The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Logo from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Studio	Bethesda Game Studios Iron Galaxy (Switch-Port) Escalation Studios (Skyrim VR)
Publisher	Bethesda Softworks
Senior Developer	Todd Howard (Game Director) Emil Pagliarulo (Lead Designer)
composer	Jeremy Soule
Erstveröffent- lichung	Windows , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 November 11, 2011 PlayStation 4 , Xbox One October 28, 2016 Nintendo Switch , PlayStation VR November 17, 2017 HTC Vive , Oculus Rift , Windows Mixed Reality April 3, 2018
platform	Windows PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 PlayStation 4 ( Pro ) Xbox One Nintendo Switch HTC Vive Oculus Rift Windows Mixed Reality
Game engine	Creation engine (based on the Gamebryo engine)
genre	Action RPG
Subject	The Elder Scrolls , Fantasy
Game mode	Single player
control	Mouse , keyboard , gamepad
system advantages preconditions	Windows XP or higher (32- or 64-bit) CPU : dual core with 2.0 GHz RAM : 2048 MB Graphics card : DirectX 9.0c compatible with 512 MB VRAM Hard disk space : 7 GB
medium	DVD-ROM , Blu-ray , download
language	English , German , French , Italian , Japanese , Spanish , Russian
Current version	1.9.31.0.8 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) 1.9.32.0.8 (Windows) 1.4 (Special Edition)
copy protection	Steamworks
Age rating	USK PEGI
PEGI content rating

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a computer role-playing game that was developed by Bethesda Game Studios in the United States and released for Microsoft Windows , PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2011 . It is the fifth part of the Bethesda role-playing game series The Elder Scrolls and is set in the eponymous province of Skyrim (in the German translation called "Himmelsrand").

In contrast to previous games in the series, Skyrim appeared for the first time outside the United States in the exclusive distribution of the publisher Bethesda Softworks . To use the Windows version, Valve's online sales platform Steam is required.

The game received numerous awards, including several times as "Game of the Year". With over thirty million copies sold, it is among the top twenty best-selling games of all time.

In October 2016, Skyrim was released as a special edition for the PlayStation 4 , Xbox One and Windows, which offers revised graphics and contains all DLCs . For the first time, there was also the possibility of installing player-made modifications for Skyrim on the consoles. Although the PlayStation 4 Pro is supposed to represent the optimized new edition technically better and supports 4K resolution, there were initial problems so that it had a poorer performance than the version for the PlayStation 4. On November 17, 2017, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released for the Nintendo Switch and in 2018 a virtual reality version for PlayStation VR and HTC Vive .

action

The action of the game begins about 200 years after the events in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion . There are also some references to the previous part. The location of the events is the province of Skyrim, north of Cyrodiil. The background is a prophecy of the eponymous for the series "Elder Scrolls" about the return of the dragons. Since no one wanted to believe this prophecy, the people of Skyrim are completely surprised by the arrival of the dragons. According to prophecy, however, there is a person, the “Dovahkiin”, also called “Dragonborn” in Tamrielian, who consists of the body of a person and the soul of a dragon and was chosen by fate, Alduin den Kill World Eaters (the main antagonist of the game).

In addition, the political and social situation in Skyrim is very tense. The Empire of Cyrodiil became dependent on the Thalmor due to the "Great War" against the Aldmeri League, which the Empire had lost. Skyrim, a province of Tamriel, is facing tough changes and reforms, also known as the White Gold Concordat. This includes changes to the current conditions of rule as well as a ban on belief in Talos, one of the Nine Divines, who fought and triumphed as a human against the Thalmor. The situation worsens when Ulfric Sturmmantel, the Jarl von Windhelm, kills the Great King of Skyrim with a Thu'um, a powerful force in the language of dragons, and claims his place. As a result of this claim, a civil war results between the imperial troops, who, together with the Jarlen, who remained loyal, fight against Ulfric and his supporters, the so-called storm coats.

