I haven't had time to spend on this game since it came out, but that's probably going to change very soon. Before I do delve into it, I have a few questions:


Are there NPC enchanters and smiths in the game who sell their services or is the only way to get a personalized enchantment or improved equipment to do it yourself?

Also, are there enchanters who you can pay to recharge your weapons, or do you just have to buy the soul gems and do it yourself?

When is the main questline activated?

Are dragons present from the start no matter where you go first, or is there a trigger (like with Kvatch in Oblivion)?

Furthermore, does the world suddenly know I'm Dragonborn upon absorbing my first dragon soul, or is it a particular dragon soul that triggers it?

Once I escape Helgen, must I follow one of the two men to Riverwood, or can I just abandon them?


I'm sure I'll think of some more questions in the near future. When that happens I'll post them here.

When is the main questline activated? The Moment you Start the game!

"Are there NPC enchanters and smiths in the game who sell their services or is the only way to get a personalized enchantment or improved equipment to do it yourself?"


Only by yourself. All other smithed/enchanted items must be bought or found.



"Also, are there enchanters who you can pay to recharge your weapons, or do you just have to buy the soul gems and do it yourself?"


Have to buy/find soul gems and do it yourself.



"When is the main questline activated?"


I think once you go to Whiterun and tell the Jarl about what happened at Helgen.



"Are dragons present from the start no matter where you go first, or is there a trigger (like with Kvatch in Oblivion)?"


Triggered by going into the Main Quest.



"Furthermore, does the world suddenly know I'm Dragonborn upon absorbing my first dragon soul, or is it a particular dragon soul that triggers it?"


During the MQ you battle your first dragon and absorb its soul. Afterwards the Greybeards summon you and tell you about being the Dragonborn.



"Once I escape Helgen, must I follow one of the two men to Riverwood, or can I just abandon them?"


You can just run to Riverwood without them in tow.

You have to make your own enchantments.

I'm pretty sure you have to recharge them yourself with purchased filled-soul gems or soul gems you fill yourself.

Once you get out of the starter dungeon, you can completely forget about the starter helper whichever you choose, and you can also still pick to side with Imperial or Stormcloak no matter who you followed to begin with.

As far as your questions about the main quest: You first have to obtain an item from the end boss in a dungeon called Bleak Falls Barrow outside Riverwood - a Dragonstone. You then give it to a mage in Whiterun and this triggers a dragon attack at a nearby tower. If you get this far, you can still avoid the tower (like avoiding Kvatch) but it's much easier to just avoid getting the Dragonstone alltogether, that way you don't have to avoid the tower, nor do you have to avoid the mage who gives the quest (and he is a convenient spell merchant). So basically, when you get to the end of BFB assuming you go there, just stay away from the glowy wall as that will spawn the end boss. Exit up the stairs instead.

The first triggered attack at that tower is where you absorb your first soul, and people will known you are Dragonborn.

No NPCs offer it. You will find enchanting tables, alchemy tables, tanning racks, grind stones, smelters, workbenches and forges to do it yourself. The focus is very strong on DIY. You hunt a deer, take its fur and turn it into leather and leather strips at a tanning rack, and make an armor of it at the forge and improve it on a workbench. Smelters are used to turn ore into forgable metal ingots.
You can buy and find soul gems to recharge enchanted weapons. No NPCs offer a service to recharge it for you.

It is kind of always activated, but there is no time preasure and besides one single dragon will there be no other dragon attacks until you have passed a first few simple stages of the main quest.
Only one dragon as part of the introduction. See above.
People will say something when they see you absorb a soul, but it is only comments with no consequences to it. A recognition by officials happens in the main quest and it is the same part after which the dragon attacks will start.
No. You can follow them but you do not have to. You can go anywhere you like.
Just get the game. It is Game of the Year. Many people got it and everyone loves it. So much that they want more and complain about everything.

Thanks for the replies. I'm disappointed I'll have to train/use Enchanting and Smithing to get specialized equipment. They'll likely be a mod to automatically recharge magic weapons, if there isn't one already. So, let's see...

If I strike out on my own immediately after escaping Helgen, then it essentially suspends the main quest (meaning there will be no dragons to fight, and thus no souls to absorb) until I return to Riverwood or head on to Whiterun?

There are already over 2000-3000 mods out from what I understand. Downloading and installing them is done via the Steam client, which will keep your game and your mods updated.
Yes.

recharging your enchanted weapons raises your enchanting skill so it's quite easy to get it up just from that. i have a warrior with lvl 50 enchanting just from recharges and with Azura's/Black star recharging is easy.

smithing has an easy exploit with crafting iron daggers if you really want to level it fast...

you can go to riverwood without any consequences. it's starting the quest in whiterun that sends you to bleak falls barrow and completing it that will bring about dragons. i've never seen a dragon (outside helgen) in my 250 hours of playtime

You could rely on finding equipment and then enchanting it if you want to avoid Smithing. Smithing allows you to improve equipment (perks allow you to craft and improve to a greater degree).

