The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Part 4)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

Alduin, you’re going down!

THE WORLD-EATER’S EYRIE

Have you done everything you wanted? Geared up for the final quests? Good, let’s go! The Dragonborn climbs onto Odahviing and is carried away to the distant temple of Skuldafn, located so far off-map that players can’t get there except by riding a dragon. The place feels like a final dungeon; it’s meant to put all of your skills to the test, and by all the Gods of Tamriel, it does!

It IS a pretty big dungeon.

This isn't even a Death Overlord, just a Deathlord.

The place is swarmed with the most powerful draugr you can fight at your level. I was Level 51, so I faced mostly Draugr Scourges and Deathlords, all of which are as powerful as bosses and can use Unrelenting Force. Hordes of them. Picking them off one by one with arrows didn’t work too well. Beat them up with swords? That’s all good, but they ganged up on me pretty quick. Although, I’ll say, it was the first time in a while that I felt truly challenged! It was really hard, but felt very rewarding as well! It’s not like draugr carry a lot of stuff I’d need later anyway, so I guess I didn’t need to carry as little as possible into battle. The exterior area alone had a dozen of those damn monsters, that’s not even counting the northern and southern towers. Oh, did I mention the two dragons circling over Skuldafn too? Yeah, those can attack too.

To reach the roof of the dungeon, we need to walk inside and make our way up. There are more draugr in there, as well as several puzzles (some of which are actually quite tricky!). Again: A test of all your skills, as any well-developed final dungeon ought to be. Just before leaving the dungeon, what was waiting for Nikhaolaas? A draugr death overlord, in case deathlords weren’t overkill already. And what’s outside? Well, more of these undead, of course!

Have I mentioned that they can Fus-Ro-Dah you too?

I did try to keep as few items with me as possible, but I had a hunch I would be fighting these. I had three weapons with me: A sword that can capture souls into gems (since those are necessary to power up a weapon whose enchantment has run out of power and I was afraid I’d run out of filled gems); my trusted ebony sword that sets everything it hits on fire; and Dawnbreaker, obtained in a side-quest (I’ll discuss those later), which has nifty bonus effects when used to kill undead monsters. For armor, my dragonplate set did the trick.

Your mask is the only one I've yet to collect!

At the top of the ruins, a portal to Sovngarde awaited. It was, however, guarded by a Dragon Priest. Those are particularly powerful draugr who led dragon cultists; they excel in magic. Many are nameless, but there’s a handful scattered around Skyrim, in precise dragon ruins, who have names. Those are pretty impressive bosses, and upon defeat you can pick up their dragon mask, which bears their name. Such masks offer decent armor protection, but they’re sought for the very powerful effects they contain. I came across some of them when I was trying to clear every dungeon. The one in Skuldafn, named Nahkriin, must be defeated. Its staff must be picked up to open the portal, and its mask must be collected as you can’t come back to Skuldafn once you leave it. Better not forget anything important. Anyhow, the Dragonborn opens the portal into…

SOVNGARDE

That's when it's not foggy.

Man, for the Nord afterlife, this place is really misty. According to the few souls we meet, it’s unusual for this place – Alduin seems to be causing this mist. Thankfully, we can clear it with the Clear Skies shout. Sovngarde is actually quite a nice place. I hope I won’t get to see it again anytime soon once this is over. What’s interesting is that while you walk around this area, you can actually meet some of the NPCs that died over the course of your playthrough. That’s clever!

Too bad I can't stick around, those look yummy.

Nikhaolaas eventually gets to a bridge made of a dragon carcass. In order to pass and access the Hall of Valor, we must prove our worth by battling Tsun, a legendary warrior. Boom, done, can I pass now? K-Thanks. Inside the Hall of Valor, we can speak to several heroes the Dragonborn may have heard about throughout his journey. The most important ones are Gormlaith, Hakon and Felldir, the three Nord heroes who sent Alduin forward in time and from whom you learned the Dragonrend shout, by reading the Elder Scroll at the Throat of the World. After Nikhaolaas presents himself, the three rally behind him to put an end to Alduin for good. So all four walk outside, to the big field before the dragon skeleton bridge…

DRAGONSLAYER

It's time to end the World-Eater!

Before the fight proper can start, all four heroes dispel the mist by using Clear Skies at the same time. It has to be done thrice, because Alduin brings the mist back. After the third time, the dragon gets pissed and attacks.

Chances are that the Dragonborn is even mightier than he was during the fight on the Throat of the World. To top it off, the old Nord heroes are there to help as well. The result? A final boss fight that’s easier than the previous battle against the same opponent. I’ll admit I struggled, but not nearly as much. I also quickly realized that the cooldown for the Dragonnrend shout was short enough that I could simply do it again before the dragon could escape from it, leaving Alduin incapable of flying away, and chip away at his health until the World-Eater was defeated.

Alduin might return someday. This day isn't anytime soon.

Well, that was… almost anticlimactic. Alduin dies and decays, and this time he has nowhere to run. The Dovahkiin doesn’t absorb his soul, though – but at least that enemy is as dead as he can be. And with this, one of the old Nord heroes teaches a shout that carries the player back to Skyrim; the Throat of the World, in fact. Dragons fly around, claiming their allegiance to the Dragonborn, while Paarthurnax congratulates Nikhaolaas for this victory. Odahviing also reiterates his role as the Dragonborn’s willing mount, as long as you choose to call for him to carry you around. With this, we can go down to High Hrothgar to speak to Arngeir, or to Sky Haven Temple to speak to Esbern. Guards around the various holds will acknowledge your victory, but good luck getting the various Jarls to say the same!

It's a dragon party celebrating the... killer of dragons...

And thus ends the main quest, roll credits. Or not. You can watch the end credits from the main menu anyway.

However, Nikhaolaas can’t go and rest on his laurels just yet. There are so many other quests to do here!

QUESTING FOR FUN AND PROFIT

I felt bad helping the Forsworn in Markarth that one
time, so I went to their lair where they thought they
were safe and I murdered them all.

Sure, one can try and complete only the main quest, but chances are that a player will complete several side-quests alongside the seventeen missions of the central plot. I already touched upon the Civil War questline taking part of the stage as you negotiate a truce between the involved parties. I also brought up a few examples of quests that can pop up from time to time.

Or a player could just go into every dungeon and clear every area that can be cleared. As I mentioned already, that’s what I started with – after becoming Thane of Whiterun, I travelled far and wide across Skyrim to find all of the areas one could find.

There’s just a couple details about this project that ought to be mentioned.

Some dungeons are bigger on the inside. Kagrenzel, as
an example, is small, but leads to a gigantic underground
cave (one of several around Skyrim).

Some quests open when you enter a dungeon. Surprise! There’s an NPC here asking for help. It might even turn out to be an important quest with several steps, if you’re lucky. Usually you’re gonna walk into a dungeon and nothing special will happen, and you can just go through, beat the boss of that area, and leave with some decent loot. On the opposite end, there are dungeons that you cannot enter unless you have a particular quest lined up. The door will be locked with a key and you can’t pick it. Some places are also closed unless you’ve reached a particular player level, but it’s usually fairly low so there isn’t much of a worry there.

