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Skyrim Review – The Only One You’ll Ever Need To Read

Posted by on November 12, 2011 at 5:48 pm

Ahhh, Skyrim. We’ve waited so long and here it is. So what’s the verdict? Well, I’ll tell you after the jump.

In the meantime, I’ll tell you this: If you’ve played Oblivion, you’ve played Skyrim. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad thing at all. What I mean by that is that if you played Oblivion and loved it, you’ll love Skyrim just as much because the overall feel of the game is the same.

What’s changed makes it even better. Read on. (N’s comments will be in red!)

The story of Skyrim is one of fantasy and mystery, much like that of Oblivion. I’m not going to drop a lot of spoilers but I will say that Bethesda sticks with their tried and true method of allowing the story to unfold as the player moves through the game, keeping a lot of things mysterious and hidden until the player discovers them on his or her own.

Another thing that hasn’t changed is Bethesda’s apparent joy at kicking the player’s ass at every turn. Between trolls, Spriggons, bandits and sabrecats, walking a trail to pretty much anywhere means taking your life in your own hands. It’s a brutal world out there.

Also, the 7000 steps to High Hrothgar…They ain’t kiddin’. What a climb!

So let’s talk about the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good

This is 80-90% of the game. The graphics are gorgeous, the interface has been given a face lift, the game has all of the elements which make the Elder Scrolls series of games great and the story is top-notch. From the time you kill your first dragon, fairly early in the arc, things unfold and shape and turn in a very captivating way. I’m very happy with that.

You’ll have the ability to buy a home, gain titles and live whatever kind of life you’d like. If you want to spend hundreds of hours collecting flowers and berries, working on your alchemy skill? Go for it. Want to go out and get in bar brawls for cash? Go for it. Want to play the role of Dragonborn and put the smack down on some overgrown wing-ey lizards? Have at it!

That’s something that really amazes me about this series…The fact that you can just do whatever you want. There is nothing pushing you along. Nothing that makes you follow the progression of the story. There’s no time, there’s no major sense of urgency to get things done, you can just do whatever you want. This has been a bit of a downfall for me, personally, because I often find myself spend much more time than I should off in the woods collecting flowers and catching bees. Suddenly I’ll remember that I’m on a quest and will set off toward my goal, only to get caught up in collecting flowers and catching bugs again.

One thing Bethesda tried in Oblivion was to streamline the quest lines while holding your hand a bit too much. Thank the gods that Bethesda relented a bit. Morrowind was a very raw experience and its complete lack of polish in spots meant that watching scripted events made you think the game was glitching out from time to time. Some quests would simply fall apart or break and others impossible to finish because of the game’s lack of direction. Oblivion tried to reverse this by making the quest lines a bit too obvious and allowing you to fast travel to virtually everywhere in the game as soon as you left the first dungeon, rendering the horse a useless purchase. Here, you’re required once again to get out there and hoof it to locations to discover them which is a welcome relief. There’s something so amazing about the worlds they build that it’s a shame that they let you skip so much of it last time. I pine for larger cities to get my work done, but Oblivion’s Imperial City was a bit too much. These will simply have to do.

I do enjoy the way the game has updated a bit from the last release, via the interface and the skills system, which is the cat’s pajamas. I also love the story and how it unfolds. There are some things I DON’T love, however.

The Bad

There are a few glitches, though nothing major jumps out at me. I have seen daggers floating in midair, chairs levitating with people in them and a number of pathfinding issues. While none of these stand out as being terrible, the combination of them shatters the fantasy a little and takes away from the experience.

There are also some issues with the spell system. First and foremost, the clairvoyance spell is busted. Useless. You assign a primary quest and the spell will have you running all over hell and creation…everywhere BUT where you’re supposed to be. Second, targeting is a mess. You have to be spot on to hit and if you move, you have to adjust. This is annoying in the heat of battle, sometimes. The biggest issue I have with the spells, though, is the fact that the dual spell casting thing is a pain in the ass. It’s so sensitive that if you hit the triggers even 1/10th of a second out of sync, it won’t dual cast and you’re just wasting magicka. This has gotten me killed a few times.

The lack of hot keys or a ‘selection wheel’ was an aspect that really irritated me. The game expects you to have a ton of spells and weaponry at your quick disposal, but only gives you the favorites menu (up on the d-pad) to retrieve these. Even though the game pauses while accessing it, it can be annoying to switch between several items, especially when you can dual wield. Perhaps that’s ‘lrn2manageurfaves, nub’, but it honestly didn’t feel very efficient in a post-Deus Ex era.

Other than those few issues, there’s nothing else TOO glitchy about the game. Some minor graphical stuff here and there, the horse does not work well on unfriendly terrain, a couple of clipping issues, etc…the usual.

The Ugly

Yeah, there’s an ugly, at least in my mind. The level scaling. Bethesda has this thing in their head where they ramp up the difficulty of their games based on the level of the character. This makes ZERO sense to me. A wolf, which was fairly easy to kill at level 1, should be SUPER easy to kill at level 8 and should die with a wink at level 20. This is not so. Each mob you encounter will get progressively tougher as you level up so it never really seems to get easier to play as you get higher levels. This is something they’ve been doing for years and years and it’s something I hate. I can live with it because Skyrim is nearly perfect but it’s annoying and I want to slap someone over it. I agreed with this criticism in Oblivion where your foes were always a bit too difficult for whatever level you were at (especially in the Oblivion gates) and you had to constantly dole out currency for healing potions or magicka restoration. Skyrim on the other hand makes everything a little too easy, so even with a thief character that’s oriented more toward stealth abilities, I find myself able to knock out everyone and found myself dying rarely.

Other than that, there’s not really anything to complain about. Skyrim is a solid, visually stunning game with all the stuff we’ve come to love from The Elder Scrolls, and more. If it weren’t for a few niggling glitches, this game would receive a perfect score. Because of those glitches, though, I can’t do that so I’m going to give it the highest “not-perfect” score I can.

9/10 FleshEatingZipper

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  • Blackcat

    you idiot you can turn the difficulty up you were probly playing on the easiest.

    • Rob

      Wow…you just come right out of the gate with the insults, don’t ya?

      I would assume (Knowing N) that he was playing on adept, which is the default, or higher.

      Now say you’re sorry for being mean.

      • Anonymous

        Yep, Adept.

        • Novice is the default, you dumb fucks.

          • Rob

            On both of our 360’s it was adept, so…sort out your difficulty.

          • Dii

            Was Novice on mine :O

          • Alex_chatwin

            I felt with fallout 3 the difficulty was decent but could have been tougher.  I’m about 3 hours in to Skyrim and started on Expert, and would recommend the same to anyone with any prior bethesda experience.  Thanks for the ingredients chart also!

