I would GLADLY watch you talk about the economy in Skyrim, go over Follower spreadsheets, discuss women in Skyrim, and everything else you say could be a video on its own.
Ralof literally says you should split up for safety. Staying with him offers a lot of useful background and tutorial content, but he told you to leave and gave a vagely plausible reason, so leaving makes sense. Also, Skyrim's UI (with the quest markers on the HUD by default) points a way directly to Riverwood, and that path passes Embershard, which is a really useful tutorial dungeon (there's an obvious trap, a key, a skill book, and woodcutter's axe, and a mining pick)/
I was about to say the same thing. I always found it odd that on one hand he tells you to split up, he even says good luck to you and then he acts like you were supposed to go with him. It's mixed messaging. I don't recall if Hadvar does the same thing.
Yup, I never even knew he had extra dialogue or took you to the standing stones until years later because I always took him at his word and split off into the forest. Huge design flaw if they actually wanted the player to stick with him haha.
@@rhonadryad3661 i was going to comment that Ralof wouldn't want 2 stormcloaks to get recaptured in one effort but if Hadvar gives the same warning, then they must both be referring to a single dragon attack killing you both... 🤔 edit: both of them being seasoned military men would have a greater-than-average sense of strategic vulnerabilities
I picked him as a follower my first playthrough and lost him at some random area and I couldn't find him. Stopped playing for months because I was irritated. Played again on a random day and got a notification he had returned home and had no desire to get him again excpet to get my loot back.
It is very organic if you eschew to go to the trader and continue right to Whiterun, where Balgruuf will introduce you to Farengar who wants the dragon stone, and you get it for him. So the intro is twofold, either you get the golden claw for the trader, or you get the dragon stone for Farengar. Particularly interesting is that you get to keep the golden claw which is now of no interest to you but stays in your inventory where you cannot sell it.
I can't remember which book explains it, but the reason the door puzzles are easy is because they're not for keeping people out, they're for keeping draugr in, because you only have to be alive and have the key to solve them. Now that logic doesn't actually work for most dungeons because draugr can use tools and most exits are just normal lever doors, but I thought it was neat that there's a book addressing the easy door puzzles.
Having only one of Alvor and Gerdur available to ask about the war is strange from the perspective of laying out the stakes and reasons for the conflict because for a new player, that decision at Helgen Keep is only BARELY informed (and biased by the immediate situation of one Imperial officer being perfectly willing to execute the PC unjustly). Without the ability to hear the opposite angle on the conflict, the player loses out on a good opportunity to really reflect on what was possibly a snap decision.
The entire choice between Hadvar and Ralof is also badly positioned, biasing Ralof *even more* than just by the immediate situation. It's Ralof who calls out to the player to follow him first, before immediately running off and drawing the player's eye towards him. Only after Ralof has already run off does Hadvar call out, but by that point, the player might already be running after Ralof. The whole scene is so biased towards Ralof and the Stormcloaks that I've talked to people who didn't even realise there was a choice, because they immediately followed Ralof.
@@AmyElnah Right, and I forgot to even mention the bias introduced by being with Ulfric in the cart, humanized and in common plight with you. And if this is someone's first Elder Scrolls and they don't know anything about the world, it'd be easy to assume a black and white "evil empire vs rebels" sort of story. I can totally see players running with Ralof and being under the assumption that this is the "escape and join the Rebel Alliance" moment. Which, to be fair, it might be if that's how you view the civil war. But it doesn't have to be, and a brand new player might not know that's the case.
The funny thing is that during my first few playthroughs I didn’t realize there was a choice. Due to some sort of mix up I never realized Ralof was supposed ti be an option and I always ended up following Hadvar. I find it funny that the game tries very hard to make the player be a Stormcloak and I missed every sign multiple times.
@@MousaThe14 same. not having personally grown up in skyrim by that point, the shirts vs skins difference between imperial and stormcloak armour was lost on me i probably thought Helpful Guy in the tower, and 'stick close to the wall' were literally the same guy, and then i took the nearest door into the keep, not realising it was a choice and being super confused by two people saying they wanted the dragon to 'send you all to sovngarde' when teamwork was clearly the only sensible option...
I got really worried that you would have compared Riverwood to *Balmora,* but I'm very glad that you're comparing it to Seyda Neen! Also I *100%* want to see that Falkreath video. Could even make a reference to the werewolf quest for Hircine for the subscribe plug by saying there was a person with a case of Lycansubscribe.
I actually did turn around and leave bleak falls barrow the first time I played lol. I don't love caves even in video games and when I died and got set back a couple of minutes in progress I thought "well hey I already got the claw I don't really HAVE to finish this dungeon there'll be others" and left. I tried to return the guys claw but didn't even have the option to give it to him and then was very annoyed to make it to whiterun and be sent right back to bleak falls barrow lol
Oh man I did the same thing, got freaked out though and was like nope. Then had to go back. I was like for real? But then I had a follower so I was like fine ill go.
Regarding gender norms among nords, you can make an argument that in taiga and arctic tundra you really don't have a choice. Especially if men are sent to fight wars for the Empire somewhere far away. That's why you see so many independent female characters.
In a real life environment like the taiga or the arctic tundra, you wouldn't have "independent" females running around, especially as warriors. They were very rare, exceptions to the rule. Why? Because females need to be protected at all costs to keep up the birth rate, or else the small populations would go extinct. That's one factor among many others I won't list here. However, for a fantasy land like Skyrim, these concerns are obviously not a big deal.
Independent and powerful women have been present throughout TES since the very beginning. I suspect this was originally to support player fantasies by making it so a female player character isn't unusual since there's so many female warriors throughout the world.
Aside from that bandit dying to the pillar puzzle, Arvel is scripted to die too, whether by your hand, the draugr, the pressure plate trap, or if he even gets that far, the pendulum traps.
If your quick enough you can solve the puzzle and the bandit can survive . This breaks his ai and he just loiters in the puzzle room fighting the occasional skeever
I always loved the small hand-crafted towns in RPGs; much more so than the larger cities. Something about feeling like you can actually be a part of that community (even if it's all in your head). In my first every playthrough I got lost and looped around to Ivarstead as my first settlement (as you mention around 5:00). I think it's because I thought there was more to loot in Helgen? I don't remember. But it's interesting you mention people's proclivity to follow other people: my sister, like me, also ran off into the wilderness at her first chance; ignoring the main quest giver and the "correct" path in front of you.
Theres two more chests in the final extent of bleak falls barrow. After beating the boss, theres one to the right, behind and along the wall with the word of power . The other is soaked by a waterfall just off the path to the area with the revealing door
I mid-panicked and ran into Hadvar when trying to rush into a keep. An ultimately good decision considering I played a Khajiit for my first pick and the Stormcloaks aren’t exactly welcoming to any Non-Nords, let alone beastfolk.
Always made me kind of mad you couldn't get both fake letters from Feindall and Sven and show them both to Camilla. ETA the only thing that fixes this for me is the fact you can marry Camilla after (at the very least) you complete the Golden Claw quest 😄😄
Excellent essay. I just subscribed. After about 4000 [edit: unmodded :)] total in-game hours in Skyrim since release, most of your points were spot on. Not only does this apply to Skyrim, like you touch on, but video game tutorial design as a whole. Your voice is nice, and you have a good sense of humor. I would enjoy watching all of the other topics you mentioned. Keep up the great work!
since you play unmodded... can you remember a time when the fisher near the Guardian Stones did not have a comically large bonfire against the cliff face? it looks so dissonant to me
I’m a day one Skyrim player; I was there, 2011, just graduated high school, standing in line at GameStop at midnight. I have played every “iteration” of this game since launch, in various forms on various platforms. I have followed, and found new ElderScrolls UA-camrs over the years, it’s my favorite franchise. It’s been a while since I last found a good quality elder scrolls video and you did perfectly. The way you structured the content, the presentation, the bits of comedy all landed perfectly. You’ve got a new sub. Hope to see more.
I think you can talk to Hilda, though if you do she just mentions the dragon again, you confirm that you say it, and she tells you to go the whiterun to warn the jarl. You can only do this though if you alk to her immedietly after the mentions the dragon
The ellipsis response reminded me of that PC Gamer journo who tried to play an Illusion only run (as badly as that particular person always play things, but never mind that ). _Stormcloaks! I hide in a corner while Hadvar deals with them. Spiders! I hide in a cave while Hadvar deals with them. A bear! I run past while Hadvar deals with him. We're out._ _"Thanks for your help," says Hadvar, while I study him for any hint of sarcasm. "I wouldn't have got out of there without you."_ _You would and you did. He suggests we both head to Riverwood, then for some reason adds, "It's probably best if we split up."_ _That's an excellent idea for you, but a terrible idea for me. I can only use Illusion spells and I don't have any Illusion spells-that doesn't give me a lot of options where I stay alive._ _Hadvar sets off, and I traipse nervously behind him. He stops, looks at me, then silently turns back and carries on. After a few minute's walk, he says "You should go to Solitude."_ _Wow, dude. There are nicer ways to say it._ _"The Imperial Legion could really use someone like you." Oh. They could use someone who never takes any action, even when her life is in danger? How?_ _I am musing this, and examining some stones, when I realise I've lost him. Shit, run! No, sneak! No, there he is!_ _Just as I reach him, a wolf collides with the side of my face. Ow! Save me Hadvar!_ _Hadvar hacks the wolf down easily, then turns to me. "I'm glad you decided to join me." I narrow my eyes._
I appreciate that you take the time to call out when you're putting visuals on screen for the alt-tabbers! Also shoutout for including Jenassa, shes my favorite and the one I first married!
Really love the scripting and greater narrative introduced. I was alt-tabbing, and you read right through me. I also appreciate the editing. It is much appreciated new, adaptive, fresh form most people lack. Keep up the good work
15:39 So, in my first playthrough of skyrim I had gotten the quest to get the golden claw and started it immediately, as you do. However, once I got to the room immediately after freeing whatshisface bandit guy from the webs, I got stuck. Kid-me did not notice the obvious pressure plate on the ground, or at the very least didn't understand it's connection to the giant spike wall that kept killing me. So, figuring I already had what I needed, I reluctantly assumed I just couldn't beat the dungeon right now. I didn't return until I was around level 40, when I asked my friend why no dragons were spawning. It was certainly an experience!
