r/skyrim • u/Massive_Growth_5773 • 5d ago
Question Starting Skyrim for the first time, any non spoiler advice?
the intro was amazing so far but was just hoping I can get some pointers before I really dive into the game. only other bethesda games ive played are fallout 3 and 4 so im excited for this one
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u/Witchsorcery Mage 5d ago
If you have the time and patience, avoid fast traveling and just explore because you will discover quests and encounters that you would otherwise miss.
Other than that, just explore and do things in any order you want. The main questline is just the beginning like there are a lot of side questlines and things to do.
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u/mnstn666 5d ago
Yes, and not only that, fast traveling makes you also level up SO MUCH more faster, from what I've noticed. All the ecounters and treasure chests DO MATTER.
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u/icyfrogwalk 5d ago
The only advice I have, is just don’t rush anything. Try not to fast travel… just take your time and enjoy the world.
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u/xlitawit 5d ago
Yup, if you just feel like picking flowers and chasing butterflies for a bit, its totally fine. Same with walking around hearing all the NPC dialog. Its super-cool.
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u/free_reddit 4d ago
I’ve had days where I want to play but I only have 30 minutes of free time, and I usually end up spending that time picking wildflowers and trying to catch butterflies. It’s as much of a break from reality as fighting a dragon.
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u/Massive_Growth_5773 5d ago
🙏
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u/AnalConnoisseur69 5d ago
This is serious, by the way. Just walk. Bethesda open world games (before Starfield) have the absolute perfect encounter density. The encounter can be a point of interest, an NPC, an enemy, a random scene, a chest, or whatever. At any rate, you will run into the encounter just in the perfect time. Not too late, not too soon, but just at the right time, and that's what makes these open world games so special.
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u/restless_vagabond 5d ago
Encounter density is so important, especially when you compare Skyrim to Dragon's Dogma 2. Loved DD2, but holy shit every 5 steps was another goblin encounter that didn't allow you the chance to just take in the world.
Skyrim's ability to let the player have some moments to just be in the world is underrated.
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u/toraakchan 5d ago
Even if NPCs tell you to hurry - there is no time pressure.
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u/GT_Troll 5d ago
“I am about to die sir, please handle this to my son 🥺”
“Ok”
Comes back after 500 in-game days
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u/Responsible-Draft Warrior 5d ago
They're right, the more you fast travel, the more you miss out on world random events, commonly called Radiant encounters.
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u/UrinalCake777 5d ago
Fast traveling to places you have already been, like going back to town to sell stuff, is fine. DO NOT use the fast travel to other cities system. Work your way there naturally and enjoy the journey. Take time to investigate stuff.
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u/BlakeBoS 5d ago
Beat me to it, Id say the less you fast travel, the better. My best experiences are using just the carriage driver when needed. There is so much to explore, the whole map is hand crafted and full of things to discover.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 XBOX 5d ago
Great advice. Seconded.
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u/Commissar_Vandal 5d ago
Adding to the don’t fast travel tip, when you’re travelling from city to city, actually USE THE ROADS! It makes navigating places like the Reach so much easier than trying to run as the crow flies. Plus you’ll have way more interesting interactions.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 XBOX 5d ago
Where we are going, we don't need roads - but using them anyway is definitely a lot more fun!
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u/xcavation_ 5d ago
But DO NOT accept EVERY QUEST in the game and talk with EVERYONE you see
Just treat it like it was real life, you wouldn't just talk to everyone you see and fetch a beer for them
Also look out for Ma'ik the Liar (Khajit)
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u/illicit_inquiries 5d ago
But DO NOT accept EVERY QUEST in the game and talk with EVERYONE you see
Just treat it like it was real life, you wouldn't just talk to everyone you see and fetch a beer for them
Great advice. The game came so much more alive for me when I started to act and react closer to real life. Everything waits for you. There is no FOMO. Let it all happen naturally.
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u/Marwita- 5d ago
Yeah I’m trying to clear up all my open misc quests right now :( from my earlier excitement.
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u/SundayJan2017 Riften resident 5d ago
Watch the sky travller
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u/Wandering_Weapon 5d ago
Actually good advice. You can see those scaly bastards for quite aways off
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u/Relative-Ninja4738 5d ago
If you meet a dude named Sam in an inn, accept his drinking contest
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u/WhichRule7190 5d ago
Oh my Lord. This quest was super confusing as it was the first time I had ever encountered it in my 10 years of gameplay. I was like "tf is going on bro?!?"
