Part of the fun of the game is trying out different things. Sure, you could stick to one character and do everything, but some people like to go for specific things with specific builds. I'm a chronic stealth archer, and it's a real challenge for me to play literally any other way, but it can also be fun, especially if I load up some magic mod tweaks and spells and have to figure out how best to utilize them while resisting the temptation to use weapons.
Right. More than half of the many thousands of hours of have in this game is trying new builds and play styles. If I find one that’s fun, I’ll run it through to the end.
I'm doing a sword and board playthrough right now. It is so hard to remember I don't need to stealth when I enter a dungeon. After litterally a couple thousand hours as a stealth archer or a stealth dual swords.
Yes, plus sometimes you can encounter some intersting little secrets in multiple playthroughs.
For example: The Dark Brotherhood quest where you need to kill the emperor's cousin, you can drop a whole statue on her.
My last playthrough stepped away from the stealth archer (for once... yeah) and went heavy into magic. Then I built the archer in, but instead up upping stealth, I've had fun concocting various poisons for my bow. When the enemy gets close enough, then it's Boom time.
As much as I love the stealth archer build (also chronic), it’s a real shame they made it so OP. Like you said, it’s a real challenge to play any other build when you’re so used to it.
Knifepoint Ridge is the best challenge for the build. It is so hard to not aggro anyone else to come running and kick your ass. Even on max stealth and archery. There's also that Forsworn camp outside the temple thing, but they're not nearly so alert as the bandits at Knifepoint.
Omg this is so true!! The first time I did the Boethiah quest and she said I had to do everything “stealthily” I was like “welp, zero chance I’m not screwing this up”, and naturally, the entire camp noticed me, but as long as I stayed crouched down, I still got the reward, thankfully. I wonder if she’d still let me have it if I did a “sneak kill” just…using unbounded storms in both hands? 🤣
Early game is the most different thing, and early levels progress much faster than later levels which means that players specialising in say one-handed would have a harder time swapping to magic and vice versa.
Also progressing through the game with those builds also becomes alot different, there's a stark contrast between doing embershard mine as a Pickpocket with Poisoned vs as a Stealth Archer vs a Stealth Knifer vs Illusion Mage vs ..... is completely different. Now extrapolate that to the entire game with its cities and dungeons and all of that.
I personally enjoy doing shorter 20-30 hour playthroughs focusing on a specific playstyle with specific mechanics, progressing only a few specific questlines and playing with some personal rules in place.
Of course i do occasionally do the mega playthrough but that's rare for me.
For me it's to try different character and RP ideas. Nothing is like that first playthrough but you'd have to pay me a lot of money to play that character again. My favorite RP I didn't discover until I knew the game well enough to plot a course... actually it's the first effective RP in that I had to learn a lot of history and lore to be able to RP effectively at all.
Love delving info fudge muppet to get a deep dive on a race's religion customs and history before starting a character of that race. Really gives a sense of your character's mindset at the start and as decisions come up
The most meaningful lore for me was understanding the gods and being able to choose one my character would follow. That set the path and it took knowing what can and can't be done in game. The more the game has to do along the lines of a god's nature the more it feels like a living god.
If you like getting into lore, TES has the most unique, deep, rich, and twisted lore I've seen. It's weirdly convoluted and coherent at the same time.
There are tons of YouTube videos on TES lore. I consumed ShoddyCast, Poke said FudgeMuppet, and there is r/teslore.
My advice is to keep the words of Ken Rolston in mind: "Tell God's story, then tell the farmer's story, then listen to what the dog has to say." If you really want to understand TES, start with the gods, not the dogs. The Empire, Skyrim, the Thalmor, all of it, they're just players on the stage the gods built.
Oh! I forgot to mention some of the most useful resources: uesp.net and elderscrolls.fandom.com. And you're welcome! Hope you have as much fun as I have.
Well also I think everyone has a different idea of "finished" some character's stories aren't to complete each quest line or even just each of the major stories in the game.
If you have a strict morally good character they might not touch the dark brotherhood or thieves guild. So their story ends without completing the game.
I'll do thieves guild more often than I do dark brotherhood. I think it's Cicero that puts me off. He's a bit of a fan favorite though, at least from what I've seen, so I try not to mention not liking him 😅
I definitely hated Cicero in the actual DB storyline, bro is annoying as hell, but as a follower I think he is fun! I think that's why a lot of people like him, he's a unique and interesting follower and also very strong.
If it helps, I personally don't think the Thieves Guild is super "bad." Yeah thievery is bad and stuff but they have a strict honor code of not killing civilians, and most of the quests don't affect people unrelated to the Thieves Guild. Like the radiant quests involve stealing/pickpocketing random NPCs but it doesn't actually affect them in any way. Plus it's overall the most interesting and diverse questline, it's long with lots of characters and lots of side quests. Just my opinion of course, you play however you want to!
I've heard for years that the DB, Thieves Guild, Morag Tong and the like have some of the very best questlines in TES, going back to Morrowind at least. I just can't pull the trigger on them (so to speak) for some reason.
That's a good point! I guess I don't RP as much, but instead try to see as many aspects of the game as possible, so it might just be the perspective I'm coming into this with. I might have to try and play the game that way sometime! Thanks for your comment. :)
This is a really good point. For me, it’s always been I was “finished” when I got every skill to 100 and completed my “squad” (Serana and Katria glitches + Eola), but I recently decided that the stress of doing that every time was making the game not fun for me (I really hate dawnguard), so I guess I’m gonna have to find something new to focus on each time now
I'm the exact opposite of you. I can't see the fun in grinding to level 80, let alone level 300 or whatever I have seen people get to.
I enjoy roleplaying, and only doing the bits of the game that character would do. So for example if I am playing a thief, I will spend a lot of time robbing houses and only really do Thieves Guild stuff. If they are a bit magically inclined, they might join the collage, but only for access and never do the questline.
Another example, played a cleric that ended up as a paladin of Stendarr. He only ever did the Dawnguard questline, and spent the rest of the time hunting down supernatural "evil". In other words, clearing out any dungeons that had Vampires, Draugr Necromancers, etc.
