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| My character in Skyrim; Raewyn |
I know my blog seems to mostly be about Rock band, but I DO play other games too.
Last year on my birthday I received Skyrim for my birthday (December 8). I was semi-interested in the game, but didn't know much about it. I knew it was similar to Oblivion (I now know it is part of the same universe) which I HAD wanted to buy but couldn't play because my TV was WAAAAAY too small to deal with the interface (I used to play on a postage stamp, as evidenced in some of my rock band vids from 2 years ago).
I poked around the video game stores in November when Skyrim was released, but everything I found said "Version Francaise Integral" which usually means that the entire game has been translated into French along with character voices without any way to change the language. As a native English speaker living in France, this is a pain for me. Not to mention that games/movies/tv shows dubbed in French usually have TERRIBLE voice acting and translations (the majority of the Frenchies I have spoken with agree). So I put off the game. However my husband and a friend of ours schemed in my back to order the game from an English speaking country for my birthday. So needless to say when I saw my birthday present had the shape of a game or movie I opened it cautiously and then shrieked.
Then I noticed it was imported from the US.. (a UK game would have been a safer bet for PAL compatibility and region locking). I was afraid that the game wouldn't work, but I popped it into my xbox and was reassured that all was fine. As a side note though, since it is a NTSC game I can't record any footage using my dazzle because my dazzle is PAL only :/ that explains the grainy pseudo-screenshot of my character.
Regarding my character, she is Raewyn a Bosmer (wood elf). One thing I love about these kinds of games is you can create the character to your play style. So Raewyn is a dual wielder. She has a sword in her offhand and a dagger in the main hand and wears light armor. I've always been more inclined to melee characters.
In the beginning I was very very stealthy and would snipe a lot with my bow, but as the game went on and it got really easy for me ( I was playing in normal difficulty), I started just running around without much care for stealth. I did eventually reach the point where I had to put the game in master difficulty (around level 35ish) and have been playing there ever since. Even now things tend to die too easy.. but a lot of that can be put on the way I built my character and my play style... not to mention my equipment (dragon scale armor and dragon bone weapons made with blackmsithing potions while wearing +30 something % +blacksmithing gear).
I have quite enjoyed the the game and developed a bit of an addiction for a while.. playing the game from the moment I returned home after dropping my daughter off at school, until the last 10 minutes before I had to leave to pick her up. That slowly tapered off as I became more busy with Ethropia recording a demo and preparing for my first show with the band. With the release of Dawnguard DLC I picked right back up and fell back into that same old addiction.
I have to mention that Skyrim also came at a good time for me. I was feeling the void of not having an MMORPG to play. It had been a while since quitting WoW (long story short: game became too easy and the trying to please everyone actually made it uninteresting) and there was no MMO that I had tried that really held my interest. Skyrim was prefect, the only downside was that it WASN'T an MMO.. as much as I would have loved to play the game with others, the story was enough to keep me interested. I kept telling everyone "if Skyrim was an MMORPG, my soul would be sold".
Off track: I later found out about The Elder Scrolls Online, so that is the next thing I'm looking forward to. I'm sure I'm going to need a new computer for that one, but it isn't due out until sometime next year, so I have time. In the meantime I have Skyrim.
Without intending to I kind of started a goal to gain every achievement in the game so that should surely keep me busy until tESO is released (well, maybe not THAT long, but for a while). I just started noticing that I was getting the majority of achievements anyway, so I figured why not?
Here's my profile on Raptr (I can't think of an easier way to link achievements):
http://raptr.com/_Anex_/about
I'm sitting at 54/65 achievements (there were some achievements that came with the Dawngaurd DLC and Hearthfire add-on). Rather than link all the ones I have it is just easier to list the ones I DON'T have.
Skyrim Achievements I am Lacking:
The Fallen-This is a quest that is part of the main story line. It is sitting in my quest log. I have intentionally left this unfinished. I feel like if I finish the main storyline while I'm still trying to play, the game will lose some of its flavor for me.
Dragonslayer- Also part of the main storyline.
Bound Until Death- This is where I have screwed myself. This quest is part of the Dark Brotherhood. You see a long time ago around level 21 I ran into these guys and I really didn't like the way they were talking to me, telling me I had to kill who they wanted me to kill etc. Then I saw that pretty dagger Astrid had and well.. I killed her for it. I went on to destroy the Dark Brotherhood after. Sadly at the time, I wasn't aware of the achievement nor did I particularity care. Unfortunately this is not the only achievement relating to them and the only way I can get these is by making a new character, which Skyrim doesn't make it easy to do (one of my few complaints with the game).
