Video game review: Skyrim (PC)

The last quarter of 2011, will be a very busy month for fans of video games. With many AAA titles released, (Batman Arkham City, Assassins Creed Revelation, Zelda Skyward sword), it is really difficult to find the time to play all these games.

Amongst these AAA titles, one of the most anticipated release is Bethesda's "The Elder Scroll V: Skyrim". After 5 years in development, Besthesda finally released Skyrim on November 11, 2011. Personally, Skyrim has been on my "to play list" ever since I first encountered the teaser trailer at the beginning of 2010. Being a fan of RPG genre for 15 years, I had great expectations for Skyrim. After I picked up my copy of Skyrim on its release day, I have played the game for around 50 hours (according to the developer Bethesda, to complete all the quests take approximately 200 hours). At this time, I have already completed the main storyline of the game, but left numerous amount of side missions undone. Anyhow, I decided I know Skyrim well enough to write a review for it.

Introduction:

Skyrim is the fifth installment of "The Elder Scroll" (TES) series. The last installment of TES was "Oblivion", which was an open world game. This means after the player enters the game world. You can literally go anywhere in the game. Besides the main storyline, there are numerous side quests a player can do, while accumulating items such as armor, weapons etc..

Oblivion was a good game, it had a massive game world with numerous amount of contents. However, the game was not perfect, as there were many complains about the character models, bloomy atmosphere, and had some flaws in the gameplay system.

In Skyrim, the developer has promised to fix all those problems. The game is heavily inspired by Norse mythology, from names, people, cultures, armors, weapons, buildings etc.. all look very "Viking" like, and are simply great!

Story:

It is really hard to say what the main story of Skyrim is. Because of its open world style and the massive contents. It is possible for a player to spend hundreds of hours on Skyrim and still not touch the main storyline at all. Personally, I think this is the one of the greatest charm of the Elder Scroll games. You don't have to play the main quest to play the game. The player can craft his/her own adventure base on what you feel like doing. In Skyrim, there are 6 factions that the player can join. Each faction has a series of storylines and quests that make them feel like a different game by itself. Other than this, random encounter with NPC (non-player character) in the game world can sometimes trigger new quests. Personally, I didn't start to play the main quest until I was 38 hours into the game. But the best thing is that after you finish the main storyline, the adventure doesn't end. Actually, you can continue to use your character to keep on adventuring in Skyrim and doing quests.

Just in case if you are wondering.. Yes, there is a main storyline. Which takes about 10~15 hours to complete. In the main storyline, 200 years after the event of Oblivion crisis (the main story in Oblivion), the dragons have returned to the land of Skyrim. This is an ancient prophecy foretold in the Elder Scroll. The dragons are lead by a powerful, ancient dragon known as "Alduin", which will consume and destroy the world. As hopeless as it sounds, all is not lost. The prophecy also foretold that there will be one last Dovakiin (dragon born), who will come to Skyrim at the desperate hour to do a final, titanic battle and slay Aldiun for all time. Guess what? If you play Skyrim, your character is the last Dovakiin the prophecy foretold.

The main storyline is interesting enough, but as I said before. The main strength of the story of Skyrim, is not in the main storyline. But in the fact that the player can craft his/her own adventure depending on what quests you do, and continue to do after you complete the main story quest.

Gameplay:

Skyrim is an open world game. The land of Skyrim has numerous cities and towns to visit, people to talk to. And dangerous caves, dungeons, ruins and forts to explore. The game world is filled with infinite adventures and quests to do. Yes, because of the new game engine used in Skyrim, the game will randomly generate quests depends on how your have been playing the game. Theoretically, you can play Skyrim for as long as you want with just one character!

The game can be played from either first person view, or third person view. Personally, because I hate first person view. I have been playing Skyrim entirely in third person view. But I do have to say that when it comes to spell casting or archery. It is far easier to do so in first person view.

