Will The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim be beginner-friendly

[Reputator]

That is to say, will I be able to play Skyrim without worrying about story continuity from previous games? I haven't played any other Elder Scrolls games, but Skyrim really caught my attention and from the E3 demo, it looks like this game is a must buy. I am certain it will welcome you into the game. What you all say about this? Please let me know your experience about Skyrim. I really want to know more and more about this.

[desilva]

Gameplay wise. Oblivion was. Morrowind was if you took every item at the beginning because the text would explain you everything. i guess so and i see no problem with that. There is going to Story wise. Oblivion was very easy and Morrowind wasn’t that much. But in Morrowind you didn’t actually need to know anything from ES lore to start. Skyrim will be like oblivion you don’t need past game experience. The only thing that it will bring you is that you will understand some subtle references.

[RyanInt]

They have openly stated they're streamlining and making things simpler. It's also a general trend throughout the gaming industry to maximize sales and appeal to casual gamers. Out of all TES games, Skyrim will obviously be the most accessible to new players. The series tends to be pretty good about making things easier on beginners, all things considered. Yes, some of the events from previous games do tend to get referenced on occasion so very rarely you might find yourself at a loss - but overall they are very good about making each installment a self contained experience.

[AZUL]

Each game stands very well on its own. I also started with Oblivion and have worked my way backwards to Daggerfall (I have not played Arena). Considering that this game is 200 years later and in a different country than Oblivion, it would be cruel to force the player to already know much (and in many cases anything). If you are familiar with the Zelda games (I'm saying Zelda because it's the first well known series that came to my head; I can't think of a better example off the top of my head), the Elder Scrolls treats previous installations in much the same way: the events in the game are quite distant from and not directly related to the events in previous games.

[RockOn]

I believe the question is about whether a newcomer to the series who isn't familiar with its continuity will be able to understand the story, not about whether someone who has never played the series before will easily be able to adjust to the gameplay mechanics, the two aren't really directly connected, you can have a game that's very accessible to "casual" gamers in terms of gameplay with a story that still leaves you confused if you didn't play its predecessors, or a game whose mechanics take some getting used to for newcomers could at a standstill have a story that doesn't require knowledge of previous continuity to understand.

[Squibbit]

As to Skyrim, the Elder Scrolls series is usually pretty good at telling newcomers to the series what they need to know to understand the game's story. It helps that generally, the story of each game is standalone, while it takes place in the same world, the events of the story are typically new ones so you aren't left with that feeling that you’re supposed to know what's going on with something but you haven't been told about it that you tend to get if you miss a previous part of a continual story. That's not to say being familiar with the series' continuity wouldn't be beneficial.

[Wyvern]

Stop right there casual scum! Nobody dumbs down The Elder Scrolls on my watch. I'm confiscating this thread. Learn to play real RPGs, or it's off of the forums with you! Seriously though, Skyrim will probably have a lot lower barrier of entry. Morrowind was pretty bad, but if you gave it maybe 6hours of your time, you learned everything pretty quick. Oblivion had this long, drawn out tutorial, but I think it was actually pretty bad overall. Skyrim itself is designed to not punish "Early mistakes" the similar way, by virtually eliminating the possibility of making them.

[ApplePowerPC]

Well, let's put it this way, it's been stated in numerous interviews, which I'm assuming you haven't read/watched, that they treat each Elder Scrolls game like you've never played one before which includes many things from story to basic gameplay. So far it's worked out great, and I can safely assume it will with Skyrim, considering they were talking about Skyrim in the interviews about Skyrim. So basically, if you're new to the series and you are interested in jumping in you'll have no problem doing so.