Is there peace and quiet to be found in Skyrim?

Hi everyone. Here’s a video to watch when you finally get a quiet moment away from family on this nice Christmas Day. I’ve always celebrated Christmas and not any of the other ones but I’m a big fan of rituals and agreed upon celebrations so all of them are cool in my book. Be safe and have a good new year and I’ll see you next week probably.

the way you describe ivarstead makes me want to see a "real estate agent of skyrim" series. just going to uninhabited houses around the world and rating its features for prospective buyers.

I've actually tried to find a peaceful place to sit and enjoy the ambiance, and about 5 minutes into chilling a pack of wolves had to ruin it

I cannot tell you how many times I came out of the college of Winterhold only to be greeted with battle music and an Ice Dragon.

The best thing to help me rediscover Skyrim was survival mode. It was exciting going shopping for basic supplies, preparing for the trip, eating and sleeping at inns when I had enough money, building a camp and just sitting on a little bench near my firepit for 5 minutes before going to sleep. It really helped me appreciate the landscapes, the cities and these little moments of calm at this new home I finally built from my own hands.

Feeling bad for a digital lighthouse is a new Christmas tradition.

I reckon the "lighthouse" is more of a beacon to warn ships not to approach because the water is shallow and they will get beached. If so, the fact we don't see any ships is a sign that it is in fact serving it's purpose.

Jeremy Soule's music seals Skyrim as an atmospheric classic.

That house in Ivarstead used to belong to that guy walking around but it burned down. He is involved in 2 quests: the first one has you listen to his emotional story about losing everything, including a very important person in his life, recovering something from her corpse and bringing it back to him, causing him to have an emotional breakdown. The second one has you murder him in cold blood for the dark brotherhood. Happy new year!

Hey Austin, regarding the part of the video where you were staring back at the island from the top of the lighthouse and had trouble deciding why it felt weird, I think the answer is that it forces you to think about the passage of time. In your head you can visualize the past "you" down on the little lump of ground, walking around staring at rocks, and even a layer deeper, you as a person, sitting in front of your TV playing skyrim, trying to decide what to say about that rock. When you looked up at the top of the lighthouse, you were unwittingly staring back at your future self, staring down, visualizing the past. Its so interesting that in a game with a calendar system and fully realized day and night cycle with weather patterns trying their absolute best to differentiate one in-game day from all the others, looking down at a rock where you were standing earlier is really what impresses the passage of time. It makes me recall your halo multiplayer map video where you said something along the lines of the maps being playgrounds that never change. A video focusing just on the details games use to try and define artificial time passage and how effective or uncanny they are, might be a good way to flesh out the topic.

expanding on the prayer bit in a more positive way- the lighthouse is sending a message but something unexpected is receiving it. it’s there to send a message to ships but it ends up messaging the player details of the world. what it intended and what it conveys ends up being totally different from each other, but nonetheless something sees it and takes something from its message. that’s not dissimilar to how prayer can comfort others or provide a sense of internal strength even if the purpose is to reach a god

I love that you made this. When I was younger, I was a very angry person, and for anyone else who has ever had that experience, they know usually it cones from deep pain, insecurity, invalidation and sometimes trauma. I realized even as a teenager that I needed a mental state, like a "happy place" to go to, but "happy" felt too silly. I wanted a place where I could be nearly alone, in quiet, to be serene. The colder the better. After a little thought, I chose The Throat of the World, where Paarthunax lives. I respect Paarthurnax, but the cold mountaintop away from the rest of the world, where the snow drifts down so fine it looks like fog on the ground and everything is so far away, and the air is so cold it's like it's standing still, that's calming to me. It took me a long, long time to work on that anger, but that was the day I started, where I gave myself a safe place in my mind to go, and Skyrim was perfect for that. What is better, to be born good, or to overcome your nature? Maybe that Paarthurnax comment was why I picked that place. Anyway, this video speaks to that feeling, that potential.

Theres a spot between the Rift and Eastmarch just off the path. There's a giant mourning his lost mamoth friend. I always take a moment to just stand there with him before moving on. The giant won't agro you and the two of you can stand there mourhing his friend together as long as you like.

That part about the lighthouse reminds me of the fact that there's no real economy in Skyrim. NPCs don't go out and buy stuff, stores never sell their wares or get new stock (without it magically appearing in their inventory). Only the player buys and sell stuff. The shops only exist to serve a singular purpose. They are not tied to the conventions or lore of Skyrim, they are only tied to the actions of the player.

Also, favourite way to relax is definitely through the following steps - fast travel to throat of the world, preferably at night - clear skies if it’s windy or cloudy - summon Durnehviir so he can fly around and enjoy the fresh and free air under his wings (I felt really bad for him) - enjoy the music and ambiance of the scene, chat to partysnaxx and repeat until feeling peaceful again

I made a mod that makes almost all animals completely passive. Bears, wolves, sabrecats, mudcrabs, elk, rabbits, etc... It's actually easier to list the animals I deliberately left out of the mod. My dad retired a year or two ago and started playing Skyrim. To help him get a modded set up going, I would watch him play for a while, take notes of his complaints and issues, and later track down a mod that would fix it. Well, one of the things I was genuinely shocked by was how much time he spent fighting off animal attacks. On a simple walk from Riverwood to Whiterun or something, he'd be attacked like half a dozen times. He didn't mind, but I'd gotten so used to being able to walk right past a sleeping sabrecat that I forgot how often the game thrusts you into combat situations. I really appreciate my mod because it makes these quiet and peaceful moments much easier to find. You can enjoy the atmosphere of Skyrim much more when you're not fighting off a pack of wolves who popped in right when you were getting comfortable

I honestly got a bit choked up watching this video. Skyrim is something that my sister and I have shared since it came out. She passed in April, and it just hasn’t been the same since. The reflection and moments of comedy of this video just hit me the right way. Thanks for another great video on a hard day :’)

"GO BE QUIET IN SKYRIM!" Mom yelled at the kids playing outside. And so they did.

Honestly I've never related to a Skyrim video as much as I did with this. One time I was walking through the Pale on my way to Windhelm when I noticed the night sky above me. I dunno if it was part of vanilla Skyrim or just one of my mods but the aurora borealis was absolutely gorgeous, just vivid hues of green and blue. I stopped sprinting and just looked up at the sky. It was then I noticed the cloud textures on the snowy hills, the wind blowing, and the sort of crispy sound of the snow and trees creaking. And like you said, it almost brought a tear to my eye. I audibly whispered to myself "THIS is Skyrim".

3:58 Finally someone who understands why Todd is truly based in releasing skyrim on every platform possible