Perhaps this a confession.

I like this game more and more over time.

I do use mods. Make gold harder to come by, perks are more precious, racial stats are more divergent.

But, I do not change every aspect of the game like I did for Oblivion. I like the Skyrim leveling system, just prefer to tweak it. I like the world and monster scaling system, just prefer to tweak it a little. Rather than overhaul, as in Oblivion.

I enjoy the differences in the different landscapes. I enjoy the challenge of fighting dragons. Perhaps because of my tweaks, but I do have manage my resources somewhat to survive.

I iike many of the dungeons. i like the differences between sneaking archery and sword/shield. I haven't played much with magic, but I like using scrolls. It's part of the resource management. I've met several enemies that I had to flee and then come back with better resources and better tactics.

I don't generally like companions, but after 20 or so levels I took Lydia with me. We just had a fun epic battle involving 2 dragons in rapid succession plus Draugr Overlord and minions. Lydia died while the 2nd dragon was still going. I had to finish it off myself. She lay among the dragon bones and the draugr weapons on the ground in the mountains in the snow. I had to leave much of our stuff behind in order to carry on. I didn't even level up at the end of the battle.

Then I set off alone. the light was failing. I was surprised by a sabre cat, but I killed him fast with a critical strike. And then bam bam! 2 gargoyles attacked. I am now out of health potions, out of offensive scrolls, no companion, traveling alone at night through the mountains.

I dig it.

This has been revelatory for me, because not too many years ago I was quite the old school elitist rpg-er. I was a bigwig on the Fallout wiki. I played and loved FO and FO2, Planescape, Arcanum, Deus Ex... yada yada yada. Yes they are classics and I love them. But, when Dragon Age Origins came out, a funny thing started to happen. I began to find myself enjoying new things in my old hobby. Over the next several years I quit being such an elitist and started having much more fun.

Yes there are games I do not like much. But it turns out I like a lot more than I dislike. It turns out I can like Skyrim and still think Arcanum is the best game ever. I can like Dragon Age Origins a whole lot, even if I skip all the romance because I think it's weird and awkward and icky and doesn't fit. I can...

Well, there it is.

My hardcore arguing elitist days are over. I don't despise games I don't prefer any more. And I don't despise gamers who like games I don't like. I did get upset recently at a thread where someone was trying to call Don't Starve a roguelike. But who's perfect?

I'm having fun with games again, and it's much more like being a kid! When I was in 7th grade, my buddy and I were given $20, and we got the whole shebang in quarters and spent the whole bunch on one epic session of Gauntlet at the arcade inside the Putt-Putt. I am now having experiences more like that instead of arguing arguing arguing, thinking poorly of people, saying mean things about peoplewho like different things than I do. I'm instead enjoying a wider variety of games - some for shorter times, some for surprisingly longer times! I am making friends instead of enemies.

Thanks, GOGlodytes! I can be here, have fun, not worry about being cool, try new games, meet new people...

Cheers!

Yeah, I just played it like a kid playing with their toys and watched the fireworks fly.

I keep meaning to start a new run through with some mods actually - BUT - ive apparently already played it for 300+ hours over two playthroughs! O_____o

...and also, I dont like the idea of having to mess around trying to get the right load order etc for any mods I might be interested in... which brings me to New Vegas and why I still havent done the same with that either.

Playing games for the love of gaming :-)

Skyrim is definitely awesome, and one of the greatest games I've played. I like the fact that you have no need to follow the story unless you want to. Being open world makes it even better.

I recently went out of my comfort zone and delved into a mindless fps (Borderlands 2), and had some of the best gaming I've had in a long time. I totally agree, gaming just for the love of gaming rocks :)

I got Skyrim this Christmas and I'm enjoying it. It's better than Oblivion if only because the leveling system is less obtuse. Yes it's simplified a bit but it works well.

Also meant to say thanks for the thread, I enjoyed your experience!

I've found that I love tinkering with mods so much that it hardly matters to me some days whether I get any playing done at all!

That's cool. I still can't stand it.

Maybe someday, as I seem to have gotten over my dislike for GTA V recently.

My point isn't to start liking things you don't like. Or to lower your standards or anything.

I was just an elitist jerk. What I disliked in gaming defined me much more than what I like. And it led me to dislike people. And to argue and get upset.

I probably would have enjoyed it more... if it hadn't of been anal about having steam installed and running before i could so much as look at the game options to set the graphical settings to something playable. Add in a mix of forced cinematic where i suddenly feel like i'm playing COD or TR where any level of choice of what i'm doing is removed while a werewolf comes into the room and kills all the badguys from a linear scripted scene i had no way of avoiding. I didn't need help and yet it's forced in as part of a confession scene of you learning [s]who[/s] what your companion really is.

Okay maybe one specific quest. But other annoyances like not having an enchanting system like i loved in Morrowind, or being able to reuse the same bloody body with necromancy (because it turns to ash for some reason) so i couldn't use them to carry an extra 200lbs of loot until i got back to town to sell or store it.

You know what i think i'll find a cracked version that actually works without requiring steam being active... and hopefully a good 50 mods that make the game really good with minor tweaks and enhancements, since my skyrim disc should probably be folded in half and thrown away (for all it's worth)

Play this game with the Lich King Armor mod. The Lich King has been overthrown in Northrend why not conquer another cold snowy nothern country ;)

The game always looked cool to me, never had the damn time to play it though, looking forward to my first playthrough.

What you want for that is LOOT.

The mods are what makes this game. Main story is pretty average....

I didn't enjoy it as much as Morrowind, but definitely more than Blandblivion. In any case, you like what you like, and if someone gets on your ass about you liking something they don't, they're a dick.