Figured we could start a discussion of our game here and maybe help each other out. I am playing a Khajiit, femalel and intend to make her a rogue. Some people report they have had problems with stealth but even at level one I managed to sneak right past enemies. Fun. I haven't had much chance to play and am only at level two but not far from level three. I upped my sneak skill and have done some smithing. Right now I am just exploring and trying to decide what to do. I have the disk and am not sure how it works with Steam. I am having trouble getting used to the new controls and keep trying to use the Oblivion ones. I think I will just explore some more before I decide where to head. I don't want to join the Legion at least not right now.

I am really impressed with the one dungeon I have explored so far. Got the Golden Claw.

Quite a game. I am only level four and already have a dragon shout. I think the game cheated though I am sure one of the soldiers actually killed the dragon. I was shooting arrows into the bloody thing and went over and shot an arrow into it just to be sure it was dead. Maybe that counted. I am more caught up in the main quest than I originally intended. Now I am off to find the Graybeards and not doing a very good job of it. I find getting any where in Skyrim just as hard as in Oblivion. Going to out of the way places at least. There are carts. Haven't gotten a horse yet but I do have a companion.

Well, I am at level 4 at the moment. I haven't started the main quest nor killed any dragons. So far, I have just been doing minor quests and building up my skills. I have upgraded a sword and a battle axe and have acquired a very nice studded set of legion armour, which gives me great armour stats. (I think I have 45 - 50 armour now depending on whether I use a helmet or not.) I have also created several potions, mined ore, chopped wood, and tanned skins. No cooking yet, but I will try that pretty soon.

Haven't decided whether I will join the legion or the nords and I keep telling them that whenever one of them asks. They just answer that sooner or later I'll have to decide which side I want to be on.

Did buy a horse - the black one from Whiterun. It is a good, aggressive horse that I enjoy riding. And, it comes in handy during a fight. I've been told to keep an eye on it, though, as it has a tendency to dash from one fight to the next without waiting for me.

Had one short term companion, but I think I was happy to get rid of him. Surly fellow and demanding.

I am planning on becoming a mage or perhaps a battlemage. My character is a Breton with strong skills in conjuration. However, I have found my fireball so handy that I've mostly been using that and my sword when I get close. One in each hand does a good job of it. I did try some archery and actually made one deer kill! Never could do that before.

As far as cities go, I've only been to Whiterun, but found lots of little villages, farms, and caves.

My Khajiit reached level six. I have killed two dragons. The second was random and I am glad I had a companion. That was an awesome fight. I have completed four MQ and one side quest and a lot of little objective thingys. I have a long list of those. A few I won't do this game probably. I have upgraded some weapons and armour. Made some leather/hide armour. Made an iron dagger. I forgot about buying a horse and bought a house instead and now I don't know what to do with it. It is just sitting there all cob webby. I need to find an alchemy lab to upgrade my alchemy skills. Got training in one handed weapons. I want dual weild flury. Dagger in one hand, sword in the other. I forgot I had that shout and didn't use it on the dragon but remembered it when I ran into a rather nasty necromancer. Worked great. One shout, one dead necromancer. Right now I am just wandering around the countryside because I can't figure out how to get to the Graybeards. The only main town I have gone to is Whiterun but I, too, have visited a lot of villages, farms and caves/ruins. Lots of various pelts.

Steam has an article link up people are already modding Skyrim. That was fast. Someone has done a texture overhaul already and another has redone faces. I am not ready for that. I like to play the first game as vanilla although I am coming up with a wish list. My character is a thane of whiterun and picked up a housecarl (?) as a companion. She is a good fighter but doesn't have anything to say. Boring although she didn't sound happy when I asked her to carry things. Found a charmed necklace that added 25 points to carrying which is nice. Have collect a nice amount of gold but spent a lot of it on the stupid house. A horse would have been better, more useful.

Hmm. Glad you mentioned that. I was saving up for a house, but maybe I'm better off with the horse. It is not difficult to ride and, as I've said, it does come in handy during a fight, though I'm still a little protective of it. However, since the wolves attack in packs in this game, it comes in very handy watching my back. (Wolves will try and surround you. Come to think of it, so will most of the mobs.)

