Excellent article. I pre-ordered Skyrim 2 weeks ago because of reviews and the subject. This is my first venture into Elder Scrolls and very beneficial for an introduction that is "assumed" knowledge by most gamers. I'm even more psyched about the release Friday!!!
The Skyrim Primer
A beginners guide to the realm of Skyrim.
Choose Your Destiny
Previous entries in the Elder Scrolls series would have you choose a class as part of the character creation process. This is all set to change with Skyrim, however, as classes have been removed entirely, allowing for a greater diversification of character types.
Skills are still a part of Skyrim and are divided into three main categories: the Warrior, the Mage and the Thief. In previous games the player could choose a set of skills to specialize in, gaining a bonus to skills contained within that set. This too has been done away with and replaced by the use of Guardian Stones. Guardian Stones are located throughout Skyrim and are used to gain temporary bonuses to a skill set – effectively allowing the player to ‘specialize’ for a limited amount of time in a skill set that would most benefit them at that particular time.
A new addition is the inclusion of perks, a concept borrowed from sister franchise Fallout. Each skill in the game has its own set of perks that are unlocked as you level that particular skill. Some perks are simple unlocks while others will be comprised of multiple levels,granting greater bonuses as you assign more points to them.
Doing away with the old way of doing things has made the game much more accessible and user-friendly. Instead of trapping a character within the confines of a specific class you can now create your hero exactly as you want. Just be sure to not spread yourself too thin, as doing so may result in having a harder time of things, especially in the early going.
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