January 4th, 2012. I had just been released from drill at my National Guard unit at the time. After a lengthy drive home, I decided that I should relax. Bored with Modern Warfare 3, not in the mood for Killzone 3, burned out on Little Big Planet 2, and tired of my substantial win streak on Tekken 6, I decided I should branch out my interests - most of the games I were playing at the time were either of the Sports, Fighting, or First-Person Shooter genre. I needed something new. And as I scanned my PSN friend list, I found that quite a few of my friends were playing something called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Now, I hadn't known much about Bethesda at all, and the most I knew of Skyrim was an interesting commercial of a lone swordsman approaching a dragon. Although my RPG experience was restricted to Final Fantasy VII and some Lord of the Rings titles, I figured that it being a Monday night, and with no obligations that week, I'd rent the game and grab a stuffed-crust pizza, snagging some Mountain Dew and Doritos on the side to satiate me for the night. I went to Blockbuster, came back, popped Skyrim in, and at 9:34 P.M., I started playing. And playing. And playing.
Yep. They got me.
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A long story short, after I had cleared Bleak Falls Barrow, delivered that Dragonstone, and began my humble career as a thief in the glorious city of Riften... my normally darkened room began to brighten, and I realized two things: one, the sun was rising. Two: I had never been so engrossed in a video game in my life - and I LOVE gaming.
Such is the story of how I got sucked into Skyrim, developing a new appreciation for the RPG genre, and simultaneously blowing off several friends and family members in the pursuit of Septims and gems and other assorted loot (my basement in Honeyside is full of... "hard earned" valuables, but I digress). That being said, I'm beyond optimistic for The Elder Scrolls: Online. In addition to knowing that I'm about to lose hundreds of hours of my life into that game, I also know that with a new generation of gaming consoles, comes several improvements, gaming potential, and with online functionality comes the ability to finally trade profane banter with my friends as we explore crypts and temples and subterranean caves - February 2014, I will vanish for a long time.
That being said, Skyrim wasn't completely flawless, despite being very good. Furthermore, there were some parts of the game that I felt were either lacking, or could've been done better - if only in my humble opinion. There's several things I'd love to see implemented in The Elder Scrolls: Online, and these are just a few.