Greetings Forum,

I have been weighing this decision for some time now, and have decided to speak up. We are all very excited for Skyrim, and many of us are quite looking forward to learning more (14 pages more!) from the upcoming GI spread about the game. But I've been doing some thinking lately ( :cryvaultboy: ) and I'm not so sure I'll be joining in on that feast of information with you all. Take a seat by the fire, and I'll share my story. :violin:

I entered the world of Morrowind with no preconceptions about what I would find there. I remember coming out of that Census office and finding Fargoth's ring, wandering around the swamp and seeing some poor guy fall out the sky (and getting his awesome stuff), hearing the moan of the Silt Strider and having no [censored] clue what that thing was (I travel in THAT?). With almost every step I took came realizations that broadened the experience: I can pick these? I can steal that? I can kill her? I can jump there? I can't outrun those ( :dead: )? I fell in love, and it pained me to have to wait for the next installment of this eye-opening series.

So when Oblivion was announced, I went crazy. I joined these forums and jumped right into speculation. As information was released I basked in every piece of it, as tho these scraps were my only source of warmth in the cold fog of my ignorance. How many cities are there? What factions can we join? How do we join them? What's the main quest about? How does magic work? How does melee work? What is lockpicking like? What kind of dungeons are there? :ahhh: By the time I got the game and sat down to play it I knew all these things. Now, I love Oblivion, and I'm not looking to make this an issue about which game is 'better'. What I'm driving at here is the experience that helps define TES games in my eyes: discovery. Morrowind and Oblivion present the player with an immensely realized world, and let the player explore aspects of that world at their own pace. A big part of that experience, I think, is learning the kinds of things one can do in this world, and that sense of personal discovery is worth a lot to me. In my approach to Oblivion, I essentially robbed myself of that by learning so much before-hand. Of course I didn't know every detail, but I did have a great sense of the structure of this world before I ever even entered into it (gameplay, quest system, etc.). There was no suspense when I killed a civilian and was told that my actions had been observed by forces unknown: I knew those forces, I was consciously trying to enter the Dark Brotherhood. It didn't surprise me that Kvatch, a major city on the game map, was under attack; I even knew what it was going to be like from gameplay demos I'd seen before. Ayleid ruins were no mystery for me, I had seen their traps and architecture long ago. I didn't care at the time, but years later I'm thinking seriously about what it is I get out of these games, and I feel like the kind of information I so hungrily devoured out of anticipation muted my initial experience with Oblivion, as compared to my virgin experience of Morrowind.

In a way then this is my farewell to these forums, as they are now. I'm not super-active, but I've often observed and enjoyed our shared enthusiasm for this fantastically unique series. I came back as soon as Skyrim was announced, knowing that here I'd be amongst my truest gaming peers. I'm happy to have been a part of some fun discussions with the generally respectful and intelligent crowd occupying this little corner of the internets. I may pop in sometime before release to try to get some spoiler-free technical information (I'm considering building a PC for Skyrim, but I want to still play it on my TV with a controller; I'll need to know for instance if the UI would/would not be friendly to this), but I'm going to have to do some epic not-reading if I'm going to maintain my ignorance. It's going to require a lot of Willpower (:P) to avoid info this whole year, but I suspect it will be worth it to see Skyrim with a fresh set of eyes come 11/11/11. In this case, for me at least, ignorance is simultaneously bliss and torture :sadvaultboy: .

If you took the time to read this whole thing, I appreciate it. Let's look forward to continuing our adventures in Tamriel come November, and sharing our experiences with Skyrim in the future.

:foodndrink:

I agree. Morrowind seemed so exciting. The first time I killed a civilian I was so terrified that the guards would actually take note of the body. But alas my willpower is not a strong as yours... I will read everything :sadvaultboy:

I will watch trailers and such to see what it looks like, but I'm not worried about having the whole experience spoiled because the game should be enormous. I will avoid written articles however and stick to screens and trailers.

I also want to jump totally spoiler-free into Skyrim. Once GI issue is available, and I get to read it I'll leave the forums and I won't read any preview, watch a video or look at a picture until the game is out. GameInformer article will be the only info about Skyrim I'll ever read, after all, it's 14 pages of it, I think that is enough.

I'll pre-order it on Steam ASAP too, I trust Bethesda so they won't disappoint me, making my pre-order totally worth it
I'll even try to avoid the GI hub on their website. And try to focus on another highly anticipated game that I like so I can forget anything I read about Skyrim.

Yes, this is a tempting route. :conundrum:

Just keep healing yourself, you'll get it up! ;P



Indeed, there is no way the whole experience could get spoiled. What I'm trying to describe has something more to do with the feeling of entering a new world, free of prior conception.