The gameplay system of Skyrim has been revamped. Now besides the traditional fighting methods (two handed weapon, sword and shield, spell, archery), Bestheda has added the new option to dual wield. By duel wield, I am not saying just dual wield two weapons, but the player can actually dual wield spells, or have weapon in one hand and spell in another. Dual wielding spells can be especially fun, as the player can assign different spells in each hand, and even combine them to create different effects. Another new addition to the gameplay system is the finishing move animations. The finishing moves look great, but they don't happen too often to create distractions.

Skyrim is an RPG, so it also has a lot of player leveling ups. The character level-up system in Skyrim has been simplified. Before you start to rant about your dislike for "streamlined level-up system", let me say that the character level-up system in Skyrim, is so well done that I do not miss the level-up system in traditional RPG at all. In Skyrim, the players are no longer required to invest in physical attributes such as: strength, intelligence, vitality etc..as in Oblivion. There are 18 skill trees in Skyrim, when the player levels up, all you have to do is to choose which of the three areas you want to improve: health, magika, and stamina. After that, the player is granted 1 perk per level, to invest in special skills under a certain skill tree. When the player starts the game, you no longer choose which class you want to be. The player's character built depends on how you play the game. This means, for example if you use two handed weapon and wear light armor a lot, you are going to land up with a character that does insane damage, can move quickly but has very low defense rating. I really like the idea of "your character built depends on how you play" system. Thumbs up to Besthesda on this one!

As the player is meant to be "Dovakiin", this means the player is going to slay a lot of dragons in this game. The dragon encounters in Skyrim is simply awesome! The game engine is made in a way so dragons appear randomly in the game. There were so many times when I was just running in the wild, and all of the sudden I heard the roars, see the shadow, look up and.. a dragon is flying down the mountain to attack me! The random dragon encouters, not only add to the fun factor of the game, but also creates a sense of immersion and real adventuring for the player.

As good as the gameplay in Skyrim is, but it is not without flaws. In PC version of Skyrim, the user interface is extremely poorly designed. Skyrim has probably the worst UI I've ever encountered in video games. Maybe it is because this game is directly ported from console? Anyway, the user interface is so clunky and it is really frustrating to use.

Another gameplay flaw is that for some reason. Besthesda has decided to cap the frame rate on PC version of Skyrim to 60FPS! This is really annoying, because this means the PC user cannot get FPS higher than 60 even with really high end PC. To disable the VSYNC through modifying the game file can cause some graphics glitches, so this means if you want to play Skyrim without graphics glitches on PC, you are stuck to the console limit of 60FPS!! Come one Bethesda, please put some effort into looking after your customers who use your products on PC! After all, PC users are also paying hard cold cash to support your business! This game feels like a direct console port without any effort to adapt to PC platform. It is simply ridiculous and unacceptable!

Other than these two flaws, the gameplay in Skyrim is near perfection.

Graphics and design:

I love Norse mythology! And I also love Conan the Cimmerian! Skyrim seem to be taking these literary elements and infuse them into their game design. The game world looks like something straight out of Beowulf and the Norse Epic saga with a touch from Frank Frazetta's artistic input! (There are numerous references to Norse mythology, i.e. Poetic Edda, Hrothgar, King Olaf, Volsung etc..)

Skyrim looks like a land that existed long before you entered, and feels like it will continue to exist long after you're left. The game world looks absolutely amazing, there are so many times when I just stopped in the wild, and looked around to admire the scenery.

Another major improvement in Skyrim is the character model and design. In Oblivion, every NPC you encoutered not only look ugly, but also extremely comical in appearance. To simply put it, in Oblivion, it is hard not to mistaken an orc for Shrek. In Skyrim, an orc actually looks like an orc and you don't want to mess with him. All the character models now look different, and they all have unique looks.

I also want to praise the dungeon designs, all the dungeons in Skyrim are hand crafted. This means every dungeon, caves, town or cities that you visit, are all unique. This is very good efforts on Bethesda's behalf.

Having said this, the textures in the game seemed pretty low for a 2011 game, which is a shame because the graphics of Skyrim could have been even better if not for the low textures. I think this is because the developer tried to accommodate to the console version of the game?

