How early did you learn about (insert TES game)?

[Starfang]

I came rather late to the Elder Scrolls party, hearing about Skyrim first but playing and beating Oblivion before trying III or V. I remember my cousin and his friend playing Daggerfall and Arena a lot back in the day (and I seem to have gotten it confused with Bard's Tale or Ultima) and around 1999 or so I vaguely remember one of them enthusing about a number III (Morrowind) was coming out 'soon'. What I'd like to know from Elder Scrolls fans out there is:

1) What was the first TES game you played, and how far back did you know about it before you actually played it? Like when Daggerfall came out in 1996, were you anticipating Morrowind (or whatever would have been TES3) shortly after or more closer to 1999-2000 development date?

For example, I knew about Oblivion back in 2006 or so but didn't get to play it until 2013. Same with Skyrim, I knew that Skyrim was the latest Elder Scrolls game and was asked (by Gamestop) if I wanted to pre-order it because I was picking up Fable III or some fantasy type game for 360. So now I know fully well about 'Online', and have known about it since 2012 or so...

...also if this doesn't make sense please don't hesitate to ask me for clarification.

[ZeRoc]

I got in at Morrowind. I was 8-9 when we got it, and I instantly fell in love with having so many options of characters. I messed around in Seyda Neen for most of it though, never even made it as far as the MQ to Vivec. Then my older brother got Oblivion, and I started playing that for years. It wasn't until after I had joined this forum that I beat Morrowind or Oblivion's Main Quest line. I joined right in time for Skyrim, and that's my story.

[Mattbott]

morrowind on the xbox zero, for me.

the graphics were pretty basic even then but game was vast and great fun. Then i bought a 360 in order to play oblivion soon after its release. And now i am keeping my 360 alive (i am seriously considering keeping my xbl paid up for another year even though i still play to go next gen with sony in a month or two) in order to play Skyrim - in fact my 360 will have seen morrowind, oblivion and skyrim on it over the years

[Dark Heart]

I came rather late to the Elder Scrolls party, hearing about Skyrim first but playing and beating Oblivion before trying III or V.

That's kind of my story as well.

My pre-TES experiences with computer games hadn't gone so well. A few people I knew kept recommending games, mostly ego shooters, to me. I tried out a few of them on their computers and felt intrigued enough to buy a copy for myself, only to get bored with the game rather soon. Back then I figured that maybe I wasn't meant to be a gamer, and stuck to stuff like solitaire and mahjongg.

I heard about Skyrim shortly before its release, through game reviews in an online newspaper. It sounded very much like a game which I might actually like to play, but given my previous experiences I was unsure whether it was worth the money.

A while later I came across the Oblivion Game of the Year Edition which was sold as a special offer, and I decided to give it a try.

I haven't ever regretted that decision; I've played Oblivion for over 500 hours. Skyrim came afterwards (more than 700 hours of gameplay and rising). During the summer sale on Steam I also bought Morrowind with all the DLC, although I haven't started to play it yet.

[MARS]

Saw Oblivion at the video game rental. Rented it, computer couldn't run it. A year later I found a copy at a friend's and played all night.

[skullclutter]

Oblivion was my first TES game. I first heard about it shortly after the release of the PS3 recommended online as one of the best RPGs available for the platform. I got it for christmas that same yer, but didn't actually get around to playing much of it until I heard that Skyrim was coming out soon. I finally finished my first playthrough late last month.

[Alarra]

Skyrim was my first too, so I was a bit late to the series as well.

The first time I remember hearing about it was when a site I can't remember was doing a Game of the Year thing, and the final two were Skyrim and Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. At the time I really didn't know anything about Skyrim. After that I just kept hearing about how good it was, and some of my friends on another forum posted screenshots of their characters, and thought it looked cool, and asked what it was about.

I didn't have any computer that would be good enough to run it, but then in June 2012 I got a new laptop, and Skyrim happened to be 50% off that week. I decided it was meant to be, and was hooked from the instant the title faded onto the screen in the intro.

[Witchery]

I heard about Skyrim a few months after it came out. I was instantly hooked and I'm still playing to this day. I played Oblivion afterward. I'm interested in playing Morrowind someday, but I'm not sure if I'll love it as much as Skyrim, though, simply because of its limitations as an earlier game. I love the lore, and I've read a lot about the events, quests, etc. but not sure if I'll ever get it. I still hold Skyrim as vastly superior to Oblivion, despite the love I have for the setting and storyline.

[Snail's Pace]

I saw a used copy of Morrowind GOTY for PC at a used book store in 2008, read the back of the box, thought "this might be interesting", and bought it.

