Yep, how annoying is that title? Hehe, yes it was necessary. Skip to the TL;DR if you don't want to read my ramblings. It's the tale of my overall relationship to TES.
I just paid for a pre-order of Skrim last night.
This is a huge deal for me personally as I have been a long time "internet proclaimed hater" of Bethesda. It all started when I was happening through a Gamestop with a $20 bill in my pocket and really just seeking to kill an hour in that particular strip mall. I can kill an hour in Gamestop and still not be ready to leave for some reason, even though that rarely happens due to lack of time. Anyways, I happened by an old Xbox games cart. This was around the time support for regular Xbox games was beginning to noticeably dwindle. I saw Morrowind and flipped it over to check it out. I had heard of it but didn't know anything about it. But 3D action cam RPG? You don't see them very often. (You didn't back then) Plus, it was only $9.99 so no risk was involved. Awesome. I also grabbed Crimson Skies (good) and something else (probably sucked) as it was buy 2 get 1 free.
Later that week after I got a bit burnt out on my new discovery of Crimson Skies the video game. So I figured I would pop in that brown cased 3D RPG I got and see what it was all about. Expecting a half rate RPG, I was pleasantly surprised that this game held a lot mechanics with a ton of potential. I was so impressed I found myself talking with a friend of mine about it over the phone the next day and how the leveling system was a good idea but definitely needed some tweaks as it is way too tedious. I also disliked the the way dialogue was actually setup to discourage any character development. We discussed the highlights and pitfalls of the game for the following week. At this point, I gave Bethesda a thumbs up for trying something new and almost knocking it out of the park. (I didn't know this was part 3 of a series.)
Fast Forward, Oblivion comes out and for the first few months of its release, I had my head up Civ 4's ass. Eventually, I get it because everyone is raving about how much better it is and how wonderful it is. So I rush out and get it and what I found was a travesty. The tedious leveling system became even more tedious due to the auto-leveling system. The dialogue was ... well in conversation format now which was better but... it was such bad writing. As well the environment was less intriguing because of the auto leveling. Needless, to say Bethesda got a frown of disapproval from me and no longer had a thumbs up but more of a thumbs down.
Fast Forward, again. Fallout 3 is released and I am interested to check it out as I am familiar with the Fallout series. VATS is overpowered but fun, lore is pretty jacked up as is the writing in general all the way down to the dialogue. Open world is kind of drab but some areas are pretty interesting. Fallout 3 is a game I want to like and keep going back to but leaving unfulfilled every time I do. (FO:NV is somewhat fulfilling) I think Fallout gets marks off from it that is really just inherent to the atmosphere but ignoring that, it ranks as a good, not great, game. At this point Bethesda is just bland to me, not thumbs up or down, more like half cocked.
Bethesda is like eating unlimited breadsticks with water for the drink and vanilla ice cream for dessert. There is a lot there to eat but none of it has much flavor. So, I wasn't biting on any of this hype for Skyrim. I kept going in to all the threads talking about Skyrim and watching the videos but none of it could promise me that the NPC dealings (dialogue, story, aesthetics) weren't total garbage as they have been for me in the past. I saw what I needed to see that these features were not shit, but just average instead, which is good enough for me. Now, if you are reading this and are hesitant of Bethesda for those reasons, don't take this as a testimonial. I haven't played it, I have watched a Let's Play. My shortcomings with them are at ease, but yours may not be. Just a heads up, I don't need it to be great, I need it to be tolerable.
I have always wanted to be "in" on TES enjoyment which is also why I voiced my concerns with the series. I felt that expressing my concerns about the series' shortcomings would have people discussing how it could improve. Instead, any negative criticisms were ignored and the fanbase adopted the "quit posting in these threads then." I love exploration, I just hate bad writing, stale combat, and tedious leveling systems balled together more. Eventually, I did ignore TES threads. However, you can't simply ignore 500 Skyrim threads per week on the forums. That is why people have been voicing distaste in the past week. Imagine if CoD MW3 had as many threads as Skyrim has had for the past week or two. (And no, it hasn't been that many I have been able to ignore them without much effort.) Eventually, I got to see what I needed to see, no thanks to Bethesda who actually made the guy who had the Let's Play up and garnered them another sale, taken down.
Finally, I think I have found a TES game where I am in for the full experience people are always raving about. I am a bit hyped about that as I am about to go pick up my copy of Skyrim in only 6 hours and be up most of the night playing the thing.
TL
R - So, the topics of discussion and purpose of the thread:
Hopefully, this will also help keep the forum a bit more controlled on the Skyrim threads to come this week for people trying to ignore it. Also helping other people excited find the people they want to talk to. Having the thread title look annoying is even a little bonus for the more extreme fans.
[HEADING=3]Disclaimer: If you can, spoiler tag things. I would appreciate it just for others. If you want to avoid spoilers, careful what you read. Personally, spoilers on this game don't bother me in the least.[/HEADING]
I just paid for a pre-order of Skrim last night.
