» Fri Mar 25, 2016 2:41 pm So I've been playing RPGs for quite some time. Fallout 3, Baldurs gate 2 and 1, mass effect, various RPGs over the years and loved them all.
About 6 months ago I decided to finally try skyrim. I had played oblivion when it came out and enjoyed it, so i thought it was gonna be a garunteed like. So I bought it and started playing.
It blew my mind and concept on how pretty an open world can be. Verdant trees and plant life, cloud breaking mountains, and of course the fantasy setting. Seeing white run from the distance was like watching lord of the rings two towers. Markarth was cool, really everything was.
All was good...for about 20 hours of play.
After awhile I started noticing something about the game. I know I'm not crazy because when I talk to others about it, they all agree. It's an unknown element, something hidden. Behind the pretty dragons, landscape, lighting, dungeons...there was a fundamental part missing for me. One could say it was the role playing aspect, but there's plenty of people who say they have no issue with that.
I spent months trying to get into it and just couldn't. I still love it and play from time to time, but as time has passed I think I've come to recognize why I drifted away from it.
In the end, I think the world felt cold. In a lot of ways Bethesda almost succeeded too much in their creation of skyrim. The people are cold. The land is cold. The quests are cold. What I mean is all without emotion. I found myself trying to make myself care About civil war, or about being dragonborn. Tried to make myself care about being an awesome assassin, or about helping a local person get back their weapon from a bandit cave or tower. And I couldn't. I didn't care about going to high hrothgar or killing alduin. Didn't care or feel any sense of accomplishment when I won the civil war. In fact the only time I had fun was when I didn't do any quests at all and just explored.
I found skyrim like a Conan the barbarian movie. If you wanna play an adventurer to see the sites and get some neat gear, it's pretty awesome. But it lacked in the rpg element. I also got tired of fighting the same old enemies...bandits, draugr, wolfs and wizards get old quick. Especially when they are in 90 percent of all places u can go. Once in awhile you'd come across a new enemy which was awesome, but I found it few and far between.
So I decided to try fallout new Vegas. Everyone said just try it man...and see what u think.
I tell you, I've played it for 2 hours and I've already been blown away by the game. The doctor fixing me up, Prospector Pete, ringo (I think that's his name) the bandit who has drug dealing gangs coming to kill him....helping protect the precious local water sources from mutant geckos...this game has done in two hours what skyrim didn't do in 200 of gameplay hours for me. I actually give a crap about the world I'm in. I forked over 1000 caps for good spring citizens o afford armor to defend the settlement. Cobbs, the escape convict who threatened to kill the town if we didn't hand over ringo...yeah I blew him away outside the bar. Because he was evil, and threatening the fragile life the settlers have worked so hard to maintain. He was some low level punk villain...and he still trumped any villain I met in skyrim. More than alduin himself.
All I gotta say is thank goodness for new Vegas. Too bad more games don't get it like this game does. Skyrim is great and all...but this game is solid gold. Looking forward to more hours of playing and having some convos with people on this forum
