How do you normally play it? I usually get lost and try to explore every thing and the map itself before I get to involved with quests. I usually want to learn as much about whats in the game more than the story or dialog. finding the hidden or cool points of interest first etc.

Yeah kinda the same way, I guess one of the reasons is that most quests aren't really all that captivating. I usually get to the fist destination (Imperial City, Megaton, Riverwood, Seyda Neen etc.) Sells some stuff, buy some stuff, and go from there.

Usually it's sitting down, and fending off the cat's ploy for attention, sometimes with my feet propped up.

The way I take on a lot of open world RPG games is do everything and learn everything in one area and move on to the next. It's like separating locations into different chapters of my character's story, and it also keeps things organized for myself so that my quest log is full of an overwhelming amount of things to tend to all over the map. Overall, I like keeping things well paced.

I tend to ignore the main storyline for a long time when I first play a Bethesda game. I like to get lost exploring the open world. I'm an explorer at heart, and finding new places and locations brings greater joy to me than unlocking the next chapter in a story.

In fact, I tend to determine where the game wants me to go, and then wander off into the opposite direction for hours of exploration. So in FO4, rather than beeline for Boston or the Institute, I'll likely start out going NW or SW until I hit the edge of the map.

Huh. I usually do the opposite of what you guys do. Generally I'm very cautious until I get some decent weapons and armor, try to find some merchants and "homes"(places to store stuff), and generally follow the main story line for quite a while. I don't do much random exploring until my character is reasonably strong.

I follow the main history, make little explorer and after beat the game, I forget that it exist and gonna play other thing.

Then, with all the DLC麓s relase and a hard study on build, is that the fun beggin.

Well, my gameplay method bit me in the butt in New Vegas, which was surprisingly linear in what directions it let you explore. When I saw it wanted me to loop around the outer edge of the map to the south to get to Vegas, I just started North. And ran into cazadors. Then I avoided that path and still tried to sneak my way north. And ran into Deathclaws. Then I tried to sneak around over the mountains. And ran into Super Mutant Stalkers. Before finally running into invisible walls trying to cross the mountain tops. Way to railroad me into following the main quest path Obsidian!

yeah, this was a big part of why I disliked NV and have a hard time replaying it, I loose interest by time I get to novac

I usually try to find some sort of pattern in the landscape, and set up mini areas to explore one by one.

Taking natural features like rivers, or hills, and using those to section of the game world into various areas I can explore with more focus then if I was just wandering around.

I'm a wanderer so I like to explore as soon as I feel comfortable.

I make a "test character" to get used to the new controls, the new game mechanics, the new stories and NPCs, the new game world. I'll spend up to 100 hours with this test character. I may wander around the world, doing no quests at all, or I may sample bits of quest lines.

Once I get the hang of a game, I make my first permanent character. This is the character I quest with seriously. I may go through most of the quests in a game with this second character. I can spend as much as 500 hours doing this.

After all this is over, I finally start my first roleplaying character. I have to know a game very well -inside and out - before I can roleplay.

My priority is to go for the secondary quests first of all before moving to the main quests with the least possible exploration then when im done with the quests i explore the game for what its worth.

I roll a 'do-everything' character. Unrealistic to some, sure, but it's my game. My MC does the MQ and all the DLCs that are released, usually has a house in the first town he/she gets to with safe storage and I explore constantly. I want to experience everything the game has to offer with that character. Any future character is tailored by what I want from him/her and what I know of the game.

I like to place myself in my character and really be lost and wandering around.

It's a Betehsda game, so exploration is heavy. Going to just start exploring right away, get a feel for it.

It varies. I'll follow the main quest, but very easily get distracted from it by sidequests & exploring. Oh, and I try not to mod until the second playthrough. (Except for basic visual improvements, like clearer menus or maps.... things that don't change loot or gameplay. Of course, it generally also takes time for good & useful mods to appear, so there's not generally much I'd use in the first place, when I'm first playing a Beth game. )

I generally start off slow, I'll stick with one area for several areas, looking for all the little hidden caves and stuff. Once I'm familiar enough with the controls and how my character fights, then I'll start going all over the place. One moment I'm on one side of the map, next thing ya know I've managed to traverse the entire continent(by foot. screw fast travel) and I'm on the other side. Of course that sometimes gets me in trouble, like in Morrowind where you could wander into Daedric ruins right off the bat and get beat down very quickly.

Depending on the urgency of the main quest, (like closing Oblivion Gates or finding your father) i'll probably stick to those. But if not, I'll probably just do anything that presents itself in front of me.

Yeah, I usually end up getting lost doing side stuff, usually at the "starter towns" like Megaton, Chorrol, and Whiterun. Heck, all the stuff at Whiterun Hold alone is enough to keep me going for quite some time.

Mostly the main story first, then running around doing random stuff.

I usually run off in any direction that isn't towards the main story. In skyrim I ran the opposite of riverwood and wound up in falkreath as my first town and the werewolf mission there that got me to say "what, they brought werewolves back?!".

In fallout 3 the first place I went was springvale school and then big town, I was trying to stay away from megaton because I'd already seen it in the gameplay videos.

In new Vegas the first place I went was towards Sloan, til I was warned about deathclaws and decided it's best to take another route.

In oblivion I wandered off to some aylied ruins and bandit camps, first town I arrived in was bruma.

In morrowind the first place I wound up was vivec city, and was vastly overwhelmed by the size.

But yeah in general, first play through I try to go opposite of the main quest for a bit.

I just blunder about aimlessly, which is my usual approach when it comes to exploration. Sometimes I become unstuck: that happened in Morrowind, where I had to go and sulk for a few months before I continued, and Oblivion with FCOM, where I very, very cautiously made sure I had a few levels under my belt before venturing beyond the relative safety of the general Rumare district.

Though the only time it was really pants is when I circumvented a big chunk of the FO3 questline thanks to my random exploring.

I hunt down the sidequests.

Yeah, that happened my first play of Fallout 3. Ended up in Rivit City somehow, talked to Dr. Whats-her-name, and ended up skipping the entire GNR section.