I have to admit I never played Skyrim. I played enough other Bethesda games (Elder Scrolls series from Arena through Morrowwind) that I knew I wouldn't like Skyrim.
I know they're all the rage, but I don't like open world gaming - at all. Bethesda games feel empty and soulless to me - like a single player MMO. Without a strong narrative arc and memorable companions, RPGs pretty quickly bore me. Particularly when you realize that so much of the content is random shit generated procedurally rather than something touched by the hand of a human. I simply don't care enough about the level/skill progression of my character (and loot) for that to be the driving force of my gameplay by itself.