Back in Part 2, I mentioned owning a home in a hold and upgrading it. The reason is pretty simple; if you go questing around, you very quickly collect a lot of items, and will need some place to store all of it. Early on, you don’t make a ton of money selling back items, so you might often want to hold off on selling some of your better stuff. You eventually collect a lot of soul gems, precious stones, crafting materials, weapons and armor that you might never wear, and your carrying capacity soon feels incredibly limited. Even if you use your follower as a pack mule, they may have sworn to carry your burdens, there’s only so much they can take. (On the other hand, equip a battle-capable follower with the second best gear you find and the weapons you don’t use, and they become a better fighter than you.)

Also, you end up with so many goddamn potions.

Even with a map, good luck keeping up with what you’ve gone through and what you haven’t. The map will show everything of interest: Standing Stones, towns, solitary cabins, ruins, caves, sepulchers, dragon peaks… Only some of those can be marked cleared, and even then not always. On top of not every dungeon being available until you reach the associated quest, some dungeons just… straight-up don’t have a marked boss! For the record, that’s how a dungeon gets marked cleared – you killed the monster marked as a boss within its walls once. You can come back many in-game months later, the dungeon’s boss will be back (or different), you can kill it again, but the dungeon has been cleared already. Yet some places cannot be cleared, no matter how often you go through them. I used a map on Microsoft Paint, crossing off every area I had cleared, and yet I was still confused at times!

Not even halfway through with those, Christ.

Lastly, like I mentioned, you may go through random places for the Heck of it, and gather all sorts of items. You might run into quest-relevant items, which become stuck in your inventory, weight and all, until you finish their quest. Have a friendly reminder that, aside from enchantments and a handful of in-game effects (which you can thankfully acquire and use in enchantments), your weight carry limit increases only by 5 each time you increase your Stamina when you level up. Quest-relevant items can pile up in inventory. The worst one?? There's a quest that requires finding 24 Unusual Gems all scattered over Skyrim, in places you might not look very often. Got one? It’s stuck among your stuff. Thank God they all weigh only 0.5, but that’s a total of 12 if you do find them all…

If you can live with all this, have fun exploring to your heart’s content!

"GET A HORSE!"

♪♫"I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road..."♪♫

Is traveling long and tedious? Are mountains in your way? Go to any town's stables and buy a horse for 1000 gold. Horses are sturdy, fast, and strong. If you've exceeded your weight carry limit and are slowed to a crawl, you can climb on a horse and be allowed access to fast-traveling again. Several laws of video game physics apparently don't apply to Skyrim horses, either, so you can definitely use them to climb mountains that the Dragonborn can't climb on their own.

Now let's get into the problems around horses. The player can only climb on or get off a horse after sheathing their weapon, and the process is very long. Akatosh help you if you encounter any enemies while on a horse, as you can fight on horseback but it's extremely impractical and best avoided. Hell, your horse is an extra target for enemies, and while they can fight, they go down in a handful of hits. It's very easy to lose your steed. And of course, climbing up a mountain works well, but the horse is not very resistant to falls - you better hope you're not going down a cliff too steep.

Honestly, the only reason I keep a horse is because I need some way to fast-travel. Other than that, it's more impractical than useful.

THE CIVIL WAR

Okay, that didn't happen to me, but seriously - It sounds
fucking awesome to fight against a flying skeleton dragon.

This may be either the best part of the game, or the worst, depending on who you ask. Me? I’m so indifferent to it I would have preferred it wasn’t in Skyrim, although you can tell the world was built for it to happen. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was rushed a smidge, one could say, so that it could be released on November 11th, 2011. Or 11/11/11, a bitchin’ date to release anything really. This can be noticed in the odd little elements that don’t quite add up – oh wait, I mean, the HUNDREDS OF GLITCHES, because yes, the topic of those had to come up eventually. I couldn’t spend over 150 hours without stumbling on a handful, or rather, a buttload of them. That’s not the only area where you can tell the game was rushed. Some quests feel incomplete, while other questlines could have had far more content to them.

...No, I would like to keep it.

That’s unfortunately the case with the Civil War, which is integrated to the main plot fairly late, but at least it doesn’t detract for too long from killing Alduin. One way or another, you will meet the two factions during your travels, hear their motivations and see what they’re all about. When the time comes to join the Imperials or the Stormcloaks, you’ll have a bit of an idea which group feels less scummy to you.

However, for all the buildup, fanfare and preparation that you can feel behind this questline, the end result feels lackluster. There’s so much to read about the History of Skyrim, and how these factions came to be. There’s decent and horrible people on both sides, and good arguments either way. I personally couldn’t be brought to care, because dragons were swarming and a World-Eater was on the loose. The petty political squabbles should wait.

Then again, it’s close to reality; we fucked up the planet so bad it’s trying to kill us all, and we keep on with our political squabbles anyway.

In the end, the quests you’ll be doing for the side you’ve joined won’t really differ all that much from the quests you’d be doing if you were on the opposite side. It’s also usually the same types of missions you might have done multiple times before. It may be that I’ve grown too attached to the place, but whatever faction you choose, shit’s gonna go sour for Whiterun, and I don't want that. I love that place too much, it’s literally home for my Dragonborn right now. Last but not least, there is no perfect ending to that conflict – one side wins, there are losses for the other side and for Whiterun. So yeah – I ain’t delving too deep within that questline, though from it you can get your hands on some cool gear, including a crown that doubles as armor headgear.

Dayum, I could get used to wearing a crown, if it looks that cool.
(Note: No quest allows you to become High King of Skyrim.)

See you in Part 5 for everything else.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Part 3)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

The quest continues! Speaking of…

VISITING SKYRIM: THE MAIN QUEST

Solitude. It's even bigger than Whiterun, but I don't feel
quite as much attachment to it.

If you’ve paid attention to the previous parts, you may notice that the main quest of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim takes you all over the map. That’s pretty understandable, especially for an RPG. It’s good game design to make the player see most areas of the game during a playthrough. In wide-open sandboxes and large-scale RPGs like these, it's a bit different; the player is ultimately able to choose whether or not they carry through with the main quest – and if there’s any area of the map that they feel like checking out, they will do so by themselves.

So far, the main quest has taken us from the bottom center to the central city of the land. And from then on, we’ve scaled the tallest mountain of the map, visited Kynesgrove, headed to Solitude and Riften, and came close to some of the other major cities. The main quest will take us to other places such as Winterhold (North-East) and Windhelm (East).

You can discover all of those places by yourself as well, in fact that’s more likely to happen. It’s fun to get to the big cities before the main quest catches up. It’s also great that each city has a distinct feel to it, a thematic appearance to match what you come to learn about it.

Riften. Not shown: The massive maze of sewer passageways.

