The Best Moments Can't be Scripted

[BlackCompany]

The best moments in gaming cannot be scripted. Time and again I have borne witness to this fact. The best moments in gaming arise because developers put systems in place that serve as tools. These tools in turn allow players to create their own special moments, dependent on context and character and perhaps even their own personal back story, for those like me who really role play a character.

 

 

(Possible minor spoilers ahead for those two people who like Skyrim but still haven't played it yet.)

 

 

 

Last night I finished the battle for Whiterun. Now, my character, he's a Nord. Grew up in Riverwood. Trained as a Smith's apprentice. But he also practiced with the weapons he crafted at Alvor's forge. And he just couldn't stand by while the Empire tore itself apart. So he signed on with the Legion, reasoning that Tidus wouldn't last forever and a strong Empire was about the only long term counter to the Aldmeri threat.

 

Now, I'm running amidst the raging fires from stricken building. Catapults. Where had the Stormcloaks come by catapults? All round, smoke billows, drifting on the cold wind off the open Tundra that comes howling over the walls of Whiterun. Fires burn. People run, screaming or grab at weapons as if to stand against the rebel tide.

 

I make the gates. No invaders. Outside, then.

 

Stormcloaks by the dozen. Charging 'neath the hail of falling, flaming shot. Arrows whistle by but I ignore them. I've armor for that. Two men charge Hadvar and I Shout, become a surging Whirwind. I meet them at the end of the magical dash, blow them backward. My sword strikes home, biting flesh, then again. Two stormcloaks go down and Hadvar has the third.

 

And so it goes. Blood flows. People scream. Fires burn. Travelers run to and fro or grab weapons and fight. Don't even know who they're fighting or why but they fight and Stormcloaks fall. Maybe its to save their city, or their empire. Maybe its to save their own hides. But Stormcloaks fall and I smile a grim smile.

 

Then the invaders are routed, running to escape and I grab a last archer lagging behind and run him through and I hear even Hadvar screaming that I should be careful now. The battle has ended but I don't register that fact immediately and I'm looking for more blue-coated men to kill....

 

Then it really is over and the enemy's fled. Now fire and smoke are all that remain. We've won the day and the Jarl says some words. They're just that; words. But they make the men feel better and when Hadvar tells me he he's glad I made it, that he thought he'd find me face down in the dirt, I smile. Shake my head. Takes more than a few Stormcloak rebels to see me back to the mud.

 

I re-enter the city gates as the adrenaline wears off. Fires burn and smoke clouds the air. I choke and cough and make my way along the main street. Vendor stalls line the area and I'm surprised how many remain intact. Ulfric wanted to take the city, not destroy it. That was his mistake; and so we remain.

 

And that's when I see it. The moment that will define the battle for this city. The one second in time that will remain forever etched into my memory. A symbolic tribute to survival; a reminder that life goes on.

 

All around me people try and resume their normal lives. Clinging to the stability of routine in the wake of violence. But on the street a plain metal bowl has fallen to the ground. With a squeak, a small brown nose peaks from beneath, and then the rest emerges. A small, harmless brown rodent with a white stripe along it's back squeak's its way out from under the metal bowl beneath which it had sheltered during the fight, and I watch it go as it hurries off to some better hiding spot now the calm has settled once more....

 

And I realize: Life goes on. We're all just trying to survive, as best we can, for as long as we can. Come dragons or vampires or just Stormcloaks in blue, we're all of just like that harmless little cousin to the Skeever, taking shelter where we can, for as long as we can, and then moving on to some place better once the storm has passed.

 

I realize nothing last forever. That life goes on. That all we really want is a safe place to shelter from the storm.

 

I realize that's what we're fighting for.

 

 

 

How did this happen:

 

It wasn't some scripted sequence. I installed the following mods:

 

-Realistic Wildlife (places harmless rodents in cities, as ambient critters)

-ICP - Immersive Cities Project: Vendor stalls from which the bowl fell during the fight

-Whiterun Outskirts: Made the gate approach a real chokepoint and helped with the city defense thereby

-Slof's Skeever retexture, so the bigger rodents don't make me sick when I see them and so the smaller, harmless ones are actually sort of hamster-cute

-Immersive Travelers

-Travelers of Skyrim (these provided the extra travelers fighting and runnin outside Whiterun, caught in the crossfire, so to speak)

-A small personal tweaked inspired by a Nexus mod. I added the Whirlwind Cloak from Dragonborn to the Whirlwind sprint effects. HIGHLY recommend doing this; makes the shout 500% better.

 

 

What happened:

 

The small harmless Skeever variant really did coming running out from beneath the fallen bowl. Apparently, the bowl fell on him as I approached (i didn't see it happen). So all I saw was a Skeever making sure the coast was clear as it dashed from beneath its perfectly shaped bunker just moments after the battle had ended. If I had come back into the city a moment later this would not have happened; had I gone straight back to Solitude I would have missed it. And I am willing to bet no one else has ever experienced EXACTLY this occurence in Skyrim before, or ever will. Similar, perhaps, but this unique experience, coupled with my character's back story and the context of my game, is my own, personal event.

