The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Angry Review
Release Date: November 11, 2011
Platform: Xbox 360, PC, PS3
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Genre: RPG
Players: 1 Offline Player
The Greybeards train a new Dovahkiin in order to judge and review the newest Elder Scrolls Game, Skyrim. Does it live up to the incredible hype? Or fall from the sky in flames? Angry Joe finds out!
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535 thoughts on “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Angry Review”
Well, I thought you would give this game a really really high score, but you just appreciate more some of the things that don’t make the game great for me. =)
Have you played Morrowind for example in the PC? The controls for skyrim on pc are not enjoyable, and you can easily see that bethesda has given a lot more time and effort to make the controls great for console players, and have really not tried to do the same for the PC users. Morrowind still had great controls, for example largening any part of the infentory page or map with the mouse, whitch you can only dream of now days.
Don’t take me wrong though, skyrim is still definitly better that Oblivion, but unfortunatly it has no change competing the older games in my mind. Immidiatly if I would play this game (only watched my boyfriend play it for now), I would miss the older games…. The choises you have to make, and the effort you need to put in to the game. This is again more for the casual gamers, who want to level up quickly, and proceed quickly…. For example I think you are put into the hero shoes way too quickly here. At 5th level you will kill a dragon with a few other people….. seriosly? What fun is that…. In old baldursgate 2 you really felt that the dragon was nothing to take easily on, and in this it is…. Well nothing alike. And the story puts you immidiatly into the hero role, you won’t discover it slowly etc….
Even if they have changed some aspects of the game to the better direction, but unfotunatly not the parts that are important to me. I for one feel that the leveling up system is not personalized enough with only choosing from magica, health and stamina. I don’t feel what I choose from those 3 matter at all, I liked to have a certan strenght etc.
But I suppose this is the best I can hope for in the games now days, though I will not play this game almost at all, and not in the time that I still play the older games. It was kind of funny, that your way was blocked by that person….. that’s something even the old might and magic 7 game had, a shout possibility to make the npc move out of your way…. And the new game does not even have that kind of feature….. ^^
Well, just waiting for a better future, as these days are not for me.
hey joe a questions about the shouts, can you use the cuss cannon and make it more powerful?
I sniff a fanboy. Seriously? 10.0 out of 10.0? I heard this game is consolified shit and the PC got a Xbox port….ironic since the game been a PC game once.
You fallen for it Joe, you Xbox playing twat
I sniff a troll.
I do agree that PC version is a total port. The ui is for consoles and the hardcoded buttons for navigating it are for consoles.
@Karnell
You are completely missing the point, killing a bear with one hit is cheap that’s bull shit, i however should be able to dodge it more properly and be able to take down it’s health a few hit’s at a time, the bears have absolutely no openings and it’s actually possible to kill bears right off the bat through exploitation of it’s terrible A.I. All though i see where you are coming from because i agree in the sense that games with levels in general and by nature are unbalanced because a higher level guy can easily beat any thing that’s a bit lower in levels than it. Honestly though that begs the question as to why play it, if it takes no skill to play? I mean RPG stands for Role Playing Game as in Plot, Dialog and a role that you are playing with a specific character. It does not mean beefy stats, killing every thing with 1 hit and grinding out power. RPGs are suppose to be about the plot & story and i agree but by definition games are ALSO suppose to be challenging and Skyrim is not challenging at all. Again you are wrong about alchemy and potions because you contradicted your self, saying you “The game does let you choose what kind of character you become” it also happens that if you use healing magic (Which i do) healing potions are basically obsolete i do not need them, the problem lies with the fact that off handing magic in one hand and then having another weapon in my other hand, gives me little to no defense. The only thing i can do is use my power attacks to stun, run away to recharge my stamina, rinse and repeat. This does not work on the bear because it can turn on a dime and is fast as a bullet. Why do you have to resort to name calling? That’s real mature, this is a matter of changing minds and showing the faults in a argument, not cursing each other out. I wish you guys would approach me more maturely. Also it’s not because i have a big “EGO” it’s because i like playing games that have a challenge and that are fun, Skyrim is not fun, it’s buggy, the A.I sucks and the defensive combat is abysmal. How does it begin to make sense that i can solo two giants in master mode but i can’t kill a single bear? Giants in master mode kill me with one hit because i don’t use armor i use robes that have really high magic regeneration, which is fine!. The giants are actually fun to fight because i can beat them fair in square with out taking a single hit.
you can turn up the lv a bit and ther e harder to kill you know
91 hours, bitch! Oh wait, that’s not something to be proud of…
Almost 200 hours!!!!111….. My eye’s hurt….
And Joe, I am dissapoint. Elderscrolls are set on Mundus. Not earth.