Whiterun is the prosperous, peaceful big city atop a mountain. Riften looks warm enough, but as a city that exists on two separate “floors”, there’s a shady underbelly to discover. Markarth is built into the ancient Dwemer ruins in the mountainside; it feels ancient and fantastic, but also secretive. Ad it does have secrets; the first thing you see when entering the city is a murder. In opposite, Windhelm looks modern within the setting, with dark stone homes that remind of the Renaissance and very thin passageways. Winterhold was half-destroyed by the elements, and looks pitiful next to the College for magic practitioners located just a bridge away. Solitude is a big city, but its location atop a mountain makes it feel like it’s inhabited by the masters of the world, alone in their ivory towers; the city’s name feels ironic. Morthal, placed around a small lake, looks like a village and bigotry runs rampant among its population. Falkreath, surrounded by nature and home to a graveyard, carries a sense of the natural order of things; life and death, and nature around it.

Am I waxing philosophical again? Sorry. On with our regularly-scheduled program.

ELDER KNOWLEDGE

Long-bearded headmaster and creepy alchemy expert
not included in the package.

This is a long one. After speaking to Paarthurnax, we know we need to find an Elder Scroll. According to Master Arngeir of the Greybeards, the mages of the College of Winterhold might know where to find such an elusive item. And so we travel across the land, to the north-eastern corner. Much like Solitude, getting there is an adventure all by itself. One does not simply enter the College without displaying some aptitude with magic, as it is home to experts in all types of spellcasting available in this universe – destruction, alteration, restoration, conjuration and illusion. And if you want to access the rest of the quest, well – gotta become a student. Which is fairly simple. I don’t even need to describe that quest.

Soon enough we’re allowed to explore the College and talk to Ura Gro-Shub, an orc librarian. He brings two books discussing the effects of Elder Scrolls, which seemingly exist beyond space and time and induce madness in the unprepared minds that read them. He also indicates that a fellow mage, Septimus Signus, has been studying the Elder Scrolls and left for a cave located further north to pursue further research. This takes us to the edge of the map, in the middle of an ocean, in a cave among the icy platforms. Signus is… um… an oddball. He speaks mostly nonsense, but however little sense he makes is vital to the quest. He hands the protagonist two items and sends him to the known location of the legendary item: The ruins of Alftand.

This underground cathedral is merely 1% of what awaits you
within these depths. If you were impressed by the overworld of
Skyrim... there's more to see beneath!

When I first came here, my jaw dropped.

This… oh boy, I thought I had my hands full with previous dungeons (I cleared a buttload of dungeons by myself before getting this far in the main quest), but this one takes the cake. It starts in icy caves, and the Dragonborn encounters members of previous expeditions that attempted to retrieve the Scroll, all at different levels of despair and/or insanity. The ice caves make way for Dwemer ruins. I didn’t mention it yet, but the Dwemer are both the dwarves of the setting, and also a long-gone ancient race of elves. Ironic, these dwarves are the very thing they hate. They also happen to be far more advanced than the rest of the world, having created factories and steam machines and robots that adventurers must battle. It’s literally steampunk within medieval fantasy. I love the idea. Deeper within the area, we also battle Falmer, a different race of elves who’ve been hunted and banished deep underground and, while still alive, have become eyeless, monstrous beasts. Christ, the lore of this series is dark. More dark caves and steampunk ruins, then we get to Blackreach.

I have too many buttons!

This is a gigantic cave, so large and with so much to see that one could get lost. Mostly Falmer in here, but also a lot of wild monsters. Several surprises if you explore the whole place, as well, such as extra quests and humans serving the Falmer. Oh, and a dragon, too, if you can bring it out. Eventually the Dragonborn and their follower reach the Tower of Mzark, in which the Elder Scroll is contained. It’s a puzzle to bring it down and collect it from the complex Dwemer mechanism, but it’s a success. Good! Now we can bring some information back to Signus. We can also carry the Elder Scroll to the Throat of the World, allowing one to finally defeat Alduin… or so we hope.

Akatosh almighty, this was long.

ALDUIN’S BANE

In theory, this one’s simple. Go back to the highest peak in Skyrim; read the Elder Scroll near the Time Wound (AKA, the odd portal that opened that seems to be the cause of Alduin’s arrival in the current era); learn the Dragonrend shout by watching the people of the past use it to banish Alduin into the future; kill Alduin.

This battle would have been easier without the
rain of goddamn rocks throughout.

In practice… well, it’s simple for the most part. Reading the Elder Scroll at the Time Wound leads to a long cutscene where the Dragonborn watches the decisive fight in the past, and learns Dragonrend from it. However, Alduin attacks immediately afterwards, so you’re thrown into battle right away. On top of its supposed effect of making them feel mortality, Dragonrend forces dragons to land and stuns them temporarily. This proves necessary to defeat Alduin, as the elder dragon loves to fly around. It’s a true test of all the skills obtained so far, and the toughest boss I’ve personally faced in the 130+ hours I had spent in that game already by the time I got to this part. Feels like a final boss. The rubble and fire raining down onto the battlefield make it feel as such. It took me multiple tries before I could defeat the large dragon. I had to adjust my strategy, and use the right Shouts at the right time. Fun fact; I played through this battle on the 31st of December 2019. I started playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim at the end of June. It took me half a year to get here.

And for the record, no, this isn’t actually the final battle. Alduin flees when defeated, but its evil remains. To find Alduin again and beat him for good, we need to find one of his allies. By asking around, we learn that the castle of Dragonsreach, in Whiterun, was used long ago to capture and detain a dragon…

THE FALLEN

In order to know more, Nikhaolaas asks Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun about this. However, with the threat of a massive civil war looming over his head, the Jarl claims he has more pressing matters to tend to. The only way he’d be willing to help is if you could convince both sides of the war, the Imperials and Stormcloaks, to sign a peace treaty until the dragons are dealt with. 

SEASON UNENDING

General Tullius of the Imperials. If there's one thing I
learned from reading Asterix all these years, it's to
never trust a guy wearing Roman-like garb.

In this game, nothing’s ever really simple, huh? High Hrothgar will serve as the location for the meeting, even if Arngeir isn’t too happy with having warriors inside the sacred temple. As for convincing both sides… I swore to myself that I wouldn’t get involved into the damned Civil War until after the main questline. As the Dragonborn, Nikhaolaas couldn’t care less about picking a side. I fight giant lizards from the sky and eat their souls for breakfast, for the Gods’ sake! Your political games only interest me as far as I can get nice equipment from it that I can then use to slice up more dragons later.

From this point on, I’m not entirely sure; apparently you can remain neutral in the conflict, but I  didn't know how to do that, so I wound up with the Imperials. They may have almost killed me due to bureaucratic bullshit back in Helgen, but they appear to be the lesser of two evils. Which says an awful lot about the Civil War. I had to complete a few quests…

JOINING THE LEGION

…first by proving my worth to the Imperial Legion, which included clearing the bandits out of a fort, then taking the oath of the Legion…

THE JAGGED CROWN

Peek-a-boo! Surprise draugr!

