Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood are boring

[Werne]

I started a new game to join the Dark Brotherhood, since I wiped them out in my first play-through. But it's so boring, there is no fun stuff to do. In Oblivion I had fun quests in the Dark Brotherhood, like sneak through a cave to swap a guy's medicine for poison, kill a guy but don't kill him (he fakes his death) and then revive him, and my favourite, drop a deer's head on a guy sitting below in a chair. Plus, Lucian Lachance is much cooler than Astrid.

 

So after I figured out it's boring as hell I decided to join the Thieves Guild, since I liked it in Oblivion. And it seems it's also boring and quite dumb as well. They say don't kill when on mission but I can kill a whole bunch of mercenaries and only leave the one guy they said I shouldn't kill (though I can) and it doesn't matter to them, no one cares. If I kill someone when on mission in Oblivion I have to pay the blood price, but not here. There's even a mission when you need to kill someone, can't remember the name and I stopped when I found that out. And even the missions are boring, in Oblivion you had to steal an Elder Scroll, plant eveidence to a traitor, screw a guard captain (my favourite, I just love his expression when I tell him he's transfered). In Oblivion, Thieves guild was something like Robin Hood, steal from the rich, give to the poor, they had some sence of dignity and honor and I liked that. It's all gone in Skyrim.

 

Do you like the Dark Brotherhood/Thieves Guil questlines? I sure don't.

[pastafrola]

Totally agree on the thieves guild. I really miss the Grey fox and the honored thieving :facepalm: .

 

The Dark brotherhood is not so bad (for Skyrim standards). Cicero and the assassination of *SPOILER* add some fun.

[alrieice]

While I agree that they were not as great as some of the Oblivion quests, you have to remember one things lore-wise:

 

Tamriel has basically gone to sh** since Oblivion times. The problems with the Thalmor have caused a lot of problems for the Elder Scrolls world, and that in turn effects the guilds.

The Dark Brotherhood is dying out and actually having to actively go out and search for contracts when you start the game.

 

I haven't played the Thieves Guild yet, so I can't give an opinion on that, but I'd assume that it is falling apart as well, since they seem to have been reduced to less respectable people (in the eyes of the Skyrim citizens), less even than in Oblivion.

[zencadet]

I never played Oblivion so I can't really compare, but I'd like to add that the Imperial questline was also pretty disappointing from a rogue/thief point of few. The bulk of the quests revolve around taking forts, but the random spawn-in of enemies prevents you from taking the 'sneaky assassin' route; Instead of an immersive cat-and-mouse experience wherein you quietly and carefully dispose of an entire garrison of rebel soldiers you just end up tanking wave after wave of generic bad dudes. The one or two quests that even allow the player to take on the role of sole assassin, letting you tell your Imperial allies to "wait here, i'll take care of it", are ruined as they all inevitably rush in whenever you make your first stealth kill.

 

There could have been so much more, and not simply stealing battle plans or assassinating couriers and enemy officers, but in-depth 'Apocalypse Now'-style espionage quests unique to the military storyline that couldn't be replicated from the Thieve's Guild or Dark Brotherhood.

[invertedpanda]

I actually really enjoyed the DB quests, especially the last few. I felt the characters in the DB were also much more interesting than most.

 

 

Too bad the bulk of them get killed off.

 

 

The Thieves' Guild quests were a little frustrating; a lot of grinding to get the guild back up to snuff. The main story, especially near the end, was "interesting", but not near as good as the DB.

[ClodRaker]

I prefer Skyrim's DB to Oblivion's DB. I liked Astrid precisely because she was subdued and fairly believable as a cold-blooded killer, as opposed to the somewhat trite flamboyant assassin (a role filled in this game by Cicero).

 

I can't really defend the Thieves' guild, however -- it was extremely disappointing, and the lack of stealth/subterfuge required for virtually all the later quests was pretty lame.

[zencadet]

Here's one idea to spice up the Thieve's Guild.

[jmlport98]

Bethesda thought that Radiant quests would be better than hand-made quests. They were wrong.

[nogare98]

I liked the thieves guild a lot. Especially once Karliah becomes involved and the story picks up. The dark brotherhood was pretty decent, but still far-cry from the dark brotherhood in oblivion. Still, both of these guilds were of much better quality than the college of winterhold and the companions. I think that guilds became less of a focus in skyrim than they were in oblivion. For awhile I lamented the state of the guilds in skyrim, but eventually I realized that in oblivion I constantly felt myself wishing for more small quests and interesting dungeons. Skyrim nailed that part, but in doing so it kind of flip-flopped. If we look at it from a lore standpoint, it actually kind of makes sense. In the untamed wilds of skyrim, there's a new adventure in every unexplored and uncultivated ruin; yet the cities and the guilds are small, disorganized, and barely holding together in some cases. In urbanized cyrodil, cities, settlements, and prestigious institutions can be found everywhere you look, but the secret unexplored places of interest are far and few. But however you want to look at it, I feel like we're in a better position for improvement than we were in oblivion. Filling oblivion with all sorts of interesting quests, dungeons, and small but extremely noticeable features would be way harder than revamping the guild quests. With a couple of well made dlcs and mods, I'm confident that this issue will cease to be a problem.

[Slexlaw]

... Plus, Lucian Lachance is much cooler than Astrid.

 

I agree. Both quest lines seem "dumbed down" a lot from Oblivion. And WAY too short.

Personally I am also a bit disappointed that the nightingale gear is much better for an assassin build than the DB gear

 

 

Good to see Lucien is also in Skyrim. He's my favourite companion.