Companions: just brawled a man in town and literally they told you to retrieve a legendary weapon fragment. Dark brotherhood: confident enough to kidnap you, not knowing what you can or will do. College of winterhold: makes you archmage even if the only spell you ever cast is 1 lesser ward while drinking a bunch of magicka potions. Thieves guild: actually got good storyline and made you guildmaster and 1 of the nightingales. Dawnguard: the only faction that didn't make you a leader, not even a title, just a regular member, even tho you're the one going outside doing all the fieldwork while they defend a fort that only get attacked once.
College of Winterhold: makes you archmage even if you have never cast a single spell in your life Thieves Guild: hires a literal thug that belongs in a mafia Dawnguard: recruits the secondary protagonist of some chick's story
Bards College : Recruits someone who never sings a song or plays an instrument just because they wanted some poem found and were too scared to do it themselves Volkihar Clan : Yeah, you know from the start you're going to end up as a chief of that one too because doing anything to the Sun is the stupidest idea you ever heard Companions : You barely arrived and not only you already know the big secret, they give you a place in their elite circle just like that Dawnguard : Apparently can't be asked to clean spider webs Vigilant or Stendarr : Their throats are calling for your sword at every encounter
@@hypermaeonyx4969 the dawngaurd gives you the good ol Oblivion treatment. You may be the protagonist, but the hero do the story is Martin. You're just the guy who helps him on his journey.
Thieves Guild is also my favorite, but maybe it being the first one I played through has something to do with it. I'm indifferent about the Companions, I legit don't remember a thing from their questline. And College of WInterhold might have been the worst one for me, but by the time I played it the repeated formula of all the quest lines just wore off for me
I’d say most of the factions feel incomplete or lazy writing, I think dawnguard is the best out of all. I’m not saying that those factions are bad, just that they could’ve been a lot better.
I think it had to do with crammed writing schedule for a big part of it. Trying to cram too much and they really wanted their 11/11/11 release date. Personally on the super special date: who the hell cares?!
I think the whole game feels lazy and incomplete in comparison to oblivion. The factions in oblivion and the quests in general were just so much more interesting.
@@rokker2169 agreed. My favourite overall game in the series. Although there were things better about Morrowind, but I just edge oblivion over morrowind as my favourite game. Skyrim doesn’t even come close in my opinion
I'd argue the thieves guild and dark brotherhood are pretty conclusive in the base game - out of the two the thieves guild easily has the best story and actually holds up.
Arnbjorn is a pretty cool member of the Dark Brotherhood. He’s a former member of the Companions, and was talented and trusted enough to make it into the inner circle. But due to his extreme killing methods, he was asked to step down and leave the Companions.
Which I wish I knew more about how he even got that far, and how his decent into the followings of Sithis was indulged. I want to know how he even got with Astrid in the first place honestly. Gabrielle is someone I'm curious about, she's so nice and she definitely serves Sithis and the Night Mother, I wonder how long she's been apart of the Brotherhood considering that Elves live a much longer like than humans do, and I wonder how old she is since Olava said she's known her a long time. My guess is that Olava is one of the characters in the game who's used magic to prolong her life the same way that Master Neloth, Savos, and Urag have. I wish there was more to the Brotherhood after the questline
For anyone who likes the Companions a lot, I highly recommend a mod called Enhanced Skyrim Factions - Companions Guild. It adds a lot more depth to the questline, gives you certain requirements to join, more radiant quests between the major quests of the line so you're not becoming Harbinger the same day you joined (tweak this in the settings so it's not too padded), and most importantly, it lets you spar with the other members and keeps track of your record. They're no pushovers in sparring either; Skjor especially is a BEAST.
My Companion quest line is broken. Damn Proving Honor quest messed it all up. The quest is complete, I saw the ceremony and got the free skyforge weapon. But I can’t take on any new quests because even though it is in complete section, there is the part of returning to Jorraskvr that is not and therefore the game thinks I’m still on that quest. Can’t take on any new ones. Ps4 version so no console options. This pisses me off. It’s one of the main factions in the game. It’s not like it’s a side quest. I can’t believe they never fixed this. So much is lost and unavailable to me now. Like all the great followers. I wanted Aela the Huntress.
The Companions are the most disappointing to me because they feel like they should be these honorable warriors but they're just Werewolves and they let you join the inner circle like immediately and areola is annoying Farkas is cool but that's about it
My thing is that these are honorable warriors who should be striving to protect the people. Instead, I'm being sent to beat up some random citizen over a dispute. It feels thuggish. Lemme be a hero, dammit! I also love the theory that the Silver Hand are a Nord purist faction that split off from the companions when the circle adopted the beast blood. Really wish that had been included.
There’s a radiant quest where you go beat the crap out of Mjoll the Lioness, so you were 100% hired by Maven Blackbriar. Honorable my entire left butt cheek.
I just found out you can kill Astrid in the shake when she kidnaps you, and trigger a quest to kill all brotherhood members instead of join. I think thats super interesting, and kind of an easter egg considering Ive owned the game 3 times, across 2 consoles, over the last 10 years, and never discovered it on my own
I was so offended that they even dared to think about kidnapping me that I killed her almost immediately. I then proceeded to go to their hideout, transform into a wolf, rip out all their hearts and eat them, then howl at the moon.
Honestly, the Dawnguard are the best for me personally, BAR NONE. Not just cause of their concept and story significance in their respective DLC mind you, but because they actually feel like an organic part of the world 1.While, Gunmar and Calene are mandatory, Florentius is completely optional and he can be completely exempt from the main story of the DLC if you choose not to do his side quest 2. If you become a vampire they'll actually make remarks on it and , although they don't kill you , they tell you to get out due to sympathy 3. You'll actually see Dawnguard recruits walking around, refilling caches and even , on occasion, fighting vampires randomly out in the world 4. And this one is BY FAR the most important, YOU'RE NOT THE CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE, FINALLY!!!! Hell, The Dragonborn isn't even really the main character in the story, that title goes to Serana. The whole DLC basically revolves around her , her family drama and how it all connects to a millennias long grudge against Auriel/Akatosh Your player character is basically just the super loyal best friend/simp for the vast majority of the story And you're not just sort of given leadership of the Dawnguard either. Isran stays leader from start to finish, he just learns to genuenly trust you once the story is over. And, sure, while you can become the lord of Volkihar Keep if you side with the vampires, it feels somewhat earned as the vampires have a "might makes right" mentality either way what with them constantly backstabbing each other
that and the Vampires kind of suck compared oh wow your a weaker version of the vampires you see running around in daylight. You the dragonborn that killed Alduin and your weaker then the other vampires of that court. Compared to the Dawngaurd where you get some awsome undead killing spells and the best damn crossbow in the game.
@@tazman2253 that's just how it works unfortunately with weapons and armor being enchantable. the way they could have fixed this is by giving the vampire lord more wearable armor pieces like what harkon wears, and more. make these armor pieces enchantable with vampire lord specifically related enchantments. vampire lord is overpowered as hell in terms of design concept. but unfortunately the actual damage and health numbers can't keep up with a non transformed player Characters Stats.
@@trevorveillette8415 and hence why there is no point in playing one unless you want to weaken yourself, maybe if they gave the vampire some special spells, or you know allowed the vampire lord to walk in the daylight like seranna does without being taken down by it (yes I know shes essential but still she should be always in that weakened crawl state.) They just nerfed the vampire lord completely your even more powerful as a werewolf then as a vampire
I wish the companions were werebears rather than werewolves. They are from Skyrim and books throughout the elder scrolls talk about the men of Skyrim turning into bears. That would have felt more uniquely Skyrim. Though I do like werewolves. I think maybe they should have made it that only nords would turn into bears rather than wolves. So if you built a nord character it would surprise you. Haha! Or just if you maxed out the size of the character in character creator. That could be funny. Making a Beorn build would be fun. Tall dude with a leveled up enchanted woodsman’s axe that doesn’t eat meat and turns into a bear. The hearth fire homestead is a lot like Beorn’s home in the hobbit.
Personally I wish they just added in a Werebear faction or at least an option to become one (as this would add a lot to the Dawnguard and especially to the Dragonborn DLCs respectively). Also I like the whole dynamic of werewolf vs werebear better then werewolf vs vampire as the later is so cliche. Anyhow just imagine what the skill tree for a Werebear would be like. I'm betting a lot of the focus would be in raw power, strength, large health and stamina pools, and probably not too much focus on speed, or howling like with Werewolves. Basically I'm thinking Werebears would naturally be more of a Tank build then anything else. Not that Werewolves can't be Tanks too with the right perks and such.
That would actually be cool, as being a werebear would make them feel more connected to their ancestry despite still being hunters of Hircine, like if Kodlak is the only WereBear alongside Farkas because they are the most experienced or wise while the rest are werewolves
@@ItsChevnotJeff exactly! It would be fantastic! I’ve also thought that a vampire spell that gives your weapons absorb health points equal to 50% of your equipped weapon’s damage would make vampire builds more interesting. Instead of having to enchant your weapons, any cool weapon could be given a vampiric drain effect for a short time. This way a vampire could be a warrior or stealth archer and wouldn’t need to rely heavily on a magic build.
i think the thieves guild is the best main game faction. i like how you actually have to earn becoming the guildmaster. becoming the archmage/harbinger is very forced.
@@Chicken-Rice Fr. When I first saw my character with that shit on, I knew I loved the guild. Even though I ended up doing semi boring tasks like forging some numbers in solitude or stealing gold from some guy’s house (and the golden glow estate was more frustrating than difficult), the twist with Karliah was so good. Getting one shot right before you think you are about to face her only to then learn the truth (Mercer was kinda easy). It’s the members that really made me care and like it. Plus there’s quite a few members you can talk to and level up skills
I always liked the Thieve's Guild because it kind of introduces you to a different way of play than just slaughtering Draugrs in dusty old ruins. And it is also definitely the most "actual RPG" faction of Skyrim's factions. In order to do their side missions, you need to actually be able to steal, sneak, and pickpocket instead of just being able to bash everything with an axe. And there is an actual sense of progression, you start out as just a talented prospect (unlike a certain College that starts out with you getting an email from an elusive and ancient magical organization even though you used lesser ward once). The only issue with it is that there is no option to kill them off, which I think is a necessary inclusion for a Thieve's Guild.
I loathe the Bard's college. I'm offended just by the fact that Bethesda had the Gull to call that charade a faction. You get 0 skills, 0 perks, 0 followers. You can't play instruments and generally it's just a waste of time. Definitely the worst faction (it can barely called that) in my opinion
The Thieves guild is probably my favorite. I just love how you help build the whole guild back up. It feels like you being a part of the faction really had an impact. I love the little ceremony where they name you Guild Master and the master thief armor set.
Thieves guild has a lot of lore and story that is not told directly with npcs, but if you go around, read notes, books, and look at every corner or their base, you will find stuff like a love story of several people and the death threats to another, the possibility of genital mutilation, the long lost hair to the noble family, the super convict, the young girl that lost her whole family then got adopted just to get raped some time later and many more
Agreed. Boring headquarters with boring "welps" trying hard to talk badass. Disappearing items, buggy lycanthropy cure quest, trash radiant quests, members turning hostile because you accidentally hit them in beast form, boring main quest with no details about the Silver Hand, "No Honour Just Gold" policy is trash, and the list goes on...
