There’s been plenty of times we’ve all talked about the various factions and the lyc(anthrope) in Skyrim that we lyc and of our favourite followers. What about those factions we can’t stand? The ones that make you cringe whenever you go near them? Those groups you find repulsive.
For me it’s the blood sucking parasites we refer to as Vampires. Joining them instead of Dawn Guard.... First off there’s that dingy stinking rat infested hole they call a castle. A castle? That? Oh it’s got a portcullis great, well that’s super isn’t it. Has anyone looked at the dining hall? They say werewolves have bad table manners...
Whenever I start a new character, if they end up for whatever reason getting bitten by a vampire before I manage to partake in Aela's blood, I start again. All my saves are 100% vampirism free.
Followers... Serana... She does my tail in to no end.
Every time there is a fight, every single Hircine damned time it’s...
“Oh let me summon something. Oh I can raise that to fight for you”
“NO!!! Stay the hell out of it... They just get in the damn way... Can’t you at least hold a bow like you’re going to use it?” And please if you’re that old then shouldn’t you be wearing Ancient Nordic Armor? It’s ancient like you for howling out loud... Here's a chair. Sit down, shut up and wait until I've cleared out the dungeon.
What about you? Is there a faction you just cannot stand or a group?
Is there a follower who you detest to the full?
Dark Brotherhood. Don´t get me wrong, I think that their questline is probably the best one in Skyrim, but the whole idea of sadistic, worshipping god of "slaying", assassin family is repulsive. I like assassins, I really do. But I like professionals, someone who does it for money, not because he/she enjoys the slaughter.
Plus I found the whole idea of Sithis being the god of killing little bit too much brainwashing. Whole DB feels like some cult that´s trying to wash your mind. If Bethesda went for worshipping the Night Mother (which is clearly real) it would be really great twist in TES, because at least for once, you can see what everyone´s worship.
I still think that Night Mother "came up" with all that Sithis bullshit because she knew they won´t worship her. So she pretty much controls the DB and uses some distant primordial force to control them.
As I said, Dark Brotherhood is full of crap.
Those goggles had practical reason. Ash storms on Vvardenfell were pretty common, that´s why they had it.
And yeah, Mirric, their armor in Morrowind looked much better. It had some morrowind feel to it. Oblivion´s DB armor didn´t look as bad as in Skyrim, but it could have been better.
I totally agree with Karver about the Dark Brotherhood. The only time I wanted to join I ended up killing Astrid, because I was revolted by that bloodthirsty bitch.
The vampires, they are kinda disgusting too.
And the Thieves Guild. The way you can't go to Riften market without being stalked by Brynjolf annoys me to no end. I have to run from the bastard every time because I don't want to do his stupid quest.
But there ya go. Why nearly every faction on average earns a half-hearted meh from me. And also why Serana sucks.
Because they suck in comparison to Oblivion and Morrowind factions. It´s simple as that. Skyrim Factions suck. DB and TG have quite interesting plots, but the whole thing of becoming the "I´m the best there is in what I do, and what I do isn´t nice, so you should give me the most difficult tasks no other members of these factions could complete!" takes away. It forces you to be the One. And I don´t like that.
While I can't compare Oblivion and Morrowind's faction quests with Skyrim's since I don't have a copy of them.Another faction I can complain about is the Vigilant of Stendarr.
Radicals is what I could describe of the group.While their cause is just,their ideology of viewing ALL Daedra as evil is kinda not.I just assumed they treat Orcs and Dunmers as Daedra worshipers so they'll probably kill them on sight.They would even destroy Dawnbreaker if they had a chance,the undeads worst weapon destroyed because its a Daedric Artifact.Atleast the Dawnguard accepts lycanthropes into their group.But with all due respect,I like the Vigilants of Stendarr but I just don't like in what they believe in.
As for Legion,may Stendarr have mercy on you because Sotek probably won't...
I couldn't agree more. Their questline is good (although you do gain in rank rather quickly, this is a common problem for modern Bethesda games), but they as a group are a bit lame and somehow lack the professionalism that one would expect from an elite assassins' guild.
There should have been an option to side with Astrid and screw the Dark Mother.
I hate the College of Winterhold and I will tell you why. The basic gist is that, after passing an entrance exam (which consists of casting a novice-level spell for someone), you attend a 30 second lecture and then go on an expedition into a dangerous tomb to hunt for rare, valuable and potentially dangerous artifacts. Plot dictates that you’re contacted by the Psijic Order, a reclusive group of mages from across the world, because for whatever reason they’ve deemed you special. They say that you set a chain of events that can’t be stopped and only you can prevent a future disaster. Later on you find an artifact, and it turns out to be some giant ball of awesomeness that does magic things of an obscure and indeterminate nature. Afterwards, you’re contacted by the Psijic Order again. They tell you that the giant ball of awesomeness is dangerous and offer some vague nonsense about the severity of the situation, but never help you at all. So of course, pretty soon that means the clearly evil Thalmor advisor who was standing around protected by plot armor the whole time, decides to take control of the giant ball of awesomeness and suck out its power, putting a ticking clock that never actually runs out onto the whole affair. In this short conflict the Archmage is killed, followed by his second-in-command.