"Badwagon go raaaaaawr >:3" - Takarias 2025 I utterly disliked having to deal with dragons in general in that game. Regardless, I never really noticed how much details are spread around with all the NPCs and the starter town like you laid it out, it makes me appreciate the game a little more!
@Takarias In this video you called Sven a deadbeat, but to be fair... Camilla is a deadbeat too. She's a lot more of a deadbeat than Sven since at least Sven plays at the inn. There's no reason to think he isn't good enough for Camilla (other than him being a liar, but Faendal is also a liar, sooo.....)
@Takarias In this video you called Sven a deadbeat, but to be fair to Sven... Camilla is a deadbeat too. She's far more of a deadbeat than Sven since at least Sven plays at the inn. There's no reason to think Sven isn't good enough for Camilla (other than Sven being a bad person, but Faendal is also a bad person soooo........)
@@joshuavar4678 really the only true love for Camilla is the Dragonborn. You even have a nice moment with her walking you to the edge of town, sharing a beautiful view by the bridge.
@@joshuavar4678 lol not sure which duplicate comment to reply to... someone killed Lucan, and Camilla is creepily overjoyed by her blood brother's death maybe her reaction and the underlying attitudes that lead to it could be included in the Sex and Roles in Skyrim video
After returning the Dragon Stone, Lucan accuses you of scraping the dragon claw, "It looks smaller than I remember, funny that", though he still takes it, and you still get rewarded.
Yes, Morrowind certainly would have let you ask around about the Dragonstone. Daggerfall too. Those games didn't have the "dead item stuck in your inventory because you did it wrong" problem that Skyrim has.
Yea, i routinely end up with a stack of quest items that I can't ask people about (Dravin's bow and Finn's Lute being the most common). I know who owns them but being able to ask no one "hey I found this, any ideas?" Is a bit lame. Even the stones of barenziah is janky to get moving
43:08 I happen to be 80 hours into a new character avoiding going to Riverwood and anything that would bump the main quest past it. I frequently here npcs bring up dragons. But I have only seen the one. 😂
I love avoiding turning in the Dragon Stone until I collect all of the Word Walls where Dragons spawn. It's absolutely hilarious to me to one shot the first actual Dragon you fight 😂😂😂😂. I'm also about 200 hours into a character that has yet to enter Bleak Falls Barrow. I'm the Listener, the Guild Master, the Archmage, I've finished the Bard's College, and I'm the Thane in all Holds besides Whiterun (since that'sblocked behind the MQ). Along with most other missions that I can do before the Main Quest....
while I wish it was a bit better, I like how after the basic controls the game has a silent tutorial, where it guides you towards trying things, each room after you get unbound and leave your first fight can just be skipped, but introduces you to the different weapon types and mechanics and once out of the cave introduces you to the stones and hunting and brings you to a town that can push you towards some starter quests and learning stuff like blacksmithing. as many problems as skyrim has, its tutorial is relatively unintrusive. Though I definitely get the railroading problem, it CAN be ignored, but you'll be disadvantaged until you at least get to the greybeards, and by then it has things it urgently wants you to do, and ofc the quests them selves are notoriously railroady.
while Skyrim doesnt exactly "railroad" the intro as hard as you might think (one can simply Avoid Riverwood, and head to Whiterun's Stables, to cart over to Riften, for example) one thing that rather bugs me is that the game doesnt 'really Unlock' itself until youve heard the Greybeards' Shout and make that first pilgrimage to High Hrothgar... there are still PLENTY of Miscellaneous and SideQuest objectives that you can do, but until "The Way of The Voice" is at least started, a lot of 'key players' dont spawn (like the Cultists of Miraak, from the Dragonborn DLC) then, the chain-reaction starts to kick in-- i havent killed the dragon at the Western Watchtower yet, so NO dragons spawn, ever...that means no Dragon Souls, so no Shouts Unlocked, so no Bend Will Shout...if you dont break the Stones across Solstheim, then Skaal Village is pretty much locked down...
Right out of the cave your companion tells you that "we ought to split up", and just a few distance units(here after referred to as feet or yards) later he tell you to go to Riverwood. He stays just 2 yards ahead of you to force the first rune stones upon you. You can leave him before the stones and go off to the mine or wherever else..
I didn't even know that Falkreath was the "beginner valley", tbh on my first playthrough on release, Falkreath was one of the last (if not the last) cities I visited, far into the game, probably only when there was a quest that forced me to go there, or if I wanted to be Jarl in all holds, honestly I don't remember 2011. :D The whole game has this urgency, so by the book you go to Riverwood to warn the Whiterun and you should avoid all meddlings with the trader, just bolt straight into the main quest, because there is big bad dragons around and we cannot spare any second. The whole start of the game is fucked by design, the first quest you get is "Talk to X in Riverwood" - of course you will go there. If only Hadvar/Alvor would say "I'll go to Riverwood and try to get the message to the Jarl" with no quest attached, he would less likely be followed. Then if you don't follow him, he would later be wounded near the Whiterun enterance as if he tried but got jumped by someone, so you have to carry the message up into the keep.
In Bleakfalls Barrow there are 3 Boss Chests . One behind the word wall on the right, and another behind a waterfall to the left of the stairs out .Camilla : If you don't do the Love triangle, but come back and Mary Camilla see how the other two fellows have to say about it.
An example of railroading into the main quest that made me very upset when I first found out was through the civil war quest line. I was playing a "no dragonborn" save file, and I was siding with the Stormcloaks. When I got to the "Message for Whiterun" quest, just couldn't progress because the game forces you to complete bleak falls barrow, retrieve the stone and complete "Dragon rising", therefore making you the Dragonborn, triggering the Greybeards call and dragon encounters for the rest of the game. Not only I was forced to become the dragonborn again, but the civil war quest line was stalled for a while. I don't f* care if your city is in danger from dragons, just take this axe, the city is going to be destroyed soon anyway!
The inverse is also true; whereby the main quest forces you to settle the Civil War via the Greybeards' diplomacy if you hadn't engaged with the Civil War storyline until that point. Take it a step further and the game locks some Word Walls behind key faction locations, meaning that if you intend for a 'completed' Dragonborn playthrough with access to all shouts, it is required that you join The Companions, The College, The Dark Brotherhood, and The Thieves' Guild simultaneously. Skyrim is a terrible CRPG on the basis of player freedom, agency, and choice.
@@extralyfe No, wrong. Stop doing this modern schtick of redefining what an RPG is. It *is* a CRPG, just not a very good one compared against Baldur's Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077. RPGs are inherently adventurous and action-oriented.
@InhabitantOfOddworld how am I redefining RPGs? in Skyrim, there's no classes, there's no attributes, and there's no skill system. every single player can complete every quest in the game with very few exceptions, meaning player agency is basically irrelevant. to me, all these points are quite important to any RPG, yet, Skyrim is able to coast by off of series inertia while including none of them. I'm not saying Skyrim is a bad game - I'm saying they made definite changes across the 3D Elder Scrolls games to take as much RPG out of the games as possible. like, Magic is actual garbage in Skyrim, because me being a master wizard in one school has no practical advantage when it comes to learning another school of magic. in prior games, me becoming a master of Destruction means my Intelligence and Willpower were probably also boosted in the process, which meant that my spells in other schools would still be powerful - I just might fail to cast them due to my lack of skill. in Skyrim, I might as well be doing baby's first magic spells when I start leveling a new school because the only thing I have that helps is a larger mana pool. it's insulting, and that's before you consider that Destruction magic as a playstyle is nearly unplayable without mods or Creation Club content. crafting is also worse than it used to be. ignoring that durability and repair are completely absent from the game, you used to be able to Enchant and do Alchemy out of your inventory, but, now we're fine with that being locked to tables. I can't even be the wizard I was in previous games because those choices have been taken from me. again, removing player choice is not what role playing is about.
Great video!! Also *I* watched it! Nice crunchy footage! I just wanted to thank you for subtitling it manually. I like to put videos like this on my tv and as someone with both visual (hence the big tv) and auditory impairment, the subtitles are SUPER helpful. I subscribed, please keep up the good work! :)
Thankfully, I get less light sensitivity than most. For me, movement is what does me in, so at least editing is pretty sedentary. It still slows me way down and makes me kinda irritable, though :(
I left after getting the claw cause I was roleplaying a non shouting character so I did not want the stone stuck in my inventory and wanted the claw to complete the display in the player home
I'm all for a Falkreath video. Weirdly, it's the only one of the Nine Holds you never need to visit at any point in the main questline and quite frankly, has some underrated quests. Really enjoyed the video / wholesome background noise.
For as much as I love Skyrim and as many hours as I have invested in it, one thing that always bothered me about it is how much you're forced into playing the main quest right from the start from a roleplaying perspective (assuming you're playing vanilla without something like Alternate Start). Obviously, if you're just playing it as a game, you can do whatever you want and just ignore main quests until you feel like playing them. But if you're actually trying to roleplay and play it as a true RPG, it feels wrong to just ignore the main quests in favor of side quests. The problem is, if you only really focus on the main quests at first, you are WOEFULLY underleveled for some of them. Hence, all the memes about how difficult the High Hrothgar frost troll is. The game sorta railroads you into facing an enemy you have no chance against yet. I would've much preferred an approach similar to Morrowind, where the game recognizes that you're new, you look it, and you need proper training before you head into anything too serious.
