10 replies to this topic

[MidevalGuy]

 

 

 

There is another thread on this forum that talks about how most of the worthwhile artifacts are Dedric and some of the things the player has to do in order to get them force them to play a certain way/mindset whereas a better written and constructed game would give players alternatives and/or multiple paths to the achieve the artifacts. This actually fits lundonarrative dissonance to a tee because the actual definition is where players are given the illusion of freedom, but there is none.

 

 

That's one part of your argument I don't agree with. Daedric Lords are supposed to be extraordinarily powerful and usually evil beings. It makes sense that they would impose a morally reprehensible task upon the player, as a requirement for attaining their favor and their weapon. The Daedric Lords, in a way, are bound into their weapons. It would actually break lore and increase ludonarrative dissonance if you could acquire these weapons without doing what the Daedric Lords command you to do.

 

Ie, if you're a paladin player who refuses to beat a man into submission on behalf of Molag Bal, then clearly Molag Bal is not going to gift you his mace, since it is a divine weapon that he controls. Furthermore, a paladin player should not want the artifact of a Daedric Lord whose motto is "The weak shall be punished by the strong," no matter how useful it is.

 

The only problem with the vanilla Daedric quests is that you usually don't have the option of refusing and declining the weapon. The quest sits in your journal forever.

 

 

True, from a strictly lore perspective it makes sense.

 

However, from a game play perspective it's very restrictive because a lot of the "good" (light side) weapons you are awarded through various quests aren't as effective as their evil counter-parts. This is re-enforced not just through game play mechanics e.g. The Mace of Molag Bal can do a one-hit kill (critical hit), but also external rewards (Oblivion Walker achievement) for various platforms. You can ignore the achievements, of course, but once again, it comes down to balance as far as game play is concerned because the Deadric weapons are better than their "light side" equivalents a good 90% of the time.

 

For example, Dawnbreaker is a Deadric weapon and no other sword in the game does what it does against the undead (makes them explode and flee). You can wield it "justly" by defending the weak against the undead, but players have no choice but to align themselves with Meridia in order to get it. Not only will it take up quest log space if a Paladin refuses to align him/herself, but there is no other way to get that type of artifact, period. You can't even craft it. That's where the dissonance and having less player choice becomes apparent if you want better swag so-to-speak.