This poll strives to get a clearer view of what games of the series were played most and which ones were appearantly hard/easy to get into.

Myself I played,

Arena: Installed it and tried it for 30 min.

Daggerfall: Installed it and tried it for 1 hour or so.

Morrowind: Thousands of hours easily

Oblivion: Probably thousands too

Skyrim: Got bored of it after 40 hours.

Now, you have me curious. Can I get at least a quick summary as to why?

P.S.: I probably put over 100 hours into Morrowind. In all seriousness, I probably put 400+ hours into Oblivion. (I had approximately 2 dozen characters.) Still working on Skyrim, but I broke 100 hours, I'm sure.

Arena - briefly tried it, only to get out of the starting dungeon.

Daggerfall - I played some of it, but I don't think it was more than 20 hours.

Morrowind - hundreds hours since 2005, maybe even around thousand, when summing up all the years, full playthorughs or just new games that didn't last long. My favourite in the series.

Oblivion - I "completed" the game only once, but tried returning many times, that'll probably sum for more than hundred hours.

Skyrim - 230 hours since the release day. I definitely enjoy it more than Oblivion, but still, I wasn't as immersed as in Morrowind.

Haven't played Battlespire or Redguards at all.

I've played through the five main games in the series and gotten well over 20 hours in each one.

I've only played one character in Arena. Took him through the main quest with very little outside of it and it still took me 3 in-game years to complete. The game's a little monotonous, so I don't think I'll ever go back to it.

I'm currently in the middle of my first playthrough in Daggerfall. I haven't gotten very far in the main quest, as I have been building connections with the Mages Guild and the temples while trying to level up. It took me a while to realize that Daggerfall's leveling system is pretty...odd. I finally ascended to level 3 after several hours playing at level 2 wondering when in the hell I'll level up. My longsword skill's at around 50 now. Anyways, I can see myself playing this game for a long time still. I already have another character in mind.

Morrowind's kinda the same. Still on my first character, but I've gotten very far with him. I've completed the main quest of the base game and the Tribunal expansion and I'm currently working on Bloodmoon's. Did a few factions on the side, too. Like Daggerfall I plan on sticking around for a long time.

Oblivion and Skyrim are my most-played games. I have quite a few characters on both, and I'm currently trying out a few new ones on Oblivion. Skyrim's a little more difficult. I really can't enjoy the game anymore unless I'm playing as my favorite characters. I do believe I have more hours logged into Skyrim because of how much I obsess over adore those few characters, though.

I have not played Battlespire or Redguard. I was planning on trying Battlespire though.

Why the "at least 20 hours". It's a ridiculous amount of time for an Elder Scrolls game. I've probably played a good thousand hours in Morrowind, probably about 500 in Oblivion and Skyrim, last time I looked Steam was saying 2,650 hours.

I have played Morrowind, Oblivion and and Skyrim. I have no desire to play Battlespire, Redguard, Arena or Daggerfall.

Arena: Tried it once, got out of starter dungeon. Realized I should just play Daggerfall instead. Stopped.

Daggerfall: 300+ hours. Played it like a sandbox. Never completed main quest, though got pretty far a couple times.

Morrowind: 1000+ hours. Completed main quest several times. Many started characters, several with individual goals. After a while it became a mod-testing sandbox. Then there's Tribunal. Man, Tribunal. I have a deep-seated hatred for it, being the first sighting of both the dreaded "requires key" and "levitation disabled".

Oblivion: 100ish hours of potato-faced adventure. Eh. Main quest twice, Shivering Isles once. Some mods, but was never very impressed with the title. This game made me buy a new video card (character creation was pure white screen with the menu on the left).

Skyrim: A little over 200 hours. Main quest once or twice, don't remember. Didn't buy DLC, may or may not in the future. Never very impressed with the title. The trying-too-hard-to-sound-epic music, the overly-burly nords (nix that, every race looked far too burly if male), and the far-over-done (in fantasy) dragons threw me off. Plus the fact that almost any other unexplored region would have been more of interest to me than draugr-infestation central. Then those quests. You want to be a bard? Ok, go kill some bandits. You will never play beautiful music, sera. Eh.

