Why I love Skyrim

CT Phipps said:
By all means share but that was one of my reasons for liking the Elder Scrolls.
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I got an impression that, the Champion of my crotch Kvatch going toe-to-toe with Jyggalag during the Greymarch were probably one of the best moments for any long-time TES fans.

Still, too bad you can't challenge Hermaeus Mora. Clear signs Bethesda didn't actually cared about MUH FREEDOM!

Now, I'm going to share: Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3. Yeap. Especially Bloodborne. Going toe-to-toe with Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos, was such an amazing experience.

R.Graves said:
God of war? Legacy of Kain?
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That, too. Although, I didn't know anything about Legacy of Kain.
 
Crni Vuk said:
Well, in Morrowind you could kill a god, technically even two.
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Destroying the Tribunal felt like a much greater accomplishment than taking down Dagoth-Ur. Then again, I never really felt all that much anger toward the poor bastard.

One of the reasons I enjoyed Skyrim was killing Alduin. Unfortunately, they ruined the climax by making it a party effort.
 
CT Phipps said:
Destroying the Tribunal felt like a much greater accomplishment than taking down Dagoth-Ur. Then again, I never really felt all that much anger toward the poor bastard.

One of the reasons I enjoyed Skyrim was killing Alduin. Unfortunately, they ruined the climax by making it a party effort.
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I disagree with literally everything in this post. Alduin was super antclimactic. More so than mehrunes dagon in oblivion. Dagoth ur was a bastard. He undeniably had an evil streak to him but you also couldn't help but pity him.
 
R.Graves said:
I disagree with literally everything in this post. Alduin was super antclimactic. More so than mehrunes dagon in oblivion. Dagoth ur was a bastard. He undeniably had an evil streak to him but you also couldn't help but pity him.
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I....huh?

I said Alduin was anticlimatic.

I also said Dagoth-Ur was sympathetic.
 
CT Phipps said:
One of the reasons I enjoyed Skyrim was killing Alduin.
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Why? Alduin doesn't do anything really apart from resurrect a dragon or two and that's it. He's the bad guy just 'cause he's the bad guy.

I get he's the World-Eater but apart from a mention here and there no one seems to care what he's up to, there's no sense of urgency to stop him. We don't see enough of him or get to know enough of him to really think "I've got to stop this guy!"
 
Prone Squanderer said:
Why? Alduin doesn't do anything really apart from resurrect a dragon or two and that's it. He's the bad guy just 'cause he's the bad guy.

I get he's the World-Eater but apart from a mention here and there no one seems to care what he's up to, there's no sense of urgency to stop him. We don't see enough of him or get to know enough of him to really think "I've got to stop this guy!"
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Alduin was notably a more interesting villain being talked about than interacted with. For example, I enjoyed the discussion with Paarthurnax and the lore about the fact he's supposed to destroy the world but he's been conquering it instead. Also, the idea that Alduin's rule is due to the fact dragons never are supposed to run away, that they either submit or they die or they conquer. The idea of him also being both the Son of Akatosh as well as his Avatar was also a cool concept.

It's one of the weaknesses of the game that you can't ever interact with him and have the Dagoth-Ur conversation.

But why is it good to kill Alduin? Because he's a God and you kill him.
 
CT Phipps said:
Alduin was notably a more interesting villain being talked about than interacted with. For example, I enjoyed the discussion with Paarthurnax and the lore about the fact he's supposed to destroy the world but he's been conquering it instead. Also, the idea that Alduin's rule is due to the fact dragons never are supposed to run away, that they either submit or they die or they conquer. The idea of him also being both the Son of Akatosh as well as his Avatar was also a cool concept.

It's one of the weaknesses of the game that you can't ever interact with him and have the Dagoth-Ur conversation.

But why is it good to kill Alduin? Because he's a God and you kill him.
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Yeah, but the supposed danger of his returns barely seen along the game. The lore and the narrative about him made it seems like he's dangerous and shit. But, nope, nothing happened across Skyrim as far as we as the Dragonborn concerned.