The play figure gets innocently between the fronts and wakes up in captivity of the imperial. Tied up on a wagon full of captured rebels and a thief, you are on your way to his execution. During the journey, you learn the background of the transport. A troop of Stormcoats, led by Ulfric himself, was ambushed and captured. Arrived at the fortress Helgen one escapes the death by the surprising attack of the dragon Alduin. The fortress is completely destroyed, Ulfric Sturmmantel and his comrades - with the exception of one who could be executed before the dragon's arrival - fled and the player manages to flee to the river forest village with the help of a soldier (regardless of whether a storm coat or legion). The player is then asked to go to Whiterun to the local ruler, the Jarl, and ask him to protect the river forest. Due to his experience with dragons, however, the player is first sent to the western watchtower of Whiterun, as another dragon was spotted there, and he should take part in overcoming it. After the player succeeds in killing the dragon together with a troop of soldiers, he absorbs the dragon's soul and then learns that he must be a "Dovahkiin" because of this ability and that he is the key to the threat of the dragons that have not been sighted for centuries represents. Ultimately, this fact makes him Skyrim's only hope of defeating the dragons. In the course of time, the hero joins the "gray beards", which represent a small group of monks on the neck of the world, the highest mountain in Tamriel. For centuries they have specialized in training the last Dragonborn and leading it to victory over the dragons. Paarthurnax, the leader of the Greybeards, is a dragon and therefore brother of Alduin. He suppressed his anger with years of meditation and turned against Alduin, the leader of the dragons.

In a flashback, the player sees how Alduin was defeated thousands of years ago with a scroll of the ancients (a powerful magical artifact) containing a special thu'um. He was not killed, however, only banished into the future. There is a confrontation between Alduin and the player on the neck of the world, which the latter can win. Alduin flees to Sovngarde, the world of the dead, to regenerate his strength. The hero follows him there and finally kills Alduin with the help of three dragon slayers.

Apart from the main quest for Alduin, as in Oblivion and Morrowind, the player can join various factions and guilds and, if one joins the storm coats or the imperial army, influence the outcome of the civil war. Depending on the player's answers and actions, the attitude as well as the attitude of the individual persons and groups towards the player changes.

Gameplay

In Skyrim , as with its predecessors, individual character creation is possible, in which different fictional races such as B. High Elves, the Scandinavian-like Nord or the lizard-like Argonians can be chosen. The player explores the open game world either on foot, swimming, on horseback or (since the Dragonborn expansion ) with a dragon in various locations on the game world and in dungeons . The game can be played in the first person as well as in the third person perspective , whereby the riding mode, the werewolf mode as well as the possibility to play as a vampire lord introduced in the expansion Dawnguard are limited exclusively to the third person perspective . Battles are fought in real time. The combat system enables two-handed combat, the use of long-range weapons such as bows or crossbows, and the combination of one-handed weapons and spells. It is also possible to use two spells or one-handed weapons at the same time. The skill development of the player in various areas takes place through an integrated skill system: A skill is only improved if it is actually used. Exceptions are masters who give the character experience for gold. With every level up the player receives so-called perk points, which can be used to obtain special abilities or reinforcements in the respective skill trees. Furthermore, with each level up the player can choose whether the character should receive ten additional points magicka, stamina or life.

In the game, you can also pursue many other secondary activities such as brewing potions, forging weapons and armor or trading various goods. The player can recruit friendly NPCs as companions, such as mercenaries , horses or dogs. With the help of a fast travel system, places that have already been discovered can be revisited; a carriage service also transports the player to previously undiscovered cities for a fee. The actual goal of the game is to solve the main story-giving quests, whereby there are countless side quests that can be solved at any time. The game is kept open to add-ons and mods .

In Skyrim it is possible to enter into marriages regardless of race or gender.

development

With the announcement of the novel The Infernal City , which takes place 45 years after the plot of Oblivion, the first details of the fifth part of the series accidentally came to the public in October 2009. From the descriptive text of the book it became known that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will take place about 200 years after Oblivion in the province of Skyrim ( Skyrim ), which gives the game its name . However, this information was subsequently removed from the book in order not to anticipate any information.

On December 11, 2010, the debut trailer for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was presented at the VGA trade fair . In an authorial way it is said that the eponymous "Elder Scrolls" predicted the return of the dragons, but nobody wanted to believe in it. But there is an adversary called "Dovahkiin" whom even they feared. At the end of the trailer, November 11, 2011 was given as the release date.

Extensions

Bethesda announced even before the game was released that the first two download extensions for Skyrim would be available exclusively for the Xbox 360. Windows and PlayStation 3 players should only get access to the add-ons 30 days after they are released. However, technical problems meant that the expansions were not available for the PlayStation 3 for a long time, although the second DLC has already been released for the other platforms.

The first major DLC is called Dawnguard and has been available in German-speaking countries since July 10, 2012. There you have the opportunity to transform into a vampire prince (transformation similar to a werewolf) or to join the Dawnguard , an order of vampire hunters. There are also new pieces of equipment, armor and weapons like crossbows or dragon bone weapons. There are also new enemy types, animals and dragons.

