okay all I'm new to this companies games and have a few questions

What makes this game so good
How is combat
How is levelling

I will update to ad questions thanks in advance

No one can tell you what Skyrim is.

You have to see it for yourself.

True. Its something you have to experience for yourself OP.

What makes it good? - Everything.
How is the combat? - Simple but great.
How is leveling? - Better than the previous games but could be improved.

Hear, hear.

You just have to play it for yourself to find out.

The exploration is what makes this game so good. You have the freedom to run anywhere, to do anything. You can choose what to do, and when to do it, and it's entirely possible to play for hundreds of hours without doing a single quest. When you're standing in the frozen ice wastes of the north, you feel an entire world away from the tundra of Whiterun hold. Every location has a new feeling, a new 'vibe'. And every location is beautiful in it's own way.

Combat is simple, but fine. It's a bit heavy on the hack-and-slash, but killcams, the variety of weapons keep it fresh.

Levelling is different to past TES games, but maintains the same functions. When you 'level up', you gain a new perk to invest into a skill tree. Investing in the one-handed skill can give you more damage, or allow you to specialise in swords, maces or axes. Investing in the smithing skill will allow you to craft a new variety of weapons and armour. At higher levels you become quite powerful - but that's the point, right? Becoming stronger and more experienced should allow you to easily beat enemies.

I absolutely believe that Skyrim deserves to be 'Game of the Generation'. At the end of the day, very, very few games are still addictive, fresh and hugely entertaining after a thousand hours. Not to mention the vibrant modding community, which will allow this game, like it's predecessors, to still be played daily in ten years and beyond.

You should play it and make your own conclusion.

It was voted the greatest game of this generation?

I don't know why either.

If I had to pick what I'd consider the greatest game of this generation, it'd become a tossup between Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, and Red Dead Redemption.

The exploration and open world is what makes skyrim great imo, The combat is simple and nothing special yet I find it very fun and satisfying

Also TES have very cool lore

When you say something is "great" as in, Alexander the Great, or Victoria the Great, it's not a judgement of good or evil, but whether that something had a great influence on others. In that sense, Hitler was great, so was Napolean etc.

So the greatest game of the generation is CoD, which proved that the lowest common denominator approach that worked so well for TV, movies, and music works well for games too. In that sense, Skyrim is also great because it implemented the LCD approach to RPGs and proved that as long as it's got a shiny wrapper, the masses will lap up anything and worship it.

wait.. when was Skyrim voted "greatest game"?

Consider this: the game came out two years ago. The last DLC, about a year ago. The forum for Skyrim is still heavily visited. Most two-year-old games, the forums would be nearly deserted by now.

I would like to know what definition "generation" we are talking about. I'm assuming a video game "generation" is shorter than a human "generation." If so, by how much? Without knowing the span we're talking about it is hard to agree or disagree, in my opinion.

A "generation" in the Elder Scrolls series might be said to be about five years. It might be less for other series. My own choice for "Greatest Game of this Generation" would change with the amount of time I take into account.

I think a video game generation is about 4 years. Roughly the life span of a console. I give about a year after the console is released since it usually takes that long for the game developers to figure out most of the nuances of a console and then be able to make the most of that console. On the PC side I think it is anywhere from 1 day to 6 months depending on the latest hardware is released.

So that likely means each TES game might be considered the greatest game of their generation.

The hours i spend playing Skyrim.

The Red Dead Redemption forums lasted two years...but its dead now..

I'd say this generation covers 2004 to present (pretty much the time of the Wii, PS3, and Xbox360), with the next generation having already started with the launch of the WiiU, but picking up steam now that the PS4 and Xbox One are hitting markets.

This generation (as in console cycle) of games was rather poor. Skyrim is great for its life simulation, sandbox character development, hiking simulation and dungeon crawling.

Freedom, open world, smooth gameplay, rich lore, great modding community.

Skyrim gives you the ability to go anywhere, do anything and be anyone. It gives you the ability to be an Altmer (high elf) warrior, an Orsimer (Orc) mage, a Redguard theif. Everything you do is done by you, your character. You shape the world and the world shapes you. You can fight a room full of the undead, learn a shout, fight a dragon then go home to you room full of books and your loving wife and children. You can fight on the side of good, or under the shadow of darkness. The only limit for your adventure, is your imagination.

Not really.

How "not really" tell me how skyrim does not allow us to do all of this. Tell me how I can not go anywhere and shape the world as the world shapes me? Tell me how I can't have an Orc mage or an Altmer warrior!

Can't make spells despite seeing others do such things.

Can't marry anyone you wish, even if they are single.

Can't build a house in Winterhold, thereby shaping the land.

Cannot raze cities to the ground or kill certain NPCs.

Can't go into certain places until a quest says its okay, despite being an expert in lockpicking and even having unbreakable lockpicks.

Can't say "No" to most Daedric quests.

Can't knock on anybody's door.

Need I go on?

Edit: Forgot a big one! You can't sabotage the economy, a feature that was promoted at E3 the year Skyrim was released.

You also can't use magic on a horse.

There a faults yes, but from a game the size of skyrim, you have to expect it.

^^^^^^^THIS and then some