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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review

Audio:
One of the biggest complaints gamers had regarding Oblivion was the fact that there were only a few voice actors on the title and a lot of the characters ended up sounding the same in the end. There is no reason to worry in Skyrim however as the amount of voice actors has clearly increased tenfold. That being said, some of the characters voice work does get repeated a little often and recycled for multiple characters, plus a lot of miscellaneous character dialogue is repeated far too often but it is nothing like what we experienced before.

That is nothing however when you hear the quality of the voice acting. The various actors they have sound quite well when you speak to them and the main characters are amazingly well performed and you can tell that Bethesda took special care for characters who are essential to the main story by providing veteran actors to provide the voicework.

The music for Skyrim was created by composer Jeremy Soule and he deserves more than just a pat on the back for the score that he provides for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Now while he has worked before on The Elder Scrolls series, nothing comes close to what you will hear as you venture around the world of Skyrim. The background music is perfect for any situation that it plays in and the choir that he has perform certain noises as well as the main theme is stunning.

Gameplay:
Now before you even head into the world of Skyrim for the first time, you are treated to an in-depth character creation system and a number of new features have been added which is a great sign right off the bat. The races of Tamriel have never looked better and each of their unique powers are retained from past appearances in Elder Scrolls titles. One thing removed however is the class system where players must choose skills to focus primarily on, which provides a massive amount of open character development.
While some people may choose to be a master of a various skill set like a mage, thief, warrior, alchemist etc. it is now completely possible to become a jack of all trades. Every character begins with a decent starting level for most skills, roughly in the area of level 15 to be exact. The player is even given a set of novice level spells to start out with, providing chances for experimentation and not limiting mage characters at the start.

However, since characters no longer need to select a set of major skills, they can actually choose to level up whichever skills fit their fancy at any given time. Feel like becoming a powerful mage that focuses on destruction, but later on want to try and become a stealthy bow wielder? That is all possible because you will no longer be punished for your decision. The way this is done is that, as in past Elder Scrolls titles, players level up by leveling up a number of listed skills through constant use. This means if you like to use destruction magic then that skill will level, or if you enjoy wielding massive two-handed weapons while wearing heavy armor than those skills will level after use.

As you gain skill levels, you will grow closer to a full character level up, and since the Major skills are gone now, every skill contributes to your level growth. Meaning a hardened sword wielder can level up by using alteration magic or sneaking around enemies instead. Once a character does level up they are provided with only three stats to level up this time, that is to add 10 points to their Magicka amount (used for spells), their Health bar or their Stamina amount(used for running and swinging weapons).

Travis Bruno
Travis Bruno
After playing games since a young age and getting into anime a bit later on its been time to write about a little bit of everything.