Battlespire: I wanted to like this game. Really, I did. The ability to create your character in such detail, even beyond Daggerfall's standards. The ability to go so far as to choose starting equipment. The art style, frost and fire daedra looking especially impressive. Then on top of all that, the ability to talk to the daedra? Yes! I wanted to play this. But there was too much trouble. The setup itself is an...exercise. Once ingame, there was just so much clunking about. The first level alone requires several hours, much of that being backtracking. I kept getting my [censored] handed to me, which wouldn't be so bad, except that I would just randomly die while walking down a hallway. No sound effect, nothing, just dead. Hmm. Maybe I'll try it again in the future, at a time I'm feeling particularly masochistic.

Redguard: Haven't played it. Don't have the game. It does look very interesting, though.

Arena: Never tried it, I don't plan to honestly.

Daggerfall: Again, never tried it. I had a strange urge to play it once but I didn't want to go through the fuss of getting an emulator so that it'll work.

Morrowind: My most-played Elder Scrolls title. Easily over 1500 hours I think, with around 7 playthroughs of the main quest and multiple playthroughs of almost every guild, but I still haven't even started the Imperial Cult. I've only played through the expansions once each, and I don't really remember them all that well. Most of my time has been spent on the mainland.

Oblivion: Probably my second most played, but under 1000 hours for sure. I played through the main quest I think 3 times, and I've done each of the guilds at least twice. Still have to go through Shivering Isles, when I have the desire.

Skyrim: Third most played, with around 350 hours if I recall correctly. Completed the main quest twice? three times? Something like that. I've completed the College, Dark Brotherhood and Thieve's Guild twice each, and the Companions once. I get burned out on Skyrim easier and quicker than the previous games, and I think the fact that I've completed the main quest 2 or 3 times and each guild except the Companions twice says something about the lack of content in Skyrim compared to previous games. I still enjoy playing it, but I usually only play for two weeks or so then I switch to something else for a while.

Arena: Didn't play it

Daggerfall: Tried it but i didn't play for long

Morrowind: Played through the Main Quest and some Guilds. Have yet to play the Add-Ons

Oblivion: played everything. One of my most played Games.

Skyrim: same as Oblivion. I still have to finish some Dragonborn Quests. Other than that I finished everything.

I didn't play Battlespire and Redguard.

This made me lol. Always loved the bard archetype, and I was very disappointed to see that my character couldn't ACTUALLY be a bard in Skyrim.

I rattled my way through Arena. I caught onto the open-world nature of TES with Daggerfall, and just basically "played it"; having learned that the MQ lead to an "ending," I never finished it, but I played quite a few hours in the game, and I consider it the best character-roleplaying game of the series.

I've got thousands of hours in Morrowind, with dozens of characters. I've played through the main quest just three times, have never completed one of the Great Houses (Telvanni), and have never played an assassin in the game. There are still places I've never been to, after all those hours in the game, and I still get surprised occasionally.

I definitely have the most hours in Oblivion. Even though I consider it to be a weaker game than Morrowind or Daggerfall, I find it a great roleplay sandbox, and have created a couple of hundred different characters. None of them do "everything" in the game.

I have not played Skyrim. Since Daggerfall, I have never bought a Bethesda product "on release," and have always waited for the last "bug fix" and for the game to be released as a full collection (such as a GOTY edition.) This means I usually am a couple of years late starting each game, but who cares? I am also not a fan of Steam, especially considering my present unreliable DSL connection. I may get around to the game eventually.

Skyrim is my first title from Bethesda. I played hundreds of hours.

I played Oblivion for about two hours, didn't like it. (Filthy casual, I know.

Bought the Anthology and tried Morrowind. I got to the nearest dungeon from where you first get dropped off. Tried it for a while, walk speed was real slow. I'll try it one day.

Walk speed will improve as you level up one of the skills; I don't remember which one, look close and you'll find it. Don't give up because of this kind of small details, the game deserve better.

I played Arena a lot

I could barely put up with Daggerfall. The controls felt... wrong, like nothing i could do would help me feel less awkward. I'd try to look up or down when dealing with stairs, for instance, but that just led to more problems. Which svcks cause from what Ive seems, theres a lot of good game there. I just cant deal with the control scheme well. I should note that Morrowind was my first game, and I only went back to daggerfall and arena after that, since I didnt know they existed until then.

Morrowind I played lots, and still do

same with Oblivion

Same with Skyrim

I tried Battlespire but god that was boring.

