In roughly a week from now, the gaming world will be whipped into a frenzy over one game. It would have been two, but the sequel to Get Fit with Mel B got delayed, sadly. I am, of course, referring to Skyrim. Many of the people who I work with on Gaming Daily will probably be part of the frothy-mouthed masses while wandering through the alleged 300 hours worth of content. However, it’s with some trepidation that I say I doubt I’ll be one of them.
I know that the last two times I’ve said ‘I probably won’t get this’ have been with Crysis 2 and Starcraft II, both games I didn’t end up ‘probably not getting’ at all. I bloody well did get them and finished neither of them, but I really don’t think I’ll be buying Skyrim on November 11th – a notion that will no doubt see me cast out from the world of PC gaming and treated like a leper until the end of time.
I do have a bunch of well-rounded reasons for not being excited over Skyrim. They all come back to a root cause; Bethesda.
I bought Fallout 3 about 18 months ago. I’ve played approximately two hours of it.
I got Fallout: New Vegas last year as a Christmas present. I’ve not played it at all.
I bought Oblivion during the Steam Summer Sale this year. I’ve played exactly 60 minutes of it.
Now at this point I’ve probably rattled a few cages. All of these games have been adored on such a grand scale, played and replayed by so many, but I just can’t do it myself.
While playing Fallout 3, my first foray into a Bethesda title, I felt insignificant. I felt like I didn’t understand a damn thing about the way the game worked and that I was just blindly winging it throughout the early quests in a nearby town. I had all these points available to spend on skills but not a clue about which would benefit me the most at that given time, nor did I know what I wanted to focus on building throughout my character’s life. I haven’t returned to it in over a year.
Why, then, did I even bother with starting Oblivion? For the same reason that I wanted to try Fallout 3; critical acclaim. I feel like if I’m going to be a decent games reviewer, to have a knowledge of these sorts of games may well be crucial, as they come up in conversations all the time. As I played through the first hour of Oblivion, I felt less intimidated than I did with Fallout 3, but I still couldn’t shake this feeling of not knowing what the hell I was doing or what I was building myself up to be in the many hours to come.
So when it’s come to Skyrim trailers and the like, I’ve seen a lot of cool things. Dragons! Flashy spells! Big environments! But with each cool thing has come a nagging doubt: ‘Bet I won’t be able to kill dragons.’ ‘Bet I won’t be able to work out how to do those flashy spells.’ ‘Bet I’d get lost in those mountains there.’
The most annoying thing about all this is that I know it’s all wrong. I know there’s some accessibility to Bethesda’s games that I’m missing (for the purpose of this blog post, we’re forgetting their other games beyond what I’ve listed; Brink etc) and I’m sure that it boils down to them being an ‘acquired taste’ or me just having to stick with it. So I’ve come to the conclusion that before I buy or play Skyrim, I want to finish either New Vegas or Oblivion. This is just to prove to myself that I can commit to and finish a Bethesda game, so that suddenly Skyrim is not a scary thing but instead, something I can look forward to playing and throwing my life into just like everybody else.
Playing a Bethesda game is about immersing yourself in an open-world fantasy. Don’t worry about whether you’re leveling up the right way or creating the best character, just explore the world and enjoy it. Some people like linear RPGs with set paths and guided experiences, some want a sandbox with near infinite variables, quests, dungeons and skills to max out. I love both, but will always prefer the open games more because they give me the ability to create my own adventure. In Oblivion (and Morrowind) I was a thief. I could steal every possession in a persons house, steal everything they were carrying and they would still treat me nice because they had no idea I did any of it. If you need a compelling main quest, then Bethesda games aren’t for you, their main quests are usually the last thing people do. I say give Oblivion another chance, but build your own story and don’t become preoccupied with what skills you should have or not have.
Thanks for the advice sir. I’m somewhat turned off by the fact that the main quests aren’t compelling and I’ve always been a bit of a min/maxer with RPGs since I played WoW. As such, it’s difficult for me to ‘let go’ and not feel a bit overawed when I’m given such a sandbox and half a dozen quests to do at once. But I’m determined to have a damn good go at seeing Oblivion through now.
Of course, another reason I’m not getting Skyrim is down to the other two games coming out on that day; LA Noire and Arkham City. I’ll probably put about 40 hours into those games cumulatively, so my Oblivion playthrough may also have to be delayed slightly.
I was a bit confused when you said L.A. Noire was coming out the same day as Oblivion, but then I realized the PC version hasn’t come out yet and your blogs’ name is “Diary of a PC Gamer” so I connected those dots. Great game though. I wish I had had a PC good enough to play it on, but I was stuck with the Xbox 360, which froze so much during the last five hours of the game that it took me 15 hours.
I used to play WoW too, about five years ago. Then my internet provider decided to disconnect and reconnect the internet every ten minutes and that ended WoW obsession aka the best six months of my life.
But yeah I’m happy to hear that you’ll give Oblivion another chance. And since I’m assuming you’ll play it on the PC you can take advantage of all of mods I’ve never been able to try.
I like your slant – accessibility’s always an issue in games.
That said, I’d really need to say I think you’re getting caught up in trying to make things “important” – you’re actually expected to set your own goals, in the way the Elder Scrolls. Part of what’s confusing about their formula is how they deliver directives and quests, etc – Morrowind actually averted this problem by telling you what you were meant to do at the start even less.
The detail and “immersion” of the games is all there – you can handle, steal most objects. Every NPC has an individual relationship to you and can hold a grudge, etc. There is not one right way to play the games, and it’s a shame that other games over the years have tried to impress that simplicity on you.
But one of the first things you’re going to have to reconsider if you’re to enjoy TES or Fallout is what’s important in the game – both of these series are very heavy on NPC interaction. Meeting and talking to new people is the most important thing you could do in the game, and so few folks emphasize that in their reviews because they’ve also been busy fighting the undead which SEEMS more important.
2 things might help you get through Oblivion and relax: get a good friend (pref one who hasn’t played it) to hang out with you and play the game together. That’s what the wife and I do, and it’s always a better experience.
And trust me here, man, you’re not alone in having gotten the wrong first impression – the games are designed to be overwhelming. Use it to empower yourself by saving often before making the decisions you fear you’ll regret making. Oh, and as a rule of thumb? Mages are hard to play, thieves are fun but it becomes a stealth game. Stick with a barbarian fighter type – Nord in TES – and upgrade your stats related to melee. You’ll do fine.
Lastly – use the wiki if you’re lost or worried:
http://www.uesp.net/
“There is not one right way to play the games, and it’s a shame that other games over the years have tried to impress that simplicity on you.” – To an extent that’s true, the last few years of gaming have mostly been spoonfeeding exercises from developer to player. However, that’s not to say that TES was unique in its apparent depth. After all, I’ve played a few games where there are multiple ways to play and the best way is not immediately obvious; Mass Effect 1 and 2, Deus Ex: HR and WoW to name a few. each of those also rely on interaction, especially Mass Effect. That should mean I’m able to play through the likes of Oblivion without much trouble or intimidation, but the only reason I can think of that I didn’t was because of that daunting first impression I’ve been getting.
Having said all that, I played about 2 hours of Oblivion last night and I had fun. I just blanked my mind, picked a quest from my journal at random and went to do it. A few of them turned out to be dead ends, like the early ones where I went to inspect an inherited property and then couldn’t afford to renovate it. Or the Mystic Emporium in the Imperial City being closed all the time. The quests that I were able to finish, such as closing the first gate to Oblivion, were pretty decent though. I’ve rolled a Battlemage, seeing as magic was a quite attractive option to me but I also wanted a bit of melee skill to rely upon.