Filled with anticipation for his continued gaming experience in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Song Ren followed Ralof along the mountain path.
Song Ren's expectations for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim were completely maxed out, especially after the previous cutscene where the great black dragon attacked Helgen Keep.
Nebula Games had actually developed many fantasy games, such as Dark Souls, The Witcher: Wild Hunt, and more.
However, while the former was full of epicness, it wasn't an open-world game. Although the map design was quite clever, with various shortcuts leading everywhere, giving players a great sense of freedom, it still lacked a certain flavor compared to the sense of world-building in an open-world title.
As for The Witcher: Wild Hunt, while it was an open-world game, the main storyline revolved around the White Wolf searching for his daughter, inadvertently getting entangled in the struggle between the Northern Kingdoms and the Southern Empire. It felt more like a struggle for power in a court, and even the invasion by the Aen Elle didn't feature overly shocking visual scenes.
But The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was different. From the game's background introduction, mentioning the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon and the Dragonborn Emperor, it was practically maxed out in terms of epic lore.
Combined with the opening prologue's black dragon attack and the Imperial soldiers' magical and arrow-based resistance, Song Ren saw elements in the game that suggested there would likely be dragon-slaying combat in the future.
All these factors combined, it's fair to say he was full of anticipation for the subsequent gaming experience.
As they traveled, Ralof spoke about the Stormcloaks and the Empire.
This further deepened Song Ren's understanding of the background in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Upon arriving halfway up the mountain, Song Ren saw three strange statues.
With Ralof's introduction, Song Ren generally understood the purpose of these statues.
They were similar to the outdoor experience stations in The Witcher: Wild Hunt, allowing chosen playstyles to gain experience faster.
In the game, as he understood it, there were various classes, but the difference was that he could freely allocate skill points in the skill tree, which had icons resembling constellations.
"There are too many skill specialization branches, aren't there?"
Song Ren opened his skill tree, looking at the various series of spells and specializations.
He instantly felt a bit lost.
How were these classes divided?
Could a mage also wield a greatscythe and go slay dragons?
If before, Song Ren had mostly felt the grandeur of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's scenery.
Now, looking at the game's skill tree, he felt a unique aspect for the first time.
He realized that there didn't seem to be any strictly defined classes in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
You could add points however you wanted, and it wasn't clear how to learn skills either.
This was completely different from other games, which usually have a default class and then allow you to directly allocate skill points.
After a brief study, although he still didn't understand all the settings.
One thing he could confirm was that as an open-world game.
The gameplay of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim should be quite free.
It didn't strictly limit classes or class-specific equipment.
It gave Song Ren a feeling similar to Dark Souls.
Why should a mage only wear cloth armor and not heavy armor with a spear-shield?
Why should a berserker hide in the back row dealing damage with a staff instead of going forward to hack people?
A priest could also learn stealth and apply poison to their dagger!
As Song Ren pondered, a voice prompt suddenly popped up. Through the platform's built-in voice chat, Zhang Yi called out to him.
"What's up?" Song Ren asked curiously, still pondering his skill point allocation.
"Old Song, what race did you choose? What build are you planning to play?" Zhang Yi on the other end was clearly also experiencing decision paralysis.
"Still figuring it out, can you?"
"No idea. By the way, Old Song, why don't we have a competition to see whose build is stronger?" Zhang Yi suddenly suggested.
"How do we compete? This game doesn't seem to have online multiplayer or PvP!" Song Ren was a bit bewildered.
"We can use the same grade of equipment and level, then find the same monster and see who kills it faster," Zhang Yi said.
Listening to Zhang Yi's words and looking at the skill tree that was making his brain overload a bit, Song Ren decisively refused: "I'm not competing with you on that, because I've already decided what build to play."
"What build?" Zhang Yi was curious.
"The Waste-of-Space Build! To experience the regret of being uneducated when encountering an invincible enemy; being able to wield a sword but failing to kill anyone, knowing how to cast fireballs but them dealing no damage, spending all day lockpicking, exploring, and wandering around, and then saving the world under such circumstances." Song Ren, combining this with his own gaming skill, tried to beautify the potential scenarios he might encounter in the game later on.
Zhang Yi: "......"
After some idle chat with Old Zhang, Song Ren casually added a point to a combat-related skill and then continued exploring towards Riverwood.
Song Ren also noticed that unlike the open world of Red Dead Redemption.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim felt more like the open world of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Although there was a main quest, there were no restrictions, allowing him to wander freely.
After walking along a mountain path for about ten seconds, Song Ren saw a small town.
'Riverwood, this is my sister's village, but because of its proximity to the Falkreath region, Whiterun has not sent soldiers to guard it.'
