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[PATV] Wednesday, January 11, 2012 - Extra Credits Season 3, Ep. 23: Skyrim’s Opening
Dog
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
This week, we carefully examine and critique the first fifteen minutes of Skyrim's play experience.<br /> Come discuss the topic with us at our brand new <a href="http://extra-credits.net/episodes/skyrims-opening/#discuss">site</a>!
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for example, they mention the stormcloaks yet don't explain the reason for their rebellion until later on in the game, but they've established the stormcloak rebellion later on, so when you ask about it. you have a reason for asking.
i also find it extremely perplexing that they criticize skyrims establishing dialogue, yet they completely ignore CoD's when they compare them. all the dialogue from the loudspeaker, its establishing the conflict which is pretty much at the core of the whole games story. most people completely ignore this. as did Extra Credits. the only reason i can think of is passive racism from it not being in english so they dismiss it as not being important. theres no difference between the establishing dialogue in CoD's loudspaeker dialogue and the conversation in the cart.
im disappointed by Extra Credits. i enjoyed some of their other videos but this comes across as them over analyzing (incorrectly i might add) popular game to get site traffic. im not even saying skyrims intro is that great, its pretty lackluster honestly, im just saying every single reason you claim is wrong. your ignorance is insulting to the viewers.
First, they said nothing about not being able to establish the existence of something without actually explaining it. What they pointed out was giving too much jargon at such an early stage of the game. Unfamiliar terms are only effective if they are memorable and mysterious, which didn't happen in Skyrim opening. Information overloading is Writing 101's number one don't.
I do not completely understand your second statement. You said 'most people completely ignore this. as did Extra Credits'. Well, Extra Credits did the exact opposite of what you said, and most people aren't like you who would just ignore the cutscene and jump straight to shooting part. I don't know why you bring in 'racism' to this discussion. Perhaps you should organize your thoughts before posting such an insulting rant.
Denouncing the whole series just because you failed to understand one decent episode is the ignorance, a very despicable one.
And then you finally emerge from the cave, and you realize you can go anywhere. The game gives you a breadcrumb in having the option to follow the guy to the (likely) first town, but you don't have to just follow.
If the game revealed the massive world in scenic vistas right from the start you wouldn't appreciate them as much as you do after fighting for your life to get out of that very closed-in, very claustrophobic opening. When you finally see your first big, open view after the cave, it's breathtaking BECAUSE it's so unlike what you were escaping.
I also disagree with the idea that people "tune out" jargon. That doesn't happen with me, anyway. I was only mildly familiar with the ES series pre-Skyrim (a few hours of Daggerfall, a few of Morrowind and a few of Oblivion), and hearing all those things made me wonder "what is that?" "Can I go there later?" "Who are the Stormcloaks and what's the conflict about?" etc. Honestly I think if anyone tuned out those kinds of jargon drops, then an RPG just isn't for them in the first place, because it demonstrates a profound lack of curiosity or explorative...ness.
It also started you off by demonstrating one of the core story ideas. Ulfric's mouth is gagged. I would think almost everyone immediately asked themselves "why would they do that?" And of course, soon enough, you begin to understand. But just from that detail alone it gets your brain pondering a Why, and Skyrim's opening did that in rapid succession. And that's a good thing. I loved Skyrim's opening and as a rare occasion, I disagree completely with Extra Credits on this.
Personally, I think some references can be fine, but it sounds a bit like overkill. Trying to follow a conversation very clearly over your head, while taking a nice, pleasant ride to your execution... well, that doesn't sound to me all that interesting. There is a lot more that I think could have been done here, just by watching the above video, but maybe they just didn't have the time (sometimes, the kiss principle is sound). What if one of the prisoners attempted an escape? Or, what if, one of the prisoners was intriguing, telling us of great adventure... what if we heard this rousing tale, and then we see this guy break down as we get closer to the gates... this strong, powerful adventurer, reduced to a begging for his life whelp.
A good supporting character can make us feel something, get us wrapped up in the emotion of what's going on, and through that character, maybe we, as a player, can connect, and feel the horror of death that awaits. At this stage, the player is nothing, a blank slate, but maybe we can experience what we should be experiencing, being carted off to our death, with the help of a good supporting character.
So, yes, I think more could have been done... if the time was there, or the vision was right to do so...
Skyrim is 50 hours of exploration and gameplay, unless you sprint through the main quest and ignore the sidequests, in which case it is 20 hours of exploration and gameplay. People who lack the attention span to get through a five minute movie and a ten minute introductory tutorial are probably doing it wrong. On the other hand, I downloaded the 'Live another life' mod and use that all the time now, because having seen that intro ten times, it gets pretty full - adding in an option to skip it might have been better.
WHY DIDN'T YOU SEE THAT AS THE INTRO?
You're riding your horse through the epic wilderness of Skyrim while people around you are shouting and being slain. Your horse goes out of control and you fall off and hang by a cliff, where the Imperials find you and capture you.
I NEVER got the sence in Skyrim that a civil war was going on, that would have been perfect!
I found the introduction to be bland, boring, and my brother's xbox 360 crashed somewhere near the gates of Helgen. I didn't bother turning it back on. Since then I of course have played the hell out of it, after giving it another shot in another instance of watching his house, and actually making it to the part where it's interesting, and then playing through on the (painfully obvious port) PC version.
If I didnt give it that second shot (which was after I had literally tried EVERY other game in his collection), if have never finished it. Would never have experienced the game, because the intro was so terrible.
My personal idea for an introduction: If it was taken from Alduin's perspective. To see the GIANT landscape of Skyrim, to give the mystery of the sound of flapping wings, and the shouts you may hear while looking from his perspective. Flying across the landscape showing the grandeur of it all, then zooming in on a cart heading towards Helgen, where you then switch to the perspective of the player, and get a (hopefully shortened!) version of the original opening, except with character creation put on the cart, after being asked a similar question by one of the prisoners: who would then respond in a way to give you perspective on your race, as well as any potential racial issues in the setting that will give you perspective if they are mentioned in future conversations.
I just came up with that idea while writing this. I know it's not perfect, but it does address the major flaws in the original introduction. /walloftext.
also Thalmor not dalmoore
Rorikstead not roriCkstead
General Tullius not Tuleous
and Sovngarde not savvengard
also does anyone know what they meant by Elod during the same terminology part