@@antihero9443 Their radiant quests are one of the best in the game imo. They make me feel like a monster hunter/bounty hunter. I can understand why some people dislike it tho….
I like the Companions and I always join them but aside from that first change into Werewolf when you get inducted into the Circle...I never used it. Kick ass fighters and Aela is hot but I want to be a hero and dragon killer, not some creature that can accidentally go berserk and kill a bunch of innocents.
The Companions suck in my opinion. If I join a viking warrior faction, I don't expect to be forced to be a werewolf over half the questline. Thieves Guild is much better in my opinion.
lore wise the dark brotherhood and the imperial factions together become even more interesting seeing as traditionally throughout tamriels history the emperor has been dragonborn also tullius is criminally slept on man is a lethally effective military tactician
His voice actor (Michael Hogan) always stands out to me too for some reason. He also plays Doc Mitchell in Fallout NV and Captain/Commander Bailey from Mass Effect. Always liked his characters
Honestly the stormcloack faction is soooooooo much better. Sure ulfric is a huge idiotic racist guy. But like the imperials were going to kill you. The stormcloaks wanted to save you. It's a better faction questline as well
@@nintendoman8915 However, they won’t be able to defeat the Thalmor on their own. Also the Empire wanted you dead because they didn’t want to take any chances and risk Ulfric somehow escaping. Also Tullius has you pardoned you pretty much right after finding out you were innocent.
@@nintendoman8915 People only call Nords racist because they are european coded. Like all the Imperial captains in the legion dont call all nords barbarians and the high elves aren't actual fucking nazis.
Here are my factions list based on thier power that player can join: - Imperial Legion, - Stormcloaks, - Thieves guild (those guys are the best flesh out faction in the entire game), - College of Winterhold (they have the monopoly of excavation ancient ruins, enchanting, every court wizard is tied up to them, they are really underrated), - Dawnguard, - Volkihar Vampires (Solitude court wizard is tied up to them), - Dark Brotherhood, - The Companions - House Telvanni, - Daedric worshipers (they are strong, but too divided by the worship of the different daedric lord), - Thirsk Mead Hall Rieklings (those guys will come and help you in a need, even when you are fighting the bosses in Skyrim) - The Greybeards, - Thirsk Mead Hall Nords - The Blades (they are really weak at the beginning, but you can post them with some immortal followers), - Forsworn (only one camp is friendly towards you). * There are some new factions that came out with the latest Skyrim edition, but they really lack the voice acting so I will exclude them from the list. PS. Your list is really interesting, and my favorite factions would be Dawnguard, and House Telvanni (master Neloth is really well written character, and his quest rewards are fantastic).
Not related. But I wish Elder Scrolls would allow players to transfer their character builds to the next Elder scrolls game. I know it sounds impossible and, in some cases, stupid.
@@badger3184 Transferring character with 100% magic absorption to the next game is really bad idea. However there are some standard classes that you can rebuild for the next game, and the previous ones too.
Sorry but Blades and Brotherhood are bottom because they have almost no members and no administration. Greybeards because they can destroy the entire Skyrim, let alone have an evil Alduin general who had the balls to betray him.
@@wanderingbufoon In case of Dark Brotherhood have strong connection with Thieves guild (third strongest faction in this game), they have killed the Empearor of Tamriel (if you have completed the main quest for them), and infinite number of Dark Brotherhood Initiates. When it comes to administration Nazir handles all things for this faction, light armor training on master level, and some easy contracts. The Blades as you can see are on the bottom of my list, but when it comes to administration Delphine runs the show, and it's hard to say what kind of connections she has outside of Skyrim. Now in case of The Greybeards they are strong, and unfortunately pacifists. This is why I have put them lower on the list. Now in game they are immortal, but they is ane interesting mention how to kill Voice master in Skorm Snow-Strider's journal.
I like playing as a mage, so for me the greatest disappointment was the Mage's College. Like other factions, there was so much potential missed. And an aside to Bethesda, you don't have to make the player the leader, it worked well for Dawnguard. Higher rank, yes, and maybe a long progression based on your skilltree to leader. Becoming the leader of factions was pretty cool in Oblivion, but a bit passé in Skyrim. I got bored with the Companions. Dark Brotherhood didn't interest me, and Cicero annoyed the crap out of me. Thieves guild was interesting for the quest (loved that part), but I wasn't that enamoured with stealing stuff or becoming the leader. Bards college just reeked of Missed Opportunity, it could have been sooo good, but only felt like a placeholder.
I would love if instead of becoming the faction leader, you could become the head professor of one of the magic schools and your headquarters could reflect that.
@@lucasfialho1374 Agreed, your highest magic skill should be the teacher that becomes Master Wizard or Arch-Mage and you take their old role. Then once you hit at least 75 in all schools you become Master Wizard. Then Tolfdir steps down as Arch-Mage due to age and gives it to you once you hit 100 in all Magic skills. THAT would be satisfying.
@@remixgod4496 the college doesn't even make you archmage. It's the psijic monks that say: "goodbye......ARCHMAGE" And everyone in the college is like"wtf, did I hear right" Feels so weird xD
Yeah, imagine when you side with the silver hand you can also choose to ally them with the vigilants of stendarr, and by the end they replace the Companions as Whiterun's new Fighter Guild, you can choose to end things peacefully too and when you get aproached by the Dawnguard they refer to you as the leader of the Silver Hand
I get why you put the Companions first. They're an awesome faction and a great representation of Skyrim's lore and core values. Sadly I felt they could've been a little bit more integrated in the game. They feel very disconnected from all the other events in the game (not unlike the college of Winterhold) and they could've been so much more. You probably also know that there was a great deal cut from their questline as well, and fudgemuppet made an interesting theory video on who the silver hand might actually have been. Although cut content isn't necessarily a companions problem, it's a Skyrim problem in general, haha. Maybe the extended cut will see to that.
Based on a concensus of how much content there is for the thieves guild, and the most played class i can think of- I fully believe the Dragon born was a Stealth archer that became the leader of the thieves guild.
I think the Dragonborn was definitely an archer, because realistically that would be the perfect way to wrap up his skill set. It would go like: 1: Control the long distance with arrows 2: If his enemies manage to close the gap, use shouts to either hurt them, send them flying back, or reposition with slow time/whirlwind sprint. Technically, the Dragonborn could win hundreds of battles without getting a scratch by doing this.
My first play through in Skyrim I turned around and killed Astrid since I wasn't letting anyone boss me around. I was shocked that the game actually let me kill her. It's one of the few real choices in the game and I bet most people don't even know it's a choice until they learn that they are allowed to kill her in that dirty shack later on.
In Oblivion, most factions require you to get some experience in their field. Fighters guild, you do a lot of missions for combat and rescues. Dark Brotherhood, you have some pretty basic missions but plenty of them also become unique in the ways you can carry them out. Thieves Guild, you actually have to break into places and steal a certain amount of gold's worth in order to progress in the questline. Mages Guild and the College are roughly the same in terms of magic skill usage though. In Skyrim however, you do like two things at most before you're thrown into the narrative without any true practice with your skills. And like you said about the Civil War being an unfinished painting, I would honestly say that about the entire game. There's so much that could've been added and improved if they gave themselves another two years.
My imperial who joined the penitus oculotus after the civil war wiped out the brotherhood and then the thieves guild. Used a lot of mods for the role play. It was sick.
@@longbrowgaming2772 I legit didn't even notice this reply until just now (At least I don't think). I didn't even realize this was my comment at first. Maybe I will check that out one day.
I’ve always found the companions story and quest line boring and lacklustre. To me, it’s too short, doesn’t have a significant end point and no real unique quests, just a bunch of dungeon crawls. Kinda feels 3 identical side quests in a trench coat pretending to be a main story.
The Thieves Guild provides a whole game with its content honestly it has been my favorite and always seek them first since oblivion top tier the further you go the deeper it gets
personally I would put the thieves guild above the civil war purely for the progression of the pub when you complete the main quest and the odd jobs and then the cool tie in with the smithy in raven rock is real cool too
Thieves Guild is by far my favorite due to the fact that after the main stuff is done with the Guild you can continue to build it up and eventually make it a thriving underground lair.
I already know who will take first two spots on this list base on levels. Miraak (max level150) would be number one, and Alduin (max level 100) would be number two.
The Thieves Guild, the College of Winterhold, the Civil War ... I love this game but pretty much no faction felt polished to me except for the ones in Dawnguard. I may or may not be salty about not becoming the queen of Skyrim. Also, I guess it's a controversial opinion but I dislike the Dark Brotherhood the most, especially having played Oblivion. It feels like a lazy rewriting to me. That said 1pt for Shadowmere.
I get that, i wish there were more missions that made me feel like an assassin. The only reason I still play the Dark Brotherhood story is because of the characters. Nazir, Babette, Gabriella, all of them.
@@amortlepsg Exactly, especially at the end of the Questline. There were some pretty good missions during the story mind you, but very few to give you that assassin experience.
FudgeMuppet did a video for the Companions, mostly on several flaws and how it could’ve been better. I do like the faction but I also agree with FM on a lot of points. It’s worth a watch.
Both are not without their flaws, but I enjoyed their storylines the most. I agree with FudgeMuppet that the Companion’s questline could’ve been improved. I actually installed a mod for the Companions that requires more radiant quests to progress through the story line, to make it make a little more sense.
imho, most of the thieves guild quest line felt underwhelming, but finished super strong. The tone of the encounter, the nightengale lore, the balance of the rewards, and even Nocturanal's animation (ua-cam.com/video/Y8Ux9b_Ukf4/v-deo.html) felt unique, fitting, and more personal than most daedric encounters in skyrim (typically "hey, I'm just here for your artifact"). And unlike most factions which feel empty after their main quest is done, the Thieves Guild follows up with a half-decent faction management radiant quest line that gives you the sense of growing a criminal enterprise. Besides what Longbrow said, one other reason I appreciate the Dawguard factions is the random hostile encounters. They're your faction's sworn enemy so killing them feels more thematic and personal than generic hostiles like raiders and falmer. I wish the Blades would let you force your will as DB to pardon Paarthurnax. Recruiting mercs to the Blades and summoning them for epic fights feels like something that should happen.
I must give the credit to Bethesda for giving us a chance to recruit immortal followers to this faction, and it gives you an option for some evil choices like letting Frea into their ranks. However I am not a big fan of a faction having only 2 members at the beginning, and poorly written faction story in this game. PS. The choice to kill or not to kill Paarthurnax is interesting, but really poorly executed in choices.
Delphine can eat a brick. Agreed. Great list overall! Amazing that this game has stayed relevant beyond similarly-aged video games. I agree with a majority of the list, but would like to add a bit about the College of Winterhold: I believe it was a video by Camelworks about the Augur of Dunlain. It's a very long video (my attention span is usually for 30< videos), but 100% worth it. It would have made their faction a lot more interesting if they had given this character more depth. I would also down-rate a majority of the factions because of the repetitive theme: our leader died, we have it scripted to make you our leader with no solid follow-up or responsibilities, just a cool title and you cannot refuse, GG. I would have demanded Bryn lead the Thieves Guild, Tolfdir for the College, Nazir for the DB, and probably Vilkas for the Companions.
