I finally put my finger on what bugs me in this game.
After 30 minutes of being a [censored] looser, captured by the imperials and sentenced to a death that nobody will care about since I'm just an anonymous looser in this harsh world... I suddenly become superman (dragonborn), and I have to save the world.

What I loved in morrowind/oblivion (didn't play earlier elder scrolls) is that I saved the world, of course, but I felt I chose to be that hero who would go on and kill things but in the end I was just like any other guy in the world, just better and motivated.

In skyrim, whatever race I choose, whatever the persona of my toon, I AM THE [censored]IN DRAGONBORN.
In oblivion, I was not, say, the son of the emperor... I was a prisoner, who got lucky, escaped, decided to give a [censored] about the apocalypse and was slighty better at swordfighting/magic/whatever than the average, got even better, then managed to save the world. But I feel like I earned it, I was part of a big thing, but not a semigod [censored] like the dragonborn is.

This is what I don't like about this approach of bethesda, I want my common-manliness back... I want to be a brave soldier (whatever your style) of skyrim, a true hero, not just a lucky guy with special blood and super powers.

I loved the previous sandbox games of bethesda, but here I feel more like my character is superman/batman, only with dragons and arrows to the knees. I want my [censored] looser of a prisoner back !

Don't do the main quest and you will be just a random person.

Yeah I wish we had ways to roleplay different careers inside the main quest, including helping the villain.

This. I have never felt special in the world because I have yet to do the Main Quest. Honestly after doing other faction quests it seems to have the opposite effect. Everyone still treats you like crap, regardless of what you have done.

Well you don't have to be the dragonborn unless you trigger the main-quest, in much the same way as there will never be an invasion from oblivion happen upon cyrodill unless you trigger the main-quest in kvatch in oblivion.

What can I say... welcome to Todd Howard's vision of RPG, epic, boom headshot, you don't have to worry about X any more, ... I'm impatient to see what's the next thing he creates to top the dragons'n'dragonborn orgy.

Yeah just don't talk to the Jarl at Whiterun then there will be no dragons.

Sorry to hear that. I actually feel 100X less pressured in Skyrim than Oblivion were I really needed an alternate start to not feel like a 100% scumbag dor not starting the main quest immediately. You can just not follow Hadvar or Ralof back to Riverwood and /or not Visit the Jarl of Whiterun and you can have your common man status back. In fact, until you return the Dragonstone to Farengar no Dragonborn stuff, No dragonborn, no dragons. Personally I think commonality overrated to to each thier own.


Now you've made me really want an open world game like TES but with superheroes.

"Don't do the main quest" -.- what else is there to do?

I talked to the Jarl and told him about the problems so he could send soldiers to protect riverwood but then ran away from him before he could ask anything from me. I felt like my character would have done that for gurder after she offered me a bed. Still didn't like the game much but meh whatever.

So freeeking [censored] [censored] jesuschrist holy [censored] omg crazy really devoted fan much.

Eh... what?

There's heaps to do other than MQ. The guild quests and heaps of side quests from people if you talk to them.

I agree though Obsidian > Bethesda.

most fitting post avatar combo ever lol ass

I see your point, but Dragonborn is what the game is all about. Instead of just making the same game, Bethesda made a DIFFERENT game from Morrowind and Oblivion. Like others said, don't play the main questline. I love being Dragonborn and I much prefer Skyrim over Oblivion.

Oh yeah I know about all the side quests. It just doesn't make sense to me that someone would focus on that part of the game. They are side quests afterall which have little impact on the world.

Don't. Do. The. Main. Quest.

Simple.

Yes guys, I tried to skip the main quest, I started a new game... the problem now is that I somewhat "know" that I'm the dragonborn in this game, and anyway, I find dragons in the wild a very fun perspective, I never got to the point where they are boring. I just want a dragon once in a while, to have something more epic to flee from than weird buzzing tree-women, but for this to happen, don't I need to start the main quest ? except with a mod, of course, but I'm talking about Beth's RPG design.

Well, I don't. I happen to like being Dragonborn. I like becoming and being powerful.

You do have a choice, by the way. You just refuse to see it.

Well, some people do want to be "superman", you can't please everyone.

I get it, man.

I, too, try to play this game as a normal citizen, so I can escape the mind-numbing drudgery of my real life as an international man of mystery.

Erh, well, you could just do the main quest until after you've defeated your first dragon, and not listen to a bunch of strange asocial men yelling at you from the top of their mountain? My first character was hesitating too, who would listen to such creepiness anyway. I actually took quite a long time before I finally visited them, I was level 20 or so.

Are you serious? The side quests and miscilanious quests are why I buy TES. That I enjoy the main quest in Skyrim is just a bonus. I've played dozens of characters in Morrowind and Oblivion logging 100s of hours or more but I've only done Oblivion's main quest once and Morrowind's twice

Yep, I tend to wait also. Whether my character doesn'twant to accept destiny or wants to worthy before he goes there etc. I also tend to be very lazie faire about it. I do lots of loxcal stuff as I move around.

So you want the world but not a story to go with it? I'm not sure how there could be dialogue from NPCs without some kind of theme in there though. I mean, what would they talk about...the weather?