...has a really bad writing, right from the start.

I've generated a dozen of chars, and it's getting on nerves every time, tbh.

Ok, so the leader of rebellion was caught and should be executed without much noise and publicity. Tullius says how much of a piece of crap Ulfric is, and then...

...and then they both just stand aside. And some random dude takes initiative to die first, no matter that redguard woman commands the order. Goes first, says brave words, but hesitates to stand on knees...

Wait, what? Why Ulfric wasn't decapitated right after Tullius said how much of a baka he is? The whole process is about him, and there's war, and there's a full castle of rebellions who can start counter-attack to free him at any moment. Logically, Ulfric should've been executioned first, right after Tullius' words. Wth do they just stand aside and wait for something?

So, some dude was executioned first without any orders (!), but his head fills most of box, and his body prevents any next prisoner to stand on knees. WHERE does the protagonist place his knees, if there's a massive dead body right there at that moment? Where will his head go, if most of box is filled with another head already?

Also, wth all those stormcloaks in castle didn't do anything? If Ulfric dies, there'll be no more Stormcloaks, so they must prevent it at all costs, even with a suicidal attack.


Attempts to add dramatism often ruin logic. Imho, if Tullius attempted to execute Ulfric first, and Stormcloacks attacked guards, while protagonist was standing aside awaiting a desicion on his execution, and Alduin attacked all that mess, that would look great and much more logical.

Not to say again that "screw lists, he goes to the block" ruins motivation to join the Legion from the start. It constrasts so much with later game, where quest npc's are ready to fall in love with protagonist after player's tiniest effort and simplest tasks.

Also not to say that the complete lack of humour in Skyrim (Orc-Bard contract from DB and some rare dialog intros like first greet of Illusion master at Winterhold - "wait, do you see me?" - dumb dialog options for reply - aren't humour at all) isn't a dark war nordic style, isn't setting, it's just a writer's impotency.

There's absolutely no way that Beth guys didn't love the game they were creating and the world of series, but... they've put really small effort into writing, scenes and dialogs. Like, a tiny, 1-2 evenings of relaxed typing in Word for such a large and expensive game. I can't understand that at all.


UPD

How would you like to see the starting event? Please share your ideas on scenario of that Helgen part

Yes.

I always found it ironic that Alduin's attack on Helgen prevented the execution of the one fated to destroy him. If only he'd waited 10 seconds longer....

The Aedra act in mysterious ways.

I've noticed this as well, but having only gone through it twice, and knowing that an epic world of open awesomeness is ahead, i just dont think about it that much

You do make some good points though. Others, like "where is the head going to fall", well that doesnt really matter to me. But to each his own.

Those thalmor you see riding in? They're there to prevent the execution. They probably influenced the order of events a bit.

Because you can't skip this cut scene at all, I make a sandwich and noodles while it runs the riding part, make my char, and eat while the rest of the bs happens. I watched it the first time, really paid attention, caught that you could follow two people or runf or it yourself, etc. The next two i made lunch.

If you want to talk about adding drama at the expense of logic, one thing that bugged the carp out of me was how your character can't make ANY kind of protest at being executed randomly and meekly walks to his/her doom just so they could railroad you onto the chopping block to get a neat view of Alduin. Then nobody except that Captain who was injected with plot-induced insanity wanted you dead anyway. If I wasn't exhausted right now I'd hunt down the trope for random idiocy/evil that doesn't really make sense. Nobody even wonders why your character is getting executed. I can somewhat see a Nord being suspected of simply being out of Stormcloak uniform, but when the PC is an Argonian/Khajiit/Elf there should at least be a few eyebrows raised at him/her being with those bums.

But yes, that entire scene was artificial drama over substance. Shame on the writers and all that. No dessert for a week.

If I were Ulfric I would make a huge spectacle out of killing the leader of the rebellion against my regime.

I totally agree, why they didn't kill Ulfric first is beyond me...

Yeah, there's no way I would calmly walk to that chopping block and kneel and rest my head on it. It would take at least four or five of them, maybe more and I'd have to tied up and/or beaten silly.

the reason Ulfric wasn't executed first is simple: the Thalmor didn't want him dead yet. They would have arranged for him to be freed somehow. Everything else you said, I agree completely. That whole scene svcks, and there is no 'last chance' option before you finish the scene either, so there is absolutely no way to skip it.

You're wearing practically nothing and your hands are bound, pray tell how you'd kill 5 well-armed soldiers?

It's sort of hard to make a spectacle while gagged... he tried to comment Tullius' words, but without much of success.
From another point of view, if Ulfric knows that special Shout street magic, he should be able to fn shout that clothing apart and be able to finally say what he thinks about that all.


