Ok, so I played Skyrim as an out and out Warrior, it was fun but a little one dimensional and I quit halfway through.

Next I played as an all rounder focusing on Magic, Sneak and Archer... but this didnt quite do it for me either.

So I started again and ditched the magic and added a bit of Warrior again...

THAT didn't quite do it for me either...

So I started again and did pure Sneak-Archer-Thief and bam!! The game came alive.

I am currently lvl 18 and I have not yet set foot inside a dungeon or even glimpsed a dragon.

I bypassed Whiterun and headed for the stables telling the carriage dude to take me straight to Riften.

There I joined some folks and I haven't looked back.

Forget plundering dungeons for loot, take a look inside some of the sumptuous and amazingly designed houses and mansions in Skyrim. Places that until I started breaking into at 3am had been 100% unknown to me.

Someone has taken the time to painstakingly build and furnish 1000's of houses with multiple floors, cellars, unique items, letters, treasures, weapons etc and the ONLY way you will ever get to see them is if you play as a Thief.

I mean its like 50% of the game world or something.

By the time I am bored of doing Thief stuff, and I've been at it for 15 hours so far and loving it, I'll have the other 50% of the game world to wander out into.

I urge anyone who normally just plays as a Warrior to give it a go because its a much richer experience in my eyes.

This game was designed to be played as a Thief, no doubt about it. x

What have you been smoking? What stops your warrior from entering those houses at day-time when the owner is home? The door should be wide open.

You've got me thinking about it. I've still never seen the inside of all the homes and shops in Oblivion because I've never played as a Thief. My Sneak is at 95 and my Pickpocket is at 19 with 0 stolen items...I'm the most honest Sneaker in Skyrim. It could be fun to try that build...thanks!

I don't exactly agree, but it's kind of a shame if thievery is avoided (to each their own though). My main character is basically a warrior/thief hybrid, I guess. Possibly a lot like the "marketing" dovahkiin. He seems like a dual wielding warrior at the very least. There's enough points to spread around to dabble in both styles.

I find house owners to be outside most of the time

And when they're inside, they always tell me to get out

I just can't bring myself to calling my char a Thie....Thev....Thvr.....hell, I can't even type it. Do some of my chars steal stuff? Damn right they do. But some don't, yet they carry this tag that says Thicve....or what ever it's called, from a Guardian Stone.

THegame has been designed to cater for most forms of play, though I disagree that its mostly thief stlye. I would say that melee combat, range combat and sneak are all equally catered for, the only problem is magic is pretty lacking.

Gameplay wise, yeah, it's pretty balanced. Guild wise.. well.. The Thieves Guild is just better done than the others. Not just the quests, but even just the little touches. The atmosphere.

I followed the blacksmiths in dawnstar inside their house at the evening, door was wide open and they didn't say anything until I waited one hour. *shrug*

@thesniperdevil: Reading the original post before replying is.. Well, something *someone* should do.

As a veteran of the Thief games, I disagree with the OP's comments about sumptuous and amazingly-designed houses. Many of the houses seem rather empty. If you can nip inside when the owner is away, which is very easy to do, there's not a lot of surprises, and you don't have to sneak (other than the time-stopping instantaneous lockpicking you did to gain entry).

Now, the places designed for TG missions are a different story. But the radiant quest targets, and breaking & entering in general, is just... pretty straightforward.

I dont agree.

Why you choosed a thief?

Steal weapon? Why? You cant find any weapon on dungeon? You cant get any reward?
Steal armor? Kill some bandit


But,if you say, "i never going to be a bad person on Skyrim" You cant do that

sooner a later to complete the quest you must kill a spesific group of good people [SPOILER= TH*LM*R]


anyway.

my NORD, Sneak 92, Lockpicking about 30-->40 , Pickpocket 15, And i had complete DB and Thieve quest.

And im using Nightingale Armor now. Yeah dude, i am a warrior, and i loved it

The only part of the game that makes me think they intended characters to use sneaking is all the scripted conversations between hostile NPCs during quests and dungeons. I missed a ton of information and background walking around in heavy armor and interrupting conversations.

I understand what you are all saying but what I am getting at is that there is a totally different style of play to experience.

I am level 18, so far I have killed no-one... not even a bandit.

I find that the NPC's go to sleep around 3am. So I break in at that time and then creep about so as not to wake them. You find quite a lot of good stuff on the sleeping NPC's and its fun to hide if they wake up.

There is a whole different atmosphere if you play like that.

I have never been caught by a guard and I have enough money, ability and level's that when I start playing the main quest line I will be formidable in the dungeons.

I used to play as a Warrior and yes you can just go into people's houses while they are down the shops etc but doing that kind of breaks the magic of the game. Where is the danger etc in that? that's just playing the game without a care and I tend to have a set of rules to play by and would never do that with a Warrior class.

Playing as a thief adds an added a dimension to the game I had not experienced before.

I think its worth a go if you play with the same mind as me.

"Welcome to the cosy little family, lad."

Just remember to not neglect your combat skills. The higher you level, the more formidable the enemies get. Rather than simple Draugr, you see Draugr Wights & so on, etc. You've already got a really high sneak value, so work on your one-handed skill. 15X damage is pretty sweet against most things, once you get that particular perk.

I love playing a thief, but the game was designed for maximum flexibility. There is no right way to play it.

But being a thief is definitely fun. My character specialized in burglary, and one of the side benefits is that you get to uncover everyone's dirty little secrets.

I agree I wish they worked more on the magic in the game.

I have a very different perspective.

First of all, a significant chunk of all western RPGs in history are like what you describe. Going all the way back to like Sierra's Hero's Quest and stuff. If you can't pick the locks on treasure chests or enter houses at night, you're missing SOOO much.

However, Skyrim is the first RPG in history to actually cure me of this. It's the first one in history that has made me want to ditch my thief/assassin and try a warrior or a battlemage. The whole dragon/Nord/shouts/civil war/etc thing going on. I can't see myself playing all that as a sneaksy Wood Elf with a poisoned dagger. Kudos to Bethesda, I'm re-rolling a non-rogue for the first time ever.