After playing the game for almost two months, I thought it would be great to start a thread where people could post their overall thoughts about the quests, companions, etc.

Here are mine. I know it is a wall of text, but it's a big game.

Thoughts on Skyrim.
Storyline and Quests:
The Good –

The Companions Quest. One of the better quest lines. It has a good story. It does a better job of letting you get to know your companions. The main quest is interesting and holds your attention. You can romance many of the quest participants. This quest was bugged for me as I was never asked by one of my companions to help them be normal again, but aside from that, I enjoyed it and did it more than once.



The Foresworn Conspiracy – As a Breton, I really would have liked to have seen this developed more. It would have been really cool to work as a spy or courier between the Foresworn keeps instead of having to slaughter my own people left and right. I think they have a valid point and I would fight for their right to a piece of their own homeland if Bethesda would let me. And BTW, why did you make so many of the Bretons in this story crass idiots? And why were all the potential Breton husbands either poor, ugly or bald? You really made Bretons look bad in this tale. The Foresworn could have been a whole questline all its own. Wish it had been pursued.


The Thieves’ Guild – Interesting storyline. Less chance to truly get to know your companions/fellow thieves. Quests involving another one of the members would have been helpful. I didn’t get one of those until the Nightingale quest line. Going out on a heist with some of the other thieves would have been fun. Again, haven’t finished this yet (it’s a little long, don’t you think), so maybe that happens in the future.

Main Quest – It was good, it was exciting and rewarding enough to want to do. I miss having a “Martin” character, a living symbol of what I was doing it all for. Saving the world, while important, seems a bit abstract. Trying to make Martin the crowned Emperor was much more up close and personal (and I was saving the world all at the same time). I liked Martin. I liked his “wounded healer” persona and was glad to work toward the goal of making him ruler. I was sad when he “died” and I visit the dragon often to say hello. Also, in Skyrim, by the time you get to the end, you have slain so many dragons that Alduin is just one more to worry about. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the dragons being an ever present and sometimes random threat in the game, but I was pretty used to killing them by the end of the quest line.
Dark Brotherhood – I haven’t done this questline yet; however, THANK YOU, for giving me the option to go in and slaughter the entire DB cell in Skyrim. My “paragon” Breton did exactly that. It was very satisfying.
Bards College – Haven’t done this yet either.

The Okay-
Winterhold College Quests- The quests were okay, but the bad guy was too obvious and the threat too clear and easy to identify.{Spoiler} I also hate it that we killed off the arch mage who was the one person I really liked at the college. And Skyrim, can you not give us the OPTION of choosing whether or not to step up into the top chair? I really don’t want the responsibility of running a college for mages. Being the head administrator of any large organization is a royal pain. I should be allowed to say “no,” and perhaps name a successor. Same with Oblivion. I really wanted Raminus Polus to be the arch mage, not me. The same goes for the other guilds. I should have the chance to refuse to be named top dog.

The Thane Quests - haven’t felt the need to pursue this quest line. Besides, I’d get stuck with someone worse than Lydia as a follower. BTW, why do you let that woman hang out in my bedroom at Whiterun? I find it rather sick that she’s sitting in my bedroom at 2:00 in the morning when I’m in bed with my husband. For that reason alone, I take Lydia out on a dangerous quest and make sure that she doesn’t make it home. Right now I let her live but she’s there alone with my present Breton husband for days at a time. I keep expecting to come home and find them in flagrante delicto and be forced to put them both to the sword.

The Civil War – I was rather disappointed with these quests. Compared to the quests named above, they seemed shallow and incomplete. There needed to be a deeper storyline here, perhaps more politicking or an attack on civilians by one side or the other, or infighting between the top subordinates on each side. It was as though you all ran out of time, money or ideas on these quests. I came out of it disliking one side so much that I either fight for the other side or not at all (it makes me wonder if the writers were biased in favor of the side I chose). We should have seen more of the dark side from the other side as well. Also, we should have seen and done more about the Thalmor. P.S. Why, if I am in the Legion “for life” am I allowed to run free after the war?

Things that made me go – hummm
If I am an Altmer, why don’t I have the ability to side with the Thalmor and further their goals?
Why is there not a single Bosmer, male or female, who can be married? Bosmers need love too, and I would have liked to be able to consider a fellow Bosmer as my life mate. I would really like to marry Elrindir who runs the Drunken Huntsman. He’s cute, friendly and has good business sense.

Why can’t we have the opportunity to the tell the parents of the bratty children just how bad their little wretches are? I should at least be able to make a smart retort or threaten them with gross bodily death even if I don’t do it. It is annoying as heck to allow these spoiled brats to mouth off without consequence.

Why are the assassins a religious organization? I really prefer not to murder in the name of some god. I’d like a Imperial assassin’s guild. Surely the Emperor employs assassins. Or a Stormcloak assassin’s division.

