Multiple characters, or just one for now?

• Posted by Soleiya November 1, 2011 - 504 views

  I tend to go a little bit crazy when I get a new game that I'm anticipating as much as Skyrim.  I feel like I want to go and do and see everything at once!

  But I'm also, at heart, a role-player.  I don't want to just make an uber-character who will cram as much of the game as possible into a single playthrough (barring mutually exclusive content, of course, like the Great Houses factions in Morrowind).  I really want my Elder Scrolls characters to have personalities and preferences.  One character might be an underhanded thief who respects no laws other than her own.  Another might be a morally upright warrior who refuses to harm an innocent.  Yet another might be a mage with a flexible sense of ethics grounded in good, old-fashioned greed.  Naturally, from what we've been told officially so far, each of these characters is likely to see and experience Skyrim in a different way, at least in part.

  So here's my problem....I'll be happily playing my lawful good paladin, for example, and come across a REALLY COOL quest that just doesn't fall within my character's sense of ethics.  She refuses to take the quest, but I as the player am left feeling disappointed that I just let something really interesting slip by....

  ...so usually, after letting this disappointment fester for an hour or two, I get fed up and go make a new character.  One that would jump at the chance to take that sneaky, "dark side" quest I had to pass on earlier.  So now I'm playing two different characters in the same game, sort of simultaneously.  Every time I go to play, I have to decide, "which character is it going to be today?"  And I rarely stop at two!  Sometimes it can get really ridiculous, like having 4-6 simultaneous characters in various stages of the game.  It isn't always quest-related, either.  Sometimes just picking up a cool new magical weapon of a type that my current character can't/won't use is enough to make me want to go make another character who can/will.  And unfortunately, this often means that I don't finish the game completely with ANY character, because I burn out on the game. :(

  So I have 2 questions.  First, am I the only one who does this with awesome new games like Skyrim? And second, do you think I should try to hold myself to one character this time, to maximize the fun I can get from that one before making another to see other sides of the game?  Thanks for your opinions! :)