I've been playing literally nothing but Skyrim (well, some indie games on the PC from time to time, but mostly Skyrim) since it came out. This has given me a massive backlog that includes Assassin's Creed and Dark Souls and Ico/Shadow of the Colossus and Deus Ex and a few other games I bought on super-sale over the past few weeks. Now I'm wondering when I can hang up my hat and say "Okay, that's good. I'm good with what I've done here." I will never finish everything, almost nobody will finish everything, but can I stop playing while I've still only got the main questline completed? Can I stop playing when I've only truly explored the areas directly around Whiterun and Riften and Windhelm? I need to play these other games, I want to play these other games, but I feel dirty putting the game aside when there's so much goddamn game left.

In short: HOW CAN I QUIT SKYRIM

For anything resembling permanently?

When the next Elder Scrolls game is out

I'll probably quit when Mass Effect 3 comes out. But I still see myself picking it back up here and there throughout the years!

I already have until some major dlc or mod. 300 hours and two characters was enough for me.

Make a second character

After the game broke on me while trying to do the thief quest 60 hours in that's when I called it. I'll wait for an update or dlc.

@Turambar said:

I already have until some major dlc or mod. 300 hours and two characters was enough for me.

Dear Lord, Sir! That's an ungodly amount of dedication.

@Helimocopter said:

When the next Elder Scrolls game is out

I just finished the main quest. I'm thinking. I'm a badass motherfucker now. I'm just looking for more Shouts and see where it goes from there. I've only finished the Main Quest and the Mage College stuff. So, who knows? At level 40, my leveling is slowing down.

@Axxol said:

@Helimocopter said:

When the next Elder Scrolls game is out

There is definitely a point when you've finished all the named questlined (that aren't randomly generated) that would feel like you've completed the game.

I have taken my sweet ass time with Skyrim so i will be at it for a while. Still gotta check out a few titles by the end of the year!

Never!

I quit after 90 hours or so (did most of the main story quests (factions, etc...))... kind of sick of the game now.

Pretty much already have, thanks to the PS3 version's issues.

In the past week I dumped about 30 hours into Oblivion.

So never.

Fallout 4

I did about two or three weeks ago.

I always end up coming back to ES and Fallout games. So never I guess.

I would say that once you've finished all the guild quest-lines, the main story, and all the daedric quests then you're fine to quit for a good long while.

I've played 60 hours and have yet to truly finish even one of the guild quest lines, or main story.

I'll probably give it a serious revisit once all the dlc and some cool mods are out.

I still jump into it every once in awhile to kill some time.

I actually just beat the game after playing for about four weeks. I explored a good portion of the map only missing a few caves, two dragon walls, and maybe some cottages. Still have a good amount of sidequests left. But after beating the game, I gotta say I'm losing my drive to continue. This is of course only because I have already explored almost all the map and did most of the sidequests. I don't feel the urge to pursure all the minor stuff anymore.

I haven't done any of the civil war stuff yet though. So I guess that will get me to keep playing. But right now I'm just kinda burned out on Skyrim after playing it for weeks.

@MiniPato said:

I actually just beat the game after playing for about four weeks. I explored a good portion of the map only missing a few caves, two dragon walls, and maybe some cottages. Still have a good amount of sidequests left. But after beating the game, I gotta say I'm losing my drive to continue. This is of course only because I have already explored almost all the map and did most of the sidequests. I don't feel the urge to pursure all the minor stuff anymore.

I haven't done any of the civil war stuff yet though. So I guess that will get me to keep playing. But right now I'm just kinda burned out on Skyrim after playing it for weeks.

The civil war stuff is pretty underwhelming(in my opinion at least), if you're not feeling a huge desire to go back into it, it can wait, or maybe be passed up all together.

Next Fallout or Elder Scrolls.

Well I just got on xmas break, so I'm going to be playing it a lot. Tough to say when I'll be over it, I'm anxiously awaiting any dlc.

I finished with it a few weeks ago, did every quest I could find, ended around 160hours.

I might revisit it once there are mods out to make the combat better but that will be months yet.