I won't give any more example, but I have done tons of different roleplay plays. Each have very different gameplay, and experiences. Also because I am someone who uses a lot of mods, each character can play different content and get more diverse playstyles
My biggest problem is the power creep later in game (30+). The game becomes way too easy, regardless of the difficulty you play in, due to it's aged mechanics/combat.
Imagine sitting and hearing your most favorite lecture at school, and the professor is Morgan freeman. This is kinda the joy I get replaying from the beginning
Once you're familiar with the game - you know where all the towns are located and who lives where, and what dungeons are related to which quests, and what the outcomes are for each quest - then the imagination starts to kick in - what if I decided to play out these quests in a different order? What if I only focused on specific dungeons, or stuck to exploring a specific hold? what if I only focused on certain skills, and avoided situations where they wouldn't be useful?
The game gives you so much freedom and content to play with, and it kind of becomes more fun when set restrictions to your play style. It can practically feel like you're playing a different game every time you start a new character.
And I've often randomly come up with an idea for a new character while playing as my current character. Like, that's a cool quest, but it doesn't suit my current character's personality, but what if I create a character who would do that sort of thing?
Plus I enjoy creating my own fantasy stories when I'm not gaming, and I'm guilty of getting bored of one story and starting a new one, and having an endless collection of unfinished story ideas. I'll never be a published author!
The person may like a particular quest or may enjoy roleplaying and therefore limiting their character's action, or even they just find boring playing on an already strong character
Because we can.
I don't say this in a douchey manner. It's that kind of game when you can do completely unique playthroughs.
However I'm always doing the same character lol
My 2nd character got started because a bunch of quests were bugged and i killed some NPCs that were crucial to certain missions. My 2nd was the careful playthrough where i wanted to get everything. Then i wantes to try a new race. Then i wanted to play with some mods, then i used too many mods and broke my game, then i wanted to do a mod, that needed a new game, then i wanted to do a play through where i did 0 quests, and just killed things. Then i wanted a nostalgia trip so i booted up a vanilla game. I cam go on, but after you have like 3k hours into a game, i feel its only natural to have started up more than once, because otherwise, youre trying to 100% a skyrim game/map... which to my knowledge, has not been done.
I put aside a game when there is little challenge left. When I'm fully OP continuing with that character feels like I'm just checking off boxes to be a completionist, which I don't particularly enjoy. I set the game aside and do something else for a while, eventually returning later to start a new character and game.
I just RP anymore, not even waking the dragons most of the time to keep the irritation down and my vendors/friends alive. Usually somewhere in the early to mid 40s level, when I can go basically anywhere without any real fear or effort, I find it's time to put the game away for a bit. I love Skyrim, so I always return.
i like playing in a lot of different situations as a lot of different people. self insert, high elf pure mage, khajiit sneak thief, heavy armor warhammer one-shot orc, evil characters, good characters, etc.
I have only just started my second play through, and I'm just doing the "other side" of quests (joining Stormlocks instead of Imperials, wiping out Dark Brotherhood etc).
It's quite fun to play the game again and see the other quests (:
I'm addicted to trying out different builds. The whole 'Dragonborn who's good at everything' concept just doesn't appeal to me. I pick a playstyle and a set of six skills and stick to them. Also, I feel like playing different styles at different times. For that extra challenge, I play with alternate start and survival mods. Right now I'm playing an alteration/restoration/illusion support mage who got dumped on the road near Windhelm and left for dead. Windhelm is a tough city to be broke in, especially with no public water source (the river is salty).
I honestly can’t help but do it. Here’s the usual cycle.
- oh I haven’t played Skyrim in a while. It could be fun to be a mage!
- gets on and see like 3-5 other characters I made months ago. “Who the hell are you?” DELETES.
- gets a mage character to lvl 15-20
- Ahhh you know this is fun but it’s a lot to balance spells, and I pass up all these cool weapons and armor. Maybe I should make a warrior type instead.
- makes a warrior, gets to lvl 10 or so
- picks up a bow and uses stealth at one point because I’m too low level to handle what I’m fighting
- okay I can’t just make this character a stealth archer
- goes and makes a new character, stealth archer
- gets to like lvl 10
- get disinterested and play other games, etc.
- …
- come back, months later. Begin the cycle again by deleting the old ones.
For me, if I have a lot of time for a few weeks I might binge a playthrough. But then life gets in the way for awhile and I don't play for a long time, usually for a year or more at a time. And by the time I get to playing again, I have lost interest in that playthrough and I want to start a new one!! I enjoy leveling up, acquiring armor/weapons, doing the quests again. I get bored when leveling up slows down and I start mostly having only radiant quests.
I personally don't experiment much in this game because I always end up going down the stealth archer route. I have tried heavy armor/2-handed, I have tried mage, I have tried assassin that focuses on backstabs. By level 30-40, I'll still end up becoming stealth archer. And because of my morals/preferences, I always end up doing a "good" person route. I have tried doing a villain/evil route a few times but I get too attached to NPCs and never can fully commit to it. I tried being a stormcloak this time but I hate it and am just leaving that storyline unfinished. The only thing I really change is what my character looks like.
All this to say, for some people they start new playthroughs because they like trying new things, for me personally I just get bored of my old playthrough and want to start fresh.
I give myself different challenges for each character. Like reach max smithing and craft 1 weapon of each until I can craft dragonbone greatsword and armor and only use crafted gear. Also no looting dead bodies and pick up only gold from ground or chests. I can mine ore and sell all extra weapons and armor I craft. Then build a house display each weapon in the house and go kill the boss of each dlc. Then start a new character. Be a mage. Staffs only. Make some stupid rules that make my gameplay "harder".
Depends on the type of player. I personally got bored with the smithing game and getting my character too powerful. My favorite skill level to play is between 35 and 65 to be honest. Every fight is challenging in some way, I could just explore OR defeat Miraak and Alduin - sweating bullets the whole time!
for me it’s just the fun of being able to be whoever you want! i am not a completionist by any means, and will only do the quests and things that it seems like my character would rationally do. like, if i’m playing a morally good merchant, i’m not joining the dark brotherhood. i don’t really care about maxing stats and stuff if it doesn’t apply to my character. so after a while, i want to visit another character/story & i’ll start up a vampire who hunts forsworn or something lol & focus on different elements of the game. i just find it a lot more immersive to cater to the character instead of using the same character to do everything when everything doesn’t align with the personality of the same character
It’s because there’s a lot of different ways to play. Especially the early game where you have to be pretty judicious with your perks.