…and then getting dragged into a mission where a group of Legionnaires walk into a crypt, attempting to retrieve the Jagged Crown, an artefact sought by both sides and hidden in the ruins of Korvanjund. This mission opens regardless of the side one chooses in the conflict, and the Dragonborn will face enemies of the opposing faction when inside the ruins. At the end of the ruins, three powerful draugr await, one of which wears the crown. They’re a lot easier to deal with considering you’ve got a full group of warriors helping you this time around. Then, even if you have picked a side, you can choose to bring the Crown to the leader of the opposing faction. You can also keep it for yourself, it's a powerful helmet! The ruins are also home to a word of power, granting the Dragonborn another ability. Hurray for that. Now back to…

SEASON UNENDING (BIS)

Now that we're done with the tea, the crumpets, and the
brutal negotiations over who gets which piece of the
world while it still exists, can I go back to killing the
WORLD-EATER please?

…our regularly-scheduled program. Time to negotiate that peace treaty. As the Dragonborn, Nikhaolaas finds himself having to make some pretty major decisions during the meeting. Both sides agree that the dragons must be stopped, but for the treaty to be signed the two factions attempt to split ownership of the Holds evenly. I’m surrounded by warriors, yet I feel like a barbarian at a tea party. Like I said, I couldn’t care less about these politics, but they’re a necessary evil so I can go back to slicing dragons. The negotiations go on until both sides are satisfied. It feels tedious seeing these men of power ague over who gets what piece of land, when there might not be a land left if we don’t act!

…Well, it’s eerily close to real-life politics, then.

"Call Dragon" is a shout that also summons a (tamed)
dragon to figt by your side. It can lead to dragon-versus-
dragon fights like this one.

Eventually, everyone agrees to the terms of the treaty, and as people leave, you reap the rewards: A special weapon is given to you. You learn that Dragonsreach is still equipped to capture a dragon, and thus it might be possible to call Alduin’s right-hand dragon, Odahviing, and catch him. I assume things will be more complicated than just chucking a ball at it… Dragons’ names in their tongue are words of power themselves, therefore using the Dragon Call shout, which you’re taught right there, you can literally bring a dragon to you, provided you know its name. Lastly, a new mission from the Blades; sure, why not. Point me at what to kill, and I’ll go kill it. That's what I've been doing so far.

Esbern asks the Dragonborn to kill Paarthurnax.

PAARTHURN-

…Okay, no, that’s the sole exception. Send me to kill any of these lizards, but I’m not killing the wise old Charles Martinet dragon. Go fuck yourselves, Blades. Anyhow…

THE FALLEN (BIS)

Hm. Good for catching a dragon maybe, but it doesn't
beat killing them.

Now that this parenthesis is out of the way, we can ask Jarl Balgruuf to use the mechanism of Whiterun in order to catch a dragon. Not any dragon, either; Odahviing, one of the mightier dragons out there. You know it’s a mighty one; it has a name. Using Dragon Call while on the Great Porch brings the dragon to the castle. Guards might attempt to attack it, but it doesn’t take damage at all. No, you have to drag it deeper within the Porch, so that Whiterun guards will activate a mechanism and drop a heavy bar of wood and steel onto it.

Lydia! God damn it, stop trying to attack the dragon, you’re not doing any damage, and besides we need that one alive! I know my thirst for lizard blood has rubbed off on you, but you’ve got to let that one go! 

I can ride this? Awesome.

Once trapped, Odahviing is forced to explain. As it turns out, Alduin fleeing at the end of his fight with the protagonist has led to dragons questioning his leadership as the most powerful of them all. Some dragons might even be willing to side with the Dovahkiin now, since he has displayed more power and courage than the World-Eater. As for where Alduin is now, well, he’s in the Elder Scrolls afterlife of heroes, also known as Sovngarde, to restore his own power by absorbing the souls of dead people. There is a portal to Sovngarde, but unfortunately it’s in Skuldafn, an area that the Dragonborn cannot access as it’s outside the map. The only way there is to fly – and so Nikhaolaas will ride Odahviing, who has agreed to lend his help (and will remain calmly on the Great Porch of Whiterun while waiting for you to be ready).

This sounds like the final dungeon – so I think I’d better prepare before going. Who knows how big that dungeon is – who knows if there’s a way to come back. Best be ready for anything. If there’s something Nikhaolaas has to do, better get to it immediately. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. Strip yourself of anything you don’t need, level up your skills however needed.

SKILLS AND STONES

I've gone Legendary for Smthing and I'm back at Level
99 there again! Wow.

Might as well end Part 3 on a discussion on skills, a very important aspect of the game. There’s a skill for every major element the Dragonborn can do – battle skills, talent skills, magical skills. Every single skill has its own experience bar that increases as you use it. Since I built my character as mostly a melee combatant, the one-handed weapon skill is the one that increased the fastest, though some spell skills increased as well once I learned to use healing and attack spells. I was also really quick to level up in smithing and alchemy, once I got used to both of them. Kinda needed to; after accumulating so many dragon bones and scales from my travels – two items that are very heavy in one’s inventory, for the record – I couldn’t use them as smithing materials until I had reached Level 100 in smithing. I got some pimpin’ armor from it, though. And so did Lydia, obviously.

There are several people around the nine Holds of Skyrim that can teach the Dragonborn their skill. They won’t do it for free, though; and also you can only pay to increase skills that way five times per current overall level. Used up your five while you were Level 48? Gotta wait till you’re level 49 before you can go to a teacher again and ask for training in any skill. Precise books found around the world and a few random occurrences can also raise skill levels quickly.

Hello, stone. I must activate you now.

Do I want that, or is there another stone out there
with an ability I'd prefer?

I mentioned the standing stones in Part 1; each stone has an ability, and you can only have one stone ability active at a time. Some will indeed help you raise some skills faster, while others will benefit you in other area (one, in particular, increases your carry capacity, while others give you a once-per-day special ability). So yeah – you can go back to a stone to change the bonus you get, and adapt your playstyle afterwards.

It’s both an awesome and a daunting thing that Skyrim allows for so many possible play styles; focus on melee combat? Sure. Ranged? Yep, you can collect bows and arrows. Fighting with spells? Switch it around with destruction, alteration and conjuration. Do you like sneaking around? There’s a skill for that. Pickpocketing, lockpicking? Yep and yep. Enchanting weapons and armor? Yup! The only thing that doesn’t have a skill (but definitely should have one) is cooking, seeing how much food you can gather on your travels.

There’s even the possibility, when you’ve hit Level 100 on a skill, to upgrade it to Legendary. It’ll be brought back down to Level 15, but you don’t lose the experience gained so far, and you regain the skill points that were used on perks. The improvements will be better, but you have to grind for experience all the way up again.

Don't get me started on enchanting, speech, and
several other skills that increase very slowly due to
how little they find use in normal gameplay!

It’s a pretty good system, but what annoys me is that the placement on some of these perks may be a bit troublesome. As mentioned earlier, you can’t make dragon armor until you’ve hit Level 100 in smithing – by the time you get there, you’ll have over a hundred dragon bones and scales total in your personal chests. Some perks could have been placed better on their own skill tree. Meanwhile, there’s also a few skill trees you might never use. Why put any skill points into lockpicking? And there are playstyles you might hardly ever touch upon.