I'll never forget my first playthrough trying to get past that troll...took me a good hour , a shitload of arrows, and more reloads than I'm proud of 🥲🤣🤣
Follow whomever, I’m in a habit now of talking to farigar for the frost salts quest, then the jarl, then walking off as soon as he’s back to ignoring you before he asks you to work for the court wizard. Thus I keep my promise to warn the jarl
Im surprised you didn't mention the fact that the love triangle sends you to Camilla, in the riverwood trader, arguing with her brother about the golden claw, essentially pointing you towards bleak falls/the main quest again
I would like to correct something, it’s very small and it’s something most players don’t know in my experience, but in the love letter quest, if you pass off the note to the rival, you can then pickpocket the original confiscated letter, and then turn both into camilla and tell her what they both ended up doing, it doesn’t change much, and it’s stupid you have to have both letters to tell her that they’re both bad people
By the way, Hilde means "Fight". It is ancient german. It is also one of the most common names in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is commonly combined with Gard. Hildegard means the one who fights to guard. It is also the name of a saint: Hildegarde of Bingen. She is regarded as "Doctor ecclesiae universalis" the only woman to have recieved this title in christian mythology.
I do? After 3BN playthroughs I just get outta there as soon as we exit the cave. I never join the stormcloaks because I grew up with Oblivion and Wes Johnson's imperial guards, so after the exit, turn right and sprint past the fallen log to the top of the cliff. Parkour down past the wolves and straight to Alvor. 9/10 playthroughs I forget to go back to the guardian stones though.
if i started a playthrough today, and chose to go with Ralof, i would sprint away before he permanently clutters my unfinished quest log with Go To Windhelm
Holy crap! You completely neglected to mention the most dangerous inhabitants of Riverwood: the chickens. One accidental swipe at one of them and everyone in the village tries to murder you to death.
Look behind the word wall for another boss chest. And the ramp that leaves the boss room there's another chest hidden near the water. 16:10 There's 4 chests.
15:23 the designers couldn't think of it either as it turns out after playing some hardcore modded playthroughs, once you get the claw, you can't give it back until after you've got the dragonstone
You actually do get encourage to explore and adventure, on the riverwood trader if you ask for spells hi'll give you a marker to the college of winterhold, you also get a marker for joining the imperial legion.
Amusingly, this came up while I was playing Skyrim and wandering around. Currently playing a traveling merchant mage using some of the economy overhauls and Spell Research. Going from town to town, buying and selling goods in order to afford a room for long enough to do some studying is actually a fun RP experience. And just as I'm heading into Riverwood, my current video ends. And then this is the suggested next video. Go figure...
There is a factor that I appreciate about being able to skip the one scene with Farengar and Delphine before you do Bleak Falls. It does show the player that objectives can be completed out of order in some cases. While there are a few progress-locked things, I think it's important to show players they aren't always going to run into artificial walls if they don't find the starting point for a quest chain first. I think some of the railroading also came as an unexpected consequence of characters being able to express themselves more dynamically in Skyrim vs. Morrowind's very limited movement and exposition methods. Only the Sharmat is able to speak aloud to you while you're moving through an area, but in Skyrim anyone can discuss story/quest points while doing other actions. This leads to more cases where you can't just walk away from a character and come back when you feel like it because they're in an active scene. (Rather, you CAN, but you really don't want to. That's the story of how I glitched the Imperial Legion questline. XD )
I too have noticed that most people seem to avoid Riverwood at the beginning. I always go to Riverwood, and used to go straight to Dragonsreach right after, but now I'll usually go to Whiterun but avoid Dragonsreach until I've done some leveling.
As soon as I get out of Helgen, I bolt straight of the path ... I then promptly go about: - 1. Murdering the bandits in the camp directly south of The Guardian Stones, and loot it for everything - especially the skill book Night Falls on Sentinel and the Treasure Map 1. 2. Clear out Embershard Mine of bandits, loot the mine for everything - especially the skill book Light Armour Forging (as I love the light armour play style). 3. Cross the river and loot Anise's Cabin, especially the skill book Song of the Alchemist. 4. Loot Treasure Chest 1 on the map I gained in step 1. And only after I've done all of this, I go to Riverwood. Immediately talking to Faendel, and siding with him over Sven ... for the free archery training exploit loop (get him as a follower, ask him for training in archery and then go into his inventory and take my money back). At this point, I also visit Alvor and start trying to level the crap outta my smithing and forge myself and Faendel better gear! After getting Faendel on side, I go loot Bleak Falls Barrow before going to see Farengar!
41:17 actually there may be a reason for this - neither character trusts you enough to talk about this unless their kinsman vouches for you. Especially in a hold like Whiterun where the Jarl hasn't picked a side.
So, when you talked about people retrieving the golden claw from Bleak Falls Barrow and then immediately leaving to return it to Lucan instead of finishing the dungeon and getting the dragonstone, I got really curious about how that would affect the quest flow of the game. Would you have to go and steal the claw back from Lucan to get to the dragonstone? Would you be able to ask him if you can borrow it? Sadly, according to UESP and general internet searching, the answer is much less interesting. You can't give the claw to Lucan until you complete the quest step "Find the secret of Bleak Falls Barrow", which completes after you open the claw door and learn Fus from the word wall. I believe claw doors stay permanently open, so it's impossible from that point to render the dragonstone inaccessible. The only other way I can think of that might lock you out of getting it would be to kill the Draugr Overlord, but not loot the dragonstone, then pass enough time to repopulate the dungeon and clear the corpses. I strongly suspect that the devs either made that Overlord not despawn, or guaranteed it to respawn with the dragonstone until you loot it, although I haven't tested it and couldn't find anything about it on UESP. Might try it next time I get the itch to goof around in Skyrim for a bit.
Another comment mentioned that you can't give him the claw before clearing the dungeon, so of course I had to go test it for myself. Yep. He doesn't acknowledge the claw that I'm rubbing against his face. Big sad
Ironically, the first time i did the game i didn’t talk to Lucan, after talking to Gurdur and such at the mill and she asked me to go talk to the Jarl, i did. Didn’t stick around town at all xD
When I first played Skyrim I didn't even realise you *could* choose a side in Helgen. I don't even remember seeing Ralof at all, and since it was my first time playing an RPG of that kind, I was more concerned by the apparent mortal danger that the game was trying to communicate me: I just ran after the first guy that yelled for me to follow. It's deeply weird that Bethesda chose to hinge so much of the future game upon such a trivial and uninformed choice in the opening sequence.
4:05 You say there's no roleplay reason to run off from Ralof while showing on screen, Ralof himself offering the suggestion to split up and saying goodbye.
17:50 there is a cliff-made "stairs" on the right of the exit, actually. The easiest way to discover it - is to clear the dungeon with the follower and then either jump down or command him do go there, follower will just use "scripted" jumpings off those cliffs till the bottom.
I've definitely made my way down without dying, but I've never seen a follower do it! You can actually see in this video that Faendal spawned at the bottom of the cliff as soon as I exited the dungeon
@Takarias probably works once in a while. Same type of "scripted jump" places do exist on the walls of Whiterun and possibly on some other high places in the game.
Morrowboomer is my new favorite word. Subscription earned! I have alternated between choosing Faendal for the love triangle quest for purely Machiavellian reasons, and walking away mid-quest, deciding that Camilla's better off single. I would love some content analyzing Elder Scrolls treatment of gender. I don't think I've seen that anywhere yet.
The puzzles in Draugr tombs are simple, by design. They are to keep the Draugr in, not to fool dungeon raiders. It was in a book where a woman lived in a dungeon for a while. And yes, the Draugr also relit lamps.
Stopping partway through the first dungeon is mere child’s play compared to my stupid ass who got to level 40 before realizing I could spend points on the constellation screen. My only excuse is that since there was the health/stamina/magic stat increase window, I assumed that everything else was visual flair.
@15:35 I got Skyrim for Christmas in 2011 when I was 13, along with an Xbox 360. The only games I had played up to then were Star Wars battlefront on ps2 and Pokemon games. When I got halfway through bleak falls barrow I couldn’t find the chain that opened one of the doors. Farengar specifically told me that the dragonstone “may or may not actually be there” so I assumed it wasn’t and walked all the way back to whiterun, only to realize that I was dumb lol. That’s the only time I haven’t completed a dungeon in Skyrim
15:27 - I *_have_* stopped a run through Bleak Falls Barrow halfway through, because I am a loot monkey...like it literally eats at the back of my brain to leave loot behind in early game...and I was overburdened. FYI: Taking the claw back to Lucan before you have used it to unlock the claw door results in you being unable to turn it in to him _at all._
I think most people who claim to just run off in random directions/never complete the main quest are just lying to feel cool. Especially if they say something like "I've played 1000 hours and not once touched the main quest." It's like virtue signaling for sweaty nerds
Yeah. I can see that with Oblivion-probably Morrowind too but I haven’t played that-but Skyrim’s main quest doesn’t really like people ignoring it and this video is a pretty good look at how that works. Or, the main quest doesn’t like people ignoring it until the Greybeard call. Ivarstead is pretty damn far out of the way to keep it going.
I always do a decent portion of the main quest, but have only finished it twice I think. I usually just end up doing whatever faction questlines and random side content I feel like until I lose interest, then make a new character next time I pick it back up. The main story isn't very interesting after the first time.
@ Pretty much the same, that initial railroading does its job, including the Whiterun portions directing you to unlock dragons and shouts (sucks for the non-Dragonborn roleplayers though), but after that things feel disconnected. Ivarstead as a next destination is pretty much the prime example: once you’re there and climbing up to the Greybeards it’s sort of interesting again, but the town itself is so far out of the way that it’s easy to just not bother. I usually stop the main quest there, with only a handful of cases of meeting with Delphine and the furthest I got being about to head to, but not actually reaching the Blades temple. Another place that’s quite a bit out of the way, and if you’ve been mixing in other questlines, it’s easy to just be done with playing the game by that point.
As I remember at first time, i did main quest in.. reasonable time. But now i just do anything but the main quest. I left it after visiting Greybeards.