I was so happy to see you out Companions at the top! I will always have a soft spot for them (especially Farkas), and I hate when they get last place in rankings.
In the Thieves guild questline, I think it would be awesome if you were given the chance to rebuild the guild, just like the Dark Brotherhood. For example, before you meet Karliah, you have to do some minor quests for the guild members, which boosts the members' disposition towards yourself. Later, you can convince these members that Mercer is a traitor, and they decide to follow you in your new Sanctuary. Finally, Mercer stands alone and cornered, and then you can either fight him directly, or trap him so that Maven puts him in jail, or you can convince him to leave Skyrim once and for all. In the end, the Thieves guild becomes a cult organization, as it should always have been. About the College, it should have shown more of Ancano, the Thalmor and the Psijic Order. For example, Ancano could have challenged Savos in a fight, which would lead to the explosion that kills Savos, so to claim the College for himself (and the Thalmor). In the meantime, the Psijic Order protects you from the explosion and teleports you to their isle. While the College thinks you are dead, the Order trains you to become the next Arch-Mage, and defeat Ancano. They teach you unique spells, they give you magical artifacts, and when you are ready you return to Skyrim. You can choose to ally with the Synod, depending on the dialog choices you made before, and you can contact once again the Augur of Dunlain, to help you fight Ancano and the Thalmor.
Well... you can rebuilt the guild. You make minor quests and unlock a special quest. The ragged flagon will have merchants. Watch a video on youtube "become thieves guild master"
@@joaopaulobrantlessa8135 true. But I was thinking about rebuilding the guild entirely. The guild would relocate outside Riften, it would be reformed as a more cult brotherhood than a crime syndicate. (this is my personal opinion, okay? I'm just pointing out that most of Skyrim questlines seem to be somehow flat and lazy-written)
I would be willing to give up the entirety of the Dawnguard DLC if it meant more disc space and time devoted to creating divergent questlines and opposing factions. Imagine if you were able to join the Silver Hand or Penitus Oculatus, or help Unmid and Mjoll root out and destroy the Thieves Guild? Hell, imagine if there was a branching path in the Thieves Guild where Mercer saw you moral flexibility and skill for thievery and offered to bring you in on his con? I dunno; I would just personally rather TES go back to doing factions the way Morrowind did it, forcing players to really pick sides instead of opting for the "do everything in a single playthrough" style of writing. That'll never happen, though; Todd and Emil are both too chickenshit to risk alienating the normie demo.
it's not just "do everything" it's do everything the same way. the only choice in the game is really killing the dark brotherhood instead of joining it, but it's fucking lame. The silver hand was a major missed opportunity. they just made them generic bandits. When it could have made a much more interesting story to expose the companions as werewolves. The
@@RomrotMechanikos In my ideal Skyrim there would have been twelve factions: six for each archetypal playstyle with two opposing each other, so a Companion/Silver Hand dichotomy for warriors, Thieves Guild/Penitus Oculatus for sneaky types, and and College paired against another faction--maybe a subgroup of Thalmor or dragon cultists, something like that. Additionally I would have the Stormcloaks and Legion, and the Greybeards' and Blades, but I would flesh them out more to make them more believable as groups. I would also put skill requirements to advance in each faction, instead of just completing a piss-easy quest that any novice could do.
Only good thing about Namira (the Lady of Decay) is you can finish that Daedric quest, get Eola, the cannibal girl with the weird eye, stash the ring somewhere so people don't talk about your breath all the time...and then take her to the Boethiah Daedric quest (The Prince of Plots) and you have a perfect sacrificial character to stick to the Post of Superglue and stab her in the back...actually kind of poetic justice murdering the cannibal so you can get the Ebony Mail. To Namira fans...hey, you want Decay, me and my friend Boethiah have a speed run straight into Decayville. Good luck.
Bards College - It basically includes just the burning of King Olaf, which is supposed to be a very important task and you are suddenly assigned to it even though you re the newest member College of Winterhold - Interesting concept, though as someone here said before, very unrealistic considering that you can become archmage without casting a single spell. Civil War - Can't play it without mods, extremely unrealistic considering you just free a couple of forts and then attack the other faction's major city and you basically won...not to mention that your troops respawn endlessly so it s basically impossible to lose a battle Thieves guild - Nothing to bitch about here, very well written, my 2nd favorite. Dark brotherhood - As much as I hate their philosophy, I must say it s pretty immersive, what I find it weird is that eventually even the guards will learn who you are but do nothing to stop you haha Dawnguard - My personal favorite, also you get the chance to discover the Forgotten Vale which is prob the most amazing location in the game. Also, Isran is too much of a chad to let you become the leader which just makes it funny if you ask me, because he s been like that since the beginning of the quest. Companions - It's too short, they could have added so much more, also it feels like Kodlak gains confidence in you too easily. Namira - Played it once a few years ago, don t remember much haha Volkihar - F*** vampires.
I think the companions were garbage personally but in response to your point, if you read Kodlak's journal, he explains the he had dreamt of your coming before you showed up, which is why he took to you so quickly.
Mage's College logic is really stupid. Yeah, sure, my 2 handed, heavy armor, barbaric orc who only knows a lesser ward, healing and fast healing, and flames is definitely an arch-mage material. They could have not killed Mirabelle and made her the arch-mage and maybe give us the chance to challenge her for the title but only using whatever magic we have, if we use weapons, even if enchanted, we disqualified or some shit.
Most of the factions seem to have that problem. The companions, even though they despise magic give you quests that can be completed by a mage mostly. And the dank brotherhood and the thieves guild all have massive holes in logic. Dank brotherhood is so incompetent it's a mercy to end them.
My top 2 would have to be Dawnguard and Thieves Guild honestly. Dark brotherhood and companions are decent. It’s just when even thinking about their counter parts in oblivion I get so disappointed.
one of my favorite things about my most recent playthrough is to become a member of the companions and get to the point where i'm a werewolf, then join the cult of namira, do that one quest, and then eat all of the members of the coven as a werewolf. when i did it, everyone just kind of sat there, unbothered.
There's a mod called Open Civil War that readds most of the cut content and turns some of it into a turn based game in regards to the Civil War. I agree though, so much was cut and its frustrating.
I like how the civil war factions are well developed morally and ethically. You can easily see good and bad sides to both. While Tullius definitely deserves a bit more lore, I think that the fact that Ulfric has so much more focus works well in establishing that the Stormcloaks are a cult of personality first and foremost, while the Empire does not appear to be. No one is praising the ground Tullius walks on or hosting a Titus Mede fanclub, but Stormcloaks and their sympathizers really act like Ulfric has never taken a foul shit in his life, and everything he's done since his Meadhall Putsch in Solitude is treated as some sort of stigmata straight from Akatosh.
Im also a goodie goodie .. its why i can hardly ever feel immersed playing the dark brotherhood quest line.. not to say its bad, but I’m a person where.. even in games my irl personal morals take me over.
Thieves guild seems to be the most beloved clan in skyrim, and it makes sense because they *easily* have the best questline. Also the fact you can go from guild member to nightingale is dope, with the nightingale blade being probably the best weapon given to you by a faction in the game and the coolest armor also coming from them
I love the thieves guild. My main build is a nightingale after all, the other factions d9nt quite live up to the lore. The only one in the companions who does is vilkas, whom I've traveled with quite extensively and I can say confidently, he's the best base game 2h warrior as I had him with me once at northwatch keep, the dude literally just body bagged them with his starting kit. Shame you can't get karliah or brynjolf as a follower, the college has ONE passable follower and it's not J'zargo as much as I love him, the dark brotherhood questline is great imo, but the followers you get are TERRIBLE FOR A STEALTH BUILD. They literally shove me while lining up a shot with a bow and caused me to miss. EVERY. TIME. Anyway loved the video. Sorry for the paragraph lol.
You can actually start the Dark Brotherhood questline earlier by going up the road from Whiterun to Dawnstar. There you'll find Cicero at the Loreius Farm raging about the "wagon wheel! Damnedest wagon wheel! It broke don't you see!!" It will start the quest, "The Delayed Burial". This happens just before you go and kill Grelod and includes special dialogue from Cicero when you officially join the Brotherhood on whether or not you helped him, ignored him, or reported him to the guard about his "illicitly placed box/coffin" in the cart itself. I always did this quest after I discovered it a few years ago because it actually gave me a reason to go and start the Brotherhood questline. That, and Cicero is just awesome XD.
The Stormcloak are Over the Imperials... Skyrim is the Nordic earth and some slave of the thalmor try to invade or "reconquire" loses lands ... and overall they made ourself prisoner and tried to kill the dragonborn at the beginning of every game
I made a mistake skyrim is the land land of snow elves (falmer) and then the Nords from Atmora come first to invade the Dwemer and Falmer on their own land with the help of Akatosh and the dragons
I like how the dark brotherhood lets you upgrade the home base after the first gets destroyed, and also assassinating the emperor is a pretty sick quest so I’d have to say they’re my favorite
I always choose the Stormcloaks. Nothing to do with politics, history, or any of that. I just can never get my head around the Imperials trying to kill me in the beginning, without good cause, and then supporting them in the war.
Thieves Guild is 100% the best, yes the story stats off slow but by the 3rd or 4th quest the stakes are higher than ever and it's great! Also Nightengale armour...
Of all the guilds, I dislike the Thieves Guild the most--and it's the one I want to like the most. But: 1. It feels sort of ridiculous when a warrior in full armor with no stealth skills at all wanders into town and Brynjolf immediately says, "Ah, laddie, you look like exactly the kind of person I'm looking for!" 2. Except that it turns out he's right, because most of the thieves' guild quests require no actual thief skills whatsoever, and said fighter can just bulldoze his way through. 3. The thieves' guild is incompetent enough to let someone empty out a vault full of treasure right under their noses, carrying it right out through the central headquarters of their guild. 4. And this is the organization to which I have to pledge my undying soul, KNOWING that almost all of the thieves who did so before me have wound up as insane ghosts haunting a tomb forever. 5. And what do I get for my immortal soul? ...a suit of armor. Not a great deal. In fact, it's such a BAD deal that the Daedra offering it expresses open surprise that we would actually accept it. It all just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's the one questline I almost never complete.
It does have some writing problems but you are right, don't complete it. Skeleton key is better than knock off illusion spells which you can only use once a day
My first one i joined companions married the huntress its cool cause when u level up she gets older so its like actual life ,but cant raise a kid or get a dog
Thieves Guild so low in the ranking? How do you get to nighingales Set and uber Chillrend without completing it?... Indeed jobs are a pain in the *** but you need to manage all that stolen goods so you need some fences. The best factions imo is something like thieves or Dark Brotherhood (Sets, Windshear), Companions are a waste of time (skyforge stuff available at the mission 1) only need is if you want play as a dog or have Aela following you. I'm NOT a milk drinker!...
