Love/hate #22 - The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Special Edition unfinished? Spoilers

Hoo boy. I first played this on the Xbox 360 maybe at Christmas 2012 or 2013 and it was fine. I tried to play as a sneaky character but I just couldn't hack the game. My daggers were terribly useless, my bow was disappointing, my sneak attacks were not to be relied on. Every enemy would kick my ass sooner or later. I'd go a little too long without saving and then get killed. I just couldn't get into the plot or quests at all. I forgot about Skyrim.

I returned to it a year or three later and tried to just plow through the plot. I got reasonably far, maybe halfway or more but just got fed up with it again.

Skip forward to late 2018 I just said fudge it and booted up the Special Edition on my PC and aimed to go all the way through.

This game is really pretty.

Ellyn succeeded Caflena Bloodtear, my Drow on the 360. Ellyn is a Breton, for that sweet magic resistance.

I made sure to get Lydia as I always do. She would accompany me for much of the game. Much like my Fallout 4 review, companions have really fallen in stature. From the absolute kick ass Boone's and Rex of New Vegas to glorified meatshields. It did help lower the difficulty a bit.

Trolled.

This poor bastard.

Many dragon souls were devoured.

I love the Khajiit never played one.

I loved dual wielding axes.

I only cast restoration magic.

Heavy Armour was my jam for the most part.

I always hated the Aldmeri Dominion. But I like the idea of it.

Horse #1. Stolen from a military camp.

Nothing to see here.

I had to kill a lot of these. That and the Draugr.

I like these little death cam shots.

I like the Daedra!

I liked the Pelagis quest. One of the few.

Such pretty sights. Found Castle Volkihar long before I started the actual DLC.

More Daedra!

I did enjoy all the little upgrades to my armour.

So badass.

Of course this place has Northern Lights!

Buh oh.

This is fine.

Time to go full rogue and try the various guilds.

Le Dark Brotherhood.

It took me forever to figure out these puzzles. When I found out where to look for the solution I was amazed the denizens of Skyrim never figured it out.

Tragic Horse #2.

Shit.

HE MUST HAVE ATE TOO MUCH MAMMOTH CHEESE

Ah that's good.

So pretty. So brutal.

I got really really into Smithing. Just like Fallout 4 and the Settlements mechanic. I just had to travel to every smith, buy all their stuff and smith to my heart's content, then sell back. Repeat.

I love maps. I like the map of Skyrim. I do not like using the map feature here. It's fine, but it could have been better?

One swerve followed another. I'm glad he survived that clash.

So I finally became a werewolf.

Adventures in Dragon Plate with Dual Dragon Bone Axes.

I really liked Parthurnax. I refused to kill him initially but way way way after the main quest was over I went back and murdered him just to close out that quest. Sorry!

I love this kind of shizz. It almost saved the main story for me.

Poor guy. He was very gracious to help me get to Alduin.

Off to kill King Dragonjerk with this lot.

Ah the Falmer. The other enemy I love to hate.

As a fan of Call of Cthulhu I ADORED the aesthetic of the Solstheim DLC. Was a great change after beating the main.

There were various times I'd have to wield Pickaxes, or dual wield them.

I ditched One Handed Weapons for Two Handed late in the game - way slower and less satisfying but added a layer of challenge in a way. Dragonbone Warhammer, of course. Later a Stahlrim one for the craic.

Returning to Skyrim proper to kick ass and ride dragons

Ha. Forgot to move Ulfric after I murdered him. I sided with the Empire because at least they weren't fecking racists like the Stormcloaks.

Lydia actually died on me so I console commanded her back to life, but she was no longer my wife so she just wasn't the same person. I sacrificed her to continue this Daedra quest...

Built three houses all by myself! Forgot to furnish the insides though...

The Dark Brotherhood quest was pretty good.

Killing the Emperor twice and getting my final horse, Shadowmere, was cash.

I just had to visit this place.

The Dawnguard DLC was considerably less fun.

I kind of liked the Mages Guild quest but mainly used my sword and dagger to charge through it.

OK this was pretty cool.

My final set of armour after going back from Light to Heavy and levelling my Smithing up for the third time. Get some Trolls to beat you up to practice your skills! Every piece of the Daedric Armour plus my ring and necklace were double enchanted and refined to the max.

