And the Holiday season is officially over. I hope you all had fun and took my advice to abstain from playing videogames while it lasted. Me? I did just that. Play games, I mean. Hey, just because I care it doesn't mean I'm not a hypocrite.
Seriously, though; I'm a misanthrope with zero tolerance for anything cheery and no social skills whatsoever. Ross flirting? Dude's like Don Juan in comparison. So, what did you think I would be doing?
The first thing I sat down and did after the last video went online was a second play-through of "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim". After the first time I played the game at launch, I proceeded to Vlog about it and rip it to shreds for all its triteness and the insubstantial busywork it puts the player through. However, some bright minds out there took issue with it, because I had "only" played it for 15-16 hours and I couldn't have possibly seen what the game has to offer. I still don't quite get how what amounts to roughly two days of work isn't enough time to tell if you're having fun with what's supposed to be an entertaining activity, but whatever Internet, we'll play it your way.
I still didn't waste 100 hours of my life on the title, like some insane people suggested, but I did clock about half that, i.e. some 50 hours of doing chores for strangers between saving the Universe and marrying my maids.
Instead of going through the finer points of the game again, let me instead quickly recount my experience with it this time through.
As the game started, I spent a considerable amount of time building my character. I opted to go for a Bosmer (that is, a Wood Elf) this time around and once I was done, it occurred to me that, unlike my original Nord fighter, this scrawny, pale dude wouldn't be seen as a legendary hero in any plausible scenario. He'd still make a pretty believable guitar player on Youtube, though.
After the intro and the destruction of Helgen, I left with the rebel guy and quickly moved to Riverwood. I remembered that little mission with the Golden Claw that the local trader gives you and quickly finished it, knowing it would come up later anyway. It was during this very early quest that I realised how convenient the stealth is in this game. I'd expect my lightly equipped Elf would have double the trouble getting through the crypts than my original, heavy-duty fighter, but I was wrong.
After this silliness, I moved up to Whiterun and quickly did that little mission of killing that one dragon, but then I stopped anything story-related on purpose. Since allegedly the story isn't the focal point of the game (even though it totally is), I started doing side-quests and racking up cash. During all the bandit killing and artifact collecting, which had me bored out of my skull, I realised that a great many RPGs these days have effectively destroyed the purpose of weapon dealers. The best armor and weapons you'll either loot from corpses or be given as reward and the only reason to have money is for the odd health potion and later to buy and decorate your house(s), in the game's last ditch effort to pretend it really is a role-playing-game.
I even got to visit Windhelm and went to see my buddy, the rebel leader. It was at this point that I was reminded why I sided with the evil Empire in my previous play-through. All this William Wallace business is cute, but when your attitude toward people who don't bow down at your every whim makes me want to join the people who tried to cut my head off, you're doing something wrong. Also, let's see how fast that "freedom" horse of yours really rides, Ulfric, when the Falmer rise up and reclaim their lands. You know; the lands you stole from them!
There is a very "American Revolution" flavor in this whole affair and I have to admit, Bethesda has its moments of brilliance when it comes to social and philosophical commentary (the Megaton Bomb in "Fallout 3" is one of the smartest jabs at the concept of religion I've seen in a game recently).
As I was putting off doing the campaign, I also decided to join up with a guild. I'll give Bethesda this: for as short, uninspired and disarmingly anti-climactic the main story is, there has been significant work put into the guild story-lines. I picked the Thieves Guild, for which I've had a soft spot since I played "Thief". Despite a couple of missteps, I actually had a lot of fun with this one and even got an awesome armor from the whole deal.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to use it for long, because the game killed itself shortly afterwards. One of the main quests bugged out and made progress impossible. I looked it up and its fixable, even though I'm not sure why I'm the one who should fix this, but the point is I was kind of glad it happened. I had already put a good fifty hours of play by then and I was exhausted. For the better part of that week, I'd find myself constantly logging into the game to do more of its menial tasks and right when I thought I should stop and go get some food or wash or whatever, another one of those tasks would show up and I'd keep on playing.
I understand the appeal and I wasn't unhappy while playing, but this is not a good thing. I had the exact same experience I did when I was milking that complimentary week of "World of Warcraft" Blizzard sent me last year. I can do all the busy-work and even convince myself that it's fun, but to what end? It's insubstantial and adds nothing of value to the experience. It's a distraction. It's like when you play solitaire at the office to distract yourself from the paper work you have to fill or the hours that just won't pass. I thought we were past this! I thought, by now, games of this budget and fanfare and -lest we forget- critical and commercial acclaim had to offer more than meaningless distraction!
Somebody recently brought to my attention the futility of the term "immersion", a vague and largely subjective idea that gets thrown around a lot in game reviews. I've always thought Bethesda made some of the least immersive games and it's a term I generally like to use as well, but I have to admit, they have a point. Of course, this doesn't mean there isn't a reason for using the term. On the technical front, for example, it's all about the glitches and bugs, of which I've experienced too many to recount. Some of the best include NPCs getting launched across town for no apparent reason, as well as a courier that caught up with me in his underwear to inform me of the inexplicable passing of a friend of mine.
But from a more creative standpoint, what bothers me about this game is that it's just not a very good role-playing-game. It's easy to mock games with set characters, like "The Witcher", for using the term "RPG", but half-way decent writing and a system that makes the player matter can still draw them in and put them in the role of the predetermined character. Sure enough, Skyrim lets you decide your appearance and name, but it's only a pretence. It has no impact on the game and neither does anything else you do. The crippling lack of a choice system restricts the game and creates an experience doomed to repeat itself in subsequent play-throughs. It's an open-world game that doesn't offer any significant freedom.
