FINALLY, after about 170 hours of Skyrim I have finally completed possibly the biggest RPG ever! =D Having spent such a huge amount of time playing this game - I don't think I want to spend another few hours typing a detailed review of the game haha. So shall just try to keep this simple...
Pros: (1) Value for money - $65 for 170 hours is as good as it gets. (2) Fantastic graphics and sound - really HUGE world with beautiful scenery and intricate designs of buildings for each of the major cities. Characters and monsters look great! Sound effects and music were well done and contributed to a very enjoyable experience. (3) Huge array of things to do - smithing, enchanting, training, fighting, dungeon exploring, quests - THAT's why it took so long to complete (my quest log was practically bursting from about 10 hours into the game to nearing the end of the game) (4) Great storyline - the story of the Dragonborn was interesting (shan't reveal more to avoid spoilers) and so were the respective ones involving the war of Skyrim, Thieves' Guild, Companions, and Dark Brotherhood and some of the powers gained made it more interesting. (5) Fuss-free gaming - I liked the fact that the game was generally quite smooth - from the installation to the gameplay - something I don't take for granted after some bad experiences with other games (Bioshock and Deadspace). Nothing irritates you more than getting your hands on a much anticipated game and being unable to play it properly!
Cons: (1) Toooo long (lol) - Hard to please eh? This is ironic since I talked about value for money earlier but the game did get kinda draggy towards the later half of the game and I just wanted to finish it asap. (2) Quests were not well organized - While it's nice and important to have many things to do in an RPG, the problem was there were too many and I spent a lot of time to keep track cos I couldn't even remember what the point of the quest was and who it came from until I make the quest active and find the location on the map to jog my memory. Considering there are many other games which keep a good catalogue of the quests and gave descriptions so that you remember what is happening, I felt that this was a big drawback of the gaem. (3) Battles too easy - Fighting was fun at the start when it was still fairly challenging but once my mage got stronger and I got dual-casting and impact, it was just too imba as I spammed firebolts from range. Might be better if you played a melee character. (4) Lack of affection for the characters and sub-plot - Despite the length of the game, the great storyline, and the fact that you can have followers, there is virtually inexistent interaction between your character and your follower (if you choose to have one). This is in comparison to Dragon Age: Origins (DAO) whereby I would normally travel with 3 other companions and would have to find some of these companions myself through certain encounters. These companions could have interesting conversations leading to their personal quests and romance options and you even have to pay attention to what they say so that you know what they like and know the appropriate gifts to make them like you more. Also, the decisions you make with the 4 sub-plots as mentioned above in the Pros point (4) have no impact on the main storyline and you could even get through the game without them (if you don't want to have the particular achievement). This again loses out to DAO big-time, which brilliantly tied in everything as part of the bigger picture and the decisions you make have significance on the game and the ending. (5) Achievements - Somehow I think the game-makers don't realise how important achievements are to RPG players. Generally I think we are quite OCD people with the aim of getting any achievement (within reasonable means at least) and for a game which lasts 100++ hours, it is surprising there are only 50 achievements. As I played the game, I could certainly think of much more things they could give credit to! (6) Bugs - rare for a game to not have them, esp one as big as Skyrim but there was one which threatened to ruin the game near the end which I thankfully avoided due to an earlier saved game so my warning if you want to play this game is to be careful if you kill any soldiers.
Conclusion: 9/10 - Huge, worth buying but if you've not played DAO, play that instead cos that is the bomb. Finally I can go back to life on planet Earth =P
Moving on to the other things in my title...
(1) MJC Prom Night (7th Dec) - Held at Mandarin Orchard Hotel (incidentally where I had MY prom 13 years ago lol) and things went smoothly. Quite standard dressing from the guys (almost all in suits and tie) and for the girls, one of my friends observed that most wore quite tight-fitting dresses, which seemed to be the trend. I saw one dressed like for a wedding and I heard there was someone dressed as Snow White but I didn't get to see that haha. Only the Council TAs and the Photography Club teacher were around though, unlike previous years, and we could only surmise that this was a reflection of the relationship between the teachers and this cohort, something that I will elaborate upon when I do my reflection of my teaching experience for the year and cohort later this week. In fact, there was also not much photo taking this time round, unlike my previous 2 proms from past batches, and very little interaction with the students. Anyway, this time we were quite laxed though, and found time during the Prom to go to Bar on 5 (conveniently located just below the ballroom) for some drinks and to catch up on recent happenings, holiday plans, and future developments. I'm sure we will all miss the times that we've spent together as Council TAs after all the events and camps that we have been doing but we will still keep in contact after we move on. =)
Other than that, the trip to the prom itself was fairly interesting as the cab driver was v chatty but could converse quite well in English and seemed quite up-to-date with all the recent happenings and he talked to me about being a teacher and also about youngsters who seem to be lacking in values nowadays and cited to me an incident about some drunk youths who threw up in the car but refused to pay up. Funny thing was he said that karma was at work and they got what they deserved because after he cleaned up the car he found a phone which probably belonged to one of them and promptly sold it for $500 and joked that he was thankful to have a holiday after that cos he could stay at home for the next 2-3 days. Can't really say that he was wrong there and they deserve it for affecting his livelihood...
