60 DAYS OF GAMING: DECADE ANNIVERSARY - DAY 25: A game I plan on playing

Then: Skyrim

Now: If I have to pick only one from the list, it's Cyberpunk 2077.

Why? Because apparently I'm a masochist.

Allow me to elaborate. Quoting from that Skyrim post from way back:

"Morrowind excited me, only to disappoint me. Oblivion excited me, only to rape me while shouting "Stop right there you criminal scum!" when I complained it was being too rough. Skyrim has me excited yet again. Let's just hope it's not going to do something even worse to me when it comes out"

Well, Skyrim did.

It made me love so many of its aspects, but my memories of the lore, the exploration, the Dovahkiin powers and the dragons, the side quests and the combat are marred and overshadowed by the crappy NPCs, the bugs, the great story for the most part poorly told. It was a Bethesda game through and through. I played it to the end and more, but have not brought myself to try it again.

Despite this, I did not give much thought before purchasing and playing a huuuge chunck of Fallout 4 before abandoning it for more or less the same reasons, plus the fact it was soo much action-oriented that it did not feel as an RPG anymore, and my inner Fallout and Fallout 2 fan was starting to make schreeching noises.

Luckily, I stayed away from Fallout 76 altogether.

However, I watched with more than a modicum of schadenfreude as the gaming world at large turned on Bethesda and published hypocrits who always spoke favorably of the company and established it through sheer power of exposure to its status, now found the opportunity to join my corner and speak out for the awful patterns in their game design as a whole. 

Knowing myself, I will most likely buy and try the new Fallout and the new Elder Scrolls when they inevitably come out (though now that Bethesda answers to Microsoft and Microsoft needs these games to be huge selling points for their current and future platforms, once can hope there will be some quality control before launch).

But wait. I know what you're thinking.

"Doesn't this idiot know Cyberpunk is not a Bethesda game? It's a CDPR fiasco, not a beloved Bethesda gem he can't appreciate. What's with all the Bethesda filler?"

It's all simply because I fully expect to play Cyberpunk 2077 and come out the other side feeling exactly as I feel for Skyrim, but will do it regardless.