Game:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)

Duration: 25:37

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Things that I forgot to mention in this video.

Graphics: Holy cow, this is a huge upgrade from Fallout 3 and Oblivion before it. Each item in the game is made with such a level of quality that you can even view it from every angle in the menu screen. As for people and creatures, animation and texture is a lot more fluid. You can see the hair on a deer, you can see the muscle structure on these Nords, and you you can see the gentle waves of a stream or the mighty crashing of a waterfall (goes EXCELLENTLY with the sound effects they've put together). My only complaint is that it's VERY difficult to tell a Nord from an Imperial or a Breton, but if you look closely, you can see very subtle differences. So lore-wise, it's as good as it's going to get for Race Diversity.

As for diversity, even though this is a cold place, there's still variety to be found in environment. The Rift has a very "Autumn Forest" vibe to it with a wonderful blend of colors. The Reach is very treacherous land with hills and waterfalls with its main city being settled inside of a canyon with architecture borrowed from the ancient Dwarves. Solitude, the capital of the Imperial Legion in Skyrim, has a FANTASTIC view of the Sea of Ghosts to the north of it, as does Winterhold, though the latter is filled with numerous ice caps. The overall variety in the environment is there, but a bit more subtle than it was in Oblivion.

The "Map" is like it should be (invisible walls of New Vegas be damned). The only borders that actively exist are the sea to the north and the borders to the other provinces. Everything else is fair game. See a mountain? You can climb up it. Guess what? There's probably a dragon on top. Enjoy fighting in such a treacherous area. It's things like this that make it difficult for me to play a Zelda game after Skyrim because the character depth (both major and minor characters could definitely have more of a backstory given to be sure) isn't as deep as it is in this game, and more importantly, the map exploration is nowhere near as expansive as it is here.


Mind you, it's a formula that Nintendo has set, and it's very safe. This isn't a bad thing for business for them because they obviously have a very loyal fanbase and a "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" formula. But as I said, risks must be taken by a company for a game to not be considered "just another installment in the series" which I definitely feel Skyward Sword will be. A great series with lots of nostalgia, mind you; I'm not knocking Zelda as I wouldn't have put as much time as I have into obsessing over the timeline if I didn't love it. It doesn't need to be "modernized" like Final Fantasy was, but some kind of direction to make the game far more mature and adult (not tons of violence, I mean complicated concepts like what Skyrim and its factions have in abundance). Basically what I'm saying is, we've all grown up with Zelda. The series should grow up WITH US. There's not much revolution that Nintendo can make for the series graphically or control-wise to the series anymore with how advanced consoles are getting, so something else needs to be done to set the next game in it apart.

I'm going to put what I mean as simply as I can. I can't play other games that were released this year without stopping every couple of minutes and saying "I'd rather be playing Skyrim." That should speak volumes for what I'm talking about.

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