requires a proficiency in working with various metals such as Iron and using animal hides to make leather in order to make repair, augment and improve weapons and armor. All it really requires are the right ingredients using the forge, the grinding stone, then applying augments to it(where applicable) on the workbench. A minor gripe I have with the Smithing is that it’s unfortunate that it’s not more like a mini-game or had some form of user creation tool to give each weapon/armor a personal touch. Off to the Gallows with me!
Next up is the control scheme – The controls are pretty well just like Fallout 3. Analogue sticks should be self explanatory – Push up and you move forward – Back and you move backward, Left and right strafe. The right stick turns the character. Press down on LS and you crouch, press down on RS and it changes the camera to a 3rd person perspective. B button opens the tree menu with skills, items, map and magic. The Skill tree is laid out as though looking at constellations – beneath each skill, the user can see the features of each skill and the path they take. IE: The first level of Smithing starts off with proficiency in crafting with Iron as you progress and hone your skills, you’ll eventually be able to create Dragon Armor. X button draws your weapon and puts it away. A button interacts with people or takes items and Y button jumps. Right trigger swings your weapon where the Left trigger guards unless you have magic equipped in which case, you can hold the left trigger to charge up your spell and release it to cast. LB sprints and only last as long as your Stamina will allow and RB shouts/power moves. Pretty standard fare.
As I said before, and was lambasted for, the map is huge. It very easily dwarfs Fallout. I haven’t yet even seen all of it and it appears to be considerably larger with more destinations to visit and it can take what seems like forever to go from point A to B. Thankfully there is a fast travel option as well as a stable you can go to and pay for a ride or…you can be a total bastard and steal a horse risking life, limb, gold and freedom in the process.
The graphics for Skyrim are a vast improvement over Oblivion and Fallout but still not on the same level as something like Rage’s iD Tech 5(which I find to be one of the sexiest new engines out there right now). The new “Creation Engine” is a variant of the same engine used for Oblivion and Fallout but it’s no slouch. The environments are lush and lively as expected in this type of game, the animations are smooth and the characters look awesome, however, I didn’t care for how the horses looked while riding them to different locales. When walking over a rock, for example, the horse will just jump up over the rock and fall back down on the other side – I found it to look very unnatural. Surprisingly Skyrim all fits onto one disc and the load times are reasonably short (I can’t speak for the load times when running off disc)I love the way the weather systems look in this game. The weather effects in the game look awesome, in particular in the snowy regions though I did notice that no tracks were left behind. Aside from those minor complaints, everything in the world just feels to be more alive.
I actually encountered a bug when I encountered 2 different NPCs – When trying to interact with them, they don’t actually say anything and the subtitles I have turned on whip by without giving me the opportunity to read what’s going on. My immediate thought was my controller was acting up but, this has happened with 4 different controllers – it appears that this is not a controller issue. Time will tell if this is a common issue Keep an eye out and let us know if you encounter the same thing. Sad Bear face!
The audio is awesome – when I have the luxury of having it turned up loud (the man cave is below my daughter’s room), the bustling sounds of a city, the serenity nature and the ferocity of violent battles really adds to atmosphere. The soundtrack is fantastic, well timed and placed throughout. As expected from Bethesda, there’s an insane amount of spoken dialogue, some spoken by celebrities like Max Von Sydow, and Christopher Plummer.
The game is quite challenging especially at the beginning. I’m one of those guys that loves to run in guns-a-blazing (swords-a-swinging in this case) and as I quickly learned that’s just not how to play this game. This is an adventure game that takes it’s time to tell a story and build and I am taking my sweet time plodding through avoiding the main quest for the most part for the time being. I’ve put a great deal of emphasis on Lock picking for all the obvious reasons, Smithing to have the best weapons and armor, Heavy weapons to deal the most damage and speech to help with persuading people and save some precious gold when buying items – Anything to try and help me get the leg up on this game.
This title is sure to eat up countless hours well into the new year.
In my previous post I stated that the amount of time I had with the game was extremely limited in the grand scheme of things and that I wasn’t a fan of Oblivion assuming you could read between the lines (I didn’t finish it even after repeated attempts – I disliked it that much) but it seems that’s not the case. Also, the hate I get for rating something a 9 out of 10 is staggering (I just might be Public Enemy #1).
Yes! Online is important to me and I would love to see co-op in a game f this magnitude- No it’s not a deal breaker. Yes those are my views and opinions – No it doesn’t make my opinion right. Yes I see your side – No it doesn’t make your opinion right. No I won’t be changing my original score.
It’s a 9 out of 10 game.