If this isn’t game of the year, this year will have the best game in recorded human history.
nice prisoner ^_^ i love this show
LOL you were so addicted to the game that you didnt shave your beard man it must be a hell of game joe
10/10, eh? So… does that mean this game is just as good as Starcraft 2?
Cuz this game is a lot better than Starcraft 2.
You can’t compare SC2 and ES5 as they are completely different genres. You might like one genre more than another but that doesn’t mean one is actually better. SC2 is an awesome game that deffinately deserves it’s 10/10 rating, something I am not sure about for ES5 as I personally find game freezes unforgivable.
I highly disagree with Joe on this. As he mentioned before in his alpha protocol review he said “If half of your game is game play and the other half is every thing else, then your game is half broken.” The same case is present in Skyrim, the A.I is retarded, the defensive combat is barely existent, playing on any mode easier than master mode is like rock’em sock’em robots. The combat is terrible because there are specific enemies that you cannot avoid being hit by (Bears, Saber Tooth’s etc). The bears are actually harder than Giants. The Combat is mind numbingly stupid. There isn’t any complex strategy involved and you can use the same “strategy” on each opponent. However the game has an amazing atmosphere and interesting quests, stories and interaction with the environments and NPCs but is it really worth doing all of that if the game play blows which is the most important part of games (Hence game in game-play).
Joe only introduced the combat and never actually explained how it works, it is really bad really bad. There is no way to fight in melee and win a flawless victory against a hard opponent. For an example in devil may cry on hard mode even though it’s really fucking hard you can still actually beat a boss with out taking a single hit but it’s really hard to do that and takes skill & strategy. Skyrim is just a button masher when it comes to game play and that’s really disappointing because it makes every thing else not worth my time. The bear can attack and change it’s attack direction mid attack and can turn on a dime (which prevents flanking) also each attack the bear can do, has a chance to stun, with power attacks it has a higher chance to do this. Blocking is pointless because all it does is reduce damage when you could be running away and let your stamina recharge. The only defensive things that actually work are stun and knock down and knock down is a skill that requires a lot of block training with shields. Is it really worth grinding your character up so you can have a fair fight? There is absolutely no reason to play on easier modes because it makes defense pointless because you don’t need to defend, all you have to do is mash buttons.
Ummm…. No Joe is completely right about this game. I give it a 9 out of 10 due to it’s glitches and A.I an interface problems. Which Joe basically mentioned however the rest of the game more then makes up for all of this.
Bears are not stronger then giants! In fact I have never taken damage from a bear more then once or twice. And on Master difficulty I was able to win some fights nearly flawless if not flawless. You need to sprint around the enemy or past them. The Sneak roll ability is good. And you need to have some form of stun with your attacks. Either a weapon or perk with it. That said the combat is better then oblivion in the very least.
And if your a good enough player which you must not be you can dodge like a saber tooth’s attack. I watched a lets play were someone at the last second jumped out of the way of an oncoming attack and then turned and blasted the tiger off of a cliff with dual fire magic. It was epic! And I have seen an and even done a lot of awesome things. An even though it’s not a turn based rpg a lot of your ability goes into your stats! You need the right perks and stats and even equipment, not twitch reflexes like in devil may cry! Are you FUCKING serious comparing this to devil may cry! I can name a crap ton of games were you cannot have flawless fights! For example any RTS game! So theres about 500 games right there. Or virtually any boxing or wrestling game. Even the games closest to Skyrim or other action rps… your going to take more then a little bit of damage! Health Potions, Shield, Heath Regen, and healing spells are not just for fun, they serve a purpose! And if you want to you can do almost anything in skyrim.
If your going to say anything negative about Skyrim comment on the Menu, or interface, perhaps the glitches, the lack of balancing on the magic. Theses are all minor things that can be patched or fixed via player mods and most of them don’t really need fixing. If you dislike skyrim then you dislike Fallout and all other TES games by default. If you have a problem agaist the series or type of game fine. But here is the thing your missing! Were happy with most of those other games or at least the type of game skyrim is. And skyrim is the best out of all of them! That means that by default Bethesda has improved it’s product and they will have DLC, Expansion packs an patches on the way. On top of which players mods exist.
