» Sat Nov 22, 2014 4:28 am For a number of reasons, I couldn't play Skyrim when it was released, nor for the following 3 years. I finally got it on a Steam sale recently, and passed 160 hours this week, while currently on my second play-through. It's been a long time since any game has given me the ache to get home and play; Skyrim does that for me, even on this second run. So, I'd like to talk about it.
Me
I used to be a min-maxer. In part, because I had the drive to make all my numbers as big as possible (said every serious mmo gamer, ever), but also because many game systems required it for the player to do well (such as Oblivion, in its own way). I eventually got tired of the time spent reading about playing games versus actually playing them. At that point, I suddenly became very interested in shooters and real time strategy: games where min-maxing is less important than raw skill. Playing these types of games were previously very uncomfortable for me; now they feel liberating.
Having ousted the number crunching, I found much more time for immersion, which is now profoundly important to me in RPGs. Where I once may have asked, "Which choice will make me stronger?" I now wonder "What would this character decide, in this place, at this time, knowing what he knows?" Once I learn the basics of a game, I will design my character on paper in plain language, describing aspects of his personality, preferences, etc. (and occasionally, history, if not predefined by the game). Then I add specifics within the realm of the game, and start to act out the character as true to him as possible given the game choices presented, blah, blah, blah... role-playing!
Anyway, enter Skyrim. With few exceptions, this game has enabled my gaming style brilliantly. There are: lots of options both in character building and game progression, but all are easy to understand and simple to select from. Tactical combat situations that I can win, even though I'm numerically outmatched. And, of course, the wealth of TES lore on which to saddle the immersion.
I always enjoyed many of the storylines in TES, especially those where NPCs reappear across games in various ways. Plus, who doesn't enjoy rereading some of the series' classic literature at some point during each iteration? It wasn't until this game, however, that I really delved into the lore at large. When I eventually stumbled upon one of the many TES history timelines, I spent many hours playing the wiki-link-clicking game. My nights very often consisted of Earl Gray and I being six layers deep into 50 tabs of wiki pages and forum and reddit threads. Also, I'm very excited for the printed Skyrim Library books on the way. I was somewhat considering making my own before they were announced.
First Play-through (PT1)
I started playing the night I bought it, deliberately avoiding any reading material about the game, to keep myself spoiler and bias free. Which didn't matter that night, anyway, as I proceeded to spend the rest of it customizing my appearance, despite telling myself I wouldn't (which I tell myself for every game that has the option. So much for that.)
PT1: Build
When I start a new game that allows a choice of build and play style, my usual default is a heavily armored sword and shield tank, then I would try out the spell casting, range attacking, etc. in later plays or alternate characters. In the spirit of new things, I decided to save my default build for the second play, and use a combination of other options for the first. Here's the summary of my on-paper design for my first build:
"Neutral aligned thief/assassin, elemental mage. Somewhat favors keeping order, as it is more predictable, which favors opportunist style. Does not crave power, nor has greed for money or prestige, simply uses them as tools when available. Likes finding treasure and just uses what is found, rather than bothering to build anything."
The first choice, being race, was obvious: Dunmer. At this time, I hadn't yet dumped the lore bucket over my head, so this was more a practicality. Plus, Morrowind was my favorite TES game (until now), so I had an affinity for the Dunmer already. The skill set was easy, too: sneak, one-handed (dagger), destruction, lockpicking, alchemy, pickpocket. I went on to own the house in Markarth, as it is strongly fortified and in an easily defensible position. Obviously, such qualities are irrelevant to gameplay here, but I play my character as if I'm writing a book from his perspective, so these details are important to my play style. Also, I married Ysolda, who likes the dark, quiet type (according to me, on this particular play-through).