Anyway, I've got a couple of stength potions now and it's probably better that I'm forced to sell anything I'm not going to use for the time being.

I'm not surprised about the modding. I was reading some threads on Beth before the game's release and several were already discussing the fixit mods they were planning on making. One or two even said they were buying the game only to do mods and had no intention of ever playing it. Amazing the hubris. Like you, I prefer to see what the game designers were able to do in vanilla before I want to see it "fixed". This time around, I'm even pretty satisfied with character generator. My Breton looks as good in this game as the player characters in Dragon Age. But, I have found a couple of things I will keep an eye out for in subsequent plays. And, I'm wondering what the Crafty Bits team will do with all those marvelous animations.

The good modders will take their time, play the game and work up good mods. Emma I hope will do Vilja and at least one house but she will take her time and do it right. I am not worried at the rate I am going I will be playing this same game for a long time. Twenty three hours and I haven't even touched the game. Hokay my character got killed at the very beginning because I jumped the wrong way and I had to try again. Took me a little time to fiddle with my character's look too. I didn't want her looking like a muscle man. I also got 'lost'. I knew where I was but not how to get where I wanted to go. Also went back to an earlier save game because I didn't like my choices. Bit of a cheat that but it is my game.

Hmm. Mine looks pretty feminine practically out of the box, though a tad dirty. Probably is good to look a little dirty considering we're in a world with a lot of tough looking guys. And, I got really lucky at the very first. I was having blotch problems and the screen was rather blurred and everything moving too fast for me to think out what I wanted to do. So, I just followed the first person who yelled, Over here. Follow me. I didn't realize until much later that you actually have a choice who to follow.

Found two things I didn't care for. one is a bit picky and not a big deal but my character is not supposed to be a muscle man. I know I said that before. Well I got challenged to a fair fist fight, no magic, no weapons and I decided to accept. Now the guy was a muscle man and my character beat him with no problem. Tsk Tsk. The other thing I do find annoying and that is there still is in my opinion unnecessary repetitious dialogue if you stay too near certain characters for a while. I have only started on the thieves guild but it seems quite different from Oblivion. I enjoyed the quest line in Oblivion but this really makes you feel as if your are part of a group. The thieves are not the nicest people by any means. One keeps threatening to beat up my character if she steps out of line. One woman is a wee bit friendly and has a very sad story. A couple of the men are at least neutral. They are criminals for sure. More Mafia types. Won't say more. My lips, er, typing is sealed.

Maybe your character is sneakier and fights dirtier? I've seen RL small guys wipe out large, muscular types in fist fights, but they usually know what they're doing. Also, sometimes we equate size with power where it's not warranted. My little brother (the one in Oregon) has always been rather small and skinny. So, when he was in junior high, the bullies made a point of picking on him. Finally, he got tired of it and the school sent him home early because he cleaned all their clocks and their parents were threatening the school. True story. My brother is still embarassed by it. (He didn't believe in fighting.)

I was a little leery of that story until the day my boyfriend got into it with my brother. My boyfriend towered over him. And, when my brother finally decided he'd had enough, all he did was shoot out his arm like he was brushing the boyfriend away and the boyfriend sailed over a four foot divider I'd put in the room. I watched that happen and I still can't believe it. Neither could the boyfriend. He never bothered my brother again.

As for dialogs. Yeah. I've noticed they get a little repetitious. But, once I've done certain town quests or favors, many of the dialogues change to accommodate that. That's a lot different and a lot better than Oblivion. I expect it really adds to the download when you try to make too many distinct dialogues, but the interviews said they tried to make as many as they could within reason. It is really nice that most of the people I've met recognize my character's gender and race and guards don't act threatening or distrustful after the first few town favors I did.

The tric is keeping away from the quest giver I think until after you have done their quest. On the whole the dialogue is very good. More interesting than Oblivion.

aThat is a good story about you brother. I guess my character is one of those small tough wiry types.