Poll: why can I not stop playing Skyrim?

[Aiden Niblett]

This is one thing that confuses both me and my friends. I have many good games a for my xbox, dragon ages, mass effects, halos, gears of wars, enslaved, xcom, oblivion, the fallouts etc. But for some reason, every time I go to switch on my console my hand almost instinctively movers to skyrim. After much thought I've come to realise that this is because skyrim is my favourite amongst the list. But this I feel is a bad thing because I'm missing out on several good games who have been severely neglected recently. What are your thoughts on the matter and has a similar situation befallen you?

 

[Keoul]

I have stopped playing skyrim ages ago.
And on top of that I've never gotten "addicted" to a game so I wouldn't say I understand how you're feeling, the simplest solution is always "just do it". If you want to play those other awesome games then just do it, go and play them nothing is stopping you except yourself.

 

[Tdoodle]

I'm still going back to Skyrim, I keep thinking of new characters I want to try. I still haven't gone to Solstheim because I keep starting over. I've got it with the ME3 multiplayer too, play that quite a lot with my sister and there are still classes and challenges to play about with so that's still going strong. FIFA13 keeps me pretty focussed on that for a month or so as well.

I tend to drift towards other stuff inbetween though.

 

[Trull]

I think that Skyrim has had the best story, regardless of all the morrowind purists All of the games kind of force destiny onto you, but in a world like Skyrim/one with a plotline, no average joe can do this crazy crap, but the DRAGONBORN? It just makes more logic.

 

[Soopy]

I think that Skyrim has had the best story, regardless of all the morrowind purists All of the games kind of force destiny onto you, but in a world like Skyrim/one with a plotline, no average joe can do this crazy crap, but the DRAGONBORN? It just makes more logic.

I agree, kinda. The story telling was bullshit. It was just bad. The premise, was good.

 

[Aiden Niblett]

I'll admit, it's probably only been since the dragon born dlc came out and when I got hitman absolution I played it non stop. But the problem is when I finished that it was straight back to skyrim, I just front have the desire to play any other game.

 

[thesilentman]

This is one thing that confuses both me and my friends. I have many good games a for my xbox, dragon ages, mass effects, halos, gears of wars, enslaved, xcom, oblivion, the fallouts etc. But for some reason, every time I go to switch on my console my hand almost instinctively movers to skyrim. After much thought I've come to realise that this is because skyrim is my favourite amongst the list. But this I feel is a bad thing because I'm missing out on several good games who have been severely neglected recently. What are your thoughts on the matter and has a similar situation befallen you?

Welcome to the Escapist, my friend! Stay out of the basement, and make sure to blame Kross should anything go wrong.

Seriously, welcome.

OT- Skyrim's a good nice single player time waster. There's just so much stuff to do on your first (and subsequent) playthrough that it's just fun to run around and kill people.

This game for me has recently been Dark Souls. I guess I like the difficult and unforgiving nature of the game that I'm not seeing lately. It's been hard trying to force my pointer away from the shortcut in Steam these past days.

 

[Kirov Reporting]

Hey buddy, top marks for the avatar! Just a heads up though that the title and topic are a pretty big mismatch, at least from my angle - it's less a 'why is Skyrim addictive' topic as the title suggests, and more a 'which is your favourite'.

OT: I never got into Skyrim. By the time I'd finally got 'You go whoosh now', I was roleplaying as a goody goody (which I always do in these games) and I found that left me sadly short of things to Whoosh.

Except trolls. I had an amazing battle with two huge trolls with no weapons, and just running around knocking them into really shallow ditches. One false move and I would actually die, and the damage I did was tiny. That was mega.

Spoiler

I won

Spoiler

=)

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Skyrim. I've only played Oblivion and Skyrim, and after two attempts at Oblivion, I just gave up. It cannot hold my interest at all.

 

[SonicWaffle]

But this I feel is a bad thing because I'm missing out on several good games who have been severely neglected recently. What are your thoughts on the matter and has a similar situation befallen you?

You're missing out on nothing. There's no rush to play games. They will still be there when you get bored of Skyrim, and you can still have fun playing them a year, five years or even ten years after they came out. The whole purpose of gaming is to enjoy yourself, and if you're enjoying Skyrim right now then good for you - it's an awesome game, get as much fun from it as you can. I'm still playing it too, in between other things (though I've moved on to the DLC as I tend to be a single-playthrough-completionist: I joined every faction I could in a single playthrough and did just about everything, then started a couple more to do those bits I couldn't do in the main one like the Dark Brotherhood questline - I destroyed them in my main - or take a different side in the civil war) and it's still fun.

Don't rush yourself, don't force yourself to play other things. Just tackle everything as and when you feel like it.

 

[SonicWaffle]

OT: I never got into Skyrim. By the time I'd finally got 'You go whoosh now', I was roleplaying as a goody goody (which I always do in these games) and I found that left me sadly short of things to Whoosh.

You mean the Fus Ro Dah? Man, there's tons of shit you can do that to! It's particularly fun against the high-level Drauga, because they think they're so badass. They come running at you, wielding magic swords and croaking the ghost of long-dead battle cries, and then you send them bouncing off the walls and into a crumpled heap. Run over and pat them on the head, possibly coo "awww, look at the widdle skellyton, he thinks he's people!" and then do the whole thing again. And again. And again. I think I bothered more corpses than a really determined necrophile.