Even thou there are not listed. Imo the blades could be actually a great thing with: 1. An Actual leader who is a badass & wise sword-Mage Master 2. He is conflicted with paartunax 3. If you talk more about paarthunax he will say to you he wants to meet him 4. When they meet, Both are impressed by the Knowledge & wise leadership of each other 5. The leader of the blades will say he won't kill paarthunax, unless the dragon will kill inncocents 6. Esbern and delphine will complain, but he says he has the Authority for the blades & the that they serve the Dragonborn 7. Greater dragon hunts at level 80, where you need to take out 3 legendary dragons at ones with the recuited blade members, esbern, delphine, and the leader 8. The leader will be able to be a follower after 3 greater dragon hunts
The thing I love about Skyrim is that none of the factions try to hard to make you love them or hate them. Even the directly warring factions are not presented in a way that is to one sided. This is especially obvious when compared to a game like Fallout 4 where it felt like all of the factions came on to strong and all had irreconcilable hostilities, but this issue was really put at the fore front by your followers in that game also being ready to betray each other and you as soon as they disagree on some quest path.
In my *PERSONAL* opinion, I’ve found the Companions quest line very boring and- It just felt too repetitive at times. Going into a cave, killing a bunch of enemies and retrieving an item.
I think the thieves guild quest line makes the most sense. Every faction quest line is you becoming the leader after meeting these people a week earlier, or one of the top people basically, except for dawnguard. With the thieves guild the leader is corrupt, so you oust him. Granted, Brynyolf is more of a veteran, but he witnessed a lot of your potential throughout the quest line, so it makes sense, for the most part, that he could be humble and give the position to you and serve as a mentor basically.
even though kurt was a junkie, nirvana's still my favorite band and thus the thieves guild is in my opinion the best faction, ofc the sewer they live in is still horrendous
Talk to Delvin and Vex and they'll give you little Thieves Guild Quests. Complete 5 of these quests in each hold (not including The Rift or Raven Rock) and you get a special request and you grow the Guild stronger and you'll grow The Ratway as well.
My ranking of the factions that actually matter: 6. Companions The Companions are just really boring. Yeah they're werewolves but they never actually transform in combat outside of Farkas or Vilkas saving you, I can't even remember which one did it. I like the narrative of you and Aela going on a secret Silver Hand purge, but that faction isn't fleshed out at all. I like the theory that they're a splinter group that stays true to Ysgramor's beliefs but that's never actually stated in game. My favourite part of the whole story actually comes after it's already over when Farkas and Vilkas decide to cure their lycanthropy and leave Aela as the last werewolf in the Companions. The majority of the story is just really bland with bland characters to accompany it. I do love that when you beat it you can choose any member as a follower. I did the Companions first and assumed this would be standard, I went through the Dark Brotherhood looking forward to brining all the likeable characters with me, and you know how that turned out... 5. Civil War Factions Has a great start with the Jagged Crown quest and the battle for Whiterun but then devolves into attacking towers over and over again. Don't get me wrong I like fighting but I could just go to a bandit camp to do that. I do like how you actually rise through the ranks with promotions and the final capital siege battle is great. 4. College of Winterhold Definitely the coolest location. The story and quests are bland for the most part. The only parts that stand out to me are going to the Midden and the Labyrinthian one, which is arguably the best quest in the entire game. I also really liked the first quest where you have a Hogwarts style magic lesson, I would have preferred more of that and less errand running. 3. Dawnguard/Volkihar Vampires Best questline out of the factions, definitely feels like it got special treatment since it was dlc. Serana is a great character, Harkan is a fun comically evil villain, every other faction member besides the guy with Pa's axe feels samey, and even that guy becomes a generic member after you walk up with him. Oh yeah the big guy and dwarvern nerd you recruit are cool, I completely forgot about them and had to edit this part in. I was really disappointed when I played the other faction and realised it's exactly the same past the first quest. 2. Thieves Guild Amazing storyline, radiant quests that actually lead to something, loveable characters like Brynjolf, Delvin, Vex, Sapphire and that guy you find naked in the Thalmor Embassy 1. Dark Brotherhood Best storyline by far (minus the Thieves Guild's which is pretty close), best side quests by far, has the most iconic characters by far.
I like headcanoning that Shadowmere's a shadow mare & that you can hook her up with Frost, the Palomino with a pedigree to have a cool line of horses that are 1/2 finely bred 1/2 *demon* Edit: Frost's papers say he's a dude & Shadowmere is referred to with contrasting pronouns by different NPCs
Coven of namira, bards college, college of winterhold, thieves guild, civil war( stormcloaks and imperials), vulkihar clan, dawnguard, dark brotherhood, companions, the blades, the grey beards, and the tribal orcs.
I would place the Dawn Guard above the Companions. Here is why: 1) You aren’t forced to take on a daedric blessing/curse in order to progress through the story, although it’s certainly an option. Look, becoming a werewolf is cool and all but the way that the Companions force on you, in the middle of the city of Whiterun no less, was just dumb. 2) A more involved quest line. The Compans’ quest line can be done with little difficulty with little time invested. Hell all you have to do is one radiant quest and they ask you to recover a shard of Wuthrad because they’re already considering you for a position in the inner circle. What? Compare this with the Dawn Guard, the Fighter’s Guild in Oblivion, or even the user mod created Adventurer’s Guild and the Companions comes off more like a half formed thought than an actual faction worth joining more than once. 3) More interesting members. I dare you to name more than the inner circle or the Harbinger off the top of your head. I’ll wait. 4) More interesting antagonists. I once heard a theory put forth by Fudgemuppet that the Silver Hand are a splinter faction of the Companions who split off after lycanthropy was made mandatory to join the inner circle. They’re probably right but the way they are presented, they feel like a generic bandit gang. With silver weapons.
What I love about joining the Thieves Guild is once you complete the main questline, you get the Twilight Sepulcher. From there, instead of returning the Sepulcher to it's temple, keep it as it will replace your lockpicks, and because it's a quest item, it can NEVER break. This means you could have the most basic lockpicking skill/level and you can carelessly go nuts trying to find the sweet spot when picking locks. No more burning through lockpicks on high level locks trying to find the right spot. And something that wasn't mentioned as a somewhat awesome perk for joining the Companions is after you become a werewolf, the wolves in Skyrim leave you alone and will never attack you.
I get around the moral dilemma of playing as an evil character but still being able to play the morally evil guilds by playing as a evil character with a redemption arc who becomes a hero. Like my backstory to be I was a mercenary hunting down a certain horse theif from Rorikstead when I got caught in the ambush. As an evil character early game I can join the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild and complete those storylines. Then around the time of starting the Main Quest and finding out I'm the Dovakin start having a more neutral role, joining the Companions who I feel is a morally neutral Guild. Yes you do some good acts of heroism but you become a Werewolf even if just temporary and might have to beat up some morally good characters. Then by end game I complete the Main Quest saving the World. Join either the Stormcloaks or Imperials to end the War and bring peace and join the Dawngaurd to slay Vampires becoming a hero and redeeming my evil past.
1. Go there and retrieve Wuuthard shard. 2. Repeat #1 for about 5 times 3. Let's go all and clear out the dungeon together. 4. Congratulations Harbinger! ...
Companions: just brawled a man in town and literally they told you to retrieve a legendary weapon fragment.
Dark brotherhood: confident enough to kidnap you, not knowing what you can or will do.
College of winterhold: makes you archmage even if the only spell you ever cast is 1 lesser ward while drinking a bunch of magicka potions.
Thieves guild: actually got good storyline and made you guildmaster and 1 of the nightingales.
Dawnguard: the only faction that didn't make you a leader, not even a title, just a regular member, even tho you're the one going outside doing all the fieldwork while they defend a fort that only get attacked once.
College of Winterhold: makes you archmage even if you have never cast a single spell in your life
Thieves Guild: hires a literal thug that belongs in a mafia
Dawnguard: recruits the secondary protagonist of some chick's story
@@hypermaeonyx4969 That chick is my bestie. Even though she pushes me off of things sometimes. She's still my bestie.
Bards College : Recruits someone who never sings a song or plays an instrument just because they wanted some poem found and were too scared to do it themselves
Volkihar Clan : Yeah, you know from the start you're going to end up as a chief of that one too because doing anything to the Sun is the stupidest idea you ever heard
Companions : You barely arrived and not only you already know the big secret, they give you a place in their elite circle just like that
Dawnguard : Apparently can't be asked to clean spider webs
Vigilant or Stendarr : Their throats are calling for your sword at every encounter
This is such a mood.
@@hypermaeonyx4969 the dawngaurd gives you the good ol Oblivion treatment. You may be the protagonist, but the hero do the story is Martin. You're just the guy who helps him on his journey.
The Thieves Guild is absolutly top tier for me, one of the best questline in the entire game.
Thieves Guild is also my favorite, but maybe it being the first one I played through has something to do with it. I'm indifferent about the Companions, I legit don't remember a thing from their questline. And College of WInterhold might have been the worst one for me, but by the time I played it the repeated formula of all the quest lines just wore off for me
The main missions are good but there Is a lot of repetitive miscellaneous quests
It’s pretty standard. Nothing compared to oblivion thieves guild
Feel like there was more dungeon diving than thieving
Neh.
I’d say most of the factions feel incomplete or lazy writing, I think dawnguard is the best out of all. I’m not saying that those factions are bad, just that they could’ve been a lot better.
I think it had to do with crammed writing schedule for a big part of it. Trying to cram too much and they really wanted their 11/11/11 release date.
Personally on the super special date: who the hell cares?!
I think the whole game feels lazy and incomplete in comparison to oblivion. The factions in oblivion and the quests in general were just so much more interesting.
@@ESKATEUK completely agree. A remastered oblivion would be absolutely insane with some fine tuning and fixing small holes
@@rokker2169 agreed. My favourite overall game in the series. Although there were things better about Morrowind, but I just edge oblivion over morrowind as my favourite game. Skyrim doesn’t even come close in my opinion
I'd argue the thieves guild and dark brotherhood are pretty conclusive in the base game - out of the two the thieves guild easily has the best story and actually holds up.
Arnbjorn is a pretty cool member of the Dark Brotherhood. He’s a former member of the Companions, and was talented and trusted enough to make it into the inner circle. But due to his extreme killing methods, he was asked to step down and leave the Companions.
He is one of my fav NPCs. I like his heavy metal looks LOL.
Which I wish I knew more about how he even got that far, and how his decent into the followings of Sithis was indulged. I want to know how he even got with Astrid in the first place honestly. Gabrielle is someone I'm curious about, she's so nice and she definitely serves Sithis and the Night Mother, I wonder how long she's been apart of the Brotherhood considering that Elves live a much longer like than humans do, and I wonder how old she is since Olava said she's known her a long time. My guess is that Olava is one of the characters in the game who's used magic to prolong her life the same way that Master Neloth, Savos, and Urag have. I wish there was more to the Brotherhood after the questline
@@antihero9443 He gives me Witcher vibes
Sorry but bro knocks about without shoes, broke ass
@@jordstuff can't get service in a convenience store
For anyone who likes the Companions a lot, I highly recommend a mod called Enhanced Skyrim Factions - Companions Guild. It adds a lot more depth to the questline, gives you certain requirements to join, more radiant quests between the major quests of the line so you're not becoming Harbinger the same day you joined (tweak this in the settings so it's not too padded), and most importantly, it lets you spar with the other members and keeps track of your record. They're no pushovers in sparring either; Skjor especially is a BEAST.
could you link it?
