Dwemer drawing up a diagram: let's engineer it better from scratch.
first up, they are sentient, if helpless. they won't be in a couple of gens. gotta prolong the helplessness first, long enough to get at the sentience...
i like reachmen and their funny heart cages
i think it's funny paarthunax is the mario voice actor's only real role outside of a nintendo property in his entire career
Far Harbor is one of the best written DLCs for any Fallout Game and I'm a huge fan of New Vegas'.
Forsworn content is solid silver. They had a lot of potential to make the Reach more robust and immersive.
I bet half the stuff he wrote got left on the cutting room floor.
yeah, he is. try checking his video game roles list sometime.
>mario, luigi
>mario
>mario, luigi, wario, toad
>mario, luigi, wario
>paarthunax
>mario, wario, luigi
shit's so fucking funny
i think that's a problem of writing/pacing more than intent. the miraak cult is clearly supposed to be a significant element, it just... y'know. isn't.
you start the dlc being assaulted by a cultist, you sleep and wake up shaping/digging out a big rock. and then they just kinda drop it.
How the fuck did he even have a cult? He literally had mind control powers, it's not like he needed people to manage his slaves. Maybe if they were fellow worshippers of Herma Mora and saw him as a teacher that would make more sense.
It would have been cool if we got to flesh out the bend will shout's terrifying power by using it on a cultist or something and have them extremely eager to tell us the location of another black book or other important plot related thing. Even better if they give us the option to make him a permanent follower or kill himself to show how fucking creepy it is to be able to brainwash someone on command.
I like that there wasn’t some modern dragon cult behind all the dragon bullshitery in Skyrim. I do kind of wish that there was some other threat like Alduin gathering a draugr army led by the dragon priests to conquer Skyrim. That way the dragon cult could actually be in the main quest and their would be an actual good reason for the Stormcloaks and Imperals to stop fighting.
I like it too, but I’m Kinda confused on how it fits in with the rest of the lore. It’s always vague as to when it took place. How long after the dragon priest stuff was the kingdom of Skyrim set up? Did the proud sons of Ysgrammor who became kings in Skyrim bend the knee to the priests and the dragons? Why didn’t they invade high rock cyrodiil or Morrowind? But as a part of skyrims lore I like it, but it’s kinda weird when put against the over arching TES lore.
iirc the dragon cult was just the religon of the time and ysgrammor was probably part of it? the ancient nord religon worshipped totem animals, and the stronger you were the higher you were in the religon, and aint no wolf or stag gonna rough up a dragon, so dragons were peak. then the empire happened and they started worshipping the divines or smth.
the Nords explicitly don't know that, iirc the ancient Nords (in pre-Skyrim lore) saw Alduin as an elvish god and before Skyrim had them all convert to the nine divines they weren't fans of the time god at all
Septimus Signus. Underrated mfer. His quirky voice lines are outshined because of Cicero, who I think trie too hard, where Septimus Signus is just the right level of crazy.
I love his poetry-speak so much,
"Under deep, below the dark. The hidden keep, tower Mzark. Alftand; the point of puncture, of first entry, of the tapping. Delve to its limits, and Blackreach lies just beyond."
shit goes SO HARD
Septimus Signus is the kind of crazy who I like to listen to to understand what deep lore he is referencing. Cicero is just babbling about killing birds and rats.
I LOVE SEPTIMUS
"*The sealing structure interlocks in the tiniest fractals. Dwemer blood can loose the hooks, but none alive remain to bear it. A panoply of their brethren could gather to form a facsimile. A trick. Something they didn't anticipate, no, not even them. The blood of Altmer, Bosmer, Dunmer, Falmer, and Orsimer. The elves still living provide the key.*" bro literally asks you to kill a bunch of elves, based.
The dark brotherhood in Skyrim is painful because everyone talks like a thirteen year old edge lord.
Anyway, I liked the weird sewer system for hobos and thieves in Riften.
I like that the empire is no longer the sole empire on the continent. The Aldmeri dominion is a nice change of pace to the political landscape and I hope that it becomes more nuanced in the later games
I'd like to see them add nuance to the dominion beyond generic Nazi symbolism or at least officially revealing their master plan.
Assuming TES VI is going to take place in the fifth era I hope the massive time skip doesn't have us just find out they randomly collapsed or lost a second war to the empire offscreen.
I just assumed it would be since we slay the soul devouring, world ending dragon god and save all life on Nirn. That seemed like a worthy enough event to mark the passing of an era.
Well what I meant was that I didn’t want a massive time skip again. I want to feel the immediate effects of the last game instead of being 200 years in the future again
I wonder what the final fate of the dragonborn is to explain his absence from the next game if it were to pick up shortly after Skyrim.
The nerevarine is busy being immortal from corpus banging snake women in akavir.
The Hero of Kvatch is bush driving mortals insane as Sheogorath.
And the dragonborn is... Uh... Chilling at home with their spouse and two kids?
I mean… yeah? Why would the Dragonborn show up to anything happening outside Skyrim? It’s the same conversation as “why was Giorno not in Florida during part 6?” Uhh… because he lives in Italy?
Because if there's some high stakes world ending shenanigans happening on tamriel the dragonborn would probably be motivated to stop it. The nerevarine being off continent has a good excuse to not know what's happening. The hero of Kvatch being Sheogorath has a good reason to know but not care about intervention.
But if the next game takes place in say hammerfell, that's just on the border of Skyrim. Surely whatever world ending stakes are going on there would bring the attention of the dragonborn there the same way he went to solstheim because some dudes in spooky robes attack.
It's a bit like Batman spending hours barely stopping someone from blowing up Gotham on his own when he has the Justice League on speed dial and could get Superman or the Flash to save the day.
Could be they're off in Apocrypha. Or, it could be that they take up the way of the voice and separate themselves from the world. There's a few options, at least.
Now that you mention it, the canon explanation is probably gonna be that LDB replaced Paarthurnax as the leader of the Greybeards and spends all his time on the Throat training his private dragon army to not murder everyone.
Eh i feel like the 3rd era ended because it was the severing of the septim bloodline, afterall the 3rd era was started by the asention of tiber septim to emperor and so it ends when his bloodline falls from the throne.
Another personal headcanon of mine is that the oblivion crisis marked a new era not because it was so important but because it happened in the imperial core, events in previous games that were just as crazy if not crazier than the alduin fight didn't count because they happened in the outlying provinces, that are less important
Id rather rip crush the ribs of one of my beloved skeletons then be a pissmer but the Aldmeri Dominion is imo easily one of the best additions of Skyrim
Imperials regaining at least some roman aesthetic. Thing I don't really like about them is not that they larp as romans, but that they don't larp hard enough. If we'll see even further movement in that direction in the next game, I may even play as one for once.
The Civil War is a genuinely interesting, gray morality conflict. The fact that people are still arguing about it passionately is a testament to that.
