After a while, I finally got my hands on the game. Don't worry, I'll keep this post spoiler-free just in case, even though I'd wish to explain how awesome the beginning was.
I'm quite new to TES as well. At first, that dragon-like creature seemed like an awesome character. I decided to go with a Nord in the last second though.
I felt in love with the environments quickly. The gameplay and inventory system just feel right. I tried to sneak up on a bear, but he spotted me. I was like ''oh [censored]'' at first, but the big bad bear wasn't as tough as he looked. When I was free to explore Skyrim on my own, I came across a bandit camp, kicked a few wolves in a mouth and dropped them into a river, tried to chase down a rabbit till I eventually landed in Riverwood and talked to some people.

It was awesome. No other game in this world lets you be part of the game world as Skyrim. It svcked me in. I'm now part of Skyrim. When I play this, it's like a meditation. I simply forget everything in my real live and become part of the game.

Just wanted to share it with you. How did you guys start?

Very Minor Spoiler Alert.


I just went in a bee line east, ended up in Riften, joined the joined the Theives Guild all totally by accident!

Wait until you run into them in the real world, not the tutorial area.

The "dragon-like creature" is called Argonian and is an awesome race to play.

After leaving the keep I moved on to clearing a nearby mine, then went to Riverwood and started stealing everything that wasn't nailed down. With hidsight, this might not have been such a good idea: when I woke up the next day I was greeted not by the morning sun, but by three hired thugs hungry for my blood. Apparently, certain citizen of Riverwood was less than pleased with losing his shiny coins. Oh well. Life of a sneak-thief.

And bears are much more dangerous than dragons, I'm telling you.

Spend another three hours straight playing. And I'm still at the beginning of the game. I barely made some story progress.
In other games, I'd be 40% trough already.

this is why most games made today are bad and this one is good... you will not beat this game this week. when others you would have been done the day you brought it home
( i'm talking bout you mass effect)

Yea I'm 120 hours in and I still have so much left to do, I'll probably hit 300 hours before I feel satisfied that I've done all I want to.

You could very easily beat the main quest line in a week, hell you could do it in a day. It’s not that long. It’s getting side tracked by all of the 1,000 other things that make the game very time consuming. I would suggest taking your time and exploring as much as you can do as many side quests as you want and possibly join one of the guilds. The Main quest isn’t going anywhere, so take your time and full enjoy the experience.

I take it this is your first time playing Elder Scrolls? The previous two, Morrowind and Oblivion, were both huge games, and Skyrim (I think) is even bigger. I must have sunk more than 500 hours into Oblivion across multiple playthroughs. I'm trying to do everything in one playthrough this time around, and I'm expecting around 150 hours of gameplay (bearing in mind I'm playing reasonably fast).

That's what I like about the Elder Scrolls series. If you want to follow the main quest, you can do that. But if you stumble upon a cave that looks interesting, you can exlore it and come back to the main quest when you see fit.
I do not like quests/missions that have to completed in "15 minutes" or you lose, like some other games.
You might also find a nice side quest while searching the cave or someone that wants you dead. It's up to you how you play and the best part of the game if you ask me.

100 hours in and i think im only halfway the mainquest
all the butterflies and sidequest are so distracting
havent even touched the civil war questline yet

Welcome to the world of Skyrim
It does have a knack of svcking you in and before you know it..days pass and all you can think of is getting your next fix of this Epic game.

120 hours in now and still going strong on one character, i`ve had no boredom or loss of interest at all so far, quite amazed i`ve not reached burnout to be honest.
Completed the main quest ages ago and now wrapping up the civil war stuff, then i can get back to roaming the lands again