I felt compelled to create this thread so that we could discuss what an Elder Scrolls game is to you.

To me, an Elder Scrolls game is not about quests, main or otherwise. It is not about loot or gathering the greatest equipment. What it is about is the world. There is an entire country to explore, with lore galore. Besides a few missteps Bethesda tends to make gorgeous worlds that beg to be explored and learned about. There is a plethora of books that give you snippets into the history of Nirn. Bethesda crams their worlds with lore in most every respect. The reason I enjoy Elder Scroll games is because of this seemingly living, breathing world. A world with its own history and customs, its own codes of honor, its own nooks and crannys that beg to be seen.

Why do you play? Why do you enjoy Elder Scroll games?

I play to kill [censored]. And explore.

Escapism.

A RPG experience a mortal could ever make.

First off....Go bengals lol
but forreal when I walk outside I feel like real life is just a bad skyrim simulator

The world, the political intrigues, the personal stories, the fun ways you can mess with people/places/the mechanics of the game. The new things in every game.

Excellent initiative - not one of those X better than Y things.

I like TES WHEN you can create a class that can use a variety of skills, where race actually means something different and where there are some quests (=/= from ALL quests....) that allow for different solutions (violence, sneak, intelligence, seduction).

I like to have a character sheet (like Oblivion or Even Daggerfall) where I can see my Custom Class, his abilities, *attributes*, birthsign, etc... These details add a very pleasant touch to character identity.

I like to be able to create / enchant items *to a limit* - i.e., Oblivion actually managed to establish decent limits to effects on items.

My life, in stages.

For me TES is almost its own genre of games.

It's not all about combat, it's not all about stats, it's not all about exploration, it's not all about magic, it's not all about stealth, it's not all about quests, it's not all about lore, it's not all about open-world, it's not all about killing. It's the integration of all those factors and more that make a TES game.

I agree with that, it's a combination of factors. I do think that one of the things I am enjoying most about Skyrim is the exploration and excellent dungeons however, they really pulled it out of the bag for this game after it being one of the weakest points of Oblivion.

And open world RPG, that restricts you in no way in exploration.

a way for me to become an unkillable GOD

and the daedra :3

This for me exactly