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

[Emzi 43]

Oblivion was my first, when I was 12ish, my dad had seen me writing some rubbish little story, and he came back from work with a copy of oblivion, he did the old Cliché "I saw it and thought of you", so I played, got hooked, and went back in time when I was 13/14 and got all the others, around when Skyrim came out.

[thegooseking]

My brother lent me Morrowind because he thought I would like it. (I actually still have his copy, years later, even though I have my own copy now, too. Oops.) When he lent it to me he was really excited about the then-forthcoming Elder Scrolls IV, but was worried that his computer wouldn't be able to handle it. I didn't really like Morrowind at the time because I didn't have the patience for it. I liked games, but I didn't like challenge, so I cheated my way through a lot of games, and Morrowind was no exception. I used god mode, and I had a super-jump that worked as a sort of fast travel proxy. By racing through it, I kind of missed the point of the game, really.

I had consoles growing up, but I'd always been a PC gamer, really. But later, I finally bought an Xbox 360 because of some nonsense with Lionhead being bought by Microsoft and making Fable II Xbox-exclusive (which it still is to this day, even though they've reversed the exclusivity decision on Fable III), and started reading up on what games were 'essential' on the Xbox 360. One of them was Oblivion. I decided to give that a try, but it was also around this time that I stopped cheating. And I just got really sucked into it. I think a large part of it was that the review I read described Oblivion as "a place to be rather than a thing to do", and once I understood that, it just clicked.

When Skyrim came along, I bought it instantly. Then I bought Oblivion on PC. Then I bought my own copy of Morrowind.

I still have some problems with Morrowind, but not the problems I used to have. Taking my time and exploring (without cheating!) is fine for me, now, and I get so much more out of the game now that I know how I'm supposed to play it (which does sound a bit weird for a game series the premise of which is playing it however you want - I guess it's better to say I know how to play it so I get the most out of it, rather than how I'm supposed to play it). But the problem I have is mainly (largely thanks to the way the dialogue system works, but also thanks to some generally bad writing) that I still find the characters a little hard to believe in.

[Br3admax]

Technically the first ES game I ever played was Morrowind when it was released. Unfortunately Morrowind gave me the freedom to massacre Seyda Neen with a battle axe and respawning gold and NPCs, and I didn't feel like reading the entire game, being very young at the time, so I don't count it much.

I did however played Oblivion heavily back in '08, which made me want to go back and play every single one. And while Morrowind, the province, will always be as dear to me as pixelated landscape can be. The political intrigue of the High Rock courts shown in Daggerfall have always made me love Bretons even more.

[Spark]

Eh, first played skyrim because a friend told me about it. I'd heard about it on the internet beforehand, though. Not a very interesting story

[10♠]

First got into Morrowind back in '04. I was in high school back then when a friend of mine showed me the game.

[Haezyl]

I remember as a kid me and my sister would watch my dad play morrowind, we called it 'the creeper game' and then years later I found the same disc and decided to play it. Instantly fell in love but hated playing PC. So the year skyrim came out I got an xbox then obviously skyrim. Been playing it since '11 and just got oblivion this Xmas '13

[Chadonraz]

You could say I've known about the TES world without knowing I knew about it since 2006 or 2007...
A friend of mine was always talking about a game called Oblivion, however I had no idea what it was, and tbh wasn't even that interested. Until one time when she showed the game to me, and we created the most hideous character ever. When it comes to creating ugly characters, Skyrim's chargen has nothing on Oblivion's.

In December 2012/January 2013 I was thinking about buying an Xbox 360 (I had moved to a student apartment, and couldn't/didn't want to take our Xbox non-360 with me), and at that time there was a really tempting package deal available. It included the console (plus usual accessories) plus two games (both of which sounded at least somewhat interesting) - for the more or less same price as a "non-package deal" 360 console.
One of the games was Skyrim (well, a download code or whatever, but still), which very quickly had me completely hooked.
I watched and read who knows how many reviews and videos of Skyrim before deciding to get that package, because I had absolutely no idea what the game was about. I remember learning about the "Skyrim space program" and flying mammoth glitch long before I even got the game.

The following summer I had to temporarily part with my 360, so I decided to give Daggerfall a try (by that time I had learned of the earlier TES games, and was interested). Despite its age and my having played Skyrim for several months I really enjoyed the game. I should try to get it installed on this computer...
I also downloaded Arena, but didn't get far at all. I remember the last save I made was after finally finding my way to Whiterun (which back then was by far my favourite Skyrim city).

