I'm sorry, I can't make the WoW Raid tonight. I'm busy playing Skyrim

Eh, no, not really. I'll be there, but it was really hard to pry myself away from the XBox 360 today. Oh, I have it on PC too, but I save that for work diversions. It has been a really long time since I've been this immersed in a game that I would buy both the 360 and the PC version and play both versions during the same week. I love being able to sneak up on enemies and shoot them from a great distance and when I hit them, they suffer significant damage and don't instantly dash to me and kill me. The game takes me more time when I'm stealthing, but I enjoy it and I get to see a lot more of the game when I'm not trying to run from the enemy or towards them and hack n' slash. The game lets you do that do if you want. You can use your sword (or swords if you dual wield) or other melee weapon to obliterate the enemy. You can also use magic as well if that's your style. You'll also learn some dragon shouts along the way that are basically beefed up magical powers that help you with your journey. There are puzzles along the way, but they aren't too complicated or "Myst-like" that you won't be able to figure them out. A lot revolve around reading notes that you find or using your dragon shouts.

The game is also amazingly beautiful, which is one of the reasons I like to sneak around and take my time. The entire scenery seems so real, I almost stopped to try and take a leak in the gushing waterfall, but alas I had a ladyfriend accompanying me on my journey so I decided against it (It was then, that I realized I really had to go in RL and the sounds of the waterfall were making it a lot worse). I'm going to add a disclaimer here: I haven't played the game in hard mode, I'm currently playing it in Easy. Once I complete the story, I'll go back and try it in medium and hard and see what the differences are and if I can complete the game in those modes; however, I'm more of a story guy and like to get the full story of the game, rather than worrying about getting my brains beat out of me at every single moment. Although I'm playing it on Easy, I have not used any cheat codes and the game makes it very easy to pick up at your last save, or auto-save, if you die, so cheats aren't really necessary at this point.

If you have enjoyed playing the previous Elder Scrolls installments, then you are almost certainly in for a treat with Skyrim. Even if you have shyed away from the game before, give Skyrim a try, you may find yourself enjoying the variety of ways that you can play and complete the game. The graphics are amazing, so if you are the type that the graphics make the game for you, then you also need to get your hands on this game. That's it for now, see ya next time (I know it's been a while since my last post, but I'll try to keep coming back as regularly as I can).

-Ashton

Regular RPGs just don't do it anymore (or am I a cheater?)

Okay, so I know it's been a little bit since my last post, but alas, I'm still here. I've been a bit down lately to post anything, as my Learn 2 Play WoW (weplaywow.com) experiment didn't turn out as well as I thought (apparently there are not many people out there that want to play World of Warcraft and just don't know how as I had originally thought, although I do have a good amount of fans on our Facebook page). The website is still up and we're still accepting purchases and giving classes if needed; however, no one has bit yet (Yes, I'm probably the only business owner to ever admit this, but I think that's one of my key traits: I'm able to admit when I don't succeed at something and either try harder and figure out what I did wrong or why something doesn't work).

Ah, enough of the self-pity and onto the real meat of this post. I realized something the other day as I was demoing D & D: Dragondale on the XBOX 360. I didn't get very far before I became bored. The same thing happened with Demon Souls on the PS3 (an interesting concept, but I was only able to play until I died, and then it became very irritating trying to resurrect...). I thought back to The Elder Scrolls series that I have played since Morrowind. I only made it through the stories of those games because I (scoff) cheated. Yes, I admit when things got frustrating (which on Oblivion set to Easy mode wasn't often, but hey it did happen), I either looked up the cheat codes for God mode or looked up the walkthrough to find the answer. Then I thought about something. I never cheated in City of Heroes to get to 50 (you couldn't or if you did, you got banned, etc, etc, etc). But it did get frustrating at times, but my friends in-game helped me, as well as my wife because she played as well. Then I thought to how I had become bored with City of Heroes and moved onto World of Warcraft, and sigh, I cheated. I use Dugi's guides... and before those I used Jame's tour guides... (note, not necessarily cheating, but walkthroughs essentially telling you how to do everything). Am I addicted to getting to the end as fast as I can or am I even cheating at WoW, or did CoH just become boring at the end when all of my friends, and my wife, had moved on pretty much. I admit, we have regular groups that run Dungeons in World of Warcraft and that is one of the reasons I stay. I'm now playing Rift occasionally, especially with their version of a dungeon finder implemented (okay, I love my Bard in these dungeon groups! Don't have to dedicate healing, and I play music to buff and deal damage!). Okay, geekfest over here. Let me know in the comment section here. Am I addicted to cheating or have the single-player RPGs just lost their flair compared to MMORPGs, or am I even cheating at all on World of Warcraft?

Update: Final Fantasy XI Sub Cancelled

I promised everyone an update on my time spent in the XBOX 360 version of Final Fantasy XI. I tried playing my Hume a few more times and did not have any luck at all. The initial quest was simply "go find this guy in this maze of caves, but I'm not going to give you any directions or anything. Oh, there's a map sold by this guy down at the dock, but you don't have enough money for that yet. Oh, and you'll need to equip your weapon as well, because if you don't, well you'll die" basically. I couldn't find the guy even after trying to find an online walkthrough for the quest. So, I decided to try a different character. I created an elf this time and started in San 'd Oria (I think that's how it's spelled, but I can't remember). This time, it was a bit easier. I was able to do several of the starting quests and even levelled up to level 5. However, the quests were all of the "Kill X number of Y" variety, and being the type of person I am, I got really bored with this type of quest. I simply didn't have the patience anymore, and WoW was calling my name again (Yes, I know WoW does the Kill X number of Y thing too, but at least I get an interesting story to go with it). So, I have cancelled my FFXI sub and doubt I will go back.