Skyrim Stories

yodelayheehoo!

I got Skyrim a while back, just before they released the legendary edition. When it first came out, I was in college and all the reviews I had seen of it said it was an amazing game but one that would suck all your time. I made the wise move of not buying it for fear my grades would suffer. Now, I had played some of oblivion so while skyrim doesn't have the BEST gameplay, its solid enough. But for me the major reason I am so enamored of the game is the stories. Its been said by many that this game is enormous: it is close to a living breathing world that functions without the player. By all accounts, Bethesda did not take the easy way out; each dungeon is different, almost all the people in the world have a story behind them and the history of the land is chronicled in books scattered around the world. While I play this game, even though the quests are scripted, I like to imagine the character truly interacting with this world as a person. I create a whole little story that fits right into this specially crafted world. Let me share my favorites.

Damn Tigers

My most progressed character is a wood elf thief. After getting through the initial tutorial quests, I immediately ditched the main story line in favor of joining the thieves guild. Once a member, I rose in the ranks, became embroiled in stopping a plot to rob the thieves guild of all they had, returned a magical key to the goddess of thieves (Nocturnal) and became head of the guild. As the new head of the guild I work hard to spread the thieves guild influence all over Skyrim, with some adventuring on side. It was on one of these excursions that I encountered an orc settlement. I was granted entrance and married an orc to help her escape a suffocating arranged marriage. Now I continue working towards becoming the crime lord of Skyrim while going dungeon crawling with my wife. 

What I like about this character is how in control of her own destiny she is. With the main dragon born quest, there is a real feeling of being yanked along by destiny. As a thief though, I direct my destiny. I go on missions to gain money and further the strength of the guild. I like the feeling of expanding influence in the game without being beholden to anyone. Its also nice to go spelunking with someone you have an actual attachment to. 

My Orc is not above helping someone with their job. 

My next character is a straight up fighter tank. This orc duel wields war axes and pounds his enemies into submission ( I creatively named him Brolaf). I immediately joined the Companions mercenary group and worked my way into their inner circle. Now I am a werewolf orc who runs the companions himself. I have yet to decide where to go from there with his story. I tried joining the storm cloaks but wasn't to thrilled with having to conquer Whiterun. It was an amazing looking battle, but it just made me uncomfortable to conquer a city I was so fond of. I kicked that save back a bit and am next going to experiment with joining the imperial legion. 

I do like the mental image of this orc's character I have. He is a very simple person who is loyal and good. But his simplicity works against him. He often gets wrapped up in story lines he lacks the subtly to handle. He does not deal well with traps or tricky mages. He refuses to use a bow, making all the dragon battles a bit of a chore. I'm interested to see how far I can take a character with this play style. 

That's my ice golem in the back. 

My last character is a sword mage. This high elf has a higher level than my orc, but is far behind in terms of character and story. I haven't really settled on a personality for her yet and have yet to find a quest line that I like for her. I of course started off in the Mage's College, but found that the quest line quickly became full of destiny and crap and got bored with it. I was toying with the dragonborn story for a bit, but its again all full of destiny so I'll keep looking. For now, I'll just wander around until I can find a story line that fits this curious character.

I do however, LOVE the fighting style this character has. The idea of a sword wielding mage really appeals to me. This mage summons swords and attronachs for offense and uses illusion with a smattering of alteration for defense. This usually results in fighting enemies with better armor and weapons, turning each fight into a puzzle of how to best use my spells to survive. My favorite fight was when, after 7 tries, I figured out I could overcharge a fury spell to make a vampire thrall attack its vampire lord. Made the fight SOOOOO much easier. 

And that is what makes Skyrim great: it lets you write your own stories. Oh sure, there are only so many story lines available (rather a lot actually), but I decide which ones I go with and in what combinations, making it very much my story. A lot of RPGs force you into ONE precise, predetermined role. This isn't always bad, as sometimes the writers came up with a really good story. But there is a lot more ownership in letting the player come up with their own stories and experience the game as they choose. The nostalgia critic recently released a video where he talked about whether video games are high art. I can honestly say that I find Skyrim to be one of the foremost examples of video game art.