Pros
- Length of the Game – I’m 30hrs in and don’t see an end in sight.
- Replay Value – There’s just so much to do and see the game will no doubt warrant a 2nd or even 3rd play through.
- Sandbox games – I’m a sucker for sandbox style games. This one is huge.
- Graphics – the characters look cleaner and the environments have much more depth resulting in a prettier appearance.
- Sound design
Cons:
- No Co-op – I always get shit for this but I’m a huge fan of coop experiences. This game screams for it.
- Some glitchy animations
- Only encountered 1 bug on 2 different occasions and it did prevent me from understanding what was going on because it was tied to the main quest.
“No co-op”
Well you’re certainly retarded.
Come’on everyone, He said that he is a big fan of co-op.
It’s a personal rating. I could spend half my life complaining over everything I dislike in this world or I could just casually say “Hey, I’d like to play this game in Co-Op because I think that would have been fun.”
Everyone will experience everything in life differently and that’s a fact.
Now everyone, please stop whining and enjoy the review, From what I read (aside from a few typos) this wasn’t an all that bad review in a whole.
Thank you for this lovely review.
PS. I felt some spoilers about the start of the game so I left it at that.
I made some adjustments to give a warning for a potential spoiler at the request of a few users.
I totally agree that this game should have co op…when it was announced i was floored that it wasnt going to.
People called me an idiot as well…but i dont see why you can have 3 or even 1 of your buddies just in the world with you. Almost like a free play
It’s not going to happen with this title but we can hope for something in the future from Bethesda.
There was never any intention for this to be a co-op game. So to review it and give it a ‘con’ for something that was NEVER supposed to even be considered part of the game is pretty lame. That would be like taking a point off Madden 12 because it doesn’t have an open world campaign element. It’s a non factor. You know what you’re getting when you buy the game. You knew there was no co-op before you purchased the game so technically the highest you could have possibly given it before even playing was a 9. So I guess we should be happy; for you gave it a perfect score!
No, it really is a stupid reason to give as a con. Ask yourself how the story will work if it had co-op. I don’t see how it would work unless they changed the whole story around. You can’t review something and then reduce the score due to something that isn’t even in the game, something that no other game like Skyrim (there is no other game like skyrim) has. You might as well give it a bad reveiw because it didn’t come in a metal container, or that not all versions of the game got a dragon statue. Fail review just for that, not even going to read it even as well.
You could of listed better cons that something you couldn’t even review in the first place.
Now, I have no problem that you gave this game a 9, but not if it’s because of the lack of co-op. How is he a troll for pointing out that you’re criticising this game for having a feature that has never had a place in the elder scroll series and that you knew wouldn’t be there before you even played it? It’s like dissing cod for having no rpg elements. And the fact that you felt the need to post a review only 30 hours into a 100+ hour game reeks of desperation to be one of the first reviews out. Big sites like IGN nad Gamespot haven’t posted theirs yet, so what’s the rush? Oh and how many reviewers feel the need to respond aggressively to every word of criticism in the comments section? You’re just making yourself look bad.
For someone who player both Oblivion and Fallout games you should know that co-op has no place in Bethesda games. NPC’s are just too stupid and they would have to change the design of almost every dungeon in game.
For someone who also played Skyrim that should be even MORE obvious, and bitching about that shows that you can not appreciate all the good things with the game, especially when it’s in the top 3 games this year.
How about RAGE?
Anyhow that’s not the point, he just pointed out that he’d like co-op. Even if it had co-op I would still play singeplayer but that’s no reason to be so ignorant about it.
Rage was developed by id software not BGS.
I hardly think you can call this guy a troll, and I also think you can hardly call this a review, removing a point because of no co-op is basically fucking ridiculous. Not that I’m complaining about the game getting a 9, that’s an excellent score, but you’re supposed to criticise what’s wrong with the game itself (bugs, etc) not the lack of a pointless multi-player that could have been shoe-horned in for an extra bullet point on the back of the box. Also, personally attacking your readers is a brilliant way to ensure I won’t be coming back to your shitty site again. Good day sir.
Hmmm. Way to state your case in a measured tone, blogger.
Thing is, these massive openworld games are always going to struggle with co-op. It should be abundantly clear, from the tech parameters implied in keeping track of hundreds upon thousands of items, dead things, and so on, that co-op is going to be stunningly difficult to implement. If it’s a tech challenge to track one player interacting with them all, surely virtually impossible if you have two PCs.
And, really, knowing this is kinda 101, no?
No co-op is a con? Dude, honestly… go play Gears of War if you want co-op, this is TES.
“No Co-op”
seriously..thats the lamest most ignorant “con” i believe ive ever seen in my life..jesus..
