I came into first contact with Bethesta on Fallout 3. That game really took me countless hours to finish. When Skyrim first appeared I wanted to start over on a different theme (please note that I've never played any Elder Scrolls before).
Skyrim is just brilliant. The Story is compeling, the gameplay is typical Bethesda (without the V.A.T.S...of course) and magic is great. The world to explore is huge and diverse. I highly recommended it. It became instantly on of my Essential Games.