Well, since I already play pen-and-paper RPGs with my boyfriend and our friends once a week, I really don't care if a computer game, be it
Skyrim or
Dragon Age, is capable of replicating the table-top dynamics
verbatim. Nor I care if such a game can be defined "hardcore role-playing" or not. What is that supposed to mean? A stats-full, rule-heavy game
Ã* la Dungeons & Dragons? If so, I don't like it! To me, the greatest RPGs are the ones who give the player every instrument to roleplay his character to the fullest and the storyteller every tool to create a spellbinding story, without splitting hairs every two minutes about hundreds of rules and sub-rules. Yes, I'm a
World of Darkness buff
Anyway, when I play a TES game, all I want is a deep, vivid, realistic world to explore in all its nooks and crannies; an engaging main story enriched by dozens and dozens of side quests; multiple factions to join and the possibility to make, from time to time, some choices to shape who my character is. And, for now,
Skyrim is delivering this in spades.