          • hamsterdoom

            You can adjust Default Difficulty settings on your Xbox.
            Your Gamer Page (where it has your name and avatar) > Profile > Game Defaults > General > Difficulty
            It will automatically adjust some in-game difficulties to better suit your playing style and save you time in Options menus.

          • Copper1

            ??? Aint you tough, swearing at people, you gonna run to your dad thinking he’ll be proud? let me ask you, have you ever thought that it might oh i dont know change between consoles and PCs?, mabey its random hell it could even base it off your accomplishments  in oblivion! mine personaly was on the highest. so sit down and stop trying to be tough on the internet it doesnt work. 

          • werty22212

            It’s based off your XBOX’S difficulty setting which it has along with sensitivity settings obviously you put it on easy, dumb fuck.

          • Koolguy1

            no it isnt yeah ass fucking butt mongrel, adept is, learn yo stuff nukka

    • opskpodpdk

      You completely have no common sense, therefore you’re the idiot.
      Everyone starts the game on Adept. But every time you level battling everything just gets easier, when you fight a bear on level 60 it becomes way easy for you to overpower it…

  • Dooney

    I absolutely hated oblivion and I love skyrim!

    • Rob

      Well, if it helps, I absolutely hate Led Zeppelin but I love Pink Floyd :)

      • anonypinion

        NOOOOOOOOOOOO ZEPPELIN FOREVAAAAAAA!

      • Sean

        Hahaha Well played

        • Rob

          Thank you :)

      • Astrofoth

        Arnt they like the same exact thing ^

    • Linogedr

      I agree….Oblivion to me totally sucked…

  • OrcNamedThrall

    Pretty darn good review. I disagree with you on the difficulty issue though. I like the way Bethesda has a scale that increases the strength of said monster by your level. I loved Oblivion (been playing like mad as I wait to buy Skyrim) and I suppose I will love Skyrim even more.. especially now that they brought werewolves back.

    • Rob

      I guess my issue is that I view leveling up as growing stronger.  I think of it as gaining power and becoming more of an ass kicker so things should be a lot easier to deal with.  I figure that at level 10, wolves should be like bunnies to me because I’m way more powerful than I was at level 1.

      I just don’t get their logic.

      • Hansvonburger

        I dunno about you man but I found stuff easier to kill as I leveled up. I’m currently level 25 and I one shot alot of stuff that was difficult before, wolves die in one hit and some of the lesser enemies die in two.

      • Javidlloyd

        i use magic and a bow and i have to say you are kinda wrong it used to be 20 hits to kill a bandit now its 2 at level 8,if they scall its bad level of scalling

        • werty22212

          scale

      • Flamar77

        I’m totally agree with him. It’s an rpg, has somebody here ever played D&D? It’s all about your character growing up and becoming stronger in what it does. Low level mobs should be no match for high level players. The “problem” with skyrim is that the content seems to level up with the character

      • Puppet_invasion

        Mobs might scale to your level yeah, but as you level up fights do get easier due to your skill, perks and gear. first time I ran into that ice troll on 7000 stairs it 2 shot me me n i was like “how the fuck do i get past that!?” eventually killed it with a few scrolls n lots shooting from a distance. Now, 20 levels later when i find a ice troll i roll right over it.

        From an immersion point of view i really like bethesdas system because it adds a little realism to the game. I like that you can’t level until you are on godmode the whole time one shotting everything with your bare hands training 50 wolves n not dying then annilating them with one spell. The fun factor disappears as the challange does.

        Their logic is that if you met a wolf in RL it is still just as dangerous whether you are a accountant wearing pyjamas holding your toothbrush or a martial artist wearing body armor holding a shotgun. Either way the wolf can still rip your throat out, the difference is the skills and gear you have at your disposal.

        My opinion anyways lol…

      • skyrim_player

        I’m level 37 now and prior to that i was able to one shot wolves with no problem hell at 20+ i was able to one shot giants.

      • Jak777z

        Guys, I read in some other reviews, that Bethesda took out the scaling system on this game. Just something to look up, I don’t claim it’s true, but I am pretty sure I remember reading it,

      • Buzzy Kerbox

        Yeah I agree with most of the other comments, I am not sure of peoples complaints over the leveling, it is an improvement on Oblivion. I found by about level 45 I had to change the difficulty from Expert to Master because the game had become too easy; of course I have abused Smithing, One handed, Alchemy and Enchanting perks; now I am power leveling unused skills to start making fights against bosses interesting. 

        If people power level the wrong skills and waste perks on the wrong things they are going to have trouble but that is their own fault really for abusing the wrong skills early game. 

    • Dean J Smithholley

      you have to have the leveling up system like this or you will find yourself going to a place and getting killed one hit

      • RICK

        You realize that getting stronger to be able to not get killed in one hit is the reason why people plays rpgs…. its why they are psychologically rewarding… Level scaling ruins this and makes it pointless to play.

        • Consumption

          Nah, most people play RPGs for the rich storytelling and ability to make an impact on that story. Clicking on monsters is fun but one can do that with an FPS. On the levelling debate, I generally look upon these systems as not making one “Powerful” but rather refining and better fleshing out what one is. You can pick a lock from the get go, but how well you can pick it improves as you practice. So choosing perks along that constellation is a fine-tuning of what you can already do. Likewise, picking perks that give you a 20% increase in blunt force weaponry isn’t making you More Powerful, but a quantification of reaction to the character’s natural ability to experiment and find optimum fighting styles. Leaving the left elbow up higher when swinging a heavy warhammer, or snapping the right arm out to increase swing speed and use the hammer’s own weight better—that sort of thing.

          So the whole levelling system is an expression of a character’s mastering of technique, not some huge Now I Am Emporer Palpatine thing. Now, of course, some games are that way. Knights of the Old Empire is definitely a good example of that. You’re character can indeed become something barely recognisable from how it began. But I don’t see Bethesda games as ever having been that way. They place a stronger emphasis on keeping levels within the realm of what is “realistically attained” in the time period given, and base a heavier reliance upon the tools one acquires as making a strong difference. A cheap iron sword is a liability when compared to a master smith’s work of art that has been poisoned to affect critical harm in keeping with the warrior’s technique. That’s the sort of thing that levelling gives you in Elder Scrolls. The ability to refine a synthesis between weapon, mind, and body in a way that a newbie fresh of the execution cart could never accomplish. It’s not about being Uber. It’s about being the best in the land at what you do.

          • Consumption

            Durr, I meant Knights of the Old Republic, of course.

          • Nate

            Respect

          • Rachet

            This is how I feel exactly. And for the record, enemy leveling is not exactly like it was in Oblivion. Read up on it as there’s a bit more balancing to it now, depending on your level, the area the creature is in, the type of creature and your skill/perks/equipment. It isn’t as simple now as they just get stronger. I’m level 41 and with the skills I chose and weapons I use, I can take out Giants in 2 or 3 hits and dragons with little effort.

