And something they most defenitely have. After all, the OP was simply reiterating aspects of games they have already created.

I want your children.


Precisely.

I usually go every guild in Oblivion if I'm not Roleplaying. If I'm Roleplaying then I'll only join certain guilds that fit my character. I may join all the guilds but I might not advance through them all like the Thieves guild or the Mages Guild.

Fallout 3 I've started to limit myself as to what Perks I should pick. Have Comprehension but only pick up 5 skill books per skill.

Now for Skyrim my 1st character will do everything and join all groups if possible. My next couple though will be more choosing as to what I go with Guild wise and or gameplay wise.

I've actually created quite a few characters in Oblivion, and Morrowind as well, though it may have something to do with the fact that I DON'T generally become the head of all factions with the same character, even though I know I could, mainly because I don't want to. I try to use role-playing logic in my faction choices, so that I only join the Mages Guild if my character uses magic, for example, and a law abiding knight won't join the Dark Brotherhood. I also never manage to hold my interest in a character long enough to finish everything I could with that character, I might even end up wanting to start a new character before finishing everything I planned, that's not to say that I'm constantly restarting, it's just that there's just so much to do in any given Elder Scrolls game that whether it's because I've already become so powerful that nothing in the game can challenge me, and therefore it becomes boring (Which happened to my last Morrowind character to finish the main quest. I kept playing until I finished the main quest, but after that, I just didn't feel like there was any point in going on.) or it's just plain old losing interest.

I'm certainly not arguing here, I do realize that with the way Oblivion is structured, you can very well finish all the game's content with one character, leaving little reason to replay it, it's just that, with the way I tend to play the game, things don't generally work out that way.

Though I certainly wouldn't complain about Bethesda trying to enhance the replay value of Skyrim, after all, anything that allows me to get more out of the game I paid for without actually needing to pay for additional content can't be a bad thing, and if Radiant Story works as we've been told it will, it should have that effect. Because it supposedly ensures that depending on your choices, your experience with each character will be different, this addresses a problem I have with quite a few RPGs, especially more linear ones. While you can make major choices in certain places, which may even lead to multiple endings, I often don't feel like it's worth replaying the game for these alone, at least not immediately, because the events between the places where you have to make choices tend to play out more or less the same way pretty much every time. Hopefully, Radiant Story can ensure that the game is different all the time depending on how you play it, not just in key places. I wouldn't necessarily say I expect that as I don't want to get too excited about Radiant Story, in case it becomes a dissappointment, but I'm saying IF it lives up to what it seems Bethesda wants us to think it is.

Now, in terms of skills, while it sounds like you can still maximize every skill per character, I think perks will help to keep each playthrough unique, since it sounds like you might only get perks up to level 50, thus, with any character, there's going to be a lot of perks you won't be able to choose, so you could pontentially choose a different set of perks each time, ensuring that each character's abilities would be different in some ways even if you maximized all skills on each of them.

For the most part true, but I find it worth mentioning that a mission in the Thieves Guild got you expelled from the Mage's Guild (for killing one of their members). I don't recall his name, but it's the only quest (afaik) where you're allowerd to kill someone for the thieves guild (the Arrow of Extrication quest, the arrow head). I just thought this was an unfortunate overlook by Bethesda.

I actually don't mind quest-lines overlapping, especially in Skyrim where it's more tailored towards making a new character for each playstyle rather than using the same character for all styles (and thus joining all guilds) - due to how the perks work. But at the same time, the fact that you got expelled from the Mage's Guild clearly showed that the guilds are omniscient and there's no way that you can infiltrate a guild or do things "outside of view" of your handlers. I really hope this has been improved in Skyrim, because in Oblivion this was kinda silly at times.

That would keep you from joining the Mage's Guild, BEFORE joining the Thieves' Guild, but compared to the contortions you were forced through in Morrowind to even have the vaguest shot at avoiding faction conflict that's entirely minuscule.

I think there has been a slight misinterpretation of Maxwell's thread (maybe due to it's volume). I don't think he is being over-anolytical or objectively comparative towards contemporary RPG games, he is only trying to highlight certain aspects and acknowledge different qualities between said games and how each one 'balances' itself out in general, to which I partially agree with (on certain points).

