Skrym: Old School RPG?
When it comes to computer gaming there are a few different styles that exist. Most of the press in the enthusiast market is placed on FPS gaming as it is the easiest to judge hardware performance with. There is also simulations, strategy, RTS and casual, but the gaming style that probably has some of the deepest roots is Role Playing. In fact RPGs along with strategy and simulation gaming make up the original core of computer gaming. Today however these types of games feel like they gate a back seat at the gaming table.
In the case of RPGs the game style has evolved over the years and eventually morphed into what we know today as an MMO. This evolution came with some good and bad traits. The good was that the worlds where open ended, well at least a lot more so than solo RPGs and they where easy to get on and play with friends, a solid social aspect. The bad news was the deep storyline of a great RPG was lost due to the need to simplify the system for the broadest base of appeal.
Bethesda is a company that has been bucking this trend with their Elder Scroll series. They have created a series of games based on the old school RPG standard of great plot and backstory and then tried to open the world for the players to feel they where in control, not moving down a rail of storyline that limited deviation. What we will be looking at today is the latest edition of the Elder Scroll series, Skyrim.
The premise of the story is based in the world of Tamriel, the basis of the entire Elder Scroll series. You awake after having been captured as you tried to cross the border of Skyrim, a region of the planet. You seem to have stumbled into a raid that captured a group of Skyrim separatist along with their leader and a horse thief. Your adventure begins as you await the executioners axe.
Now for many RPG fans the start may seem a bit contrived without more detail of a background but this it the open nature of the game. Everything about this game is about you and the way YOU want to play. This open story give you the room to create ANY backstory you want.
As the story progresses you discover you are a person of myth, known as Dragonborn. This means you have some mystical connection to Dragons and when they die you “capture” the essence of their soul. As in old school RPG you somehow stand above the norm but again the method choice for this from a story point of view is very open, leaving you with a lot of option.
The game system itself uses a DX9 based gaming engine specifically designed for the game. The graphics are actually very good and the game runs surprisingly well even on older systems. The screen shots in this review will give you idea of what you will see in game. A lot of reviews I have seen has actually pointed to the DX9 engine usage as a flaw or failure in their eyes. Personally I think the engine provides some great images and while not state of the art is still more than enough for a great gaming experience.
The game engine however does more than put graphics on the screen, it also makes the world around you seem alive. I am not talking about scripted events, which the game has as well. What I am referring to is called the “Radiant Story”. This system keeps track of your actions and then uses those actions to create new, random encounters for you to deal with as well as “leveling” your encounters based on your character at the time. This means you are less dependent on following a set storyline path and have more room to wander the world.
To say I am impressed with this system is an understatement. Doug and I in our testing have seen some amazing encounters pop up that obviously where not scripted and in some cases seem to exist solely based off our long term actions. In some cases it has taken what appeared to be disconnected actions and connected the dots to create a resulting encounter. This means the world feels more alive around you, because it. People are not wandering aimlessly in the game. They have patterns for sure but then again so do we with work and such and these are the kinds of patterns the NPCs seem to follow.
A interesting result of this is a term near and dear to RPG enthusiast, dungeon clearing. What I mean is you stumble upon a ruin that you decide to explore. Inside you find a den of thieves and you spend some time clearing them out, okay killing them. Now under most RPG systems one of two things happen. The den is left cleared out until the end of the game or the den respawns the same group of thieves. This system however takes a different approach. Over the next few weeks game time a new group of thieves will possibly, not always, move into the ruins and take up residence. This is NOT the same group and going back will not lead to the same encounters. The boss might be different as well as the guard number and patterns. Also the longer you let this go on the more it fills. In other words this has a reaction that is almost realistic in it’s scope.
This living work is not limited to just the people, NPCs, but the fauna as well. One of the coolest encounters I had was when out hunting, yes you can do mundane stuff as well but more in a minute. I was slowly working toward a large Elk when something spooked the Elk and he started running. As I watched a herd of Elk can leaping across the river near him with two saber tooth cats close on their tails. They ran for a bit before the cats broke off, not able to catch the Elk. I watched as the cats returned to the other side of the river and noted that a Mammoth was cresting the hill. The cats saw it as well and alter course going after the mammoth. I could not bring myself to move as I watched the mammoth beat the snot out of the cats and then lumber off injured. When I got the corpses of the cats I was able to skin them for some nice pelts. I found the mammoth a little ways farther on now dead 
obviously from it’s injuries.
