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.