Skyrim

I’m on my second playthrough of Skyrim.

First time was years ago, went on for about 150 hours. Wasn’t done, but the game had become unbearably crashy because of that old buggy game engine. Reluctantly, I called it a day, but I had an inkling I would be back. And back I came, already last year actually, got the remaster upon release.

Played for a good while, then a supposedly short break became a not so short break, lasting until recently. Now I’m at it again (along with Planescape: Torment and No Man’s Sky, more posts on those coming up), currently playing the DLC Dragonborn, doing quests and exploring the new area. It’s not bad.

I encounter many strange things on my journey, and sometimes the most peculiar ones occur in a mundane situation.

Let me illustrate.

A certain irresolute blacksmith enlisted my help to retrieve a special pickaxe of his from a miner who wouldn’t part with it. So I went to the miner, convinced him to give me the pickaxe, returned it to the blacksmith. Turns out he didn’t really want the axe, all he wanted was to teach the unwilling miner a lesson. So he gave the pickaxe to me as a gift.

So far so good, nothing particularly strange going on. Then the following happens.

We got started on some trade, and for good coin I sold him the special pickaxe he had just given me. The pickaxe he didn’t want for free a moment ago. No comment was made by either of us, no amused laughter, just business as usual, both perfectly composed.

These games generate a lot of these bizarre but amusing anecdotes, and we think nothing of them. Until we do. Imagine something similar happening in real life, or even in a fictional story that isn’t a video game. Jon Snow is given a precious gift by Daenerys, and two minutes later he’s trying to sell it to her, and she accepts. They’d both come across as bona fide weirdos.

As amusing as these events can be, if you care enough to notice, one might justifiably wonder to what extent they break immersion, especially as being immersed is far more important than being amused (in my humble opinion.)

Of course, there are a plethora of situations that are anything but realistic, and we do take them for granted, but wouldn’t it be pretty interesting and immersive, and rather surprising, if the blacksmith would react more realistically, like saying “did you just try to sell me the pickaxe I gave you a moment ago?” Then only the player would seem like a weirdo, and through no fault but his own.

That would require extra work and resources during development, but probably not all that much, relatively speaking. It’s a trade-off, and maybe there’s a compelling reason not to do it, but it does seem like a fairly low-hanging fruit, though I’m sure some would just get annoyed by having the blacksmith reject the pickaxe.

Occasionally games do insert realistic details along these lines. In one game — might actually be Skyrim — the characters in the vicinity react when you drop your loot on their floor. That’s unexpected, normally we’re allowed to drop any loot anywhere without reaction, which isn’t all that realistic. And don’t get me started on people not reacting when you’re lurking about, like entering someone’s house in the middle of the night looking around or just standing there and possibly dropping low value blood-soaked loot on their floor. Completely normal behavior.

But anyway. For all its faults, and what I describe above is not even close to the top, I still enjoy Skyrim.