Spoilers abound ....

So this stupid woman steals the horn, leaves me a note, acts all cloak and dagger, and demands I prove to her I am drsgonborn. So gamesas put in dialog where you can ask her why she is being stupid and cloak and dagger. They even give you the chance to refuse to prove anything and walk away. She told me I will be back because I need her.

Well thanks to gamesas's plotting, or lack of options, it turns out she is right. You cant advance the main quest without licking her boots and skulking back like a shamed puppy. Thanks gamesas for putting in hollow, pointless dialog options.

I hate her and refuse to work with her. Which means I will never do the MQ. I mean, unless I ever make a character with no self esteem. They should have given an option to drive all the MQ from interacting with the Greybeards, as an alternate path.

I wonder if I can set all her quests active and then complete in turn until I am simply advanced to the point where Paarthunax is giving me quests. I dont know how that will interact with the fact that if you never save the other blade (I read the quest progression after getting stuck) will jack anything up.

Not that I would ever want any of my followers being in her stupid dragon-hunting order/perversion of the blades.

Well, I can always set her killable in the console, and kill her with a clear conscience. Since without her meddling and plot blockage, Alduin cant actually enact his evil scheme either. So its best for the world if she dies.

I cant wait for someone to make a mod where you can get to the MQ without doing her stupid crap. I got your proof right here honey. *slitthroat*

She seemed rather nice to me. I mean, when you visit her she just gives the horn back without any conditions. And then she tries to be helpful.

I felt the same with Hadvar and Ralof. I didn't want to follow them when Alduin was attacking Helgen. I mean, come on, my character is strong and independent and I'm not going to take orders from anyone. I just stood there until I burned to death. That's the only way I'll play the game, ever. *10,000% seriousface*

I found her demand to prove anything to her laughablem considering I had just slogged through a ton of undead just to find that she was toying with me. No, she can rot.

My only issue now is whether to keep playing Skyrim. Most of the best dungeons are sealed if you dont do the MQ. Well, I can make a rogue or an assassin. I havent done those quests yet. Maybe there will be some nice DLC later.

Yeah, the sensible thing to do would be to play by the game's rules and do what she requests. If your egos are too big to play that way, then maybe you should play an entirely different game where your ego can run amok and you don't have to follow the game's constructs in order to finish it.

I have no desire to run amok. I just hate that Bethesda put in dialog that lets you be indignant but then wont let you follow through.

Anyway, historically, my first character never does the main quest in the Bethesda games, so this kinda works out. Tho a lot smaller percentage of the game was closed to you in the other games if you did so.

Maybe you just caught her at a bad time. My only issue with her is that she'd go missing on our trip to that dragon place from Riverwood so I'm standing on the road waiting. And she ruins sneakiness.

If this bothers you then by all means you need to stop playing Skyrim. It is not the game for you.

Yes, because this isnt an RPG at all.

Come on.
Playing by the games rules is exactly the antithesis of the whole 'be who you want, do what you want' thing, not that that means anything anymore aside from a nice marketing slogan.
Who are these people, who continually defend even the worst things about the game, and then insist we should play another if we dont like it?
Its not as if, you know, making your distatisfaction coherently clear is in any way preferred over mindless yes-men.
/sarcasm.

I must say I find these types of threads both amusing and at times distressing -- both for the same reasons. On the other hand, it is natural selection in action. Characters too stubborn to follow anyone for any reason in any circumstance die in a (dragon) fire and don't pass on their genes: seems like an excellent plan for the species.

It is somewhat absurd, though, to expect that you can do whatever you want, however you want, and still get everything you want. That's about as anti-immerse as is possible to define. Sometimes you have to compromise to get what you want in life or decide it just isn't worth it and survive without it.

The character I've progressed the most is balking at completing the "mysterious gem" quest-line (whatever it's called) because you're required to join the thieves guild and progress in it. I know I'm giving up some fairly good loot, not to mention the extra gems, but that's a fair trade-off. Due to a bug, I've got about 10k worth of goods marked 'stolen' even though I forged them...it's tempting to join to sell the stuff to a fence but...still, no, it's not worth it.

The other char I'm working through, when it comes time to collect words, will join the Dark Brotherhood as it's necessary to get access to the word-wall but that's it and no further.

