Mikey Lee Ray - LSD Owns The Game #1 Skyrim

LSD OWNS THE GAME

#1: SKYRIM REVIEW

By MIKEY LEE RAY

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Copyright 2015 by MIKEY LEERAY

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INTRODUCTION

Hi there dear readers and welcome to LSD OWNSTHE GAME. If you havent noticed already LSD is branching out andfranchising into different categories for reviews. The goal is toprovide short but insightful and entertaining reviews, commentariesand articles on all the things we know and love such as videogames, music, artists and songs, movies, TV shows, plays and thingsof that nature. Were also working on an experimental piece calledLSD MAKES A SCENE where the LSD editors Richard Batchelor andmyself Mikey Lee Ray are extras (along with famous literary andhistorical figures) in various scenes from well known popularbooks. This last one is a work in progress.

Im aiming to write as many pieces as I canin the form of reviews, news, commentaries and articles and as muchof this content as possible will be free. LSD issue #1 is free toread and review and the other issues are only 99 cents (a bargain).If youre reading this then I only ask you the following, namelythat if you enjoy it please share it around and write a positivereview or at the very least make your criticisms constructive andnot destructive. Richard and I put a lot of work into our writingand the last thing any writer needs are trolls who criticize their(usually free) work and have nothing positive to say. Just adisclaimer and something that needed to be said folks. Were inthis for the love not the money and we hope you enjoy reading it asmuch as we enjoyed writing it. Thanks - Mikey

CHAPTER 2

Now I know what youre thinking, why start anew segment with a game thats been out for years? Why not begin byreviewing something newer like Grand Theft Auto 5 or Fallout 4? OrStar Wars Battlefront? Answer, because Skyrim is freakingawesome.

Throughout my life Ive put a lot of hoursinto my gaming, from its beginnings on the Amiga, to the Sega MegaDrive, the Nintendo 64 and then the Playstation 2, 3 and 4 to saynothing of the time spent on classic button mashing arcade games.And while most games have a limited shelf life I can honestly saythat Skyrim is a game that I can keep coming back to and enjoyingas if for the first time each time anew.

What gives the game its lastability and itsreplayability (is that a word, it is now) you ask dear readers? Ithink its the freedom of choice that players have when creatingcharacters. That and the awesome opening that thrusts the playerright into the heart of the action, a close call in which you arealmost beheaded, the appearance of a dragon and the discussion onthe way to said almost execution set up the story beautifully whileshedding light on the world of Skyrim. What follows is a greattutorial that shows you the ropes and then throws the characterinto the deep end by leaving them in a huge open world to exploreby themselves.

Whether or not you go on to continue theCivil War main questline is up to you or whether you just choose toexplore the world and do the many side quests while leveling upyour character and taking on a wide range of foes.

Most games these days pride themselves on thechoices they offer players and showing them the outcomes of saidchoices. But in most games like for example Grand Theft Auto thechoice is usually kill character A or character B. Whereas inSkyrim the choices are more difficult and more involved.

Will you turn the Redguard woman over to theAlikr warriors for justice or will you hunt them down and takethem out to let her be free to live her own secret life in Whiterununder a false name? Will you help Ulfric and the Stormcloaks takecontrol of Skyrim and lead the rebellion to victory or will youjoin the Empire and crush it mercilessly? Who is in the right?Also, will you be a hero whose quests are done to help the peopleof the various towns throughout Skyrim or will you be a mercenarywho does it for the coin?

Games like The Witcher owe quite a lot toSkyrim inspiration wise thats for sure. What gives the game itslastability I think is the many different quest lines that you canpursue simultaneously during your travels. Theres the ThievesGuild, The Dark Brotherhood, the Companions and others. Each oneupon completion gives the character certain awesome benefits thatmake the time invested in them totally worth it. But what kind ofcharacter will you be is the million dollar question? A magicalcharacter? A warrior with two handed weapons? An archer? A sneakyassassin? Or a combination of these, a Master Alchemist who canmake kick ass potions and posions then hit your unsuspectingvictims with one on an arrow and go in hell for leather with somebadass magic as well?

Before Skyrim I was never big on fantasygames, I avoided World of Warcraft (and still do), never playedDungeons and Dragons or any other well known fantasy games butSkyrim converted me to a fan of the genre. Nowadays I favor magicalcharacters because they add something new to combat I think. Youcan only swing a sword, battleaxe or fire a bow so many timesbefore it gets dull I think. Why do that ad nauseam when you canconjure up fire and frost atronachs, familiars, raise the dead tofight by your side, knock your opponents down with lightningblasts, ice storms and fire and more? To say nothing ofinvisibility potions which are kick ass as well.

Thats what I mean by the incredible freedomof choice this game offers. As you level up and pick certain perksyoure determining what kind of character youre going to become,your strengths and your preferred fighting style in combat and yourabilities when crafting be it smithing, enchanting or alchemy.

Then there are the different races from Orcs,different kinds of humans to various kinds of Elves to Khajiit (catpeople), Argonians (lizard people) and others. All of which havetheir different strengths, weaknesses and special abilities to helpyou in combat. As well as this Skyrim creates its own history andits own Mythology, each race has its own history with the otherraces, their own fears and prejudices against certain ones andtheir own distrusts which make the other characters very real.

Even if you do decide to have a warriorcharacter it doesnt hurt to know your smithing so you can craft adecent suit of armor for when you rush headlong into that next bigfight. Other things that make Skyrim truly awesome are the abilityto switch between first and third person. Doesnt sound like a bigdeal but its very cool because most games these days are eitherone or the other. You get used to watching your character in firstperson moving around with a weapon in front of them or like inGrand Theft Auto you get used to watching them in third person.Switching between the two has its obvious advantages like in themiddle of combat you can be in first person while you aim with abow or switch to third person while youre sneaking around andtrying to remain undetected. Or you can switch to third person tolook at the awesome suit of armor youve just made and smithed upfor yourself. This switching between perspectives is also somethingthat works very well in the Fallout series.