Friday, February 25, 2011

Elder Scrolls V: Is the Hype of Skyrim Justified?

Judging purely from the outspoken nature of Skrim's (anticipation) fan base, one might be inclined to believe that this is the most anticipated release for 2011. In fact the rather outspoken fan base of Elder Scrolls appears to have been in circlejerk mode(...no offense fellas!) ever since the release of the in-game footage trailer yesterday. Should Bethesda be worshiped before the game is in hand?... Nope. It's too early to say how well the game will live up to our expectations. In fact, with expectations so lofty, it is only natural to be disappointed. So personally, I'm going to set the bar at Oblivion, and hope Skyrim can make the leap.

That is NOT to say that we shouldn't be looking forward to the all new game engine. It is unclear how much more powerful this new engine is, but generally it is safe to assume that new game engines represent improvements either technology or programming techniques. Elder Scrolls Arena, and Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall were exclusively PC games. Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was made for the first-gen Xbox, followed by Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on the Xbox 360. Once again, Bethesda will be making a game for the Xbox 360, which means that they will be working with the same rendering power as they had with Oblivion.

Personally, I found that Oblivion underperformed on the Xbox 360 at points. When there were many dynamic figures in an environment, there was noticeable lag. Although this is understandable, it is unnerving to think that the next installment in the series will be similar in performance due to hardware limitations. (PC fans that are fronting top-end machines will not have this problem!)

Is the hype justified? Yeah... I guess it is. Fans more dedicated than myself can relate to the giddy feelings I get when I remember the hours spent becoming Neravarine in Morrowind. If this game is half what we want it to be, it will be an astounding success.

I look forward to supporting my favorite game developer, Bethesda.
I look forward to exploring the new world of Skyrim on 11/11/11.
I look forward to slaying dragons.
Most importantly, it's been too long since I've rocked out to the "Call of Magic" theme music.

CAN'T WAIT. 

20 comments:

  1. PC fan here... so excited about this game!

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  2. This post made me wanna check the game out... i hope they release a demo asap.

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  3. we will see when the game is out

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  4. I cannot wait for this game! Supporting!

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  5. It's definitely not overhyped. Oblivion is considered one of the best, if not the best, open world RPG game ever.

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  6. I just hope it allows you to ride dragons :(

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  7. Not sure if it is overhyped, but it will still be an awesome game. I will check it out.

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  8. I havent seen the gameplay vid yet but im stoked. I hope it can live up to the hype. I will follow and see.

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  9. Ha, as soon as I saw the new trailer for Skyrim I immediately installed Oblivion and Morrowind again.

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  10. I may check this one out, maybe when I get my new pc...

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  11. 'I'm looking forward to it, but I'm not that excited. Personally, it's not my favorite type of game, but it looks epic.

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  12. never been a huge fan of the series, but a lot of my friends love it

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  13. I really like your blog, I'll be following!

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  14. I think it very much is. IV was great.

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