[Lynette Wilson]

I remember, way back when Morrowind was out, that one of the best things about the game was that you never even needed to start the main quest to enjoy the game. In fact, I remember people loving the game precisely because you could follow whatever path you chose.

But for some reason, when Skyrim has people apparently taking advantage of that feature, it should be alarming for Bethesda. What a difference a few years makes...

[BethanyRhain]

1: We have heard how bad the ending is, so we decided to save ourselves the trouble.
2: This game is so easy, there is no reason to worry about the level of your skills.
3: Basically the same as number two, plus exploring is way better then anything else in this game.
4: Sims is better.
5: That quest-line was broken for how long? I wouldn't be surprised if it's still broken.

(The above is my opinion, deal with it.)



What does the ability to use more than 2gb of ram have to do with recording stats?

To play the game without it crashing often you had to mod it, the paticular mod which fixed ot ran the skyrim.exe which at the time launched skyrim without steam thus achievements were not enabled.

[Emmi Coolahan]

If you live in Australia no offence to you but, The government censors everything over there, They make rated t game M games, They censor everything, like in the witcher. They were going to ban fallout 3 if I remember correctly

NO...they weren't going to ban fallout 3. Beth made a design decision to introduce the name 'med X' instead of 'morphine', and a couple of other chioices, because the game was going to receive a higher release rating otherwise.

No question, there are major issues with our ratings system, and with the level of internet monitoring and censorship that goes on, but without hanging a few of them, that won't change.

But that has nothing to do with the topic, and even less to do with responding to my post.

[Richard Dixon]

I just looked on Steam. More people are playing Skyrim right now than any other game.

Also, why does completing the Thieve's Guild matter? Not everyone want to be a thief, and people like me

Spoiler

held on to the skeleton key for a long, long time before completing it

[james kite]

I just looked on Steam. More people are playing Skyrim right now than any other game.

Also, why does completing the Thieve's Guild matter? Not everyone want to be a thief, and people like me

Spoiler

held on to the skeleton key for a long, long time before completing it

Me too! screw that nightengale power crap. Frenzy invisibility and drain? I am already a vampire with illusion so that is covered. I will take the convienient lockpick thanks. Problem is now I think I have about 300 lockpicks.

[laila hassan]

I'd guess these stats are probably a bit misleading due to the number of people that simply used Steam for activation and then play offline.

Yes, this - I absolutely always play offline, because I became fed up with not being able to play because of Steam having some or other issue ... I'm inclined to think the number of people who do play offline is pretty significant.

[kirsty joanne hines]

I play on ps3 and have unlocked most achievements. Some people might not have finished or even started the MQ once they heard that Dragons did not disappear once you finish. I know one of the reasons I wanted to finish the Oblivion MQ was so I could explore without the Oblivion Gates popping up. Plus the NPC's did not really seem too concerned about the dragons (I was able to finish the MQ without visiting most of the cities). The Civil War quest seemed like it was the MQ when talking to NPC's.

I have not read any of the lore, but I would have liked the Dragon Priest Masks to be tied into the MQ. Like any time you found a DP mask, when you exited the area you would fight a named dragon. Leading to the final one opening the area to Alduin. (although this would not really work since not everyone goes through the Mages Guild).

The Thieves Guild in this game included more combat focus compared to stealth like in past games.

The last thing I did in Skyrim with my current character (level 54) was get married, just to see what it was like. There was not really any benefit to getting married. For example, I married Ysolda. She opens a small shop and you get a bit of gold. It would most likely be too complex (and I would rather see the time used to develop a deeper story), but it would be interesting if you could buy out a business and then have a drop chest where you could put items you would like to sell as the stores inventory. Although this would make it less likely for people to pick the Speechcraft Perk (although you would still sell to regular merchants if you want a certain amount of money right away.)

For me I usually play 1 character in each game as a jack of all trades, playing through all the quests trying to see as much of the story and areas as I can. I will get Skyrim for pc once a goty edition comes out so I can mod. I missed out on the Oblivion expansions since I sold my 360 with the Oblivion save on it, but the expansions seemed to get good reviews.

