ZehDon

Not everyone likes pirate humor. 

@GoaFan77,

The Total War games have a history of working terrible with steam. That series just keeps getting buggier and less playable. I think you may have to purchase their expansion, Napoleonic Wars, to get a good smooth gaming experience. Of course it will still freeze every hour or so and don't even try multiplayer. Not a great example of how bad steam is, unless you count how unwilling some companies are to fix their game even when they have a resource like steam to distribute. Steam is good for what it is. Impulse is the devil. I see impulse complaints leaking into every corner of the internet. Gamestop really went for the FUBAR on that one. 

After buying it (shut up!) and 1.2 hours into it.  My opinions, ectect.  Don't like em, well, guess I'll have change them to fit yours.

After paying $60 for a game, it crashed after logo.  I had to change my audio-channel frequencies so it would work.  Hurray 2011 PC gaming!

Beginning is..kind of bad.  It was neat for a little bit, than I as remarking at every damn thing I saw.  You are told how to move mouse.  Fuck you game, I have a brain.  Than 20 minutes roll by, and I still am not allowed to move.  When my head is put onto the butcher plate, it temporarily clips into it.  Animations stop and play.  Some voices are stopped immediately.

Beginning is way. Too. Long.  And, best of all it doesn't give you an option to remake your character.  Well, doesn't matter much anyway.  You customize your look and that's it. No skills, no traits.  Maybe you do that later.

I chose expert mode - am promptly killed everything without nearing 50% life.  I double checked, yes it's expert mode.  ffs. Expert mode.  Being a kaijet I jumped around in third person around a bandit camp.  I than ran away.  For being in expert mode, I didn't feel in any danger.  Maybe it gets harder.

Another game that takes control of FOV.  Skyrims isn't terrible (above 70, at least) but give us a slider please.  tilde "fov ##"  but it resets on fast travel.  Better than nothing.

Very pretty - it has some great views.  It won't win any awards, but I could live without texture packs.

Animations are improved a bit, but still severely lacking compared to most games. 

Finishing moves - hilariously bad.  "Hey, some AAA game it, we gotta too!" 

Being shot at with bows is cool.  They're weak, but feels like I'm being shot at with arrows. 

Regenerating health.   Thank god for (future) mods.

UI is..weird.  It isn't bad, but I don't feel like i have precision over what I'm clicking.

Dragging bodies .. my god they go rigid fast. 

Combat is a little better from oblivion, but still very boring. 

I like the little job stations around the area - adds some depth. 

Mouse Smoothing.  Thank god you can disable it.

Bouncing fps.  But being a sandbox, it's hard to control that I guess.

Still easy to get stuck.  In the beginning I got stuck on rocks (admittedly trying to find glitches..) and could not get out.  FFS, bethesda.  This has been a problem for how long?  You are a AAA studio, how have you not fixed this. 

I walked into a cart.  It went sailing.  This is not a problem of graphical or computer limits. 

Voices (not far into it though) are much better than oblivion. 

Harvesting has visual changes - very nice. 

Leveling up, oh joy.  We get to be master of all trades.  I hope to god a mod changes this.

Alt-tabbing did not let me back in.  At least it closed quickly.

Overall I'll definitely get my $60 from it, especially if Bethesda releases proper mod tools.

And lastly (probably the thing that made me buy it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K27GuSSha0s&feature=player_embedded

edit: I used god more times in this post than in the bible. Must improve writing skills..

Ok, just dropped three hours in this.  First, some technical stuff.

I installed last night at midnight, and tested performance.  The performance at the start isn't really indicative of performance for the rest of the game - not sure what it is about that starting area, but it kills performance.  I'm running a 2.4ghz Quad Core, 4GB DDR2 RAM, ATI Radeon 5750 1GB on a 250GB 7,500RPM HD, and at the highest settings I was pulling around 10FPS in the start area.
I changed my settings to High, and messed with the draw distance stuff.  I set all my draw distances to equal that of the Grass' largest distance - 7 - and set my FXAA on, turned off AA, and set my AF to 16 Samples, as well as tweaking V-Sync and Mouse Acce off.  I got a smooth 30FPS.  Once out in the game world proper, the FPS darts between 25-40FPS, while inside it's constant 60FPS all the way, no questions asked.  Even at High, this is leagues ahead of Oblivion.