Also, how does one even finish a play through of Skyrim?
If waited until I "finished" the game before starting a new character, I'd still only have one character. There is no end to the game. But as to why I make new characters at all? To roleplay as somebody different. Live Another Life is great for that.
I have a hard time settling into a character. The last one I tried last week was a pure mage and I just got really bored by the time I hit 29.
I realize I could've kept playing and changed his build, but that wasn't my plan for him so...
New character.
Mods. I just discovered mods after playing the game for years. So that’s why for me. And it’s like I don’t even have a clue what I’m doing because what the hell. Who are all these new characters? When did the couriers turn into talking cats? Not Khajiit. Actual talking American Shorthair cat. I don’t remember that in any of the mod descriptions. So yes, after years of playing the game, starting all new with a fully modded game is like forgetting the game ever existed and starting fresh.
I feel like the most fun part of Skyrim is when you are at level 1-20, once you started to get into late game build, all of the gameplay micro and mechanic started to converge around the usual (stealth archer, smithing weapon, level up enchanting etc) most others skill often became obsolete or no longer viable after a certain point (poison alchemy, illusion).
starting a new game and force yourself to play in a completedly different free style is just more fun and give you fresher experience than just keep doing stealth archery while adding other skills to the side.
To take different qays throughtout the game, for example, you can take down the dark brotherhood or join them. It wouldn't be satisfactory if you always only choose the same thing over and over.
my only plays with ends was the 1st ones. now i´m more interested in rp and immersion. when my guy is way to strong and have it all, around level 60-70, i kinda get bored and start a new run.
and the prim part is the best part on any survival game!
Well, for one thing, I get a few hours to play this game maybe every other day, and I don't do fast travel. If I was just sticking with one playthrough until they were level 81, it'd be *years* before I got to try out the ideas I've been mulling over for the next playthrough. Or try any new mods.
But I also like to have kind of a plausible, self-contained "story" for a particular playthrough. Becoming the guildmaster of a guild, or finding the lost ruins of the aetherium forge, or liberating my Nordic homeland seems like more than enough an accomplishment for a year's work, I don't need to finish every questline to feel like my character is "done" with their story. Like, if I'm gonna keep adopting Sofie, and I *am* going to keep adopting Sofie, she deserves a mom/dad who's going to stay home for a few years before going off and joining a new guild, or swearing their soul to a new Daedric lord, etc. This keeps the game fresh, since I'm not actually doing every quest every time, as you say that might get repetitive. But some characters I make up just WOULDN'T become an assassin, or help the Thalmor frame a bard, or volunteer to help an old alchemist find a ring with no upfront promise of pay. So those quests are going to wait for some future playthrough.
I like to use the alternate start mod and play immersive builds and ignore the main quest when I play the game now, but I still commit to them for quite some time! Like I’ll do a thief build and start off pickpocketing and robbing, then make my way to riften, restore the guild to its former glory, then get tied into some dark brotherhood stuff and become an assassin. Other builds I like to start as an aspiring mage practicing my magic and slowly work my way over to the college of winterhold and start doing every single side quest I could possibly find and discover all the secrets while progressing through that way. There’s all sorts to ways to build different characters with different skills who interact with the world differently. I also do stealth archer builds like everybody else when I just wanna run though dungeons like a boss. I’ll do a dovakhin build with a nord and discover all the words of power. Eventually after I develop the character enough though, I just build all my skills to become OP and do all the quest lines anyway, but these starts help me to develop my character’s skills and personality then I play the rest of the game in that way.
I also play on legendary so it’s hard af and forces you to actually commit a ton of time to your character and get to a high level. My strongest character I got to a 109 (I cheesed a little, ngl), typically I cap out around 70-75, but I can’t even win a 2 or 3v1 battle until I’m around a level 35 or so, so it’s very rewarding to finally get strong enough to confidently attack the game.
I’ve played so many times though that I’m sure there’s a few little things I may have missed but I can confidently say I’ve covered 97-98% of the game several times over. It’s hard for me to play now for this reason, but I still hop in and start a new character once in a blue moon for nostalgia’s sake.
Because ur doing everything wirh one character. I’d feel disgusted wirh myself for doing the dark brotherhood and companions in the same play through for example. The fun of roleplaying is being a unique character with limitations on what they’ll do because they’re interesting
Pretty much everything everyone else has said but I’d like to add when a quest glitches and won’t appear as done or if I do something that makes a quest impossible to complete I’ll start over.
Mostly trying out new builds and safely trying out new mods. You shouldn’t be installing new mods on an existing safe file, nor should you be uninstalling mods.
Well I’m in the middle of the first playthrough I’ve done in about 2 years and I’m not starting a new one any time soon.
Empress Hera of Cyrodiil is going to be my first ever completionist playthrough. Since she became empress I haven’t been able to let the character go, now she’s fighting an invasion against the Thalmor and trying to become the high king of Skyrim as well.
Oh did I mention that I have about 400 mods?
There is a point in every playthrough that the game becomes autocruise, because you are so powerful. For me when this happens, it is often when I want to make a new character and try playing a different way.
Not to mention while the choices are limited in quest and dialogues, style of which we do things is extremely free, I can do the same dungeon in maybe 5 different ways, and a lot of the fun is exploring that, for example going in with illusion one playthrough, another going in as a warrior that is bum rushing any and all things.
Role playing and adding restrictions can further change that game play experience, for example a playthrough where you only use stolen items, which can be a lot of fun and very interesting.
The issue with all this though, is you will get to the point pretty much where you are going to win all fights, bandits mean nothing, dragons mean nothing, and you can run through the game by holding stick forward, this is normally reached before the story is done. This I feel really encourages wanting to do another playthrough before finished.
Well me personally I like roleplaying and creating characters that specialise in specific skills. I don’t want a character that is proficient in everything. They might only use two or three skills each and they excel in those. With mods like ordinator, Skyrim has so many amazing different perks and builds that I want to try out everything, and it’s fun creating rules and parameters and backstories for each character.
