The Bards College should have had it's own questline. : V - Skyrim

» Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:15 am

I'm 89% sure that it did at one point.

It reeks of cut content.

» Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:51 am

I expected different. Bards do not delve into dangerous dungeons and fight undead Kings. Have you seen Sven or any bard? They'd be dead before a draugr even raised his sword.

I got killed by Sven once, and that was moments after I killed multiple draugr, bandits, and a chicken. So Sven could possibly take on draugr, well actually no he can't, he was killed by Faendal (my follower at that point) shortly after.

» Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:32 am

Here is what being a Bard should have been.

Your a Bard you've been initated and you've chosen your main instrument, there are some poem and instrument quests, but honestly Bards arn't about adventuring.So after you graduate from the bards college what do you do?

Play at an Inn or Tavern of course! play your instrument and songs for a small amount of gold across Skyrim, enjoy yourself with food, song and laughter!, sound boring you say? being paid very little to sing songs all night not worth your time? Worry not friend! for these taverns are sure to be full of adventure and danger of which you are fully capable of joining.

Ok let me try to put what i just said into English ^. My idea is that after you graduate you can start performing at taverns and inns and such, and after performing there the game automaticly has somthing happen. Such as having some adventurers enter the Inn and you overhear there conversation as you play, or some damsale is in distress because of some tragedy, no one expects a lowly bard to help...until you lend your services. Basicly what i'm sugjesting is Tavern quests which only activate for bards, the quests will of course usally have Bard related things in them, such as very witty conversation choices. Using trickery and of course, large tavern brawls.

What i suggjest for a better Bard faction isn't a large faction quest line. But instead a relativly light hearted series of quests, which revolve around a Bards life and adventures across Skyrim.

Of course you'd team up with other Bards too you'd be going on adventures with them!. In some cases searching for treasure, and in others fighting in Taverns because you played an ode to the Imperials in Stormcloack territory. but never would these quests entail anything as serious as the end of the world!

So I've ranted long enough, i hope what i typed was understandable.

I like your ideas. I hope Bethesda will attend to this in the future.

» Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:22 am

I'm just not following on the idea that "bards don't go adventuring." In many other RPG's, notably the Final Fantasy series and Dungeons and Dragons, Bards are adventurers just like Fighters, Wizards, etc.

The Bards College reeks of cut content. Heck, npc's even have animations of playing instruments, and there are a few songs in the game. They could have expounded on this and added a whole new payer to the game not in previous ES games. Oh well.

» Thu Jun 14, 2012 10:48 pm

Its a Bard's College just what do you expect for a questline? a daedra making the people of solitude burst into spontaneous dance numbers over the most mundane things?

How about a magic flute you play to get some reaction such a calming foes or calling deadra or giving you super speech power?

» Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:28 am

How about a magic flute you play to get some reaction such a calming foes or calling deadra or giving you super speech power?

Well, there's the Dancer's Flute at Calixto's house in Windhelm, which is supposed to make people dance uncontrollably. Unfortunately, we can't play instruments, so it's quite useless. :confused:

I like Archmage12's idea, as I can't see the bards to be die-hard adventurers. In my eyes, bards are supposed to pry information and rumors from people and use their speech skill to obtain even the biggest secrets. Kind of like journalists really. Because that's what they were in ancient times, bringers of local or sometimes more global news in the shape of a song or a poem. They don't usually create tales of their own adventures either. All they do is travel around in relative safety and entertain local people with important news or juicy gossip.

Of course, Beth could always add a bit more dangerous twist to it, but nothing like being as heroic as the character(s) from your own tales. For instance, a bard could somehow still get his hands on very dangerous and classified information, which he'll of course bring out in the open like a true journalist. Besides, a lot of actual information should be circling around in the Bards' College, and I'd think that'd be like a magnet to spies roaming the lands of Skyrim. I know my thalmor spy will be joining the Bards only to get fast contact with possible important information. So there could be a little quest involving a spy ... But nothing too big like transforming the whole college into a spy network.

» Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:46 am

Gods, I hate that guy. Always the same bloody line and I run into him anywhere. Nowadays I just kill him at first sight.

That's a shame, because based on what I've ~~seen~~ ~~heard~~ suffered through in various inns and taverns, Talsgar is the only bard in Skyrim who can actually sing worth a damn. Plus he's not afraid to get his hands dirty with a little "real" work once in a while.

If there were a Bard's questline that involved him I would be all over it, I'd go adventuring with him any day.

» Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:50 am

skyrim may have been rushed but what did you expect? for them to include everything everyone wanted would have taken them twice as long as it did. i'm glad how they released skyrim, they've created a beautiful world and can add content as they please. even if they did delay and add more stuff the last thing i'd want is a bard college questline

» Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:34 am

Here is what being a Bard should have been.

Your a Bard you've been initated and you've chosen your main instrument, there are some poem and instrument quests, but honestly Bards arn't about adventuring.So after you graduate from the bards college what do you do?

Play at an Inn or Tavern of course! play your instrument and songs for a small amount of gold across Skyrim, enjoy yourself with food, song and laughter!, sound boring you say? being paid very little to sing songs all night not worth your time? Worry not friend! for these taverns are sure to be full of adventure and danger of which you are fully capable of joining.