Well, yes, it's a bypass scene, and right after getting up i always run up the tower at full speed, jump to another building and keep running while ignoring scripted events and Alduin landings straight to one of buildings. I ignored most of that stuff for the first time too, while wanting to explore the world, but making new chars keeps you rewatching that scene over and over again. And i'm experiencing a facepalm each time.


That's not to talk that all Blades part in MQ is just a haste - Paarthunax is clearly against "End of World", even if rest of Graybeards don't mind it, so as Alduin would deal more damage to Skyrim, he'd intervene and tell Dragonborn about Dragonrend (to an obvious question on how to deal with Alduin), making Blades totally unneeded. That Delphine's "i want you to kill him just because, so go do it, you mead fetching boy" just asks for some severe bdsn to make her understand her position more clearly.


Another major facedesk was when my nord woman was jailed defenseless with a dozen of Forsworn (women-hungry, no doubt). I so waited for gangraqe attempt, but of course, gore and cannibalism are family-friendly, while ero isn't, sure thing.

I can keep ranting, but the point of thread should be clear from OP.


It may be... it just isn't clear. Yes, i remember report at Thalmor Embassy with line about ending of war being unwanted, but still. Would Tullius take _orders_ from elves? Won't he wisely advise them to gtfo?

Yeah I agree, I also question myself why didnt the imperials defending helgen kill alduin in the first place? comon, could had avoided so much work, what a bore.

Damn, why didn't this happen? That would have been super hot.

Hell, why didn't they just kill Ulfric on the road? A quick sword thrust would have ended the war, and it would have been done before the Thalmor even knew Ulfic was captured.

On my first ever playthrough, the tower you run into as soon as you gain control bugged out; Alduin didn't smash through the wall, but his fire breath came through it. I had to reload the sequence again to continue -.-

I have a save right before the char creation kicks in so it wont take me 30 mins of riding in a wagon to get to it again I still got to wait through the execution bit but that's all.

I think it fits right in with Ulfric as a person. Of course he's not gonna 'volunteer' himself to lose his head first, he'll leave that up to his followers who are far more noble.

btw, seeing that scene for the first time and trying to guess what could the prevention of execution of protagonist by a dragon mean, i thought that Big Black Ass Dragon came to... rescue the protagonist for some reason. Seriously, it looks like an epic rescue mission, and Alduin never looked at Ulfric - he looks straight at protagonist. If he wanted to kill him, he could do it with a single firebreath, or by grabbing protagonist later. Or, hell, by sitting on nearest mountain and looking at the show in amusemant, lazily munching a mammoth's leg. It all looks like Alduin attacks everyone besides the protagonist intentionally to cause disorder and give protagonist a chance to escape. I liked the idea (didn't wait long enough for Alduin to start attacking the player).

I absolutely loved the chaotic feeling of that execution scene. Despite the presence of some major players, this isn't a ceremonial execution. Helgen is a crappy little outpost, and the king of the rebels was captured nearby, and there were some other people with him, so say a few words and then kill them. I was far more surprised at the apologetic Imperial than at the captain who ordered you to die despite the "list". War is sloppy and life is cheap. In a situation like that, there is no "innocent until proven guilty". They found a bunch of rebels, including a couple who protest their innocence ... what do you expect? They're going to wait for you guys to write to your lawyers? They're going to just let you go because you might not be rebels? Get real. These guys kill every day. Today they just want to get this over with and go home.

Last time you killed a group of bandits, did you make sure to talk to each one and give them a chance to prove their innocence? No. You just saw Bandit, Bandit, Bandit Outlaw, and Bandit Leader. That's what happened when you were picked up. They just saw Ulfric Stormcloak, Rebel, Rebel, Rebel. Whatever. Kill them and check for loot.

And of course you're led to the block without a struggle. Hello? Did you just see that guy who broke and ran and got shot with 400 arrows and died a lot more painfully? News flash: if you are being held by the military and they want to execute you, they are going to execute you ... unless there is some last second miracle reprieve.

That word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

Same here, except I saved the game right before I entered the fort (the one where you choose the Stormcloak or Imperial "guide"). Now if I want a new char, I just load that save up, and use show raceMenu to (re)create my character.

I love Skyrim.

I hate the intro. The writing. The voice-acting (especially Tullius - he's never as bad as he is in this intro). The hand-holding through the first dungeon. All the annoying scripted events that make the game slow to a snail's crawl. Worst of all, how there isn't an opportunity to reroll your character at the end of the first dungeon. I find that incredibly bizarre.

In Oblivion, I loved tackling the initial rat and goblin infested cave. It was perfectly paced with just the right amount of loot. It was such a pleasure that I went through it even when I didn't have to. In Skyrim, however, I can't wait for it to end.

I think he does, and you don't know how to use it in another context than what you know.