Part of the charm of these type of games is that they aren't laid out as ego-pumping super-star generators that spend the entire game trying to always make you feel good about and ok with every decision you make; that people react closer to reality; that you don't always have a good feeling about what you have to do. We, the player, may gripe about it -- I won't say I was in the least pleased about being cuckolded by the thieves guild and those unidentified gems -- but at the same time, those type of decisions are key to a good RPG. The most memorable times in Pen-and-Paper RPGs I've played over the years are often the times when things were difficult and decisions were uncomfortable -- in retrospect, they highlight the coolness about RPGs and the decision making process itself.

Both chars will work with people they'd rather were under a DB contract -- and that my first char would happily kill if possible -- but as immersive = quasi-realistic, if you didn't have to put up with "people" you think are oxygen thieves or humble yourself to get the job done at times...well...frankly it would svck.

advlts, especially heroes, get the job done. It's not always fun, not always pleasant, not ever exactly how you'd want to do it, but if you want the outcome, you do what you must do -- even humbling yourself when necessary. If you can't do that then you can't achieve certain things.

I'll see all the game's content but I strongly doubt it'll ever be on one single character due to personalities and trade-offs in the role-play arena.

Certainly I disagree with a number of decisions by Bethesda but I also disagree with a number of decisions that Real Life cooks up. You're welcome to say "That's a stupid place to put a rock!" but, when it comes down to brass tacks, you either climb over the rock or sit there whining -- or post on the forums, I guess. If I ever cook up a char that's too stubborn to do something that makes the main-quest unable to be completed then I'll never complete it -- but I won't come to the forums and carp about it because the char I came up with can't do the job

If they made you emotionally invest in the game -- loving or hating a character -- in many respects they did a good job. That you blame them for your emotional investment...that's highly weird.

I wanted to apply for a job the other day, but for some reason acting indignant and refusing to go along with what the employer wanted didn't get me the job!

All I get are stupid options to disagree with them and then being told to leave, there is no way to refuse to co-operate with them and get the job!

I wonder whether it's worth continuing with life if there's no way I can get that job without being nice.

Oh that was you? Honestly I just didn't like your hair.

h no! How dare I ever log another second in this game, I am so spoiled! While real people starve, I am online discussing my preferences in a video game. How immature of me!

If they didnt want the dialog choice to actually lead anywhere, why is it there, and why does it end the discussion and have her stalk off in a huff? I am no more egocentric than the author.

Anyway, the big bad dragon cant proceed with world domination if I dont play along with Delphine, the world is never at risk. So, no biggie. Still, you would think you could just skip her dinner party and rescue nonsense, but there wasnt budget for the extra voice acting time.

I am sure a mod will extend my options later. Have a good one!

It did lead somewhere. That it didn't lead to a place you wanted hardly seems reason to level such cartoonish critique at Bethesda.

Sorry, but no dice. last I checked this is an R.P.G. that is supposed to give you a small amount of choice on how you want to handle things. I'll still do the main quest of course, but it still doesn't change my opinion on Delphine as a character. I can't stand her, she was interesting up until the point where I had to prove to her that I was Dragonborn, assumed that she could kill me in an instant, and expects me to follow her every whim.

She sits in her Temple/Inn all day, while I go about slaughtering Dragons, Deathlords, and various other creatures by the dozen... The air of superiority she exhibits is irritating compared to what a high-level & accomplished character has done.

On another sidenote

If you didn't like following Vivec's directions in Morrowind, you could kill him, steal wraithguard, and have Yagrum activate it for you instead.

An RPG allows you to make choices, but does not allow you to dictate the response of the other actors in the story.
Clearly, the OP made exactly the choice he wanted, but wasn't satisfied with the consequences.

Similarly, no matter how you answered Dagoth Ur, the outcome was always the same. Sometimes dialog options lead to different paths. Other times they are simply there to facilitate different styles of response. That's just the way story telling works in video games.

Yeah i hated her and the "Blades" (that are two people at all ! ) i even hated her more when she asked me to kill parthornax i like him so much !

Same you would think that his role as saviour of non dragon cultist would remove the fact he acted as aldiuns right hand hes the only reason theyre free, man i wish there wasnt invincible characters in the game

You want your proof I'm Dragonborn? Yol Toor Shul. Bam. Dragon Breath. There. Now you're crispy. Give me my damn horn.

BGS svck at writing. They need to create more branching storylines or stop giving us main quests that [censored] start with "OH NO THE END OF THE WORLD IS UPON US". End of.