After Commander Shepard sacrificed himself to save the galaxy from the reaper threat, I turned back to the realm of Tamriel, this time arriving in the nation of Skyrim. Having waited a bit over a year after release before getting it, the Dawnguard and Hearthfire DLC was already available so I got those and installed them before my first game started. Once again, my adventure begins as a prisoner (seems like it always does) but this time, just for a change of pace, I appeared to be on my way to a date with the executioner’s ax. I see something of a trend here. In Morrowind, I started out on a prison ship and was released at the processing office. In Oblivion I was in the dungeons and received a fairly royal pardon of sorts which I don’t feel had any real merit due to the death of the emperor. And now I am saved from the ax due to the fact that pretty much everybody who knew about my pending execution got roasted by a dragon. On a side note, I did try Elder Scrolls Online for a few hours and was rather astonished to discover that I was starting out already deceased. I can understand the point behind it, it lends itself toward the clean slate starting point, but it still feels like they hate me a little.
But back to Skyrim.
The graphics are a huge improvement over Oblivion. I found the story more engaging as well. While the ruins can be a bit on the repetitive side at times, it is nowhere near as bad as the identical caves and oblivion gates. The combat system is similar enough to Oblivion that there was not a severe learning curve as there was with Morrowind to Oblivion.
The journey of the Dragonborn is a long one, fraught with danger, excitement and mudcrabs. As previously mentioned, the journey begins as a prisoner on your way to the chopping block. After going through the typical character building phases (Race/Gender/Appearance/etc) I find myself suddenly freed from custody by a well-timed dragon attack and I continue on into the world with nobody bothering to remember that I was supposed to be executed.
The main storyline was good, the usual mix of go here, find that and go there kill that. The creature attacks can get a bit annoying sometimes, but it’s nothing compared to Morrowind’s Cliffracers so it’s not as bad as it could be. The DLC is fun and adds a bit of playtime. The Dragonborn DLC actually adds the isle of Solstheim from Morrowind. I have played it off and on for over 5 years now and while I have completed the main story and the main quests of the DLC packs, there are still some quests that I have never gotten around to.