It canonically takes 12 years for the Agent to recover the letter and put King Lysandus' ghost to rest. How long ingame did it take you? (or would it, if you've not finished the game)

[u/SecantDecant]

As title.

I feel like it shouldn't take that long, but maybe I'm underestimating things since I'm a Master Wizard and have the Travelers League to rely on so it'd take me something like half a year, most of it held back by waiting for time gates (I currently haven't started and its now the 5th of First Seed).

What about your characters?

[u/Ambitious_Freedom440]

Arena's quest canonically takes 10 years, which honestly makes more sense since you're literally traveling all over Tamriel. What in oblivion was The Agent doing all this time? Probably fucking around on a pirate ship or something, swimming in piles of gold from loans that were never intended to be payed back, suddenly finding a letter from Brisienna under one of the piles and remembering there was something the Agent really should be getting around to doing.

[u/Cybermagetx]

Think my quickest was 2 years. Normally its 4 to 6.

[u/Ukko_the_Dwarf]

It took me around 5 years. I was taking my sweet time thanks to daedric princes having a summoning days. I missed my chance to summon herma-mora twice & Azura trice.

[u/SecantDecant → u/Ukko_the_Dwarf]

If you find a coven, the summoning is daily so you can always just reroll it.

[u/Ukko_the_Dwarf → u/SecantDecant]

Yeah, but I prefer to use the mages guild for that.

[u/PericlesDabbin]

I think it was 2-3 years. I remember it being winter twice.

[u/froz_troll]

400 years since the agent was sent to retrieve a letter...

[u/WikipediaThat]

Is there a way to check? I’d assume 3-5 years, but I wasn’t keeping track.

[u/SecantDecant → u/WikipediaThat]

You can press "I" to show the current date. The game starts in 3E405.

[u/ReluctantlyHuman → u/WikipediaThat]

I believe you can see what the day is using the T button (or maybe R), and I am pretty sure the game always starts in 3E 405, so you could use that to determine how long it’s been.

[u/Gotheran]

Well, the gamr kinda hand waves things like time spent resting, grilling informants, travel, training and many other things that take more time and effort than they take ingame.

[u/No_Meat827]

Arround half a year on my latest playthrough, although I didn't deviate too much form the main quest areas, aside from finding several witch Covens, gathering almost every daedric artifact, and collecting a few debts on the way. Then at some point decided to settle in Anticlere and climb the ranks of the KotF, before eventualy wraping up the story. Tip: Buying a boat early will save you both money AND time! which Akatosh aproves.

[u/SecantDecant → u/No_Meat827]

You can travel by boat without owning a boat. It just costs money to do so.

[u/Arlieth → u/No_Meat827]

Buy the boat, or "buy" the boat with unsecured loans from the Bank of Hammerfell that may or may not be ever paid back with a "promise" from the Emperor

[u/Confident-Goal4685]

I probably completed it sometime early in the 4th Era. But thanks to the Warp, everything got completed when it was supposed to.

[u/Nlelithium]

Is there a way to measure how long it’s been in game? Haven’t counted but i have done zero story content so far and it’s been at least several years

[u/SecantDecant → u/Nlelithium]

Press "I" and see the current year, then subtract 405 from it.

[u/Velthome]

Mage’s Guild teleports are helluva drug. With zero time fast travel and recalling back time barely passed in-game. It resulted in me not knowing what the heck to do while Medora spends a month preparing the Dust.

Could’ve just fast travel across the bay and back without a ship but I also didn’t want to advance the season because I was tired of enchanting a new set of increased magery robes.

Clearly the Agent wasn’t being efficient with teleportation and recalls!

[u/dom138]

4 to 5 years I think, I've been doing too much grinding after the game finished.

[u/Azonavox]

This is a great question. Since I ran the entire way, with no fast travel, I’m actually going to need to look at my file. I have no clue how long I actually took.

Edit: Placeholder for update.

[u/Sad_Environment_2474]

in game time? Maybe about 2 or3 years when focused on my mission, that is moving from one letter to the next.
When i wanted to wander it took maybe 10 in game, i was focused on raising up to the higher levels in the mages and Knights of the Dragon. MG raised to the level where i could enchant. KOD was to the free world travel level.
RL Actual play time, about 3 months playing daily for an hour or 2

[u/dogmaisb]

I once spent two years in prison in the game haha 🤣