As you can see from how many hours I've channeled into Skyrim, I love the game to pieces. I'm not a person to pick favorites, but this one just might be it for me. I haven't played any of the other games in the series, though I have bought Oblivion and it's sitting in my library waiting to be installed.

Here's some cons, though.
Bugs. Lots of bugs, particularly if you use cheats a lot. I've had my followers completely dissapear on me, get stuck in Shalidor's maze; I've fallen through the ground, had dragons freeze up on me, and more. The amazing flying Lydia is only one of the myriad glitches.
Some NPCs are one-line characters, and I would've liked at least a little variety in conversations I could have with random people. The characters that are more multi-dimensional definitely have more spark, but dialogue options are still limited. And while I know that everything can't be programmed into inconsequential characters, a little spice would be nice.
It's getting a little older, so the graphics, while still nice, are definitely not up to current Triple A games.
The open-world exploration might be a little much for some players, so I'll include it here.
Some people dislike the DLC as well, and I can see where they're coming from. The DLC isn't great. Solstheim, while it gives you an entire island to explore, doesn't capture the same feelings as the base game. If you're going to do DLC, go for Dawnguard and Hearthfire instead. Or, if you want to do everything, be my guest and meet the First Dragonborn.

Here's the pros.
You can choose your character's appearance, race, and what kind of skills they have. I've been a Khajit thief, a Redguard warrior, a Nordic werewolf, an Imperial Jack-of-all-Trades. My next playthrough, I intend to rely solely on magick, since I tend to go for the warhammers instead of the spellbooks. There's also factions you can join, like a band of shadowy assassins.
You can go anywhere and everywhere, and you can pick and choose what objectives you do and in what order you go them in. I never complete the main quest until I've done everything else I want to do in the game.
There are so many little narratives that aren't part of any quests. They're in journals you pick up and in bodies scattered around you. For example, in one of the ruins, I found a dead Falmer and a girl curled up together, and I like to think they had fallen in love and were killed by the Falmer's clan. Another example is when I found a girl's yellow dress in Delphine's storage chest, so I theorize that she once had a daughter, as she doesn't seem like the person to keep an unrelated person's clothes with her.
You get to play as the most BAMF person (besides Doomguy) that I've seen. Literally, the Dragonborn devours the souls of Dragons after killing them. And can take that soul energy to unlock mystical powers they can then use on the next dragon and whatever enemies dare to test their steel.

Honestly, there's more I can say about the game, but I think this has gone on long enough. Cheers if you've managed to slog through all my wordiness. If you're here, then all I can say is that this game has changed my life and my expectations. So many games I've played have fallen short of this one. It's a game that you can play over and over again and never do exactly the same things twice. Try it for yourself if you want to see what I'm talking about.

As you can see from how many hours I've channeled into Skyrim, I love the game to pieces. I'm not a person to pick favorites, but this one just might be it for me. I haven't played any of the other games in the series, though I have bought Oblivion and it's sitting in my library waiting to be installed. Here's some cons, though. Bugs. Lots of bugs, particularly if you use cheats a lot. I've had my followers completely dissapear on me, get stuck in Shalidor's maze; I've fallen through the ground, had dragons freeze up on me, and more. The amazing flying Lydia is only one of the myriad glitches. Some NPCs are one-line characters, and I would've liked at least a little variety in conversations I could have with random people. The characters that are more multi-dimensional definitely have more spark, but dialogue options are still limited. And while I know that everything can't be programmed into inconsequential characters, a little spice would be nice. It's getting a little older, so the graphics, while still nice, are definitely not up to current Triple A games. The open-world exploration might be a little much for some players, so I'll include it here. Some people dislike the DLC as well, and I can see where they're coming from. The DLC isn't great. Solstheim, while it gives you an entire island to explore, doesn't capture the same feelings as the base game. If you're going to do DLC, go for Dawnguard and Hearthfire instead. Or, if you want to do everything, be my guest and meet the First Dragonborn. Here's the pros. You can choose your character's appearance, race, and what kind of skills they have. I've been a Khajit thief, a Redguard warrior, a Nordic werewolf, an Imperial Jack-of-all-Trades. My next playthrough, I intend to rely solely on magick, since I tend to go for the warhammers instead of the spellbooks. There's also factions you can join, like a band of shadowy assassins. You can go anywhere and everywhere, and you can pick and choose what objectives you do and in what order you go them in. I never complete the main quest until I've done everything else I want to do in the game. There are so many little narratives that aren't part of any quests. They're in journals you pick up and in bodies scattered around you. For example, in one of the ruins, I found a dead Falmer and a girl curled up together, and I like to think they had fallen in love and were killed by the Falmer's clan. Another example is when I found a girl's yellow dress in Delphine's storage chest, so I theorize that she once had a daughter, as she doesn't seem like the person to keep an unrelated person's clothes with her. You get to play as the most BAMF person (besides Doomguy) that I've seen. Literally, the Dragonborn devours the souls of Dragons after killing them. And can take that soul energy to unlock mystical powers they can then use on the next dragon and whatever enemies dare to test their steel. Honestly, there's more I can say about the game, but I think this has gone on long enough. Cheers if you've managed to slog through all my wordiness. If you're here, then all I can say is that this game has changed my life and my expectations. So many games I've played have fallen short of this one. It's a game that you can play over and over again and never do exactly the same things twice. Try it for yourself if you want to see what I'm talking about.