Preview of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

In the early 90s fantasy role-playing games (RPG)on the PC were still growing and developing. Early games were based on three dimensional mazes that allowed movement only through 90 degrees. As games like Doom arrived and gave the ability for 3D movement, a few attempts to clone these games and add a fantasy theme were attempted. These games were OK but were not true RPG games, but more hack and slay games with magic and mayhem.

Then along came Bethesda. In 1994 they introduced Elder Scrolls: Arena. It was the first game in the genre to truly add some role-playing elements, and to introduce the concept of plot and quests to the game type. The graphics weren’t brilliant, and the sound was essentially non-existence, but the excitement of being able to create a character and use experience to really create your own hero was amazing, and many paper RPG players began to play this type of game.

At this time, the concept of a free-roaming game was new, and this was both a good thing and a bad thing. Part of the problem was that the quests weren’t that great and mostly entailed taking an object from point A to point B – thus it involved a lot of leg work through a vast world! The game therefore became monotonous and boring at times.

After moderate success Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall was released in 1996. It continued with the same theme, allowing the player to roam around a full 3D world and build their character – there was a better plot, but again it wasn’t essential to follow it. The game had similar failings to Arena and the vastness of the game became daunting. It was also a very buggy game and even though it was a commercial success it wasn’t critically acclaimed. However, true RPG gamers saw the value it offered and realized it was trailblazing the whole genre.

A couple of games were released with the Elder Scrolls name, but these were more traditional dungeon hack type games and 3^rd person perspective games, so they really didn’t build on the first two games and were more of a sideward step than anything.

The in 2002 Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was released. It returned to the formula of an open and expansive game but made the plot better and more non-linear. I reduced the size of the world but improved the detail of the graphics and this was the first of the series to really show the true potential of a PC RPG game. With multi-level quests that were more complicated and not simply take A to B, the game became far more immersive and successful. It really began to feel like a proper paper RPG and the whole RPG community was beginning to get excited.

For Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion released in 2006, Bethesda began to focus more on game elements such as an intelligent adaptive plot and world. The AI of the non player characters and the way in which the world changed because of the characters actions was innovative and new. Additionally, Bethesda focused on improving the graphics, sound and physics of the game and ended up producing one of the most atmospheric RPG games of all time – even by today’s standards the graphics are very good.

Oblivion became the standard by which all other RPG games is judged and even today only a few come close to the standard set with Obvlivion – Dragon Age and The Witcher being two. Oblivion produced a system that had far more realism, and with a diverse and complex quest system the game became very rewarding to play, even if you didn’t follow the main plot. Just walking through the country was amazing as you saw trees swaying and grass moving - it simply was a new experience for the RPG gamer.

For years later and with technology much improved, Bethesda have announced that they have been working on a game for two years and it would be published on November 11, 2011.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim is set 200 years after Oblivion and introduces a new nemesis for the world, this time in the form of the dragon-god Alduin. The king has been assassinate and it’s up to you, the last dragon-born to save the world and destryoy Alduin.

Like most of the prior Elder Scrolls games, you are presented with an open world and do not have to follow the main plot; you are free to roam the country and visit the 5 main cities and discover villages, caves and mountains as you go. The complexity of the quests has been improved and the current trend to add dynamic changing quests that adapt to your choices has been added.

Traditional RPG gamers will probably be disappointed to see the class system disappear, but like most modern RPG games, Elder Scroll V focuses more on skills, skill trees and perks to allow you to create a character as you go along, mimicking real life. The system looks like it’s going to be a cross between Fallout 3 and Fable, but I am sure it will be well done.

Bethesda have focused more on the lore of the land making dragons an integral part of the game and ultimately the plot. As dragon-born you will gain special skills after killing dragons; the game introduces a dragon language and has over 15 species of dragon to encounter, some evil and some good.

Obviously the graphics will be improved; Bethesda have built an in-house game engine that promises to deliver better distance graphics, an amazing adaptive lighting effect and other graphics that we probably only see in the top games of today.

The graphics won’t simply be ‘animations’ but will use real physics; for example, the weight of branches will be taken into account when a breeze or a wind flows through the tree – this should provide an amazing realism. Things like water flow will be dynamic and again real physic will be used to calculate where the water will go. Even the snow effects will be calculated precisely.

The whole game is likely to be the most ‘real’ game yet; the combination of real physics, adaptive quests and NPC that will be intelligent and respond to the changing world will make the experience flow better and feel better.

The designers are trying to meld the epic with the mundane to give the graphics a real feel rather than a pre-defined feel.

It’ll take a while for us to see whether they can achieve this, and I suspect you’re going to need a high powered PC to get the best out of the game, but the designers have promised that the game experience on the XBOX 360 and PS3 will be the same, with the same quality of graphics – it remains to be seen if they can keep this promise.

Whatever game emerges you know that it is going to be one of the best, most immersive RPG games of all time. With the pedigree they have Bethesda are sure to produce a captivating and superior game that has hundreds of hours game play, and the same quality that we expect of them!

I simply cannot wait!