And still only scratched the surfaces of the map.

Love it!

I'm almost 100 hrs in and I'm feeling the same!!

I like taking TES games at a slower pace myself. I also like looking at my map thinking I'll have literally YEARS of exploration time left with this game. Heck, there's parts of Cyrodiil I never got around to exploring yet in Oblivion.

I am the same exact way. My Xbox version of Oblivion had over 900 hours and I plan on making skyrim last just as long

Yup, 100 hours and over half the map is uncharted territory. Love it!

150 hours and still not been to Riften or the forest surrounding it. I'm not even done with the Reach.

I do have a friend here on the forums who's admitted to me via PMs that he made the "mistake" of jumping all over the map during the first few weeks after 11/11/11, taking every quest that was offered to him and his female Khajiit, and now he's regretting it because he looks at his map and it's just filled with markers!

Me on the other hand? I spent weeks jsut hanging out in the Riverwood/Whiterun area. Crafting, smithing, making potions (etc.) doing Companion stuff, taking down the bandit camps in the immediate areas. When my character wound up in Markath (I think) after being poisoned, I was like whoa!!! Not ready for new territory yet!

My main character has over 200 hrs played, and I found 4 new areas last night, and still hasn't come across several areas that my thief/assassin found in his first 20 hours. That character has around 85 hrs and there's so much more left for him to do.

Yes, these wonderful Elder Scrolls games are to be digested slowly, like a delicious food that you don't want to finish anytime soon. Take your time and enjoy every last bite.

There is so much to do, and the game(s) isn't something that you completely finish. At some point, you may complete every quest and explore every dungeon, but the world and the people within are still going about their daily lives. The "end" only happens when the player stops playing the game, yet the citizens of Skyrim are still going about their business, just without the player character.

Yeah, that's what I thought at first too until everything became so redundant. I don't even feel like exploring anymore since I already essentially know what I'm going to find. Oh goodie! Another identical Dwemer ruin with Falmer tents and enemies! Oh joy! Another dungeon with Draugr tombs! Oh boy another meaningless fetch quest with unmemorable characters!

I would have prefered a smaller map with fewer locations which actually focused on interesting characters, storylines, areas and dialog. But that's just me.

By poisoned, you mean drunk?

Same here. Haven't even been anywhere near the north coast yet.

A game should always consider quality over quantity, not the other way around. Bethesda should have learnt by now.

7th Character in and I have yet to explore some parts of the map.

With this one I am walking EVERYWHERE so I can experience it.