Uh, well with the alternate start mod, it's really easy to RP and forget Alduin even exists. He only appears if you go to Helgen. My last character was an Imperial Penitus Oculatus who did Dawnguard, then travelled around with Serana (SDA) for about 40 hours doing random things. I restart a lot, so that one was abandoned. I think you can be a Breton Forsworn so that's next. Also, some people avoid the main quest because they've played it too many times. My game has 300+ mods though, so I'm not talking about vanilla.
I was back in the good old days of 90’s and 00’s an RTS player or a fanboy of the KotOR series so never got into ES until Skyrim. In the chaos of the Helgen sequence, I never noticed for years that you could go into the Keep with Hadvar, I assumed running away from the authorities with a fellow criminal was the only choice (I assumed I was caught and chosen for a close shave for a legitimate reason unknown to me at the time of gameplay). Then after a while I see YT vids and guides telling me to choose to side with Ralof and for the first time I booted up a new run and waited rather than run away from Hadvar and Alduin as I assumed he would attack me next to the inn. To this day, I am unsure how Bethesda expected me to make a choice with so little context. Also I was railroaded into the main quest line because I assumed dragons would be attacking Whiterun hold unless I did the dragon stone quest. So they succeeded in tricking me into thinking this game was all about railroading and not about player choice for years.
I think the reason most people ditch both the imperial and the stormcloak at the beginning is because they are just furniture. Neither of them has anything to offer other than expo. dumps or a quest marker. Morrowind drops you in the weeds immediately and oblivion cut you loose after the tutorial dungeon. Much better design for the eager player.
Oblivion doesn't exactly cut you loose after the tutorial dungeon. After exiting the sewers, the game is still pushing you toward the main quest because of the supposed urgency of delivering the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre at Weynon Priory. After you do so, the game doesn't stop pushing you, now urging you to go rescue Martin from Kvatch.
What I have said of Skyrims Main quest it is the guided tour of things in the game Edit, oh, the raidant quests. I remember the last Companions quest I did it took me to Riverwood with one Sabertooth tiger inside a house. When I first played Skyrim I just followed Ralof because I didn't even notice Hadvar calling, did I go with the stormcloak can't say but I did only play until lvl 12 on that character.
17:09 I remember playing a character; got the quest from the wizard, finished the dungeon. It was late and a blizzard, so I planned on staying in Riverwood for the night. After selling loot, and returning the claw. Went to the in to get a room, and Delphine wasn't there. Couldn't get a room. Stayed up all night by the fire, then went to Whiterun when it warmed up.
For all of the reasons you described in the video I haven't done the vanilla Skyrim intro since ~October 2016, more than 8 years ago. Alternate start feels like it should’ve been integrated into the game. Skyrim's strengths are its beautiful world and its simulation of a high-fantasy Nordic kingdom. It just falls apart whenever you have to talk to NPCs and do quest lines and the intro just drags on and on and on if you’re actually trying to roleplay. I’m at the point with Skyrim where I quickly make a character, pick the 'surprise me' option in Alternate Start, and see how long I can last iron-man mode
17:45 i always walked. Never thought it was obvious signalling to fast travel. You can see how close you are to Riverwood so you might as well. And theirs cool stuff on the way
When I first played skyrim I left bleak falls barrow after the spider. I killed it, got the claw off of the guy because he died in the next room to the draugr, and because I didn’t know about the dragon stone I assumed I had skipped the part where he gives it to me by having him die and thought... ok, let’s go then. And couldn’t figure out where to get the dragon stone because there’s no way it’s in the same dungeon. I was 9 but that’s why I did it. I did eventually go back to the barrow after levelling up a bunch doing other things, because I wanted to try and progress the story a bit more.
I always go with Faendal in the Riverwood love triangle quest. Faendal is pretty good through Bleak Falls Barrow, and starts falling behind right before you get Lydia (who I tend to stick with for most of the rest of the game unless I have a multiple-companions mod), so he's a good early-game companion. Add in the fact that he's a trainer when you probably need one the most if you're trying for stealth archer, and he's clearly the superior choice. Sven, on the other hand, is the spooniest bard since Edward in the SNES version of Final Fantasy IV, whose only contribution to the team was running in terror and letting a little girl do the heavy lifting. He has no special abilities. He doesn't do any training. And he will spend most of Bleak Falls Barrow on his knees in the "injured" state. He has two uses: The giant club glitch that sends him to Magnus, and the perfect victim for either Boethiah or Mephala.
In Morrowind you would have to talk to a million NPC's and track down some obscure person in a vague location only to be told that Dragon Stone will require you to go somewhere else you have no knowledge of to complete some overly complicated puzzle to get a mildly useful item or benefit.
So funny story, the first time I played Skyrim, I did do Bleakfalls Barrow before I went to Whiterun, but somehow I didn't get the Word Wall (I guess I didn't stand close enough to it for long enough??) so the drauger didn't wake up and I didn't get the Dragonstone. I was baffled when the main quest sent me BACK there, because I'd already been and cleaned it out! Luckily, I could run back and zip through to the end very quickly (I didn't realize fast travel was a thing either) and then got jumpscared by the drauger.
On defeating the mid boss of bleakfalls barrow I actually did try to roleplay my character nopeing out of the dungeon because he didn't want to deal with the undead further in. Unfortunately Lucan wouldn't accept the claw unless I completed the dungeon. Also i did find it kinda weird that we got the dragonstone and effectively skipped a section of dialogue and quest. On the Alvor/Gerdur opinions on the civil war as you said you dont get any alternative opinions which can be disconcerting to first time players (especially compared to morrowind, and yes i am aware of the voices vs written dialogue) and to my knowledge is never debated on in in-game dialogue.
Wow. I didn't think you were lying, but I had to go check to see how the game reacts to this and, yep, there's zero recognition. Lucan just deadass stares at me and tells me "the sooner you find the claw, the sooner our lived can get back to normal" while I'm rubbing it against his face.
The Sven Faendal quest is not designed for narrative or roleplay purposes but as a demostration of quests that have story choices. As a Morroboomer you think quedts having choices in a game is sooo obvious, but in most games for the average casual gamer most games have highly scripted linear stories.
You know whats crazy; in my first playthrough after escaping with ralot. I went out and joined the imperials; i didnt start the main quest until i got to whiterun through the civil war quest
Actually there is 4 chests in the boss area of the first barrow one is to the right and behind the word wall, another is to the left across the stream after passing the stairway leading out. I do have the bad habit of just passing through Riverwood and going straight to Whiterun before boarding the wagon to Winterhold and completing the Mage school quest line first then heading off to get Daumbra. And I always take the Necromage so as to be able to cast two summoned creatures, for less need of companions.
I did stop the exploration of Bleak Fall Barrrow after getting the claw. I role played a scared thief / mage, who needed to first join a guild and get confidence before exploring dungeons with tthe dead rising from graves. Unfortunatelly, you can not return the claw to Lucan, even though its in your inventory, before opening the puzzle door. Apparently they block it to not soft block the newbie players.
I was thinking recently that the player should be able to sell quest items. If you do, you can go back to the merchant and try to get it back from them. The merchant will have a chance of still having it based on how long ago you sold it, and in the event the merchant no longer has it, they give you a radiant quest to retrieve it. Perfect way to leverage existing systems to create an emergent narrative for the player.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I would GLADLY watch you talk about the economy in Skyrim, go over Follower spreadsheets, discuss women in Skyrim, and everything else you say could be a video on its own.
Same
Me too. We could all be skyrim tubers.
@any_austin PLS skyrim economy collab LOL
>discuss women in Skyrim
skyrim tinder, skyrimder
i would be down for that video he suggested about being endlessly pedantic about skyrim rules mechanics
Ralof literally says you should split up for safety. Staying with him offers a lot of useful background and tutorial content, but he told you to leave and gave a vagely plausible reason, so leaving makes sense.
Also, Skyrim's UI (with the quest markers on the HUD by default) points a way directly to Riverwood, and that path passes Embershard, which is a really useful tutorial dungeon (there's an obvious trap, a key, a skill book, and woodcutter's axe, and a mining pick)/
I was about to say the same thing. I always found it odd that on one hand he tells you to split up, he even says good luck to you and then he acts like you were supposed to go with him. It's mixed messaging. I don't recall if Hadvar does the same thing.
@@octavianpopescu4776He does, their dialogues are pretty much the same, with some minor changes
And Clairvoyance, which opens up that newbie-friendly approach to dungeons and simultaneously incentivizes Illusion Thug Life.
Yup, I never even knew he had extra dialogue or took you to the standing stones until years later because I always took him at his word and split off into the forest. Huge design flaw if they actually wanted the player to stick with him haha.
@@rhonadryad3661 i was going to comment that Ralof wouldn't want 2 stormcloaks to get recaptured in one effort
but if Hadvar gives the same warning, then they must both be referring to a single dragon attack killing you both... 🤔
edit: both of them being seasoned military men would have a greater-than-average sense of strategic vulnerabilities
Faendal is there to make being a stealth archer an even easier choice. The true unavoidable main quest of Skyrim.
Not sure about that. I tried the stealth archer build a few times, but I always end up as a mage. That's my unavoidable Skyrim quest line.
@@e1123581321345589144 I have tried to do it a few times, but I always go back to two-handed weapons.
I picked him as a follower my first playthrough and lost him at some random area and I couldn't find him. Stopped playing for months because I was irritated. Played again on a random day and got a notification he had returned home and had no desire to get him again excpet to get my loot back.
i’ve never done stealth archer, im always heavy armor with two handed weapons
stealth archer is just a dogwhistle for being gay
Correction: Working 16 hours a day as a performer and earning enough in tips to get by is in fact a valid profession and not deadbeat behavior
imperial minimum wage for bards is likely too little to survive on without tips anyway. then you just don't claim tips on your taxes out of spite
Agreed. He's a bit of a douche but a legit tavern bard nonetheless.
That depends in the economy
It is very organic if you eschew to go to the trader and continue right to Whiterun, where Balgruuf will introduce you to Farengar who wants the dragon stone, and you get it for him. So the intro is twofold, either you get the golden claw for the trader, or you get the dragon stone for Farengar. Particularly interesting is that you get to keep the golden claw which is now of no interest to you but stays in your inventory where you cannot sell it.
