This.

Oblivion had a lot of those "normal" life moments that were so cool. Even if it never comes out as normal as sitting in a bench and smoking a pipe, I think there's an universe of distance in saving the world from Oblivion than buying your own house and adding furniture to it. I also loved to stop for a moment on a high location and appreciate the landscape =D

It's more about what you can imagine than the gameplay itself. For instance, collection Nirn Roots was a full time job for a couple of in-game-weeks for me (with the ocassional attack of a minotaur or two ). And being able to do that, while taking a break from the main quest was awesome.

Does anyone else remember fishing in Ocarina of Time? I could do that for HOURS!

Yes! That was so fun, it was like a game in itself. There should be things = or > that in Skyrim.

Ahhhh the memories!

I'm all for this "living a normal life" way of playing. My first character will be a Nord Warrior more than likely, but I will take breaks from the main quest and dabble with other stuff like farming and woodcutting. It's awesome that TES embodies "go anywhere, do anything" gameplay.

I mean really who wouldn't want a nice day of fishing a hanging out at the local tavern after a weeks worth of slaughter?

If there is fishing, i hope the fishes come in all different sizes. There could be fishing competitions to see who can get the best fish, or there could be a lake with a huge legendary fish that is nearly impossible to catch.

I support the living a normal life concept, and glad to see there are some activities such as woodcutting and such.
In Oblivion there are all sorts of mods to support this, like gardening for example (you can grow alchemy ingredients).
plus all the 'hardcoe' mods where you have to eat and sleep. and then there is the portable campsite mod, or if you have a house you can deck it out how you like, and so on.
It doesn't mean questing and fighting has to end either.

while i will agree that the friend aspect of GTA 4 got annoying sometimes because it was a little less optional, i still have to go with the argument that it was a good idea in theory. some people enjoyed it and some people didn't. so i hope if the incorporate something like this in skyrim its a little more optional. because like i said, its the options that make the world feel big. obviously you wouldn't touch that element of gaming, but at the games core is a great solid combat/exploration anyway so fair enough. but what i'm trying to say is that its about making the world feel like a real place, not making feel "realistic" per say. GTA 4 went for the realistic approach and i think thats why it didn't work as well.

i know people say a game is a game, but i know i'm not alone in finding that options that don't necessarily affect the game in any major aspect can still create an immersive experience. some people like mindless fun, and some people like big immersive game worlds. personally i don't know why you'd choose the elder scrolls if you think the former. or for that matter be on this thread.

After killing the dragon who keeps burning my house down, why not.

This game should satisfy both extremes: the casual player that wants to slice things up and finish the game and the hardcoe RPG player that wants Skyrim to be a place with more than just average video-game depth where you can do what you want, how you want.

Thats kinda stupid

Well it was possible in Oblivion. Once I got out of the sewers with my recent Wood Elf character, I stayed in the Imperial City for awhile just robbing people's homes and shops for useful day to day items. After hitting up Divine Elegance, I had a nifty velvet outfit and some blue suede shoes for my self-proclaimed "Prince of Thieves". Whilst loitering about in the Waterfront, showing off to the little people, Armand Christophe's torch lit meeting caught my eye. There I joined the Guild and sold my stolen loot to the fences. Making a large profit, I got into the habit of betting on Arena fights and earning mounds of gold. I departed the big city with my eyes set on Bravil, seeking the Skooma trade as a new career choice. There, I bought a home and all it's furnishings for 8,000 septims. I worked with fellow Bosmer and friend, Nordinor for quite some time selling the drug to every pathetic junkie we could find at the Skooma Den. One day a deal went bad and I had to kill the crazy buggers. Nordinor got upset and sent me off to Chorrol for a vacation to get my head straight. Then I remebered the name "Jauffre". I packed my sack, stole a horse, and made a trip over to the priory. From that point, I started the main quest and redeemed my Skooma dealing scoundrel.

