Skyrim!

I've seen enough games hyped over the years, only to fall far short of their hype once they launch, that I consciously do my best to disregard the over-the-topness of such hype, and see if what's left is likely to be worthy of my time. Skyrim (or, more properly, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim) certainly fell into that category, but, as the fifth entry in a decades-long series of games, which have (mostly) improved with each new version, I'll admit to having higher-than-usual hopes... and, now that I've got a solid day's worth of play under my belt, all I can say is... believe the hype.

If you like role-playing games, I think it's safe to say that you will like this game. It looks wonderful, even on XBox360, it plays smoothly, and, unusually for a Bethesda Softworks game, I was able to play it on day one without any major glitches or program lockups. It simulates a portion of its world down to a level of detail that's most games never approach, and lets you play the way you want to play. That's because, unlike most other RPGs, this game doesn't revolve around a concept of player "classes"... rather, the skills you use (or get trained in) determine how your character grows. Oh, and, unlike prior entries in the Elder Scrolls saga, it includes some truly massive opponents along with the run-of-the-mill people and animals... everything from bears, HUGE spiders, and mammoths, all the way up to dragons. You know, bigger than an elephant, flies, breathes fire, dragons... and hopefully, you've got a bunch of people with bows or other ranged attacks to help you out in taking one down.

For those of you that played Oblivion, here's what's changed, systems-wise. Like I said above, classes (or build-your own classes using "favored skills") are out. All skill advancement counts towards level advancement, and the magicka/health/stamina raises therefrom. Also, the "perks" are handled differently... instead of automatically picking up skill-related improvements every 25 skill points, you get a "perk point" to spend each level, to choose from a perk tree for each skill, limited by your actual skill level. Beyond that, the "automatic difficulty adjustment" from Oblivion is either gone or greatly reduced (got my ass handed to me by a bear I unintentionally provoked, for instance), armor/weapons repair is gone, and there are some subtle changes to skills, crafting skills in particular (smithing covers creation and enhancement of armor, weapons, and jewelry, while alchemy has some minor changes in how you work out what reagents deliver what effects). In fact, crafting is only done at fixed crafting stations now... sorry alchemists, even if you want to, you can't load yourself down with alchemical lab bits to craft potions and poisons on the road.

Long story short, Skyrim looks to be a wonderful RPG, that fixes the biggest issues from Oblivion without introducing new major issues, and what I've seen of the "main" storyline so far is quite good. I already paid full price for this game, and, if you like RPGs, I don't think you'll be sorry if you do likewise.