I've made two characters so far and put in about 150 hours of gameplay, but i stopped playing for a few days because of Christmas vacation and Arkham City. However, I returned to it again today, and found my self discovering new places and new interesting quests all over the place. How quickly the ambiance and atmosphere of the game svcked me back in. Skyrim to me feels like reading a great fantasy novel from when I was in highschool. It creates such a rich and believable world; it boggles my mind how anyone can say that this game doesn't have soul or interesting characters. This game will go down as one of the most ambitious and wonderfully created games of all time. A huge thank you to the Bethesda team for accomplishing such a grand masterpiece.

Thank you, normally I don't lean to the positive side of things being woefully pragmatic... but this forum could use more of these types of threads.

Game's awesome, yes it has its flaws as does every other game, but even on my PS3 it has been one of the most enjoyable experiences I may have ever had playing a game.... and continues to deliver new experiences every hour of play.

I have been enjoying it a lot though I find myself with the only problem of having too many characters I think it has to do with how much simpler the character creation system is where in oblivion after a good hour designing how my character looks I tend to not want to go back and make a new one.

300+ hours in tells me they did a LOT right.

In b4 thread turns to snot though.

Lol, yes maybe they could. But if you were here when Morrowind or Oblivion was released, coming on these forums would have you believe that Bethesda just released two of the worst games on the planet. There is a lot of passionate criticism of the game, and while I disagree with numerous amounts of them, they will abate soon enough. For every criticism, there are 50 silent players who are enjoying the game right now. I just wanted to share my love of Skyrim, its lore, and the people of made it happen.

Edit: I'd also like to add, I frequent many other forums which discuss Skyrim, and there is probably less than 5 complaints made in total about Skyrim from all of those forums. Skyrim is a big-name game, and it will attract alot of attention, because it is easier to attack.

Nature of forums, and human cynicism... which is entirely understandable.

I came and read a few of the threads back when Oblivion launched, but I just don't remember it being this bad.

Anyway, the threads lately have been good for popping my forum cherry and giving me lulz 4 days.

Skyrim is a great game and I am loving every member of it. A few flaws does not detract from a great gameplay experience.

If it didn't lag on PS3, it'd be the 2nd best game ever.

CROSSBOWS??!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nah, its all good. If they can bring back pickpocketing as a skill then this franschise is in the right direction. If they lose loading cells in the next game we should see a return of mobility skills and hopefully some diversity in weapon options. I strongly believe todd misses spears as much as us. He just hasn't found a way for it to work yet.

But yeah great game. GOTY all around.

Exactly, I registered some time before Morrowind was released here and ever since have been dissapointed at the general publics response in these forums, its almost as though the better the game is received widely, the more people feel the need to pick at it over and over again, I guess its the tall-poppy syndrome! Its really quite sad how pathetic some people are and how they will make 20 threads stating the same thing over and over again until people agree!

I agree with the OP, I have also played all the TES series going back to Arena in 94, and although I loved it and all the releases since, Skyrim has something extra, something special, I am not sure if it is the rugged landscape, the beautiful vistas, the engaging gameplay (I love the new spells and hand-to-hand combat) Or the storylines; but I can't put Skyrim down, 150 hours in just one charachter who hasn't even started the MQ yet! Amazing game, surprises around every corner even after this many hours.

Glad you liked It. I played It for 300 hours, to me is yet another great TES, keeping It my favorite franchise. It's also the ebst vanilla installement in my opinion, which is a lot to say considering how much I loved Morrowind.

I must warn you, though, that this thread will soon start being flamed.

Couldn't have said it better myself. It is hard, I imagine, for a game developer to decide who to listen to. The raving reviewers or the crazy consumers? After Morrowind was given a big fat F from these forums, years later it is now the gold-standard. Not to worry though as Skyrim is an exquisite experience from Bethesda. And most of the reviewers and consumers have labelled it so. No matter what happens in these forums, in a few years, Skyrim will be on an unreachable pedestal.

Yeah its amazing how things change over the years, things in the past almost always seem better and people forget about little niggles and this and that and remember the game as a whole! Hate to sound like an old-timer because I hated it when my Grandparents used to talk about the past but its true Hang around these forums for 10 years... wow has it been that long... and you will see 2 or 3 releases and its always the same at first no matter HOW well received the games is as a whole!

It's definitely a keeper.

Yeah, it is wired how people play a game for hundreds of ours then complain that it isn't fun or immersive or say it svck because of this and that. I guess I will never understand humanity,

most people have gone insane trying to understand humanity i say leave the heavy lifting to them. that said game rules.... flaws or no flaws

I'm at over 200+ hours and still finding new areas and touches. For me, I like Skyrim more than any of the other ES lands Bethesda has created (played since Daggerfall).

It strikes me as the most 'real' in terms of nitty-gritty but with the obvious fantasy twist.....

Loving it. Now if they'd just add Morrowind's number of guilds (heh) I'd be in pure heaven.

its a great game in and of itself but it falls short in many areas compared to bethesdas other recent game fallout 3 and even more so when you compare it to fallout NV. the only thing skyrim has on fallout NV is a better gameworld and graphics. compare it to fallout 3 which had a gameworld just as good as skyrim's (albeit bleaker) and fallout 3 beats skyrim hands down in every other category, writing, dialogue, quests, the gameworld reacting to player actions etc.

i still definitely got my moneys worth though.

I agree 100% with you OP

Yes, it is. It really is a great game. And how refreshing it was to see the original poster stating it.
Sure, like everyone else I worked through the frustrations but after Bethesda and I got past all the obstacles I am back into the game and couldn't praise
the game any higher for sheer entertainment and amazing moments.

I don't really get the comparisons with Fallout for one reason.

TES has to operate under a VERY specific set of rules because of its genre, which leads to bunches of checks/balances/potential lost content.

Fallout on the other hand has no real precedent, which results in much lower expectations.

They are both RPG's, but one is fantasy and one is post-apocalyptic. Different rules of engagement.

Its like comparing apples to oranges...

They're both fruit, yeah, but they taste different.

I love Skyrim. I love my Argonian. I love the world because of this game right now.

I agree with you, OP. This is a great game and remarkable in its scope and beauty. Kudos to the Bethesda team.

Good to see a positive thread about the game.
I agree...it's a great game.
I'm looking forward to seeing where the modding community will go with this.
There will be years of gameplay and fun with this one.

that game has a lot of great moments and *wow !* experiences !

I just did the fiinal mara quest, with the long dead lovers, it was amazing and surprising !

I also love the ratway ambience, it s a lot deeper than morrowind or oblivion thieves guild