The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Dawnwing]

I am such a big fan of Skyrim you don't even know.  I'm one of the few who can say they "completed" the game.  All faction questlines, all sidequests, all DLC, brought my character to lv 81, brought all skills to lv 100.  Took me 428 hours.  Hey, I didn't have a full-time job last summer.
I'm also working on Oblivion and Morrowind now.

My first character was an Altmer (High Elf) named Alarra.  I have a second character now, a Nord named Ganvar.  Here they are (spoiler tagged so this post isn't *too* long):

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Enjoy, Redwaller!  I remember when I first started playing a year ago.  Didn't know much about it, just heard it was good and it was 50% off when I was at the store buying a laptop that could actually run it.  I knew from the start of the game when the intro music started playing and the logo faded onto the screen that I was in for something special; it just sounded like an adventure.  I hope you feel the same way about it.

Here's a site that is very useful if you ever get stuck on a quest.  http://uesp.net/wiki/Main_Page   
I've become a moderator on its forums recently.   If you can't think of a name for your character, just search things like "Altmer names" on the side of the wiki; they have pages listing every name from each race so you can see what would sound like a name your character would realistically have. 

  I HEARD about Skyrim, looked into it and got really excited about it, even to the point of seriously considering to buy it, but then I found out that it was rated M.  I generally tend to stay with T, not because I can't handle M (I seriously could), but because I don't ENJOY handling it.  So I would love to play the game, but I'm still rather wary of that fact.  Though, I didn't really hear why it was rated M.  Would anyone care to explain that?

Like WoodlandWarrior said, violence, mostly.  Some infrequent swearing.  And since this particular game's local culture is inspired by Vikings, the only beverages available are ale and mead and such.  All in all, the game isn't too bad; it's more of a high "teen" rating.  Part of the reason it's M is just because they have a Steam Workshop where people can make mods and you can download them, and they don't want to police everything there.  They re-rated the last game in the series, Oblivion, from T to M because someone made a mod with adult content, which I think is kind of a silly reason to re-rate it considering that it's not actually part of the game (you'd have to actively seek it out and download it.)

I'd never played an M-rated game before, have never seen the draw to violence or anything either, but I still really enjoy it.   Some parts are dark, yes, but there's also plenty of wonderful moments.  Your character can play tag with kids, save lives, make friends, have a pet dog.  In the Hearthfire expansion you can even adopt orphans.  You can do basically anything you want; the world is wide open and you can take things at whatever pace you want, pick and choose which groups you want to join, if any (Mages' College, Thieves' Guild, etc).  There's so many moments when the scenery will just take your breath away.  The music is incredible, and the world itself is very detailed and has a lot of lore behind it, enough to rival Tolkien.  I highly recommend it.

Some of my favorite screenshots I've personally taken:

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[Redwaller]

Wow! Awesome screenshots!

And thanks for the link and all the helpful info! 

I actually won't be paying for it, since my uncle is bringing it this week-end!

And I saw a few videos of the game, and now I want to make the cat one(dunno the name in English), so I know a few things, like that there's a dragon at the beginning that you have to run away from.

And I want to be part of the Stormcloaks, anything I should do in particular to be part of them? 'Cos if you follow the guy with blond hair at the beginning, you're more inclined to be with the Imperials.

What platform? (pc,xbox ect)

PC.

[Dawnwing]

Actually, the blond guy (Ralof) is a Stormcloak, so if you go with him, his family will give you the Stormcloak viewpoint.  The brown-haired guy, Hadvar, is an Imperial soldier (the one reading the list who tries to stand up for you when you're not on it) so he'll give the Imperial viewpoint. 

Either way, to actually *join* the Imperials or Stormcloaks, you have to go to their headquarters.  Theoretically, you could go with Hadvar and then join the Stormcloaks, for example.  But if you join the side of the guy you escaped with, you'll see him later in the Civil War questline.

[Redwaller]

Oh yeah! Hadvar, now I remember!

Thanks for the info! 

[WoodlandWarrior]

Hey Dawnwing, have you ever played Morrowind before or is this your first crack at it?  It was my all time favorite Elder Scrolls game until Skyrim came out.  Just something about Morrowind that sucked me in.

I must have invested close to 500 hours or more on that one.  I loved Arena and Daggerfall, used to have those on my old PC.  Oblivion, I really enjoyed and completed 100%, Morrowind I still have more to do!  It is a "smaller" game but the wealth of things to do outshines Oblivion.

