Skyrim

Skyrim, or more completely, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim continues the story of imprisoned-and-then-freed destiny-bound heroes of Tamriel, this time located in the frigid north, titular region: Skyrim.

The game was dense, as was the first draft of this review, which I have subsequently broken up into 5 entries (seriously).  Today's post looking at the main story and game mechanics, and subsequent posts dedicated to all the shit that got done in the name of collecting the sweet, sweet platinum trophy.

In media res being a bit of a gameplay-must these days, you start the game as an imprisoned man/woman/whatever on your way to the chopping block - the head chopping block - when you are serendipitously saved by the arrival of a fire-breathing dragon.  Amidst the chaos and fear of behading/being eaten by a dragon, you select your character's gender, race, and appearance.  Unlike the fourth Elder Scrolls entrant, you do not select a sign, have specifically anointed skills, or any of the other things that made that game have an astounding 743 sextillion (a lot) character builds.

The undead are a frequent encounter.

While skills continue to increase as you use them, the leveling system has been redesigned.  Now, gaining progress in any skill will move you towards a level-up, wherein you can increase your health, magicka (magic health), or stamina (swinging axe health).  Upon gaining a level, you are also able to select a perk from one of the skill areas, granted you have reached the requisite experience with that skill.  There are 251 perks in Skyrim, of which you may feasibly select 81 (essentially the "level cap").

I decided to put my perks into archery, sneaking, light armor, and Illusion-magic, which you think might have been setting myself up to be a total badass ninja, but I still chose to confront most conflicts at high velocity while spamming the attack key.

Combat is relatively unchanged from Oblivion, with the main exception in that you can wield magic while simultaneously wielding a weapon, or wield two spells at once.  Spells have also been pretty well nerfed, only dealing a set amount of damage and not able to be customized (a la Oblivion).

So, fresh off of not-being-killed-by-a-dragon, you are given the same mind-numbing freedom common to the Bethesda games: you could literally do anything.  Only a few story-related areas are blocked off, and to be honest - it's nearly impossible to find them, as there is just so much else to do.  The game improves upon Oblivion's compass system, and exploration begins to be "just... one... more... area..." and before you know it, you've mapped most of the locations in Skyrim.

Oh hey girl, lemme shout at you.

Anyway, it just so happens that you are a Dragonborn, a rare 1%-er, born once in every few generations who can absorb the souls of dragons and focus those souls into powerful Thu'ums, or shouts.

While dialogue with townsfolk may lead you to believe that dragons are rare sights anywhere in Tamriel, the reality is that the whole place is lousy with dragons.  And they are dragons: they eat townspeople and their steeds, devastate farms and hovels, and will fuck you up if you aren't equipped with enough healing potions to ward off the inevitable crispy feelings of being burned to death.

One dragon, in particular, plays your chief nemesis.  His purpose is straight black and white fantasy: he destroys worlds.  It's almost refreshing to meet a bad-guy who is really bad.  No tortured childhood.  No on-the-fence attitude.  Dude just wants to obliterate existence.  I can respect that.

The game is great, though the story does have some pacing issues, common to the robust world games like Skyrim.  And that's just the main story.  It was definitely worth the 80 hours I sunk into it, and definitely worth a platinum run.

Always worth it.  Always.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (GOTY)

While everyone else is enjoying the fifth installment of The Elder Scrolls, Bethesda's ongoing, Game-of-the-Year winning, fantasy franchise, I'm just now sitting down with the The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition.  I was really shy from getting into the series, because I like my fantasy games like I like my sex life: turn-based and from a third-person perspective.  Just kidding:  I'm married, and no longer have a sex life.

Unlike the traditional genre staples, the Elder Scrolls series are fantasy games from first-person perspective, which dynamically changes everything when it comes to combat strategy, and gives the game an unsurprising sense of immersion.  The engine is painstakingly identical to that of the Fallout series, which makes sense, as the games are made by the same folks.

Full review is happening, after the jump...

Bethesda bringing Scrolls Battle to Court

 

Despite Notch (aka Markus Persson, aka the creator of Minecraft, aka my lover) offering to settle the issue in a Quake 3 deathmatch, it seems that big, bad, corporate Bethesda is moving forward with its lawsuit against Mojang.  The charge?  Mojang's upcoming game is named Scrolls and Bethesda feels this might confuse consumers with the upcoming Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the four other Elder Scrolls games that came before (particularly the IVth addition, Oblivion, which was Game of the Year).

I know I often confuse an independent studio's release with a GOTY-producing product line.

When first announced, it was like a bad joke, and Notch offered to resolve the problem out-of-court in what should become a precedent of all frivolous lawsuits: a Quake 3 Deathmatch!  Nevermind that Bethesda made Quake 3, this dude has the balls to go toe-to-toe.

