No More Secondhand God
Michael Love
July 2, 2009
It’s no secret that I love freedom in games, the chance to shape the world as I see fit, to play at being God (or god, depending on what religion you may follow). Deus ex machina, if ya like. Saying that, I find I’m a person that follows the same path every time – I limit my own freedom through choice, I suppose. It’s a strange thing to realise. I’ve tried the way of “evil”, ever since Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic maybe, and I always revert back to kind. I’ve played many games to develop this love of freedom and maybe that is the ultimate escape, to experience that feeling of power, that (sometimes) hideous strength, that I don’t in real life; a thought that fascinates me!
But I know that this power is actually limited by the developer’s whim; if you had full freedom, the story would not work, the world would break. The only game I’ve seen to have such… bravery is The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Here I could make mistakes, typically by bumping off a major character, and the world would go on. I had an impact but the world didn’t end because it didn’t revolve around me. This also rankled with me. Why? I could become the head of several organizations but could be dismissed by those of lower rank due to a simple act of theft, for instance. I swear, it was an accident… the power meant nothing in the end, I affected naught.
Life lesson #5: Don't try and mug someone with a mohawk and/or floating island
I played Morrowind and I dreamt of what could be when I heard word of a sequel. I envisaged a world where I could, if I wanted, found a town that I had designed… don’t judge me! I wished to have the chance to recruit a handpicked band of mercenaries, of various skills (that I could choose to specialise) and wreak havoc or the opposite on the countryside. I realise now that sounds like an MMO setup… but at the time of my wish I was not so savvy about games as I am now. I hungered to unite all the Dunmer Houses under MY rule! I fantasised about having a castle or something with a cornucopia of rooms for such things as alchemy and weapons training… and various other purposes. I wanted the chance to perform these little acts of power that could shape the world and affect the lives of those I encountered. But that wish was lost in Oblivion… Oblivion. Where the enemies levelled up with me, even if they should pose no challenge to a pimped-out Nord. Where I was brought down to Earth Cyrodiil with a bump because I couldn’t levitate.
Someday that game may exist beyond my dreams; until then, I’ll keep imagining.
Power. Give me more power.
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:41 am
I swear I read that line as “handicapped band of mercenaries” and wondered what was going on in your head!
Console controls don’t really lend themselves to that sort of freedom, as I can’t imagine it would be very easy to design a town with a couple of mini joysticks BUT… all these things you crave are entirely possible with Oblivion if you play on the PC platform and create your own towns. You can even add new races, magic items (woohoo!), potions, quests, classes… anything!
It’s something I considered but never got that far when I installed it on my PC. After I’d downloaded some awesome custom clothing I ended up just playing the game normally and enjoying how damn cool I looked. Perhaps with the next Elder Scrolls release I’ll delve into playing God but for the moment I’m happy just playing the pawn.
The power is there… you just need to reach out and grab it :)
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:44 pm
A handicapped band of mercs, you say? Hmm… :-)
I have heard of the wondrous construction set for both Morrowind and Oblivion – ever since I looked round the official forums for a release date for Morrowind’s GOTY edition – but never had a decent PC for most games.
It annoyed me immensely when I could, through a bug I think, become leader of both Redoran and Hlaalu (my favourite House), but not really be that. I’m getting annoyed thinking about it now! Bah!
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:32 pm
My current “work” PC was built with graphics in mind, as it has to be able to handle very quick rendering, but it also meant I was able to get it with games in mind ;) It was built specifically for me to my own spec and cost £1100 a couple of years ago which is, believe me, very good for the beastly 1.3Gb of video memory, huge processor, 4Gb RAM and umpteen hard drives.
BUT… just a month or so ago I had another machine built which is AMD Quad Core II Phenom 810 (4 x 2.6Ghz), 4Gb RAM, 3Tb of storage (ultra fast WD Audio Visual drives) and 640mb of video memory (Nvidia again) and it was £470 as far as I remember. May have been more, but it was less than £500 for sure because I was blown away by the price for the spec.
I don’t know how much store bought PCs cost but I find it’s much better to have them built for you. You’re in complete control over the spec and you don’t have to contribute towards the cost of huge warehouse rental fees and staff wages like you would buying from PC World.
As much as I hate to admit it too… I loved the graphics clarity of Oblivion on the PC much more than on the Xbox. The PC is also set at 1920 x 1080 but the quality of reflections and water handling, the ambience of the sunsets etc… so much better on the PC.