The UI is, frankly, the worst piece of shit I've ever had the misfortune of using.  Changing keys doesn't change the key the UI tells you to use for stuff.  So, you have to remember "Shit, I re-bound that key".  ESC opens the System Menu - and never cancels out of anything, which feels a bit weird.  It's not user friendly, and not intuitive at all.  And the 3D Map feels very low quality compared to some of the map mods we saw for Oblivion.
Mouse Control, however, is my biggest issue with the game.  Mouse Sensativity is a single slider - meaning you can't alter X and Y sensativity.  Y is also tied to your FPS in some strange way while X is not - so, while your outside, looking up and down is slower than looking left to right.  This disappears inside, but it's annoying as fuck.  It's so horribly implemented that it's clear Bethesda had no real intention of the PC Version comparing to the console version.  However, as always, the Modding Community is going to make this shit fucking shine.

After all that - which is purely technical stuff - Skyrim as a game is a wonder.  An absolute wonder.  The beginning is the weakest moment.  Once the reigns come off, Skyrim just screams "GOTY".  For fans of Morrowind, Skyrim delivers the best RPG experience on the market.  Period.  The world feels real, as if it could actually exist, and is just a blast to live in.  The almost cartoon elements from Oblivion are gone entirely, and replaced with dirt, blood and grit.  It's Fallout 3 meets Morrowind - in the best way possible.  The finish moves have all played out in first person for me, and feel pretty solid.  I've seen three so far - so, once an hour.  They're not as bad as we've seen in some of the videos - they don't break the immersion at all.
Bethesda have clearly listened to all of the complaints levelled against their previous games.  Animation, voice acting, puzzles, combat - it's all been improved.  The new stat system just leaves the old ones for dead.  It's not just easier to understand and wield, it's also far more powerful.  Instead of building your character at the start of the game, you build them by simply playing the game.  It's the ultimate realisation of the Elder Scroll's trade mark system.  The perks are excellent as well - and really promote focus.  Still, it's flexible - I can put my Perk point into a skill I haven't levelled yet, or put them all in one skill and come really good at one thing very quickly.  As an Elder Scroll's nut, trust me: it's excellent.

Some of the classic shit is still in here - animations are kind of weak, sliding NPCs still occur, bumping items sends them flying, clipping is till present - but it's basically better across the board.  Voice acting, visual style, writing, design; it's what you'd want.  Hopefully, we see some of these technical bugs ironed out in patches.

It's hard to call it so far; 3 hours isn't close to being a sliver of enough information to judge a world this vast.  However, if Bethesda can keep up this level of quality for the rest of the game, Skyrim is easily the best Elder Scroll's game, and a real contender for the best RPG out there.

My stream of consciousness thoughts after about 10 hours of play yesterday.  For the record I play on a high end custom built PC with all drivers updated.  No spoilers below unless you didn't know there were dragons in the game.  FYI, there are dragons in the game.  

There's a TLDR at the bottom.

Graphical/Technical Stuff:

1. I'm playing on Ultra settings.  Never a frame rate slow down.
2. Game is generally beautiful.  It is at times absolutely stunning.  
3. There are also weird occasional stutter when looking around (not frame rate slowdown, actual stuttering.  It's hard to explain).  Happens less than once an hour.
4. One CTD with no error message, about 5 hours in.  Loaded back up to the last save game, played another 4 or 5 hours without issue.  By far the stablest Bethesda release they've ever done.  
5. At one point on the main quest line I needed to visit an important group in their mountain retreat.  I got there and they were all in fighting stance and looked like they were ready for a boxing match.  Couldn't talk to anyone.  Left the building, came back and they were all gone.  Left again and they were down the road, still ready to box.  In and out of a building two more times and then I found them walking the road waiting for me to talk to them.  This is the only game breaking behavior I've come across, though it sorted itself out after a few minutes.  
6. Just to reiterate as a long time Bethesda fan (Daggerfall to Skyrim and most everything in between) this is far and away the stablest and most polished PC product they've ever launch.  I've had none of the sound issues as others above.  Without casting dispersion on anyone at all (just an observation) I do know that people who tried to mess with Phoenix and cracks to get the game a day early had many technical issues as many of the settings INI stuff wasn't added until the final unlock push.  I'm not saying anyone here did that so please don't be defensive.  It was just something I noticed in forums around the internet. 
7. No Steam related issues at all. 

UI:

1. Clearly optimized for consoles.
2. Game defaults to Left Mouse Button activating  your right hand and RMB activating your left which says to me that the PC interface was given very little thought.  
3. Gripe #2 about console interface:  The game does nothing to show you what you currently have active in the way of buffs.  You have to go into the menu system (5 menu actions deep to be exact) to find out what you have going on. 
4. Despite what was written by a few prominent review sites, you CAN assign items/spells that are on your favorites menus to hotkeys 1 through 8 (just like previous TES games).  
5. The console optimized interface works much better on PC than Oblivion's UI, but still has some issues.  This is particularly noticeable when using the mouse to scroll through lists and the skills trees.  I've actually taken to using the WASD keys for these activities since that most closely matches the console mapping and works the smoothest.  

Gameplay:

1. The new skills system rocks.  I'm an old DnD/TES adherent where I love having access to min/max all my skills, but they've managed to simplify the skill system without dumbing it down.  You still have 15 to 20 skills, each with their own talent tree, that level as you use them.  The system they have created in Skyrim really is the culmination of Bethesda's "skills level as you play" philosophy.  For those who don't know you level skills by using them (pick a lock, you have a chance to increase lockpicking skill).  When you've increased any 10 skills, you gain a level.  When you gain a level you get to increase either stamina, health, or magicka and you get one talent point to spend in one of the many skill talent trees.  I'm a fan.
2. Without a doubt the best NPCs in a game of this type ever.  They carry on conversations that are relevant to the world around them.  If you interrupt them to chat they go back to what they were talking about earlier.  They carry out tasks, go shopping, do chores, go to work (sawmill, blacksmith, etc).  Bethesda's claims about more lifelike NPCs are accurate.  
3. The "game levels with you" system from Oblivion is back, though significantly better done.  I absolutely hated the system in Oblivion, but here it's not so jarring.  There are still plenty of creatures in the world that kick my ass at level 7 or 8.  Not everything is leveled exactly to you.  Giants still one-shot me.  Bears take planning to kill, as do trolls.  My magic based character feels powerful, but not uber.  
4. The interaction between the game systems is vastly improved.  For example, I came across a dragon (my character has killed a few already) that was flying around a plain nuking wild goats and deer and decided I was going to kill him.  Tossed some magic his way to get his attention.  Needless to say I dumped every ounce of power into this badboy and he still had about 80% health so I did what all good heroes do.  I ran and used my regenerating magic to continually heal myself.  The dragon gave chase (flying strafing runs over me) but missed me at one point and hit a grazing mammoth.  Unfortunately for the dragon, mammoth herds are tended by Giant tribes.  The Giants started shouting, gathered the whole tribe, and a glorious fight insued between the two while I just cowered by a rock to watch.  The dragon nearly wiped out the tribe, but I joined in and helped the last remaining Giant to finish him off.  The last giant healed himself and then started threatening me to leave, so I did.  None of this was scripted.  Just a happenstance interaction between dragons, the social system, and the faction system.  
5. Crafting system seems quite good so far though I've only messed with it a little.  
6. I got an NPC who didn't like me to talk to me and provide information by voluntarily helping him while he was working at his sawmill.  Wasn't a quest, just something I tried.  Loaded and cut 3 or 4 logs then he said something like "You're not so bad for a foreigner" and was willing to talk.  
7. The weather system is spectacular.  Fighting another dragon as a blizzard blew in.  I specifically remember swearing aloud because now I had almost no visibility and was unable to cast spells and use my bow as he circled (I couldn't see him).  I had to wait for him to get right on top of me.  

