Worst writing in the game?

[BigBizkit]

Maybe it is not the worst as I do like Dragonborn in general but:

 

When I first played the Dragonborn MQ, and came to the point where Hermaeus Mora wanted the Skaals' secrets I expected that the Skaal would be like "no we cannot do that" and then some alternative route would open up where the Dragonborn would have to discover the way of the allmaker or what not and thus find a way to get the third word on his own.

 

Instead it felt really really rushed. He wants our secrets? Well, ok. HM kills the shaman, you never get to know what those treasured secrets were in the first place and skip to boss battle. Ehm, ok!?

[EgoAltar]

I find the worst writing to be the things that are omitted.

For instance: Deekus.

Here's this Argonian sitting among the treasures he's pulled out of shipwrecks. In true Elder Scrolls style, the set-piece tells its own story, unfortunately, better than the missed opportunity of the character.

Unless you're on the quest that involves him, there are no dialogue options. There should at least be the chance to ask him what he's doing out there- or better still- shouldn't he be asking you? If you find him "too soon" the character's presence (or rather absence of a real character) actually detracts from the story told by the surroundings.

Then there are scripted events. I understand that there is a balance to be met between storytelling and game mechanics, but when it is clear that you're doing things "out of order," it makes the game seem less real, not more. Adrienne is talking to Idolaf at the gates of Whiterun, no matter what time you enter. All of Solitude turns out for their "event" when you enter, but if it's not daytime, they scatter like roaches after they have performed their vignette for the player.

[Stygs]

Yeah, its allways jarring if you come across a person and instantly know they are quest related because they have a name but no usefull dialog. Like Alain Dufont - you can kill all the bandits around him and he wont care, but as soon as you talk to him he gets hostile. Although finding quest items but not the related quest is worse as it makes even less sense ("Dravins Bow? Who is Dravin and why do I have his bow?!").

Regarding Serana: I wholeheartedly agree - when I played Skyrim/Dawnguard the first time, I stopped playing the game at two occassions just because the writing was sooo bad.

1. After freeing Serana because the lack of dialogue options made my char look like an idiot (I also have to wonder: is the subject of her feeding on humans ever brought up? Even if she is a "good" vampire, I guess she would still have to drink human blood...).

2. The Thief Guild Quest line. Everything about Gallus Book is just bad writing - from the idea that he even knew the language fluently to the fact that the guild instantly accepts it as proof despite it being just a translation that was writen by Enthir. And why was everyone surprised that the treasure room was empty? Wasnt the whole point of the initial questline that the guild has fallen on hard times?

Also bonus points for the whole "give you soul to Nocturnal because Karliah said so" stuff....

I also consided the City guards to be badly writen - not their dialogue, but their general backstory: are they citizens of their city, are they mercenaries, are they undead golems created by the local wizard? I dont remember seeing anything about that.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Stygs

[notmyhome]

I wish we'd got to know Gallus. Scholar, master-thief, servant of a Daedric prince, lover of Barenziah's grandchild... He must've been quite the character.

[vram1974]

The success of mods like Falskaar and Wyrmstooth shows you how badly Skyrim players wanted stories with real plots in them. Although I dislike the Falskaar map I think the writing and plot are above par.

 

Then the success of mods which offer choice like Parthuurnax Dilemma show you that fans really despise being forced into roleplaying in ways that don't suit their character. There are so many examples of the terrible script writing (not lines, but plot):

 

1. The Thieves Guild is despicable in every conceivable way. Any moral crusader would exterminate this group without an afterthought. They're the anti-thesis to the Grey Fox and Oblivion. And yet these scumbags pay homage to the Grey Fox with a bust of him in Mercer Frey's house. Yet you have no choice but to join them.

 

If you're immoral, when you're finished the Thieves Quest there's no real acknowledgement of your success and Vex still asks if you want to be her errand boy.

 

2. There's no option to join the third most popular faction in Skyrim. The friggin' Forsworn! I mean, why put in the Markarth Forsworn conspiracy and not provide the option to join them in liberating the Reach?

 

3. We all know that Civil War Overhaul proved that plot was awful. And joining one side of another involves a series of tedious invasions of holds and keeps. With all the political power hanging in the balance it's even irresponsible for the dragonborn to get involved at all.