I could have written this after watching one of the dozen leaked videos on youtube. This was so far from an actual review… way to put effort into the pro/con list
Awesome. Write one for us so we can read it.
i have to agree! COME ON! play fable and see how well that works……
so its a 10/10 because that con is soooo lame
Fable is a decent game but far from what Molyneux claimed it would be. Fable had co-op show-horned into it and that’s what made it so poorly executed. Co-op can be an incredibly fun and rewarding experience when done correctly.
Ha, got to say I agree the co-op is a bit suprising. The first thing I thought when I saw that was “this is an ELDER SCROLLS game LOL”. However I do agree with you on the fact that co-op would make it extremely amazing, and have thought of this the same, dreaming how amazing it would be. Bethesda I think said once that an MMO would be out of the works, and explained it really well, and how for the game they make, an MMO would be a hellhole to make. I can understand it for the kind of games TES and FO’s are. However, I can almost see a co-op thing going. Maybe a thing where people have servers, and friends join their “Tamriel” server or something.
Co-Op is cool, but TES’s STAPLE is being an amazing singleplayer experience, where the world around you replaces any friend you have. The game would be really weird co-op and too many technical difficulties.
I too am suprised by the short list of pros and cons for the most anticipated game of the decade so far, but whatever glad to see you are enjoying it 🙂
That is, the game wouldn’t play the same AT ALL with co-op enabled. There is just so much that depends on having a single player character, it’s what the game is build around. Most other games are create world, dump player in it. Bethesda shapes around the player.
I really am enjoying the game much to the surprise of some of my friends. Its a damn good title.
No Co-Op? You could have said that graphics arent great or something but seriously Co-OP??
WTF dude..
loli bet if thisgame had co op thisguy would give it a 10
in case the “reviewer” didnt know it this is the fifth game in a series of games that has never had “co-op”. that has never been about “co-op”. to have the audacity to rate that as a con is ludicrous..next hell be docking points from fallout for not having “co-op”..someone better run tell bethesda to change the entire series..
I would LOVE to see co-op in Fallout. I think Fallout should get some co-op…or maybe not…Oh wait…Ya there’s work being done on a Fallout MMO.
you do know the fallout your talking about isnt from bethesda right? and theres a huge possibility that it wont ever be finished right? and from what ive read it wont even really be fallout..but being the big internet reviewer you are i guess youve done all your research..
I love these terrible reviews that are nothing more than previews, for the simple purpose of driving traffic to the site.
I will also add, taking points off for “no co-op” completely ruins your credibility.
“Review”
Yeah right, I think you need to look up the definition…
———————————————
1. To look over, study, or examine again.
2. To consider retrospectively; look back on.
3. To examine with an eye to criticism or correction: reviewed the research findings.
4. To write or give a critical report on (a new work or performance, for example).
———————————————
There’s no mention of animations, voice acting or immersion into the game world. Yet again ANOTHER reviewer who looks at the graphics and ignores all of the other aspects.
Don’t get me started on your Co-op comment.
But I really want to get you started on my co-op comment. Please regale us with your words of wisdom and verbal tirades.
Everyone who is slamming the reviewer for expressing his disappointment in a gameplay feature that is obviously important to him (and others) is, frankly, a fanboy idiot. The type of idiot that ultimately stands in the way of games improving because (for some insane reason) they’re too quick to defend a product’s shortcomings.
That said, from an actual “review” standpoint this article was very weak. The reviewer did attempt to warn readers that his experiences were limited from the start, but it doesn’t change the fact that most of this article could have been written by someone who had never actually played the game.
“The reviewer did attempt to warn readers that his experiences were limited from the start”
Yeah but he didn’t say his experience was limited to seeing the first 30 minutes of the game on youtube, which is exactly what he did.
think what you will – I’ve logged a stupid amount of time in this game in a short period of time. Why don’t you submit a review for us and we’ll post it here on your behalf?
why dont you shut the hell up? running around calling everyone a fanboy because you cant get it through your thick head that you and the reviewer are just about the only ones who want to ruin a great single player experience. why cant you understand that if they wanted the game to be co-op they would have done it?
Apparently you feel like the only comments that belong here are the ones that agree with you and your limited point of view. You’ll be disappointed to learn it doesn’t work that way.
That’s what makes you such a rabid fanboy. It’s the fact that you seem to believe your perspective on this game is the only correct one. You also incorrectly believe it’s one held by a majority of gamers (despite the hugely successful market for games that can be played cooperatively with friends). Frankly, you are just part of an extremely vocal minority that despises change, ready to chastise anyone who attempts to point out ways in which a game can improve.