First of all, very nice use of smilies. I think you are partly correct, but one thing that you will never have again is the complete discovery of The Elder Scrolls world. I'm guessing Morrowind was your first TES game (as it was mine) and I had similiar experiences and was completely blown away by the game. The fact that you could go anywhere, pick anything up, join so many factions, crazy. Thing is, all these things we take for granted in an elder scrolls game now, so that will never return as a new experience. Granted I'm assuming Skyrim will bring something new to the table, and that you will of course experience more freshly than fx. me, but don't expect an experience AS fresh as Morrowind was .

I also played Morrowind without having any info on what it was going to be like. It was awesome.

I'm not going to skip this first batch of info, but I won't be keeping up with tons of previews afterwards.

I did the exact same thing you did, except I played oblivion without knowing anything and as soon as I heard of Skyrim I joined the forums lol. Just look at my join date. This OP kinda scares me a little, makes me think Skyrim might not live up to my hype

But then I realize Its bethesda, so yeah

This is poignant, and worth noting in this context as I think it contributes greatly to that sense of 'discovery' and 'exploration' that was so profoundly a part of Morrowind for me. Alas, it is almost certainly impossible to capture that again. :RIP Innocence:

I am exactly in the same boat at you, Morrowind was my first ES and starting it knowing nothing about it apart from the guy at EB games disreccomended it to me twice, before I took the leap and tried it anyway.

I don't think i can resist from collecting every scrap of info about it, cuz waiting4oblivion was among the most memorable moments of my gamer's life, but if you manage to stay fresh, i'd LOVE to hear from you and read your potential review when you get the game. will be nice at that point to hear a freash perspective on the game!

I had the same experience with Morrowind, but I didn't go crazy trying to get as much info as I could about Oblivion. Regardless, the sense of discovery wasn't as present in Oblivion, not because it was a poorer game, but because it was sticking to the now familiar (and amazing) Elder Scrolls formula. I don't think that I'll be able to return to that period of innocent discovery and exciting ignorance that characterized my introduction to TES, and I don't think that the reason for this is in my seeking info/screenshots of Skyrim, but rather that I've 'lived' in Tamriel for two generations now.

I love the feeling of anticipation, and considering I get a solid 10+ months by surfing these forums, I will continue to do so trusting Bethesda to reveal what they believe to be wise.

I'll definately be checking out this first bit of info but after that i will try my hardest to avoid learning anything else, i want that feeling of discovery when i first play skyrim.
The only piece of info i really want is a list of skills present in the game, just to see what direction TES is heading.

Hrm, I am beginning to feel again pulled into that nebulous realm of indecision bliviongate:

Would it hurt to learn a little more? What would change if I stayed in the dark? Can I even do it? :ahhh:

Edit: Damn you, interlocutors.

No, Everything and absolutely not

I will absorb this first piece of information, then if my willpower allows I shall also go on blackout. The occational screenshotis all I will want to see. Im not so sure I can make it though. I must think about how much sweeter the end will be if I can sucessfully go on blackout.

I know I wont be able to stay away, I am an information addict ^^ I research everything about games I'm excited for and except for Oblivion, it hasn't ruined anything for me yet.

i see no problem with learning info about combat mechanics, last thing i want is to learn about a horrible gameplay system when i start playing.

I am going to try to stay away from information after the February GI. I doubt I can do it but I'm going to try. For the past 8 years I've consumed as much information about my anticipated games as there was available. The only game to ever feel amazing of those was Halo 2. I enjoyed every game I was anticipating, but the magic wasn't there.

This time, I will at least limit myself to unimportant information, if I can't resist the pull.

EXCEPT FOR OBLIVION?! :cryvaultboy: That's what I'm afraid of!

Yea but that was largely due to the repetitive nature og the game and level scaling, both of which werent apparently from the information given prior to release. I personally enjoy a northern, snow setting much better than a boring 85% forest setting, so that is atleast most likely fixed. I also believe level-scaling will be fixed so I'm not THAT worried.. but we'll see... we'll see. (Dramatic repetition ftw)

I only watched a trailer for Mass Effect 2 and nothing more. I think that improved my experience so I'll probably do something similar with Skyrim. I'll check out the initial info and then nothing else. There's a lot of nice games coming out in 2011 so the wait shouldn't be very hard

I will (try to) refrain from watching or reading anything to do with quests and guilds and whatnot, I am primarily interested in the games mechanics and graphical improvements, I'll leave the rest, which is the most important, as a surprise.

Sadly they will most likely demonstrate certain game mechanics in videos also showing parts of the actual game :/