Today is finally Friday.  It’s been one hell of a week…  Feels like I somehow wound up with an extra day or two, like I’ve already worked six or seven days.  All week long it has felt like it should be later in the week – Tuesday felt like Wednesday, Wednesday like Thursday, Thursday like Friday, and today I’m just glad it is Friday.

Work is still consuming most of my life.  Every day is very busy.  And then I’m coming home exhausted, and going to bed early.

I’ve pretty much stopped playing Skyrim.  I’ve got over 80 hours logged, haven’t finished the main storyline, and I just can’t find the time to devote to it these days.  I’ll wind up going back to it eventually…  But, for now, I just don’t have the time.

I’ve been playing WoW again.  It’s easier to log in and waste ~30 minutes in WoW than it is in Skyrim.

I’ve pushed my huntress up to 81, got her out to Vashj’ir and I’m playing with sea creatures.  I also rolled up a priest and I’ve got her to 31.  Took her to the Darkmoon Fair a few times and ran a bunch of dailies around Stormwind.

I’ve been playing Skyrim almost non-stop.  Steam claims I’ve got over 57 hours logged.

I haven’t done a whole heck of a lot with the storyline though…  I found Alduin’s Wall, and was then directed to go talk to the Greybeards about the “dragonrend” shout…  And was then told that I’d have to go out to the Mage College in Winterhold…  And that’s where the main storyline stands at this point.

I also went out and recruited some followers into the Blades.  But I haven’t done anything more with that, either.  They’re still waiting around for me to lead them against some dragons.

Killing dragons, however, has really become secondary to what I’m trying to accomplish right now.  I’m almost dismayed when I hear that distant roar, and the sound of wind howling across their wings.  It’s still a challenging fight…  And there’s still some good loot…  But I guess I’m not finding those dragon shouts as useful as I thought I would (probably because they aren’t terribly stealthy) – so I’m not too worried about collecting dragon souls to unlock them.

I’ve recently finished the big Dark Brotherhood storyline.

Getting in to the Dark Brotherhood was much harder in Skyrim than it was in Oblivion.  In Oblivion, I just happened to kill a random NPC and was offered the chance to join.  In Skyrim, I had to actually hunt down a specific quest to get things rolling.  And the quests, in general, seemed easier.  Much less cloak, far more dagger.  I didn’t really have to think all that hard about how I was going to pull any of the assassinations off – I was virtually handed a dead body and a quest reward.

Still, it was a fun storyline.  And I’ve now got a good source of income when I need it – that Radiant system means that I’ve got a virtually unlimited number of assassination quests available to me, if I want them.  And they pay fairly well.

Right now I’m playing around with the Thieves Guild.

Unlike in Oblivion, where it was fairly difficult to get into the Thieves Guild…  I was almost hauled in unwillingly in Skyrim.  Again, the quests seem more straightforward and far less complex than they were in Oblivion.  But at lest I’m being forced to be stealthy…  For the most part.

I feel a little silly saying this…  But I think one of the changes I’m happiest about in Skyrim is the fact that everything on the table doesn’t go flying when you pick up a single item.

In both Morrowind and Oblivion, it seemed that objects weren’t actually resting on the furniture as they appeared to be.  You’d touch a single item on the table (desk, whatever) and everything on it would drop an inch or so onto the surface that it was supposedly already sitting on.  Some objects would bounce or roll around…  Maybe a goblet would tip over…  A piece of fruit would topple a bowl or send a fork flying…

Was very annoying.  I’d try to pick up a single potion off a table set for some fancy feast…  And everything went flying.  Looked like a bull had rampaged through the place.

Could always tell if I’d been through an area, because it looked like a tornado had hit.

In Skyrim, this is much less noticeable.  I’ve still managed to mess up some stuff…  But, for the most part, stuff doesn’t go flying when you pick up a single object.  And that really adds to the feeling that you’re in a real environment with semi-realistic physics.

Wow.  This last weekend just flew by.

I spent most of my weekend playing Skyrim.

I’m playing with the same stealthy archer build that I’ve enjoyed so much in Morrowind, and Oblivion.  Light armor, lots of archery, lots of sneaking.  I’m not doing a whole lot of actual thieving this time around though – not picking any pockets, not stealing anything.  For now, I’m going the heroic route…  But I might very well turn to a life of thievery (or worse!) if I can find the Skyrim equivalent of the Thieve’s Guild or Dark Brotherhood.

I’ve mostly been hanging out around the Whiterun area…  Haven’t really traveled too far abroad.  I’ve been doing an assortment of quests for folks in the area.  Joined the Companions.  Killed a couple dragons.  Bought a house there in Whiterun and fixed it up.

I’ve killed about a half-dozen dragons, and discovered at least that many words of power, but I’ve only unlocked two shouts.  The one that throws people back, and the dash one.  I assume that I need to advance the main storyline further before I’ll be allowed to unlock the rest of them.

I just made my way to Solitude for the first time…  Walked in on an execution.  Nasty as that business was, the city itself is very pretty.  Kind of makes me wonder if maybe I bought a house in the wrong place.  Maybe I can buy a second house there in Solitude.

I’m slowly making my peace with the UI.

One of my big complaints is that essential information is broken into two distinct sections.  If I hit TAB, I get this four-way menu where I can look at my magic, items, map, or skills.  If I hit ESC, I get a different section where I can look at my quests, check my statistics, and change game settings.  It just doesn’t make much sense to have quests broken out into a second area with your game options like that.  And it keeps confusing me.  I’ll hit ESC when I should’ve hit TAB…  Or TAB instead of ESC…

But now that I’m making a habit of hitting the shortcuts for specifically what I want (‘J’ for the quest journal, for example) it is much easier to navigate.  I’m still not a big fan of how they’ve over-simplified things…  And I’m hoping that someone will roll out a nice UI mod like folks did for Oblivion…  But I’m finding my way around easier.

