I have seen three of four posts where people have been complaining that they have everything done after 30/40 hours ... what the hell have you guys been doing?

I have 23 hours done so far, and I have only seen about 10% of the map - I have two of the main quests done, none of the Guild quests even started .. and the Civil War quests...... Have'nt even blinked at them yet.

I have been making potions and selling them for some shiny gold, which paid for my house in Whiterun

Also been hunting deer in and around Riverwood.... and its still as fun as day one

I have three dungeons cleared..


I reckon I will pass the 100hr mark with this character alone...

I guess they don't mean "game" but rather non-random quests.

i call [censored] on everything done in 30-40 hours.
The main quest maybe and 10-15% of the sidequests is around 30-40 hours.

i was kinda dissapointed in the length of DB quests tho. but i guess matching the storytelling of the DB questline from oblivion was like trying to outrun a sprinter in the olympics.

I believe those posts were made by people who only see main/faction quests worth doing.... And I also believe those people should shut up and start actually playing the game.

60 hours in and i got the feeling i havent even seen 1/4th of the game

They did or they wouldn't have completed the quests...

Its because they really do not want to play SKYRIM the video game, they wanna play SKYRIM the forum game. The will blaze through the game as fast as they can so they can find things just so they can complain...thats it.....its kinda of sickening to me. These people at bethesda busted their HUMPS to make a GREAT game, and then these chumps come on here just to blast the game!

I can see the people that post constructive gripes and things that they hope will be fixed, but 90% of these nit pickers are just plain RUDE and SPOILED. its all very very distasteful!!

This.

Many of the side quests are more compelling and intricate then the main story line.

People believe that the side quests are just "go here, kill this" quests, as in other games.
Not here, they have stories of their own, just like the main quest, some side quests spanning a chain of quests that have you playing for 20-40 hours just for this specific quest chain.
And thats one of the near hundret out there.

This game is amazing and extremly deep, and if you play it right, following the war, doing some of the more interesting side quests, not all, and the main story line. it will take you atleast 200 hours of game time before you are done.

That people are even able to rush through the main story in 30h I must say is very dissapointing though.
I had hoped that even through a rush through, it would take atleast 75-100h.

That said: I did my first completion of Dark Souls in 80h. And then I was running through the second half of the story.
I saw people that completed it in 30h.

So my guess is, if I focus on the main story the way I like to play, which includes exploring, doing some alchemy, smithing etc, and NOT taking side quests, I still probably need around 75h to complete it. Im certain.

I just cant believe why you want to destroy a game for yourself by running through it.
I can understand for many titles out there, but not for TES and Skyrim.

if your not counting random quest you could shrink every rpg down to a minimum. not just skyrim, i dont really see the point. Skyrim still comes out far far above any other new rpg's released since oblivion.

Seriously...they present us with a world like this and people complain.

I've done several side missions and maybe 2-3 main plot...in about 60 hours gameplay.

I don't know what these people are doing but they are clearly not getting from the game all that is on offer.

It's quite simply a fantastic open world.

Markath? Really good side quest there

I'm at 100 hours and I've just started my second guild line, Over two characters. I'm an alt-o-holic so there will be much more to come.

I'm 35 hours in, have only done enough MQ to get to the Greybeards 1st time, have joined the Companions but done no quests, have joined the College but only done 1 quest (because I needed the key to Saarthal for the Forbidden Legend side quest), haven't touched any other factions or the civil war.

I have, however, done a whole load of miscellaneous quests, like bounties and quests for "a friend" (i.e. finding word walls). I've also done a TON of exploration and improved my Smithing and Enchanting, and taken out upwards of 20 dragons (2 at a time yesterday, that was fun ).

In short, I've played 35 hours, reached level 30, and I haven't even touched more than 5% of the "main" game.