TLDR:

In summary:

1. Game could use a more polished PC UI however the console optimized UI still works adequately (better than many other console UI ports and even than some PC-centric UIs).  After a few minutes and remapping the mouse buttons the UI certainly doesn't hinder gameplay.
2. Game has been rock solid in terms of crashes and performance.  One CTD without error message in ~10 hours.  Weird ocassional graphical glitch when looking around.  Zero frame rate slowdowns. 
3. Game looks great and at times stunning.  
4. The new systems that long time TES fans were worried about all work well.  The game feels like TES and not dumbed down at all.  
5. NPCs, and in particular their idle chitchat, is significantly better than previous TES.  I'd venture to say it's the best system for this style game yet. 
6. Combat is fun, pacing is good.  
7. If I was grading the game on the standard review site 1 to 10 it'd rank somewhere in the mid to high 9s (depending on how the rest of my play goes). 

This will likely only make sense to longtime TES fans, but Skyrim is more Morrowind than Oblivion FWIW.

Didn't proofread this monstrosity so forgive the typos. 

Too many too people wine, complain, and bitch over this game.  Use the tweaks on the control issues.  You should be fine.  Game also boasts new technology.  There is no reason to stick everything on jack fucking high graphics wise when none of the drivers have been optimized for the Creation engine yet.

Seriously? If it had it, you would of heard about it well ahead of time.  TES is built as a single player rpg.  Any multiplayer will be either as an MMO or tacked on, but unrelated to the core game like ME3's.

One other thing of note.  Nearly every dungeon I've been in has some sort of quick way out once you get to the end.  I hated spending an hour or more wandering a dungeon in Oblivion and then having to spend 8 or 10 minutes backtracking to get out.  

In Skyrim they build in clever one way passages to get back near the beginning from the end.  Doors that only open from one side via switch, passages at the end that lead to tunnels that are unreachable on your way in, etc.  It's one of those really nice little things. You're back out and exploring 60 or 90 seconds after clearing a dungeon. 

Oh, and the world map keeps track of which dungeons you've cleared.  Also very nice.  The UI is well designed overall. The controls for it are just console optimized.

There, all fixed.

There were some real rat nests in Oblivion...

You should be able to start steam, go to "Steam" -> "Go Offline".  Then you don't have to be online.  You'll have to be online for a moment to do the "Go Offline" section, but afterwards you can stay offline as long as you'd like. 

You're save games should be in Documents/My Games/Skyrim/Saves, not solely in the cloud (although steam does it's save backup thing in the cloud).

@KAntok    yes, i saw the saves there as files... but i cna't get the skyrim engine/program to acknowledge them... the 'saves' option is greyed out, and does not respond to me.  Is this becuase I installed the game on my D drive to advoid all the win 7 permissions hassles?  Anyway, thansk for help... steam was driving me crazy - it still does...)..

Against better judgment, I installed Skyrim today on a PC that is below system requirements. Initially, I was hopeful, since the game recommended medium settings, and the options in the launcher were almost identical to the ones used by F3 and New Vegas. Sadly, the game gets as far as the Bethesda logo, after that, the Skyrim sigil shows up and it just hangs there, forever, not loading until the end of time, using about 90mb of ram and 99% of a poor singlecore processor. 

I'm very surprised at how bad the map is, both the 3d map (can't see anything) and the black sketch (can't see shit).

The world is very pretty, I really wish we could get this sort of attention to a world in an mmo

The game is supposedly selling extremely well: http://www.vgchartz.com/article/88459/skyrim-sales-exceed-34-million-units-in-two-days/ 

yeah - I'm really not a fan of how they choose to do the maps as well.