Topic: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Game of Thrones is the single best piece of film ever made, imo. Be it movies, shows, mini series, you name it.

It's political, it's fantastical, its dramatic, it's complex, and the story is patiently told with twists that were literally 6-7 years in the making.

@LuckyLand I don't know if I'd go quite as far as @JaxonH (the TV series has a number of issues - especially as you go further in) but the books behind Game of Thrones are incredible epic fantasy. A lot of people assume that the author set out to subvert high fantasy but I don't think he comes at it from that angle at all. He genuinely loves the genre and most of its tropes but he has his own approach.

So it is "gritty" and "realistic" but only really from a human interactions perspective. The characters are never motived to do something because "magic" or because some god tells them to - they behave like humans would and where magic is used or power is attained there's always a meaningful price of some kind to pay. I think that's a huge part of why it's been so successful at reaching a wider audience - often high fantasy forgets to balance its worlds properly.

But the fantasy elements do still loom large over the whole saga. Aside from the literal wall of ice and the dragons and the giants and the occasional small bits of magic the whole series from the very earliest points is bathed in foreshadowing and prophesy hidden in dreams (all of which come true but it's rarely a straight line and not always obvious).

If you love fantasy it's an essential series to read in my opinion.

Any sales figures for Skyrim Switch?

I would watch GoT, but since there's apparently sex and nudity every 5 seconds, I'm much less interested. I don't think shows, movies, or games have to show a ton of genitalia and boobs just for the sake of being "gritty" or telling a good story. Maybe it's good for fan service, but to me it just comes across as "Hehehe, boobies!"

There were definitely scenes in Game of Thrones that were 'hey, look at some extras who're basically pornstars right now' but it's not usually intrusive, at least not in the last couple seasons. The show has its dumb moments like any work though.

@Haru17 Maybe I'll watch it someday and just skip those parts. (Not that I'm scared of naked women, but I'm a Christian and prefer to avoid that when possible) Is there a bunch of character development or plot points that pop up during those parts that you can remember? It always annoys me when I skip those parts and then realize that I missed something important.

@KirbyTheVampire Yes there are (unfortunately). The series didn't invent "sexposition" but it popularised it. The TV series (especially in its earlier seasons) uses the technique to let characters spill their inner motivations.

They also want to ram home that a couple of the characters are really terrible people. One in particular does horrible things (all shown on screen) to another character throughout season 3. It's kind of necessary because of the way they adapted the books (which introduce the character sooner) but no-one needs to see anything like as much as they show.

My advice would be to read the books instead/first. They feature much less gratuitous sex and you lose nothing (because you're in the heads of the characters anyway they don't need to externalise their thoughts). That way you can also comfortably watch the series and skip scenes knowing you won't miss anything.

@StuTwo Oh okay, well that's a bummer. Maybe I'll see if the books are at the library sometime. Thanks!

Well, just came across a serious game breaking bug that's been in the game and reported since back in 2012. And Bethesda never patched it. Apparently in a game centered around EXPLORATION , if you stumble on Castle Volkihar before you start the DawnGuard DLC questline, the gate at this castle will never open. Seems like no big deal, right? Well, in the quest a character following you to the castle will NEVER leave your sight, you're forever trapped with them following you.

I'm over 170 hours into this game, and I have no saves before starting Dawnguard because I was trying for the past 2 hours trying normal bug fixes that usually works. The only way to continue the game, is to erase my save file and start over. I've researched this bug and found out its affected many other for the past 5+ years and according to them, Bethesda does not patch their games, pretty much.

Doom and Skyrim will be my only purchases from these guys. I'm just really disappointed because despite all the bugs and crashes from Skyrim, I've loved it up to this point.

So ya, if you see a castle called, Castle Volkihar, stay the hell away from it until you start Dawnguard.

EDIT :: so apparently there is a "glitch" that can get you through the gate, that involves a wooden plate and the whirlwind shout ... and it actually worked!!!! Still, though, it's unacceptable this many bugs and glitches, that have been reported on for years, are still in a 6 year old game.

@hcfwesker oh man no way sorry to hear it, thanks for taking the bullet I guess as I will be staying the hell away from that place till dawnguard.
I'm about 120 hours in myself and not even half way through main story so thanks for the warning!

Im 100 hours in now. Just passed Dawnguard questline. Lucky me, I did not have that bug.

I have started the Downguard questline and I got cured of vampirism because I did not know I had it. I realized that when the sun started to burn me. Cool stuff.

You mean, aside from being the first fantasy films to ever present a fully-realised fantasy world without compromises for budget, time or mainstream audience tastes, to establish epic fantasy as a viable commercial and artistic genre in film, to show hardcore female characters without an ounce of fanservice, to expose millions of viewers to some amazing older actors in thoroughly kickass action roles, to up the game by several levels in special effects work and epic battle sequences, to win multiple Oscars and make billions of dollars, thereby paving the way for every fantasy work that has followed them, and to make it socially acceptable to enjoy geeky things in mainstream society? No, I can't think of anything, either!

😊

(Edited for spelling)

@Deathwalka my problem is, I got the Dawnguard quest in my log near the start of the game, but i knew it was DLC so I wanted to hold off on doing it til after the main story was complete. There's a quest where you need to get a prisoner out of a Thalmor prison in Northwatch Tower, the castle is just north west of it, so tread lightly lol.

Anyways, this is the glitch used to get pass the gate, some say it was patched out, but it does work on switch. The only issue is, the gate still never opens. So you'll have to do this trick every time you want to enter or leave the castle, and it takes a few tries each time to get it right. But at least the game is now playable for me.

@hcfwesker that's awesome news you got a fix! I love how all the secrets and cheats still work on the switch, not codes but where u can get secret chests by using a plate against a wall.
Absolutely loving skyrim, I have only played handheld and I gotta say it's incredible how well they have ported it!
Right now where I live we have all been severely snowed in, where I don't have to even go to work tomorrow as the snow is so deep and heavy, it's times like this I'm loving my switch even more

@JasmineDragon well... You say "commercial and artistic genre film" but it was too much commercial and not artistic enough (not at all imho), you say "older actors in kickass actin roles" but those kickass action roles were completely out of place both for the character (I suppose you are talking about Gandalf and his laughable fight with Saruman) and the story and unnecessarily over the top. Everything in those movies were made with the modern day mainstream audience in mind and you can clearly notice it. Xena warrior princess was more immersive some times, and it was a show that relied a lot on comedy and fourth wall breaking. LOTR manages to be less immersive and less believable even if it never wanted to break the fourth wall. When they don't speak in the elves language they often sound like modern day guys. This is only the biggest of its problems. I am not even a fan of the books (I prefer The Hobbit and not even The Hobbit is my favourite book either) but even I felt like that the movies betrayed the original books and are almost degrading for the original books

@LuckyLand lmfao you mentioned Xenia warrior princess and lotr in the same breath! I'm dying

@Deathwalka well if LOTR movies are not even able to be at least as immersive as an intentionally over the top and cheesy tv show it's simply their own fault

I do not know about you guys but after I have returned from the Soul Cairn I feel like I have played completely different game. The experience was just like Castlevania.

Dawnguard is a great expansion and I liked it way more than the Dragonborn DLC. Soul Cairn was great, very different and you could really feel the atmosphere. I didn't enjoy Apocrypha nearly as much.

Also riding dragons gotta be the most lacking and underwhelming feature added to a game ever.