Game of the Year?

[buzzbomb]

Edit: First let me apologize for this drunken rant. I really do love the game. I wrote this after a very frustrating five hours I should have been playing, and drank a few too many beers trying to get it to work. Alas, not the first time beer has made a fool of someone, and certainly not the last. Cheers, all.

 

I was an Elder Scrolls fanboy. I loved it. The whole sandbox idea, the modding community keeping it alive and fresh. Like many of you, I've been playing Oblivion since it came out. The mods made it all possible. Endless content, enjoyment, excitement and expectation... Always knowing there was more to come.

 

Like many of you, the joy I felt when I saw the first Skyrim trailer was indescribable. Like many of you, I waited long, long months to see the glory that was the continuation of the only game I really play. All the hype drove the excitement I felt at every release of new footage. I found myself reading the forums several times a day, hoping for a scrap of new information. I was starving for every new screenshot and dreaming of every new piece of video.

 

I was actually at the store at midnight, to get my copy of the Elder Scrolls V. I didn't care if it ran on Steam. I didn't care if it ran on kerosene, alcohol or if I had to ride a little bicycle attached to a flywheel.

 

All I cared was that I was going to get a new Elder Scrolls, with a new engine, and that the modders would only make it better. I knew I could count on the modding community to take the next Elder Scrolls game beyond anything that could be done in a commercial enterprise, and keep it alive for years. The modders would keep it ever growing, ever interesting, always great.

 

I knew it was Bethesda, and that they understood that it was the PC platform and the modding community that kept people like us interested in the Elder Scrolls. I just knew Bethesda understood that without the PC and modding community, the Elder Scrolls V was just another game and nothing really special.

 

So many posts by so many people about all the problems with the game. So many obvious instances that we dealt with as players that made it clear how the PC community was forgotten. Yet I remained steadfast. I would support this game and company that made it. I liked it. I enjoyed it. I appreciated it.

 

Now this. I get home from a long day of work. I'm off tomorrow. Been planning for days what quests I would pursue. I avoid anything that even smells of spoiler on the internet. I'm wondering what new and better armor I might find, and what weapon I can drool over. What quest, challenge, monster, puzzle shall I overcome? I sat down at my computer five hours ago. I've been trying to play ever since.

 

And why? From what I've read (none of which comes from Bethesda OR Steam, because they're not talking) it's because there was a forced download of a bogus patch so that the pirates would have a harder time pirating. Which they've already done. Which no patch could possibly stop.

 

Now I've got 51 hours invested in a character I care about, in a world I care about. And it's apparently gone. Have I tried every tip, trick and fix I can find on the entirety of the internet? Yes. Has anything worked? No. Does my ire reach heights that the Throat of the World can't even contemplate? Abso-frickin-lutely.

 

Bethesda has lost my trust. I am no longer a fanboy. Search my handle on the forums. Go way back. I was ever positive, ever trusting, ever hopeful and trusting. Some say lost trust is the hardest thing to earn back. I say it is lost hope.

 

I truly and honestly HOPE that what is happening is some of kind of mistake. I HOPE that some one just screwed up. I hope that this isn't the end of all of the high level modding of Elder Scrolls. I'm writing this at 0406 on the 22nd of November, 2011, United States EST. I HOPE it's fixed by the time I post this.

Edited November 23, 2011 by buzzbomb

[Farem]

How can one patch ruin YEARS of playing and enjoying a video game series for you?

 

How did you "lose" your character?

[vertex23]

Right click Skyrim in steam -> Properties -> Verify game cache.

Take LAA out and use the new Skyrim4gb

 

Realize you just wasted all that time typing that instead of looking for the answer.

[Farem]

Right click Skyrim in steam -> Properties -> Verify game cache.

Take LAA out and use the new Skyrim4gb

 

Realize you just wasted all that time typing that instead of looking for the answer.

I was going to mention this but I'm figuring there might be another reason. If not :rolleyes:

[soot00]

How can one patch ruin YEARS of playing and enjoying a video game series for you?

 

How did you "lose" your character?

 

LOL, THIS ^^

 

Love internet gamer rants, cracks me up!!!

[dereko]

Point of this is not that there is a fix, there is always a fix for things if you look long enough.

 

The point is this is what happens when you let companies suck you into installing a program like Steam, and give up control of your game, computer and privacy. What business does a company have keeping game stats of your game play on this program? or installing updates before a person can read about them and decide if they want the update for themselves?

 

Not to mention, practically calling you a thief, after you've bought the game. Now you have to go online and prove to the company you didn't steal it. and "unlock" it after buying the DVD. What a load of Rubbish. And I see more and more Corporate nonsense pushing this technology. Yes I know you can change settings in Steam as well as start it offline that's not the point.

 

This brings up other points... you've bought the DVD suppose you decide in a few years later to reinstall and revisit your game?... is Mommy and Daddy Corporation going to still be there supporting your old DVD and grant you the priviledge of unlocking something you've already bought a couple of years later? probably not, guess you'll have to keep buying new games, how convenient for them.