The second DLC is called Hearthfire (for example: hearth fire) and was released on September 4, 2012 for Xbox 360. The add-on has been available for Windows and PlayStation 3 since October 5, 2012. In Hearthfire , the player now has the opportunity to buy land and build his own hut or even a villa on it. He can also adopt children, cultivate farmland and make his own furnishings.

On November 5, 2012, Bethesda announced another expansion called Dragonborn . It has been available for Xbox 360 since December 4, 2012. Dragonborn was released for Steam on February 5, 2013 in English, French, Italian, Spanish and German. It was also released in February as the first expansion for the PlayStation 3. In Dragonborn , the player now has the opportunity to ride dragons. This is possible by learning new screams that can be found in the main quest. Furthermore, the island of Solstheim was added, which is part of the home of the Dark Elves and was already the scene of the Morrowind expansion Bloodmoon .

In April 2013, Bethesda announced a special version of the game, which was released in June 2013 in Germany under the title Skyrim: Legendary Edition . In addition to the main game, a map of the game world and the DLCs are also included here. These are available on data storage media so that users without an Internet connection are not left out. The level cap has also been lifted by making talents "Legendary" and resetting them from level 100 to level 15 in this way. This process can be repeated as often as required.

At the E3 2016 game fair , publisher Bethesda announced that it would be releasing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim again in a special edition with all the expansions and new graphic effects for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In addition, the versions for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One should have access to the mods of the Windows version. The special edition was released on October 28, 2016 for Windows and consoles. The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - Special Edition was made available to owners of the original game and all expansions for free on Steam .

Unofficial patches

Since Skyrim has a number of program errors in the original version , the fan community is developing so-called community patches from the official side parallel to the patches , which try to fix the large number of errors that still exist. The last version 1.3.3c from August 2013 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch corrects hundreds of quest, game mechanics, game content and text errors in the main game as well as the add-ons. There is also a version for the German Skyrim version with additional translation corrections, called Director's Cut .

VR version

At E3 2017, Sony announced a virtual reality version of Skyrim at its press conference , which was released in 2018 for PlayStation VR and HTC Vive . In addition to the main game, this version also includes the three download extensions Dawnguard , Hearthfire and Dragonborn . The PlayStation VR version has been available in the PlayStation Store since November 17, 2017 and via Steam since April 3, 2018 .

reception

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim received excellent ratings throughout the trade press and is one of the top rated games of 2011 ( Metacritic rating: 94 out of 100 (Windows), 92 (PlayStation 3), 96 (Xbox 360)). The GamePRO awarded 93%, the Game Star 91%. 4Players rated the Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions with 90% each. IGN praised Skyrim with 9.5 of 10 points. Eurogamer.net awarded the highest rating (10/10). The Video Game Awards 2011 radio station Spike TV was Skyrim won Best RPG and Game of the Year.

On November 16, 2011, Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax announced that seven million retail versions of the game had been delivered to retailers since it was released. More than half of it had already been sold within the first 48 hours, the income was put at over 450 million US dollars. In January 2014, the game exceeded 20 million copies sold. Since the game was released, Skyrim has also set the record for the most people playing simultaneously on the Steam platform . Over 274,000 players used the game simultaneously. This exceeded the numbers of the runner-up title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 by almost three times.

At the 2012 Interactive Achievement Awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences , Skyrim was recognized in the categories of "Game of the Year", "RPG / MMO of the Year", "Best Story", "Best Gameplay" and "Best Game Direction" . It was also nominated in the “Best Innovation” category. The game was named “Game of the Year” at the Game Developers Choice Awards 2012, and it was also nominated in the categories of game design, technology, visual design and audio.

The VR version of Skyrim was named VR Game of the Year at the Steam Awards 2018 .