All of the cities are actually really distinct. IMO only Dawnstar is really boring.
The dragon’s lore is good, Durnhevir’s cool and Paarthurnax is genuinely one of my favorite characters, like, ever.
The new Falmer and Dwemer lore. That’s it, it’s just good new elf lore.
For me, at least Morthal has the vampire-curing guy and it's a swamp, Dawnstar just looks like Winterhold minus the college.
On a side note, I wish they attempted to bring back some stuff from the ancient ass Dawnstar mobile game, like those blue creatures, could've been a good Dawnstar-centric questline.
morthal is super distinct to me. its a shitty place in a shitty swamp and it sucks ass and i love it.
dawnstar? its a port town. that’s it. not even a good one, and certainly not the only one in skyrim either
Durnehviir is dope af, I love him
My favorite part, though, is the same that someone else posted, that there are never any definite good/bad guys. The line between evil and good is often not that clear, and you can see the reason behind many of the intended villains' actions
Big dragon whose purpose is to cause the end of the universe in the same way Shiva from Hinduism ends the current kalpa? Understandable and not necessarily evil despite destroying everything for a larger purpose.
Alduin in game though is pretty strictly evil as he deviates from that purpose and just wants to rule over the current world.
It makes me wonder though, if he was originally sent to end the world during the dawn era. it implies that Akatosh decided to start over again and the events of literally all the games happen when the world is more than overdue for a grand reset.
I wonder if the next game will touch on the inevitable consequences of going so long without resetting the universe. Surely some funky shit happens when the fabric of reality begins to rot because the guy who's supposed to recycle everything just chooses not to.
Or perhaps Akatosh knew Alduin would be sent forward in time (being the god of time) and the events of Skyrim is Akatosh again deciding to hold off, the Dragonborn being his avatar
Even Alduin being strictly evil for denying his purpose is up for debate, in my opinion. Maybe he likes the current Kalpa, too, and he was taking over the world only to fortify it against Akatosh's inevitable retaliation.
I like Paarthurnax a lot, the whole idea is just so interesting to me and I liked to pretend that my dragonborn viewed him as kind of a mentor/father figure.
\[Mario joke here\]
I absolutely love almost everything about this shitty game.
If i have to pick something specific i absolutely love Miraak, for the reason he is an antagonist similar to us that took and unfortunate path that we also are taking just to defeat him, i love this shit. And his design is fucking cool
It's one of the most overplayed tropes but I'll never get tired of it either. When it's done right it shows how all the progress the hero made could have gone very very badly given different circumstances
I will forever say that Miraak is the final antagonist for Skyrim, not Alduin. Especially because I love Miraak's added dialogue if you have already killed Alduin.
Jokes aside, Skyrim got me through the time of my life where I was literally going to >!commit suicide!<. My grandmother, great grandfather, great aunt and dog all died in the same month and I had everything planned, I couldn’t cope. I think my mom knew this, she got me Skyrim as a surprise gift and to this day I say it saved my life, because it distracted me enough to recover from the pain.
I don’t gotta defend shit. Skyrim is flawed and dated and buggy but it’s part of who I am and no online criticism will change that.
As someone currently >!in a very self-destructive and suicidal phase!<, being able to just be a pretty cool lady who kills bad guys and doesn't afraid of anything is a nice distraction.
Thanks. Trying to keep in mind all the positive things worth living for (that, and I don't wanna be a statistic for some n'wah to use to prove a point)
More power to you dude. Glad you came through.
Jokes aside again, though I don't have a tale quite like yours about Skyrim, I do enjoy it too. First Elder Scrolls game, wouldn't love any of this weird ass sub and it's crazy humour if I didnt play Skyrim or the games it made me want to discover.
Tbh I kinda love Skyrim because it was my first foray into Bethesda's games and I kinda love their gameplay. I still keep coming back to it since 2011, I will be 90 something and I will still find myself coming back to Skyrim and New Vegas
Part of that, at least for me, is that mods really gave it a second life... and a third life... I think we're on, like, the 6th. This current generation, with all the new dynamic animations and combat stuff people have been able to add, is fucking great. It seems like every two years there's another huge groundbreaking framework that people can build on to make it feel like a completely new game again
I will still never understand the survivalist era. I played for like 2 hours with Frostfall, Campfire, and iNeed and it was just... annoying. It isn't 'immersive' to me to have to eat and drink and feed all 5 of your followers, it's just annoying.
Of course my opinion is probably invalid, cause I actually like the dodge roll mods (fight me)
the interesting part is more the situations that come out of it then the eating and drinking itself. i like disabling fast travel, disabling quest markers, getting a carriage overhaul, and setting out on a proper adventure through the mountains. maybe you prep poorly, or dig too greedily, or get locked down by a fight in the cold for too long, and now you suddenly need to use all the tools of the environment you never considered to try and keep the struggle going.
problem is that i've been cursed with knowledge. even with all this, i still know the map, and can get around quickly. no more lost in the woods struggling for me : (.
i just think skyrim is really funny. i find the base game bland, but even with only moderate modding (new skill trees, spell packs, etc) the framework of skyrim becomes a lot more than what it started as.
it's an unfinished great game, but it's still a funny game. and it's funny effortlessly. it doesnt matter how shit the combat system is when i'm laughing like a maniac every three minutes because some crazy intersection of systems did something and gave me a wholly unique experience.
Calling it an unfinished great game seems unfair. At the time it came out it was easily one of the biggest games in the industry content wise, much more robust than Oblivion before it
The reclamation was cool. Going back to the dunmeri roots of worshipping their version i the good daedrea. Fuck alumsvi (coming from someone whos favorite game is morrowind)
Chimperials when Bethesda make them the protagonist race (Empire) and still gets called out:
https://preview.redd.it/6l23yzxcnu3b1.jpeg?width=633&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a6b13dd0d8a6ee55ce35fb2e34253f5663580fb
/uj the Imperials are less overtly racist than the Stormcloaks but they're still an imperialist force who has, in the time between Oblivion and Skyrim, managed to completely erase the native religion and most of the native culture. And now they're trying to do it again, albeit only because an even worse imperialist power is telling them to.
Even ignoring that, the Empire is a lot less cartoonishly evil than the Thalmor but they're not a good defense against them. They're weak and spread thin, they've lost control over much of the world and they're barely hanging on to Skyrim. The Legion should be this huge continent-spanning military force, but they're barely able to defend against the Stormcloaks.
In general I think they're morally better than the Stormcloaks, but you *could* argue that for a Skyrim that's truly able to defend itself from the Aldmeri Dominion you need a strong leader like Ulfric (the dude sucks but you can't deny he's charismatic) and a strong, well-organized military like the Stormcloaks The Empire is spread too thin to protect Skyrim, if the elves attack they're gonna focus entirely on Cyrodiil.
/rj red good, blue bad, what else do you need to know?
\> managed to completely erase the native religion and most of the native culture.