          • AuroraTheImperial

            This is a perfect explanation of the leveling system and how it works in Skyrim. I have leveled up this way using the skill tree and I don’t struggle in fights with anything. I detest trolls (I guess because in the vey beginning, it’s the one enemy that scared the tar outta me, lol) but I take dragons out with ease, slay man and beast of all kind, and rarely fear any kind of confrontation with anything (save for my horse dying in a fight with a dragon- I hate that!) and I applaud Consumption’s very spot-on account of how this game is played and SHOULD be played. However, I often find myself being diverted by catching bees and butterflies and picking flowers/gathering ingredients for potions, as well… :)

          • AuroraTheImperial

            PS. I am a girl :P

    • Mightily

      No problem here either, It took me 3-4 hits to down wolves at early levels, now I am level 30 and I can kill them with 1 hit. BUT, there are those wolves and there are ICE wolves, that are tougher and bigger, those takes me now 3 hits to kill. I don’t feel that game is scaling to my level at leat on pc. I kill skeletons now in a sngle hit. But again there are THOSE dungeons and there rare other dungeons with tougher skeletons. It’s not scaling it’s a content grouping. Go at level 20-30 to the dungeons around where you start and you’ll be killing anything in a single hit.

  • Swoosh

    I didsliked the favourite menu on the PC until a wise man told me that you can quickbind keys to things within the favourites menu.. I’m not sure how it works on a gamepad but if other buttons on the d-pad are free you might be able to bind them while the fav-menu is up? I like the format of this review (contrasting two diferent/similar opinions).I don’t agree about the graphics being gorgeous (though the weather effects and render distances are impressive), they feel quite dated. Apart from this however I can agree.

  • But… How does this game compare to Baldur’s Gate II and Telengard?

    • Ha

      Uber nerd is irrelevant.

  • Joe14138

    I am haveing issues buying thingd from people is anyone…it worked the first few hours now it not anyone else haveing this issue?

    • 2avroarrow

      Are you trying to sell stolen items? Merchants won’t buy them, you would need a fence or some shifty character to buy those. Also some merchants are only interested in certain items, a weapons merchant is not interested in jewelry .
      Hope that helps.

    • AuroraTheImperial

      What kind of issue? As 2avroarrow mentioned, if it’s stolen, you can’t sell it… the only other issue I know of personally is the amount of money in the buyer’s store; sometimes as one levels up and can produce better weapons/armor, the store/buyer won’t have enough money. I’m still trying to find a way around that one. I haven’t completed the quests in Thieves Guild yet, but if you complete all of their quests, I believe there’s a buyer there who has a lot more money on him for transactions – if that’s your issue, anyway. It’s mine at the moment =P

  • SkyrimLOVER

    wait , don’t you mean oblivion is too easy ? i could kill everything in one hit on there with a power attack
    while skyrim , i died many times to the ice troll on the way up high hrothgarr ( spelling )
    the combat is so much more difficult , i fucking love it

    • stabby_death

      That ice troll killed me too. So I reload, and head back up the mountain. Right before the troll, a f-ing dragon swoops down. It gets distracted killing a missionary, so I jump on top of him and slice his face open with my ax. I continue up the mountain. Ice troll kills me again…

    • Ultimacardodevil

      Oh yes theres a few monsters in quests that are hard as hell too kill especially this one lich I had too face in a quest after retrieving three artifacts for this ghost too awaken it was fun and hard at the same time. You have too think on certain parts in the game.

  • Nothinghappened

    I’m loving Skyrim, as I did Oblivion, but I agree with the difficulty scaling complaint.  Certain areas should be relatively safe for an early level character and some should be way too difficult.  Areas near roads and major cities could be pretty safe whereas when you venture off into the woods/mountains/dungeons there are harder areas.  That would be great.  If I take my level 3 weakling into some remote mountain cave I deserve to get crushed!

    • No idea what you or the reviewer are talking about. The difficulty does not scale anywhere near to the extent that you guys are whining about. I went into a cave as a level 2 scrub and got my ass handed to me real quick by an ice wolf. Same deal with a pair of angry trolls as a level 6 or something. If you’re not a high enough level, you CANNOT take on certain dungeons (at least not without chugging 15 health potions, casting magic, poisoning weapons, etc.) Difficulty does apparently scale for the main quest, however.

      • jim

        i agree with michael you guys dont know what u talking about enemies dont grow up in lvl u probably just too noob to kill them thats all i play on expert and i 1 hit kill almost everything in the game lolllllll 

        • Guest

          Agree with Michael. there is no difficulty scaling in Skyrim and monsters arent hard to kill. A wolf is piss easy at i high level i dont know what the reviewer is on abourt.

          • Billy

            What I experienced is  yeah enemies would lvl up with you but to a point, and if anything it would just throw harder variants at you if you would revisit a dungeon way later (ie from Draugr Wights to Draugr Overlords/Deathlords). So @ lvl 44 there are some quests where i will breeze thru and then there are still enemies that take me out in 2or 3 hits

    • guest

      err that is what its like. Areas near roads and cities ARE safer and easier. Areas which are higher up mountains etc or more remote are made to be more difficult.

  • Ballou Chris

    Question for ALL: It might be a little too early to tell but do you think this game will stand up and take ‘Game of the Year’ as so many people have predicted?

    • Rob

      I think it’s possible but I don’t know.  I will admit that I personally believe this year’s lineup has been pretty weak so it does stand a chance but there are some other contenders out there.  

    • SkyrimLOVER

      i agree , i would honestly say this is the best game I’ve played

    • Anonymous

      Yes. Not the best game I’ve ever played mind you, but easily the best first impression from an Elder Scrolls game I’ve ever had.

    • Kas

      I liked oblivion, only bought it recently because i was bored and it was there, bit of a fluke that i  was ready for skyrim as it was about to be released, failed to pre-order n they were sold out early n cant wait to get it on Tuesday!, However, this is the same day as Assassins Creed Revelations which is what im MOST excited about and the whole AC franchise gets my vote for best graphics and best story :)

      • Ultimacarodevil

        I agree on Assassins creed but I have a feeling Batman arkham city may get game of the year this year. Skyrim is up there though this years line up is really good and cant wait as well for Mass Effect 3 too come out. Another amazing series.

      • werty22212

        And

    • Mightily

      I’ll def vote for skyrim to be goty. Hands down the best RPG Ive played in MANY years.

    • AuroraTheImperial

      I don’t know if it will or not – but I will state with in all seriousness that it SHOULD… I think they have earned it. There are good games out right now, but I would hate for any of them (including all the ones I like) to take the cake. Skyrim IS the cake with the ICING, it’s the game I have been waiting for all year. And not just me, this game is what a lot of people have been waiting for! GOTY would only be befitting of such a masterpiece as this one. 

