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Saturday, July 6, 2013

Why I don't want to play Skyrim

You know when you go to the grocery store to pick up laundry soap, and there's an entire aisle full of it? You just want to quick grab something, but you have to take the time to choose between Tide or Cheer or Gain or Purex, unscented or scented, liquid or powder, fabric softening, refreshing, or bleach.

What the heck, grocery store! Just give me one choice (even two, three or four) so I can move on!

And then, of course, once you're done there, you move on to something else, be it dryer sheets, a can of beans or pizza, and the entire process begins again.

This is how I feel about Skyrim.

There are just too many choices. You can do pretty much whatever you want. I know you Skyrim lovers are yelling at me because that's what is so wonderful about Skyrim, and am I crazy.

I never said I wasn't crazy.

But my favourite games are linear for a reason. If you look at my top 10 favourite video games, you will notice they are mostly all linear, and the ones that aren't are a different type of game like strategy or tower defense. I like Portal. I like Mass Effect. I like Zelda and Final Fantasy. I like being told where to go and what to do and having a good story to go with it. I don't really enjoy wandering around with no main purpose.

How about you? Do you like nonlinear games, linear games, or both? Feel free to tell me why I'm crazy in the comments and why I absolutely have to play Skyrim :)

And please enjoy this episode of Conan O'Brien trying to play Skyrim because it's pretty hilarious.

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6 comments:

  1. Alex J. CavanaughJuly 6, 2013 at 3:35 PM

    Saw that Conan video - his Clueless Gamer series is hilarious.
    I am a Skyrim fan. What can I say?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brandon AxJuly 6, 2013 at 9:19 PM

    I like a lot of types of games, but Skyrim was so good. There were little stories everywhere that had a start middle and end. Don't get me wrong I often had a....."I'm going to go save this person from the evil...oooo butterfly, where does this path go, is that a bear on a tree...." moments, but the game is awesome.

    Also, if you play through the main story line the game can be linear, though the temptation to wander is strong.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Roland D. YeomansJuly 6, 2013 at 9:56 PM

    I heard the music on Pandora.com and liked it. But a video game fan I am not. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tyrean MartinsonJuly 7, 2013 at 4:51 PM

    Oh, if I played video games I really wouldn't get any writing done . . . I wish I could, but I just can't. I know I would totally get addicted, although I probably wouldn't be a Skyrim fn.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownJuly 8, 2013 at 12:53 AM

    I will first direct you to my review:
    http://www.mithrilwisdom.com/2011/11/review-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim.html

    Then my open letter to Bethesda:
    http://www.mithrilwisdom.com/2012/11/an-open-letter-to-bethesda-youve-ruined.html

    It's such a good game, primarily for it's open endedness. Brandon's right; you can focus purely on the main plot to get a linear story, but pretty soon you'll want to wander off and do stuff more befitting your character :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJuly 8, 2013 at 11:12 PM

    I'll echo what's already been said: Skyrim can be as linear or as open-ended as you want it to be.

    The game will indeed tell you what to do and where to go to complete all the main tasks and it is up to you to decide whether or not you want to deviate. And yes, there is an involving story, colorful characters, and amazing atmosphere to go with it.

    ReplyDelete