If you think you aren’t seeing many complaints about the lack of a co-op feature, it’s because many gamers outright dismiss games that don’t offer it. They’re not going to comment on a game they don’t even bother keeping on their radar.
I know that must drive the fanboy in you crazy, but there is a reality outside your little frenzied warped perspective on gaming.
Angry much? TES still has a huge following despite there being no co-op. If Bethesda thought it would improve their income, they would implement it. They like their hardcore fan base want a fleshed out SP experience. Also, calling people “fanboys” over and over again makes you sound like a douche.
Beth has stated that they don’t want to implement the co-op experience to focus on single player because “it would be like making two games”. In doing so they have effectively made one of the hugest single player games. Fallout 3 and Fallout NV has a record in the Guinness book of wold records for most voice over work in any game (until SWTOR of course hehe). That alone should say that they really enjoy making a good single player experience that hardcore TES players can’t get enough of.
Saying that everyone here calling the reviewer bad for saying “no co-op” is a fanboy and a “small minority” is very ignorant because most if not all TES players play it because of the huge single player experience. Also, people with half a brain know that if they did make it co-op, they would be sacrificing a significant portion of content that is put into the game.
This reply is a reply to “b” and not the reviewer as I did not read the full review and respect his opinion for he did not make mine sound like a “frenzied warped perspective”.
Oblivion won Game of the Year without a coop mode. How is Skyrim supposed to work with coop anyway? The entire point of the game is you, the last dragonborn. Not you, the last dragonborn… except for your roommate John because he wants to play. He’s a dragonborn too. So the story is about you and your roommate John being the last two dragonborn…. No. That’s stupid. The WHOLE point of the story is you. You are the only one who can destroy this threat. Having a multiplayer mode just ruins that. I’m not a fan boy. I’m a person who plays games for their story and their ability to suck me into a world unlike our own. Having a multiplayer mode would put faults in the story. Not all games are meant to have a coop mode and this is just one of those games.
lets see how many copies the game sells without your precious “co-op” shall we?
This is the first time I’ve ever visited your website and your review has been universally slammed. I’ll be taking my bandwidth elsewhere, next time.
You won’t be missed. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Your not very intelligent sir. Granted you don’t get paid to be nice but you insulted everyone who commented. The fact is that your the minority in wanting co-op. If you poll everyone maybe 20 percent would want co-op and they are the new generation that feel the need to play with someone to have fun. Your supposed to take an impartial view, do some research not just give personal opinions. So go ahead and tell me I am wrong and your right and that I wont be missed and you would be right but I can promise you one thing. You havent told anyone one a thing they already didnt know about this game 6 months ago.
ITS BIG
ITS GOT GOOD GRAPHICS
ITS AN RPG
IT WILL TAKE MULTIPLE PLAY THROUGHS
CONGRATS
So im not gonna insult you chances are your life is poor enough so I would just suggest a new profession because my seven year old daughter could review this game better than you have.
First off, to the “reviewer,” I would like to say a few things. Please, if you’re going to be writing something like this, please run it through spell-check, and use proper grammar. It made this fairly difficult to read. Also, you could have informed us on more of the game, as I knew more than what was posted here in July. Also, even if you are feeling that the people in the comments section are being a tad rude, that by no means gives you any right to be a pompous ass-hole about it.
Next, to the commenters. I agree with you, that TES is not a co-op game, and that is not what it was made, or ever meant to be. I think that making TES an MMO would ruin the game (series). However, that does not mean that people will not disagree, and there are many people who prefer co-op gameplay.
I, personally, believe that TES is a single-player experience. Although I am 100% fine with how it is, it might be a nice addition to have an OPTION to play cooperatively with a FEW friends online. This means one or two, but not an MMO. TES is not a game meant for MMO’s, and it has far too much lore, and work but into the series to be severely downgraded by becoming little more than keyboard-mashing laziness. On top of this, the quests would become short and half-assed, ruining the immersive experience, as well as the clutter of other players defiling the serene beauty of the magnificent landscapes and clogging the cities. There are a few MMO’s I like, but the list is short.