This is a huge deal for me personally as I have been a long time "internet proclaimed hater" of Bethesda. It all started when I was happening through a Gamestop with a $20 bill in my pocket and really just seeking to kill an hour in that particular strip mall. I can kill an hour in Gamestop and still not be ready to leave for some reason, even though that rarely happens due to lack of time. Anyways, I happened by an old Xbox games cart. This was around the time support for regular Xbox games was beginning to noticeably dwindle. I saw Morrowind and flipped it over to check it out. I had heard of it but didn't know anything about it. But 3D action cam RPG? You don't see them very often. (You didn't back then) Plus, it was only $9.99 so no risk was involved. Awesome. I also grabbed Crimson Skies (good) and something else (probably sucked) as it was buy 2 get 1 free.
Later that week after I got a bit burnt out on my new discovery of Crimson Skies the video game. So I figured I would pop in that brown cased 3D RPG I got and see what it was all about. Expecting a half rate RPG, I was pleasantly surprised that this game held a lot mechanics with a ton of potential. I was so impressed I found myself talking with a friend of mine about it over the phone the next day and how the leveling system was a good idea but definitely needed some tweaks as it is way too tedious. I also disliked the the way dialogue was actually setup to discourage any character development. We discussed the highlights and pitfalls of the game for the following week. At this point, I gave Bethesda a thumbs up for trying something new and almost knocking it out of the park. (I didn't know this was part 3 of a series.)
Fast Forward, Oblivion comes out and for the first few months of its release, I had my head up Civ 4's ass. Eventually, I get it because everyone is raving about how much better it is and how wonderful it is. So I rush out and get it and what I found was a travesty. The tedious leveling system became even more tedious due to the auto-leveling system. The dialogue was ... well in conversation format now which was better but... it was such bad writing. As well the environment was less intriguing because of the auto leveling. Needless, to say Bethesda got a frown of disapproval from me and no longer had a thumbs up but more of a thumbs down.
Fast Forward, again. Fallout 3 is released and I am interested to check it out as I am familiar with the Fallout series. VATS is overpowered but fun, lore is pretty jacked up as is the writing in general all the way down to the dialogue. Open world is kind of drab but some areas are pretty interesting. Fallout 3 is a game I want to like and keep going back to but leaving unfulfilled every time I do. (FO:NV is somewhat fulfilling) I think Fallout gets marks off from it that is really just inherent to the atmosphere but ignoring that, it ranks as a good, not great, game. At this point Bethesda is just bland to me, not thumbs up or down, more like half cocked.
Bethesda is like eating unlimited breadsticks with water for the drink and vanilla ice cream for dessert. There is a lot there to eat but none of it has much flavor. So, I wasn't biting on any of this hype for Skyrim. I kept going in to all the threads talking about Skyrim and watching the videos but none of it could promise me that the NPC dealings (dialogue, story, aesthetics) weren't total garbage as they have been for me in the past. I saw what I needed to see that these features were not shit, but just average instead, which is good enough for me. Now, if you are reading this and are hesitant of Bethesda for those reasons, don't take this as a testimonial. I haven't played it, I have watched a Let's Play. My shortcomings with them are at ease, but yours may not be. Just a heads up, I don't need it to be great, I need it to be tolerable.
I have always wanted to be "in" on TES enjoyment which is also why I voiced my concerns with the series. I felt that expressing my concerns about the series' shortcomings would have people discussing how it could improve. Instead, any negative criticisms were ignored and the fanbase adopted the "quit posting in these threads then." I love exploration, I just hate bad writing, stale combat, and tedious leveling systems balled together more. Eventually, I did ignore TES threads. However, you can't simply ignore 500 Skyrim threads per week on the forums. That is why people have been voicing distaste in the past week. Imagine if CoD MW3 had as many threads as Skyrim has had for the past week or two. (And no, it hasn't been that many I have been able to ignore them without much effort.) Eventually, I got to see what I needed to see, no thanks to Bethesda who actually made the guy who had the Let's Play up and garnered them another sale, taken down.
Finally, I think I have found a TES game where I am in for the full experience people are always raving about. I am a bit hyped about that as I am about to go pick up my copy of Skyrim in only 6 hours and be up most of the night playing the thing.
TL
R - So, the topics of discussion and purpose of the thread:- 1. Has Skyrim 'converted' anyone else to enjoying TES? (This mostly applies after release)
2.People who are fence sitters can ask specific questions about it from people who have it at their disposal and get an answer.
3. Additionally, I figure since a lot of people are beginning to pick up their pre-orders tonight as midnight works it's way around the globe, as I write this, perhaps owners can list what they like/dislike about the newest entry in TES series. Discussing mechanics, art design, whatever really.
Hopefully, this will also help keep the forum a bit more controlled on the Skyrim threads to come this week for people trying to ignore it. Also helping other people excited find the people they want to talk to. Having the thread title look annoying is even a little bonus for the more extreme fans.
[HEADING=3]Disclaimer: If you can, spoiler tag things. I would appreciate it just for others. If you want to avoid spoilers, careful what you read. Personally, spoilers on this game don't bother me in the least.[/HEADING]