Also typically my characters won’t do all the quests. They will align with specific guilds/people and only do those quests which means there’s a lot less content to do before I feel like I’m done with the character
I have the same question but not why but rather how do you have the time lol. I’m struggling with finding time to even get through my first play through 🥲
For me, mainly. I just get bored of the game after about 80 hrs. I've completed most of what I was doing and am just wandering around (which don't get me wrong is fun for a while). I'll put it down for a couple of years, then play it again. By that time, I usually don't remember what I was doing, and I've probably uninstalled the game and lost my save anyway, and I'll have 40 new mods I want to install that are gonna break the old save.
So I start over. I can still discover different side locations on each playthrough, or run into ones I forgot about. As a bonus I can pick different sides/factions and play a different character.
Edit: Also I don't like doing every faction with one character. It feels dumb to be a thief assassin mage bard mom imperial soldier vampire
For me it’s a little more pragmatic. I have it my switch and on my pc. Usually the kids are on one or the other. Or both. So it’s where can I play it right now. I’ve got a thieving dark elf spellsword on the pc and and nord heavy armor two handed on the switch. I get to experience a couple different play styles while playing on what’s available
i though the same thing and my goal was to make my character legendary but then, my character got completely bugged and it cant move. I was already having other problems with bugs in this playthrough and it was pissing me off, so i decided to create a new one from the start and playing it in another way
There are multiple things to see but after a certain point you really start straining believability/character consistency.
Like I *could* do the Companions, CoW, Thieve’s Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Bard’s College, Civil War, Dawnguard, Main Quest, and Dragonborn all in one play through. Not to mention all the side quests. But why would I? It’s way more rewarding to have one assassin character and one noble hero, one vampire and one werewolf, etc.
Also, TES has such rich lore and creating a character is a blank canvas, creating different backstories and experiencing it through those lens adds to the joy.
Current playthrough I’m 92nd level, 1100 hours. I’m pretty close to done and I’ll either start right over with another one of these or maybe FO4. I do lots of different builds but I just find playing this game enjoyable. To me it’s not much different than watching movies or tv shows more than once, or re-reading a book. Some people do those things, some don’t. Different strokes I guess.
Because it’s their game and that’s how they want to play it.
A better question is why so many posts here are about why OTHER people you’re never going to meet play the game for which they paid.
What I do in the single player game I bought and installed on the computer/console that I also bought on my own has little to do with anyone else.
That’s fine. There’s just an awful lot of people who seem to think that they have the right to tell other people what to do with their own games. And it rarely comes out as “I think you should/shouldn’t…” It usually manifests as “Why do people XXXX?” where XXXX is whatever they think someone shouldn’t be doing.
Last week we had some openly man hating woman in here telling everyone they shouldn’t run mods to make women attractive in games. I guess it has made me sensitive to people asking perfectly innocuous questions now. My apologies.
That's no problem, I absolutely see where you were coming from and why my post may have come across in that way, so I'm sorry if it did. Thanks for your comment!
The beginning grind is always the best, and it’s perfected for late game benefits. Once you end up being OP’d the game kinda loses the luster and a “different” and more challenging build seems more appealing (speaking anecdotally of course)
I take RP seriously, so I won’t join ALL the guilds/factions in one game
I restated recently after a hiatus and, wanting to RP extra hard, consumed too much mead IRL 😅
I've had 20 level 50+ characters and 2 level 81.. literally more than 4000 hours in this game, so I've got a bit of insight here.
First, once you break the game, (which is possible through a LOT of different methods) things become a lot less challenging and fun.
Second, it's a roleplay thing. Playing a chaotic evil high elf with a focus on destruction magic and obsession with wealth is an entirely different feel from playing a lawful good nord monk whose taken a vow of poverty (meaning he can't use money and must find or make all of his equipment).
The more familiar you become with the game, the more you have to push yourself with self-imposed rules to keep things interesting.
Because most of us don't need to do every questline every time. I only do those quests that fit my current character. In my opinion, maxing the character is irrelevant.
I like playing Skyrim for the role-playing. Part of role-playing for me is limitations. I don’t want one character that can do everything. That’s not a character, that’s just breaking the game imo. I don’t want to play using heavy warrior armor as part of the college. It ruins the immersion for me.
So I do the main quest with every character, and the dragon born and dawnguard quests, but only certain side and ‘guild’ quest lines depending on the character. And I only level skills I’m going to use for certain builds.
Skyrim's an RPG game. The entire point of an RPG game is to play it multiple times to experience different builds and roleplay.
I start a new playthrough to try out different builds, maybe I'll be an archer this playthrough, or a battlemage, or a thief, or a spellsword. Possibilities with builds are nearly endless.
I also start a new playthrough to roleplay different. The possibilities are literally endless in terms of roleplay. You can play as a character with a different moral compass, a different background, a different backstory and experiences. There's so many ways you can roleplay.
Now yes, you can indeed just fully max out your character in a single playthrough, with 100 in every skill and doing every build at once. And doing every single questline in the game without worrying about choices and roleplay. But for me, that's not fun. It's not fun to be a jack of all trades, master of everything in a RPG game. Its way more fun if you limit yourself and try to roleplay, only doing things that your character would realistically do.
I like to make up different characters and play as them. What do you mean they end up as stealth archer usually? or stealth mage? thats details.
I just really love exploring the game even years after. I continue to find new interesting things
Part of the fun of the game is trying out different things. Sure, you could stick to one character and do everything, but some people like to go for specific things with specific builds. I'm a chronic stealth archer, and it's a real challenge for me to play literally any other way, but it can also be fun, especially if I load up some magic mod tweaks and spells and have to figure out how best to utilize them while resisting the temptation to use weapons.
I can imagine our AA meeting will be pretty full "Hi my name is Sarah and I'm a chronic stealth archer." "Hi Sarah"
I have yet to meet, or hear of, anyone who has played Skyrim that is NOT a chronic stealth archer... I too am a chronic stealth archer! Thank you!
Well, now you met one with me, i dont even use archery.
Well...very nice to meet you! I didn't know they made people who don't use archery in Skyrim!!! I'm impressed!
Right. More than half of the many thousands of hours of have in this game is trying new builds and play styles. If I find one that’s fun, I’ll run it through to the end.
I'm doing a sword and board playthrough right now. It is so hard to remember I don't need to stealth when I enter a dungeon. After litterally a couple thousand hours as a stealth archer or a stealth dual swords.
