Previously: Part 2: Thieves Guild, Related Skills, and the Creation Engine

_{*Warning, this review contains mild spoilers about the quest line of this part of the game.}

.....What I did last summer?'

As a gamer in the Internet age, it has become increasingly difficult to be genuinely surprised by a new release. The explosion of game journalism and culture has created an online world in which is has become impossible to get away from articles, reviews, and discussions about a game. Months before release, a conscientious gamer knows everything that can be known about how a game will look, feel, and play. The modern gamer is an educated gamer, and that information has come at a price.

By chance, the last game that truly shocked me to my core was, in fact, Oblivion. I'm not talking about that "stepping out of the sewers and taking the first look the world" that so many series fans are fond of. My experience took place in the dead of night, both in the game's world and in my own. My first-ever character had just finished a quest rooting out the corruption of a city guardsman, and had set out to do some heavy thieving for the blissful irony of countering a good deed with a bad one. I had a reputation as a badass to keep, after all.

Stumbling into a curious house that seemed to be abandoned, I decided to search the place to find god-knows-what. Though it seemed relatively normal on the inside, upon tripping over some rocks a hole in the wall revealed a hidden passage illuminated in a phosphorescent red. I approached an eerie-looking door covered with weird markings with the image of a skull embedded in it. As I reached it, it spoke to me in a wispy voice: "What is the color of the night?"

As many of you have guessed, that was my first experience with the Dark Brotherhood, an elusive band of professional assassins. In Oblivion, the guild had an invisible hand in all sorts of influential pockets and a presence in the deepest fears of the entire population. Unstoppable, the group was running high with their efficient and lucrative dealings with death. When they're presented in Skyrim however, the shadow organization has somewhat symbolically become a shadow of its former self.

What a coincidence, I was going to invite you into my bedroom

Joining is as memorable as it has ever been. Since the downfall of the guild in the events leading up to this installment, the members in Skyrim have abandoned the old ways of the guild. The Night Mother, the mysterious spiritual leader of the assassins, has all but vanished. A Listener, the blessed leader that heads her commands, has not been chosen, and the five tenets that held the brotherhood of killers in line have been abandoned. Loosely held together by the alliance to their matron, the guild relies on word of mouth to spread the
wishes of their customers, who they can only hope to contact in time.

For Pony!

From the start of the game, rumors start circulating about an orphan boy whose been attempting to get in contact with the organization. Carrying out the boy's task will alert the organization of your willingness to kill for hire, an amiable quality to this counter-culture. From there, you'll be the subject of a very interesting initiation, which I will not spoil. And if dare to you pass, you're well on your way to something huge. The likes of which Skyrim, and entire Elder Scrolls series has never seen before.

However, you can also choose the path toward extinguishing the guild itself in that initiation quest. Though it is a much shorter path, it's still nice to be given the freedom to choose. Personally, I would never do it. The experience and rewards of being an agent of the night are far too great to pass up. There are plenty of memorable missions along the way. This time around, smaller scale assassinations are no longer a part of the main questline. Instead, they're handled as optional side quests, and I won't spoil anything, but the main questline for the Dark Brotherhood involves the largest scale operation the game's universe can possibly offer. It's much appreciated.

There's an incredible variety of quests to do. My personal favorite was uncovering and then stealing the identity of a chef in order to poison a dinner party. However, I'll admit that for the most part quests are just a little less interesting than they were in Oblivion. I'm peeved that there was no quest like the Whodunit one from the last installment: a mission in which the player is tasked with eliminating a house full of contestants searching for a fictional hidden treasure, but without alerting any of them to his true intentions. Turning each of the contestants against each other and messing with their emotions and fears made me feel like a real assassin; it was one of the most memorable parts of the game.

