Friday, July 06, 2012

Skyrim: Snaps from a Virtual Holiday.

This summer, in addition to taking a conventional trip to the seaside with the wife and kids, I also splurged on Skyrim - something to while away the insanely hot hours of day. And wow, did I while away some hours - 260 of them, according to my Steam™ library page.

I bought my first console when the SegaMegadrive was the cutting edge. Pixels fighting pixels against a backround of hmm, more pixels. I mean, okay, it was fun, but a very imediate - take it out, put it away - kinda fun. Final Fantasy 7 on the playstation was probably the first game I remember feeling sad when one of the npc characters - you know which one, Aeris I think - died a surprise death.

I usually buy two games a year, a little puritan you might think, until you remember I've a full time job, a wife and two young kids whom I cannot ignore for more than five minutes at a stretch without someone asking me to do something - whether it be putting cream on knees, or fixing the sink. This year it's been Fallout New Vegas (last Winter), and now Skyrim. I'm a fool for a good RPG. The biggest difference with Skyrim is the graphics. Fallout is graphically great, but aesthetically appalling. Endless plains of fucked up burning junk. Skyrim is a beautiful construction. Hell, given a choice, I'd live there. At any rate, it's the first game that's prompted me to take screenshots as mementoes.

To whit, a quick travelogue of my 10 days in Skyrim: (And btw. click for full size, as some of them are worth it).

I dressed like a hippy and bought my first house.