The first thing I did was joining the Companions. That quest line gave me good XP and equipment, and prepared me to tackle other challenges better. I basically didn`t touch the main quest until much much later in the game, and by that time, I was way overpowered for most of it to give me a decent challenge.
Hunting with the bow the wild bears and wild animals in general was a ton of fun to be honest. I am still enjoying with it sometime and I really wish a Skyrim like this was put on online as an MMORPG.. It would be the best game ever so far.
Right after escaping Helgen, I went the direction opposite Riverwood. After a bit of walking and fighting off wolves, I found myself at Falkreath. Visited a tavern, a blacksmith. Hunted some deer. Did some quests. From there on, the main quest was never seen again.
After the intro mission, I just wandered a bit. Got killed a few times so I took what looked like the safest route to the quest that takes you to a little village so I could level a little more safely before exploring some more. Also, getting a companion or follower was a top priority because I hate going into barrows by myself. Especially at night in RL.
After the first mission I was kinda mesmerized by the locations, so I went travelling for a bit. Of course, without any equipment I died often but I made it to the first quest after all.
Once I got out of the tutorial area I wandered for quite a while, completely ignoring all the Whiterun stuff where I really should have gotten started. I wasn't as used to open-ended RPGs at the time and I felt lost, confused, and a little too excited for my own good. Pretty sure I wound up on the plains and got thwomped by a giant before I realized that I should probably follow the quest line.
The first thing I did after finishing the very first quest was go take the sidequest to get the claw back for the shop owner. I went and looted that entire cairn before returning the claw. After that, I worked on my sneak and looted the entire town.
I hit someone and then the guards tried to arrest me And then they killed me. Hehe.. it was a lesson in humility.
I love exploring in games... so I went off and explored, leveled up while at it. And before I know it I'm at this high level and the main storyline was done with a breeze. I did enjoy the many quests and ways to complete this game though. It makes the replayability much more fun.
First thing I did was COLLECT EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF MISC ITEM I could find everywhere, including in the tutorial section. I thought they would fetch a good price in bulk, but no. It just added to my inventory weight and they all sold for a few glorious pieces of gold. Time well spent, wouldn't you agree?
First thing I did was start a sidequest, then did a bunch of more sidequests. Long story short I played for 50 hours before I even fought the first dragon and I was convinced dragons were late game enemies.
I think the first thing that I did within the game was just explore the open world and try to grind up. I also robbed a few people within the game.
Whenever I start a new game, I always go to Bleak Falls barrow to get the dragon stone. After that, I just wander around in the wilderness, exploring.
