Nerd-Up

(Or I used to have a life, but then I took an arrow to the knee)

I spend 40 hours a week at a job that is just so-so.  That feels like time wasted to me.  Much of my time is spent on tedious work or dealing with clueless users who break their laptops with a vengeance.  There are days it feels like my job is a black hole sucking my life away.  Honestly, I am thankful I have a job in this economy.  Things could be worse.  Or… things could be extremely awesome!!

Enter Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, or the figurative arrow to the knee of life.  There’s a phrase that’s uttered repeatedly by the guards in the game.  It goes: “I used to be an adventurer, until I took an arrow to the knee.”  You really need to hear this done as a bad Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation.

I distinctly remember telling my soon-to-be wife that the Friday after our honeymoon was Skyrim Friday and I would be dead to her.  At first she took offense to this, but she understands I am a gaming geek, and realized it worked in her favor.  It meant I would be busy and she’d have uninterrupted time to work on her PhD.  I play everything: table top RPG’s, board games, card games and video games.  I could spend hours in my own little world, doing just what I want to do — gaming.  I don’t even have to be productive about it, which makes Skyrim all that much better.

The first week or so of playing was fine and dandy.  I felt like I could put it down at any point. Then I killed a few dragons and got sucked into a civil war between two factions in the land of Skyrim.  I couldn’t abandon my new NPC friends — they NEEDED the Dragonborn to help them save their castles and villages from dragon destruction!  After I liberated the city of Whiterun from the evil Imperials, I met a guard who touched my heart.  I call him Stormcloak Guard Bob.  I make sure to stop in and see him on my adventures so he can tell me about how he used to adventure, until he took an arrow to the knee.  Oh Stormcloak Guard Bob, you poor sodding bastard, will your life ever be as fulfilled as it used to be?  Will that arrow injury ever fully heal?

The main quest of the game is to figure out why dragons are being resurrected and then go kill the Big Bad.  My guess is if you just went about the main quest, the game would take you maybe 30 hours to complete.  But not Skyrim!  Like with its predecessors in the Elder Scrolls series, there is a lot to do in this game.  I’ve spent at least 50 hours finding items for people in towns or running through dungeons to see what cool items might be there.  I have also spent countless hours mixing herbs together to make potions, or smithing armor, or enchanting armor with cool effects.  There is SO much to do!

This is what my real life has devolved into thanks to Skyrim.  I get home from work and take care of my husbandly chores and then I turn on the Xbox and go adventuring, all so Bob can tell me about his knee.  Thankfully my wife does not work on her paper all the time, so she breaks me out of the routine and I can pull that jagged arrow out of my knee and enjoy the world around me.  Still, for those few glorious hours most weeknights, I am an adventurer, I am the Dragonborn, and I kick ass!  If you’re looking for something to pass away time or you need something to really immerse you into its environment, then I highly suggest this game.  They did an amazing job. Well, until they took an arrow to the knee.