That’s easily a lie, I can solo two giants in master mode but i can’t even kill a bear once in master mode. Using potions or any items in combat (Especially pausing to use them) is extremely cheap and shows a lack of skill. I hate using healing items during combat and i shouldn’t have to. I wanted to play a spell sword that uses healing magic (It’s in real time, so they can still stop me from healing) and lighting spells but i cannot do that because i can’t dodge or block while using magic and to obtain stronger stun spells or status effects i have to deal with all that crap until i get the right perks to have a FAIR playing field. Oblivion had dodging and flipping so why didn’t Skyrim have this. Skyrim has barely any defensive combat. You have blocking which reduces damage and that’s it, you have a stun ability you can use while blocking that some times works and takes a lot of stamina to use. Of course you can improve these abilities but that means you have to deal with a bunch of unfair crap until you get the perks you need to just have a fair fight. Again i did not attack any body so please don’t be so defensive – Quote “And if your a good enough player which you must not be”. You cannot not dodge, ROLLING FORWARD is not dodging it is barely different than sprinting forward, it makes all most no difference because it’s erratic and by the time you ROLL around to face the opponent they will have their noses up your crapper. Like i said before i wanted to play a Spell Sword not a thief that goes sneaking around and doing rolls all over the place like sonic the hedge hog. The reason i compared devil may cry to Skyrim is because of the game-play in devil may cry works, it’s challenging and requires me to think and be strategic. Skyrim needs the ability to let players side step out of the way or have a counter attack of some kind. If you think bears are easier than giants you are mistaken.
Of course, if you’re relying on only one tiny portion of the game to rate the combat on, its only your fault for thinking it’s bad. Ever tried using…i dunno, a dragon shout? I hear there are dragons in this game…
Wanna know what I do? Giant? Fus Ro Dah, run up while he’s down, kill without taking a hit. Bear? Ice Form, kill without taking a hit. Dragon? Wards+Elemental Fury, kill with 75% of my health intact. Draugr Deathlord? Ritual Stone some normal draugrs, dodge until it gets distracted, run up behind it and behead it with one massive attack.
Also, all moves are dodgable, with the correct perks. When my enemies start a power attack, my adrenaline starts flowing and time itself slows down, leaving me the perfect opportunity to power bash him right into a stagger, negating his power attack entirely!
If i dare say, Skyrim is far LESS of a button masher than other games, if played properly. There are so many options, it’s nobody’s fault but your own if you make it into one.
Slowing down time is all most on the same level as pausing the game. It’s cheap, instead of actually dodging and taking the effort to do the work my self. The slowing down time perk is basically the computer saying “okay here are some free hits because you grinded up this perk”. This game was suppose to let me play the way i wanted to play and it don’t. I do not want to rely on potions or shouts because their cheap. Using potions suspends real time and the enemies have to way of preventing this, which is cheap.
Button Masher
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myPX3rj7x1M
Here is another video………..this guy is a werewolf and guess what………..he is button mashing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR-hYdNUcSQ&feature=related
This game is not a game based on skill alone. Go play a flight sim? If you could walk up to a bear and kill it right off the bat what would be the point of leveling, do you honestly think it would be an RPG worthy of mention? And if you didn’t have to rely on the potions or any of of the other features to win because it interferes with you ego do you honestly think any of those features are would be necessary? No. Its an RPG, the idea behind this is simple allow me to explain it to you. The game does let you choose what type of character you become, once you become that character the game gives you mechanics that you use to win, the more you use, the higher your chances of success, without the need to rely on these features they would be flat out POINTLESS, alchemy would be POINTLESS, along with a number of other aspects of gameplay. This is Starcraft 2, its an RPG where the various aspects of gameplay must be utilized, if your such a skill oriented player, then you shouldn’t have bothered getting it, either that or you didn’t realize the difference between various types of games, either way you’ve only shown your own stupidity by having expectations that would break any true rpg in absolutely every way, nice fail post. lol.
Um… Bears hard? I run as an archer at level 25 and 4-6 arrows to the face take them down. I just keep backing up and when they go to swipe is when I have the chance to shove another steel arrow down his throat.
Also, by leveling up blocking or unarmed skills you CAN have them negate all damage. You just need to work on the skills to have them work correctly.
As for the point of taking damage, learn heal spell and in between hits heal up and then level at up at the same time. If blocking blocked all damage from the start then everyone would be a shield and weapon person instead of us all choosing to be varying setups.
Not every body want’s to be an archer and not every body want’s to use a shield. I happen to like up close and visceral combat combined with deadly magic, do you happen to know who Ammon Jerro is?. Ever played games like Dark Messiah, Draken Ancients Gates, Dungeon Lords etc?
So you dont want to play defensively at all, and you also dont want to take any damage. If that were possible, A: Why would people play defensive skills at all, and B: Why bother having perks or skills that reduce damage? Just dance around them for a little while and they die. Doesn’t that seem just a tad bit broken to you?
And you still didn’t respond to my original suggestion: why not use dragon shouts? They’re a core dynamic of the game, and you’re ignoring them completely? Like i said, there are huge number of shouts that can let you finish a fight without getting hit even once. I do it all the time, its the primary fighting style of my character. Why can’t you?
Yeah! Kill that Capcom asshole!
The combat is still clumsy, although better than oblivion. Which was like an old 80s toy that could only rotate at the shoulder. There is also a huge delay when attacking and switching weapons. Enemies will sometimes get several cheap shots while my character stands there waiting to switch to a spell or different weapon.