Levels 15-35 were the most fun to me. After this I ended up changing my play style to keep leveling up. At level 35 I had 100 in Heavy Armor and One Handed. I was around 90 with Block and 85 with Smithing. Then I started using Archery, Stealth, and Light Armor more, which also added challenge. Ancient Dragons are still able to kill me pretty quickly.


And after all my exploring I would say that the Falmer might be the largest interior threat to Skyrim if they work together. (Could see a Frostflow Lighthouse repeating in Markarth, Dawnstar, and Windhelm with all the Dwarven Ruins around them.)

[Jessica Colville]

Your Title is half right.They are statistics...profound not so much.

[Luis Longoria]

Maybe they didn't do the main quest because they view dragons as they viewed Oblivion gates. A pain in the ass.

[Gen Daley]

I disagree with this theory. This is a huge game, with many, many distractions throughout. While it's true that some may have purchased it and quit shortly thereafter, realizing it wasn't to their liking, I think it's far more likely that people played their fill, enjoyed it and moved on to the next shiny thing. Personally I've put in over 150 hrs, haven't completed the main quest, yet enjoyed every minute of it.

The best stat for figuring out the success of this game is average hours played per player. Are there stats for this?

I saw somewhere in just the last couple days, but forget where, that the average PC gamer has a whopping 75 hours of play racked up.

[koumba]

The thieves quest line is the first that I completed, but I still have never gotten married. So many quests are literally thrown at my face that I can't even begin other miscellaneous quests. I have 6 characters though, so it will take a while. I thought the dark brotherhood was the hardest faction to find.

[NAtIVe GOddess]

except nah, the mq was boss and well written.

Hahaha, yeah right. Skyrim's writing is some of the worst I've seen in a game in a long time. I mean [censored], I found Oblivion to be more engaging.

[Haley Merkley]

I don't know if the figures are exactly correct. I've seen in the past, similiar figures in a different game and there was only 2% of people that did one of the very first things in the game (something that was incredibly easy, just to give them an achievement) but a much larger percentage of people did something that was a lot more difficult to achieve. It didn't make any sense. So I don't know exactly how accurate these numbers are.

[BEl J]

Hahaha, yeah right. Skyrim's writing is some of the worst I've seen in a game in a long time. I mean [censored], I found Oblivion to be more engaging.

What did you not like about it?

[D IV]

What did you not like about it?

Mostly the lack of choice. Nothing you do has any effect. The game railroads you into being a murdering psychopath pretty much. Looting and plundering ancient ruins, killing people who disagree with you, etc. There are no alternatives. Nobody has any real motivations beyond 'just because'. This is all evident with the number of NPC's that are unable to be killed. Bethesda doesn't know how to write a story that takes into account the player. Just look at New Vegas. Everybody can be killed without breaking any quests. There are alternative options and choices to make. Just as a whole the writing is weak. The Dark Brotherhood for example just has you killing random hobos and old people and then all of a sudden you're tasked with killing a very important NPC whose death should have a massive effect on the game and the politics and yet it doesn't. Nobody makes mention of it. The player could be removed from the game and nothing would change.

[Nathan Barker]

Mostly the lack of choice. Nothing you do has any effect. The game railroads you into being a murdering psychopath pretty much. Looting and plundering ancient ruins, killing people who disagree with you, etc. There are no alternatives. Nobody has any real motivations beyond 'just because'. This is all evident with the number of NPC's that are unable to be killed. Bethesda doesn't know how to write a story that takes into account the player. Just look at New Vegas. Everybody can be killed without breaking any quests. There are alternative options and choices to make. Just as a whole the writing is weak. The Dark Brotherhood for example just has you killing random hobos and old people and then all of a sudden you're tasked with killing a very important NPC whose death should have a massive effect on the game and the politics and yet it doesn't. Nobody makes mention of it. The player could be removed from the game and nothing would change.

I think you are being a little dismissive of the DB storyline to bolster your opinion.You have put some thought into your point but the DB one seems a little disingenuous

[mishionary]

I think you are being a little dismissive of the DB storyline to bolster your opinion.You have put some thought into your point but the DB one seems a little disingenuous

Doesn't change the fact that the game has weak writing

[Claire Vaux]

This is my first TES experience, & I am enjoying it a very great deal.