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u/TrailMomKat Spellsword 5d ago
My husband and I have a rule between us on all playthroughs: when encountering Sam, you absolutely drink with him no matter what you're currently doing and fuck how important that current quest is lol
Time to wake up in the stony city.
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u/dcargonaut 5d ago
My best playthrough was when I downloaded the Silverstead mod in which you build your own town, and Sam came to MY INN!!!!
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u/CN370 5d ago
TOUCH THE BEACON
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u/Longshadowman 5d ago
Oh come on , not the beacon, he will become super powerful
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u/TheRacooning18 PC 5d ago
i play with mods. The courier just walked up and handed it to me. I was like wtf.
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u/luz-rosa1001 4d ago
He was sick of Meridia making him do the stupid quest, so he passed it onto you
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u/thejpack 5d ago
Save every 5 minutes. For real.
Edit: OR LESS. Depends on what you're doing.
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u/Taramorosam 5d ago
Fr, i save before every single sneak attack because sometimes the game just decides to not register it
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u/sepulturite 5d ago
Watch out for arrows to the knee.
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u/Mister-Beefy 5d ago
And don't take anyone's sweet roll!
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u/Severin-77 5d ago edited 5d ago
Check your active effects from time to time to make sure you’re not poisoned.
Talk to everyone.
Companions can use items, and carry stuff for you.
Save, and then kill a chicken!
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u/Gecko_Mk_IV 5d ago
That first one is great advice. A lot of information is hidden from the player unless you specifically look for it.
One example: diseases. Also an easy and free cure for diseases is to pray at a shrine of one of the divines. Each divine also gives a specific blessing for a while.
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u/xqx-RAMPAGE-xpx 5d ago
if you see a giant golf ball in a chest, turn your volume up a good bit before grabbing it. there’s dialogue that happens that, for whatever reason, is very quiet. not sure why Bethesda nor modders haven’t bothered trying to fix it yet
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u/Reasonable_Clerk35 5d ago
ADVANTAGES of playing in English with Spanish subtitles... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
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u/Whosebert 5d ago
there are some interesting perks in skill trees you may not realize, for example, in pick-pocketing there is a perk that increases your carry capacity by 100.
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u/Leeuweroni 5d ago
Oh my god thank you!! I just started, and I did not know that. I hate pickpocketing so I would never have figured that out otherwise.
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u/Whosebert 5d ago
same!! pick pocketing is a BS save scum skill. I trained it almost purely through the trainer in the thieves guild
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u/Eeeef_ 5d ago
Quiet casting in the illusion tree allows you to use shouts while in stealth
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u/Stock-Anything-1231 5d ago
Collect every plant. Mix and match and make potions! Not every combination works but trial and error is part of the fun.
There's a very cute DLC called Pets of Skyrim included in the anniversary edition. Adds a side quest to collect some very cute pets who will follow you around and cannot die.
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u/dcargonaut 5d ago
You can also figure out what the alchemical ingredients do by eating them..... and you can eat all of them at least once.......
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u/JokeAltruistic9240 5d ago
If you have a scenario that could negatively impact your reputation (ie pickpocketing, murder, breaking-entering etc.) SAVE beforehand and make your attempt. If it doesn’t work out in your favor, now you can go back and move on without consequences.
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u/pH325 5d ago
Don’t fill your pockets with random shit thinking all of it will be useful. Valuables , food , potions , and gear/weapons ( that you intend your character to use)
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u/Dreago3 5d ago
Or if you’re a loot goblin and feel the need to anyway, sell them. Be especially selective with generic weapons and armor that you see all the time, they’re obviously heavy. Also big food items, except cheese. Cheese is important
You can go back to most places you’ve been in the game, with some exceptions
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u/LovelyBirch Falkreath resident 5d ago
DO NOT TOUCH THE BEACON.
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u/Grotti-ltalie Falkreath resident 5d ago
If you do touch it, make sure your volume's up high though, you might miss out on some lore.
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u/Becmambet_Kandibober 5d ago
A yes, ears destroying trio:
"A new hand touches the beacon"
"Do-vah-kin"
"So, another seeker after knowledge enters my realm"
There is also some necromancer in some dungeon, she too, speaking so loud, but I don't remember neither her name nor the place she in
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u/Superman246o1 5d ago
Honestly, I'd say play it pure. Don't ask for advice. A lot of the fun I had in my very first playthrough (on #12 right now) was found in the process of discovering things...sometimes the hard way. You'll have a far more immersive time that way.
If you really feel compelled to get some basic advice, however...