AI is horrible. As mentioned by Joe, they don’t get out of your way. Sneaking with them is difficult, and they don’t try to avoid traps. They are mobile chests to carry your junk. That is all.
Joe must be lucky, or the 360 version is just a notch better than PS3, but after playing 40+ hours on PS3 the game becomes choppy as the save file grows. For me I can see the game becoming unplayable. How Bethesda missed this HUGE flaw is beyond me. Good thing the addressed the problem at least.
The menu’s in game are built with the console versions in mind, so PC version feels a bit difficult to work with at the get go. Sure you can use the 360 controller, but you shouldn’t feel like you have to because the keyboard and mouse are slightly difficult to work with.
Disregarding the graphics on the PC. The PC will continually grow to be better than the console versions simply because of the mod support. Bethesda might fix a few faults here and there for any version, but the mod community will pick up where Bethesda poorly left off.
Hey joe!
Love the review you gave and I have to agree 100% on this one. I was not a fan of the elder scroll at all before. Even though I had played Marrowwind and Oblivion before it still lost to me at least to game like Kotor and Mass Effect and most of the problems for me where stated in your review on it, combat was number one, but the other games started off too boring for me and I just could not get into them like I could the others. However Skyrim made me a fan and I love every second playing it making it my favorite Fantasy game to date. I look forward to your next reivew and hope that more great games are to come. Long live the Angry Joe Show!
Hey Joe, You missed 1 very important and funny glitch. It’s the Giant attack on you and your companion. You could fly to the sky sometimes and its fun. It even works on you while mounting your horse. The result it’s extremely entertaining. You should try it
I won’t be able to play this one until after Christmas but I have an odd question, in all the game footage for Skyrim I haven’t seen anyone use a shield, are they not in this game or are they just no where near as useful. Are there still two handed weapons?
Tthey are in the game and are useful, you can block dragon fire ore ice breath like a boss, but it’s just cooler for some people, like myself, to duel wield weapons or magic. You can also bash someone with a shield making them stumble back so it is useful, but some magic attacks can kill in one hit like the firebolt spell.
Yep, Ive been using the shield alot. Can chose to hold any weapons in either hand, so can have mace and sword, or two maces, etc.
Oh yeah and some money for the medical bill.
When I first got the game on release day I was so freaking hyped already I was going to fly out my skylight like a rocket. I started playing and right after I escaped the whole chopping block fiasco, I got up to the point where you find the Greybeards and then I almost forgot about the storyline for like 2 or 3 days. There was just som much content to wrap my head around I literally had like over 150 quests in my log and i had to scroll through it back and forth just to find the main quest sometimes. It was also cool to see they had some easter eggs in the game like finding King Arthur’s sword in the stone, the lady in the lake, and even Luke Skywalker’s dead skeleton hanging over in an ice cave with a glowing green steel sword of weariness on the floor. Its been well over 60 hours and I still have a billion quests in my log aswell as like 4 other characters (I now learned that mages are friggin strong as hell) . I’ve hear alot of complaints about the inventory and pretty much every UI in the game like the star map skill tree, but seriously why complain about it? Alot of the hate is from PC gamers and I have the game for PC, It’s not that bad. Sure sometimes you may accidently clike out of the interface and exit, but it dosn’t happen that often atleast for me. Well to wrap this up all I have to say is great review as always Joe, Ouch!, and you owe me a new monitor.
Not that it’s a big deal, but I’m surprised that it looks like he played it on the 360 instead of the PC. But of course it’s still a great review for what looks like a great game.
I’m still waiting for its eventual GoTY version though.
Yes, how does he install mods on the 360? Well, he must have found a way. The mere thought of playing a bethesda RPG without a nude mod is preposterous, almost unthinkable and may I dare say unethical! It would defy a long and honored tradition in the bethesda RPG history.
You can plug an XBOX controller on the PC version, most bethesda games do this and infact its encouraged you do. Games like this are better played leaned back against your chair and thoroughly enjoyed, not leaned forward with your hands on the keyboard like you’re ready for MLG
*Sigh* This game is cool dont get me wrong its friggen awesome, Theres a lot to see and a lot to do, The quests are cool and most of them have a neat lil story behind them.
There are lots of cool dungeons lol some with stories as well XD
theres some cool enemies… The dragons are done pretty good.. a bit weak tho…Snow trolls hurt T_T The magic rocks, It makes Oblivion its bitch lol.
My problems with the game? well first off, The damn leveling system -_- I finally got to max level and have good gear, Only to have my ass handed to me by a bandit in fur armor WTF!?
Also the god damn glitches!! I have had to reload my old saves so many god damn times because of some bloody glitch screwing my quest up, like one where the npc i had to follow was stuck in a wall!
oh save before going into every area? i dont want to have to save every ten mins,thats the point of autosave.. but i load an autosave only for it to still be glitched.
oh also one glitch where i had everone attack me for no reason -_- i din even have a bounty. I had to restart my entire game cause of that -_-
if i din get raped up the ass by glitches id give it a better score but its an 8 for me =/
A few updates and it will make a 9 or 10.
