Good day/morning/evening/whatever wherever you are.
So, I've played it just 2 hours. Not too much indeed. But these 2 hours were that much epic, that now I just have to write what I think about this game. It's just epic guys... In my straight opinion, we're having a game that is better than Morrowind and Oblivion. Really honest. It's like Oblivion combined with Morrowind + more. Imagine that... I'm not gonna write much, just basic impressions (and no spoilers), but I hope it will help you if you haven't played the game yet.


1. Graphics - it's beautiful, styled, but don't expect fireworks.
I play on low settings with middle quality textures, low quality water and low-medium quality view distance. Impressions? Man, how I love it. It's just "low settings" in the options but it looks better than Oblivion and Fallout 3 on high settings. Really, that good. And it runs pretty smooth too, no lags at all. My PC is GeForce 8600 GTS 256 MB, 2 GB RAM and Intel Pentium Dual CPU E2180 2Ghz (quite an old machine, I bet most of you got better PCs). So, it's more like a low-end PC, but it runs Skyrim like a class. So, don't worry, if your PC is better than mine. You'll most likely run it at least on medium settings and the game will look great. Of course, it's not Crysis graphics or something bombastic and ultra realistic but it keeps my eye looking at it with a honest admiration to it. Sunrise at 7 am is wonderful...

2. Sound - the best TES soundtrack (and the best GAME soundtrack ever?)
Music is epic. From the very, very beggining. It keeps your heart beating fast if the music's fast and keeps you steady if it's slow. Jeremy Soule did an amazing work on that. I've always admired his style and maturity and the way he did it in Skyrim... Really amazing. And there are a lot of voice actors. I'm feeling like everybody has a different voice. That's great.

3. Story - well, what can I say after 2 hours, but still...
It's more mature than ever. Dialogues are long, realistic and climatic. You feel like you're really in the game's world. There are nice characters. And the most important - tutorial is not boring.

4. Gameplay - I can tell a lot here...
Everything you didn't like in Morrowind or Oblivion, isn't in Skyrim. Character creation is great but one thing isn't so cool - you can't adjust the age of your fella. Of course, you can make him look old or young but I kinda missed it. Anyway... You feel like the world's varied, big and beautiful. You feel like you can do a lot of things. I used to improve my blades quality as a blacksmith (I don't know how to call it) and it's easy, fun and it made me smile. There are a lot of little details that are fun to look at. The best thing I love, that didn't happen in Morro and Oblivio, is that NPCs are really talking with each other. Not like in Oblivion, here they REALLY talk. You feel like they're alive, they have their own lifes and own problems. You can help most of them, for a price. You can talk with them about war and learn interesting lore facts. Everyone looks quite different, but sometimes just quite. Not that it's a same mistake from Oblivion where everyone looked the same, but here sometimes I meet NPCs that look like "I've seen this face before". Let's say it's a minus of Skyrim, if you're really looking for any. But it's not that bad as in Oblivion... Fighting is good. Never used magic though, not a single time . Note that the game's pretty easy on "Adept" difficulity which is a default difficulity. I suggest you turn on something more if you're looking for Oblivions "normal" difficulity. Slashing enemies is a fun but sometimes I feel like my character isn't doing certainly what I'm doing on my mouse.

5. Overall - better than Morrowind and Oblivion... Nothing more to say. I've played just 2 hours, so you know. The world's big, at least it seems like it, and I'm feeling like it's not inflexible world. You really feel free, at last. Like in Morrowind.

Cool, good to hear. Thanks for the thoughtful non spoilerific posting.

I can back off of my drinking spree now, I was becoming depressed by other postings.

Oh yeah, I mean to ask.

Did you notice if you can alter the game difficulty settings after you have played a while with a character on a easier setting, or
do ya have to start afresh ?

You can change difficulity anytime.

I've seen similar opinions to yours (the reviewers certainly enjoy it) but a personal touch is nice. I've got an hour left before my PC is open for business....thanks for making that wait speed a bit.

Thank you for this little personal review from a real player :]

Looking forward to Skyrim!

thanks for the quick review man! these next 2 hours are GONNA TAKE FOREVER !

Thank you for this.

Always good to hear feedback from people who aren't whiny little nitpickers.

2 hours to a big surprise, my friend. I was surprised with the epicness.

That's damn good to hear. Very nice read.

I think you should have played through a larger sample before giving impressions.

Hey, if you want to know ANYTHING, just ask. My pleasure.

Sweet that was a good review, making me even more excited for tomorrow than I already am. Now I just gotta smoke myself to sleep lol.

thanks for this -- 58 mins and I'll be there...

Thank you for that.

Thanks Kanapka.

I DO!

Just 2 questions.

Do vampires look ugly and wrinkly like in Oblivion?

and also,are the physics better compared to Oblivion?

Thanks for the insight, with the "is it that bad" threads going around I was a little worried, so its nice to hear from a fellow gamer that all is still right in the world and in 2 hours I will be also.

Have you tried out the Archery system yet?

If so, do the arrows seem to have a much larger impact than Oblivion?

I haven't the occasion to meet a vampire.

The physics are better of course, bodies don't "fly", they "weight". And animations are good, although they could be a bit better. But there's nothing to complain really.

Yeah, if tried archery. It's more dangerous . And arrows are faster.
Ah, and you have a cross in the middle in third person too. Helpful.

Just played for about 5 hours myself. Just like the OP I wont go into spoilers, as I hate them myself.

I currently play on the lowest graphics (purely to get as much FPS as possible, I'll explain later why I do this) and it still looks amazing in my opinion. Tomorrow I'll get my new GPU and will play highest or so.
I'll tell you though, the game takes a little while to get used to. In comparison to Oblivion there is a bit of a delay on weapon swings, so to speak. But after an hour of gameplay you'll get used to it.

Here's a tip (from another poster in another topic) if you play on the PC and feel a little lightheaded/dizzy/odd when starting out:
Open the console (~) and type "fov 85".
This helped me a lot, what it does it basicly zoom out a bit.

Thanks for the advice

Whew,Im so glad!
Thank you!!

I'll just find out about vampires when I get my copy of the game! :]

I was thinking about going to bed and getting up for work in the morning, but after reading your post I think I might wait til midnight, play 'til the early hours and skip work