'For the people in the village, livestock, especially chickens, are very important, as they can lay eggs.'
As they approached Riverwood, Ralof spoke to Song Ren's character.
Upon reaching the main gate of Riverwood, a prompt appeared on Song Ren's screen, notifying him that he had discovered Riverwood.
"The great Dragonborn is about to embark on a journey to save the world, but first, let's explore this town." Song Ren watched Ralof slip into the village to find his sister Gerdur. He wasn't in a hurry to follow, instead taking a closer look at the village.
All the surrounding NPCs were very friendly; he could even interact with them.
Through conversations with the surrounding NPCs in the town, Song Ren gathered a lot of interesting information about Whiterun and the dragon from Helgen.
After all, a large part of the fun in open-world games comes from exploring the game world.
"This chicken is so big and plump!"
After some friendly interactions with a few NPCs at the town entrance, Song Ren, who was about to go find Ralof, suddenly noticed a large, plump chicken swaggering back and forth in the middle of the road in front of an inn called Giant's Rest Inn at the village entrance. Its arrogant gait was simply too conspicuous.
"Having escaped from Helgen Keep, I am no longer a prisoner."
"Stepping into Riverwood officially begins the legendary life of the Dragonborn, but the Dragonborn hasn't eaten yet, so you shall become my meal."
Although many NPCs had implicitly mentioned the keyword "chicken" in previous conversations, Song Ren hadn't paid much attention to it.
Combined with having just allocated a skill point, and the chicken being quite conspicuous and arrogant, Song Ren instinctively drew his Imperial longsword and, facing the big fat chicken, walked up to it and, with a swift stroke, the blade fell.
'Riverwood's hostility towards you has increased!'
Along with the plump chicken's mournful cries, a message popped up at the top of Song Ren's screen.
"What's going on? Why has Riverwood's hostility towards me increased!?"
Before he could react to the miserably dead chicken on the ground, a chorus of shouts erupted in his ears.
'What are you doing!'
'You damned scoundrel!'
'You must pay for your actions!'
"Pay up! Is this chicken made of gold or silver?" Song Ren was stunned, looking at the villagers who approached him and the options to 'pay compensation' or 'go to jail'.
So this chicken is private property, huh?
"Facing the great Dragonborn, can't you just pretend this never happened?" Song Ren looked at the money in his inventory, a bit reluctant, and after much hesitation, chose to refuse.
Immediately after selecting, the moment he exited the dialogue interface, an arrow flew from nowhere and struck Song Ren squarely in the chest.
The in-game vision suddenly turned red, and the UI health bar at the bottom lost a quarter of its health.
The villagers who had previously been peacefully conversing with him at the village entrance all now wore angry expressions.
Wielding daggers, axes, and rakes, they charged forward.
"What's happening?"
"I just killed one of your fat chickens, didn't I? Stop hitting me, stop hitting me, I was wrong! I'll pay! I'll pay the compensation, just stop hitting me!"
Song Ren was completely bewildered, watching the villagers swarm towards him.
What did he do?
He just killed the big fat rooster in front of the Giant's Rest Inn, didn't he?
Why are you all so angry?
You were all so friendly to me before, and now it's like you harbor an irreconcilable feud?
And Ralof, where did you go?
Come help!
Facing the villagers, Song Ren did consider fighting back.
However, he awkwardly discovered a problem: he couldn't beat these villagers.
Unlike Dark Souls and Bloodborne, where with enough skill, you could kill Lords of Cinder and Great Ones even at level one, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, while an open-world game, still had RPG elements.
And in RPGs, stats are the most crucial element.
If your stats are high enough, you can easily dominate enemies.
Conversely, if your stats aren't enough, no matter how great your skill, you'd barely be scratching the surface.
In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, although attack and defense stats, like in Dark Souls-type games, primarily came from equipment bonuses, he had just escaped Helgen Keep and had jack squat for equipment.
Facing the villagers' attacks, Song Ren tried to parry with his longsword.
Then, with one hit, they emptied two-thirds of his stamina bar.
What the hell!
"Alright, alright, I won't resist anymore. Just take me away quickly."
Watching the Riverwood villagers who had chased him through eight streets, Song Ren sighed and stood still, surrendering himself.
He couldn't beat them, couldn't escape, so what else could he do?
Accompanying the protagonist's wail in the game, and watching his character's body fall in a pool of blood, Song Ren felt completely terrible.
What happened to being the legendary Dragonborn, what happened to 'Dovahkiin', what happened to 'Dovahkiin'?
How did killing one fat chicken lead to such a fate?
(End of Chapter)
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