Skyrim - Dawnguard Review @ Eurogamer

The first full review of the Skyrim DLC Dawnguard that we've tracked is up at Eurogamer. The score is a modest 7/10, with the author finding the story too thin and new features such as the Vampire Lord form a bit clumsy. The intro:

Dawnguard, the first download add-on for Bethesda's world-conquering Skyrim, is a curious thing. Unlike the blockbuster ambitions of BioWare, Bethesda RPGs are more about place than plot. They're about roaming, poking around and seeing what happens, and the various quest lines are there to tug you in the direction of new places.
That's why Bethesda downloadable content usually introduces some new, separate area to explore, away from the main map. Dawnguard, in contrast, squeezes its handful of new locations into the tiny spaces not already occupied in Tamriel. That means that a lot of its impact relies on the story, and that's not the game's strongest suit.

More information.

Wow, that was pretty harsh. While the rating is 7/10, the text says 4/10. The guy is right when he says that Bethesda is best at expansive environments and probably weakest at telling a story. I'll wait and see if this guy is a hater, or if this is a consensus. I guess the good thing about the Xbox 360 exclusive is that pc buyers get at least a month to read reviews before deciding to buy. This may be a good thing for us and a bad thing for Bethesda. Time will tell….

Originally Posted by crpgnut
Wow, that was pretty harsh. While the rating is 7/10, the text says 4/10. The guy is right when he says that Bethesda is best at expansive environments and probably weakest at telling a story. I'll wait and see if this guy is a hater, or if this is a consensus. I guess the good thing about the Xbox 360 exclusive is that pc buyers get at least a month to read reviews before deciding to buy. This may be a good thing for us and a bad thing for Bethesda. Time will tell….

Not sure that will matter I think most will buy it anyway. I know I will.

I'm not really surprised the really good add-on came late for morrowind and oblivion, but hey this one beats horse armor.

horse armor didn't cost $20.

this looks interesting , if they release 5 more expansions like this i may even buy the game

Originally Posted by Tragos
this looks interesting , if they release 5 more expansions like this i may even buy the game

I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

Hm. The review did not sound very encouaging - I would play as a human (non-were, non- bow-using) so it sounds like it would be rather bland experience for me? So far I have logged 160hrs on plain old Skyrim and paying $20 for what sounds like an extended quest set on the same landmass is not sounding that appealing. Is this billed as an 'expansion' or as something less? I suppose my expectations were pitched a little high,having plaued old 'expansions' like Bloodmoon and Shivering Isles…

Originally Posted by booboo
Hm. The review did not sound very encouaging - I would play as a human (non-were, non- bow-using) so it sounds like it would be rather bland experience for me? So far I have logged 160hrs on plain old Skyrim and paying $20 for what sounds like an extended quest set on the same landmass is not sounding that appealing. Is this billed as an 'expansion' or as something less? I suppose my expectations were pitched a little high,having plaued old 'expansions' like Bloodmoon and Shivering Isles…

Maybe you want to wait until it comes out for PC so we can post some feedback?

It includes two new faction questlines and at least one long sidequest. I will probably go back and play two or three new playthroughs of the game, one siding with the Dawnguard and the other siding with the Volkihar. In my case, two new playthroughs means at least few hundred hours.

I think that after a handful of different playthroughs of Skyrim I've now reached saturation point… this add-on comes a little too late for me and does not offer enough in terms of new exploration to make purchase worthwhile.

I think I will wait for all add-ons to be released and a compilation edition to be sold - then one or two playthroughs with a "complete" game.

Originally Posted by CountChocula
I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

No? They released 5 expansions for FO3, and that game sold roughly 2.7 million copies. Skyrim sold more than 3.5 million copies, in 48h.. I'm pretty sure we'll see a lot of expansions for Skyrim.

Originally Posted by vurt
No? They released 5 expansions for FO3, and that game sold roughly 2.7 million copies. Skyrim sold more than 3.5 million copies, in 48h.. I'm pretty sure we'll see a lot of expansions for Skyrim.

