Skyrim: First Impressions

Instead of trying to do some kind of review, or tell you everything you've already read before release on all that is awesome about Skyrim, we here at Achievos have decided to hit up our friends and give you snippits of what their first impressions are after a day of play.

That repetitive date couldn't have come soon enough for many of our friends.

Mini Bezz says:
When I started the game I was excited and was ready to see if this would be better than Oblivion...and guess what IT IS. Skyrim is so amazing that I've had the game only 30 hours and I have already been playing the game for nearly 20 of those hours. It's graphics are amazing, the controls are easy and feel natural, and the views and environment just leave you staring at it thinking 'OMG is this real'. With Oblivion, I had spent at least a good month of my time playing....with Skyrim, I think its going to the rest of my life playing.


Parker says:
Skyrim is massive; in terms of content and scale.  Possibly one of the best examples of this is demonstrated upon the first dragon battle.  Not only are you small on screen next to the dragon, but the power difference is daunting.

Debbie's original hunch was right: there ARE dragons in this game!

Rob says:
I've just finished a 13 hour marathon session of Skyrim and haven't even scratched the surface (only one Nirnroot so far!)  The game dwarfs the size and scope of Oblivion.  I'm enjoying the gameplay more as I get comfortable with the controls and work out the intricacies of customizations, leveling, and all that RPG gooey goodness.  You have the ability to switch between 3rd and 1st person perspectives at will.  I used the 1st person in the dungeons, giving them a very Halo-ish feel.  Very interesting, and for me, it works very well.  Standard issue plots (so far) and menus.  Unspectacular AI and I did think the environments would look a little more polished.  However, I'm nitpicking and the total world immersion makes up for a lot.  I'm in for the rest of the weekend.  Gotta make my run at 10,000 now!

Dylan says:
When I first started Skyrim (after Character creation) I was speechless. Right from the start I felt myself falling into this world. I felt the terror and exhilaration as I was escaping Helgen, felt a little torn for a moment when deciding who to follow, was in awe of the beauty of the landscape as I first ventured out of the caves into the daylight, I even felt a little cold when I was high in the mountains! My heart was racing as I went toe-to-toe with a bandit warrior that caught me trying to sneak into a fort occupied by bandits, and I found myself moving my head from left to right in sync with my character, dodging arrows as I tested my marksmanship against his three archer comrades. I knew I would not be able to play any other game for a long time after playing Skyrim for an hour.


And finally, Debbie weighs in with her opinion:
This game blows my mind.  I bought Modern Warfare 3 on Tuesday.  It's a good thing I played for those three days because Skyrim is the first game to take me away from Call of Duty and it doesn't bother me at all.

Debbie's laying it on the line.

Are you already entrenched in the world of Skyrim?  What're your first impressions?