Blogs

Here is a collection of all my blogs on various topics and hyper-fixations of mine.

Why Do We Still Love Skyrim?

Nick De MossLeave a comment

(Credit: u/NaughtyNiko03 reddit)

Despite the fact that there are newer open world games out there with bigger maps and updated mechanics, nothing seems to compare to the sheer replayability of Skyrim. 

There’s plenty of spirited debate about whether Skyrim needs mods to stay relevant. I’d argue once you play Skyrim with mods, it’s hard not to notice how outdated vanilla is. The one mod I always recommend is the Inigo follower mod.

Bethesda is a roleplaying game company that has won the hearts and respect of many and rightfully so. Publishing and working on franchises such as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Dishonored, it’s no wonder people keep track of their games. 

I’d say the reason all roleplaying games can be somewhat of a timesuck is the fact that there’s so much room for customization. One of the first decisions you make in Skyrim is what you look like. On top of that, much like tabletop games people like to plan out there playstyle and that often meshes with what race you choose. 

Skyrim is a game that came out in 2011 and we still find ourselves coming back to it. There’s so much potential when it comes to trying different builds out and making different choices. Some possibilities:

Want to be a classic hero that purges evil? Throw on some Vigilant of Stendarr Robes or heavy armor for a paladin look. Use a silver weapon in one hand and healing magic to repel undead in the other. Banish daedra and refuse to work for the Daedric princes (say goodbye to some of the best loot though). Destroy the Dark Brotherhood and their hideout. Join the Dawnguard and end the vampire threat. 

Or be everyone’s champion of darkness. Rock the Ebony Mail, mace of Mogal Bal while riding Shadowmare. Sacrifice Eola to Boethia. Become the leader of Castle Volkihar and the doomsday vampire cult within. Follow the orders of an ancient corpse as the ultimate assassin, the Listener! Steal from Jarls and beggars as the Guild Master of the Thieves Guild and a Nightingale of Nocturnal.   

Become a murderhobo stealth archer. You know you want to…

A punch cat monk that slays dragons with his claws. And learn all the shouts from the Greybeards.

An arcane trickster that slits throats with a conjured dagger and casts invisibility before reinforcements come. 

A sword and board breton that can resist magic and tanks spells so he can charge into the frey. 

Lead a legion of undead as a lich. Max conjuring and raise all your enemies. 1.) Find the ritual stone 2.) Find a civil war battlefield 3.) Activate th Ritual Stones power. 4.) Become a proper lich god

Change the bloody paradigm and activate survival mode! Wear cloaks, fish, use torches, hunt, cook, mine, and roleplay. Try not to freeze to death mighty dragonborn!

That’s why for many, Skyrim will always be a classic laden with nostalgia and addictive gameplay.

The Twilight Zone: Timeless and Genre Inspiring

Nick De MossLeave a comment

Before “Black Mirror” or “The Outer Limits” there was “The Twilight Zone”. Anything black and white or considered “dated” tend to be overlooked and dismissed. Audiences usually react as if anything not in color equates to being less exciting; however, “The Twilight Zone” is so conceptual and captivating that my eyes never wander from the screen. It’s one of if not the most iconic anthology show out there. I’m incapable of being objective about this show. It’s a credit to the science fiction genre while seamlessly incorporating existentialism and tragedy.

Imagine if you will as you go about your day that there is an omnipresent well dressed smoking man (no I’m not talking about the X-files) narrating everything that’s happening. There is something profoundly intimate about a creator that interacts with their work and audience the way Rod Serling does. One of the best examples I can think of outside this show is the HBO adaptation of “Spawn”. Todd McFarlane takes a similar approach to Serling. It is a convenient and direct way to get through exposition. 

Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons” and “Futurama” is clearly a fan of the series as evident in the Treehouse of Horror episodes and The Scary Door background gag. “The Twilight Zone” is not only an invaluable source of entertainment, but inspiration to creatives across all mediums.

All that said, it’s clear that the Twilight Zone was inspired by numerous science fiction radio shows; a lost art archived and being replaced with podcasts.

This show has reached such heights beyond pop culture, that we’ve all heard some variation of the phrase: “I feel like I’m in an episode of “The Twilight Zone””. People who have seen or heard of the show can easily understand the meaning of this statement. “The Twilight Zone” conveys that otherworldly feeling that causes those within it to question their reality and sanity.

What does it mean to be inside the Twilight Zone? According to Serling:

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone

Invincible: Blood, Sweat, and Frozen Tears

Nick De MossLeave a comment

Another Robert Kirkman comic has been made into a TV show. Invincible is an innovative cocktail of satirizing and subverting every superhero trope there is. There will be spoilers past this point.

(Source: Screenshot from Amazon Prime Video)

Not unlike the Justice League or the Avengers, this universe has its own team to protect the Earth. What sets Invincible apart from some of the classic comic book universes is its willingness to explore the mundane along with the unexpected costs of being a hero. Secret identities, work-life balance, interpersonal relationships, and trying to pass high school are all themes undertaken by the showrunners. Invincible is a show that provides action, comedy, romance, and wholesome moments as well as the complete opposite.

When a nearly indestructible man crashes through a city, most creators tend to neglect or avoid the grim topic of collateral damage. Not invincible, in fact, the whole season seems to go out of its way to make this theme more apparent than even the original comics.

A common criticism or joke I’ve seen about Invincible is that Amazon Prime has an obsession with the evil Superman trope (looking at you “The Boys”). Omniman is undoubtedly harder to defend if all we have to go off of is the TV show, regardless, you can still tell his character is far more than that. He’s lived for thousands of years as a Viltrumite conqueror and has been exposed to human values for what? A couple decades?

Speaking of the Grayson family, we have the protagonist Mark Grayson, and his mother, Debbie Grayson.

Something novel about Invincible is the concept of a Superman-like figure constantly getting beaten by formidable enemies. Invincible reminds us that heroes should get their ass kicked now and then. I won’t call out any in particular, but characters that can do anything and beat anyone bore me due to the lack of stakes.