The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Preview

The folks at Crystal Gamer are the latest to offer a preview for Bethesda’s highly anticipated The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, although it doesn’t seem to be based on any hands-on time spent with the title. Dragons-laden sampling ahead:

Giants may be a hard slog to take down but they are nothing compared to Skyrim’s headline act, DRAGONS! Bethesda has described these fights to be similar to fights with big daddies in Bioshock and attack helicopters in half-life. Unlike fights with other animals, dragons have unique abilities to give them an edge and make them feel more powerful. One of these abilities is obviously flight, which allows them to chase you almost anywhere and traverse terrain extremely fast. This could be dangerous if you are caught in the middle of the tundra with no overhead cover. They also have dragon shouts, which allow them to perform arcane abilities like breathing fire or ice. The fact that they are unscripted and can appear anywhere at any time means that they can drastically change a situation. They can attack towns and even appear in groups.

All this would seem a bit overwhelming for one man to face, but have no fear for you are the prophesized Dovakiin (dragonborn) and that means you have the soul of a dragon and master the language of dragons to form shouts of your own to slay the beasts. Some shouts could be the basic fire breath but others could be much more powerful, like summoning a storm to strike your foes with lightning. This evens the odds a little and allows the player to enter epic shout battles with dragons.