"Which could push the economy into a downward spiral of deflationary expectations, but ought to simply cause production to be redirected into goods that are complementary to Skyrim."

Invest in Cheetos, Root Beer, and napkins.

I don't get it. What makes Skyrim so incredible and worthy of praise that's not in the other Elder Scrolls games?

So you're saying this will generate lots of skyrimjobs?

/ I used to reshape the pattern of demand in the economy ...

kronicfeld: inkblot: I don't get it. What makes Skyrim so incredible and worthy of praise that's not in the other Elder Scrolls games?

More simplistic gameplay and character creation/development, better graphics. It's prettier and dumbed down to be more appealing and accessible. That's not to say it's not fun, given that I've put 85 hours into it, but it's no Morrowind.

Weaver95: kronicfeld: inkblot: I don't get it. What makes Skyrim so incredible and worthy of praise that's not in the other Elder Scrolls games?

More simplistic gameplay and character creation/development, better graphics. It's prettier and dumbed down to be more appealing and accessible. That's not to say it's not fun, given that I've put 85 hours into it, but it's no Morrowind.

Morrowind was awesome...but I like Skyrim for different reasons.

Loved Morrowind. The only thing I hated was the journal system it came out with.

"But if a single $56 purchase can keep you fully entertained for a long time, that might result in dramastically reduced demand for goods and services."

dramastically.

dramastically.

dramastically.

croesius: dramastically.

It's a perfectly cromulent word.

That's just talk.

I played Skyrim for about half the time I played New Vegas getting a bit bored with it and putting it aside to go back to an all-explodey idiot character I was enjoying mucking about with. Skyrim is far prettier, no doubt, but the enemies and dungeons and side quests are kind of more-of-the-same after the first dozen hours, and nothing really changes. I got a house in every city, thaned everywhere, killed everything a gazillion times... and still that dickweed in Winterrun asked me if I got to the cloud district often. No new choices or avenues of exploration opened up as a result of doing all this stuff, besides the main storyline, so ultimately I didn't see any need for a second playthrough.

I got about 10 hours into a mage character who wore no armor (the opposite of my first guy) and joined the stormcloaks, and it went exactly the same as my first game pretty much, except with more reloading, since magic sucks and smithing your own armor breaks the game difficulty curve instantly.

Skyrim playthroughs: 1.3, and Lydia still gives me crap when I give her shiat to carry.
New Vegas playthroughs: 5 and counting, and I just discovered the "Turn Legion into radioactive zombies" ending.

Advantage: New Vegas (For now, I'll check back once the modders get to Skyrim)

deadsanta: Advantage: New Vegas (For now, I'll check back once the modders get to Skyrim)

That's what I'm waiting for. The game is awesome, but mods are really what makes it stand out.

inkblot: I don't get it. What makes Skyrim so incredible and worthy of praise that's not in the other Elder Scrolls games?

I think most of it is that its the latest shiny toy that everyone just HAS to have. It'll last until the next Modern Medal of Duty hits the streets.

kronicfeld: That's not to say it's not fun, given that I've put 85 hours into it, but it's no Morrowind.

True, but in all fairness, neither was Oblivion.

Also, FTA: "or surgery to correct vision problems associated with excessive Skyrim-playing."

That is such a load of shiat. If staring at a computer screen for hours at a time could actually damage your vision I would have been rendered legally blind years ago.

BigTuna: It's created hundreds of thousands of new jobs for knee surgeons.

The best variant of my favourite meme of the year I have seen all week. Congratulations, and a fine stolen sweetroll will be winging its way to you shortly.

kronicfeld: inkblot: I don't get it. What makes Skyrim so incredible and worthy of praise that's not in the other Elder Scrolls games?

More simplistic gameplay and character creation/development, better graphics. It's prettier and dumbed down to be more appealing and accessible. That's not to say it's not fun, given that I've put 85 hours into it, but it's no Morrowind.

I miss being able to wear more than, you know, one ring. Are my fingers physically challenged or something, to the degree I can not wear more than one. And all my armours are what, onesies? Yeah, Skyrim is incredible but I remember when Bethesda games were PC based and ported to consoles, not the other way around. And yes, they have some cracking set scenes.