All in all, I think Bethesda has done a great job at crafting the world of Skyrim, and it is very clever of them to infuse Norse mythologies into the game to inspire a sense of realism. The result is a game with just the right amount of "fantasy and realism". Skyrim, is a stunningly beautiful looking and deeply immersive experience.

Sound and music:

The soundtracks in Skyrim are amazing. From serene music in the cities and in the wild, to extremely epic music in battles. The soundtracks for the dragon battles are especially epic! Sounds like a group of ancient barbarian warriors singing with the orchestra!

The sound effects are among the best in video games. Not only do the dragons look menacing, but they also sound menacing as well. Enough for you to actually want to run away from them.

Conclusion:

Story (9.8/10): The best thing about the story in Skyrim is not in the main storyline, but in the way that the player can craft his/her own story through adventures you choose to do. Having said this, the main storyline is still interesting enough to be treated as a "major quest" in the game. This is a game that you can play for as long as you want, and theoretically with "infinite" replayability. A very robust game indeed.

Gameplay (9/10): The revamped gameplay system is well implemented, but the clunky user interface and the FPS cap makes the PC experience somewhat frustrating. It would be really good if these two issues can be fixed in the upcoming patches or mods.

Graphics and design (9.7/10): Despite the low textures used in this game. The land of Skyrim looks amazing, but with a touch of realism thanks to the inspiriation from Norse mythology. The game world feels like something out of an ancient saga only found in almost forgotten, epic poems from eons in the past.

Sound and music (10/10): In Skyrim, dragons sound and look like real dragons and not lizards. The epic soundtracks makes you wonder why they don't use the soundtracks as national athems.

Violence: Heavy: Skyrim has a lot of blood and violence. Strictly "M" rating for mature audiences only.

Sex/nudity: low: Apparently, according to online forums. It is possible to marry NPC in the game world, including same-sex marriage. No sex scenes are present, but one should beware that there are some sexual references in NPC conversations.

Final Score: (9.7/10): I found it hard to describe what it feels like to play Syrim, but I think this quote from Tolkien sums up quite well: "The value of myth is that it takes all the things you know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by the veil of familiarity" - J.R.R. Tolkien.

Skyrim is a game that transports players into a fantastical world of an ancient frozen wasteland, it is a place filled with lore and adventures. You may find yourself lost in it and captured by its beauty, and wonder if such a place can really exist!

Building a high end PC for under $2000 in 2011? Here is my 2 cents worth - A guide and PC configuration

When was the last time you purchased a new desktop PC? Or have you switched to the "laptop computer generation"? Or even worse, have you gone down to the "dark path" of using those mass produced, style over quality (lack of character),

and massively over priced Apple stuff?

No matter what you are using for your computer solution. At the end of the day, custom built desktop PC will always produce better performance and faster in speed over laptop or Apple computers any day.

The problem is, not many people know how to build a high end, custom PC. Having recently acquired a new PC after my 4 year old rig died due to power supply failure, I have re-entered the world of custom PC building and did some research, and I will like to share some information on the config of building a high end, custom PC for all your home computing solutions (server, gaming, movies, internet, music, work etc..)

All for the cost of under 2000 Australian dollars.

You might ask, why not just buy Apple? Well, after playing around with Apple Mac Pro online config, I found out to buy a Mac Pro with the roughly the same CPU power, but only with 50% of graphics power compare to the PC I am about to configure for you, it will cost you at least $4300 dollars!!

I know! What a rip off! Paying more than twice the price for something that is not as fast... that is why I've always thought going down the road of Apple = going down the path of the "dark side", flashy but with no real value.

So without further delay, let me get started in my guide.

Before I start with my config, I will show you the config of my new PC, then compare the config of the PC I am recommending. So you can see the differences.