If you get the claw first, you get a quest marker to Lucan if you read Arvel's journal.
I can't remember which book explains it, but the reason the door puzzles are easy is because they're not for keeping people out, they're for keeping draugr in, because you only have to be alive and have the key to solve them. Now that logic doesn't actually work for most dungeons because draugr can use tools and most exits are just normal lever doors, but I thought it was neat that there's a book addressing the easy door puzzles.
Having only one of Alvor and Gerdur available to ask about the war is strange from the perspective of laying out the stakes and reasons for the conflict because for a new player, that decision at Helgen Keep is only BARELY informed (and biased by the immediate situation of one Imperial officer being perfectly willing to execute the PC unjustly). Without the ability to hear the opposite angle on the conflict, the player loses out on a good opportunity to really reflect on what was possibly a snap decision.
The entire choice between Hadvar and Ralof is also badly positioned, biasing Ralof *even more* than just by the immediate situation. It's Ralof who calls out to the player to follow him first, before immediately running off and drawing the player's eye towards him. Only after Ralof has already run off does Hadvar call out, but by that point, the player might already be running after Ralof.
The whole scene is so biased towards Ralof and the Stormcloaks that I've talked to people who didn't even realise there was a choice, because they immediately followed Ralof.
@@AmyElnah Right, and I forgot to even mention the bias introduced by being with Ulfric in the cart, humanized and in common plight with you. And if this is someone's first Elder Scrolls and they don't know anything about the world, it'd be easy to assume a black and white "evil empire vs rebels" sort of story. I can totally see players running with Ralof and being under the assumption that this is the "escape and join the Rebel Alliance" moment.
Which, to be fair, it might be if that's how you view the civil war. But it doesn't have to be, and a brand new player might not know that's the case.
The funny thing is that during my first few playthroughs I didn’t realize there was a choice. Due to some sort of mix up I never realized Ralof was supposed ti be an option and I always ended up following Hadvar. I find it funny that the game tries very hard to make the player be a Stormcloak and I missed every sign multiple times.
Bethesda pushing the player towards joining the comically racist faction not even 3 minutes in the game
@@MousaThe14 same. not having personally grown up in skyrim by that point, the shirts vs skins difference between imperial and stormcloak armour was lost on me
i probably thought Helpful Guy in the tower, and 'stick close to the wall' were literally the same guy, and then i took the nearest door into the keep, not realising it was a choice
and being super confused by two people saying they wanted the dragon to 'send you all to sovngarde' when teamwork was clearly the only sensible option...
I got really worried that you would have compared Riverwood to *Balmora,* but I'm very glad that you're comparing it to Seyda Neen!
Also I *100%* want to see that Falkreath video. Could even make a reference to the werewolf quest for Hircine for the subscribe plug by saying there was a person with a case of Lycansubscribe.
Oh that's good... And now that I've commented, I can't even claim that I came up with it lol
@ I know the Guild Code say never steal from a fellow thief but do it anyway. I stole it myself from a Tumblr post
*LycanPinThisComment lol
I actually did turn around and leave bleak falls barrow the first time I played lol. I don't love caves even in video games and when I died and got set back a couple of minutes in progress I thought "well hey I already got the claw I don't really HAVE to finish this dungeon there'll be others" and left. I tried to return the guys claw but didn't even have the option to give it to him and then was very annoyed to make it to whiterun and be sent right back to bleak falls barrow lol
Oh man I did the same thing, got freaked out though and was like nope. Then had to go back. I was like for real? But then I had a follower so I was like fine ill go.
You cannot give up the Golden Claw until after you get through the door, because you need it to finish the quest for Farengar.
omg that must have been so annoying
Regarding gender norms among nords, you can make an argument that in taiga and arctic tundra you really don't have a choice. Especially if men are sent to fight wars for the Empire somewhere far away. That's why you see so many independent female characters.
In a real life environment like the taiga or the arctic tundra, you wouldn't have "independent" females running around, especially as warriors. They were very rare, exceptions to the rule. Why? Because females need to be protected at all costs to keep up the birth rate, or else the small populations would go extinct. That's one factor among many others I won't list here. However, for a fantasy land like Skyrim, these concerns are obviously not a big deal.
Independent and powerful women have been present throughout TES since the very beginning. I suspect this was originally to support player fantasies by making it so a female player character isn't unusual since there's so many female warriors throughout the world.
Aside from that bandit dying to the pillar puzzle, Arvel is scripted to die too, whether by your hand, the draugr, the pressure plate trap, or if he even gets that far, the pendulum traps.
If your quick enough you can solve the puzzle and the bandit can survive . This breaks his ai and he just loiters in the puzzle room fighting the occasional skeever
I always loved the small hand-crafted towns in RPGs; much more so than the larger cities. Something about feeling like you can actually be a part of that community (even if it's all in your head). In my first every playthrough I got lost and looped around to Ivarstead as my first settlement (as you mention around 5:00). I think it's because I thought there was more to loot in Helgen? I don't remember. But it's interesting you mention people's proclivity to follow other people: my sister, like me, also ran off into the wilderness at her first chance; ignoring the main quest giver and the "correct" path in front of you.
Theres two more chests in the final extent of bleak falls barrow. After beating the boss, theres one to the right, behind and along the wall with the word of power . The other is soaked by a waterfall just off the path to the area with the revealing door
I mid-panicked and ran into Hadvar when trying to rush into a keep.
An ultimately good decision considering I played a Khajiit for my first pick and the Stormcloaks aren’t exactly welcoming to any Non-Nords, let alone beastfolk.
Always made me kind of mad you couldn't get both fake letters from Feindall and Sven and show them both to Camilla.
ETA the only thing that fixes this for me is the fact you can marry Camilla after (at the very least) you complete the Golden Claw quest 😄😄
Do you know ETA means estimated time of arrival right?
What a noob he is, right?
@@ogsteezus5583 It also means Edit to Add, too, so.
@ I stand corrected, thank you for adding to my vocabulary.
With Faendal, you can also loot the crap out of his house
that is now my house
You can befriend him, sacrifice him to that thing, loot his house, then Sven will say thank you and be your friend
Reminds me of the guy who used Aerin's soul to enchant a ring to propose to Mjoll. So heartwarming
Excellent essay. I just subscribed.
After about 4000 [edit: unmodded :)] total in-game hours in Skyrim since release, most of your points were spot on. Not only does this apply to Skyrim, like you touch on, but video game tutorial design as a whole.
Your voice is nice, and you have a good sense of humor. I would enjoy watching all of the other topics you mentioned. Keep up the great work!
since you play unmodded... can you remember a time when the fisher near the Guardian Stones did not have a comically large bonfire against the cliff face? it looks so dissonant to me
I’m a day one Skyrim player; I was there, 2011, just graduated high school, standing in line at GameStop at midnight. I have played every “iteration” of this game since launch, in various forms on various platforms. I have followed, and found new ElderScrolls UA-camrs over the years, it’s my favorite franchise. It’s been a while since I last found a good quality elder scrolls video and you did perfectly. The way you structured the content, the presentation, the bits of comedy all landed perfectly. You’ve got a new sub. Hope to see more.
You have such a soothing voice, I'd be happy to listen to you ramble about just about any aspect of Skyrim... especially if there are spreadsheets!
voice as smooth as butter fr
this. i would even put Takarias on the same tier with InDeepGeek
I aim to be cozy~
And also nerdy, so more spreadsheets are sure to be a mainstay for the channel lol
I think you can talk to Hilda, though if you do she just mentions the dragon again, you confirm that you say it, and she tells you to go the whiterun to warn the jarl. You can only do this though if you alk to her immedietly after the mentions the dragon
isn't Hilde the one that mocks you for not remember where you left your common sense if you grab soup ingredients from her free barrels? xD
Yep
Game say to you "Character is busy"
until character in script scene
genuinely love the maps and diagrams, and the calls to tune back in
I gotchu~
ralof/hadvar: it's probably best if we split up
dragonborn: ...........
ralof/hadvar: well ok i guess i'm a tour guide now
The ellipsis response reminded me of that PC Gamer journo who tried to play an Illusion only run (as badly as that particular person always play things, but never mind that ).
_Stormcloaks! I hide in a corner while Hadvar deals with them. Spiders! I hide in a cave while Hadvar deals with them. A bear! I run past while Hadvar deals with him. We're out._
_"Thanks for your help," says Hadvar, while I study him for any hint of sarcasm. "I wouldn't have got out of there without you."_
_You would and you did. He suggests we both head to Riverwood, then for some reason adds, "It's probably best if we split up."_
_That's an excellent idea for you, but a terrible idea for me. I can only use Illusion spells and I don't have any Illusion spells-that doesn't give me a lot of options where I stay alive._
_Hadvar sets off, and I traipse nervously behind him. He stops, looks at me, then silently turns back and carries on. After a few minute's walk, he says "You should go to Solitude."_
_Wow, dude. There are nicer ways to say it._
_"The Imperial Legion could really use someone like you." Oh. They could use someone who never takes any action, even when her life is in danger? How?_
_I am musing this, and examining some stones, when I realise I've lost him. Shit, run! No, sneak! No, there he is!_
_Just as I reach him, a wolf collides with the side of my face. Ow! Save me Hadvar!_
_Hadvar hacks the wolf down easily, then turns to me. "I'm glad you decided to join me." I narrow my eyes._
@@LibraritheWizardOfficial 'Oh. They could use someone who never takes any action, even when her life is in danger? ' 😅
I appreciate that you take the time to call out when you're putting visuals on screen for the alt-tabbers! Also shoutout for including Jenassa, shes my favorite and the one I first married!