Aside from the build, equally important to my play style and decision making process is faction affiliation. I joined/sided with and finished the quest lines for: Thieves' Guild, "Mages' Guild", Imperials, Dark Brotherhood, and the Blades. These affiliations (and those that I avoided) were all deliberate such that they fit with the character's story and goals, and I would say they fit together pretty well. The guilds and the Brotherhood were selected for their skill-based fit, of course. My character supported the Imperials simply for "the evil you know" mentality; with a similar rigid political structure everywhere you go, a thief only needs to find one weakness to undermine the global system at his whim. As for the Blades, you might say he was covertly delegating some of the responsibilities of the Dragonborn. Saving the world really wasn't his thing, so he put that off and kept saying he was "working on it."
PT1: Review
Aside from the Imperials, all of these quest lines were immensely fun. I leave out the Imperials' quests because, though I have enjoyed the Gauntlet series of games, the fort raids were pretty boring after the first, and the final battle didn't stand out above the rest. Plus, the civil war quests seem to be among the most egregious examples of reusing dialogue (perhaps alongside repeating radiant quests). The game otherwise feels very organic, especially with the impressive variation in landscape and dungeon structures. The times I uttered aloud "ahahai love this game!" were always when I was marvelling at the unique architecture and landscaping. The regular bits of stale dialogue unfortunately spat me out of the immersion while they were occurring.
Dragon fights were definitely fun, as I progressed observably in skill level from "OH CRAP A DRAGON RUN!" through to "HEY OVER HERE SKEEVER BREATH!" The skill progression went similarly for sneak attacking, as well. My combat method was to sneak attack (with poison) whatever had the biggest weapon and light the rest on fire when they found me. At first, there was much more fire. Later on, I could consecutively one-shot one-stab everyone around a table (without poison) before the last could respond. And, sneaking into the center of a room and dropping a firestorm: hilarious! I avoided archery as an out-of-game personal choice, as I always felt I was cheating once the skill was high enough in previous games. Close combat is way more exciting, anyway. Dual wielding a lighting spell and machine gunning it by alternating hands, while trying to hide from dragon breath behind an obstacle, and staying out of bite range: fantastic!
In terms of my character's personal story, the build options and factions all meshed pretty well. NPC dialogues generally felt right, and the intermediary voids were easily filled by simple story elements I mentally added in as I went along. The obvious conflict of interest between Thieves'/Brotherhood and Imperials was easy to manage and justify with my character story, as there were no mechanical obstructions to running all three at once. When NPCs started including the mention of the Thieves' Guild regaining its hold, I felt a small satisfaction with how well this build and style integrated into the game. And when I started hearing certain guards quietly mutter "Hail Sithis" on the way by, my heart may have gushed a bit with a subtle "squee" sound. (Not in game, of course. The Listener does not so openly express himself in knowing company.)
PT1: Final Thoughts
I was quite happy with how seldom I encountered bugs. The first half of this play was with no mods, after which I installed SkyUI, which is amazing. I didn't need the console even once, although the game crashed once in a while after installing the mod, usually when trying to enter a new area (and likely the fault of my PC, not the game or mod).
As this play-through was coming to its end is when I started spending much more time reading through wikis and forums. I went through many of the quest lines I already finished to see what I might have missed, and was elated to find it was much more than expected. I didn't intend to backtrack through anything, plus I had already started planning and making notes for my second play-through; I was mostly curious about the results that alternate choices might have brought. Also, I'm not a completionist. Ain't nobody got time fo dat.
Interim
Before my second play-through, I had become very familiar with TES lore, from Dawn through 4E, even the silliness about Molag Bal hiring megamaid to vacuum the planet. As such, I spoiled a bit of the story lines I skipped on the first play-through, but also gained enough insight to know I should install the Unofficial Skyrim Patch, since most of the bugs in the game were apparently going to show up in my planned second play-through (explaining the lack of them on the first).
After a brief sentimental login on PT1, I backed out and pressed "New" with a strange euphoric feeling (which may have been the new tea that night). Very few times have I deliberately avoided quests and areas of a game in order to play them on a later character, so I was excited knowing the game would still feel new, even when starting over. Not only did I skip over story lines to save for later, I also did not partake of any exploring. Almost every location I cleared on PT1 was directly related to a quest, so I had a lot of untapped landscapes and dungeons to fill in for the lack of faction affiliations that would come with PT2.