Morrowind (GOTY) I also bought in summer 2013, after finding out my laptop would actually be able to run it.

Oblivion (5th Anniversary) I bought for the 360 in autumn 2013. I was more than a little surprised when I remembered the starting cell from when my friend and I had created that revolting character several years earlier.

Aaand finally I bought Skyrim off the Steam winter sale last December. By mid-January I had gotten this PC and was able to play PC Skyrim.

Edit: edited to prevent misunderstandings

[Pilaf The Defiler]

I used to watch Toonami a lot in high school. They advertised a game called Morrowind and gave it a perfect score. The entire concept deeply appealed to me, especially the character customization and exploration aspects. The rest is history.

[all_freed]

I learned about TES3 in a cgw magazine (computer gaming world).

[Darkelfguy]

The first Elder Scrolls game I learned about was Morrowind, and I found out about it shortly after it was released. I was twelve at the time, and it was my habit to go over to my friend's house and watch him play games as I wasn't much of a gamer myself during those days. One day in early summer of 2002 he had Morrowind, and I was amazed at the level of interaction and freedom the game provided. I had to have it for myself, so I went out and bought a copy for the PC. My own computer, a lackluster Millennium Compaq, couldn't run it, so I was forced to use my mother's custom-built Windows 98 for my first several hundred hours of gameplay. That's more or less how I got introduced to Morrowind, and I've never really left that game, I'm still playing it to this day.

As for the more recent Elder Scrolls games, I heard about Oblivion and Skyrim pretty much the same day they were announced and pre-ordered them in short order. I got a good 600 hours into Oblivion before heading back to Morrowind, and a measly 100 hours in Skyrim before, once again, heading back to Morrowind.

[Mefris Elmek]

The first Elder Scrolls I learned about was Daggerfall.I learned about it through a friend when he came to visit me and brought me some games he thought I might like.He wasn't a fan of Daggerfall but the moment I finished making my character I was hooked for life.I still boot it up from time to time but for some reason I'm getting progressively bad at it.

Still best TES game IMO.

[Leckan]

Skyrim was my first foray. I knew nothing about the Elder Scrolls series, didn't even't know that Skyrim was the 5th installment. I heard a lot of great things about it and, since it has been forever since I picked up a fantasy R.P.G., I took a risk... and LOVED IT!!!

I'm waiting impatiently for ES6.

[bigshot]

Lets see, found Morrowind GOTY in a used game store in 2005, played it on Xbox and hated it. Graduated high school in 2007, had newly found free time on my hands, played through main-quest, beat it. Heard about Oblivion and tried playing it on my laptop, low resolution and laggy play, hated it. Built a new PC (went to college for design) and reinstalled Oblivion, played just short of 1000 hours and loved it. Found GOTY PC version of Morrowind on sale at Best Buy, beat it again. Started playing MW expansions alongside Oblivion expansions and loved them. Then sat dormant waiting for Skyrim, and have just short of 900 hours in Skyrim.

[Dark Spark]

I recall seeing the Arena box sitting on shelves of music stores in the mall (back when you had music stores in malls), but it was background clutter to my eyes because I was pretty sure my computer couldn't run it (it couldn't run anything).

Years later I'm on a Diablo forum and people are enthusing over this game called Morrowind, where the world is so huge that there's literally hundreds of caves and dungeons you can explore and how you'll never be able to cover everything in your lifetime. More background din to me, but I asked for the GotY edition as a Christmas present.

My foray into Morrowind was brief and uneventful: the game had matured— anybody and everybody on the forums would've been playing this game for years and know the ins and outs like the back of their hand. I would look like a silly newbie wandering around in circles without a clue. But— there was a new game on the horizon: Oblivion. Everyone was going to be a newbie with this game, so I might as well start with that one, right from launch day.

I had my first character in Oblivion pegged down in the creation screen: Breton for all the sparkle-motion of a mage, and a Healer to a reflect a positive, compassionate light into a troubled world. Saving the day, one healing potion at a time...

...that particular character's final journey was through the digestive tract of a mountain lion, so I moved on. A spellsword helped me through the main quest, the Mages' and Fighters' Guild and all the nuances of combining sword and sorcery with heavy armor and the Estucheon of Chorrol. When I tried to explore the Dark Brotherhood with this character, I had to quit halfway through because this darkness just could not sit in this figure. I would need to make a new character who could face the darkness without falling into the trap of motivational entropy. In other words I needed someone evil, but funny. It balances out.

