Will take more hours from your life than cigarettes.
If only this game came with a time-tracker I would probably feel very guilty with the amount of gameplay this title has received with this gamer. I have wondered to the farthest reaches in Cyrodiil, plunder caves, and killed beasts to my hearts content for probably over 300 hours and I still haven't done everything in this game. I own the PS3 version and it is far and away the largest RPG to ever grace the system in it's whole life. That includes what is going to come in later years.
At the beginning of the game you break out of prison as the Emperor is fleeing his castle as assassins come for his life. You meet the Emperor and you find out that you are the one he as been dreaming about in regards to the fate of Cyrodiil. As the Emperor falls under the knife of one of the assassins you are tasks with tracking down his only remaining heir and restoring peace to the country but not before you wonder aimlessly for hours looking for loot, completely side plots, playing the add-ons (which are almost as vast as the game itself). You can become anything in this world. A gladiator that heals people throughout the land, a powerful mage hell bent on killing, an assassin with a heart of gold, or a simply merchant that loves to get high and drunk. The character build system is a great one. The way it unfolds is how you use the skills in the world, and depending on which skills you choose the beginning of the game depends on your leveling. The only thing that I don't' like about this game is the repeating hack and slash that never changes. Even if you are based heavily in magic you better have a weapon on you and that's where the repetition comes in. But I'm nit picking here.
I've played this game on all platforms and I think the PS3 version is the best looking on all fronts. You see a dramatic improvement on textures and details. And the game loading is faster than a PC and WAY faster than the 360. You also get all the downloads standard on this disc. Which is a great upgrade from having to choose which disc to load at the beginning which is just a pain.
This is the best RPG on the PS3 hands down. Nothing comes close and nothing will come close. I pity the people that refuse to play this game because it's 'too popular'. Shame on you.