Newbie here, just thought I would stop in and say hello.

I'm looking forward to playing Skyrim this weekend at the latest, hopefully sooner (depends on how the writing goes for my next high fantasy/sword and sorcery novel). If anyone has any gameplaying tips they would like to share, I'd love to read them.

Thanks!

1. money is easy to come by, you don't have to carry all the loots back to the merchant
2. always quick save often
3. if you are using the PC, use console to save so that you can name your save files

Kyuuen,

Thanks for the tips. I game pretty much exclusively on a PC (sold my Xbox a couple of years ago).

Make sure just after the opening cut scene and tutorial to pick up your Thief/Mage/Warrior stone before you head to the first town.

Don't rush the game, enjoy the great detailed world Bethesda created. Take your time while exploring it.

If they're like me they'll be told to go to X town for a quest and end up going twice the distance just out of curiousity. Lol

If you can, ignore the abilities and whatnots of the different races, just choose whichever race you think looks the best.

Both of these are great tips. I have very much been taking my time exploring the world, becoming immersed in all the new and exciting locations as I reach them, and remembering that (unlike many other games) there's no reason to speed through this. By the time I'm done playing Skyrim, it's going to have been an amazing adventure; why rush through it? You can still play other games on the side.

I bought the game at a midnight launch on 11-11-11, and I have since logged 90 hours reaching Level 49. You know what I haven't completed? The Main Quest. The Companions. The College of Winterhold. The Thieves Guild. The Dark Brotherhood. The Civil War. I've started most of them, but my adventures often change and deviate as I find new things or reshape my priorities. For example, I wanted to fully explore Solitude and get to know the city before the Civil War took me there for other reasons. Before last night, I had not ever been to Solitude, Dawnstar, or Riften -- and I'm casting zero-cost Destruction spells with tons of Fire and Frost resistance.

So, my advice? Take your time. Enjoy the experience and the world. In my honest opinion, the game is much more fun, rewarding, and memorable if you play it with, not necessarily role-playing, but just reminding yourself that there's no need to jump blindly from quest to quest.

Also, if you start as a hybrid character focusing on two different disciplines (archery and restoration, destruction and one-handed weapons, etc.), the game WILL be harder at the outset, but your character will come into his/her niche before long

Good helpful tips, I'm a newbie as well and find myself always holding on to every item that is somewhat expensive. I need to learn to only keep my main armor and weapons. I love exploring and finding stuff but I want to keep it all!! Lol.

Also if u happen across a mine get a pickaxe from that mine for easy access to ores early in the game, also if u side with the Stormcloaks at Helgen (follow the Nord in blue) he'll introduce u to Hadvar of Riverwood who will let u take his iron and steel ingots for a quick intro into blacksmithing.
Once u reach Whiterun go to Dragonsreach and complete the main quest upon ur introduction to xxxxxxxx (srry the forum said no spoilers) and u can use the alter of enchantment in the adjascent room, get the Turn Undead enchantment and cheap iron daggers to get easy $$$$$.

Weclome to the forums. Here have a [img]http://images.uesp.net/c/c4/Fishystick.jpg[/img].

First rule in any TES game is Save Save and Save some more. You die alot and there is glitches and or bugs you come apon so you will either freeze, crash or what not. Don't forget to save. I have done it in Every game and I hate myself for not saving and there goes 2 hours of playing.

Just have fun with the game. Do not power level since it will ruin the game for you and you will find it too easy. Just do what you want when you want. One thing in Skyrim is if something says "it's a hurry" ignore it. It will wait for you. Quests are too short in Skyrim and when you complete the quest espically if you are role playing the game, you will find that quest so short becasue you hurried it. There is not much to it, so don't worry about letting a quest "wait".

There is no right or wrong way to play TES games. Just do what you want and have fun, so don't worry about making mistakes. During your first play through you will make lots of mistakes and you will be restarting maybe many times ;P "restartitis" is not much of a big problem in Skyrim as in other TES games, but it still happened to me. So don't worrying about starting a new game if you want to as well.

Rememeber YOU make the choices and decisions. You can break the game if you choose too. So don't fortify a spell to make a more powerfull potion that will make your more powerfull when enchanting a weapon and then you find the game too easy. Just be carefull of that.

Don't worry about doing everything all at once. It can be done, but sometimes it's better to play a Mage in one game, and then a warrior in another game for a different play style. But if you want to be a Jack of all Trades, it can be done as well.

Just rememeber, have fun, do what YOU want to do, and have fun. Don't read the forums and have people tell you HOW to have fun. It's up to you what is fun for you. Skyrim can be played many ways so it's up to you to write your story.

Also once the main story is complete you can still continue your game so don't worry that it will be over. TES games are never over untill you say it's over.

There's no harm in holding on to valuable items. I usually return to town after a plundering trip or some adventuring with my carrying capacity almost filled, and drop it by about 70-100 points with selling things and storing the cool stuff in my collection at home. You'll learn over time what things are worth carrying -- Giant's Toes and other decently priced alchemical ingredients are way less useful for me personally than, say, Petty Soul Gems, which are worth less but have more practical value. (I'm not a great alchemist).

Awesome tips, everyone! Thanks!!!

My writing has been going well so perhaps I'll reward myself with starting to play tonight.

@roark its Alvor that you get introduced too by Hadvar. Ralof introduces you to Gerder and Hod