Don't get me wrong, the Dark Brotherhood missions in Skyrim are suitably badass, but it's hard to compare them favorably to the ones from Oblivion. That's not a real criticism, though. I found the questline of the last game to be godly, so it's still pretty amazing this time around. You'll also meet a colorful cast of characters, including a 10-year-old vampire and a schizophrenic jester. They may not be as majestically sexy as Lucien Lachance or as comedic as the gentle-giant Gogron gro-Bolmog, but they're still an interesting assortment of unique personalities. The precious dark humor and aloof praise of murder is still intact, and thankfully there is an endless amount of contracts to be hunted, tormented, and sent back to the void.

What is life's greatest illusion?
Progressive Tax Rates?

The changes to the Dark Brotherhood seem to mirror the changes to the universe itself since the events of Oblivion. When the series departed from the bright meadows and lush forests of Cyrodiil, it left behind the high fantasy tone the previous game had reveled in. There are still fantastical races and otherworldly powers, but they're handled in a different way. The most overt change in tone comes from the art direction developer Bethesda has chosen to take. At its core, the heartless arctic tundra that makes up the province of Skyrim is dark, real, and alive. As expected, the lore calls for a snow-covered terrain, but the world is much more varied than just that. The freezing exterior is countered by interiors with large, warm fireplaces. Caves and forts are damp and dark. And the game mimics this by avoiding clear moral altruisms every chance it gets.

This is easily the darkest entry into the series thus far, but not the generic dark fantasy that's encumbered recent RPGS. A large part of the game is the battle between The Empire and the Stormcloak Rebels, both of which fight for respectable causes but both of which are fatally flawed. The Empire has forfeited the rights of the people to a foreign invader, and the Stormcloak leader is a racist power monger. In this and many other parts of the game, there is no clear party holding a higher moral standing.

Oliver Cromwell v King Charles I Reenactment

Racism is one of many dark topics that's touched on in Skyrim, in many different forms. Some cities contain ghettos for undesirable races. Foreigners are scapegoated and stereotyped on a daily bases. Religious oppression is commonplace, though not heavily enforced. The villagers have a great fear of the unknown, blabbering on and on about rumors of Dragon attacks. The "Beast Races" make fewer appearances, often as traveling nomads or isolated counter-cultures, as this is the land of the Viking-esque Nordic race, much different than that of the cosmopolitan Imperials. Even Magic, what used to be a commonly-held practice in Oblivion, is viewed with skepticism and fear by the general populace.

It gets worse than that. For example, there's a mission where the player deals with a necrophiliac necromancer and another where they investigate the brutal murder of a little girl. Missions like these were not commonplace in the previous installment. Skyrim deals with much deeper issues than the series has ever handled before. Even the main conflict between the Rebels and the Empire is eerily reminiscent of the European Imperial conquest, or if you want to get a little controversial, the recent American operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Harrison Ford?

There are other ways in which the game attempts to make the world more realistic as well. The
game world is littered with books from all genres. Non-fiction novels retell the extensive lore of The Elder Scrolls' universe and previous titles. Fictional stories talk of great kings, powerful warriors, and the occasional lusty Argonian maid. As always, players can buy houses but can now decorate them by interacting with the furniture. There's also an ability to get married this time around, regardless of sexual orientation. Telegraphing your availability does become somewhat of a joke though, since almost every NPC in the world will immediately drop their panties for a chance to ride the Dragon Born.

Not that they'll do that, or much of anything. After a brief ceremony, a player's spouse simply hangs around his house and can occasionally be bothered for dinner, reminiscent of 1950s America. You can't really get divorced or remarried though, even if you murder you first wife and drag her lifeless corpse to a giant's lair and laugh maniacally as the mammoths stomp over her desecrated corpse. Which is a bit of a bummer. Or so I've heard.If the player chooses to remain an eligible bachelor, however, there are still many ways in which they can take care of themselves. The player can interact with many more objects the world than in Oblivion. The player can mine for precious ores with a pick axe, and even cook their favorite meals with the right ingredients and recipes, an option that lends itself to a sadly missing hardcore mode a la New Vegas. Mod bait, perhaps

It's not just what's available in the world that makes it live, but the people within it. In Oblivion, most characters spouted the same 2 or 3 lines of dialogue endlessly. Instead of a dozen or so voice actors doing the voices for each race, Skyrim features 70 or so actors who repeat about 60,000 lines of dialogue. It's a noticeable difference, even minor characters with no real role have a little exposition and back story. It's a welcome trade-off to the endless mudcrab-fearing public from Oblivion. That's not to say it's perfect just yet, but I'll refrain from making the joke about the inordinate frequency of knee injuries among guardsmen.