    • CupcakesWOOHOO

      Probably….. But MW3 should take up that major title.

  • Fading-Dream

    I really thought this was a good article, but I have to disagree about the level scaling. Look at it from their perspective. They have a game with so much optional content and so many different directions and order you can do the quests in that there is no feasible way to make the enemies level up properly other than scaling. And I believe it has improved since Oblivion. For one, you have these massively powerful foes that are impossible to beat at lower levels, but you can beat them later. I don’t know what you’re saying about the wolves either, as once I was level 9, I could kill them in two hits when it used to take a lot more.

    Really, the only plausible way to do enemies was level scaling. Unless they limited where you could go, then that would just suck anyhow. And I know that Morrowind is a good counter-example, but I felt very limited with where I could go in that game. Sure, you could enter any area, but there would be monsters far too powerful so you couldn’t go there.

    • RICK

      if areas all have the same monsters and same consequences upon entering, and none kick your ass, then all areas will feel the same… as they do in oblivion and (ive only played a bit of skyrim) hopefully not most of skyrim. Honestly whats the point of exploring then if everything you find will be the same regardless of location? Skyrims reward system of a chest filled with like 14 gold and a randomized junk item every hundred feet in a cave is pretty dull, whereas morrowind had hand-placed objects/loot that matched their guardian enemies and locations.

  • Sundeki

     Except for the few little bugs here and there and the horribad console-ported inteface; This game is spectacular. My expectations were high and I wasn’t disappointed.

  • I don’t need an account :D

    This. Game. Is. The Sex.

    • Rob

      Hot.  Buttered.  Sex…

    • Mightily

      With a pair of awesome boobies…

      • AuroraTheImperial

        Some of us are girls LOL! So for us girl skyrim lovers… it’s the awesome mmhmm (well you get what i’m saying!) haha

  • Karrotjuce

    While I agree with most of what was on here (although I didn’t much like oblivion) I have to say that I haven’t noticed much level scaling.  I have been absolutely mauled by bears and saber-tooth tigers early on, as well as heading back to the early stages and 2-hitting wolves that were a bit more of a problem in the beginning of the game.  I agree that there was SOME level scaling (particularly with the dragons) there isn’t as much as is said here (from what I have seen, at least).  

    • Consumption

      Yes, I think the scaling is actually a good deal more complicated than just “they get tougher too”. I have a feeling each type of creature is on its own difficulty scale (and potentially each object to a degree), which is tuned with the Radiant system. In other words it is not just impacted by level, but what you’ve done in terms of events, too. Minor beasts definitely do get easier to kill (and in part because one’s means to do so improve as well, not just their level strength but their spell collections and weapon quality), but other stuff gets harder—a lot harder in some cases.

  • Bignastyslice666

    One of the big things with this game while in development is how they changed the level scaling. The scaling in this game is exactly the same as fallout.

  • Screwyou

    The leveling in this game is a HUGE improvement over oblivion. If you didn’t get OCD and plan your leveling to be efficient, the enemies would get stronger faster than you, forcing you to turn down the difficulty. Things are simpler and streamlined.

    There are a few problems that have been driving me nuts… for one, I can’t sleep or wait in the game. I bring up the screen, choose yes over and over, but nothing happens. Also, try equipping a healing spell and unequipping it… You can’t do it unless you switch out of magic, into items, and then equip a sword to cancel it, and then go back to the magic screen to equip something else. Plenty of stupid, almost glitchy things like this.

    • A11090199

      Those ARE glitches O—o
      [Which means they’ll soon be fixed too ;D]

    • Dude

      u pirated the game. :) did u miss an update, dick?

  • Peacetokengy

    I miss being able to view your character when you are equipping new armor. Otherwise you don’t really have the opportunity to view your character from the front with its new armor on.

    • You can view from the outside on 360…tap the right stick and you can rotate and everything.

    • If you zoom out to third person (including on PC or console) then you can pan the camera round as long as you are standing still and then switch in inventory view and it will change in real time – not quite the same as it’s worked before but useable :)

  • Screwyou

    but yeah, level scaling in general is absolutely retarded.

  • Ryukai

    I cannot believe you called this ‘The Only One You’ll Ever Need To Read’. The ‘ugly’ part of this review is based on the worst judgement. Have you even played Skyrim long enough to even notice a level difference in the wolves? I ask this because you have just assumed the levelling system is the same as oblivion and you have based the negative side of your review on something that isn’t even in Skyrim. First of all the levelling system is a lot more similar to Fallout 3 than Oblivion. Monsters such as wolves will not change in level as you level up, that is exactly how Oblivion did it and I assure you Skyrim does not. The way scaling works in Skyrim is that as you level up, you encounter new enemies which match your level, however, the wolves will still remain the same level. I quote Bethesda on this one:

     “[Skyrim]’s a lot more like Fallout 3, where as you level up you are going to see harder things, but the easier things stay around as well,” Howard told PC Gamer of the RPG’s enemy difficulty scaling.“You’ll still run into the weaker stuff and you’ll just decimate it.”(http://www.vg247.com/2011/10/27/skyrim-enemy-scaling-conversations-more-like-fallout-3-than-oblivion/)

    So there you have it. The low level monsters will stay low level but as YOU level up, new monsters will be introduced to match your levels. The only possible exception here will probably be the dragons which will level up as you do, since they should always remain a challenging experience.

    The rest of the review is great, but the part you based your entire ‘ugly’ section on is completely wrong and you’re hating the game for something a system that it doesn’t even have.

    • Rob

      I’m not hating the game at all.  It’s easily the best game I’ve played this year.  I just think it has a few issues.

      I *did* give it a 9, after all.

      As for the scaling, yes it does seem to not be as harsh as it was in Oblivion but it’s still there.

      • Ryukai

        Yeah I understand man. There’s no such thing as a perfect game anyway. It’s a good review I just thought some people might be misguided into thinking the scaling was the same as oblivion, and I agree that oblivion scaling wasn’t the best because you really do need to be rewarded for investing large amounts of time into your character. Scaling sort of defeats the purpose as the stronger you get the stronger the monster gets. Anyway thanks for the reply Rob.

      • A11090199

        If you’re not hating the game, why is that 9 not a 10?

        • Rob

          A 10 implies perfection and, while this game is damned good, it’s not perfect.