If I'm to compare Alduin to an "interesting villain being talked about rather than interacted with", it would be Gwyn, the Lord of Cinder from Dark Souls. Starting from the intro and across the game, there's this talk about Gwyn the Lord of Sunlight who possessed the most powerful Lord Soul, and under his leadership the Lords befell the mighty Everlasting Dragons and usher in the new Age of Fire. When the Fire starts to fade, Gwyn in desperation linked the First Flame and, hypothetically, slowly branded the Humans with the Darksign, turning them into Undead that one day would go Hollow. The results of his work can be felt across the game, and even with the player character. When you finally get to meet him, he's in a Hollowed state (his state when you get to meet him is open to interpretation), and if you follow the lore and the narrative you would most likely felt pity for him. The final battle with him was anticlimactic, in terms of the battle didn't turns out exactly like how the devs wanted it to be, and Gwyn was prone to parry abuse. But the context of the fight itself, coupled with the completely contrasting music, (to me) more than makes up for it.

Unlike Gwyn, who stayed right near the Kiln of the First Flame, Alduin was supposed to roam the entirety of Skyrim, resurrecting Dragons and destroying settlements/holds, but nope. Just like the Dragonborn, he's most probably lollygagging somewhere and stealing somebody's sweetrolls.
 
Nothing happened for you, but it's possible to encounter Alduin reviving other dragons.

(I agree that the game is lovable, but weak in the area of party members a.k.a. followers).
 
Black Angel said:
Yeah, but the supposed danger of his returns barely seen along the game. The lore and the narrative about him made it seems like he's dangerous and shit. But, nope, nothing happened across Skyrim as far as we as the Dragonborn concerned.
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I dunno, I got a sense of his danger when the dragons showed up in holds, murdering people left and right.
 
Black Angel said:
Yeah, but the supposed danger of his returns barely seen along the game. The lore and the narrative about him made it seems like he's dangerous and shit. But, nope, nothing happened across Skyrim as far as we as the Dragonborn concerned.
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Somehow, Skyrim's main quest is too urgent and not urgent at the same time. It has one of the worst hooks to the main quest ever. The arrival of dragons is only significant to those that are well versed in TES's lore. The only reason to confront the Greybeards is a vague obligation to fulfil your destiny that recently revealed itself to you. Once you do confront your destiny, you realize that it supersedes everything else yet the game let you take your sweet time everything. The dragons does nothing but destroy the town where you were going to be executed and come out in random encounters. Only the civil war is willing to take a backseat to the main quest although for too short of a time. After ending the main quest, the game couldn't even bother ending to give some impact to your actions. Without an ending, the quests lose the only deadline that Bethesda would allow. For example, a quest which a village of people are starving will stay in a perpetual state of starvation until you finish the quest or kill everyone. You never find out if that village that you save does anything because the game assumes that you haven't finished that quest.

I love the main quest of FO1. Finding the Water Chip is very simple goal and its urgency is easily quantifiable. The second timer is questionable because its time limit is unknown and its consequences are poorly telegraphed. I would have slowly let each town get destroyed sequentially like Necropolis.
 
But they were just dragons, just like Alduin. Just dragons, which a few hold guards and a level 5 noob can kill without much ado.
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Alduin sucked big time. If he had at least been a special dragon, like a big-ass boss dragon or something like that, but he was just another fucking dragon.
And the sense of danger? It's pretty much removed from Alduin since killing him doesn't change anything, there'll still be dragons about.
As with basically everything that Skyrim failed at, Gothic II did it properly. There the dragons were proper bosses, with proper rewards and actual stories.

Dagoth Ur ruled, though. One of my favourite villains of all time.
 