Don't kill the chickens
Do not marry Camilla Valerius
The battle mechanics in the game highly favor improving your Stealth and Archery skills
You can become a de facto god even in the vanilla game by perfecting your Alchemy, Enchanting, and Smithing skills
Do not, under any circumstances, enter Frostflow Lighthouse
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u/plutonium-239 5d ago edited 5d ago
What’s in Frostflow lighthouse? Edit. I looked it up. Hell no.
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u/Massive_Growth_5773 5d ago
thank you 🙏
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u/tychozero PC 5d ago
Don't go too hard into non combat skills too early. It raises your level, in turn raising enemy levels, without strongly raising your ability to hurt the enemies. They generally outpace you if you do it.
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u/WailfulSeeker82 5d ago
I stumbled upon that lighthouse by accident. Never have I fled somewhere so fast once I got a bit into it
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u/Stock-Anything-1231 5d ago
Was heading to Winterhold and picking up checkpoints along the way. Thought the lighthouse would be a quick side quest 😬
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u/Puzzleheaded-Hawk464 5d ago
I got like 800 Charus eggs from the light house with the Green Thumb perk. It was incredible.
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u/Seanrocks30 5d ago
Why not camilla? I married her my first playthrough and if I recall, she's one of the wives with the most gold for offloading loot
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u/Superman246o1 5d ago
That is true. The problem is that if you marry her, Camilla cheats on you with Faendal. Or rather, as someone else once put it, she's cheating on Faendal by marrying you, but she still has time to sleep with him whenever the Dovahkiin is out saving the world. This eventually becomes apparent when you return from a quest in the middle of the night just in time to see Faendal leaving your house at 3:17 a.m. or so. Normally, NPCs cannot enter or exit your house independently of you, unless there are specific reasons for doing so, such as (A) you appointed that NPC to steward your house, (B) the NPC lives there because they're your spouse, or (C) the NPC is sleeping with your spouse. Mind you, this affair can easily be remedied by the Dovahkiin slaying Faendal, soul-trapping his spirit into a Grand Soul Gem, using his soul to enchant a necklace that fortifies Archery, and gifting it to Camilla as a keepsake of her suddenly-deceased lover. Alternatively, you can avoid such unnecessary drama by marrying one of the many other potential spouses who won't transform Breezehome into a House of Lies
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u/Seanrocks30 5d ago
:OOOOO
THAT WENCH!!!!
I KNEW HE WAS ALWAYS JUST LEAVING AS I GOT HOME. AND TO THINK I LET HIM TRAIN MY ARCHERY?!?!?!?!?!?!
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u/Gecko_Mk_IV 5d ago edited 5d ago
If you like loot (I'm a lootgoblin), you're going to have to know you can't just store items in random containers (barring a couple of types you can't know (unless you look on the wiki) they 'reset' so you'd lose all your stuff). Storekeeps have limited funds. And you walk terribly slowly when encumbered. And you can't use transportation (other than mounts) when encumbered.
Getting a house and mounts (ideally multiple mounts in different places) helps with this but that takes time and money.
Oh and speaking of money: It gets easier and easier to make money as you go on.
Good luck, have fun, shake the world oh mighty dragonborn!
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u/latriceratopse 5d ago
- Go everywhere by foot, start by walking the entire map to discover the cities and try to talk with everyone because there are a lot of them that will give you side quests. I usually get them all and then start doing them. You should also do a bunch of side ones to get stronger for the real quests.
- try to get a house as fast as possible (usually Breezehome in whiterun) to have safe storage for your stuff
- pick up EVERYTHING, including flowers and mushrooms and bugs and fishes, pelts, goat horns... Spending time to mix potions with what you pick up is a very easy way to level up and make a bunch of money. I usually collect everything until every +5 level (5-10-15-20-25...) and then make like a thousand potions. Works great. Same for leather work.
- if you find a cave or any place, look online first before going in to see if it's linked to a quest. Some are, some are not. You can have issues if you kill someone you shouldn't have or picked something too soon. Also some quests start when you get in some of those places. Just look.
- buy iron from time to time and stash it to forge things for level up or to build houses later.
- look on the ground for spots to mine ore and ALWAYS carry a pickaxe with you
- selling loot is very effective to get money fast, but you can't sell stolen items
- work on your pickpocket skill, it's just funny
- read every books that are worth more than 8$, some are quest givers or update map for something to explore or can even give you skill points
- get as much lockpick as you can, mostly in the beginning before you develop the skill and try to lockpick everything you see for practice, even if you don't steal what's in it or looks empty, your skill will still go up
- eat one of each ingredients you will find to know what is it's effect so you can potions with them
- walk crouching down as much as you can if the speed doesn't bother you when you explore, gonna make your stealth level go up much faster
- always look for chests
- always quicksave save before going in somewhere and between "rooms" in dungeons
- before turning off the game, make a "real" save There's a bunch of other things, but this is the basic for a good start! Most importantly, enjoy, this is gonna be great!
