That it has an inventory menu just for keys and another one for books.

Exactly! This game is going to have an extremely long shelf life.

I also just read that there are low resolutions maps of Oblivion and Morrowind already in game (go to the southeast gate on the bottom of the map and turning on 'no clipping').

I know what you mean, OP. I sincerely wish everyone could feel like I do because I'm having a great time in Skyrim. I couldn't name just one thing because it's all great and I learn something new every time I play. Ok, I'll say the books because I've been reading those more and I think I'm picking up on clues about why the dragons returned. It's been great to read about the past history in Tamriel too...things we didn't see. Watch the skies.

I've been playing for 2 hours tonight just walking around riften about to join thieves guild, after making some armour and delivering some quests, gathered another few quests and beginning to get sidetracked once again. Amazing that after 60 hours I've still hot the whole story arc and guilds to go!

I love how I already spent like 20 of 50 hours just walking around and doing nothing productive because it all looks so damn beautiful.

The landscape. Really, on full whack on a PC (and I have several mods further enhancing textures of water etc) it is a sight to behold. My favourite thing would be the river valleys, especially the Riverwood valley which is probably my favourite place in the game so far. And in the snowy wasteland around Winterhold and the Pale you can almost feel the freezing wind batter your face. Most beautifully crafted game world ever? Maybe.

I mentioned in a thread last week that it seemed like every fight I went into, I found something new and interesting. Last night was no exception. I won't name the dungeon..I couldn't even if I wanted to..and I enter a room; I have a mercenary with me and we're fighting draugrs. An even more powerful draugr comes in, shouts and does damage to me...I stagger away..trying to do some distance to get ready..and he taps the rim of his shield with his sword, much like the duel from 13th Warrior. I couldn't stop laughing; even after he killed me.
Later that day, we're in another part of this same dungeon. Draugr gets up..we get ready to fight..and he takes off running. We follow..and find..traps...lethal cunning. It was awesome.

Now, I'm one of the xp users having the 2-8 second delays when travelling outside. After yesterday when the update was posted and I heard a lot of people were having more CTD's I was a little bit worried. I've had about 4 ctds..although 3 of them seem to be related to my video card because it had the same type of crash during Witcher 2 and COD MW3; I played for 3 hours last night after work and an hour this morning...I actually believed for a bit that my random outside freezes had been fixed. It was an hour before I had one; no crashes to desktop. Whatever that update did from yesterday, it didnt' seem to have impacted me.

Except for the occaisional technical glitch, I am really enjoying this game.

the way they treated the lore is just amazing, especially fun for those of us who knows it.

I never thought red dead redemptions game world could be topped. I was wrong!

Got any screenies with those mods activated?

The dungeons (huge, gorgeous, varied, lots with stories inside and NPCs, etc)
The wildlife (so much of it to see when wandering around which I do most of the time)
That without mods it can be chaotic; a lot of combat chaos going on with different stuff going on all at once (horses attacking dragons and me while townsfolk run around shouting, etc). That's been well done and happens pretty routinely and without dragons around.
Love the new dialogue (no zoom in)
Love the realism of the game world; can't go everywhere because the mountains are realistically built and in my way; water prohibits me from going a certain way, I get blocked by a canyon, etc. It's like really exploring.
Love that there are proper followers in the game (even if they do need some work)
The the look of the cities and towns. Each one is unique and the creative detail was very well done. They cared about them.
The cows! and the goats and the chickens (need better textures though)
The treatment of the orcs, khajit and argonians. They look so good. They were very cartoonish in Oblivion. I'd consider playing one of them here but never did before because of that.

Mostly I'm having a lot of fun, which is the true test of a game for me.

The sense of adventure and discovery. My main love of the TES games.

The Catch-22 of ingredient hunting
Example (no spoiler): Hawk Feather + Mudcrab Chitin = very useful potion for those who wander afield.
However, the very act of wandering to collect these ingredients puts one in peril of actually needing the potion they will soon create.

Love it!
In order to gain future protection, you must first place yourself in peril.

Skyrim got me to pull a gift card out of my wallet that's been in there for 1-2 years?

Skyrim, uninstalled and back in the case, will keep that little area on the shelf from getting covered with dust?

Uldred

Yes, lets be a cynical person in a thread to stand out and say hey sup I am an a-hole who has to voice my opinion on this in a negative fashion just to play devils advocate/party pooper "what do you like" thread.

I said what I loved about Skyrim.

I hate when gift cards pile up in my wallet. I gave away 3 gas cards I had because they were taking up space. I had another card in there for over 3 years.

Uldred

Blackreach.

I only started playing yesterday, and one of the very best things I've noticed is how, especially as a low-level character, you can walk around the landscape and feel a true sense of danger, as if anything could sneak up and kill you. The caves and dungeons, the wildlife, the Forsworn, and even the bandits really instil a real sense of fear in me, and I love it. The landscape and detail to everything is absolutely beautiful, and I love how I can just wander around and become distracted by everything. Every part of Skyrim has its own distinct culture and atmosphere to it, and the AI is just so interesting. I even woke up this morning thinking about Skyrim, because the five hours I've played have already had such an impact on me

65 hours deep now and my sense of wonder is growing!! Started thieves guild last night, I've got 4 quests from them that involve sneakiness. Loving it!!

What i love most about Skyrim is how much it makes me realize that Morrowind is superior!

90 hours in and got a rude awakening last night. My lvl 37 Nordic brute arrived at Winterhold College, feeling all invincible and Dragonbornish...i mean he had defeated Alduin, so what else would give him a hard time?
Well he promptly died in under 2 minutes flat upon arrival at the College when an Elder Dragon landed in front of him, wreathed him in flames and after a couple of lunging bites...threw his corpse against a wall...
To make matters worse, his follower had fallen of that narrow bridge leading to the college... when she spotted the dragon in the air and walked off the part that has no wall....

I love that false sense of invincibility you get, only to get your ass handed to you by something badass. This game has still got me hooked

I have many complaints but I love the story, it's epic.

I love the overall artistic direction, it's got very beautiful environments in a realistic style.

I love how much more "grown up" it feels than Oblivion, which seemed unintentionally comical (e.g. I couldn't take Nords seriously in that, they were such jolly buffoons).

I haven't read through the thread fully, but: Level of detail. Almost every nook and cranny of Skyrim has something in it, even if it's just a silver ore vein you run across when you're scaling down a mountainside. I've run across abandoned houses and stuff too, though, that didn't have a map marker but probably could have.

Exploring and just getting yourself totally lost can be worthwhile in this game.


Yeah, this too. There were a lot of things about Oblivion that were kinda goofy.

The way a clear blue sky becomes cloudy and it starts snowing is excellent!!