(2) MJ Bros Games Gathering (9th Dec) - met up with some of my MJ Bros for lunch around Boon Keng and then to one of their place to play board games (more like cards actually cos all our games involves cards only). We played some of the ones we've played recently, such as Loco (self-made because the game is apparently sooooo old that it's out of print lol, but it's really simple and fun!), Take 6 (my friend bought Take 5 actually but the rules were so complicated I just taught them to play Take 6 using the same cards) and the classic Citadels. Lost by 1 point after 6 rounds of Loco, tragically, then won Take 6 after 4 rounds including an epic comeback (3 of us were laughing and cheering everytime we managed to sabo the leading player until I came back from a 46 point deficit to win by about 20 points, quite unbelievable indeed), and won Citadel in a truly epic ending. I had a card in play called the "Ball Room" where after I called out each player to take their turn they must say "Thanks Your Excellency" or else forfeit their turn. After I built my final district thus making the current round the last round, my bro got too excited to finish building his final distract also and thus got caught by us (this after another person got caught by me in the previous round) and that cost him the game and we all had a good laugh after that. Perhaps it was karma also lol since I was assassinated twice by him in the game. Quite a few of them have flown off though so it'll be next year before I meet up with them for more of such entertainment!
(3) CT's Death (10th Dec) - on a more sombre note, my CT from AJC passed away on Thu and I went to pay my last respects at the Singapore Casket on Sat. I had actually arranged with some of my other ex-classmates to go there but on the day itself, some of them couldn't make it last minute and in the end I ended up going alone. Not too sure how important some of the things they had to take care of are, but I thought it would be important to pay my last respects even though I wasn't exactly close to her and didn't keep in contact with her after A Levels, apart from seeing her at one or two of my friends' weddings. It also makes me wonder when my time comes, who will actually take time off to see me for the last time... Anyway, it was surreal to see her lying in the coffin and it was a long time since I last saw someone in a coffin (can't even remember when that was, maybe as a child). At the point of time I was thinking back about how she was like last time, getting flashbacks of her teaching and stuff. I learned about what had happened from her cousin, who was the one who did all the funeral arrangements and contacting as many people as possible about my CT's death. She was suffering from cancer from about end of 2009 after she decided to not undergo a major operation on some growth in her throat (or somewhere around there) even though doctors said there was a 25% chance that it might be malignant. Unfortunately, it did turn malignant and she went on radiotherapy and then chemotherapy and it subsided in March 2010 but then she had a relapse I think around end of last year and decided not to have treatment because it was too painful. We actually planned to visit her about 3 months ago but my friend who was coordinating said that she was in too much pain and thus she suggested we visit her later on when things were better and in fact we were just planning to make that visit 2 weeks ago when news of her death arrived so I felt I had to go down after all that delay. Seems like I was part of her first batch and I felt a bit bad that I wasn't a good student (at least not for Biology, my most hated subject) but I guess it's all in the past now. The whole incident has given me a lot of food for thought in recent months about how much to give in teaching and how important good health is and to not neglect it in the midst of the busyness of my work. Also, her cousin said that at least she led a colourful life, going skydiving, horse riding and stuff and in death she wore her favourite Vietnamese dress and boots and accessories. Also gave me more food for thought about doing the stuff I have not done yet and there are many things I want to do over the next few years as I take a break from teaching. I've given too much of my life these 6 years to teaching and it's time for me to find some time of my own... More about my thoughts later this week...
(4) SRPQ Outing (12th Dec) - Back to happier stuff, went out with the SRPQ (minus MY cos apparently she was sick though the other girls joked that she pang-seh us) to play. Met AQ at Stadium MRT to bring her over to Singapore Swimming Club (cos XL's tuition kid is a member there), which was quite a walk from the station and she kept saying that we were lost though I assured her I knew we were on the right track haha. Eventually got there and we played about 1.5 hours of badminton, a good workout after about a year's break since playing with the SC. XL was coaching haha and apparently he played for his primary school and the girls damn funny lah cos after a while they change their aim to hitting my face so sometimes during the rallies they will aim but I changed my stance to one where my racket is always covering my face lol. Anyway, badminton is definitely not my strength but still decent enough for some proper rallies lah. After that we went for 1.5 hours of bowling and played 3 games each in total. It's been soooooo long since I last bowled and the first game was so sucky (even though all sucked in the first one). At least after a long while I finally started to find my ground and improved in the next 2 games, esp after switching to a 14-pound ball (never used that in the past), to win by a big margin but nothing to be proud of lah haha. Throughout the whole game, XL and his student kept laughing and mocking each other and it was quite entertaining at first but after a while, it was a bit irritating haha. I definitely cannot teach young kids - too immature!
(5) Pool with Army Kakis (13th Dec) - met up with my 10SIB army kakis for our usual dinner and pool at Katong Shopping Centre. PT is back for good after his studies in Australia are done and will take the rest of his law modules in NUS. Eric is in charge of some research projects with MINDEF and busy with his new-born kid. WC has switched from his design field to working at the People's Association at Geylang Serai CC, haha a very huge change in work. MZ is still the same. As usual, they like to ka chiow me cos most of us were late and someone joked that the last one to reach should pay for pool and we were updating our statuses over Whatsapp and towards the end, Eric said that PT hasn't reached yet and that I might still beat him to it if I ran from the bus stop. I guessed as much they were fooling with me cos PT was around Katong Mall a long time ago and even with a traffic jam it wouldn't take him so long but nevertheless I played along and msg them that I was running but in the end I strolled in and unsurprisingly the four of them were huddled over Eric's phone to see my replies and having a good laugh hahaha. Anyway, pool was terrible and I never felt right the entire night hitting the shots. The moment I got onto the table, the posture and positioning seemed all wrong and I had so little confidence in myself that I used the stand even when I didn't have to and deserved to lose my relegation match where I missed a sitter for the black ball using the stand. Ah well, I better try to practice soon and make sure I get back at them! =P
(6) IGC Outing (14th Dec) - Went out with 11 of the guys from 06 and 07 batch, including some of the semi-IGC people haha. Went to Chin Chin Eating House at Purvis Street for dinner, which is mainly a place for Hainanese food I think (or at least that's their speciality) and they had quite decent "zi char" food at reasonable prices. Not blown away (I rarely am nowadays, probably been eating tooooo much good food hehe) but it was ok. Haven't met up with many of them for years, particularly those in the 07 batch, so it was good to find out how they are doing. Ended up at Bugis Junction's Honeymoon Desserts, which is quite a good place for dessert and then ended playing bridge with Jon, DS, and LJ, reliving the good old days of our time in IGC haha. Those were the days when we used to hang out for dinner after IGC meetings on Wed, playing at BK or Mac's at White Sands and even outside the MRT (for god knows what reason lol). The intellectual stimulation is always something I have missed but it's a lot of work to play at a high level and something which many can't appreciate. I'm happy to hear about the gold and silver medals that Singapore won at the Sea Games recently though and hopefully that will encourage more people to play contract bridge rather than some crappy floating bridge that youngsters normally play. =D Need to find the time to meet up again to play bridge and board games!
(7) Futsal @ The Hangar (20th Dec) - Went to a really ulu place at Punggol Marina Country Club and good thing I got a lift from my army buddy after we went for dinner at Old Airport Road Food Centre. Had 17 people, mainly from my army buddy's clique of secondary school friends and it was a good kickabout considering I haven't played much in recent years cos I kept getting major injuries so I was happy just to have a few decent games and keep myself relatively free from major injuries (got a couple of bruises and seems like I strained my right hamstring/gluteal but better than the sprained ankles that I had from previous times). Surprisingly my best performances came when I was goalkeeping and my passing was better there. Pretty pissed off with myself when I went upfront cos some of the attacking moves broke down after some uncharacteristic bad passing and missed a few chances. Trying to arrange with some of the boys to play soon and am looking forward to it. Would be a good way to kick off 2012!
So far it's been a fruitful holidays and I shall try to meet up with more of the other people whom I've not seen for some time. Will try to post daily from now on now that I'm done with Skyrim lol...
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