Gauldur's Magic Amulet

[RedRavyn]

It is highly frustrating, and gauldur's amulet isn't the only thing you can't complete if you don't join a guild. Some of the word walls are locked in dungeons that you can only access after joining a guild that may or may not fit with your play style. In particular I speak of Disarm - an incredibly useful shout IMO, that can only be fully unlocked by obtaining the word in Snow Veil Sanctum - a place that is locked tight until you get to a certain point in the TG questline. There are several other examples of this as well. Dungeons shouldn't care what the affiliation of the person seeking to enter them is, especially if they contain things that any sort of Dragonborn would seek.

 

And for those who might not know the significance of the masks, there's a quest associated with the masks that requires you have all of them.

 

Hint: Search around the external ruins of Labyrinthian for a "Wooden Mask".

 

 

As for Word Walls I have a few comments about them you might find useful. First of all, it's a little embarrasing, but I honestlly have never noticed whether or not the actual word available at a Word Wall is always the same. If you consult the Wiki about Whirlwind Sprint, for instance, you'll notice something a bit strange. There are three words, of course: Wuld Nah Kest. The Wiki lists the locations of these (in order) as Dead Men's Respite, High Hrothgar, and Volskygge. This is clearly not the case for all of my playthroughs, when I first learn Wuld from Borri during "The Way of the Voice". So, does the order in which the Wiki lists the locations even matter? Do the Word Walls adapt according to which word(s) in the shout are already known to the Player? I don't know

 

As for quest-locked locations, my notes indicate the following:

 

Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary (Marked for Death) - quest "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood" (DBDestroy) or "Sanctuary" (DB02a)

Dustman's Cairn (Fire Breath) - quest "Proving Honor" (Companions, CO1)

Korvanjund (Slow Time) - quest "The Jagged Crown" (Civil War, CW02A or CW02B)

Labyrinthian (Slow Time) - quest "The Staff of Magnus" (College, MG07)

Saarthal (Ice Form) - quest "Under Saarthal" (College, MG02)

Skulldafn Temple (Storm Call) - quest "The World-Eater's Eyrie" (Main Quest, MQ303)

Snowveil Sanctum (Disarm) - quest "Speaking With Silence" (Thieves Guild, TG05)

 

I'm not sure about Skulldafn Temple. I've never tried to get inside without being on the related quest, so it might not be locked, but I can verify that the other locations can only be entered (without the use of cheats) if you're on the listed quest. This means that acquisition of shouts is linked to joining the Companions, the College of Winterhold, and the Thieves Guild, and doing the Civil War questline and the Main Quest at least through finishing out Skulldafn Temple. You can still get into the DB Sanctuary by engaging the "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood" quest, rather than joining the group, but this is really the only place that the developers gave us a choice. Note, also, that two words are linked to the College of Winterhold, so people who don't want to do that are doubly-screwed.

 

There are, of course, a number of shouts that have no Word Walls, and all these are quest-related, but you'll get them all if you complete the Main Quest.

[StayFrosty05]

 

 

 

As for Word Walls I have a few comments about them you might find useful. First of all, it's a little embarrasing, but I honestlly have never noticed whether or not the actual word available at a Word Wall is always the same. If you consult the Wiki about Whirlwind Sprint, for instance, you'll notice something a bit strange. There are three words, of course: Wuld Nah Kest. The Wiki lists the locations of these (in order) as Dead Men's Respite, High Hrothgar, and Volskygge. This is clearly not the case for all of my playthroughs, when I first learn Wuld from Borri during "The Way of the Voice". So, does the order in which the Wiki lists the locations even matter? Do the Word Walls adapt according to which word(s) in the shout are already known to the Player? I don't know

 

 

 

I have the Official Guide here....it lists all the Shouts and their locations if anyone is interested.....I do know the order does not matter, not matter where you go first, you will always get them in 1st word, 2nd word and lastly 3rd word order....And thank you for the heads up on the console commands for Shouts, much appreciated, I have never been able to get the full complement due to the Guild and other quest restrictions....will be great having them all for a change without having to compromise a play through to do so.

[BrettM]

The Word Walls do adapt. I already knew Wuld on one character before he got to High Hrothgar. When we got to the courtyard, Arngeir commented that I had already begun learning Whirlwind Sprint, and Borri taught me the second word.

