One of my favorite ‘features’ in EVE is how markets are broken up into regions, at least in terms of averages and being able to see what is listed and where from any given station. I enjoy this because prices can, and often do, vary wildly from region to region, even in stations that are just one jump from a region border.
Over the weekend I did a fair bit of hauling and trading between my region and one just four jumps away. It was very profitable, and a lot of fun. As I was doing this, I started working on the break-even point for items if I was to buy and reprocess them into minerals. I believe there is so money to be made in that field, especially now that my Indy pilot is so close to perfect refining. Of course such an activity being profitable, and being profitable-enough to be worthwhile is always the question one has to ask when doing anything in EVE (although I also factor in that silly concept called ‘fun’ into the equation as well, but I’m weird like that).
Now if I could only stop spending ISK as soon as I get it. I’m no closer to the Rattlesnake, Orca, Charon, or any other ‘big’ purchases I want to make at some point. Hey, just more goals to work towards.
On the Skyrim front, the game’s depth continues to impress me. I’m now level 27 on my second playthrough, having ‘finished’ three towns, the mages guild, and some of the rebellion chain.
Some observations:
As you level up, so does the world and its loot. It’s not as drastic as in Oblivion, but it happens. One cool thing I’ve seen is that as potions get more powerful, they get bigger. This makes searching random caves/forts easier, since if I see a big red bottle on a shelf, I know it’s a worthwhile item. Same goes for gear; it’s easy it quickly glance at a weapon rack or table and see it’s full of iron/steal gear, or that there is a nice glass or ebony piece.
Similar to the above, you know the chest next to the alchemy table is going to have alchemic ingredients, just like you can expect the chest next to the forge to contain gear or metal bars. While the occasion ‘random’ chest will contain something of nice value thanks to the random itemizer, you can usually easily predict where and what the real treasure is going to be, like at the end of a cave, the ‘boss’ mobs chest, or from a quest.
Speaking of leveling up, I like how Skyrim mixes up who you face. In one fort I was exploring this weekend, the majority of the enemy mages were apprentices, who were not all that difficult. Occasionally I would face a mage one ‘tier’ higher (forget the name now), which presented a bigger challenge but was still very doable. However, one area had a larger collection of enemies, and among them was a third ‘tier’ mage, who hit like a truck. The first time I went into that room my corpse went flying before I even knew what hit me, and it took me a good five or six attempts before I finally succeeded. A very rewarding experience, and a great job by the game to mix in a little challenge into what is normally a fairly easy game (in terms of how often you die anyway).
The more I play, the more Skyrim hammers home the fact that it really is one of the better games, let along RPGs, to come out in recent years. That I am actively looking forward to the DLC confirms this for me even more so.
Hardcore Casual 
EVE’s appeal continues to escape me, but the stories I read about it continue to fascinate me.
Meanwhile, I’m right on deck with you re: Skyrim. They have so much open-ended stuff to explore (following up on the thieve’s guild quest line, post-rebellion stuff, all of it regardless of which paths you chose). Not to mention, I look forward to that inevitable moment when a team of super-fans converts Morrowind over into Skyrim. :)
I have been playing through my second time on “Master” difficulty as a pure stealth assassination rogue. The game allows this style of play to be as rewarding as the fireball wizard I ran through the first time around. Aside from dropping the game down to novice/apprentice level there is no way to trivialize the content at any level and the rewards are always worth it.
The master level with the stealth approach requires perfect execution to one-shot the enemies from behind or pretty much die instantly even after leveling up to 32 (And I haven’t even touched the main quest line this time around!).
In my limited experience of EVE I had a lot of fun trading and hauling. When playing solo I found it more interesting than mission running and just as profitable. The whiff of danger even in relatively high spec adds a bit of spice to the proceedings. I can still remember a few white knuckle runs between Rens and Jita. The main route between these two big trade hubs passes through a festering den of cut throats and pirates called Rancer. If you check the map for Pod deaths Rancer always glows angry red. It is one of the most dangerous systems in EVE.
“I’m now level 27 on my second playthrough”
I wish I had the time :[
My one level 17 char is having a terrific time tho ;)
I’m about ready to say that Skyrim is easily in my top 3 or top 5 CRPGs ever. I normally prefer tactical, party-based, turn-based mechanics, but if you’re going to do single character real time, this is the way I want it done. I love playing Skyrim, and meanwhile, DA:O, ME1, and ME2 remain uncompleted.
Stealth and magic gameplay are well balanced, but if you’re doing the melted thing you can easily trivialize content after level 40 (or way sooner if you’re using smithing).
Unfortunately, smithing is utterly broken, even before “exploiting the alchemy+enchanting feedback loop :(
Come the construction set release, I’m fixing that first.
So let me get it straight — you enjoy moving down non-challenge stuff in Skyrim while just waiting to be one-shot by their ‘daddy’?
One of the reasons I’ve abandoned Skyrim and wrote it down as a rather poor *game* (as opposed to world/simulation/whatever) is exactly this. Why ‘random bandit boss’ in ‘random cave’ is much more dangerous than a frikkin dragon? Or even at least one of those named things (daedras?) who only could shoot fireballs which one can dodge until it is out-of-mana…