Flashback: Never Changes

Whenever I have to think back to why I love Bethesda, two series come to mind—The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. I’ve talked about both numerous times on the Workshop, namely Skyrim, Oblivion and New Vegas, but I think that it’s time to champion the one that I feels stands out the most from the 7^th generation of gaming: Fallout 3. This is something I had to put a lot of thinking into. I loved Oblivion, and even spent more time on it then I did on Fallout 3, but as I’m about to get into, there’s a strong reason why I gave Fallout 3 the best of the 4 choices.

Most people would expect when comparing Skyrim, New Vegas, Oblivion and Fallout 3 for greatness, you’d end up with an order like the one I just listed. After all, TES is debatably one of the biggest franchises in all of gaming right now, and although Fallout is big, TES is considered Bethesda’s crowning achievement. However, I think that in this case, Fallout 3 reigns supreme, even over one of my all-time favorites, Oblivion, giving my overall ranking system as:

1.      Fallout 3

2.      The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

3.      The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

4.      Fallout: New Vegas

Now comes the hard part of justification. Starting out with why the two older games got the top two slots takes a bit of referencing back. Even though there are some nice improvements in New Vegas from 3, it doesn’t feel the same. I don’t know if this may be because Obsidian was the lead in making the game, and Bethesda was on Fallout 3, but it is a let-down.

 Oblivion, on the other hand is beaten in a large amount of ways by Skyrim; better graphics, better voice-acting, heavily superior combat system, new and improved items, and more. But, there are two things missing from Skyrim that Oblivion did have—a good central story, and huge amounts of charm. Now, I will admit that of the charm of Oblivion comes from the quirks: being able to jump for 5 seconds, wearing the gray cowl around town and taking it off just before guards come up to attack you so they angrily say “How are you today, Citizen?”, the fantastic effects of Skooma and of course, the fantastic voice acting by all of the guards. I played more than 1000+ hours of Oblivion before I got bored on 3 different characters. I played for just over 400 hours on 2 characters of Skyrim before I got bored of it.

So, how did I decide between the two games in the end? I looked at how I felt playing the two of them. Fallout 3 has a fantastic storyline, and the two games have completely different combat systems, magic and medieval weaponry vs. limited guns and ingenuity. I enjoyed the 2-toned system of Fallout 3’s Enclave and Brotherhood more than the huge amount of sprawling quests of Cyrodil. Although there may be more to do in the bigger world of Tamriel, the wastelands of D.C. truly are alive and unforgettable, giving them my top spot. Deciding 3^rd and 4^th wasn’t hard after that, I love Skyrim, just not as much as Oblivion. Obsidian, although not quite as magical as Bethesda still did a good job, and 4^th place is not a bad spot—they were up against impeccable competition.

Bethesda is a powerful producer and idea maker, but I think the next direction they may want to consider moving in, is one step back. The games, although more resourceful, are missing on what made them great in the first place. They took a chance on the “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” idea, and fixed good systems and made them better, but lost something on the way. Fallout 3 is a prime example of a game that wasn’t perfect, but came damn near close to it. We don’t expect games to be 100% perfect and accurate all of the time. Fallout 3 is a game that gets closer to that bar than any other Bethesda game I’ve played.

--Santa

TF Top 5

As I've said many times, TF2 is my favorite game. 

Ever.

But, I thought you might like some insight into why. 

Because it isn't ALL about hats.

Just Mostly.

To give an aspect, Valve really is one of the best, if not the best, game developers of games. Pretty much ever. Two of their games make it into my top 5, which I feel isn't an easy accomplishment, as I am a very picky player. Games I talk about all the time make it into the top 5 that even though I love, just don't make the cut.

Without any further delay:

Santa's Picks For Best Video Game.

5. Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. This may be controversial to those who like the series but, I just have one thing to say-- Six Flags.

4. Half-Life 2. Besides HL2, the only other heavy plot line game in my top 10 is Bioshock, which isn't to say that they're bad, its just to say that I prefer multiplayer games. Ironically however, nearly all the games in my top 5 are singleplayer. The man with the goatee is personally one of my all-time heroes, and with a story so compelling, I still can't wait for the sequel, but Valve speeds up for no man.

3. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I had to think about this one for a long time. Who deserved it more? Skyrim, or Oblivion. In the end, the game with 3x the playtime won my vote. I can't be the only one who thought Skyrim just was... missing something. I hurts me to say that Skyrim isn't as good, but there's a large bit of charm withing Oblivion. The gray cowl. The gates to Oblivion. Fiercesome Mudcrabs. Everything I loved, and spent more than 1000 hours left.

2. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The other surprise. This is the only game I have played through at least 10 times. Mr. Green Stache, Cackletta, Mario, Popple, everything in this game was so memorable and just fantastic. Its hard not to give anything less that a "perfect 10" but in the end, only one game has ever achieved that rating from me.

1. Team Fortress 2, not big surprise. By far the best. A game that shouldn't have a lore, has likely the most complicated one that Valve could make. The game thats least likely to have an economic system revolving around it, has made one. The game least likely to have hats-- oh wait, Robin Walker was the developer, that'd be impossible. The game that puts hats into other Valve games. Thats the beauty of TF2. A game that should be no more complex than a point and click team fight extravaganza has evolved into the greatest thing ever developed. Thank you Gabe Newell, Robin Walker, and Vale for making a game that has literally ensnared me for the last year with its loving, hat filled embrace.

--Santa

Xbox: How do You Keep Dragging Me Back?

I have to admit that over the last year, I have moved away from my Xbox. I haven't properly payed my Xbox since the beginning of the year, when I was still on my Honeymoon with Skyrim. But, I just can't seem to forget about my 3rd true gaming love. I was able to let go of the GameCube in a couple of seconds to get the Wii, I swapped the Wii for the Xbox without one tear shed, but now with my transitioning from PC from Xbox, I'm slowing down. I admit, it may have something to do with the fact that running TF2 on my computer makes the things shake with fear, but I think there's two titles that are still holding me back.

For those of you who guessed by looking at the picture, my first game should come as no shock. Halo 3 remains in my all time top 5 games, (which I will probably talk about at a later date) I played Reach, although I feel it had the same problem that Skyrim had. Skyrim was better than Oblivion in every single way Graphics, storyline, attack features. Everything was an improvement. But, the character was gone, and I no longer felt that special spark that I got from the raging at SWAT or getting Red Team on Avalanche. I missed the stupid guards who would want to attack because I wore m Gray Cowl, but if I took it off a second before they were to attack me, they'd ask me how my day was going. I miss that stupid charm.

So why am I excited for Halo 4? well, this is why. Go ahead and click the link to the pretty YouTube video, I assure you it'll get you going too. I will miss the Covenant, that's for sure, but I just can't help and feel amazed by the graphics, the overall feel of movement  that the game generates. I have personally felt that Video Games look pretty enough for the last few years, what we're going to see instead are dynamics. Improvements in movement, textures, differences in the bricks of houses, and maybe different sized trees. Maybe I'm just a bit too hopeful, but I do see a new realm beyond our current generation of games, everything can get better. Hit the page break to continue our heated discussion.