Skyrim: A Bluffer's Guide

Hey Everyone!

These few weeks have been congested with highly anticipated titles hitting the shelves and eating up our money in record fashion...BF3 beckoned before Modern Warfare 3 exploded on the scene, with Elder Scrolls: Skyrim perching like a dragon, ready to swoop down upon us. Man, I wish I was young again.

Elder Scrolls Skyrim: Out in 11/11/11!

Any Elder Scrolls fans amongst us? I have to admit that I did try Oblivion after being impressed by Fallout 3 about 4 years ago, but schedules and life got in the way...and my adventures in Tamriel faltered after I got the fastest horse in the game. Don't get me wrong, I think Oblivion is a great game worth the time investment as it is a world that will draw you in. However, I was just a little put off by the repetitive nature of building skills up, and how to milk the system to derive maximum benefit (by choosing useless skills as your main skills to prevent levelling up too fast). Somehow, I find that it is difficult to maintain enthusiasm for completing the game when you're playing old titles long after their original release :/

Well, Gamespot releases "Bluffer's Guides" to major titles before their release, which basically cover the main facts about the video game's universe and history. Their episode for Skyrim is definitely worth a watch. The combination of humor and educational value makes it an entertaining summary of the history of the Elder Scrolls.



Looking at how the video progresses from Oblivion to Arena, it is stunning to see how much video game technology has advanced over the decades. 2-D games obviously pale in comparison with today's latest titles, but we can't deny that we were captivated by older games when they came out at their time. It's my guess that it has much to do with the game's contemporaneous setting, whereby the consumer's expectations and values are very much shaped by the setting he/she was in. Moreover, the game environment now is much more congested than it was before.

Awesome graphics 30 years ago, surpassed by mobile phones now...but still a legend.

Case in point: when Doom came out, there was no other game that could compare to it and it literally spawned the a new genre in video games. It ruled the PC gaming market and captured the imagination of its players upon its release. Realistically, I will find it hard to play through Doom today with knowledge of what current graphic technology is capable of. In addition, Doom 3 came out when a large variety of shooters have already immersed the market...which had given it a smaller audience to work with, thereby having a lesser impact than its predecessors. Cases of successor games over-performing previous titles do happen too (FIFA, Killzone, MW3), but that would be another discussion outside of this post.

Ready to rock the fantasy RPG world...

Till then, I will be following Skyrim's release and my gut feeling from what I've seen so far...is that it'll be an awesome gaming experience. What do you think?

PS: As a sidenote, Bethesda has already started development on a DLC for it. Money making or serving the best interests of gamers?