Has this guy never heard of World of Warcraft or MMORPG's in general? Those are arguably more life-sucking than Skyrim. Where were articles like this when WoW was still gaining momentum, I mean the economy was still doing fi-

Oh wait.

deadsanta: I played Skyrim for about half the time I played New Vegas getting a bit bored with it and putting it aside to go back to an all-explodey idiot character I was enjoying mucking about with. Skyrim is far prettier, no doubt, but the enemies and dungeons and side quests are kind of more-of-the-same after the first dozen hours, and nothing really changes. I got a house in every city, thaned everywhere, killed everything a gazillion times... and still that dickweed in Winterrun asked me if I got to the cloud district often. No new choices or avenues of exploration opened up as a result of doing all this stuff, besides the main storyline, so ultimately I didn't see any need for a second playthrough.

I got about 10 hours into a mage character who wore no armor (the opposite of my first guy) and joined the stormcloaks, and it went exactly the same as my first game pretty much, except with more reloading, since magic sucks and smithing your own armor breaks the game difficulty curve instantly.

Skyrim playthroughs: 1.3, and Lydia still gives me crap when I give her shiat to carry.
New Vegas playthroughs: 5 and counting, and I just discovered the "Turn Legion into radioactive zombies" ending.

Advantage: New Vegas (For now, I'll check back once the modders get to Skyrim)

you have an intellectual disability, dont you? It's okay. You didn't choose to be born that way. I'm proud of you for having a good life regardless of your problems.

I was going to read this article, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

kronicfeld: inkblot: I don't get it. What makes Skyrim so incredible and worthy of praise that's not in the other Elder Scrolls games?

More simplistic gameplay and character creation/development, better graphics. It's prettier and dumbed down to be more appealing and accessible. That's not to say it's not fun, given that I've put 85 hours into it, but it's no Morrowind.

OTOH, there are people like me - I don't really give a damn for RPGs in general, had Oblivion installed for about 20 minutes before deleting it, never got into NWN or Diablo, or really anything with magic, dragons, or swords...but Skyrim has me hooked. I've played a few characters up to lvl 50+ now, and still keep coming back.

You call it "dumbed down", I call it "no typical RPG subscreen hell". To each his own I suppose.

deadsanta: I played Skyrim for about half the time I played New Vegas getting a bit bored with it and putting it aside to go back to an all-explodey idiot character I was enjoying mucking about with. Skyrim is far prettier, no doubt, but the enemies and dungeons and side quests are kind of more-of-the-same after the first dozen hours, and nothing really changes. I got a house in every city, thaned everywhere, killed everything a gazillion times... and still that dickweed in Winterrun asked me if I got to the cloud district often. No new choices or avenues of exploration opened up as a result of doing all this stuff, besides the main storyline, so ultimately I didn't see any need for a second playthrough.

I got about 10 hours into a mage character who wore no armor (the opposite of my first guy) and joined the stormcloaks, and it went exactly the same as my first game pretty much, except with more reloading, since magic sucks and smithing your own armor breaks the game difficulty curve instantly.

Skyrim playthroughs: 1.3, and Lydia still gives me crap when I give her shiat to carry.
New Vegas playthroughs: 5 and counting, and I just discovered the "Turn Legion into radioactive zombies" ending.

Advantage: New Vegas (For now, I'll check back once the modders get to Skyrim)

I got it just to see what Bethesda could do after toying with their game engine, and still prefer NV/F3. I just hope that Bethesda learns that you can get better voice talent, ideas and gameplay on the cheap just by asking fans.

They're most likely going to win the lawsuit concerning Fallout Online, though, so that may make things a little more interesting.

Skyrim stands out partly because it's NOT another action-heavy FPS. Slow-paced games whose appeal comes from exploration and character development nd customization have been in short supply this console generation, and Oblivion had some issues that made it a bit unfriendly to play.

Skyrim is to video games what LOST was to television. Every once in a while, the thing getting all the hype really does deserve it.

Also, if you're going to put a few dozen hours into some sort of visual entertainment medium, the project better be pretty.

/I'd play more Fallout, but I can only handle so much green

Ok, convince me, Farkers. What does Skyrim have that other, similar-ish titles don't? Everyone talks about it like it's the Second Coming or something, but is it really that good?

I don't have much "invested" in the Elder Scrolls. I played Oblivion for a few dozen hours. Never got anywhere close to "beating" it. Never played the previous entries. What I learned in those few dozen hours is that it's farking BORING!!! Walk walk walk, run run run, fight these one or two baddies that show up in the middle of nowhere, walk walk walk some more, do this quest, walk walk walk, run run run, couple more baddies, walk walk walk, go find some trinket for some random dude, walk walk walk, ad infinitum. Is Skyrim the same formula? Because, if so, I'll pass.

