I’ve put at least 500 hours intoSkyrimand have never seen whatPaarthurnaxlooks like. Let me tell you why.
Imagine me, a wide-eyed, eager boy sitting down to play Skyrim for the first time. I sit through the opening scene, spend an hour creating the perfect Wood Elf Archer, escape the executioner’s axe and the dragon fire, and run through the underground tunnel with Hadvar until I step out of the cave into the forest. That’s when it hits me, Ralof was the superior choice.
Bethesda Forgot What Made Its Formula Fun When Making Starfield
It’s like Skyrim, but boring.
So I reload the game and go through the motions one more time, this time choosing Ralof and reaching Riverwood (activating the Warrior Stone on the way, of course). I’m greeted by the gruff blacksmith Alvor and his wife, Sigrid. I talk to them to find out that Hadvar is Alvor’s nephew. Racked with guilt, I restart again. Hadvar was pretty mild as far as Imperial bootlickers go.
Now, on my third start, I’m frustrated by the slow lead-up to the character creator. The Bethesda logo is not so endearing anymore. The cart ride doesn’t seem as impressive of an introduction, and can we get on with the execution,please?And I started thinking,I wish there was a mod for this.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Makes Fighting Large Enemies Epic
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
We Love A Good Mod, Don’t We?
That was my first plunge into Skyrim modding, and I never looked back. It all began with a tentative installation of theAlternate Start mod. Nothing breaks, so I add another texture mod to see if my PC could handle it (it couldn’t).
I boot up the game again and create a fourth, or was it fifth? character, and make my way towards Whiterun, I notice the surroundings are gorgeous, but the water is not that impressive.I wish there was a mod for that.
The snowball effect had begun. I played Skyrim with the intention of fixing every imperfection. My experience became critical - everything could be improved. If I wanted it, there was a mod for it and bless Bethesda for making it so easy.
My need to mod became so intense that I never finished a playthrough, a familiar story among Skyrim’s veteran PC players. I completed the Companions quest line, talked to Ulfric Stormcloak, but he never triggered the Civil War event. I never set foot in the Labyrinthian, and he never, not once, heeded the call of Meridia’s Beacon.
Why, you ask? Because every time I sat down to do a proper playthrough, something,something,came up that forced a reroll. The trigger could be anything. The combat, the repeating voice actors, the predictable quests, or even the low polygon texture on a random mountain in the middle of nowhere. I never finished Skyrim, and I probably never will.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Arisens Can ‘Princess Carry’ Characters, Adds Whole New Level To Romancing
Get those arms pumped and ready…
A Whole World To Explore
Now, you might be wondering what all this has to do withDragon’s Dogma 2. The two games are 13 years apart, released by different studios, and beyond the general premise of being ‘fantasy RPGs,’ have completely different design philosophies.
The common thread between the two, at least for me, is that I always had a vision for what I wanted to convert Skyrim into. I didn’t like the combat, so I downloaded combat mods that addedStances, aninjury system,custom animations,timed blocks,new spells,better enemy AI,smarter followers, and other things I’m sure I’m forgetting right now.
I didn’t enjoy the lack of interactivity with the NPCs so I downloaded follower mods likeInigoandHothto scratch that itch. I didn’t like how the grass looked, I didn’t like how the roads didn’t have signs, and I especially didn’t like how underwhelming fighting dragons was. So I downloaded mods for every problem I could find with a clear picture of what the game should be. It never got there
But - Dragon’s Dogma 2isthat game. It is the game I wanted Skyrim to be, andit is glorious. The first timea pawn caught meas I wasthrown off a griffinwas the first time I paused the game and just sat in awe for a full 20 seconds.
I see people online complaining about the lack offast travelin the game (the discourse about MTX aside). It’s understandable; there hasn’t been a game that I ever recall playing that didn’t offer fast travel, as a matter of course. But I distinctly recall being sold on theRequiem Overhaulfor Skyrim specificallybecausethat mod allows you to disable fast travel entirely. It gave the game an immediate boost in immersion, and that’s what I was aiming for: the ability to lose myself in the world and not be reminded that it’s ‘just a game’ every time I need to hand in a quest. It worked to an extent, but the game clearly wasn’t made to accommodate that. But Dragon’s Dogma 2 is.
Now, I’m not saying Dragon’s Dogma 2 is perfect. I’ve put 30 hours into the game so far, and I’m already seeing the fantasy fraying at the seams. The enemy variety is starting to look a little lackluster, the pawn AI is getting predictable, and the quest design is not as much of an enigma anymore. But you know what hasn’t happened in all the 30 hours I’ve played? I haven’t sat down and thought, man,I wish there was a mod for that.
