I'll take a guess - you probably haven't done many/all the dungeons? Only those that were quest related.

I just went over 260 hours - split between 3 different characters whom I rotate every day (assassin, pure mage, warrior). Two have finished the mage college quest line, and that's it.

Its great to see new people being introduced to the world of The Elder Scrolls. We all had a similar first experience to you. The music, the skylines and the the silt striders did it for me in Morrowind.

If you ever get bored with Skyrim, the older games are well worth a play as well. Also check out the modding community for all of these games which takes them from just being brilliant games to a class by themselves.


Oh, and ignore the haters and whiners, they do this every time a new version comes out

I've done all of the main/guild/civil war quests mixed between several different characters, mostly trying to define how/who I really wanted to play even though every one of them ended up as more of a sneaky thief/archer. With my most recent toon, a female Altmer Thalmor spy, I decided to try a new approach in order to maximize my playtime. As others have stated numerous times, I'm doing my best to not use fast travel, which leaves me walking/riding or taking carriages, and that adds its own share of time to the game. Walking from point to point enables a lot of random discovery, which is something I've always been easily sidetracked by.

The other thing I'm doing, though, which I haven't seen mentioned (not that it hasn't been, I don't keep track of every thread) is keeping my quest journal as uncluttered as possible. This includes named quests along with the miscellaneous ones. My theory is that when you only have a tiny handful of possible quests, you're less likely to be able to complete a bunch of them in the same region at the same time. So far, it seems to be working pretty well.

On topic, though, I completely agree with the OP. This game is beyond easy to get hooked into, and that's what I like. L.A. Noire did the same thing for me. And, like others have mentioned, it's threads like this that I love seeing. People pointing out the positives and stating what they really love about the game makes me happy. I'm not saying there shouldn't be complaint threads, because that's the only way people are going to be aware of potential issues, but it's all of the rage threads that kill me. I can understand being extremely upset at game-breaking bugs, but voicing your anger/opinions about it in a rational way is always better than blindly spewing hate and blame at everyone.

Cool post, OP. Welcome.

You're not the only one loving FPSs and playing RPGs. Me too. Ghehe. Although I gave up on CoD after MW1.

Good to see you're having fun with Skyrim.

I'll bet my life that you are, in fact, wrong.

Just ignore them. They are the ones to who TES is a lifestyle choice and not a game. They have been imagining for 5 years what it would be like, so there was never any chance the game would be anything but a dismal disappointment to them.

As for me, I was expecting a blend of Oblivion and fallout 3, but instead got a blend of Morrowind and fallout 3 about 5 times bigger than I was expecting.

Despite the haters and whiners, this game will still be selling when the last Modern Warfare 3 server goes offline.

Same here, my first venture was into Fallout 3 and I remember thinking the same things as the OP, absolutely amazed.
Until Fallout 3 I was not even aware that such huge and open world games existed, that of course led me to Oblivion, again I was amazed at the world.

Haha, I couldn't agree more.

...I still need to pick up a copy of Morrowind.

I'll be the one this time to point it out again ... the RPG element of the game has declined since previous installments (and this is a good quote to illustrate that). You should try previous Elder Scrolls games (Morrowind & Oblivion) if you're into RPGs because Skyrim's skills, spells, and basic character attributes have been watered down compared to those two prior games.

I agree with most everyone here that it's a great game and enjoy it myself thoroughly. However (as does the person I just quoted), I don't want this important point to be lost when the OP states the game as an RPG.

The only possible way you could do this is going through a game guide and hitting it spot by spot, besically following the recipe of someone else's playthrough. I never could understand WHY someone would want to playa game this way. Why not just watch a movie instead? Games are not about passive interaction. It's no wonder you can't figure out how someone else can spend 100 hours (or more) and STILL not finish "everything".

Feel the Skyrim love!

I've only recently started playing Skyrim, though I had over 400 hours on my Oblivion character and plan to do the same. Hopefully the game won't keep freezing after playing for so long, which forced me to abandon Oblivion.

I love rpgs where the game isn't centered so much around my character and that the world goes on when they're not around. People go on about their daily lives with npcs not just standing around in place 24/7, and so many random things can happen when just traveling.

Also, the water is pretty. I always have to stop and watch when I pass by waterfalls and etc.

Wow, svcks to be you.

Aw...wook at the widdle noob. He twyin' so hard to be a twoll!

Seriously though, OP. I agree wholeheartedly. This game is amazing. I got it because I fell in love with Fallout: New Vegas and people on those forums were seriously hyping it so I had to get a copy and I haven't put anything else in my 360 since.

Attributes and...wait...that's it. And added more. I fail to see your point.

60 hours is still 6 times more then what you get out of a lot of other titles out there these days. You've still gotten your bang for your buck.

I am 126 hours of playtime and so far have completed only the Companions quest line and less than half the main story. I havent started the Thiefs guild or Dark Brother hood and only a few quests in the mage college. I looked on my map lastn ight and noticed there is an entire half that I have not even explored yet. I I have been in certain areas 3 or more times and discovered something I missed the 3 previous times. Matter of fact last night I was exploring and my companion said " Wow I have never seen anything liike that before" as we were passing by some place and it lead me to a very cool dungeon...

I played both Morrowind and Oblivion and Skyrim has hooked me more. Here is hoping that the DLC's add more depth and 100s of hoursm ore gameplay. I feel its only the start to this game.

Needs more skaarj before I deem it worthy of being unreal.

Don't just stop and look at it... jump in! It's fun to ride the falls!

What I love about every TES game are the details, like empty wine bottles, seemingly just tossed aside by some sloppy thieves; sweets arranged on a platter; a tent near the cold sea with flowers strewn around the floor, a bottle of wine, 2 goblets and an amulet of Mara... seems someone just celebrated their wedding night...

Best part is, you can pretty much pick up what you see, go were you want, there are no limits and no invisible walls. Tamriel is a living world full of history, lore, myth and just waiting to be explored!

its "hear hear"

And this is what sums up this post for me . Details = immersion. The details could be in my head, but when it's on screen
it certainly helps my brain "tell me" I am there, and inside my character on the screen.

That was my mindset since day one... until the other day, I rode a fall straight to my death