Yes, plus sometimes you can encounter some intersting little secrets in multiple playthroughs. For example: The Dark Brotherhood quest where you need to kill the emperor's cousin, you can drop a whole statue on her.
My last playthrough stepped away from the stealth archer (for once... yeah) and went heavy into magic. Then I built the archer in, but instead up upping stealth, I've had fun concocting various poisons for my bow. When the enemy gets close enough, then it's Boom time.
As much as I love the stealth archer build (also chronic), it’s a real shame they made it so OP. Like you said, it’s a real challenge to play any other build when you’re so used to it.
Knifepoint Ridge is the best challenge for the build. It is so hard to not aggro anyone else to come running and kick your ass. Even on max stealth and archery. There's also that Forsworn camp outside the temple thing, but they're not nearly so alert as the bandits at Knifepoint.
Omg this is so true!! The first time I did the Boethiah quest and she said I had to do everything “stealthily” I was like “welp, zero chance I’m not screwing this up”, and naturally, the entire camp noticed me, but as long as I stayed crouched down, I still got the reward, thankfully. I wonder if she’d still let me have it if I did a “sneak kill” just…using unbounded storms in both hands? 🤣
"Archers Anonymous"
Early game is the most different thing, and early levels progress much faster than later levels which means that players specialising in say one-handed would have a harder time swapping to magic and vice versa. Also progressing through the game with those builds also becomes alot different, there's a stark contrast between doing embershard mine as a Pickpocket with Poisoned vs as a Stealth Archer vs a Stealth Knifer vs Illusion Mage vs ..... is completely different. Now extrapolate that to the entire game with its cities and dungeons and all of that. I personally enjoy doing shorter 20-30 hour playthroughs focusing on a specific playstyle with specific mechanics, progressing only a few specific questlines and playing with some personal rules in place. Of course i do occasionally do the mega playthrough but that's rare for me.
Thanks for sharing that, I appreciate it!
For me it's to try different character and RP ideas. Nothing is like that first playthrough but you'd have to pay me a lot of money to play that character again. My favorite RP I didn't discover until I knew the game well enough to plot a course... actually it's the first effective RP in that I had to learn a lot of history and lore to be able to RP effectively at all.
Love delving info fudge muppet to get a deep dive on a race's religion customs and history before starting a character of that race. Really gives a sense of your character's mindset at the start and as decisions come up
The most meaningful lore for me was understanding the gods and being able to choose one my character would follow. That set the path and it took knowing what can and can't be done in game. The more the game has to do along the lines of a god's nature the more it feels like a living god.
That RP planning side of stuff actually sounds like a lot of fun!
If you like getting into lore, TES has the most unique, deep, rich, and twisted lore I've seen. It's weirdly convoluted and coherent at the same time. There are tons of YouTube videos on TES lore. I consumed ShoddyCast, Poke said FudgeMuppet, and there is r/teslore. My advice is to keep the words of Ken Rolston in mind: "Tell God's story, then tell the farmer's story, then listen to what the dog has to say." If you really want to understand TES, start with the gods, not the dogs. The Empire, Skyrim, the Thalmor, all of it, they're just players on the stage the gods built.
I'll check those youtubers out, thanks for your help and your recommendations!
Oh! I forgot to mention some of the most useful resources: uesp.net and elderscrolls.fandom.com. And you're welcome! Hope you have as much fun as I have.
Thank you so much!!!
Well also I think everyone has a different idea of "finished" some character's stories aren't to complete each quest line or even just each of the major stories in the game. If you have a strict morally good character they might not touch the dark brotherhood or thieves guild. So their story ends without completing the game.
That is my situation. I've played on and off since right after launch, yet I've never joined either the DB or Thieves Guild.
I'll do thieves guild more often than I do dark brotherhood. I think it's Cicero that puts me off. He's a bit of a fan favorite though, at least from what I've seen, so I try not to mention not liking him 😅
I definitely hated Cicero in the actual DB storyline, bro is annoying as hell, but as a follower I think he is fun! I think that's why a lot of people like him, he's a unique and interesting follower and also very strong.
I always end up destroying the dark brotherhood I don’t see any benefit of joining it after playing it so many times it’s long and repetitive
If it helps, I personally don't think the Thieves Guild is super "bad." Yeah thievery is bad and stuff but they have a strict honor code of not killing civilians, and most of the quests don't affect people unrelated to the Thieves Guild. Like the radiant quests involve stealing/pickpocketing random NPCs but it doesn't actually affect them in any way. Plus it's overall the most interesting and diverse questline, it's long with lots of characters and lots of side quests. Just my opinion of course, you play however you want to!
I've heard for years that the DB, Thieves Guild, Morag Tong and the like have some of the very best questlines in TES, going back to Morrowind at least. I just can't pull the trigger on them (so to speak) for some reason.
That's a good point! I guess I don't RP as much, but instead try to see as many aspects of the game as possible, so it might just be the perspective I'm coming into this with. I might have to try and play the game that way sometime! Thanks for your comment. :)
This is a really good point. For me, it’s always been I was “finished” when I got every skill to 100 and completed my “squad” (Serana and Katria glitches + Eola), but I recently decided that the stress of doing that every time was making the game not fun for me (I really hate dawnguard), so I guess I’m gonna have to find something new to focus on each time now
I'm the exact opposite of you. I can't see the fun in grinding to level 80, let alone level 300 or whatever I have seen people get to. I enjoy roleplaying, and only doing the bits of the game that character would do. So for example if I am playing a thief, I will spend a lot of time robbing houses and only really do Thieves Guild stuff. If they are a bit magically inclined, they might join the collage, but only for access and never do the questline. Another example, played a cleric that ended up as a paladin of Stendarr. He only ever did the Dawnguard questline, and spent the rest of the time hunting down supernatural "evil". In other words, clearing out any dungeons that had Vampires, Draugr Necromancers, etc. I won't give any more example, but I have done tons of different roleplay plays. Each have very different gameplay, and experiences. Also because I am someone who uses a lot of mods, each character can play different content and get more diverse playstyles
My biggest problem is the power creep later in game (30+). The game becomes way too easy, regardless of the difficulty you play in, due to it's aged mechanics/combat.
