Recent reviews by Rodeo Geenburger

At the time of Skyrim’s release, I was neckdeep in Azeroth, bought the game off hype and played it a little bit, got shrugged off because that’s just how much of a black hole WoW was at the time. Ten years later in a bout of indecision I ended up picking this as my “in-between” casual adventure… and holy hell has it been anything but an in-betweener. First off, being recommended Ultra settings made me feel pretty good about myself to start, don’t judge me and just let me have my moment okay….

Nothing about this game feels lazy, it is beautiful and mysterious… an inviting mysterious, not the one that feels like too much of a headache to figure out. This is my first Elder Scrolls game, so when your only UI is a rectangle compass and some icons it can feel almost too open ended, no sir, not here. I went in with no agenda aside from maybe what I wanted to do combat-wise; little did I know my choice was OP (sneaky archer).

I started stopping in every town and every cave, I would happily do the most mundane of tasks and just go wherever the wind took me. I don’t mind linear, most times I actually prefer it, but this is a prefect representation of what life could be without it – and it’s beautiful. I never felt pressured to progress the main campaign, hell after awhile I felt like newer storylines were the main campaign.

I learned the cities, got a feel for their politics and issues, and just generally bumbled my way around the world. One night I engaged in a drinking contest that left me traversing the world; I didn’t complete the questline in one sitting (because I AM THE PACE CAR) but when I did, I literally clapped upon completion. Like a weirdo in the movie theater… when The Dark Knight came out a group of guys cheered when the motorcycle ejected from the batmobile… it was like that, yet I was not ashamed.

I can see where people might feel models or concepts get repeated, but it never once bothered me. Each dungeon was engaging and felt different in its own way, I enjoyed all of it. I played on normal settings and don’t have a desire to go to hard; the combat is only a piece and simply changing your dominant skills in a second playthrough will scratch that itch. I look forward to playing a Stormcloak caster next and I seldom replay games.

In my first few hours I said it was an easy 9.5/10, if only there was a roll mechanic…. Until I found it sitting in the rogue skill trees. One of the easiest 10/10s I’ve ever given, can’t believe it’s taken me 10 years to get here. Oh and yeah, unlimited carry weight mod always – I am currently seeing how many cabbages I can collect. Cheers!

Came into this having previously played and had a positive experience with the FF3 3D remake but let's get started! What I enjoy about these older FF titles is there is no pomp and circumstance to getting into the game, little tutorial time and dives right into the story. Originally I felt that it was fairly simple but I was quickly surprised at the regular challenges and changes that occurred throughout the game.

As the story progressed I had to keep guessing as to who my final party would be... and while I first considered it a negative, I now have a greater appreciation for guest characters and what they bring to the table in regards to variety. This kind of calls back to the frequent challenges of the game, you often have a different lineup to tackle what is presented. The characters themselves were okay, only 2 or 3 really stuck with me as favorites but I didn't hate anyone and there were other positives that kept me going.

Final dungeon is a little lengthy; I was surprised the estimated game time was roughly 30 hours and I was almost done at 20 after tackling some side quests... but spent 6-7 hours on both grinding and end game content. Overall, the story moved fast enough to keep me engaged and the quick save feature is a great QoL change and I didn't mind making multiple attempts on harder encounters. This game can be used as both an "palette cleanser" between games or your dose of JRPG, either way you'll feel good about playing and completing it :0)