I tend to rush through the MQ on the first play. This game makes the MQ more important to do on a playthrough, if you want the Shouts. After that, I putter and do what comes up in the game as I wander around.

I do that too. I make it a point to sleep daily. I also try to stop to eat at least breakfast. I can't wait for the CK to drop so that we can get mods that force you to sleep and eat like there were for NV.

I get the feeling people do allot of nothing. I mean there isn't all that much under Skyrims skin to fiddle with. So if you're not doing quests, you're basically running aimlessly.

Yeah i typically spend my first playthrough cautiously proceeding along the MQ line and exploring/roleplaying. I try to save certain playstyles, skills, game mechanics, dungeons, loot, quests and guild storylines for specific characters that have a more defined role. My first nord hero is pretty much the Dragonborn archetype, who is also following a finite path because I know his options will not open up down the road because he is on the 360 and has no mods. But, my PC characters are much more likely to find new mods that will expand their roles, therefore I focus a lot more on the little things with them.

Doing a lot of nothing is basically Bethesda games. You have to appreciate not always being forced to do something and satisfied with creating your own adventure. Mods can help this feeling, but really at the core of all Bethesda games is that concept that imagination and creating your own style of playing the game is the key to enjoying the game...If I want to be told what to do or have some mini-game/side action/QTE etc pushed down my throat I'll play a different game. Something can be said for spending an hour of real time decorating a house, or sneaking around a Giant camp, or maybe crafting and enjoying the music and scenery////

I have had the game since it was released and just finished the MQ last night. I was having fun just exploring the whole map but I eventually just had too many quests to do for soo many people that I decided to finish up the last 3 MQ. I now feel relieved that I can now not worry about that and can finally finish the Campanion, Civil War and all the other major quests while still exploring. I might even try to start using light armor and double daggers instead of my heavy armor and my Glass Sword of Fire before I start a new playthrough.

I would be totally cool with the next TES game to have the main quest cater to the gamers who blow through a game in 10-20 hours then move on to the "next thing" and everything else in the game caters to the gamers who intent to sink hundreds of hours over several years into it. For example- Guilds having level requirements to advance in rank. So the TES enthusiast has something to invest time in and feel more rewarded. Also encourages more character builds instead of 1 character being able to become leader of all the guilds.

Yup, as it stands there is absolutely ZERO reason to have more then one character, aside from wanting to. (Nothing wrong with wanting to)

The problem in Skyrim however IS going slow and pacing yourself. The game balance goes kaput and progression effectively stops if you explore side quests and take your time. If you rush through the game and MQ, it is fairly balanced and enjoyable. IMO, this is backwards how it should work but never-the-less is obviously aimed at the ADD ridden console gamer generation.

I agreed with your post right up until the steam pile of fetid leper excrement you left on the end of it.

Great thread!

At first I was blowing thru this game because i was so overwhelmed by it... in a fantastic way of course. But now... Im taking it slow. The game is so much more enjoyable. I'm about 90 hours in at level 30 and a little less than half way thru the main quest. I am enjoying sitting in my house by the fire and reading... stopping at a local pub for a bite and a pint of mead, etc. I also use the Hideout mod which joins all of your houses so i also began collecting weapons and armor to display them down there. Love this game. Haven't played Eve Online in almost a month!

I did not mean ALL console gamers are this way. That truly is what the game is geared and balanced towards, people that want to rush through the game and do not have the patience for RPGs.

This - All of it.

Unfortunately, those are not draws to what Skyrim or TES has to offer but merely just playing from that perspective. The game actually on the contrary is not designed to foster this. I can make up and play almost any game by my own rulesets and create a different experience. Skyrim really does not have much customization at all. Its only claim to fame is how large of an environment you have.

Where is your negativty coming from?

I take my time. I have over 1,000 hours in Oblivion and am only now getting around to the main quest. I finished Thieves guild and Mages guild and all the misc quests, but still have not finished Fighters Guild, DB, Knights of the Nine or Shivering Isles.

Skyrim is the same. I have over 300 hours into it and have finished Companions and Mages guild main quests, but not all the side quests for those guilds. Have just started the Thieves Guild and Civil War quest lines. Have not even discovered the DB. Have always stopped before Diplomatic Immunity at the main quest.

In Oblivion I used to take my time and pick flowers, now I can take my time and catch butterflies.

Not negativity, clearing up misconceptions. Really and truly, their best decision was to put out CKs and the community releasing mods. Without that, TES would have been doomed and overshadowed by titles with inferior concepts, but that are much better games. TES is a great concept, it is just not developed properly. Instead of developing it properly, they just released Skyrim which is basically the same thing with a prettier facade. Yes, they have made some nice streamline improvements, but the game itself has not improved, which is sad.

I have the bad habit to eplore every corner of a dungeon, even if i can see from a distance that there is nothing there, i will still run up to that corner and look around, just to make sure i havent missed anything.

This!

Took me about 5 years to START the main quest in Morrowind. Is that slow enough for you?

I didn't complete the main quest until around 450 - 500 hours...and I have an awful lot of quests still lined up and I'm still finding new things.

I posted a thread detailing exactly what I set out for my characters incl map restriction and so on (within reason):

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1327492-playing-style-to-cover-all-aspects-without-jack-of-all-trades-discuss-qs/

I play each character per week (7days) on a rotor basis, so I go from Nord to Thief to Mage per week. This spreads things nicely and I made a more logical aproach to each character that best fits the game and guilds.

I fast travel only when returning from a place I walked/use horse to travel to (when its taken me quite alot of real time to get to the location), and to do things such as shop and so on, but thats rare and I use a horse more often than not or walk.

I dont go on a hit list of "to do's" I take my time and do things such as earn money, get my house up together, get friendly with my mainstay city or town and then start the guilds, In between I will travel and explore mainly to open up locations on map but also to advance for skills that I realy need for my characters.

I cant actualy say in hours (I play offline) but I have been playing roughly 3 hours a night since early december and I still havent completed all guilds for characters and main story line at all, nice and steady, after all, the game wont end without me playing it ... why rush?

I don't want to know. Really. I don't want to know. I know XBox live will send me an e-mail with my monthly gaming tally and this will be on the top of the list, but seriously, I don't want to know.

I am very upset, I got a virus on my PC and it crashed the OS and killed my Skyrim save. And stupid me never backs up PC files. But not any more, I signed up for carbnite and they back up my entire PC for one year for $59. Not a bad deal if you ask me.

But the answer to your question is I like to take my time and do every single quest in the game.

Greg

Seinfeld made about a billion dollars off of a sitcom that was about nothing. Doing nothing of consequence is a perfectly fine way to spend time in Skyrim. The game is about exploration, lore and the story, not about quests and character levels. The story can be one the game provides you, or better, the one you make up.