😂 it does get confusing sometimes... It took me a minute to get used to how to navigate the city myself.. there's the graveyard, on the other side of the graveyard is the market district, if you go through the graveyard and up to the right, that will lead back towards the Palace of Kings and then if you go straight across through the Alley and down the stairs.. that's the aretino residence.. which leads back down to the main gate.. the other side I think is the residential district. I may have this backwards but I'm not even playing the game right now.
Markarth looks cool and is a good place for the player to visit but imagine being a regular citizen living there. Constant forsworn attacks and morally corrupt figures running the place + the mines. If you hear something you’re not meant to here or you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, you’re pretty much finished. That being said it’s a joy to visit as a player.
"Whiterun feels like home" is why there's no doubt it's my #1. I first played Skyrim after it got remastered YEARS after it's initial release. I was bored and looking for a good game to dive in, but wasn't sure how well Skyrim would hold up. Following the road north of Riverwood for the first time until the forest clears and you see Whiterun was that "Oh yeah, this is gona be good" moment.
I think worst place to live would be markarth but the city itself aesthetically looks amazing. The water falls and architecture make the city looks so high fantasy but the corruption and violence makes it feel like at home in Baltimore lol
With careful order of quest completion you can really clean Markarth up. Complete the Cidhna Mine questline by both taking out the Forsworn but ALSO taking out the Silver Blood brother. Earlier in that questline be aggressive towards the Silverbloods and purge most of their family. But even that leaves one Silver Blood. We can fix this. Don't complete the Civil War before the main questline, so that you get Season Unending. Hand Markarth over to the Stormcloaks as part of the negotiations. This elevates the remaining Silver Blood brother to Jarl. Then, complete the civil war on behalf of the Imperials. This will exile that brother (as with all former jarls). By doing this, you've wipes out the Forsworn double agents and cospirators, wiped out the Silverbloods, and ensured stable Imperial control which will connect the now non-corrupt Markarth mineral and gem mine owners to the Imperial market to sell.
Worst thing about Winterhold is that its been 87 years give or take since the Great Collapse and the Jarls of Winterhold and some of its few residents have done nothing and do nothing except bitch and moan about the college and magic. They've had plenty of time to reach out to the college and the other holds for assistance to rebuild but have done nothing! The college itself has also done nothing since then, the mages could've helped the people, could've fixed their crumbling bridge (which is essentially a life line between the college the rest of Skyrim).
Winterhold is a product of bethesdas laziness. It supposed to be a huge city with a sizeable dunmer population. Instead it's a hold capital with 5 houses. The hold capitals are huge cities it makes no sense for tiny villages like downstar or even the small cities like solitude and windhelm to be the literal seat of power and capital of what would be compared to modern states.
@Joshua-fi4ji they all felt more classic fantasy like. After 70 hours they feel more... pale? Less joyful? I don't know, it's doesn't click like before, except Imperial city. Like it's less exciting to visit them Unlike Markarth, Solitude or even Falrkreath. Damn, I want to install Skyrim again just to feel again this calmness and peace of forest wilderness
If we go by how the city was described in lore prior, it should have been a big bustling city, probably the third biggest in the province with how highly it is glorified ....... but no, that thing is in contention with Morthal for second smallest hold capital in the game, and Morthal is located in the middle of a frozen marsh and does not have a trade port so Dawnstar has no excuses for being this fraudulent
The Creations content home in the ratway is the best in the game imo. Both riften houses are awesome because you can come and go without entering the city if you want to.
Riften is my number one too. But unlike this list, I put the Markhart at the very end. I'm avoiding this city. The atmosphere is so dark and corrupt. The city is made of greed and death. And the fact that everyone lives underground with no windows doesn't improve the feeling too.
I love Riften! It's my first playthrough and ever since I saw Honeyside (and how cute it is) I've been eyeing it for my "hometown". Of course my children complain nonstop about how much they dislike it, but whatever at least they have plenty of friends from the orphanage to run around and play with.😵💫
Stay in Riften for a day or two and you’ll realize it’s the most alive feeling city in all of Skyrim. The central market layout is perfect for random npc dialogue. The layered structure of the main level, sewers, and docks makes it feel much bigger and denser than it is. Sure solitude is big but it feels empty. Same with whiterun.
Morthal was actually the one city that had a lot of mystique for me in first playthrough. An interesting coat of arms, and a name invoking danger or inhospitability. Hence, finding the little nook of huts in the marshes didn't feel underwhelming. It made it feel like a city of rugged inhabitants building in the marsh's shifty land and staving off the unforgiving elements. A lot of the aspects people say are bland about it, were actually the ones that gave it a lot of character for me. It could really use a blacksmith though.
I always liked Whiterun and Solitude due to their geographic positions and the variety of stores and things to do man watching this makes me want to play Skyrim again
yeah same. It might not be majestic like Solitude or Markarth, but the vibe of it is unmatched. The pines around it, its history around death and warfare, it's historical connection as the first city in Skyrim between it and Cyrodiil. Sometimes you just want to chill in a slow, quiet town surrounded by beautiful trees and mountains, without too much going on. It had always been my favourite.
One of my favorite Skyrim Memes about Morthal is "Yo man, what's the move? What's the move?? My brother in Christ, you live in Morthal, there is no move!"
In terms of safety from least to most safe it goes: 9: Markarth (it has cannibals, murderers, corrupt politicians, the worst and most dangerous prison in Skyrim, The forsworn attacks and slave Labour.) 8: Riften (probably the most crime in Skyrim but less violence then Markarth) 7: Windhelm (As much as I love it, there is a crazy murderer, lots of poverty and bad homelessness) 6: Morthal (Murders, fires, Vampires its not good for safety) 5: Dawnstar (Unpleasant and unhappy) 4: Winterhold (Although its in ruins it’s actually quite safe despite the occasional problems with the college.) 3: Whiterun (Whiterun has the best living quality of any city but it does have bandits and occasional fights and crimes) 2: Solitude (The best city for a high class life and lots of great things to do, little to no crime) 1: Falkreath (Although it has had the most deaths of any city due to the amount of wars fought there, it’s actually the safest city in Skyrim.)
Can you explain how Falkreath is safe?? To the south there's a vampire lair, to the west there's a couple of orc/bandit hideouts, to the north there's another vampire lair in the ruins (I think??), and to the east there's a bandit checkpoint and stronghold
@@krisgames6033 yeah but the town itself doesn’t seem to struggle with those problems. They might be there but it’s not affecting their lives. Like Whiterun, all the bandits dont seem to be affecting their everyday life.
To add to Dawnstar, there's a literal daedric entity siphoning the inhabitants' life force in their sleep. I would disagree with Solitude being among the most safe, though. Solitude in many ways feels like a ticking time bomb. The court is a mess with many of its members wishing to supplant Elisif for the Jarl position. One of them being a vampire. Sure, it's more of a power struggle amidst aristocrats, but in a coup, the regular people are also affected. There's also Pothema below the hall of the dead, who is underway to be resurrected if not for the dragonborn interfering. And lastly, it's where the imperials are based in. Windhelm and Solitude become fraught places to live in if one considers they're the ultimate goal of each side of the civil war.