Your “review” consists of spoiling the start of the game (to many people a highlight of elder scrolls games), briefly touching on a few changes from oblivion, and trying to justify your lack of detail by stating that you have only played the game for 30 hours. How can you call this a review? You left out an innumerable amount of changes in the game such as the new radiant quest system, handcrafted dungeons, changes to combat, and new skills and the perk system. You attempted to mention the perk system and in the process butchered your inaccurate explanation of the leveling process. That is not at all how leveling works. “Character development comes in the form of assigning points to a variety of skills divided between three primary styles of combat, magic and stealth, training and Race dependent perks until the necessary required experience is met, results in the player’s character levelling-up”. That is not even a coherent sentence. Every time you increase a skill your progress towards leveling goes up. The higher the skill the larger the increase (getting a skill from 34 to 35 will be more beneficial than getting a skill from 10 to 11). Every time you level you have the choice of increasing either your magicka, health, or stamina. Also when you level you get one point to spend on a perk. Each skill set has a perk tree. Anyways just read any of the dozens of previews or watch todd howard’s gameplay walkthrough to get a full explanation. Your con of no co-op is your own opinion and you are entitled to that, but it should not affect the score you give the game. I honestly feel bad for you, but based solely on this so called review you deserve all of this bashing. Maybe you did play the game for 30+ hours, but there is nothing in this review to suggest that. When major publications and websites (IGN, Gameinformer, Gamespot etc.) come out with their reviews you should read them and take note of what to put in a review.
I’ll try and give some constructive criticsm:
A good review needs to be both personal and comprehensive. Instead of telling us it looks good but not as good as iD tech 5, give some examples of what specifically impressed you about the graphics and what let you down. This is a sequel, so how has the gameplay improved? Did you find the combat, stealth or magic deep and rewarding? What about the new crafting systems?
How did the atmosphere and culture of the world strike you? Did the music do a good job of setting the mood? Was the voice acting consistently up to par? Are the quests creative and more than just “fetch item X” or “kill person Y”?
Perhaps most importantly, give us some personal anecdotes. Elder Scrolls games are famous for every player having different stories to tell, so tell us about a memorable moment that stood out or took you by surprise.
thanks for the comments.I’ve made some adjustments at the request of the community.
Sorry for the double post, but upon reading your MW3 review it seems you aren’t very consistent. In that review you say “In customary fashion to our policies here at Feed Your Console, we will do our best to NOT divulge any major spoilers as we want you to experience it the way the game was meant to be enjoyed.” Interesting how you put some minor (major to some) spoilers in this review without any kind of a warning.
You also mention how big of a deal co-op is to you in the Skyrim review and comments, yet Spec Ops mode in your MW3 review gets A WHOPPING…wait…1 sentence, “Spec Ops is back and it’s just as fun as always(WOW!!! My buddy and I are awful at Spec Ops)”.
Learn how to write a review. If you do maybe I’ll come back to your site to actually read what you have to say. Good luck.
Sorry, but it looks like you’ll be getting the same comments one after another. I don’t understand why you shoot them all down, haven’t you ever learned to listen to readers? By shooting every comment down you are just adding more negative on more negative. Now this site will be known as a shitty site, and yes people will come here, but just to make fun of it. Good job!
Anyways, im not even a fan of the Elder Scrolls series (I like FPS more) but Ive played Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblivion… All I can say is that this review is probably one of the worst I have seen… Co-op shouldn’t even be mentioned in this review, fuck, would you have put ‘No co-op’ as a con in any Zelda game? The old ones are masterpieces, you couldn’t use that… same applies here. Good luck getting one positive comment 😉
Can’t stand Zelda. Wish they’d just do away with that franchise but I digress.
“No co-op”
Jesus…
Review a game for what it is, and not what it isn’t.
Might as well take a point off because there are no .50 bmg rifles while you are at it.
Asinine reason to deduct any sort of rating. It’s a single player game… derp.
KanedaGallon, a few words.
I won’t slam your review, it is what it is – I believe that 30 hours is what you played. I also believe that it would have been a smart idea for you to hold off on this review for a bit, and not only to get more substantial play time in.
The hype for Skyrim is utterly massive right now, and for good reason. Many of us who pre-ordered will have our hands on the game in less than 24 hours, and are scouring the internet for any new information on the game, especially reviews.
What they found here contains simply an opinion that may as well have been formed from the gameplay videos that we have all been familiar with for awhile now. Again, I’m not saying you haven’t had experience with the game. I do believe that it would have been a great idea to hold off until some of the big name reviews started coming in and you’ve had some real quality time with the game.
Also, I am no “fanboy.” Just someone very excited for what I wholeheartedly believe will be the most worthwhile game in a long, long time.
Cheers.
Thanks for the comments Squatso – I think you’ll love the game. Let me know what you think of it.