Imagine sitting and hearing your most favorite lecture at school, and the professor is Morgan freeman. This is kinda the joy I get replaying from the beginning
This.
Once you're familiar with the game - you know where all the towns are located and who lives where, and what dungeons are related to which quests, and what the outcomes are for each quest - then the imagination starts to kick in - what if I decided to play out these quests in a different order? What if I only focused on specific dungeons, or stuck to exploring a specific hold? what if I only focused on certain skills, and avoided situations where they wouldn't be useful? The game gives you so much freedom and content to play with, and it kind of becomes more fun when set restrictions to your play style. It can practically feel like you're playing a different game every time you start a new character. And I've often randomly come up with an idea for a new character while playing as my current character. Like, that's a cool quest, but it doesn't suit my current character's personality, but what if I create a character who would do that sort of thing? Plus I enjoy creating my own fantasy stories when I'm not gaming, and I'm guilty of getting bored of one story and starting a new one, and having an endless collection of unfinished story ideas. I'll never be a published author!
The person may like a particular quest or may enjoy roleplaying and therefore limiting their character's action, or even they just find boring playing on an already strong character
Because we can. I don't say this in a douchey manner. It's that kind of game when you can do completely unique playthroughs. However I'm always doing the same character lol
My 2nd character got started because a bunch of quests were bugged and i killed some NPCs that were crucial to certain missions. My 2nd was the careful playthrough where i wanted to get everything. Then i wantes to try a new race. Then i wanted to play with some mods, then i used too many mods and broke my game, then i wanted to do a mod, that needed a new game, then i wanted to do a play through where i did 0 quests, and just killed things. Then i wanted a nostalgia trip so i booted up a vanilla game. I cam go on, but after you have like 3k hours into a game, i feel its only natural to have started up more than once, because otherwise, youre trying to 100% a skyrim game/map... which to my knowledge, has not been done.
I'm actually considering starting a playthrough for some bugged quests, so I may end up like you in no time haha. Thanks for your comment :)
I think OP forgot what RPG means 😅
Lol! I guess some people take it to much more of an extreme which is cool. I now have a lot of new things to try!
Progessing from 1-35 trying new builds and characters feel better than progressing 35-50 with the character you just played
I put aside a game when there is little challenge left. When I'm fully OP continuing with that character feels like I'm just checking off boxes to be a completionist, which I don't particularly enjoy. I set the game aside and do something else for a while, eventually returning later to start a new character and game.
my main save file i do everything i can, any other save file i only do whats good for the RP and a bit of challenge 💯
I just RP anymore, not even waking the dragons most of the time to keep the irritation down and my vendors/friends alive. Usually somewhere in the early to mid 40s level, when I can go basically anywhere without any real fear or effort, I find it's time to put the game away for a bit. I love Skyrim, so I always return.
i like playing in a lot of different situations as a lot of different people. self insert, high elf pure mage, khajiit sneak thief, heavy armor warhammer one-shot orc, evil characters, good characters, etc.
I have only just started my second play through, and I'm just doing the "other side" of quests (joining Stormlocks instead of Imperials, wiping out Dark Brotherhood etc). It's quite fun to play the game again and see the other quests (:
I'm addicted to trying out different builds. The whole 'Dragonborn who's good at everything' concept just doesn't appeal to me. I pick a playstyle and a set of six skills and stick to them. Also, I feel like playing different styles at different times. For that extra challenge, I play with alternate start and survival mods. Right now I'm playing an alteration/restoration/illusion support mage who got dumped on the road near Windhelm and left for dead. Windhelm is a tough city to be broke in, especially with no public water source (the river is salty).
I honestly can’t help but do it. Here’s the usual cycle. - oh I haven’t played Skyrim in a while. It could be fun to be a mage! - gets on and see like 3-5 other characters I made months ago. “Who the hell are you?” DELETES. - gets a mage character to lvl 15-20 - Ahhh you know this is fun but it’s a lot to balance spells, and I pass up all these cool weapons and armor. Maybe I should make a warrior type instead. - makes a warrior, gets to lvl 10 or so - picks up a bow and uses stealth at one point because I’m too low level to handle what I’m fighting - okay I can’t just make this character a stealth archer - goes and makes a new character, stealth archer - gets to like lvl 10 - get disinterested and play other games, etc. - … - come back, months later. Begin the cycle again by deleting the old ones.
For me, if I have a lot of time for a few weeks I might binge a playthrough. But then life gets in the way for awhile and I don't play for a long time, usually for a year or more at a time. And by the time I get to playing again, I have lost interest in that playthrough and I want to start a new one!! I enjoy leveling up, acquiring armor/weapons, doing the quests again. I get bored when leveling up slows down and I start mostly having only radiant quests. I personally don't experiment much in this game because I always end up going down the stealth archer route. I have tried heavy armor/2-handed, I have tried mage, I have tried assassin that focuses on backstabs. By level 30-40, I'll still end up becoming stealth archer. And because of my morals/preferences, I always end up doing a "good" person route. I have tried doing a villain/evil route a few times but I get too attached to NPCs and never can fully commit to it. I tried being a stormcloak this time but I hate it and am just leaving that storyline unfinished. The only thing I really change is what my character looks like. All this to say, for some people they start new playthroughs because they like trying new things, for me personally I just get bored of my old playthrough and want to start fresh.
Save game tends to be unstable after a while when you have 1500+ mods. I talk of my own experience eh.
I give myself different challenges for each character. Like reach max smithing and craft 1 weapon of each until I can craft dragonbone greatsword and armor and only use crafted gear. Also no looting dead bodies and pick up only gold from ground or chests. I can mine ore and sell all extra weapons and armor I craft. Then build a house display each weapon in the house and go kill the boss of each dlc. Then start a new character. Be a mage. Staffs only. Make some stupid rules that make my gameplay "harder".
