So I finally got Skyrim

[Mr Cwtchy]

I haven't been playing too long, but I certainly have some highlights:

My first win against a dragon. I believe it was the one on top of a mountain, forget the name. I finally learned to use cover when he shoots ice/fire at you. It was a pretty long fight, and I had to pop multiple potions, but the elation from winning was great.

I also concur on the spiders. Those buildings that are infested with them are very immersive in that they scare the pants off me.

Also got oneshot by a giant when I decided to try killing one. Didn't go far though, shame.

 

[Malyc]

Not as much scary as just WTF? But when I met a chap named Sam at a pub, and woke up in Markarth the next morning. That threw me for quite a loop

This. I met that bastard in Whiterun. Next thing I know, I'm being yelled at for littering in a shrine and being drunk and disorderly.

 

[repeating integers]

This made my MOTHER impressed, so I'm gonna put it as my biggest wow moment.

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/594707594804954792/0D4AF65CF7630EB9FA42D02D2464E5734A868CA9/

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/594707594804953177/E946C2A1FAB9093CEE832C5EC24519280EB6D00A/

The night sky in Skyrim is indeed beautiful. Sometimes it distracts me from more important things, like enemies or cliffs.

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

If "having my jaw hit the floor and continue down to the center of the earth" counts as shocking/surprising, then it'd be the first time I stepped into Blackreach.
Easily one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in a video game. I literally set my controller down for a bit and took in the scenery.
I spent 5 hours in there exploring ever last centimeter of Blackreach when I first found it.

Dwemer ruins <3

 

[Ursus Buckler]

I've only played it since Monday myself (I hated Oblivion) but I have to say all of it is just stunning. The dragons, the trolls, the mountains, the mammoths, the auroras, just the sheer span of the map, the customisation... oh, and the glitches. The wonderful glitches that only seem to happen with horses.

 

[Imbechile]

So for your discussion, What in Skyrim surprised/shocked you the most?

The inventory system shocked me the most. I still haven't recovered from that ..... thing.
Dragons were another shocker. They managed to make dragon fights shit.
And that's pretty much it. Although I'm not a pessimist or a cynic I predicted it will be shit so I wasn't suprised.

 

[TriGGeR_HaPPy]

Parthurnaax gave me quite a shock. I didn't realise what he was until he appeared behind me.

*snip*

Without giving too much away to people who still haven't played the game, I have to say merely "this".
I wish they'd given him more dialogue... Even on my second and third character, I still talked to him about everything you can talk to him about, simply because, well, I really like talking to him.

Shadowmere's appearance shocked me in a good way. Another thing that shocked me was how well Shadowmere fights, being close to invincible and still dealing out the damage when taking on hordes of enemies by him/herself. It got to the point where for a lot of the game after getting Shadowmere, I didn't have a follower because Shadowmere was all I needed as backup in a fight, and a follower would just slow me down otherwise.
(Of course, I ended up getting a Khajiit follower to go with my own Khajiit in the end, simply because Shadowmere can't come with you inside dungeons/buildings/etc. D: )

Also,
<spoiler=The Night Mother>When you hide in her sarcophagus and all you can see is her, all I could think was "... she's gonna start speaking to me, isn't she?"
*Cicero talking in the background*
"Aaany second now"
*Cicero still talking*
"Huh, maybe she won't talGAH! I KNEW IT! ... let me out now please"

 

[Catfood220]

I've been quite impressed by the weather in Skyrim. One of the first things I did was the quest to get the golden dragons claw back for the trader in Riverwood. I was kinda blown away by the weather got worse the higher I got up the mountain to the dungeon. I also like looking up at the Northern Lights on a clear night, its just so pretty.

Other little things have impressed me, such as the fact that I have been a naughty boy and pretty much stole a load of stuff that I wanted when I first started the game, I thought that because I never got caught I got away with it because there is no morality system like in Fallout. Then after I finished clearing out a dungeon of bandits and got attacked by another bunch of people who I assumed were with the bandits I'd just killed. After I killed them, I looked through their stuff and found the contract someone had taken out on me because I'd been stealing so much. I've been better behaved since.

And just tonight, I was just exploring and came across a fort, I was taking out the bandits there when I saw a moving light, I left my death dealing and went to investigate and was pleasantly surprised to find a headless horseman who after getting caught up on the scenary, lead me to a graveyard. Just little things that have made me smile.

 

[Yureina]

Welcome to the party. :3

As for my shocking moment, I think my first one was when I first booted up the game. I was about to go to sleep, but I decided to boot up the game just to test the graphics and to make sure the game would work good on my outdated PC.

Not only did it work for me, but I ended up staying up for 3 hours playing it. So much for my plan of just testing the graphics. XD

 

[darkcalling]

It's a beautiful game but honestly what tends to make me jump the most often is when a Skeever creeps up next to me and starts gnawing on my shin. I almost never see those things coming.