me, esbern, delphine, aela vs
a dragon vs
2 giants, and 2 mammoths

All the ruins around makarth (spelled wrong i think) and the city itself just made me go wow! they are just so big!

when i got surprised by werewolfs

Dovahkiin summon by the greybeards...

When I killed my second dragon and realized that the game had surpassed the expectations laid out in the skyrim song, "...the adventure of my life in the land of Skyrim!"

When NPC's asked about my health. I didn't realize it but I was sick. Blew my mind.

The Sheoggorath quest surprised me.

Had so many "Wow" moments but most memorable was probably when i was in Morthal. I had just came out the Inn and started walking down the main path when i saw guards whipping out their bows. Looking up at the Sky i saw a Dragon circling overhead, i start engaging it with a shout and then i notice that a bit further up, past the Dragon, is another Dragon circling near a mountain top...that just blew my mind..realising there was two Dragons so close to me.

Maybe more of a "WOAH" moment than "WOW" but this just spooked the hell out of me:

I wanted to make the trip to Solitude to Windhelm, so I hired some security in the form of a merc (can't remember his name, a funny looking Nord anyway). We were already pretty close to Windhelm descending down a mountain, when I spotted a dead mammoth on the ground level. I readied my bow and snuck close to an overhanging ledge to see if there was any threats nearby, thinking mammoths = giants, but I saw nothing. Then something happened, as I tried to sidestep down the ledge, but stepped forward by accident and fell down to the ground...

It turned out the overhanging ledge I fell off of was the "roof" of a giant's resting place, so when I hit the ground and turned around, I saw the giant sitting there and then standing up as he noticed me. I took a 180 degree turn and sprinted the hell away. Of course, the merc was nowhere to be seen as he decided it was best to find a safer, longer detour to the ground.

This was my first giant encounter, too, but knowing how badass they are, I didn't stay around to ask for directions.. Scared me censoredless though.

When i came out of the starting dungeon, travelled a little down the path, and saw the lake and the mountains and everything, i thought "wow, i'm in heaven", and i'm getting back there tomorrow, finally!

I had so many wow moments but i guess the landscape is what amazes me most. The most amazing place probably so far was the Everglean Cavern.

When the intro sequence came and I was like "Holy [censored]. It's not lagging.".

Mind you, I am playing Medium-High on an fairly ancient laptop.

Everything in the game wowed me except textures... I'll start with the little things all the way up to the awesome things:

1. I was riding my horse in the Rift and I saw a guy sitting on the road, I talked to him and he said bandits attacked him and asked if I could help him get back to his camp. I agreed and followed him to the camp, once we arrive he says "Wait here till I get your reward". 5 seconds later he comes back and attacks me with all the other people in the camp, dunno if this was scripted or not but either way I really liked it.

2. Ants on tree stumps, butterflies that act realistically, animals that prey on others, and the awesome awesome bears all add to the immersion.

3. Orc drug dealers, couriers giving me letters, guards telling me a dragon has been spotted recently and marking the location on map, Dark Brotherhood sending assassins after me, etc...

4. The NPCs react to what you do, where you've been, etc... Try using Shouts or Spells in the city for example, the guards tell you to stop. Or if you are carrying too much they tell you to go to a certain shop and lighten your load there. Or if my stamina is low or I didn't sleep for a long time they comment on how tired I am.

5. First time seeing the Shrine of Azura, Winterhold, Markarth, and basically every other place in the game

6. The "A night to remember" quest was really fun and surprised me a lot, didn't know Bethesda did these kind of quests. Other Side Quests are pretty good and not short at all, I like this. I only joined the Companions, their first few quests were great but soon they became dull and I stopped doing them.

7. The Main Quest surprised me too, I never played TES so I've heard how much their MQs svck. Fallout 3's was kinda bad. I've only done the first few quests in Skyrim but they were all great and I always look forward to the next one.