I beat all of the main companion quests just so I could marry Farkas
Doesnt skjor die though
@@typicallystupidperson1273 yeah, but you can spar with him until then
My Companion quest line is broken. Damn Proving Honor quest messed it all up. The quest is complete, I saw the ceremony and got the free skyforge weapon. But I can’t take on any new quests because even though it is in complete section, there is the part of returning to Jorraskvr that is not and therefore the game thinks I’m still on that quest. Can’t take on any new ones. Ps4 version so no console options. This pisses me off. It’s one of the main factions in the game. It’s not like it’s a side quest. I can’t believe they never fixed this. So much is lost and unavailable to me now. Like all the great followers. I wanted Aela the Huntress.
The Companions are the most disappointing to me because they feel like they should be these honorable warriors but they're just Werewolves and they let you join the inner circle like immediately and areola is annoying Farkas is cool but that's about it
My thing is that these are honorable warriors who should be striving to protect the people. Instead, I'm being sent to beat up some random citizen over a dispute. It feels thuggish. Lemme be a hero, dammit!
I also love the theory that the Silver Hand are a Nord purist faction that split off from the companions when the circle adopted the beast blood. Really wish that had been included.
Areola :D
they aren’t even protectors, they are over-glorified mercenaries
There’s a radiant quest where you go beat the crap out of Mjoll the Lioness, so you were 100% hired by Maven Blackbriar. Honorable my entire left butt cheek.
@@auntvivienne8669 And then after you beat her up, go propose to her. She's happy to accept
I just found out you can kill Astrid in the shake when she kidnaps you, and trigger a quest to kill all brotherhood members instead of join. I think thats super interesting, and kind of an easter egg considering Ive owned the game 3 times, across 2 consoles, over the last 10 years, and never discovered it on my own
It was my fist instinct to kill her when she kidnapped me XD
same my first time playing i just demolished her then ended up at the rock ready to destroy the dark brotherhood with my iron dagger
That what I did on my first playthrough
I was so offended that they even dared to think about kidnapping me that I killed her almost immediately. I then proceeded to go to their hideout, transform into a wolf, rip out all their hearts and eat them, then howl at the moon.
@@tragickillerjoe3649 same I thought she was bad anyways she kidnapped me and force me to Jill someone I wasn’t having it lmao
Honestly, the Dawnguard are the best for me personally, BAR NONE.
Not just cause of their concept and story significance in their respective DLC mind you, but because they actually feel like an organic part of the world
1.While, Gunmar and Calene are mandatory, Florentius is completely optional and he can be completely exempt from the main story of the DLC if you choose not to do his side quest
2. If you become a vampire they'll actually make remarks on it and , although they don't kill you , they tell you to get out due to sympathy
3. You'll actually see Dawnguard recruits walking around, refilling caches and even , on occasion, fighting vampires randomly out in the world
4. And this one is BY FAR the most important, YOU'RE NOT THE CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE, FINALLY!!!!
Hell, The Dragonborn isn't even really the main character in the story, that title goes to Serana.
The whole DLC basically revolves around her , her family drama and how it all connects to a millennias long grudge against Auriel/Akatosh
Your player character is basically just the super loyal best friend/simp for the vast majority of the story
And you're not just sort of given leadership of the Dawnguard either.
Isran stays leader from start to finish, he just learns to genuenly trust you once the story is over.
And, sure, while you can become the lord of Volkihar Keep if you side with the vampires, it feels somewhat earned as the vampires have a "might makes right" mentality either way what with them constantly backstabbing each other
Imagine simping
that and the Vampires kind of suck compared oh wow your a weaker version of the vampires you see running around in daylight. You the dragonborn that killed Alduin and your weaker then the other vampires of that court. Compared to the Dawngaurd where you get some awsome undead killing spells and the best damn crossbow in the game.
@@tazman2253 that's just how it works unfortunately with weapons and armor being enchantable. the way they could have fixed this is by giving the vampire lord more wearable armor pieces like what harkon wears, and more. make these armor pieces enchantable with vampire lord specifically related enchantments.
vampire lord is overpowered as hell in terms of design concept. but unfortunately the actual damage and health numbers can't keep up with a non transformed player Characters Stats.
@@trevorveillette8415 and hence why there is no point in playing one unless you want to weaken yourself, maybe if they gave the vampire some special spells, or you know allowed the vampire lord to walk in the daylight like seranna does without being taken down by it (yes I know shes essential but still she should be always in that weakened crawl state.) They just nerfed the vampire lord completely your even more powerful as a werewolf then as a vampire
So the vampires are kinda like the "pre-Brotherhood of Darkness" Sith order?
Interesting
I wish the companions were werebears rather than werewolves. They are from Skyrim and books throughout the elder scrolls talk about the men of Skyrim turning into bears. That would have felt more uniquely Skyrim. Though I do like werewolves. I think maybe they should have made it that only nords would turn into bears rather than wolves. So if you built a nord character it would surprise you. Haha! Or just if you maxed out the size of the character in character creator. That could be funny.
Making a Beorn build would be fun. Tall dude with a leveled up enchanted woodsman’s axe that doesn’t eat meat and turns into a bear.
The hearth fire homestead is a lot like Beorn’s home in the hobbit.
That's a really good idea!
Personally I wish they just added in a Werebear faction or at least an option to become one (as this would add a lot to the Dawnguard and especially to the Dragonborn DLCs respectively). Also I like the whole dynamic of werewolf vs werebear better then werewolf vs vampire as the later is so cliche.
Anyhow just imagine what the skill tree for a Werebear would be like. I'm betting a lot of the focus would be in raw power, strength, large health and stamina pools, and probably not too much focus on speed, or howling like with Werewolves.
Basically I'm thinking Werebears would naturally be more of a Tank build then anything else. Not that Werewolves can't be Tanks too with the right perks and such.
There are werebears in solstheim, right? I’m literally new, but I could swear that happened…
That would actually be cool, as being a werebear would make them feel more connected to their ancestry despite still being hunters of Hircine, like if Kodlak is the only WereBear alongside Farkas because they are the most experienced or wise while the rest are werewolves
@@ItsChevnotJeff exactly! It would be fantastic!
I’ve also thought that a vampire spell that gives your weapons absorb health points equal to 50% of your equipped weapon’s damage would make vampire builds more interesting. Instead of having to enchant your weapons, any cool weapon could be given a vampiric drain effect for a short time.
This way a vampire could be a warrior or stealth archer and wouldn’t need to rely heavily on a magic build.
i think the thieves guild is the best main game faction. i like how you actually have to earn becoming the guildmaster. becoming the archmage/harbinger is very forced.
And there is that sickass nightingale armor, the drip lord itself
@@Chicken-Rice Fr. When I first saw my character with that shit on, I knew I loved the guild. Even though I ended up doing semi boring tasks like forging some numbers in solitude or stealing gold from some guy’s house (and the golden glow estate was more frustrating than difficult), the twist with Karliah was so good. Getting one shot right before you think you are about to face her only to then learn the truth (Mercer was kinda easy). It’s the members that really made me care and like it. Plus there’s quite a few members you can talk to and level up skills
Do you ever wonder why so mischievous shit is going on in Skyrim
Guild master is over rated. I just keep the skeleton key and never finish the quest lmaoo
Thieves guild is the worst writing in the game
I always liked the Thieve's Guild because it kind of introduces you to a different way of play than just slaughtering Draugrs in dusty old ruins. And it is also definitely the most "actual RPG" faction of Skyrim's factions. In order to do their side missions, you need to actually be able to steal, sneak, and pickpocket instead of just being able to bash everything with an axe. And there is an actual sense of progression, you start out as just a talented prospect (unlike a certain College that starts out with you getting an email from an elusive and ancient magical organization even though you used lesser ward once). The only issue with it is that there is no option to kill them off, which I think is a necessary inclusion for a Thieve's Guild.
I loathe the Bard's college. I'm offended just by the fact that Bethesda had the Gull to call that charade a faction. You get 0 skills, 0 perks, 0 followers. You can't play instruments and generally it's just a waste of time. Definitely the worst faction (it can barely called that) in my opinion
Only one quest is not a faction questline
Honestly I don't even consider them as a major faction in this game.
sadly the only good thing I can say about the college is that the staff of Magnus looks cool
The only good thing i got out of them was the easy skill levels they give you after getting the instruments. But yeah…
@@ironic4910 WTF? Bards college, not the college of winterhold
The Thieves guild is probably my favorite. I just love how you help build the whole guild back up. It feels like you being a part of the faction really had an impact. I love the little ceremony where they name you Guild Master and the master thief armor set.
Thieves guild has a lot of lore and story that is not told directly with npcs, but if you go around, read notes, books, and look at every corner or their base, you will find stuff like a love story of several people and the death threats to another, the possibility of genital mutilation, the long lost hair to the noble family, the super convict, the young girl that lost her whole family then got adopted just to get raped some time later and many more
Yes they are a better realized family. A messed up family but still you can see why they identify with each other and feel they belong there.
I love werewolves but I think the companions are just the worst. sure it’s fun being werewolf but the mechanics could have been better.
Agreed. Boring headquarters with boring "welps" trying hard to talk badass. Disappearing items, buggy lycanthropy cure quest, trash radiant quests, members turning hostile because you accidentally hit them in beast form, boring main quest with no details about the Silver Hand, "No Honour Just Gold" policy is trash, and the list goes on...
@@antihero9443 Their radiant quests are one of the best in the game imo. They make me feel like a monster hunter/bounty hunter. I can understand why some people dislike it tho….
I like the Companions and I always join them but aside from that first change into Werewolf when you get inducted into the Circle...I never used it. Kick ass fighters and Aela is hot but I want to be a hero and dragon killer, not some creature that can accidentally go berserk and kill a bunch of innocents.
@@antihero9443 Yeah the Companion’s quest was probably one of the last things being worked on for Skyrim.
The Companions suck in my opinion. If I join a viking warrior faction, I don't expect to be forced to be a werewolf over half the questline. Thieves Guild is much better in my opinion.
Yeah I wish there was a way to do it without having to become a werewolf. Really messes up roleplay playthroughs
Yeah Werebears are much more in vikings style
I wish I could join the silver hand and expose the companions as wereowolfs.
lore wise the dark brotherhood and the imperial factions together become even more interesting seeing as traditionally throughout tamriels history the emperor has been dragonborn
also tullius is criminally slept on man is a lethally effective military tactician
His voice actor (Michael Hogan) always stands out to me too for some reason. He also plays Doc Mitchell in Fallout NV and Captain/Commander Bailey from Mass Effect. Always liked his characters
Honestly the stormcloack faction is soooooooo much better. Sure ulfric is a huge idiotic racist guy. But like the imperials were going to kill you. The stormcloaks wanted to save you. It's a better faction questline as well
@@nintendoman8915 However, they won’t be able to defeat the Thalmor on their own. Also the Empire wanted you dead because they didn’t want to take any chances and risk Ulfric somehow escaping. Also Tullius has you pardoned you pretty much right after finding out you were innocent.
