Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Meeko


That's Meeko, my new dog in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Unlike real dogs, he doesn't shed and he doesn't crap all over the place, but he does bark too much (not as bad as my neighbor's dogs, though). On the other hand, that was a big help when I lost him one time.

Like other followers, Meeko will stay where you tell him,... sort of. If there's fighting anywhere in the vicinity, he'll try to move towards it. But he still thinks he's obeying orders, so he won't come when you enter a new location (which is the usual way of retrieving lost followers).

And he blends in pretty well, especially in the scenery you see in the screenshots here, so I was very glad to hear him barking when I went back to find him after taking down a bandit camp one time. (Otherwise, I might mod out his barking.)

Normally, though, Meeko stays right at my heels. Mjoll the Lioness, my current human follower, might lag way behind, but Meeko usually sticks like glue. And when trouble shows up, he charges ahead like a maniac.

Frankly, I'm astonished that he's survived so well. I've had him in some very tough battles, too. But he seems to be far tougher than he looks. In fact, he'll take down enemies before I even get a chance to attack. (He's especially useful against mages.)

He'll chase down distant archers, too, which isn't always a good thing. Sometimes, I have to run forward just because I'm worried that he'll get himself killed. But the evidence seems to show that Meeko can look out for himself!

Mjoll the Lioness and Meeko, my two defenders

As you can see, Meeko is a secondary follower, so you can have him and a primary follower. You can't use him as a pack mule, but he's still been really nice to have along.

OK, all of my followers tend to block doorways. When I go inside a room with just one door, it's often a pain to get out again. I don't know why that wasn't coded into them. Why won't they back up when you bump into them?

Maybe the big question is, why am I not smart enough to leave them outside when I go into a place like that?  :)

Still, if I ever start the game over again (and I might, someday, since I'd love to play an archer character sometime), picking up Meeko is one of the first things I'll do. I bring along human followers mostly so they can carry things for me, but Meeko is just nice to have on his own.

I'd probably use one of the alternate start mods, too... But no, I can't start thinking about that! I'm enjoying playing a mage, I really am. And right now, I've got XCOM: Enemy Unknown to play, too. Just too many games and not enough time, huh?

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Note: My other posts about computer games - including my overall opinions of this one - can be found here.

4 comments:

Chimeradave said...

Thanks to your posts I started playing my Skyrim game again. If I don't get anything done it's your fault. :)

Bill Garthright said...

My fault, John? When I criticized the game so much? If I'd praised it more, then maybe you could justifiably blame me. :)

Anonymous said...

How could you criticize Skyrim? Such a good game. I'm so biased though, I won't accept any other opinions about the game I'm terrible :)

Bill Garthright said...

No problem, Anonymous, but I'd be interested to hear your comments about my specific criticisms (some made here, but most here).

And I'm curious - have you played the other Elder Scrolls games? Much of what makes Skyrim fun is what was in the previous games, so maybe I tend to take those things for granted?

Either way, I found that Skyrim was fun for a little while - and fun again when I jumped back into the game later - but both times I got bored long before I'd come close to exploring everywhere.

Of course, that's just me. I know people who've played it obsessively, people who just can't seem to get enough of it. It's all a matter of personal taste. But I would be interested to hear your specific replies to the parts of the game I didn't like.