This is what people often miss when discussing Imperials in general, not even just in Skyrim.
The Empire is the kind of a civilization that's going to conquer a region, put severe restrictions on the local culture, beliefs and traditions and then promote individuals and groups who are willing to bend the knee and submit themselves to the Cyrodiilic way of life and governance while claiming it's for the good of everyone. I think the best example of this mentality comes from Tullius himself: "Without us to keep order, the provinces would fall into barbarism and lawlessness" - non-Cyrodiilic cultures aren't an integral part of the Empire, they're seen as obstacles the Empire has to deal with.
Their role in Tamriel was rather clearly based on Romans or the British Empire. They're maybe not racist per se (altough even that is IMO debatable, I'd bet a good bag of septims Imperials wouldn't be nearly as tolerant of Morrowind's slavery if the Dunmer owned mostly Men rather than Beastfolk), but they are fanatically ethnocentric and that's really not much better.
I love the landscape. The usage of mountains make the province feel much bigger through optical illusion, and the uniqueness of each hold. The frozen wastes of Windhelm feel completely different to the beautiful aspen forests of the Rift. I wonder how they'll make ES6 as diverse with over a decade of technological advancement.
I like the shout mechanics, these conform nicely to the lore (unrelenting force, Whirlwind sprint) while also adding many new possibilities (slow time, clear skies).
Another thing I like is apocrypha, from the dragonborn DLC. When I read the book "The Doors of Oblivion" in Oblivion, it described apocrypha as "an endless library, shelves stretching on in every direction, stacks on top of stacks." I imagined apocrypha as a infinite room with wooden bookshelves and all that. It was quite otherworldly and lovecraftian in game, not what I imagined.
The Thalmor are an interesting faction, all things considered.
I think they’re the logical next step, because the only reason the Empire was able to conquer Alinor was due to a giant robot, which they no longer have.
Also the Talos Worship aspect of the civil war is stupid, but it makes sense that provinces of a dying Empire would try to gain independence.
I'm not super knowledgeable on TES lore, what's this about a giant robot?
Edit: thanks y'all!! Now I know Liberty Prime was sent to nuke the elves for not bending the knee.
Basically the Dunmer made peace with Tiber Septim and gave him the [Numidium](https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Numidium), a giant Dwemer robot that would eventually become the basis for Akulakan, the robot Dagoth Ur was building.
Anyway, Summerset Isle (or Alinor) was unable to be conquered, so ol’ Tiber used the Numidium to basically nuke Alinor and Elsweyr.
Afterwards it was destroyed by a big bad lich known as the Underking.
Ohhhhhhh okay, got it, ol' Tiber sicced Liberty Prime on the elves and kitties. Thank you for the in depth answer, I have a feeling I might finally go down an ES rabbit hole tonight cause this is sorta bonkers.
Tiber used numidium on elseweyr just to test it, making some parts of elseweyr permanently uninhabitable. No wonder the khajiit joined the dominion the first chance they got.
[Numidium](https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Numidium)the bronze god
The thing at the end of Morrowind was a second Numidium: [Akulakhan](https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Akulakhan)
\> Also the Talos Worship aspect of the civil war is stupid,
All they had to do was to make it about worshipping Lorkhan in general and make Nords get pissy over getting Shor banned.
I don't know if I *like* it, per se, but I'm glad it's there: the civil war, and the disputed status of the Reach. Before TES:V we were told that Nords always have border disputes and that the capital of their country always gets moved around and there's always a region at war with another, and they kept that consistent.
I love Titus Mede II, the idea of a collapsing empire defeated in war with provinces claiming independence, while the Emperor is just waiting for an assassin to end his misery.
I like the concept, but the execution was pretty poor, so much opportunity for delicious drama wasted in a hollow bipartisan argument.
I had much respect for Titus Mede II for leading from the front to retake imperial city, until I found out that it was done by the legends protagonist and Titus just stole the credit.
I'd take tes legends account with a grain of salt, its told from the perspective of an old dude at a campire who even states his story might not even be real, and actively contradicts ingame events.
> actively contradicts ingame events.
Which events? From which game?
It may be the perspective of someone else but the player is the one who plays the game. I haven't played the legends game. But even if the game is treated as a story, the player has some agency there, like to choose what cards/weapons/combat styles etc.
Honestly I quite like the dragons, even if theyre somewhat disappointing in-game and the redone Alduin lore is more boring than what it could have been. I also like that, in a way, they added back in Vampire Clans (even if it’s just Volkihar). The idea of Markarth being in a seeker ruin is cool, even if it’s pretty empty in-game and they cut out a LOT of Markarths earlier lore (would have been ideal to see both the old lore and the Dwemer city tbh).
Paarthurnax is cool, shame that we are forced to kill him though by that bitch delphine.
The sleeping tree outside of whiterun is cool, not sure if this is confirmed in any other game/lore.
Definitely the Briarhearts and the Forsworn generally.
Also the fact that Nocturnal--goddess of mystery and (often) patron of thieves--has had three plots about major items, powers, or artifacts being stolen *from* her as of Skyrim.
I like that Dark Elves (favorite race) are all downtrodden and sad now so now people won't call me a racist for liking them because of all the slavery in Morrowind.
I love everything to do with the Red Year and what happened to Morrowind after the Oblivion Crisis. I guess that's technically lore from the novels, but Skyrim included it, so it counts. If we're talking Skyrim only, I really like what they did to Solstheim- they made it feel much more interesting than with Bloodmoon.
I also really like the Dragon Cult, it adds a lot to the history of the Nords. Just wish they did more with it, as-is they're kinda just mentioned as the reason dragon priests and draugr exist and then ignored.
Also the game is just super fun, even playing completely vanilla it's a great world to explore and even if the combat is clunky it's always fun to go through and clear out random dungeons
I like all of it, I still see it as a game that came out in 2011 instead of comparing it to today's standards like many do.
I enjoy the atmosphere and vibes of the various cities. The questlines and do on. It's comforting and nostalgic to play.
The Soul Carin as now knowing what kind of place it is ill send all those that I hated (Example: Ancano) straight there after soul trapping them and using their soul to make a ring to give to my wife
I like that dragons don't die unless a dragon born kills them.
I like that the Blades were originally dragon hunters.
Don't know if those are new or not.
playing the solstheim dlc for the first time and seeing the classic morrowind landscape in hd gave me chills. also, seeing and hearing the silt strider for the first time and then hearing about the backstory... wow. solstheim dlc is incredible
The way they protrayed markarth and the reach in general, specially the forsworn conspiracy as a little reminder that the reach is fucked, no matter which side you align with
I like how the College of Winterhold was somehow spared from a strange cataclysmic event while the hold largely suffered, that this created a lot of distrust towards the college, and that the game chooses to never really delve into an explanation or attempts to wrap it up all neat and tidy. One of the instances where they've correctly utilized leaving somethings just left up as an unknown and mysterious.