My PC Built:

CPU: Intel i7-2600k@3.4GHz, socket LGA1155 ($332)

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe motherboard, socket LGA1155 ($299)

Graphics card: 2 x Gigabyte Geforce GTX570 (in SLI) ($372 each, so $744 altogether for two cards in SLI)

RAM: 4 x 4GB (16GB) Corsair Vengeance low profile heat sink RAM ($164)

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 high performance CPU cooler ($90)

Case: Silverstone Raven RV01 ($192)

Power Supply Unit: Antec Quattro true power 1200w PSU ($267)

HDD: 4 x 2TB HDD running in RAID O. I didn't have to buy HDD, because I already have them.

Total cost = $2088

My computer has exceeded the $2000 limit by 88 bucks, and this is without HDD. If I had to buy HDD, the total cost would have gone up to $2300 at least. This because I deliberately purchased a more expensive motherboard, and bought an overkill 1200w PSU, and a massive heatsink the size of a small turbine. However, now that I have put my PC together, I realized that if I were to do it again, I could have configured a PC with the almost identical performance, but with a better tower case at a lower price, to save some money.

Intersection:

You might wonder, why using the LGA1155 CPU and not the new LGA2011 CPU? Currently, there are three types of Intel LGA2011 CPU being released. The i7-3820 ($327), i7-3930k ($680), and i7-3960x ($1270). The motherboards for LGA2011 are within the range of $300~$500. With the top of range LGA2011 CPU (i7-3960x) having a performance increase of roughly 25% over the LGA1155 i7-2600k. (source: Passmark ).

In case you haven't noticed, the new LGA 2011 i7-3960x cost over $1000! And that is just the CPU. To build a full PC with the i7-3960x will cost you almost $3000! So unless you are rich and loaded with cash to spend, I would say LGA1155 is still the best buy for your money.

As for the LGA2011 i7-3930k, at $680 it really isn't Worth your money (the motherboard and CPU will cost you $1000 already!) Here is another review from bit-tech where they tested the i7-3930k, and reported that most general PC users should still stick with LGA1155 (article from bi-tech)

The general consensus here is, for most general PC users. It is better to stick with Intel i7-LGA 1155 CPU, especially the i7-2600k (or the i7-2700k). As the i7 LGA2011 are aimed for enthusiasts with nothing better to do than to spend their money. The i7 LGA 1155 are still the best for its costs.

So here is the config I would recommend, for a 2011 high end PC under $2000:

The config I will recommend for you:

CPU: Intel i7-2600k LGA1155 ($332)

The i7-2600k is extremely overclockable, not only it is already very fast at stock speed. But its unlocked function allows you go overclock to 5GHz per core.. provided that you have a good CPU cooler. The 2600k is still one of the best CPU on the market.

Motherboard: Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 ($178)

This motherboard is almost as good as the ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe, and almost $110 cheaper too (I wish I can exchange my MB to this one.. too late).

In case if the sales person tell you to buy the Gigabyte G1 Sniper 2 motherboard, which cost $420.. DO NOT fall for it.. the G1 Sniper 2 has some additional features but most users are not likely to be utilizing them. Asrock Z68 Extreme 4 Gen3 is all you need. I promise!

Graphics card: 2 x Gigabyte Geforce GTX570 (in SLI) ($372 each, so $744 altogether for two cards in SLI)

The Geforce GTX570 is a very powerful card. However, to ensure that your PC can stand up to the the test of time in future generation games. I recommend multiple GPU setup. So do not hesitate! Grab two Geforce GTX570, it's worth it!

According to this benchmark test (source: Guru3D), two GTX570 out performs two ATI Radeon 5870 by 28% (at Apple store, one Radeon 5870 will cost $500, so two Radeon 5870 will cost $1000! Why is Apple selling something not as good for higher price? I don't really know). Two GTX570 also outperform one GTX580 by 43%, and one GTX580 will cost you $580 by itself. Yes, two GTX580 will out perform GTX570 by 10%, but you will also need extra $300 to buy those! So in my opinion, in terms of costs and performance, the GTX570 SLI is the winning combination.

