Conan O'Brien Compares Skyrim to "Doing My Taxes"

[Sarah LeBoeuf]

Conan O'Brien Compares Skyrim to "Doing My Taxes"


Countless chickens are terrorized in Conan O'Brien's latest "Clueless Gamer" segment.

Conan O'Brien may not know much about video games, but that hasn't stopped him from reviewing them. Following his Minecraft review [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118672-Conan-OBrien-Reviews-Minecraft-Poorly] in which he referred to the downloadable hit as "Glaucoma World," the latest installment of Conan's "Clueless Gamer" features him playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

While Conan's experience with Minecraft was less than positive, the talk show host fared a little better in Skyrim. After creating a Khajiit named Mr. Buttons and being beaten down by Whiterun guards, Conan turned his attention to scaring chickens and securing a mammoth tusk.

The overwhelming amount of content was, for some gamers, one of Skyrim's best features, but Conan was less than thrilled at the number of choices available. "For a few minutes there we were in a wonderful new world, and now I'm doing my taxes," O'Brien complained. He seemed happier with Skyrim than Minecraft, but it's doubtful that he'll be continuing Mr. Buttons' journey.

Source: Team Coco [http://teamcoco.com/video/clueless-gamer-conan-reviews-skyrim]

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[StriderShinryu]

I'm loving this video series. If nothing else, it's a fun little window into what someone who's not really a gamer sees when playing a game. That's a perspective we don't really see much these days outside of when it's done in a negative or demeaning way.

 

[Jandau]

Funny, I find watching Conan O'Brien similar to doing my taxes - boring, tedious and unfun. But just as millions of people enjoy his comedy (resisted the urge to put comedy in quotation marks there), so do millions of people enjoy Skyrim. To each his own I suppose...

I never quite got into non-gamers expressing opinions about games, just as I don't really care what people who don't watch movies have to say about movies. I myself generally shut up about things I know crap about, like sports.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Haven't watched his videos but I do find the idea interesting (as long as it's done in a tongue in cheek way)

So many gamers rage at 'noobs' who need the content to be 'dumbed down' for them but the simple fact is that gaming is expanding to people who didn't normally play it. We may have honed our muscle memory over thousands of hours of Halo or CoD or Quake or whatever your pison is but there are some people who haven't. I go back every so often and play the games I played as a child and although the actual difficulty was astronomical they were much easier to play.

Start-Menu

X-Jump
Circle-Attack
Square-Attack (sometimes block)
Triangle-Attack (sometimes menu)

Select-almost never used

Controls were simpler, objectives were simpler, games were literally linear (in Crash Bandicoot you could do pretty well if you never took your thumb off the 'forwards' button) games like Tomb Raider that had minor exploration and used the shoulder buttons were considered complex.

Nowadays: two button combos to use fire spells, massive open worlds requiring major exploration.

It's easy to forget just how different the old games were, because to regular gamers they've never changed. We can use controllers without having to think about it, and button combinations are practically pre-programmed into our brains.

When I see my sister and her friends trying ti play XBox it really shows. They actually have to sometimes look at the buttons to know what to do, and it reminds me that back in the day I was just the same. Maybe developers and gamers should take a long hard look at themselves and remember that other people need a slow introduction, they can't just be dumped in the deep end.

 

[m19]

He is right. The only really impressive thing about Skyrim is size. Instead of 10 mediocre things they've got a 1000 mediocre things and people mistake that feat for good content. If only the game was written by say Obsidian...

 

[BaronUberstein]

Eh, not very funny. Made me chuckle once or twice.

Though I agree, Skyrim gets kind of...tedious.

 

[Tastum]

He isn't wrong - lots of customization is an RPG thing but it tends to scare away the uninitiated. I don't really think there's a compromise to be found without pissing off actual RPG fans - but there's room for simpler and easier to pick up titles as well. Skyrim just isn't one of those.

 

[therandombear]

"Uploader has not made it available in your country" Damnit! my plans thwarted again!

I'll probably like it...I liked his Minecraft "review". So give me a notification when it's available...xP

EDIT: Working on the team coco site. And yes, I am liking it. Hopes he makes more of these. xD

 

[bdcjacko]

Speaking as an accountant that play skyrim, it is not like doing taxes. Skyrim is more akin to doing bank recs.

 

[cidbahamut]

I really don't care what some second rate comedian who isn't a gamer has to say about video games. Why is this news?

 

[Blade_125]

This seemed like a comedy bit designed at older people to play on their fear and lack of understanding of games. Unfortunetly it wasn't very funny, but then again what more was I expecting from him.

Probably a good premise for his audience, and maybe they find it more funny than I did.

I will agree that creating a character can be tedious. I usually go with the default.

 

[CorruptCor3]

Each to his own. At least he admits he has no idea what he is talking about.

 

[Jonluw]

"The uploader has not made this video available in your country"

 

[Tohron]

Well, if he continues his style of playing games that reward large time investments for less time than is needed just to get a feel for how they work, then I heartily recommend X3: Albion Prelude for his next installment.

I await word of his exploits *evilgrin*

 

[Podunk]

Overwhelming amount of content? Sure. Too bad most of it was very same-y.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Wouldn't have Skyrim dumbed down in any way, glad it's a game made for gamers who want all those options.

That video is entertaining to watch tho, even if the guy on the right does most of the playing while the one on the left just wills him what to do.