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Not long ago, I have finished my first full Skyrim Legendary Edition playthrough and figured I'd share some general thoughts about a game.
Before I start to write what I feel about the game itself, here are a couple of remarks that may be valid for my review:
What I like the most:
Final score: 7.5/10 (initially I planned to give a higher score, but: a) it's not better than Cyberpunk2077; b) I'm playing Fallout 4 now, which I like more. If I'd score the unmodded version, the score would probably go down to 7/10.
Before I start to write what I feel about the game itself, here are a couple of remarks that may be valid for my review:
- Skyrim is not my first TES game - I have played Morrowind (twice) and Oblivion (twice, but I have not finished the main quest in neither of my runs).
- I have not played vanilla Skyrim Legendary Edition, but I have used a Legends of the Frost modlist (here is a showcase and review on Youtube), installed via Wabbajack installer. Despite the fact that this mod list considered over 300 mods, it's considered a vanilla+ experience. In fact, most of the mods in this setup are various fixes, tweaks, quality of life features and lightweight graphical enhancement mods. Nevertheless, there are some significant improvements in the gameplay, UI or performance that will affect my general score (which will probably be slightly better than if I'd play vanilla Skyrim.
- I have disabled Creation Club content.
What I like the most:
- Exploration - this is where Skyrim (and all other TES games) shines. The world is HUGE, with a shocking number of places to visit. In fact, the map is so full of content that it may be overwhelming at times, especially to someone who doesn't have much experience with open world games.
- Combat - before I'll write about a combat, I have to say, that in my modlist combat was altered via Blade and Blunt, which was the only significant gameplay change in my installation. Having said that, I must say, it was an engaging experience and allowed me to use different combat styles across the game (partially due to the fact how the skill system was designed ). At the beginning, I played as a sneaky archer, sniping enemies from afar. After reaching high skill values in Sneak and Archery, I decided to switch fighting style to melee one-handed + shield and then two-handed. Finally, in later stage of the game, I started to use offensive magic more. I didn't manage to reach the cap level (81), but I was close (I ended on 79, I think). Two things I didn't like about this system was that in time it required a lot of grinding and that the only way you can gain XP is by advancing the skills. I'd prefer gaining XP by exploring, questing or killing enemies. I'd rather see a hybrid system, with the one from Fallout 4.
- Visuals - again, I used some mods that enhance graphics, but not in a drastic way as other mods do. With those mods, Skyrim can be really beautiful at times, even 11 years after release. One thing that bothered me was procedurally generated assets, which were reused quite often. As a result, many dungeons (of the same type) looked almost the same, which made locations less unique.
- Lore - even if TES lore is not my favourite, I always admired how rich and detailed it is. I admit I haven't read all ingame books (I'd need another 50 hours or so to do that, I fear), but I can appreciate the level of detail Bethesda put into this world.
- Enemies - there are all kinds of enemies you can stumble upon in Skyrim, some really nasty, and each of them requires different tactics. What I miss is the greater variety among the same type of creatures.
- DLCs story - I was having more fun playing DLCs than the main story. I especially like Dawnguard, mostly because of Serana, which was the only fleshed out companion.
- Music - it was good, but that's about it. Nothing that sticks with me, maybe, except the Dragonborn (Dovakhiin) song.
- Main story and side quests - I hate to say it, but the main story sucks, there's no debate about it. It's short, dull, and didn't spark any emotions in me. Taking into consideration that story is the most important part of any crpg for me, this is a huge disappointment. I knew Bethesda is not the studio that can create compelling story, not in the way old Bioware could do, but even then, the story in Skyrim is weak. Side quests are better, especially the ones where daedric princes are involved, but even those are good at most.
- Companions - I'd rather draw a veil over it, nothing to say. Most of the companions (except Serana, really) have not much to offer. You can marry them, but there is nothing romantic in it. There are no conversations with them, no small talks, they don't comment events in game (again, Serana is the exception). Bethesda really dropped the ball here.
- Voice acting - oh man, I hate it. I hate such a blatant reusing of voice actors. I hate to hear exactly the same voice over and over again. This is the single thing that drove me crazy in Skyrim.
Final score: 7.5/10 (initially I planned to give a higher score, but: a) it's not better than Cyberpunk2077; b) I'm playing Fallout 4 now, which I like more. If I'd score the unmodded version, the score would probably go down to 7/10.
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