RAM: 2 x 4GB (8GB) Corsair Vengeance low profile heat sink RAM ($82)

After I installed 16GB, I realized with the current level of software. No home PC user is ever going to need that much RAM, unless you are planning to setup RAM drive. So just get 8GB is enough!

IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!

A side note with RAM. When you buy RAM, MAKE SURE to buy RAM that come with low profile heat sinks (no protruding fins and such). This is because most awesome CPU cooler only have RAM clearance of less than 45mm, while RAM with high profile heat sink usually have height of approximately 50mm. This means the RAM is going to be in the way to your CPU cooler! This can be a very disappointing experience!

CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo ($48)

After I read some reviews, it turned out that this CPU cooler is really good for its price. Unless you are planning to overclock your i7-2600k to over 5GHz per core, I would say the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo is more than enough for most overclocking situations.

Case: Silverstone Raven RV03 ($164)

In my new PC, I used the Silverstone Raven RV01, which is an older generation case released over 2 years ago. The Raven RV03, was released a month ago, and after reading some reviews. I almost wish I can return my Raven RV01 and get this one instead! Not only it is cheaper by $30, but the Raven RV03 also features improved cable management, more HDD hot swap bays and such! With the Raven series trademark of 90 degrees rotated motherboard orientation, for stacking effect cooling.

By rotating the motherboard by 90 degrees, this means the output connectors for mouse, keyboard, USB, video are on the top of the case. All the Raven cases share this unique design. The case has two fans at the bottom to suck/push up cold air for cooling the PC components. And because hot air rises due to its lower density (PV = nRT, as temperature T goes up, the volume V goes up. Since the mass flow rate of the air remains constant, the density reduces), there is a fan on top of the case to pull the hot air out of the case.

Theoretically, the Raven should produce superb cooling effects to your PC components. From different reviews, the RV03 has been greatly improved since RV01, and the cooling effect is really good. Watch this video for demonstration of stacking effect.

Therefore, Raven RV03 is in my opinion. One of the best full tower cases in 2011. Even better than Coolermaster HAF942, because RV03 looks better as well.

Power Supply Unit: Antec 900w high current power supply ($156)

HDD: 2 x Hitachi 1TB Deskstar 7200rpm HDD running RAID 0 ($115 each, so $230 all together)

The reason why I am using RAID 0 in this config is because RAID 0, is stripe set, higher bandwidth = great speed. But note that in RAID 0, is one drive fails, then the entire array will be stuffed. Meaning higher chance of data loss.

If you want redundancy, you can setup RAID 1 (mirroring) instead. However, remember that if you set up RAID 1, you will only have one hard drive storage space instead of two. Because everything is mirrored to the second hard drive.

Or you can just not use RAID at all, the choice is yours.

Note that this PC config leaves room for future upgrade to SSD (Solid State Drives), when they become cheaper.

Total cost = $1964

So here it is, this is my 2 cents in, for $1964 AUD you can get a very high end PC for the best quality home PC solution in 2011 and beyond!

Movie review: Warrior

I will begin this review by saying this. "Warrior", is my most favorite film of 2011".

While the name of the movie sounds generic, and the trailer looked cheesy. The movie itself, in my opinion, is the best sports drama since Rocky.

While Rocky is about an underdog story of American dream coming true, but I prefer Warrior, because at the core of this movie, it is the message about forgiveness, love and family that makes Warrior a more meaningful movie than Rocky.

Synopsis:

The movies starts with Tommy (Tom Hardy) paying visit to his former alcoholic father Paddy (Nick Nolte), after years of disappearance. During the visit, Tommy found out that Paddy has been fighting his alcoholic addiction for 3 years, and have become a Christian, and is sorry for all the past hurts he had to done to his family (such as neglecting his family, and domestic violence). Tommy, carrying resentment towards his father, mocked his father's new found faith and adapted a very harsh, and sarcastic attitude towards his father's pleads for forgiveness.