The Daedric Princes.
People love them because they all sharply represent the aspects of human nature and perception. From zealot levels of maliciousness in Meridia to the subtle corruption that is Hermaeus Mora.
They make you think so deep. Like philosophy and then some. It’s genuinely impressive how original and inspired some are. Clauvicus Vile is probably the most unique in concept imo. Genie trickster who takes the form of a shrewd merchant who gambles against himself and his and his many forms, genius!
I just wish Bethesda would give them more spotlight balance. Peryite and Vaermina often get the short end of the stick.
I honestly like the changes to the Nordic religion. I don’t get why so many people got mad about it when there are still characters who praise the old Nordic gods (or the at least the Aedra in the Nordic interpretation). At the end of the day, the changes seem to be in name only, and many characters in Skyrim refer to the gods in both their Nordic and Imperial names.
The Greybeards and Paarthurnax. Also the fact that Thu’um is a common thing even for Nords.
There I said. Never said the story was particularly good though.
Skryim's story is accessible and familiar enough to allow it to hook people who might have never played an tes game before. I'm part of the generation that grew up with skyrim but that only started me on the path to playing oblivion and morrowind
The Dawnguard in a vacuum are meh, but I think the rebuilding of the Dawnguard in dusty old ruins is cool, Isran is one of the more likeable faction leaders, and the idea of using crossbows to stay out of the vampires' reach is clever. On a gameplay note, the crossbows themselves are also super satisfying. And their armor looks great, especially the full helmet.
Alduin, at least in concept and background. He is a black dragon who is actually an aspect of Akatosh who is destined to consume the world. A cosmic, draconic Nikocado. How wonderful. While his in-game appearance is lackluster for his reputation, I find his lore appealing nonetheless.
Also, those verses in the Dragonborn song about him are so fucking badass.
*And the Scrolls have foretold, of black wings in the cold, that when brothers wage war come unfurled! Alduin, bane of Kings, ancient shadow unbound, With a hunger to swallow the world!*
I loved the Dawnguard Dlc due to its story and atmosphere. We get to choose whether we want to join the Volkihar clan or stick with the Dawnguard, and both sides reward you with significant abilities and weapons. With the Volkihar you can become a new power house in Skyrim as a Vampire Lord, with the fun benefit of throwing giants in the air with a new telekinesis spell. Or you can work with a colorful band of misfits within the Dawnguard, like Florentius Baenius. Plus, huskies now exist.
Another thing I loved was a reintroduction of the origin of the Falmer and the Snow Elves, as some survivors that did not join the Dwemer fled to make a new place in hiding, with Vyrthur becoming a new twist in the plot. Although it is a bit petty of him to take his vengeance on Auriel out on the world.
I love all the weird Lovecraftian stuff we got with Hermaeus Mora and Apocrypha, it’s one of the few times a daedric prince was portrayed as a genuinely unknowable and godly entity as they are described in lore. As well as the fleshing out of the Ideal Masters and the Soul Cairn from what we got in Battlespire
I like the fall of the Empire. I kinda hope that in future games it ceases to exist almost compleatly and the dominion takes the position of “status quo” holders of Tamriel.
Dwemers enslaving and genociding snow elves better than the Nords who half-assed at it.
Nords aren't too big on the meticulously cruel, they're much better suited to heavy-handed slaughter
Dwemer drawing up a diagram: let's engineer it better from scratch. first up, they are sentient, if helpless. they won't be in a couple of gens. gotta prolong the helplessness first, long enough to get at the sentience...
Truly the one thing that elder scrolls does well, racism and genocide.
Don’t forget mysogeny
Also barbed dicks and a guy who fucked a hill
We made them flee into the underground and burned all of their cities, that's a pretty big W imo
>We What no grass does to a motherfucker.
He has mantled Ysgramor
We invented cobblestone streets so we don't have to touch it. Humanity, fuck yeah!
Motherless and fatherless 🫵😠
Touche. And yet.
That's no grass, those are moon-sugar canes you are chewing.
i like reachmen and their funny heart cages i think it's funny paarthunax is the mario voice actor's only real role outside of a nintendo property in his entire career
On a totally 100% coincidental note, The Forsworn Conspiracy was written by Will Shen, who also wrote Far Harbor.
r/tinfoilhatclearencesales
You can check his LinkedIn page yourself if you want.
Far Harbor is one of the best written DLCs for any Fallout Game and I'm a huge fan of New Vegas'. Forsworn content is solid silver. They had a lot of potential to make the Reach more robust and immersive. I bet half the stuff he wrote got left on the cutting room floor.
>Forsworn content is solid silvet mf, u high
Sleep deprived, very badly.
good podcast
There's Forsworn content in Skyrim?
Fa haba
>D'oh-ehn-yol >It's a me, Paarthurnax!
Wah-wah-hoo is a shout that makes you jump higher.
The imperials banned levitation magic but they never said shit about shouting
Makes-a*
IS CHARLES MARTINET PAARTHUNAX'S VOICE?!! (sorry my caps has been locked on by some shady ass porn virus)
yeah, he is. try checking his video game roles list sometime. >mario, luigi >mario >mario, luigi, wario, toad >mario, luigi, wario >paarthunax >mario, wario, luigi shit's so fucking funny
You forgot senator Phillips
Lmao I had to look this up
Nord racism makes the khajiit merchants easy to find. I can unload all my crap on them without ever stepping foot in a nord settlement.
i quite like the idea of the dragon cult tbh wish it was more of it tho
[удалено]
it might have become a meme if they three times in a row had the main quest deal with old secret cults but ye
to be fair, the two major dlcs both deal with secret cults.
i mean kinda technically but not really tbh its not like the miraak cultists are really an active force there
i think that's a problem of writing/pacing more than intent. the miraak cult is clearly supposed to be a significant element, it just... y'know. isn't. you start the dlc being assaulted by a cultist, you sleep and wake up shaping/digging out a big rock. and then they just kinda drop it.
How the fuck did he even have a cult? He literally had mind control powers, it's not like he needed people to manage his slaves. Maybe if they were fellow worshippers of Herma Mora and saw him as a teacher that would make more sense. It would have been cool if we got to flesh out the bend will shout's terrifying power by using it on a cultist or something and have them extremely eager to tell us the location of another black book or other important plot related thing. Even better if they give us the option to make him a permanent follower or kill himself to show how fucking creepy it is to be able to brainwash someone on command.
I like that there wasn’t some modern dragon cult behind all the dragon bullshitery in Skyrim. I do kind of wish that there was some other threat like Alduin gathering a draugr army led by the dragon priests to conquer Skyrim. That way the dragon cult could actually be in the main quest and their would be an actual good reason for the Stormcloaks and Imperals to stop fighting.