Second Play-through (PT2)
There are a few character options within the RPG genre I usually avoided for their micromanaging aspects. Min-maxing AND micromanagement? No, thanks. Among these include hirelings, conjurations, and other followers. The last time I bothered much with that was in Diablo 2, building a necromancer, which introduced the boredom that came with trying to keep an army of minions functioning. Furthermore, I've always disliked escort quests where an NPC becomes a temporary follower until I deliver them somewhere. So, I was surprised during my on-paper exercise when I realized I was adding conjuration and selecting hirelings, both without a second thought. I further realized that, on PT1, that during escort quests the NPC never gave me any trouble keeping up or getting stuck or lost. It just made sense at the time to bring friends and tank for them, and there was nothing nagging me that managing followers in Skyrim would be difficult. Also, I was planning to never carry lockpicks nor wield any ranged attack option, so I would need my arsenal to provide that diversity elsewhere.
PT2: Build
My affiliations this time around would be: Companions, Mages' College, Stormcloaks, and Greybeards. I figured the Companions would be my main focus, since the rest would be similar to PT1 for the most part. I also planned for becoming the Thane of every hold, owning every house, killing the Dark Brotherhood, and collecting books, Dragon Priest masks, and artifacts (which would come naturally with exploring all points of interest). My plan for play style was to settle into a major hold, do all the local quests, buy the house, and hit all the nearby map markers, then move to another hold. My paper summary came to:
"Proud tank, crafter, conjurer. Respects the law, but generally dislikes large establishment (lawful or otherwise), and enjoys change. Strives to obtain positions of dominance and fame, but only to bask in it, not to rule or dictate. Enjoys helping people, but usually by only the simplest or most expedient means."
Two races were equally close in skill set for this build: orc and imperial. As I would be joining the rebellion, I went with orc (I like their ability better, too). As for the skill set: one-handed (dual wield swords), heavy armor, smithing, enchanting, conjuration, and a little bit of restoration. I wanted to explore the feeling of making my own equipment, along with that of occasionally passing by locked doors and chests and pretending I don't care what's in them (with the former often making up for the latter). I was looking forward to soul trapping, as well, which I entirely skipped in TES4, after spending so much time in TES3 hunting Golden Saints to fill grand soul condems and making Ridiculous Rings of I-Don't-Need-To-Try-Any-More.
PT2: Review
So far, I'm 20 or 30 hours into this play. I would say I'm having just as much fun as the first play-through, but this time around is far from problem-free. General gameplay and combat is still fast-paced and exciting, even more so as I'm not stopping to smell (and harvest) every single flower I see. Generating income is certainly more difficult without alchemy and lock picking, but it fits the character, and I enjoy it as a role playing enabler. I actually have to decide what not to spend on, since I can't just afford (or steal) everything. Also, seeing Ysolda so often out and about after PT1 feels rather strange, almost like seeing an ex before the familiarity has dissipated. Is it possible to get too immersed?
The first issue I noticed was right from the start of a new game, but not a bug or any mechanical difficulty. Oddly, knowing incredibly more about TES lore during the second play made Skyrim's failure at using "The Eternal Rookie Effect" very apparent to me, as explained by Kotaku columnist Tim Rogers (thing #6 on his "10 Things I Hate About Skyrim"). Tldr: The game essentially vomits an unknown language at you until you hopefully start learning it. I experienced this even more so when trying to tell stories of the lore to my wife (which I love talking about, but can't tell if she does). It's like trying to play the wiki-link-clicking game, but none of the links work. Personally, it didn't bother me much, even on PT1 when I didn't know anything they were talking about. I knew I would go read the books and understand later, often in the form of wonderful epiphanies, as they usually are for me. I imagine, though, that the eyes of a new gamer would quickly glaze over without a primer from less complex RPGs and settings.