Paddy informed Tommy that his older brother Brendon (Joel Edgerton), is married with two kids, and have become a high school physics teacher. Carrying anger and resentment towards his father and brother for leaving him and his mother (who is deceased), Tommy left Paddy's house. The next day, Tommy signed up to at a gym, and in a unintentional bout for 200 dollars, defeated the top contender for UFC middle weight championship. Tommy returned to Paddy, and ask him to be his trainer, but all the time mocking Paddy. Tommy's reason was because he is interested in competing in "Sparta", a MMA event where the winner walks away with 500 million dollars. However, he refused to tell his father his motivation for joining this competition.

In the meantime, Brendon is struggling with finance. He was informed by the bank that he will loose his house if he can't pay the mortgage. It is revealed that Brendon is in debt because he was trying to pay for his daughter's heart surgery the year before. Unable to pay the debt on his school teacher salary. Brendon went back into MMA fighting, but became suspended by school after he was discovered for participating in MMA matches. After seeing an advertisement, Brendon visited his old friend, asked to be trained and also joined Sparta, in hope of getting the prize money for solve his family's financial problem.

As the story unfolds, it turned into a family drama about forgiveness, dealing with past hurts and loving relationship between a repenting father and his two sons, together with some top notch MMA actions.

My thoughts:

As I stated at the opening line of this review. Warrior is my most favorite film of 2011. Not only is the movie very well done, but it portrayals of the characters in the movie are very realistic, and so humane that I think anyone can somewhat be related to it.

Paddy is a former alcoholic who not only ruined his own family, but also brought a lot of hurt to his two sons and his deceased wife. Having become a Christian, Paddy is looking for forgiveness and a chance of renewing his relationship with his two sons. However, he struggled because both of his two sons are unwilling to forgive him, and to see Nick Nolte's performance as Paddy is heart wrenching.

Brendon's story is more straight forward, his motivation for fighting in MMA is fueled by his desperate attempt to protect, and to care of his family. However, as the story progresses, Brendon also had to, in his heart deal with his irresponsible past actions for leaving Tommy and his mother, although he is the elder brother in the family. At the same time, Brendon had to struggled to forgive his repenting father. Although I have to say that Brendon is probably my less favorite character in this film, because I doubt he really forgave his father at all. (Can you forgive someone without trusting them? This is a good question worthy of discussion).

Tommy is the most interesting character in this movie. At the start of the movie, Tommy's intention is totally unknown. Only that Tommy is a an extremely angry individual who harbors a lot of resentment towards his father and brother for the past hurts. However, as the story unfolds, Tommy's past and his motivations is fully revealed, and despite his harsh words and sarcastic comments to his father, Tommy's deep love for his father was eventually shown in two most heart moving scenes toward the end of the film (which I won't spoil).

The base plot of the movie is not complex, but the depth of the characters and their relationships with each other is so complex, and relevant to everyday people like you and me, that makes Warrior a relentless, and brutally honest sports/family drama that is a must see in 2011.

Conclusion:

Story 9.2/10 - Personally, the story in Warrior is my favorite type of movie stories. Simple, easy to follow storyline with in depth, complex characters and a realistic portrayal of human and family relationships. Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton's performances as Tommy and Brendon are outstanding!

Cinematography - 9/10: I would complain that the camera was a bit shaky, to eminent a sense of realism in a drama movie such as this. However, personally I don't like the shaky camera style, but some of the scenes captured the character's thoughts and emotions really well. The MMA actions are well choreographed!

Sex/nudity - none

Violence - Heavy: There are plenty of MMA/UFC actions, so is it violent? Yes I would say it is violent, but no more violent than watching a boxing match.

Final score: 9.1/10 - Good story, and top notch performances from Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton. The result is a unique, powerful, compelling, and heart moving family drama set in the world of MMA. It is one of those extremely rare boxing/fighting movies that you don't want to see either fighter loose. If you are planning to go to the cinema soon, make this a priority on your "to watch" list. Most importantly, it raises a good discussion topic on "can you forgive someone without trusting them?"