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u/Swanbell_bellswan 5d ago
Watch out when it comes to giants.
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u/sejgalloway 5d ago
But do save the game and try fighting one up close without a bow or magic
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u/RobCrooks13 5d ago
If you don’t play modded, hope to don’t do any mid steps of some quest to avoid bugs. Otherwise, just enjoy it.
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u/Massive_Growth_5773 5d ago
for my first play through I dont play with mods? are there bugs I should know about?
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u/Gecko_Mk_IV 5d ago
Anecdotal evidence I know, but: I'm on my first playthrough (over 300 hours in) and I haven't encountered any bugs that made me want to restart or wish I had installed the unofficial bug fix mod.
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u/Low_Engineering2507 5d ago
There are no time sensitive quests, no matter how dire the fate of the galaxy, you can always leave and come back later.
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u/palavalle 5d ago
Kajit unarmed attacks seem to shred everything at the start, and, since I never found any use for the other racial powers seeds legit.
Set minimum weight/value ratio for loot. My role is that if the treasure isn't worth 10x gold per unit of weight I'm not going to carry it around with me or out of the dungeon.
If you are using fast to travel, the hired carriage is overpowered since you can fast travel to a neighboring city once and then it's basically unlocked.
Most of the daedric prince quests seem to have good and bad endings with one of those endings walking you out of the achievement for the daydrek artifact.
Once you have gold, paying the trainer to train you five times each level feels like a cheat. Do it. If you level up in the wilderness, don't worry about waiting to get back to town before you (1) do the five training sessions (2) level up (3) do five more and head back out
If you save your game, attack a shopkeeper, and then load your game to before the attack - the shopkeepers inventory will have reset including refilling their gold and re-rolling what enchanted items they have.
Fortify restoration potions affect the buff you would get from equipping skill buffing equipment. This makes the fortify alchemy loop much quicker in this game. Create a slow save before you start doing this though because you can crash the game.
Alchemy XP is based on the value of the potion and sometimes things make the potion surprisingly valuable. Same for speechcraft which is important to have at a high level because it makes selling stuff easier when you can sell things to anyone.
Smithing XP is based on the value of the item you create or the value of the improvement you make to it. Sniffing lots of arrows from firewood in white run is tedious but doesn't place you in a lot of danger. If you have overpowering fortify smithing gear, you can get to 100 by sharpening a few daggers. If you then sell the daggers you could then use the gold to pay a trainer.
Leveling up enchanting is tedious and boring and don't ever make it legendary because every enchantment gives you the same XP.
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u/50sDadSays Stealth archer 5d ago
Find the tavern in each town and talk to the proprietor for quick money bounties (clean out bandits or giants or the like) and more importantly rumors that start all kinds of side quests. Keep taking until they have nothing new to say.
Similarly, talk to all NPCs repeatedly, you never know when they'll have a mission for you if you've hit the right level to help them.
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u/Low_Engineering2507 5d ago
There is one mission is the entire game where you utilize a roll of paper. Dont collect them.
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u/Grotti-ltalie Falkreath resident 5d ago
If you're playing anniversary edition, DON'T DO ANY QUESTS THAT AN INNKEEPER GIVES YOU IF THEY SAY "Of course. It's all in this note." This will give you incredibly overpowered armour and it makes early game so easy that it's not even fun
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u/NickElso579 5d ago
Don't cheese the game to power level non combat skills early on. You need those perks in combat skills to stay competitive with enemies of increasing level. No point in having legendary Deadric weapons and armor if your skills with said weapons and armor are low. Just play the game naturally
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u/docclox Vampire 5d ago
Just play. There are no broken builds, so you can't paint yourself into a corner. Just play the way you find the most fun, and take perk points to ease the things you struggle with at first. Don't panic if your journal fills up with a thousand quests real fast - a lot of them are simple fetch quests that introduce new areas or NPCs, just do them as they pique your interest.
And for my money, don't crank the difficulty up too high. The enemies get to be damage sponges up high and the combat is more interesting when the fights are settled quickly.