As I hit beyond Level 40, I started playing around with skills I had never used before. It’s an excuse to level them up, which in turn increases my overall experience a little faster. In theory, a dedicated player could bring every single existing skill up to 100, make them Legendary, and raise them to 100 again. I’m not THAT dedicated…

So yeah, as a system, it’s pretty fun and extensive, but it comes with some bothersome limitations and ideas. Anyhow, see you in Part 4 for the conclusion of the story. Then hopefully I can end with a few more elements of the game, and perhaps finish in Part 5 with my overall thoughts…

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Part 2)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

No time for an intro, there’s a lot to cover, let’s get into it!

I LOVE LYDIA

She's um... not the smiling type.
Here she is when we first meet her...

Before we move on to the next item on the main quest, a word on housecarls and companions. Throughout your journey, you can become Thane of any major hold you visit, by fulfilling some quests. This will often grant access to the purchase of a house in that hold, and an associated housecarl that will take care of the home, or follow you on your quest if you so wish. Other followers can be found all over the land as well – all it takes is completing tasks for people. Followers level up as they participate to your adventure, though you’re allowed only one follower, and they all stop at varying levels. As for battle prowess, they range from “Battle-useless pack mule to carry your shit” to “Would kick your ass if they were your enemy”.

Lydia, the housecarl that introduces the concept to the player, belongs in the second category. She participates in battles, stands by your side (and sometimes in your way, damn doorframes), and will gladly use most equipment you give her, even if it’s just your hand-me-downs. She has been my most trusted ally for pretty much the entire duration of the game, barring the start and a few quests here and there where followers can’t… er… follow.

That's her now. Oh, how long a way we've come.

I started the game as a one-handed specialist who sparingly used spells, so she was the one handling my two-handed weapons, staves and bows; she could rain down damage more efficiently than me. Additional bonus, she can only be killed by the player, so she’ll survive anything else and be back for more. (Not every follower has that bonus.) Lydia should have been the frigging Dragonborn in my place. She sure is badass enough for that. I would marry her, because the base game does allow that, but I don’t have time for romance on top of everything else… One way or another, I can’t imagine myself with another follower anytime soon. Maybe later.

BREEZEHOME SWEET HOME

On the topic of becoming owner of a home in a hold of Skyrim; chances are that the very first one you’ll get access to will be Breezehome, in Whiterun. It costs 5000 Gold to purchase – the price of other homes varies depending on the hold. Putting aside all the advantages it has, it feels good to be coming back to a place you can call home.

I wished buying a home was that easy IRL.

It even has a cooking pot! Which I never use.

What’s to expect in a Skyrim home? A kitchen spot with chairs, some tables, possibly a second floor; a bed, saving you the trouble of paying 10 Coins to an inn; and any number of extra rooms you can afford to add over time. The most important, however, may be that a home always has a lot of chests and drawers in which you can stick all the random crap you collect throughout missions and dungeons – and trust me, you’ll be glad you have all these options for storage. If you can sort everything in an orderly manner, it’ll make things easy. The house can be upgraded several times, adding new rooms – not every house will contain every type of crafting facilities after all upgrades have been purchased, though. Breezehome, as an example, lacks what’s needed to craft weapons and armor or enchant items, but you live next door to the blacksmith and there’s an arcane enchanter in Dragonsreach. Breezehome can gain an alchemy lab, providing a close place to craft potions. That room even has a chest so you can store all of your ingredients!

Also, Bethesda’s unfortunate reputation for glitchy games hit me in full force, as the dude in Dragonsreach who allows me to upgrade the house for a fee kept disappearing and I had to summon him back into the world every time.

Perhaps other homes in Skyrim are better. Perhaps building your own home in one of the DLCs is better. Perhaps it’s futile to remain in Whiterun. One way or another, it’s good to have a home… it’s good to be home.

THE HORN OF JURGEN WINDCALLER

*xylophoning intensifies*

Nikaholaas has been tasked by the Greybeards to retrieve an item in the ruins of Ustengrav. Dangers? A handful, as usual. What, do you really expect to go around the map without meeting anything that wants to kill you? This is medieval fantasy after all. Within the ruins, more skeletons and draugr. That’s to be expected from ruins – let’s be honest, after you’ve seen a handful of places of each type, you’ve pretty much seen them all.

It’s one weakness with Skyrim – all dungeons fit into a handful of different categories, each with their own setting and feel. But only a handful, so after some time, you see the same type over and over. The big difference between dungeons of the same type is that some have main quests associated with them, while others contain quests of their own that you’re subjected to when you walk in – I remember stepping into a mine and immediately meeting a woman asking me to save her coworkers, when in reality she was a double-crossing treasure hunter. 

Outside of a handful of exceptions, the abilities given over time in the main quest don’t really come up into the plot – Ustengrav is one such exception, as it contains a puzzle that requires the player to use the Whirlwind Sprint shout, which was learned before leaving High Hrothgar. Even then, the mission proves to be for nothing as when you reach the area of the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, the artefact the Greybeards asked you to retrieve, instead you find a note from someone who came in before you and took it away… into Riverwood? Dammit, someone stole my steal! People are so dishonest nowadays! Also, how did they do that? Did they know of a secret passageway? How else could they have gone past the puzzle that required a dragon shout?

"Yeah, I was secretly a dragon-killer all this time. So what?"

Back in Riverwood, we find out that the taker of the Horn is no other than Delphine, the innkeeper. She’s secretly part of a group called the Blades, who have fought the Dragons in a time long gone and are ready to fight them again now that they’re back. You’re invited to help their group, but you also get the Horn, thus allowing you to bring it back to High Hrothgar and finish the Greybeards’ quest.

The arrival of the Blades in the story brings up a topic not uncommon in large-scale action RPGs like this one: The coexistence of multiple groups with differing interests, and how you come to be associated with many of them throughout your journey. You now work for both the Greybeards and the Blades, who have opposite worldviews, and eventually you might find yourself having to decide who to side with… Other quests unrelated to the main quest would bring the Dragonborn to multiple other groups, even involving him in a Civil War questline. I'll talk about that again soon…

A BLADE IN THE DARK

We’ve learned from Delphine that dragons are coming back to life after centuries of being extinct, and there’s probably a reason for that. According to the stone brought to the court wizard in Whiterun, the next dragon to be awoken currently lies in Kynesgrove, east on the map. Delphine hurries there with the Dragonborn!

Or not; that's the cool thing with RPGs, you can take your sweet time and do a bunch of side-quests beforehand. Leave Delphine waiting for weeks on end before you decide to move the plot forward. She can't complain.

This dragon has just arisen?
I'mma put it down real quick.