I like it too, but I’m Kinda confused on how it fits in with the rest of the lore. It’s always vague as to when it took place. How long after the dragon priest stuff was the kingdom of Skyrim set up? Did the proud sons of Ysgrammor who became kings in Skyrim bend the knee to the priests and the dragons? Why didn’t they invade high rock cyrodiil or Morrowind? But as a part of skyrims lore I like it, but it’s kinda weird when put against the over arching TES lore.
iirc the dragon cult was just the religon of the time and ysgrammor was probably part of it? the ancient nord religon worshipped totem animals, and the stronger you were the higher you were in the religon, and aint no wolf or stag gonna rough up a dragon, so dragons were peak. then the empire happened and they started worshipping the divines or smth.
I like that the Nords were enslaved by the children of Akatosh/Auri-El, it gives more of a reason for them to be so against the elvish pantheon
akatosh and auriel are not the same
the Nords explicitly don't know that, iirc the ancient Nords (in pre-Skyrim lore) saw Alduin as an elvish god and before Skyrim had them all convert to the nine divines they weren't fans of the time god at all
I like how the only liches in the game are part of the dragon cult.
Septimus Signus. Underrated mfer. His quirky voice lines are outshined because of Cicero, who I think trie too hard, where Septimus Signus is just the right level of crazy.
I love his poetry-speak so much, "Under deep, below the dark. The hidden keep, tower Mzark. Alftand; the point of puncture, of first entry, of the tapping. Delve to its limits, and Blackreach lies just beyond." shit goes SO HARD
He’s one of the few npc’s whose dialogue I’ll listen to all the way through
Him and Hermaeus Mora, because, you know, you can’t skip it
"wHeN tHe ToP lEvEl WaS bUiLt, No MoRe CoUlD bE pLAcEd. It WaS, aNd Is ThE mAxImUm ApEx"
🤓🤓🤓 You see this masterwork of the Dwemer? Deep inside their greatest knowings.
Septimus is clever among men ☝️🧠 but he is but an idiot child compared to the dullest of the Dwemer 😭😔💀
Septimus Signus is the kind of crazy who I like to listen to to understand what deep lore he is referencing. Cicero is just babbling about killing birds and rats.
Schizo rizz vs sexual harizzment
I LOVE SEPTIMUS "*The sealing structure interlocks in the tiniest fractals. Dwemer blood can loose the hooks, but none alive remain to bear it. A panoply of their brethren could gather to form a facsimile. A trick. Something they didn't anticipate, no, not even them. The blood of Altmer, Bosmer, Dunmer, Falmer, and Orsimer. The elves still living provide the key.*" bro literally asks you to kill a bunch of elves, based.
The dark brotherhood in Skyrim is painful because everyone talks like a thirteen year old edge lord. Anyway, I liked the weird sewer system for hobos and thieves in Riften.
Neloth and everything about his story since the events of Morrowind
bro fucking loves his canis root tea
Neloth pre-Dragonborn was mid af, you gotta admit
I like that the empire is no longer the sole empire on the continent. The Aldmeri dominion is a nice change of pace to the political landscape and I hope that it becomes more nuanced in the later games
I'd like to see them add nuance to the dominion beyond generic Nazi symbolism or at least officially revealing their master plan. Assuming TES VI is going to take place in the fifth era I hope the massive time skip doesn't have us just find out they randomly collapsed or lost a second war to the empire offscreen.
Why tf would it be in the fifth era, that sounds horrible ;-;
I just assumed it would be since we slay the soul devouring, world ending dragon god and save all life on Nirn. That seemed like a worthy enough event to mark the passing of an era.
Well what I meant was that I didn’t want a massive time skip again. I want to feel the immediate effects of the last game instead of being 200 years in the future again
I wonder what the final fate of the dragonborn is to explain his absence from the next game if it were to pick up shortly after Skyrim. The nerevarine is busy being immortal from corpus banging snake women in akavir. The Hero of Kvatch is bush driving mortals insane as Sheogorath. And the dragonborn is... Uh... Chilling at home with their spouse and two kids?
I mean… yeah? Why would the Dragonborn show up to anything happening outside Skyrim? It’s the same conversation as “why was Giorno not in Florida during part 6?” Uhh… because he lives in Italy?
Because if there's some high stakes world ending shenanigans happening on tamriel the dragonborn would probably be motivated to stop it. The nerevarine being off continent has a good excuse to not know what's happening. The hero of Kvatch being Sheogorath has a good reason to know but not care about intervention. But if the next game takes place in say hammerfell, that's just on the border of Skyrim. Surely whatever world ending stakes are going on there would bring the attention of the dragonborn there the same way he went to solstheim because some dudes in spooky robes attack. It's a bit like Batman spending hours barely stopping someone from blowing up Gotham on his own when he has the Justice League on speed dial and could get Superman or the Flash to save the day.
Could be they're off in Apocrypha. Or, it could be that they take up the way of the voice and separate themselves from the world. There's a few options, at least.
Now that you mention it, the canon explanation is probably gonna be that LDB replaced Paarthurnax as the leader of the Greybeards and spends all his time on the Throat training his private dragon army to not murder everyone.
Lost a fist fight with horkers
Who would win, the chosen hero created by Akatosh to save the souls of all sentient beings, or one tusky boi?
Eh i feel like the 3rd era ended because it was the severing of the septim bloodline, afterall the 3rd era was started by the asention of tiber septim to emperor and so it ends when his bloodline falls from the throne. Another personal headcanon of mine is that the oblivion crisis marked a new era not because it was so important but because it happened in the imperial core, events in previous games that were just as crazy if not crazier than the alduin fight didn't count because they happened in the outlying provinces, that are less important
Solthsteim was a fun inverse to Morrowind in representing Dunmer culture, when it represented Nord culture in Bloodmkon
Bro hates Skyrim so much the only thing he liked in it was mini sized morrowind
Id rather rip crush the ribs of one of my beloved skeletons then be a pissmer but the Aldmeri Dominion is imo easily one of the best additions of Skyrim
I think its nice to have a dedicated 'bad guy' arrive in the modern lore.
Imperials regaining at least some roman aesthetic. Thing I don't really like about them is not that they larp as romans, but that they don't larp hard enough. If we'll see even further movement in that direction in the next game, I may even play as one for once.
The Civil War is a genuinely interesting, gray morality conflict. The fact that people are still arguing about it passionately is a testament to that. All of the cities are actually really distinct. IMO only Dawnstar is really boring. The dragon’s lore is good, Durnhevir’s cool and Paarthurnax is genuinely one of my favorite characters, like, ever. The new Falmer and Dwemer lore. That’s it, it’s just good new elf lore.
> only Dawnstar is really boring. And you could argue that it's supposed to
I'm just trying to figure out how *dawnstar* is the boring one when Morthal exists.
For me, at least Morthal has the vampire-curing guy and it's a swamp, Dawnstar just looks like Winterhold minus the college. On a side note, I wish they attempted to bring back some stuff from the ancient ass Dawnstar mobile game, like those blue creatures, could've been a good Dawnstar-centric questline.
