I'm going insane. I'm constantly checking the order tracking from Amazon (has not shipped yet), reading forums and searching Google News for the latest articles/reviews.
Last night I was fiending enough to bust out the OG Xbox to play a little Morrowind. Now, it has probably been at least five years since I so much as turned on that machine, and even longer since I played my last run-through of that game. Looking at the footage I've seen from Skyrim, it's damn amazing how far things have come since then.
I had also forgotten about that OG Xbox controller. I bought my Xbox on launch day, and I still had that big-ass chunky controller. At the time I had gotten so used to it that I could hardly use a Playstation controller. Now that I own a PS3 it's the reverse, and I finally came to realized how fucking huge that thing was. I played with it for about twenty minutes, and the thumbsticks and triggers creaked and moaned like the floorboards in an old house. I finally dug out the more reasonable (and less worn) S controller that I had stashed away and put in a good four hours.
On the one hand, part of me is a little sad that they have pared down some of the options for the way you equip and develop your character. Diminishing number of skills, diminishing types of weapons and spells, etc. On the other hand I'm kind of excited about how I can develop my character in Skyrim. I hope it truly reflects what they're saying - that you become what you do in the game. I remember playing Oblivion over the past year and being so conscious of everything doing - hoping I was leveling efficiently enough. On the one hand I like to think about those things while I'm playing the game - that's part of what makes RPGs interesting. On the other hand, I don't want that to preoccupy me from the game itself. I think Oblivion did that to some extent, and I hope Skyrim strikes a better balance.