Dawnstar might not be great in the base game but for roleplay capabilities it's amazing. I love having my characters arrive in Dawnstar by boat or they shiprecked nearby, hearing about the nightmares, learning about them from the inhabitants earning some gold for weapons and armour by working in the two mines and then helping Erendur stop the nightmares, gaining him as a follower or not and then being on your way and heading to Whiterun
Falkreath is my hometown. Lots of hidden nooks and crannys to explore. Lots of alchemy ingredients. Hunting game is a perfect challenge because of the dense forest. Lots of hunter camps to chill at and trade with. Lots of fishing spots. Weather is cozy or dreary, love both. Best hearth fire house location imo. Best vibes. Each kind of trader. The perfect spot to hunt and fish and live a simple life. I agree tho, jarl siddgeir is a total chump
Even if i had a fully built Lakeview Manor, whiterun still feels like home to me, i know everyone there and the placement of breezehome makes it feel so cozy to me.
Other than being incorrect about which city is the best (it's Solitude obvs) this video was paced well, held my attention and the intro was the perfect length that it needed to be. Great work. See you at 10k.
The icy road above Windhelm to dawn star and the one road that connects the riften plateau to the pales lowgrounds are the spots that truly give me chills to think about. Pure majesty captured in this world. It’s insane how I can just fly around these worlds in my mind. Truly amazing and a privilege.
I have to say my favorite city & area on the map, is Whiterun. It makes me think of Rohan(A little bit of Gondor because of the giant tree) and I love it. Some days I just start up Skyrim just to walk around the city and the beautiful fields. Even the music is beautiful. My main Player home is in Whiterun. Even my characters wife, Lydia, stays there lol 😂. And a huge bonus for me is that there’s always a dragon flying around the fields. I never get tired of a decent dragon fight.
Okay this might sound crazy to you but winterhold is my second favorite if not my favorite because I love the wintery vibe I get from it and I love how remote and desolate it is and it’s just so cool to walk through while stoned and shit
First few runs I never bothered to save her, thinking its the scripted intro for Markath. One day I wondered if I could break the intro scene by suplexing the guy first, and I was shocked I could without the guards ganking me for murder!
I’m a Markarth for life guy, the city is extremely beautiful, I do love the view and I love mountains. One thing I think it should be great was a quest to rebuild Winterhold
Whiterun genuinely was the best city looking back on it. Bethesda put their best foot forward with the city most players will likely see first. Such a shame most of the others don't live up to its standard. Solitude is one of the few cities in the game that lived up to Whiterun imo
Yeah, I love Whiterun. Between having a nice amount of vendors for its size and an aesthetic that really feels Nordic, I just find it to be plain awesome.
Solitude, Markarth, Riften and Windhelm. I still remember exploring these cities on my first playthrough. The awe and wonder really took me back to being a child watching Lord of the Rings for the first time and how grand and epic the locations felt (obviously on a smaller scale in Skyrim). Whiterun and Winterhold are impressive as well but for different reasons. Whiterun is the definition of comfort.
Whiterun and Riften felt like a home, Markarth and Solitude are pretty nice too, Morthal, Dawnstar and Falkreath are also quite nice, but I don't like Windhelm and Winterhold. Oh, and Riverwood is the best of course! While Ivarstead is okay, Rorikstead the worst, Shor's Stone lame and Helgen pretty cool, but without mods sadly dead
Improvement: Winterhold really should’ve had more to it considering it’s literally like 1 or 10 locations in the northeast. Favorite: Falkreath. That area of the map is just like perfect storybook fantasy it’s why they put the werewolf quest there. Also Dawnstar, just because it feels very gothic with all the quests around it. That’s also what puts it above Morthal for me. Favorite Architecture wise: Solitude or Windhelm. Both those cities have that medieval castle look. If windhelm wasn’t covered in snow I’d definitely put solitude above it but the snow adds a lot to the aesthetic. When I think of what a city in Skyrim should look like it’s Windhelm. Maybe in 50 years when we’re all old we’ll get a remake of Skyrim and it’ll expand on Winterhold. That’d be tough.
5:28 “While I celebrated racism in my last video, the treatment of the Dunmer in Windhelm put a sour taste in my mouth mostly because it just feels wrong for the dark elves to not be imposing the racial prejudice against others”
I do agree that Winterhold can be visually underwhelming, but the narrative behind these ruins leaves a lot to the imagination, especially when considering that it was once the capital city of Skyrim. I like the idea that its destruction was caused by a chain reaction originating from the eruption of Red Mountain, similar to how the Minoan civilization (in real life) was destroyed by a chain reaction originating from the eruption of the volcano in Santorini.
Let's say that the first 5 from the list are cities, and the second 5 are villages. That whole Skyrim world is fantastic. What I love most is the freedom and breadth that this game gives you. Every other game has its own fixed path, you have to go through that path. In Skyrim you can say, screw the main quest, I'm going where I want now. I hope for a sequel to this game soon.
This is such an awesome concept please when you or if you feel like it do the same for the fallout games specifically 3/NV and 4 would love to see your take on the settlements!
I personally always felt like dawnstar was tragically let down by bethesda. It had so much potential to be cool, especially with the second dark brotherhood sanctuary being in the area. It could have had a bustling shipping yard, or had significance to literally any major quest- instead they made a village with a misleading name. I mourn what dawnstar could have been
In the end I always buy Breeezehome in Whiterun and call it a day. It's centrally located. There is a forge a few houses away on one side and an alchemy bench a few houses away on the other, so no need to turn your home into a smithy or a lab. I don't really enchant, but if I did it would be a not too long jaunt to the castle to do that. I always play the wandering adventure so I mostly live in taverns and on horseback. The house is just there to hold smithing and alchemy supplies that would overload my horse.
I love Morthal. It is very inconvenient on numerous levels. But I really agree with your comments about it being cozy. One of my favourite ways to start a playthrough is as the “grey mage of Morthal” - a hedge wizard who dwells in the marsh (now using survival and setting up a campsite with visits to the inn for a hot meal now and then). I spend my days collecting alchemical ingredients and occasionally visiting the alchemist and brewing/selling potions. I use the profits to buy soul gems from Falion and strengthen my enchanting abilities by capturing souls from the creatures of the marsh. I normally make him transition into becoming a peddler of his wares who begins going to solitude and other towns/cities to sell his potions and enchantments (thus beginning his real journey and starting the story). I normally make him morally neutral or well meaning… … but one darker iteration of this character was particularity sinister. I named him Leech (a double meaning as he is both a specialist in alchemy and a vampire). I made potions with an HP draining secondary effect. He would drink the poisoned potions to make himself loose health, and would then use restoration magic to knit himself back together again. Functionally it let me level two skills at once - but role play wise I think it really highlighted how dark his arts had become.
I just became the Thane of Riften. The poverty and corruption can still be reduced , given the additional and more difficult quests that the Jarl Laila Law-Giver requires are more difficult than most other quests to become Thane, it makes Riften worth it. Sadly Bethesda could’ve added more dialogue to the citizens praising the decreased poverty and corruption.
I agree with Riften as #1. At first I thought Solitude, but really I’m just remembering the Dark Brotherhood quest line which is not fair, and besides, the thieves guild quest line is better anyway. #1 Riften, #2 Solitude #3 Markarth.
I recommend the "Better cities: Solitude" mod which adds more buildings. I have also added mods to increase the number of NPCs and children just walking around and now Solitude feels like a busy, crowded, bustling capital city. I also use the "Simple Proudspire Improvements" mod as this is where my character lives.
I remember visiting Morthal for the fist time I was like ooh what will this city look like I travel over there and as soon as I saw it I just left straight away didn't even explore it now days it is kinda nice to walk around it
I love Whiterun the most, as you say it feels like home, but for me I think it's cause I played many hours on a save with the Elysium Estate mod which gives you a big mansion just down the road from there, so I would stop off in Whiterun to shop for stuff and the guards always passed by. That entire hold is just such a perfect place.
Another video thatd be cool is which holds have the best picturesque views and you can show us your favorite ones. Favorite followers ranked, favorite races, thoughts on each of the nine devines and whether or not you resonate with them, favorite daedric princes, thoughts on the skyrim civil war and which side you believe is right, favorite hold homes, thieves guild stories, maybe oblivion videos?
The Cities of The North (COTN) mod, dialogue expanded mod, and several quest extension mods really bring Mortal, Dawnstar, Falkreath and even Winterhold up for me.
Morthol would be cool if they had more shops. I keep having to go to solitude to do my errands 😢 Edit: I mostly play without fast travel. Carriages are my exception.
Bethesda have always been masters at making crazy small cities feel big and bustling. Even something like Winterhold that literally has like four buildings has unique little quests and a unique feel to it from the Jarl to the inn, to the general store, to the College. It just feels like it's got a right to exist even though it's absolutely tiny. Hard to explain. I think Oblivion while similar in the small size did cities way better though and all the cities in that game feel 100% distinct from each other with Skiingrad being a huge standout as far as feeling like an actual city. Still, Skyrim still has some gems that's for sure. Least favorite is Morthal. No general store or blacksmith? Come on I can't sell my loot in a city like what! At least Solitude is close by for a no fast travel adventurer role-play playthrough. Favorite is Windhelm. Vendors aplenty for selling loot and I think Candlehearth Hall is my favorite Inn with Hjerim being my favorite city house. Being a Stormcloak Nord character makes this city feel perfect for the feel.
Yaaaaay someone else who loves Riften. I'm always fighting with my sister about this but I looooove the number of shops located here and the Rift is the most beautiful area of the game. And with the thieves guild quests you can increase the number of shops and I looove getting filthy rich.
7:31 THAT'S GOIN' INTO THE BOOK! (Context: Dwarfs in Warhammer when they get wronged they write the act in an important book and always remember it,also short is like their n word)
Just discovered your channel! This was a good take on the major settlements. Have you ranked your favorite side quests? I've replayed just to experience "the man who cried wolf" all over again.
Solitude is my favorite city just from its beauty. My current save, I'm a Khajit with kleptomania living in Solitude with two adopted Nord children. Part of the Thieves Guild too and she travels there on the weekend to sell her stolen goods. She's rich af now and living it up and I love that for her.
I love riften because its smaller, NPC’s interact more, you can hear more conversations from most areas. Occasionally the guards kill a thief. Its a town that ACTUALLY FEELS ALIVE
A lot of the reason why winterhold looks the way it does it’s because it’s destroyed before the events of Skyrim take place. There was a feud between the residents and the mages at the college of winterhold. So idk if it’s fair to rank it last
Despite everything, I love Winterhold. Just started my first playthrough in years, with some mods for the first time, I started from Windhelm and made my road there. I just really love how far away from everything it is, and how the college is the only place that is basically alive there (even if the college is still pretty much empty, sadly)
whenever i am doing a playtrue where i do a lot of alchemy i always enjoy mortal and specialy the area around it specialy if i have a game where i do EARLY game alchemy. there is several nice resources around it and the herbalist shop right in the city to, and specialy the deathbell flowers that there is a bunch of even in the city itself is a realy nice combo with salt for the slow potion that sells for a decent amount of money early game and once you alchemy and speech is getting up there for even a nicer profit in the 500 range and once finished easly in the 1k range pr potion without using the enchant alchemy bug giving you a million alchemy improvement etc.
1. Solitude, love the "high middle ages" architecture, really a Charlemagne, Aachen, vibe. It's a place of learning too with the Bards College, Proudspire Manor is fantastic, I like chilling in the patio. You have the master speechcraft trainer who is an historian, Giraud Gemane, love him since I'm an historian too! Very excited to see the city back in ESO. 2. Riften: you said everything, I may add that I love the surroundings too, the Black-Briar lodge just outside, feels very autumn-like. Maven is also one of my favorite characters, she's badass, cunning, intimidating, she's probably one of the most influencial people in Skyrim, as we also see her in the Thalmor Embassy. Disappointed by its appearance in ESO, in the vanilla game, just looks like other towns in the nordic areas. 3. Markarth: same as you, blood and silver, my friend, blood and silver. I was amazed to discover it back in ESO. We just had Skingrad back with the new ESO chapter, and it's by far my favorite city on Tamriel!
Holy crap before i watched your video i was busy typing out my rankings. Ours are almost identical. I agree about Winterhold, Dawnstar, Morthal and Falkreath.
Skyrim is one of those games I WISH Bethesda had taken another two years to fully finish as there are rather obvious places, cities, and quests that feel... unfinished, rushed or empty. Due to the presence of the College, Companions, and Thieves Guild (and later the Dawnguard DLC), the eastern portions of Skyrim (and cities--Whiterun and Riften especially) feel a little more polished, while Winterhold, Falkreath, Dawnstar, Morthal, Windhelm, and even Solitude feel varying levels of empty; the same for the Reach, the Pale, etc. That's not even counting the cut content and the cities that SHOULD exist in Skyrim, but don't, e.g. Karthwasten being little more than two mines and two houses vs. the city it was in early TES games. Personally, I think one of the most beautiful (and underdeveloped) places / villages in all of Skyrim is Rorikstead.
yeahhhh morthal always gets last place for me tied with dawnstar. winter hold i honestly forget exists unless i am actively going to do the mages guild
For me: -Top 1 Riften, I am a thief, love the quests, characters, lore, the canals etc etc -Top 2 Markarth , love the mysterious vibes and the location, the reach is beautiful and intriguing. -Top 3 Ravens rock, I love the adversity vibes, people surviving in such a tough and beautiful environment.
