OXM: For a game whose NPCs routinely spill their guts to complete strangers, Skyrim is awfully good at leaving questions hanging.
Interview with Stephen Russell, Actor for (Nick Valentine, Codsworth, My Handy) in Fallout 4 which is a vast open world role playing game set in the apocalyptic wastes of Boston, the Commonwealth. The career goes further with other Bethesda games from Starfield to Prey to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Replaying Skyrim after 13 years is a reminder of the progress made in western RPGs over the last decade, but also what's been lost.
RPGs are often huge, sprawling endeavours. With limited playtime, we have to choose wisely, so here's the best western RPGs available today.
"I started playing games yesterday" the List... Meh!
How about a few RPGs that deserve some love instead?
1 - Alpha Protocol - Now on GOG
2 - else Heart.Break()
3 - Shadowrun Trilogy
4 - Wasteland 2
5 - UnderRail
6 - Tyranny
7 - Torment: Tides of Numenera
And for a bonus game that flew under the radar:
8 - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Not only glorious jank, but the idea that the story can completely change depending on what you do, or say, or side with, makes it one of the most forward thinking games ever. The amount of story permutation is the equivalent of a Hitman level but in Story Form. And it wasn't just that the story changed, no, it was that you met completely new characters, or missed them, depending on your choices. Made Mass Effect feel static in comparison.
Alpha Protocol was absolutely glorious, indeed. And it was, and still is, more Next Gen than most anything out there these days. In this regard at least.
Pity.
The presence of Vvardenfell, Imperial City and Solstheim on the disc. WTF.
The fact I can annihilate the entire Stormcloak Army with ease, but fighting a whole town's guards is pretty much suicide.
Edit: What Snookies12 said.
The fact I can beat an old lady over and over with my Mace of Molag Bal, yet not be able to kill her because she is "important". Yet the Dragonborn can be killed, obviously he/she isn't all that important to the game...
Jokes aside (Though they're totally true, guys), the greatest mystery I experienced was randomly discovering the lost city of Blackreach.
Sure, about 80 hours later when I decided to start the main quest I found out the main quest requires a trip through Blackreach, but since I discovered it completely on my own the first time, having absolutely no idea of it's beautiful existence, I'm sure most of you can imagine what the experience was like.