BTW if anyone compares Skyrim to Dark Souls one more time ill go friggen crazy.
also for those who think there arnt many glitches.. well check online there are a lot and most of em screw ya game up -_- I know cause i have had so many T_T maybe i should make a list -_-
Nice review man!
Freaking awsome review joe!!! Skyrim kicks so much ass, hands one of the best if not the best wrpg
I was as unhyped as you can be about Skyrim. I never was a big Bethesda Fan in the first place. The first of their games I played was Daggerfall and its gigantic scale was something new at the time but due to its bugs it succumbed to a curiousity. Morrowind was kinda nice and was actually playable. Also the free world was still kinda new. I actually finished it despite the lame Story. At the time I favored Gothic though because it just had a more involving Storyline and much more interesting characters. Oblivion I thought was a step back – it still had an absolutely lameass Storyline, lame to nonexisting characters and fewer Guilds to join. It was a huge world but so bland, there was nothing that was actually worth exploring and the – just the same lame shit over and over again. But up till then at least they didn’t piss me off – they just bored me – till Fallout 3 came out. Individual Dialog – yes, *good* individual dialog – HELL NO! God dammit this game pissed me off! It had plotholes you could fly an airbus through! And the Characters weren’t just kinda lame anymore, but FUCKING ANNOYING (with very few exceptions)…WHO THE FUCK NEEDS THESE FRIGGIN WUSSY TWILIGHT WANNABE VAMPIRES IN A FALLOUT GAME…OR MOIRA…OR…CRAZY WOLFGANG (the GODDAMN lamest character in a video game EVER!) and almost everything else was just bland and boring and lame. I liked New Vegas though (especially old world blues – god that was so fucking awesome!) – but it wasn’t developed by bethesda, only plublished so it doesn’t count.
So I had absolutely no expectations for Skyrim whatsoever – I just thought it would be Oblivion on ice with flashier graphics. And I was never ever so suprised by a videogame. It has a real Story, the dialog is amazingly well written while still being down to earth instead of over the top hollywoodish and (I didn’t think I would ever use the term in context to a bethesda game)…almost…subtle…DUDE!
And it actually suprises me at a regular basis – even seemingly standart sidequests often develop into an intriguing storyline so that I actually want to know how it ends!!! That’s something I never expected from a Bethesda RPG. Of course there are some inconsistensies but as a whole it’s just an amazing accomplishment and I’m still baffled.
For Joes review: It’s good but it would have been nice if he got a tiny bit more into the Storyline/dialogue and he didn’t mention the fucked up keyboard/mouse controls. It’s bearable and you get used to it (slowly) but I think it’s worth mentioning.
Hands down, best damn gaming reviewer on the planet.
“jo buy, jo buy nao jes? jo play nao jes? THIS, is how I play Skyrim…”
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Nice review, thinking about getting the game.
Dont forget to show yourself playing as EVIL JOE!!!! at least the cool parts
Later and have fun.
Furiousangel
GINGER DRAGON
love it good job joe waited all year for this game and well worth it been a long time since i enjoyed a game this much. ye sure odd glitches happen but what the hell doesnt take away the epicness of this game
Joe…..
That was Awesome. Rock on!
The only thing I would’ve liked to see is the difficulty level on each mission. As I usually never end up running away, though there has been a few of those episodes when I’ve had no other ways but to flee.
Curses, I hate to withdraw, no matter it’s no huge issue.
Can always come back after you’ve gained some more levels.
And another thing. Giants are like…. lethal when your still at beginner levels. Unless you find a way to take em from a safe distance, their even more terrifying then the first few dragons.
Nevertheless I love the game, and I knew you’d come down giving this your second 10/10.
Now I’ll have to head back to Skyrim. As I’m waiting for more stuff coming our way.
And final note. No matter if there are dozens of other games you wanna show us. There must be some room for that second playthrough. And this time, you can even witness even more then you’ve already have.
That’s it. The End. Wicked review, looking forwards to whatever comes next.
God damnit joe! Now I know what I’ll be doing on my 4 day weekend! I’ve been trying to not buy a new game, but this one looks too good! I’m gonna wait till Fri tho….I wanna see if Steam has a Black Friday sale (probably not)
Oh and one more thing! I am really really curious to see how Diablo III will compare (in rating) to Skyrim!
Danm it alll!!!!! Im laid off and so wish i could bye this game….SO SO SO badly.I Maybe I will go donate blood.How much blood would it take to buy skyrim….Lets find out! Tanks for the review Joey..
I can’t wait for my gf to be done with this game so I can have a go at it, but I disagree with Joe on one thing and that is game freezes: these are unforgivable regardless of how awesome a game is.
