With Elder Scrolls games I usually play my first character by the book, doing the main quest and whatever side quests I run into as I level up to God mode level of skills and gear. After that I like to go back and role play low powered characters. The hedge mage/poacher/street punk that do the apprentice level rat hunts.

For this I found that Morrowind was the best simply because of the sheer number of quests you could play and the little tricks in the gameplay mechanics like low powered one mana point spells you could custom make. Oblivion the gameplay wasn't as favourable but, because of the levelled monsters, there was a huge number of quests and dungeons you could explore as a low level character.

In Skyrim they added a lot of flavour options for a peasant play through like gathering crops and chopping firewood to earn money but, this may just be a personal experience thing, it seems to me all the quests start out at the journeyman rather than apprentice level if you get my drift. You get sent out, right from the start, hunting bandits, undead and even dragons rather than low powered critters. From there you level up pretty quickly and I never really could capture the feel of some young kid with a sling shot and rusty pocket knife trying to get his start in the world.

I was just wondering, am I missing something here or is this a common experience for everyone else?

Skyrim is just much more dangerous. Even if you don't play as a dragonborn, you're still having to deal with huge wild animals and big strong mans that want to tear you to pieces. I guess you could hire a merc and let them do the killing, and if they get knocked down you could run away.

No it's the same many times I get bored and sigh so I get back to Oblivion Morrowind or Fallout to play I felt like SKyrim is lacking compared to the rest of TES game and they put the main focus in the main quest (which is norma;) and the graphics sure it's pretty but I miss the creative and hilarious quests and things from Oblivion and morrowind so far SOlstheim sis the only good expansion ATM.

I get what you're saying totally. You never really are given the chance to get used to the game and feel like a low level character or enjoy simple things. I mean, the first main story quest involves you finding a golden claw gripped by bandits, a huge spider that can two shot you, drauger, skeleton, and more. You have to dodge traps, avoid fire, climb up the side of a huge ass mountain... that's the first half hour of the game past the tutorial. About an hour after that and you're already fighting dragons. Like, whaaaat is going on?

You could argue that Oblivion was no better but, in my opinion, it was. You're first quest was a simple 'bring X to Y', this case being the amulet to Joffrey. It was easy enough and gave you the chance to explore and possibly do quests in the Imperial City right off the bat. I loved that. There was encouragement to explore before going. You're next quest? Go to Kavach. Yes, the world exploded into chaos once you got there but, hopefully, by then you were no loner that low of a character because of all the side crap you were able to do before then to get your bearings. No such dealio in Skyrim.

You might like this http://www.pcgamer.com/uk/2011/12/10/the-elder-strolls-part-1-fresh-off-the-boat/ It's possible (especially with mods) to booble around mining and picking flowers and running away from wolves, but as Nordrick discovered, the game really does like to throw Adventure at you. I played for a bit as a non-adventurer who just wanted to save up enough for somewhere to live (I did an alt start mod which bypasses the first bit of the main quest so if you save up 10k septims you can just buy Breezehome) and buy fire salts to impress the hot blacksmith in Riften so he'd marry her (realised after starting down that path that I could have just not bothered with the buying a home goal, although I think if you move in with Balimund you have to take turns sleeping in the single bed...) All was going well, doing a bit of smithing, a bit of hunting, nothing much more questy than 'can you pick up a thing from Shor's Stone?' and then getting to Shor's Stone and offering to kill a few spiders in the mine. Then I bought a horse and rode over the low path on the north bit of the Throat of the World, ran into a troll, a khajiit skooma dealer, a thief, a random dude who just attacked me, and a team of three 'soldiers' who had suspiciously bandity dialogue all in the space of about a mile.

Well, you do have mudcrabs, rabbits, foxes, and deer for lower levels. Unfortunately interspersed with them are wolves, bandits, Giants, bears, spiders, and such. No, there really is no "low level" content for players to partake in. It would be cool if they did have something like a sling that you could use

I suppose you could try chopping wood, picking crops, and mining for ore in some places until you can afford a bow and then go out amongst the harsh environment that is Skyrim, but really, there are no "Journeyman Quests", as you say. That really is sad, in my opinion.

