What video games have you been playing III: You're gonna need a bigger boat.

[BirraImperial]

I left Skyrim incomplete after a few hours of play, quite some time ago...It's soo massive, I keep telling myself, "I'm never gonna finish this game", plus work and life have gotten in the way...I kinda want to go back to it again now...

 

[Takhisis]

Maybe it's the fact that FO3's main plot was just a bad mashup of FO1 and FO2 that didn't bring anything new to the party.

Having good plots is certainly important. Sometimes an excuse plot (e.g. your wife's been kidnapped, kindly put on this cool armour, take this raygun and start jumping on platforms and shooting at people) is better than having a complicated crappy plot.

Van Buren sounded awfully depressing. Nuke a portion of civilization of your own choosing!

Why is that depressing?

To be fair, I'd love a X-COM-like Fallout game in which you control NCR/Legion troops and lead them to needless and bloody slaughter for some kind of nebulous reasons.

Stealing Enclave armour in Fallout II was one of the more rewarding parts of the game. Or, if you got lucky, stealing combat armour right away when the game's still railroading you into 'easy' missions…

work and life

How dare you post those words in this thread, you filthy infidel!

 

[cybrxkhan]

I left Skyrim incomplete after a few hours of play, quite some time ago...It's soo massive, I keep telling myself, "I'm never gonna finish this game", plus work and life have gotten in the way...I kinda want to go back to it again now...

I bought Skyrim almost three years ago. I've played 327 hours according to steam (that's ignoring around 10-50 more hours that were offline and thus not recorded). There's still new stuff I never discovered, or quests I've never done, heck I only had one playthrough where I even started the Dragonborn DLC's questline (and that's an old playthrough I stopped). (And don't get me started on Oblivion, I have ~1500 hours with that)

Don't worry, TES games aren't games you ever finish (and unless you're one of those perfectionist completionist types, you shouldn't feel pressured to try). I've heard of hardcore Morrowind fans who are still trying to finish everything after more than a decade. If anything, for me TES games are good for relaxing and dicking around.

 

[Commodore]

Maybe it's the fact that FO3's main plot was just a bad mashup of FO1 and FO2 that didn't bring anything new to the party.

I disagree. FO3's plot was a mashup of FO1 and FO2 but I don't think it was a bad mashup. In fact, I think the plot was better executed and much more engaging than FO1 or 2. I also think FO3 did a much better job of establishing the post-apocalyptic atmosphere, but I attribute that to the vast advancements in graphics technology that took place between FO2 and FO3.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

Don't worry, TES games aren't games you ever finish (and unless you're one of those perfectionist completionist types, you shouldn't feel pressured to try). I've heard of hardcore Morrowind fans who are still trying to finish everything after more than a decade. If anything, for me TES games are good for relaxing and dicking around.

That would be me. I've played 2000+ hours in Morrowind since it's release and there's content in the game I've never completed. Significant content, like 90% of the Tribunal expansion, and also a lot of less significant content, like random quests in a lot of the bigger settlements (I almost always gravitate directly towards guild quests so I don't do a lot of the misc. ones). I've never completed the House Redoran or House Hlaalu quest lines. I think I've only completed the Temple quest line once. There's so much to do in that game it's mind blowing.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Today while going into a Dwarven ruin in Skyrim, I witnessed a rather odd event. The ruin had a large canyon (one of those huge canyons with a river below, basically), so I was walking along the cliffsides when I saw a Falmer up ahead, standing near one of those Falmer palisades that; alright, no biggy, I go into sneak mode and prepare to attack it.

Then, for some reason, that mofo leapt over the palidsade and jumped over into the canyon, falling to his death, committing suicide basically.

I honestly don't know if it's even a bug or whether it was a scripted event, because it wasn't like the Falmer floated over and other buggy stuff happened, he literally just turned around, ran towards the canyon, and jumped off. Wish I took a screenshot of it, I was wondering wtf was going on and I saw another Falmer scurrying around immediately afterwards in the weirdest way, probably wondering wtf that guy was doing.

