Like Oblivion, Fallout 3 and New Vegas (all amazing games), I completed my first character on each one. Then when I make another character on each game, my experience is more or less the same time round, with only little differences. I know where the best armour in the games are. I know where to go for quests. I know whats coming round the corner when I go into a building. The second time through is alot more boring than if I played it for the first time. Ive got the best armour in all the games, and when I play it again, it seems like this time I get the armour REALLY easily. I seem to level up quicker on other playthroughs

What I want to know is, what will Skyrim do that will make it not turn out like the other games on another playthrough?

Hopefully, the Radiant Story will help with some of this (at least the minor side quests, etc.) The big thing that I see bringing me back is the perks. Since I will only be allowed to have 50 of them for each character, I can make a lot of diversity with each character (unlike Oblivion/FO3 where you could easily have all stats+skills at the max.)

And yet I'm still playing Oblivion and I don't even remover how many characters I've made in it, of course, mods probably helped with that. Though I wouldn't say knowing the location of the best armors is a problem in Oblivion seeing as most armor can only be found in leveled lists, it is a problem in Morrowind on the other hand, there's even a set of glass armor that can be reletively easily stolen if you know where to look for it in Morrowind.

But back on to Skyrim, you're asking a question we can't really answer accurately since we haven't played the game, if it weren't for Radiant Story, I'd assume that if you got this feeling from past games, you will from Skyrim too, but Radient Story introduces a new variable as the purpose of it is to change quests and events around based on your choices, so if it's done well, it should ensure that every playthrough is a different experience, but how well it will accomplish that only time will tell.

In PC, mods are the answer...

the fact it is an elder scrolls game.

/thread.

the question is not 'what will skyrim do' , but rather, 'what will YOU do' to make it playable over and over again.

edit - and i am a bit confused how you 'completed' your first character in oblivion. is that really possible?

The simple fact that it's an ES game.

Most of my games are heavily role-played and I played MW and OB for years using hundreds of characters.

I do not play a warrior anything like I do a rogue. He (or she) would join different factions, wear/use different armor/weapons, use different techiques to fight, etc. and etc. I usually have my next 3 or 4 characters planned out while still playing my current one. I never run out of variations of play.

Mods help a great deal (obviously, not if you're on a console), but additionally....


...in my experience, I don't know where all the best stuff, all the quests, and everything else is in those games. I've never looked them up in guides, and there's so much to explore that you end up missing stuff even if you spend alot of time at it.

Fallout 3, for example - even ignoring the mods I play with, there are still new dungeons I find that I've not been in before - especially the unmarked ones that don't have map markers. I don't know where most of the bobbleheads or unique weapons are. Sure, the more common and easy to find stuff becomes somewhat expected and tedious, but there's alot more out there.

Of course, if you use a guide book, and try to do "100% Completion" on your first character, that does tend to cut down on replay value.


....actually, speaking of New Vegas. Considering the branching Main Quest, the different opposing factions you can align with (with conflicting quests), and other stuff like that - I'd think that would be one you could find more to do in after the first game. Even without mods.

Completed as in done the main quests and done all the other quests. There was just nothing else to do except kill people and level up skills and thats it.

If you're not "in" to just randomly exploring the world and seeing what's in caves, or ruins, or over the next hill? Then, yeah - perhaps these gamesas games aren't the best fit for you. A good portion of the stuff I do in Oblivion and Fallout 3 has nothing to do with any quests. Just exploring, seeing what's hidden in out of the way corners.....

Edit:

So, yeah



Answer - the same exact things that made Oblivion and Fallout 3 playable again and again. If those games weren't like that for you, then Skyrim won't be either. Just the way it is. :shrug:

Awesome Setting and Lore, open world full of details, interesting gameplay and large variation of potential possibilities what not provide other games, and alls of this is multiplied on awesome modding capabilities which allow enhance much furtherer all aspects of game.

Have opposing guilds in which if you join one you can't join the other.

Seemingly endless exploration and side quests.

you do understand that TES series are RPG's right? do you know what RPG stands for? ROLE playing game. this ain't a first person shooter......

My 2nd playthough is always much better than my first, I only do the main quest on my first playthough. Then I add mods for my 2nd playthough. Mods will prevent the issues you having.

IMO fallout 3 had some of the best "off the beaten path" type dungeons. NV on the other hand was fun the first playthrough, for me, but was sooo boring the second time. NV is a game where you know where everything is, because the locations were shallow and had no depth when exploring. Oblivion had a lot to see, but besides the quests, random dungeons where all the same with no real back story to them, IMO.

I'd hope to see skyrim be a combo of fallout 3's random dungeons, with notes or diaries etc telling a tale of the dungeon, but with oblivions huge number of dungeons. That's asking a lot, so even if half the non quest dungeons had a cool story/theme I'd take that.

Mods do help, but it can take years for the best mods to really mature. I started oblivion years after release, and morrowind a few weeks ago, so the mods are all matured and high quality. I don't expect skyrims mods, at leasT the good ones, do be ready for years. Not saying I'm not going to play them till then, just that in 5 years when I decide to play again after a year or two off I'll have so many new mods to breath a new life into the game.

Mods turn a good amount of playthroughs of a good game into unlimited playthroughs of the best game ever created.

Basically do whatever you want and have it feel different every time you start a new character.

One word - mods.

With mods, there's really no limit to how much Elder Scrolls games can evolve over time.

installing mods will make it playable over and over