What are the elder scrolls video games like?

What kind of story do they follow? What is the actual gameplay and fighting like? I would like to play Skyrim because of how great it's supposed to be, but want to know something about the series before jumping into it.



Thanks a lot!What are the elder scrolls video games like?
I agree! Elder Scrolls is one of my Favorites, you don't technically need to play the first second or third Elder Scrolls to know the story of Skyrim, They are all unique, in my opinion the graphics isn't the best part of this game. The gameplay on the other hand in just AMAZING! As well as Fallout, they are great!



Pick up Elder Scrolls Oblivion, actually I'm playing it right now!
Elder Scrolls games are designed to be more free-roam, than strictly following one story. There is a main quest which follows a story, but there are so many unrelated side quests, that it's hard to say that this main quest is the only "story".



The main stories are power struggles set in a medieval fantasy world. There is magic, demonic creatures, etc. Relating the details of the story would sort of spoil it, but if u want a run-through of Oblivion's story, visit this site:

http://uesp.net



In Oblivion he gameplay can be first person or third person (switchable at the touch of the R key). In Skyrim u will have both also (but the mapped key may be different).



In Oblivion, u build your characters skills by either training or doing various activities related to the skills. After your major skill increase so much, u can level up by sleeping. This will probably be similar in Skyrim. But in Skyrim the activities u choose will determine your character's traits...whereas in Oblivion u set them at the beginning of the game.



In Oblivion the creatures and enemies level up with u (which is a major complaint of this game). So u are always challenged, but actually can always defeat them. In Skyrim this will change to where there will be enemies that u just can't handle until u get better...and likewise, there will be enemies u can kill off instantly once u get stronger.



The fighting in Oblivion was very clunky. In Skyrim it will be refined to where u can do finishting moves and some other more realistic moves. Also in Skyrim u will be able to engage in combat while mounted, and u will be able to dual wield weapons and spells (or a combo of both).



I would say that if u like a lot of freedom to do what u want in a game, then Skyrim will please u.



If u want to just follow a story, then u might be disappointed some.What are the elder scrolls video games like?
Like a mid eval version of fallout... Elder Scrolls is basically a giant RPG game with free roam and and an AMAZING story line... The story lines are different depending on which one you are talking about but i played oblivion and basically its about a prisoner (your character) who witnesses the death of a king and appears to be the "chosen one" and he must defeat the attacks of demons from a world of oblivion... the game play is first person and third person (your choice). THIS GAME IS EXTREMELY CUSTOMIZABLE, in oblivion there are like 50 things you can level up from swordsmanship to stealth to bartering skills... You character can be customized to look ANY way you want in fact you can even be different species. if you are into the whole customized RPG games this is your game...
Well basically its an rpg adventure game. There is a huuuge world and many dungeons you can explore. Many different npc character you can interact with and quests. Its a first person battle system with swords, bows. axes, hammers etc. There are alot of different races you can be from a lizard to an elf. There are also many magi spells you can learn and you can even create your own spells. They are very fun games that can keep you entertained for awhile and it has alot of re playability. Oblivion is one of my all time favorite game and Skyrim is going to blow it out of the water! I recommend you start playing these games or your gonna be missing out.What are the elder scrolls video games like?
They play a lot like FPSs. It's in first-person view, and you aim your attacks as such. It has the typical RPG elements of character progression and skills and such. But unlike others, rather than for example gaining experience from doing stuff, your skills automatically improve as you use them, and you gain levels after so many skill increases (and when you level, you choose attribute bonuses manually).
Combat tends to be pretty shallow; you press one key to attack, and another key to block attacks, and in previous titles you pressed a third key to cast the spell you have equipped. Though in Skyrim, they seem to be changing spells into a weapon themselves that take up a weapon slot and everything.
A high point of previous titles was that you could create your own spells. You would choose a name for it, all its effects, and the cost would be based on the number and power of the effects you chose.
In Skyrim though they'll all be pre-made like every other fantasy RPG out there.

The story in older titles had -amazing- depth and freedom in them, but Oblivion had a pretty typical and generic rail-roaded story. I don't know if Skyrim will be continuing Oblivion's method or going back to something more like the older games. They never had real choice in the story itself, but they were very open-ended, had an incredible amount of actual story and detail to them, and had a lot of discovery and intrigue involved. Oblivion had a story akin to a typical FPS shooter, in which you just ran around going where you're told and killing things, and had stuff said to you every once in a while by NPCs.
Older titles, by comparison, had you following maps and instructions, searching for clues, interrogating people for information and what not.

The setting is -very- high fantasy. There is hardly a shred of anything from earth recognizable in them. Oblivion and apparently Skyrim tone this down quite a bit, and take on both a recognizable landscape and a more traditional RPG theme. The humans in those games aren't even called humans as one small example.

Previous titles actually drew such a large fanbase due almost entirely to their story and open-ended do-anything sandbox environment. Oblivion pretty much destroyed the story elements, but was still extremely open-ended, as well as maintaining the beautifully massive modding capability on the PC version.

Bethesda, the creators, are notoriously god-awful horrible at animations, and to a lesser extent character models. They also tend to have -very- poor taste in clothing.
Skyrim shows that they've vastly improved their character designs enough to stand toe-to-toe with other companies finally, and they've been touting an all new animation system that will hopefully fix their terrible animation quality issues.
As for their taste in clothing and armor, we'll just have to wait and see.
you could pick up elder scrolls: oblivion for real cheap, skyrim will be a hell of alot better but the gameplay will be similar. its a really unique game and by far the fallout and elder scrolls series are my favorite games.