[Locke]

Started Skyrim. Around this time last year my 360 RRODed and I was only like a quarter into this and honestly I really wasn't enjoying the game anyway but as I've finished Infinite and the game I wanted to purchase wasn't in stock so I decided to start this game from scratch and honestly...I'm enjoying it a lot more this time.

I decided to make Locke into an overweight, extremely flamboyant lizard man who combined skills of archery, sneak and...heavy armour (shuuush). Done a little training in one handed combat for sneaky kills and if enemies catch me off guard and get in a little close. I'm also the Thane of some town and a member of the bards college. Oh and I also have a companion who is an archer like me.

The main thing that put me off the first time was I found the game bloated. I understand the wonders of an open world title but Skyrim's map wouldn't be nearly as huge if they didn't block your path every five minutes with unclimbable mountains.

The second was a general lack of focus and tonal clashes. 'Skyrim is burning to the ground, time is off the essence you must train and stop the dragons!' the game would tell you but then didn't seem to mind at all if you did the tesco shop of every single person in the village you are currently in first.

How can I feel engaged in a story that has no sense of tension or immediacy? Mass Effect 3 did this as well. I countered this by basically avoiding the story all together and trying to do as many side quests as I can before I have to start the story, that way I'm just an adventurer going on quests and the game doesn't feel like it's contradicting itself as much.