Who's Excited For Skyrim?

[ZombyWoof]

Right, about that: speaking as someone who never got past that part, can I just say how boring and confusing that was? I never could figure out exactly what I was supposed to do to advance the story. I got as far as giving a package to some guy in a town I had to hike a long distance to before getting lost on the next errand I got sent on and quickly wound up just wandering around aimlessly. Yeah, that combined with the not-doing-anything-to-impress-me combat was what left me unimpressed with what little I played of that game.

Zevox

Cool. TES games are clearly not your cup of tea. I'm sorry you felt it was boring and confusing, but hey, I hate Yu-Gi-Oh and all fighting games. I don't jump into those franchises and demand that they conform to my tastes... nor do I expect the makers of fighting games to stop using combos that require to-the-frame precision and memorizing a handful of button combos.

So you can play games you like, like maybe Halo or Final Fantasy which are strictly linear and they hold your hand on what you're supposed to be doing next, and I'll play games I like, say, The Elder Scrolls, where I get to choose what I want to do next.

Then I hear things like "we took out Mysticism" and "Suddenly, Dragons!", and I become wary again.

The mysticism thing actually bothers me. I love the fluff behind the school of Mysticism, which is basically, "...and then there's this whole bunch of magic that just seems to work, ya know?" It was the Quantum Mechanics of TES

I am also very upset that this is the second retconning of the term "dragonborn." No, seriously, to see my complaint about this, check the spoiler (NOTE: This will only make a lick of sense if you're a loredog like me)

Spoiler

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The plot of Oblivion is really *bleeping* stupid and tramples across established lore, which is why I try to pretend it was mostly just dumb. The Cyrodillic Empire only really existed from the 2nd era on, and the current bloodline (the Septim bloodline) isn't even unbroken since that point... not to mention the hundred or so years the Akiviri ran things in the Empire.

So why didn't Mehrunes Dagon take over Tamriel back when the Septims weren't around? If the "emperor" and his "amulet of kings" crap is all that's stoping the invasion, that is. Which means that the "amulet of kings" is either crap or a retconning in the deepest sense.

In fact, "Dragonborn" was originally a term that was ONLY applied to Tiber Septim, the FIRST EMPEROR. It was done to try and make him seem divine, and was a propaganda technique to attach him to Akatosh, one of the (originally 8, now 9 since the Empire wanted Tiber Septim (AKA Talos) to be even MORE divine).

Retcon #1: "Dragonborn" now applies to all of Septim's children.

Retcon #2: (implied) The Septim line was unbroken child-to-child.

See, there were times when the Septims disappeared and the next emperor would be some Dunmer claiming lineage, and then some other Nord claiming lineage, and then at other times a potentate from Akivir who managed to seize power. I guess none of that happened because if it had we'd be neck-deep in Daedra because IT IS ONLY BY THE GRACE OF THE SEPTIM LINE THAT THE DAEDRA HAVE NOT KILLED US ALL.

Oh but now "Dragonborne" means "someone who's born to kill dragons and can eat their souls to gain superpowers in a new type of magic." I mean holy crap really?!

Retcon #3: "Dragonborn" now applies to anyone who is destined to kill dragons in a superspecialawesome way.

Retcon #4: Magic is no longer "magicka," the energy flowing from Aetherius to Mundus and harnessed according to the 6 schools that have been well-defined. Now there's this other random way of spellcasting called "draconic shouting."

Retcon #5: Oh did we mention Mysticism is no longer a school?

Retcon #6: Remember how there were two races of dragons, one of them being an ancient Akiviri species that was wiped out by the Taesci who constantly conquered Tamriel? Remember how the other race of dragons were peaceful creatures who were remarkably intelligent but just died out after a time? LOLJK

What's infuriating about #s 4 and 5 is that the simplest solution to both is to make draconic shouting schooled as mysticism. Reason? "It does weird stuff and directly interacts with the souls and magicka of the dragons you've killed." I mean really, it's that simple.

I mean you have already created enough lore and cannon about your magic system that it makes sense and it is really cool. It's pretty much SCIENTIFIC the way these people talk about it, and it is exactly what I would expect from a magic system. Thanks for trashing one of the coolest parts about the TES universe broski!

The only reason I'm tentatively excited about the game is I might be able to ignore the main quest like I did in Oblibbions and just do other stuff instead. If I'm really, really lucky the awesome-as-heck-sounding "Civil war in Skyrim between loyalists and separatists" subplot will be fully fleshed out.

Like really... here are two available plot options for Skyrim:

1) DRAGONS are invading and trying to kill everything and ZOMG STOP THEM!

2) Skyrim is split between three factions. One faction believes the best future for Skyrim is separate from the Empire as an independent nation. This faction also favors extremely aggressive and xenophobic policies against everyone who isn't a Nord or Cyrodillic. One faction believes that Skyrim should continue to pay homage to the Empire and remain a member, but a result of this is paying much higher taxes and a definite cost as Skyrim's sons are sent to die on foreign lands... and in addition the Empire has been lax and unable to protect Skyrim's borders from Dunmer aggression. One last faction believes that the true heir to the throne is {Insert Nordic Dude Here}. Of course if {Insert Nordic Dude Here} becomes emperor, we'll be looking at extraordinarily harsh attitudes against any of the Elvish nations... probably even a multipronged and very costly war against the Dunmer and the Altmer (note: this would be two different wars waged at the same time).

Like... I can't even extract intrigue from the "DRAGONS!" plot. There's no negotiating with them, there's no way for a Speechcraft build to be viable at all...

Heck, one of the coolest parts of Fallout 3 (though it was shamelessly ripped from the other Fallouts iirc) is that if you were focused in social skills you never needed to fire a shot.