After all, the series since at least "Morrowind" has had a set, predetermined character. He/She may look different, but acts the same and has the exact same adventure every time. In all these games, the prophecy is bigger than the man. When destiny takes over, heroism tends to get lost. There is little to accomplish when everything you do is just a job and every experience you have has been manufactured and dictated by some unseen force (in this case, the developers).
I think that's what generally puts me off this series. My second play-through really couldn't change my mind. I can see the appeal of having a distraction for hours on-end, but it's an ultimately pointless experience in which you achieve nothing other than clean up the mess the developers spilled all over your game-world. There is a place for these games as well, but when the time comes when we will have to look at the medium from a more educated standpoint, these aren't the games we will want to remember. This isn't the generational masterpiece everyone pretends it is. It's just Oscar bait.
Seriously, though; I'm a misanthrope with zero tolerance for anything cheery and no social skills whatsoever. Ross flirting? Dude's like Don Juan in comparison. So, what did you think I would be doing?
The first thing I sat down and did after the last video went online was a second play-through of "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim". After the first time I played the game at launch, I proceeded to Vlog about it and rip it to shreds for all its triteness and the insubstantial busywork it puts the player through. However, some bright minds out there took issue with it, because I had "only" played it for 15-16 hours and I couldn't have possibly seen what the game has to offer. I still don't quite get how what amounts to roughly two days of work isn't enough time to tell if you're having fun with what's supposed to be an entertaining activity, but whatever Internet, we'll play it your way.
I still didn't waste 100 hours of my life on the title, like some insane people suggested, but I did clock about half that, i.e. some 50 hours of doing chores for strangers between saving the Universe and marrying my maids.
Instead of going through the finer points of the game again, let me instead quickly recount my experience with it this time through.
As the game started, I spent a considerable amount of time building my character. I opted to go for a Bosmer (that is, a Wood Elf) this time around and once I was done, it occurred to me that, unlike my original Nord fighter, this scrawny, pale dude wouldn't be seen as a legendary hero in any plausible scenario. He'd still make a pretty believable guitar player on Youtube, though.
 |
| In every generation, a Slayer is born. |
After the intro and the destruction of Helgen, I left with the rebel guy and quickly moved to Riverwood. I remembered that little mission with the Golden Claw that the local trader gives you and quickly finished it, knowing it would come up later anyway. It was during this very early quest that I realised how convenient the stealth is in this game. I'd expect my lightly equipped Elf would have double the trouble getting through the crypts than my original, heavy-duty fighter, but I was wrong.
After this silliness, I moved up to Whiterun and quickly did that little mission of killing that one dragon, but then I stopped anything story-related on purpose. Since allegedly the story isn't the focal point of the game (even though it totally is), I started doing side-quests and racking up cash. During all the bandit killing and artifact collecting, which had me bored out of my skull, I realised that a great many RPGs these days have effectively destroyed the purpose of weapon dealers. The best armor and weapons you'll either loot from corpses or be given as reward and the only reason to have money is for the odd health potion and later to buy and decorate your house(s), in the game's last ditch effort to pretend it really is a role-playing-game.
I even got to visit Windhelm and went to see my buddy, the rebel leader. It was at this point that I was reminded why I sided with the evil Empire in my previous play-through. All this William Wallace business is cute, but when your attitude toward people who don't bow down at your every whim makes me want to join the people who tried to cut my head off, you're doing something wrong. Also, let's see how fast that "freedom" horse of yours really rides, Ulfric, when the Falmer rise up and reclaim their lands. You know; the lands you stole from them!
There is a very "American Revolution" flavor in this whole affair and I have to admit, Bethesda has its moments of brilliance when it comes to social and philosophical commentary (the Megaton Bomb in "Fallout 3" is one of the smartest jabs at the concept of religion I've seen in a game recently).
 |
| Bosmer: Deadly Shadows |
Unfortunately, I didn't get to use it for long, because the game killed itself shortly afterwards. One of the main quests bugged out and made progress impossible. I looked it up and its fixable, even though I'm not sure why I'm the one who should fix this, but the point is I was kind of glad it happened. I had already put a good fifty hours of play by then and I was exhausted. For the better part of that week, I'd find myself constantly logging into the game to do more of its menial tasks and right when I thought I should stop and go get some food or wash or whatever, another one of those tasks would show up and I'd keep on playing.
I understand the appeal and I wasn't unhappy while playing, but this is not a good thing. I had the exact same experience I did when I was milking that complimentary week of "World of Warcraft" Blizzard sent me last year. I can do all the busy-work and even convince myself that it's fun, but to what end? It's insubstantial and adds nothing of value to the experience. It's a distraction. It's like when you play solitaire at the office to distract yourself from the paper work you have to fill or the hours that just won't pass. I thought we were past this! I thought, by now, games of this budget and fanfare and -lest we forget- critical and commercial acclaim had to offer more than meaningless distraction!
 |
| Stubborn bastard, refused to give me his Soul. |
 |
| Ah, classic Bethesda-type of freedom. |
After all, the series since at least "Morrowind" has had a set, predetermined character. He/She may look different, but acts the same and has the exact same adventure every time. In all these games, the prophecy is bigger than the man. When destiny takes over, heroism tends to get lost. There is little to accomplish when everything you do is just a job and every experience you have has been manufactured and dictated by some unseen force (in this case, the developers).
I think that's what generally puts me off this series. My second play-through really couldn't change my mind. I can see the appeal of having a distraction for hours on-end, but it's an ultimately pointless experience in which you achieve nothing other than clean up the mess the developers spilled all over your game-world. There is a place for these games as well, but when the time comes when we will have to look at the medium from a more educated standpoint, these aren't the games we will want to remember. This isn't the generational masterpiece everyone pretends it is. It's just Oscar bait.
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