Web links

• Official website
• Skyrim at MobyGames (English)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Skyrim system requirements announced (updated). Bethesda Softworks , October 25, 2011, accessed July 26, 2012 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Zarmena Khan: Fallout 4sales might be comparatively higher than skyrims. playstationlifestyle.net, February 7, 2017, accessed on July 27, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Skyrim: Special Edition - Worse performance on the PlayStation 4 Pro? In: ps4info.de. Retrieved November 12, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Alexander Göricke :: Skyrim: Marry any gender. next-gamer.de. August 25, 2011, accessed June 12, 2016.
5. ↑ Peter Steinlechner: The Elder Scrolls 5: Breakdown reveals role-playing game from Bethesda. In: Golem.de . October 26, 2009, accessed February 25, 2011 . 
6. ↑ Udo Lewalter: Elder Scrolls 5: First indications of Oblivion successors. In: computerbild.de. October 26, 2009, accessed February 25, 2011 . 
7. ↑ gametrailers.com: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - VGA 10: Exclusive Debut Trailer. December 11, 2010, accessed February 25, 2011 . 
8. ↑ 'Skyrim' Dawnguard Release Date For PS3 Still Unclear , accessed October 16, 2012
9. ↑ Skyrim: Time-exclusive DLC for Xbox 360. ( Memento from January 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ Bethesda: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn Trailer. November 5, 2012, accessed November 6, 2012 . 
11. ↑ Bethesda: Dragonborn, Hearthfire and Dawnguard available from February. January 18, 2013, accessed January 19, 2013 . 
12. ↑ The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Special Edition, Legends and TESO news . Article from pcgameshardware.de , June 13, 2016, accessed June 13, 2016
13. ↑ Bethesda shop page ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Official website, accessed October 25, 2016. 
14. ↑ The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Special Edition on Steam , Steam Official Shop, accessed October 25, 2016.
15. ↑ Mike Sharkey: Unofficial Skyrim Patch Fixes Myriad Skyrim Bugs - Fan created uber patch designed to fix Skyrim's many problems. ( English ) gamespy.com. March 14, 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
16. ↑ Quarn and Kivan: Unofficial Skyrim Patch Version: 1.3.3c ( English ) nexumods.com. August 20, 2013. Retrieved on October 3, 2013: " […] the goal of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch (aka USKP) is to eventually fix every bug with Skyrim not officially resolved by the developers […] Hundreds of gameplay, quest, NPC, object, item, text and placement bugs fixed already "
17. ↑ Joel Hruska: The Must-Have Mods of Skyrim - Unofficial Skyrim Patch . HotHardware. April 17, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2013: “ The Unofficial Skyrim Patch (USKP) is a collection of hundreds of bug fixes to virtually every aspect of the game. It adjusts item textures and meshes, fixes quest bugs, and cleans up errors in the game's skills, perks, and text. "
18. ↑ Thilo Bayer: Skyrim Dawnguard: Unofficial patch takes on quests and bugs . PC games hardware. September 3, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2013: “ Even though Bethesda has tried to patch Skyrim Dawnguard, some positions are still unsupervised. A team from the community has now taken care of these points, who have taken care of open errors using the Unofficial Dawnguard Patch. "
19. ↑ Skyrim - Director's Cut . scharesoft.de. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved on December 22, 2012: “ The expansion Skyrim - Director's Cut has made it its goal to improve the German version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as much as possible. The main aim is to make up for missing translations and to adapt texts and terms so that they also match the previous parts of the series. The included unofficial Skyrim patch also fixes a number of errors in the actual game that the official patches have not yet corrected. With the extension you can also find all English textures in German. " 
20. ↑ Major Sock: Skyrim VR - New title announced for PlayStation VR. In: ps4info.de. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017 . 
21. ^ Metacritic.com , PC Average Rating, accessed March 8, 2012
22. ^ Metacritic.com , PS3 Average Rating, accessed March 8, 2012
23. ^ Metacritic.com , Xbox360 Average Rating, accessed March 8, 2012
24. ↑ The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - Xbox 360. GamePro , November 10, 2011, accessed July 26, 2012 . 
25. ↑ The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - PC. GameStar , November 10, 2011, accessed July 26, 2012 . 
26. ↑ Jörg Luibl: Test: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. 4players.de, November 10, 2011, accessed on July 26, 2012 . 
27. ↑ Tino Hahn: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in the test. IGN Entertainment , November 10, 2011, accessed July 26, 2012 . 
28. ↑ John Bedford: The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Review. Eurogamer.net, November 10, 2011, accessed July 26, 2012 . 
29. ↑ Game of the Year. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Spike.com ( April 20, 2013 memento on the Internet Archive )
30. ↑ SKYRIM SELLS 3.5 MILLION IN 48 HOURS. November 16, 2011, accessed October 12, 2014 . 
31. ↑ Peter Smits : The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - Steam record set. GameStar , November 13, 2011, accessed July 26, 2012 . 
32. ↑ Steam Stats on November 14, 2011, 10:30 p.m. CET
33. ↑ Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences : 2012 award winners . Official website. Last accessed on March 8, 2012.
34. ↑ Xav de Matos: Our predictions for tonight's 12th annual Game Developers Choice Awards. (No longer available online.) Joystiq.com, March 7, 2012, archived from the original on May 31, 2012 ; Retrieved July 26, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
35. ↑ Steam Awards 2018 Winners Announced; Most Aren't From 2018. February 8, 2019, accessed February 9, 2019 .