Skyrim!

Comparing it to Read Dead Redemption isn’t quite fair.  Really, it’s more comparable to Oblivion or Fallout 3/NV, but there are still similarities.  You don’t have to exhaust yourself reading every little thing or talking to every person.  You could go straight through the main quest and be done with it.  Or, you could meander around and never finish the game after 200 hours.  It’s up to you.  It’s really a definite game of the year and probable game of the decade.

If anything, wait to grab it in a year or so when it’s the game of the year edition.  It will be cheaper, already include updates, and will have some of the initial DLC.  Then you can plan to play it with more time available.

For the most part, it really holds your hand on the missions and where you need to go.  Even if you’ve never found the town, city, cave, or structure you need to go to, it shows on your map and provides a waypoint on your compass as to where you need to go.  Occasionally you don’t have this, but for the most part it’s there.

The more you talk to people, the more quests open up.  Generally you get some information and you’ll know because your journal updates.  Less than half the dialogue is “useless”: filler that doesn’t add to a quest, allow for items purchase/sell, training, etc.

And again, you can delve as deep or shallow as you want.  You can suspend any quest at any time, unless the quest itself locks you in (some may imprison you, or keep you on a one way track until you clear the dungeon/cave/whatever), but those are very few.

And to give you and idea of what I have going in my own game of around 24 hours:

Main quest - find a special horn of the original Dragon Blood
Side Quests:
Find another artifact for the Companions
Discover the truth of the Galundar mystery
Kill an Ice Wraith on Serpent Isle to prove your worth to the Stormcloaks
Miscellaneous Quests:
Collect 10 bear pelts for a shopkeeper
Investigate the bard college
Investigate the Mage School
Inquire with Aventinius about the Dark Brotherhood
Return to Riften’s mayor for bounty on a dragon I killed
About 10 more that I don’t remember…

I can come and go from them as I please.

@Gargantua:

it really holds your hand on the missions and where you need to go

How typical of the gamer today.

This is disgusting.  And speaks magnitudes about the game itself, and our populace as a whole.  No wonder no one can do anything themselves these days, there’s always someone there to hold your hand for you.

Weak…

Skrim  is off of my list.

In all honesty, hardly anyone would play it if it didn’t.  It would be too difficult to navigate.  But I wouldn’t mind seeing a realism setting like in Fallout.

@dinosaur:

OK Jerm, I’m coming to the party real late.  My son received this game about January and I never paid any attentiion to it.  My home PC went Ka-Blewy right before Thanksgiving and I needed some electronic entertainment outlet.  I sat down to his game box thingy and now I’m hooked on the darn game.  It really does get you immersed.

My first question is, what in the heck is up with Smithing?  I got the first bonus in the Smith Tree but it doesn’t seem to have changed my Smithing.  Weapons are still Smithed up only one level even though the bonus says “twice as much.”

This is the one area of the game I can’t seem to crack with my online research.  What I read doesn’t explain why I’m having this problem.

Thanks for your help.  A Really Awesome Game.  I’m sure I’ll play a couple characters.

Better late than never, and now you have the benefit of some of the add-ons if you choose to play them.  I haven’t yet, my disc got scratched on my second character playthough.  He was about at 150 hours and I was trying to get him to complete everything possible…sigh…

Anyway, realize that there are still bugs in the game that have yet to be fixed (some have): magic is pretty weak comparatively, there are a couple of loopholes/exploits that can really make the game easy, bugs, etc.  I don’t think this is one of those times, I think it’s just worded weirdly.

When it says that it allows you to improve weapons twice as much, it means that extra level.  You could only improve it to Fine, now it should be Superior.  If I recall right, individual ranks in Smithing will allow you to improve it further without getting the next level of perk.

I could be wrong on this, but I don’t recall noticing anything weird like that.

Also, take note that there is a physical damage cap on armor that’s 567 armor rating, I think.  I’m pretty sure pretty much every armor set, with the right perks, can reach that cap, so no type of armor is more effective that the other in the end.  My first character was an orc in orcish armor with Smithing as a focus, and even Daedric wasn’t as good even though it is a couple of levels beyond orcish in effectiveness.  Damage from weapons is very similar - I don’t think there is a cap, but the ultimate difference in highly refined weapons is just their base damage.  So the difference between a Glass Sword and a Steel one might only be ten or twenty points.

Additionally, I recommend getting the Arcane Blacksmith perk as soon as possible.  Improving magical items really sets them apart from nonmagical ones in midgame.

Hope that helps, and good luck.

@empireman:

@Gargantua:

it really holds your hand on the missions and where you need to go

Skrim  is off of my list.

Agreed!

To be fair, you can turn off the quest (I think) so it removes markers and the single line goal explanation, or just switch to a different quest and ignore it.  Many would need the help, but all it is is an objective marker and a small explanation of your quest.

@Muuzza671:

dude, Skyrim is awesome, but i have to say Fallout is better. I love the post apocalyptic setting, and they could also down the blood a little to.

Even though I’ve played it once before, Fallout New Vegas was on sale a couple of days ago for $10.  Couldn’t pass it up (but my Skyrim disc is scratched, else I would still be playing it after logging 250+ hours).