      • AuroraTheImperial

        I can tell from Rob’s original review that he’s definitely not hating the game; the game is a very personal experience for all of us, so remember, everyone – what one person finds aggravating will not bother the next person in the least… everyone plays differently and has a different experience during that playtime. Some of us also encounter more glitches than others, due to whatever (console versus PC, updated versus not, etc. etc.) But if you read through the criticisms Rob has made, he did say it was a very good game and his favorite game of the year. I hope no one thinks he is dogging the game, ’cause I can tell that he likes it just as much as the rest of us. :) And I, for one, feel the same – it is hands-down my favorite game of the year, but I do take issue with a few things that aren’t perfect (no game is). But I believe this is as close to perfection as a game has come so far. A much-awaited treat for RPG fans. 

        • Glad to see one of the few who get it. I don’t understand how people think I dogged the game…I DID give it a 9, afterall…

    • Mightily

      Yeah the reviewer didn’t play long enough, like he mentioned he prolly played to only lvl 8 and he didn’t see much difference. Some dragons in time become easier too as you’ve mentioned, I don’t have problem now killing regular dragons. But if you not ready for example the BLOOD DRAGON with his fire attacks will kick your butt like nobodys business. So yes to introduction of new more powerful monsters. This game has quite a few tricks that you don’t realize unless you play for at let 20-30 levels. Some mobs at these levels are single shots/hits, while other new type of mobs still present a bit of challeng. And also there are bosses at side quests that scale to your level, they will destroy you if you are not smart, but loot is very rewarding from those. I drooled when I got my first ebony axe as a reward, even though my steel one was improved and did better damage, I can’t to wait to improve smithing and improve my ebony axe and.

  • SJ

    You are wrong with the ugly… wolves are easy as crap and I’m level 16. I kill them now with 1 or 2 hits easily. Now are you talking about ICE Wolves!?! Those things wrecked me at level 8. I think you must not have realized the difference but if your going to criticize something at least understand it before you do.

    • Rob

      No, I’m not talking about ice wolves.  Regular wolves don’t hurt but by level 10 they were still not getting 1 shotted.

      Believe me, I understand the system.

  • Kailimakue

    I got to level 17 in an just by pickpocketing the entire town of… Idk, the first to towns. By 17 I had lvl 100 pickpocketing and I could steal the cloths off an oldlady while she was looking at me.

    • 2avroarrow

      Now use your powers and steal money from a trainer, level up that skill, then steal the money from that trainer and level up that skill, rinse repeat, level up pick pocketing and archery for example. Works nice, win win for you….but the trainer makes nothing…LOL

  • ES

    skyrim = fallout 3 = FUN!!! best game’s ever!!

    • Alex

      Umm dude, u are wrong about the leveling of monsters. I am level 17 and I can one hit wolves every time unless they are the upgraded frost wolf type then it takes 2-3. Go attack a giant and tell me it levels with you, they still 1-2 hit me at 17th level lol. Also the double magic thing is SOOOOO much better if u use two DIFFERENT spells not the same ones so double casting at same moment doesnt matter. Finally, the targeting is fine though I do think standard sensitivity was way too hi. All in all for first release the game is a lot less glitchy than I expected.

  • Anonymous

    There is a difficulty scale, but its not on eveything. When I was level 1-3, wolves did way more damage to me and took longer to kill. Now I murder multiple at once with no worries. An ice troll killed me so very dead when it took me by surprise at level 4. I was able to kill one at level 7 (barely), and then its 3 friends murdered me a lot. I think the main quest baddies scale, which makes sense, as you want people to be able to jump in and out of the main story line. I find it similar to Fallout 3. You don’t go looking for Deathclaws at level 4. You can absolutely kill them at level 20, but its never totally easy. Easier, yes. And they don’t unleash the Albino Scorpions on you until much later.

    So far, a big improvement on the repetition of the Oblivion Gates. I used to hold off on the main quest of Oblivion so I could wander the land without being forced into Red Land (as designed by Escher) to kill the same baddies again. Don’t get me wrong, I really loved Oblivion, but its biggest issue (for me) was the gates for which it was named. So far, I love how varried Skyrim is. And the Northern Lights rendering is just amazing.

  • Helenmccker

    whats the order in the puz the golden claw

    • Johnno

      Look at the claw. It’s on there!

    • neanderthalnewf

      from top to bottom its ear, dragon fly thigy, and pupae.. (looks like metapod lol)

      • neanderthalnewf

        bear..

  • Nick17gar

    from what i understand. enemies have a range of levels. example would be that “level 1 wolf” hes really level 5, but your level 1, so hes level 1. at level 5, your both level 5. At level 10, your 10, hes still 5.

    if you dont believe me, go fight a mudcrab at level 1 and at level 50ish and see how far that simple fireball spell knocks him back.

  • I actually have died 564986548 times, I’ve had battles were the thing attacking leaves me with basically nothing. 

  • Smith

    Have had a run at a couple of characters. Suspect that if you build him physically massive in the character build, a layer of strength comes with it. If you scale size back to half or less, you’re hitting a spot where you will be playing for your life.

  • This guy knows nothing about difficulty scaling in this game. When you enter an area, it locks the difficulty of the monsters at your level. So if you come back to said dungeon (or whatever) 10 levels later, it will be nothing but 1-kit-KO’s.

  • Ryan

    I’m level 8 and one shot wolves…

  • Sulfurizer

    Have you actually played the game? None of those Gameplay problems have occurred and they did a great job with the level scaling system.

    • Rob

      WHAT?  hahaha…they’re scrambling to patch a number of graphical issues with the 360 version, as we speak.  Google is your friend…Here, let me help.

      http://bit.ly/uGi4Ql

      Thanks!

  • Vassius

    Uhm what are you fools talking about? Skyrim doesn’t have the level scaling that Oblivion did. 

  • Life_as_Joe

    I hope you all know, that unlike oblivion, Skyrim does NOT level up said monsters according to your level. If you dont believe me please, by all means, look it up and just try to prove me wrong. For example, at the begining of the game, wolves took 3+ hits to kill, now, at level 17 (my current level) I kill wolves in one hit, everytime. Please, do your research before commenting on a subject that you all (including the author of this article) dont know jack about. Also, just for the record, the default difficulty is Adept.

    • Rob

      I know what the dev notes and documentation say and I know it’s not as harsh as oblivion but my personal experience with the game tells me there is some scaling, which I disagree with.

      If your experiences are different, I can’t comment on that but I’ve done my own comparisons and have come to the steadfast conclusion that level scaling IS happening.

      I play as a mage.  At an early level, a wolf would die from a burst of flame equivalent to about 24 hp of damage.  Later in the game, 2 spells, dealing 25 hp each were required to kill a regular wolf, with the first one taking it to roughly 1/3 health, for a rough total of  40 hp.

      If that’s not scaling, I don’t know what is.

  • Nate123ss

    Put the difficulty on expert or master, i had it on master originally but after getting into the fight with the necro in the tomb on way to graybeards i turned it to expert, even on expert a sabertooth can 2 shot me, the game is not 2 easy if u play on right settings, however i do agree that they should not scale difficulty to your level.