That would be me. I've played 2000+ hours in Morrowind since it's release and there's content in the game I've never completed. Significant content, like 90% of the Tribunal expansion, and also a lot of less significant content, like random quests in a lot of the bigger settlements (I almost always gravitate directly towards guild quests so I don't do a lot of the misc. ones). I've never completed the House Redoran or House Hlaalu quest lines. I think I've only completed the Temple quest line once. There's so much to do in that game it's mind blowing.

That's one of the few things I'm sure about the next TES game, no matter how much it could otherwise objectively suck, there's gonna be a gazillion things to do and you'll never finish it.

 

[bhsup]

So was just going along about an hour ago, you know the drill. March march arrow kick and it's all fine and dandy... then whoa wth man, you're in the fade! Spoilered because it's basically just a lot of profanity. But, you know, funny.

Spoiler :

Link to video.

 

[gay_Aleks]

My problem with most TES games (and I guess, the reason they're so engaging) is once you exit the tutorial (the ship in Morrowind and the prison in Oblivion) is there's a "now what" moment.

For the most part, Fallout games (yes, even Fallout 3, no matter how open it is), you have to go to certain places. There's no escape. You will visit Megaton or Novac or Nipton (unless you cheat your way out an go up, but you'd lose loads and loads of exp).

 

[cybrxkhan]

My problem with most TES games (and I guess, the reason they're so engaging) is once you exit the tutorial (the ship in Morrowind and the prison in Oblivion) is there's a "now what" moment.

For the most part, Fallout games (yes, even Fallout 3, no matter how open it is), you have to go to certain places. There's no escape. You will visit Megaton or Novac or Nipton (unless you cheat your way out an go up, but you'd lose loads and loads of exp).

Yeah, it's a core feature of TES that you can do wtf you want, a whole world for you to explore and all that. It's not for everyone, obviously, especially if you prefer a more structured, linear storyline (not to say TES' storylines aren't linear per se, you can just easily opt out of them). As someone who is easily dissatisfied with most stories and plots to the point of fanaticism, TES is really a breath of fresh air: instead of being forced to go through a crappy story, I can just ignore it and/or make my own!

But if that's not really your style you shouldn't force yourself. I've tried other RPGs with more linear narratives, got bored and dissatisfied really quickly, so I didn't bother wasting my time. TES is the only RPG for me!

 

[gay_Aleks]

Hmm. The problem with that is in order to have your own adventure in TES, you need to have knowledge of the universe it is set in. Otherwise, if your personal quest is to look for a fair maiden lady named Joan in an universe where people put apostrophes through their names, you'd be lost.

Huh. That actually sounds like an interesting idea.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Hmm. The problem with that is in order to have your own adventure in TES, you need to have knowledge of the universe it is set in. Otherwise, if your personal quest is to look for a fair maiden lady named Joan in an universe where people put apostrophes through their names, you'd be lost.

Huh. That actually sounds like an interesting idea.

I don't think knowledge of the universe is required per se, though it certainly helps a lot. The main thing to realize is that unlike a lot of other fiction, where information about the setting is handed out easily, in TES information is handed out in small tidbits at a time. I talk about the setting, not the stories in them per se - for instance it's one thing to know that there's a dark lord and that he has his reasons for doing what he does, but it's another to know the political, cultural, or religious context behind such reasons, and the different opinions on him. In a way, it kinda resembles research in history or anthropology or something, I think. So I think it's less knowing the lore, but rather knowing that you will have to reckon with it directly and indirectly - the Skyrim civil war, for instance, and how most players justify joining one side (or joining neither) by learning about the context and background of the war, is probably one of Skyrim's more substantial examples of this, I think - you first form an initial opinion about the war, then as the war progresses, and/or you learn more about it from different characters who have different opinions, you either confirm your initial impressions, or realize you've made an error.

Alright, I'm rambling, since I'm a TES fanboi; of course, you can just install a bunch of bikini and boob mods, run around killing people indiscriminately, and drop cheese wheels everywhere for the lulz. That's also a totally valid way of playing.

