A puzzling puzzler, to be sure.
By now, I'm willing to bet that almost all of you reading this have some opinion on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It seems like everyone has an opinion on it whether or not they've actually played it.
My opinion?
Eh.
The central conflict between the Stormcloaks and the Imperial Legion seems so distant and petty. The only reason it would matter to the player is if their character was a Nord or an Imperial. The Stormcloaks are racist "Go Back to Africa" kind of douchebags and the Imperial Legion, lest we forget, tried to execute you in the first few minutes of the game. You don't really feel attached to either of these groups because of their respective douchebaggery. The speshul snoflaekery of the player character, in that they're a Dragonborn, is kind of bothersome, too- I kind of preferred it in Oblivion when your fame was because of something you did rather than your relationship to an old folktale. There's a lot of ambiguity in this setting, but it's not the good kind of ambiguity that really makes you think about what you're doing like the "Honest Hearts" DLC in Fallout: New Vegas. This kind of ambiguity just gives you the impression that everyone's an asshole and the only reason you're helping anybody is because... Well... Dragons killing everyone would suck a little bit.
The world looks nice and all, but there's something about the gameplay, about the graphics, and about the interface that bug me. I can't really quite pin it down. I guess I've had this steadily growing dislike of realistic graphics in video games. I know, this is something people have been fighting for since 3D Technology became a thing, but it's starting to get boring and uninteresting to look at. Plus, since most of the money is being sunk into making sure each individual hair on somebody has its own processor devoted to it, not as much is going into storytelling or in really developing the universe in most of the big name games.
There are a few intangibles, like I never really feel like I'm accomplishing all that much whenever I play the game. I instinctively avoid the mainline story because, well, Bethesda game. The mainline story isn't usually that strong, and you'd much rather go off and do your own thing for a while, but I don't get the sense that I find anything interesting when I'm off exploring. I guess that would be kind of how it is in reality, as is the fact that the wide open road and everything in it is particularly uninviting, but reality is boring. I wouldn't be playing a video game if I wanted to deal with the real world.
So you've probably read the last few paragraphs and wondering "What about that part in the title where you can't bring yourself to hate this game?"
As much as I personally dislike it, it seems like this game seems to be the gateway for a lot of people getting their feet wet in games that allow them to make choices. It's got the pretty graphics that go for the ultra-realism the kids seem to like these days, it does allow for the player to make choices that affect the game world, but the player character feels like they're already exceptional right from the get go and they can save the world. You know, if they want to. It's sort of in between something like the Zelda games and something like Dragon Age: Origins or Fallout. I'm not an elitist prick, so I'm okay with people getting their feet wet in a more comfortable game to get introduced to the genre.
Plus, the cheesy moments everyone quotes give the game a bit of charm, the accents lend a bit of authenticity to the races, and I suppose to some people this game may have a bit of sentimental value.
Me, though, I'll just keep slogging through the Wasteland.
Timere Defectum, everybody.
Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, Oblivion, and Fallout: New Vegas are all property of Bethesda Softworks. Dragon Age: Origins is property of Bioware and EA.
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