  • Nate

    I’ve had totally different experiences with the difficulty. I never found Oblivion to be difficult.  There were, of course, those enemies that posed a challenge, but burn through enough potions and I would always emerge victorious. I’ve sunk around 25 hours into Skyrim and three or four time so far I’ve had to run away from battles or dungeons because the enemies were simply too tough for me, despite over-dosing on five different potions. Either that or I would have to run through WAY too many potions to justify staying in the fight. 

    This has been a very welcome experience. And so far the wolves and Sabre-Cat’s have gotten easier to deal with, along with bandits. As for the dragons, I’ve read a bunch of reviews that say dragons were easy to defeat. Again, totally different experience on my end.  I’ve encountered four dragons, the only easy kill was the one at the beginning of the main quest. The others have frozen me, chewed me up, and spit me out (literally – once off of a cliff).  I don’t know why we’ve had such different experiences, but we have. 

    • Annihilat0r1983

      I’d say it has to do with the class you choose.  Iv’e tried a few different types of characters and certain fights that may have been easy for one are much harder for another.

  • Shawn

    has anyone else had an “invisible dragon” glitch? i had a dragon attack me, but i could not see it until it landed and breathed fire on me. after a few strikes, i could see the blood on it and could follow as it took flight again. it even left marks on the ground where i caused it to crash. once i killed it, i could not absorb its soul. wtf?

  • ROFire

    Are you guys smoking crack?? Stuff isn’t scaling to level like it does in oblivion at all. For example at lvl 2 I got a radiant quest to go to a dungeon recommend for lvl 16 players. Or how about the fact that my lvl 18 character 1 hit kills early lvl mobs no problem. The only lvl scaling I’ve seen is in the main questline, how the hell is this an ugly thing, when your complaints aren’t even relevant to the game??

  • anonymous

    worst review ever you hater

    • Hater, it’s a 9/10, the fuck you talking about?

  • anonymous

    wow you removed my comment lol must be true

    • Your comment wasn’t removed, everything is cached and takes a few minutes to be seen everywhere. So settle the fuck down.

  • Liquid_Wolf

    Good review, but your comment on the “level up” system seems off. As I leveled up wolves, dragons, and generally everything else does get easier to kill.

    With that said, there are tougher wolves, dragons, and bandits…. So you might be encountering varieties of wolves and thinking them the same.

    The “Oblivion Leveling System” does not seem to be present in Skyrim… At least based on the number of bandits and wolves I can now be-shot.

  • Nick

    First off they make it get harder so it never gets too easy and oblivion was far easier than skyrim

  • orc named mary

    the greatest game since geras of war 3 …………………

    • Ryan Thickett

      you have good taste in games :)

  • orc named mary

    if i counted the amount of times i jizzed coz of this game :)

  • woodcreacher

    my ass was raped by skyrim , it had me jizzing on my mother 

  • Dinnermcpingas

    The level sclaing thing is untrue. They had this in Oblivion, but definately NOT in Skyrim. I have confirmed this for myself to walk into the same enemies at different levels.
    What you experienced is probably the regional disparities in enemy-levels. As you explore the world further, stronger enemies appear which often look similar to the ones you encountered before.
    An example are wolves: They don´t grow stornger, you just meet the stronger ones.
    Every creature in the game has a pre-set level range in which it can grow, but it can never follow you along 10 or more levels.

    • CumAgain?

      Ok, nobody gives a fuck. Please stop talking about the level scaling. It’s mysteriously different for everyone, and that will be that. Great review overall. 

      • Troll

        sorry all i read was cum

  • Yomamabitesme

    Wait a second, I’m playing a wood elf archer and I 1 hit wolves and most bandits etc. I’m only a level 5!!! Are you guys aiming at the enemies or just running around shooting/swinging wildly? haha

  • G88twonsa

    I agree with yomama (haha). I am playing a Nord warrior and I can even one shot wolves with a bow. You guys playing Skyrim or Oblivion? :P

  • Gr8888

    I think the Fav system is great… I Play a mage with bow and find changing between weapons and spells is a breeze, seting “important fav’s” (the left and right D-Pad) for the most used items means you shouldnt be searching through the fav list very oftern, and even so, ive gotten used to where all my spells are in the list and can equip them with ease.

    The difficulty settings are perfect, Expert is challenging and Master is very difficult. choose to what suits your playing style.

  • Dylanposey48

    Ive absorbed like 10 dragon souls but i havent been getting any new shouts and ive had a bunch of shouts just waiting to be learned in the menu i only have the first two unrelenting force and whirlwind

  • Copper1

    FINALLY BETHESDA HAD MORE THAN 1 DUNGEON DESIGNER!!!!!!!! and more than 3 voice actors. i’m loving skyrim ive played oh 30ish hours and had to get my dad to lock it away so i could study for my exams!

  • Andrew Herder

    About the leveling:
    Play in a bit more, and it will become a bit more apparent how the scaling works.
    Basically, the enemies themselves don’t scale, but the types of enemies that appear changes.

    You’ll decimate a wolf or bandit in one shot by level 15. And all normal dragons will be not to much of a   hassle.

    But on the other end: Ice wolves, other, stronger bandit subtypes, and new mobs all together will begin to spawn. This goes for dragons, too. And did I mention sometimes dragons start spawning in pairs? That’s always fun. -.-

    I definitely prefer this to Oblivion’s system, which was constant stress.

    • Darkluthor

      Into my 3rd day of playing Skyrim, and it gets better and better….the game graphics and physics are gorgeous especially when you take in the sheer size of the world your playing in.  The combat is really fun, and challenging….the quests are awesome….best $50 I have spent this year !!

  • Your gonna hate me but….

    i personally think this game is awful, they scrapped acrobatics and the old stat system to make it more like fallout, this isn’t fallout this is the elder scrolls. Morrowind and Oblivion were pretty similar and i was expecting another game to match them, instead they spend 4 fucking years making pretty much a copy of this other little RPG very few people know about called “Two worlds 2”. They dumbed down the game a ton so now all it is, is press attack, attack moar hit those triggers/keys as hard as you can its dead! The thing that made me really mad was the combo-slowmo kills that were initiated with 1 button, no elder scroll game ever had anything like that before and there was no reason to add it, just wasting my time spending that extra second to kill my opponent, the melee combat in this to me pretty much feels like assassin’s creed where its just parry parry wait for opportunity to strike and press 1 button to get your character into frenzy of stabs or something which your not in control of. The combat is stealing too much from all these main stream games and there not staying true to the series and i feel utterly betrayed. now don’t get me wrong i’m a hard core Elder scrolls fan and i;ve been playing since daggerfall, and i find that the more i like a game series the higher my expectations are for the new releases. I stand firm on my opinion that this game is a god awful piece of shit and every Bethesda employee should be shot for releasing this garbage and having me pay 60$ for it

  • Rpgrole

    Dont u all just love to run into giants and think its ok he didint see me he must be Friendly only to be One shotted into the Air

  • Darkluthor

    Really hard to write a review until you play the game for a whole week.  When I first started playing I could see some of the complaints, but then after several hours I realized that you adjust to all the small annoyances and the game becomes amazing !!  I didn’t find problems with leveling, or the quests, or the spell casting….I think the game is gorgeous it’s very elegant code.

