This game got great press when it was released, a lot of awards, was commercially successful ... the whole shooting match. It's easy to understand why, it's a nice tight game with good focus and good combat. Writing is respectable considering it's a game, voice acting is good, it looks good. It can be hard to get working on modern hardware, but just do a search for "imagecfg.exe" which is a tool from the Windows 2000 Server feature pack that lets you permanently configure executables to run on a single core. Apply that to the three main executables, then get the popular VisibleUpgrade mod. Viola. This game is better than 90% of the games being released today. At the current price of under $2 it's such a good deal it should be a crime.
Everyone should know what Skyrim is by now, it is ... was ... a decent enough RPG that managed to inspire a gigantic following giving it fame and glory to a level far beyond what it actually deserved, but it's still a good enough game. It amassed a ludicrously enormous community of selfless, dedicated modders who pumped out vast amounts of game modifications many of which were of superb quality. Devoted Skyrim enthusiasts embraced hard learning curves, mastery of many third-party utilities and managers, all so they could create wonderfully modded installations. They would invest hundreds of hours into this hobby. Unfortunately Bethesda was disinclined to leave modding enthusiasts to simply enjoy their hobby, but instead worked to mandate frequent updates and new releases which would break all that hard work. Over and over and over again. Pushing their alternative "Creation Club" in hopes of monetizing mods. They are still doing it now, even though the game is 12 years old. I don't think they'll ever stop. Currently the GOG version can only accept Creation Club content and minimal modding that doesn't require plugins. Whatever little attention remains in the modding community focuses on the Steam version. If you want to mod, don't buy it here.
Skyrim that can't be modded is worth $5 tops. Save your money and buy Oblivion, it's a better game anyway and still fully supports the thousands and thousands of mods that are available.
Whatever it is that makes people praise this game is beyond me. I still enjoy Wizardry 8, Baldur's Gate, Incewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, Divine Divinity, etc. and play them all a few times a year. This game is just slow, and a total drudge. Impossible to complete for me, I can't recommend it. I have to suspect there's a lot of Fallout worship at work here, where the devs are admired and so the game earns praise it objectively does not deserve. Save your money.
Because what everyone wants from a game is someone else's political sermon, am I right?
This is a real-time dance puzzle game, combined with seeking pattern-differences and hidden buttons on the walls. Magic requires real-time rune selection making casters a liability, rogues are just another melee there's no thieving. There's no story to speak of. This game is as far removed from an RPG as it's possible to be.
I'm not experiencing any performance problems, although I have to disclose that I don't have a little number somewhere on the screen that I obsess over. Just playing is fine, no input lag or stuttering, all good. FoV is too small out of the gate, but easily enlarged in the config file after which you just set it to read-only. Looks real fine at 110. The facial construction is a bit wierd, but once you put your shades on you look pretty good! I don't like being cast as a deadbeat dad or the snippy reparte between self and former lover, pretty lame. Same with having to drag a "magic kid" around. The severe uptick in f-bombs isn't helping either. But I guess PB has elected to dumb down to Bethesda levels to grab some of that market. Probably inevitable, but really breaks my heart. Melee combat works a lot better, no getting beat to death ten times by the first bird you encounter as in the first game. Much more forgiving, and you aren't forced into ranged first thing. I'll update as I go, just a few hours in at the moment. Overall solid good thus far.
The game is fairly enjoyable once you get the hang of the controls. You have to grind quite a bit in the beginning to earn money for a viable ship, then it's a lot of fun until you start to approach the end. And end I'll never experience, I'm afraid. The developers saw fit to encumber the final several missions with ridiculous odds; fighting foes both ways ... they respawn ... while massively outnumbered, outclassed, and trapped in asteroid fields. The only way to prevail is pure luck. You go from challenging encounters that test your skills, but are fair and rewarding when you succeed ... to pure stupid. This is not my idea of entertainment.
A gorgeous game with enormous promise, this title is sadly fatally flawed in my opinion. The combat system is extremely interesting and demands a great deal of practice with NPC trainers in order to master. However it is effectively so "real" that it stands as an obstacle to enjoyment, and enjoyment is the purpose of any game. Add to that the game virtually always confronts you with "gang bang" encounters where you face so many foes that all the intricate one-on-one mechanics you've tediously mastered are entirely useless. The only effective way to play the game is stealth, and stealth has no relationship to the vaunted "realistic combat" that is the hallmark of the game. Every other attempt at realism in the game is likewise obviated in one way or another, reduced to either clicking the ever-available cornucopia of free food for the "eating" realism, or bouncing your head off the keyboard after falling asleep during the "alchemy" realism. Add to this some fairly graphic "adult" encounters ... including bestiality ... that aren't signalled in any reasonable way for the morally oriented among us to avoid and you have a total loss. Don't waste money or time on this game.