If anything, this was Bethesda's opportunity to save face and build its fan base.  If they lost?  Ha-ha, you got to name your game Scrolls, even though we didn't really want you to, but we got tons of practically free publicity.  If they won?  Ha-ha, we get to keep our naming rights, and got tons of practically free publicity, but because we have this huge release coming out in November called Skyrim, so we're going to let you keep the naming rights, even though we won, as an act of goodwill towards all.

No, instead, it's to court they go. This will only leave a bad taste in the mouth of gamers, almost all of whom have some kind of soft-spot for the underdog Mojang, especially Notch and his hat fetish.  Opportunity of goodwill is slipping away, Bethesda - it's time to reach out and grab it.

On Scrolls, and scrolls.  Penny Arcade.

Finally, a thought: can you really hold a copyright or trademark on a word, like Scrolls?  If so, can God (or Moses, or whatever) sue Bethesda for ripping off the Dead Sea Scrolls?  I mean, there are dead things in Oblivion, and a sea, and - apparently - scrolls.

Fallout: New Vegas - Lonesome Road DLC

The final DLC package (or ... final announced DLC package) for Fallout: New Vegas has been delayed, according to the Bethesda Blog.  The DLC supposedly tells of the Courier's past and why he was selected for the job which sparked the events in New Vegas revolving around the diabolical Mr. House.

While the delay certainly isn't good news, any news about a deepening storyline is good news in my book.

Fallout: New Vegas DLC - Dead Money

Old World Blues certainly gave me a run for my money this past week, but today I was able to sit down and plug away at Fallout: New Vegas' first expansion pack Dead Money.  Was it as good as OWB?  Check out the review, after the jump!

Old World Blues Follow-Up

Bethesda's first attempts at a roll out of DLC for smash hit Fallout 3 were pretty ill-received.  I happened to like The Pitt, which brought up some more complicated moral choices, but that can't be everyone's cup of tea, I suppose.

Giant Roboscorpion!

Old World Blues was, in comparison, an immaculate example of what I had expected from a $9.99 purchase of DLC.  It added approximately 10 hours of playtime, new enemies, new versions of old enemies, new weapons, new perks, new traits, and an engaging and hilarious story. 

I wrapped up the DLC last night, and have to comment that it stayed true to its foundation of quality deliverables through and through.  The story had poignancy and a twist, but not a twist in the way that the writers sat down and said: "we have to think of a twist so that the story maintains relevance.  All stories have unexpected twists!"  Actually, the "twist" is a natural discovery, and it's the exact kind of fun I wanted from the story add-on, and that I had come to expect from Fallout: New Vegas.

Crashes, of course, were an issue; I can't say I wasn't disappointed by the gripping thrust back into reality by watching my character's weapon half-holstered, frozen in time.  It would have made a nice picture had it not been so frustrating.

My recommendation of grabbing this DLC stands, but if I could enhance it - somehow add flavor to it, I would say this: as a male character with the Confirmed Bachelor (gay) perk, I was able to flirt with my brain in a jar.

Really, where else can you experience that?

Fallout: New Vegas DLC - Old World Blues

Old World Blues is the most recently released DLC package for Fallout: New Vegas, and it's also the only pack I've had any experience with.  After about five hours of play yesterday, I feel like I've got a good enough grasp to give it a review, even if I haven't played the whole thing (this sort of behavior makes me reek of professionalism, right?).

Firstly, there is about a half hour of dialogue at the beginning of the DLC.  Yes, a half hour.  Do you know how long I wanted it to be?

The Balance of Good and Evil

I don't usually play games as an "evil" character.  My natural inclanation is to save people, heal others, and generally be a "do-gooder."  Games like Fallout 3, Bioshock, Fable, and inFAMOUS have greatly featured the morality/Karma/whatever system that can affect gameplay in subtle ways (slight differences in dialogue), to extreme ways (effects powers).  So it should be no surprise that my first playthrough on games like these is that of the good guy (with the exception of Fallout: New Vegas, on which it was difficult to determine the "good guy" path, and I instead treaded into the murky waters of the unknown - and also Fallout 3: The Pitt DLC, which had the same outcome).

Playing inFAMOUS on Evil (and on Hard mode, for trophy's sake) has actually been a bit more fun than my first playthrough.  I can't tell if it's because I'm now more comfortable with the game, or if the evil missions are more enjoyable, or if I truly have molded into a sadistic creep who enjoys zapping pedestrians with electricity before sucking their bio-energy out of their skulls to replenish my health. 

So today, I wanted to look at the ways in which games communicated good and evil, and my take on that dichotomy.  More after the jump...