I'll start off by saying English ain't my native language, and that even though I'm a fluent speaker anymore, I still make mistakes because of the Greek language mindset I already have, meaning I sometimes think in Greek, but conversion to English is not grammatically correct.

I've been a huge fan of The Elder Scrolls, ever since I played Morrowind at a friend of mine. I immediately went out and bought a copy for myself after some days, and I couldn't wait to sink hours upon hours into it. I remember I started a Dark Elf character, because they "looked cool". I didn't completely understand their specials back then - I was quite young, and you understand that the RPG player in me was at his earliest days. So I embarked on the journey, and wanted to advance the main questline, mainly, to become strong enough to handle side quests. But I remember the world was so brilliant that I was, more than often, dragged way outside my path. There was just a lot of stuff that would keep me nailed to the game, and I couldn't wait to get home from school to continue the adventure. It truly was one of the most unique games I had played at the time, and, mind you, I've been passionately playing games since '96-'97. Maybe I didn't understand a single word from what I saw. Maybe I didn't even know what exactly I was to do. But I remember when a game grabbed me and I didn't want it to let go. Games like Sonic on the Master System, like Majora's Mask on the Nintendo 64, like Abe's Odyssey and Metal Gear Solid on Playstation... Games I still play, to this day, and have the same feelings I had back then, only difference being I'm older and I can actually understand English now.

After being occupied for tens of months with Morrowind, news came about Oblivion. I can't really describe how ecstatic I was. I was doing sketches based on the images I had seen that far, and had already started building the character I'd use, in my mind. After much anticipation, Oblivion landed to my PC. Spent sleepless nights after tiring days, playing Oblivion, and didn't even care. Weekends when I hadn't arranged anything, and instead of being turned off inside, I remembered there was much fun to be had with that new game I bought, a game I've been patiently waiting for. So I sunk hours upon hours into it, and after many playthroughs, mods came in. I was searching through many fan sites to find mods suited for me. From the Nazgul Armor mods to the One Ring, and from new quests with new buildings and mute NPCs to new houses with all the comforts, such as enchanting altars, inside. That was the game that convinced me I should support Bethesda. To do so, when I bought a PS3, I was sure to add the Oblivion GOTY edition to my PS3's library. Bought the same game twice - didn't care. I believed that the money I gave Bethesda would be spent well, developing the next game.

Then we got the announcement for Fallout 3. To be fair, I had only seen a friend of my brother's playing the other two, and wasn't really interested. Sure, it was Diablo style, which I loved, but the post-apocalyptic scenario didn't exactly attract me back then. But, then came videos of Fallout 3. The VATS system was interesting, and the game looked like it played like Oblivion. I thought it was logical - a saying goes "a winning eleven doesn't change", translated to make sense. Seeing how Oblivion was a huge hit, why would they drastically change their engine? With Bethesda, what can go wrong? So I pre-ordered as soon as it became available in the country. Then the time came for me to go pick up the game, finally! I got back to my home, and popped the disc into my PS3. I bought it for my PS3 because it was much simpler to play - I didn't have to worry about drivers, compatibility, unexpected hardware bugs etc. Just pop in the disc and play. But it turned out to be the opposite of what I had expected. Freezes, infinite loading times, severe framerate drops... But I managed to finish the game, although I struggled for it. My love for the game got me to finish it. I even bought 2 pieces of DLC for it, to show my appreciation to Bethesda, and that everyone has the right to screw up once.

But I was wrong again. To fill the gap between Oblivion and Skyrim further, New Vegas volunteered. Despite the hiccups, I thought that they learned from their mistakes and mended the new entry. But I was terribly wrong. From an early point on, the game became unplayable. I had to wait for a couple of months, if not more, for a patch to come, so that it became playable again. That made me raise an eyebrow. Even though I'm an avid gamer, with a game library spanning over 340 games on more than 7 platforms, I had never experienced something like this. Fallout is big IP, with some problems that would be ironed out if given enough attention. The problems of Fallout 3 would have been forgotten if New Vegas showed Bethesda learned from their mistakes, and urged Obsidian to make the game as flawless as they could. But Bethesda showed they only cared for the cash-in. Late patches, zero attention to a big customer group, and no apologies. Economy is tough, but people shelled out 60€ on release for a game that should have been sent back into development, instead of being released. Needless to say, zero DLC bought. My hopes were only on Skyrim.

November 2011 came, after much anticipation. I had already pre-ordered Skyrim, the summer before release. I thought that Bethesda's biggest IP would get enough attention and care to not come off as a huge pile of unfinished crap. It would not be a game that looked good on the drawing board, but failed miserably in execution. Again, I was wrong. When I got home from university, my mother told me a game had been delivered in the morning. I was so enthusiastic, I immediately grabbed the game, unsealed, took a look at the map that came with it, and popped the PS3 disc into the console to start installing while I was eating. After lunch, I saw the main menu on my screen, sat on the chair and started playing. Started a Khajiit on my first playthrough, but deleted him soon after and restarted with a Nord. A week passed, and I was happy with my purchase. Despite minor problems, the overall experience was not marred by them. But then my save file grew bigger, to the point of making the game unplayable. I started experiencing infinite hangups on loading screens, freezes, and framerate drops to the point that the game literally became a slideshow. I was so sad and angry, Bethesda played me again. Todd and Bethesda claimed that 1.02 would fix the problems, and in the time between it and the last day I played the game, I was enjoying other releases - finished games. You see games like Dark Souls, made by much smaller studios, with much lower profit than Bethesda, have less and smaller bugs in them. Sure, the world is smaller. But I'd much rather a smaller and functional world than a huge, problematic and unplayable world. I'd much rather Skyrim was pushed back to December, even January, if it was to guarantee I'd be playing the game right now instead of having made an early purchase of an unfinished product.

And I'd much, much rather Todd to tell us all the truth, to have some dignity and honor, instead of making hollow promises and statements (refer to my signature and the URL for a small example). Hell, even a completely formal apology, one that doesn't make you feel like home but is just doing its job, would do for me. But no, we have to be told one lie before the other, and treated like we didn't pay full price for the game, like we have no right to demand that it's working. You have Todd going to conferences and saying that they took a week off, developing PC mods and patches, while a huge chunk of the PS3 crowd had an unfinished product in its hands, a game that has been collecting dust on people's shelves since November. That's shameful, dishonest and disgusting. I have zero respect for Bethesda anymore, and the studio that once got my hopes to the ceiling and made me have many happy gaming days, is now a greedy and uncaring, cold and kleptomaniac corporation.

I hope this reaches anyone in Bethesda, but if it had to reach just one person, I hope it's Todd. Although, I'm not sure if it would have any impact on him at all. Who would believe that he would came out and say that they had a week off to show the PC audience some love, while the PS3 audience hasn't had any since the game's release? We're treated like we're inferior, even though we paid the same amount of money, if not more (PC version was 35€ here, and PS3 was 50€) than others. Thank you for reading up to this point, sincerely. I hope people relate to my situation, and we stop being mute, but speak up against such filthy tactics and treatment. I know that the occasional trolls will show up and claim it's so dramatic, or that this is not my personal blog, but hey, they're here to keep the balance. Happy gaming everyone, with finished and working releases!