My only concern is with Skyrim's Radiant Story, I think we (the forumers and TES fans) may be slightly disappointed if it's not all it's cracked up to be (partially due to our own over-hyping of the program). Can we expect that RS will produce a myriad of different quests with different playthroughs on different chacracters? No, I suspect it's going to be a slight variation of the 'same' mission redressed in a different flavour.. that's fine as long as the other parts of the game (ie. dungeon-crawling, hunting, farming, exploring... etc) keeps the world varied and interesting for us to get 'lost' in... only time will tell I guess.

PS. Maxwell, you should drop the 'Fool' from your name bud, it doesn't suit you

My intention is multiple play through sessions, with different characters. I am hoping some of the factions will be clan, or tribal related, and that association with them will allow for certain logistical applications, as well as opening possibilities for personal relationships within that organization.

Yes. This.

And I don't mind if some of the different clans/guilds/factions quests directly clashed with each other forcing the player to play through with more than one character to see what happens.

Thanks for the defense and compliment.

I try not to think Radiant Story will be amazing. They said that they don't want to overuse it (as they did with Radiant AI in Oblivion). I think that's very good. This way, the game won't feel as hollow as games with lots procedurally generated quests (coughcough DAGGERFALL). However, there might not be as much versatility in the system as they've implied. What if I kill the shopkeepers sister? Will her cousin show up? And if I kill him? Will their grandmother show up? And what if I've explored every dungeon in the game and none have had a chance to reset? Will it just not have the quest available? Will it respawn creatures in the nearest dungeon? There are just too many uncertainties to be... well... certain..... Blech. Taking what we've heard on good faith, and assuming that it doesn't somehow get screwed up, we should be safe assuming that it will be a substantial improvement to some content, or else a minor improvement to almost all content, or else both. It'll be interesting to see if I can go, 'RADIANT STORY IS AT WORK HERE!!!!!' while playing, or if it'll be subtle and consistent enough for me to play and just assume that Radiant Story is always working (not always a good thing).

Also interested to see how guides are handled for quests if quests randomize. Or will they randomize from a list? Will there be a finite number of possibilities? After I wear out all intended entertainment in the game, I'm going to push the limits of radiant story, just like I did with Radiant AI. Oh, you need to be here at this time? Sweet, what if there's a bookcase in front of the door?

Off Topic: This name is much older than me (it's about 42 years old). I wouldn't feel right changing it. It'd be an insult to these four fab guys that I think are really gear. Although..... With two of them dead, and those two being my favorites, I doubt that there could be TOO much backlash

Don't have time to read through your whole post now, but I will sometime later. For now, my answer to the main question: I intend on playing through the main quest on one character, then playing around with some different play styles (very short games to test stuff out), then making a 'main' character that I'll put... well... I don't want to admit how many hours into.

Even after I have my main though, I'll still play around a bit with other character types. It's what I did for Morrowind and Oblivion.

It all depends on the content they give me. If the game feels more simplified, then it will only be 1-2 playthroughs.
If gameplay is less simplified than Oblivion, I will see more playthroughs.

And to judge right now which direction it is going is difficult. It appears to be more simplified in some aspects, but improved in others, which only complicates my opinion.

I usually make an Orc Sorcerer or Battlemage, an Imperial Knight, and then an Argonian Assassin. My assassin is the ONLY character that joins ALL factions, as I roleplay that being an assassin, and in charge of the local chapter of the dark brotherhood, he would want to infiltrate every faction, pretending NOT to be an assassin, just so nobody would discover his true nature..

I always have multiple characters. I always do an all magic, a thief, a warrior, and a few random ones like a skooma addict or a demon(with the crazy stupid mods).

AND, you can't have all the perks,. This will result in multiple playthroughs, (one focusing axe, one mace, one daggers etc.)

Yeah, I made that point in the OP.

I don't understand why people are just responding with stories about how they play. The idea was to get an actual dialog going on the issues presented, rather than people just going, 'I play this way, and don't give a damn about all of that complicated stuff that you outlined there.'

Just reinforcing the truth in my sig I guess -.-