My final set of weapons. Right handed Dragonbone Sword, no enchantments so I could get the benefits of the godlike Shout, Elemental Air. Left hand, Dragonbone dagger with dual enchantments, Soul Trap (my fave) and Health Absorb, for the craic hey.

My final achievement: Getting to Level 78 and getting one of these Legendary Dragons to spawn randomly. I spawned a few via console commands but just couldn't find one in the wild. Finally found one and killed him in seconds. All 75 achievements in over 100 hours, been playing on and off since late 2018. I can finally move onto something else!

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Must start writing two a4 pages a day - to be started March 1. Have roughly 1 page per day done since January 1st, so maybe 59 pages with at worst 180 words so maybe 10000+ words? I can't believe that. That's more than my NaNoWriMo. Obviously over a mch longer period but still. If I wrote two a4 pages a day for the next two months I'll be in an excellent position.

Skyrim will eventually be totally complete, all 75 achievements on Steam and buried forever. It was decent but not the greatest game ever by any measure! I'll post a Love/Hate then! Will probably jump back to New Vegas for a respite and to get the NCR achievements and then on to something else.

Theo is doing really well he's so big and handsome we all adore him.

Promoted to trainer at work, which is apparently being shut down and moved to Mexico so we'll all be shifted over to the east side of the city. Been working 6 days a week mostly the last month or two. I'm enjoying my new role but there are occasional intense moments.

Went to Dublin last week to visit the Royce, a nice getaway indeed.

Going to Itzacon hopefully in a week, always nice.

Trip to Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris in late April, just need to sort trains but everything else is done.

That's it for now?

27 tomorrow, 1 page a day update

I'm 27 tomorrow!

I have written 1 page a day at I'm guessing 180 words minimum so maybe 1800+ words in 10+ days? Just jumping around between the three perspectives.

2018 retrospective

Blog numbers are better than ever!

Job is going really well, training people and getting more responsibilities so far so good. Will stick at it for a while more.

Downgraded the MA to a P Cert but was much happier, I didn't want to do another dissertation and module especially not for the price of two semesters. It was a good course and I enjoyed it immensely but I couldn't go much further with it and that's fine by me. Time to take a break from education for a few years. Would be a great day job.

Moved back home like so many others in Ireland 2018 but we'll see where 2019 takes us.

Traveled quite a bit, got to see Amsterdam in April with Royce and went by myself to Bratislava in June for a week and visited Budapest and Vienna while in the neighbourhood by train. Very cool yet very very hot at that time. Got to see the Hofburg among other things. Going to do something very similar in 2019 involving Belgium-France-Luxembourg.

Theo is a giant and a little heartbreaker we all adore him very much. 1st class in late 2019!

July to December 2018 was cycling time. Hoping to get back to running a tiny bit in 2019. Got some great free exercises I can do at home before dinner - planking is great and new to me. Some expansion into upper body stuff to a greater degree than before.

Won't be at the next Warpcon either but hopefully Itzacon again! Nice to see everybody again.

Over one year single more or less, it's been better but could be worse.

Participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time properly and it was great! Only got 7000 words done or so BUT it was a huge step forward for me creatively. Plans are once again in place to take things forward and start using these characters and setting.

Have ordered print paper from Eason so will resume the Great Work.

Back to playing RPGs on Monday nights! First it was Warhammer Fantasy now it's D&D 5th edition. Will have to get back to GMing someday.

Didn't manage to get the driving theory there recently but will try again real soon, test #3 booked!

Best game of 2018... though a bit of a cop out will give this to Resident Evil 4 remastered on PC, had more fun with that than Fallout 4 or Skyrim. Getting closer to being current (via remasters).

Have been somewhat bearded since June it's been different but fun.

Best book read in 2018: clash between Nixonland by Rick Perlstein and The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk... Nixonland might just have edged it. Still reading Charles Esdaile's Napoleon's Wars but it would have been a very very strong contender.

Best music of 2018... haven't listening to contemporary shit in months but will give it to Sigrid's Strangers, edging out Justin Timberlake & Chris Stapleton's Say Something. Apparently they're 2017 but feck it, I've only been listening to Classic Hits at work the last few months I know nothing.

Here's to an even better 2019!