EDIT: Forgot to say, the reason I quoted the above post was that basically all of my time has been spent going in and out of Markarth. I've done a ton of bounties there, the Abandoned House, the Jarl's quest, got into a drinking game in the tavern, and it's my Smithing/Enchanting hub city. Point is, I've basically spent 35 hours in and around Markarth; and I haven't even entered the mines or the peasants' district (forget its name )

As a side question, what level are you after 23 (40, 60 etc.) hours?

I FEEL as if I only played a short time (haven't looked at the actual play time yet) but am already level 20. So to me leveling feels a bit fast.


edit


Ah Sammu already posted 35 hours for level 30.

I feel as if I am leveling much faster than that.

yeah markarth was awesome, much better then any main story quest ive been given so far all those main quest rushing people barely have seen 1% of what this game has to offer.

I feel a little sorry for the people who obviously don't have as much fun with this game as I do. Sure, I could probably just finish every quest objective in the quickest way possible and then be done with it, but why?

I'm taking my time, enjoying the game world and my character to their fullest. That's when the game really comes alive. I only have about 20 hours in (level 10), I'm not very far into the main quest, and I've only done one side quest. At this rate, the game will never be finished for me, and that's the way I like it. It was the same for me with Oblivion, which I've played on and off for several years and I've never even started the main quest. I guess I just don't see what the big hurry is.

I guess some people just rocket through the game as fast as they possibly can, then just complain that they went through the game as fast as they did. Doesn't make sense, but hey this is the internet

Like those people who played MW and roleplayed as a super magician tank, then complained they were too powerful. I mean, if you roleplay as a super magician tank superhero and you achieve that, why complain?

Like this topic. If you play as fast as possible, why complain you haven't played for long enough?

I'm a bit over 30 hours right now, and haven't gotten far in the main quest, completed one guild quest, didn't join a side yet, and haven't even been to half the cities. Putting it like that it looks like I've been running around picking deathbells for the past 30 hours, but I'm pretty sure I've been doing stuff.

There is no way its too short. Last night I wanted to go to a specific spot i heard had a mine with Orc ore in it. And i also wanted to get there without fast travel since I hadn't been to that side of the map yet. I grabbed my horse, and headed out from whiterun. I spent the next 6 hours exploring everything i came across. And having a blast doing it i might add. I must have had a dozen "Oh crap!" moments that really got my blood going. So far i haven't found anything worth complaining about with the game. Given my play experience with the game since last Thursday, I don't believe half the complaints that I've read on this forum.

This is why you haven't realized how short the game is yet. Do yourself a favor and go start a guild quest, then you'll understand how severely disappointing and short they are.
Right now you're under the illusion there's tons more to come, because yes, the game world is huge and you haven't experienced a single guild. When you experience the guilds though, then you realize there really wasn't anything to experience at all.

For the record, I'm 45 hours, I've completed two guilds, the main quest and picked a side in the war. Not sure how many side quests I've done.

0-20 took no time at all for me, more than 1 level per hour. 20-30 took a lot longer though.

Levelling quickly is easy if you do lots of crafting, especially Smithing. Magic skills seem to take a lot longer though, Restoration takes forever and has been left behind quite badly on my build - Smithing is 80ish, Enchanting 70, 2-handed 70, Heavy Armour 65, Destruction 50ish, Restoration 37 I think. I wasn't even planning on using Speech but it's shot up to about 55.

40 hours would be pretty long compared to many games anyway

Bethesda games aren't for power-gamer achievers. You either get it or you don't. If you're going to go through this detailed game world with blinders, only following the main quest, using fast travel, then you won't understand why people make such a big deal about Elder Scrolls games. I like to explore. I like to discover the small shack off the beaten path that suggests a story. People don't always get a sandbox game. They like to be told what to do. I don't try to change their minds. I just accept that it isn't for everyone.

Im not entering every single dungeon I see to add replay value... Food for thoughts

You really have no idea what your talking about. Some faction quests are very long and there are quite a few misc. quests that took a good long time to complete. Try doing the Daedra Quests, and then tell me that;s short, go do the Brotherhood quests and tell me that is short. Your making [censored] up.