On Sunday, I had D&D again.  It’s been a few weeks since I last played, and I’ve missed out on at least two sessions.  So I really had no idea what was going on.

Somewhere along the line, we went from level 1 to level 14, so my character was horribly unprepared for the game.  Had to quickly level him up.  We quickly figured out the basic stats, and then the GM started throwing magic equipment at him.  All sorts of +3 gear, a Girdle of Giant Strength, a Cloak of Protection…  All of which is very nice, but it made me a bit apprehensive of what was to come.

With good reason.

Before too long we were fighting a couple dozen human fighters, accompanied by a giant or two, and all led by some magic-users.  It was one hell of a fight.

Then there was some intrigue…  We were sent to recover a stolen statue, but when we got back to town we discovered that our employer had been murdered, and guards were looking for that statue.  Had to do a little snooping around to discover who the killer was, and who was behind him.  Then we started some rumors around town, which turned out to be far more accurate than we’d thought.

And then, before we knew it, it was time to wrap the game up and head for home.  Six hours went by in a flash.

And then the weekend was over, and I was heading back in to work.

Spent most of the day playing Skyrim.  Having a lot of fun so far.

I’ve killed a couple dragons.  Learned a couple different shouts.  Climbed up to the top of a mountain and talked to some ancient monks.  Delved deep into a few dungeons.  Killed a crapton of bandits.

I’ve gathered all sorts of random meats, fruits, vegetables, and grains…  And cooked them into all sorts of interesting things.

I’ve also gathered all sorts of random plants, organs, and herbs…  And brewed them into all sorts of interesting potions and poisons.

I’ve purchased a house, and a horse.

Over all, I’m quite happy with the game.  Definitely having fun with it.  The visuals are simply amazing, and the world is just plain huge.

But the game is not without its flaws.

The UI was definitely designed for consoles.  I thought Oblivion‘s UI was bad…  But this is just horrible.  Everything is basically broken into scrolling lists.  It’s actually easier to navigate the menus using the keyboard, than it is to click on things with the mouse.

It’s annoying and clunky…  But what is even more annoying is the fact that The Elder Scrolls was originally a PC franchise.  We had several very good games on the PC before anyone even thought of releasing one of these on a console…  And now we PC gamers are having to put up with a stupid UI because the game was designed to accommodate console gamers.

Key bindings also don’t seem to work quite the way they should…  I play with ESDF instead of WASD, and have re-bound my keys accordingly.  But some of the on-screen indicators still tell me to hit the old keys.  And some keys just don’t work the way they should.  Marking something as a favorite is labeled wrong…  And I don’t know how to pick up a book that I’m reading – doesn’t seem to matter what I hit, none of it works.

The game also seems to be somewhat dumbed-down from previous incarnations.

I haven’t seen any medium armor at all – just light and heavy.

Weapons seem to be simply lumped into one-handed or two-handed, no separate skills for swords or axes or whatever.

I didn’t get to pick my class, or design a class of my own.  Didn’t get to allocate any points into attributes like strength or intelligence.  Didn’t get to pick my birth sign.

None of which is bad, necessarily…  But it doesn’t feel quite like a TES game.

Fired up Skyrim for the first time tonight…

As with every other TES game I’ve ever played, I started out as an anonymous criminal.  This time around I’m on the back of a wagon, hands tied, being hauled off for execution.

Before I can get executed, however, a dragon shows up.  There’s lots of yelling and screaming and running around.

The opening bit…  As I walked towards execution, and later escaped from the mayhem, served as the character builder and tutorial.  One of the guards asked me what my name was, and I was able to pick my race and appearance.  I wound up going with a Nord, since this is Skyrim.  Then, during the chaos, I was given helpful hints about following different people and hitting certain buttons.

Wasn’t nearly as much of a tutorial as in other TES games…  And they didn’t do the whole thing with the star signs and picking a class and whatnot.  Not that it really matters…  But it felt like something was missing.

After I escaped from the draconic carnage, I had to make my way to a near-by town.  I picked up some stupid quest to deliver a letter…  And then I was asked to go retrieve a golden claw that was stolen…

The basic gameplay mechanics are pretty similar to those in Morrowind and Oblivion…  Except that now you can dual-wield.  You can equip a spell in one hand, and a weapon in the other.  Which is pretty fun.

Lock picking isn’t nearly as annoying as it was in Oblivion.  Reminds me a lot of how it works in the recent Fallout games.

The visuals are simply amazing.  The landscape looks absolutely gorgeous.  And some of the monsters are downright disgusting.  There were a few places that genuinely took my breath away.

So far, I’ve got absolutely no idea what I’m doing.

I’ve gained a few levels, and I’ve got some perks to spend, but I don’t have any idea what to put them in to.  I’ve completed a few quests, and I guess they want me to head to talk to some Jarl…  But I’m not entirely sure where he is or how to get to him.  Right now I’m just kind of wandering around, seeing the sights.

Well.  This is annoying.

Today is kind of weird.  There’s work to be done, and I’m making progress, actually being fairly productive.  But my phone isn’t ringing off the hook, and a good chunk of that work involves attending meetings.  So it’s a much slower pace than I’ve become accustomed to lately.

And that’s definitely not a bad thing.  It’s very nice to be able to think clearly and get work done.  I haven’t been able to do that in a while.

But it’s Friday.  I’ve gotten rid of the pager for the week.  I’m looking forward to going out to dinner with Terri after work, and then wasting the entire weekend playing Skyrim.

Which is making this afternoon simply drag by.