The Magic of The Elder Scrolls [Skyrim]
I’m sure most of you by now have dug yourselves in with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The open-world RPG has been the talk of the town for the past few days with ZeniMax Media capping it off by announcing that the game has garnered roughly $3.5M in sales over a period of 48 hours. My experience with Skyrim has been stellar so far.
It’s the moments that make it magical
For me it’s all about the world and its many quests and tasks. There is so much to do in Skyrim that I don’t have that feeling of being rushed and okay to be distracted. Everything will eventually be completed right!? Even with all the content they packed into the game, each little slice tells a story. Even stopping to read a book containing a short story is food for the soul.
I recall roaming around near the beginner area and stumbling upon a beat-up shack. I investigate only to find a letter by the homeowner describing his eyewitness account of a dragon flying overhead. Reading on, his wife tried to convince them to leave but the man refused stating that it was okay to stay as long as we don’t bother the dragon it won’t bother us. Oh how he was wrong! My heart broke when I stepped outside and off to the side near a fire camp laid two charred bodies. I shed a single tear, although not before I pilfered some gold off the bodies.
Swearing revenge, I headed straight to the area where the man had spotted the dragon. Companion in toe, weapons and shouts at the ready, we took the dragon down. Though it put up a good fight, it was no match for my tanky companion combined with my fire breath, arrows and butt stabs.
Story aside, creating my character has also been magical. It isn’t easy planning out your character, but I took the challenge and created something I fell in love with.
Options, options, options
Leveling up in an Elder Scrolls game has always been daunting challenge. There is just so much to choose from, it can get disorienting just thinking about it. I decided early on that I wanted to play like a classic adventurer. Wear light armor, work on using the bow and the sword, and mix in some trade skills. I just went with it, and decided to see where it got me.
I’m here to report so far, so good. It wasn’t easy during the earlier parts of the game but now I’m able to effectively use sneak and combined with my bow and dagger I am able to dish out tons of pain before whipping out the dual swords to clean house when the enemies are alerted. To help my cause I can whip up health potions and poisons to increase my efficiency. In times of dire need I can always fetch a companion.
If anyone of you is looking for advice, I’d say form a picture in your head of what you want to be and identify what is important about what you are trying to build and focus on it and level the other skills when you can. For me I started leveling up the sword and giving my bow some practice whenever I could. Smithing came after since I wanted a craft that could build armor and weapons as well as improve them. Dabbled into Alchemy because everyone needs those red, blue, and green vials of goodness.
I’m quite satisfied with what I made. I’m really enjoying my time but there are some problems that have across.
Everything is not without its flaws
Skyrim isn’t perfect, nothing ever is. If you play on the PC, you may have noticed some complications with the UI. Some people hate, some people are okay with it. Apple Inc. according to Executive Producer, Todd Howard, inspired the seamless layout but it certainly has room for improvement. I personally don’t mind the layout but I wish they put what I was wearing on top of the list in whatever menu layer it was in. There is an issue with favoriting the same type of weapon with the same name, so if you are dual wielder like me, having two Elven Swords favored one of the will disappear if you change to another weapon. That kind of issue is a pain to deal with.
Despite those issues, I’m enjoying the game and getting myself more immersed in it by the day. It’s been a long since I had a feeling like this.