[DikkeVetteVlinder]

When I was about eleven, my brother bought Morrowind second hand in a scruffy comic and gameshop in a backstreet in Groningen. He kinda forgot about it, but one day when I got kinda fed up with Fable I gave it a shot and was sold immediately. It was the first game I had ever played with so much freedom and I loved it. Spent countless hours in it.
Later on my brother this time bought Oblivion, but again couldn't really get into it. I could. It wasn't the same as Morrowind, but hey, that was special back then.
At the time Skyrim came out, I had already become a major TES fan, so I really wanted it, but somehow it took a year for me to actually buy it (something to do with school, among other things).
And currently I still play both Morrowind and Skyrim and plan on reinstalling Oblivion sometime soon.

[Rajhma]

I was never much of a gamer prior to TES but all my friends were gamers. My first TES game was Oblivion. It had just been released and all my friends were super enthusiastic about how great it was. Lol, I distinctly remember one of my friends gleefully exclaiming "You can steal EVERYTHING!" I read up on the premise of the game and thought it sounded unbelievably epic so I saved up and bought an xbox 360 and a copy of the game. I soon found myself utterly enthralled with the main premise as well as the world itself and I've been in love with the TES games ever since.

[Nord85]

Daggerfall: I hadn't an inkling about anything called "Elder Scrolls" before 1998, when my uncle came to visit one day and gave me and my brother a copy of the game. That game was my "baptism of fire" with the series. And what a baptism, too! I still remember how I literally sweated and swore from frustration when simply trying to get out of the starter dungeon. It got better after that dreary ordeal, however.

Morrowind: I was aware of the game around its release because I regularly read a game review magazine, but didn't buy it since our family computer was too ancient to run it. Then I forgot about the whole game until I bought my first own computer. It happened so that a few game CDs came with the PC package and Morrowind was one of them.

Oblivion: After getting hooked on Morrowind, I naturally was interested about if there would be a sequel. I followed the pre-release hype and, embarrassing to say, swallowed at least half of it. But I could only play the game in 2010 when I finally could afford a PC that could handle it, and even that only barely.

Skyrim: I think I became aware of the game late in 2010 or early in 2011, when I happened across some discussion about the upcoming game. This time I was wiser and took every claim with a grain of salt. Still, I was very excited to get to play the game. But again my hardware was too ancient to play it, so I only started playing it in 2013 after very luckily getting a second-hand PC with decent specs at a bargain price.

TES VI: I've periodically checked on the situation for at least a year now. Sadly, still no announcement about anything.

In a nutshell: The earlier the more interested I've been of the series.

[umber hulk]

Morrowind on the original Xbox, it had already been out for some time, I learned about it just through browsing a used games store. i remember reading the manual on the train home, getting excited by the amount of classes there were, then, when i played it, getting completely blown away by the size of the map and the freedom to go where I wanted.

[Starfang]

You could say I've known about the TES world without knowing I knew about it since 2006 or 2007...
A friend of mine was always talking about a game called Oblivion, however I had no idea what it was, and tbh wasn't even that interested. Until one time when she showed the game to me, and we created the most hideous character ever. When it comes to creating ugly characters, Skyrim's chargen has nothing on Oblivion's.

In December 2012/January 2013 I was thinking about buying an Xbox 360 (I had moved to a student apartment, and couldn't/didn't want to take our Xbox non-360 with me), and at that time there was a really tempting package deal available. It included the console (plus usual accessories) plus two games (both of which sounded at least somewhat interesting) - for the more or less same price as a "non-package deal" 360 console.
One of the games was Skyrim (well, a download code or whatever, but still), which very quickly had me completely hooked.
I watched and read who knows how many reviews and videos of Skyrim before deciding to get that package, because I had absolutely no idea what the game was about. I remember learning about the "Skyrim space program" and flying mammoth glitch long before I even got the game.

The following summer I had to temporarily part with my 360, so I decided to give Daggerfall a try (by that time I had learned of the earlier TES games, and was interested). Despite its age and my having played Skyrim for several months I really enjoyed the game. I should try to get it installed on this computer...
I also downloaded Arena, but didn't get far at all. I remember the last save I made was after finally finding my way to Whiterun (which back then was by far my favourite Skyrim city).

Morrowind (GOTY) I also bought in summer 2013, after finding out my laptop would actually be able to run it.