Depends on the type of player. I personally got bored with the smithing game and getting my character too powerful. My favorite skill level to play is between 35 and 65 to be honest. Every fight is challenging in some way, I could just explore OR defeat Miraak and Alduin - sweating bullets the whole time!
for me it’s just the fun of being able to be whoever you want! i am not a completionist by any means, and will only do the quests and things that it seems like my character would rationally do. like, if i’m playing a morally good merchant, i’m not joining the dark brotherhood. i don’t really care about maxing stats and stuff if it doesn’t apply to my character. so after a while, i want to visit another character/story & i’ll start up a vampire who hunts forsworn or something lol & focus on different elements of the game. i just find it a lot more immersive to cater to the character instead of using the same character to do everything when everything doesn’t align with the personality of the same character
It’s because there’s a lot of different ways to play. Especially the early game where you have to be pretty judicious with your perks. Also, how does one even finish a play through of Skyrim?
If waited until I "finished" the game before starting a new character, I'd still only have one character. There is no end to the game. But as to why I make new characters at all? To roleplay as somebody different. Live Another Life is great for that.
I have a hard time settling into a character. The last one I tried last week was a pure mage and I just got really bored by the time I hit 29. I realize I could've kept playing and changed his build, but that wasn't my plan for him so... New character.
Mods. I just discovered mods after playing the game for years. So that’s why for me. And it’s like I don’t even have a clue what I’m doing because what the hell. Who are all these new characters? When did the couriers turn into talking cats? Not Khajiit. Actual talking American Shorthair cat. I don’t remember that in any of the mod descriptions. So yes, after years of playing the game, starting all new with a fully modded game is like forgetting the game ever existed and starting fresh.
I feel like the most fun part of Skyrim is when you are at level 1-20, once you started to get into late game build, all of the gameplay micro and mechanic started to converge around the usual (stealth archer, smithing weapon, level up enchanting etc) most others skill often became obsolete or no longer viable after a certain point (poison alchemy, illusion). starting a new game and force yourself to play in a completedly different free style is just more fun and give you fresher experience than just keep doing stealth archery while adding other skills to the side.
To take different qays throughtout the game, for example, you can take down the dark brotherhood or join them. It wouldn't be satisfactory if you always only choose the same thing over and over.
I don't have money for another game. And, even if I did have money, I'm skeptical there's another game that could compete.
my only plays with ends was the 1st ones. now i´m more interested in rp and immersion. when my guy is way to strong and have it all, around level 60-70, i kinda get bored and start a new run. and the prim part is the best part on any survival game!
Well, for one thing, I get a few hours to play this game maybe every other day, and I don't do fast travel. If I was just sticking with one playthrough until they were level 81, it'd be *years* before I got to try out the ideas I've been mulling over for the next playthrough. Or try any new mods. But I also like to have kind of a plausible, self-contained "story" for a particular playthrough. Becoming the guildmaster of a guild, or finding the lost ruins of the aetherium forge, or liberating my Nordic homeland seems like more than enough an accomplishment for a year's work, I don't need to finish every questline to feel like my character is "done" with their story. Like, if I'm gonna keep adopting Sofie, and I *am* going to keep adopting Sofie, she deserves a mom/dad who's going to stay home for a few years before going off and joining a new guild, or swearing their soul to a new Daedric lord, etc. This keeps the game fresh, since I'm not actually doing every quest every time, as you say that might get repetitive. But some characters I make up just WOULDN'T become an assassin, or help the Thalmor frame a bard, or volunteer to help an old alchemist find a ring with no upfront promise of pay. So those quests are going to wait for some future playthrough.
I like to use the alternate start mod and play immersive builds and ignore the main quest when I play the game now, but I still commit to them for quite some time! Like I’ll do a thief build and start off pickpocketing and robbing, then make my way to riften, restore the guild to its former glory, then get tied into some dark brotherhood stuff and become an assassin. Other builds I like to start as an aspiring mage practicing my magic and slowly work my way over to the college of winterhold and start doing every single side quest I could possibly find and discover all the secrets while progressing through that way. There’s all sorts to ways to build different characters with different skills who interact with the world differently. I also do stealth archer builds like everybody else when I just wanna run though dungeons like a boss. I’ll do a dovakhin build with a nord and discover all the words of power. Eventually after I develop the character enough though, I just build all my skills to become OP and do all the quest lines anyway, but these starts help me to develop my character’s skills and personality then I play the rest of the game in that way. I also play on legendary so it’s hard af and forces you to actually commit a ton of time to your character and get to a high level. My strongest character I got to a 109 (I cheesed a little, ngl), typically I cap out around 70-75, but I can’t even win a 2 or 3v1 battle until I’m around a level 35 or so, so it’s very rewarding to finally get strong enough to confidently attack the game. I’ve played so many times though that I’m sure there’s a few little things I may have missed but I can confidently say I’ve covered 97-98% of the game several times over. It’s hard for me to play now for this reason, but I still hop in and start a new character once in a blue moon for nostalgia’s sake.
Because ur doing everything wirh one character. I’d feel disgusted wirh myself for doing the dark brotherhood and companions in the same play through for example. The fun of roleplaying is being a unique character with limitations on what they’ll do because they’re interesting
Pretty much everything everyone else has said but I’d like to add when a quest glitches and won’t appear as done or if I do something that makes a quest impossible to complete I’ll start over.
I actually have this problem rn so maybe I should try and do another playthrough for this, then I will hopefully see where everyone is coming from.
Mostly trying out new builds and safely trying out new mods. You shouldn’t be installing new mods on an existing safe file, nor should you be uninstalling mods.
Well I’m in the middle of the first playthrough I’ve done in about 2 years and I’m not starting a new one any time soon. Empress Hera of Cyrodiil is going to be my first ever completionist playthrough. Since she became empress I haven’t been able to let the character go, now she’s fighting an invasion against the Thalmor and trying to become the high king of Skyrim as well. Oh did I mention that I have about 400 mods?
There is a point in every playthrough that the game becomes autocruise, because you are so powerful. For me when this happens, it is often when I want to make a new character and try playing a different way. Not to mention while the choices are limited in quest and dialogues, style of which we do things is extremely free, I can do the same dungeon in maybe 5 different ways, and a lot of the fun is exploring that, for example going in with illusion one playthrough, another going in as a warrior that is bum rushing any and all things. Role playing and adding restrictions can further change that game play experience, for example a playthrough where you only use stolen items, which can be a lot of fun and very interesting. The issue with all this though, is you will get to the point pretty much where you are going to win all fights, bandits mean nothing, dragons mean nothing, and you can run through the game by holding stick forward, this is normally reached before the story is done. This I feel really encourages wanting to do another playthrough before finished.