A scary sight awaits Nikhaolaas and Delphine in Kynesgrove: Alduin the World-Eater, awakens a dragon from its tomb. After speaking in the dragon tongue to it and the Dragonborn, Alduin leaves, leaving Nikhaolaas and Delphine to deal with Sahloknir, the beast brought back to life. Defeating the dragons allows the hero to absorb its soul and finally makes Delphine go “Oh, so you ARE the Dragonborn?” Just in case our past exploits hadn’t made that clear yet. This means that the next time he meets up with Delphine in Riverwood, she’ll have another mission for him…

DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

Instead of blaming any sort of supernatural event, Delphine believes the return of dragons was orchestrated by the Thalmor. They're a shadowy, Nazi-wannabe group of elves that lives by its belief of its own racial supremacy, hoping to see the human races live beneath the various elven races walking not only Skyrim, but all of Tamriel. So yeah, they're assholes but I doubt they're the cause of the dragons' return. Nikhaolaas is a man of a few words, so he’ll begrudgingly follow along to that crazy theory until something more likely comes up.

I mean, Elenwen, representative of the Thalmor in Skyrim,
looks like she just woke up from a coffin.

You call that a party? Where's the mead and the dancing?

The Blade sets up an elaborate infiltration plot in which the Dragonborn will be tasked with distracting guests at a party, in order to sneak around and find relevant information that will support – or not – that theory. It involves meeting another inside man in Solitude, lending that man any equipment the hero needs to smuggle inside, and then going in wearing upper-class clothes. Heck, going to Solitude is a trip by itself, being located close to the north-western corner of the map.

And because nothing’s ever simple, when I got to that mission, I screwed it up. After finding what I needed, I got caught and had to make my way around killing dozens of guards. Man, what one wouldn’t do for a quest. Then again, it wasn’t all for naught, as I found a torture chamber and learned pretty vital information from the prisoner, and also discovered documents with important data.

What's with these big-budget AAA releases of the early
2010s having a mandatory torture-for-information scene?

As everyone could have guessed, the Thalmor, while they indeed are hateful shits, aren’t behind the dragon attacks. Also, to Delphine’s surprise, they are seeking a man named Esbern, an ex-Blade that she believed to be dead...

A CORNERED RAT

The next part of the main quest takes us to another corner of the map: South-East! Riften, to be precise; a city famous for being built partly above water… and also for its reputation as the alleged home of the Thieves’ Guild. Easy enough to get there from Ivarstead. Getting into the town isn’t too difficult either. As for Esbern’s whereabouts, we can always ask; the towns in Skyrim often feel large, but they’re still small enough that some people know what’s up. One guy who knows about Esbern’s location will only tell Nikhaolaas after he completes a quest that might eventually lead to the Dragonborn joining the Thieves’ Guild (see, I told you that you start joining all kinds of groups after a while). The other person that knows is Keerava, the Argonian bartender at the Bee and Barb, the local inn.

"Greetings. Don't mind me, just an old man locked
up in the sewers." - Esbern.

Esbern is in the Ratway, a daedalus under the city. It’s pretty easy to get lost in there – but to be fair, that can be said of most dungeons. What is to be found here? Mostly lowlifes and bandits, but also a handful of Thalmor soldiers. Nothing a prepared hero can’t fight.

Sure enough, we eventually find the room Esbern lives in. He will open if Nikhaolaas recites a password, or if he says he’s the Dragonborn. The old guy actually predicted the return of the dragons and sees it as a sign of the approaching end of the world – therefore, he will go back to Delphine and become a Blade again, though first he needs to gather his belonging and any critical info that needs to be kept out of enemy hands. Oh, and it also means fighting through the Ratway again. It’s almost as if said enemies were waiting for us to find Esbern before attacking!

However, once we’re out, all that’s left to do is to guide our new ally back to Riverwood.

ALDUIN’S WALL

Back in the secret basement of the Sleeping Giant Inn, Delphine welcomes her fellow Blade back. There isn’t much time to reminisce, however; with Alduin back and summoning dragons back into the world, no second can be wasted.

I can post a dozen pictures of majestic places across
Skyrim; there's more than square that

Well, alright, you say that, Esbern, but I can still decide to go on half a dozen side-quests before coming back here, waste 10 hours of time (and who knows how many days in the world of Skyrim) before coming back. There’s only ever so much a hurry as I decide there is.

It seems that the Blades, who’ve been around for a long time, have a prophecy written into one of their ancestors’ headquarters, the Sky Haven Temple. It's a majestic place in a sector right after Karthspire Camp, a location inhabited by a group of Forsworn, nasty and aggressive people whose organization hails from the nearby city of Markarth. They may be led by a Hagraven, a powerful spellcasting creature.

Talos almighty, how many hateful groups are roaming this land?

You see a prophecy in this?
I'd prefer to have actual text on there.

The dungeon that leads to the Temple is much simpler, though it still has a few tricks to be wary of. Still, it should take no time for a heroic adventurer like Nikhaolaas to get through it and reach the temple, which is then opened by the two Blades, who were following just behind. And, lo and behold, among the wall carvings inside the Temple there’s a prophecy. You can’t walk five steps in this world without walking on a prophecy lying around, I swear. That stuff is like dog poop on the sidewalk. The carvings speak of the great dragon war between the ancient Dragon Cult (which worshipped dragons) and Nords of the time, who were capable of dragon shouts. They defeated Alduin using a special shout. The prophecy ends stating that Alduin may return, and that said return will coincide with the discovery of the last Dragonborn.

Well! Seems simple enough. Learn that shout, beat Alduin, world saved. After this long parenthesis spent with the Blades, it might be time to reconnect with our old buddies the Greybeards; surely they know about that shout.

THE THROAT OF THE WORLD

They could teach me everything. They choose not to.

Remember what I said in Part 1 regarding the tallest mountain in Skyrim? We didn’t quite get to the top the first time. Now – we’re headed for the top. Talking to the Greybeards again in High Hrothgar will yield a few interesting bonuses; first, with the horn returned, the Dragonborn will be taught the last word of the Unrelenting Force shout, unleashing its full potential. Telling Master Arngeir about the Alduin-defeating Shout, named Dragonrend, will make him hostile at first since it means Nikhaolaas has been working with the Blades, but if it’s necessary to prevent the end of the world, then so be it. The Greybeards’ master, Paarthurnax, lives at the top of the mountain, an area blocked off by harmful winds. To bypass this, the Dovahkiin is taught all three words of Clear Skies, a situational shout that will stop bothersome weather effects temporarily.

How majestic!

Thanks to this, we can climb to the very top of the Throat of the World, and we meet with… a dragon? Huh. Guess it makes sense that the one to teach the way of the Voice would be one. And Paarthurnax is voiced by none other than… Charles Martinet??!?

!!!!!!

*audible man-squee*

This is the awesomest casting in the history of all video gaming! The man behind the voice of my favorite video game hero – voicing an old, wise dragon! I could joke that I’ve just had a geekgasm, but it might as well be true!

I bow before the one dragon I swear not to kill,
for I respect his voice far too much.