Requiescat en pace

Cities themselves are more diverse than ever before, facing a variety of social, economic, and political problems. The series has abandoned overt physical differences in exchange for more subtle, meaningful ones. Cultures, values, finances, and the individual attitude of city-leaders ( known as Jarls) influence how a city looks and its people behave more than the counts and countesses of Oblivion. Even the various forts, caves, and buildings found in the wild have a greater reason to be around. They're usually placed in locations advantageous for their purpose whether it be hunting, treasure driving, or marauding and given a sensible reason or lore that explains their existence, whether it be through a book, a letter, or the actions and words of enemies found within.

The game has many randomly scripted events too, encounters with the world that make the experience of each player slightly different than the rest. You'll find the bodies of lovers separated by a lethal encounter with a bear, or a bandit fleeing from the guard. For me, the most memorable was stumbling across a lonesome dog in the wild, and taking it under my wing after finding its poor owner brutally murdered by a pack of wolves not to far away. We were going to make history, he was going to be the next Dogmeat. I would call him, Dragonmutt. Or Woofabark, as he is known in their language. Sadly, our reign of terror ended prematurely as the poor beast staggered into a shout I was using fighting some Thalamor. Unfortunately, from then on history will only remember him as the dog I FUS RO DAH'd off a mountain.

I suppose I still hadn't quite understood that with great power comes great responsibility. So in part 4 of Skyrim Month I'll be traveling to the College of Winterhold, home of the mages, where hopefully there will be a class or two about keeping myself (and those around me) safe from my own tomfoolery.

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

Very good read. I think your style of separating this into different reviews is actually the only way to tackle this kind of game. And I know it's common courtesy to say "good read", but in this case, that was actually extremely engaging.

I noticed a different tone too, but I didn't realize just how much darker they were than the other game. I find myself actually Role Playing this time around. While the game still doesn't particularly grab you as well as some others, the environment and large number of different characters help make it feel like you have a place in this world.

And while I do agree that the guild this time around was pretty meh, I really enjoyed the final assassination of the game. I managed to get behind him and perform the throat slicing animation.

JoesshittyOs:
Very good read. I think your style of separating this into different reviews is actually the only way to tackle this kind of game. And I know it's common courtesy to say "good read", but in this case, that was actually extremely engaging.

I noticed a different tone too, but I didn't realize just how much darker they were than the other game. I find myself actually Role Playing this time around. While the game still doesn't particularly grab you as well as some others, the environment and large number of different characters help make it feel like you have a place in this world.

And while I do agree that the guild this time around was pretty meh, I really enjoyed the final assassination of the game. I managed to get behind him and perform the throat slicing animation.

Thank you, your nice words mean a lot to me. I haven't roleplayed much in Skyrim (just yet, but I'm sure I will) but I've been shocked by how much more real this world feels. Oblivion claimed that it allowed you to live another life in another world, skyrim has really lived up to that promise.

Me too! It was pretty awesome. I actually did a lot of sneaking in that one, rather than just be the unstoppable immortal badass that I am. haha :)

