What keeps you playing Skyrim?

[DashingKnight]

Well, Skyrim has been out for quite some time now and all the freshness has started dying down. Newer games have been released and allot of gamers have moved on to playing them.

 

My question for everyone here is what keeps you playing Skyrim? What is it exactly that holds your interest and keeps bringing you back to continue playing Skyrim?

 

For me, it's like every time I fire up the game it's like playing a brand new game. Skyrim is so addictive. I love creating new characters and each time I start a new file it brings a different and unique experience. The possibilities are endless with this game. You can roleplay and totally immerse yourself in a massive environment. You can be and do pretty much anything you want. You can decide if your going to be good or evil. You can decide what race, sex and class you will be. You can decide what side you will take and what factions you will join. You can make different choices with different outcomes each time you play. I could go on and on.... Also, with all the wonderful Mods available you can truly make the game into your own. Bethesda and Modders have really done an amazing job and the end result delivers an experience other games can only dream of sharing. That's just a few of the reasons I keep playing Skyrim. I have way to many to list them all.

 

What keeps you playing Skyrim?

[Wouter445]

I never played the main campaign and each time i promise my self i will do it this time.

[Urtel]

I did complete playtrough only once, right after game was out. Now im trying to make my game as immersive as possible with all amazing mods and complete the main story again. Refresh it, rethink it and also do damn dlcs at least for the first time) I tried like 5 times, but always was distracted by the real-life events... so eah. This time i hope i can finish it.

Its all about open world, i can wander in lands of tamriel, read books, make potions, and perform all other type of activity. Its not about skyrim, its about all TES games.

I want to discover every small part of the world, to understand the universe a bit more. I just love the whole concept of this kind of games.

[Lachdonin]

Softcore anime schoolgirl porn. (seriously though, I despise all the weeaboo nonsense polluting my Elder Scrolls).

 

Anyway, Elder Scrolls games have been a large part of my childhood (been playing since Daggerfall) and with over 300 hours in each game, and still rising (I started a new Arena game two days ago) asking "Why do you keep playing?" is like asking "Why do you breathe?". Its just become part of my nature.

 

Even stranger (to some, anyway) I play with minimal mods. A handful of immersion mods, maybe a lore friendly or two, some high res textures and that's it.

I suppose it's about completing a game to my satisfaction, and I've yet to accomplish that in Skyrim. There's always a little more gold to add to the pile, or another sword to decorate the wall with.

[MidevalGuy]

One word:

 

Freedom.

 

A lot of games promise this, but none have delivered the way TES games do. Not even GTA is as open as they claim, regardless of how big the area(s) are.

 

Freedom also extends to the PC version, obviously, with the infinite amount of mods that turn the game into anything you want.

[Hyacathusarullistad]

What's kept me with Skyrim for 1800+ hours in the last two years is the sheer volume of things to see and do. I'm always finding and trying new ways of doing things, whether it's a part of the game I've played a thousand times (Bleak Falls Barrow, for example) or something I've only done a few times (like the Dark Brotherhood). For me it's all about roleplaying and immersion - feeling like each time I play the game it's as a distinctly different character than the time before, even if I actually end up doing the same quests and factions in the end as I did ten playthroughs ago. As MidevalGuy said, no other game has the level of flexibility, control, and personalisation that the Elder Scrolls games have. They're unique. And the metric ass-load of mods that are available put Skyrim in a gaming class of its own.

[Noppius]

Same for me!

There is always that little bit more to explore, another book that i didn't found or that is waiting for some nice quality time near the fireplace. I still have to finish the main story for the first time but there is always something to distract me from what i'm supposed to do :)

 

And ofcourse the giant amount of mods that are here on the Nexus. How much my game changed since i found this site, i can't explain it!! It opened a world that i never imagined. I did some browsing with previous games but never got into modding like now. The easy acces and the great help on the forums made a big difference. And the wonderfull vids from Gopher on his Youtube channel, they make modding within reach of everybody. He explains it all so simply and "basic" that even a pc noob can follow the rules and start a whole new experience in an allready wonderfull game.

 

Anyway, this is why i keep getting back into Skyrim and why i sometimes spend more time on The Nexus then ingame :D

[mikejaxer]

Probably because I only bought it 2 months ago.

[rattlehead5000]

At the moment, it's because of our amazing modding community. Mods have transformed my game and have kept me interested.

 

But in any event, I played vanilla Skyrim on Xbox for 300 hours before getting the superior PC version, and I spent another 350 hours again on the vanilla game for PC.

 

As said, it's the almost unlimited freedom you have to play the game your way. So few games offer this, and even fewer get it right. There is a lot wrong with vanilla Skyrim sure, but even so the sheer amount of possibilities, the random and often funny encounters, the immersive world...it's something that lives and breathes.

 

Having completed my 3rd playthrough last year with a modded Skyrim, I thought I was done with the game and moved on to other games.

Then for some reason I decided to check out Skyrim again, downloaded the DLC and of course lots of mods, got hooked all over again and here I am. :)

 

But without the modding community, I probably would never have come back to the vanilla game again to be honest.

[MidevalGuy]

The main difference between Skyrim and other open world games (no matter the genre, or setting) that claim ultimate freedom is Skyrim feels like a living, breathing world outside the players home.

 

True, most of the NPCs are robotic and lack any real character, and a lot of "random" encounters are scripted. However, whenever you venture out there is always something going on. It never ceases to amaze me. Add in encounter mods like Immersive Patrols and others that build on the autonomous AI and it makes the world seem even more alive than it already is.

 

For example, you are on your way to to a dungeon as part of a quest line, but before you even get half-way there you might encounter bandits, wild animals, different factions fighting (Vigilant vs. Vampires, Stormcloaks vs. Imperials, etc.) dragons, not to mention newly discovered dungeons, caves, crypts and towers along the way. If you take the time to deviate from your original plan and explore some of the larger caves and ruins those end up turning into secondary quests themselves... Like the one where you help the a guy near Riften rescue his family who are being held captive in his keep by bandits who invaded.

 

Other open world games like Saints Row and GTA simply give you an open world with not much else in the world other than a large space to roam around. In Skyrim almost every single building, shop, home, shack et al,. you find you can enter and interact with things. That's the defining characteristic of Elder Scrolls games and what makes their worlds much more realistic and immersive.