Category Archives: The Elder Scrolls

The Last Three Years

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So it’s been about … three years since my last update. I didn’t have a daughter then. She’s three now. So I guess I’ve been a bit negligent here.

A random list of video game related stuff I’ve done in the last few years:

  • Got a PS VR. I don’t play it a lot, but it is fun, especially when family visits.
  • Got a Nintendo Switch. I love this thing.
  • Got a SNES Classic and played through Super Mario World. I used save states and cheated my way through it. Totally enjoyed it.
  • Played and beat Bravely Default. Bought Bravely Second; may start it soon.
  • Played some Final Fantasy XV. Didn’t get hooked. Sad that I didn’t. May try again.
  • Played some Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Also didn’t get hooked. May try again.
  • Beat Super Mario Odyssey. Fantastic game. My son got obsessed and got farther than I did.
  • Bought Skyrim for the Switch and did a complete play through except for Dawnguard, which I’ve strangely not played on any platform. No idea why.
  • Beat West of Loathing. Fantastic, ridiculous game.
  • Her Story. Great game. The less I say, the better.
  • Really, really tried to play Fallout 4. I sucked at it bad. Embarrassingly so.
  • Played about 5 hours of Baldur’s Gate. It was sorta fun; not for me.
  • Got a Nintendo Everdrive, a GBA Everdrive and an SNES2SD. They’re fantastic.
  • Backed the Bard’s Tale IV kickstarter. Waiting on the Mac version.
  • Backed the Shenmue 3 kickstarter.
  • Backed the Flip Grip kickstarter.
  • Backed the Micro Mages kickstarter for just the ROM, because I have a Nintendo Everdrive now.
  • Played The Beginner’s Guide. Loved it.
  • Became briefly, intensely obsessed with Minecraft, then lost all interest (for now?).
  • Got an Analog Super NT. I love it.
  • Got a small PVM for analog consoles.
  • Bought about 30 Amiibo. Shut your mouth.
  • Made zero progress on my game room.

Skyrim

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I probably don’t have a lot to say about Skyrim that others haven’t said. I will say this — it’s a testament to how good of a game it is that I put around 500 hours into it despite it being shockingly buggy. And seriously, it is a very buggy game. It is easy to do normal things that result in the game crashing (which isn’t so bad) or losing items (very bad).

Still, it is a great, great game. It’s not for everyone, of course, but it taps right into a super-addictive part of my brain that could probably be exploited by heroin or pogs or something. I took my PS3 with me on vacation to the in-laws so I could play it. When we arrived and I realized that I had forgot to actually bring Skyrim, I went out and bought a used copy (from Trade-N-Games) so I could continue playing it.

So maybe I have a problem.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I finally got around to completing the main quest a few weeks ago. The main quest was great and could probably stand alone as a game itself, but of course it’s everything else in the game world that makes the game so good. I’m not really sure that I’m done with it, even though I’ve started playing Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Updates

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Yikes! I haven’t updated in a while.

I have been busy though. I put a lot of time into Skyrim. I’ll probably write something about it.

Photo of Nintendo controller with LED modification

I’ve spent some time working on some hardware stuff, including this fun NES controller modification.

I’m also ramping up to selling some modded original Xboxes.

As for games, I’m considering a few to play next. Maybe a JRPG.

Oblivion

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I knew it would happen. I knew the moment I started this blog that I would eventually pick Oblivion back up. I haven’t looked at the save game time stamps from when I last played it, but it was probably 5 years ago. I never beat it, of course. I’m sure that by skimming over this blog you can guess why.

But the thing that led to me dropping it is what’s brought me back: the seemingly endless side quests. I’ve started a new game and I’m maybe a dozen hours into it. As soon as my character escaped from the underground caves and sewers, she promptly ignored the main quest and went off fishing, spying on merchants, etc. It’s tons of fun. Just travelling between cities and noticing a cave, then deciding whether to head in is just a ton of fun.

Yes, I know I’m playing too many games at once. I always do this. So I’ve put a few on hold. I might put Assassin’s Creed III on hold too. It was probably a mistake to play Brotherhood & Revelations back-to-back and then start #3 immediately after. So I’ll get back to that. As Final Fantasy XIII-2, I’ll get back to that too. Frankly, they’re kind of hard to write about too. Final Fantasy I was easy to write about because there were so many gaps to fill in — the story in the game was pretty bare. Oblivion may be more like that, due to its fairly non-linear design. We’ll see.

I’ve also been on a bit of a retro kick lately, and I’ve greatly expanded my console and game collection. I recently picked up a Genesis, a NES, a ColecoVision (2 of them!) and a Game Gear. Not all of the games I’ve got recently will end up on my list of games to beat (ColecoVision and Atari games often can’t be beat in the normally understood way), but I’m sure some will. Games like Sonic 1–3, Super Mario Bros. 1–3, Dragon Warrior, etc. I don’t think Ninja Gaiden will make the list. I doubt I have the patience to beat that sucker.