I’m playing through two game simultaneously right now, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. First a closer look at what those two titles are about, just so I don’t ramble on and lose those that have no idea what those games are.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I’ll refer to it as Skyrim from here on out, is a fantasy Western RPG. All that means is that you assume the role of a character and play through the game as that character.(RPG = Role Playing Game) This genre was once a very narrow description of games, today, RPG’s cannot be defined in a thousand words because of their variety and evolution. So I’ll just say that Skyrim is a game where anything within the game’s universe is possible.
It is set in a world of knights, kings, assassination, magic, demons, dragons, elves, orcs and anything else Tolkien has ever written about. It isn’t based off of Tolkien by any means, but is certainly derived from the basis of fantasy that he set years ago. You enter the world as a supposed criminal crossing the border into the land of Skyrim.
The game is a sequel(the fifth in a line of games) that explore this world and lore created years ago. The way you play is completely up to you. You can be a sneak-thief, you can be a mage, you can be a knight, you can be a conjurer that raises the dead to your defense, you can be a blacksmith, you can be an assassin: literally anything you want to, as long as it fits into the universe at hand, you can do. You don’t even have to play the story, the world itself is filled with content outside of the story that actually drives the game.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which I’ll refer to as Skyward Sword, is also a fantasy RPG, but it is pretty obviously eastern.(you’d have to see the game to understand, but just accept that if you were to play it, you would see imagery and lines of dialogue that make no sense to a western population, but within the eastern canon, make perfect sense i.e. cats with giant ears that fly)
Skyward Sword lacks everything open and free that Skyrim embraces. There are a few side stories, but they are all fluff to the main event. Within Skyward Sword, you will play as Link and Link will be the same person no matter who plays him. He has a destiny and must complete his destiny to save the world and, in this case, his girl, Zelda. Instead of a fully realized world with options and choices, it is much more linear, more like reading a book.
These two games represent a very interesting crux in the world of gaming right now. They are both single player games(as opposed to multiplayer games where you play with other people) and they are both RPG’s, but they are as different as Pac-Man and Street Fighter. The crux is this: are games better when they allow for choice and freedom or are they better when they tell a linear story and limit the freedom of the player. Most people I know, or more specifically, most of the people I talk to about games, prefer the freedom of Skyrim.
I’ve put about 20 hours into Skyrim and I’ve spent, literally, as little time as possible on the story, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I’ve killed dragons, forged armor or all kinds of types and styles, I’ve destroyed necromancer dungeons that were threatening small towns, but I have no idea what is happening in the story, meaning, there is little to no weight on the quests I’m involved in. Bad things happen when I fail, but the world moves on.
There is weight in the story. On the other hand, in Skyward Sword, I’ve played through just over half of the story and have enjoyed every minute of it. Each part of the world is filled with puzzles and tasks for me to overcome in order to find my childhood friend and love of my life, Zelda. She was kidnapped and I have to find her. There are temples where I find tools to help me in my quest and Zelda is persistently kept out of reach as I move forward. The character of Link has shifted. I once was looked down upon as just a boy, but now, I’ve proved myself as the hero, chosen by the gods and I am on a mission. There is a strong cinematic story that arcs through this game.
The most interesting thing that I find between these two experiences is that I kind of wish they were combined: Skyward Sword employs awesome motion controls that mimic my sword strikes exactly, the combat and story are some of the best I’ve ever experienced in game, but the world is narrow and limited when I compare it to Skyrim. Skyrim is wonderfully realized a world. You can literally get lost in this sixteen digital square miles and just live as a hunter-scavenger in the woods and mountains, but the story is less compelling and less important because of the huge world it is in. The button pushing combat is weak when compared to Skyward Sword.
The beauty is that both are phenomenal, but they address different drives within my mind: open freedom vs concise storytelling.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I’ll refer to it as Skyrim from here on out, is a fantasy Western RPG. All that means is that you assume the role of a character and play through the game as that character.(RPG = Role Playing Game) This genre was once a very narrow description of games, today, RPG’s cannot be defined in a thousand words because of their variety and evolution. So I’ll just say that Skyrim is a game where anything within the game’s universe is possible.
It is set in a world of knights, kings, assassination, magic, demons, dragons, elves, orcs and anything else Tolkien has ever written about. It isn’t based off of Tolkien by any means, but is certainly derived from the basis of fantasy that he set years ago. You enter the world as a supposed criminal crossing the border into the land of Skyrim.
The game is a sequel(the fifth in a line of games) that explore this world and lore created years ago. The way you play is completely up to you. You can be a sneak-thief, you can be a mage, you can be a knight, you can be a conjurer that raises the dead to your defense, you can be a blacksmith, you can be an assassin: literally anything you want to, as long as it fits into the universe at hand, you can do. You don’t even have to play the story, the world itself is filled with content outside of the story that actually drives the game.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which I’ll refer to as Skyward Sword, is also a fantasy RPG, but it is pretty obviously eastern.(you’d have to see the game to understand, but just accept that if you were to play it, you would see imagery and lines of dialogue that make no sense to a western population, but within the eastern canon, make perfect sense i.e. cats with giant ears that fly)
Skyward Sword lacks everything open and free that Skyrim embraces. There are a few side stories, but they are all fluff to the main event. Within Skyward Sword, you will play as Link and Link will be the same person no matter who plays him. He has a destiny and must complete his destiny to save the world and, in this case, his girl, Zelda. Instead of a fully realized world with options and choices, it is much more linear, more like reading a book.
These two games represent a very interesting crux in the world of gaming right now. They are both single player games(as opposed to multiplayer games where you play with other people) and they are both RPG’s, but they are as different as Pac-Man and Street Fighter. The crux is this: are games better when they allow for choice and freedom or are they better when they tell a linear story and limit the freedom of the player. Most people I know, or more specifically, most of the people I talk to about games, prefer the freedom of Skyrim.
I’ve put about 20 hours into Skyrim and I’ve spent, literally, as little time as possible on the story, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I’ve killed dragons, forged armor or all kinds of types and styles, I’ve destroyed necromancer dungeons that were threatening small towns, but I have no idea what is happening in the story, meaning, there is little to no weight on the quests I’m involved in. Bad things happen when I fail, but the world moves on.
There is weight in the story. On the other hand, in Skyward Sword, I’ve played through just over half of the story and have enjoyed every minute of it. Each part of the world is filled with puzzles and tasks for me to overcome in order to find my childhood friend and love of my life, Zelda. She was kidnapped and I have to find her. There are temples where I find tools to help me in my quest and Zelda is persistently kept out of reach as I move forward. The character of Link has shifted. I once was looked down upon as just a boy, but now, I’ve proved myself as the hero, chosen by the gods and I am on a mission. There is a strong cinematic story that arcs through this game.
The most interesting thing that I find between these two experiences is that I kind of wish they were combined: Skyward Sword employs awesome motion controls that mimic my sword strikes exactly, the combat and story are some of the best I’ve ever experienced in game, but the world is narrow and limited when I compare it to Skyrim. Skyrim is wonderfully realized a world. You can literally get lost in this sixteen digital square miles and just live as a hunter-scavenger in the woods and mountains, but the story is less compelling and less important because of the huge world it is in. The button pushing combat is weak when compared to Skyward Sword.
The beauty is that both are phenomenal, but they address different drives within my mind: open freedom vs concise storytelling.
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