The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim vs The Falconeer
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the most highly acclaimed games of the decade, putting it on par with the success that more current games have managed to enjoy - The Witcher 3, for example. The game puts you into the role of the dragonborn, a hero who is able to defeat dragons on an equal footing due to the powers he/she is able to tap into. The game has plenty of depth when it comes to its lore, factions, and of course, the game map where you basically can explore anywhere you like as long as you can find a way to reach it. Of course, all of that brilliant gameplay and environment is well-packaged with breathtaking graphics and iconic musical scores that many still praise to this day.Granted that the game has plenty of annoying bugs that persist until today, it is not surprising for Skyrim to have over 200 Game of the Year Awards mainly because the game just blows everyone's minds when it first came out. After all, it literally redefined the open world genre. Not to mention, even with the hundreds of hours of original content to enjoy, the game has a thriving modding community that lets you eke out hundreds more hours from Skyrim.
The Falconeer
The Falconeer is a third-person adventure game focusing on aerial combat on the back of a warbird. Best played with a controller, the game features a massive, steampunk-themed open ocean-covered world to explore, thrilling dogfights to dive into, and quests to complete.The Falconeer features a massive open world that the player can explore to his/her heart’s content! There are many different islets featuring various points-of-interest like fortified locations, seachantress, and weaponshop that players can land on, but the most important one is probably the settlements. Here, players can take quests; buy stuff like weapons, serums to enhance your warbird, permits, etc from vendors; complete bounties, and even buy a new warbird once the pre-requisites (such as completing a time trial race within just 30 seconds) are fulfilled.
Now, in terms of combat, I’m a bit on the fence about The Falconeer. Personally, I find the controls in The Falconeer to feel rather awkward. Aiming is also very hard in this game, not because you have to aim ahead like what you’ll typically do in a tank-based game like World of Tanks but rather, aim at a fast-moving target. The crosshair will jump all over the place (if not disappear outright) during a dogfight. At one point, the crosshair disappeared entirely, turning my warbird into a sitting duck. Flying isn’t as stable as I’d like as well. Maybe this is done in the name of realism, but I’ve noticed that sometimes my warbird will dip and fly lower for no reason.
The Falconeer has some incredible, unique world-building complete with beautiful graphics and atmosphere. The only unfortunate thing about the game is probably the controls. It’s very hard to properly navigate your warbird, let alone engage in intense aerial combat when it feels like I’m trying to aim at fast-moving targets while being completely drunk. So, I’d say the game might be suitable for a more hardcore, high-skilled player base but not the average gamer.