[Pentigan]

There is one point that the printed guide makes an error on concerning Shouts, it doesn't list the translation for the first word of Whilwind Sprint. Most likely because whoever wrote it went through the Main Quest first and didn't discover a place with the first work beforehand.

[sukeban]

One other thing that you might try, if you haven't already, is the use of the "unlock" console command on the locked door. Or, you could console yourself the key. From a role-playing perspective, I'd opt for the former option (your adventurer found the door mysteriously "unlocked" when he arrived mwaha).

 

I've done this for Korvanjund on a character who wasn't going to take a side in the civil war. I'm sure that it totally messed up the civil war quest, but I didn't really care. If you used it to get into Saarthal, I'm sure that it would mess up the Winterhold quest as well, but--who cares if you never planned on joining to begin with?

 

Finally, I sort of think that the "combine pieces" Galdur quest might actually be unaffected by doing this (though the only way to know for certain would be to look at the quest stages in the CK). I think the only the only thing that matters is that you have the requisite pieces and claw and that the battle is initiated on a trigger when you enter the chamber. If not, you could just console setstage for the quest bypassing the parts that you couldn't complete. Then you could semi-legitimately obtain the full amulet. Plus, that battle is one of the more fun/challenging in the game. Anyway, hope that helps. I, too, intensely dislike how many quests are crammed down your throat.

[Perraine]

The problems lie with Bethesda's pathetic play testing, note the vast number of threads on forums across the globe basically titled "I kiiled NPC X now I can't finish quest X" or "I cleared area X now NPC X won't talk to me"

There are so many ways to break quests in Skyrim that they probably figured it was easier to put the player on tracks and lead them through the game by the nose, but they STILL can't get it right ...

 

And as for the Shouts ... I got absolutely sick to death of going into the DB Sanctuary and having the wall their hiss at me continuously, even though I already new the words on the wall ...

 

Perhaps the simplest and best mod someone could come up with, is not a fix for quest X, but a "Delete" button in your journal !!!

[Rooker75]

I like Disarm myself (although I can't stand it being used on me), so I've started unlocking the door to Snow Veil Sanctum with the console. So long as you get the word and then backtrack out the way you came, I don't think it would hurt the questline. I'm not sure that would work with Saarthal, because of the scripted events inside. Probably easier to just spawn that part of the fragment. You can go to Folgunthur (the barrow outside Solitude) and read the journal inside the tent to start the quest.

 

I think there's at least one 'Word Wall' per Guild we are locked out of if we don't join them or interact somehow...such as the word wall in the DB, you have to kill Grelod to access the wall....

 

In this particular case, if you've decided you're not doing the Brotherhood quests, you can kill Astrid in the cabin and then go tell any guard in any city. That will start a quest that ends with you inside the Brotherhood sanctuary. It's too bad they didn't give similar options for the other walls that are quest-locked.

[Stemin]

And, my friend, you've encountered what is probably my main pet peeve about Skyrim. The developers have chosen to railroad the player into doing every single primary quest (Main Quest and "guild" quests, as well as a number of Daedric quests that you can't "refuse").

 

I think I've read three or four threads now where you've had some major lists of complaints about core elements of this game (and possibly the series). I don't understand why you're even here if you don't like it so much. Are you expecting mods to pick up the slack for what you don't care for?

 

I guess my main issue (on the topic) is... It's realistic. Don't tell me you've never been required to do something in real life that you didn't want to do in order to get something you did want. You've never been required to join a group or listen to someone or attend a meeting you didn't want to in order to get something you wanted?

 

Bethesda spent a lot of time on these quests. Of course they want you to do them. And if you're so immersed in role play then you're obviously not going to be able to complete everything because your character obviously wouldn't do everything, so what does it matter if you have to join their club to get access to the amulet you want. You still don't have to finish the mage's guild.

 

I'd say at least 80% of their players are likely not even aware they're being manipulated.

 

Manipulated? It's a game. I don't have to play it at all. You're taking this way too seriously.

 

This one thing, alone, if present in the next installment of the Elder Scrolls, will prevent me from buying that game. I seem to spend almost as much time and effort "dodging" unwanted quests as I do enjoying the game.

 

I don't understand why you feel the need to "dodge quests". Is it OCD or something that you have to have a clean quest journal?