As for always playing good, I do the same. I am, however, deeply committed to being a dirty thieving ****; I'll save your daughter from the dragon, mate, but as soon as you turn your back I am emptying your house of valuables. I view it as my well-earned reward for all the tasks people ask me to perform

 

[Lilani]

I don't like any of the games, I find that the story is shallow at best and combat is not innovated at all. I found skyrim "fun" the same way WoW did. It is dull but gives you something interesting from time to time.

Yeah, I'd almost say that Skyrim is a lot like Minecraft. You sort of have to make your own entertainment, once you get to the point when you can sustain yourself (in Minecraft that's when you have the materials to do build big stuff, and in Skyrim it's when you're strong enough to make it through most areas the game has to throw at you).

 

[MidnightSt]

I have stopped playing Skyrim long time ago too, even before I got to meet the good dragon whose name I can't remember anymore. At one point, the gameplay just stopped being interesting, and the only things driving me forward were the story and the atmosphere (curiosity about the world was the first thing to fade away, yes, it's beautiful, but composed of relatively few elements in various visual forms, which is not enough for me). and then I got a quest that was on the other side of the map, which meant shitload of time before the story progressed again (because I forbid myself from fast travelling), so the interest in story faded too. now the only thing remaining is the atmosphere of being in that world, which is the only reason why I occasionally play it for half an hour or so. It turned into an ambient relax tool for me.

on the other hand, I can't stop playing Dishonored, the story lost its intrigue after the third complete playthrough, but now I keep coming back to play the missions by themselves, trying to be as much "super amazing stealth cool death machine Chuck Norris ninja" as I can, having awesome moments and adrenaline rushes like I had in no other game for ages. Beats even those I had from AC1 and 2. I'm also starting to think about trying to do completely nonlethal (nobody ever killed) playthrough, maybe together with complete ghost one, but that doesn't seem like what I'd enjoy right now, just curious if I could pull it off.

so yes, this situation happens to me sometimes, but it's very rarely, because novelty in games is very important for me, and once I don't feel it anymore, most of the appeal of the game is gone, I feel like I know the game even if I didn't finish the story or saw all the locations - I'm more of a game mechanics explorer than asset explorer.

Before, this (the addiction, kind of) happened to me with GalCiv II. Before that, Braid. And both Portals.

 

[SonicWaffle]

I don't like any of the games, I find that the story is shallow at best and combat is not innovated at all. I found skyrim "fun" the same way WoW did. It is dull but gives you something interesting from time to time.

Yeah, I'd almost say that Skyrim is a lot like Minecraft. You sort of have to make your own entertainment, once you get to the point when you can sustain yourself (in Minecraft that's when you have the materials to do build big stuff, and in Skyrim it's when you're strong enough to make it through most areas the game has to throw at you).

My position on this is that if you want to, you can view Skyrim as being nothing but emergent narrative. It's possible to ignore every single scripted quest to live the life of a hunter in the woods, popping into towns sometimes for a bed and some hot food for instance, or a journeyman blacksmith who travels around learning the trade and selling his wares. The entire world is there, and random events will happen, but the player need never pick a side in the war or join a faction, they can just go their own way. It's entirely possible to craft your own storyline without ever needing to follow that which has been written for you - the player character need never even discover they are Dragonborn!

Minecraft doesn't offer this, being less a game and more a box of toys. The Lego comparison is apt, since most adults who buy Lego models will assemble them as ornaments rather than objects of imaginative play the way a child would. In Minecraft the player can assemble whatever they wish, but it's the assembly that's the fun rather than any story that arises from it. The entertainment derives from the construction and finally pride at having constructed something, but is quickly replaced by a feeling of 'now what?'

 

[luckshot]

for me its skyrim, but i didnt vote as i have never played the first two, and i think the reason morrowind didnt grab me was i first played it on xbox when i had very little free time...so for me the choice was oblivion and skyrim.

 

[luckshot]

for me its skyrim, but i didnt vote as i have never played the first two, and i think the reason morrowind didnt grab me was i first played it on xbox when i had very little free time...so for me the choice was oblivion and skyrim.

 

[Doom972]

I really would love to say that Morrowind is better. I can find many arguments in its favor, But the bottom line is - I just enjoyed Skyrim more. I think that the reason for that that Skyrim is much more immersive. It's simplified, easier, has a relatively generic plot, but it sucked me in more than Morrowind ever could.

I know that it's difficult to break the habit of playing a game like Skyrim, but it only take forcing yourself playing something else one time in order to break the habit. If you can't do it, then just keep playing Skyrim until you're sick of it. It'll happen eventually.

 

[deathbydeath]

I think that Skyrim has had the best story, regardless of all the morrowind purists All of the games kind of force destiny onto you, but in a world like Skyrim/one with a plotline, no average joe can do this crazy crap, but the DRAGONBORN? It just makes more logic.

Wat? The Skyrim story is terribly done, and what happens has essentially no relation to the glorious premise other than a few courteous nods. Besides, the only mentioned differentiation between the Dragonborn and a regular dood is that the Dragonborn doesn't have to spend decades of his life mastering a single shout.