Skyrim is a spectacular landscape: a mountainous wilderness like nothing we've explored before. The basics aren't dramatically different to its predecessor, Oblivion, but the world is a generation ahead.
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It's not just the gorgeous frosty slopes, but the caverns, hollows, tombs and dungeons that lurk in their shadows. You can't walk for five minutes without stumbling on something interesting. But if you walk longer - a lot longer - than that, what do you find?
I set off to explore the land of the Nords with no particular goal: just a general wanderlust, and a healthy curiosity in every curious cave, shack and traveller in need. Along the way I stumbled on some of the most stunning sights Skyrim has to offer, some of the strangest quests - and some of its best-kept secrets.
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Blackreach
Picking my way through an ancient ruin patrolled by steampunk spiderbots, I find the chamber: a huge and ancient device, all spinning rings and levers. My elf companion Faendal watches silently as I fiddle with it for at least fifteen minutes, swinging curved arms round and aimlessly redirecting beams of light. Then, at last, it opens. A few more steps, and a door. Blackreach.
It's an hour before I'm done gawping, stumbling around its rocky basin picking strange roots and fungus, steering clear of the angry blind creatures that live here, slipping down waterfalls and breaking into old buildings. By the time I surface, I've almost forgotten what country I'm in.
Comments
8 comments so far...
Old Skool Gamer on 10 Feb '12 said:
Nice Story!
racxie on 10 Feb '12 said:
Loving the screenshots, I'm now using them as my wallpaper
metallicorphan on 10 Feb '12 said:
I remember when i first got to Blackreach,and it just bewildered me on how they got the whole damn game into 3.9gig,Blackreach is friggin' massive..and for some reason has a giant strolling about as well,no idea how he got down there
there are lots more Dwarven ruins that are absolutely huge as well
The steam pools when i first discovered them was before i fought my first Dragon,and there were a trio of warriors who had stripped off and were taking a relaxing bath in there...ever since the Dragons,i never saw them again
Nightcaller Temple was where i had my first glitch in the game,thankfully i had saved just before hand and i managed to find a way round the glitch
I have just bought KoA,i still have MGSPW to play and s**tloads more,but this article now makes me want to go back to Skyrim,even though i pretty much did everything you could and spent over 200+ hrs on the game...maybe in a few months or when the DLC is released
What a great game Skyrim is
hicken_t on 10 Feb '12 said:
Even though the game has beautiful and stunning environments, I wish there were more weird and wonderful locations such as blackreach, that were a notch above in the wow factor. I think the shivering isles spoilt me with its vividness and craziness. I hope the dlc adds this type of wonder.
procion on 16 Feb '12 said:
Ever since my gamesave got up to 9mbs a few months ago, the game became one glitchy freez-upping file-check causing mess untill they finally patched it. 3 yrs of bethesda ripping customers of by doing QA AFTER ship day, and not always successfully.
I hope one of the dlc deals with what happened to the dwarven dwemer race, tho I have my suspicions. Q Blackreach and those falmer thralls down there, found no where else in the game. No where else in the game and the falmer themselves all of elven descent...interesting...
tunnard on 24 Feb '12 said:
I love the "wander around, find things" nature of this game, but I personally enjoy the exploration unspoilt, so its special to you when you find a really cool area! However, the game has been out for quite a while now, so its good to have a guide to the funky areas I might have missed!
zfzwind on 28 Feb '12 said:
Beautiful world~~~~
FakeKisser on 1 Mar '12 said:
Great collection of stories and screen shots! I've written a couple of my own stories, but I really need to get back in Tamriel and write some more!
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