 

It doesn't sound very much to me like you're enjoying the game at all.

[RedRavyn]

@ StayFrosty05: A little update to your issue is in order, I think. I did a trial run into Sarthaal, using the console to unlock the place. Jyrik Gauldurson's fragment of the Gauldur Amulet cannot be obtained from his corpse, because his corpse doesn't exist. He's sitting on his throne, very much alive (undead ?) and you cannot interact with him in any way, including doing any damage to him at all, or even using the console to open his inventory. So, the only way to get this fragment is through the console "player.additem" command.

 

@ Stemin: I get the impression from your comments that everything to you is black and white, all or nothing -- that you don't understand nuances of behavior or have the slightest clue what "role-playing" is. In spite of the fact that our respective thought processes are alien to each other, though, I'll attempt to address your issues with my issues.

 

I'm here because I love Skyrim. I also hate Skyrim. I'm sure you can't understand that, and I'm sorry. I'm not going to take the time and space, here, to try to explain how some people can see the world in shades of grey.

 

And how is forcing the Dovahkiin to become a mage when you might be role-playing a character with no magical aptitude at all "realistic" in any way? It's not. As I've mentioned, before, this is merely a ploy on the part of the developers of this game to completely entangle all their quests so you can't possibly NOT get involved in virtually every primary quest in the game.

 

Bethesda advertised Skyrim as a role-playing game. Any such claim is a bare-faced lie. They took away any vestige of role-playing that still existed in Oblivion. Instead, the player is put into a single role -- basically an actor in a scripted play. It isn't as though I'm the only one pointing this out, either. It's one of the major complaints that players have with the core design philosophy of Skyrim. ES is becoming more and more of a linear Skinner Maze with every installment.

 

So, no -- my need to "dodge quests" isn't OCD. It comes from the fact that I'm a role-player. My characters are not "me" and every single one of them is different from every single other one of them. Again, since you don't seem to understand the difference between role-playing and toon-pushing, I strongly suggest that we agree to disagree and get on with our respective lives. After all, this entire thread is about JUST what I've been talking about, and you don't seem to understand that.

 

I certainly don't see you complaining to StayFrosty05, who started the thread, for not liking the fact that his "non-Mage Dovahkin" has to join the College of Winterhold to complete a quest that shouldn't intersect with it in the first place. This problem is endemic to the game of Skyrim. I don't know any other "role-playing" game where the developers have gone to such extreme measures to railroad the player into doing all their quests, and that includes previous ES games.

 

I frankly don't care how much time and effort they put into the quests. They didn't structure many of them well at all, in the first place, so they certainly don't have enough respect on my part to put any effort into doing them all. If I were just playing "me" I'd do all them, anyway, because I like being a "completionist" (and that is much more OCD than "dodging quests", so you clearly don't understand what Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is, either). I've even played through the game like that once, with a character who had no goals, ambitions, dreams, likes, dislikes, or anything else that could get in the way of doing every little quest. It was fun, but it's not as fun as playing a character who restricts what you can do. The real role-players who are reading this thread know what I'm talking about.

[StayFrosty05]

@Redravyn....+1.... :happy: ...I agree...Though I have become rather good at just ignoring most unwanted journal updates (most Daedric Quests, etc...)...though the 'Kill Paarthurnax' really peeved me until the mod came out, I know more so because I couldn't tell Delphine where to get off.....I do hate the forced rail roading though, the you MUST do this to achieve that, I mean come on, the main quest of all things forcing you to join the Mages Guild, my Dovahkin hasn't even let off with the simple 'Flame' spell he comes with, magic is an unknown and dis-interest to him....I am not sure I would have had much luck finding the 'Transmundane' Daedric quest if it wasn't for having a detailed map (came with the official Skyrim book)...Bethesda is hell bent on having us join certain factions and completing certain quests.

 

I had pretty much figured that's how it would play out in Saarthal, due to it's tie in to the main quest...I have ended up just console adding the whole Amulet to my Dovahkins inventory, as I am hazarding a strong guess that if the Saarthal piece is consoled I won't be able to join the pieces together in the finale, I don't think the finale will activate due to the part that one Deathlord plays....So now I just don't read 'Lost Legends' so the quest doesn't activate at all...no journal entry... :happy: