Video Games - The Big Ones

Five hours into Skyrim and it is definitely The Big One. It should keep me going all next year with replays, dlc, and mods.

the atmosphere feels a lot closer to Morrowind than Oblivion, but the overall effect - it exudes quality and a sense of depth that's been missing in games lately, perhaps owing to the history of the afore-mentioned, but I'm preparing for immersion all over again.

And I've already killed my first dragon, which was how I kept wanting Dragon Age to be in the big battles - first person that is. Haven't had any luck with the mammoths and giants yet though; they're ridiculously difficult and when they team up even worse. Need to level up my magic spells. All in good time...

There are a couple of niggles, but relatively minor, and having waited five years I don't want to let myself think that there's anything wrong with it.

The Q key is now a quick use button, which is a great idea for when the fights start raging (C is now the autowalk/run).


Time to get back there!

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

The thing is, I've never played any other Elder Scrolls games so I'm not as excited for this one since I'm not a fan yet (not like Fable/FF/DA). I'll buy it and see how it goes.

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I've actually never played an Elder Scrolls game, either. Skyrim just looks great, and Fallout 3 was amazing.

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Originally Posted by MystyrMystyry

Five hours into Skyrim and it is definitely The Big One. It should keep me going all next year with replays, dlc, and mods.

the atmosphere feels a lot closer to Morrowind than Oblivion, but the overall effect - it exudes quality and a sense of depth that's been missing in games lately, perhaps owing to the history of the afore-mentioned, but I'm preparing for immersion all over again.

And I've already killed my first dragon, which was how I kept wanting Dragon Age to be in the big battles - first person that is. Haven't had any luck with the mammoths and giants yet though; they're ridiculously difficult and when they team up even worse. Need to level up my magic spells. All in good time...

There are a couple of niggles, but relatively minor, and having waited five years I don't want to let myself think that there's anything wrong with it.

The Q key is now a quick use button, which is a great idea for when the fights start raging (C is now the autowalk/run).


Time to get back there!

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Glad to hear positive feedback.

I heard, for console version, the main complaint is long load time and glitches. I can live with the load times if the game is good enough (which I'm sure it will be), and I can live with glitches as long as they're not horrible. Bethesda does have a habit of releasing glitchy games, though, but they usually get patched out pretty quick.

Getting it this afternoon. So stoked.

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

The thing is, I've never played any other Elder Scrolls games so I'm not as excited for this one since I'm not a fan yet (not like Fable/FF/DA). I'll buy it and see how it goes.

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Even as older games, they're well worth playing - I still go back to both Morrowind and Oblivion for enjoyment. And you can pick up the complete Morrowind (both expansions and extra DLC) for less than a tenner now.

Since games are the wave of the future, hopefully someone will eventually create a game that renders the mythology correctly rather than being an abomination of the source material. A beautiful and accurate (and gory) rendering of mythology could be done that would inspire an interest for further study.

You're going to love this Loki. Up in the mountains there's Borealis at night - done particularly realisticly) - and you can catch salmon in the river, fight a few Grendels with weapons and spells of your choice, and gather a small army to assist in bigger battles. The new caves and dungeons are great fun, and the general detail is amazing - it's just like being a mythological Viking (if you choose).

The new histories, literature and poetry fill in the world, while the old ones are still there for re-reading, and it all adds to the magic. Many times already I've been taken aback with the visuals and new scenery, the look and behavior of the monsters, completely forgetting it's a game.

At times it's breathtaking. I want to tell you everything I've discovered so far, but don't want to spoil it for you. There are things in it that just make you go @%#$! Did that just happen! I can't believe that just happened! I can't believe it's still happening!


Mutatis - load times on PC are invisible :)

Vonny - It has been tried, but usually it doesn't work well because the exposition of the plot doesn't translate, for the same reason it doesn't work in film either, no matter how expensive the effects and stunts - though maybe an actual scholar could submit a decent script.

