Everyone made it out alive. No zombie flu, only a few stitches between the lot of us. The food rocked, there was a massive handegg match, dogs were all over the place.



And what's the deal with daylight savings time anyway? It's always dark out, so Shar and Kaf barely got to play.

At least that means it's a good time for Skyrim.

So... Skyrim.

Fallout with swords, as the kids are calling it. For sure the games have a very similar look and play style, but Skyrim does advance the Bethesda formula as you might expect.


The gargantuan map seems more cohesive, where the DC wasteland felt like a collection of landmarks with nothing between.


The atmospherics are superb - day/night, clear/cloudy, calm/windy, fair/snowing, even light tones vary gradually. Unfortunately the frequent glitches ruin the immersiveness.


Menus, you're always going through menus. They're done well (except no sort!), but so much gameplay requires navigating the inventory/magic/level/quest/...


In F3 you leveled from kills and quests and thereby gained skill points. In Skyrim you level skills just by using them, and this levels your character (granting you perks). It's better, though it diminishes the value of completing quests.

And there are a million billion quests. They don't quite have the innovation and variety of a GTA game, but they're way better than mining minerals.


Item configuration is pretty deep. There are a number of basic types which you can upgrade with smithing skill, then apply magic abilities. Favorite unique items: Volsung and Sanguine Rose.


The combat mechanics are good, if unpredictable from encounter to encounter. The different build emphases seem pretty balanced. My sneaky archer is just fine with a sword and occasionally summons a fire demon.


The Nordic theme is a nice variation on the standard vanilla fantasy realm, but it doesn't hold a candle to the nukapunk, post-dystopic world of Fallout.


Oh right, and there are dragons. Quite a few, in fact.

THAT SENTENCE HAD TOO MANY SYLLABLES! APOLOGIZE!

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