Really love the scripting and greater narrative introduced. I was alt-tabbing, and you read right through me. I also appreciate the editing. It is much appreciated new, adaptive, fresh form most people lack. Keep up the good work
15:39 So, in my first playthrough of skyrim I had gotten the quest to get the golden claw and started it immediately, as you do. However, once I got to the room immediately after freeing whatshisface bandit guy from the webs, I got stuck. Kid-me did not notice the obvious pressure plate on the ground, or at the very least didn't understand it's connection to the giant spike wall that kept killing me. So, figuring I already had what I needed, I reluctantly assumed I just couldn't beat the dungeon right now. I didn't return until I was around level 40, when I asked my friend why no dragons were spawning. It was certainly an experience!
"Badwagon go raaaaaawr >:3" - Takarias 2025
I utterly disliked having to deal with dragons in general in that game. Regardless, I never really noticed how much details are spread around with all the NPCs and the starter town like you laid it out, it makes me appreciate the game a little more!
Despite my issues with Skyrim, it still does a lot of things right, and filling the world with little details is chief among them. :)
@Takarias In this video you called Sven a deadbeat, but to be fair... Camilla is a deadbeat too. She's a lot more of a deadbeat than Sven since at least Sven plays at the inn.
There's no reason to think he isn't good enough for Camilla (other than him being a liar, but Faendal is also a liar, sooo.....)
@Takarias In this video you called Sven a deadbeat, but to be fair to Sven... Camilla is a deadbeat too. She's far more of a deadbeat than Sven since at least Sven plays at the inn.
There's no reason to think Sven isn't good enough for Camilla (other than Sven being a bad person, but Faendal is also a bad person soooo........)
@@joshuavar4678 really the only true love for Camilla is the Dragonborn. You even have a nice moment with her walking you to the edge of town, sharing a beautiful view by the bridge.
@@joshuavar4678 lol not sure which duplicate comment to reply to... someone killed Lucan, and Camilla is creepily overjoyed by her blood brother's death
maybe her reaction and the underlying attitudes that lead to it could be included in the Sex and Roles in Skyrim video
After returning the Dragon Stone, Lucan accuses you of scraping the dragon claw, "It looks smaller than I remember, funny that", though he still takes it, and you still get rewarded.
I am an alt-tabber, thank you for the notice
I gotchu
right? i really appreciated that small detail, plus the funny writing on the first couple clips of b-roll
Yes, Morrowind certainly would have let you ask around about the Dragonstone. Daggerfall too. Those games didn't have the "dead item stuck in your inventory because you did it wrong" problem that Skyrim has.
Yea, i routinely end up with a stack of quest items that I can't ask people about (Dravin's bow and Finn's Lute being the most common).
I know who owns them but being able to ask no one "hey I found this, any ideas?" Is a bit lame. Even the stones of barenziah is janky to get moving
You can ask around about anything if you have the Mantella mod.
@@Kapik1081 Interesting, I will check that out.
43:08 I happen to be 80 hours into a new character avoiding going to Riverwood and anything that would bump the main quest past it. I frequently here npcs bring up dragons. But I have only seen the one. 😂
I love avoiding turning in the Dragon Stone until I collect all of the Word Walls where Dragons spawn. It's absolutely hilarious to me to one shot the first actual Dragon you fight 😂😂😂😂.
I'm also about 200 hours into a character that has yet to enter Bleak Falls Barrow. I'm the Listener, the Guild Master, the Archmage, I've finished the Bard's College, and I'm the Thane in all Holds besides Whiterun (since that'sblocked behind the MQ). Along with most other missions that I can do before the Main Quest....
while I wish it was a bit better, I like how after the basic controls the game has a silent tutorial, where it guides you towards trying things, each room after you get unbound and leave your first fight can just be skipped, but introduces you to the different weapon types and mechanics and once out of the cave introduces you to the stones and hunting and brings you to a town that can push you towards some starter quests and learning stuff like blacksmithing. as many problems as skyrim has, its tutorial is relatively unintrusive. Though I definitely get the railroading problem, it CAN be ignored, but you'll be disadvantaged until you at least get to the greybeards, and by then it has things it urgently wants you to do, and ofc the quests them selves are notoriously railroady.
while Skyrim doesnt exactly "railroad" the intro as hard as you might think (one can simply Avoid Riverwood, and head to Whiterun's Stables, to cart over to Riften, for example) one thing that rather bugs me is that the game doesnt 'really Unlock' itself until youve heard the Greybeards' Shout and make that first pilgrimage to High Hrothgar...
there are still PLENTY of Miscellaneous and SideQuest objectives that you can do, but until "The Way of The Voice" is at least started, a lot of 'key players' dont spawn (like the Cultists of Miraak, from the Dragonborn DLC)
then, the chain-reaction starts to kick in-- i havent killed the dragon at the Western Watchtower yet, so NO dragons spawn, ever...that means no Dragon Souls, so no Shouts Unlocked, so no Bend Will Shout...if you dont break the Stones across Solstheim, then Skaal Village is pretty much locked down...
Right out of the cave your companion tells you that "we ought to split up", and just a few distance units(here after referred to as feet or yards) later he tell you to go to Riverwood. He stays just 2 yards ahead of you to force the first rune stones upon you. You can leave him before the stones and go off to the mine or wherever else..
I didn't even know that Falkreath was the "beginner valley", tbh on my first playthrough on release, Falkreath was one of the last (if not the last) cities I visited, far into the game, probably only when there was a quest that forced me to go there, or if I wanted to be Jarl in all holds, honestly I don't remember 2011. :D The whole game has this urgency, so by the book you go to Riverwood to warn the Whiterun and you should avoid all meddlings with the trader, just bolt straight into the main quest, because there is big bad dragons around and we cannot spare any second. The whole start of the game is fucked by design, the first quest you get is "Talk to X in Riverwood" - of course you will go there. If only Hadvar/Alvor would say "I'll go to Riverwood and try to get the message to the Jarl" with no quest attached, he would less likely be followed. Then if you don't follow him, he would later be wounded near the Whiterun enterance as if he tried but got jumped by someone, so you have to carry the message up into the keep.
In Bleakfalls Barrow there are 3 Boss Chests . One behind the word wall on the right, and another behind a waterfall to the left of the stairs out .Camilla : If you don't do the Love triangle, but come back and Mary Camilla see how the other two fellows have to say about it.
An example of railroading into the main quest that made me very upset when I first found out was through the civil war quest line. I was playing a "no dragonborn" save file, and I was siding with the Stormcloaks. When I got to the "Message for Whiterun" quest, just couldn't progress because the game forces you to complete bleak falls barrow, retrieve the stone and complete "Dragon rising", therefore making you the Dragonborn, triggering the Greybeards call and dragon encounters for the rest of the game. Not only I was forced to become the dragonborn again, but the civil war quest line was stalled for a while. I don't f* care if your city is in danger from dragons, just take this axe, the city is going to be destroyed soon anyway!
Thanks for sharing this emotional story. I'm glad you are able to talk about it today
The inverse is also true; whereby the main quest forces you to settle the Civil War via the Greybeards' diplomacy if you hadn't engaged with the Civil War storyline until that point.
Take it a step further and the game locks some Word Walls behind key faction locations, meaning that if you intend for a 'completed' Dragonborn playthrough with access to all shouts, it is required that you join The Companions, The College, The Dark Brotherhood, and The Thieves' Guild simultaneously.
Skyrim is a terrible CRPG on the basis of player freedom, agency, and choice.
@@InhabitantOfOddworldSkyrim is an action-adventure game with RPG elements.
@@extralyfe
No, wrong. Stop doing this modern schtick of redefining what an RPG is. It *is* a CRPG, just not a very good one compared against Baldur's Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077. RPGs are inherently adventurous and action-oriented.
@InhabitantOfOddworld how am I redefining RPGs? in Skyrim, there's no classes, there's no attributes, and there's no skill system. every single player can complete every quest in the game with very few exceptions, meaning player agency is basically irrelevant. to me, all these points are quite important to any RPG, yet, Skyrim is able to coast by off of series inertia while including none of them. I'm not saying Skyrim is a bad game - I'm saying they made definite changes across the 3D Elder Scrolls games to take as much RPG out of the games as possible.
like, Magic is actual garbage in Skyrim, because me being a master wizard in one school has no practical advantage when it comes to learning another school of magic. in prior games, me becoming a master of Destruction means my Intelligence and Willpower were probably also boosted in the process, which meant that my spells in other schools would still be powerful - I just might fail to cast them due to my lack of skill. in Skyrim, I might as well be doing baby's first magic spells when I start leveling a new school because the only thing I have that helps is a larger mana pool. it's insulting, and that's before you consider that Destruction magic as a playstyle is nearly unplayable without mods or Creation Club content.
crafting is also worse than it used to be. ignoring that durability and repair are completely absent from the game, you used to be able to Enchant and do Alchemy out of your inventory, but, now we're fine with that being locked to tables. I can't even be the wizard I was in previous games because those choices have been taken from me.
again, removing player choice is not what role playing is about.
Great video!! Also *I* watched it! Nice crunchy footage! I just wanted to thank you for subtitling it manually. I like to put videos like this on my tv and as someone with both visual (hence the big tv) and auditory impairment, the subtitles are SUPER helpful. I subscribed, please keep up the good work! :)
I'm glad they're helpful for people :)
Having to both look at a bright screen and edit sounds like a nightmare with a migraine, thank you for the work in making this video!
Thankfully, I get less light sensitivity than most. For me, movement is what does me in, so at least editing is pretty sedentary. It still slows me way down and makes me kinda irritable, though :(
I left after getting the claw cause I was roleplaying a non shouting character so I did not want the stone stuck in my inventory and wanted the claw to complete the display in the player home
I'm all for a Falkreath video. Weirdly, it's the only one of the Nine Holds you never need to visit at any point in the main questline and quite frankly, has some underrated quests.
Really enjoyed the video / wholesome background noise.
