Skyrim - The Remedy For An Overly-Connected Age

[Ripper]

I doubt that all 17 000 that still play it daily do modding and playing like you.
What keeps them at it?

I can't say. But I'd take a guess that the great majority of those players are into the modding/customising scene, to some degree. They may not be crazy for all the complicated stuff, but I'd wager that most of them will be into hentai overhauls, realistic boob simulation, or interesting new hats.

 

[zahratustra]

I doubt that all 17 000 that still play it daily do modding and playing like you.
What keeps them at it?

Ah so it's, after all, the gripping story, great quests, meaningful CCs and terrific writing that makes them do that over and over again?

 

[ilm]

For me it was the snow.

 

[sakichop]

Cool quests? You must be talking about some from mods as I don't remember any from vanilla

I have this friend who started dating a woman. He was raving about how pretty she was. When He finally introduced her to me I didn't find her attractive at all.

Go figure.

 

[Hastar]

I have a serious question for all the Skyrim "roleplayers". How do you contend with Bethesda constant lack of choice with quest design? The goal of the game is to kill 99% of everything you encounter.

Example: I had not done the Red Eagle quest since the first time I picked up Skyrim 3+ years ago, so it was completely fresh to me. What a letdown when, at its conclusion, Red Eagle is just yet another mindless automaton to whom I can't say, "Yo dude, I'm on your side, I'm trying to drive out the Imperials from your motherland."

So how do you roleplay yourself out of utterly dull "me barsh barsh you die die" Bethesda quest design?

A lot of times I roleplay as an explorer/miner/smith and just go to many mines and caves. I craft all my own items and have a grand old time. Sure I have a lot of mods installed but there has never been a better game made when it comes to exploring.

 

[Nerevarine]

The thing is, there haven't been any major overhaul or standalone user-created expansions yet that radically or completely re-write the game (such as Nehrim for Oblivion). If the vanilla game wasn't interesting, no one would bother playing it for dozens or even hundreds of hours. I doubt the vast amounts of modding would happen if the base game wasn't good, either.

The bottom line is that Skyrim - for a lot of people - is a great game. It's also one of the extremely rare games that manages to find that sweet spot of appealing to many different tastes. I have a friend who usually only plays simulation games like Sim City or Prison Architect, yet she has poured as many hours into Skyrim as me - a "hardcore" gamer who plays a lot of "hardcore" RPGs.

Bethesda's games have a way of capturing a player's imagination, thanks to the heavy emphasis on atmosphere over exposition. I am usually much more of a story-driven, choice and consequence RPG fan, but Bethesda's games have a way of utterly captivating me in their worlds. And that's the key, I think - they create "worlds," and they offer one of the few experiences where the player's imagination can drive the "story" as much as the hand-written content does.

The lore, the notes written by NPCs, the little self-contained stories within an individual dungeon - these provide just enough context and framework to allow the player to get engaged in the illusion of these worlds. This illusion exists to offer the feeling that, for a brief few hours, one can explore a fantastic new world that feels mysterious and familiar all at once.

 

[wolfgrimdark]

I feel like I should say something in this thread but I am heavily biased since I am now at 2099 hours played and have written three fanfiction books relating to my playing the game. Even though I mod (338 mods, 307 active per NMM totals) and manage 7 ENB presets and enjoy tweaking (and I noticed no one mentioned ENBs - which can completely overhaul the look of the game completely, often way more than mods can, and can be used to stabilize memory and the game) I also love playing the game. On my third character.

I sometimes wonder if there is any connection between peoples ability to imagine (how good their imagination is) and role play to these style games. I suspect some people just prefer to have it done for them with more linear content and hand-holding.

Anyhow I love the game for its open world feeling, exploration, and yes I actually like the vanilla quests. The Thief Guild and Mage Guild quest lines are two of my favorites for any game. There are also many smaller quests I just adore - from the very simple to the more complex. I don't actually use "content" mods (in my massive list: http://home.comcast.net/~thunor/images/hosted/config/mods.html (bit out of date) that add new quest style content except for Interesting NPCs I believe and some smaller ones relating to getting a home. Oh and rebuilding Winterhold, like that one. But have yet to try Wyrmstooth, Elsewyr, Skywind, Falkasar, or any of the other "big ones".

I just add mods for graphics AND immersion and things that make the game more alive and dynamic. Hell at this point I don't know where vanilla ends and mods begin sometimes. I still haven't done every vanilla thing in the game by a large degree.

 

[DArtagnan]

@Wolfgrim

Well put, and more heartfelt than I could be bothered to articulate. Some people simply don't have the ability to understand that people REALLY REALLY REALLY like different things for different reasons.

