Back in Whiterun Again

I honestly didn’t intend to go back to Skyrim. I mean, it’s ancient, for one, and no matter how many fresh coats of paint are applied, its bones still show underneath. And it’s definitely been-there-done-that territory for me, though to be honest, it’s a lot of trips that didn’t make it very far.

My usual MO in Skyrim is to play some variant of a Nord warrior. The reason for the Nord is to blend into the setting and story a little better. The reason for the warrior has more to do with me feeling like I don’t understand the controls well enough. I started playing Skyrim late, after my brother handed down his PS3 when he got a PS4, but for me, it was my first game with a dual stick controller. I didn’t think it would be that hard to learn, but I was stumbling around like a toddler, and combat was just a mess, so I went with the simplest, easiest build I could think of.

But that was almost a decade ago, and I’ve since gotten pretty used to a dual stick. I spent a lifetime in Destiny, and then later graduated to Grand Theft Auto Online, Red Dead Online, and Fallout 76. I played through all of the Creation engine games, but again, a lot of starts but nothing really deep. It wasn’t until I really sank into FO76 that I got a taste for how these worlds can come alive.

I love Starfield. It’s honestly the best version of Skyrim out now. I should be playing Starfield, but I’ve got a problem. My Starfield game has stagnated; I need to either start a new character or a new game plus using the Starborn feature. I feel resistance towards the first option just because I know how long it takes to get rolling, so I’m leaning towards the second. But both options mean leaving my current game, and I just can’t quite do that yet, even though I feel like I need to change things up to make it interesting again.

This past year has been pretty rough, and my Starfield game this past fall got me through a particularly tough patch. I’m just not ready to say good-bye to Andreja and our ship. It feels weird to be attached to a save game, but even though I don’t feel like playing it, I don’t feel like putting it away.

So I started looking for something to take its place, and I’ve spent the past couple of weeks playing a lot of different games. But none of them fit. I had a taste of the kind of gameplay I liked, and nothing was really satisfying the itch.

So yeah, Skyrim. Turns out it’s the closest thing to Starfield. Honestly, it looks amazing on the Series S, but the most amazing thing? It doesn’t crash. That alone is worth waiting ten years for.