For as much as I love Skyrim and as many hours as I have invested in it, one thing that always bothered me about it is how much you're forced into playing the main quest right from the start from a roleplaying perspective (assuming you're playing vanilla without something like Alternate Start). Obviously, if you're just playing it as a game, you can do whatever you want and just ignore main quests until you feel like playing them. But if you're actually trying to roleplay and play it as a true RPG, it feels wrong to just ignore the main quests in favor of side quests. The problem is, if you only really focus on the main quests at first, you are WOEFULLY underleveled for some of them. Hence, all the memes about how difficult the High Hrothgar frost troll is. The game sorta railroads you into facing an enemy you have no chance against yet. I would've much preferred an approach similar to Morrowind, where the game recognizes that you're new, you look it, and you need proper training before you head into anything too serious.
I'll never forget my first playthrough trying to get past that troll...took me a good hour , a shitload of arrows, and more reloads than I'm proud of 🥲🤣🤣
Follow whomever, I’m in a habit now of talking to farigar for the frost salts quest, then the jarl, then walking off as soon as he’s back to ignoring you before he asks you to work for the court wizard. Thus I keep my promise to warn the jarl
This was nice to listen too. Thank you.
Im surprised you didn't mention the fact that the love triangle sends you to Camilla, in the riverwood trader, arguing with her brother about the golden claw, essentially pointing you towards bleak falls/the main quest again
I would like to correct something, it’s very small and it’s something most players don’t know in my experience, but in the love letter quest, if you pass off the note to the rival, you can then pickpocket the original confiscated letter, and then turn both into camilla and tell her what they both ended up doing, it doesn’t change much, and it’s stupid you have to have both letters to tell her that they’re both bad people
I never knew this. Gonna do this when i get back to Riverwood
By the way, Hilde means "Fight". It is ancient german. It is also one of the most common names in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is commonly combined with Gard. Hildegard means the one who fights to guard. It is also the name of a saint: Hildegarde of Bingen. She is regarded as "Doctor ecclesiae universalis" the only woman to have recieved this title in christian mythology.
I have never left Ralof or Harvar alone to the path to Riverwood lmao. Who tf leaves them after Helgen
i have once just to see and it just felt weird, i couldnt rationalize why my character would do that
I do? After 3BN playthroughs I just get outta there as soon as we exit the cave. I never join the stormcloaks because I grew up with Oblivion and Wes Johnson's imperial guards, so after the exit, turn right and sprint past the fallen log to the top of the cliff. Parkour down past the wolves and straight to Alvor. 9/10 playthroughs I forget to go back to the guardian stones though.
if i started a playthrough today, and chose to go with Ralof, i would sprint away before he permanently clutters my unfinished quest log with Go To Windhelm
Pretty sure I completely missed the Sven/Faendal quest and married Camilla myself on my first playthrough way back in 2011/2012
What a cute little village
It's agreeable enough I suppose. For a nord village.
Holy crap! You completely neglected to mention the most dangerous inhabitants of Riverwood: the chickens. One accidental swipe at one of them and everyone in the village tries to murder you to death.
I subscribed so I wouldn’t miss the video on Skyrims economy, so I’ll be expecting that in the near future :D
Look behind the word wall for another boss chest. And the ramp that leaves the boss room there's another chest hidden near the water. 16:10
There's 4 chests.
The reason for everything is simple: it just works.
Hello, fellow Skyrim friend. Thanks for the Atl-Tab heads up. I indeed press Alt-Tab'ed back in.
Oh wow I’m REALLY early. Getting that takarias content hot off the press
17:29 I've actually not thought why wasn't Dragonstone given its own dungeon??? I don't think I've ever seen the Delphine scene in my games lol
15:23 the designers couldn't think of it either as it turns out after playing some hardcore modded playthroughs, once you get the claw, you can't give it back until after you've got the dragonstone
You actually do get encourage to explore and adventure, on the riverwood trader if you ask for spells hi'll give you a marker to the college of winterhold, you also get a marker for joining the imperial legion.
Amusingly, this came up while I was playing Skyrim and wandering around. Currently playing a traveling merchant mage using some of the economy overhauls and Spell Research. Going from town to town, buying and selling goods in order to afford a room for long enough to do some studying is actually a fun RP experience. And just as I'm heading into Riverwood, my current video ends. And then this is the suggested next video. Go figure...
There is a factor that I appreciate about being able to skip the one scene with Farengar and Delphine before you do Bleak Falls. It does show the player that objectives can be completed out of order in some cases. While there are a few progress-locked things, I think it's important to show players they aren't always going to run into artificial walls if they don't find the starting point for a quest chain first.
I think some of the railroading also came as an unexpected consequence of characters being able to express themselves more dynamically in Skyrim vs. Morrowind's very limited movement and exposition methods. Only the Sharmat is able to speak aloud to you while you're moving through an area, but in Skyrim anyone can discuss story/quest points while doing other actions. This leads to more cases where you can't just walk away from a character and come back when you feel like it because they're in an active scene. (Rather, you CAN, but you really don't want to. That's the story of how I glitched the Imperial Legion questline. XD )
Being forced to help either slimy Faendal or slimy Sven serves to railroad the player into the mandatory quest of sacrificing a follower to Boethiah.
I too have noticed that most people seem to avoid Riverwood at the beginning. I always go to Riverwood, and used to go straight to Dragonsreach right after, but now I'll usually go to Whiterun but avoid Dragonsreach until I've done some leveling.
The reason firewood is worth so much is because someone is turning it into gold, like all the bandits talk about. That's my head canon anyway
As soon as I get out of Helgen, I bolt straight of the path ...
I then promptly go about: -
1. Murdering the bandits in the camp directly south of The Guardian Stones, and loot it for everything - especially the skill book Night Falls on Sentinel and the Treasure Map 1.
2. Clear out Embershard Mine of bandits, loot the mine for everything - especially the skill book Light Armour Forging (as I love the light armour play style).
3. Cross the river and loot Anise's Cabin, especially the skill book Song of the Alchemist.
4. Loot Treasure Chest 1 on the map I gained in step 1.
And only after I've done all of this, I go to Riverwood.
Immediately talking to Faendel, and siding with him over Sven ... for the free archery training exploit loop (get him as a follower, ask him for training in archery and then go into his inventory and take my money back). At this point, I also visit Alvor and start trying to level the crap outta my smithing and forge myself and Faendel better gear!
After getting Faendel on side, I go loot Bleak Falls Barrow before going to see Farengar!
Please, PLEASE do a deep dive on followers. You can break it down into categories like housecarls, mercs, faction allies, etc.
I would 100% watch this and add it to my sleep playlist as well.
41:17 actually there may be a reason for this - neither character trusts you enough to talk about this unless their kinsman vouches for you. Especially in a hold like Whiterun where the Jarl hasn't picked a side.
So, when you talked about people retrieving the golden claw from Bleak Falls Barrow and then immediately leaving to return it to Lucan instead of finishing the dungeon and getting the dragonstone, I got really curious about how that would affect the quest flow of the game. Would you have to go and steal the claw back from Lucan to get to the dragonstone? Would you be able to ask him if you can borrow it? Sadly, according to UESP and general internet searching, the answer is much less interesting.
You can't give the claw to Lucan until you complete the quest step "Find the secret of Bleak Falls Barrow", which completes after you open the claw door and learn Fus from the word wall. I believe claw doors stay permanently open, so it's impossible from that point to render the dragonstone inaccessible. The only other way I can think of that might lock you out of getting it would be to kill the Draugr Overlord, but not loot the dragonstone, then pass enough time to repopulate the dungeon and clear the corpses. I strongly suspect that the devs either made that Overlord not despawn, or guaranteed it to respawn with the dragonstone until you loot it, although I haven't tested it and couldn't find anything about it on UESP. Might try it next time I get the itch to goof around in Skyrim for a bit.
Another comment mentioned that you can't give him the claw before clearing the dungeon, so of course I had to go test it for myself.
Yep. He doesn't acknowledge the claw that I'm rubbing against his face. Big sad
Next game I’m going to run in the opposite direction. My grandchildren will have to play for me cause by that time my arthritis will be debilitating.
Ironically, the first time i did the game i didn’t talk to Lucan, after talking to Gurdur and such at the mill and she asked me to go talk to the Jarl, i did. Didn’t stick around town at all xD
When I first played Skyrim I didn't even realise you *could* choose a side in Helgen. I don't even remember seeing Ralof at all, and since it was my first time playing an RPG of that kind, I was more concerned by the apparent mortal danger that the game was trying to communicate me: I just ran after the first guy that yelled for me to follow. It's deeply weird that Bethesda chose to hinge so much of the future game upon such a trivial and uninformed choice in the opening sequence.
4:05 You say there's no roleplay reason to run off from Ralof while showing on screen, Ralof himself offering the suggestion to split up and saying goodbye.
17:50 there is a cliff-made "stairs" on the right of the exit, actually. The easiest way to discover it - is to clear the dungeon with the follower and then either jump down or command him do go there, follower will just use "scripted" jumpings off those cliffs till the bottom.
I've definitely made my way down without dying, but I've never seen a follower do it! You can actually see in this video that Faendal spawned at the bottom of the cliff as soon as I exited the dungeon
@Takarias probably works once in a while. Same type of "scripted jump" places do exist on the walls of Whiterun and possibly on some other high places in the game.
Morrowboomer is my new favorite word. Subscription earned!
I have alternated between choosing Faendal for the love triangle quest for purely Machiavellian reasons, and walking away mid-quest, deciding that Camilla's better off single.
I would love some content analyzing Elder Scrolls treatment of gender. I don't think I've seen that anywhere yet.
The puzzles in Draugr tombs are simple, by design. They are to keep the Draugr in, not to fool dungeon raiders. It was in a book where a woman lived in a dungeon for a while. And yes, the Draugr also relit lamps.
Stopping partway through the first dungeon is mere child’s play compared to my stupid ass who got to level 40 before realizing I could spend points on the constellation screen. My only excuse is that since there was the health/stamina/magic stat increase window, I assumed that everything else was visual flair.
That must have been quite the dramatic power increase when you finally spent all those skill points!
Fantastic channel!
