Review: Dragonborn

You are approached by a group of masked people. They are not friendly of course, as this is Skyrim.

These people are cultists, devotees of Lord Miraak. He is the Dragonborn, so they say, and according to them you are a phony. That's right. A big fat phony. If you are like me you might be tempted to say "I never asked for this," like Adam Jensen would.

Lord Miraak, wannabe ruler of Solstheim. (Photo credit: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com)

Dispatch them before they rid themselves of you. Upon closer inspection one of them is carrying a note with instructions to kill you. Another mystery and adventure awaits.

Your destination is Solstheim, which may be a bit of fan-service for the Morrowind expansion Bloodmoon, which took place there.

World: A nice change of pace from the snow of Skyrim. It also made the world feel a bit more connected, being in one place and being so focused on Skyrim can make the world feel shut off.

Weapons/Armour: Good stuff here, some new sets of armour and new weapons. Bonemold makes a return.

Quests: The quests range from simple (could you get my rare pickaxe out of that mine please?) to creepy (the main quest and another which I won’t spoil but involves a Daedric lord). There are some neat rewards for some of the quests too.

Story: The story is interesting and refreshingly makes your character feel a little less above everyone else. It also has an epic feel to it, a clash of titans type of thing. Nobody and everybody seem to know about your adversary. The name is familiar to them but everything else is out of reach for some reason. What is with the chanting? These are the things you want to get to the bottom of.

Conclusion: Dragonborn is a fine addition to the base game of Skyrim. You get to go to a different area and explore it, which for me at least, is one of the most appealing things about The Elder Scrolls series. New monsters keep things interesting and you get away from being surrounded by Nords and their mead all the time. Instead you get some Dark Elves which were scarce in vanilla Skyrim. Overall it adds some more variety and gives a different flavour of the world to enjoy. The amount of content within is also satisfying with plenty of areas and quests for any DLC. I should also mention you can ride dragons with Dragonborn, though you cannot directly control them as you would a horse.

Skyrim is on sale for Xbox 360’s spring sale, so now would be a good time to grab it.

Review: Dawnguard

The eyes of a vampire post-Dawnguard. (Photo credit: http://bethsoft.com)

With the PlayStation 3 finally receiving the DLC for Skyrim the add-ons Dawnguard and Dragonborn will be played by many owners of the console. The question is if they are worth the price tag.

Dawnguard was the first DLC for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I held out for a while and picked it up during the Christmas sale on Xbox Live for 800 points (half off of the original 1600.)

If you don't know what that is in dollars it is $10 and $20 respectively. Dawnguard is worth the $10 easily in my opinion, however a friend of mine was not so sure he wanted it.

Let's look at some of the factors in deciding it's worth to you.

Need: You love Skyrim. You love it so much, in fact, that you have conquered it and seen all or most of what it has to offer. The problem is you still want more. If this is you, then it is safe to say it will be worth it to you at full price.

Content: Dawnguard all in all lasts about as long as a faction quest-line. Bethesda has said as much. The thing is sometimes that can go by awfully quickly. Luckily Dawnguard offers more than quests. New shouts, armour, weapons and a new follower help this as they enhance and add to the full game.

Story: Vampires. You like them? Well they have been made cooler. They attack Holds randomly (especially if you fast-travel). You can be a Vampire Lord (cool powers, hovering, wings.) The thing is they want to blot out the sun so they can run wild on Skyrim. Helping or preventing them, as usual, is up to you.

Dawnguard is a solid add-on to Skyrim. It adds some more flavour to the overall game especially now that playing Werewolf or Vampire is more appealing than before. The quest-line is fun and engaging throughout too. Dawnguard simply gives you more. More quest, weapons, shouts and enemies. If you are looking for more Skyrim content this should not disappoint.