First let me make this clear, I am not a gamer. I do not excessively play a wide variety of games. Yes I enjoy video games on occasion, but that is the extent of my knowledge. My ignorance is probably why I found this to be a decent review of the game. Though I thought it to be helpful with it’s comparison to the last game, the rest of the information I had already figured out myself by looking at the trailer. On that point and that point only I must agree with your many critics. As far as them telling you this is a crappy review and flaunting their “vast” knowledge, well if it was so terrible why waist time critiquing a critic when they could be writing a better review? Though as idiotic as they are, you are not without fault either. Your comments in reply to them are not only extremely immature but they do not help your case whatsoever. In conclusion, you are all at fault and appear to be a bunch of idiots for arguing over such a trivial matter. Have nice lives 🙂
Dude. First off a 9/10 is good. But seriously taking points off of a single player game for no co-op is misleading. It is like docking World of Warcraft for not having a single player experience.
When you review a game you review it with its genre in mind. You should be docking points for bugs, glitches, frame rate drops, bad writing, bad gameplay, etc. etc. Not because it lacks a feature its developers specifically said it will not have and do not plan on having. Good job though
You seriously want co-op in Skyrim?
Don’t you know the lore?
YOU are Dovahkiin. There’s ONLY ONE Dragonborn. YOU are the LAST Dragonborn.
But heck, sure, lets get co-op running and ruin the entire lore of the game. That’s smart.
Or hey, you could be Dovahkiin, and your multiplayer, online little friend, can be a chicken or something. That way we get co-op and the game’s main story isn’t ruined! There! Everyone’s happy!
I dont know why you all are freaking out. Relax a bit. If he personally likes co-op and thinks its a con let him have his opinion.
I’ve made some awesome friends on XBL and PSN from this site, some of which are huge TES fans and even they think it would be fun to play in a co-op mode. Co-op mode is just a fun social thing to do.
Personally, I like any information in a review format I can find. A lot of people are so technical they sort of forget they are reviewing a game. While the reviewer seemed to want co-op it doesn’t really look like he took points off for the feature not being there. 9/10 tells me the immersion was there so it was a good day for Skyrim. He is also right – need new Fallout please. 1 that we can continue to play after the main story is over.
You’re right Dirk – The game is awesome and truly is worthy of a 9 out of 10. I hardly found there to be much to bitch about because the game is really quite polished. The full point was due to the minor issues I had that were hardly worth mentioning but i did in the end because it seems that this series’ user base is that fanatic.
I’m frothing at the mouth for new Fallout info.
Come on man, rating it down a tenth of its final mark for not having co-op? At least rate it down for being bug as an ants nest and unfocused.
Rating it down for not having co-op is like rating cod down for not allowing you to shoot lightning out your hands at people. Yes it would be fun but that’s simply not what the game is about.
You can’t shoot lightning out of your hands in CoD? Guess I’ll have to trade it in then. up until last night, I really hadn’t experienced any bugs in the game. Sure there were some minor graphical hiccups here and there but hardly something to piss and moan about.
I completely respect your opinion, even though I’m a hige TES fan.
Co-op could possibly be an extra feature, I don’t see a reason to not include some split screen, I’m sure they could add it without too much effort although it would probably lack some functionality. Although I guess that’s a risk they weren’t willing to take this time, which I’m not complainin’ about since the game is huge.
9/10 is a fantastic score and your opinion is quite valid (Y)
Alright, I think you need to step back and admit you were being silly with the no co-op con. There are a million other things to nitpick about and detract points for.
If know ANYTHING at all about TES games, then you know that they will never have multiplayer, and the engine itself is written in such a way that multiplayer is impossible/very difficult.
Stop talking back to everyone and admit you messed up this ‘review’.
I talk back to everyone. Just in my stubborn nature.
I can admit it if I’m wrong but my score is right on the money. As stated I have very little exposure to the series and I never tried to deny that. I did say that Co-op would have been awesome and I still stand by that. I never stated that the lack of co-op was a deal breaker either, nor did I lop off a point for it.
Okay review (i didnt read the part where i think you revealed the ending though, i want to see it myself :P) you bring up a lot of good points and i agree with you for most part.
As a side note, even though i don’t see the lack of coop as a con i think it would be really cool if they added it
I didn’t bring up anything major from what I’ve seen thus far but have made an effort to warn people prior to that part due to your comment. Thanks for stopping in.
The Elder Scrolls games have been exclusively single-player since 1994 (outside of one failed spin-off game, Battlespire). It’s odd that you would fault a SP-only game for not having multiplayer.
I have to say, while I didn’t find your review very good and also quite short for a game of this size, I’m not going to bash you for wanting co-op.
I think an online arena would be a great thing.