It might actually make exploring more fun if you have to find that Daedric instead of craft it. Not sure how rare it is, cause I haven't gotten a single character to high level. ;P

Smithing seems to raise pretty quickly, though.

Are there NPC enchanters and smiths in the game who sell their services or is the only way to get a personalized enchantment or improved equipment to do it yourself?

-Merchants will have enchanted equipment (the higher your level the better the effects), but the best enchantments you have to do yourself. You learn new enchantments by breaking down enchanted Items.

Also, are there enchanters who you can pay to recharge your weapons, or do you just have to buy the soul gems and do it yourself?
Ive only recharged weapons on my own, run around killing mudcrabs and animals for 30 minutes and you'll have enuff to recharge for awhile.

When is the main questline activated?
-After you go to whiterun and warn the yarl, the next quest will unlock dragons. However, until you go to High Hrothgar and meet the greybeards, you won't encounter many dragons. I'm level 43, and Just went to the greybeards, Ive fought about 8 dragons, seen about 15, but most of the time they fly around, and leave me alone. I attribute that to not going to the greybeards right after the whiterun quest's which initiate the beginning of the MQ

Furthermore, does the world suddenly know I'm Dragonborn upon absorbing my first dragon soul, or is it a particular dragon soul that triggers it?
-It's kind of Random with this feature in the game. Some people will know who you are, and others will treat you like a nobody/low life lol. But It definately isn't something everyone recognizes, but if u shout people will make remarks about it, and yeah some people will recognize you for it. one of the White Run Quest's is what sets the knowledge of the dragon born on a path across Skyrim.

Once I escape Helgen, must I follow one of the two men to Riverwood, or can I just abandon them?

I followed the One guy that was left with me. You don't have to, but he'll lead you to a settlement.

you also find some pretty good enchanted items along the road, explore everything, it's worth it if you dont wanna invest in smith/enchanting as much.

by the time you're ready to tackle the 'end of the game' if u wanna call it, your skills will naturally be close enough to craft great items. Dont forget bout the Deadric weapons/artifacts.

Don't forget to take your time. Leveling too quickly isn't as good imho. My first game I went out on my own but in my second game, I followed Hadvar and sat down with him and his family. I liked that better because I got much more information about the story by talking with them. Have a great time whatever you choose to do.

Yes, that's correct. You don't have to return to Riverwood though, you can just go straight to Whiterun and talk to the Jarl there. If you never talk to the Jarl, you will never see a dragon and never be able to unlock shouts. Make sure you head to the Guardian Stones, once you escape Helgen, they are outside of Riverwood, to the west of it. After that, the world is your playground!

Quick note on recharging: if you aren't doing enchanting, you will probably still get enough soul gems in loot that you won't need to buy any, or at least, not very many. You may even get enough filled ones that you don't even need to fill empty ones.

Again, that's only if you are just using soul gems for recharging, and not enchanting.

OP, I invite you to disregard all advice given in this thread and just dive head first into the game and see what you think of it. Your opinion of a game can be so tarnished by things that other people say about it, but you don't really know if you enjoy the things people are complaining about or not until you try them. A lot of people like to complain about the things that you've posted, but, IMHO, they're very small annoyances.

Skyrim is a great game; don't sell it short by purposefully trying to avoid things just because other people have said that they don't enjoy them. Try it out for yourself and form your own opinion.

Are there NPC enchanters and smiths in the game who sell their services or is the only way to get a personalized enchantment or improved equipment to do it yourself?
No, but no one yells at you if you use their forges and enchanting stalls. You can even ask them and they all pretty much say "Go ahead, if you have the skill"

Also, are there enchanters who you can pay to recharge your weapons, or do you just have to buy the soul gems and do it yourself?
I forgot, but I think you have to do it yourself. It's not linked to your enchanting skill, though.

When is the main questline activated?
Immediately, but dragons don't pop up as random encounters until you kill the first one, which is like 3-4 quests into the storyline. Bleak Falls Barrow takes up most of the intro, the rest are pretty quick so when you're sent to the Watchtower, you can decide to hold off if you don't want to activate dragons. Don't worry, they'll wait.

Are dragons present from the start no matter where you go first, or is there a trigger (like with Kvatch in Oblivion)?
See above.

Furthermore, does the world suddenly know I'm Dragonborn upon absorbing my first dragon soul, or is it a particular dragon soul that triggers it?
Nope, word travels since there's some people who witnesses you absorb it.

Once I escape Helgen, must I follow one of the two men to Riverwood, or can I just abandon them?
You can go your own way. Right out of the cave they mention "You can come with me, or we can split and meet up there".

I know others answered stuff, but I hope it helps.