It's the reason some people enjoy grinding mobs with no story, impact or consequence to speak of for years in EverQuest - and yet fail to appreciate that Skyrim has a lot more in those ways. The very same people still claim that Skyrim is hollow and pointless.

People are amazing, really

 

[Sacred_Path]

The remedy for an overly connected age comes from a game that thrives on mods? Err...

I never installed a single mod with any TES game so I must be a complete xenophobe. Let me get my white robe.

 

[azarhal]

I am now at 2099 hours played

That's like x10 my playtime with the game and I though it was a lot (note: I never finished any of the questlines, I suffer from terrible re-startitis with the game).

 

[Maylander]

Pff, modding isn't the key. I've put in well over 300 hours according to Steam without using a single mod.

The success is simply a result of a massive, well crafted world combined with lots to do and gameplay that works (it's not fantastic, but it isn't terrible either). Add in a bit of direction, and there you go (I'm not a fan of sand box games where there's very little sense of direction, such as the X series).

Sure, people who play 2000+ hours are most likely going to be using a lot of mods, but they don't make up 20 million sales. The average is somewhere around 100 hours, which is basically just a single character.

Bottom line: It's just a very, very good game, and that's coming from someone who's certainly not a Bethesda fanboy in any way.

 

[namelessone]

But why was it Skyrim that became this huge phenomenon and not Morrowind or Oblivion, or any other open world rpg? Fallout 3 and New Vegas sold a lot but not nearly as much as Skyrim. Modding is definitely a huge part of its longevity, but PC sales only account for about a third of total sales.
I think it was a combination of impressive marketing and word of mouth with good timing. The Game of Thrones tv series that started earlier in 2011 made medieval fantasy mainstream and Bethesda managed to let a lot of people who didn't know how much they wanted to play an open world game with seemingly unlimited freedom for exlploration and personalisation, know about it.
That the game delivered for most people on those accounts while being accessible and at the same time addictive secured its success.

 

[Archangel]

But why was it Skyrim that became this huge phenomenon and not Morrowind or Oblivion, or any other open world rpg? Fallout 3 and New Vegas sold a lot but not nearly as much as Skyrim. Modding is definitely a huge part of its longevity, but PC sales only account for about a third of total sales.
I think it was a combination of impressive marketing and word of mouth with good timing. The Game of Thrones tv series that started earlier in 2011 made medieval fantasy mainstream and Bethesda managed to let a lot of people who didn't know how much they wanted to play an open world game with seemingly unlimited freedom for exlploration and personalisation, know about it.
That the game delivered for most people on those accounts while being accessible and at the same time addictive secured its success.

New Vegas and F3 don't have Khajit and similar cute races. Also Skyrim engine is much nicer and plays better than F3/New Vegas.
The Dragonshouts also helped with the hype.

 

[azarhal]

But why was it Skyrim that became this huge phenomenon and not Morrowind or Oblivion, or any other open world rpg? Fallout 3 and New Vegas sold a lot but not nearly as much as Skyrim. Modding is definitely a huge part of its longevity, but PC sales only account for about a third of total sales.

Both Morrowind and Oblivion had good sales for the year they were released in, the modern gaming population is continuously expanding so there is always more buyers. You can read this analysis of why Skyrim sold more than Oblivion.

Other open world rpgs don't fair as well because their studio don't enjoy Bethesda brand popularity.

 

[crpgnut]

Brand popularity and Series longevity are huge pieces of the total pie. Name another active series that is 5 games or more in the crpg genre. The Ultimas, the Wizardries, the Might and Magics, have all died. The Elder Scrolls is still alive and thriving. Not even an MMO can kill it, though I've heard that it isn't helping the bottom line at all.

 

[joxer]

Sorry crpgnut, but M&M was successfully resurrected with 10th sequel last year.

 

[azarhal]

The successful part is still pending. It's like EA and the Ultima franchise, they made new games using the IP in the last few years...

 

[Drithius]

It's the reason some people enjoy grinding mobs with no story, impact or consequence to speak of for years in EverQuest - and yet fail to appreciate that Skyrim has a lot more in those ways. The very same people still claim that Skyrim is hollow and pointless.

You've touched on something that I've been hesitant to bring into the thread - the fact that, despite it's moniker, Skyrim plays a lot like a well-executed single player MMO (the trending variety that I despise). Except, a quality [traditional] MMO will be superior longterm for the social element and challenges only overcome with friends.

 

[luj1]

Ah so it's, after all, the gripping story, great quests, meaningful CCs and terrific writing that makes them do that over and over again?

I'm hoping you're being sarcastic.

 

[zahratustra]

I am