Ok let me try to put what i just said into English ^. My idea is that after you graduate you can start performing at taverns and inns and such, and after performing there the game automaticly has somthing happen. Such as having some adventurers enter the Inn and you overhear there conversation as you play, or some damsale is in distress because of some tragedy, no one expects a lowly bard to help...until you lend your services. Basicly what i'm sugjesting is Tavern quests which only activate for bards, the quests will of course usally have Bard related things in them, such as very witty conversation choices. Using trickery and of course, large tavern brawls.

What i suggjest for a better Bard faction isn't a large faction quest line. But instead a relativly light hearted series of quests, which revolve around a Bards life and adventures across Skyrim.

Of course you'd team up with other Bards too you'd be going on adventures with them!. In some cases searching for treasure, and in others fighting in Taverns because you played an ode to the Imperials in Stormcloack territory. but never would these quests entail anything as serious as the end of the world!

So I've ranted long enough, i hope what i typed was understandable.

I really like this idea too. I always roleplay as the kind of guy that isn't a hero, but talks himself into situations where people think he is. Tavern quest would be fun. Following some mercenarys in a search for treasure or running for life after an ill-timed song or jest. That would be fun.

» Thu Jun 14, 2012 3:22 pm

Here is what being a Bard should have been.

Your a Bard you've been initated and you've chosen your main instrument, there are some poem and instrument quests, but honestly Bards arn't about adventuring.So after you graduate from the bards college what do you do?

Play at an Inn or Tavern of course! play your instrument and songs for a small amount of gold across Skyrim, enjoy yourself with food, song and laughter!, sound boring you say? being paid very little to sing songs all night not worth your time? Worry not friend! for these taverns are sure to be full of adventure and danger of which you are fully capable of joining.

Ok let me try to put what i just said into English ^. My idea is that after you graduate you can start performing at taverns and inns and such, and after performing there the game automaticly has somthing happen. Such as having some adventurers enter the Inn and you overhear there conversation as you play, or some damsale is in distress because of some tragedy, no one expects a lowly bard to help...until you lend your services. Basicly what i'm sugjesting is Tavern quests which only activate for bards, the quests will of course usally have Bard related things in them, such as very witty conversation choices. Using trickery and of course, large tavern brawls.

What i suggjest for a better Bard faction isn't a large faction quest line. But instead a relativly light hearted series of quests, which revolve around a Bards life and adventures across Skyrim.

Of course you'd team up with other Bards too you'd be going on adventures with them!. In some cases searching for treasure, and in others fighting in Taverns because you played an ode to the Imperials in Stormcloack territory. but never would these quests entail anything as serious as the end of the world!

So I've ranted long enough, i hope what i typed was understandable.

you could also cause trouble yourself if you wanted like play a love song while always looking at someones wife/husband while their spouse is watching, or playing a stormcloak song in an imperial town, get some drunk legion soldiers ticked off or something or the opposite to tick off stormcloaks

» Thu Jun 14, 2012 7:04 pm

You should of at least been able to learn to play the instruments, instead of just being the skivy and doing the dangerous jobs. I wanted to perform to the whole of Skyrim but instead I found a book with a song in it and had to make up some bull [censored] lines.

Lute Hero?

» Thu Jun 14, 2012 9:22 pm

Considering that our PCs have no voice (except for shouts and grunts and whatnot) so as not to interfere with the varied imaginations of the players that create them, I'm wondering how anyone would give a performance if such a thing were part of a Bards questline? If they assign a specific unique voice for the male and female PC of each race and have the actor sing a variety of songs for you to choose from, it defeats the whole purpose of not having the PC voiced in the first place. If they don't, your performance would amount to you selecting a particular song or batch of lyrics from some dialogue options and then... what? The screen goes black and when you come back you see the reaction of the audience? You'd never get to hear or see yourself giving the performance.

Unless you went to the Bards College and majored in Mime. That would totally work. And also probably get you killed because, you know, you'd be a mime.

» Thu Jun 14, 2012 6:12 pm

Good point and it may be why Beth chose not to make the Bard's more complex than it is. I'd say that we'd need to pick a voice along with other characteristics in char gen if we were to do things like voice dialog or sing.

» Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:52 am

Considering that our PCs have no voice (except for shouts and grunts and whatnot) so as not to interfere with the varied imaginations of the players that create them, I'm wondering how anyone would give a performance if such a thing were part of a Bards questline? If they assign a specific unique voice for the male and female PC of each race and have the actor sing a variety of songs for you to choose from, it defeats the whole purpose of not having the PC voiced in the first place. If they don't, your performance would amount to you selecting a particular song or batch of lyrics from some dialogue options and then... what? The screen goes black and when you come back you see the reaction of the audience? You'd never get to hear or see yourself giving the performance.

Unless you went to the Bards College and majored in Mime. That would totally work. And also probably get you killed because, you know, you'd be a mime. :tongue:

Well, in Dragon Age: Origins, you got to pick a voice for your character, even though the only time he talked was when he got hurt or tuanted someone in combat. It could be possible to do the same thing. Have, say five voices to pick from during the character creation portion of the game.