  • Darklelouchg

    I am currently looking for the best two-handed weapons, my smith skill is up to  daudric and i have a skyforged greatsword epic, NEED HELP!!!

  • Fake

    what are you guys playing as character wise?

    • I’m a combo type, mage / thief…more mage but high sneak / archery / lockpicking

  • Anonymous

    My experience with this game so far has been superb.  I’m playing the PC version at 2560×1600 with everything maxed and fps staying at 60 fps no matter what (V-sync enabled).  Are there some glitches?  Yes. Are they major? No!

    I knew this game was going to be something special when I fired off an arrow and killed a bandit at range, only to watch him fall and slowly slide on the snow-covered mountain slope to fall off a small cliff.  Running to the edge, I spotted his body below and was still able to make my way down to it for the loot that I thought I’d never get.

    The second memorable moment (of many more to come, I’m sure), was encountering three elves escorting a prisoner out in the middle of the wilderness.  My companion Lydia was at my side, and after questioning the prisoner, I decided to attack the elves to free the prisoner.  It was a very tough fight, being outnumbered 3 to 2, with 2 of the elves being casters.  But we were able to drift towards a pack of wolves who joined the fray and only attacked the elves.  End result…mega light armor upgrade for my character!

  • 23232

    im sorry but skyrim feels like an xbox port to pc, its like a first person fable. they dumbed down the stats which is the whole reason it was enjoyable. fuck skyrim, fuck force cutscenes, and fuck the bethesda producers pushing out garbage fable 2 clone games

  • Hey ASSHOLE stop using “after the jump” crap

    It doesn’t mean what you think it means anymore!

    Seriously learn what that actually means

  • TJM

    Oblivion got too easy for me when I could cast full invisible when ever too close to death ; No challenge after that.  Hope there aren’t any high level balancing issues like that.  As to the Ugly, sure there should be some characters that don’t get harder due to your level and some character that you can’t kill until you are maxed out and use great tactics BUT in order to be able to do various storylines at any level and have them be challenging you need to adjust based on the level of the player

  • Fork

    So there i was about to complete my quest, but then a dragon came and i said there was nooooo waaaaaaay…..

  • dop

    I don’t agree with the level scaling problem, and here is my reasoning. Most of the trash mobs do level with you to an extent, but if you put enough care into building your character, they should become very easy. The bosses, however, don’t appear to level with you. One dragonpriest I ran into at a low level took over a hundred arrow shots to kill, and i could not find a spot i was safe from its attacks. Once I reached a higher level though, I was able to kill another dragonpriest with a fair amount of ease.This game follows a bell curve for the difficulty, so it’s meant to be easy at the beginning, difficult half way though, then easy again near the end. I believe the game was balanced as elegantly as something of this size could be.

  • Jay Griffiths

    Completely agree with you about the level scaling..  Worst idea ever..  I like finding areas that are too difficult for me and can look forward to hitting them later once I’ve become more powerful..  The other problem is that the mob difficulty scales up with level, but it’s very possible you’re levelling up purely through increases in your pickpocketing, lockpicking, enchanting, and smithing skills..  Other than smithing, that’s not going to help you a lot when you run into a mammoth and so you may find yourself significantly underpowered if you haven’t been upgrading those weapon/magic skills.

  • Dingo Dilon

    Skyrim doesn’t scale with your level. Or did you decide not to pay any attention to anything before writing this review? Maybe you just suck at killing wolves, ya dingus.

  • Guestman

    BTW, you can hotkey things. If you want to know the controls read the game guide in the case. It’ll tell you everything, except how to move and organize random items (moving a pot and placing it someone in your house) To do this you hold the A button and then click it again to drop it.
    In my opinion, some of your comments are a bit stupid. I’m a mage in the game and I can kill shit quite easily. So not sure what you were talking about with that.
    The only flaw I have found in this game so far is the floating items, but I overlook that because of the immense detail put into the game otherwise and because they obviously haven’t found out how to fix that since it was in Oblivion.
    Other than that I found this game has no flaws, whatsoever and I would have given it a 10 out of 10.
    I do give you props though for writing out this page.

    Thanks, hope you can find out how to assign hotkeys.

  • Psychonaut777

    What is with the comment about the leveling? You are really not playing the game right if the game gets more difficult as you level up, the most difficult part is starting up on lower levels when you have few tools to kill tough enemies. Once you get to around level 20 you should have focused a few skills by then, have quality items/spells and the killing should get more fun and much more varied. I think one of the keys to the game is doing a lot of collecting, exploring and character building before doing much of the story line or guild quests; so much better running through the main game with a 50-80% built character. You will be much more aware of how to take on certain battles and you should have refined all your switching around of skills in battle by then as well.  

  • gg

    At least on pc you have 1-8 hotkeys :)

    “The lack of hot keys or a ‘selection wheel’ was an aspect that really irritated me. The game expects you to have a ton of spells and weaponry at your quick disposal, but only gives you the favorites menu (up on the d-pad) to retrieve these.”

  • Purifier113

    ive never played skyrim but Oblivion’s system that adding difficulties as you level up is stupid ;( and i do thing same as Fallout 3, why not? Deathclaw shit is impossible to beat if you are ambushed, you will see your dead body rolling down in floor in a seconds of time. and deathclaw dont even appear before level 10, and both oblivion and fallout’s stat increase based damage are so low, and low weapon damage and low skill damage make me so hard to play as i level up :( and Oblivion’s spells were bullshit that only damages and name changed but not effect on each spells :( Fallout is depanding on Quest too much and its almost just a (weak)gun shooting FPS that have quest. though both games were fantastic, solid and it was stunning. i’d ordered skyrim. tomorrow its arriving. ouch my 50dollor but i hope its worth it.. 

  • Toaster

    I have to agree 110% on the Level Scaling problem; for this reason I don’t buy Bethesda games. Hey Bethesda!! Try something new! We’re sick-to-death of level-scaling!!!!

    • Astrofoth

      The lv. Scalling is different you dipshit. This time the lvs. of the monsters stay the same as you lv. up its just that as you lv. up you find new creatures that match your lv. So next time you post something make sure you know “110%” of the shit that you say is true. And Good Job Bethesda you did a great job on this game!!!

