Hello everyone... I just purchased an Xbox 360 and bought Skyrim.

I've never been a console gamer but have been a PC gamer for years and years dating back to the Commodore 64. (Yes I am that old) I've always enjoyed RPG games and played Ultima Online from 1997 till 2004 and then World of Warcraft pretty regularly from 2004 till 2011.

My question is, what kind of character should I create?

I have always been more interested in caster characters over pure melee characters. I played a tank mage character in UO and played both a mage and priest in WoW.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I just installed the game and am ready to see what all the hype is about! LOL

Well met, kinsman. I started my computer RPG days with the Gold Box series DnD games, so yeah, I'm old too.
Anyway, my advice is to start a game using any skills that seem interesting to you. Blend magic with melee and a little stealth just to get a feel for the game. After 10 or so levels you should have a sense of how the skills work and maybe an idea of how you want your first character to be.
I would also suggest that you make several characters and have each pursue the factions and quest lines that would interest them.
Take your time. Soak up the atmosphere. And have fun.
Oh, also don't read too much on this forum. There are spoilers and shall I say, some rather strong opinions.
Good luck.

I recommend a Nord warrior the first time through, since the story will be new to you the first time, and a Nord is what the plot really calls for.

The 360 does a decent job with the game. Make sure you have update 1.5 downloaded from XBL before you start a new game. (Be online, and accept the update.) It will make a vast improvement over the earlier versions of the game. Save often, and if you have a memory stick or internal 4GB memory, backup your most recent saves to it daily. I rotate through 10 manual save files (in addition to the 3 autosaves) and back up the newest 2 manuals (and the autosaves).

If your experience is like mine, the more you play the game, the more stable it will get. I'm not sure why this happens. I suspect it's a combination of caching and of the game code having less and less new things to bring into your game. Don't really know, though. By the time I reached a hundred hours or so, the game had stopped crashing almost entirely. Maybe 1.5 will improve things all around too. My first time through was all version 1.4

Welcome to the forums.
My sugestion is to just play the game.
The skills you use will level up as you use them,this will define what kind of character you are.
If you want to be a mage then use the magick skills,conjuration will help keep the bad guys off you while you beat them with destruction.
Most important is to have fun.

Oh and save often.

Coming from MMO's, you need to get the notion that Character Level is the end all be all of the game out of your head. In fact, you will enjoy the game more if you don't concentrate on developing your character, but simply play the game and let the levels take care of themselves as you go along.

Some skills in this game are incredibly overtuned and will quickly lead to boredom, so you should avoid those. The worst offenders are:

• sneak
  
• smithing
  
• enchanting

Sneak will eventually allow you to one-shot most NPCs with no risk to yourself. Smithing will give you access to insanely powerful weapons and armor, and earlier than the game would normally allow, so you lose the whole thrill of finding new useful items. Enchanting is not as bad, and some argue that it's a must for destruction mages because they have end-game balance issues, but for other classes it boosts your stats too much, making the game too easy.

I don't know if they need to be avoided, but better is to not Exploit them to build a super uber character. My characters use these skills, but are not over powered in them or because of them because I do not grind them. The game is still a challenge in spite of being somewhat skilled in these areas.

You need suggestions?


Ok...

i concur, lol. (gotta love that line)

i exploited helgen and the trades to produce as close to a 'powergamed' character as i could. (powergaming isn't the same definition or process from past games)

however, what i ended up doing was starting over and i'm in the process of creating that all-powerful hybrid character in a more organic and natural way with some guidelines for trade use and no exploitation.

OP- i always think taking the primary characters in a game is the best way to start, since, the developers created the game around them in the first place. in skyrim, that would be an imperial or nord. as well, you could concentrate on using and leveling the skills that the game designates as major for them. play a bit, restart, refine and keep trying to find what keeps you entertained.

Thanks for the tips guys! Much appreciated! Looking forward to adventuring in Skyrim!

Best thing about it is it will always be there... I don't have to get into any rush!

Save often, and save in different slots.

Best advice I have heard all day. Skyrim is full of bugs (and not just the kind you catch for their alchemical properties). I have encountered some that were literally game breaking, and when that happens, you may need a save from before the bug became apparant in order to fix it. Having a save from an hour or two before you encounter a problem can be a lifesaver.

You don't have to decide anything beforehand, just start playing, experiment with skills and weapons and see what you enjoy the most. You can alwasy start over if you want. I would go for a nord though as it fits in with the story nicely. I always feel a bit awkward playing my bosmer dovahkiin.

Giants are nearly always friendly and offer great advice.

I detect giant sarcasm.

I fooled around a bit before work with a High Elf... are they the best mage?

I'm also contemplating the Nord warrior. Gonna play when I get home in a few hours.

Ye
Yeah, Altmer are the best mages, they get the largest initial magika bonus.

It would be pretty good to play as a high elf mage if you are starting out because of the +50 magicka (mana) racial bonus they start with. And their racial power lets them regenerate magicka at an insane rate. Have fun with the game

Just what I wanted to hear... HE mage it is. I've read that mages are a bit more challenging to play so if that's the case that's even better. As said I've always preferred casters.

Nord warrior will be my 2nd character.

I find this next link to he useful as a beginner. I myself play as a 'berserker', which is pretty much a 2hander warrior. My previous char was a conjurer/destro mage (not in the link though). He was pretty much invincible oh and he was High Elf, pretty OP race for mages due too racials.

http://segmentnext.com/2011/11/11/elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-character-builds-and-progression-guide/

Also it's a good idea to not leave loot you don't want laying out in the open as it eats up memory which can cause some fairly nasty bugs, much better to place it on a body so it disappears when they do. likewise if you can find them you should dispose of arrows since they don't currently disappear when the cell resets.

If you like magic then use high elf and join the college of winterhold, the masters there know all the spells but will only sell spells that your skill level is high enough for.

If you like melee, play nord or orc and grab a battle axe and start swinging

First rule: go away from this forum, play the game as it is. Have a fun!

That's the plan... I played a couple hours when I got home from work and did some opening quests and made it to level 4. I'm very impressed so far, it's been fun. The only reason I am not playing for 8 more hours is because I have 8 hours till I have to be to work and haven't slept yet.

CoW is the next destination I believe...

Thanks to all for the responses!!!

Well, since you can't exploit smithing as easily as before. Smithing will take quite alot of time to make...so i don't think it will affect the difficulty that much as before.