 

4. Speaking of Dragonborn, why the spoiler so early on? If you avoid speaking to the Jarl of Whiterun and thus prevent dragons from appearing in the world you will still get NPCs calling you Dragonborn even though you've done nothing but act like any other adventurer. You don't even have shouts so there's no proof of anything.

 

5. The Companions questline is frustrating since it more or less forces you to become a werewolf. It also needs balance like in Dawnguard where you get a choice to join one side or another. Do I want to join the Silver Hand and exterminate the abominations? Yes, yes I do. Thanks for asking.

 

6. Mods like Requiem and Dragon Combat Overhaul fix the fact that killing dragons is effortless, but it still makes it frustrating that there's no fulfillment to completing the main questline (and it's tedious). WHY WHY WHY do dragons continue to attack you after you've defeated Alduin? That makes no sense on any planet at all.

 

7. Other frustrations:

 

Being forced to join Mage's Colege and learn magic just to do radiant quests involving Winterhold

 

Having no option to tell Arventius to get lost after asking you to murder the woman. And if you do, it triggers the DB quest and you either have to kill the tied up victims or take on a very tough Astrid

 

Your reputation doesn't grow as you accomplish great deeds, except everybody seems to know you as the dragonborn.

 

Guards still harass you for petty nonsense and you're forced to comply even though you could put Whiterun to the sword if you wanted.

 

You're forced to swim in the Arctic Ocean to complete certain quests and explore all areas

 

Any "essential" character. You should have the option to kill anybody and thus force failure of a quest

 

Having said all that

 

There's some great quests in the game that are highly immersive and well written, including the Sheogorath cameo, Hircine quest, Sanguine quest... heck, any Daedric quest really (except Molag Bol, you're forced to murder).

 

I really enjoyed Dawnguard immensely, even if Serana is kind of Valley Girlish

 

But the best writing comes from mods. Bethesda is good at creating the Nirn world and creatures but their plots are somewhat lacking. I mean, even Oblivion was horribly tedious. Remember "Help for Bruma"? Hey, I'll send 1-2 soldiers if you close an entire Oblivion gate solo. How does that sound?

[Hyacathusarullistad]

Falskaar [...] writing and plot are above par.

 

... you're not serious, are you? Falksaar is a marvellous achievement, second to none in dungeon design for sure. But the story is... yeah, sorry, I couldn't disagree with you more on that.

[Wveth]

Oh my goodness, Falskaar was more embarrassing to me than Serana's love-me-I-have-daddy-issues cliche.

[vram1974]

Sorry I always get Falskaar and Wyrmstooth mixed up. I meant the mod where you go though the dungeon in pursuit of a dragon and wind up in a new map with giant mushrooms, eventually culminating in an epic battle. I'm pretty sure now that's Wyrmstooth. The NPCs could have had better dialog though.

 

Falskaar had the uprising of the old army which resulted in an amazing battle but the map was really flat if I recall. It's been a while since I played either one but I think the dragon mod has the better replayability. Falskaar required traversing vast distances of empty flat forest that I didn't really dig that much.

[Lachdonin]

I think it's unfair to judge Skyrim's Thieves Guild based on Oblivion's. Oblivions Theives Guild had no bearing or ideological similarities to any other thieves guild in any TES game. It was easily the worst writing in the SERIES, topping even the Dark Brotherhood re-write. The whole Robin Hood thing was absolute garbage, and returning the thieves guild to... Well, a guild of THEIVES instead of a merry band of do-gooder filchers.

 

If your a moral character, you shouldn't be inclined to join the Thieves Guild PERIOD.

[vram1974]

I don't think of the Thieves Guild as a group of thieves though. It's basically a thugocracy protected by Maven Blackbriar, who later becomes Jarl of Riften and spreads her corruption throughout the hold. This is a group who takes an otherwise gorgeous village and sullies it with their extortion racket where members victimize hardworking and honest townspeople and then try and get you to conspire to be a bully and threaten violence and damage of their most sacred possessions.

 

I think it's a major flaw in the game not being able to oppose that level of evil and utterly burn every last thief in the village.