The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Bethesda dropped The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim earlier this month, and I figured it was only appropriate I make a return to tumblr with a post dedicated to it.
Anybody who knows me will agree when I say I’m certainly not one taken by fantasy settings (in any creative medium). The Lord of the Rings was never particularly interesting to me, I know nothing about Dungeons and Dragons, Warcraft, etc. It’s simply never really appealed to me. However, there is one exception, and that’s The Elder Scrolls.
I was 11 when I somehow picked up TESIII: Morrowind. Most of it was over my head. I didn’t really understand the world, and the plot consisted of a lot of reading (very little dialogue was spoken) beyond my level of comprehension. But I was taken by it. The world, full of hazardous locales such as dungeons, crypts, caves, grottos, and monsters terrified me, but my intrigue outweighed my fear; I played hours and hours of Morrowind. However, I played Morrowind naively: I never completed the main quest, nor any of the faction quest lines. In fact, I don’t really remember what I spent so many hours doing in that game (probably stealing expensive items) but I knew that I liked it. I liked that I could totally disregard what every other game would otherwise force me to do. I loved that I could have so much fun and waste so many hours doing nothing to progress a story.
Later, when TESIV: Oblivion came out (2006), I was similarly smitten. I was older, so I completed quest lines, understood the world around me much more, etc. Oblivion really kinda taught me what TES were all about and the lore of the world they took place in. Akin to it’s predecessor, a giant open landscape I was not only allowed, but encouraged, to explore on my own accord was present in all it’s next-gen beauty. The setting, the heartland of the continent, Cyrodiil, was less phantasmagoric than Morrowind, but still a total blast. It was very much standard medieval fantasy, but that was okay. It felt like a slightly safer world to frolic in.
Bethesda then went on to make Fallout 3, which I loved, as it was basically “The Elder Scrolls: Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland D.C.”. The best part of the game (open world) was still there. Plus they very much refined the leveling system; making it more approachable and involving less number crunching, but allowing for deep customization as well.
And now Skyrim is finally here. I may be a Bethesda fanboy, but critical reception confirms my opinion that it is perhaps the supreme experience available today in the video game medium. This game is fucking HUGE. Not only in physical size (it’s actually only slightly larger that Cyrodiil from TES IV, but it’s much more vertical and varied, making travel lengthier) but in level of detail, quests available, number of NPC’s, and things to do. In all the prior TES games, all there really was to do was quests, be they the main story, lengthy questlines for particular factions, or random favors for NPC’s, and exploring on your own. Previously, that seemed like enough, and at the time it indeed was, but Skyrim has brought it to a new level. Quests and exploring are still the main draw (and there are many many more quests to do and locations to explore), but I can also cook, split wood, fight dragons (who are awesome, but the way), make armor and weapons interactively, get married, climb mountains (literally), get in bar fights, and even punch a woolly mammoth in the face shortly before getting launched into the stratosphere via the club of the giant who was herding said mammoth. I have played almost 50 hours (largely thanks to the long weekend of its release and my desperate acts to clear my schedule for it), and I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what this game has to offer. I’ve discovered over 150 locations in the world, but have probably fully explored/entered less than 30 because each location is so vast, and still there are massive expanses of the map still entirely unexplored. I am level 30, of roughly 50 (80ish if I were to max out EVERY stat). Considering the difference between leveling from 30 to 31 and from 10-11 are dramatic, I’m probably a good distance from “half way” to level 50.
I want to avoid talking about specific gameplay elements as, while they are extremely well done and in many cases groundbreaking, what makes Skyrim great isn’t the leveling, combat, crafting, menu systems, etc, it’s the second to second experience of being in Skyrim. The landscape is breathtaking. Set in the mountainous region of Skyrim, I can’t express how gorgeous the game is. Even now, after 50 hours of play, I will regularly round a bend or summit a peak and must stop to appreciate the sight before me. Often times it’s a towering, mist covered mountain range in the distance proceeded by a snowy, windswept tundra glistening under a glowing aurora lit sky, or a cliff with waterfalls plummeting down into a searing gorge, and other times it’s something more simple, like a couple of Giants herding a group of Mammoths through the tundra passively. The best part is that I don’t see these and think “oh, that’s a nice backdrop”. These things exist in the world, and I can cross that tundra to brave that mountain range, I can pioneer into that rocky gorge, and I can walk up to that mammoth and punch it right in the mouth. All the of the Elder Scrolls games have included fantastic worlds to explore, but none have ever seemed so genuine and so full of beauty. The same goes for the various dungeons/caves/crypts/forts/etc to explore. Instead of 1 artist to design all the dungeons (the case for Oblivion), Bethesda dedicated an entire team of artists and level designers to ensure that each location was unique, beautiful, and fun to play through. They certainly succeeded. Simply put, Skyrim, even devoid of human life, breathes.