Dealing with followers, unfortunately, turned out to be quite irritating for a number of reasons, though still fun overall. Foremost, having a follower with me all the time has made the NPC AI appear really really dumb. She seems to find every geographical seam and wedge to get stuck behind or in, though none of them affect me (maybe because I'm taller?) It doesn't matter how far I run from a fight we can't win, she sits there and eats it. After getting dropped by a trap, she repeatedly gets up and step into it again. And, for the love of all that is holy, why can't I push NPCs out of the way? Oh, the classic bane of a summoner's existence: narrow corridors. I do appreciate the dialogue and targeting options to get my follower to move, but such tedium is very annoying a dozen times per dungeon. On the other hand, I love the additions to the storytelling generated by the extra company. Sometimes, I will send her home before certain quests so she is not subjected to particular horrors and dangers, and other quests so she is not forced to take sides in an ideological battle (such as the Civil War). Having her as a mule, lockpick, and equipable team member in combat is often nice, too.
Story Questing Troubles
The biggest problems I've had on this play-through so far are story related. First, the Companions. The main quest line forced actions and decisions on my character that he would have never made. From UESP, "Werewolves are widely feared and hated in Skyrim as in other provinces." Unfortunately, their opposition, the Silver Hand (which you can't join), are equally as indiscriminate in their attacks as werewolves, despite their otherwise respectable motive. Also unfortunate is that the choice to become a werewolf (or not) is equivalent to following the quest line (or not). Even inconsequential dialogue options were all railroaded into the character favoring lycanthropy. For the most part, the Companions quest line consists of the game telling you who your character is, rather than the other way around. I wanted to sympathize with Kodlak, but had no option to present myself that way. I wanted to have more opportunity to protest the requirement to join the circle, an event which happened very quickly, and very early in the quest line. I did not want to go killing Silver Hand members, who hated the same thing that my character and most of civilization hated. I like the radiant quests (as does my character), but the main quest felt like an afterthought that left me irritated and wanting.
Another story problem I encountered was during the Civil War quest line, specifically, Battle for Whiterun, having joined the Stormcloaks. Like many players, I'd presume, Whiterun was the first town I settled in. I own property, I'm Thane and friends with Jarl Balgruuf, I've done everyone's sidequests, and they all like me. My issues started when delivering Ulfric's axe to Balgruuf. He and his steward proceeded to discuss siding with the Empire while I, a sworn opponent, could only stand there twiddling my thumbs while they laid out my likely future of assaulting the very town I live in, both of them oblivious to my situation and not bothering to find out. Then I returned the axe, still given no chance to interject while Ulfric and Galmar confirmed my fears. I wanted to tell them, "Guys, these are good people who know and respect me. They might want liberation as much as we do, but are just afraid of the Thalmor coming in after the Empire. Give me a chance to handle this without killing everybody. Oh, and by the way, I LIVE THERE!" Then the battle came, during which I got to fight my way right past my own house, which was somehow inaccessible to me (also, even though I would have, I didn't give anyone permission to barricade themselves in there). Finally, I tore into Balgruuf with my own hand, ending the battle, and he dropped his pitiful final word, "And you. A Stormcloak? I'd thought better of you." Believe me, old friend, I would have loved to talk about it a long time ago.
PT2: Final Thoughts
My character still lives in Whiterun for the time being, but is probably moving to Markarth soon, after I figure how to resolve the current radiant quest bug I'm having. Living next door to the town blacksmith has been quite handy, and I'm still enjoying the smelt-smith-improve-enchant-sell mini-game rotation. With my and my follower's improved loadout, the line between tough and easy opponents has been more clearly drawn, which helps tailor my tactics. For instance, I happily charge into lesser undead and animals, but I better consider positioning and timing when taking down giant camps. I could likely charge into any combat situation, anyway, but homie don't play dat. Perhaps a feature request for TES6 would be multi-step commands for followers and the ability to signal for those commands from a distance.
