The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I haven't posted a video game for a while because I got Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Christmas, which has certainly eaten up a lot of my time. The Elder Scrolls series ranks just below World of Warcraft in timesink factor- it's a game that's just so easy to get lost in. It's a western RPG that takes place in the northern province of Tamriel known as Skyrim- one thing I appreciate about the series is that the folklore and geography was all set up with the first few games, so with each game you get to explore a different section of the huge island of Tamriel. 2006's Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion took place in the central hub of the country, Cyrodiil, but moving just to the North to Skyrim feels like a world away- the temperate climate and various environments are done away with, replaced almost entirely by huge, snowy mountains. This gives the whole game a particularly epic feel to it- I battled so many dragons on the top of mountains that it became commonplace, just another part of the game. And that's the main campaign in a nutshell- dragons have returned to the land after hundreds of years, signaling the impending end of the world, and it's up to the prophesied 'dragon-born' (me) to drive them out. This campaign, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. It consists of about 20 missions, each of which last between 5 and 30 minutes or so. But then there's other lengthy campaigns with their own storylines, each consisting of about 10-15 missions- entering the mage's college and harnessing the power of a huge ancient artifact; stopping a civil war that threatens to tear Skyrim apart; join ranks with the murderous Dark Brotherhood, and several others. And then of course there's tons of one-off missions of all shapes and sizes. And nearly every one of these missions felt worth playing through, cause they are just that fun. And of course there's plenty of fun to be had even when you aren't pushing towards a specific goal- heading off the beaten path might lead you to a new cave to explore, a pack of travelers looking for a fight, or one of the several small things that serve no purpose other than to immerse the player and make Skyrim truly feel like a living world. They put salmon in the rivers and you can watch them jump out of the water as they swim upstream! Late at night in the northernmost locations, you might catch a glimpse of aurora borealis! And there's plenty of other 'small stories' that are so easy to miss but a close look reveals- at one point I stumbled upon the charred remains of a cabin with a burnt corpse inside. Looting the corpse gives a 'summon flame' spell. Put two and two together, and you get the implications that this guy just fucked up a spell majorly. And if you read the notes people write, or pay a little attention to the situation, stuff like that pops up all the time. Put this all together and it's a blast of a game, however it comes with one major problem- it's glitchy as all hell. Most of the time this is a beloved aspect of the Elder Scrolls games- watch the physics mess up and that bear your fighting suddenly becomes the size of a house, shit like that. But I did run into several game freezes. A well implemented autosave system makes this less of a hassle, but it's a hassle nonetheless. Aside from that though, Skyrim is an incredible game whose visuals left me in awe and had the gameplay to back it up.