I Used to Be an Adventurer Like You, and Then I Took an Arrow to the Knee

Aw let me guess, someone stole your sweet roll?

“If anyone sneaks up on us, J’zargo will smell them coming. Or he might not. We’ll see,” says your Khajiit follower, J’Zargo, after recruiting him from the College of Winterhold, yes even in a video game, you have the option to attend college…

7 years ago, Bethesda released one of their best games of all time, in my personal opinion. A game where people spent hundreds of hours exploring, and doing quests, which didn’t even include the main quest of the game.

That game was the Elder Scrolls V:Skyrim.

On this past Sunday, the 11th of November, it was the games 7th birthday. The game originally came out for Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2011. In 2016 it was remastered for PS4 and Xbox One, and included was all the DLC that you had to originally buy separately. In 2017, it came out on the Nintendo Switch. Soon, it will be available everywhere else and will take over the world, or well, that’s what we think Todd Howard wants…

The game itself is set 200 years after the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The game takes place in Skyrim, which is part of the Empire, on the continent known as Tamriel. You are thrust into the game, in the midst of a civil war between the Stormcloaks and the Imperials. When the game starts, you are being transported to an execution, overseen by the leader of the Imperials. In the cart with you is Ulfric Stormcloak, the leader of the Stormcloaks. After arriving, you see some others get beheaded, and then you are lead to the chopping block where it’s your turn. However, the execution is interrupted when the dragon, known as Alduin, interrupts the process by destroying the town. This enables you to escape to the city of Whiterun, where you are requested to help aid in fighting the dragon threat. You accept, and after fighting the dragon, are now the Thane of the city, which grants you special permission. After completing this part of the main quest, the character is free to do whatever he/she wants. This can consist of doing only side quests, the main quest, or a combination of both. Any of these options though, have you explore around Skyrim, and finding different locations and creatures to fight. If you choose to continue the main quest, you eventually meet with a legion of dragon hunters, known as the Blades. With the Blades, you travel to an ancient temple to learn how to summon the dragon Alduin. You meet with Paarthurnax, who is the leader of the ancient order of the Greybeards. The Greybeard are monks at the top of the highest mountain in Skyrim, who teach you how to use your voice to shout and use it to your advantage. After retrieving the Elder Scroll, showing you the shout you must learn to combat Alduin, you travel to Sovngarde. Sovngarde is the Nord ( a race within Skyrim), afterlife. After traveling here, you are aided by dead Nords, who also want Alduin dead. With their help and your shouts, you are able to defeat Alduin once and for all.

Before any of that, however, you are probably in the middle of another quest. Such as one from the Dark Brotherhood, the Thieves Guild, the civil war between the Empire and the Stormcloaks (go Imperials!), and the Companions where you have the option to become a werewolf (lycanthropy for life!) or any of the many other factions and random side quests you may encounter during this game. For me personally, I am in the middle of all of these side quests, except the civil war one, as I finished that, and the Companions questline, where I decided to stay a werewolf, because why not. I am almost done with the Thieves Guild and haven’t finished solely because the skeleton key is awesome because its a lockpick that never breaks. I also have almost 100 hours in the game, and I am not even close to being done with the main quest line, but I digress.

Skyrim, like other Bethesda games, like the Fallout series, enables you to play the game how you want to play it. You start with creating a character, who you play throughout the story. You play the game, by fighting enemies, collecting loot, and leveling up. In Skyrim, the combinations are endless. You could be a Nord who mainly uses magic or a Nord who mainly uses heavy weapons. You could be a Dark elf who uses a combo of weapons and magic or a Khjajiit who is a rogue. The possibilities could be whatever you want to play as. You could also play the game and never finish the main questline. Those are my favorite games personally.

So no matter how you play the game, the world is yours. And if you haven’t played the game, you should really go pick it up for whatever console you may have, and start playing the game you won’t ever stop playing because it’s that fun and entertaining. As you level up, the more perks you acquire, which enables you to do crazier things.

This game is one of my faves, and one I’ll be playing for a long time to come. Well, at least until Elder Scrolls VI comes out…which won’t be until 2024 (at least that’s what I heard)…which is cruel for people waiting. Bethesda focused too much on Fallout 76, instead of Elder Scrolls, which is what everyone truly wanted…sorry, I have some strong opinions about that.

If you haven’t played Skyrim, go pick it up today, or tomorrow, and fall in love with the characters (Brynjolf!), and the setting of the game itself. Spend hundreds of hours in the game as well, doing whatever you can imagine, and enjoy listening to the beautiful music of the game as well. I know video games are expensive, so if you don’t have the means to get the game anytime soon, a great person to watch play the game is this adorable old lady on YouTube named Shirley Curry, who plays her own stories in the game, with many different characters. She narrates and is so pure. So if you’re interested in the game, go watch her play it too. I guarantee it’ll bring a smile to your face!

“I’d be a lot warmer and a lot happier with a belly full of mead” me too, random Argonian in a pub.

Khajiits are a race of cats, who sell things a lot…

Rating: 10/10

This game is perfect. Even with the glitches, because then it just adds character, and experiences others may not have.

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Twitter: @ohthatgirlanna

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