...and I'm wondering how I'm going to fare as a RPG/Elderscrolls noob. I'm about to kick off in the next few days...
 
Is it something that most live with, but pisses off the more seasoned players; or 
Is this something everyone is breathing fire about?
 
(If you answer the latter... feel free to offer some UI mod suggestions).

It looks really nice, but is streamlined in a way that can make it more difficult for some people to navigate. On PC there are some bugs, like miss clicking slightly and being thrown out of a menu, or sync being lost between what your mouse should be selecting and what is selected in the UI.

I have no problem with the streamlined elements. Unlike oblivion it doesn't list out everything with columns for weight, attack/defence etc but I don't feel like it needs to. There is a UI mod for this on Skyrim Nexus that makes it more like Oblivion's. Try it out (by that I mean the default UI) and if you feel you are fighting against it use a mod.

Edit: Pro tip, don't bring up the steam overlay while talking to someone. You will get stuck in the conversation window for 5 minutes.

Depends on the platform, is a little clunky, but you can kinda deal with it on the console versions. With you talking about UI mods, I'm guessing you're on the PC, in which case it's a typical Console to PC UI jobbie, bit unintuitive, same story as the PC version of Oblivion (or any Bethesda RPG post-Morrowind). Haven't looked into UI modding yet unfortunately.

If you play with a mouse it's supposedly clunky.

I'm playing it on the PC with a gamepad and its really good.

No, the UI is god awful, and way worse on the PC. Don't listen to the above guys. I mean, you definitely can get used to it within an hour or two, but you won't stop bumping into inconveniences. A mod was released that brings everything anyone could want to an inventory screen, though. SkyUI is great; it lists the name, weight, value, whether it's stolen or not, as well as lets you sort by each of these categories, both ascending and descending, and allows you to only search for "x" kind of item. It's fantastic, and it's still being heavily worked on, so it'll keep getting better.

I mean, I was in the boat of being fine with the default UI, too, but as soon as you install something that was actually made for function rather than aesthetics, you'll see the difference. As opposed to having to scroll through two hundred Potions of Resist Shock to get to the 3 health potions you want, you can just open the inventory up and instantly click it and be done with it.

I love the aesthetics of it, but it was a pain to use with a mouse, mostly due to the cursor and selection lag.

However since I prefer to use a controller for it, it's a non-issue for me. And I find it's a great UI for a controller.

It's perfectly fine. Just don't carry around too much junk you don't actually use. You don't need all those really long lists of items to go through all the time.

It's perfectly fine. Just don't carry around too much junk you don't actually use. You don't need all those really long lists of items to go through all the time.

After a while, you may get used to the UI (I did - oh, and I use mouse + keyboard =)). It still irks me sometimes, but it's not THAT bad, to me, anyways. Like @TaliciaDragonsong and @McGhee mentioned, try to go minimalist in terms of inventory and you'll be fine.

I've heard the majority of the complaints from PC players that use the mouse and keyboard. Use a controller and it'll work fine. I didn't have any problems.

On PC, it works great if you can train your brain to navigate the menu using WASD.

If you try mouse clicking, it's clunky, but bearable.

Still, the whole "it's not a PC UI" makes me chuckle. Doesn't get more PC than WASD baby!

@Vigilance: Yeah, that's what I do too :D. Using the mouse to navigate inventory just messes everything up, it seems.

@FunExplosions said:

A mod was released that brings everything anyone could want to an inventory screen, though. SkyUI is great;

I agree to this. SkyUI is a lifesaver when your inventory gets cluttered. Especially the search field (wich by the way broke recently for me. But I guess they'll fix it soon).

It has a few more steps to get working, but it's nothing too difficult.

nah its really easy just use the arrow keys and the "E" key