8. The voice acting, music, sounds, scenery, environments, and models. A masterpiece. (Though the textures are terrible, just saying)

9. Dunno about other fighting styles, but a Sword & Shield combo is very fun to play, specially with perks for both. I was expecting swordplay to svck, I really should start trusting Bethesda from now on .

10. And the best moment of all: Going to fight the first dragon near Whiterun, with Faendal and 5 other guards. This was also the first place where I experienced the Northern Lights. Epic dragon fight, epic music, epic nighttime, epic Aurora, and when the dragon died and I absorbed its soul, this game became the #1 game I've ever played. Thank you Bethesda!

Agreed. The water is gorgeous.

My first moment I really said "WOW" aloud was when I picked a dragon down with my bow and he crashed to the ground. Intense!

Also the first time seeing a giant with two mammoths in the plains before Whiterun, 1rst time noticing some fish jumoing upward the stream, finding some hunters taking a bath...all those little details.

When a guard said "Psst, I know who you are. Hail Sithis."

This. I jumped in a river by Riverwood to cross to the other side, ended up being taken all the way downstream coming out near Whiterun lol.

The first time I said wow?

When I saw the Elder Scrolls logo at the main menu right before the menu itself appeared so I could press the New Game button.

This! I thought I misheard him but I guess he did say that.

My first dragon fight. I was outside of Whiterun and it was the middle of the night. Couldn't see a thing. The only light was from the dragon's flames and the aurora in the sky.

When i realised the spells i've been using at close range melee actually had long range on them. Sure did come in useful with a certain "Boss".

When i saw how useful my female companion was. A real decisive factor in some really tough battles. Also having her push against me and feeling my character move as if pushed is really great. Have to watch that around trap triggers though ha ha.

Seeing how realistic companions are. They dont charge to their deaths in combat and actually flee in some conditions to rest or heal up.

How well Perks work in defining ones character and not missing the removal of stats which never felt realistic anyway. My strength shoud go up through use not because i chose to raise it at level up.

When near death at the hands of two Frost Trolls and out of nowhere a Giant appears to save me giving up his life in the process.

Seeing all the buetiful wildlife and their realistic survival behaviour. Seeing a goat on the road was an exciting moment aswell as seeing a rabbit skitter past into the woods. The big moose along the water is like something out of a nature documentary really adding an extra depth of realism to the freezing cold environment.

Hearing the incredibly buetiful music and knowing i dont have to add any of my own due to it being the perfect soundtrack to explore the world of SKYRIM.

Seeing architecture which reminded me of past Elder Scrolls rpgs and feeling like i was at the birthplace of Tamriel.

Seeing the much larger tougher looking mudcrabs.

Seeing the heavy snowfall and hearing my footsteps sounding different on various terrain.

The variety of weapons and armor with fantastic looking detail aswell as individual character. Finding magical weapons for some reason reminded me of TES 2 DAGGERFALL and the cool loot i would find in dungeons.

Some of the easter eggs like someone joking about a stolen sweet roll.

The fact that am playing such a perfect rpg.

etc etc etc...

One for me was when I was in the temple of Talos and I accidentally hit the shout button releasing a force push. Nothing happened at the moment. Then later a courior gave me a letter stating that the person heard about the disturbance I cause in the Talos Temple and to meet him somewhere. I thought that was pretty cool. Plus it was my first courior letter and I like the added touch of them inserting my actual name into them.

I got separated from my companion, Lydia. About 30 minutes later I got in a fight with two bandits, using flames. Killed one, the last one was charging forward just when I ran out of magicka. He raised his ax high over his head, then *thuck!* he drops dead at my feet with an arrow in his back. I look around and my missing companion Lydia steps out from behind a rock with her bow.

Such an amazing, dramatic, cinematic moment. Just like being in a great adventure movie.

Running back to Whiterun after slaying the first dragon. With my Turtlebeach X11 on, I heard a loud thunder and the word "DOVAHKIN" and [censored] myself for 3 seconds. I looked towards the tallest mountain right away, not because I know where the Greybeards are but where the sound 'approached' me from!