So, what would my fellow Codexians recommend?
Dark Souls is writing-wise Torment of action RPGs. A must-play for at least seven two times, with analysis of its' hints and minimalistic writing to understand what is really going on.
Should I give Skyrim a shot or pick up something else?
Play it with mods. /thread
Longer explanation: Although it's casual-friendly it's in some aspects a a good Elder Scrolls game. A few points in no particular order:
1) "Mods have fixed it". There is really no reason to play this game vanilla, it's a gameplay and combat-oriented game and mods improve this aspect
mindblowingly. The most notable ones include "overhauls" like Skyrim Redone. Check out the descriptions on Skyrim section of Nexus, a website dedicated to mods, and Codex's thread about it here.
2) The game does acknowledge and adheres to TES' definitely most interesting aspect, that is, Kirkbride's lore and semi-canon writings regarding metaphysics of TES. If you are not familiar with this concept do become so immidiately (
this one is a good read to begin with). Without giving any spoilers, it plays a huge role in main quest and player's character, and overall Skyrim respects the TES lore much more than Oblivion.
After beating the game you can check out official TES forum's Lore subforum for a nice mindfuck.
3) Factions. The Civil War sucks gameplay-wise, unless you will install the "Civil War Overhaul" technical wonder of a mod, but the backstory is an interesting concept of TES' own Israel vs. Palestine, or maybe rather European Union vs. Eurosceptics. There is the uprising of nationalistic Stormcloaks supported in the conservative Old Holds, which is half of the country, fighting the authorities of a recently weakened and troubled Empire.
The world is less like Oblivion's happy-go-lucky multiculturalism, and more like tense situation of Morrowind, with the decentralized Nordic majority and interesting minorities with reasons for their existence, including nazis, ghetto Jews and terrorists.
4) Dragonborn DLC. It is a tribute to Morrowind, set on Bloodmoon's Solstheim. If you loved Morrowind, you'll definitely enjoy what this DLC does. It wraps up a lot of loose ends regarding Morrowind's status in the Fourth Era and generally plays on the fuzzy Morrowind nostalgia note.
One of the highlights is Daedric Lord Hermaeus Mora and his realm of Apocrypha, an interesting tribute to "The Doors of Oblivion" book from previous games. A nice little touch is the every single book present in-game can be randomly found in it, giving a great read to the player if you're into that sort of thing, and you should be.
Also Telvanni Master Neloth is the best written NPC in Skyrim.
