It’s been nearly two weeks since I last played Skyrim, but while I was playing I was completely absorbed in the game, as I’d known I would be. 146 hours I put into that game, and I feel fairly certain that I’ll be going back to it in maybe a year or so, once some of the better mods have come out.

I did enjoy Skyrim a lot, but I can’t help but feel that it wasn’t as good as Oblivion in a number of ways. Sure, the graphics were an improvement. That’s a function of the improved hardware between 2007 and 2011. They also got rid of Oblivion’s lame conversation wheel mini-game. But I can’t help but feel that alchemy was much more useful and more fun in Oblivion – I’m not sure why they changed it at all. Skyrim’s perk tree was a vast improvement over the 25/50/75/100 perk schema in Oblivion, and Bethesda was smart to get rid of the weird major and minor skill system that caused such a leveling paradox in Oblivion. I also really liked the new lockpicking system. It was almost too easy at times, but that’s much better than being too difficult.

My primary gripe with Skyrim, and the reason that I preferred Oblivion, was due to the nature of the game’s main plot. In Oblivion, the world was being invaded by the demonic Daedra through horrific gaping red magical gates, and it was the player’s job to save the world by venturing into a realm that might as well have been Hell. It was epic. In Skyrim, the plot involves killing dragons because they’re kind of mean. Sure – there’s one big powerful dragon who’s extra mean and must be stopped, but the threat seems nebulous and so relatively minor. The dragons in Skyrim were never as much of a threat as the Daedra were in Oblivion. Plus, even though the main dragon will have been defeated at the conclusion of Skyrim’s main plot, there are still many powerful dragons in evidence, attacking just as much as they ever were. How much has actually been resolved?

My last gripe with Skyrim is mainly geared towards the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild plots. Although there are ostensibly unlimited quests in Skyrim, the game’s foremost quest lines are the main story, the civil war, the Wizard’s College, the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood, and the Companions. That’s six questlines, and two of them are really only available if you choose to be at least partially evil. And while I’m not at all opposed to games that allow you to be evil, I find it odd that large sections of content are entirely closed off unless your character is a cold-blooded murderer or thief. Two out of six questlines is a third of the game’s non-random content, although it’s actually less since the main quest likely has far more content than other quest lines. Personally, playing as a sneak sniper is my favorite way to play Skyrim, so it’s ironic that the Dark Brotherhood is the only quest line I never touched.

I’ve just finished reading about Bethesda’s “Skyrim Game Jam”, where they let the developers create anything they wanted for a week. They came up with some amazing sounding stuff. I already use mods to improve the UI and the look of water, fire, ice, and lighting. I even use the Midas Magic mod which adds spells to the game. But check this out.