 

[gay_Aleks]

So... I'll be one hell of a confused prison escaped convict who also coincidentally can and will become the most important characters in recent history.

Blah. That's confusing, and a bit too much for my system. But I'll try. I'm fascinated. And scared. Hmm. I wonder if that's the feeling of adventure. Or that of getting lost.

 

[bhsup]

Tolni, Sovngarde beckons. Embrace your destiny, son of the snow. You like snow, right?!


Link to video.

 

[cybrxkhan]

So... I'll be one hell of a confused prison escaped convict who also coincidentally can and will become the most important characters in recent history.

Blah. That's confusing, and a bit too much for my system. But I'll try. I'm fascinated. And scared. Hmm. I wonder if that's the feeling of adventure. Or that of getting lost.

Can, but not necessarily will. You can go tell the main quest to screw itself. Or all the quests really. Actually I think all the TES games hint at this on a meta level. But anyways I think you get the idea, I think it's easier to be disappointed by TES if you go into it thinking you have to go through a linear path. That said I think the TES main questline is shorter than Oblivion or Morrowind's, there's only one big dungeon you have to crawl through, but thankfully it's a drop-dead gorgeous one.

Think I had a 20 hour playthrough of Skyrim where I was mainly a poor smith operating in Whiterun. Took me a while before I could afford a decent house. It was a short playthrough by TES standards, but an interesting one. After my current playthrough I'm considering doing a just a normal imperial soldier playthrough, no crazy quests, just doing my job to put down the rebellion and then retire in Skyrim sort of thing.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I left Skyrim incomplete after a few hours of play, quite some time ago...

I've "left Skyrim incomplete" after roughly 300 hours. I've started about 10 different characters and roleplayed the hell out of them and I have never completed more than two thirds of the main quest line. And I don't feel like I've wasted a lot of time with it (apart of the mandatory tutorial and first two or three hours for each new character). Skyrim is pretty much the only game I know that has succeeded to be more about the journey than the destination.

 

[gay_Aleks]

You're bloody kidding me. A smith? Seriously? I am more into punching, stabbing, and if necessary, a crossbow bolt through some fool's neck.

 

[Tahuti]

You're bloody kidding me. A smith? Seriously? I am more into punching, stabbing, and if necessary, a crossbow bolt through some fool's neck.

At least you don't kill Rambo-esque amounts of enemies on your path!

 

[gay_Aleks]

Yeah, you do that in Fallout. In slow motion, and with the appropriate weapons, you can make the corpses explode.

Anyway, time for a mood-change in terms of games. I am for the 300th time playing NWN2 and not even getting to Neverwinter. This time, with a half-elf monk. Because why not.

 

[Civ'ed]

there's only one big dungeon you have to crawl through, but thankfully it's a drop-dead gorgeous one.

aren't there two? (Bleak Falls Barrow and Skuldafn)

 

[cybrxkhan]

You're bloody kidding me. A smith? Seriously? I am more into punching, stabbing, and if necessary, a crossbow bolt through some fool's neck.

You violent monster!

But seriously, yes, Skyrim added in some gameplay improvements that make roleplaying a normal person much easier compared to previous games. I mean you can pretty much play the game as a laborer who only chops wood and works as a migrant farmer or something. It's not perfect and not necessarily fun or for everyone, sure, but it's possible. Generally speaking though few people do pure commoner playthroughs, usually it's still adventuring but with a more down to earth focus (for instance you only take on low-risk quests that do not involve dungeon delving, or you only do it for certain guilds, or other such roleplaying restrictions).

aren't there two? (Bleak Falls Barrow and Skuldafn)

Nah, those are tiny little rooms compared to Blackreach. Blackreach was one huge dungeon. I honestly don't think there have been dungeons that huge since Daggerfall's randomly generated physics defying stuff. I mean Blackreach is so huge I think it must be like a fifth of Skyrim's size in-game, it connects to random dwarven ruins elsewhere in the map and has freaking dungeons inside its dungeon (obligatory yo dawg I heard you like dungeons so I put a dungeon in yo dungeon)