For all the people bashing the OP about "70 hours" hes right. I probably got 1000+ hours out of Morrowind. I'll be lucky to get 60 out of Skyrim.

Good for you but tell me why the rest of us who ARE getting 1000 hours out of Skyrim should care?

Technically true, but I was left pretty unsatisfied with any of the speech options. I had the skill to pass them all, but reloaded because it amounted to skipping the actual quest part of the quest. There's no challenge in clicking an option and just bypassing whole segments. If you actually had to figure out how to win someone over it might be different, but you know if you click the speech option you either win or there's no penalty and you just do things the long way.

When it came to actually doing the jobs for people in that questline, there was again, a lack of choice. When I try to steal back the goat I am forced to kill the giant. Just some neutral giant, won't even attack if I walk right up to him. If I try to take the goat without killing him, the goat refuses to follow (though the giant will attack). SO I'm forced to kill this guy I sold a goat to. I can't persuade him, I can't pick up the goat and bolt down the mountain. I'm stuck with ending his life. Same with your "wife". I've no option to pickpocket the ring off her, I can't bargain, I must kill her too. The parts of that quest actually involving questing offer no choices.

I wish people would stop saying that we should be satisfied playing 70 hours when most games are limited to 10. Sure, TES games are much longer than others, we all know that. But that doesn't mean we should be content when TES games might drop from 300 hours to 70.

I'm around 60 myself, and yeah, I too have encountered repetetiveness, especially with radiant quests. The world is lovely, but the quests seem uninspired and drab compared to some of Oblivion's ones. Much more dungeoneering, much more fetching, much less interesting writing and engaging characters. Some faction quests are even worse from what I've heard, but I haven't done them yet.

By all means I'm quite happy with Skyrim, but I just don't want Beth to switch out Oblivion's boring world with interesting quests to a Skyrim with an interesting world but with boring quests - especially if the element of player choice is removed, as it seems to have been, unfortunately.

Any minor faults I find with the quest system are easily remedied by the epicness of the open world. I could never say that Skyrim is repetitive or lacks replay value because every time I wander off in the distance, I spend the next 4 hours exploring some epic region, completely oblivious to whatever rant I was going on about the quest system beforehand.

I hate to the that guy, but not fast traveling made my game a lot more fun, and I actually encountered tons of random events that changed my perception of how linear the quest system was. The first time I walked to a destination, I came across a wealthy family en route to a wedding in solitude. They complained about how heavy their expensive presents were. :whistling: I think you know what happened next.

I generally like the quests. I hate the ones that don't work though. I have two fairly major sidequests that just didn't work on my first playthrough. I'm hoping the second time I don't fall off the grid, so to speak, and actually am able to buy the Windhelm mansion without console cheats.

stopped reading at best Elder Scrolls to date.

Not really feeling the OP on this one. I've got a little over 60 hours in; not bored at all. Barely touched the main quest because of different things happening. Loot depends; bandit lairs..yeah, I find a lot of vendor trash; some dungeons I find some really cool stuff. It took me a little over 40 hours to play DA2. I decided I didn't like that game about hour 20. I was relieved when I finished it. I don't think I would ever play it again. Not anywhere close to finishing this one and I'm having fun just puttering around. I'm starting to feel guilty that I haven't touched the main quest. So, I guess..ymmv. I like it. Can't wait to replay with a different focus. Just playing tank warrior right now. :tes:

Everybody needs their own damn blog so they can review the game and then get a job as a Skyrim reviewer and just review Skyrim once a day until they die. It'll be like a constellation sign.

With my first character, I savescum and robbed them blind.

With my second, no reload except death, character, I was still too tempted to simply let them go. Besides having stolen items would be hard to get rid off. So the choice is clear, I follow them while picking mountain flowers all the way, until they get horribly mauled by a random sabertooth. It's a good thing they managed to reduce it to half health because it nearly ate me as well.

OP, you got the best damn effort that Bethesda could cram onto one DVD.

Now, whose fault is that?

Whatt new titles give you 70 hours of entertainment? I finished Witcher 2 in 15 hours. I finished Deus Ex Human Revolution in 25 hours.

Sounds like you got your moneys worth.......

Bolded for Truth

exactly!! these posts really make me laugh!! 70hrs is a fantastic length for a game!!! also most rpg's quests are very similar, fetch this, kill that etc ALL rpg's revolve around the same quest principle!

I agree that most quests are too linear and don't have alternative ways to complete them. The game still has plenty of content.

Replay value comes from making many characters, playing them differently, and choosing what quests to complete with each of them.
On PC mods are going to increase the game's replay value.

lol

notbestelderscrollsidontthink

FO:NV is so different though... very strongly written with great branching story, but it all happens in a tiny area made even smaller with invisible walls. This limited area gave the devs the freedom to tell a complex story. Skyrim is so much larger, and, Dovahkiin messianistic modes of the mq aside, is much more pluralistic and open in terms of gameplay (role-play: be a hunter, smith, vampire, woodchopper, hippy mage who picks flowers). But not in terms of quests, which are pretty much checklists. Yes, it is weird.

Life is repetetive and lacks replay value. You're lucky you even have video games, ya whippersnapper. When I was young we used to have to play with real toys, we had tonka trucks and gi joe and rock em sock robots. Now you got some fancy schmancy program code and you're a friggin viking running around chopping up bears and dragons.

As noted earier, plenty of quests have multiple choices. In facr I feel like I have way more choice than Oblivion or Morrowind in individual quests. I'm over 100 hours in an not bored. I predict this game will last me years like Oblivion and Morrowind have. I'm sorry others don't feel the same way but I'd swear from many of the complaints thety have a different game.

97 hours in and I'm still eager to get home and play it like I was in day 1.

Are you trying to do everything with one character? I bet you are and that's why it feels repetitive. I use a differente type of char for every questline. I.E: If I'm going to join the thieves guild I create a thief, mage for Winterhold, warrior for Companions, and so on. This way it aways feel like a totally different game.

250+ hours here and haven't felt it's repetitive once. But then I tend to enjoy hunting deer and rabbits.

You're right that there aren't a lot of choices to be made in the game. The only big choices i've come across recently is the stormcloak/imperial questline and the markarth/forsworn quest line. There's probably a bit more than just those two though.

Personally i don't mind not being able to chose a lot of different paths, this makes the game easier imo. I usually play the game a few times for quests like these so i know what the best outcome for me would be. If there are less choices i can finish my final character faster .

I have to disagree that quests are linear and boring though. If you compare the game with oblivion it's a hell of a lot of fun. Oblivion's quests were nearly all kill/fetch quests. In Skyrim we at least have several very intriguing storylines.

140 hours here and still in Act II. I plan to take this game slowly. I'm more of an adventurous type... no place is left unexplored, even mountains. :rofl:

70 hours in a game like Skyrim gets eaten up really fast. So 70 hours is nothing. The op is correct though. Skyrim is lack luster out of all the TES. I suppose it is to be expected as good things never last.