My game playing time is very limited (children). Sometimes I might only manage 1 hour a week of actual ‘sit down and play’ time but I don’t want to give up on gaming entirely. I enjoy one or two ‘quick start’ games (Minecraft, Terraria, Borderlands) and have also skipped getting any really long games as I would just never get through them.

But I really like Skyrim. I’m only about 3 hours in but it’s definitely my kind of game. Trouble is, I’m also a pretty slow player exploring every nook and cranny and dabbling in every side quest/craft/skill I can try. An hour of game play usually means 10 minutes of remembering the controls and what I was doing last time, then repairing some weapons, selling some junk, starting a quest…oh time’s up for another week.

What would be the best ways to turn Skyrim into more of a stripped down, pick up and play type game? Think Skyrim: Slimline. I appreciate that Skyrim is a rich beast of a game and by cutting stuff out I am denying myself the true experience – but it is an experience that I will never have anyway as I just don’t have the time.

My ideas so far:

• Put game on easier setting so I can get through more (I have no qualms about this!)




• Just focus on the main storyline (or skip it and just try a guild instead?)




• Skip all crafting, potion-making, ingredient and materials gathering - anything I want I'll just have to buy.




• Keep my inventory to a minimum so I can just loot and sell. No time-consuming inventory management needed.




• Play as a sword and shield guy (usually what I prefer). This means I don’t need to learn lots of spells or keep switching between them just sneak and bash with sword/shoot arrows.

Would love any of your thoughts on this and if any of you have tried a similar thing.

A great way to speed up your game is to (as you have suggested) play on a low difficulty and ignore crafting.


You can fast travel as well, but this can lead you to miss out on some cool random caves/encounters. I would suggest using carriages as a more 'legitimate' form of fast travel as they only go to towns and you can still walk and explore from there.

I've already got tons of hours put in as I got the game when my kids were really young and used to go to bed early. So, I'd snag in 2 hours every other night. In my opinion, you can't even get started doing *anything* without setting aside 2 continuous hours. Now my kids are older (under 10) and I don't want to spend as much time on the 360. This is what I've done. It may or may not work for you, but just a suggestion.

Decide what kind of character you want to build when you start (build, race, alignment, psychological profile)... make sure that when you play you only do the things that you think that character would do. It helps cut down on time a lot.

I reserve about 4-5 hours a week split between two evenings max. Usually on Sunday nights (kids go to bed earlier since there's school in the morning... wife and I get to hang out Friday/Saturday nights) and Wednesday nights (school night, kids go to bed earlier because the day before they were up late due to sports and stuff... plus nothing happens on Wed night). On those two nights, I give myself 2 - 2.5 hours. Typically, it takes a whole hour just to get my inventory organised (bartering, mixing potions, etc.) and take care of minor in-town quests. Then I have approx. 1 - 1.5 hours to get cracking on major quests that I have queued up or questlines that I'm really trying to finish for my character... this mixed in with a bit of exploring.

I really means that you'll draw out your game for ages (I've been working on a stealth build/wood elf/assassin/thief for several months now and have just hit level 36) so you have to be patient. I kind of look at it like building a model airplane. I know I'll eventually complete it, but it takes time and has to be done in small steps with lots of prep work.

What I've noticed is that it makes those few hours even more enjoyable and I'm less inclined to rush things. If I don't get done what I want to get done in one session, so be it, I always surprise myself with what I did get accomplished in the short time anyway.

I would fast travel, yes walking around is immersive but also an giant time sink so if you want to maximum game play / hour do it.

And yes doing the main quest fairly early is an good idea. Do the companion questline, its fast and fun, you can also do the college but it might not fit your character. Thief guild is pretty long so I would wait with it.

Just do what I do. Fore go sleep for gaming. I have six kids with one more on the way. I went to bed last night, woke up at 2 am and played BG for 3 hours. Went back to bed til 7am. Now it's time for work.