So in a previous bog post I was complaining about Bethesda and stated that:
QuixoticRocket wrote: First off I have nothing against Skyrim itself. I haven't played the game not because I have some angst or venom against it. It's just not really my kind of game. If someone gave it to me and I had nothing else to do I'd probably enjoy a good few hours with it.
Well I recently had a christmas get-together with some friends where we all exchanged gifts. This resulted in me walking away with a brand-spanking new copy of Skyrim for the Xbox (and due to a mixup with gift buying I also now have an extra copy of Rage for Xbox).
So 2 new Bethesda games when I wasn't going to buy anything from Bethesda again... Well I have yet to play Rage but my friend tells me it's very good (the friend who I bought it for who sent me a text message a few days after I bought him his present asking me if I'd like to borrow it since he's finished it), but I did decide to give Skyrim a spin since, as I said before, I'm sure I'd get some enjoyment out of it if someone gave it to me.
I lost an entire day.
I created my lizardman character and did the little intro "this is how you look around, this is how you move, follow this guy through the tunnels" bit. Then I followed him to a village and got told to go to a city and talk to someone. So far the game had been decent and I was enjoying it, but nothing Uber-fantastic. And then I got sidetracked...
While crossing the river and heading off to the city I decided to quickly check a side path that looked like it dead-ended. I discovered a small winding path into the mountains and I could see the ruins of a small tower there. A couple of dead bandits later and I was looting the tower when I noticed a larger ruin just a little further on. This turned out to be a barrow and after killing off a few more bandits I was on a quest to get to the end of it.
A few hours, bandits, spiders and undead later I had finished the barrow and was told to go back to the village to talk to someone. It turns out I missed an optional quest in my haste to move on to the city. I also discovered a mine on my way back to the village, so I handed in the quest and went off to clear out the mine...
Hours later I was close to the city, but there's an interesting little castle thing over there and since I'm going that way I may as well jsut check out that camp over there to see what it is... hours later I finally returned to the road...
This seems to be where Skyrim really shines for me. There's a massive world to explore and everywhere has interesting ruins or mines or places to sneak into and treasures to find. I could move through the game at a much faster pace but I don't think I'd be getting as much out of the experience. I wouldn't be sneaking by some giants to steal their mammoth cheese or invading a bandit stronghold and stealing their enchanted maces.
If I have to be honest I'm really enjoying the game far more than I thought I would. I have to take my hat off to Bethesda as this has been a very enjoyable experience so far and it's been completely bug-free to this point.
Hopefully Rage will be as fun and bug-free. This didn't stop me from pre-ordering the latest Indie Royale bundle, but I can see myself losing many many hours exploring in Skyrim. I guess Bethesda does occasionally do some things right. Or maybe I'm just on the right platform for their games?
