Another Dilemma

I decided that I could give Skyrim a chance at full price last week. I don't know what possessed me to do that seeing as I played Morrowind for about two hours and Oblivion for maybe four hours before I got bored and turned them off (including character creation). Neither of which I played when they were released, but a few months later when I could get a copy from a friend who had moved on. So they weren't exactly old either. My two biggest turnoffs about these games are the their customization were so overly elaborate that I just couldn't make any decisions and there is little to no direction. The worlds are somehow too open.

Interestingly one of those reasons I couldn't get into the Elder Scrolls series is the same reason I adore a good strategy game. Overly elaborate customization is my thing! However without some direction, it's not so much overwhelming as it is.. unusable. If I recall correctly, Oblivion had 21 skills and Morrowind 24. The leveling system was a bit mystifying in that whatever you did made that skill stronger, while an experience bar determined when you could get stronger. Leveling was, for me, a nightmare of deliberate action and immediately robbed the game of its ability to hold my attention. Rather than talking to the townspeople, I would have to strategically plan how I was going to break into their houses and pick their pockets to gain more stealth, lockpicking and pocket picking. The consequence of not doing this was that when I leveled, I'd get crap for stats. I felt I had no choice but to ignore the point of the game in order to be able to survive in its environments. The spiral of engagement and excitement was rapidly descending into the depths rather than soaring into an engaging environment.

So, as I said, I took the full price plunge. I think the reason I believed I could trust the new game was that some reviewers used the words "simplified leveling". Normally you'll hear me say I hate it when a game is simplified, however, that's what I needed to break into the Elder Scrolls series. And I'm genuinely enjoying Skyrim. I don't get the feeling that if I don't jump 1000's of times I'm not going to get that one strength point I need to give me the edge in the next random encounter.

Oh, wait, this isn't a review of Skyrim, not yet. I haven't put enough time into the game to understand it well enough to review it. This is a post about a dilemma.

I have very poor timing that I mostly blame on the video games companies. Everyone knows fall and early winter is when all the great games are released. And anyone with any sense would pick the one game they want to play and then just get the rest as they go. Normally that's what I would do, but for some reason this year I decided to that I needed to get Assassin's Creed: Revelations, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword as well as Skyrim on release day. All of these games are out in November and, well, I've got almost no time now that I have an infant in the house.

AC:Rev shows up today. TODAY! It's on the truck waiting for some dude in brown to throw it on my doorstep. So, do I put down Skyrim and pick up where AC:Brotherhood left off? Or do I keep playing through Skyrim and let Ezio, Altair, and Desmond rot for a few weeks or months, with the possibility that Commander Shepard is going to have to save the galaxy before those damned Reapers can destroy the world of the Elder Scrolls?

I've already decided to wrap up Zelda and make it a Christmas present. It's the only game my wife will play, so that's the best way to delay that one... And I'm thinking I have to stick with Skyrim or I may not be able to get back into it with all its quests that are impossible to keep in order...

Oh well, at least I won't be bored.