Because I am retired and divorced I have nearly nearly 1000 hours of play time with Skyrim and I have yet to play a vanilla game of sorts.

The moment that i installed the game, on my PC, back in November before I began to play I had added several mods to it, That said, In all that time I have never finished the main quest solely based upon the negativity in the forums about its ending sequence. So, the desire to complete the main quest was lost to me months ago. In addition, I have never had the desire to become a werewolf or a vampire, since the only other TES game I ever played was Oblivion.

In addition, while in-game I have never had the desire to join the Thieves Guild or the Dark Brotherhood. So, in one sense I have been playing a vanilla game?!? However, what both fascinates me and baffles me at the same time is how players have gotten to these high levels of play? I cannot seem to get beyond level 25 and I have been just about everywhere on the map. Then I restart the game. For example, a friend of mine just bought Skyrim and has about a hundred or so hours into the game, and is above level 30? Interesting?!?

The problem with you is that you don't what to play the game for all it is, instead you wish to play things that seem preferable due to forum(ers) posts about the game and so ruin the immersion experience.

I suppose some of that is true. However, It is not based solely upon what forum users say. There are plenty of glitches within the main quest on the PC which in and of itself ruin the immersion --those that can't or won't be fixed.


I prefer to play as a hero or heroin of mankind--or at the very least of Skyrim. In real life I am not a thief or an assassin; or a vampire or werewolf. I care not to fantasize about such inhumane things, people, cults or organizations. I also failed to mention that in all those hours of play I have never chosen a side in the war. Each side has their faults that keep me neutral.

I am going to get a lot of negative flake for this, but for me it is all about the "Eye Candy."

Thanks for responding. I appreciate your critique.

Spend more time creating a character that you truly enjoy and you won't want to restart so much.

It took several restarts before i found a look and play style that i really enjoy. My current guy is a representation of me in a skyrim setting with slightly embelished features (bigger beard and muscles, scars and a blind eye). I try to maintain a pure barbarian/ wandering warrior thing with him and use no magic aside from shouts, only consume meat and mead to replenish vitals and wear mostly clothes. He rocks ragged trousers, boots, steel nordic gauntlets, a talos amulet and a skyforge steel battleaxe on his back. Also have a nord hero bow for hunting meat and a nord hero war axe for when using a torch to explore dark
dungeons. I lightly RP and try to do things as i would if i were him as well as seek any challenge and good fight i find..wearing only 1 armor piece makes every fight interesting

so you need to find the you in skyrim and then it will be much more engaging and fun

you may be reluctant because it seems out of place for you to attempt a thing but part exploration is discovery and the other part attempting. You could discover a massive ruin, however just viewing it from afar and not venturing in destroys the purpose of it existing. same goes for guilds, quest and the very game. - i feel a bit philosophical

And, I appreciate your philosophical approach too. I have explored all of the caves, barrows and cairns. I even discovered where the treasure was located form the treasure maps that you find throughout your travels. The end result was a best was very disappointing: Less than a hundred gold, a soul gem and some useless weapon. Hardly worth the effort. Also, down stream from the sunken boat there is a submerged ruin with nothing of value in the chest either. The only thing barely exciting was getting attacked by two slaughterfish. "WOW! Amazing find!"