CT Phipps said:
Alduin was notably a more interesting villain being talked about than interacted with. For example, I enjoyed the discussion with Paarthurnax and the lore about the fact he's supposed to destroy the world but he's been conquering it instead. Also, the idea that Alduin's rule is due to the fact dragons never are supposed to run away, that they either submit or they die or they conquer. The idea of him also being both the Son of Akatosh as well as his Avatar was also a cool concept.

It's one of the weaknesses of the game that you can't ever interact with him and have the Dagoth-Ur conversation.

But why is it good to kill Alduin? Because he's a God and you kill him.
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Too bad in actual gameplay, he's just a dragon with above average health (in fact, the higher tier dragons outclass him) and fancy looking abilities that don't amount to much (I, for one, expected a properly epic fight with him to involve countering his Shouts with your own, using your high tier abilities to damage him, & you were boned if you are poorly prepared for it). Plus his role and more interesting concepts... don't amount to anything in the actual game. The implications are all he has to back him up and those don't amount to much in time. Killing Alduin... does not change anything in the world; dragons are still around and only the guards actively acknowledge your role in saving the world.

Now, Dagoth Ur. He is interesting. Interesting background, interesting ideas and implications surrounding his plans (in fact some of my favorite notes from Morrowind are the documents speculating Dagoth Ur's plans), interesting thought processes and above all else, I could pity him in a similar vein as the Master. He started out like any other person (except with powers and talent) but turned into a monster due to the lure of greater power. Part of his plans do attempt to solve the local Dunmer's resentment over Imperial colonialism (though the means to do so are monstrous) so he is not completely evil. Plus he is one of those actively supporting the idea of opposing prophecies and destinies so he has that going for him. Killing Dagoth Ur, in contrast to Alduin, actually changed the in-game world as an entire type of enemy dies, the population fully acknowledge (and even thank you) for killing Dagoth Ur and a weather condition is eradicated.

Alduin simply sucked as a villain. Dagoth Ur was a great villain.
I've posted this video of the Main Quest comparision so many times here that it's like :falloutonline:. But gosh darn it, I'm doing it anyways:
 
CT Phipps said:
I dunno, I got a sense of his danger when the dragons showed up in holds, murdering people left and right.
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You must've a really, really awful perception or attention span to think those dragons poses any kind of danger to NPCs in settlement/holds. Considering nearly everyone was essential, and the fact they didn't even script/program the game to reinforce the sense of urgency by making the dragons ACTUALLY destroy settlement/holds, it made it an even worse joke.
 
Black Angel said:
You must've a really, really awful perception or attention span to think those dragons poses any kind of danger to NPCs in settlement/holds. Considering nearly everyone was essential, and the fact they didn't even script/program the game to reinforce the sense of urgency by making the dragons ACTUALLY destroy settlement/holds, it made it an even worse joke.
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In fact, one of my biggest complaints about Vampire attacks in Dawnguard was they often killed non-essential NPCs before I could save them. The sense of urgency of the main quest is dictated solely by the player who can treat the main quest with or without it. That's a toolkit approach to it which I am very happy about. It allows maximum freedom for the player.

Albeit, they do make fun of it here.



I do totally agree about the underwhelmingness and mishandling of Alduin. It takes a special kind of suck to make a battle in Valhalla anticlimatic.
 
CT Phipps said:
Alduin was notably a more interesting villain being talked about than interacted with.
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But that's what I mean. Only a few folks talk about him, everyone else talks about the civil war and the Thalmor.

CT Phipps said:
But why is it good to kill Alduin? Because he's a God and you kill him.
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My memory on Skyrim is a little rusty but I don't think Alduin is a god. But regardless, you're saying it's good to kill him because he's a god that you kill?

I don't quite understand that reasoning.
 
CT Phipps said:
I....huh?

I said Alduin was anticlimatic.
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No no, you're doing it again, the same you always do, you say that it is great and shit at the same time :P.

Anyway, Alduin must have been one of the most boring villains any Bethesda game ever had. Rarw! ME EAT WORLD! GO STOP ME DRAGUNTARD!
 
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