Northern landscapes and she-orcs...

Okay so now the wait is getting close to unbearable.  5 more sleeps until Skyrim is released and so that means another blog describing reasons 5 and 6 why I'm so stoked for Skyrim.

6. There's no place like home...

This reason is most definitely unique to me.  I live in the Pacific Northwest, home of the Cascade mountain range, Olympic peninsula rain forest, and miles of Pacific ocean coastline. 

A picture I took while motorcycling through the North Cascades.

I love living in Washington and the first screens I saw of Skyrim looked as if it was in my own backyard.

This has me excited.  Since Skyrim is based in the north of Tamriel I'm expecting it to be a lot like the places I love in my state. I know some may want to go to some place exotic and no doubt Skyrim will be that but I'm looking forward to it being a fantastical version of my own backyard.  I look up at the mountains surrounding my valley and many I have never been to but with Skyrim everything is accessible and have reason to be explored. So far in Skyrim previews I've seen sea ports, mountain castles, wooded villages, lakes, and rivers all looking gorgeous and I can't wait to discover and explore these locales in the familiar land of Skyrim much like I've done here where I live in real life.



 5. Pick a race, any race

  
Before ever venturing out in the land the first thing you do when you start Skyrim is create a character.  There's over 10 races that you can choose ranging from elves and orcs to highly civilized humans and the native people of Skyrim the Nords.  I know I'm going to mull at this for awhile as I decide who I want to be and how I want to look like.  In the Mass effect series I choose the default look just because I felt like I was playing Shepard's story more so than my own.  Yet for Skyrim I feel it'll be different as the main protagonist is pretty much a blank slate when you start.

 So here's my plan which may or may not change once Friday rolls around. I'm going to be a Nord which I feel is fitting since I'm a quarter Norwegian.  I want to specialize in one handed swords, archery and dabble some with magic. With every decision, action, and conversation I face I'm going at it just how I would in real life.  I'm pumped to forge a character in the first hours to the end of the game that will be a reflection of me of some sorts and I appreciate the constant luxury of choice that Bethesda has put in the game.

So who do plan to be in Skyrim?  Do you like to play games that have a familiar feel or do you like the exotic and foreign?  Let me know and remember just a few days till this puppy is out there.