Before discussing with the Dovahkiin, Paarthurnax demands that you prove your worth by learning the Word of Power at the altar on the mountaintop, and then use on him the shout it unlocks. It teaches “Fire Breath”, what a coincidence! After the formalities, Nikhaolaas can finally ask about the Dragonrend shout, and the wise old lizard declares that it’s the one Shout he does not know. It’s a Shout that forces ageless and immortal dragons into a state where they can be properly killed, while also hindering their ability of flight for a couple seconds, turning them into easy targets.

It cannot be taught, for no one in this era knows it. However, Paarthurnax theorizes that one could learn the Shout by using one of the mighty Elder Scrolls to access the past and learn it from its original users. That’s all fine and good, but an Elder Scroll surely isn’t an easy thing to find. It’s in the damn title to this entire franchise, after all; it’s like seeking the Holy Grail. However, the wise dragon states that he doesn’t know where to find such an item. That’s alright, somebody ought to know. Thus begins the search for that knowledge, which will then send me and my follower on a quest to retrieve the tool that may allow us to defeat Alduin for good!

…In Part 3.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Part 1)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

How do I even approach something like this behemoth?

Guess I should start with this: I only really started hearing about Bethesda Game Studios a year or two into writing this blog, when I began informing myself on gaming news and such. I had heard of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. I had no idea how many other franchises were owned by their parent company – not any games I gravitated towards since I wasn’t a PC gamer at the time. Shortly after I joined Steam, I got my hands on a couple of Bethesda titles through sales – that’s how I got today’s game, but also Fallout 3, New Vegas and 4. I went for the original version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, not the re-release with a graphical upgrade; in my personal finances, I could only afford that one.

Beware of swooping dragons.

After many years hearing about Skyrim (not to mention Bethesda themselves always finding a new excuse to re-release it whenever they can), I could finally try it out. Since I rarely play these big-release titles that find a use for most keys of the keyboard (my other experience with an AAA title is GTA V), it took me some getting used to at first. When I started playing, I just did two hours, created my character (I picked Redguard), and played the first mission. I stopped in Riverwood… and then didn’t touch the game for nearly a year. When I picked it up again, this is where the adventure truly began. I started playing it in June 2019, and am still going around.

Oh course, I had heard of the map’s size and how large this world was: What I could find on it, what I could visit… It’s no secret that this game is packed full of stuff to do. I went in hoping to do as much as possible, until I saw the map proper.

….O… Okay, this was gonna take some more planning than I thought. My first idea was to meticulously visit every inch of the world in order to find all the dungeons, all the places that could be visited, all the areas of interest, and clear a bunch of them to level up until I felt ready for the main quest. Even after a hundred hours visiting this world, I still have only this achieved:

Anything covered is a dungeon I’ve cleared. Thanks MS Paint, you’re a big help once again. Oh, and I haven't updated that map in a while...

Retrospective 2019

I couldn't post this on the 1st, but I can post it today!

It's time to look back on 2019. As we're to do at the start of a new year, like a tradition. See what worked, see what didn't... the usual. On top of all this, we also have a chance to look back at the entire decade, since we're now officially in 2020! Let's hope those twenties won't be roaring too much. I also could start by looking back at the entire decade, since I began this blog in 2013... But Heck no, I've done so much, I wouldn't know where to start.

You know what they say: "Thank God it's over". I hear this every year, and I can always see the point; even if it's been a good year on a personal standpoint for some (as it hasn't been for everyone), on the regional and international scene it may not have been too great. It's been a year of huge changes, huge social outbursts. Thing is, we say Thank God it's over, but unless we all work towards making 2020 better, we'll be saying the same about 2020 in 12 months. It's a massive collective effort; not gonna lie, it also takes a lot of courage. So, let's all work towards making 2020 a better year. If possible, not only for ourselves, but for everyone.

Blog-wise, although I was halted by severe hiatuses this year (most of which were caused by my job), I still managed to review a decent number of games. A lot of them in Steam Packs, of course - so this year, I feel I did way more quick reviews than ever before. It's no secret that between my hobby and the job that pays me, unfortunately the job has to come first... However, I've still managed to squeeze in a review here and there, so I'm pretty happy about that. Without further ado, my yearly tradition: The lists!

My Top 10 favorite reviews of the year

10. Hidden Folks. As part of an early Steam Pack this year, this is a game I received as a gift, and I was quite happy to play through it. I enjoyed the resulting review...
9. Scanner Sombre. Another quick review, and one that ended the very last Steam Pack for this blog. I've figured it would be much simpler, from now on, to split the quick reviews into separate articles. Thankfully, I ended this with one of the best games, one that legitimately made me go wow as I was playing.
8. Frederic: Resurrection of Music. Hands-down one of the games I most enjoyed playing this year. I think one can actually feel how happy I am with it throughout my review.
7. Animal Kingdom: Wildlife Expedition. My first game review of the year was for a game that had no indication it would ever be good, being generic bargain bin stuff - and yet, I liked it a lot. Once again, I believe that interest could be felt in my article. I started the year very strongly.

6. The Angry Birds Movie. I had to cut down on pretty much all long reviews this year. This one has just about the right length I should aim for: Two parts for a movie review. On top of it all, the film gave me a lot of material to work with.
5. Indie Pogo. Officially the review that got me the most positive feedback this year, and I'm happy it did. I certainly think it turned out quite well, in part because the game is fairly simple.

4. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. With the bad rep video game movies have had for decades, I think it's great that we're finally seeing more and more good movies based around video games as a core plot element. This sequel to the 1995 Jumanji movie was much welcome, and although it didn't go quite as far as I would have wished, it nonetheless impressed me. I love the review that came out of it.

3. Top 12 reasons to play a game. Without claiming I did a lot of research for it, I can say this is one of the better lists I've made for the blog in its 6.5-year history. I like the points I bring up, and the examples are pretty telling as well.

2. Tattletail. This late-year review is one of those articles where I say "screw it, let's have fun", and the result is usually much better than the average bare-bones discussion of a game's features (looking at you, review of Smash 3DS). It was definitely great to write it as a false advertisement for the company that makes the Tattletail toy, always keeping that Holiday whimsy all while keeping that sense of dread that belongs to horror.

1. Octodad: Dadliest Catch. Oh wow, I went all-out in that one. I re-read it and I was laughing my ass off the whole time. Unique idea for the review, which leads to an interesting discussion of the game, its plot and features, and it ends with the perfect joke.