I wanted to play Redguard, but it demanded I have 3dfx drivers from a voodoo graphics card. I forgot those things had ever even existed.

Just so its clear, Steam is just used as the launcher, essentially. It doesnt even require an active internet connection to play skyrim.

I'm aware of what's required. Did you read the rest of the paragraph, or did the Steam thing just jump out and bite you?

I tried Arena and Daggerfall. The combat mechanics (moving your mouse for attack selection) is not very fun for me.

Morrowind was my first and favorite, thus far.

Oblivion I have yet to complete, or spend much time in, for that matter.

Skyrim is getting close to Morrowind in time played.

Arena: About 50

Daggerfall: Couple of hundred

MW: Several thousand, still the most played

Oblivion: About 1200

Skyrim: About 2400

Never played Redguard or Battlespire

Hard to say really, but there were a lot of things I found it a drag to play at times. I hated the interface and the combat, and after a few frustrations in short sequence I gave up on it. Might try to get back into it later though.

It is a pretty arbitrary number, but chances are that if you are just 'trying out' the game or you really don't like it, you won't play it for more than 20 hours.

Played all but battlespire. Couldn't get into arena, and redguard was crashy and unplayable for me even compared to other BGS games. All the others got hundreds to thousands of hours.

DF and Morrowind are technically my favorites, though I retried DF a couple of years ago and found that I couldn't go home again. I still enjoy modded MW.

Oblivion was the black sheep and Skyrim got back on track. In my ideal world, BGS would focus more on RPG elements in future games, but I've had a great time with Skyrim.

The only TES games I've tried have been Oblivion and Skyrim. I've never played any of the others. I'm actually waiting for Skywind to come out.

The one thing about Oblivion that annoys me is that when your overencumbered, you can't move. You can't walk or jump.

Arena: I'm playing it and Skyrim currently. I'm in Labyrinthian, but so far I'm impressed. The dungeons are exceptional. I can see how this became a cult classic; there's so much charm.

Daggerfall: I started playing this first from an emulator website, but didn't get too far because I wanted to finish Arena first. It looks really good from what I've played, though. It has that pre-Morrowind intrigue and mystique.

Morrowind: As with Daggerfall, I've just downloaded it to get a feel until I reach its rank. It feels much like Oblivion does in that it has a sort of breathless beauty to it. Quests and adventures are just waiting to be finished.

Oblivion: My first game of the series, I've played this with my friends into the thousands of hours. So many nuances and magics that we've discovered recount hilarious and sometimes poignant moments when beloved characters die.

Skyrim: This game speaks to me more personally than the others. I didn't have as much contact with my friends when playing it. Like all the games, it has that disturbed and wild feel to it that makes even the most experienced Skyrim-delver shiver. It's almost like the horrors and beauties are waiting for you.

Even now, I find surprises in these games: things I haven't found before. After a time, the things thought to be understood eventually slide back into the recesses of memory, waiting to be found again.

I did. And it implied that it was a factor in your decision. You made little effort to distinguish it, and made no direct reference to it in any other sense. You didnt mention any other ES games on steam, and you cited your poor connection in direct relation to your comments about why you haven't played skyrim.

What was I supposed to think? it was the only part of the paragraph that had any information that would've required anything to be said.

Oh, and please cut down on the veiled jabs. That bothered me. I was really just trying to help after all.

(Sigh.) It is a factor. I posted multiple reasons for not having played Skyrim, one of which is my DSL connection. (And it's not as simple as you make it sound. Last I checked, the game requires downloading patches, and the DLC, by definition, is downloaded.)

Why would I mention any other games on Steam? I don't have Steam, and, to this point, I have no need for Steam. I've made plenty of references to Steam in other discussions on these forums, but going into that here would almost certainly come across as unnecessary off-topic ranting.

I have no idea why anything needed to be said about that, either. This is all off-topic.

I wasn't actually asking for help, though, was I? I would have hoped that the presence of the smiley would have clued you in that my "jab" was only in fun.

I felt that way at first, I'd advise you to try it again though. It took a bit of playing around with keybindings but a pretty modern control scheme relative to the current games isn't out of reach. I have a WASD+mouse setup for movement, F readies my weapon, R pulls up my spell list, T is to rest, etc. If you're comfortable with Morrowind's controls, there's really no reason that Daggerfall's should be prohibitive.