 

I wish more developers would realize that its not the scripted narrative cut scenes or pre-determined events that matter. Just put the tools in place. We'll supply the rest. And backing off of your rail road tracks to let us use our own imaginations now and again certainly doesn't hurt, either.

[Deleted3507349User]

What a wonderful story, and I share your sentiment. I really should take notes, because every time I play a character I flesh them out and there's always something completely random and unique that happens to them. Something that's simply the result of the game doing what it does.

[Elfriend]

To set up the story: I play Skyrim strictly as a sandbox. My companion is a very non-canon faerie (Lunariana, by FalmerBane), who likes to resurrect fallen opponents to help us in battle. I built the Lakeview Manor house, didn't like it much, so adopted another one across the road from Half-Moon Mill (Millview, by demidekidasu). Thus, I often travel the road between them, along the south shore of Lake Ilinalta.

 

After a while, I began regularly to meet a female hunter on a palomino horse along that stretch of road, where there is often trouble. I'd stop and talk, see what she had to sell, trade a few furs. Sometimes she'd be on foot chasing game and I'd help her. Sometimes she would be attacked by bandits or spiders and I'd come to her aid. She came to be an imaginary friend.

 

One day, as Luna and I walked that route, I saw a dead giant frostbite spider in the road. Knowing they often come in pairs, I hurried toward it, bow ready for combat. We found and killed the second spider. After the fight, there was the hunter, bathed in the bluish glow that indicates resurrection. Apparently, she had killed the first spider and been killed by the second. Luna had resurrected her to help fight our battle. A minute later she was a pile of ash. Nearby I found her horse, also dead. We'd arrived just a little too late.

 

I kept a ring found in the ashes and enchanted it with Restore Health. My PC still wears it.

[BlackCompany]

To set up the story: I play Skyrim strictly as a sandbox. My companion is a very non-canon faerie (Lunariana, by FalmerBane), who likes to resurrect fallen opponents to help us in battle. I built the Lakeview Manor house, didn't like it much, so adopted another one across the road from Half-Moon Mill (Millview, by demidekidasu). Thus, I often travel the road between them, along the south shore of Lake Ilinalta.

 

After a while, I began regularly to meet a female hunter on a palomino horse along that stretch of road, where there is often trouble. I'd stop and talk, see what she had to sell, trade a few furs. Sometimes she'd be on foot chasing game and I'd help her. Sometimes she would be attacked by bandits or spiders and I'd come to her aid. She came to be an imaginary friend.

 

One day, as Luna and I walked that route, I saw a dead giant frostbite spider in the road. Knowing they often come in pairs, I hurried toward it, bow ready for combat. We found and killed the second spider. After the fight, there was the hunter, bathed in the bluish glow that indicates resurrection. Apparently, she had killed the first spider and been killed by the second. Luna had resurrected her to help fight our battle. A minute later she was a pile of ash. Nearby I found her horse, also dead. We'd arrived just a little too late.

 

I kept a ring found in the ashes and enchanted it with Restore Health. My PC still wears it.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

An amazing and touching story. I love the freedom games like this give us, to create our own narratives, our own stories. It is something I would love to see more of.

 

Hopefully we will see others here sharing their stories as well. I would love to see this discussing keep going for a long while.

[gsmanners]

I think it's fair to say that Bethesda isn't qualified to write a story that's more compelling than random violence. That's just their inability to find decent writers. The absolute Best Moment for me in an RPG was the end of my noble dwarven Dragon Age play through where he made the ultimate sacrifice. No random craziness could ever even come close to how awesome that was.

[Elfriend]

No offense intended, Sir, but it seems you prefer the "novel" approach. Someone else writes the story, you "beat the game" and then sit back and enjoy the ending. I've done that (fireworks at the end of "Curse of the Azure Bonds", anyone?), but now prefer the "roleplaying" approach. Give me a detailed, complex, graphically beautiful imaginary world and I'll write the story myself. I know I'm a minority, since I couldn't care less about dragons and the Dovahkacallit. The beauty of Skyrim and the reason Bethesda has made so money from it, is that it can accomodate a wide variety of approaches. If ProjektRed actually produces a sandbox version of The Witcher, I'll try that too. Certainly, the first two iterations didn't appeal to me.

[Echoside]

No offense intended, Sir, but it seems you prefer the "novel" approach. Someone else writes the story, you "beat the game" and then sit back and enjoy the ending. I've done that (fireworks at the end of "Curse of the Azure Bonds", anyone?), but now prefer the "roleplaying" approach. Give me a detailed, complex, graphically beautiful imaginary world and I'll write the story myself. I know I'm a minority, since I couldn't care less about dragons and the Dovahkacallit. The beauty of Skyrim and the reason Bethesda has made so money from it, is that it can accomodate a wide variety of approaches. If ProjektRed actually produces a sandbox version of The Witcher, I'll try that too. Certainly, the first two iterations didn't appeal to me.

 

Funny you mention Sandbox Witcher... Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is gonna be an open world RPG. T.T And probably the death of many low-med end computer rigs.