But Skyrim IS full of human life, well… humanish life. In previous Elder Scrolls games, The peaceful inhabitants, while essential, were probably the least immersive aspect of the games. I supposed the same could be said for Skyrim, but it’s still a vast improvement, and very rarely do character interactions seem awkward. Without having played the previous TES games, listing NPC characteristics would seem insubstantial, so just trust me when I say that just as Skyrim breathes, as do it’s citizens.
Combine all this with a quest AI that can actually generate infinite amounts of quests, dynamically altering them according to where you’ve been and what you’ve done previously (this means no fetch quests to already explored locations), 5 or 6 questlines telling interesting stories all 15+ hours long, countless random quests with similarly interesting (although shorter) tales, random DRAGON encounters in which, when defeated, you collect their soul to be used to unlock powerful shouts that send people flying through the air, call a storm to strike upon your enemies, breathe fire or frost, slow time, become invincible, disarm opponents, etc., and tons of other features I haven’t even begun to take part in and the result is something truly awe inspiring.
Video games have kinda a bad rap; they are typically very violent, nonsensical, lack any kind of artistic merit, or all 3. It is unfortunate that thousands of people will write off this experience as being “just a video game” when in reality Bethesda Softwork’s Skyrim is truly a work of art.
Being so far removed from my home state of Idaho, I don’t get to drink Idaho brews very often. Luckily I was on an IKEA expedition to Phoenix over the summer and noticed a GIANT beer and wine store, so I had to go in and snatch up some Laughing Dog. I got three 22oz’s: Devil Dog Imperial IPA, Alpha Dog Imperial IPA, and Dogzilla Black IPA. I was actually kinda hesitant to get the later because despite loving IPA’s, I really don’t enjoy darker beers (like porters or stouts); I appreciate and respect the style, but they usually just don’t jive with my palate. Anyway, I figured it would be awhile before I was in Phoenix again, so I went ahead and pulled Dogzilla off the shelf. I enjoyed the first two IPA’s relatively quickly, but for months Dogzilla has just been sitting in my beer-fridge. Since I thought it would be a heavy bodied, dark ale with an added hoppy bite, I kinda thought I wouldn’t like it, so I avoided it. Oh how wrong I was.
Dogzilla pours a deep mahogany at first with A LOT of head, but as it stacks up it does indeed get pretty black. However, when you first sip it, it doesn’t at all taste like a dark beer. In fact, it’s almost light bodied for an IPA, but full of hoppy, yet surprisingly smooth flavor. A lot of people hate IPA’s because they are just so sharply bitter, and I don’t think this has that. It certainly has high quality hop flavor, but none of the usual IPA palate crushing (that some love and some hate). That in itself makes this beer great (as hoppy without bitter is a challenge for many breweries), but it only gets better! After you’ve swallowed you get hit with that dark chocolate aftertaste so typical of porters and stouts. And that’s pretty wonderful, as that is the selling point of that style (and the only part of dark beers I like).
IPA up front, porter in the back, all delicious. I’m almost sad I avoided this beer, afraid of it, for so long, as it’s easily my favorite of the three Laughing Dog’s I’ve tasted. Anyway, if it’s at all possible wherever you are, pick Dogzilla Black IPA up.
Finally saw this movie tonight. It was very well done. Travis Rice and his crew are absolutely courageless (as to have courage you need fear), which means every frame of the movie make you say “holy shit…”. Great slopes, great riders, great editing, great soundtrack, and VERY great cinematography (although maybe TOO much slo-mo, if that exists…). Anyway, watch the trailer full screen and in HD; if you like the trailer then you’ll like the movie, cause it’s basically 1 hour and 10 minutes of the same thing.
Second post, I know, but I fell In love with Blind Pilot’s first album, “3 Rounds and a Sound” about a billion times over the past 2 or so years, so I figured a mini review of sorts was justified.
