Skyrim's quest rewards

[Remus]

meh, delete post. I'm done with this thread.

 

[Bad Jim]

So you played it for 50 odd hours and got tired of it. That's still more time for your money than your average single-player game.

If all I wanted from video games was for them to take up my time, then I'd stick with playing cookie clicker.

I prefer for that time to be enjoyable and meaningful.

The point being, that if you woudn't have continued playing for that long if the game had not at least been mildly entertaining. I played Rage for about four hours. That's what happens when a game is bad.

 

[Bad Jim]

Also, no faction locks you out of any other, its just a disposition bar that gets altered. You can conceivably be the head of House Telvanni, the head of the Imperial Legion, and Arch Cannon of the Temple all at the same time.

Actually there are conflicting quests between the Fighter's Guild and Thieves Guild, although it is possible to complete both questlines if you consult a faq or wiki. You can only join two of the three great Houses, and cannot join more than one unless you look up a specific method in a faq/wiki. You can also only join one of the vampire clans, since you can only be a vampire once and can only join the clan that bit you.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

You can tout skill requirements all you want, but honestly just putting arbitrary walls in your way instead of designing interesting quests seems far more lazy.

The word arbitrary is starting to beome a serious pet peeve. Those requirements were not arbitrary. In fact, they were the complete opposite of arbitrary, namely they were discussed, considered, planned, specific and deliberate.

For them to have been arbitrary, they would need to either change dynamically, at random, perhaps different on each playthrough or each time the NPC is spoken to. Alternatively, if the developer had chosen unrelated requirements on a whim, such as lvl 1 medium armour for mage's guild or lvl 13 mysticism for warriors, with requirements going up and down with no pattern, reason or predictability, they could have been described as arbitrary. Something deliberately hard coded in, requirements that are relevant to the guilds to which they relate that were likely the subject of production meetings and QA testing is as far from arbitrary as one can get.

 

[Auberon]

That would be true, except both Morrowind and Daggerfall were the exact same way.....

Except that's a fucking lie.

Factions in Morrowind have skill requirements, rather lofty ones for the top positions, if you're wanna get to the top of a faction in anything resembling a timely fashion, then you're gonna have to focus on what kind of character you wanna play.

You're gonna have to be real fucking dedicated if you're gonna be the leader of just say, 4-5 factions in one playthrough, much less all 16 of the joinable factions.

Not to mention that some factions lock you out of others.

Playing devils advocate here: it doesn't matter because Morrowinds guilds were just busy work, at least in Oblivion and Skyrim Bethesda put some work into making the guilds interesting (even if they had varying degrees of success). You can tout skill requirements all you want, but honestly just putting arbitrary walls in your way instead of designing interesting quests seems far more lazy.

Also, no faction locks you out of any other, its just a disposition bar that gets altered. You can conceivably be the head of House Telvanni, the head of the Imperial Legion, and Arch Cannon of the Temple all at the same time.

At least that meant Archmage actually knew magic etc, even if most guilds can be finished at 7th/8th ranks due to quests that directly advance you to leader.

"some factions" just means the Great Houses, which admittedly isn't numerically much but reward-wise the best *thinks Tel Uvirith*

 

[Xdeser2]

You can tout skill requirements all you want, but honestly just putting arbitrary walls in your way instead of designing interesting quests seems far more lazy.

The word arbitrary is starting to beome a serious pet peeve. Those requirements were not arbitrary. In fact, they were the complete opposite of arbitrary, namely they were discussed, considered, planned, specific and deliberate.

For them to have been arbitrary, they would need to either change dynamically, at random, perhaps different on each playthrough or each time the NPC is spoken to. Alternatively, if the developer had chosen unrelated requirements on a whim, such as lvl 1 medium armour for mage's guild or lvl 13 mysticism for warriors, with requirements going up and down with no pattern, reason or predictability, they could have been described as arbitrary. Something deliberately hard coded in, requirements that are relevant to the guilds to which they relate that were likely the subject of production meetings and QA testing is as far from arbitrary as one can get.

Yeah, it is pretty arbitrary.

Look, a spreadsheet of stats should never trump what you've actually done as a player

 

[Proverbial Jon]

I've always wanted the option to turn down the offer of becoming head of any guild. Surely the game can simply place another NPC in your place if you refuse?

This always seemed especially jarring in Oblivion. You could complete the entire Mage's Guild questline without any knowledge of magic whatsoever and yet STILL become Arch Mage. It was stupid.

Not to mention the Thieves guild questline in Oblivion. You just pop up at some point and join, you do some random jobs, seeming to advance through their ranks per every 3 jobs. You earn the trust of the Gray Fox himself who then has you complete several jobs which are of great importance to him. A few days ago you were nobody, now you're his most trusted ally. What of the Thieves Guild members who have been in the guild far longer?

 

[Xdeser2]

Your argument that skill requirements are arbitrary is just plain fucking wrong, under what twisted logic can requiring proficiency in the skills that a group values and uses in order to join or advance be considered "arbitrary"?

