Alex O’Neill
My first trip the Tamriel is, and forever will be, a memorable one. When I heard the makers of Fallout 3 were making a sequel to the critically-loved Oblivion (which I never played), I knew I was going to be right there in line waiting. Boy was it worth it.I had never touched an Elder Scrolls game before. I never shut an Oblivion Gate, and I never journeyed across Morrowind, but I knew Skyrim was where I wanted to be. To me, a lover of Fallout 3 (my 2008 GOTY, easily), a game with that kind of scope in a fantasy world, this time with dragons, was pretty much a shoe-in to me.
I’ve never really played an RPG before, but Skyrim is exactly my style. I didn’t know what to expect going into the game other than dragons and fighting. When I first started the game, the first thing I noticed when I started the game was its graphics, and the long opening scene. They didn’t really tell you how to play when you first started, but they told you how to attack and the basic controls. I had to figure out how to equip items, use magic, and use the quick select feature. I didn’t expect too much from the game because I haven’t played anything like it before, but the graphics were great, the gameplay was great, and the fighting was amazing. Combat is a major part of this game when you first start out.
Tony Horvath
From horrendously murdering scores of guardsman and piling them up underneath a bridge, to finally putting an end to the stuck up spoiled antics of the children of Skyrim, to trolls with trollfaces plastered on them, to an endless amount of cabbage filling Breezehome, I have had my share of antics in the realm of Skyrim. I’ve played a few of the games from the Elder Scrolls series, and I have to say I have not thorougly enjoyed myself for as long as I did playing Skyrim on any of its predecessors. The game captivated me and wouldn’t let go.
After spending so much loving time in Oblivion, which granted, was an amazing experience at the time. That’s the thing, the experience was only great at the time. Going back today somehow it feels more dated than it is. Dungeons feel as if they were copied and pasted, only a few characters are memorable.
[Coming Soon]
Billy Ramey
I remember the feeling I had the first time I stepped off the boat in Morrowind. A stranger being forced into an unfamiliar place. Being given the ability to do anything, but not knowing what to do. I also remember the opening to Oblivion. The excitement of escaping captivity through an underground passage. Emerging that passage, looking around, and having a genuine feeling of being a free man. A simple moment that made a huge impact on me and my feelings towards the Elder Scrolls games. The opening to Skyrim didn’t have a similar effect on me. Already having a knowledge of what a Bethesda RPG can be, I knew to continue on.
Skyrim to me lacks a lot of the epic moments and hooks that previous Elder Scrolls titles had. Skyrim’s big offering is in it’s battles with dragons. These battles are great and lived up to the hype that Bethesda had built for them. But to me, Skyrim is about the smaller moments. The random cave you find that leads into a story that can take several quest to unfold. Randomly exploring and collecting bugs just to see what effect they offer. Games to me are about those moments that you can’t wait to tell your friends about, and Skyrim is full of them.