• Stealth Enhancements
  From what I gather, there are some fans of the thief series at Bethesda. They’ve modded stuff to allow for the creation of Thief-style water arrows and guards that relight darkened areas. Considering how I play the game, this is my #1 mod. I love it.
• Dark dungeons
  This one has been on my mod wishlist since day one. I’ve tried a number of mods to darken nights and dungeons, but none have done it well. This would fit nicely with the stealth enhancements.
• Goblins
  Another one from my wishlist. Yes, please!
• Seasonal Foliage
  Very nice. This would be subtle, but I think I’d really like it.
• Spears
  The game could use more weapons. All they’ve got are swords, axes, maces, and daggers. Spears are wielded completely differently, and so this requires new character animations as well as new weapon art. It’s more of a project than you might realize, but I think it sounds great.
• Mounted combat
  Another big one. Attacking from horseback would be epic.
• Dragon mounts
  Whaa? Even in the game’s main plot when you fly on the back of a dragon, they fudge the effect. If they can pull this off, it will be amazing.
• Dungeon enhancements : handing structures and moving platforms
  Whoa. This sounds like it would create platforming in dungeons. Perhaps a bit too late for anything but add-on DLC, but it sounds cool.
• Fat giants
  Haha. Sounds good.
• Ice and Fire arrows
  Why not?
• Werebear
  Interesting. Just a reskin of the werewolf, I’d imagine.
• Lycanthropy skill tree
  Wow. A whole new skill tree. Considering how useless the werewolf form is, I’ll take it.
• Vampire Feeding
  I didn’t realize that this wasn’t already in place, having never been a vampire.
• Become a flying vampire lord
  Flying? Wow. This I would try.
• Vampire Imp Minions
  Imps were another monster from my wishlist.
• “Waygates” for fast travel
  Considering that fast travel already exists, I’m not sure of the point, but I’m willing to check it out.
• Flow-based water shader
  This could look really nice.
• Kill Cams for Magic and Ranged Combat
  I hadn’t thought about the fact that they don’t exist, but… they don’t exist. Adding them would be nice.
• Paralysis runes
  This must be high-level, but I’d use it often. Paralysis is the most powerful magic in the game.
• Water currents in dungeons
  I’d go for a mod just to strengthen all water currents. I’ve barely ever been pushed by water.
• New commands for followers: Combat style, set favorite equipment, etc.
  I use followers so rarely that I probably wouldn’t notice.
• Adopt a child
  Seems cruel, given that I’d be away adventuring so much that you’d have to categorize me as criminally neglectful.
• Build your own home
  I’m not quite sure how this would work, but I’m interested. Apparently, you can also have a skeleton butler. Personally, I’d prefer a monkey butler, but I’ll take what I can get.
• Spell combinations: Use flame and raise zombie to create a fire zombie
  Holy crap. Like Magicka? If they create enough combinations, this could be amazing.
• High-level Draugrs
  More powerful undead? Sure, why not?
• Epic mounts (flaming death horse)
  Seems a bit over-the-top for my taste.
• Kinect voice-activated shouts
  I still plan to try Thu’uMic,  but I think it’s awesome that someone is bringing this to the XBox. My console friends should be able to get some mod love too.
• Enhanced underwater visuals
  Sure. 
• Screen space ambient occlusion
  What?
• Giant mudcrab enemy
  Can I attack it for massive damage?

I’ll be watching closely for implementation of these features. If you’re interested, you can watch the video here.

I’m going to start a new character, since my current character is level 51, and the game is no longer much of a challenge. This time I plan to focus on the skills I neglected with my first character: pickpocketing, heavy armor, and blacksmithing. I’d like to try out 2-handed weapons as well, but there’s a perk that enables slow motion when you block with a shield, and I’d really like to try that one.

So tonight, in my hour or so of free time, I get to hunt for some new mods to install in prep for my new character. Looking forward to it.

At this point, I’m sick of writing about 2011 games, and I’m sure you’re sick of reading about them, so I’ll wrap it all up. I did a best of 2010 post last year, and now here’s this year’s best of 2011 post.

In my number five position is Bastion. The game had stellar music, some very nice retro gameplay with a great mechanic for adjusting difficulty, and a compelling story. If you’ve not played Bastion, jump on it.

Number four is Portal 2, which if you’d have asked me earlier in 2011, I’d have sworn would be in my number one slot come year end. That speaks to the awesomesauce that was the 2011 video game release schedule. Portal 2 was damn funny and had some excellent puzzles. I plan to go back to it when my Skyrim frenzy cools, both to finish my second playthrough and to finish the co-op levels.

The third slot is claimed by an unexpected gem: Atom Zombie Smasher. I love this game, and I go back to it frequently when I’ve got fifteen minutes to kill. It’s not quite tower defense, not quite real time strategy, and not quite a board game. But it is fantastic.

Number two? Skyrim. Big surprise. Not much more to say here – I’m sure I’ll fill up many other posts with Skyrim blabber.

And my favorite game of the year? Batman: Arkham City. The context-sensitive combat, the open world navigation, and by Grabthar’s hammer, the characters! Epic voice acting, well-written story, incredibly fun set pieces, and one of the best endings of any video game I’ve played make Arkham City my personal game of the year.

