Skyrim: Newcomer Dragonborn
I’ve actually dabbled with Elder Scrolls games for a very long time, starting when I bought my first PC. Back then, Daggerfall was the hot RPG, and I do remember playing it for a while. I kicked around in Oblivion when it first came out, but never played for a super long time.
Skyrim followed in suit. I remember picking it up on a fluke while it was still fairly new because I saw it mis-priced at Walmart for $39 instead of $59. I feigned ignorance at the checkout and they had to give it to me for the price it was listed on the shelf. The worker then went and changed it to the right price immediately. 🙂
This copy of Skyrim wasn’t attached to Steam back then. I didn’t even have a Steam account. It wasn’t until years later that I did connect this game to Steam, and then slowly accumulated all the DLC during Steam sales because I wanted to play it “some day.”
I did try Skyrim for a short time back then. I vaguely recall defeating my first dragon and being called Dragonborn. For some reason, I put the game down after that and got distracted, so I never came back to it.
Skyrim Special Edition
Fast forward to last month when I discovered that because I owned Skyrim and all the DLC on Steam, I was getting the special edition version free. I took that as a sign that the time had come to play the game again.
I’m so happy that I am.
I don’t know what’s changed over the years – maybe I’m just that more comfortable with first person view thanks to games like 7D2D. Maybe things are clicking as an RPG for me, even though I easily get lost in the huge scope of lore that fills every inch of this world.
Though I played this all before, and very hazily recall the beginning of Skyrim, this time I’m coming away feeling very impressed. Sure, there’s some quirks and strange things, but overall, I find myself appreciating the experience so much more deeply than I did years ago.
I don’t know if that’s because the game play feels more smooth to me? I don’t know if the expansions and patches have improved the game in any way? I’m playing totally vanilla and I’m really finding myself immersed and interested in exploration.
Even without any mods, I’m finding the game very beautiful. It also plays and responds well, with only the occasional issue here or there. When it first released, the voice and sound was a little on the low side, forcing me to have to turn the game way up to hear things, but the latest patch seems to have fixed that issue for me.
Character Creation and Development
I don’t remember what I rolled the first time I played Skyrim, and I’ve forgotten to take a screen of my newest character. But I decided to go with a female Breton.
Khajit is always tempting, but it seems to lean more towards a thief character, which is usually not my cup of tea, especially on the first play through. Sorry to anyone who really like the elves, but I honestly can’t stand how elves look in Skyrim and in ESO. They are just so… unappealing.
I read Breton was a good choice due to the 25% resistance to magic. While I’m no min-maxer in a game like this, it sounded like sage advice, and I could make a fairly attractive female character, so I rolled an Aywren in Skyrim.
I started out with one-handed weapon and shield as it seemed intuitive to do, but then, I found myself switching it up again to try out a more mage-type class. I have no idea what I’m doing, or if it’s even viable. I tend to play melee for the most part, so this is completely out of my element.
Well, I did the intro. Escaped with my head in tact, and made my way to Whiterun.
There, I’m slowly exploring the town, meeting people, and learning my way around it. I did already buy a horse, which was pretty cool. But maybe I should have held on to my gold because it seems my adventures have earned me favor enough with the Jarl to be able to purchase a house there. Guess that’s something I need to work towards.
Anyhow, so I brought a message to the Jarl, then went on a dragon hunt with his troops. There, we fought and downed my first dragon, I absorbed the dragon’s essence and it’s become known that I’m Dragonborn. I also get a nifty shout skill. Cool!
I’m a little over 6 hours into the game, casually playing. This was about the point where I put the game down the first time, so I’m looking forward to seeing some story and quests I’ve never played before (though it all pretty much feels new to me).
I also somewhat accidentally joined the Companions. I say accidentally because I wasn’t sure I wanted to join them, but I didn’t read the dialogue option well enough, and ended up setting off the quest. So, I followed through with it and I’m now proving my worth to them.
Even they don’t totally seem convinced about me.
After bringing news back of the dragon’s defeat, I was awarded with the rank Thane in Whiterun.
Things were happening quite quickly! I went from almost being beheaded to Thane of Whiterun in the matter of days. Go figure.
I guess part of this is because I was concentrating on the main storyline moreso than all the side quests that are piling up. I need to start tackling those next.
The one perk is being assigned Lydia as a follower. I really like the look of her, and I’m happy to have a warrior around for all my magey fail-attempts.
Anyhow, I’m going to clean up some of these quests around Whiterun, then see what the Greybeards want with me. This promises to be a good story.
Anyone else trying out the new Skyrim?