[Aranel]

I heard people talking about Oblivion, but I had no idea what it was, but one of my friends ended up getting it and introduced it to me when I went over to her house. It was pretty neat - I played it like, all night, LOL. I want to say this was around 2010? Eventually I ended up getting a copy of my own (preordered the game of the year), and I ended up getting Skyrim a month or so after Skyrim came out. Within... ehh, the last few months or so, I ended up getting Morrowind for the original xbox too.

I like Morrowind but playing Oblivion, then Skyrim, it's really hard to level up in it LOL. (though my biggest complaint is how slow the Nerevarine is at first, whereas you can be pretty quick in Oblivion)

[Finn Wolfshorn]

My then-girlfriend-now-wife saw the Morrowind GOTY edition in a shop in, like, 2004?, and thought I might like it because it had a picture of Telvanni mushrooms on the back and both of us had played and liked the Myst series and there were giant mushrooms in, um, I think it was URU. Neither of us were big videogamers before that (videogames being sort of a newfangled kiddie thing if you'd grown up with vinyl records and tape recorders), and we still hardly play anything apart from TES (not counting her browser games on Facebook), but we're huge fantasy fans, so it generally looked interesting. Back then we still lived ~300 km apart and only saw each other during the weekends, so we spent the next couple of months telling each other What We Did In Morrowind Today on the phone, exchanging tips for getting this item and clearing that dungeon, in short we'd got hooked for good.

Two years later (we still had a long distance relationship), Oblivion came out and wouldn't run on my computer for love or money even with Oldblivion, but she had got a new one shortly before, so for half a year or so our weekends were divided between me getting a chance to play Oblivion and both of us doing things together, which didn't always work out without the odd quarrel and mutual bickering. Maybe it's because of this (and because it's my least extensively played TES game) that I never got as enthusiastic about Oblivion as about III and V.

Five years later (we'd finally married and moved in together) I heard about Skyrim on some other forum a few weeks before its release, googled the specs and told Mrs Wolfshorn with a sigh: "Sweetie, we'll have to buy a new computer again." I first heard about TESOnline (going to pass this one by - don't want silly people running through my game and scaring away that deer I'm trying to sneak up to, thank you very much) here on UESP, which I discovered by googling for a solution to some Skyrim quest conundrum, and having found this font of knowledge of all things TES I'm confident I'll hear about the next game early enough to start saving for another new computer in time.

[Yaije]

I first learned of morrowind from a friend after they had grown fed up of me raving over drakan the ancient gates. I'd raved over the dragon riding and apparent free world sandbox environment (sadly most of the game is spent splitting you up from the dragon and locking you in painfully linear dungeons).

They countered with talking about this open huge island where you could do almost everything... including killing every quest giver and still somehow complete the main quest if you pieced together how to do it. Really awesome overall. Didn't really know about it untill like a year or so after it was released.

[SM-Dreamer]

I was aware of the games when I was 8 or so, because my dad played Daggerfall, and I would watch from my seat on the floor, gaping in awe as he slew skeletons and other monsters (and utterly sure he was going in circles in some stone-walled dungeon). I didn't know it was part of a series then, though. Then, not long after Morrowind came out, my dad bought it for me (he knew I liked games, it looked interesting, but it really was hit or miss with me). I was 14 or 15, and really enjoyed playing it (though it scared the hell out of me many, many times), but I still didn't make the connection to Daggerfall (and didn't know what Arena was, lol).

Then when I was 18, my brother and I were doing our usual browse at Gamestop and saw Oblivion. We'd seen it on TV, and bought it, and I made the mental connection between that and the older games.

Skyrim, I came late to because of financial reasons. ESO is beyond my means currently. But regardless, I love the TES series.

[AngryNord]

1994, when Arena was released. Never got around to trying it though... Then Daggerfall was released, and reviewed rather poorly due to how bugged it was, which kinda put me off the series... Morrowind and Oblivion kinda 'came and went' - that was a period where I wasn't that much into gaming... What finally really got me into the series, was an impulse purchase of the Morrowind and Oblivion GOTY editions in a Steam sale shortly before the release of Skyrim.

[Kerr]

First time I heard about it was when I bought a video game magazine when I was visiting Scotland back in 2007 as I didn't bring anything with me to read. The game looked pretty neat and the magazine recommended getting it. I didn't even own a PS3 at that point. I also had a friend who has the game and recommended it. So I was in Gamestop in 2008 after I had gotten a PS3 and I saw the Game Of The Year Edition of Oblivion second hand and I bought it. I loved it, the game blew my mind compared to games that I had played up to that point.

[likelolwhat]

I came in with Skyrim. Yes, I'm one of those people, haha. I was taking a uni class Spring 2012 and started talking with this girl about fantasy, and she recommended Skyrim. I still remember my eyes bugging out of my head when I heard there were dragons in it, and magic was an option. So I went and did some research, and bought it on a mostly-whim a week later. And I fell in love. Later, I ended up buying Oblivion, though I didn't like it quite as much as Skyrim, and checked out Morrowind though (don't hurt me) I did not like it very much. I have all three on my PC. I have little desire to get Arena, maybe Daggerfall if I get an urge. And I will play ESO. I know some people are very against it. But I care not.