You shouldn’t be baiting the trolls. Quite unprofessional.
you lot are fucking dickheads.kaneda is just sharing his pov of the game, its not supposed to be professional.if you want a pro review fuck off to ign or some shit, theres a 50 man team creating your perfect reviews you stupid cunts
LOL!! Next time say it with some more feeling and emotion Reece.
truly its bad! i mean no co-op is not worth -1 point!
sure I would like to have co-op but I don’t mind playing without it!
it would have made skyrim a 10.5/10 if it had skyrim!
don’t think the reviewer mentioned anywhere that lack of co-op reduced the score from 10, but you’re free to think what you like.
It was never said that I was docking anything for the lack of co-op. Some people just jump to conclusions.
Dont get why everybody is so pissed.
Personal i think a 2-4 co-op solution would be great for this game. Ofcourse it would just be an option fore those people who want it. (So if you are a bit retarded and cant hit the singel player button just ask your mom for help)
Just imagine the possibility with group magic ? Or a well done trading/buying system ?
But for now well just “have” to make do with the best SP experience around. After Brink. /S x)
Thought this was a great read=)
But can you tell me/us a bit about the mission structure ?
For example are the main quest`s more scripted than the side quest ?
Or are the side quest as good/better as the main ones ?
Sorry for my misspellings , im from Norway and i mostly speak English instead of writing it.
Btw allot of ungreatful Trolls here today. Did somebody build a bridge nearby ?
The con could have been the dated graphics which would have looked much better had it been a PC development that was ported to consoles. But to say Co-Op is a con for a TES game is just counter-intuitive to the whole idea of what TES is.
I am happy you didn’t give it a 10/10 though, like what retarded reviewers give MW3 :/
Imo this rating scale should be used ALWAYS: http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/4118/1315159660139.png
I understand what people like about TES series and admittedly am a novice with the brand having never played any of the predecessors aside from an attempt at Oblivion. Some of the most entertaining experienced I’ve had in recent years was playing in a co-op mode. Games that continually get play time are all co-op optional games. Gaming has become a social experience.
To start off, I will not be directly bashing anyone here. However, there is one major point I would like to disagree with. B says that multiplayer, specifically co-op, is a requirement for a game to have good sales. Sales may improve with multiplayer access, I admit. However, the unnerving thing he says is that the lack of co-op is a shortcoming. To be honest I think that any sort of implemented multiplayer has a good chance to ruin a single player RPG experience. And this mentality of “If it’s not multiplayer, I won’t play it” is ruining the single player RPG industry. How awesome would it be if they made a game on new technology that is as large, deep, immersive, and good at storytelling as Baldur’s Gate II? Or Icewind Dale? Or Planetscape Torment? Or an RPG with a worldspace the size of TES:Daggerfall? Oh, wait, they never will. Because too many gamers with short attention spans and no desire to actually play through a good story only want multiplayer titles. So it’s not the single player RPG fans that are hurting your game library, it’s you that’s hurting ours. Because last time I checked there were millions of games with multiplayer and co-op implementations, but only a few single player jewels in recent years. That’s my two cents.
Right, apart from the co-op stuff the review was decent at best.
I also really didn’t like how you slammed Oblivion because it’s not the games fault that you go around killing/stealing stuff.
You might want to stop making reviews and focus on something that you are capable of.
I don’t recall slamming it “due to my own ignorance” of the game mechanics which. I just couldn’t get into the game. I even tried more recently in the last few months and still found it difficult to get into. Perhaps one day I’ll try again, but I kinda doubt it.
Wow – lots of rage here.
Co-op: would have been interesting (not necessarily good though), but from the games I’ve played that have this it needs to be integrated into the core of the game and not tagged on as an ‘extra’. This influences game design to a massive degree as the entire game has to be playable solo *and* co-op, which can make playing solo feel a bit lonely and not like how the game was meant to be played (Borderlands for example).
TES has always been a single-player experience. Its a choice that caters to a particular market (ie those of us that want an epic single player RPG). Adding co-op, in my view, would warp the game design in enough ways that it would adversely impact the single-player experience – the *core* experience.
I realize that I have overlooked the fact that you could implement some co-op elements; add some specific co-op dungeons, or a multilayer gladiator arena, but I’m not convinced that the effort required to do so is particularly worth is as it relegates co-op to an added ‘extra’ that, judging from the comments above, most fans don’t want.
Rest of the review: Not bad, if a bit short. I don’t see any point score anywhere, so quite why people are going ‘knocking points off for no co-op; what an idiot’ is a bit beyond me. The reviewer mentions it as a con because he likes co-op. Its his opinion and he’s entitled to it.
Regarding that last paragraph. Just seen the 9/10. It was very small and I missed it the first time.
I retract the comment about people’s comments being beyond me. I get that now.
