hi folks,
I'm a veteran at playing mmorpgs but I nevery ever played a single player RP game like skyrim before.
I'm pretty happy with all the possibilities you have in the game but one side of the game makes me go crazy...

For example, I've chosen to play a Cat and when I first got into a "larger city" (I think it's called Whiterun) there where three people of my own species in front of the town, near the antrance and they were trader from what they have spoken.
I decided to go on with my current quest and visit them later, since I tought it was important for my gamestyle and expierience of the game, to meet people from my race.
But when I came back they were gone.

That's where my question begins:
Will I see these people in again? Because that leads me to another question: In this open world, will I be able to do all the quests or will I eventually miss anything?
I've started the game already again with another character and recognized that I now hear people talking about stuff that I have missed before, just because I wasn't there or near when they did that talk.

greetings
kjeldoran

no comments at all?

up

up again, damn here are so many posts per hour

i just need some thoughts and comments

They should come back, they travel around. And yeah, you can miss stuff. There are two big factions in the game that you have to choose between, for instance. Can't be in both, can't do quests for both.

MMOs are more heavily structured and designed for balance reasons in my experience. Singleplayer games can be more flexible.

The only Khajiit I've met have been traders. They travel around the cities, so you should meet them again eventually.

Well, you will eventually miss a quest, it happens, mainly because you have to choose sides in the war, but the good news is you can start another character. As for the traders. they may come back to the same spot if they are on a traders path or they may be killed or you may find them again somewhere else.

The Khajit travel.

Not many Khajit up north in Skyrim, I'm afraid. In Skyrim, you're far more likely to see Nords, Imperials, Dark Elves, and Bretons (Surrounding provinces)

Another downside, most people, especially Dark Elves are racist against you.

Just thought I would pop though I think the question was already answered. Yes they are still in the game, but as traders they travel around. I spotted them traveling between towns once. They do eventually come back to the same place so its worth checking back at a later date. This is true for many NPC's in the game and often times your intereaction with the game will determine paths different NPC's take, though I don't want to post any spoilers so you'll have to discover that on your own. Suffice to say the main difference between an MMORPG and a regular single player RPG is that the focus shifts. In an MMORPG you are more focused on character development, leveling up and looting, while in a single player RPG the game is more about the story. Its a more true iteration of a pencil and paper RPG. Your actions have consequences to you, to the game world around you. Even simple things like for example if you buy a horse from a stable, that horse is no longer for sale, but might appear later again if your horse dies, just as a really basic example.

More to the point though is that CRPG's are usually more linear, even though Skyrim tries its best not to be. Generally unlike MMO's once you play the game through once, the second time around your experiance will be the same. This of course is less the case in Skyrim (and all of the elder scroll games) where how you play the game can dramatically change your experiance, its what makes this game a little extra special compared to say Dragon Age where once you play the game through once, all and all your experiance isn't all that different the second time around. I like MMO's, in particular open world MMO's like Eve and Darkfall because you never really need to start over and your experiance is for the most part dictated and created for you by other players, so every day you play is different.

Also its worth mentioning one other aspect of single player RPG's and that is the modding community which often rallies around a game and creates all sorts of extended gaming possibilities which is something we are hopefully going to see in Skyrim as has been the case in previous Elder Scroll games.

Oh and one other thing, PC versions are always better than their console cousins primarly because of how the community contributes to the game via modding and other gameplay extensions which don't make it to consoles very often. With DLC content however thats changing these days.

Hi Kjeldoran,

First welcome to the world of the elderscrolls and your cat like speecies is called Kahjiit. Your trader will come back youmight even meet them somewhere else and there might be a chance for them to recognize you (please let us know if that happens).

Depending on your character what, when and where you do it, you'll have a diffeent gaming experience...The main quest will remain the same and some other quests as well but others will be triggered or not...And that's a pretty good new for replayability purpose.

Have fun...

Thank's to all for those goods and informing answers.

One more thing... that means that (besides the mainquest) it's not a game that I can play through all quests or stages?
I mean how do I get to a point where I say "OK it's done, there is nothing more to do and I will create a new character" ???

greetings
kjeldoran

Actually I play several different ones alternatingly myself with different perspectives. Helps keep it fresh also. A Bretom mage and a heavily armored Nord brute do things differently and pick up different quests for example.

Kjeldoran

We don't know yet how many quests Skyrim holds (or at least I don't know)...once we know you'll have a pretty good understanding of when you can change character. But just that you know I was playing Oblivion from the month the game went out in 2006 until last week before Skyrim went out...and I am still not sure if I done all the quests with all my characters.

Finally, if you are playing on your PC, rest assure that mods will come very soon once the TESC (game development engine) is publically released.

So don't worry too much about replayability issue it's virtually endless...just worry about having fun with the game

According to Todd Howard (the game director for Bethesda's games likee TES and Fallout), Skyrim implements a new Radiant Questing system where the possible quests you may be asked to do are essentially infinite. That is, he said that the game will check out what you are doing and have done, and then actively seek you out in one way or another to offer you additional tasks to do.

Wheen I read the interview, I felt like saying to him, "It cannot be infinite because the game world itself has finite possibilities due to having a finite amountt of content." However, such a system could allow for much more open-ended questing possibilities being given by the game itself rather than created by the player.

Try playing a fighter that only joins the fighter's guild. Then play a mage that only joins the college of winterhold, etc... Would add great replay value

Its actually not possible to finish all the quests the game has to offer in a single game with a single character. The basics of Elder Scrolls games (as well as other Bethesda titles) is that if you go through door A, that leads to a different place than door B, but you often close door B if you go through A and vice versus. This happens both on a small scale like individual NPC's, or a large scale like the major storyline. An example (not a spoiler this is made up). If you meet an NPC that says, "hey this guy over their owes me money, go rough him up and get it from him".. you might say "ya ok I'll do it" or you might instead tell him "no". If you say ok, that may result in you getting in a fight and killing that NPC, which himself might have his own quests for you. Than again if you say no, that NPC might end up murdered by someone else which opens a new "Investigate this guys murder" quest. Its not possible for you to make both choices, hence what you do in that circumstance trickles down to what you can and can't do later. This also comes in larger scales.. for example (made up not a real spoiler) their might be two towns at war and you are asked to choose sides. If you pick town A, you might ultimatly be lead a war against that town and the result is that the town is claimed by the first faction, closing any quests you might have had if you joined the other side.

Generally I find with Bethesda games is that you can easily play them 3-4 times before you get to a point where you kind of have done everything. in which case again, thanks to the great support many developers come with (in particular those on steam) their are DLC's that are released that offer new challenges. Than of course their is expansions and associated DLC for expansions. All and all, you usually get considerable bang for your buck so the trick really boils down to finding a game (game mechanic) that makes that sort of commitment worth while. Strictly speaking its been a great couple of years for that sort of thing, which is why I often say that we are now living in a new golden age of RPG's. Between the Fallout games, Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, The Witcher and a few others, their is some seriously great gaming to be had. Where in the past we used to do a lot of waiting for good RPG's to come out only to be served lemons, these days there are so many good ones you kind of create a list of stuff and hope you find the time to get to them. I mean personally I'm yet to discover the Witcher which is toted as a great game, as well as the Mass Effect series.

Its a great time to be a PC RPG gamer, but from my perspective Bethesda is kind of the leader in that department. Between Elder Scrolls and Fallour 3 they keep you busy!