As far as "what kind of gamer is the cake is a pie," I like most shooters (Gears, Halo, CoD) but I'm not really that great at them, I just like blowing shiat up. Diablo II used to be my favorite game ever, but now I'm relatively certain that GTA IV is the best game in the history of existence. Waiting for both Diablo III and GTA V to see which wins this time around. The most recent game I bought was Batman: Arkham City. I like it, but I'm currently pissed at it because I'm stuck on a bunch of goons in the police station, on my way to fight Mr. Freeze, and my patience is wearing thin.

So, is Skyrim really that great? Do I spend my hard-earned money on it? Factor in two young kids and very little free time. Still worth it?

NetOwl: Skyrim stands out partly because it's NOT another action-heavy FPS. Slow-paced games whose appeal comes from exploration and character development nd customization have been in short supply this console generation, and Oblivion had some issues that made it a bit unfriendly to play.

Skyrim is to video games what LOST was to television. Every once in a while, the thing getting all the hype really does deserve it.

Also, if you're going to put a few dozen hours into some sort of visual entertainment medium, the project better be pretty.

/I'd play more Fallout, but I can only handle so much green

Fellout mod, but night becomes pretty dark, and it's not good at honoring lunar cycles.

the cake is a pie: Ok, convince me, Farkers. What does Skyrim have that other, similar-ish titles don't? Everyone talks about it like it's the Second Coming or something, but is it really that good?

It's hard to go into why it's really good without going into great detail about the game, honestly. Based on your like of D2 and GTA(though I never got into GTA myself), I think you would probably get a good 100+ hours out of it. Although, if you aren't interested in the lore or what NPCs have to say, that number might be a bit lower.

HelloMyNameIs: Fellout mod, but night becomes pretty dark, and it's not good at honoring lunar cycles.

There's a mod for Fellout (yes, a mod for a mod) that makes it less dark at night. That was for FO3, not sure if FNV had one. The original Fellout almost killed my eyes - I was squinting hard at my screen and still seeing nothing. Then, out of nowhere, a Deathclaw to the knee.

Also, there are those awesome streetlight mods that have a bad habit of killing framerates like crazy.

inkblot: I don't get it. What makes Skyrim so incredible and worthy of praise that's not in the other Elder Scrolls games?

Compared to Morrowind: Better combat, and nothing else.
Compared to Oblivion: Better graphics (less pop-in, greatly improved character models, especially faces), greater engine stability, better leveling system out of the box, and, (here's the clincher) much better setting in terms of culture, coherent art style, local lore.

Old enough to know better: I think most of it is that its the latest shiny toy that everyone just HAS to have. It'll last until the next Modern Medal of Duty hits the streets.

No, it's that Bethesda has always had a winning base product (open world engine) but has consistently failed to nail the presentation just right. They've been using essentially the same formula for a decade over three games and have had time to get it just right. This is the first time they've crossed the threshold that divides 'niche RPG' from 'mainstream success'.

the cake is a pie: Ok, convince me, Farkers. What does Skyrim have that other, similar-ish titles don't? Everyone talks about it like it's the Second Coming or something, but is it really that good?

I don't have much "invested" in the Elder Scrolls. I played Oblivion for a few dozen hours. Never got anywhere close to "beating" it. Never played the previous entries. What I learned in those few dozen hours is that it's farking BORING!!! Walk walk walk, run run run, fight these one or two baddies that show up in the middle of nowhere, walk walk walk some more, do this quest, walk walk walk, run run run, couple more baddies, walk walk walk, go find some trinket for some random dude, walk walk walk, ad infinitum. Is Skyrim the same formula? Because, if so, I'll pass.

As far as "what kind of gamer is the cake is a pie," I like most shooters (Gears, Halo, CoD) but I'm not really that great at them, I just like blowing shiat up. Diablo II used to be my favorite game ever, but now I'm relatively certain that GTA IV is the best game in the history of existence. Waiting for both Diablo III and GTA V to see which wins this time around. The most recent game I bought was Batman: Arkham City. I like it, but I'm currently pissed at it because I'm stuck on a bunch of goons in the police station, on my way to fight Mr. Freeze, and my patience is wearing thin.