Thanks for commenting

I found the Skyrim brotherhood critically lacking in most aspects.
Looking at the initiations, both involve a test, but the implementation is different. Oblivion gives the player the initiation murder to complete at his leisure While Skyrim makes you choose right when it triggers. In doing this, Skyrim breaks the laissez faire nature of the series. It also makes the false dichotomy of making the player choose to either side with the brotherhood or against it wherein Oblivion let you just ignore them.
Skyrim also requires the player to steal a contract from the brotherhood to trigger initiation, which is stupid for the PC since he's purposefully aggravating assassins. This is also bad because instead of the Brotherhood looking into a possible new recruit like professionals, they're throwing a tantrum over losing a 100 gold plate.
Meeting our fellow companions, Skyrims does have more interesting characters, and a different overall feel. The Chedenhal sanctuary was probably the friendliest place in Cyrodil. They'd offer personal help and ask for assistance with personal matters. Skyrim's assassins feels more like a fraternity. They joke and haze, but only Babbette and possibly Ciciro (I killed him because he annoyed me) seemed to care if you get in trouble, and I didn't really care when they got in trouble. I don't know if that makes Skyrim worse, but I didn't like it as much.
Most of the missions aren't anything more complicated than running up to someone and bashing their head in, and there are about three that get close to the assassinations in oblivion.

Once again you hit the nail on the head.

I was a bit saddened by the characters in Skyrim's sanctuary. I didn't really grow attatched to them like I had in Oblivion, they seemed to lack character and presence.

kuyo:
I found the Skyrim brotherhood critically lacking in most aspects.
Looking at the initiations, both involve a test, but the implementation is different. Oblivion gives the player the initiation murder to complete at his leisure While Skyrim makes you choose right when it triggers. In doing this, Skyrim breaks the laissez faire nature of the series. It also makes the false dichotomy of making the player choose to either side with the brotherhood or against it wherein Oblivion let you just ignore them.

That never bothered me, because I knew I wanted to join before the game was even announced. But I can see your point. I may add that into my review.

Skyrim also requires the player to steal a contract from the brotherhood to trigger initiation, which is stupid for the PC since he's purposefully aggravating assassins. This is also bad because instead of the Brotherhood looking into a possible new recruit like professionals, they're throwing a tantrum over losing a 100 gold plate.

I never really saw it like that. I did find it a little weird that your join by stealing one of their jobs, but they seemed less aggravated and more just pleased to have found a new assassin. It wasn't the strongest initiation, but the part in the room with Astrid was unique enough to make me let it go.

Meeting our fellow companions, Skyrims does have more interesting characters, and a different overall feel. The Chedenhal sanctuary was probably the friendliest place in Cyrodil. They'd offer personal help and ask for assistance with personal matters. Skyrim's assassins feels more like a fraternity. They joke and haze, but only Babbette and possibly Ciciro (I killed him because he annoyed me) seemed to care if you get in trouble, and I didn't really care when they got in trouble. I don't know if that makes Skyrim worse, but I didn't like it as much.

Overall, they were definitively more varied and interesting as far as backstories go, but as I mentioned in your review, there still was something missing. The Cheydinhal sanctuary will be unmatched, it was near impossible for them to top it. I cried during that one part. You know which.

Most of the missions aren't anything more complicated than running up to someone and bashing their head in, and there are about three that get close to the assassinations in oblivion.

Spoiler: Click to 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

So the closing message of the two games are
Oblivion: Sometimes, people don't like it when you murder
Skyrim: Don't fuck with the PC, dude can and will see thousands of deaths to get every possible position of power in the game.

Again, I see your point but that seemed to be moreso the theme of Skyrim in general. You were the chosen one. I dunno if its better or worse, I'm still coming to that conclusion. Its going to be a heavy part of my final wrap up of the game. Is Oblivion's nostalgia blinding my perception?

Pimppeter2:
I did find it a little weird that your join by stealing one of their jobs, but they seemed less aggravated and more just pleased to have found a new assassin. It wasn't the strongest initiation, but the part in the room with Astrid was unique enough to make me let it go.

I took the whole sending creepy messages and stuffing you in a bag and locking you in a room as a sign of hostility. Granted, Lucien was also kinda creepy when he recruited you, but he only ever talked. The bit in the shed was pretty cool on its own especially if you decide to give a curveball like kill everyone including Astrid. I would've liked to be able to kill Astrid after the others, so she'd see who she was messing with, but it's good enough. However, the whole thing depends on the player metagaming since any character wouldn't steal a contract from assassins and would probably respond to their abduction and forced murder by killing their abductor.