Even when it was over, I was drawn right back into a new game to try out unarmed combat, and I still want to play a sneak-heavy thief type.

So... no idea.

Did the main story, a few side missions.....

I'll fully quit the game once some game breaking bugs come around. So say if my framerate average dips down to say 18fps or lower, like some other users are reporting, i'd have to quit the game. Thankfully, at least that bug is mostly just on the ps3 version. If only my pc could play the game above 800x480 and mostly low-medium settings..

Last week. I have no intention of going back to it, unless for DLC. I was left with a very sour taste in my mouth from Skyrim and I don't want to keep exploring dungeons for more shitty ass weapons and armor that isn't as good as what I've been using for the past 100 hours, lol

When I buy The Elder Scrolls VI: Alinor

I don't say goodbye to Skyrim. I say 'I'll be back later'.

Not for a long time. Mod tools will be out around the time I finally start really getting bored of it, and then mods will keep me coming back for a loong time.

I'm already done. After ~300 hours, practically every quest done and every location explored, 2 characters rolled, and the almighty S-rank, I feel satisfied. We'll see if I get back on it when DLCs are happening.

*Edit* The funny thing is; I don't even think the game is THAT good. I just rolled with it since I have this annoying completionist OCD in me that makes me do shit like this, sometimes. It is good, though, and I enjoyed the fact that it was good overall, compared to Oblivion which was the biggest stinkin' disappointment in gaming history for me. But that's only because I loved (and still love) Morrowind so much it hurts.

Once I beat all the main guilds and the main quest and a selection of side quests. My backlog is too very big.

I quit after 90 hours or so (did most of the main story quests (factions, etc...))... kind of sick of the game now.

Last week. And never. Hard to tell. I still embark on Morrowind binges every now and then. I feel kinda "done" with Skyrim right now, but I'll probably play more at some point in the future. Definitely when DLC comes out. Even afterwards, I'll find myself firing it up occasionally.

Usually have trouble getting past fourteen hours with Bethesda games(multiple morrowind/oblivion/Fallout 3 runs as proof), so maybe after four more hours...

I usually get sucked in for a good few hours, and burn myself out. When I feel like it's time to revisit it, I have no idea whats going on in my save. Wait a few months, start a new character, process repeats.

Probably after I S-rank it and finish the main quest and quest, though I leaving active quest in my quest log.

I believe I've left already. I'm gonna return to it soon, though. :P

Already did. Took me 10 hours to figure out that I just don't want to play anymore of that...

When I get my S rank. Already finished the main story, guild quest lines and all the daedric quests. I haven't played with any regularity in a couple weeks.

I'm getting really tempted to just get rid of it, I can only play for 5-10 minutes at a time in certain places before the game crashes to the XMB and it makes me check my files, I'm hoping that the new patch takes care of it somehow since it started with the last one but this is getting ridiculous.

There is actually less stuff to do then it initially seems.

After around 120 hours (a lot of which i game running idle time) I've completed all the major quest lines and factions, dragon shouts and probably around 90% of non randomly generated Radiant quests.

There is really no reason for me to keep playing, since the only thing left to do is waste time exploring the same looking caves/forts/ruins.

@Turambar said:

I already have until some major dlc or mod. 300 hours and two characters was enough for me.

damn! i thought 100 hours in a week was alot.. but I stopped after that since I did the same thing with dark souls.. 100 hours in less then week and burnt myself out..

90 hours in and I've barely touched the main quest. I don't see myself stopping anytime soon, but with the 3DS ambassador GBA games and Pushmo, I have more than enough distraction in between binges.

200 hours and I just want to explore even more

I played Oblivion on and off from release day to the day Skyrim came out.

So yeah, when Elder Scrolls VI comes out...

Once I have finished the Dark Brotherhood. I've done everything else major in the game and feel like that is a good moment to quit.

Maybe I'll go back to it in a few months, but Mass Effect 3 would be here by then, consuming my soul.

Pretty soon. After the first week I started logging in less and less. Now I play a 2 or 3 hour stint every 4 or 5 days. I know I'll never finish it at that rate.