The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an action role-playing open world video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Skyrim was released worldwide on November 11, 2011, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Three downloadable content (DLC) add-ons were released—Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn—which were repackaged into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Legendary Edition, which was released on June 4, 2013.

Skyrim's main story revolves around the player character and their effort to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon who is prophesied to destroy the world. The game is set two hundred years after the events of Oblivion and takes place in the fictional province of Skyrim. Over the course of the game, the player completes quests and develops the character by improving skills. Skyrim 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.

The Elder Scrolls

The Elder Scrolls is a series of action role-playing open world fantasy video games primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The series is known for its elaborate and richly detailed open worlds and its focus on free-form gameplay. Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim all won Game of the Year awards from multiple outlets. The series has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

Development history

Before The Elder Scrolls

Prior to working on The Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda had worked predominantly with sports and action games. In the six years from its founding to Arena's 1994 release, Bethesda had released ten games, six of them sports games, with such titles as Hockey League Simulator, NCAA Basketball: Road to the Final Four ('91/'92 Edition), and Wayne Gretzky Hockey, and the remaining four adaptations from other media, primarily the Terminator series. Bethesda's course changed abruptly when it began its first action role-playing venture. Designer Ted Peterson recalls: "I remember talking to the guys at Sir-Tech who were doing Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant at the time, and them literally laughing at us for thinking we could do it." Ted Peterson worked alongside Vijay Lakshman as one of the initial designers of what was then simply Arena, a "medieval-style gladiator game."

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks and the Take-Two Interactive subsidiary, 2K Games. It is the fourth installment in The Elder Scrolls action fantasy video game series, following The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and preceding The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Oblivion was first released in March 2006 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. A mobile phone version of the game was released in May 2006, and a PlayStation 3 version was shipped in March 2007. After a number of smaller content releases, a major expansion pack, Shivering Isles, was distributed. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition (a package including both Shivering Isles and the official expansion pack Knights of the Nine) was released in 2007 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. A fifth-anniversary edition was shipped in 2011.

Oblivion's main story revolves around the player character's efforts to thwart a fanatical cult known as the "Mythic Dawn" that plans to open the gates to a realm called "Oblivion". 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. A perpetual objective for players is to improve their character's skills, which are numerical representations of certain abilities. Seven skills are selected early in the game as major skills, with the remainder termed minor. Developers opted for tighter pacing in gameplay and greater plot focus than in past titles.

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is a fantasy open world action role-playing video game developed and published by Bethesda Softworks and released in 1996 for MS-DOS. It is a sequel to The Elder Scrolls: Arena and the second installment in The Elder Scrolls series. It is the first game in the series to be rated M. On July 9, 2009, Bethesda made Daggerfall available as a free, legal download on their website, commemorating the 15th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls franchise.

Gameplay

In Daggerfall, as in all The Elder Scrolls games, players are not required to follow questlines or fill specific character types.

Daggerfall features a spell-creation system where, through the Mages Guild, players can create custom spells with several different effects. The game will then automatically generate the magicka cost of the spell based on the power of the effects chosen.

Other features include an equipment enchantment system (similar in concept to the spell creation system); the ability to buy houses and ships; a variety of clothing and equipment; dynamic political relationships between kingdoms; the ability to become a vampire, werewolf, or wereboar; and the combat system, which uses mouse movement to determine the direction and effect of weapon swings in melee combat.