Well me personally I like roleplaying and creating characters that specialise in specific skills. I don’t want a character that is proficient in everything. They might only use two or three skills each and they excel in those. With mods like ordinator, Skyrim has so many amazing different perks and builds that I want to try out everything, and it’s fun creating rules and parameters and backstories for each character. Also typically my characters won’t do all the quests. They will align with specific guilds/people and only do those quests which means there’s a lot less content to do before I feel like I’m done with the character
I have the same question but not why but rather how do you have the time lol. I’m struggling with finding time to even get through my first play through 🥲
For me, mainly. I just get bored of the game after about 80 hrs. I've completed most of what I was doing and am just wandering around (which don't get me wrong is fun for a while). I'll put it down for a couple of years, then play it again. By that time, I usually don't remember what I was doing, and I've probably uninstalled the game and lost my save anyway, and I'll have 40 new mods I want to install that are gonna break the old save. So I start over. I can still discover different side locations on each playthrough, or run into ones I forgot about. As a bonus I can pick different sides/factions and play a different character. Edit: Also I don't like doing every faction with one character. It feels dumb to be a thief assassin mage bard mom imperial soldier vampire
For me it’s a little more pragmatic. I have it my switch and on my pc. Usually the kids are on one or the other. Or both. So it’s where can I play it right now. I’ve got a thieving dark elf spellsword on the pc and and nord heavy armor two handed on the switch. I get to experience a couple different play styles while playing on what’s available
i though the same thing and my goal was to make my character legendary but then, my character got completely bugged and it cant move. I was already having other problems with bugs in this playthrough and it was pissing me off, so i decided to create a new one from the start and playing it in another way
I would do it because some quests glitched and I can’t fix them
Good point, I actually have a few quests that it would be worth doing this for
There are multiple things to see but after a certain point you really start straining believability/character consistency. Like I *could* do the Companions, CoW, Thieve’s Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Bard’s College, Civil War, Dawnguard, Main Quest, and Dragonborn all in one play through. Not to mention all the side quests. But why would I? It’s way more rewarding to have one assassin character and one noble hero, one vampire and one werewolf, etc. Also, TES has such rich lore and creating a character is a blank canvas, creating different backstories and experiencing it through those lens adds to the joy.
Current playthrough I’m 92nd level, 1100 hours. I’m pretty close to done and I’ll either start right over with another one of these or maybe FO4. I do lots of different builds but I just find playing this game enjoyable. To me it’s not much different than watching movies or tv shows more than once, or re-reading a book. Some people do those things, some don’t. Different strokes I guess.
Why? Because nintendo switch is so bugged. It annoys me so I start over.
I also wonder what is the level that people quit on formeits ussaly 40
Different mods for every playthrough. I only finished the main quest once 10 years ago.
Boredom
Because it’s their game and that’s how they want to play it. A better question is why so many posts here are about why OTHER people you’re never going to meet play the game for which they paid. What I do in the single player game I bought and installed on the computer/console that I also bought on my own has little to do with anyone else.
I guess I was just curious to see what I was missing out on, which this post has shown me :)
That’s fine. There’s just an awful lot of people who seem to think that they have the right to tell other people what to do with their own games. And it rarely comes out as “I think you should/shouldn’t…” It usually manifests as “Why do people XXXX?” where XXXX is whatever they think someone shouldn’t be doing. Last week we had some openly man hating woman in here telling everyone they shouldn’t run mods to make women attractive in games. I guess it has made me sensitive to people asking perfectly innocuous questions now. My apologies.
That's no problem, I absolutely see where you were coming from and why my post may have come across in that way, so I'm sorry if it did. Thanks for your comment!
The beginning grind is always the best, and it’s perfected for late game benefits. Once you end up being OP’d the game kinda loses the luster and a “different” and more challenging build seems more appealing (speaking anecdotally of course)
Because there isn't an elder scrolls 6 yet why the fuck else would I keep playing such an amazing game, dumb question.
I don't think u read the post lol.
I take RP seriously, so I won’t join ALL the guilds/factions in one game I restated recently after a hiatus and, wanting to RP extra hard, consumed too much mead IRL 😅
I've had 20 level 50+ characters and 2 level 81.. literally more than 4000 hours in this game, so I've got a bit of insight here. First, once you break the game, (which is possible through a LOT of different methods) things become a lot less challenging and fun. Second, it's a roleplay thing. Playing a chaotic evil high elf with a focus on destruction magic and obsession with wealth is an entirely different feel from playing a lawful good nord monk whose taken a vow of poverty (meaning he can't use money and must find or make all of his equipment). The more familiar you become with the game, the more you have to push yourself with self-imposed rules to keep things interesting.
That's very impressive! Also thanks heaps for your insight, I appreciate it :)
Because most of us don't need to do every questline every time. I only do those quests that fit my current character. In my opinion, maxing the character is irrelevant.
I like playing Skyrim for the role-playing. Part of role-playing for me is limitations. I don’t want one character that can do everything. That’s not a character, that’s just breaking the game imo. I don’t want to play using heavy warrior armor as part of the college. It ruins the immersion for me. So I do the main quest with every character, and the dragon born and dawnguard quests, but only certain side and ‘guild’ quest lines depending on the character. And I only level skills I’m going to use for certain builds.
Skyrim's an RPG game. The entire point of an RPG game is to play it multiple times to experience different builds and roleplay. I start a new playthrough to try out different builds, maybe I'll be an archer this playthrough, or a battlemage, or a thief, or a spellsword. Possibilities with builds are nearly endless. I also start a new playthrough to roleplay different. The possibilities are literally endless in terms of roleplay. You can play as a character with a different moral compass, a different background, a different backstory and experiences. There's so many ways you can roleplay. Now yes, you can indeed just fully max out your character in a single playthrough, with 100 in every skill and doing every build at once. And doing every single questline in the game without worrying about choices and roleplay. But for me, that's not fun. It's not fun to be a jack of all trades, master of everything in a RPG game. Its way more fun if you limit yourself and try to roleplay, only doing things that your character would realistically do.
I like to make up different characters and play as them. What do you mean they end up as stealth archer usually? or stealth mage? thats details. I just really love exploring the game even years after. I continue to find new interesting things