If we being realistic in functions and safety of the city it should be like this: 1. Markath pros: 1 long winding and hiking way to the main gate, easy to set defenses on that long way to the gate, stones structure is good against dragon fire, overall realistically it's easy to defend city, cons: sadly the lore makes markarth twice get it's defenses penetrated, first by forsworn and then ulfric 2. Windhelm pros: medium way to main gate, dock's gate is narrow and easy to defend, cons: night attack from snow veil sanctum is game over for windhelm (there is a path from snow veil sanctum to the north side of palace of the kings), also east side wall is totally unguarded there is sabrecat and horker there, so both north and east side is vulnerable for attack if enemy is coming from snow veil sanctum 3.solitude pros: long hiking way to main gate, castle dour is well reinforced, cons: second entrance which leads to under the city (if enemy doing a sneak attack from northeast solitude is done for), under the blue palace if anyone blow that rock half of solitude is crumbling 4. Whiterun pros: long winding road to main gate, a little drawbridge (sadly never used), if the wall is more reinforced it will be a good defense for frontal attack, if whiterun controls fort greymoor, valtheim towers and silent moons camp and then reinforce north watch tower and make riverwood a fort then whiterun is gonna be hard to attack, cons: easy for enemies to set siege engine, north watchtower is basically useless (first time going there, there is a bandit attack) and also the western watch tower is useless, easy to surround the city, there is bandits camp under west side of dragonsreach, julius caesar can do the battle of alessia tactics to conquer whiterun 5. Riften pros: southwest side is easy to defend especially if riften controls treva's watch, faldar's tooth and darklight tower, north side also decent defense if fort greenwall and shor's watchtower is reinforced, haelga is there to teach dibellan arts *wink* *wink*, also vex is in riften, cons: barely any defense on southeast (if they make forelhost a watch tower or a fort maybe it's defensible) anyone from morrowind could take riften by surprise (also there is a hint that there is supposed to be a southeast gate which is close to mistveil keep), if riften not have good relationship with largashbur then southwest gate will be in danger (the closest gate to mistveil keep), if you go around the outer walls of riften it was a missed opportunity to make the wall all the way to the hills south of mistveil keep, why they didn't extend the walls to have a nature walls such as the hills is a mystery 6. Dawnstar pros: near the sea, two mines for shelter against dragons, if dawnstar controls fort dunstad, fort fellhammer, driftshade refuge, and snowpoint beacon also make windward ruins, yngvild and nightcaller temple into a fort or watch tower, dawnstar is pretty defensible, cons: no walls to protect the city, the weather (it could have the same fate as winterhold) 7.falkreath pros: if they build a gate near moss mother cavern and control fort sungard and cracked tusk keep then the northwest is good to defend, if falkreath controls peak's shade tower, rebuild helgen and build a gate near pinewatch then southeast side will be pretty secured, lakeview manor could be the watch tower for northeast side, expand the city to north shriekwind bastion, easy to setup ambush with all the trees, cons: highrock could attack falkreath in an instant from southwest 8. Morthal pros: nothing, if they move morthal to dead men's respite or labyrinthian it would be pretty good (i prefer dead men's respite because it's near water and the weather, labyrinthian is way easy to defend though), cons: near 2 dragons (elderblood peak and skyborn altar), marsh lands, badly placed capital city when there are more nicer place south of that place 9. Winterhold pros: meet j'zargo, killing ancano, the jail is unique, cons: why would you live there? It's the coldest part of skyrim, no walls, college is the main attraction, waste of time to conquer (there's nothing to gain there), fort kastav is the main defense and winterhold didn't control that
personally i like solitude the most for a few different reasons mainly just bc of the house and the sometimes Aurora Borealis that can happen and there's other children so mine can play with them when im not around which is honestly most of the time & there's always the uncut mods to add stuff to the different holdd
I'd call them then small city-states like the Sumerians more then an actual cities. Morthal, Dawnstar, and Falkreath are even less, they are just Villages. Markarth, Solitide, and maybe Windhelm are the only ones that could be called very small cities on the verge of being large towns
Speaking of Riften it took me 450 hours of gameplay to realize that the Riften docks was an actual location
About 100 hours for me to realize that
Fosure not to mention how much it confused my ass
Wait there a dock
I remember they didn't add the waymark on the map in vanilla to LE/SE. They added it in AE because of Fishing CC
Hahaha me too, round about 200 hours 😂
I’ve played this game 10000 times countless hours and I still get lost in Windhelm. Fuck Windhelm lol
Same! That murder quest me spinning in circles 🤣🤣
same but markarth. the map doesn’t do shit either since a lot of places are stacked/layered on top of each other
😂 it does get confusing sometimes... It took me a minute to get used to how to navigate the city myself.. there's the graveyard, on the other side of the graveyard is the market district, if you go through the graveyard and up to the right, that will lead back towards the Palace of Kings and then if you go straight across through the Alley and down the stairs.. that's the aretino residence.. which leads back down to the main gate.. the other side I think is the residential district. I may have this backwards but I'm not even playing the game right now.
@@evydelorieI'm the same way. It's so confusing. I search door by door for the most part
Truly. Fuck Windhelm. 😂
Markarth looks cool and is a good place for the player to visit but imagine being a regular citizen living there. Constant forsworn attacks and morally corrupt figures running the place + the mines. If you hear something you’re not meant to here or you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, you’re pretty much finished. That being said it’s a joy to visit as a player.
Yeah it would be awful to live there honestly
And cannibalism
And the stone beds lol
Too many stairs
also the mountains. imagine walking out of your home drunk and taking the wrong directions
"Whiterun feels like home" is why there's no doubt it's my #1. I first played Skyrim after it got remastered YEARS after it's initial release. I was bored and looking for a good game to dive in, but wasn't sure how well Skyrim would hold up. Following the road north of Riverwood for the first time until the forest clears and you see Whiterun was that "Oh yeah, this is gona be good" moment.
You just described my experience with the game perfectly, and that's why whiteout was my favorite city as well.
I think worst place to live would be markarth but the city itself aesthetically looks amazing. The water falls and architecture make the city looks so high fantasy but the corruption and violence makes it feel like at home in Baltimore lol
With careful order of quest completion you can really clean Markarth up.
Complete the Cidhna Mine questline by both taking out the Forsworn but ALSO taking out the Silver Blood brother. Earlier in that questline be aggressive towards the Silverbloods and purge most of their family.
But even that leaves one Silver Blood. We can fix this. Don't complete the Civil War before the main questline, so that you get Season Unending. Hand Markarth over to the Stormcloaks as part of the negotiations. This elevates the remaining Silver Blood brother to Jarl. Then, complete the civil war on behalf of the Imperials. This will exile that brother (as with all former jarls).
By doing this, you've wipes out the Forsworn double agents and cospirators, wiped out the Silverbloods, and ensured stable Imperial control which will connect the now non-corrupt Markarth mineral and gem mine owners to the Imperial market to sell.
@@JB-xl2jc this is the most well thought out response. Thank you, I’ll be referencing this in detail in my next play through.
@@JB-xl2jc Wow, thanks for this guide! My favorite thing to do with the cities is to fix em up and solve all the issues lol
@@JB-xl2jcdoesn't make it any better, stormcloaks win the civil war, imperials are bad
It’s the Gotham City of Skyrim
Solitude is the capital of Skyrim and it only has 62 inhabitants 😅
Rough times in Skyrim
Its scaled down, Whiterun only has like 70. However all the farms and towns by Whiterun make it seem like way more.
I mean, it’s scaled down for game purposes. It would be impossible for the devs at the time to make it populated like that.
I don't care what anyone says, Whiterun is the capital of skyrim. Best city in all of skyrim.
Love em all
Except markarth
If it wasn't so ruined, it would be mine too
Realistically it makes sense. Many capitals are as center in the country as possible. Examples off the top include Spain, Brazil, & Ethiopia.
Who ever controls white run controls skyrim
Worst thing about Winterhold is that its been 87 years give or take since the Great Collapse and the Jarls of Winterhold and some of its few residents have done nothing and do nothing except bitch and moan about the college and magic. They've had plenty of time to reach out to the college and the other holds for assistance to rebuild but have done nothing! The college itself has also done nothing since then, the mages could've helped the people, could've fixed their crumbling bridge (which is essentially a life line between the college the rest of Skyrim).
@@0307scott Agreed, they talk about it in game like it happened a couple years ago
"The cursed mages destroyed a third of the city!"
"Uh...there's one ruined building."
"Like I said: the cursed mages destroyed a third of the city!"
Winterhold is a product of bethesdas laziness. It supposed to be a huge city with a sizeable dunmer population. Instead it's a hold capital with 5 houses. The hold capitals are huge cities it makes no sense for tiny villages like downstar or even the small cities like solitude and windhelm to be the literal seat of power and capital of what would be compared to modern states.
@@elvangulley3210I'd prefer if they built less cities, but developed each one more. Honestly Oblivions cities were so much better.
@Joshua-fi4ji they all felt more classic fantasy like. After 70 hours they feel more... pale? Less joyful? I don't know, it's doesn't click like before, except Imperial city. Like it's less exciting to visit them Unlike Markarth, Solitude or even Falrkreath. Damn, I want to install Skyrim again just to feel again this calmness and peace of forest wilderness
Dawnstar is so disappointing with the complete lack of boats in the centre of naval trade in tamriel
Lack of boat travel in general was very disappointing
Everytime I enter Dawnstar I get attacked by a dragon!
Every survival play through it annoys me that there isn’t more naval travel
If we go by how the city was described in lore prior, it should have been a big bustling city, probably the third biggest in the province with how highly it is glorified ....... but no, that thing is in contention with Morthal for second smallest hold capital in the game, and Morthal is located in the middle of a frozen marsh and does not have a trade port so Dawnstar has no excuses for being this fraudulent
It took me a while to realize that Skyrim's Dawnstar was THE Dawnstar
I never thought I’d see someone who also has Riften as their favorite city, but I’m happy!
I love it there
The Creations content home in the ratway is the best in the game imo. Both riften houses are awesome because you can come and go without entering the city if you want to.
Riften is my number one too.
But unlike this list, I put the Markhart at the very end. I'm avoiding this city. The atmosphere is so dark and corrupt. The city is made of greed and death. And the fact that everyone lives underground with no windows doesn't improve the feeling too.
@@DalHruskomg, I thought I was the only one who hates this city
I love Riften! It's my first playthrough and ever since I saw Honeyside (and how cute it is) I've been eyeing it for my "hometown". Of course my children complain nonstop about how much they dislike it, but whatever at least they have plenty of friends from the orphanage to run around and play with.😵💫
I woke up in Markarth having never been there before during the quest "A Night to Remember." That was an amazing clusterfuck of quests.
That storyline is an awesome anti drinking campaign 😂
Stay in Riften for a day or two and you’ll realize it’s the most alive feeling city in all of Skyrim.
The central market layout is perfect for random npc dialogue.
The layered structure of the main level, sewers, and docks makes it feel much bigger and denser than it is.
Sure solitude is big but it feels empty. Same with whiterun.
Citizens in Riften are much more interesting and plentiful.
Also it's marketplace is the best place for power leveling alteration with detect life.
Morthal was actually the one city that had a lot of mystique for me in first playthrough.
An interesting coat of arms, and a name invoking danger or inhospitability. Hence, finding the little nook of huts in the marshes didn't feel underwhelming.
It made it feel like a city of rugged inhabitants building in the marsh's shifty land and staving off the unforgiving elements.
A lot of the aspects people say are bland about it, were actually the ones that gave it a lot of character for me.
It could really use a blacksmith though.
I always liked Whiterun and Solitude due to their geographic positions and the variety of stores and things to do man watching this makes me want to play Skyrim again
Time for a new playthrough
Falkreath is my favorite. Yeah there's nothing to do, but the environment is just soooooo. What I want out of a landscape haha. So it's my favorite
It’s up there in terms of beauty
Falkreath is one of my favourites. It did its quests early on and I find it safe and easy. Lots of happy memories. The countryside is pretty.
@@LibbyOxo absolute facts.
yeah same. It might not be majestic like Solitude or Markarth, but the vibe of it is unmatched. The pines around it, its history around death and warfare, it's historical connection as the first city in Skyrim between it and Cyrodiil. Sometimes you just want to chill in a slow, quiet town surrounded by beautiful trees and mountains, without too much going on. It had always been my favourite.
@@kell9577 could not have said it better myself
Dawnstar is essentially a mining outpost that happened to get a jarl and hold of it's own
One of my favorite Skyrim Memes about Morthal is "Yo man, what's the move? What's the move?? My brother in Christ, you live in Morthal, there is no move!"
In terms of safety from least to most safe it goes:
9: Markarth (it has cannibals, murderers, corrupt politicians, the worst and most dangerous prison in Skyrim, The forsworn attacks and slave Labour.)
8: Riften (probably the most crime in Skyrim but less violence then Markarth)
7: Windhelm (As much as I love it, there is a crazy murderer, lots of poverty and bad homelessness)
6: Morthal (Murders, fires, Vampires its not good for safety)
5: Dawnstar (Unpleasant and unhappy)
4: Winterhold (Although its in ruins it’s actually quite safe despite the occasional problems with the college.)
3: Whiterun (Whiterun has the best living quality of any city but it does have bandits and occasional fights and crimes)
2: Solitude (The best city for a high class life and lots of great things to do, little to no crime)
1: Falkreath (Although it has had the most deaths of any city due to the amount of wars fought there, it’s actually the safest city in Skyrim.)
Can you explain how Falkreath is safe?? To the south there's a vampire lair, to the west there's a couple of orc/bandit hideouts, to the north there's another vampire lair in the ruins (I think??), and to the east there's a bandit checkpoint and stronghold
@@krisgames6033 yeah but the town itself doesn’t seem to struggle with those problems. They might be there but it’s not affecting their lives. Like Whiterun, all the bandits dont seem to be affecting their everyday life.
@@krisgames6033 there is little to no murders in Falkreath, obviously there are problems around it but none of them are affecting their everyday life.
Don’t forget windhelm has demonic children and that dawnstar is under a literal ancient curse
To add to Dawnstar, there's a literal daedric entity siphoning the inhabitants' life force in their sleep.
I would disagree with Solitude being among the most safe, though.
Solitude in many ways feels like a ticking time bomb.
The court is a mess with many of its members wishing to supplant Elisif for the Jarl position. One of them being a vampire.
Sure, it's more of a power struggle amidst aristocrats, but in a coup, the regular people are also affected.
There's also Pothema below the hall of the dead, who is underway to be resurrected if not for the dragonborn interfering.
And lastly, it's where the imperials are based in. Windhelm and Solitude become fraught places to live in if one considers they're the ultimate goal of each side of the civil war.
Dawnstar might not be great in the base game but for roleplay capabilities it's amazing.