Most of that was improvised, as you probably noticed but my point here is there are a lot of things you can do to make whatever life style you want come to fruition. With a little role playing, you can choose a background, a home, a career, and a personality for your character. With extra options in Skyrim, such as cooking - farming - milling - etc, there is a broader sense of "My character is living a life of their own". But when everything boils down, it's all in the imagination.

I see that a lot of people are flaming here. It's perfectly acceptable to want to live a normal life in a fantasy setting. That's why the devs added jobs guys. The whole reason I play Oblivion to this day is because I can still come up with new make-believe scenarios for my character and have fun with them. The time to run around mindlessly killing dragons and doing quests is when it's new and exciting. Role playing helps entertainment value along with replay value significantly. Take away that aspect, and we might as well be playing CoD.

All the new crafting/ woodcutting/ farming should make this possible

I know lots of Bethesdite's love to do this kind of thing, and thats ok of course, but theres a pattern I have noticed over the years.People who have this desire tend to expect too much, and end up disappointed.The first week of release will most likely have this forum full of rage, over the little things that were expected by people who think the game is going to be near perfect.

I hope im wrong, but I remember the Oblivion rage all too well.I have observed the same expectation and disappointment with many other RPG's over the years.We can certainly expect a game of the year by the looks of things...but be careful friends, wait for a virtual reality headband to be released, (which will probably ruin the world) then you can really roleplay.

My friend told me a while ago, that he was keeping his Fallout NV room cleaner than his real life room.He is 25 years old and realized he had to re-think his attitude to gaming.A certain level of roleplay is harmless, but if it brings neglect to your real life you may have some sort of existential vacuum that needs to be addressed.I dont share his little problem but I understand it.

Disclaimer - I do not mean to annoy anyone, this is just something to think about.We fans of RPG's can get out of hand.

I like games that you can actually live in, as long as there's something to actually do as well.

I'd really like it, if only to change pace from constant combat. I don't find it boring if you roleplay and use a bit of suspension of disbelief. But sadly most hackhackhackslashslashslash kids doesn't seems to understand that.

Fighting hoards of monsters by myself? Killing someone with my bare hands just for looking at me funny? Getting high off of strange potion combinations? Sounds like a perfectly normal life to me.

While I'm all for the idea of actually roleplaying in an RPG, I don't think I could keep myself from going out on epic quests to slay dragons and what-not. Chilling at the local inn of some village for forty-five real minutes just sounds drab as hell, TBH.

Yeah, how nice would it be to http://krushworth.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/photo-rotk-frodo-baggins-a.jpg

With smithing, cooking, woodcutting etc. I think it will be possible too play a quite normal life. How long you will be able to do that without getting bored is at this point unknown.
It was far from possible in OB and MW, but I don't think the game will suffer from adding it. The motto of the game is actually be whomever you want so I'm suprised it wasn't included in OB.

Gonna cook me up some Skooma and stand reppin' my corner sellin' to all the addicts ya diiiiiiig?

I am a huge fan of TES and I like to have a game that is stimulating intellectually as well as having a physical thrill, optimising my skills and collecting unique items and managing my strategy, but I don't do much "roleplaying" in that I don't make up a story around my character. Does that stop me from being a nerd and make me a jock instead?


Well, it is BASICALLY a roleplaying game, but that doesn't mean you can't just relax and admire the world, or try a simple life. I would like to imagine that I live in Skyrim sometimes. It's just a fun little thing to do. You don't need in depth mechanics for it.

wow this topic has grown alot!:P
okey i think i explained the topic pretty bad. What i originally thought was that i was going to live a "normal" life, until i reached level 6-7 or so, then i might go out of the city and do some small sidequests. When i reach level 10 i probably will start the main mission!hope that explains it better:)
and yeah someone mentioned fishing, that would be really fun!playing texas hold em in red dead redemption is way to fun, its really like a game in it self. But think i will just start of working a bit while training with my sword, shadow fighting maybe, and just try to level up my character.then i will start with the main mission

Yo I'm waiting fo' thi' shi' mayun.

How will you gain levels by living a normal life?