@@nintendoman8915 You mean Ralof wanted to save you. I never got the vibe they cared it was just you were a fellow prisoner at the time on the run.
@@nintendoman8915 People only call Nords racist because they are european coded. Like all the Imperial captains in the legion dont call all nords barbarians and the high elves aren't actual fucking nazis.
Here are my factions list based on thier power that player can join:
- Imperial Legion,
- Stormcloaks,
- Thieves guild (those guys are the best flesh out faction in the entire game),
- College of Winterhold (they have the monopoly of excavation ancient ruins, enchanting, every court wizard is tied up to them, they are really underrated),
- Dawnguard,
- Volkihar Vampires (Solitude court wizard is tied up to them),
- Dark Brotherhood,
- The Companions
- House Telvanni,
- Daedric worshipers (they are strong, but too divided by the worship of the different daedric lord),
- Thirsk Mead Hall Rieklings (those guys will come and help you in a need, even when you are fighting the bosses in Skyrim)
- The Greybeards,
- Thirsk Mead Hall Nords
- The Blades (they are really weak at the beginning, but you can post them with some immortal followers),
- Forsworn (only one camp is friendly towards you).
* There are some new factions that came out with the latest Skyrim edition, but they really lack the voice acting so I will exclude them from the list.
PS. Your list is really interesting, and my favorite factions would be Dawnguard, and House Telvanni (master Neloth is really well written character, and his quest rewards are fantastic).
Not related. But I wish Elder Scrolls would allow players to transfer their character builds to the next Elder scrolls game. I know it sounds impossible and, in some cases, stupid.
@@badger3184 Transferring character with 100% magic absorption to the next game is really bad idea. However there are some standard classes that you can rebuild for the next game, and the previous ones too.
Sorry but Blades and Brotherhood are bottom because they have almost no members and no administration.
Greybeards because they can destroy the entire Skyrim, let alone have an evil Alduin general who had the balls to betray him.
Greybeards are the strongest, ever try to fight them?
@@wanderingbufoon In case of Dark Brotherhood have strong connection with Thieves guild (third strongest faction in this game), they have killed the Empearor of Tamriel (if you have completed the main quest for them), and infinite number of Dark Brotherhood Initiates. When it comes to administration Nazir handles all things for this faction, light armor training on master level, and some easy contracts.
The Blades as you can see are on the bottom of my list, but when it comes to administration Delphine runs the show, and it's hard to say what kind of connections she has outside of Skyrim.
Now in case of The Greybeards they are strong, and unfortunately pacifists. This is why I have put them lower on the list. Now in game they are immortal, but they is ane interesting mention how to kill Voice master in Skorm Snow-Strider's journal.
I like playing as a mage, so for me the greatest disappointment was the Mage's College. Like other factions, there was so much potential missed. And an aside to Bethesda, you don't have to make the player the leader, it worked well for Dawnguard. Higher rank, yes, and maybe a long progression based on your skilltree to leader. Becoming the leader of factions was pretty cool in Oblivion, but a bit passé in Skyrim. I got bored with the Companions. Dark Brotherhood didn't interest me, and Cicero annoyed the crap out of me. Thieves guild was interesting for the quest (loved that part), but I wasn't that enamoured with stealing stuff or becoming the leader. Bards college just reeked of Missed Opportunity, it could have been sooo good, but only felt like a placeholder.
I would love if instead of becoming the faction leader, you could become the head professor of one of the magic schools and your headquarters could reflect that.
@@lucasfialho1374 Agreed, your highest magic skill should be the teacher that becomes Master Wizard or Arch-Mage and you take their old role. Then once you hit at least 75 in all schools you become Master Wizard. Then Tolfdir steps down as Arch-Mage due to age and gives it to you once you hit 100 in all Magic skills. THAT would be satisfying.
@@kaiserofkush me who had 100 destruction on level 17 during that quest: nice
@@remixgod4496 the college doesn't even make you archmage. It's the psijic monks that say: "goodbye......ARCHMAGE"
And everyone in the college is like"wtf, did I hear right"
Feels so weird xD
The Companions are fun, but I wish we had an option to side with the Silver Hand and denounce lycanthopy
Yeah, imagine when you side with the silver hand you can also choose to ally them with the vigilants of stendarr, and by the end they replace the Companions as Whiterun's new Fighter Guild, you can choose to end things peacefully too and when you get aproached by the Dawnguard they refer to you as the leader of the Silver Hand
I get why you put the Companions first. They're an awesome faction and a great representation of Skyrim's lore and core values. Sadly I felt they could've been a little bit more integrated in the game. They feel very disconnected from all the other events in the game (not unlike the college of Winterhold) and they could've been so much more. You probably also know that there was a great deal cut from their questline as well, and fudgemuppet made an interesting theory video on who the silver hand might actually have been. Although cut content isn't necessarily a companions problem, it's a Skyrim problem in general, haha. Maybe the extended cut will see to that.
Honestly, I think the Thieves guild is the most fleshed out faction and most fun one, they are definitely my favorite faction in the game
Same. 👌
Yeah they probably were being worked on earlier in development.
Based on a concensus of how much content there is for the thieves guild, and the most played class i can think of- I fully believe the Dragon born was a Stealth archer that became the leader of the thieves guild.
I think the Dragonborn was definitely an archer, because realistically that would be the perfect way to wrap up his skill set. It would go like:
1: Control the long distance with arrows
2: If his enemies manage to close the gap, use shouts to either hurt them, send them flying back, or reposition with slow time/whirlwind sprint.
Technically, the Dragonborn could win hundreds of battles without getting a scratch by doing this.
My first play through in Skyrim I turned around and killed Astrid since I wasn't letting anyone boss me around. I was shocked that the game actually let me kill her. It's one of the few real choices in the game and I bet most people don't even know it's a choice until they learn that they are allowed to kill her in that dirty shack later on.
In Oblivion, most factions require you to get some experience in their field. Fighters guild, you do a lot of missions for combat and rescues. Dark Brotherhood, you have some pretty basic missions but plenty of them also become unique in the ways you can carry them out. Thieves Guild, you actually have to break into places and steal a certain amount of gold's worth in order to progress in the questline. Mages Guild and the College are roughly the same in terms of magic skill usage though.
In Skyrim however, you do like two things at most before you're thrown into the narrative without any true practice with your skills. And like you said about the Civil War being an unfinished painting, I would honestly say that about the entire game. There's so much that could've been added and improved if they gave themselves another two years.
The biggest interaction I ever had with the Thieves Guild, was installing a mod that let me wipe them out.
My imperial who joined the penitus oculotus after the civil war wiped out the brotherhood and then the thieves guild. Used a lot of mods for the role play. It was sick.
You have no idea how much I want a version of Skyrim with all of the cut content. One day. Maybe... Just maybe...
There’s a mod called cutting room floor that does exactly that
@@longbrowgaming2772 I legit didn't even notice this reply until just now (At least I don't think). I didn't even realize this was my comment at first. Maybe I will check that out one day.
I’ve always found the companions story and quest line boring and lacklustre. To me, it’s too short, doesn’t have a significant end point and no real unique quests, just a bunch of dungeon crawls. Kinda feels 3 identical side quests in a trench coat pretending to be a main story.
The Thieves Guild provides a whole game with its content honestly it has been my favorite and always seek them first since oblivion top tier the further you go the deeper it gets
The Thieve’s Guild is the only fleshed-out and satisfying base game faction imo.
personally I would put the thieves guild above the civil war purely for the progression of the pub when you complete the main quest and the odd jobs and then the cool tie in with the smithy in raven rock is real cool too
Thieves Guild is by far my favorite due to the fact that after the main stuff is done with the Guild you can continue to build it up and eventually make it a thriving underground lair.
Always great to have a new Ranking! How about ranking all named Dragons?
I already know who will take first two spots on this list base on levels.
Miraak (max level150) would be number one, and Alduin (max level 100) would be number two.
I’ve run into a good handful of named Dragons, as random encounters! Sooo… I love the idea, but no idea how he’ll make that list work.
The fact that, in dragonborn, you can become part of house telvanni, makes any other faction equally inferior
The Thieves Guild, the College of Winterhold, the Civil War ... I love this game but pretty much no faction felt polished to me except for the ones in Dawnguard. I may or may not be salty about not becoming the queen of Skyrim. Also, I guess it's a controversial opinion but I dislike the Dark Brotherhood the most, especially having played Oblivion. It feels like a lazy rewriting to me. That said 1pt for Shadowmere.
I get that, i wish there were more missions that made me feel like an assassin. The only reason I still play the Dark Brotherhood story is because of the characters. Nazir, Babette, Gabriella, all of them.
@@IsRickIV That's right, you don't feel like an assassin in a lot of them, you feel like a common bandit. Which you are, thanks to Astrid.
@@amortlepsg Exactly, especially at the end of the Questline. There were some pretty good missions during the story mind you, but very few to give you that assassin experience.
Finally I found someone that agree with my opinion of Dawguard and Companions being the best guilds!!!
Ikr companions is so good
FudgeMuppet did a video for the Companions, mostly on several flaws and how it could’ve been better. I do like the faction but I also agree with FM on a lot of points. It’s worth a watch.
Both are not without their flaws, but I enjoyed their storylines the most. I agree with FudgeMuppet that the Companion’s questline could’ve been improved. I actually installed a mod for the Companions that requires more radiant quests to progress through the story line, to make it make a little more sense.
imho, most of the thieves guild quest line felt underwhelming, but finished super strong. The tone of the encounter, the nightengale lore, the balance of the rewards, and even Nocturanal's animation (ua-cam.com/video/Y8Ux9b_Ukf4/v-deo.html) felt unique, fitting, and more personal than most daedric encounters in skyrim (typically "hey, I'm just here for your artifact"). And unlike most factions which feel empty after their main quest is done, the Thieves Guild follows up with a half-decent faction management radiant quest line that gives you the sense of growing a criminal enterprise.
Besides what Longbrow said, one other reason I appreciate the Dawguard factions is the random hostile encounters. They're your faction's sworn enemy so killing them feels more thematic and personal than generic hostiles like raiders and falmer.
I wish the Blades would let you force your will as DB to pardon Paarthurnax. Recruiting mercs to the Blades and summoning them for epic fights feels like something that should happen.
My friend: what inspired you to join the dark brotherhood
Me : muneh and they have a cool horse
Also the blades are a joke for a faction
The blades are trash the only thing i did was help them find sky haven temple and as soon as i got there i loot all their gear and never returned. 😂😂😂
The Blades are trash and Delphine is also trash
I must give the credit to Bethesda for giving us a chance to recruit immortal followers to this faction, and it gives you an option for some evil choices like letting Frea into their ranks. However I am not a big fan of a faction having only 2 members at the beginning, and poorly written faction story in this game.
PS. The choice to kill or not to kill Paarthurnax is interesting, but really poorly executed in choices.
