Wow...just wow. I didn't want to play Skyrim, when it was just coming out. I played Oblivion for 200 hours and didn't do the first storyline mission, and quite frankly I have lots of games that I want to play and didn't want to waste my time doing fetch quests. Alas, Skyrim was already ten steps ahead of me. This game knew what I liked to do. It knew I liked to feel powerful, it knew I liked to explore and it knew that I love Sheogorath (The Lord of Madness). Skyrim was eager to give me all of these things, and still it somehow didn't drag on too long. Granted, with all of the exploring of a gigantic country, it took a little time, but unlike Oblivion where the enemies just got stronger as you did so you were always sneaking and praying you wouldn't die, you can actually explore freely and relatively safely...relatively. What I mean by that is that occasionally you'll be walking along when a large shadow sweeps over you and you know you are now experiencing what I call 'go time'.
Science has proven and dis-proven many things over the years, and as I'm sure you remember, from grade 4's biology class, dragons are always awesome. Hell...even Spyro is voiced by Elijah Wood. You can't be much more badass than that. Now, let me explain to you how you make it even more badass. A dragon lands on the ground in front of you. He's pissed off. He's storming towards you blowing fire at you, but you are ready for him. Suddenly you turn into a werewolf and charge right at this dragon's face. Suddenly waves of awesomeness start hitting people all over the world from the rippling effect of your great battle. People who have been in comas for years wake up and start moonwalking up and down hallways, all wars as we know it temporarily end, at least until this epic battle finishes, and Larry the Cable Guy actually says a few things that don't make me want to kick a hole in his head! Skyrim is that bloody awesome.
The best thing about this game is that every player get's their very own experience. Ask anyone about the best thing that's happened to them in the game, and sit back, light a camp fire and listen to it. My girlfriend used to ask me for routine morning emails every morning writing about the adventure I had the night before in Skyrim, and I would be so excited to tell her, based entirely on the unexpected nature of some of the adventures. Even the fetch quests weren't as plentiful this time around. I found that I was doing more interesting things than just running into a cave and finding some clumsy buggers dropped sword (though that was the first objective that I got).
My favorite encounter was at a time when I was sneaking along trying to avoid a bear, which at that point seemed to be going well, when suddenly I heard a loud roar. I knew what that was so I started running, of course making the bear come at me. That was bad news in itself, as that bear was stronger than me too. Suddenly the bear is attacking me and I'm trying to block it with my shield, when I see a big badass dragon land right behind it and start charging at both of us. After hitting the bear and I with some fire, the bear turns on the dragon. Yeah, a huge brown bear attacking a dragon. NICE! I used this opportunity to get away, but the bear didn't last for too long and the dragon quickly started his chase again. After about 2 minutes of running I came up to a road and saw two guards and decided to try to hold the line with them. The dragon landed and started attacking us, but we did very little damage and as soon as one of the guards fell, I knew it wasn't gonna work, so I took off running again. As predicted, the dragon didn't give up there and continued it's rage fuelled quest for supper.
At this point, I was so close to being dead that I figured I wasn't gonna make it, when I saw in the distance one last hope. Two giants are roaming around ahead of me so I run past them and the dragon touches down attacking them. The battle seemed to be going pretty close, so I jumped in and started hitting the dragon in the back in hopes that this would finally stop him, and to my heart's content, it actually worked. This was the 2nd dragon I ever killed, and it was definitely the strongest one up to that point. I was so pleased with my resourcefulness, that I... wait a second, I'm flying through the air. Yup, I forgot about the giants. So there I am, now being chased by two very powerful giants who are actually keeping up with me. This continues on for about 2 minutes when I reached the edge of a cliff. Basically, at this point I have to decide between dying by jumping, or dying by giant. Either way, killing that dragon isn't gonna count, so I'm sad. I decide to risk jumping, especially when I discover a very high waterfall. I dive into the water and am swept away, crashing into the water below. I'm hurt, but I'm still alive, and to my pleasure, there is a little mill next to the water, where I ran in to hide. All in a days work in Skyrim.
I know I just told a silly story about what happened to me walking from point A to B, but that's what Skyrim is all about. The game has plans for you, but those plans are different for everyone and that makes it special. I can't recommend this game enough. I was fortunate to not experience any serious bugs either. The game is overwhelmingly huge, so some bugs are expected, and apparently this game has plenty of them, but at most I only got some slowdown from time to time. If you're like me, and haven't played it yet, because you don't feel like you have enough time in your life, reconsider. It's a very special game, with a greatly simplified level and armor system and several unique and exciting experiences.
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