So, is Skyrim really that great? Do I spend my hard-earned money on it? Factor in two young kids and very little free time. Still worth it?

If you really still can't make up your mind based on the pitiful dearth of info on the webs: You might enjoy it in short sessions but it's the kind of game that if you like it you could be up all night. Watch a few gameplay vids and see. The interface on PC is convoluted and unintuitive but you can use the console to cheat away the annoyances.

/left click for right hand, right click for left hand

Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for an arrow in the knee.

Fus Ro Jobcreators?

I played Skyrim continuously up until the 13th when I started playing SW:TOR's early access.

shArkh:

I miss being able to wear more than, you know, one ring. Are my fingers physically challenged or something, to the degree I can not wear more than one. And all my armours are what, onesies? Yeah, Skyrim is incredible but I remember when Bethesda games were PC based and ported to consoles, not the other way around. And yes, they have some cracking set scenes.

The game is already easy enough as it is, do you really need to wear ten farking rings? It's clear they limited it to one at a time to balance gameplay. You know that. What a pointless thing to biatch about.

inkblot: I don't get it. What makes Skyrim so incredible and worthy of praise that's not in the other Elder Scrolls games?

Nothing at all. Just your typically viral "guerrilla" marketing campaign. Why design a game that actually functions on release or is genuinely engaging when you can just fill it full of innumerable side-quests and pay some shmuck to invent memes for it?

HelloMyNameIs: NetOwl:
/I'd play more Fallout, but I can only handle so much green

Fellout mod, but night becomes pretty dark, and it's not good at honoring lunar cycles.

Even if you don't want night getting pretty dark, all you really have to do is fire up GECK, load the imagespace modifiers and turn off the green overlay.

Seth'n'Spectrum: HelloMyNameIs: Fellout mod, but night becomes pretty dark, and it's not good at honoring lunar cycles.

There's a mod for Fellout (yes, a mod for a mod) that makes it less dark at night. That was for FO3, not sure if FNV had one.

There is, after a fashion. It's called "Nevada Skies" and it combines Fellout with scripted weather effects. The latest version has an optional brightness adjuster.

smellmybutt: Has this guy never heard of World of Warcraft or MMORPG's in general? Those are arguably more life-sucking than Skyrim. Where were articles like this when WoW was still gaining momentum, I mean the economy was still doing fi-

Oh wait.

I think the point is, Skyrim is a one-time payment that displaces weeks of other sources of entertainment, thus taking money out of the economy. With WOW, at least, you pay a monthly fee, and you can buy the expansions, so you're still contributing to the economy on a regular basis.

After playing Skyrim for the 100th hour, when I was buying liquor I decided to try meade for the first time! So that was an influence on my purchasing.

Skyrims ok. I spent 50 hours in it and probably won't touch it again, unlike fo3 and NV. The leveling and gear grind caps out way early, and the dungeons are all copy paste of each other. Story hasn't ever really struck me, with any of the quests.

kroonermanblack: Skyrims ok. I spent 50 hours in it and probably won't touch it again, unlike fo3 and NV. The leveling and gear grind caps out way early, and the dungeons are all copy paste of each other. Story hasn't ever really struck me, with any of the quests.

I doubt you played even 5 hours if you think the dungeons are all copies.

With all the Morrowind fellating, I think people have a far rosy memory of what that game really was. I couldn't play more than a few hours because it was just so much "stuff". I'm sure flight and other now missing spells were fun, but the core of the game just overwhelmed me at the time. After putting over 200 hours into Oblivion and 50 or more into Skyrim I'd like to go back and try it, but at the time it was too much. More doesn't mean better. Skyrim isn't dumbed down so much as it is a cleaner, more efficient experience in a far more organic world.

shinysign:
"Which could push the economy into a downward spiral of deflationary expectations, but ought to simply cause production to be redirected into goods that are complementary to Skyrim."

Invest in Cheetos, Root Beer, and napkins.

... and socks?

I enjoyed "Morrowind"... until I realized that I had no intention of following the main story arc or finishing the game in any way, and just ended up roaming around like some sort of armed tourist/rare book collector. Leveling up in alchemy would have been neat too, but the amount of grinding required to do anything useful or interesting with it was unreal.

I can honestly say that skyrim has cut down on my bar and coffee shop time, but that was also part of my intentions in buying it so I could save up some money for the holidays and having something more to do at home than sit around twiddling my thumbs.