Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.

The city of Whiterun, Skyrim.

Spoke to an innocuous looking priest standing at the bar of an inn, because he seemed merry.

Got into a drinking competition.

Woke up the next morning halfway across the country.

In a temple for a female only sect who worship the goddess of beauty.

And ‘persuasion’ [waggles eyebrows]

Paid for the damage caused to the temple the previous night.

Apparently a goat was involved.

Don’t ask.

Agreed to undertake a penance, once the other priestesses had all returned.

From their private gathering to ‘worship’ their goddess. [waggles eyebrows]

Snuck to the back of the temple.

Picked the lock to their secret chamber.

Gained a skill level in Freudian Imagery.

Covertly observed the ceremony.

It was far less exciting than my skill level in Freudian Imagery demanded.

Decided to steal the expensive gold idol of their deity in recompense for the lack of ‘entertainment’.

Got caught.

Agreed to do yet another more arduous and treacherous penance.

Will be given the gift of ‘persuasion’ when the penance is completed. [waggles eyebrows]

Have been playing for an hour and half at least, and still haven’t opened the map.

Or quest journal.

Or had to kill ten small rodents.

Was in danger of strangling a snake there at one point, however.

Such organic quest development is another reason why Skyrim is simply marvellous.

It’s not just the prospect of getting drunk and waking up after a wild night to find myself in a temple full of lesbian priestesses willing to teach me the art of ‘persuasion’.

That would be orgasmic quest development, which is another thing entirely.

10 thoughts on “Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.

  1. Zoso

    Huh. That’s sounds all right, I guess, but wouldn’t it be better if you weren’t all alone while doing it? Just think if there was a group of you; one could’ve been endlessly bunny hopping and shouting “BORING!” when you tried to talk to the Priest in the first place, another could blunder around the temple when you were trying to stealthily grab the idol shouting “WHERE ARE YOU ALL?”, and a third could tell you all about how he’s been to this temple 36 times already and if you press the third candlestick on the left it reveals the safe path through the cloister not that he needs to because he’s memorised it oh and by the way you completely specialised in the wrong skills you’re totally gimped. Wouldn’t that be amazing? And then just as the ceremony was about to start, a bored uber-mage could swing past, launch a fireball that kills all the priestesses in a single hit, and say “lol”.

  2. Melmoth Post author

    @Zoso: That would be AMAZING! If only we had fifty million dollars in funding and five years development, I reckon you’re right: we could totally transform Skyrim!

    @Aaron: It’s cost me a lot of money so far, I’ll say that.

    I hope it doesn’t turn out that my character slept with a dragon. *AWKWARD*…

  3. Thade

    Lydia’s obviously gettin a bit jealous. Probably best to 1. bring her along next time, or 2. tell her less about your exploits. Possibly telling her about this blog was less than ideal.

  4. Derrick

    That quest line(A Night To Remember) is my favorite so far.

    Slept with a dragon? Nah, worse. Just wait.

    It’s priceless. It is, honestly, a great bit of game design too – it’s an enormously entertaining quest line, and it does a fantastic job of dragging you all over the world and thrusting you into all sorts of adventures while you’re doing it.

    After waking in that temple, I inadvertently got myself involved in a political coup, was imprisoned, freed someone who – right or wrong – would further complicate the provinces turmoil and lead to countless further deaths.

    When you complete the quest chain, and really understand what happened and (more importantly) why… then consider all the “ripples” that quest chain indirectly caused by your actions throughout… It’s awesome.

  5. Derrick

    Also: I’ve got 50 hours into the game. As of yet, I’ve still not killed 10 rodents (well, because of a quest anyways, I’ve killed oodles to steal their souls and recharge magic items), I’ve still not done a single menial errand-boy quest as per MMO fame.

    I haven’t delivered a pie. I haven’t searched through pigshit for raisins. The quests I have done (and there have been many) have all felt like *quests*. Not silly errands.

    I <3 Skyrim.

  6. Melmoth Post author

    @Thade: Dash it, and she has all of my spare armour and weapons!

    @Jim: Well, the spoilers are pretty limited, seeing as that’s the first thing that happens when you start the quest. Alas, spoilers are always tricky, I’d claim that ‘Skyrim is a game’ and there’d be someone somewhere on the Internet who’d be outraged that I’d spoilt the fact that it wasn’t an innovative new form of kullawada.

    @Derrick: I think some of the joy is in discovering the quests by accident: when I start to get bored of following my quest log, I just go for a wander, and always end-up engaged in some sort of shenanigans.

    @delicious.crab: It is unnecessarily bad, and I think that’s the big issue. As someone who is a stickler for decent UI design, I’ve found myself quite surprised at being able to ignore its shortcomings. I imagine it depends somewhat on your play-style too. It is bad, bizarre even, but it hasn’t managed to spoil the game for me; the game-play of Skyrim appeals to me so much, however, that the UI could stab me in the hands every time I open the inventory, and I’d still accept it, so I doubt I hold a particularly impartial view in the case of this game.

  7. Nobody

    i thoroughly enjoyed reading this! i haven’t played the game nor do i expect to, i played oblivion and didn’t really care for it and based on what i’m reading about the interface, etc., bethesda didn’t bother too much with the pc version so i won’t be bothered either. i can read/watch the highlights with zero stress. call me crazy, but i find hassling with the things like UI, much more of a problem than kids in an mmo.
    @ zoso
    if a few hyperactive kids ruin your “immersion”, i assume you aren’t a parent IRL. lol
    besides, some of my favorite gaming memories were unscripted rp with real live humans – events which can happen anytime, anyplace. something you won’t get in snowy skyrim.
    why do we need to compare this game to an mmo anyway?
    can’t we just be happy to have both?
    as i’ve said in other comments, the impression i get from those who enjoy the game, is that the most important feature is the fact that it’s single player.

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