Lehcar Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Let's see... Blades: Dead. Fighter's Guild: MIA. Mages Guild: Splintered, and mostly dead. Thieves' Guild: MIA. The one in Skyrim makes no mention of the Gray Fox, or any other familiar Thieves Guild tenets or traditions, and it's entirely run by a corrupt evil noblewoman, so clearly it's a totally separate entity... Dark Brotherhood: Totally dead... no Sithis, no Night Mother, no tenets, no family, no love, no awesome fellow assassins by my side. Finished. Bereft of life. Expired. Checked out. Bought the farm. ... Why did all of the player's efforts to save these factions in Oblivion have to be all for nothing? Why did they all have to die or go down the toilet?... That sucks... terribly depressing, indeed... there's no reason why these factions should have died, if the player could no longer run them, at least they would logically have handed down leadership to a capable successor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachdonin Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Blades; Not really dead, though no longer a main component of the Imperial Throne what with the end of the Septims and all. The PC was never the leader of the Blades, nor was he the savior of them. Even then, the Blades were intimately tied to the Septim dynasty, and generally not trusted by the nobles of... well... anywhere. It makes perfect sense that they would be replaced when Titus Mede took the Imperial City and became the new Emperor. You also have to consider the fact that the Blades FAILED in their mission to protect the Septim bloodline. It died out under their watch, that can't be good for their morale. I can imagine Jaufrey throwing himself from that wall in anguish over the fact. Fighters Guild; Not present in Skyrim, but still functioning, at least in Cyrodiil. The Nords have something of a hard-on for tradition, and the role of the Fighters Guild was already fulfilled by the Companions. The Guild was smart in opting not to try competing with such a well thought of group. Mages Guild; I wouldn't say it's DEAD, but things certainly haven't gone their way. Then again, lets face it, in Oblivion things didn't end particularly well. A good number of mages are killed by the Necromancers, One Archmage dies and his replacement disappears. The Altmer succeed from the Empire, taking with them a good chunk of the artifacts and magical lore. The schism within the Guild was already well in play during Oblivion, and its division into the College of Whispers and the Synod makes sense. Thieves Guild; Bear in mind, the Thieves Guild varies from province to province. The guilds in Highrock, Hammerfell and Morrowind are all very different than the one in Cyrodiil. The Grey Fox has no influence or relevance outside of Cyrodiil. Really, 'Thieves Guild' is used in the Empire as a catch-all for underground criminal organizations. They even went so far as to label the Coma Tong a thieves guild. Dark Brotherhood; This really depends on how you see things. Lets face it, at the end of the Oblivion questline, the Dark Brotherhood wasn't in good shape. Most of the Black Hand were dead, they had been pretty much eradicated in Morrowind (which occurs during Tribunal) and the new Listener disappears shortly afterward. Add to this the fact that we know there was a crackdown on them shortly after the Oblivion Crisis (it's mentioned in The Infernal City). I don't view anything but the Fighters Guild as an actual success, really. I wasn't the least bit surprised to discover how things had gone over the intervening 200 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lehcar Posted July 31, 2013 Author Share Posted July 31, 2013 (edited) Well, okay... it isn't so much the fact that they've been nuked that I'm upset about. It's the fact that nuking them has caused the quality of their respective story arcs to deteriorate significantly. The Fighter's Guild is actually the one Oblivion guild I don't really care about. The FG quests and storyline are mediocre at best, and not very good at all compared to the other guilds. The Companions are basically like Skyrim's FG, and I think the Companions and their story arc are absolutely excellent. No, really, I think it was VERY well done. A massive improvement over the FG, so much more interesting, and many times more fun to play. I enjoyed the Mages' Guild, the Thieves' Guild, and of course the Dark Brotherhood immensely in Oblivion. Their counterparts in Skyrim, though... they're just nowhere near as good. The quests simply don't seem as fun. The storylines aren't as engaging. Sure, they weren't in the best of shape in Oblivion, but their story arcs ended on a positive note, and the PC was there to help rebuild and rebound... I get serious deja vu playing them now. I just don't like trying to save a guild that I already saved before, trying to reach the exact same goal. I think it would have been much more fun if they'd left the fates Oblivion's guilds ambiguous and come up with new, clearly separate, and more unique guilds to serve as counterparts for those in Oblivion, like the ones in Morrowind... Edited July 31, 2013 by Lehcar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiegril Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 The Grey Fox is mentioned, you will find a bust of him in Mercer Frey's house, and Delvin will comment on it when you give it to him. After that it is displayed in the case behind the guild master's desk. I agree with your point that there is rather too much repetition on the "bring x back to it's former glory" theme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urtel Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 I agree with your point that there is rather too much repetition on the "bring x back to it's former glory" theme. I guess they tried to show the whole situation in empire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachdonin Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Personally, i found everything in Oblivion to be overdone, with the notable exception of the Fighters Guild. Every other major group has some world shattering conspiracy or event going on, all at the same time the Oblivion Crisis is happening? Too much, too fast. It's there again in Skyrim, sort of, though with the exception of the College nothing in Skyrim is really world altering or does much to the balance of power. I disagree that there's a 'Restore the former glory' vibe though. With the Companions, you're not doing anything to restore the guild. You're doing odd jobs, killing 'rivals' and finally helping the soul of your dead Guildmaster. With the College, you do nothing to restore the school in any way, and in fact you probably make people MORE suspicious of the College of Winterhold. The Dark Brotherhood can really be interpreted either way, since regardless of what you do the Brotherhood is pretty much wiped out. You start rebuilding, yes, but it's hardly a former glory thing... more like a staving off extinction thing. Really, only the Thieves Guild is about rebuilding former glory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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