After a bunch of dungeon crawling by the newest pupil, you find out that you need a special magic staff which was previously owned by the same god who created the giant ball of awesomeness in order to… uh, drain the giant ball of awesomeness of its power? So then the player shoots the staff at trigger script and a glitchy boss battle plays out where the player theoretically is supposed to drain the Thalmor of the magic with the staff, then kill him. Afterwards, the Psijic guys Deus Ex Machinas appear again and take the giant ball of awesomeness away to their place and name you the new Archmage. Of course, you don’t have a choice in the matter.
The most absurd thing about all of it is the extreme pace that everything runs at. There’s no build up to the main quest, there’s no real test for rising through the ranks, there’s no qualification for becoming Archmage save for saving their pathetic hides. You cast that beginner-level spells and then apparently that’s enough magical aptitude to become the Archmage. Nobody in the College does anything to help, except asking you to be their test subject and offer directions on where you should go. It demonstrates that either the College’s master-level mages are just a bunch of pansies, or that they are so stupid that a novice can outperform them in a matter of days, despite having less magical aptitude than your average tavern owner. There’s also the issue surrounding Winterhold and whether or not the College was directly responsible for the Great Collapse.
A questline to reconcile with the Jarl and even fix the damage to the city would have been way more interesting, especially because they hint and tease at it for so long… instead we get a generic Harry Potter knock-off that struggles to make any sense whatsoever. Bethesda really must be committed to preventing the player from altering the game world in any way. What’s that? The play-testers want to do something of consequence? Hmm… nah, let’s just throw in a few more grinding minigames. Chopping wood is fun, right?
The Dark Brotherhood just annoys me. They're clearly meant to be the, "Ooh, they're so funny and evil (and funny) that you just have to love them!" faction, and it's just too much. They get a lot of love and affection from the fandom from what I can tell, and I want no part in it. The whole religious angle is just bonkers, barely explained and completely incoherent (even by TES-religion standards) that it sucks the fun out of being an assassin. One of the great things about the Thieves Guild is that they're professionals; thievery is just a job to them, and it's treated as such. I think if there was a group of assassins that acted like that, I'd like them more. And the armor is weird.
The College of Winterhold is, on the whole, one of the better factions, but one thing I don't like is that, to unlock most of their basic services, you have to complete the first step of the, "Oh, you're a super-special mage who has a super-special destiny" questline. At least the Companions and Thieves Guild give you a little time as the bottom of the totem pole. I mean, it's totally weird that you can become the leader of pretty much every major group in Skyrim already.
The Volkihar aren't bad so much as misplaced...they barely feel like a part of the same game as everything else. Even the Dawnguard don't feel as out of place wandering around Skyrim, but the Volkihar are just odd. Like if you had a faction of robots or something just dropped into the game. They could be well-designed and interesting, but they just don't...fit.
On my first playthrough I found it a bit weird that I was able to finish the College of Winterhold only with a bow in my hands. However, I found that to be a good thing because it gave me the liberty to complete the faction's story however I wanted. I think all the factions are awesome in their own way. Considering you can roleplay anyone you want with them, I think Bethesda hit the mark. My favorite is the Thieves Guild closely followed by the Dark Brotherhood and Dawnguard. I think the College is my least favorite but that is only because I'm not much of a mage player.
So, stop hating! All factions are beautiful!
My main issue isn´t with that fact you can complete College without any magical talent, but with Skyrim guilds in general that they force you right from the start to be part of something big.
Take Mage´s Guild from Oblivion for example. You have to gain 7 "approvals" from Guild´s halls in Cyrodiil´s cities to gain access to Arcane University. In Thieves Guild you have to win a contest to get into the guild and then you start small, you have to items of certain value to get "a job" and be promoted.
In Morrowind, guilds actually had Favored Skills and Attributes, which mean that you have to have certain skill to climb in rank. They removed that in Oblivion which allows you to complete every guild, but you have to climb through the ranks anyway.
So, my issue isn´t that you can become Archmage without knowing crap about magic. My issue is that every guild in Skyrim FORCES you to become the leader.
Well, the "fact you can complete College without any magical talent" is a pretty big issue, if you ask me. Well....maybe not the completion itself, but the fact that you're made Archmage, which should require not just any but huge magical talent.
Thieves Guild questline, with all its flaws, does this a bit better, as simply completing the main guild questline doesn't make you Chief Thief, you also have to do small jobs and then the large jobs.