I *think* the point about Danica and not actually "getting" that life has its stages is probably a commentary on the entire situation in Skyrim.... Then again, it's even more likely that some dev simply didn't write the quest properly....

It gets worse before it gets better. Stand by for "Thread locked for clean-up.".

I'm not using any content mods, only ones that increase the graphics.

I just looked it up and the quest name is coincidentally, The Silver Hand. My journal says that I'm up to a step that tells me to participate in the blood ritual which I haven't done yet.

Also, everyone talking about the quest for the Temple of Kynareth, there IS an option to complete it without harming the Eldergleam.

When you return to the priestess with Nettlebane, this Breton pilgrim (forgot his name) asks if he can accompany you to the Sanctuary. Agree, he follows you (REALLY fragile though,) then you do whatever, get to Eldergleam, when you attack the branches he's like "WHOA WHAT THE HELL" then explains that there is another way, a non-violent way, to help the Temple. He goes over to the Eldergleam, prays, and it bestows him with a little bitty seedling. He gives you the seedling and says to return it to Danica Pure-Spring since hey it's just as good. She totally accepts the sapling, Spriggans don't leap out of the walls and murder everyone, everyone's happy!

Tell that the the old Gildergreen that gets dug up and replaced.

I'm kind of afraid to go back to the Eldergleam on my 1st character...

I think that most people that play this type of fantasy game are basically "good" type people, and games like this offer a chance to play as a "bad" character and it is just fantasy. It is an escape to the dark side, if you will. On the other hand, it would be great if a game could offer the player a chance to actually be good and have quest lines to offer that type of role play. Maybe we will get a DLC that offers that choice, who knows? I, for one, would buy it in a heartbeat.

Unless the trees have actual feelings like the Hist trees in Black Marsh, the hell with them.

I'm far from a tree-hugging liberal, but I'll spare a tree if there's another way and I had no idea about the 'alternative' way on my 1st character. I think the guy asked to go with me, but I don't really use followers and I figured he'd get killed along the way so I would've told him to stay in Whiterun.

Yeah I didn't notice him til my third go-around. First time I told him to bug off since I didn't know he was involved with the quest, the second time I brought him with but he died when a dragon attacked Honningbrew Meadery. On my third and current character, I brought him with and killed him anyway because evil sneak thief.

The priestess owns up to that when you bring her the sapling. She admits to being so worried about keeping the perceptions of glory to the populace ("the rabble") that she wasn't listening to the tenants of her own faith. She even thanks you making her see that, and is deeply regretful that she'd fallen even that far.

He died saving the beer. He will be remembered in glory and song.

If there isn't a "decent" path on a quest, it's likely to be one that I'll ignore. I just don't enjoy doing evil. There are times I'm sent out to kill so and so bandit leader and I go but I don't attack first and that's my rationale for doing the quest. The world is the star of Skyrim and I love exploring it but after a while I get tired of killing and there's still plenty of game. I'm sure it's difficult to find a balance to please the players but I'd like to see more noble paths included as an option in resolving a quest. In Oblivion, we took a bad guy in...after fighting our way to him...but anyway, we took him in. I'd like to see some of that. Take the bad guy in to the guards; I could do that. It wouldn't take anything away from the paths that are in place now.

There are many places in my game where people are just standing there waiting for me...and I'm never going to show up. Companions, cannibals, thieves, assassins, etc.

^^^ This!

I have started opting to not clear out some bandit dungeons wtih my current character. I've taken on the challenge of seeing how few bandits I can kill and still get the task accomplished. Sneak, calm, and invisibility have become my friends. I don't enjoy beating a bandit down to the point that they yield, yet I have to kill them because the bounce back. That's not yielding, that's "let me catch my breath for a minute."

Also, you can hear some interesting comments after calming a bandit and walking up to speaking range of them with sheathed weapons.

There's a good bit of Skyrim content that I'll leave on the table because it cuts across the grain (morals) for my two characters. But I'm in over 400 hours and it's not that big a deal

I completely agree with the OP and have felt the same.

I have written it off as Skyrim just being a less civilized world and accepted it. About the best you can really do in Skyrim is play neutral with good tendencies.

I don't know how many quests are stuck in my Journal because after I got them I discovered that the requirement to do the quests was something that my current PC (if good) would never actually consider doing. The hardest are when evil is forced upon you. For example the worse for me was:

SPOILERS


Markarth, House of Horrors. Dang it starts out 'good', helping a daedra hunter search a house. Then you get stuck in the house, then you have to kill him (no option not to), and it just gets worse from there. Now unless I'm playing an evil person I refuse to help the guy, which in and of itself is out of character because a good guy would help him. Just nuts I say. To keep my sanity I just pretend he's not there, in fact once I just 'Disabled' him to get him out of my face.