I am nearly 200 hours in & only completed the Main Quest today, because I've been busy experiencing other aspects of life in Skyrim.

I will not be doing either the Thieves Guild, or the DB quests, because they would be out of character for my PC.

To each his / her own ... ... ...

[Jordan Moreno]

Doesn't change the fact that the game has weak writing

Ahh I thought it was a chance for an interesting debate.My mistake

[Cash n Class]

I don't know if the figures are exactly correct. I've seen in the past, similiar figures in a different game and there was only 2% of people that did one of the very first things in the game (something that was incredibly easy, just to give them an achievement) but a much larger percentage of people did something that was a lot more difficult to achieve. It didn't make any sense. So I don't know exactly how accurate these numbers are.

Things like this are why I tend to take reported stats with a large grain of salt, as some of the early achievements in recent games are essentially impossible to not get under normal circumstances. That said, in the case of the PC use of the command console often disables achievements, which can radically skew the statistics.

I don't really fit the OP's statistical mold either; I tend to restart a lot, and I use the command console fairly often to 'tcl' my way out of yet another hole in a cliff-side (seriously, whoever was in charge of cliff design did not check for seams) or to see why something that's clearly meant to be reached seems to be inaccessible (it's usually a well-hidden false wall). As both of these tend to short-circuit the gaining of achievements, I'm often not among the counted for quite a while; I do eventually get them all, though.

[Jonny]

I've got it all. But my first PC was not about rping, but more about trying to be a completionist. 50 of 50 achievements. So bring on the dlcs and expansions.

[Rude_Bitch_420]

Ahh I thought it was a chance for an interesting debate.My mistake

You didn't present any points though??

[Josh Dagreat]

I don't really fit the OP's statistical mold either; I tend to restart a lot, and I use the command console fairly often to 'tcl' my way out of yet another hole in a cliff-side (seriously, whoever was in charge of cliff design did not check for seams) or to see why something that's clearly meant to be reached seems to be inaccessible (it's usually a well-hidden false wall). As both of these tend to short-circuit the gaining of achievements, I'm often not among the counted for quite a while; I do eventually get them all, though.

The part that kept getting me was at Autumnwatch Tower when the dragon would push me off the little bridge.

[X(S.a.R.a.H)X]

There is no way to ever know the extent of why, these are just theories.

They aren't even theories. Theories can be disproven. The are simply your personal myths.

I'd say the likely reason is that, for somebody in the demographic that owns a PC capable of running Skyrim and has the expendable income to purchase it, completing the main quest takes a pretty low priority compared to other requirements and interests in their real life. I'm surprised those numbers are as HIGH as they are.

Consider my wife. She loves the [censored] out of this game. And yesterday she asked whether I'd finished it, given my 250 hours of play. I said no, and she was happy because (her words) "I want to be able to keep playing this game for the next five years without getting board, so I don't have to buy another game until I buy a new computer." (Her computer was brand new for x-mass).

People like me and my wife don't buy a game because we want to finish it; we buy it because, like a good piece of music, we want to have it around as entertainment to play when we happen to have (or in my case make) the time.


Here's a stat you didn't mention. Average play time for PC users as given by Todd at DICE- 78 hours. I (like just about any forum user) am probably a couple of standard deviations on the high side of that, but that's still a whacking huge number. It means the average PC user spent about an hour EVERY DAY playing the game at that point, since the day of its release. And of course, not all of them bought it at release, meaning they had to pack in more minute per day of play to keep that figure up.
For a demographic like mine, that's an AMAZING level of game usage.

[amhain]

About 100 hours in, lvl 42 imperial, 2h/light plus "some of everything" except magic. I have not started MQ or CW, early in guild quests, mostly side Q's. Own 3 houses and married. Highest skill is 80

But have found almost every map marker and never pass by a dungeon w/o clearing it. I end up solving a lot of quests before starting them

I will do the MQ and CW by the end, then maybe start a new guy to do guild quests + dlc and rp more