Oblivion (5th Anniversary) I bought for the 360 in autumn 2013. I was more than a little surprised when I remembered the starting cell from when my friend and I had created that revolting character several years earlier.

Aaand finally I bought Skyrim off the Steam winter sale last December. By mid-January I had gotten this PC and was able to play PC Skyrim.

Edit: edited to prevent misunderstandings

It's so funny that you say this because I got into Oblivion, Skyrim and Morrowind in 2012-2013 actually I purchased my GOTY version of Morrowind + player's guide in 2013 and go GOTY oblivion early 2013 and Skyrim in July 2013.

[mondz_tes]

My first exposure to the franchise was Oblivion, which was preinstalled in the PC that my father bought back then. It was at a time when I wasn't able to appreciate the setting, graphics and mechanics so I didn't give it much of a chance and moved on. When Skyrim got released and fell in love with it, I decided to look further on the franchise's history and found the connection between it and Oblivion. I decided to backtrack and try out the whole franchise so it was fortuitous that the TES anthology got announced.

[Bauglir100]

I first was introduced to the Elder Scrolls when I watched Toonami's review of Morrowind (back when it was still new) on Cartoon Network. But...the first game of the series I played was Oblivion. After hearing a friend talk so much about it, I got curious and bought it for myself. Then I got Skyrim, and finally Morrowind. I don't have Arena, Daggerfall, or any of the spin-off titles, but I would certainly like to play them sometime.

[Cassandra]

We got Morrowind when I was about 10, and I loved making my own character and discovering the rich backstory. However, at that time I was more interested in exploring Balmora than fighting, so needless to say I didn't get very far.

I had pretty much forgotten about it until my sister came home one day with a game called Oblivion. I sat and read the manual front to back (it was a weekday and I wasn't allowed to play). I spent the next two years playing it non-stop, trying at least 5 different characters until I found the one that I would finish the game with. I fell in love with the lore and landscape of the game, and have been in love ever since.

[ProphetDragon]

I learned about Oblivion at the age of 6.

[LongLiveTheEmpire]

My first Elder Scrolls game was discovered when I was 12, it was Oblivion. Oddly enough, I found it in the Bargain Bin at Gamestop for cheap, and I had recently gotten an Xbox, so I figured "why not". Like many others here, because I was so young, I had absolutely no patience for the game. I set the difficuly slider all the way to ridiculously easy, and went around with my Bosmer "Musketeer" (I still cringe at this, I also just chose random major skills) killing Imperial guards and stealing their stuff. It wasn't till I was around 13-14 that I actually started taking the game seriously, this is also around when Skyrim was coming out, and I was pretty hyped for that. I distinctly remember playing an Imperial once in 8th grade and my friends making fun of me for not playing an Argonian, the obvious "cooler" race. Oh the memories.

[dremorababe]

I joined the party very late but it's still an interesting yet long story

Hidden:

I was always a gamer, but I used to play games that my brother would get us. Both my brothers liked the same games and I used to think that all of us had the exact same taste. Because of that I would trust his opinion blindly. My brother never liked RPG'S and he despised fantasy in general so even though I had heard of Skyrim in 2011 (my friend was obsessed), I never paid attention to it because my brother wasn't interested (okay I was a silly child back then.) Then in 2013 my dad purchased something from a small store but it turned out to be faulty. The salesman refused to give a refund and instead asked us to take something else within the same price range. The store was small and boring and the only point of interest was a small, old shelf of video games. My dad told us to take any game we want. My brother browsed for a while but he didn't like any of them so he asked me to choose. I was pretty clueless because even though I knew all of the games on that shelf, I couldn't decide what I wanted especially since I was used to playing games my brother would get me. I picked up Resistance 2 and my brother pointed out that the game with the highest reviews here is Skyrim. So I just randomly picked it up and that was it. Where I live, TES isn't popular at all unfortunately. Funny thing is that I even used to unknowingly crack arrow in the knee jokes back in 2011 because it was all over the internet. Skyrim changed everything for me. It made me discover my love for RPG's and fantasy and it also made me realize that my brother and I have completely different tastes. We buy separate games now...and argue all the time! After milking Skyrim completely, I got Oblivion, and I went crazy over it...last year, it was pretty much all I'd ever talk about. Then I discovered Morrowind and fell in love with it. It's truly a masterpiece. Honestly I'm glad I discovered TES late because if I had discovered it earlier, I'd be too young and silly to fully enjoy it and immerse myself in it.