Chapter 799 - 799: May Players Have Better Livers

There's no doubt that "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" conquered all players with its exceptionally outstanding quality.

During this time, new titles like Atari and FOW's "Sin and Law" and "The Missing Hundred Billion" were also released one after another. However, even though these new releases deliberately avoided the previous release window of "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim," they were still overshadowed.

These two games are not open-world titles but rather "Kōtō"-style segmented games. The former tells the story of a lawyer entangled in gang affairs, while the latter is about a fall guy within a gang who gets involved in a story concerning a hundred billion property deal.

The similar gameplay mechanics and world-building showed Zeus's ambition in this area to many players.

FOW had already been acquired by Zeus and become a subsidiary. Atari also maintained a good cooperative relationship. With two consecutive games featuring somewhat similar gameplay and world-building, it was clear that the company intended to create a massive IP.

Furthermore, the quality of the games themselves, in terms of both gameplay and story, was commendable.

But the key point was that "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" had delivered too powerful an impact to players.

Dragonborn, vampires, and the Dawnguard, along with werewolves and the Dark Brotherhood, countless factions and events.

The primary activity area in the game is Skyrim province, but players know that Skyrim is just the tip of the iceberg of the continent of Tamriel. This, in turn, made players feel the vastness of the world-building even more.

Whether it was related Daedric quests or the main quest involving the Dragonborn and the Dawnguard, the quests ran through the history of the continent of Tamriel in "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim."

This gave players the feeling that they were creating history, writing their own legends.

These elements combined ensured that the popularity of "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" never wavered.

Every game has a lifespan for its popularity, especially single-player games.

After all, as various plot points and gameplay mechanics are revealed, most players will finish the game or have played a significant portion of it.

The peak of its popularity will gradually pass.

But the popularity of "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" remained unusually robust.

This reminded many of Nebula Games' previous title, "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

The only difference, however, was that "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" didn't have as many unconventional gameplay mechanics as Zelda.

Given this, it was truly remarkable that the game could maintain such high popularity through its content.

While designers in the industry marveled, the overall scores for "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" continued to soar.

Unlike other games, which generally see their aggregate scores gradually decline after release as more players and media give their ratings, "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" stunned many with its scores.

Because not only did the scores not drop, they actually increased.

Although on third-party aggregate rating websites, it only rose by 0.1 points, from 9.6 to 9.7.

But this meant that after the statistics were tallied, a large number of media outlets had given near-perfect reviews.

And these reviews had praised "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" to the skies.

Especially GameSpot, the most authoritative review media in the industry, which did not release its review immediately.

Instead, it waited for nearly two weeks after the game's release, and after experiencing most of the game's content, it finally gave its evaluation.

It was, as expected, a perfect score.

Especially at the beginning of the review, GameSpot provided the following statement.

'Following "Red Dead Redemption" and "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," another benchmark for open-world games has been born.'

'We were late in scoring "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" because we were very conflicted. We wanted to experience the game's content thoroughly to make our review more authoritative.'

'But the reality is that for a week straight, our review editor spent over 10 hours in the game each day, and even then, after a week, they could still discover new content endlessly within the game.'

'It is so captivating, full of vibrant life, as if it possesses an immortal magic!'

'When you step into Skyrim and behold the beautiful world, you can understand where this immortal magic comes from. In terms of visual presentation, "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" is indeed not as stunning as "Uncharted" or "Detroit" were at the time, but that doesn't mean it's not excellent. The beautiful fog on the Throat of the World, the circling dragons, the prosperity of Solitude – all of this presented before you is breathtakingly beautiful.'

'"The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" gives us an epic story. This story doesn't detail everything the protagonist does but rather makes you feel like you are writing your own story.'

'Every NPC in the game doesn't just act as background decoration. They have their own lives, their own experiences, their own personalities and hobbies. There are thieves, bandits, and strange creatures, making the entire world appear incredibly real.'

'Even after completing the main quest in the game, you've only experienced a small portion of the game's content.'

'When you set foot in the vast world of Skyrim, you will understand the true meaning of this game: it's not about you flowing like a river towards the sea, but rather about you being like the wind, free to go wherever you wish.'

'You can do many things in it. Be a righteous and disciplined hero warrior, a thief, a mage. You can also, late at night, pick locks and sneak in to steal things you can't afford... This is a magical world, and also a real world.'

'After "Red Dead Redemption" and "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," no game has yet reached the pinnacle of open-world games again, but "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" has clearly done so. It hasn't made groundbreaking innovations, but like a fine wine aged for many years, it is so mellow and charming.'

Such overwhelmingly positive reviews excited players who loved "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim." As for players and designers who disliked Nebula Games, they couldn't say anything, because anyone who had experienced the game and looked back at this review could only say one word: well-deserved.

There's no doubt that this game has that charm. Even ignoring the main quest, the vast and complex side quests can be engrossing, not to mention the game's considerable freedom.

...

However, while players and the industry were singing the praises of "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim," Lucas at Nebula Games' office was discussing future game plans with his team, specifically regarding MOD tools.

"The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" didn't become famous solely because of MODs, but MODs did indeed add a lot of color to the game.

And for MOD tools, just like the Warcraft RPG maps back then, Lucas planned to release some official tools first, allowing players to experience the changes MODs brought to the game.

Of course, it wouldn't be like the "laboratory" and officially sanctioned communities like the community and workshop wouldn't allow such things.

After all, Nebula Games isn't a small studio, and these things have a significant impact.

As for what players might create privately?

Nebula Games couldn't control that. They weren't gangsters, after all. They couldn't implant detection tools in people's VR game pods to scan their files.

At most, they could issue a verbal appeal.

"Boss Lucas, are you trying to kill the players?"

At Nebula Games, Anna's mouth twitched as she watched Lucas use the MOD development tool to create the first functional MOD.

One very surprising aspect of "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" for players is that the game doesn't have a lot of malice.

Whether it's in gameplay or story, whether it's "backstabbing" or difficult trap-based malice, none of that can be found in the game.

After all, it's well known that Boss Lucas likes to play tricks in his games.

But now…

"How can you say that? Players who love collecting and achievement hunters will be overjoyed!" Lucas chuckled. On the display screen in front of him was a magnificent building located in Solitude.

The sign at the entrance read: 'Dragonborn Art Museum' in five large characters.

This was a relatively well-known MOD from his previous life.

It focused on collection, displaying all sorts of items from the game, from quest-specific items to ordinary rewards, all in this exhibition hall.

"But completionists will be like 'what the hell'!" Anna sighed.

She could already imagine how desperate some completionist players who aimed for every achievement would be.

Originally, achieving the platinum trophy in "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" was already very difficult.

But with the addition of this MOD, especially considering Lucas's words that to provide players with more fun, this official MOD would be integrated into the Nebula Games world, allowing players to display it to other players and friends.

How could completionists who wanted 100% endure this?

Considering the vast amount of content in the game, Anna could only say, "May players have better livers."

(End of Chapter)