300 was a start actually because it wasn't 'real' like The Iliad tried to be (which felt small and boring as a result). There was something about the chunky animations in Jason and the Argonauts that looked otherworldly when I was young.

I don't think digital animation (at least as it's been used so far) is the answer. A number of things have to come together really, like a good, visionary director who knows how to create believable tension and striking cinematic sequences - ah but perhaps that's another thread for another day...

Played about 6 or 7 hours (rough estimate) and can honestly say this is one of the best games I've played in a long, long time. I play on the PS3, and the load times aren't that bad.

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Originally Posted by MystyrMystyry

You're going to love this Loki. Up in the mountains there's Borealis at night - done particularly realisticly) - and you can catch salmon in the river, fight a few Grendels with weapons and spells of your choice, and gather a small army to assist in bigger battles. The new caves and dungeons are great fun, and the general detail is amazing - it's just like being a mythological Viking (if you choose).

The new histories, literature and poetry fill in the world, while the old ones are still there for re-reading, and it all adds to the magic. Many times already I've been taken aback with the visuals and new scenery, the look and behavior of the monsters, completely forgetting it's a game.

At times it's breathtaking. I want to tell you everything I've discovered so far, but don't want to spoil it for you. There are things in it that just make you go @%#$! Did that just happen! I can't believe that just happened! I can't believe it's still happening!

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I'm really envious! I've been looking at the minimum specs required to run it though, and my PC falls laughably short. I'll do some upgrading, but my techno-savy friend who I rely on for anything computerised is currently in New Zealand - perhaps when he's home for Christmas I might be able to persuade him to work some magic on my clunky old thing...

It does look awesome though, and the reviews have all been positive.

Crysis spoilt me for immediacy on reload. Now anything that takes longer than two seconds can really destroy the mood. Bulletstorm which is one of the best FPS's of all time can take longer than fifteen seconds to load, which, added to putting checkpoint saves just before having to do something tedious and/or a sit through a boring cutscene all over again before you finally get to the action was a bad design choice.

From quicksave to quickload is less than a second, so you feel you're still where you were without a gap - love it! This is especially good owing to the amount of dumb demises I've suffered from misjudging the jump distance by an inch. I suspect that was a design consideration being up there in the rocky icy mountains and everything. I got pushed off a cliff by a grizzly which felt particularly nasty, like it had cheated :(

The kid's playing Skyrim and enjoying it, despite the bugs, but I'll wait for at least one more patch, maybe two. At least it doesn't hit the low standards of Fallout: New Vegas, which should never have been released in that condition. Serves them right that it's selling for only $12.99 barely more than a year later.

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Originally Posted by Calidore

The kid's playing Skyrim and enjoying it, despite the bugs, but I'll wait for at least one more patch, maybe two. At least it doesn't hit the low standards of Fallout: New Vegas, which should never have been released in that condition. Serves them right that it's selling for only $12.99 barely more than a year later.

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My son wants Skyrim but right now both sons are busy with Modern Warfare 3. My youngest is also a huge fan of Fallout and he seemed to be pleased with New Vegas but he is quite easy to please.

Me, I'm old school. I'm anxiously awaiting the new Zelda game for the Wii. :D

I couldn't get into New Vegas at all. It was just a glorified DLC package.

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Originally Posted by Idril

Me, I'm old school. I'm anxiously awaiting the new Zelda game for the Wii. :D

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Skyward Sword is going to be :banana: :banana:

The review I saw gave it a perfect 10, same as Ocarina. I must say my expectations aren't nearly that high but any Zelda game results in a minor amount of drooling on my behalf.

I haven't played a Zelda game that wasn't brilliant.

I wish Nintendo would man-up and make an actual, powerful system so Zelda could get the epic game it deserves. The Wii is so weak, it can't even begin to do what the 360 and PS3 can.

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Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi

I wish Nintendo would man-up and make an actual, powerful system so Zelda could get the epic game it deserves. The Wii is so weak, it can't even begin to do what the 360 and PS3 can.

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I think the main issue is having to use the Wii remote. It's not like there's anything wrong with a controller.