If I marry a Companion, why does he change from a real bad boy into a domestic goddess? I would much prefer my husband go to work each day at the guild, kicking butt and taking names and share those earnings with me rather than stay home and cook me dinner. Just sayin’. Had I known that Vilkas would turn into Martha Stewart when we got married, I would have left him alone.

I'm certain I will have more in time, but those are the things that really stuck with me.

About the Assassins, i.e. Dark Brotherhood, they've always been religious as far as the three ES games I've played. In Oblivion it was their devoutness to the Night Mother, manifested in Mephala. In Morrowind it was Sithis, while the Morag Tong were dedicated to Mephala.

Outside of that, I agree with much of what you say. In many cases I thought there might be a better faction leader, and even if not better, the position given to me was partially unwanted. Skyrim was rushed, which is why it seems incomplete, but I wouldn't rule out an expansion (whether a literal expansion or a DLC) expanding upon some prominent stories like the Thalmor, or the Forsworn.

Well, good news/bad news time. There is indeed an imperial assassin organization called the Penitus Oculatus- that's the good news. The bad news is that you can't join them, the only real quests where you interact with them are the DB ones were you kill various members including their leader's son, and the only quest you can do for them is destroying the DB altogether. Some modders are planning to make them a joinable faction, though.

*Please note my post may contain spoilers*

Most of what you said in the OP covers my feelings for Skyrim.
Skyrim is an absolutely amazing game and I feel it should definitely win Game Of The Year. The gameplay is much improved since Oblivion and the overall feel of the game is more believable and realistic. Radiant AI is a great mechanic and works pretty well, and the scenery in this game is unbelievable!!
Personally, I believe all of the questlines seem to be short and shallow when compared to Oblivion (which used to be my favourite TES game before Skyrim was released) and felt that more emphasis was placed on the environment rather than the storyline.

Here's my take on the different queslines:
Main Quest - I think the main quest was very good as it gave you a real sense of importance and captivated me in the story. The main quest was rewarding enough, but I would have liked to see real impact after defeating Alduin...I felt once you completed the main questline it didn't give me a sense of fulfillment, but rather just stopped; e.g. people are still talking as if Alduin has not been defeated. I also was disappointed with the fact you were given an ultimatum with The Blades; you had to choose between The Blades or the Greybeards and Paarthurnax.

Companions Quest - I loved this questline as it engaged me and is probably one of the better questlines. You felt more involved with your fellow members and it didn't seem rushed at all...just merely a sense of urgency of striking back at the Silver Hands (which I enjoyed). As much as I loved being a werewolf I would have liked to have been given a choice and not have it forced upon me.

Dark Brotherhood - The dark Brotherhood was really fun, I was shocked to see how astray they are from the dark Brothehood in Cyrodil but that was sorted out after I done a few things for the Night Mother....Hail Sithis! Performing an assassination on the emperor, and on Vittoria Vici was fabulous! Also, restoring the guild at the end gave a great feeling of accomplishment.

Thieves Guild - Loved this questline as well! Sad it ended really, but I didn't have the same connection with Brynjolf as I did with the Gray Fox. Thought the jobs you could go on for Delvin and Vex were varied and gave much reward.

College of Winterhold - I thought this was pretty good, but didn't hold a candle to the DB, TG, or The Companions quests. It ended too abruplty, was short and you didn't really need to be skilled in any magic school. Nowhere near as good as the Mages Guild in Oblivion, as you really got to know everyone there and earned your positions within the guild. It could have improved by connecting more with the other guild members and by earning your position instead of jumping your way to Arch-Mage. I did, however enjoy this small questline.

The Bard's College - Enjoyed it, even though it was very short...just a simple few "fetch" quests and it's all complete. I'm still unsure whether this is meant to be a guild or just a quest.

The Civil War - Absolutely enjoyed this questline, even though people say it's repetitive it's believable (although they could have added a subterfuge, assassination, or diplomatic quest to vary things). The two sides are put forward very well; there is no inherently "good" or "evil" side to choose and both have grey areas about them. The positives and negatives of the two sides can balance each other out and make it hard to choose which side to opt for...but it all boils down to whether you think which side will best deal with the Thalmor (as it is subliminally about the Thalmor, as opposed to either the Stormcloaks or the Empire). There should definitely have been more involvement from the Thalmor or a quest that you could do which would hinder them in some way. Great questline, but more action from the Thalmor was needed (possibly setup for DLC?).

To summarise, I believe all the questlines to be good and set up nicely for future DLC. However, some of the quests felt rushed or short and more involvement and interaction with fellow guild members would have made them outstanding.

Basic ability to turn left and right with keyboard would have been fun, game isn't really playable for me cos I have real problems using the mouse so much due to rsi, that and the lack of a paper doll showing your gear, but apart from those its a beautiful game.