Here’s a summary of how I rated all the games throughout my posts

Atom Zombie Smasher (A)
A Boy and His Blob (B-)
Batman: Arkham Asylum  (A)
Bastion (B+)
Batman: Arkham City (A)
Beyond Good and Evil HD (B+)
Dead Nation  (C)
Dead Space 2  (B)
Dungeon Siege 3  (C+)
Dungeons & Dragons Tactics (B)
Fallout: New Vegas  (C)
Limbo   (B)
Mass Effect 2   (B)
Metal Gear Solid 1  (C-)
Metal Gear Solid 4  (C-)
Metro 2033   (C-)
Metroid Prime   (C-)
Osmos    (B)
PB Winterbottom  (B)
Peggle Android  (B)
Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe (A)
Plants vs Zombies Android (B+)
Portal 2  (A)
RE: Darkside Chronicles(C)
Sacred 2  (D)
Shadow of the Colossus HD (B)
Skyrim   (A)
Starcraft 2   (B)
Steel Storm   (B-)
Super Mario Galaxy 2  (B)
Wind Waker   (A-)
Zuma’s Revenge  (A-)

What is the story behind the overturned cabbage cart?

Skyrim, Skyrim, Skyrim. Yes, it’s nearly all I’ve been playing for the past few months, and I’ve put in a lot of time. I’ve written about the game so much at this point that I’m hesitant to include too much more, but I’m very much enjoying it, and it’s a strong contender for 2011 Game of the Year. Unsurprisingly, Skyrim gets an ‘A‘.

Starcraft 2 is a game that I’d been looking forward to for quite some time. The original had been my favorite RTS for a long time, and hearing that the sequel was nothing more than an updated version was good news to me. But after playing it for a while, I got Starcraft fatigue. For some reason, I just didn’t end up loving it.  It’s a good solid game, but I quit playing it after I failed at the final mission for the fourth or fifth time. Maybe I’ll like the Zerg expansion better. Starcraft 2 gets a ‘B‘.

Part of a recent Humble Indie Bundle was a game called Steel Storm. It’s a very retro top-down “bullet hell” shooter, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s an age-old and incredibly simple formula, and as such there’s not a lot to say about the game. Shoot other spaceships, reach goals, and upgrade your weapons and shields. But it’s very well made, and I continually go back to the game when I’ve got only ten minutes to kill. Steel Storm gets a ‘B-‘.

That said, I’ve noticed a number of things missing from Skyrim, and here are the mods I’d most like to see.

Darker Dungeons / Droppable torches
Oblivion had two mods that I loved. One was called darker dungeons, and did just what it said. By default, there are no areas in the game in which you need a torch, lantern, or light spell. You can walk around the deepest caves and still see just fine. The Darker Dungeons mod made it so that nighttime and dungeon environments were actually dark, requiring some light source.

The second was called Droppable Torches, and made it so that if you were holding a torch and drew a weapon, the torch would automatically drop to the ground and continue to provide light. Together, these two mods completely changed the experience of dungeon delving, much for the better.

Improved Alchemy
Alchemy has been one of my favorite parts of The Elder Scrolls games, but there are a few improvements I’d like to see made. Firstly, I think you should be able to name your potions. For example, when I combine Canis Root, Imp Stool, and Orange Dartwing to create my favorite poison, it damages the foe, paralyzes him, and also has a lingering damage effect. But the name is simply “Poison of Paralysis”. There has to be some way to better identify this amidst a list of dozens of potions that I’m carrying. Were I able to relabel the poison “Bloodboil” or even “Paralysis and Damage”, it would help a lot.

Another thing I think could make alchemy more interesting is delayed onset effects. Whether this was governed by ingredients and skill or manually chosen by the alchemist, I think it could add some interesting complexity. Imagine if when I create a paralysis/slow/damage poison, I could delay the onset of the slow effect until after the paralysis wears off. It would be much more useful. Similarly, imagine that when I use the more common Red Mountain Flower in a Damage Health poison, it takes 4 seconds before the damage takes place, but when I use the much rarer Troll Fat, it’s instantaneous. Seems like a cool twist.

Indirect fire weapons
Other than magic spells, bows are the only projectile weapon in the game. How cool would it be to allow alchemy to create molitov cocktails or acid flasks? I’m sure that the physics behind the indirect fire would be a bit tricky, but the engine has gravity built in, so it may not be too bad.

New Monsters
As much as I love fighting giants and sabrecats, I do sometimes miss Oblivion’s goblins, scamps, and minotaurs. How about a mod that would re-add those monsters?