Are you going to try the MMO?  Me personally, I'm not looking forward to it.  I love how the Elder Scrolls has been one of the last dedicated one player games.

As for Skyrim, I love Dawnguard....absolutely awesome DLC and the house construction DLC was modestly priced and really well done.

[Dawnwing]

Nope, this is my first time at it, and I've only just started, about 5 hours into it so far.  (Oblivion I'm around 50 hours.)  It's interesting how each game is so different. Morrowind especially.  Skyrim and Oblivion seem to be more typical medieval fantasy, but Morrowind has such a different setting and culture, and is a good reminder of just how complex and detailed the world of Tamriel is.  It's also interesting getting used to slightly different game mechanics.  All three are excellent though.  I also want to try Arena and Daggerfall, but it'll be a while till I get around to those.

I'm actually really looking forward to the MMO.  I wasn't certain at first since the Elder Scrolls series is so focused on single-player, but I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.  The people who have played demos have said that it feels like an Elder Scrolls game, just that you can play with your friends.  I'm in some Elder Scrolls RPs on other sites, so I'm not completely opposed to the idea of an MMO and being with other people for this one game.  I especially can't wait to see some parts of Tamriel such as Summerset Isle and Valenwood.

Dragonborn is my favorite DLC, it just added so much: a large area new to me to explore, all kinds of different creatures and items and armor, some very interesting quests and characters, and the music.  I love Morrowind's soundtrack (listened to it long before playing) so I was thrilled to hear it in Dragonborn, plus there's some new tracks (the one called "Solstheim 11" in the BSA is probably my favorite; "Solstheim 09" is good too). Dawnguard was pretty decent as well, but I wasn't as interested in the storyline. The Forgotten Vale was really cool, though.  And Hearthfire's pretty good.  I like my custom-built house better than the ones in the cities.

[Redwaller]

I'll probably be playing today!

[WoodlandWarrior]

I'll probably be playing today!

Woohoo!

The Morrowind soundtrack is awesome.  It is burned in my brain I've heard it so much.   I'll try the MMO but I'm a tad skeptical about it.  The Dragoborn DLC was cool to see old areas revamped.

[Redwaller]

I played yesterday evening! IT-WAS-AWESOME!!!!!!!!! It's THE best game ever!

There's so much to do and explore, it is so great!

I'm almost lvl 3(it's really long to level up) and am at Riverwood.

I made a Kahjit, and am going for assassin, stealing and sneaking is so awesome(in the game)!

[WoodlandWarrior]

I played yesterday evening! IT-WAS-AWESOME!!!!!!!!! It's THE best game ever!

There's so much to do and explore, it is so great!

I'm almost lvl 3(it's really long to level up) and am at Riverwhite(or whatever it is I don't remember, but it's the first village after Helgen)

I made a Kahjit, and am going for assassin, stealing and sneaking is so awesome(in the game)!

Hehehe!  "What can Khajiit do for you!" 

They are certainly the way to go for a thief.  I love playing as a khajiit. The stealth and stealing has been improved greatly in Skyrim.  It is tons of fun.  You'll start to get the feel of leveling and then it will seem like second nature.  Whiterun is the village you are currently in, it is one of my favorites.

[Matthias720]

Actually, it's Riverwood, THEN Whiterun. >_>

[WoodlandWarrior]

Actually, it's Riverwood, THEN Whiterun. >_>

DOH!  That's right!  Threw me off with the riverwhite...thought he made it to Whiterun.   I tend to forget about poor Riverwood, since I spend the majority of my time in Whiterun and Riften.

[Redwaller]

Update:


I am now level 8, and getting pretty powerful with bows and sneak.

I just finished attacking one of the forts around Whiterun, and need to go see the Jarl yet.

[Dawnwing]

Lol, wait till you meet your first random, not-part-of-the-story dragon.  They're pretty tough at first!  I remember the first two random ones that attacked me.  One was just as I exited Bleak Falls Barrow - I was on the side of the cliff - and the other was on my way to High Hrothgar, just past that tower where the bandit tries to make you pay a toll.

[Redwaller]

I'm eager to see the dragons! I did Bleak Falls Barrow(actually twice because I didn't finish the quest entirely), but no dragon attacked me. I want to kill one so I can use my first shout!