tha bad thing in every faction

[Hersir666]

If you want to truly role play and maybe take advantage of the games replayability aspect then I think it would be better that once you have cast your lot into one faction in Skyrim Companions, thieves, Mages or whatever you should maybe be prohibited from progressing in any other guild if not actually barred from joining.

 

I agree in principle, although it's possible that none of the "main guilds" would object if you were also a member of the Bard's College. <sarcasm> After all, it isn't as though you actually learn how to sing, dance, play musical instruments, and compose/recite poetry there. </sarcasm> You still shouldn't be disallowed from interacting with some of those guilds, though. Just because I'm a Companion doesn't mean I don't need access to advanced spells, most of which can only be acquired through college mages, who won't sell them to you if you aren't a member of the college. Similarly, as a member of the College, I might do some "independent thievery" on my own, and they don't even need to know about it. Why should I have to join the Thieves Guild to use Vex as a fence? The guild needs money, so they need my business, whether I'm a member in good standing, or not.

 

Honestly, though, I really doubt you'll see this happening in any future ES game. I think Bethesda has firmly rooted themselves into the philosophy that it's OK for them for them to railroad you into doing every single one of their "guild" questlines whether you want to or not. This is probably my biggest gripe with Skyrim, but is indicative of the increasing amount of hand-holding we've seen in ES games from Morrowind on. I'm fully expecting to see the next game come with periodic nags that pop up saying things like "You haven't joined the Thieves Guild yet!" Yes, more sarcasm, but let's face it. For a lot of us one of the most annoying things a game developer can do is to interleave missions so that you can't complete one without doing another one (that you might, for ethical/moral reasons, might not even want to do). Entanglement might be good for quantum physics. It's an extremely poor tactic in quest design.

 

Thats the point. I am totally for having to go to the college to learn about magic, the elder scrolls and also to do some quests for/with them, but why do I automatically become an apprentice as soon as I walk into that place. Then, with every quest I progress in the ranks, even though I am a Nord warrior dressed in furs, leather with a two handed axe and face paint. My character is more likely to turn that main lecture hall of the college into a Mead Hall, then teach people about magic;)

 

But yeah, for Bethesda its more about keeping people just involved in the quests, so they dont lose interest to early.