How long does skyrim take to finish?

[Phokus]

I recently found out i can borrow skyrim from my local library (xbox 360 version). Thinking of borrowing it and finishing it in 1 or 2 weeks.

How long would skyrim take if i did everything in the game (including side quests) versus just doing the main quests?

 

[mmntech]

It took me well over a month to finish the whole game. It really depends on how you play it. You could probably beat it in under 40hrs but the difficulty will be significantly ramped up. Plus you'll miss most of what makes the game great. Skyrim is best played at a leisurely pace. It took me about 60hrs all and all.

Here's my best tip I can make for new players.

Spoiler

When you get to Whiterun, head to Jorvaskre and join the companions before heading out to Bleak Falls Barrow.

Spoiler

This allows you to acquire a silver sword early in the game, which is especially effective against undead. Makes the early dungeons a lot easier. The quest also gives the opportunity to grind a bit before fighting more challenging enemies.

 

[Phokus]

It took me well over a month to finish the whole game. It really depends on how you play it. You could probably beat it in under 40hrs but the difficulty will significantly ramped up. Plus you'll miss most of what makes the game great. Skyrim is best played at a leisurely pace. It took me about 60hrs all and all.

Damn, looks like i'll have to renew a couple of times maybe.

 

[trmiv]

How ever long you want it to! I'm about 90 hours in, with plenty left. I decided to take a break for awhile and play a couple of other games then pick it back up. Can't wait to try it now with the new Kinect support.

 

[Sheep]

I did as many quests as I could find (excluding a few that glitched out). North of 200 hours to get 910/1000 achievement points here. I definitely took my time, though.

 

[Todd33]

Took me about 20 hours, then I got bored. The game is tedious and repetitive.

 

[Drako]

I did as many quests as I could find (excluding a few that glitched out). North of 200 hours to get 910/1000 achievement points here. I definitely took my time, though.

Similar for me, finished in about 220 hours.

 

[mOeeOm]

Took me about 20 hours, then I got bored. The game is tedious and repetitive.

Yup, how you guys managed to play it so much is beyond me. I got 8 hours in then stopped playing.

 

[Sulaco]

The true joy of Skyrim, or any Elder Scrolls game for that matter, is exploration. Wandering around the world and discovering stuff, at your OWN pace.

If you get it just to rush through, quest after quest, b-line to b-line, you're wasting the best parts of the game. It's sort of like buying Forza to see the damage modeling. It's there, but you'd be missing the real beauty of the game.

Literally, the first 75 odd hours of the game for me were just exploring. Stopping to do a quest every once in awhile, but just wandering around the map, before I found almost everything.

 

[Smoblikat]

In oblivion i have at least 2K hours. Morrowind was probobly only around 750 or so, but i havent even done a single quest yet. Skyrim was probobly 5 hours then i realized that this game sucks.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Infinity

 

[mOeeOm]

The true joy of Skyrim, or any Elder Scrolls game for that matter, is exploration. Wandering around the world and discovering stuff, at your OWN pace.

If you get it just to rush through, quest after quest, b-line to b-line, you're wasting the best parts of the game. It's sort of like buying Forza to see the damage modeling. It's there, but you'd be missing the real beauty of the game.

Literally, the first 75 odd hours of the game for me were just exploring. Stopping to do a quest every once in awhile, but just wandering around the map, before I found almost everything.

But you're not finding anything new :S it's the same crap over and over, you explore new zone, same thing. Felt like a single player mmo with terrible combat.

 

[coldmeat]

My save is at about 150 hours I think, and I still haven't finished the main quest or a whole lot of side quests.

 

[coldmeat]

Yup, how you guys managed to play it so much is beyond me. I got 8 hours in then stopped playing.

But you're not finding anything new :S it's the same crap over and over, you explore new zone, same thing. Felt like a single player mmo with terrible combat.

 

[Sulaco]

Indeed.

 

[Tweak155]

It took me well over a month to finish the whole game. It really depends on how you play it. You could probably beat it in under 40hrs but the difficulty will be significantly ramped up. Plus you'll miss most of what makes the game great. Skyrim is best played at a leisurely pace. It took me about 60hrs all and all.

Here's my best tip I can make for new players.

Spoiler

When you get to Whiterun, head to Jorvaskre and join the companions before heading out to Bleak Falls Barrow.

Spoiler

This allows you to acquire a silver sword early in the game, which is especially effective against undead. Makes the early dungeons a lot easier. The quest also gives the opportunity to grind a bit before fighting more challenging enemies.

If you have to spoiler tag information for new players, is it really something they should read? It's like an oxymoron. Lol.

 

[sactoking]

I played 20 hours or so and then was reminded why I don't pay full price for games. Haven't played in months and probably never will again.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

About a week or two. Then you'll have a hard time going back to it because every toon becomes a one man wrecking crew, so there is no point.

 

[Oyeve]

Didnt the programmers have a race to see who finished faster? I recall reading it in some magazine. Something like 4 hours from start to finish. Of course they did no leveling up or side-quests.

UPDATE
Here is an article:

“The speedrun is my World Cup or Olympics, it’s my favorite event that comes every three or four years.” – Todd Howard

As tradition goes, when Bethesda Game Studios is close to wrapping up development on a title, we hold a speedrun competition through the main quest (with no cheats allowed). While the game will take many hours to complete for a first-time players, our developers have years of experience under their belts and know all the ins and outs for speeding through the game. The contest pits the best Bethesda Game Studios has to offer vs. the best of QA The person with the best time wins a trophy and gets a pie of their choice from Todd Howard.
When it came time to crown the Skyrim champion, two familiar faces rose to the occasion: Sam “I Am” Bernstein (QA) and Jeff “Live the Dream” Browne (BGS) — the very same combatants from the Fallout 3 speedrun three years back. Loyal blog readers might recall I said the match was as close as Michael Phelps .01 second escape in the 2008 Summer Games.
If Fallout 3′s speed run was that close, the Skyrim contest was… well, I can’t think of something closer than that Michael Phelps race. But this one was crazier — crazy like the final minute of this year’s Michigan-Notre Dame game.
At the beginning of the Skyrim speedrun, I asked Sam how long he anticipated it would take. He predicted two hours, fifteen minutes. He wasn’t far off. In the end, Jeff Browne finished the game first with an impressive time of minutes 2:16:30.
Congrats to Jeff, right? WRONG! 58 minutes into the competition, Sam had to roll back to an earlier save (ruled fair by the judging committee), so we had to wait several minutes after Jeff completed the main quest to compare their final times. Despite taking a totally different route to get to the endgame (in the Fallout 3 speedrun, they had virtually the same game plan), Sam’s time was 2:16:10 — 20 seconds faster than Jeff!!
For Jeff, it’s a heartbreaking loss. He’s the Buffalo Bills of speedruns (and he actually roots for the Bills). But no matter what, Jeff Browne is awesome.
And for the second game, congrats to Sam on being the Speedrun Champion! He showed the heart of a champion and will be celebrating later this month with a pumpkin pie from Todd Howard..