 

I'm like you too, I tend to have the story in my mind and make the world shape around it.(But I'm not above a good old linear story if has actual plot to it.) Probably comes from my days as a DnD player. It's one of the reasons I like Gohper's Let's Plays is because he tries to keep in character.

[Olimpista]

I have a story to share. It was a snowy day in skyrim, but then again, when you're not near Whiterun when it is not? I had gone to Solitude to meet the Imperial commander there. After going up the ranks and mighty heroic deeds, he finally told me "where taking this fort, get on it, and come back alive." As I went there to meet the soldiers they look at me in shock. I was wielding the famous Goldbrand. The stuff of legend sthey said. As I went to the fort's front gate they Stormcloaks's arrows greeted me. 3 solders laid dead behind me. Good men too. Damn Stormcloak I thought. I rushed to the main courtyard, and was greeted by what I thought must've been the entire bulk of the stormcloak army, or what was left of it. As I was wielding Goldbrand they came at me in hopes of prying it of my dead cold hands, yet, every single soldier that came at me was swiftly dispatched by either arrows from my fellow soldiers of my own deadly techniques. After most of the fort was obliterated and only one soldier remained, he started to bolt to safety. "Not today. Not after everything you've done this day." I readied my bow and arrow, waited for the wind, and took the shot. Arrow pierced his heart. Dead. No remorse. After I dispatched him men started celebrating. I took a look around. Pools of blood everywhere. I actually felt as If I was IN the battlefield. I actually felt as a hero.

 

How did this happen?

I had this mods intalled:

- Dance of Death and the killmove frec to 100%

- Enhanced blood textures

- Immersive Weapons V6

 

And that's about it. I don't remember the fort's name, so don't ask. All I remember was that it was in the snow. I actually looked around after killing the npcs and thought "so, this is what a battlefield looks like."

[BlackCompany]

No offense intended, Sir, but it seems you prefer the "novel" approach. Someone else writes the story, you "beat the game" and then sit back and enjoy the ending. I've done that (fireworks at the end of "Curse of the Azure Bonds", anyone?), but now prefer the "roleplaying" approach. Give me a detailed, complex, graphically beautiful imaginary world and I'll write the story myself. I know I'm a minority, since I couldn't care less about dragons and the Dovahkacallit. The beauty of Skyrim and the reason Bethesda has made so money from it, is that it can accomodate a wide variety of approaches. If ProjektRed actually produces a sandbox version of The Witcher, I'll try that too. Certainly, the first two iterations didn't appeal to me.

 

I tend to agree with this, to some extent. And i certainly understand the appeal. My next character will in fact be a strictly sandbox approach.

 

I tend toward the in between approach for the most part. Give me a good broad story, but let the smaller details to me. Let me make it my own. But I certainly do not begrudge anyone else there own preferred approach either.

[BlackCompany]

I have a story to share. It was a snowy day in skyrim, but then again, when you're not near Whiterun when it is not? I had gone to Solitude to meet the Imperial commander there. After going up the ranks and mighty heroic deeds, he finally told me "where taking this fort, get on it, and come back alive." As I went there to meet the soldiers they look at me in shock. I was wielding the famous Goldbrand. The stuff of legend sthey said. As I went to the fort's front gate they Stormcloaks's arrows greeted me. 3 solders laid dead behind me. Good men too. Damn Stormcloak I thought. I rushed to the main courtyard, and was greeted by what I thought must've been the entire bulk of the stormcloak army, or what was left of it. As I was wielding Goldbrand they came at me in hopes of prying it of my dead cold hands, yet, every single soldier that came at me was swiftly dispatched by either arrows from my fellow soldiers of my own deadly techniques. After most of the fort was obliterated and only one soldier remained, he started to bolt to safety. "Not today. Not after everything you've done this day." I readied my bow and arrow, waited for the wind, and took the shot. Arrow pierced his heart. Dead. No remorse. After I dispatched him men started celebrating. I took a look around. Pools of blood everywhere. I actually felt as If I was IN the battlefield. I actually felt as a hero.

 

How did this happen?

I had this mods intalled:

- Dance of Death and the killmove frec to 100%

- Enhanced blood textures

- Immersive Weapons V6

 

And that's about it. I don't remember the fort's name, so don't ask. All I remember was that it was in the snow. I actually looked around after killing the npcs and thought "so, this is what a battlefield looks like."

 

 

Skyrim had this effect on my as well. In the aftermath of fighting for (probably the same) fort in the Pale, I took in the bodies. The blood on the snow. The celebrating soldiers. I actually felt something. Some real and somewhat disturbing satisfaction from the victory despite the death. It did in fact affect me far more than the violence in Spec Ops: The Line (I played it for the narrative - don't bother) because unlike that linear corridor shooter, I CHOSE this path in Skyrim. I did not have to partake of these battles. I did not have to kill these men. I CHOSE to join the ranks and fight. There were other paths available along which I would have made my way in this world. Yet I chose to fight for the Empire, for unity. I chose to watch men bleed.

 

Player agency is huge in gaming. I wish more developers understood the power of choice and how it affects us far more than one single scripted path through a tale.