Damn you, this is what I like to do all the time. I was so bored by so many games because following NPCs didn’t feel natural and if you have nothing else to do in a gameworld, what else do you want to do?
Don’t worry, you won’t see the full story in the Beta. I played some other Alphas and Betas before and I can tell you that the whole gameplay will be a very different experience after all the adjustments, balancings and additional small features.
Yeah, that was a real letdown after Oblivion. In Oblivion, each and every NPC had a tendency to do a good number of things every day, both outside and in their own homes. In Skyrin tho, they mostly did one thing, repeated the same dialogue, and then went on to sleep in a dormitory, located in a town way too small for its population.
Yep, Whiterun’s infrastructure couldn’t realistically support it’s population. And don’t even get me started on the whole economics of the game, the agriculture was hopelessly inadequate in terms of population support.
When I helped beta test Stronghold: Crusader many moons ago, I was praised for turning in the second highest bug count. I tend to shoot for top bug-slayer here so I can do my part to have a flawless game released. If we succeed as a community, the following chapters for the game are assured, and who knows where that will all lead. I have my +5 boots of bug-stomp and my +3 bow of killbugkill. I’m ready.
Walking…as this is the only thing we can do in the first alpha… 
First of all, verify this in my language (Spanish), if not, should pay an institute of learning to speak English … xD
After taking my first steps I will try to steal a chicken (if there are some). If there are no I will follow a random npc and watch him for some time 
For all we know the alpha is in a green box 5x5 meters wide and all you can do is run around and try animations. So it’s to early to ask what people will do since we don’t know what we will be able to do.
Stalking NPCs is something we should be able to do 
lets see what we get
they announced the first alpha is going to take place in the small map featured in the livestream months ago. and they say you will have basic interactions, which gives us some expectations.
First thing to do in Alpha: A little archery at sunrise, on that bloody rooster.
The first thing I shall do with the alpha? Hm. I think I shall spend all my money on an especially large turnip.
I am going to ride a stolen horse, travel to Prague to find some great medieval alchemist and technician. I will persuade him to make a time machine for me (in those times they were making those all the time). Then by asking people, I will locate Jan Žižka, first I will order him to wear some eye protection. He will be grateful for I saved his favourite eye, so it won´t be hard to make him go with me back in time. Our destination? Prehistoric ages. Together we will find, hunt, trap and tame two of the biggest T-Rexes. After we learn how to ride them we will travel back to medieval and conquer Czech kingdom, eventually whole Europe. And Instead of horseman statue on the Vítkov hill, there will be a statue of Jan žižka on the back of freaking T-Rex.
I just hope I will be able to do this all in a first version of alpha. Im not sure if they said that you can actually steal a horse…
Will there day night cycles included?
If yes i will enjoy sunrises…
I hope there will be a button like in LiveStream to change the speed of time.
And i want to see the interactions to take an apple or maybe chickens^^
download it - that is always the first hurdle.
then just walk around a bit and most likely die a few times killing chickens.
Can you link here your source of this information?
I know exactly what I’ll be able to do:
The rest? In due time.
I should link a source on information I don’t have?
Ah sorry guys, didn’t know they’ve given us information on what will be in the alpha. Still, I think a better thing to have done is to have waited a little with this thread and named it “First thing you did in alpha?” instead.
Man, I feel you. I thought Skyrim NPCs were a bit of a let down for the exact reasons you stated. Sure the conversations in Oblivion were very limited by the amount of recorded lines, but at least they tried to make a system which allowed for semi-dynamic conversations. The fact that they put the effort in is worthy of recognition, not the derision it often gets. Especially compared to the Skyrim NPC’s, which spout pre-canned life stories at you, and only have conversations at pre-scripted times. Feels more unnatural than Oblivion’s system to me. Plus, like you stated, Oblivion’s NPC’s had much better scripting.
Back on topic: In terms of Alpha, I’ll probably follow NPC’s too Then go around dissecting how they did their environment art assets, and just enjoying the visuals!