So, their newest album “We Are The Tide” came out today and it’s pretty great. It’s only $9 on iTunes, so you should pick it up.
3 Rounds and a Sound actually took at least a month for me to really sink my teeth into and fall in love with like I have, but after that point, it became such that no matter how good “We Are The Tide” is, it just simply couldn’t be as good. My initial impression is that I’ve indeed created a self fulfilling prophecy: it doesn’t just hit me like 3 Rounds does. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t really enjoy the album. And who knows, my history with Blind Pilot tells us that in 2 months I’ll be madly in love with this new album and everything I say here will be nullified.
Anyway, I don’t think We Are The Tide lives up to 3 Rounds partly because Blind Pilot is a full on band now with 6 members, whereas during the writing and recording of 3 Rounds they were just a duo, which was kinda the most charming part of the album: An acoustic guitar and a drum set with their particular sonic timber made the entire album feel very intimate and heartfelt. We Are the Tide on the other hand, certainly sounds like there are 4 more members. There are a few, dare I say, more “classic” songs here and there (this song, “Half Moon” is sorta one of them), but the album as a whole has a lot more going on. More instruments, more sound, more vocals, etc. makes the album feel like much more of a pop album. The songs are still skillfully done, and more importantly beautifully written and a pleasure to listen to, but I feel like a tiny bit of the emotion that was so apparent previously has left.
However, I understand that bands kinda have to and SHOULD evolve their sound. It’s unreasonable for me to expect 3 Rounds and a Sound: Part II, and even if that was released, I’d be complaining that it didn’t have the same sound of the original, because it WOULDN’T be the original. I also understand that my “complaints” are really quite personal; what disappoints me could overjoy somebody else. In fact, I have absolutely zero qualms with the actual technical aspect of the album, there are no “mistakes” or poor musical decisions made by the band that I can hear, and that ultimately means that We Are The Tide is an amazing album. So I’m actually entirely okay with this louder, more “busy” direction Blind Pilot has taken.
Pick it up, enjoy, and tell me what you think.
“No means no. No means no if she’s drunk or sober. No means no if she’s in the dorm room or on the street. No means no even if she said yes first and changed her mind. No means no—no matter what. I’m asking all of you, all of you to help get this message out.” —Joe Biden
The video is being released on the 17th anniversary of the passage of his Violence Against Women’s Act, which is up for reauthorization this year.
Important message worthy of reblogging. Every word Biden spoke his truth, but I think there is one extra piece of the puzzle that should be addressed as well:
Bad people exist. We can do everything we can to raise awareness and establish preventative measures, but bad shit will still happen sometimes. Knowing that, it is my opinion that there are many cases where victims (male or female) could’ve and probably should’ve acted on behalf of their own personal safety prior to the incident. Obviously, this entire post mainly pertains to women, and even more specifically, young women, i.e. the ones more likely to influenced by peer pressure, etc. and ignore their intuition. Horrific things happen, and aggressors are opportunistic, don’t give them any opportunity; be smart, don’t be alone when you know you shouldn’t be (e.g. party full of strangers), keep an eye on your drink, stay safe. Lastly, always remember that no “gut feeling” is silly, paranoid, or unimportant; intuition is a wonderful gift, listen to it above all else.
+100 internets to anybody who knows why this is indeed troll physics (as it seems perfectly legit at first…) No googling that shit.
EDIT: Apparently some people are confused by this photo, asking what “communication” means and claiming the concept described here is vague. So to clear it up for those people, “communication” really just means sending some kind of signal or information from one person to another. If you are too hung up on the word “communication”, the simplest example would be something like morse code, which you could transmit through EITHER the flashes of light between the two trolls OR through pushing/pulling the rod. The idea is that if you had such a rod, the pushing and pulling would be felt by the person on the other end instantly, thus sending information to them or “communicating” with them instantly. Using flashes of light, this communication would take 16.6 minutes. This would seemingly violate the tautology proposed by Special Relativity that no form of information can travel faster than light (be it matter, electromagnetic waves, whathaveyou). I’m gonna spoil it right now and tell you that the pushing and pulling the rod WOULD indeed take >16.6 minutes to be felt by the receiving party, but it takes some clever insight into how the world works to clearly see why.
There. Not vague anymore.
