Archangel Tyrael Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 We go fangs-on with the first batch of Skyrim DLC... We could have joined the Dawnguard, sure. They're a group of crossbow-wielding warriors who've dedicated their lives to ridding Skyrim of its vampiric taint. But where's the fun in that? Bunch of self-righteous do-gooders. We've decided to embrace the darkness instead, and become vampires ourselves. Much more enjoyable, but not without its problems. You could, of course, become a vampire in vanilla Skyrim, but Dawnguard makes a much bigger thing out of it. You can now join a secret coven of powerful blood-suckers whose base of operations is Castle Volkihar, a new location that appears on an island in the Sea of Ghosts once you've installed the DLC. It's an impressive looking place, and its dungeons are filled with slaves that you can feed on to quench your vampiric thirst. But the biggest change is that you can now become a Vampire Lord. This powerful alternate form, which is so monstrous that people will attack you on sight, gives you access to a whole new skill tree of 11 nightmarish perks. You can summon gargoyles to do your bidding, paralyse foes with fear, or transform into an invulnerable cloud of mist. The Vampire Lord form grants you a lot of unique and powerful abilities, but the controls aren't perfect. The slow, lumbering animations and forced third-person perspective make you feel disastrously cack-handed in battles with multiple enemies. But we like it overall, as it brings something new to Skyrim's combat. But if you choose this path you'll no longer be able to join the Dawnguard, for obvious reasons. They don't take kindly to us vamps. Dawnguard also makes being a vampire easier. In normal Skyrim, reaching the fourth and final stage of vampirism would cause townsfolk and city guards to attack you. Now this only happens when you change into your alternate form. You also get some rad glowing red eyes, and the ability to easily quench your eternal thirst with handy blood potions. As well as the war between Lord Harkon's vampire coven and the Dawnguard, which forms the basis of the DLC's lengthy main quest, an impressive amount of new content has also been added. There's a whole set of new gear for both vampires and Dawnguard warriors, including weapons with attack bonuses against vamps, and enchanted crossbows. The crossbows, incidentally, are brilliant. The bolts hit enemies with a satisfying thunk. As well as Fort Dawnguard and Castle Volkihar, you'll also get to delve into an Oblivion plane called the Soul Cairn. This visually striking area is home to Arvak, a skeletal horse that you can bring back to Skyrim with you. Speaking of horses, mounted combat has been added. This means that if you're being hounded by wolves as you travel across the world map, you don't have to stop and get off to deal with them; you can now swing your axe from the comfort of your steed. You're also able to craft a whole new set of weapons from dragon bones, which are more powerful than Daedric weapons, as well as crossbow bolts and arrows. There are new 'legendary' dragons, as well as ten additional achievements. Bethesda have done a remarkable job filling Dawnguard with new content, which explains why it took almost eight months for the first batch of Skyrim DLC to be released. Horse armour this ain't. We'll have a proper review tomorrow after we've finished the main quest and tried out both the vampire and Dawnguard story paths. But at this early stage, we're hugely impressed. We'd rather have big, considered chunks of DLC like this than the odd monthly content pack. Dawnguard doesn't just offer new quests, but a whole host of new gameplay features, and major improvements to the regular game's half-baked vampirism system. If you're playing Dawnguard now (which many of you will be), we want to hear what you think. Did you join the Dawnguard, or become a vampire? Have you taken down a legendary dragon yet, or forged an arsenal of bone weapons? Let us know in the comments. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/355520/features/skyrim-dawnguard-dlc-our-first-five-hours-as-a-vampire-lord/?page=2#top_banner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Shadowz Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 I'm so high ranked that I can't unlock none of the new perks. It's gonna take forever just to rank up once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoosterTeethFan Posted July 2, 2012 Report Share Posted July 2, 2012 I'm so high ranked that I can't unlock none of the new perks. It's gonna take forever just to rank up once. I KNOW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts