Circuit

Let’s talk a little Dawnguard, shall we?

Or… maybe I’ll write a little Dawnguard, and you read what I write, and then, if you feel up to it, you can comment on it. Deal? Good.

First off, I need to admit something terrible; it’s the disgusting number of hours I’ve dedicated to Skyrim since it came out. Are you ready? It’s 294 hours. Guh. I feel a little better, having said it, I guess. Only a little, though. I’m sure it’s not a world record for hours clocked into Skyrim, but still, it’s nothing to be proud of. Okay… maybe I’m just a tiny bit proud.

But really, the reason I tell you this is because I want you to know that when I buy an Elder Scrolls game, I get my damn money’s worth. I’ll play it way too much at first, and then I’ll level off a bit, as the weather gets nicer, and other distractions manifest. And maybe I’ll put it down for a week or two, or three. But I always come back, because sometimes, when it’s almost bedtime and I want to game a bit before I crash, I don’t necessarily want to work on my puzzle-solving skills or my hand/eye coordination; sometimes, I’d rather wander around aimlessly and pick potion ingredients, harass bandits, and kill asshole bears, wolves, and cliff racers. I played Oblivion, on and off, for somewhere over three years; I plan on doing the same with Skyrim.

Enter Dawnguard, Bethesda’s first substantial DLC for Skyrim.

Do I like it? The short answer is “yes.”

For those of you who enjoy longer, more tangential, answers to questions, allow me to elaborate. It seems to me that Dawnguard has been getting mixed reviews since it came out for the 360, and I disagree with much of the negativity. People were expecting Shivering Isles, and were angry when they didn’t get it. But I don’t understand why anyone was expecting Shivering Isles to begin with, because I feel like Bethesda has been pretty clear since they announced Dawnguard that it was not going to be in the same vein as Shivering Isles.

Honestly, I think the best endorsement anyone can give for Dawnguard is to say that it’s “more Skyrim.” That’s pretty accurate. Some have chosen to interpret “more Skyrim” as a con rather than a pro, but if that’s the case, then why are you playing Skyrim? If you don’t like more Skyrim, then stop playing Skyrim, silly.

The Elder Scrolls games are designed to be played over and over again. That’s one reason I like them so much. More bang for your buck. They are virtual sandboxes. To experience the Dawnguard DLC is to suddenly find, in your sandbox, a sweet new metal trowel and a couple of awesome GI Joes that you didn’t even know were there. Like maybe an extra Snake Eye, so you can have a good Snake Eye and an evil Snake Eye. Oh yeah… and a crossbow.

And to be even more honester, I must admit I’ve only scratched the surface of what Dawnguard has to offer, at least in terms of the main quest. I’m sure the main quest is okay and all, but main quests are frankly not the reason I’ve sunk just shy of 300 hours into this game. The real reason is gimme that crossbow, and let me shoot asshole bears in the face with it. The more I consider it, the more I really like how Bethesda has approached DLC this time around. DLC is a relatively new thing for us gamers anyway, but until now (for a single-player game), they’ve mostly been self-contained and episodic. Like the ones for Dragon Age or Borderlands or Mass Effect. And there was some excellent DLC for the last two Fallout games; Honest Hearts and Point Lookout come to mind.

But Dawnguard is different in a really cool way. It’s giving you all sorts of great stuff to play with, sprinkled throughout the entire original game. Did I mention crossbows? Also there’s dragonbone weapons, which I have not gotten around to crafting yet, but you can be sure I’ll let you know when I do. Just before I sat down to write this post, I was already sitting down in the exact same spot, finishing up a quest to find a long-lost dwarven forge. And there’s the new werewolf perk tree, and all the vampire junk I haven’t gotten around to yet, because I decided my priority for this playthrough would be to kill lots and lots of stupid vampires. With crossbows, of course. And I can’t believe I almost forgot this… but if you join the Dawnguard you can get an armored dog and an armored troll.

Now, is it worth 20 of your hard-earned American-style Earth moneys? I would say yes, but just barely. It does seem steep, but given the amount of content Bethesda seems to have crammed in there, piece by piece, I do think it’s ultimately worth the price. Especially if the idea of “more Skyrim,” sounds good to you.

On a completely unrelated note, where the heck did this Sleeping Dogs game come from, and why has it taken me so long to find out about it? It looks tremendous, and I’m afraid I probably won’t get it until it comes down in price, but man, does it seem like a fun game! To call it GTA with kung-fu is probably an oversimplification, but I’d sure play the heck out of that.

And I wanted to share some more The Last of Us footage with you, this time from Gamescom 2012. Sometimes I really wish I had a PS3, and this is one of those times; The Last of Us looks like it’s going to be a truly stellar game, if it’s anything like the footage they’re showing us.

One more thing… can the gaming world please stop trolling me with unreliable Half Life 3 news? I’m getting too old to be dealing with the emotional swings it induces.