April 20, 2016 1:11 PM EDT
I love this discussion!
I purchased the game on day one for the xbox 360. Until that day I had not played an RPG video game since King's Quest 6! I was inspired to purchase the game after seeing Todd Howard's demo presentation at E3 and just remember being blown away the scale of the open world.
Into the world of Skyrim...never to returnThe first time I played the game I had no idea what I was doing. I left Helgen and headed straight for Riften. I remember come down from the snowy mountain pass into the far western end of the rift and being overcome by how breathtaking everything was! I put down my controller, stood up and clapped...all alone in my basement. I played the xbox version of the game until my disk began to fall apart and then purchased another copy. It was also at that time that I felt compelled to start sharing my game play experiences with others and purchased and external recording box, officially launching my YouTube channel.
You and no otherI became hopelessly addicted to Skyrim and have played almost nothing else since. The only game that has been able to pull me away has been the Mass Effect trilogy which I have played though twice. The real clincher for me was my move to PC. With the move to PC I began extending my game experience with mods and before long I was making my own mods to support my increasingly involved stories. The combination of the game setting, deep lore, mod library and creation kit has been the perfect storm of creative outlet and pure fun for me! To be honest, it has taken the place of the Lego set I abused as a kid.
What I remember mostThe absolute freedom to do what I want, play how I want, build what I want. My first character was a Bosmer and the most distinct memory was wandering through the birch forests of the rift thinking about how much it felt like the real birch and aspen forests of the North Shore. The colors, the rattle of the leaves and lapping of the waves...pretty great stuff.
Skyrim is so much more to me than a game. It's a wondrous creative sandbox that mixes the art of role play with the tools to create.
Thanks for prompting this trip down memory lane!
CW