@15:35
I got Skyrim for Christmas in 2011 when I was 13, along with an Xbox 360. The only games I had played up to then were Star Wars battlefront on ps2 and Pokemon games. When I got halfway through bleak falls barrow I couldn’t find the chain that opened one of the doors. Farengar specifically told me that the dragonstone “may or may not actually be there” so I assumed it wasn’t and walked all the way back to whiterun, only to realize that I was dumb lol. That’s the only time I haven’t completed a dungeon in Skyrim
15:27 - I *_have_* stopped a run through Bleak Falls Barrow halfway through, because I am a loot monkey...like it literally eats at the back of my brain to leave loot behind in early game...and I was overburdened.
FYI: Taking the claw back to Lucan before you have used it to unlock the claw door results in you being unable to turn it in to him _at all._
Riverwood was an INCREDIBLE first town. Had everything you could need.
I think most people who claim to just run off in random directions/never complete the main quest are just lying to feel cool. Especially if they say something like "I've played 1000 hours and not once touched the main quest."
It's like virtue signaling for sweaty nerds
Yeah. I can see that with Oblivion-probably Morrowind too but I haven’t played that-but Skyrim’s main quest doesn’t really like people ignoring it and this video is a pretty good look at how that works.
Or, the main quest doesn’t like people ignoring it until the Greybeard call. Ivarstead is pretty damn far out of the way to keep it going.
I always do a decent portion of the main quest, but have only finished it twice I think.
I usually just end up doing whatever faction questlines and random side content I feel like until I lose interest, then make a new character next time I pick it back up. The main story isn't very interesting after the first time.
@ Pretty much the same, that initial railroading does its job, including the Whiterun portions directing you to unlock dragons and shouts (sucks for the non-Dragonborn roleplayers though), but after that things feel disconnected. Ivarstead as a next destination is pretty much the prime example: once you’re there and climbing up to the Greybeards it’s sort of interesting again, but the town itself is so far out of the way that it’s easy to just not bother.
I usually stop the main quest there, with only a handful of cases of meeting with Delphine and the furthest I got being about to head to, but not actually reaching the Blades temple. Another place that’s quite a bit out of the way, and if you’ve been mixing in other questlines, it’s easy to just be done with playing the game by that point.
As I remember at first time, i did main quest in.. reasonable time. But now i just do anything but the main quest. I left it after visiting Greybeards.
Uh, well with the alternate start mod, it's really easy to RP and forget Alduin even exists. He only appears if you go to Helgen. My last character was an Imperial Penitus Oculatus who did Dawnguard, then travelled around with Serana (SDA) for about 40 hours doing random things. I restart a lot, so that one was abandoned. I think you can be a Breton Forsworn so that's next. Also, some people avoid the main quest because they've played it too many times. My game has 300+ mods though, so I'm not talking about vanilla.
I was back in the good old days of 90’s and 00’s an RTS player or a fanboy of the KotOR series so never got into ES until Skyrim. In the chaos of the Helgen sequence, I never noticed for years that you could go into the Keep with Hadvar, I assumed running away from the authorities with a fellow criminal was the only choice (I assumed I was caught and chosen for a close shave for a legitimate reason unknown to me at the time of gameplay).
Then after a while I see YT vids and guides telling me to choose to side with Ralof and for the first time I booted up a new run and waited rather than run away from Hadvar and Alduin as I assumed he would attack me next to the inn.
To this day, I am unsure how Bethesda expected me to make a choice with so little context. Also I was railroaded into the main quest line because I assumed dragons would be attacking Whiterun hold unless I did the dragon stone quest. So they succeeded in tricking me into thinking this game was all about railroading and not about player choice for years.
Can we please get a skyrim economy vid
cause that sh*ts wak
I think the reason most people ditch both the imperial and the stormcloak at the beginning is because they are just furniture. Neither of them has anything to offer other than expo. dumps or a quest marker.
Morrowind drops you in the weeds immediately and oblivion cut you loose after the tutorial dungeon. Much better design for the eager player.
Oblivion doesn't exactly cut you loose after the tutorial dungeon. After exiting the sewers, the game is still pushing you toward the main quest because of the supposed urgency of delivering the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre at Weynon Priory. After you do so, the game doesn't stop pushing you, now urging you to go rescue Martin from Kvatch.
What I have said of Skyrims Main quest it is the guided tour of things in the game
Edit, oh, the raidant quests. I remember the last Companions quest I did it took me to Riverwood with one Sabertooth tiger inside a house.
When I first played Skyrim I just followed Ralof because I didn't even notice Hadvar calling, did I go with the stormcloak can't say but I did only play until lvl 12 on that character.
17:09 I remember playing a character; got the quest from the wizard, finished the dungeon. It was late and a blizzard, so I planned on staying in Riverwood for the night. After selling loot, and returning the claw. Went to the in to get a room, and Delphine wasn't there. Couldn't get a room. Stayed up all night by the fire, then went to Whiterun when it warmed up.
you get a room from the guy not delphine
For all of the reasons you described in the video I haven't done the vanilla Skyrim intro since ~October 2016, more than 8 years ago. Alternate start feels like it should’ve been integrated into the game. Skyrim's strengths are its beautiful world and its simulation of a high-fantasy Nordic kingdom. It just falls apart whenever you have to talk to NPCs and do quest lines and the intro just drags on and on and on if you’re actually trying to roleplay. I’m at the point with Skyrim where I quickly make a character, pick the 'surprise me' option in Alternate Start, and see how long I can last iron-man mode
17:45 i always walked. Never thought it was obvious signalling to fast travel. You can see how close you are to Riverwood so you might as well. And theirs cool stuff on the way
A deep dive on followers would be a great video!
When I first played skyrim I left bleak falls barrow after the spider. I killed it, got the claw off of the guy because he died in the next room to the draugr, and because I didn’t know about the dragon stone I assumed I had skipped the part where he gives it to me by having him die and thought... ok, let’s go then. And couldn’t figure out where to get the dragon stone because there’s no way it’s in the same dungeon. I was 9 but that’s why I did it. I did eventually go back to the barrow after levelling up a bunch doing other things, because I wanted to try and progress the story a bit more.
I always go with Faendal in the Riverwood love triangle quest. Faendal is pretty good through Bleak Falls Barrow, and starts falling behind right before you get Lydia (who I tend to stick with for most of the rest of the game unless I have a multiple-companions mod), so he's a good early-game companion. Add in the fact that he's a trainer when you probably need one the most if you're trying for stealth archer, and he's clearly the superior choice.
Sven, on the other hand, is the spooniest bard since Edward in the SNES version of Final Fantasy IV, whose only contribution to the team was running in terror and letting a little girl do the heavy lifting. He has no special abilities. He doesn't do any training. And he will spend most of Bleak Falls Barrow on his knees in the "injured" state. He has two uses: The giant club glitch that sends him to Magnus, and the perfect victim for either Boethiah or Mephala.
Feandal is best because once you get him to use boetheas shrine you can harvest his blood for the book quest
Hey! It's you! I was trying to find your channel again!
I hear subscribing helps with that ;)
In Morrowind you would have to talk to a million NPC's and track down some obscure person in a vague location only to be told that Dragon Stone will require you to go somewhere else you have no knowledge of to complete some overly complicated puzzle to get a mildly useful item or benefit.
So funny story, the first time I played Skyrim, I did do Bleakfalls Barrow before I went to Whiterun, but somehow I didn't get the Word Wall (I guess I didn't stand close enough to it for long enough??) so the drauger didn't wake up and I didn't get the Dragonstone. I was baffled when the main quest sent me BACK there, because I'd already been and cleaned it out! Luckily, I could run back and zip through to the end very quickly (I didn't realize fast travel was a thing either) and then got jumpscared by the drauger.
Fun fact
If Sven and Fendal both die, Kamila will thank us for saving her persistent attention.
This will be done via letter
On defeating the mid boss of bleakfalls barrow I actually did try to roleplay my character nopeing out of the dungeon because he didn't want to deal with the undead further in. Unfortunately Lucan wouldn't accept the claw unless I completed the dungeon.
Also i did find it kinda weird that we got the dragonstone and effectively skipped a section of dialogue and quest.
On the Alvor/Gerdur opinions on the civil war as you said you dont get any alternative opinions which can be disconcerting to first time players (especially compared to morrowind, and yes i am aware of the voices vs written dialogue) and to my knowledge is never debated on in in-game dialogue.
Wow. I didn't think you were lying, but I had to go check to see how the game reacts to this and, yep, there's zero recognition. Lucan just deadass stares at me and tells me "the sooner you find the claw, the sooner our lived can get back to normal" while I'm rubbing it against his face.
The Sven Faendal quest is not designed for narrative or roleplay purposes but as a demostration of quests that have story choices.
As a Morroboomer you think quedts having choices in a game is sooo obvious, but in most games for the average casual gamer most games have highly scripted linear stories.
You know whats crazy; in my first playthrough after escaping with ralot. I went out and joined the imperials; i didnt start the main quest until i got to whiterun through the civil war quest
Actually there is 4 chests in the boss area of the first barrow one is to the right and behind the word wall, another is to the left across the stream after passing the stairway leading out. I do have the bad habit of just passing through Riverwood and going straight to Whiterun before boarding the wagon to Winterhold and completing the Mage school quest line first then heading off to get Daumbra. And I always take the Necromage so as to be able to cast two summoned creatures, for less need of companions.
I always go a bit further after bleak falls and enter brittleshin pass which segues nicely into the whiterun outskirts
I did stop the exploration of Bleak Fall Barrrow after getting the claw. I role played a scared thief / mage, who needed to first join a guild and get confidence before exploring dungeons with tthe dead rising from graves.
Unfortunatelly, you can not return the claw to Lucan, even though its in your inventory, before opening the puzzle door. Apparently they block it to not soft block the newbie players.
I was thinking recently that the player should be able to sell quest items. If you do, you can go back to the merchant and try to get it back from them. The merchant will have a chance of still having it based on how long ago you sold it, and in the event the merchant no longer has it, they give you a radiant quest to retrieve it. Perfect way to leverage existing systems to create an emergent narrative for the player.