Hey all~~

I had a question for you fine folks.

How do you regain interest in Skyrim?

I stopped playing for months, and came back and I was just so incredibly bored. Being on PC, I got a few of the 'essentials' in terms of mods like SkyUI, texture/lighting/graphical stuff, etc., but it still didn't fix it.

I'm still facing this problem! I just can't get into the game like when I first played it on 11/11/11.

Should I try to keep playing my original character, or make a new one? I'm on the fence here. I feel like making a new one will be easier to get attached to as jumping into my original/old character feels like I downloaded a save or something because it's been so long. But at the same time, when I try to make a new one I just end up exiting the game because I get bored doing things I've already done and seen before.

The problem is I never finished the main story/civil war line/Dawnguard/or Dragonborn. But I have them all. Not to mention the mod Falskaar, which is basically a DLC in it's own right. I want to play the main story, Dawnguard, Dragonborn, and Falskaar to have some closure on all of their stories but I just can't gain the interest to delve back into the world of Skyrim again.

Sorry this is kind of rambly and repetitive, and I apologize for such an inherently annoying thread. I just need help! I want to finish this game and experience all the stories, I just can't gain interest or focus in the game, I get bored after a few minutes. I don't know why.

Maybe the game just isn't for you, there's nothing wrong with that. Put the game down for a while (again) and if you feel like it, try it again later. Just don't force yourself to play a game your not enjoying.

I agree with BarrettsFloyd.

But I've been there as well. I lost interest for a long while. I would definitely start a new character. Take the time to think about what kind of character you would like to play. Maybe even get some new quest mods.

Do you have all DLCs? And what about the Unofficial Skyrim Patches? That would surely help.

I second that and understand. I personally have over a thousand hours on one character and moved to PC to mod the game the way I wanted it. I started a second character and got him to level 16 I think and have lost interest and not played for a few months. I can't pick up either one right now and I even tried to go back to Oblivion and played one session then ... nothing. Right now I'm playing a variety of other games and eventually plan on returning to Skyrim. Burnout is not a terrible thing and sometimes it takes awhile to get the itch back. Stay loose, have fun with something else for a while and you'll know when it's time to jump back into Tamriel.

I lost interest right before Saint's Row 4 came out, so it has been keeping me busy. One of the best ways to get drawn into the game is role-playing. I'm not a role-player myself but I can see how it adds immersion to the game. So, if you really want to get invested in the game, familiarize yourself with TES lore, then create a character that YOU are interested in, with a backstory and everything. Of course, like Floyd said the game may simply not be for you, so keep that in mind.

If you need to find ways to regain interest, you're just forcing yourself to play it. Just find a different game and have fun.

Loosing interest isn't uncommon.
I'll let ya know how I rekindled the excitement;
Obviously took a long break, meaning months. Then I actually tried RPing in Skyrim ( all ways did it in Fallout) because I could never do it before in this game- long story.
Anyway, this time I decided I was going to do these certain things-
-dark elf
-neutral evil
- mainly a thief who actually scopes out his homes to burglarize(wearing disguises while doing reconicence)
- no heavy weapons or armor
-no magic(unless ABSOLUTELY needed)
-try to sneak past/ as many fights as possible(very very fun)
-only doing certain quests that make sense for my character- as in no Companions guild
Hmm what else
Oh, sleep once a day(hard to remember since I'm on Xbox and no mods to require that type of thing)
-also eating when I remember
-checking in on towns/ settlements I like to ensure they are doing ok(small tasks like opening a mine for the people etc)

And here is probably the biggest thing that will keep you occupied- NO FAST TRAVEL!!
If you walk to all your destinations you will be amazed by the amount of stuff you miss by using FT. I had a char that I was done with @ 80 hrs that used FT.
My new char that walks everywhere is at 75 hrs and hasn't done HALF of what my other character did.

Believe me, walk to places and I'm willing to bet that you will have a better experience.

Also, try to take your time with things. Do simply rush from quest to quest. Take the time to go reorganize you home or prepare for the next task/ quest ahead of you.

I understand losing interest all too well. I don't think there's any way to get back that initial excitement like we all felt on 11-11-11 short of memory loss but there are certainly some great mods out there to try out. If you haven't played through the DLC I would highly reccomend doing so as they are quite enjoyable (I personally loved Dragonborn the most despite the short quest line) and there are some really good explorable mods from the community like http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9782/? and http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/37994/?. As others have suggested you can try making a new character and playing it a different way and/or roleplaying it. You could also get into taking screenshots and sharing them with the community over at the http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1470751-show-us-your-screenshots-97/; there's a number of people there who like to tell their character's story through pictures and they take some cool shots! There's a few different ways to play Skyrim so just try different things and see what you enjoy.

At the end of the day though if you find yourself just not enjoying the game anymore you don't have to play it. We all get burned out eventually, some of us more frequently than others, but there's nothing stopping you from coming back in a few months to try it again.

If you're coming back, I suggest going all out on the mods that make the game harder for you. At some point, even without crafting exploits, legendary is just too easy so the game becomes boring. Install mods with more monsters, and enhance enemy AI along with higher level enemies. Make the game a challenge. I would avoid mods that make the player too powerful, though mods that add spells and balanced enhancements are good.

Another suggestion is to try stuff you've never done, like be a crazed assassin who randomly kills guards or NPCs at night for no reason, but is normal in the daytime. Since you have PC, you can always resurrect them. Have you gone into all the orc strongholds? I've only gone into one so far, Skyrim is so big that it's hard to do everything you can do.

Just do what the rest of us are gonna do...

/stop playing Skyrim

/buy GTA V

/play GTA V Online

/go back to Skyrim after several months

WINNING

1) Rest a bit from the game.

2) Roleplay your next playthought.

3) Roleplay your next playthought + use mods that enhances that.

4) Roleplay your next playthought + use mods that enhances that, and go thought any good questmod you find (and there are a lot...).

Nothing much really to add to the above responses except to reinforce the importance of Role Play and Immersion.

If these things are important to you, and as you mentioned modding, then consider using mods that you may not be currently using that have the potential to add to your immersion. E.g. Realistic Needs and Diseases, Convenient Horses to avoid Fast Travel and to make your journeys more interesting etc. With a world as vast and rich as Skyrim you can quite happily divest yourself of the main plot entirely.

I am playing Skyrim again after a lengthy hiatus with the Mass Effect trilogy. I was becoming bored and discontented with that series so put it down as I didn't want to sour any future experiences. I am using the same character as my first playthrough - just doing things differently this time round.