This topic was kinda suggested by something Ben said on the poll thread.
I don't know about anyone else, but now that I've done the main quest a couple of times, I look for different ways to play Skyrim. And more often than not, I find myself ignoring the instructions to head to talk about dragons with Balgruuf - and, instead, wandering off in my own direction.
As a result, I'm actually a bit ignorant on dragon shouts - quite a few of them I've never had in any play through. IN fact when I was making the poll, I was thinking, like, 'What the hell does that one do?'
Then, of course, there are those who don't like dragon shouts for some reason (if so please explain why) and those who prefer not to become Dragonborn at all (and thus not 'unlocking' dragons in the first place)
Anyone else in this situation?
The only reason most of my characters don't use DS is simply because the character isn't a Dragonborn. In my heart there is only one Dragonborn and having multiple ones kinda ruins the experience for me and it shows the difference of my main guy to my other characters. There can be only one.
I like fighting dragons but I never cared for the messianic main quest of Skyrim (or Oblivion for that matter). I much prefer playing as a treasure hunter or wanderer doing good deeds. That said I can see how shouts can make for more interesting builds. The only shouts that really interest me though are Unrelenting Force and Slow Time... and maybe Aura Whisper if you don't want to use Alteration magic...
but if you don't want to use magic then why are you using magic? Its like this extra school of magic that only you are gifted with because you're the "chosen one".
I rarely ever use dragon shouts. Sometimes, my characters do not even require them. My up-coming build, The Volkihar Titan, the only shouts used are THREE (Soon to be Four). Dragon Aspect, Marked for Death, Elemental Fury, Slow Time (Soon to be added again).
My favorite character, my Archer-Heavy Armor Tank with it's "Bane of the Body" (Longbow with Daedric Arrows, Power Shot, Force without Effort, Bullseye, Paralyze (2 seconds) + Soul Trap (2 seconds, affected by Soul Siphon), Seeker of Sorcery: Reduces enchantment consumption) This bow was so powerful, that I was dropping enemies and staggering by the galore. So I made a challenge out of it: No shouts unless absolutely essential and NO killing. The bow was only used to cause disarray and create a "Vampire Enhanced" bow. I combined this with Secret of Arcana and Soul Siphon when hunting so I can recharge the bow.
I've actually been toying around with a build that doesn't use any form of magic. The idea is the character believes they are descended from Dwemer and true to Dwemer lore they despise all forms of magic and worshiping of gods whether it be Aedra or Daedra. I spend most of my time delving Dwemer Ruins and doing all I can to keep Skyrim in turmoil, which means not helping Nords in any way.
Oh, lots of times. I avoid shouts particularly with thief/rogue characters.
Shouts kind of bother me as a game mechanic. Because they're not tied to any skill, shouts feel detached from my character in a way. They don't help me advance a skill, and don't require any particular stats or attributes on my part. Because of that, they can feel a bit like cheating.
I'm well aware that's a strange thing to say - and I'm not sure I even agree with it entirely. But from my perspective, playing games like Oblivion and Morrowind, pretty much everything you did in those games was tied to a skill and your character's development. (Big exception: in Oblivion, Sigil Stone enchanting felt the same, since there was no character skill involved.) But Skyrim comes along, and the big focus of the game is on a system that is entirely divorced from your character's stats. I guess on the pro side, shouts *are* linked to your character's *experiences*, which is nice. But still, they feel like an added-on feature, and I wish there was a Shout skill tree to integrate these abilities with your character.
Anyway, I *do* use shouts quite frequently. Generally, I will do the Riverwood/Bleak Falls/Whiterun thing. I like having dragons around, and I like having shouts available for a lot of my characters. It's pretty rare that I go any farther in the MQ, though, since Delphine grates on me, I hate the Thalmor Embassy part, the council at High Hrothgar with the civil war leaders is silly.... there's just a lot of gritting my teeth before I get to the "good" stuff, like Skuldafn and Sovngarde.
I'm a little unsure about how not to be Dragonborn. I am always Dragonborn.
No more jokes, I nearly always use Shouts because every character can have at least one that is useful for it, even if it is just Slow Time/Become Ethereal or Whilrind Sprint which are useful for nearly any character.
For me it's more of a matter of the shouts not really doing much. Nearly all of them can be replaced by magic. I collect them but I rarely use any of them. I use shouts to progress from through quests (Unrelenting Force/Clear Skies/Whirlwind Sprint) and then I use UF and WS rarely - only when I remember that I have them or I have a need for them - there are several places where WS make getting loot possible for example. I have never collected them all, nor have I used them extensively.
I agree that there is a ton shouts can do that spells can't... and that's one of my problems with shouts. Since shouts represent an 'overlay' of powers on top of your character, regardless of build, IMO it would be nice if those powers were able to be accomplished by magic as well, even if in a slightly different form.
It's silly that the only "mind control" effects are from shouts (or one-off racial powers). Why isn't there an Illusion spell that replicates the effect of Bend Will's second word, or Animal Allegiance?
I could go on, but we're potty training the kids and they just peed on the floor. Priorities, man....
I almost always use dragon shouts. Mostly because there aren't spells that can do the same thing as the shouts I'm using.
But there are those non-magical, more ordinary characters that are a blast to play, and even rp, they never become dragonborn, unless being dragonborn is required for a quest or something. They still don't use shouts, but its still bad since they're refered to as dovahkiin and dragons are much tougher to fight without magic or shouts. It's especially a problem with the Civil war questline, which is otherwise great for normal characters, but Balgruuf just refuses to answer whose side he's on while the one dragon is around.
There should be an option in the Civil war, Balgruuf doesn't want to have anything to do with Ulfric's axe until you deal with the dragons, I should just be able to take the axe back to Ulfric and tell him Balgruuf won't help the Stormcloaks!
I have 2 characters (the first 1 crashed 'til I reinstalled) who mainly walk through the world doing random quests & who are claustrophobic. The scenery is stunning, full of variety with different weather & day/night cycles, you get lots of random encounters, & good quests.
I find it relaxing, great to start the day with as I'm waking up with a coffee, & easy to dip in & out of.
Of course no Bleak Falls means no Dragonborn progression & no shouts.
And no dragons to interupt my morning coffee!