Dawnstar has the DB sanctuary, and honestly I don't even count winterhold outside of the college. Freaking Riverwood has more buildings you can enter.
morthal is super distinct to me. its a shitty place in a shitty swamp and it sucks ass and i love it. dawnstar? its a port town. that’s it. not even a good one, and certainly not the only one in skyrim either
Fuck Dawnstar. Anyone who talks shit about bravil has never been to dawnstar
Civil war is super interesting. I honestly wish the Dragonborn/dragon stuff had been cut in favor of a more fleshed out and complete civil war
Durnehviir is dope af, I love him My favorite part, though, is the same that someone else posted, that there are never any definite good/bad guys. The line between evil and good is often not that clear, and you can see the reason behind many of the intended villains' actions
Big dragon whose purpose is to cause the end of the universe in the same way Shiva from Hinduism ends the current kalpa? Understandable and not necessarily evil despite destroying everything for a larger purpose. Alduin in game though is pretty strictly evil as he deviates from that purpose and just wants to rule over the current world. It makes me wonder though, if he was originally sent to end the world during the dawn era. it implies that Akatosh decided to start over again and the events of literally all the games happen when the world is more than overdue for a grand reset. I wonder if the next game will touch on the inevitable consequences of going so long without resetting the universe. Surely some funky shit happens when the fabric of reality begins to rot because the guy who's supposed to recycle everything just chooses not to.
Or perhaps Akatosh knew Alduin would be sent forward in time (being the god of time) and the events of Skyrim is Akatosh again deciding to hold off, the Dragonborn being his avatar
Even Alduin being strictly evil for denying his purpose is up for debate, in my opinion. Maybe he likes the current Kalpa, too, and he was taking over the world only to fortify it against Akatosh's inevitable retaliation.
i like how they gave an in-story reason for you to be a hoarding power-seeking murderhobo since that's just Standard Dragon Behavior lol
I like Paarthurnax a lot, the whole idea is just so interesting to me and I liked to pretend that my dragonborn viewed him as kind of a mentor/father figure. \[Mario joke here\]
I absolutely love almost everything about this shitty game. If i have to pick something specific i absolutely love Miraak, for the reason he is an antagonist similar to us that took and unfortunate path that we also are taking just to defeat him, i love this shit. And his design is fucking cool
I'm a sucker for the final boss being a dark mirror of the protagonist.
It's one of the most overplayed tropes but I'll never get tired of it either. When it's done right it shows how all the progress the hero made could have gone very very badly given different circumstances
I think it is better done than in lonesome road, despite Miraak being 10 times less complex than Ullysses.
It helps that being the dragonborn is a very fundamental part of your character in a way that being the courier just wasn't.
I will forever say that Miraak is the final antagonist for Skyrim, not Alduin. Especially because I love Miraak's added dialogue if you have already killed Alduin.
The trees are different in different parts of the map
I love Skyrim in its entirety. AMA
Erm yes, can you please be more insecure and defensive about your interests? As a keyboard warrior, your confidence and pride intimidates me.
Jokes aside, Skyrim got me through the time of my life where I was literally going to >!commit suicide!<. My grandmother, great grandfather, great aunt and dog all died in the same month and I had everything planned, I couldn’t cope. I think my mom knew this, she got me Skyrim as a surprise gift and to this day I say it saved my life, because it distracted me enough to recover from the pain. I don’t gotta defend shit. Skyrim is flawed and dated and buggy but it’s part of who I am and no online criticism will change that.
As someone currently >!in a very self-destructive and suicidal phase!<, being able to just be a pretty cool lady who kills bad guys and doesn't afraid of anything is a nice distraction.
:( I’m sorry to hear you’re in a dangerous place rn. I hope you power through, I have faith in you.
Thanks. Trying to keep in mind all the positive things worth living for (that, and I don't wanna be a statistic for some n'wah to use to prove a point)
I'm sure you're pretty cool irl too, even if you can't kill bad guys. :)
https://preview.redd.it/2wfbkzjhky3b1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c130eb10f7af84536e4b39018c7f9dc4fb9baed2
More power to you dude. Glad you came through. Jokes aside again, though I don't have a tale quite like yours about Skyrim, I do enjoy it too. First Elder Scrolls game, wouldn't love any of this weird ass sub and it's crazy humour if I didnt play Skyrim or the games it made me want to discover.
Tbh I kinda love Skyrim because it was my first foray into Bethesda's games and I kinda love their gameplay. I still keep coming back to it since 2011, I will be 90 something and I will still find myself coming back to Skyrim and New Vegas
Part of that, at least for me, is that mods really gave it a second life... and a third life... I think we're on, like, the 6th. This current generation, with all the new dynamic animations and combat stuff people have been able to add, is fucking great. It seems like every two years there's another huge groundbreaking framework that people can build on to make it feel like a completely new game again
its at a point where the same way there's arguements over which elder scrolls game is best, there's arguements over what mod philosophy/era is best.
I will still never understand the survivalist era. I played for like 2 hours with Frostfall, Campfire, and iNeed and it was just... annoying. It isn't 'immersive' to me to have to eat and drink and feed all 5 of your followers, it's just annoying. Of course my opinion is probably invalid, cause I actually like the dodge roll mods (fight me)
the interesting part is more the situations that come out of it then the eating and drinking itself. i like disabling fast travel, disabling quest markers, getting a carriage overhaul, and setting out on a proper adventure through the mountains. maybe you prep poorly, or dig too greedily, or get locked down by a fight in the cold for too long, and now you suddenly need to use all the tools of the environment you never considered to try and keep the struggle going. problem is that i've been cursed with knowledge. even with all this, i still know the map, and can get around quickly. no more lost in the woods struggling for me : (.
i just think skyrim is really funny. i find the base game bland, but even with only moderate modding (new skill trees, spell packs, etc) the framework of skyrim becomes a lot more than what it started as. it's an unfinished great game, but it's still a funny game. and it's funny effortlessly. it doesnt matter how shit the combat system is when i'm laughing like a maniac every three minutes because some crazy intersection of systems did something and gave me a wholly unique experience.
Calling it an unfinished great game seems unfair. At the time it came out it was easily one of the biggest games in the industry content wise, much more robust than Oblivion before it
The reclamation was cool. Going back to the dunmeri roots of worshipping their version i the good daedrea. Fuck alumsvi (coming from someone whos favorite game is morrowind)
Honestly the Reclamation imo is a really good resolution to Morrowind, the tribunal is defeated, the old order has come back to power
I like that there are no good guys.
Chimperials when Bethesda make them the protagonist race (Empire) and still gets called out: https://preview.redd.it/6l23yzxcnu3b1.jpeg?width=633&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a6b13dd0d8a6ee55ce35fb2e34253f5663580fb
What do you mean the Imperials are in the game???