The 10 worst games reviewed on the blog in 2019:
10. Yomi. It's a well-made game, no points there. It's #10 on the list mostly because of my own issues with the card game, which I feel relies a bit too much on luck, and the system that makes you pay to add half the available roster, and pay more for any additional card packs you might like.
9. Uncanny Valley. As a horror game, it does an alright job at setting up an atmosphere, and some of the scenes are certainly quite interesting, but the gameplay itself turned me off entirely to it. The consequences system could have led to something fine, but I didn't really notice a difference.
8. Turbo Pug. Funny for a moment, but the procedurally-generated world means that you've got to be an absolute master at controlling the little pug if you want to get anywhere far within this game. Self-imposed challenge? Knock yourself out. For everything else, I'll pass.
7. Greyfox RPG. I can say this RPG Maker game at least attempted to do something different - whether or not it succeeded is up to each person. I do think the concept is novel, but the set-up is somewhat poor and, though it leads to interesting moments, I don't think its flaws save it.
6. Rolling Sun. Talk about tech demo! More like "A game we made to test the tech". It ebgs the question why the game was then sold. It sure looks nice, which is the point of the engine used for it... but there isn't much else there...
5. House of Caravan. Two words: "A matchbox." While there are good puzzles here and there, much of the exploration is boring and annoying, especially since there's very little you can do unless you can find matches, one at a time, and light lamps, one at a time...
4. Bomb Defense. I always feel bad bashing someone's first game (or what seems like it). This game fails to deliver on every promise; it's not Tower Defense, and its mechanics are annoying, especially in how precise you must be in everything to have even the slightest chance of beating a level.
3. Nuked Knight. 2D platforming at its worst - you can never be sure where to land. It wouldn't make the list if it was merely hard, as I can respect a hard game (even if it can make me swear). But the poor programming behind it certainly put the game into unfair territory.
2. Rising Islands. An unresponsive, buggy camera; 3D platforming that requires tmost precision in both movement and timing; these two items put together are already troublesome enough, but couple it to a handful of annoying elements of game design and you get, hands down, an insanely hard game that isn't worth the effort. The less said about glitches the better...
1. Only If. So incomprehensible, so inexplicable, that I couldn't even bring myself to play much of it. There's no rhyme or reason to the changes of scenes, and whatever was playable wasn't exactly good either. Sorry if this was someone's first experiments in game design... this is why experiments usually remain buried inside one's computer.

The 10 best games reviewed on the blog in 2019:
10. Hidden Folks. Another simple puzzle game that can be played by anyone... as long as you can fiund your way around gigantic, enormous, immense maps in which you need to find often small characters or items. A great challenge.
9. Monster Loves You!. A narrative with branching paths that takes you through the life of a monster, all the way to either an unremarkable death or the transformation of the entire world for the better or for the worse. It's worth playing just to see what you can end up with.
8. Tattletail. The concept of combining a virtual pet to a horror game still feels fresh. Though the game has a few flaws, it's a fun ride as long as you don't mind getting spooked here or there. I've grown attached to the Tattletail, what can I say?
7. The First Tree. Breathtaking visuals combined with a discussion on human life. Almost free exploration all throughout. I loved to play through this so much, I completed it in one sitting.
6. Frederic: Resurrection of Music. While playing the piano keyboard took me some time to adapt, I eventually got the hang of it... mostly. From then on I enjoyed level after level of completely crazy retooling of a Chopin track in any possible genre. I have a thing for music games, even if my talent at them is limited.
5. A Normal Lost Phone. This one has a great story, one that becomes increasingly relevant as time goes. It's aided by the gameplay, simple but effective, in which you hunt for clues and find your way around a phone to uncover the secrets of its previous owner. All while remaining fun and even somewhat cute.
4. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Of course I would rank a Smash game pretty high on the list. I had a LOT of critiques for the game itself, but it packed so much content that I was willing to forgive some of them. It's not like most of those critiques were relatively minor stuff after all...
3. Scanner Sombre. It's barely horror, but the true interest here is to create your own path as you progress, using the Scanner in order to find the platforms and roads to take, as well as any minor interactions to be had with the environment. It's a reflective experience more than a horror one, with one of the most unique gameplay elements I've ever seen. How many games go "There's nothing but darkness for 99.999% of the game, now you go make some light in there"?
2. Indie Pogo. As a young mascot fighting game, it still has room to grow and improve - but if it keeps the same quality standards as it had when I reviewed it, we'll have a fantastic game deserving of being played at fighting game tournaments. I bet anything that this is already in the plans.
1. Octodad: Dadliest Catch. I think I made such a great review for this one precisely because I love it so much, but also because it's the perfect blend of comedy and gameplay - while I wouldn't call it perfect, it's definitely the game I reviewed this year that I loved above any other.

The 10 wishes I had for the blog in 2019, and what I managed to achieve or failed to achieve:
10. A great anniversary review - failed in spectacular fashion, as I literally did not post a single thing during the month of July.
9. A Sonic Month. Once again, failed... but I have a hunch that it's coming for 2020.
8. More Steam Packs. Half-achieved, until I realized midway into the year that splitting the Packs by having one game per article was simpler.
7. A redesign of the site. Nope, failed.
6. Update everything on the blog. Didn't quite get to do that. Hell, I didn't even take some time during the year to update the ARCHIVE!
5. A proper Halloween special. Does Tattletail count? No, it was a month later. Welp, nope I guess.
4. More streaming. I've experimented with Twitch and Discord, but overall I didn't stream all that much. I probably could do more.
3. Create title cards for old reviews. ...Nope!
2. Less long reviews. I guess, with the long hiatus I had to take, I succeeded... though I had a few long reviews, most were fairly short.
1. Create a stronger community. I may not have succeeded yet, but the Discord server still exists - although I've yet to find people to join it...

The 10 wishes I have for 2020:

10. A review of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the blog's anniversary in 2020. I'll try to squeeze in some time to write that.
9. Once again hoping I can write a Sonic Month in there. Already planning to cover Sonic CD, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, and Sonic and the Black Knight for it.
8. The big review of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which I am in the process of writing. Snark about Bethesda's current situation might or might not be in there, depending on how mean I feel on any day.
7. Once again, I hope to edit the extra pages of the blog - an update on the Archive is particularly needed. In fact, I might be doing that as soon as this article is published!
6. Less hiatuses. I can't promise no hiatuses, but I can try to have less of them. Or shorter ones...
5. More quick reviews. In order to prevent myself from going a long time without a hiatus, I can definitely go with short reviews. I still have a whole bunch of quick games I could review at any moment.
4. More reviews of Nintendo games. I don't know if I can do it, but I will try! Ironic that this goes into a wishes list, considering in the early years games on Nintendo consoles made up 100% of the games I reviewed...
3. Two or three VGFlicks movie reviews. I'm not running out of material anytime soon, as there are old video game movies I haven't looked at yet, and a lot of movies from the past 5 years that would be available.
2. A redesign of the site. I swear I'll try to get this done!
1. I will attempt to once again create a stronger community for the site. Hopefully, this time, it'll work.

Last but not least: The "Reviewed games" folder on Steam currently contains 75 games, as I tend to delete the games I review negatively - no point in keeping them around, right? Anyhow, I think it's time to do a bit of cleanup, and at the same time I might also make a new list of favorites.

Taking out 4 games:
Auditorium
The Howler
Nuked Knight
Yomi

New list of favorites:

3D Ultra Adventures Minigolf Deluxe
Bastion
Castle of Illusions
Cuphead
DuckTales Remastered
The First Tree
GemCraft - Chasing Shadows
Goat Simulator
Indie Pogo
Octodad: Dadliest Catch
Grand Theft Auto V
Quiplash
Rayman Origins
Shantae: Risky's Revenge
Surgeon Simulator
Tattletail
Undertale
Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist

Expect a new retrospective in 2021!