*Does 5 jobs for the fighters guild, each requiring long treks across Vvardenfell fighting annoying cliff racers along the way and back from said quests*

"Were sorry that you wasted hours of your life, but your blade skill is 1 off from advancing"

 

[Qvar]

Look at how boring and plain this game where I've put 200 hours of my life is. I've played so little, just finishing this few quest chains, and I cannot stand it anymore because there's not MORE to do, please give me my money back because obviously it has been wasted.

/sarcasm

As many have pointed out:

Dark Brotherhood - You're not the "leader". The Mother is. And even if you were considered one, it would make sense since you are magically choosen, you are the friggin dragonborn, and yeah, maybe you remember that pretty much everyone else is dead.

Thieves Guild - You took the guild from the brink of extintion back to life through a shitton of hard work. You aren't even named leader after you defeat Mercer Frey, it has to wait until you complete the whole popularity regaining asignements. Most deserved guild leadership ever if you ask me.

Companions - Kodlak chooses you because you were the only one not as blind as the others, which makes total sense from his point of view. Also the Harbinger is more of a "first citizien" than "leader".

Bard College - You don't become anything. Cheers!

Archmage - Sure you MAY not know anything about magic (also you could be the most powerful wizard in Skyrim already, did you think about that?), but after all you just saved the world in the name of the guild and a new one is needed. And didn't the Psiijic have something to do with it? Anyway, so you're not a mage. This a RPG. Roleplay it and DONT play the college. Or just pretend that you are not an archmage. Or whatever. Just stop blaming the game for allowing things that otherwise would be criticized.

 

[Auberon]

Very rough analogy; if you interned at a company and did well but didn't have degree(s) required of higher position, would you expect a promotion to CEO?

 

[Fasckira]

I would sympathise with you but unfortunately Im the high king of Skyrim.

But no, I agree. Especially with the mage point - considering you can do mage quest line with very little actual magic ability, its a bit of a surprising promotion!

 

[Qvar]

Very rough analogy; if you interned at a company and did well but didn't have degree(s) required of higher position, would you expect a promotion to CEO?

Did you just save the company from bakrupt?

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

Not to mention that some factions lock you out of others.

Not so, the only factions that cause a lockout are the Great Houses, and that's just because you can't be a member of more than one house. Most people THINK the Thieves'/Fighters' Guild quests are incompatible, but that's only true if you take the "evil" path through the fighter's guild.

But you're right, Morrowind made you WORK for your rank, and gave you shit accordingly.

 

[RedDeadFred]

This a RPG. Roleplay it and DONT play the college. Or just pretend that you are not an archmage. Or whatever. Just stop blaming the game for allowing things that otherwise would be criticized.

This is the most important part. You can become everything because Bethesda wants to cater to the completionists but it is first and foremost, your choice to even join these guilds. If you are not a mage and have no intention to be one, why are you even joining the mages guild. You are the one who is breaking the continuity with your decision to join.

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

Maybe if you never played an RPG in your life before Skyrim.

Which, incidentally, might be a large factor in why this game was so well received.

That IS a major thing, and it's something I myself have gone on a rant about before.
Skyrim IS watered down, shallow, stupid, and built for the Xbox generation who have so rarely played any RPGs or indeed even any legitimately good games.
But it's still not worthless. It's definitely a sign of dark times ahead, but the game has merit. The combat, while nowhere near as deep as Morrowind, is a step up from Oblivion's misshapen hybrid child of dicerolls and 3D collision. Oblivion may have had more OPTIONS but suffered from a lack of focus. And, frankly, the ability to cast with full hands was stupid. In the old games, you were limited by your choices; you wanna be a wizard? better use this gear. In morrowind, you could now WEAR heavy armor as a mage, but it hindered your ability to cast magic. You could use whatever weapon you wanted, but you had to put it away to ready a spell. Oblivion, on the other hand, gave you no reason to do ANYTHING other than walk around like a big damn tank with a huge sword and a wall to hide behind while you threw out death to those who stood in your path. while skyrim may make weapon choice irrelevant and your armor is still open-season, at LEAST you had to stop and keep a spell in hand, as opposed to the crazy-efficient Champion.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Yeah, it is pretty arbitrary.

Another one of those. *sigh* More and more of you seem to end up on this forum daily. For your next birthday present (or for Christmas, whichever comes earlier), ask for a dictionary as a gift. Alternatively, try using Google to learn the meaning of words whose meaning you aren't sure of.

 

[spartandude]

Your argument that skill requirements are arbitrary is just plain fucking wrong, under what twisted logic can requiring proficiency in the skills that a group values and uses in order to join or advance be considered "arbitrary"?

*Does 5 jobs for the fighters guild, each requiring long treks across Vvardenfell fighting annoying cliff racers along the way and back from said quests*

"Were sorry that you wasted hours of your life, but your blade skill is 1 off from advancing"

I will agree its not perfect, but its better than "congratulations, you have never cast a magical spell before but we think you should lead the Mage's Guild even if you have demonstrated no understanding of magic."