@@bacd-nn2lg bruh they shoved it up in our throat
Using Dawnbreaker as a Dawnguard member is _so_ satisfying.
Delphine can eat a brick. Agreed. Great list overall! Amazing that this game has stayed relevant beyond similarly-aged video games. I agree with a majority of the list, but would like to add a bit about the College of Winterhold: I believe it was a video by Camelworks about the Augur of Dunlain. It's a very long video (my attention span is usually for 30< videos), but 100% worth it. It would have made their faction a lot more interesting if they had given this character more depth. I would also down-rate a majority of the factions because of the repetitive theme: our leader died, we have it scripted to make you our leader with no solid follow-up or responsibilities, just a cool title and you cannot refuse, GG. I would have demanded Bryn lead the Thieves Guild, Tolfdir for the College, Nazir for the DB, and probably Vilkas for the Companions.
Is Vilkas or Farkas the smart one? I want the dumb one in charge.
I was so happy to see you out Companions at the top! I will always have a soft spot for them (especially Farkas), and I hate when they get last place in rankings.
At every playthrough I have always immediately joined the Companions and the Dawnguard.
Thieves guild is the only one I enjoy playing thru over and over again
In the Thieves guild questline, I think it would be awesome if you were given the chance to rebuild the guild, just like the Dark Brotherhood. For example, before you meet Karliah, you have to do some minor quests for the guild members, which boosts the members' disposition towards yourself. Later, you can convince these members that Mercer is a traitor, and they decide to follow you in your new Sanctuary. Finally, Mercer stands alone and cornered, and then you can either fight him directly, or trap him so that Maven puts him in jail, or you can convince him to leave Skyrim once and for all. In the end, the Thieves guild becomes a cult organization, as it should always have been.
About the College, it should have shown more of Ancano, the Thalmor and the Psijic Order. For example, Ancano could have challenged Savos in a fight, which would lead to the explosion that kills Savos, so to claim the College for himself (and the Thalmor). In the meantime, the Psijic Order protects you from the explosion and teleports you to their isle. While the College thinks you are dead, the Order trains you to become the next Arch-Mage, and defeat Ancano. They teach you unique spells, they give you magical artifacts, and when you are ready you return to Skyrim. You can choose to ally with the Synod, depending on the dialog choices you made before, and you can contact once again the Augur of Dunlain, to help you fight Ancano and the Thalmor.
Well... you can rebuilt the guild. You make minor quests and unlock a special quest. The ragged flagon will have merchants. Watch a video on youtube "become thieves guild master"
@@joaopaulobrantlessa8135 true. But I was thinking about rebuilding the guild entirely. The guild would relocate outside Riften, it would be reformed as a more cult brotherhood than a crime syndicate.
(this is my personal opinion, okay? I'm just pointing out that most of Skyrim questlines seem to be somehow flat and lazy-written)
I would be willing to give up the entirety of the Dawnguard DLC if it meant more disc space and time devoted to creating divergent questlines and opposing factions. Imagine if you were able to join the Silver Hand or Penitus Oculatus, or help Unmid and Mjoll root out and destroy the Thieves Guild? Hell, imagine if there was a branching path in the Thieves Guild where Mercer saw you moral flexibility and skill for thievery and offered to bring you in on his con? I dunno; I would just personally rather TES go back to doing factions the way Morrowind did it, forcing players to really pick sides instead of opting for the "do everything in a single playthrough" style of writing.
That'll never happen, though; Todd and Emil are both too chickenshit to risk alienating the normie demo.
it's not just "do everything" it's do everything the same way. the only choice in the game is really killing the dark brotherhood instead of joining it, but it's fucking lame.
The silver hand was a major missed opportunity. they just made them generic bandits. When it could have made a much more interesting story to expose the companions as werewolves.
The
@@RomrotMechanikos
In my ideal Skyrim there would have been twelve factions: six for each archetypal playstyle with two opposing each other, so a Companion/Silver Hand dichotomy for warriors, Thieves Guild/Penitus Oculatus for sneaky types, and and College paired against another faction--maybe a subgroup of Thalmor or dragon cultists, something like that. Additionally I would have the Stormcloaks and Legion, and the Greybeards' and Blades, but I would flesh them out more to make them more believable as groups. I would also put skill requirements to advance in each faction, instead of just completing a piss-easy quest that any novice could do.
Imagine playing a goody two shoes and being able to resist NOT pickpocketing everyone in the whole game 😭🤣🤣🤣
Man I wish I had that restraint
Man the thieves guild is by far the most compelling in the game. Such a fun quest line that opens up 2 different factions (kinda) as well
PLEASE do a helmet tier list! Purely aesthetically based, so you can include hats and masks too!
Only good thing about Namira (the Lady of Decay) is you can finish that Daedric quest, get Eola, the cannibal girl with the weird eye, stash the ring somewhere so people don't talk about your breath all the time...and then take her to the Boethiah Daedric quest (The Prince of Plots) and you have a perfect sacrificial character to stick to the Post of Superglue and stab her in the back...actually kind of poetic justice murdering the cannibal so you can get the Ebony Mail. To Namira fans...hey, you want Decay, me and my friend Boethiah have a speed run straight into Decayville. Good luck.
Bards College - It basically includes just the burning of King Olaf, which is supposed to be a very important task and you are suddenly assigned to it even though you re the newest member
College of Winterhold - Interesting concept, though as someone here said before, very unrealistic considering that you can become archmage without casting a single spell.
Civil War - Can't play it without mods, extremely unrealistic considering you just free a couple of forts and then attack the other faction's major city and you basically won...not to mention that your troops respawn endlessly so it s basically impossible to lose a battle
Thieves guild - Nothing to bitch about here, very well written, my 2nd favorite.
Dark brotherhood - As much as I hate their philosophy, I must say it s pretty immersive, what I find it weird is that eventually even the guards will learn who you are but do nothing to stop you haha
Dawnguard - My personal favorite, also you get the chance to discover the Forgotten Vale which is prob the most amazing location in the game. Also, Isran is too much of a chad to let you become the leader which just makes it funny if you ask me, because he s been like that since the beginning of the quest.
Companions - It's too short, they could have added so much more, also it feels like Kodlak gains confidence in you too easily.
Namira - Played it once a few years ago, don t remember much haha
Volkihar - F*** vampires.
I think the companions were garbage personally but in response to your point, if you read Kodlak's journal, he explains the he had dreamt of your coming before you showed up, which is why he took to you so quickly.
I love the thieves guild and the dark brotherhood together especially because the earn lots of money plus half price bountys
Mage's College logic is really stupid. Yeah, sure, my 2 handed, heavy armor, barbaric orc who only knows a lesser ward, healing and fast healing, and flames is definitely an arch-mage material. They could have not killed Mirabelle and made her the arch-mage and maybe give us the chance to challenge her for the title but only using whatever magic we have, if we use weapons, even if enchanted, we disqualified or some shit.
Most of the factions seem to have that problem. The companions, even though they despise magic give you quests that can be completed by a mage mostly. And the dank brotherhood and the thieves guild all have massive holes in logic. Dank brotherhood is so incompetent it's a mercy to end them.
My top 2 would have to be Dawnguard and Thieves Guild honestly.
Dark brotherhood and companions are decent. It’s just when even thinking about their counter parts in oblivion I get so disappointed.
A fully upgraded werewolf is insanely OP
Its puny compared to what smithing/alchemy/enchanting can do
one of my favorite things about my most recent playthrough is to become a member of the companions and get to the point where i'm a werewolf, then join the cult of namira, do that one quest, and then eat all of the members of the coven as a werewolf. when i did it, everyone just kind of sat there, unbothered.
There's a mod called Open Civil War that readds most of the cut content and turns some of it into a turn based game in regards to the Civil War. I agree though, so much was cut and its frustrating.
Is it on PlayStation?
@@vjlong4581 no, only on pC, i just looked.
@@MLPDethDealr32 there use to be a mod(don’t know if it’s still there) called civil war overhaul is it the same as that? Or different? Or do you know?
I like how the civil war factions are well developed morally and ethically. You can easily see good and bad sides to both. While Tullius definitely deserves a bit more lore, I think that the fact that Ulfric has so much more focus works well in establishing that the Stormcloaks are a cult of personality first and foremost, while the Empire does not appear to be. No one is praising the ground Tullius walks on or hosting a Titus Mede fanclub, but Stormcloaks and their sympathizers really act like Ulfric has never taken a foul shit in his life, and everything he's done since his Meadhall Putsch in Solitude is treated as some sort of stigmata straight from Akatosh.
Don't care better than working for thalmor puppets
Im also a goodie goodie .. its why i can hardly ever feel immersed playing the dark brotherhood quest line.. not to say its bad, but I’m a person where.. even in games my irl personal morals take me over.
Thieves guild seems to be the most beloved clan in skyrim, and it makes sense because they *easily* have the best questline. Also the fact you can go from guild member to nightingale is dope, with the nightingale blade being probably the best weapon given to you by a faction in the game and the coolest armor also coming from them
I love the thieves guild. My main build is a nightingale after all, the other factions d9nt quite live up to the lore. The only one in the companions who does is vilkas, whom I've traveled with quite extensively and I can say confidently, he's the best base game 2h warrior as I had him with me once at northwatch keep, the dude literally just body bagged them with his starting kit. Shame you can't get karliah or brynjolf as a follower, the college has ONE passable follower and it's not J'zargo as much as I love him, the dark brotherhood questline is great imo, but the followers you get are TERRIBLE FOR A STEALTH BUILD. They literally shove me while lining up a shot with a bow and caused me to miss. EVERY. TIME. Anyway loved the video. Sorry for the paragraph lol.
I agree man the companions were the most fun to me
*Skyrim Creatures Ranked Worst To Best Pls*
You can actually start the Dark Brotherhood questline earlier by going up the road from Whiterun to Dawnstar. There you'll find Cicero at the Loreius Farm raging about the "wagon wheel! Damnedest wagon wheel! It broke don't you see!!" It will start the quest, "The Delayed Burial". This happens just before you go and kill Grelod and includes special dialogue from Cicero when you officially join the Brotherhood on whether or not you helped him, ignored him, or reported him to the guard about his "illicitly placed box/coffin" in the cart itself.
I always did this quest after I discovered it a few years ago because it actually gave me a reason to go and start the Brotherhood questline. That, and Cicero is just awesome XD.
The Stormcloak are Over the Imperials... Skyrim is the Nordic earth and some slave of the thalmor try to invade or "reconquire" loses lands ... and overall they made ourself prisoner and tried to kill the dragonborn at the beginning of every game
I made a mistake skyrim is the land land of snow elves (falmer) and then the Nords from Atmora come first to invade the Dwemer and Falmer on their own land with the help of Akatosh and the dragons
I like how the dark brotherhood lets you upgrade the home base after the first gets destroyed, and also assassinating the emperor is a pretty sick quest so I’d have to say they’re my favorite
The best part about the thieves guild is definitely the nightingale set. Also I never return the special lockpick whatever it’s called
It’s called the Skeleton Key. And you are aware that you can select a perk in the lockpicking tree that makes lockpicks unbreakable?
