» Wed Oct 27, 2010 1:45 pm
About a decade ago, I was searching for a new RPG to play after I had thoroughly exhausted my adolescent self on Diablo II, which pretty much dominated my middle school/early high school life. As a young enthusiast of fantasy, Diablo was a series that, at the time, enthralled me--not only because of the gameplay--but because of the variety of interesting lore and mythos surrounding Sanctuary. (Not so much in the games, because really it's poorly presented there especially in retrospect, but this is back when Blizzard really cared and they had those wonderful game manuals full of lore and drawings from Chris Metzen). After being wholly disappointed with Dungeon Siege, which wasn't a really bad game per-se, but was a rather soulless game, I chanced upon an advertisemant for Morrowind.
The ideas presented in the advertisemant about what Morrowind was intrigued me, though I didn't really get it. The graphics looked astounding. Morrowind had, at this point in time, just been released, or perhaps was a few weeks away from release. But I, being a high school student at the time, didn't have the disposable income to simply buy the game outright. I didn't exactly come from the wealthiest family either, so simply asking wasn't enough to make it mine. So for a few weeks (This was, if I recall, during summer break), while I performed chores and any duty I could to curry enough favour to earn the game, I read all I could on the internet and in magazines and such about the game.
Now, to understand, despite not being a wealthy family, we are, or were, a very computer literate and gaming oriented family, and over the years had accumulated a vast collection of PC software. The collection dated from that halcyon age of PC development when Electronics Boutique, Software Etc, and Babbage's were almost entirely wall-to-wall PC software, with only a tiny corner relegated to the lesser consoles. Software Etc had a $5 to $20 section, consisting of slightly old PC software that we indulged in on a semi-regular basis. In the early 2000's, with the advent of those tiny, DVD-box-sized computer software boxes, this had begun to come to a close, but the collection from a few years prior was entirely intact, and upon reading about the Elder Scrolls as a series (which I admit, sounded suspiciously familiar as a name), I learned something curious. I had an Elder Scrolls game already, and simply didn't realize it.
That game was Redguard. We had, a few years prior, bought it for a steal on that $20 wall. Because it was, technically speaking, a DOS game, and thus a nightmare to get functioning, we had never really gotten it to work, but never bothered returning it either in hopes that perhaps one day we could, so it sat in mine and my father's collection ignored and neglected. I'd like to say that I got it out, played the hell out of it, and enjoyed it, because that paints an interesting and picturesque story. I didn't. In these pre-DOSbox days, my efforts simply were unequal to the task of getting the game to run for more than a few minutes.
But what this discovery did do is two things: For one, I learned I apparently had one of those ridiculously early copies that had the map that was personally burned around the edges by Todd and the team. For another, I discovered and read the Pocket Guide to the Empire.
Reading that is what sparked my decade-long love affair with the Elder Scrolls.
Even as an avid reader of all genres of books, the Pocket Guide introduced me to a fantastic world far beyond what I could conceive for a game. It advertised the series in a way that no screenshot or gameplay footage could and--reinforced by my readings of the old Codex on the old ES website--cemented my love for a game I hadn't even played yet. And a few weeks later, when I finally received Morrowind, that love was amplified, not only through the strange and wonderful world with its intricate lore and politics that I was introduced to, but to the level of freedom (Picking up forks! That feeling of walking out of the Census and Excise office for the first time and thinking what now?) and openness I had never before even considered possible in a game. Morrowind, to me, wasn't merely a game--something to enjoy, a challenge to be overcome--it was a portal into another world as rich and varied as our own; and a look into some of the most creative minds of our time. From that initial hook with the lore (I am, even today, still extremely well read on ES lore, and it's still the most important part of the equation to me), I discovered the modding community in its earliest days of infancy, (And its eleven billion Balmora houses) and even recall Bethesda's periodic release of plugins (Bitter Coast sounds, Entertain the Patrons, Helm of Tohan, etc) to "jump start" the community. It's these aspects--the single player nature that allows the player to create their own stories and personas; the modding community that allows the player to alter the universe to their liking; the deep, nuanced lore that extends far beyond the surface that makes the setting a world; the openness and freedom of the games that serve as a canvas for the imagination--that all work together to make the Elder Scrolls more than the sum of its individual parts.
Through Morrowind, Oblivion, and now Skyrim, the Elder Scrolls is, to me, more than simply a game to be played through, completed, and shelved. It is a remarkable collective construct of fiction, creativity, and community, infinitely layered and nuanced, with many subtle interactions between those layers, that quite legitimately harnesses modern media to present itself in a way that older worlds in fiction could only hope to. When viewed as a whole, the Elder Scrolls, as a storytelling vessel and universe, functions as a piece of artistic significance far beyond what the term "video game" encompasses.
I've played many games, but never before had my wife actually sat on the couch with me and been so enthralled with "what's going to happen next?" I think this is a game series that will be enjoyed for generations to come. My son is just a toddler and I can't wait to experience these games again for the first time, through his eyes. I really do think Bethesda has created something magical here and I hope they continue the series and lore for many years to come. 