The last time I did any item collecting for the sake of it was in Morrowind, in which I converted one of the houses on the east side of Balmora into a meticulously laid out museum. I spent so much time doing so, I couldn't bring myself to care that much in any game since. The addition of self arranging bookshelves and equipment stands in Skyrim has mildly piqued my interest in collection, hence the book and item collecting for this character. I like to think of it as intellectualism he partially hides behind his simple man-of-action appearance. And when he eventually thinks to slow down a bit and and share his bed, well who doesn't like a well-read craftsman who gets things done?
Final Final Thoughts
A common mantra in TES games is "Don't finish the main quest." I feel that didn't apply to Skyrim. Perhaps it was that the final battle with Alduin was too much like every other dragon fight, especially the first one versus Mirmulnir in the main quest. It certainly didn't have the rock star power behind it like Martin Septim's sacrifice and final battle in TES4 (in which case I did feel the mantra). Other quests felt much more powerful, like retrieving an Elder Scroll from Blackreach, or stopping a Thalmor spy with the Psijic Order's guidance. I did not lose any motivation after finishing the main quest on PT1. I am a very long way from feeling finished with this game.
Another common response is that taking over leadership positions is rather anti-climactic and carries very little weight or meaning. I'd certainly agree with that one here. Perhaps with the exception of the Dark Brotherhood, it was very difficult to maintain the suspension of disbelief as an actor when dialogue and world interaction was almost completely unaffected by my moves into commanding roles. In most cases, the biggest difference is the option to take anyone as a follower, which is still minor as you can only have one. Significant improvements to the AI and scripting would help enable a more dynamic experience, as we know, and I'm sure it will come in time. One thought on this: maybe it's time that a high ranking player character can start giving quests and rewards to NPCs.
Speaking of AI and scripting, object ownership was a difficult obstacle. An NPC in a camp gets killed by a monster, but it's still theft to salvage the stuff strewn on the ground. When an NPC likes you, some of their stuff is available to take, but it's surrounded by other stuff that isn't, which makes accidental theft way too easy. In other cases, items displayed as "take" actually count as stolen. There were also a lot of locked doors and containers that my follower refused to open, even though no one is there to own them, and some were doors to the outside in the same room as other (already unlocked) doors to the outside. I might have been annoyed at bed ownership, too, but sleeping is optional. I might try a survival mod sometime.
Probably every 3D game has it's collision glitches, and Skyrim is no exception to that, nor to it being hilarious. The first one I encountered was at an Imperial encampment, where one of the horses walked into the side of another and shunted above it, then one horse standing on top of another. Over the next few seconds, it settled into the seams of the bottom horse and created an x-shaped double horse. I could hear a fast repetition of collision sounds, when the former top horse suddenly shot twenty meters or more straight up, then fell to it's expected glitchy demise (shortly after the other horse stepped out of the way, of course).
Another collision glitch comes from walking over small objects, in which they suddenly shoot out from under you and often hit you (or someone nearby) for some damage. I would often be walking down a quiet corridor waiting for an undead to wake up, possibly leaning toward the screen, when my character would suddenly grunt in pain and the health bar would pop up, startling me out of the immersion. This was annoying until I figured out what was happening, then it was funny. This was funniest in the Midden under the College, where there is a pit filled with bones. I, naturally, went to investigate, and died in five seconds of trudging around, the last three of which were spent trying to get out.
End
Thanks for reading. Also, forum noob here, so: Hi peeps! Also, I found out the hard way that linking is disabled, which is the reason for any incomplete references I missed in the edit.
Ok, one more thought...
I can't remember where I heard or read it in game, but there was something about the opposing mage factions of the Empire and the Thalmor racing to collect magical artifacts. I imagine this is why Arcano was at the College. Barring some grand unifying discovery or divine intervention, another war outbreak between Aldmeri and Empire forces seems inevitable. For it to potentially include a veritable magical arms race sounds very exciting. I wonder if it will actually be part of a future game, or just lead up to it (and we'll read about it in the new history books).