That's how evil works though. It does force itself on others. You were trying to do the right thing and help someone out, but you both got in way over your heads, and the guy couldn't cope with it and tried to kill you to save himself. I don't think you killing him to protect yourself qualifies as evil.

I completely agree. I just don't like it.

It has taken me a while to figure out how to avoid starting the Daedra quests. My first few playthroughs I was falling all over them and was shocked since in prior games you basically had to ask for them. Find a dog, start a Daedra quest, find a beggers master, start a Daedra quest, help some orcs, start a Daedra quest, talk to a prisoner, start a Daedra quest. To be honest, other than my evil Dunmer I played, non of my characters really want anything to do with the Daedra quests.

How many of the Daedra quests really qualify as evil though? They have evil options you could take, but most of them seem to be Good Aligned or at least Neutral Aligned.

When I pay $60 for a video game, I try and get the most out of it. I think it's a waste for all those people who skip half the stuff in the game because they feel guilty. It's only a video game people. If you restart the game, guess what? Everyone you treat badly is back!

Just a waste to skip so many cool perks and rewards over feeling guilty in a video game.

Depends on what you're looking for in the game. If you want to role-play as a knight for justice, cannibalism doesn't seem the way to go. If that's the case, just make a new character and go "The Hills Have Eyes" on everyone you meet.

I never kill anyone just for the hell of it. But if killing someone will get me an awesome weapon, then so be it. There is too much to be missed in the game by skipping things for the sake of being good. It's not like there are only a few. I mean seriously. If you skip the Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, and the Deadric quests, then you're missing out on a lot of stuff in the game. You might as well skip the Companions too seeing you're forced to become a werewolf.

This is why I played the following different characters:


Anya Surilie. Female Breton. Pure Mage. College of Winterhold. Bards College.

Daral Berethi. Male Dunmer. Rogue, DW Daggers. Dark Brotherhood. Daedric Quests.

Dular. Male Orc. Warrior 2H Sword. Main Quest. Blades. Orc strongholds.

Onyx. Male Khajiit. Rogue 1H Sword and Bow. Thieves Guild.

Raven. Female Breton. Forsworn DW Sword and Axe. Markarth. Imperial Legion.

Svenja. Female Nord. Warrior 1H Sword and Shield. Main Quest. Companions. Stormcloaks.

Eric. Male Nord. Warrior 1H Axe and Shield. Light Armor. Companions. Explorer - been everywhere.

Being entertainment, it's value is in how much you enjoy it. Why would I pay to do something I didn't enjoy?

I completely understand how someone could share your POV and for me, it's not about feeling guilty, it's about fun. I just don't have fun playing evil, imagining myself as evil or obtaining a reward that isn't actually real by making myself imagine myself as evil. I hope you can see a different point of view. Playing is also a personal experience and we don't all feel the same things. I enjoy that feeling of pride that Todd mentioned and I wouldn't be proud if I slaughtered bunnies. Other people might though. I thought about trying it because the rumors about the setting for a new Assassin's Creed are interesting and I've never played that game but I watched a trailer and when the guy slit someone's throat, I just cringed. Not fun for me...and it's the same for Skyrim. I hope you're having as good a time as I am though because I'm having a blast in Skyrim even though I skip the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood, the truly evil Daedric quests and most of the Companions.

I get it. But your skipping more than half of what the game has to offer. Why even bother playing any of it then?
Love Assassin's Creed games. The newest one is going to be set in Colonial America around 1777. Looks really cool.
The 2nd AC was pretty awesome. You have all your weapons and gadgets made for you by Leonardo DeVincci. How cool is that?

Cobra, it's very cool and I had a chance to check out the locale for AC2 and thought it was beautiful. I'd love to explore something set in Colonial America..it's so different. Maybe there will be a way if AC isn't linear. The killing part just isn't my favorite part of TES or Fallout...it just isn't - but I have to do it to play in these worlds at all. I love exploring the amazing and creative worlds they've built and Bethesda has filled them with so much that I can stay plenty busy playing the parts I do like...very happy about that too. I conjure a lot and let the summoned and my followers protect me. I do plenty of fighting but it's the self-protection kind and there's plenty of situations to do that like the dragons. I'm getting pretty good with an axe and my shield although I prefer magic. It's just a difference in taste and it would be nice to have more choices to resolve situations without killing though...that's all, not take away what's there now, just add a new choice to some quests. I would have liked to do the Companions. The people seemed interesting.