...Why Skyrim?

skyrim

To me, Skyrim is the coziest uncozy cozy game

After traveling with Lydia for 70 hours we came across cave number 997 and she said "Oooh, I wonder what's in THAT cave..." and that is why skyrim.

We all have the same internal Skyrim binge clock it seems.

A note on the Sven/Faendal quest, if you marry her during the quest, both Faendal and Sven get mad at you, but if I'm not mistaken, Faendal says "better you than sven" or something like that

Always why skyrim never how is skyrim :[

I literally just reinstalled it yesterday, perfect timing

I feel like the importance of Jeremy Soule’s soundtrack and the “every frame a painting” atmosphere of the game cannot be understated here. It is arguably the best video game OST of all time, and I keep coming back to hear it while seeing the wonderful views the game has to offer. More than a decade later, and the main theme still makes me want to boot up the game every time I hear it

For me, Skyrim (and fallout) have a special place in my collection because they’re kinda a mix of RPG and Immersive Sim. How many RPGs let you take everything from a dead enemy? Clothes, weapon, jewellery, even the piece of bread that they were slowly picking away at since that morning? Then on top of that, you get to take all the plates, forks and spoons they were using to eat. The bucket they were using for… well you know. Most RPGs have these things as set dressing that may not even have physics, but in Skyrim they’re lootable items. They may not be worth looting but the fact you can take them with you makes the game feel much more immersive. Aside from that, it’s just fun to explore these worlds, kill the things inhabiting them and loot whatever you want from its locations.

“You see that mountain? You can climb it.” 😴😴😴 “You see that fork? You can pick it up.” 🤩🤩🤩 But yeah real talk, this is the aspect of Skyrim (alongside the overall vibes and exploration) that really makes Skyrim and Bethesda’s overall approach to open world games still stand out to me in a big way even when the roleplaying and combat elements fall far behind its competitors.

Two of the reasons i love skyrim is: 1. The fact that while youre the dragonborn, youre still you. In the witcher, youre geralt. In Mass Effect, youre shepard. In Dishonored, youre corvo or emily. No other game really gets close to allowing player freedom as i feel skyrim does. Its not me playing some character, its me in the game. 2. The blandness effect. Its the same kind of thing minecraft has going for it. The game is a nice bed for mods to be built upon, because a lot of people think "theres a spot for me to improve this here", which improves its longevity.

and don't forget about the gaming grandma that still plays Skyrim and uploads videos of her telling stories through different characters she creates in the game

to me the success of skyrim also comes from the ability to ignore vast parts of the game and still feel like you are doing what you are supposed to do, which makes it easy to appeal to a lot of demographics. i was interested in the world so i took a two handed weapon and clumsily smashed my way to the cities and dialogues, my friend took a bow and went hunting after leaving helgen and didnt enter a city for the next 10 ish hours.

Skyrim is the perfect realization of a theme park in a video game. If you have ever gone to six flags or disney world or anything like that and loved it, you'd like skyrim. It's built on the same principles, it's fun in the same ways. Towns are a pastiche facade. Dungeons are rides on a single track and drop you off at the entrance. They don't sound like good things on paper, but you experience it and understand. There's a reason people love theme parks.

For me what made me fall in love with Skyrim was the freedom, the dark fantasy and the world. What made me come back every few years and even buy multiple versions of the game (which I have never done with other games) is the Mods. Modding the game and thus creating my own version of it that changes the game in a way that specifically caters to my wants, needs and likes is what makes it truly amazing. And when it comes to mods, there is no game like it. I've played countless of games since then many of which are objectively or at least subjectively better. But none of them have me come back as often as skyrim.

I've come back to Skyrim a few times, and with mods it's easy to make the game exactly how you want it. It was actually overwhelming at first, but there's plenty of Skyrim modding guides that make the process easy, and once you're done with the initial setup, it can feel as easy as getting mods for Left 4 Dead from the steam workshop.

I had a friend that had over 100 hours in skyrim. She would rarely leave whiterun, had sneak and pickpocketing leveled to like 80 or 90, and basically just enjoyed being the town pickpocket thief, and would occasionally kill characters that made her mad. On the occasion she left town, she'd try to find an enemy to knock off a cliff, or just mess around with the open world. She was the one that introduced me to the game, and was completely blown away when I started showing her the daedric quests, potions, enchanting etc, but never really enjoyed playing that content herself. That's what makes the game great imo, you can play it ANY way, when so many games back then gave you little freedom to make your own story.

Why not Skyrim?

Darn Raz, how'd you know that I just fell back into a Skyrim abyss this month after not touching the game for years? The best explanation I've got for "why Skyrim" is that I picked it up as my first "proper" game, when I had no gaming experience or muscle memory, and then again this month after a decade of gaming being a main hobby of mine and... It got me both times. It's both profoundly accessible and a testament to creating a truly open world. The moment you're out of Helgen, you're free to go where you want (though I'd argue that sentiment is really true once you've done bleak falls barrow and killed your first dragon). There is a lot of it that can be rote, but it has these intense flashes of brilliance that capture your imagination like truly nothing else. More than maybe any other game I've played, Skyrim manages to evoke that same feeling of being a kid on summer holiday - a mix of tedium, but also of having all the time in the world, and a couple of moments so perfect they lodge behind your ribcage and stay with you a long time.

Obligatory Morrowind mention, which was my gateway drug into the Elder Scrolls and the modding scene