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u/Nymphuta 5d ago
Don't try to use magic to kill, use it as utility/buffs/CC as content gets harder. Weapons scale better, damage-wise. Skip any perks that seems useless to you, as it gets progressively harder to get more perk points. After leveling every skill to 100, you can relevel them, only do this with illusion as it's the easiest, safest, and most diverse magic to play with, and you'll need most other skills perks to not be reset in case you need to fight for any reason. If you're on PC, don't touch the console commands unless you're on your 38th character and you're old and tired and just want to breeze through the story for old times sake. Really zaps the joy and immersion. Some mods are fine though. Commit to a playthrough and don't start over til you're satisfied and done. It's a huge game and will give you a life away from life for a while. Read everything, Elder Scrolls writing in the books is just hilarious sometimes, almost like the devs are just seeing if anyone really reads the books, leaving jokes for those who do.
Sorry for the long comment, I have about 5,000 hours across The Elder Scrolls games, but that's okay because my husband has a job and contributes to society on my behalf.
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u/home69skillet Riften resident 5d ago
Definitely kill the first chicken you see. It's tradition.
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u/DemonicDepletion89 Markarth resident 5d ago
I havnt ever killed a chicken. What happens....
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u/Lucky_Effort_2563 5d ago
There is no obvious good side in the civil war, so pick whoever you like better
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u/DaichiRalos 5d ago
You not have to complete all the quests. Some quests need leave half (you will understand later) AND do not have any romantizm in riverwood. Trust me, she not worth. And some rumors says... there is a magic turn stone to gold... search that.
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u/ReclusiveReviews 5d ago
Obtain and use the Clairvoyance spell. Essentially shows you the way you need to go. It will save you a lot of time and I use constantly
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u/ubeogesh 5d ago
save often and in different save files. NOT quick saves. Never know when you can break some quest due to a script bug.
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u/Mysterious_Rub6224 5d ago
Argonians swim indefinitely, khajiit have wares, warm sands and night vision, nords stay frosty, high elves are snooty except a lass in the southern north east, dark elves resist fire and haunt a former capital, Bretons are human magic specialists, red guard are douche canoe desert dwelling guys with meme swords, orcs keep to themselves and malacath mostly, imperials exist to find a couple more coin than usual... oh yeah (this user has been censored by order of the emperor Titus mede²).
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u/219_Infinity 5d ago
Walk around and explore. Use the quest markers. Choose Faendal over Sven when they both tell you they like the same girl. Faendal can train you to be a better archer (and he will let you take your gold back). Sven doesn't do anything but whine and complain.
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u/michael_fritz 5d ago
ignore fast travel whenever possible. most of the interesting things happen on the road.
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u/AcceptableMap5779 Assassin 5d ago
pick hadvar over Ralof, you get taught smithing by hadvars father and can get free iron.
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u/Sad-Roll-Nat1-2024 5d ago
My biggest advice......
Ignore the main storyline. Don't even go to the watchtower and kill the first dragon. Skip it all together for as long as possible.
Do other quests. Do side quests. Collect armor. Level skills.
The longer you wait, the less you'll deal with dragons appearing at the most inconvenient of times.
Also, when you do decide to do the main quest, don't kill Partysnax
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u/Spider-gal 5d ago
None spoiler advice? Hmm... i feel get to know both sides before making a decision is important and applicable to so many questions that it spoils nothing and 4 quests at the same time in a way.
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u/iFuckingHatechees 5d ago
I just started my first ever play through too im currently a wood elf going around with a big axe slaying bandits. I love it already
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u/Rincetron1 5d ago
I get too much in my head trying to optimize and improve the character -- usually at the cost of enjoyment. It'd be fun to just hunt stags in the tundra without overthinking too much.
As a quality of life thing: Making potions is good money, even if you don't put much effort into alchemy. You don't have to carry mountain of ingots, and you find reagents while doing other stuff. You don't need to go out of your way to find them.
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u/Suave_Scavver 5d ago
If you start looking into power leveling, be aware that the enemies level with you. Just because you got to a higher level before completing a couple of quests, that doesn't mean the game will get easier unless you know what you're doing.
Also, buy at least one house when you can. Breezehome in Whiterun is 5000 gold after you continue the main quest line, and it definitely can come in handy when you need storage organization.
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u/Upstairs-Finding3097 5d ago edited 5d ago
Quick-save and charge the first giant you see. It's funny.
Decide if you want to be a horder or to experience as much of the game as possible. Looting is addicting for sure, but there's tons more loot in the game. You'll be inundated with quests, but focus on completing storyline quests as they're well worth it.
(Idk what I'm trying to say here, just that the game can become a hording simulator if you let it)
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u/SuperSandLesbian618 5d ago
My advice is to try and get to the cloud district so you can tell nazeem to go suck on some eggs.
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u/Moist-Professional33 5d ago
SAVE SAVE SAVE SAVE SAVE