Yeah skeleton key I remember. I just like the look of it and don’t really like the end of the quest
@@milomateer6565 Yeah I understand, it’s looking sick indeed.
These videos have to be some of my favorite Skyrim content hands down.
I always choose the Stormcloaks. Nothing to do with politics, history, or any of that. I just can never get my head around the Imperials trying to kill me in the beginning, without good cause, and then supporting them in the war.
Bards College...which will never require any speaking or performing in any way.
Thieves Guild is 100% the best, yes the story stats off slow but by the 3rd or 4th quest the stakes are higher than ever and it's great! Also Nightengale armour...
One thing about the college of winterhold is the many secrets it has with the basement, like summoning demons, and a demon summoner and dead people
Of all the guilds, I dislike the Thieves Guild the most--and it's the one I want to like the most.
But:
1. It feels sort of ridiculous when a warrior in full armor with no stealth skills at all wanders into town and Brynjolf immediately says, "Ah, laddie, you look like exactly the kind of person I'm looking for!"
2. Except that it turns out he's right, because most of the thieves' guild quests require no actual thief skills whatsoever, and said fighter can just bulldoze his way through.
3. The thieves' guild is incompetent enough to let someone empty out a vault full of treasure right under their noses, carrying it right out through the central headquarters of their guild.
4. And this is the organization to which I have to pledge my undying soul, KNOWING that almost all of the thieves who did so before me have wound up as insane ghosts haunting a tomb forever.
5. And what do I get for my immortal soul? ...a suit of armor. Not a great deal. In fact, it's such a BAD deal that the Daedra offering it expresses open surprise that we would actually accept it.
It all just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's the one questline I almost never complete.
It does have some writing problems but you are right, don't complete it.
Skeleton key is better than knock off illusion spells which you can only use once a day
I am very glad that many people love J’zargo as much as I do
I always love your opinions :)
My first one i joined companions married the huntress its cool cause when u level up she gets older so its like actual life ,but cant raise a kid or get a dog
Thieves Guild so low in the ranking?
How do you get to nighingales Set and uber Chillrend without completing it?... Indeed jobs are a pain in the *** but you need to manage all that stolen goods so you need some fences. The best factions imo is something like thieves or Dark Brotherhood (Sets, Windshear), Companions are a waste of time (skyforge stuff available at the mission 1) only need is if you want play as a dog or have Aela following you.
I'm NOT a milk drinker!...
It has by far and away the worst written dialogue though.
thats his opinion so..
Even thou there are not listed.
Imo the blades could be actually a great thing with:
1. An Actual leader who is a badass & wise sword-Mage Master
2. He is conflicted with paartunax
3. If you talk more about paarthunax he will say to you he wants to meet him
4. When they meet, Both are impressed by the Knowledge & wise leadership of each other
5. The leader of the blades will say he won't kill paarthunax, unless the dragon will kill inncocents
6. Esbern and delphine will complain, but he says he has the Authority for the blades & the that they serve the Dragonborn
7. Greater dragon hunts at level 80, where you need to take out 3 legendary dragons at ones with the recuited blade members, esbern, delphine, and the
leader
8. The leader will be able to be a follower after 3 greater dragon hunts
The thing I love about Skyrim is that none of the factions try to hard to make you love them or hate them. Even the directly warring factions are not presented in a way that is to one sided.
This is especially obvious when compared to a game like Fallout 4 where it felt like all of the factions came on to strong and all had irreconcilable hostilities, but this issue was really put at the fore front by your followers in that game also being ready to betray each other and you as soon as they disagree on some quest path.
In my *PERSONAL* opinion, I’ve found the Companions quest line very boring and-
It just felt too repetitive at times. Going into a cave, killing a bunch of enemies and retrieving an item.
I think the thieves guild quest line makes the most sense. Every faction quest line is you becoming the leader after meeting these people a week earlier, or one of the top people basically, except for dawnguard. With the thieves guild the leader is corrupt, so you oust him. Granted, Brynyolf is more of a veteran, but he witnessed a lot of your potential throughout the quest line, so it makes sense, for the most part, that he could be humble and give the position to you and serve as a mentor basically.
even though kurt was a junkie, nirvana's still my favorite band and thus the thieves guild is in my opinion the best faction, ofc the sewer they live in is still horrendous
lmao
Why then not the Bards Guild considering association with music?
I’ve finally got round to playing Skyrim for the first time.. hearing the Dawnguard is where you get the huskies has me SOLD.
In my opinion the dark brotherhood was probably the best faction depending on your playstyle, but I also join all the factions every play through
Sorry I meant has you lvl up
Talk to Delvin and Vex and they'll give you little Thieves Guild Quests. Complete 5 of these quests in each hold (not including The Rift or Raven Rock) and you get a special request and you grow the Guild stronger and you'll grow The Ratway as well.
_But what about [INSERT MISSED FACTION]?_
I just realised your house never had a pet bee in a jar... that lil guy gives hours of extra content
My ranking of the factions that actually matter:
6. Companions
The Companions are just really boring. Yeah they're werewolves but they never actually transform in combat outside of Farkas or Vilkas saving you, I can't even remember which one did it. I like the narrative of you and Aela going on a secret Silver Hand purge, but that faction isn't fleshed out at all. I like the theory that they're a splinter group that stays true to Ysgramor's beliefs but that's never actually stated in game. My favourite part of the whole story actually comes after it's already over when Farkas and Vilkas decide to cure their lycanthropy and leave Aela as the last werewolf in the Companions. The majority of the story is just really bland with bland characters to accompany it. I do love that when you beat it you can choose any member as a follower. I did the Companions first and assumed this would be standard, I went through the Dark Brotherhood looking forward to brining all the likeable characters with me, and you know how that turned out...
5. Civil War Factions
Has a great start with the Jagged Crown quest and the battle for Whiterun but then devolves into attacking towers over and over again. Don't get me wrong I like fighting but I could just go to a bandit camp to do that. I do like how you actually rise through the ranks with promotions and the final capital siege battle is great.
4. College of Winterhold
Definitely the coolest location. The story and quests are bland for the most part. The only parts that stand out to me are going to the Midden and the Labyrinthian one, which is arguably the best quest in the entire game. I also really liked the first quest where you have a Hogwarts style magic lesson, I would have preferred more of that and less errand running.
3. Dawnguard/Volkihar Vampires
Best questline out of the factions, definitely feels like it got special treatment since it was dlc. Serana is a great character, Harkan is a fun comically evil villain, every other faction member besides the guy with Pa's axe feels samey, and even that guy becomes a generic member after you walk up with him. Oh yeah the big guy and dwarvern nerd you recruit are cool, I completely forgot about them and had to edit this part in. I was really disappointed when I played the other faction and realised it's exactly the same past the first quest.
2. Thieves Guild
Amazing storyline, radiant quests that actually lead to something, loveable characters like Brynjolf, Delvin, Vex, Sapphire and that guy you find naked in the Thalmor Embassy
1. Dark Brotherhood
Best storyline by far (minus the Thieves Guild's which is pretty close), best side quests by far, has the most iconic characters by far.
Been playing Skyrim for years. Great video bro. I liked the way it was edited. Very SKYRIM feeling.
I’ve been playing it for years too, the game is my childhood
I like headcanoning that Shadowmere's a shadow mare & that you can hook her up with Frost, the Palomino with a pedigree to have a cool line of horses that are 1/2 finely bred 1/2 *demon*
Edit: Frost's papers say he's a dude & Shadowmere is referred to with contrasting pronouns by different NPCs
That's super weird but I'd download that mod tbh
Unfortunately, both horses are female.
@@icedtease1973 His ID papers say otherwise.
"Sex: Stallion"
And from that day forth the Dragonborn became the greatest horse breeder in all of Tamriel.
@@alaljarensi6990 Average horse = 1k gold
+ Frost's covering granting a pedigree bonus
+ Who doesn't want a Dragonborn horse
= stonks
My top 3 factions
The companions
The thieves guild
The dark brotherhood
Can someone list all the factions he mentioned for me?I'd appreciate that very much.
Coven of namira, bards college, college of winterhold, thieves guild, civil war( stormcloaks and imperials), vulkihar clan, dawnguard, dark brotherhood, companions, the blades, the grey beards, and the tribal orcs.
I would place the Dawn Guard above the Companions. Here is why:
1) You aren’t forced to take on a daedric blessing/curse in order to progress through the story, although it’s certainly an option. Look, becoming a werewolf is cool and all but the way that the Companions force on you, in the middle of the city of Whiterun no less, was just dumb.
2) A more involved quest line. The Compans’ quest line can be done with little difficulty with little time invested. Hell all you have to do is one radiant quest and they ask you to recover a shard of Wuthrad because they’re already considering you for a position in the inner circle. What? Compare this with the Dawn Guard, the Fighter’s Guild in Oblivion, or even the user mod created Adventurer’s Guild and the Companions comes off more like a half formed thought than an actual faction worth joining more than once.
3) More interesting members. I dare you to name more than the inner circle or the Harbinger off the top of your head. I’ll wait.
4) More interesting antagonists. I once heard a theory put forth by Fudgemuppet that the Silver Hand are a splinter faction of the Companions who split off after lycanthropy was made mandatory to join the inner circle. They’re probably right but the way they are presented, they feel like a generic bandit gang. With silver weapons.
im not gonna yap a paragraph just to say they are both ass
The companions are literally my least favorite faction. But I get it, it's all opinion.
What I love about joining the Thieves Guild is once you complete the main questline, you get the Twilight Sepulcher. From there, instead of returning the Sepulcher to it's temple, keep it as it will replace your lockpicks, and because it's a quest item, it can NEVER break. This means you could have the most basic lockpicking skill/level and you can carelessly go nuts trying to find the sweet spot when picking locks. No more burning through lockpicks on high level locks trying to find the right spot.
And something that wasn't mentioned as a somewhat awesome perk for joining the Companions is after you become a werewolf, the wolves in Skyrim leave you alone and will never attack you.
Stormcloaks are like the anarchists irl which have no plan if they win
I get around the moral dilemma of playing as an evil character but still being able to play the morally evil guilds by playing as a evil character with a redemption arc who becomes a hero.
Like my backstory to be I was a mercenary hunting down a certain horse theif from Rorikstead when I got caught in the ambush. As an evil character early game I can join the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild and complete those storylines. Then around the time of starting the Main Quest and finding out I'm the Dovakin start having a more neutral role, joining the Companions who I feel is a morally neutral Guild. Yes you do some good acts of heroism but you become a Werewolf even if just temporary and might have to beat up some morally good characters. Then by end game I complete the Main Quest saving the World. Join either the Stormcloaks or Imperials to end the War and bring peace and join the Dawngaurd to slay Vampires becoming a hero and redeeming my evil past.
Hmm
The Cult of Namira is the reason why I turn into a Werewolf. To eat the eaters. It is one of my Skyrim guilty pleasures.
Hmmm
1. Go there and retrieve Wuuthard shard.
2. Repeat #1 for about 5 times
3. Let's go all and clear out the dungeon together.
4. Congratulations Harbinger!
...
Hmmmm