I love having my characters arrive in Dawnstar by boat or they shiprecked nearby, hearing about the nightmares, learning about them from the inhabitants earning some gold for weapons and armour by working in the two mines and then helping Erendur stop the nightmares, gaining him as a follower or not and then being on your way and heading to Whiterun
Thats what happened to me in my random alternate start lol
Very fun roleplaying if you use Alternate Start for sure
Falkreath is my hometown. Lots of hidden nooks and crannys to explore. Lots of alchemy ingredients. Hunting game is a perfect challenge because of the dense forest. Lots of hunter camps to chill at and trade with. Lots of fishing spots. Weather is cozy or dreary, love both. Best hearth fire house location imo. Best vibes. Each kind of trader. The perfect spot to hunt and fish and live a simple life. I agree tho, jarl siddgeir is a total chump
Nooks and crannys, such fancy words to use instead of alcoves (of the koningin astridpark)
Watching this makes me think about how long it's been since I last played Skyrim lol
New playthrough time!
Try skyrim vr
I totally understand that, for me i think it three days ago 😂
Even if i had a fully built Lakeview Manor, whiterun still feels like home to me, i know everyone there and the placement of breezehome makes it feel so cozy to me.
For some reason I get more dragons at Morthal than any other city. It's the only city location where I've gotten two dragons at once.
That's Falkreath for me
Dawnstar.
Other than being incorrect about which city is the best (it's Solitude obvs) this video was paced well, held my attention and the intro was the perfect length that it needed to be. Great work. See you at 10k.
Thanks for checking it out & leaving some feedback!
The icy road above Windhelm to dawn star and the one road that connects the riften plateau to the pales lowgrounds are the spots that truly give me chills to think about. Pure majesty captured in this world. It’s insane how I can just fly around these worlds in my mind. Truly amazing and a privilege.
I have to say my favorite city & area on the map, is Whiterun. It makes me think of Rohan(A little bit of Gondor because of the giant tree) and I love it. Some days I just start up Skyrim just to walk around the city and the beautiful fields. Even the music is beautiful. My main Player home is in Whiterun. Even my characters wife, Lydia, stays there lol 😂. And a huge bonus for me is that there’s always a dragon flying around the fields. I never get tired of a decent dragon fight.
Okay this might sound crazy to you but winterhold is my second favorite if not my favorite because I love the wintery vibe I get from it and I love how remote and desolate it is and it’s just so cool to walk through while stoned and shit
To each their own! Glad you enjoy it
me too! first stop on every playthrough is the college
If Raven Rock was counted it would clear half the list
TRUE
How? That place is a nightmare.
Love seeing these smaller channels having great editing and overall quality in videos. It's really nice to see nowadays
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Right! It's so inspiring!
6:56 you can stop that murder and a whole set of dialogues appear if you manage to save that lady
Thats funny i never knew lol i’ve never once even tried to save that lady
First few runs I never bothered to save her, thinking its the scripted intro for Markath. One day I wondered if I could break the intro scene by suplexing the guy first, and I was shocked I could without the guards ganking me for murder!
I’m a Markarth for life guy, the city is extremely beautiful, I do love the view and I love mountains.
One thing I think it should be great was a quest to rebuild Winterhold
Honestly your like and sub pitch sold me. Honest but funny and not a beg. Sold
Glad you thought so!
Whiterun genuinely was the best city looking back on it. Bethesda put their best foot forward with the city most players will likely see first. Such a shame most of the others don't live up to its standard. Solitude is one of the few cities in the game that lived up to Whiterun imo
Yeah, I love Whiterun. Between having a nice amount of vendors for its size and an aesthetic that really feels Nordic, I just find it to be plain awesome.
Rifted has been top of my list since I first visited in my very first play through so many years ago. Great video!
Solitude, Markarth, Riften and Windhelm. I still remember exploring these cities on my first playthrough. The awe and wonder really took me back to being a child watching Lord of the Rings for the first time and how grand and epic the locations felt (obviously on a smaller scale in Skyrim). Whiterun and Winterhold are impressive as well but for different reasons. Whiterun is the definition of comfort.
I might be crazy but I like the black briars,they may be corrupt but I think the rift is more safe and prosperous under the empire /black briars
Whiterun and Riften felt like a home, Markarth and Solitude are pretty nice too, Morthal, Dawnstar and Falkreath are also quite nice, but I don't like Windhelm and Winterhold. Oh, and Riverwood is the best of course! While Ivarstead is okay, Rorikstead the worst, Shor's Stone lame and Helgen pretty cool, but without mods sadly dead
5:26
"Aaaaaaaaand there goes the ad-revenue..."
- UA-cam, probably
Nice video, my man.
For the emperor!
That honesty was refreshing and why I'm subscribing. Go get them shillbucks 😂😂😂
Perfect ranking 👏
Glad you liked it!
Improvement: Winterhold really should’ve had more to it considering it’s literally like 1 or 10 locations in the northeast.
Favorite: Falkreath. That area of the map is just like perfect storybook fantasy it’s why they put the werewolf quest there. Also Dawnstar, just because it feels very gothic with all the quests around it. That’s also what puts it above Morthal for me.
Favorite Architecture wise: Solitude or Windhelm. Both those cities have that medieval castle look. If windhelm wasn’t covered in snow I’d definitely put solitude above it but the snow adds a lot to the aesthetic. When I think of what a city in Skyrim should look like it’s Windhelm.
Maybe in 50 years when we’re all old we’ll get a remake of Skyrim and it’ll expand on Winterhold. That’d be tough.
5:28 “While I celebrated racism in my last video, the treatment of the Dunmer in Windhelm put a sour taste in my mouth mostly because it just feels wrong for the dark elves to not be imposing the racial prejudice against others”
Tbf to Winterhold, you can become the Arch Mage and gain the room at the College....still an appropriate place on the list nonethless...
Good point, maybe they felt owning a home would be redundant. Still a shit city
@@RogueRanks 💯💯💯💯🤣🤣🤣🤣
Not me, my game bugged and I can’t complete the Winterhold Questline 🥲
I do agree that Winterhold can be visually underwhelming, but the narrative behind these ruins leaves a lot to the imagination, especially when considering that it was once the capital city of Skyrim. I like the idea that its destruction was caused by a chain reaction originating from the eruption of Red Mountain, similar to how the Minoan civilization (in real life) was destroyed by a chain reaction originating from the eruption of the volcano in Santorini.
Let's say that the first 5 from the list are cities, and the second 5 are villages. That whole Skyrim world is fantastic. What I love most is the freedom and breadth that this game gives you. Every other game has its own fixed path, you have to go through that path. In Skyrim you can say, screw the main quest, I'm going where I want now. I hope for a sequel to this game soon.
Thats definitely the beauty of Skyrim
This is such an awesome concept please when you or if you feel like it do the same for the fallout games specifically 3/NV and 4 would love to see your take on the settlements!
I'm not quite as big a Fallout fan but thats a great idea!
Came for the tier list, stayed for the dad jokes. Love it!
8:56 in my game there is a bug that makes that building spawn explosions.
Windhelm at night is on another level in my heart. So cold yet so warm!
Liked and subscribed!