Now I have seen a lot of wild encounters so I know this was not scripted. Especially considering it happened in the middle of nowhere. What was amazing was the fact I was riveted to watching this entire event unfold despite it having nothing to do with my character or the quest I was on at the time. This I think speaks volumes for how well the Radiant Story system works.
The character creation system in game might seem simplistic to many but I have to tell you I really like it. There is not a slew of classes to choose from, you essential pick your race and create the look you want, then you are done. The game offers four different “human” cultures to choose from as well as an orc, three elf, a lizard and cat person as well. Each of these come with bonuses in certain areas of game play, as well as something special in the way of a talent or skill. There is not any kind of class system with the game being skill based in advancement. There are 18 base skills that encompass tasks your character can perform. As you perform these tasks you get better with them, as in real life. Now this does not mean you can grab a bow and shoot it 100 times and suddenly be a master. The system is setup that certain things must happen as you use the skills and the requirement for an advance gets harder as you skill up. As you skill up each skill has a “perk” tree in it that lets you make the skill more useful. It is possible through game play to earn up to around 80 perks with 240 available. This means there is no way to max out a character in everything.
While this system might seem strange to RPG enthusiasts, it actually makes a lot of sense. The old pen and paper game Runescape used a skill leveling system based on use. This means the character you get is based on what you do and how you play, not an artificial limited created by the game designers. This design is in my opinion a great thing. It is possible to create a character the way you want him to be and only in EVE have I seen this kind of character play flexibility.
Now as I said before a lot of the RPG world has morphed to the MMO play style and with it the weaknesses that it brings. Well Elder Scrolls takes some of the better elements and brings them into Skyrim. You have the ability to exist with your character in this world without the need to quest. You can for example mine ore and sell it or use it make things. You can hunt for food or skins and then use them for crafting, yes you can cook. You can also gather various components for alchemy or enchanting of items. Where in most MMOs this is done for cash income or to hand to lower level characters, in Skyrim this can be used to effect your character directly. Alchemy is a great skill for a thief or assassin to use by making poisons. Smithing will let you upgrade equipment or make new as will enchantment, you can even invest in local businesses and be a trader if you so choose.
There are some downsides to Skyrim however, all is not perfect. The game has a few bugs ranging from jerky mouse movement for some, to issues with the sound being out of whack when facing a sound source straight on. There are some issues with occasional crashes of the game and some of Bethesda’s classic glitches like flying animals or watching a mammoth spawn in mid air and fall to it’s demise. There is a patch due to possibly release next week to address some of these, but we do not have a lot of details at this time. Also the game lacks any kind of multi-player option to enjoy with your friends, you are totally on your own.
Even with these glitches Skrim is a game that has capture me. The openness of the game and the mechanics have captured many of the elements I loved best in MMOs but taken aware the weaknesses. The character creation and advancement system is amazing with the game being about the way I play and not me adapting to the game. The game world feels alive and you feel like you are a part of it. Your actions have consequences that might show up at any time and anywhere, without feeling like you have been riding a rail car down the plot.
It has been a long time since I have truly felt the thrill of the RPG experience like I did in the old days with pen and paper. Computer based RPG was fun but you always felt like you where just along for the ride in the story. Skyrim has rekindled that old flame and stoked it to a bon-fire. While it may not have state of the art graphics I am kind of glad. Rather than giving the game mindless eye candy like MOST titles today do, Bethesda focused on the mechanics under the game to bring the game world to life and providing a deep, rich world to enjoy. We have seen some really good gaming titles release this year but with no doubt Skyrim is at the top of the list. If you are an RPG play then this is a MUST buy and if not, then you should buy it anyway and discover RPG play as it should be done.
Excuse me now as I return to Skyrim, there so much to see and do and so little time….. hhmmmm… wonder if I can declare a Skyrim holiday for a week or so…darn still not enough time..
Show segment as aired live 26 November 2011
