Try it for one playthrough, you may find it fun.

Sheer whim... I picked up the Oblivion GOTY at a GameStop while waiting on a pizza. 2 years later, I joined in the Oblivion sub as a completionist. I was struggling for new ways of interesting playthroughs. I came here looking for encouragement towards an improved replay value. It wasn't until dialog with the amazing RP members of that community, that I realized the error of my ways.

By completing everything with one character, I was inadvertently creating a nemesis for myself. Their views and mindsets for RPing their characters were leagues above... whatever it was I thought I was doing. I swore a blood oath to Sithis, I would not make that mistake again.

Then FO and FONV was introduced to me. I quickly adopted the DID playstyle that was being discussed in the FONV forums. After participating in the Oblivion DID thread, I seen no reason to not continue with Skyrim and have been playing that way with both series since and never looked back.

The proof is in the pudd'n...

Oblivion - 750 hrs.

• Unknown particulars

Skyrim - 6,000+ hrs

• 70+ characters
• Less than 50 triggered Dragons
• Less than 20 met the Graybeards
• Only 5 advanced the MQ at all
• 1 completed the MQ
• None have ever started the CW questline

Over these past years, my playstyle has evolved through the advice and ideas form the learned members across the community. I do not play as my characters. They are unique entities unto themselves with a unique personality profile. Before every action I ask myself, what would they do? This profile governs every choice they make from...

• Armor
• Weapons
• Skills
• Housing
• Area to be in
• Who to talk to
• Dialog option
• Quests to accept
• What direction to start walking

Then you have the element of previous knowledge. Just because I know Crusty's Rad Rifle is in Bloodbug Swamp doesn't mean my character knows.

Different people play for different reasons and thankfully to these forums, I found my niche.

I'll do at least one "golden" path playthrough. My first will probably collect all uniques and do every quest to get a good feel of the game.

Save-scumming your way through the entire game?

I do understand there is no wrong way to play a game, but you sir, make me sick.

Personally, i prefer to play the game never looking back on my decision, if you can not make a mistake (see save-scumming), there is no point in playing the game for me. Leaving in game with the consequences of your actions, good or bad, that is life for me.

I reload my game only if encountered a bug which impedes me from finishing the game or when i died.

Non main quest NPC whom i was suppose to protect died? Tough luck.

Lost my awesome pimp up laser-rifle due to bug? Tough luck, i only will need to find a sensible explanation for it.

Been caught while pick pocketing?Tough luck, i just will try to run away and will avoid this person in the future.

Lost almost all of your money in casino in New Vegas? Tough luck, i was sure i would at-least triple my fortune!

I never was disappointing with that approach, in it make role-playing chosen character much easier.

But by the time of your second playthrough, you already know what's going on so second playthroughs are great for a perfectionist run.

No, I never go for perfect playthroughs. Mostly because I don't have the patience for it but in Fallout it is because I want to play an amount of the game that is fitting to the character I created. That means some things are going to be left alone. In FNV for example, I never even went inside The Thorn, Westside, The Kings or Gomorrah in my first playthrough. I felt like they were not fitting for my character and I wanted stuff to do in subsequent playthroughs. Doing "everything", meeting "everyone", collecting "every unique item" and exploring "everywhere" is just tedious and uninteresting to me. It feels forced.

On a perfect playthrough, you are roleplaying someone. You're roleplaying a wasteland God.

A perfect play-through shouldn't be possible; I do hope that they ensure that it's not possible, but their track record suggests otherwise.

Trying to do everything perfectly just detracts from the random, free-roam nature of these games. Atleast for me.

More fun to just go about your buisness let the chips can fall were they may. Besides, it just adds to the replay value when you try to do things diffirently the second time around.

If they design it correctly, a perfect play through, per your OP, will be impossible.

You can do free-roam on most of your playthroughs, but set just one playthrough aside for perfectionist. I recommend you try it.

Being a perfectionist, I have to do a perfect playthrough in every Bethesda game once or I go mad. It's a necessity for my sanity.