[Baloth-Kul]

I posted my TES origins in a similar thread, but oh well. I like to think about it every now and then.

I was around 9 or so and my brother had this newfangled Xbox-majigger, when I was still fumbling around with my hand-me-down Gameboy. So, Xbox, hmm? Well, he was working lots, so he let me fumble around with his Xbox. I dug through his pile of games and this one game caught my eye. Read the back. RPG? Hmmm. Swords and monsters and magic and stuff? Sounds interesting. Think I'll give it a shot. Popped The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind into the Xbox.

BAM, instantly hooked.

Eveeeentually got my own X360 and Oblivion. Got Skyrim on day one. And I'm going to get ESO for PS4 as soon as it releases in June.

[Daggerfall2014]

1) What was the first TES game you played, and how far back did you know about it before you actually played it?

Daggerfall, I bought it back in 1996 when it came out. I remember also playing a demo of it from a PC Gamer CD, so I'd probably read about it in a magazine before then.

By the way, I don't remember ever seeing Arena in the stores. And I religiously checked the computer game shelves every week as a kid.

Like when Daggerfall came out in 1996, were you anticipating Morrowind (or whatever would have been TES3) shortly after

No, at the time the thought of a third Elder Scrolls game never crossed my mind. I don't remember hearing much about Morrowind until maybe six months to a year before it came out.

[scribbane]

Got Morrowind as a birthday present for OG Xbox about 6 months after it came out in 02. Been a fan ever since. Used the wiki and forums extensively for years before finally joining in early 08.

[Aarah]

My first ES game was Oblivion GOTY, which I got mid 2012.
I acquired an xbox 360, so I had a look at what games you could get for it, and Oblivion looked good. I saw Skyrim too, but as it was new, it was still what I consider to be too expensive for a game, so I went for es4 instead.
I played Oblivion for around 90 hours and got bored with it, so decided to get Skyrim in March/April 2013 and I have been playing it ever since!
(I got Skyrim:Legendary edition in March this year).

I never even heard of Morrowind et al, until joining the forums last year. I have never played them and doubt I ever will.

[BetaB17]

Mmmm.. I started namely because of my older brother<_< ended up being Morrowind. Funny thing is, I didn't have a clue how to play.. so he just copied his save account and allowed me to set off on my quest.. to kill every npc.. every last one of them =___= I forget how old I was at the time, but just before Oblivion was when I actually play with a bit of sense.. thus is how I got interested in the lore and story.

Oddly enough, Oblivion is the main reason I found UESP>_> and over the years I dived into lore of past games and greater detail. Really makes me interested to play past games like Daggerfall....

[All hail!]

Believe it or not, I got into the series through Fallout. I played and loved those games, and then when skyrim was coming out, I picked it up as it had the same dev.

[Linkuya]

Skyrim. It kept getting shoved in my face without end so I figured, alright, let me check it out. My Gameinformer had a ten page special on the upcoming Skyrim (probably the best article GI has ever written) and as a huge fan of the high fantasy setting, I just had to get the game. After Skyrim, I then played all the ES games backwards. Oblivion, then Morrowind, Daggerfall, etc.

[Aranel]

I got into Dragon Age and Oblivion at about the same time from the same friend. I want to say she mentioned them to be... around Freshmen year of High School? So 4-5 years ago now, I guess. I played it at her house, and I eventually got the Oblivion GOTY edition with the daedric rune metal case at Gamestop (which was close enough to Skyrim that the guy at the counter mentioned it).

Shortly after Skyrim came out, I ended up getting it, and late last year I also got Morrowind... so I sort of went in a really, really weird direction with the games, ahaha! But as far as Bethesda goes, I've known about the company itself a little bit before TES - Fallout 3 was either the first or second game I ever played on the 360 (the other one was Left For Dead).

[Coupaholic]

My first was Oblivion. At the time the Xbox 360 was the latest gen console and my sister got one pretty quickly, I remember her gong on constantly about how fantastic the game was. I even spotted her checking up on stuff in this very wiki, something she'd never done before or since.

Then I got a PS3, and soon after the GOTY addition of Oblivion with the Knights of the Nine expansion. The game just blew me away, I still remember my first real character - the one I stuck with after several false starts - a Breton conjuration specialist.

That was years ago. Since then I tried and failed to get into Morrowind several times, and Skyrim just does nothing for me at all. And a few days ago I grabbed Oblivion from Steam, the complete edition with plugins I've not even played with yet.

I'm looking forward to seeing Cyrodiil again.