 

Steam is simply an experiment to see how far they can go with this. If these type of Corporations, had their way you'd be paying by the hour, leasing all your games after paying your $60.00 for as long as they could collect it. Wake up.

 

Yes this is a great game, and Bethesda had done quite a few things right over the years but using Steam is not one of them.

Edited November 22, 2011 by dereko

[Lachdonin]

Point of this is not that there is a fix, there is always a fix for things if you look long enough.

 

The point is this is what happens when you let companies suck you into installing a program like Steam, and give up control of your game, computer and privacy. What business does a company have keeping game stats of your game play on this program? or installing updates before a person can read about them and decide if they want the update for themselves?

 

Not to mention, practically calling you a thief, after you've bought the game. Now you have to go online and prove to the company you didn't steal it. and "unlock" it after buying the DVD. What a load of Rubbish. And I see more and more Corporate nonsense pushing this technology. Yes I know you can change settings in Steam as well as start it offline that's not the point.

 

This brings up other points... you've bought the DVD suppose you decide in a few years later to reinstall and revisit your game?... is Mommy and Daddy Corporation going to still be there supporting your old DVD and grant you the priviledge of unlocking something you've already bought a couple of years later? probably not, guess you'll have to keep buying new games, how convenient for them.

 

Steam is simply an experiment to see how far they can go with this. If these type of Corporations, had their way you'd be paying by the hour, leasing all your games after paying your $60.00 for as long as they could collect it. Wake up.

 

Yes this is a great game, too bad they are using Steam.

 

Welcome to the corporate machine.

 

That said, i personally love steam. I have never had a single problem with it, and have on several occations gone back and been able to play games years out of date. I even got them to honor my cd copy of Desiples II, which pre-dates steam but is now offered on it. As such, i ahve first hand experience that your 'Can i go back and play it later' arguement is absolute rubbish.

 

As for this whole 'keeping stats on the playerbase' thing, some people are too obsessed with their privacy. If it helps the industry make more enjoyable games, i'm all for it. Without demographic stats and playtimes, they wouldn't know what games are popular. Without acheivement tracking they wouldn't know what types of activities people are willing to denote time to. This is all the type of information which is required to keep the undustry rolling, and if you recall the days before they conducted this type of research, games were largely carbon copies of eachother, and any venture into innovation was so hit and miss companies avoided it whenever possible. Hell, Halo was regarded as a 'risky' venture because it messed with the control scheme of FPS's, despite the fact the Goldeneye community had been complaining os sluggish controls for years.

 

The freeflow of information is what keeps the industry going, and Steam facilitates this. It also gives players an easy access to a library of games without the need for physical storage. With all things digital, there is the occational hiccup. Look at Blackberry's servers a few months back. People who are obsessed with all this closed door, private information are the ones holding back development, and in my mind have no place in the industry, either as designers or consumers. So long as their not taking my money without giving me a product, i'll tell them anything they want.

[dereko]

Well if you like Steam that is your Opinion,

 

Your still missing the point, its not that you have or haven't had problems with Steam or that they granted you access to an older game. The point is, is that you have to do this at all. You should not have to be dependent on this. Even if a company offers good support, suppose they are bought out, or suppose they go out of business, or move onto another platform are you old games going to be supported? This is all about making people dependent.

 

As far as gaming research and keeping stats there is more than enough information out there without using a program to keep tabs on people. The modding community is a wealth of information of what people want and how they play. As well there are more than enough people willing to assist games and gaming companies testing and allowing them to monitor there playing without attempting it on everyone.

[Lachdonin]

Ok, wait a second... You're complaining about this making people dependant? The same people who are dependant on companies to produce video games in the first place? The same people who are dependant on jobs to make the money so they can buy the games from the companies they are dependant on to make them? What about the counter dependancy, where the companies need to access the largest possible communtiy, in the easiest manner, in order to make enough money to continue making games said community wants?

 

The dependancy is part of the industry. Hell, its part of every industry, every community, every society. Programs like Steam, Impulse, Xbox-Live, PS-Network, B.net and so forth are all part of streamlining that codependancy. If you want to be so doggedly independant you shouldn't be buying videogames, using the internet or even living in this society (Though the Conservatives/Republicans don't seem to understand the socio-economic concept of community).

 

You seem to be faulting a company, in this case Steam, for making the codependant Consumer-Designer dynamic easier on both parties. The consumer can get his game anywhere he has internet, doesn't have to lug around the cd's, doesn't have to answer annoying and time consuming serveys, and the designer saves costs on cd production, reaches more consumers, and gets feedback without having to annoy the consumer base.

 

The only issue i see with these programs and products is that the cost usually has no differance. Yes, Steam offers deals, but without the cost for production of the hard copy, their products should be ~10% lower.

[dereko]

Okay, Now your completely off topic going in all directions and arguing for the sake of arguing and making no sense at all.