It’s time for another edition of What We’re Playing. This time around What We’re Playing is The Elder Scrolls V, better know to all as the amazing Skyrim. If you’re a fan of this site, or gaming in general, we’ll guess you’ve probably heard of it.
When first released in 2011, Skyrim received universal acclaim and was touted as one of the best video games ever made. Since that time, the game continues to be immensely popular, with fans anxiously awaiting a new installment.
Of course, some have moved on to other games, it’s just the nature of the business. But we love Skyrim and always will. We know a lot of people agree.
For those few not familiar, you enter the game as The Dragonborn. Your quest “is to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon who is prophesied to destroy the world. The game is set 200 years after the events of Oblivion and takes place in Skyrim, the northernmost province of Tamriel.”
“Over the course of the game, (you) complete quests and develop your character by improving skills. The game continues the open-world tradition of its predecessors by allowing the player to travel anywhere in the game world at any time, and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely.”
That’s a rather mundane way of describing the awesomeness that is Skyrim. But don’t take our word for it, or the word of the person who wrote the words above and posted them on Wikipedia. You really need to play it for yourself.
But until then, check out the official trailer for Skyrim below to see what you’re missing or to remind you what you need to get back to. Happy gaming!
Have you played Skyrim? Do you love it as much as we do? If so, let us know in the comments or hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
When people think of Bethesda right now, two things come to mind. Fallout and the Elder Scrolls. So when a video surfaced today on Vine from Bethesda Softworks featuring a spinning LP and barbed wire, it isn’t an unfair assumption to think it may be related to Fallout. After speculation quickly popped online about The Moonlight Trio and George Shackley LP as well as the flashes of Johann Sebastian Bach (who was featured on the Fallout 3 soundtrack) and Air on the G String from the gaming press, Bethesda VP of marketing and PR Pete Hines replied on his Twitter account that this wasn’t the case.
Obviously this isn’t a new Oblivion since the online title is already announced an on its way. But what could it be? The first option is Project Zwei, which is a survival horror game being published by Bethesda under the development of Resident Evil designer Shinji Mikami.
Since Oblivion, fans of the Elder Scroll series have asked for a multiplayer component to the game. Unlike linear experiences with tightly driven storylines which resulted in forced multiplayer arena experiences like that of Bioshock 2, the world of the Elder Scrolls lends itself to a more open multiplayer format. Players have already seen from their companions during quests that it sometimes helps to have someone watching your back when a dragon comes down from the sky or bandits surround you from both sides in a tight cave.
This past week, Bethesda Softworks announced that multiplayer is finally coming to the Elder Scrolls world, but not in the way many people expected. While there had been strong rumblings of a Fallout MMO, Bethesda has revealed that they have been working on an Elder Scrolls Online game. Instead of just focusing on individual regions like Skyrim or Cyrodiil, the entirety of Tamriel will be at players’ disposal. Players will have the option to join three warring factions, each vying for control of Tamriel and represented by either a lion, a dragon or a bird of prey.
In addition to the PvP focus of the Elder Scrolls Online, the game’s story will take place a thousand years before the events of Skyrim with one of the Daedric Princes, Molag Bal appearing as the main enemy for all factions to deal with.
Not much else has been revealed yet about the Elder Scrolls Online thus far but check out the trailer after the jump and, as always, stick to TheFlickcast for all your gaming news.
Though one of our contenders for Game of the Year, even The Flickcast has to admit there have been a share of problems in the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (mostly if you were one of the poor souls who chose to play it on the PlayStation 3 though). As expected, another patch is coming out soon to hopefully finally fix the frame rate issues that have afflicted players the further they progress in the PS3 version as well as other quest improvements that had become minor inconveniences.
There will also be new features added to the game. Some of these are minor and only affect the PC like the option for high end rigs to add shadow effects to the grass in the world. Others are awesome visual upgrades like new cinematic kill cameras for projectiles, spells and melee weapons. Take a look below at the kill cam trailer which shows some fantastic new visuals like a full on suplex and an arrow shot high into the air and taking an opponent out with a shot to the head (not the knee unfortunately).
NEW FEATURES
New cinematic kill cameras for projectile weapons and spells
New kill moves and animations for melee weapons
Shadows on grass available (PC)
Smithing skill increases now factor in the created item’s value
Improved visual transition when going underwater
Improved distance LOD transition for snowy landscapes
Check out the new Kill Cam animations trailer after the jump for the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s 1.5 Patch now in Beta on Steam and coming soon to PlayStation 3 and XBox 360.
JC and WallE are back again with a new episode of The Bitcast. This week in the news, the duo talks about some exciting news for the Max Payne and Bully franchises from Rockstar, the upcoming movie news for Rampage and address analyst Michael Pachter’s thoughts on the next XBox launch.
This week, The Bitcast introduces The Long Grind, a new segment featuring a longform review of a huge upcoming or classic title. This first edition of The Long Grind will feature The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for this episode and the next three weeks.
In the Topic of the Week, The Bitcast crew examines the classic Mario and Sonic franchises, as well as others, that have gone drastic reboots and remakes and continue to evolve both in gameplay and graphics.
In their Now Playing, WallE talks all things Sonic Generations while JC tackles the thug life of Saints Row: The Third. Make sure to subscribe to The Flickcast iTunes feed to get your weekly episode of The Bitcast automatically downloaded. Also, be sure to follow us on @thebitcast and JC at @thejohncarle and WallE at @JWWallE on Twitter.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was one of the best titles in the early days of the XBox 360, giving players hundreds of hours of gameplay when there was little else in terms of content available for the system. The early concept of a living world filled with characters who would hold conversations amongst themselves and go on their daily routine without interaction from the player coupled with an awesomely fun first person combat roleplaying game earned Oblivion a spot as an early highlight in this generation of console’s lifecycle.
Finally, Bethesda has released official word on the next installment to the Elder Scrolls saga entitled The Elder ScrollsV: Skyrim. Whether or not Patrick Steward will lend his voice to the next iteration of the game remains to be seen but the events of Oblivion look to tie in directly to the release of the denizens of Skyrim on the Elder Scrolls world.
When Sega announced they would be working on the Thorvideo game, the video game community responded with an astounding, “Please, not another Iron Man 2.” Now, with the full force of the Thor movie marketing to help drive it, the Thor: God of Thunder video game will make its way to consoles on May 3rd.
Take a look at the trailers for both games after the jump. Also, be sure to check out our coverage of the Uncharted 3 and Batman: Arkham City trailers from earlier today.
