"Nehrim: at Fates Edge" First Impressions and Analysis blog - Extradaemon

To be honest with you, there really arent any words in the English language which sum up my positive opinion of Nehrim: At Fates Edge. So, in order to retain my proffessionalism i've decided to create an entirely new word which I shall now use to describe this mod... Fumbloristic. 
 
"But Extradaemon" you may say "Surely a modification created by Germans could never hope to match up to the level of amazingness that was Oblivion in the first place, could it?" And to that question I would merely say "you are correct my good sir. Nehrim doesn't match up to Oblivion, it sails right ahead of it and leaves Cyrodill battered and broken in the dirt."

 I had heard a lot of praise about Nehrim, I had heard that it was Original, Dramatic, Immersive and pretty freaking amazing. And I must say, It was. The beginning dungeon of Nehrim isn't your typical Elder scrolls Tutorial. That grim moment when I first lit my torch only to see a horrific troll creature charging at me must of been one of the most frightening moments in any elder scrolls game ever! Thank the gods a lovable ally was there to save me during my time of need. The German voice acting really didn't bother me as much as I had imagined before playing Nehrim. Being unable to speak the language, It brought about a sense of unfamiliarity about the world and the characters that inhabit it. Similar to the unfamiliarity of setting foot in Morrowind for the first time in the Elder Scrolls 3. Carrying on with the Dungeon, the environments were astonishingly well made. Collapsing walls and bridges really gave the feeling of age and desolation to the dark mining complex, every step I made was one with doubt and care as I desperately wished that the creaky wooden floorboards beneath me didn't collapse to reveal a horde of the hideous creatures which had previously made my acquaintance. Mine carts still sailed through the tunnels as if their former operators were still alive, it was creepy stuff, yet SureAI managed to pull it off perfectly. After entering a doorway into another chamber my character was frozen in position whilst Cerebro, my witty German companion who had saved my life earlier scouted ahead, the whole time I was silently whispering "Please dont die, please dont die, please dont di- godammit!". He had died...

I had started up Nehrim: at fates edge with some level of depression after seeing EA continue to not go bankrupt after another series of bad games. Nehrim however wouldn't allow me to be distracted, nehrim demanded the entirety of my attention, so to punish me for my lack of which A large hideous black demon, the one whom had prevously killed my best friend Cerebro only a few seconds earlier, was running straight at me and with one fell sweep of its great claws, had ripped my face off... Well that certainly did the trick!

  Luckilly I had quicksaved right before the death of my dear friend. And only watching it a second time was I able to comprehend what I had felt. Do you remember that moment when you first saw Gandalf fall into the Great Chasm of Moria at the end of the first Lord of the Rings film? Devastating wasn't it? Didn't it just make you want to get on your knees and cry? Maybe that was just me. Well thats how I felt after the death of dear Cerebro. I had only known him for 2 minutes, and he mostly followed me around. But in a way he was MY Gandalf. He was my light in the dark, and he was now gone.

 After a few hours of running away from the beast on my trail I had discovered a journal detailing exactly how to kill the creature (Thats conveniant!). What had been suggested from past experience was realised when I discovered that the only way to fight the creature would be to light the torches scattered around its lair in order to blind it, this would give me the opportunity to finnaly kill it. This was a step-up from the traditional Oblivion boss formula of hitting something really hard until it stops moving. It was a welcome change, I really did feel a sense of accomplishment when the creature was lying dead at my feet. Cerebro had been avenged, and I was free. Being Nehrim however, I wasn't allowed to walk away so easily, the next segment of the dungeon saw me traversing a claustrophbic cavern which had been devastated by the thick roots of the trees and foliage above, I had to combat a large variety of supremely well made adversaries during my dungeon crawl, the most notable being the zombies which hit with the same power and force as the Euro star. Pain is the best way to sum those guys up, yet all the heartbreak was worth it.As I was finnaly free... a second time.

 The exit of the cave complex led to a seemingly peaceful mine. The miners allowed me to get a job working with them there until the palisade over the road out of the mine was lifted. One quest in the mine involved me blocking rat tunnels with one of different sized rocks. This is a good example of a puzzle that you just wouldn't see in vanilla Oblivion. Another example, as strange as it is involved lifting the road block with, you guessed it. Cheese! Sheogorath would be proud. Once I had finnaly left the shackles of the starting town I was welcomed to a glorious mountain environment which strongly reminded me of Skyrim in both scale and magnificence. It seems that the development team of Nehrim really didn't hold back in terms of detail, whilst trekking along the countryside I saw a variety of new foliage, creatures and (hold your gasps) Chickens! Due to the open back story of the player character in Oblivion, there wasn't much room for quests which heavily focused on the player's back story. Nehrim however, included many quests which delved into the origins of the player character, my highlight of which being when I entered the smoking ruins of my old hometown and underwent a flashback where I experienced first-hand the killing of my family and neighbors. Its dark stuff, but i was fine, I've played Amnesia after all.

   =To Summarize =
I feel like I had left much of Nehrim unexplored after finishing my first impression's of the Mod. During one of my many ventures in this world I had come across a huge wooden gate in the middle of a forest which suspiciously warned me of a cruel and agonizing demise if I ever happened to cross that point, needless to say I decided to walk in the other direction, yet a little part of me has always wanted to travel through those mysterious doors and no-doubt have an adventure I will never truly forget. One thing is for sure though, im not going to stop playing Nehrim anytime soon. And if you dont have oblivion, I highly recommend that you buy it just for this mod, its worth it. I'm giving Nehrim a 10/10 for a fantastic setting, memorable environments and all round fun game play. I'd gladly pay £30 for a game of the same quality as Nehrim. It truly is Fumbloristic.

 (Stay tuned for next week where I give my first impressions and Analysis for Project Zomboid, also if you would like an FIA of the Beta for the new game from Paradox Interactive "War of the Roses" be sure to click the link below and sign up for the beta using this link, help would be appreciated)

 
Waroftherosesthegame.com