With Friends Like These- Yeah Dark Brotherhood..
Hail Sithis!- Dark Brotherhood.. -_-
Wanted- I'm saving this one. I figure when I'm all done with Raewyn and before I make a new character I will go out with a big bang ;)
Master Criminal- Part of my "Big Bang" plan.
Vampire Mastered- With the Dawnguard DLC, I decided to join the Dawngaurd (hunters). Vampires are lame. There was a time they used to be half way cool, but that was before Twilight ruined them and now the thought of Vampires just reeks of pathetic teenage girl.. so I wasn't interested in playing a vampire. I decided with my second character I would join the vampires to see that side of the story completely, but then last night I was walking around and realized I am diseased (which happens to me rarely since I'm Bosmer) and turning into a vampire. I figured I would let it go full on, and work on this achievement then cure myself. I'm not sure yet. I was also concerned because the Companions HATE vampires and I'm married to Farkas.. but I talked to him last night and he didn't react to it. So we will see.
Werewolf Mastered- I really intended to work on this while I was a werewolf during all those Companions quests. However I failed at figuring that stuff out and in the end I just wanted to progress through the quests. I cured myself of lycanthropy and now if I get it again, I will be stuck a werewolf. Considering using this one for my "Big Bang" plan.
Legend- In my opinion this is going to be the hardest of all the achievements I have left. It is going to take a LOT of time and non-passive effort towards it. From what I have read you won't encounter a legendary dragon before level 78 (some have said they did, and I used to kill ancient dragons in my 30s, so maybe).. and that means leveling up. Right now I'm level 50 and nearly level 51. That has come out of about a week of passive playing.. but I think to reach 78 I'm probably going to have to level up EVERY SINGLE SKILL. Even ones I am not using like heavy armor, 2 handed weapons and caster related crap (I use some spells sometimes like to summon Arvak, heal myself or cast candlelight). After I get this, it will be time for the Big Bang plan and the rest will be cake.
Landowner- (added 9/4/12)- Just need to play the new add-on. Sounds easy enough.
(earned 9/13/12)
Architect- (added 9/4/12)- Just need to play..
(earned 9/14/12)
Proud Parent- (added 9/4/12)- Easily done after building home & children's bed and a dresser/chest.
(earned 9/14/12)
Land Baron- (added 9/4/12)- 3 pieces of land doesn't sound hard. Just need to play more..
(earned 9/15/12)
Master Architect- (added 9/4/12)- Finishing up my current home and moving my belongings, then I will finish my other 2 small houses into 3 wing homes.
So yeah, so close but so far. It is a shame for the Dark Brotherhood quests, but oh well, it happens. At the time I really REALLY didn't want to join them anyway.
(separate post to be updated regarding achievement progress, this entry will no longer receive updates)
Anyway, that is me and Skyrim. It is what I have been playing a lot of recently and I really don't know why I didn't post a blog about it sooner as much as I like the game.
I only have 2 real complaints about the game:
The first would be that creating multiple characters is a pain. You'd have to be VERY careful with game saves and try to remember the numbers (or write them down) on which ones belong to which. I would have quite liked if the game offered character saves at the root (choose character, then choose save). When it comes to missing achievements or wanting to try other paths it would make my life easier. I don't want to lose my characters... I'm quite attached to them :/
The second is that as much as Kinect with Skyrim makes things easier (maps and shouts) it can also be a hindrance. Kind of like when my 4 year old walks into the room and starts talking about something that does god-knows-what to items in my inventory (like really, I don't have time to see what it says before it disappears).. or when I'm trying to talk about something (or just singing to myself) and randomly start killing people with dragon shouts (Life of the Dragonborn is so hard..).. or how no matter how many variations I try, I can NOT for the life of me just use the "Fus" of Fus Ro Dah/Unrelenting Force.. Ive tried so many pronunciations (mainly the one used by my character in game) but it never turns out right. I can use the English language, but it uses the full shout and most time I don't really need THAT much.
All in all Skyrim is a great game. I haven't loved or enjoyed a game this much in a while.. maybe since the first Fable (I'd have to think longer on that one). I like when a game lasts, and this one is going on about 1 year of game play which is pretty good for a single-player game with no multi-player.
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