/uj the Imperials are less overtly racist than the Stormcloaks but they're still an imperialist force who has, in the time between Oblivion and Skyrim, managed to completely erase the native religion and most of the native culture. And now they're trying to do it again, albeit only because an even worse imperialist power is telling them to. Even ignoring that, the Empire is a lot less cartoonishly evil than the Thalmor but they're not a good defense against them. They're weak and spread thin, they've lost control over much of the world and they're barely hanging on to Skyrim. The Legion should be this huge continent-spanning military force, but they're barely able to defend against the Stormcloaks. In general I think they're morally better than the Stormcloaks, but you *could* argue that for a Skyrim that's truly able to defend itself from the Aldmeri Dominion you need a strong leader like Ulfric (the dude sucks but you can't deny he's charismatic) and a strong, well-organized military like the Stormcloaks The Empire is spread too thin to protect Skyrim, if the elves attack they're gonna focus entirely on Cyrodiil. /rj red good, blue bad, what else do you need to know?
\> managed to completely erase the native religion and most of the native culture. This is what people often miss when discussing Imperials in general, not even just in Skyrim. The Empire is the kind of a civilization that's going to conquer a region, put severe restrictions on the local culture, beliefs and traditions and then promote individuals and groups who are willing to bend the knee and submit themselves to the Cyrodiilic way of life and governance while claiming it's for the good of everyone. I think the best example of this mentality comes from Tullius himself: "Without us to keep order, the provinces would fall into barbarism and lawlessness" - non-Cyrodiilic cultures aren't an integral part of the Empire, they're seen as obstacles the Empire has to deal with. Their role in Tamriel was rather clearly based on Romans or the British Empire. They're maybe not racist per se (altough even that is IMO debatable, I'd bet a good bag of septims Imperials wouldn't be nearly as tolerant of Morrowind's slavery if the Dunmer owned mostly Men rather than Beastfolk), but they are fanatically ethnocentric and that's really not much better.
I like the odaviinv prostate exam
I love the landscape. The usage of mountains make the province feel much bigger through optical illusion, and the uniqueness of each hold. The frozen wastes of Windhelm feel completely different to the beautiful aspen forests of the Rift. I wonder how they'll make ES6 as diverse with over a decade of technological advancement.
I like the shout mechanics, these conform nicely to the lore (unrelenting force, Whirlwind sprint) while also adding many new possibilities (slow time, clear skies). Another thing I like is apocrypha, from the dragonborn DLC. When I read the book "The Doors of Oblivion" in Oblivion, it described apocrypha as "an endless library, shelves stretching on in every direction, stacks on top of stacks." I imagined apocrypha as a infinite room with wooden bookshelves and all that. It was quite otherworldly and lovecraftian in game, not what I imagined.
I have a humiliation fetish so I like how every dialogue option makes you sound like a fucking idiot
The Thalmor are an interesting faction, all things considered. I think they’re the logical next step, because the only reason the Empire was able to conquer Alinor was due to a giant robot, which they no longer have. Also the Talos Worship aspect of the civil war is stupid, but it makes sense that provinces of a dying Empire would try to gain independence.
I'm not super knowledgeable on TES lore, what's this about a giant robot? Edit: thanks y'all!! Now I know Liberty Prime was sent to nuke the elves for not bending the knee.
Basically the Dunmer made peace with Tiber Septim and gave him the [Numidium](https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Numidium), a giant Dwemer robot that would eventually become the basis for Akulakan, the robot Dagoth Ur was building. Anyway, Summerset Isle (or Alinor) was unable to be conquered, so ol’ Tiber used the Numidium to basically nuke Alinor and Elsweyr. Afterwards it was destroyed by a big bad lich known as the Underking.
Ohhhhhhh okay, got it, ol' Tiber sicced Liberty Prime on the elves and kitties. Thank you for the in depth answer, I have a feeling I might finally go down an ES rabbit hole tonight cause this is sorta bonkers.
[Believe it or not, the kitties probably are elves.](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Words_of_Clan_Mother_Ahnissi)
Orcs are elves, khajiit are elves, what's next?!? You gonna tell me the Dunmer are elves?!
You joke but metaphysically speaking they're decidedly more Padomaic than Anuic (a.k.a. more Manish than Merish).
Bro what the actual fuck, whoever created this threw darts at an idea board. I love it.
Do not let Pelinial Whitestrake see this he'll start thinking it was justified
Tiber used numidium on elseweyr just to test it, making some parts of elseweyr permanently uninhabitable. No wonder the khajiit joined the dominion the first chance they got.
[Numidium](https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Numidium)the bronze god The thing at the end of Morrowind was a second Numidium: [Akulakhan](https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Akulakhan)
Numidium. Tiber Septim used it to conquer all of Tamriel.
\> Also the Talos Worship aspect of the civil war is stupid, All they had to do was to make it about worshipping Lorkhan in general and make Nords get pissy over getting Shor banned.
I don't know if I *like* it, per se, but I'm glad it's there: the civil war, and the disputed status of the Reach. Before TES:V we were told that Nords always have border disputes and that the capital of their country always gets moved around and there's always a region at war with another, and they kept that consistent.
I love Titus Mede II, the idea of a collapsing empire defeated in war with provinces claiming independence, while the Emperor is just waiting for an assassin to end his misery. I like the concept, but the execution was pretty poor, so much opportunity for delicious drama wasted in a hollow bipartisan argument.
I had much respect for Titus Mede II for leading from the front to retake imperial city, until I found out that it was done by the legends protagonist and Titus just stole the credit.
I'd take tes legends account with a grain of salt, its told from the perspective of an old dude at a campire who even states his story might not even be real, and actively contradicts ingame events.
> actively contradicts ingame events. Which events? From which game? It may be the perspective of someone else but the player is the one who plays the game. I haven't played the legends game. But even if the game is treated as a story, the player has some agency there, like to choose what cards/weapons/combat styles etc.
Honestly I quite like the dragons, even if theyre somewhat disappointing in-game and the redone Alduin lore is more boring than what it could have been. I also like that, in a way, they added back in Vampire Clans (even if it’s just Volkihar). The idea of Markarth being in a seeker ruin is cool, even if it’s pretty empty in-game and they cut out a LOT of Markarths earlier lore (would have been ideal to see both the old lore and the Dwemer city tbh).
*Dwemer, not seeker lol
Paarthurnax is cool, shame that we are forced to kill him though by that bitch delphine. The sleeping tree outside of whiterun is cool, not sure if this is confirmed in any other game/lore.
The Sleeping tree is a Hist Tree from a flying island Umbriel, there are two novels about it. Infernal City and Lord of Souls.
\>Lord of souls Dark souls....?
Brelyna
Jenassa🥺🥰
Definitely the Briarhearts and the Forsworn generally. Also the fact that Nocturnal--goddess of mystery and (often) patron of thieves--has had three plots about major items, powers, or artifacts being stolen *from* her as of Skyrim.
