technically this is the opposite of a walkthrough
March 22, 2021 2:33 PM Subscribe
How to beat The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, a game in which you walk all over a sprawling world and through the dungeons and houses therein, but without ever actually walking anywhere. A whirlwind (see what I did there) 50 minute annotated tour through alternate forms of locomotion in the classic RPG adventure.
beating Skyrim in under 10 minutes with speed run
posted by clavdivs at 4:23 PM on March 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 4:23 PM on March 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
About 15 years ago, when I was playing World of Warcraft, I lamented to a friend who was also playing the game that it was annoying how you had to walk everywhere! That's when he told me of the alternative meaning of WoW: "World of Walking".
There was a quest once to get aquatic form for my Druid. This was in Burning Crusades era, back before they set the aquatic form quest nearby in Darnassus and Moonglade, and instead it took you to the sea, almost all of the way down the continent. However, rather than walking the length of the damn continent to get to the quest site (which would have meant battling dozens and dozens of mobs along the way), I decided to take the "easy" path, and swam around the whole continent.
At some point around 2008 or 2009, Blizzard nerfed the flight form for Druids, so you could no longer just fly anywhere you wanted. I loved flight form -- so liberating! I tried, but just couldn't go back to walking everywhere like a bird with its wings clipped and gave up the game. I'm still bitter about that.
posted by darkstar at 4:38 PM on March 22, 2021 [3 favorites]
There was a quest once to get aquatic form for my Druid. This was in Burning Crusades era, back before they set the aquatic form quest nearby in Darnassus and Moonglade, and instead it took you to the sea, almost all of the way down the continent. However, rather than walking the length of the damn continent to get to the quest site (which would have meant battling dozens and dozens of mobs along the way), I decided to take the "easy" path, and swam around the whole continent.
At some point around 2008 or 2009, Blizzard nerfed the flight form for Druids, so you could no longer just fly anywhere you wanted. I loved flight form -- so liberating! I tried, but just couldn't go back to walking everywhere like a bird with its wings clipped and gave up the game. I'm still bitter about that.
posted by darkstar at 4:38 PM on March 22, 2021 [3 favorites]
Love the music choices and "Crash the Elvish KKK Party"
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 6:04 PM on March 22, 2021
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 6:04 PM on March 22, 2021
I lamented to a friend who was also playing the game that it was annoying how you had to walk everywhere
Strangely enough, this inconvenience actually made it the "World" of Warcraft. You should see the later iterations of the game. You just log in... anywhere you like. And then you "queue" up for dungeons, raids, or PVP, using a menu, and you are instantly inside the location. You can pick up and start auction sales from a button and collect mail anywhere.
The world kind of disappeared, and the game felt more like a... Counter Strike matchmaking lobby or DOTA matchmaking lobby.
Originally you had to travel to the dungeon. Fly, then on horse, then walk. You had to go to the auction house. You had to go a mailbox. You needed to talk to the battleground coordinator to do PVP. You actually had to spam /general to find people to do a dungeon with. Your personal reputation on the server actually mattered. Making friends mattered.
I guess the restrictions are what make the game, sometimes. Chess is only a game because every piece has restrictions over what it can do, removing these restrictions doesn't necessarily make Chess a better game. I still firmly believe convenience killed the charm of World of Warcraft for many people who liked the role playing part of the game.
posted by xdvesper at 10:11 PM on March 22, 2021 [11 favorites]
Strangely enough, this inconvenience actually made it the "World" of Warcraft. You should see the later iterations of the game. You just log in... anywhere you like. And then you "queue" up for dungeons, raids, or PVP, using a menu, and you are instantly inside the location. You can pick up and start auction sales from a button and collect mail anywhere.
The world kind of disappeared, and the game felt more like a... Counter Strike matchmaking lobby or DOTA matchmaking lobby.
Originally you had to travel to the dungeon. Fly, then on horse, then walk. You had to go to the auction house. You had to go a mailbox. You needed to talk to the battleground coordinator to do PVP. You actually had to spam /general to find people to do a dungeon with. Your personal reputation on the server actually mattered. Making friends mattered.
I guess the restrictions are what make the game, sometimes. Chess is only a game because every piece has restrictions over what it can do, removing these restrictions doesn't necessarily make Chess a better game. I still firmly believe convenience killed the charm of World of Warcraft for many people who liked the role playing part of the game.
posted by xdvesper at 10:11 PM on March 22, 2021 [11 favorites]
@darkstar: oh god, BC era druid leveling. My very first character was a night elf druid... I remember the run from moonglade to westfall to join up with the main Alliance content path. Druid flight form was the best: when I was waiting for a raid to start, I'd play a game I called Druid BASE jumping, where I'd fly up, cancel flight form, then try to re-enable it as close to the ground as possible.
I miss the coordination, and the sense of belonging when you found a good guild. I don't miss the amount of time I played per week, though :P.
posted by isauteikisa at 2:03 AM on March 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
I miss the coordination, and the sense of belonging when you found a good guild. I don't miss the amount of time I played per week, though :P.
posted by isauteikisa at 2:03 AM on March 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Due to a heavy work schedule at the time, I was an unreliable guildie, so I generally soloed, occasionally running instances with pickup groups. I only played a Night Elf Druid for years - what a great class to solo with!
I can't express how much enjoyment I got out of flight form, back in the day. I never used it to gank players in PVP -- ostensibly one of the key reasons that they nerfed it -- but had many hours of fun flying up to roost on parapets and floating boulders and other heights. What a fun experience, while it lasted!
posted by darkstar at 12:10 PM on March 24, 2021
I can't express how much enjoyment I got out of flight form, back in the day. I never used it to gank players in PVP -- ostensibly one of the key reasons that they nerfed it -- but had many hours of fun flying up to roost on parapets and floating boulders and other heights. What a fun experience, while it lasted!
posted by darkstar at 12:10 PM on March 24, 2021
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posted by isauteikisa at 2:39 PM on March 22, 2021