Still doesn’t change the gist of that paragraph though.
All of these retards are slamming the reviewer for having an opinion.. lol.
I’m loving KanedaGallon’s aggressive defence of his review. Made me laugh.
I guess people are wondering why the ‘usual’ review topics aren’t covered (quality and immersion of the story, experience with controls and the combat mechanics, quality and variety of the sound, voice acting and also the music etc). It’s a little light on content. It’s pretty much just a preview.
And the people are right, co op modes aren’t yet a requirement in modern games, however important they are to the reviewer.
*waits for the insults from KanedaGallon*
No insults to you sir – I’ve made some amendments to the post at the …ahem… requests of the readers.
Co-op is not a necessity. I agree with that and never once alluded that it was. Just that it would be fun to embark on the adventure with other people.
Sheesh people… give the guy a break its his review. Every critic has his/her own opinion. Doesn’t change the fact that Skyrim is an amazing game with or without co-op. Thanks for the review!
Dude I agree with you completely, a game that could use Co-op but doesn’t have it really feels restained, held back by it’s inhibitions from being a truly amazing experience.
You’re clearly an amateur video game reviewer, but I’ll cut you some slack. Things you want to be sure to talk about are:
Sound; music, voices, effects, etc
Visual; not just graphics, but animations too
Controls; are the controls a pain in the ass to use? Is everything smooth and feels like it should be played the way it is?
Story: Is the story good? Captivating?
Environment: When you play does it make you feel like you’re actually in the game or does it feel like you’re just walking around alone in a desert filled with boxes?
Video games are an art. Critique them like one. Also make sure to talk about whether or not it was fun. Talk about things that stood out to you, specific animations, bugs, or things that struck you with awe. You’ve got work to do but no one starts out at the IGN caliber.
All you silly fanboys make me sick. Have you even played the game yet?
However, the reviewer says he would’ve liked coop. His personal opinion. It doesn’t matter if a coop was promised or not or if no game in the series had a coop or if everyone and their mom think a coop must never be.
And to “a review has to be like this and that” … really? There a law or something? Because I don’t even read these stupid cookie cutter reviews any longer as they’re all the same pseudoprofessional garbage that bore to death.
That being said, dear reviewer, please don’t give a damn. I enjoyed the review and even though I myself have absolutely no interest in a coop mode, I wholeheartedly grant you the right to miss and want one.
To be fair, just about every game has Co Op these days, most big RPG’s are adding it, even Mass Effect. If, like many people, playing with friends/strangers online is an important aspect of playing computer games then he has every right to mark it down a point.
If you don’t feel Co Op is important, fair enough, maybe you can right your own review, thats the brilliant thing about reviews, you get many different aspects and opinions from many different gamers. You guys shouldn’t be offended just because he likes stuff you don’t.
The score at the end is just for people who cant be bothered reading the review anyway.
Seriously knocking off a point because it has no co-op? Wow, that is EXACTLY like taking a point off of MW3 because it isn’t free-roam.
What the fuck has our world come to when people complain about multiplayer so often…?
First off Thank you all for your comments, as the Site Owner and Founder, I have been monitoring this discussion throughout and I done several things:
1 – I’ve asked Kaneda to build out the review and make it longer to address many of the points you all seemed to think it was missing. To address this we have updated and re-posted this with the additional information – and some minor spoilers – we try to not disclose spoilers but you’ve seems to push for them.
2 – Regarding comments about spoilers on how the game starts, looking back at Morrowind and Oblivion you may recall that both started either in jail or just as you were being released/escaping from jail – so how is this a spoiler… it’s the third time a similar theme to the start has been used in a Elder Scrolls game.
3 – Kaneda has added some additional notes around the pros/cons of the game. I can assure you points were not deducted for a lack of co-op, even if it was interpreted that way.
4 – We decided to move the MP vs Single player debate to our forums – you are welcome to participate in that discussion over there: http://feedyourconsole.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=41
5 – I also agree with the posts about professionalism in our replies – emotion got the best of us and many of you… We will try to be better for it in the future. We don’t typically moderate comments, but in this case I chose to moderate a number of them due to racial slurs, excessive swearing, personal attacks etc… these have no place here and only serve to feed the Trolls.
Thanks for stopping by and expressing your thoughts on how good/bad/stupid/poor our posts are, but remember we are just gamers – like you – trying to express our opinions, right or wrong.
Have more to say – use our comment form to get in touch with me directly, or post in our Forum.
Thanks
Mvern78
Man co-op isn’t everything. Ever try jacking off co-op? It becomes more of a race, and you miss alot of the fun.