I mean, no... if you're telling me that a 3DS that has run out of internal battery is still portable as you sit next to an outlet, you're wrong. It's no more portable than a console at that point. It doesn't matter if you can take it with you if you can't actually enjoy the portability. And let's not be disingenuous. Portability in the way we're using it isn't "I can put it in my pocket," it's "I can play this anywhere, anytime." That's the whole draw of the machine. That's why everyone is excited. No one is excited that they can take it with them and sit by a wall in an airport. They're excited that they think they're going to play on the bus and on the plane and in a restaurant and by the pool when they're on holiday.
But you can do that. Best case you set out for the day, know you won't play more than a couple of hours and not even pack a charging cable.
Next best case you set out for the day and pack a charging cable. Charge when you're at your desk or eating lunch or whatever.
Worst case scenario you set out for the day and pack a charging cable and a cheap external battery so that you can plug in after a couple of hours without tethering yourself to a fixed connection in a wall. I've got one on my desk about the size of a ballpoint pen that can recharge my iPhone a couple of times.
And since you brought up the whole play on the bus thing, that brings up another issue I have: no one is going to play Skyrim for 3–6 minute bursts. If your bus ride is 5 minutes, that's not enough time to play Skyrim. Skyrim is a game you sit and play for a few hours at a time, with snacks and a drink, and you turn off your phone because you got dragon-slaying to do. Not for 5 minutes which isn't enough time to load the game and even open your journal and remember where the f you're going. Again, let's not be disingenuous.
But that comes down to the fact that everyone plays differently and has different experiences. If you're travelling on a train for 5 hours why not sit down and play a really intense session of Skyrim? What about if you know that you'll be sat in a station for half an hour? Portable gaming can mean 2-3 minute bursts or it can be something completely different.
And of course with a system like the Switch it's possible that you'll find people who play on the handheld and do a few minor bits of exploring and ticking off side quests for 15-20 minutes on the bus before really ploughing through the big story events and battles on the big screen.
The market for people who want to play big open world RPGs on a bus might be a small niche but it's one that's currently completely under-served and it might well be a bigger niche than you anticipate.
I don't own a Vita, a Windows whateverthehell, and I barely play my 3DS. Which I'm not sure why you even bring them up, I wasn't praising those while criticizing the Switch's battery life.
But you can do that. Best case you set out for the day, know you won't play more than a couple of hours and not even pack a charging cable.
Next best case you set out for the day and pack a charging cable. Charge when you're at your desk or eating lunch or whatever.
Worst case scenario you set out for the day and pack a charging cable and a cheap external battery so that you can plug in after a couple of hours without tethering yourself to a fixed connection in a wall. I've got one on my desk about the size of a ballpoint pen that can recharge my iPhone a couple of times.
And since you brought up the whole play on the bus thing, that brings up another issue I have: no one is going to play Skyrim for 3–6 minute bursts. If your bus ride is 5 minutes, that's not enough time to play Skyrim. Skyrim is a game you sit and play for a few hours at a time, with snacks and a drink, and you turn off your phone because you got dragon-slaying to do. Not for 5 minutes which isn't enough time to load the game and even open your journal and remember where the f you're going. Again, let's not be disingenuous.
But that comes down to the fact that everyone plays differently and has different experiences. If you're travelling on a train for 5 hours why not sit down and play a really intense session of Skyrim?
Because the battery won't last 5 hours playing Skyrim.
What about if you know that you'll be sat in a station for half an hour? Portable gaming can mean 2-3 minute bursts or it can be something completely different.
True. And I think there are definitely a lot of games meant to be played in quick 5–10 minute chunks. I totally agree with that. Skyrim, however, is not one of those games.
And of course with a system like the Switch it's possible that you'll find people who play on the handheld and do a few minor bits of exploring and ticking off side quests for 15-20 minutes on the bus before really ploughing through the big story events and battles on the big screen.
This is a good point, and to be honest, didn't really consider it.
The market for people who want to play big open world RPGs on a bus might be a small niche but it's one that's currently completely under-served and it might well be a bigger niche than you anticipate.
Again, perhaps. What point I'm trying to make is that I think the idea is a good one, but I just don't think the execution will be feasible. I have never played a Switch, much less taken one on the go with Skyrim or Breath of the Wild running on it, so I obviously don't actually know how the battery life is going to be on it.
I'm just voicing what I think are perfectly reasonable concerns about the entire idea of gaming on the go.
But that comes down to the fact that everyone plays differently and has different experiences. If you're travelling on a train for 5 hours why not sit down and play a really intense session of Skyrim?
Because the battery won't last 5 hours playing Skyrim.
I live in the North. Up here our commuter trains are basically pump handle trolleys with a note attached saying "sorry lads, spent all of the transport budget on new submersible trains in London (tested the old ones in the water first - wasn't our best idea but they were like 2 years old anyway). Our bad. Still it's better than nothing right?" but pretty much every single longer distance intercity train I've been on in the last 10 years has had at least some plug sockets on it.
But if I knew I was going to be travelling for most of a day and I was planning to put in a long game play session (or even just watch a couple of films on my phone) I'd have packed an external battery just in case my seat didn't have a socket nearby. I don't carry an external battery every day but it's usually clear in advance when I might possibly need it.