Pimppeter2:
Overall, they were definitively more varied and interesting as far as backstories go, but as I mentioned in your review, there still was something missing. The Cheydinhal sanctuary will be unmatched, it was near impossible for them to top it. I cried during that one part. You know which.

I don't think the difference in feel is entirely bad. Being a less familiar group could be a result of this being Skyrim. Populated by gruff and drunk nords, I thought the frat house feel was kinda fitting. I think the intention was for it to still seem like a family, but a different kind. Too bad there wasn't much to which to get attached.

Going beyond the Brotherhood, the two games have different ways of portraying the PC in general. Oblivion had the PC as some random guy whose only tangential relation to things was chosen. All the guild quest had you deal with preexisting problems that didn't have anything to do with the PC. Even in the main quest, you were just some guy who went along with a dying man's wishes and your royal friend. Every connection was made by player choice, but it made the problem of the player being some secondary character in a bunch of other peoples' stories. The protagonists were Martin, Oryen, Lucien, Arch mage some-dude, The Grey Fox ect. I do like the verisimilitude of the player being a lackey in the guilds because he is, and a lot of the arcs had nice denouement where the player became a legacy of the previous leader using the tools and information of the previous protagonists to accomplish the final goal, but then they just end. Once the player becomes a leader, he just has busywork like running off to talk to a statue or killing swampthings in some settlement. I guess it makes sense that after the main issue is taken care of, upper management wouldn't have much else to do save paperwork, but always being the support staff doesn't do much to let the player feel like a hero. I guess the lancer's a pretty good role though. Han Solo was a lancer.

Skyrim goes far to the other side and either gives you importance a bit too fast, like with the Companions inducting you into the high ranks of the circle after three quests and civil war sides that have you in the highest rank after clearing one fort, or more likely makes you a messiah given far more than you've earned.

EDIT:Morrowind did an okay job. Ignoring the fact that the PC was manipulated by the emperor and Asura, it had the player earn their place by proving hiself to the Ashkhans and others. The story revolved around the PC, but the player made it that way. It wasn't flawless, I remember feeling like I was still someone's dog even at the end, so that cut into the player agency, but it was pretty good. Though, they couldn't do the whole "prove you're the Nerevarine" thing with the Dovahkin since the test would just be "Say FUS."
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how Skyrim's initiation doesn't really have a point. In Oblivion, Lucien knew you were willing to kill under certain conditions and wanted to find out if those conditions allowed for assassinations. In Skyrim, you've already performed an assassination and received (lousy) payment. You've proven yourself capable of not only assassination, but pretty much every function of the Brotherhood. What else is left to prove; that you're willing to work under Astrid? Granted, I can see how one might object to that, but I'd think just following Lucien's example and showing up in my bedroom for a formal interview would suffice. Astrid abducting the dragonborn who she knows is willing to commit murder is just as stupid as the dragonborn stealing a contract from an organization infamous for assassinations.

Once again, I've got nothing of great substance here :P
But a damn good read anyway!
Looking forward to the next installment!

BehattedWanderer:
Well said. You grasped the tone completely, if failing to mention the revelous activities of some of the cities, taverns, and Daedra that act as distinct counter points to the drear of the frozen tundra. I mean, haven't you seen the revelry?

You're right. I'll try to amend that in future installments of this series. Thank you for pointing that out.

I haven't played Oblivion. I tried playing it before Skyrim came out, but the mechanics of it got in the way of actually playing, and the horrendousness of the faces made me gtfo of there. Pity, really. Your reviews make me wish I had played it, but having tried since, I can't deal with the downgrade in awesome. Shame.

Yeah, its pretty hard to transition to previous installments when game now-a-days are so similar can be pretty difficult. Even though I LOVED Morrowind, I found it very difficult to go back to it after my hours upon hours in Cyrodiil.

Oh, and...
I don't know, they could always have you kill an Aedra or Daedra, permanently reshaping the pantheons of the world. That would be pretty large, in scales of operation.

This is true. That would be pretty interesting. I wonder how that would work out.