Go Joe!
I don’t know…I’m now close to 60h playtime and yes, it makes a lot of fun, but it also has tons of bugs, glitches and problems.
One huge problem are the boring and uninteresting dialogs. Instead of shoving in a thousand quests, they should implement a hundred quests but with decent dialog and characters. It is just pathetic how the people simply run you over with their problems, without even knowing you. And often your character has to ask completely dumb questions during the dialogs and you can’t even choose something else, because most of the time there is only one option.
But the biggest problem is the balancing…because there is none. You can kill a dragon easily just to get eaten by the the next bear that comes your way, it’s ridiculous.
That are problems that would drag down every other game, so in reality Skyrim is more a very good 8/10 or perhaps a somewhat weak 9/10, but surely no 10/10, not compared with other games that got a 9/10 or a 10/10.
Nice review as always ive been playing this game none stop since release and it really is a masterpiece keep up the great work
I think Joe has forgotten to mention a few annoying things.
Spoiler alert “”"
CONS
1st Interface ! its horrible its worse then Oblivion.
2nd Lame Thief’s guild compared to Oblivion. (ok not lame but not as good as in Oblivion)
3rd. ive found incoherent Dialogue in the main quest after you finish the dark brotherhood quests.
it relay annoyed me .
4th last boss battle in the main quest was a turn off i excepted more alot more. i think the end to Oblivion held alot higher status as you also got a dragon armour compared to after when you kill alduin no one thanks and praises you or anything like that. and Alduin is to easy to kill with Dragon rend. its impossible to fail. i think that getting to him was the hard part.
5th almost all end bosses are to easy i find that the bosses whom proceeds them are way harder. its the case with the Mage Collage especially.
6th not being able to enchant Increased damage to spells pisses me off and i think the game is built more around mele combat then anything which is a shame.
7th not doing anything with Crafting, there is so much more that they could have done to immerse the player in the crafting skills.
8th NO ARENA
(
PROS
1st mage Collage storyline has been GREATLY improved from Oblivion. even tho i think its to easy to become archmage as it was in Oblivion its still an awesome story.
2nd Dark brotherhood although they did mimic abit from Oblivion i think its way better then the main quest..
3rd DUEL WIELDING
4th Not being repetitive and reusing levels as in Oblivion. every Dungeon is unique and has its own challenge.
5th OSTKAKA !!! Swedish Lyrics in the theme song. Seriusly check it out on youtube. Search for Skyrim Trailer Swedish lyrics or Skyrim Trailer Ostkaka
6th Characters with Swedish, danish and Norwegian acent.
7th Nordic Style influence Viking Style basically
For me the interface Ruins the game alot and would force me to give it a 9/10 just cause of it.
I’m not mad or anything, I’m not gonna hate on you, but here’s a counter argument.
1. The interface is fine and much easier to manage than in Oblivion or Morrowind. I can actually read a book or use an item without scrolling down mountains of equipment. Also the ability to turn over items is a nice touch
2. The Thief’s Guild was perfectly fine and started off more interestingly than in Oblivion where all he said was “You want moe moneh? Get dat s***”.
3. I’m not having that, so no real comment. Even if I am having it, I don’t notice ad it’s probably not a big deal then.
4. I agree, but that’s what the difficulty selection was for. I changed it and the battle was much more epic, also the Dragon Armor in Oblivion SUCKED badly, and actually felt insulted when they gave it to me. Saving the world is it’s own reward.
5. Same resolution as 3, turn up the difficulty.
6. You can survive purely on spells, it’s not focused entirely on Melee. There are so many spells, so many perks, and so much equipment and enchantments that can make being a magic wielder a complete beast. Later level spells are ridiculous, and are their own reward to use.
7. Yah, maybe. But with the smithing, and enchanting constellations taking so many perks to get into, it’s up to the player to invest their time to make better. It’s fine for me, even though it’s a bit simplistic.
8. You’re kidding… you’re complaining about the Arena? DO YOU WANT THE ADORING FAN TO RETURN?! Are you insane? Also, there’s already so much to do, I could care less about there being another arena. Plus, DLC will be released in time, so you never know, they might re-add it.
I love this review. I definately buy the game now… I had it on my list but I’ve had some problems with Oblivion so I decided to wait a little longer … now is the time
yeah bro don’t hate on a game because its completely different from what souls offers you. dark souls is intended to push players to the limits of their abilities, and while it is a hellish ride getting all the way to the end of new game+ is one of the most wonderfully satisfying moments in my gaming life. Now skyrim is designed NOT to be a long hellish ride to the end, its meant to be FUN! and it does this for most if not all of the freaking game. now we get it yr a bad ass for preferring dark souls over skyrim, but lets face it bro if u didn’t like it u wouldn’t have played for so long. admittedly i don’t think skyrim is the game to end all perfect games like Joe says, but in all seriousness WHAT THE HELL IS?
