Skyrim Screenshots & Wallpapers (Part 1)

Regular readers will have gathered that I've been playing a lot of Skyrim lately. I put two other games on hold that I was already deep into, just because Skyrim is such an engrossing experience. One of the great reasons for its captivating nature, I believe, lies with its visual design. The game is beautiful, simply put. I constantly find myself in awe of the landscapes that lay before me, spamming the F12 key everywhere I go, like some kind of Nordic photographer. 

As I write this article, Steam says I have 790 Skyrim screenshots. And I'm still not through playing the game, so I'll most certainly be adding a few hundred more to my collection. Since I have so many, I figured I'd share some of my more artistic shots that depict some of the more beautiful aspects of the game. All of them are "ruined" by HUD elements, because I was too lazy to bother with disabling it, but I'm going to justify that I like them being there because it adds gameplay context for everything. 

Since I've got so many of these screenshots, I'll be posting them in multiple articles. Click the full article for the screens. 

Let's Talk Skyrim Mods (Part 3)

I originally only planned to post one article on Skyrim mods, but that had to be expanded into two parts because it was a little too long to remain as just one post. And then I figured, since I made "part 2," I may as well go ahead and make a "part 3." So just for the hell of it, "part 3" shall be a list of my favorite absurdly-stupid Skyrim mods. In this article: absurd, ridiculous, hilarious, "wtf," lore-breaking Skyrim mods. Only the best, and only my favorites. (None of that "my little pony" nonsense.)

Be sure also to read the more serious Part 1 and Part 2 of this (apparent) series on Skyrim mods. 

Let's Talk Skyrim Mods (Part 2)

Part 2 of the list of Skyrim mods that I'm currently running, with pictures, links, description, and thoughts on each one.  Also a few mods that I tried and didn't like, as well as some works-in-progress that I'm keeping an eye on. Click the article for the full list, or read part 1 here.

Let's Talk Skyrim Mods (Part 1)

With thousands of Skyrim mods out there, I'm rather selective of what I choose to install. Seems like whenever I look through a list of "recently uploaded" mods, most of them are player homes, extra weapons, or things that just break the balance of the game. None of which really interest me. But I still found 29 mods (and counting) that have noticeably improved my Skyrim experience.

For anyone who's looking for a more personal take on mod recommendations, I'll be listing each one I've chosen to run with a brief description of what they all are and what I like about them. As well as others that I didn't really like and others that I'm currently keeping an eye on. As well as discussing my thoughts on the Steam Workshop versus the Skyrim Nexus. Since the list is rather long, with pictures and links and descriptions, I'll be posting this in two parts. 

On the Gothic Series

Playing through Skyrim makes me realize how great the Gothic series was (and remains). There's always a void I feel from playing an Elder Scrolls game, and the Gothic games have always been there to remind me of how special a game can be when it's designed properly. I've known this ever since the back-and-forth releases of Gothic in 2001, followed by Morrowind in 2002, followed by Gothic 2 in 2003.

I'll go into more detail about TES in another article. For now, though, I want to take some time to reflect on the Gothic series, to compare each title's relative strengths and weaknesses, and to describe that special Gothic feeling that I often struggle to find in other games. I've written about Gothic before for a "Great Games You Never Played" article, which is worth a read for a more basic overview of the first game. My break-down of the full series comes after the jump.

The Lost Crown: A Ghost-Hunting Failure

The Lost Crown: A Ghost-Hunting Adventure is an adventure game by Jonathan Boakes, best known for his previous work on the Dark Fall series. Given the man's reputation within adventure-gaming circles, as well as some really emphatic reviews for the game, including a 4/5 star average from 70 user reviews on Amazon, I had high hopes and expectations for TLC. 

But the game proved utterly disappointing. The pacing is incredibly slow, the characters are completely flat and shallow with some of the worst voice acting I've ever heard, and the plot lacks all form of intrigue and compulsion. To top it all off, the word of mouth claimed that this was a very suspenseful and sometimes scary game, but it's just not. There are a few shining moments within this sea of murky brown, but the whole package is mediocre, at best.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Demo Impressions

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning launches in a couple of days, and I definitely won't be buying it. It's a pretty good game with an interesting combat system, but judging by the demo, it just doesn't feel like it's worth $60. This is a game that probably needs more than an hour's worth of tutorial and "starting town" quests to get a good impression of, but a lot of its design mechanics just feel off. Like it's the redheaded stepchild of some better RPG that might have been.

The running theme here is "I like it, but...." I would probably only get it with a 75% discount. Even though the full game could be really great, the demo turned me off of paying full price for it. It suffers badly from consolization and just doesn't play like anything I'd expect for a PC release. And a few of its design mechanics explicitly remind me of other games, which only goes to pull me out of the experience and detracts from KOA's uniqueness.

So I've got a run-down of things I liked, things I didn't like, and things I'm on the fence about in the full article. This only reflects my experiences with the demo.