And of course with a system like the Switch it's possible that you'll find people who play on the handheld and do a few minor bits of exploring and ticking off side quests for 15-20 minutes on the bus before really ploughing through the big story events and battles on the big screen.
This is a good point, and to be honest, didn't really consider it.
Back in the Gameboy Advance era I played loads of JRPGs. Grinding/light exploring on my commute followed by plot advancement in the evening (on the big screen via the GameBoy Player) was a revelation. To be honest having had that experience I can't understand why anyone would want to play an RPG any other way - time sink games where you spend a lot of time building stats or inventory are just an inherently a good fit for a handheld. Especially if the visual trade off is small.
There are some things that are still best tailored for a handheld experience but even without that tailoring applied they will still generally work really well.
@StuTwo That's very true about the trains in the UK, though be glad it's not Southern Railways you're using
Where I am, all my local trains are Chiltern Mainline which means I can get to London Marylebone and Birmingham Snow Hill or small towns without ever changing but also means free Wi-Fi and plugs everywhere. Though I wouldn't use the WiFi for gaming - for obvious reasons, it's definitely good to know I can charge up my Switch for long journeys. So Zelda and Skyrim are definitely good to go!
NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED! Regular opinion articles, retro game reviews and impression pieces on new games! ENGAGE VG: EngageVG.com
I don't know if I can even enjoy a game like Skyrim after having played The Witcher 3. I think it just did everything better so I'll notice all of the flaws too much.
I don't know if I can even enjoy a game like Skyrim after having played The Witcher 3. I think it just did everything better so I'll notice all of the flaws too much.
They're different games, and they both do certain things better than the other. Skyrim is much more based around freedom and basically doing whatever you want whenever you want, whereas The Witcher 3 is more about the narrative/story. Skyrim is obviously older, so things like the animations and such are done better in newer games like TW3, but I think they can both be appreciated for different reasons. I personally got sucked right into Skyrim for hundreds (probably thousands tbh) of hours, and while I've never played TW3, I'm sure if I did, I would be just as addicted. They're both great games, and at the very least, Skyrim will give Nintendo fans a taste of how great open world RPG's can be. (Breath of the Wild will probably do that first, though, since it's coming at launch)
@DarthNocturnal
Yeah, Morrowind is definitely different to Skyrim, even if you just look at combat. You'll be holding the sprint button for a while, but there are a few options for fast travel around the major towns (at the cost of coin).
@Octane of course quality wise TW3 trounces Skyrim by a mile but for me immersion and for emergent gameplay, I prefer skyrim over TW3 especially with mods like frostfall and other survival and ehancement mods.
@Dezzy Yeah I finished it late last year. Didn't play through the entirety of Skyrim though! A friend of mine was playing Skyrim, so I played a couple of hours here and there. Can't speak of the story of course, and I can definitely see why Skyrim was a big deal back in 2011, but it hasn't aged well at all compared to TW3.
@Octane
The story is just generic fantasy nonsense. Not on the same level as Witcher at all. The characters in the Elder Scrolls games are all just like randomly generated NPCs. I couldn't tell you a single name of any character in Skyrim (which I played at launch). Whereas I could tell you nearly every main character name from Final Fantasy 6, which I played about a decade earlier.
@Dezzy Yeah I finished it late last year. Didn't play through the entirety of Skyrim though! A friend of mine was playing Skyrim, so I played a couple of hours here and there. Can't speak of the story of course, and I can definitely see why Skyrim was a big deal back in 2011, but it hasn't aged well at all compared to TW3.
That's definitely true. A lot of things are pretty dated, and the combat is sort of lackluster, unless you play a sneaky assassin type of character, or a mage, in which cases it can be pretty fun. Still though, the combat in this game has nothing on games like The Witcher or Dark Souls. Quite a few of the NPC's don't have much of a personality, either.
I personally love the game for the sheer amount of content that's in it. No game series thus far can match The Elder Scrolls in terms of it's lore, quests, and secrets and things to do in general. Fallout is pretty similar to TES in that way though, considering it was also made by Bethesda and plays in much the same way, aside from the setting and some other differences.
Skyrim isn't really for people looking for a game with great combat or a compelling main storyline. The story is pretty bad, I'll admit. It's passable, but not very memorable. It's a great game for people who enjoy games with a lot of exploration, lore, and a lot of good sidequests and tons of things to do in general. The game in general is very immersive. Whether it's the best RPG ever is debatable, but it's definitely a great one, and I think anyone who considers themselves an RPG fan should give it a go, despite it's flaws and the fact that it hasn't aged particularly well. I'm personally eagerly awaiting The Elder Scrolls 6. That is definitely the game I'm the most hyped for out of any other game, even though we know nothing about it except for the confirmation from Bethesda that it will happen eventually.
I'm getting Skyrim on the Switch purely to have a portable version. I've already played the game to death before but I keep finding myself coming back to it every now and then, and a portable version will be perfect for me. In a way I'm sorta glad it's going to be awhile before it comes out because that means I can play Morrowind and Oblivion to brush up on my TES lore in time for the Switch port.
am i the only one who really liked the story in skyrim???
the civil-war setting alone is great. and the opening sequence is one of the very best i have ever seen in games. it's the perfect start for such an open world rpg. i was so amazed by it when i finally got out of that cave and glanced at the beauty of skyrim. it also tells you everything important about the story.
Forums
Topic: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Posts 141 to 160 of 1,231
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic