i find it v cute when rpgs offer me, someone whose sole strategy is “attacking enemies,” status changing effects. “this lowers your enemy’s speed” you know what else would lower their speed? being dead, from my fists
Thinking a lot recently about the constant comparison of Oblivion to Skyrim, particularly claims that Oblivion is superior in every way strictly by virtue of quest length and the greater grandiosity of the organizations in Oblivion, and I think there's been a fundamental misunderstanding of what's actually going on with Tamriel during the time period of Skyrim. Even though it's like...one of the core concepts of the main storyline.
Putting most of this under a cut for length, but I just...I think people misunderstand what's going on here. This is not a "One Game Good Other Game Bad" post, it's an analysis of a major, key difference in story basis between the two that I think gets lost in the (frankly asinine) argument about which is superior.
See, everything in Skyrim sucks. Every organization you can align yourself with is falling apart. Literally every single one.
That's the point.
To summarize:
The Companions (equivalent to the Fighters' Guild) are about a dozen strong, literally cursed, and their most beloved leader gets murdered very early in the storyline.
The College of Winterhold (equivalent to the Mages' Guild, not to the Arcane University) has seemingly only been saved from collapsing into the sea because a master of Restoration fused himself with the structure itself when the Sea of Ghosts tried to tear it down a little under a century ago and his presence is constantly physically "healing" the foundation.
The Thieves' Guild has lost the favor of every possible patron deity, having been outright cursed by Nocturnal after one of her Nightingales murdered another and stole the gift she offers her champion, while the boon that the organization's founder claimed from her in ages past (the cowl) is missing.
The Dark Brotherhood has been all but completely dismantled, the Night Mother's tomb in Bravil having been raided and struggling to persist without a Listener for over a decade; the bodies of the Night Mother's children have been lost and she's essentially being smuggled from region to region in an attempt to find a safe place to continue operations.
The Empire itself has been kneecapped, forced into a traumatic treaty by a fascist regime determined to strike the beliefs and culture of anyone not Altmer off the face of the planet; the Thalmor have gone so far as to torture and radicalize the figurehead leader of the Nords in order to use their own nationalism and superiority against the Empire, sparking a civil war that will further weaken the Empire and allow the Aldmerri Dominion to destroy it wholecloth.
This extends out into the rest of the world, too! We have confirmed existence of Hist-deaf Argonians. The Dunmer are floundering to recover after the quadruple-whammy that is the fall of the Triumverate, the destruction of Vivec City when Baar Dau finally made impact, the Red Year, and the Argonian uprising. The Bosmer are literally endangered due to habitat loss following a super-isolationist cultural shift due to wars with the Khajiit and Altmer. The Void Nights were devastating to Khajiit culture and population in ways that have yet to be fully explained.
The world is falling apart. Everything is dying.
And then Alduin shows up.
We all kind of talk about Alduin carrying on as World-Eater through the course of the Skyrim storyline like it's him being a piece of shit, since he'd started it ages ago and was just displaced in time to land on the Last Dragonborn's head in the Fourth Era, but I don't think that's the case.
Based on the state of things, I think Alduin arrived right on time. I think it's the end of the world. The only reason he "should" be stopped is because the Last Dragonborn has the capacity to stop the world from ending in a more down-to-earth sense than just defeating Alduin: they can't save everyone, but they can "fix" every single organization that's holding "the world" together.
They can align with the Imperials and keep the civil war from further crippling them, keeping the Empire from being too weak to push back against the Aldmerri Dominion.
They can save the College of Winterhold, the only group in the right place at the right time to stop the Eye of Magnus from opening, and in doing so make sure that the Psijics are able to put it somewhere nobody else can find it.
They can lead the Companions, cure the curse for those members who don't want to run with Hircine after death, which bolsters their spirits enough to keep doing what they can even when everyone else is trying to kill each other. A single neutral martial force in the middle of a civil war.
They can regain Nocturnal's trust for the Thieves' Guild, restore the Nightingales, and in doing so they can return the luck that was stolen from them as punishment for Mercer Frey's transgression. They can even reclaim the Crown of Barenziah and award the guild with a paragon to increase their newly-regained luck.
They can hear the Night Mother, becoming Listener for the Dark Brotherhood to restore the balancing force of Sithis in the world, purify the most broken Sanctuary the Brotherhood has ever had, and finish a story set into motion way back in the Third Era—Emperor Titus Mede II is murdered under the order of a Motierre, a descendant of a mark the Brotherhood specifically kept from dying during the Oblivion Crisis.
The Last Dragonborn can't do anything outside Skyrim—there's nothing they can do for the Argonians or the Bosmer or the Khajiit, and they can only do very little for the Dunmer via work in Solstheim—but they can work with every single guild or guild-adjacent group, strengthening the Empire to stand against the biggest threat to Tamrielic culture since the First Era, and in doing so they can make it so the world isn't ready for Alduin to eat it.
The Hero of Kvatch exists when Tamriel, and presumably Nirn as a whole is in the prime of its life, that's what makes the Oblivion Crisis such a big deal. This is a world that isn't ready to give up, it still has the strength to fight, it just needs someone standing at the head to direct it. The Last Dragonborn comes into the story when everything is falling apart and nothing really feels worthwhile, when it's hard to see why the world is worth saving. They have the chance to prove that there's still some life left here, that the world isn't too far gone to save—Alduin arrived right on time, it's the Last Dragonborn's job to change that.
I can see how coming from Oblivion to Skyrim would feel disappointing and hollow, but I'm pretty sure that's literally the point of the story.
Oblivion tells you the world is worth saving because it's got so much left to live for, even with the odds stacked so high against it. Skyrim asks you whether a world that's dying is still a world worth saving, and it's up to you to prove that it is.
So Bethesda's reasoning behind forcing a Miraak kill was that they had failed at creating a compelling dilemma. Originally you were going to trade some sort of tome to Mora, and they realized that no one was going to turn down saving a cool ass renegade cyborg sounding Dragon Priest for their little skill tree bit.
The thing is that this would have been ridiculously easy to fix with an addition of literally ANY interesting mechanic. So being a Miraak stannie, here are a few things the questline itself could lock behind Miraak's death to make me consider killing him:
Trade Dragon Souls for a Reduction in Shout Cool Down Time - A 1-2% increase for every shout spent. Actually gives the player motivation to seek out dragons and play a Thu'um build.
Trade Dragon Souls for an Increase in Shout Power - Fire Breath is one of the coolest in game shouts, and you get the fire Wyrm if you kill an enemy -- yet at higher levels it becomes almost useless. This goes for quite a few shouts.
Stacked Vahlok the Jailor Spectral Follower - A summon isn't enough to make me want to kill Miraak, but a spectral follower? That's cool as fuck. It makes sense, since you absorbed Miraak's soul, that Vahlok would want to follow you. Literally no one in their god damn mind would want to fuck with you and your floating dragon priest ghost going suplex city
Vahlok's Mask - Locking the final dragon priest mask behind a decision would actually make collectors twitch.
Marry Frea - Stupid as fuck that you can't marry Frea. Conversely, if you spare Miraak, you should be locked out of any remaining Skaal quests and merchants.
Ability to Craft Dragon Priest Armor - Yeah this would just be unbelievably fucking goated and I think you should get this regardless of decision if you collect all the masks, but whatever.
Bend Will That Actually Works - The ability to create up to two living thralls instead of two dead ones, effectively allowing you to increase your follower count, ie, you could have Teldryn, Serana, and Ralis at once.
Maybe someone who mods better than I do can tell me if these would be difficult to add, but honestly, I don't think a lot of them are as I've seen plenty of mods along these lines.
The pure laziness that went into the Dragonborn DLC -- which is fun, but criminally short and contained -- in comparison to the Dawnguard DLC is irritating, and it's even more irritating to know they had the voice lines ready to go and everything and decided to cut an actually good plot point last minute.
Elder Scrolls is fascinating to me because the vast majority of the background information of the setting is very obviously written by people with an admirably clear-eyed understanding of how history is mainly just groups genociding the shit out of each other before constructing post-hoc rationalizations of why that was a cool and good thing to do, if they bother justifying anything beyond the level of Might Makes Right. And then the actual main quest plots are often operating at Sword Hero Cleanses The Undesirables levels of These Are The Bad Guys, Kill Them Because We Said So
Historians always talk about how impressive Martin Septim's translation of the Mysterium Xarxes is. And like yeah, translating a daedric artifact in record time with minimal effects to your sanity and well-being is impressive. BUT I think everyone forgets the fact that he did it while also getting his dick sucked clean off by the Hero of Kvatch which only makes it even more impressive.
In no particular order, as they are all shit in their own ways :P
Redwater Spring
Unless you are a vampire or werewolf then you are getting all the diseases. And if you are a vampire, don't do that to the food??? Unless, you're into that 😏
2. Altar of Molag Bal
I don't even need to say why, y'all already know. If you are so inclined (I'm not kink shaming I'm kink asking why) go to the one in Castle Volkihar at least. Don't do it in Markarth my guy
3. The Dwemer Lockbox at Septimus Signus's Outpost
Okay, this might just be me but it would be impossible to have a good time inside a giant Dwemer mechanism with Hermaeus Mora lurking around. HOWEVER, I am aware I am posting this on tesblr on monsterfucker.com so if you are an enjoyer of tentacles than this may be a top spot. You do you bestie, have fun becoming a Seeker someday <3
4. The Chantry of Auri-El
Gelebor has been through enough
5. Frostfall Lighthouse
You probably don't want to anyways
6. Inside Tel Mithryn with Neloth is there
This also has the caveat as some of you (including myself to an extent) are into Neloth. That said, I feel like he would absolutely destroy you with insults that even if he didn't ban you you'd never come back
7. The Warren
Wahoooo second Markarth location! Incredibly depressing, would not be a good vibe
8. The Chill
It's fuckin cold my guy
9. Yngvild
Also cold but more importantly, Arondil has major issues. The room of dead women, the contents of his journals NOPE I am kinkshaming him
10. The Butcher's murder room in Hjerim
Let's offer the dead some peace since we cannot bring the killer to justice as the quest is always broken!!!
Feel free to add your own picks, we could also do a list of the best places ;)
just like having a pet is a constant cycle of asking "what have you got in your mouth now?", modding skyrim is a constant cycle of asking "what are you crashing for now?"
Year 1-5 of Skyrim being out: WOOOOOOOOW!!! Look at this sick war hammer Malacath gave me! This is so awesome, I-- YOOOOOOOO!!!! THAT DRAGON IS FIGHTING A GIANT, LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Year 5-10 of Skyrim being out: I am roleplaying a deeply religious Dunmer. I will ONLY use the Ebony Mail, the Ebony Blade, and Azura's Star. I will follow their teachings, and only their teachings. The only times I don't follow their teachings is if I am literally forced on another path. I will shun and destroy any deity that is not Maphala, Boethia, or Azura. The Good Three are my light and my way.
Year 10+ of Skyrim being out: Hello Generic NPC. I know things about you. So many things. All of the things. I know where you sleep. I know what factions you're a part of. I have the sound of your foot steps memorized, I speak your words before you do. I desire for you, Generic NPC. Oh, not for anything as complex or personal as lust, Generic NPC. Nor hate. Nor is there any judgment here, Generic NPC. My reasons are more ancient, more sinister and, yes, more benevolent than anything you know too. I will follow you home, Generic NPC. I will watch you sleep, Generic NPC. I will cook only the meals you consume, Generic NPC. I will become you, Generic NPC. I will--
Reading TESblr lore opinions and reading TES Reddit lore opinions is like getting glimpses of two completely different planets. It’s so funny. People have completely opposing differences and common conceptions that you can’t even find reference of in the other platform. Almost feels like two separate fandoms. Fascinating.
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