Maybe it was those Tamagotchi pets I had when I was a kid, but I just love having a pet in a video game. There’s something so comforting about having a loyal companion by my side to take away some of the stress of battling all those in-game enemies. That’s why I wrote an article about my personal picks for the top 5 video game pets over on Population GO, which you can read here.
One of my personal favorite video game pets is Vigilance, from Skyrim. It’s a sad story, really. On my first Skyrim playthrough, I purchased him just outside Markarth and went galavanting off to Mzulft with him, thinking those gorgeous Dwemer ruins would be a fun bonding battle for us.
Instead, the game got glitchy. My in-game hubby got stuck in a corner somewhere and wouldn’t move, so I had to reload. And after battling mechanical spiders and dwarven centurions for what felt like ages, we hit some tough chaurus and Falmer, and we died. I don’t know why that corner was so difficult for me to get through. It shouldn’t have been, but I kept dying and reloading and changing strategies and dying. Marcurio blasted our enemies with lightning and Viggo snarled away at my side, but we just couldn’t seem to take those guys down.
Finally, on the 4th or 5th go, I made it through with Marcs. But when I looked over at Viggo to celebrate our triumph, I found him slumped on the ground, dead.
Maybe I should have reloaded the game. I don’t think Vigilance respawns. But at that point, I was so fed up with reloading that I sadly left him a virtual flower — or maybe it was some wheat — took the Falmer sword that had slain him, and moved on.
Some might say he was a weak puppy to get killed on his first outing with me, but let’s face it: it was my lack of skills that got him killed. I prefer a stealthy attack, and Viggo just really didn’t. But he died valiantly. I hung the Falmer sword on the weapons rack in my Riften house to remember him. And with my new playthrough of Skyrim, I’m totally going to find him and give him a second chance at a long life.
I guess the moral of the story is don’t pay for a war dog. Or maybe, don’t get so attached to video game pets. But ever since, I’ve named every anonymous video game pet Viggo in his honor. (I’d probably name a Tamagotchi pet Viggo, too.)
So if you’re into video game pets, you can read my article on Pop GO. I wasn’t able to talk about Viggo over there — that’s just way too personal — but Epona from Zelda and D0g from Half-Life 2 make appearances. =)
— Ashley
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