I personally always felt like dawnstar was tragically let down by bethesda. It had so much potential to be cool, especially with the second dark brotherhood sanctuary being in the area. It could have had a bustling shipping yard, or had significance to literally any major quest- instead they made a village with a misleading name. I mourn what dawnstar could have been
The talking dog, Barbas, is a daedric quest starting at level 9 either giving you a mask or axe
In the end I always buy Breeezehome in Whiterun and call it a day. It's centrally located. There is a forge a few houses away on one side and an alchemy bench a few houses away on the other, so no need to turn your home into a smithy or a lab. I don't really enchant, but if I did it would be a not too long jaunt to the castle to do that. I always play the wandering adventure so I mostly live in taverns and on horseback. The house is just there to hold smithing and alchemy supplies that would overload my horse.
I love Morthal. It is very inconvenient on numerous levels. But I really agree with your comments about it being cozy.
One of my favourite ways to start a playthrough is as the “grey mage of Morthal” - a hedge wizard who dwells in the marsh (now using survival and setting up a campsite with visits to the inn for a hot meal now and then). I spend my days collecting alchemical ingredients and occasionally visiting the alchemist and brewing/selling potions. I use the profits to buy soul gems from Falion and strengthen my enchanting abilities by capturing souls from the creatures of the marsh.
I normally make him transition into becoming a peddler of his wares who begins going to solitude and other towns/cities to sell his potions and enchantments (thus beginning his real journey and starting the story). I normally make him morally neutral or well meaning…
… but one darker iteration of this character was particularity sinister. I named him Leech (a double meaning as he is both a specialist in alchemy and a vampire). I made potions with an HP draining secondary effect. He would drink the poisoned potions to make himself loose health, and would then use restoration magic to knit himself back together again. Functionally it let me level two skills at once - but role play wise I think it really highlighted how dark his arts had become.
Great video but my favourite city is the Stormcloak stronghold of Windhelm. I just love everything about it!
My ranking + Smaller Settlements:
16. Kynesgrove
15. Ivarstead
14. Shor's Stone
13. Karthwasten
12. Winterhold
11. Rorikstead
10. Riverwood
9. Dawnstar
8. Morthal
7. Dragon's Bridge
6. Falkreath
5. Windhelm
4. Riften
3. Whiterun
2. Markarth
1. Solitude
Hey good video!
Whiterun had always been my favourite I always ended up living there
I just became the Thane of Riften. The poverty and corruption can still be reduced , given the additional and more difficult quests that the Jarl Laila Law-Giver requires are more difficult than most other quests to become Thane, it makes Riften worth it. Sadly Bethesda could’ve added more dialogue to the citizens praising the decreased poverty and corruption.
Love the channel, nice vid
I agree with Riften as #1. At first I thought Solitude, but really I’m just remembering the Dark Brotherhood quest line which is not fair, and besides, the thieves guild quest line is better anyway. #1 Riften, #2 Solitude #3 Markarth.
I recommend the "Better cities: Solitude" mod which adds more buildings. I have also added mods to increase the number of NPCs and children just walking around and now Solitude feels like a busy, crowded, bustling capital city. I also use the "Simple Proudspire Improvements" mod as this is where my character lives.
Rank every Skyrim Player Home!
I remember visiting Morthal for the fist time I was like ooh what will this city look like I travel over there and as soon as I saw it I just left straight away didn't even explore it now days it is kinda nice to walk around it
Lmao
@@RogueRanks I was so mad at the size of it
I love Whiterun the most, as you say it feels like home, but for me I think it's cause I played many hours on a save with the Elysium Estate mod which gives you a big mansion just down the road from there, so I would stop off in Whiterun to shop for stuff and the guards always passed by. That entire hold is just such a perfect place.
Another video thatd be cool is which holds have the best picturesque views and you can show us your favorite ones.
Favorite followers ranked, favorite races, thoughts on each of the nine devines and whether or not you resonate with them, favorite daedric princes, thoughts on the skyrim civil war and which side you believe is right, favorite hold homes, thieves guild stories, maybe oblivion videos?
The Cities of The North (COTN) mod, dialogue expanded mod, and several quest extension mods really bring Mortal, Dawnstar, Falkreath and even Winterhold up for me.
Morthol would be cool if they had more shops. I keep having to go to solitude to do my errands 😢
Edit: I mostly play without fast travel. Carriages are my exception.
Bethesda have always been masters at making crazy small cities feel big and bustling. Even something like Winterhold that literally has like four buildings has unique little quests and a unique feel to it from the Jarl to the inn, to the general store, to the College. It just feels like it's got a right to exist even though it's absolutely tiny. Hard to explain. I think Oblivion while similar in the small size did cities way better though and all the cities in that game feel 100% distinct from each other with Skiingrad being a huge standout as far as feeling like an actual city. Still, Skyrim still has some gems that's for sure.
Least favorite is Morthal. No general store or blacksmith? Come on I can't sell my loot in a city like what! At least Solitude is close by for a no fast travel adventurer role-play playthrough.
Favorite is Windhelm. Vendors aplenty for selling loot and I think Candlehearth Hall is my favorite Inn with Hjerim being my favorite city house. Being a Stormcloak Nord character makes this city feel perfect for the feel.
Great comment! Windhelm is amazing if you go full “canon” Nord Dragonborn playthrough
@@RogueRanksThanks for replying! Subscribed
Best cities were in Morrowind imo, every one felt unique.
Solitude is a great city, i wish all cities were atleast half of it’s size.
Yaaaaay someone else who loves Riften. I'm always fighting with my sister about this but I looooove the number of shops located here and the Rift is the most beautiful area of the game. And with the thieves guild quests you can increase the number of shops and I looove getting filthy rich.
I’m happy someone else ranks Riften at the top. Its my favourite
The best!
7:31 THAT'S GOIN' INTO THE BOOK! (Context: Dwarfs in Warhammer when they get wronged they write the act in an important book and always remember it,also short is like their n word)
I feel like I know you like somebody I used to know
Just discovered your channel! This was a good take on the major settlements.
Have you ranked your favorite side quests? I've replayed just to experience "the man who cried wolf" all over again.
Not yet, thats a good idea though!
Seeing my boy ULFRIC laid out hurt, but still you get a new Sub
I too get lost in Markarth…
My lord, I've found a new longbrow!
Good luck with your channel!
Thanks! I just looked up his videos and they are almost exactly the same format💀
Solitude is my favorite city just from its beauty. My current save, I'm a Khajit with kleptomania living in Solitude with two adopted Nord children.
Part of the Thieves Guild too and she travels there on the weekend to sell her stolen goods. She's rich af now and living it up and I love that for her.
I love riften because its smaller, NPC’s interact more, you can hear more conversations from most areas. Occasionally the guards kill a thief. Its a town that ACTUALLY FEELS ALIVE
Good vid man!
A lot of the reason why winterhold looks the way it does it’s because it’s destroyed before the events of Skyrim take place. There was a feud between the residents and the mages at the college of winterhold. So idk if it’s fair to rank it last
Despite everything, I love Winterhold. Just started my first playthrough in years, with some mods for the first time, I started from Windhelm and made my road there. I just really love how far away from everything it is, and how the college is the only place that is basically alive there (even if the college is still pretty much empty, sadly)
whenever i am doing a playtrue where i do a lot of alchemy i always enjoy mortal and specialy the area around it specialy if i have a game where i do EARLY game alchemy. there is several nice resources around it and the herbalist shop right in the city to, and specialy the deathbell flowers that there is a bunch of even in the city itself is a realy nice combo with salt for the slow potion that sells for a decent amount of money early game and once you alchemy and speech is getting up there for even a nicer profit in the 500 range and once finished easly in the 1k range pr potion without using the enchant alchemy bug giving you a million alchemy improvement etc.