I'm all for it, of course, but I seem to recall Todd mentioned in an interview that the subsequent DLC will be smaller than Dawnguard.

That's odd since he said they were aiming for large expansions this time around, at least in interviews a few months ago.

I think it's probably a good idea to make a distinction between actual expansions and DLC. I've not seen any DLC yet to rival genuine expansions such as Tribunal or Bloodmoon for length/breadth for instance.

The Eurogamer review doesn't make Dawnguard sound all that appetising, unfortunately, at least for me. I'll wait for more opinions on the Watch naturally, but otherwise I may delay my mage playthrough of Skyrim until the rest of the DLC comes out.

Originally Posted by vurt
That's odd since he said they were aiming for large expansions this time around, at least in interviews a few months ago.

Maybe they are testing out this $20 price point; hopefully, if it is successful they might develop more DLC of this scope.

Originally Posted by CountChocula
I'm all for it, of course, but I seem to recall Todd mentioned in an interview that the subsequent DLC will be smaller than Dawnguard.

What he said was that they would be doing fewer DLC than they did with Fallout 3 - and that each would be on the more substantial side (ie, no operation anchorage).

I disagree with the review here a bit - he seemed dismissive about one of the best and most substantive quests in the expansion because it requires reading a book. Like people don' click on books already hoping one will be a skill-book. I'm also suspicious they didn't actually finish one play-through of either side based on how they compared the two - in terms of quality of quests and interesting abilities you can get by the end of each main route, its unbalanced toward the Dawnguard if anything and certainly not the other way around. But you have to actually get to the end of the quest line to realize that, so I suspect they didn't.

It also adds a fairly substantial amount of explorable new areas (2-3 vallys, a realm of oblivion, and even a new location in Black Reach.) He seems disappointed they're not all conveniently in one new place - which I guess would have made it hard to see all of them and be first out of the gate with a review like this. There's at least a few interesting things to find in the Soul Carn if you actually explore it including side quests and a hidden boss-ish fight.

It's got flaws alright, and the score isn't entirely unreasonable depending on your playstyle. If you really enjoyed skyrim then it's probably more of an 8/10; if you got bored of skyrim and never finished it then well yeah this would be a waste of money.

Originally Posted by jhwisner
What he said was that they would be doing fewer DLC than they did with Fallout 3 - and that each would be on the more substantial side (ie, no operation anchorage)

Yes, I'm familiar with that part, but there was a video interview with Todd Howard where he said not all the DLC was going to be $20 or as big as Dawnguard.

Dawnguard sounds really weak compared to Shivering Isles, Bloodmoon or Tribunal though :/ Wish they would make something like that for Skyrim.

Originally Posted by vurt
Dawnguard sounds really weak compared to Shivering Isles, Bloodmoon or Tribunal though :/ Wish they would make something like that for Skyrim.

This is what I was hoping for as well.

When they first announced Dawnguard, I was a little skeptical about what I was seeing, and this review seems to confirm a lot of my concerns. I'm sure there's some nice extra questlines and a few new locations to see, but I was hoping for something more expansive like Shivering Isles (which I sense we may not see with Skyrim, there seems to be more focus on DLC than full blown expansions these days).

I'll probably pick it up when it eventually gets a deep discount on Steam, but not for a full $20. I'll keep an eye out for other reviews as well, but so far I've seen little in the previews and whatnot that makes me want to break out my wallet.

Well I just picked up 1600 MS Points to buy this thing.

So, what are the things to look out for?

Vampire Quest?

Extra Werewolf Quest?

• I wasn't too thrilled with the gourging depicted when a werewolf so I've opted not play it for the most part. I keep the blood to be immune to disease. Is there an alternative now, like playing a Silver Blade?

Crossbows?

What else is in this.

As a few people also pointed out, there are no massive extra continents and no level cap to be increased. Skyrim is pretty massive to begin with, doncha think?

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On a side note, in last night's Futurama the voting districts for President of Earth consisted of Skyrim, Panem, Kenya, R'yleh, and of course, Iowa.