Those who know me reasonably well will know that I don't have a lot of time for Bethesda games these days. I attribute this to a few things.
Firstly: frustration at the fact I inevitably spent more time dicking around with mods for Morrowind than actually playing it — which in turn led to the "if you need 200 mods to make it fun, it's not worth playing" philosophy I adopt today.
Secondly, I achievement-whored my way through Oblivion, making what should have been a fun, open experience into a complete chore. That one's on me.
Thirdly, I played Skyrim for 40 hours, realised I wasn't actually enjoying myself, couldn't name a single character or tell you what the story was about, and never looked back.
However, just recently I've discovered a way that I can enjoy Bethesda games: enjoy them through the eyes of a VTuber. Specifically, enjoy them through the eyes of Amelia Watson, whose enjoyably chaotic, attention-deficit playthrough is a consistent(ly frustrating) delight to observe.
She's someone who is good at just playing with Oblivion. And there's a lot to play with in Oblivion. She's the sort of person who inadvertently breaks games, does things "wrong" but still successfully, and just seems to have a thoroughly lovely time whether she's getting repeatedly caught in a physics-based trap or hurling her horse off a cliff just to see what happens.
It seems that Oblivion — rather than Skyrim, interestingly — is proving popular among some VTubers, because VShojo's new addition Veibae has been playing it too, and her highlights video was very entertaining.
I am all for this, because Oblivion's 2006 jank (yes, Oblivion really is that old, as I discovered to my dismay last night) is somehow much more entertaining than anything a bit more recent, while still actually looking quite good in certain circumstances. And if anything, it's actually kind of making me want to revisit it at some point just to piss around a bit. I don't know if I'll follow through on that at any point — I did play it to death back when I achievement whored it, and the things that have always bugged me about Bethesda games still bug me — but it might be nice to have on hand at some point.
On Xbox 360, of course. Yes, I know I could get it looking super-nice and smooth on PC, but my memories of that game will always involve early-era Xbox 360 jank!
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