I've always felt there should've been a quest after you made Thane rebuild Winterhold. Could've used the same system as Heartfire.
That would've been great, seems like tons of Winterhold content was cut
1. Solitude, love the "high middle ages" architecture, really a Charlemagne, Aachen, vibe. It's a place of learning too with the Bards College, Proudspire Manor is fantastic, I like chilling in the patio. You have the master speechcraft trainer who is an historian, Giraud Gemane, love him since I'm an historian too! Very excited to see the city back in ESO.
2. Riften: you said everything, I may add that I love the surroundings too, the Black-Briar lodge just outside, feels very autumn-like. Maven is also one of my favorite characters, she's badass, cunning, intimidating, she's probably one of the most influencial people in Skyrim, as we also see her in the Thalmor Embassy. Disappointed by its appearance in ESO, in the vanilla game, just looks like other towns in the nordic areas.
3. Markarth: same as you, blood and silver, my friend, blood and silver. I was amazed to discover it back in ESO.
We just had Skingrad back with the new ESO chapter, and it's by far my favorite city on Tamriel!
When starting a new character, I always travel to Riften very early on, often before speaking to Jarl Balgruuf for the first time.
Morthal not being last is crazy work
6:55 no, my introduction to markarth isn't murder. I was drunk when I got there
Holy crap before i watched your video i was busy typing out my rankings. Ours are almost identical.
I agree about Winterhold, Dawnstar, Morthal and Falkreath.
While I love the forsworn quest in Markarth (nostalgia…) I haaate the vibe and layout. Never do not get lost in that place.
Where is the small city of Ivarstead at?
I think I'll do smaller settlements in another one
Skyrim is one of those games I WISH Bethesda had taken another two years to fully finish as there are rather obvious places, cities, and quests that feel... unfinished, rushed or empty.
Due to the presence of the College, Companions, and Thieves Guild (and later the Dawnguard DLC), the eastern portions of Skyrim (and cities--Whiterun and Riften especially) feel a little more polished, while Winterhold, Falkreath, Dawnstar, Morthal, Windhelm, and even Solitude feel varying levels of empty; the same for the Reach, the Pale, etc.
That's not even counting the cut content and the cities that SHOULD exist in Skyrim, but don't, e.g. Karthwasten being little more than two mines and two houses vs. the city it was in early TES games.
Personally, I think one of the most beautiful (and underdeveloped) places / villages in all of Skyrim is Rorikstead.
yeahhhh morthal always gets last place for me tied with dawnstar. winter hold i honestly forget exists unless i am actively going to do the mages guild
For me:
-Top 1 Riften, I am a thief, love the quests, characters, lore, the canals etc etc
-Top 2 Markarth , love the mysterious vibes and the location, the reach is beautiful and intriguing.
-Top 3 Ravens rock, I love the adversity vibes, people surviving in such a tough and beautiful environment.
Gotta love the constant dragon attacks that kill all 3 residents
If we being realistic in functions and safety of the city it should be like this:
1. Markath pros: 1 long winding and hiking way to the main gate, easy to set defenses on that long way to the gate, stones structure is good against dragon fire, overall realistically it's easy to defend city, cons: sadly the lore makes markarth twice get it's defenses penetrated, first by forsworn and then ulfric
2. Windhelm pros: medium way to main gate, dock's gate is narrow and easy to defend, cons: night attack from snow veil sanctum is game over for windhelm (there is a path from snow veil sanctum to the north side of palace of the kings), also east side wall is totally unguarded there is sabrecat and horker there, so both north and east side is vulnerable for attack if enemy is coming from snow veil sanctum
3.solitude pros: long hiking way to main gate, castle dour is well reinforced, cons: second entrance which leads to under the city (if enemy doing a sneak attack from northeast solitude is done for), under the blue palace if anyone blow that rock half of solitude is crumbling
4. Whiterun pros: long winding road to main gate, a little drawbridge (sadly never used), if the wall is more reinforced it will be a good defense for frontal attack, if whiterun controls fort greymoor, valtheim towers and silent moons camp and then reinforce north watch tower and make riverwood a fort then whiterun is gonna be hard to attack, cons: easy for enemies to set siege engine, north watchtower is basically useless (first time going there, there is a bandit attack) and also the western watch tower is useless, easy to surround the city, there is bandits camp under west side of dragonsreach, julius caesar can do the battle of alessia tactics to conquer whiterun
5. Riften pros: southwest side is easy to defend especially if riften controls treva's watch, faldar's tooth and darklight tower, north side also decent defense if fort greenwall and shor's watchtower is reinforced, haelga is there to teach dibellan arts *wink* *wink*, also vex is in riften, cons: barely any defense on southeast (if they make forelhost a watch tower or a fort maybe it's defensible) anyone from morrowind could take riften by surprise (also there is a hint that there is supposed to be a southeast gate which is close to mistveil keep), if riften not have good relationship with largashbur then southwest gate will be in danger (the closest gate to mistveil keep), if you go around the outer walls of riften it was a missed opportunity to make the wall all the way to the hills south of mistveil keep, why they didn't extend the walls to have a nature walls such as the hills is a mystery
6. Dawnstar pros: near the sea, two mines for shelter against dragons, if dawnstar controls fort dunstad, fort fellhammer, driftshade refuge, and snowpoint beacon also make windward ruins, yngvild and nightcaller temple into a fort or watch tower, dawnstar is pretty defensible, cons: no walls to protect the city, the weather (it could have the same fate as winterhold)
7.falkreath pros: if they build a gate near moss mother cavern and control fort sungard and cracked tusk keep then the northwest is good to defend, if falkreath controls peak's shade tower, rebuild helgen and build a gate near pinewatch then southeast side will be pretty secured, lakeview manor could be the watch tower for northeast side, expand the city to north shriekwind bastion, easy to setup ambush with all the trees, cons: highrock could attack falkreath in an instant from southwest
8. Morthal pros: nothing, if they move morthal to dead men's respite or labyrinthian it would be pretty good (i prefer dead men's respite because it's near water and the weather, labyrinthian is way easy to defend though), cons: near 2 dragons (elderblood peak and skyborn altar), marsh lands, badly placed capital city when there are more nicer place south of that place
9. Winterhold pros: meet j'zargo, killing ancano, the jail is unique, cons: why would you live there? It's the coldest part of skyrim, no walls, college is the main attraction, waste of time to conquer (there's nothing to gain there), fort kastav is the main defense and winterhold didn't control that
personally i like solitude the most for a few different reasons mainly just bc of the house and the sometimes Aurora Borealis that can happen and there's other children so mine can play with them when im not around which is honestly most of the time & there's always the uncut mods to add stuff to the different holdd
Lmao fantastic video 🎉
Thank you sir 😀
I'd call them then small city-states like the Sumerians more then an actual cities. Morthal, Dawnstar, and Falkreath are even less, they are just Villages. Markarth, Solitide, and maybe Windhelm are the only ones that could be called very small cities on the verge of being large towns