Was looking forward to you reviewing this game.Guess the wait was worth it.
I’ve enjoyed the hell out of the game that at some points I felt overwhelmed by it’s immense world.I reached level 44 and I had to leave it for a while because I got a bit bored with it.
I do think however that you praised the game a little too much.It’s an amazing game,but not masterpiece.It’s far from that.It has a lot of glitches and bugs that break the quest progression which can ruin the whole immersion.
That’s not true at all.
I encountered VERY few glitches, and yes this is in fact a masterpiece.
The worst glitch I encountered was a dragon that didn’t give me kills, but that glitch was salvagable, but other than that there is nothing “Game-breaking” like in New Vegas with the corrupted files, nor anything near as annoying. I dare say your completely wrong and the only reason you probably got bored to begin with is because you just needed to take a break. It’s o.k to NOT play it 24-7, because you get burned out, wait a day and you’ll be fine.
Also, this isn’t Just Cause 2 where it was overwhelming because it was too big and didn’t have much to do, this game is just the right size, but added a world’s load of problems to solve. I’m 80 hours in, still loving it, and probably only completed half of it or less. It’s by far more than anything I expected, especially since in the last few videos, people on this site complained it was only 6GB big on their hard drives.
Anecdotal evidence. A quick visit to any gaming site would show that there are people who experience game breaking glitches. I haven’t been affected, but unlike you, I acknowledge they exist.
I never said there weren’t glitches, I said there weren’t game crashing ones… do you even read people’s comments before getting mad?
I have nothing against you, yet you’ve showed nothing but spewing hatred towards me on all of my posts. What is wrong with you?
Hay Joe
I heard in your review that Skyrim is the penultimate RPG. Maybe i misheard you but if not, in your opinion what is the Best RPG ever.
Sounds like Joe likes to roleplay alot
)
i played it, reached lvl 40 now and got leader of most of the guilds.
Overall its a great game, but i do think the guild questlines are very short compared to Oblivion, and sometimes the quest arrow is there at stupid times, like if u are to go a house and looks for clues of a crime, then theres a big arrow on top of the item, making a search irrelevant..
Only combat improvement i can think of is the dual wield, being able to cast while wielding weapons are awesome, but the combat is still stale and a buttonmash.
good review
Hey Joe !!
OMG !! This is your best review yet !!! SO FUCKING AMAZING !!! LOL… Keep up this awesome work man i love your show and now i want so play skyrim even more than before !!!! I’m like drooling all over my desk (sry nasty). Man if i had money to spare i’d just send you a few hundreds bucks or something you totaly deserve it lol. I think your just the best game reviewer on the web, not because of how deep you go in the details but because of your direct approach, honesty, humor and fun factor of your reviews, you totaly manage to transfer your passion for the games and its just amazing. Awesome work man just keep it up !!
Joe_k7
also, Skyrim makes me proud to be swedish and the swedish accents on the guards are amazing
Are you all as burly and tough?
I have over 80 hours on my character and I still feel over whelmed, and it’s only my first character!
I still have a thief, and a mage to do, and I still haven’t finished the story yet.
Well worth the ten, and as a fan since Daggerfall I have to say this series just keeps getting better and better! Well done Angry Joe, this game will still be played years from now and this 10 shows it.
Great job, couldn’t agree more. Gotta go play.
Please dont tell the score in the comments, dont want it spoiled
I have both Skyrim and Dark Souls.
I like Dark Souls better. (yes, you can start the hate now)
I don’t hate you, I played Dark Souls also and kicked it’s butt. Yah it’s challenging, but not nearly as difficult as people say. Also, why are you comparing them? They are completely different games, both unique in the entire library of Medieval Action RPGs.
There is room for both games, and I respect your opinion, but don’t go mouthing off and boasting in “the hate”, because that isn’t someone being fair and stating their opinion. That’s some drunk sports fan trying to start s*** in a bar.
Say what you want, but don’t cause a flamewar. Joe’s site is too good for that.
Your such a nerdy faggot. All he said was he preferred Dark Souls over Skyrim. Your pathetic ass just wants thumbs up to justify your pathetic existence, you attention seeking whore.
Jim… I’m sorry but… what is wrong with you?
No, not because you disliked Skyrim, its fine to have that opinion, but the guy gave a fair and polite response when he said he prefered dark souls. Absolutely no reason to blow up like that.
Do you think that you are somehow better than people who like Skyrim? You’re claiming that everyone here is an angry fanboy, well, hate to break it to you friend but you appear to be the angriest immature person here. Please, as a favor to us all, grow up and calm down down before posting.