New Mounts
I know that it’s possible to climb into the back of a carriage. How about making the thing mobile? How about allowing players to mount a tamed mammoth or sabrecat in the same way that you can mount a horse? Could be epic.

New Spells
Skyrim has some wonderful and creative spells. The rune traps and the wall spells are great in that they’re new and creative, and the clairvoyance spell is fantastic. What about a spell that duplicates the effect that occurs when you’re hit by a giant? Boom – and you go flying up in the air.

I’ve been playing Skyrim a lot, and I’m loving the game. My character is level 39 at present, and my sneak skill is already at 99 – I hope to max it out the next time I play and then work harder at maxxing out my archery, enchantment, and alchemy.

But my favorite part of any Elder Scrolls game has always been the emergent gameplay moments – those moments that weren’t specifically scripted by the programmers that somehow end up being the best thing about the game. In this article, I’d like to share a few of my favorite moments.

Taking out an entire keep of bandits Garret style

I really enjoy stealth games, so I was really excited to find that the stealth mechanics in Skyrim were way better than in Oblivion. I now sneak up on enemies regularly and slit their throats before they know I’m there. When I cleared one particular keep full of bandits recently, I did so without letting any of its inhabitants know I was ever there. They were dead before they knew they were in a fight. Skyrim’s cutscene-like final blow animations make it even more fun.

Backstabbing a snowy sabrecat

That four-word description really doesn’t do my story justice. Here’s the long version: I was coming over a snowy mountain rise and looked down to see a keep. Far away, near the keep, were two snowy sabrecats fighting an ice wraith. I watched for a while, and the sabrecats killed the ice wraith. I thought it’d be nice to get the ice wraith’s teeth since at the time they were fairly valuable to me. I hid and started firing arrows at the sabrecats, but they were so far away that I missed 80% of my shots. After 5-10 minutes of firing arrows, I’d hit a few times and they were wandering closer. One eventually charged up the mountain, and by the time he’d reached me I had him down to about 50% health. Still, I barely survived the encounter. I’d gone through all my healing potions.

I snuck down the mountain, thinking that if I could get up onto the keep’s walls, I could shoot down at the second sabrecat from safety. When it saw me, I started sprinting for a wall where it looked like I could jump up. My luck, I found that I couldn’t jump that high. So I ran. I ended up trapped in a V between one of the keep’s walls and a sheer cliff – if I fell, I knew I’d be dead. So I hid. And somehow, the sabrecat lost me. It came down towards the V and decided that I wasn’t there, then turned away and sat down. Its back was to me, and I’d just gotten the x15 backstab perk. So I snuck up very slowly and BAM. One-hit kill. It was so nice.

Arrows shouldn’t hurt skeletons – should they?

Archery is another skill I’m loving. The game’s bows take some getting used to – they have a lot less drop than you’d expect. But when you get a decent bow and your archery skill is good enough, a bow can be devastating. I entered one crypt and a number of skeletons began rising from their sacrophagi. As they rushed me, I took them out all one by one, one-shotting most of them. None of them were even able to enter melee. There were probably twelve or fifteen in all, and my bow pwned them, so to speak.

Mountain goat, Meet Waterfall

A small thing, really, but I stood and watched while a goat forded across a river and was swept downstream. When he reached the end, near a waterfall, he began struggling mightily. He fought it quite a lot, but in the end the goat went over and fell to his death.

You done with that?

This is the only thing on the list that actually is scripted, but I was shocked that it happened. During multiple runs back and forth from a store to an enchantment table, I found at one point that I was overburdened, so I dropped a shield and some boots on the ground. A passing woman stopped me and asked if she could have the things I’d dropped. Wow.

Picking Flowers during an Invasion

At the risk of spoilers, I was at one point involved in an armed conflict: the Invasion of Whiterun. While soldiers were locked in heated bloody battle, I kept sidetracking to pick flowers. I found the whole situation so utterly ludicrous that I felt obliged to mention it here.

Since Steam makes screenshots so easy, I’ve started trying to screenshot as many of these moments as I can, but they can be fleeting – you don’t realize a moment until it’s passed. You can see the screenshots I’ve collected so far here.