I'm not sure you're getting the point I was trying to make. The way the game is balanced you start out being able to deal with bandits and undead quite easily. If you've played a bit, even the first dragon will be an easy kill. This is great if you prefer to roleplay the main hero type. It lets you skip the "rat hunt" levels and get on to the serious business. Personally though I get more of a buzz from killing a rat with a rusty pocket knife and three hit points to spare than killing a god when my health bar never drops below half full.

I've tried this a few times using the alternate start mod from the workshop. A days worth of chopping (15-20 minutes real world) and you can afford a full set of steel armor! Even using the option to get dropped down at a random spot in the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on your back wasn't very challenging. I was able to punch several wolves to death with my bare hands without even using the fire spell you start with. About the only time it got tough was when I got dropped down in the Reach and had to hit and run a Forlorn camp to get my first weapon.

I guess I'm just kvetching but I do miss pearl diving with a chitin spear to save up the money for my first set of armor;).

I know what you mean. The big problem to me with Skyrim is the level based XP requirements for leveling which makes the early levels go by so fast. And, of course, you can't fool with the process with misc. skills since everything counts.

On the other hand, you can make a focused character that stops leveling around level 20 and that's pretty low level by Skyrim standards. I've done this with both Destruction and 2Hand and it works; you are relatively strong and you meet mostly basic enemies but you are still vulnerable to bosses. The only downside is that it can get boring once you stop progressing although this doesn't bother me too much since I get bored with any character by level 30 anyway.

Since you mentioned you use mods, let me recommend you check out Requiem. It offers a very challenging early game experience, in my opinion.

Skyrim has a fairly constant difficulty "curve" - more of a flat line, actually, with a few spikes at various levels. Levels 1-10, you're able to deal with most things. In the mid-teens, you start seeing harder stuff that can hurt if you aren't careful. Then it gets easier again around level 20, after which there's another little spike.

Requiem on the other hand starts you off facing a vertical brick wall, with just a few handholds that you can barely make out. You earn those early levels, and feel flush with pride when you can take on 3 wolves at once.

By the 20s, in Requiem you'll probably feel pretty OP. My long-term Requiem character was a mage who really struggled early on, but got insanely powerful later... which feels just about right.

The only issue is, Requiem doesn't do touch the quests. In other words, you'll spend your early levels doing freeform stuff around Whiterun - fighting mudcrabs, wolves, bandits - so you can get tough enough to handle the rest of the (unlevelled) world. Bleak Falls Barrow in Requiem is a zombie mosh pit, and it's decidedly *not* level-one content. So you may find yourself holding off on doing big questlines, which can get annoying.

Depends on how much you like to stick with characters for the long-term, I guess. Me, by level 20 or 25 I start to feel done with most characters. If I have to wait that long to feel like a hero, it can rankle sometimes.

Playing as a "regular Joe or Jane" seems to only work for a little while. I had a great time wandering the country side for a few hours, picking flowers and taking odd jobs to earn enough gold for a room at the end and a loaf of bread. I died to about every wolf that crossed my path and got so many diseases I had to spent most of my earnings on potions. A that point, I was wondering how anyone in Skyrim survived, with the bears, wolves, and bandits (so many bandits) hiding around every corner. Next thing I know, I'm one shotting everything I come across. Just not a very even experience.

I understand what you mean perfectly. I've noticed that over-powered sense is mostly present with melee and spells, though. The bumbling beginner is still there in developing archers.

Amateur archers take a long time to pull back their strings and kill their targets. I still feel a nice progression system by being an archer that I felt in Oblivion, Morrowind, Daggerfall, and Arena; one even starts with a weak longbow. I'd like it to be a bit weaker, but it's all right in its current state. Honestly, compared to reality, beginners nock rather fast. But for game-play it's very enjoyable.

Maybe I'm wrong, but you can tell me what you think.