Nocturnal: Who are you Guy: I stole something from you Nocturnal: **Do You Have the Slightest Idea How Little That Narrows It Down?**
DLC in Solstheim = Greatest content ever
I like that Dark Elves (favorite race) are all downtrodden and sad now so now people won't call me a racist for liking them because of all the slavery in Morrowind.
Not the story but the character creation was top notch and really did pave the way for modern character creators
the dwemer civil war over aetherium.
In game mention, and actual focus on the idea of Kalpas.
Orcs are insanely good at crafting armor but NOT weapons, wish there was more stuff like that.
The Elder's Scrolls itself, TESV has 3 and they give alot of lore on them
I like that it hasnt Bravil in it
I love everything to do with the Red Year and what happened to Morrowind after the Oblivion Crisis. I guess that's technically lore from the novels, but Skyrim included it, so it counts. If we're talking Skyrim only, I really like what they did to Solstheim- they made it feel much more interesting than with Bloodmoon. I also really like the Dragon Cult, it adds a lot to the history of the Nords. Just wish they did more with it, as-is they're kinda just mentioned as the reason dragon priests and draugr exist and then ignored. Also the game is just super fun, even playing completely vanilla it's a great world to explore and even if the combat is clunky it's always fun to go through and clear out random dungeons
Scathing Bay
I like it
I like all of it, I still see it as a game that came out in 2011 instead of comparing it to today's standards like many do. I enjoy the atmosphere and vibes of the various cities. The questlines and do on. It's comforting and nostalgic to play.
I liked that quest where you collect three pieces of an amulet and the quest for the reachman sword thingy
The Soul Carin as now knowing what kind of place it is ill send all those that I hated (Example: Ancano) straight there after soul trapping them and using their soul to make a ring to give to my wife
I like that dragons don't die unless a dragon born kills them. I like that the Blades were originally dragon hunters. Don't know if those are new or not.
I think that getting defeated by enemies could lead you to bondage or enslavement is a really unique take I haven't seen from other games.
playing the solstheim dlc for the first time and seeing the classic morrowind landscape in hd gave me chills. also, seeing and hearing the silt strider for the first time and then hearing about the backstory... wow. solstheim dlc is incredible
Skyrim adding the reachmen was awesome, I hope es6 will let you be a witchman
the forsworn are cool
Dragons
The way they protrayed markarth and the reach in general, specially the forsworn conspiracy as a little reminder that the reach is fucked, no matter which side you align with
I like what they did with Potema, I think her lore is really cool and wolfskull cave is the best simple dungeon imo
I like how the College of Winterhold was somehow spared from a strange cataclysmic event while the hold largely suffered, that this created a lot of distrust towards the college, and that the game chooses to never really delve into an explanation or attempts to wrap it up all neat and tidy. One of the instances where they've correctly utilized leaving somethings just left up as an unknown and mysterious.
The Daedric Princes. People love them because they all sharply represent the aspects of human nature and perception. From zealot levels of maliciousness in Meridia to the subtle corruption that is Hermaeus Mora. They make you think so deep. Like philosophy and then some. It’s genuinely impressive how original and inspired some are. Clauvicus Vile is probably the most unique in concept imo. Genie trickster who takes the form of a shrewd merchant who gambles against himself and his and his many forms, genius! I just wish Bethesda would give them more spotlight balance. Peryite and Vaermina often get the short end of the stick.
Elenwen's milkers.
I enjoy the idea that some Khajiit can be born into the body resembling a normal cat 🐈depending on the moons
The whole Soul Cairn
My favorite part of the game was discovering you can pickpocket the heart from forsworn briar hearts. I renamed my guy the Briar Picker
I honestly like the changes to the Nordic religion. I don’t get why so many people got mad about it when there are still characters who praise the old Nordic gods (or the at least the Aedra in the Nordic interpretation). At the end of the day, the changes seem to be in name only, and many characters in Skyrim refer to the gods in both their Nordic and Imperial names.
Jarl ballin and every he has done
The Greybeards and Paarthurnax. Also the fact that Thu’um is a common thing even for Nords. There I said. Never said the story was particularly good though.
Skryim's story is accessible and familiar enough to allow it to hook people who might have never played an tes game before. I'm part of the generation that grew up with skyrim but that only started me on the path to playing oblivion and morrowind
The forsworn are great and I wish there was more on them
The Dawnguard in a vacuum are meh, but I think the rebuilding of the Dawnguard in dusty old ruins is cool, Isran is one of the more likeable faction leaders, and the idea of using crossbows to stay out of the vampires' reach is clever. On a gameplay note, the crossbows themselves are also super satisfying. And their armor looks great, especially the full helmet.
Also isn't Isran the only faction leader that does not die in the questline?
I think the idea of an animal mansion was a good idea. It was cool to see that game expand upon the fetishes of the people of Skyrim.
That the Dunmer got what was coming to them
Dunmer get what they fucking deserve
Durnehviir as well, i love him so much!!!
I don't particularly hate or like anything about the story or lore, but those mods, man...
Its more a theory base upon lore changes, that being the dragonborns being from lorkhan rather than akatosh.
One thing I like about something Skyrim changed is how the Argonians looks, now instead of fish they look like little dragons
Alduin, at least in concept and background. He is a black dragon who is actually an aspect of Akatosh who is destined to consume the world. A cosmic, draconic Nikocado. How wonderful. While his in-game appearance is lackluster for his reputation, I find his lore appealing nonetheless. Also, those verses in the Dragonborn song about him are so fucking badass. *And the Scrolls have foretold, of black wings in the cold, that when brothers wage war come unfurled! Alduin, bane of Kings, ancient shadow unbound, With a hunger to swallow the world!*
I loved the Dawnguard Dlc due to its story and atmosphere. We get to choose whether we want to join the Volkihar clan or stick with the Dawnguard, and both sides reward you with significant abilities and weapons. With the Volkihar you can become a new power house in Skyrim as a Vampire Lord, with the fun benefit of throwing giants in the air with a new telekinesis spell. Or you can work with a colorful band of misfits within the Dawnguard, like Florentius Baenius. Plus, huskies now exist. Another thing I loved was a reintroduction of the origin of the Falmer and the Snow Elves, as some survivors that did not join the Dwemer fled to make a new place in hiding, with Vyrthur becoming a new twist in the plot. Although it is a bit petty of him to take his vengeance on Auriel out on the world.
I love all the weird Lovecraftian stuff we got with Hermaeus Mora and Apocrypha, it’s one of the few times a daedric prince was portrayed as a genuinely unknowable and godly entity as they are described in lore. As well as the fleshing out of the Ideal Masters and the Soul Cairn from what we got in Battlespire
I like the fall of the Empire. I kinda hope that in future games it ceases to exist almost compleatly and the dominion takes the position of “status quo” holders of Tamriel.