Wooohoooo the Skyrim review!!! I’m so excited! Thanks Joe
))
Well deserved 10. Just when i thought I was getting bored of games, this came out
and I was “gone” for over 40 hours. For me, one of the best games ever 
I was so excited for this game. Got it on released and played for days and days on end. Then I hit the inevitable brick wall that comes with all Elder Scrolls games… And I hit this one early… Countless hours with Morrowind, well over 100 hours with Oblivion (a game I hated) and probably 100 with Skyrim and I was done – with Skyrim, and TES series.
The combat still sucks balls. Dark Souls must have spoiled me, but god damn, it is barely an improvement over Oblivion. I just swing sword till enemy runs out of HP. Yes the two hand system is nice, but long overdue and not really that great. The game is piss easy even on the hardest difficulty and Dragon’s are not a challenge of skill, rather patience.
The story was what I was expecting, a fucking prophecy amidst political strife! Oh wow Bethesda! Haven’t seen that in every single other game you did! Oh wait, I have. Stormcloaks vs Imperials was probably the best part (of course I jumped to help the Stormcloaks. Fuck the Imperials and their culturally destructive ways. I am Dumner through and through). Most other quests degenerated into the standard fetch/kill/find borefest.
I don’t know. I just feel I was wasting my time with this. It never felt like a challenge (unlike Dark Souls which raped my very soul) and it was a bland experience in a very pretty package. If your going to invest 100 hours or so into this game, might as well join an MMORPG; at least then you can rub your stats and items in other peoples faces rather than being the most powerful being within your own console.
Probably going to get thumbed down to hell by angry fanboys who think this is the equivalent of the wheel, but whatever. I am allowed to have an opinion and my opinion is that I am not impressed by Skyrim, RPG’s of today and the gaming industry as a whole if Skyrim is getting near perfect scores around the board.
I will wait for Yahtzee’s review. At least someone won’t be afraid to be cynical.
So you hate the game and spend more than 100 hours with it? WTF? If you don’t like it, don’t play it for christs sakes, you’ll only be pissed more and more. And I would rather spend let’s say 400 hours with Skyrim (or oblivion) than with some MMORPG any time.
When did I say I hate it you disgusting little fanboy? If you weren’t such a pathetic fanboy, you would realize that criticism =/= hatred. Pathetic.
@Valhalla Stop trying to counter opinions. I find Dark Souls to have a much better combat system than Skyrim, you don’t. Deal with it and don’t try and bring up a counterargument. Your not sophisticated. Your just a dumbass who is selectively blind to the word “opinion” and who jumps on the rock hard phallus of any and every game you purchased.
Are u freakin’ kidding me? “well over 100 hours with Oblivion (a game I HATED) and probably 100 with Skyrim and I was done”
I have to agree whit you. The most dissapointing thing about skyrim is the melee combat, slashing whit a sword still feels like cutting through air. The combat system in dark souls is more interactive. When you hit somebody, or get hit in dark souls you feel the impact. But i can still forgive that part of the game becouse the game is so atmospheric.
Dark souls combat+skyrims open world whit its massive content. Would be the next step for the future rpgs.
The combat is fine. what are you talking about?
And yes, I’ve played Dark Souls and love it, so you can’t use the whole “you just don’t understand” thing on me.
And I have no idea what you’re talking about. The combat system in both games is fine but entirely different. It’s like comparing Street Fighter to Mortal Kombat, they support different play styles and you’re just being unfair to one because you favor another. That’s called being bias and not really giving a fair chance. I thought the fighting was a little clunky myself, but i got used to it, and now I may actually prefer Skyrim’s because of all the ways you can fight: Duel wielding, shield and sword, duel casting, sword and staff, fist to fist, and many more. In DS all I ever did was sword and shield 9Because duel wielding was worthless, and no idiot went WITHOUT a shield) and it got old, then I used pyromancy… but then it got old with the rest of the magic. It’s still a fine system, but how can you call DS’s system superior when Skyrim not only gives you more options, but also uses a system that gives combat significantly more depth with the constellations for combat and the perk selection?
Flamelurker is right and I agree with him 100%. Couldn’t have said it better myself. I’ve played and beaten both games, Dark Souls twice. The combat in Skyrim feels flimsy and unrealistic, especially when wielding a weapon. You wave it in the air hoping it will do damage instead of something like in Dark Souls with a lock-on mechanic and having enemies knocked back a bit to possibly get the upper hand.
While both games are excellent, I personally prefer Dark Souls due to it’s challenge, combat, and replayablility.
And Joe, Excellent review and great points made! But you’re mistaken on invisible walls. There ARE some, and it prevented me from taking a few routes, which gets really annoying when you want to take a quicker route.
Also, I beat the main quest and a couple side missions in just over 24 hours. I’ve almost completed all the side missions and I’m only 35 hours in. With a game THIS massive, it should be WAY longer.
ya!!!!!!!!!