  • Toaster

    There are other games that don’t have the notorious Level-Scaling problem – Grand Theft Auto, for instance is a fairly playable game that does not suffer from lack of level-scaling….

  • Q_14

    Did you actually play this?????????

  • Astrofoth

    Idk if you guys know this but i found that the sneak skill was way to easy to lv up. Im already lv. 100 in sneak. All you have to do is start that quest to join the Dark Brotherhood were you talk to that one boy for your first “Contract” in the DB. but dont talk to him just stand in the back left corner of the room he is in and walk backward. “you have to walk backward cause you have to see the person you are sneaking around… i think” but just put a rubberband on your controller and make sure your hidden and walk backwards. Come back to your PS3 /X Box 360 in about 2 or 3 hours and your sneak should be up to 100. then lv up and you get to just like lv. 8 or 9 just doing that. Its freaken sweet!!!

    • Astrofoth

      Sorry i ment back right corner of the room hes in.

  • Tamero33

    Iunno man things are def getting easier lvl 14 with mad destruct skill i can one hit most little mobs like wolfs and what not. Not doing to bad agents dragons hehe. I have it set on the default for xbox and its prefect for me >_<

    I LOVE SKYRIM :):):)

  • Louie1098

    i like to add my difficulty on the hardest.. and if things get too tough i notch it down one difficulty.. and that gives me a challenge while still being able to beat the thing im fighting. and i’ve never had problem with wolves or anything they were kinda hard at lv 1 but now that im level 45 1 power swing with my 2 hander and there goes the wolf lol

  • Artoah

    Are you a mong? Hotkeys are in the game.

  • Artoah

    Wait, this was reviewed on console?

  • Skankyyoda

    You idiot head. You can hotkey items in your favourite menu. Your a F**king twat wad if you didnt know that. LOL NOOB

  • OneRyder

    Can I play while holding a blunt in one hand?

  • Jim

    Just got skyrim and wow…

  • Tertater

    This game is at a lot of times too easy.The last boss i fought was the lich were you had to gather the 3 artifacts to start, he was just to easy i lol’d. But he wasnt easy in dealing damage to, he was easy because where you pour the blood i just hid all around it when he came by, just shooting arrows at him. With archery and sneak he went down in a good time. And with my new found friend(the horse you get after the dark brotherhood) even dragons are easy now with my horse as a tank i just shoot arrows at it while my horse has the attention,it hasnt died and i’ve killed around 5 dragons with it no healing it ether.

  • Hazard

    Actually, the level scaling is not like that at all in Skyrim. Enemies now have lvls. They do adjust slightly, but only slightly. I feel perhaps you didn’t dwell into the game enough? Or maybe something else? I don’t know I really am not here to judge. Also, I am playing the pc version (on which I also found, on my pc, to have the least bugs if any at all…)…
    In my experience, wolves where not too easy in the beginning, then by lvl 10-20 they where easy but done some damage… After lvl 20 to now, they are ridiculous (I was playing at adept and at times apprentice at the beginning, now I am playing at expert) and to be honest I one shot smack them on the head each time, they simply can’t harm me and need to bite away like hell to get anything done, and that simply proves to me the difficulty is not scaled to the characters lvl. Other examples, Trolls owned me, then they where a challenge, now they are (on expert) keen foes. Giants in the begining would slap me into oblivion, then I would battle hard at them, now I kill them quite easily, but they still deal a lot of damage… Dragons also a little easier now that I have my block on lvl 60, heavy armour on 80, and twohanded on 90, plus the perks, and even dragons are (even on expert) a nice challenge.
    Also I have noticed spells and skills that work (written in their descriptions) on characters that are for example less than lvl 13! That goes to show that the enemies are scaled to their own lvls, and this is the feeling I got as well throughout my 70hours into Skyrim (and counting)…

  • Whiteville_carpenter

    DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. I have played it nonstop for the last week (figuratively speaking). I have read review after review saying “oh the glitches arent that bad. There are TONS of glitches that happen on all 3 platforms which are gamebreaking in the fact that you cant complete quests, game freezes at times. And the level scaling thing is gay i mean seriously dont powerlevel by exploiting the leveling system or you will find yourself having alot more difficulty than you probably want.

  • Stnighthawlk

    Actually they dont level the world to you anymore, at lvl 48 i can poke a wolf with an iron dagger and kill it

  • Hitokiri2000

    Nice review…

    One thing that grinds my gear is that there are so many broken quests and things in the houses you buy that don’t work such like the bookshelfes, weapon plaques and dragons that’s don’t go up in smoke and release their souls.

  • Site_Ser

    The UI is horrific, the combat gets pretty repetitive especially as a melee character, the story is mediocre, the dialogue is bland and uninteresting, and the level-up system is incredibly easy to exploit.

    Skyrim isn’t a bad game, but 9/10? Hardly.

    • The UI is exactly what it should be, in our opinion. As for the rest of it, this isn’t Bethesda’s first rodeo…they’ve been doing this for a while and they have given each person the freedom to play as they see fit.

      if you want to melee only, that’s your option. If that gets boring and repetetive you also have the option to change combat styles and fight a different way.

      Also, if you choose to exploit the skill leveling or character leveling systems, that’s on you. If you do so and the game gets boring, that’s on you too. Like a cheat code, you don’t have to do it and if you do, you shoulder the consequences.

      It’s unfortunate that you aren’t happy with the game but, fortunately for Bethesda, millions of people disagree with you.

      Including us.

  • MrMatt

    Hmm. Guess some nerds really get butthurt when you say anything bad about Skyrim.
    Good! Then let me say this: The bugs far surpass just cosmetic. http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Bugs_%28Skyrim%29 Check that, but just look at the scrollbar. There are THAT MANY BUGS. Bethesda rushed this game onto the production line, and many of the quests are screwed up because of it.
    Oh, if you do everything perfectly, the game should work. But as the article says, I like to stop and smell the roses and do quests here and there between power leveling and just having some plain old fun. xD
    Also. If your parents saw what you typed, they’d beat your ass, kid. Watch your mouth until you’re done watching Barney, deal? :>
    Great article, guys. Very accurate, save for the major bugs. Though that’s forgivable, since many show up randomly. Still, even with the bugs, I’d buy this game again, given the chance. I’ve had to start a new game 3 times, but it’s SO WORTH IT! xD Thanks for your time reading my long ass post! ^_^
    Also, I’m not online much. So if anyone decides to talk shit about my post… don’t expect a retort.

  • 1

    they all sucked

  • yiuiyyuy

    It’s a real shame a game in this generation honestly only improved on graphics, I’m not even kidding…you get it. That’s the reason it’s called Sky Rem….