Topic: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

@JaxonH Integrated but they have level and story requirements. I think Dawnguard requires level 12 (I can't remember before the Orc stalker comes after you to give you the quest.. the guards will give the quest as well..and won't shut up about it.) and Dragonborn requires a certain (early) point in the main quest (although it benefits if you beat the main quest). Hearthfire is integrated as it is the settlement system (that inspired FO4...nowhere near a robust but still enjoyable for what it is. I don't think bethesda expected the response...even though people have been properly decorating and making player homes for years via mods.) Granted hearthfire was inspired by a mod so...

Edit...you may be able to trigger Dragonborn to happen another way by going to the quest location. But I always do the main quest so I always trigger it that way.

@Ryu_Niiyama I believe you only need to be level 10 to start Dawnguard, and I don't think you can trigger Dragonborn without finishing a certain amount of the main questline. I tried to start it when I first got the DLC, and while I could go to that certain place, I couldn't actually start Dragonborn until that certain event happened.

I'd rather wait until beating the game before diving into the DLC. Is there anything in particular I need to avoid in order to do so?

@KirbyTheVampire Cool, Its been a bit since I've done a reroll. Metagaming with my current character so I couldn't remember the requirements...and my internet was spotty when I posted (just got home) so I didn't want to risk a google search.

@JaxonH Um, there is an orc that will stalk you for Dawnguard but you can always accept the quest and not go to the starting location but if you want your journal clear when Durak (the orc stalker) starts following you ....don't let him stop you. Same with Dragonborn, the quest sends NPCs to come get you (harder than to avoid as they don't like you very much) but you can either keep running or kill them and don't follow the rest of the prompts.

However if you want to play as the best version of the vampire class I suggest you start Dawnguard, and the shouts you gain in Dragonborn are quite fun to use in regular battle. Of course the fun part about skyrim and tes games is you can start and stop and wander however you want. I usually wander the countryside looking for shouts before really getting into the main quest for instance...no harm, no foul.

Edit:typos everywhere

@DarthNocturnal
Well, what is your personal recommendation as to how to approach the Dawnguard situation? Just ignore it and let the vampires do whatever they do? Or pursue the quest line to avoid the downside of whatever the vampires are doing?

@DarthNocturnal Well they have the concept of stewards already in Skyrim and more dynamic settler AI (mostly except they all try to get in my house at Sanctuary) in FO4 so here is hoping you can assign a basic steward deployment (repairs, or boosting trade and crops or something like that) I would love to see the ability to build branches of guilds with radiant quests though. That would also expand the guild master responsibilities as well. I'm at the point now that I don't want to save Tamriel anymore I want to run it or get rich as a merchant.

Not going to lie I have an infinite mining and infinite ore vein mod that I just start mining and let the computer do the work. Come back a few hours later provided a dragon didn't attack (I usually mine in a mine or in a remote location) and then limp back home or use enchantments, potions and clothing to make myself able to carry more (if I don't straight cheat and use god mode to fast travel). Then make nails, iron fixtures and locks until my thumbs hurt. lol. I also buy glass and goat's horns every time I visit a trader.

@JaxonH If you avoid Durak you don't get the vampire attacks. However if he corners you and starts the quest line, vampires will start attacking cites at night and you during the day in disguise until you finish the quest line (I'm always Dawnguard so no clue what happens if you work for the other side). However I will say starting the quest is worth it IMO because you get a very useful follower (she is temporary but you don't get punished if you ...."forget" to take her home).

@JaxonH You can easily avoid each and every quest in the game, even if it's in your quest log. The only one that really brings a disadvantage to doing this is the Dawnguard questline, because occasionally towns and cities that you're in will have small vampire attacks. However, if you catch them quickly enough, they can quickly be killed. If you don't, they might kill a few NPCs. If you notice it fast enough, you can just load a save and avoid that town for a while, and it'll be like it never happened.

You could just do one or two quests in the questline and then avoid it completely until you're ready to finish it.

@DarthNocturnal
Well @KirbyTheVampire mentioned just doing the first couple quests in the line and then ignoring it. That seems like a reasonable approach, if it would solve the issue of attacks

@JaxonH The attacks won't stop until you settle the questline. It is essentially an underground war. If you don't mind being the defender of the towns (the guards suck really) then you can start the dawnguard quest and not finish it until later, or do your business in towns during the day. There are tons of time management systems within the game to help with that (waiting , sleeping, fast travel).

@DarthNocturnal Speaking of improvements I would love for them to do better with a civil war scenario next time. I have mods with skirmishes and the other side will attack you if you are in the opposing faction (Instead of ignoring you as you walk past them in opposing faction armor) but it was a little disappointing that a war is happening but you don't see much evidence of it as you walk around (sure you get the occasional POWs walking around but nothing that suggests war torn country). I will say I loved the Jarl system as a few Jarls on my side I hated but was stuck with..much like politics in real life.

@KirbyTheVampire That's too bad, it sounds very useful but Dawnguard is probably the quest I hate the most in the game. I tried it a while ago with a character that I don't use anymore but soon I dumped it... many quests in this game feel quite stupid but being forced to team up with one of the things I should be devoted to kill without even any actual reasons was really too much for me. It's just like Serana wakes up and you are like "Oh hello, what are you? Of course you are a common human being, let's be friends" - And her "Well, okay. You know, actually I'm one of those filthy creatures you hate so much because let's be honest, you won't have joined the dawnguards if you didn't, but let's be friends anyway! Because why not?"
-_-
I would really like to get rid of vampires once and for all (I swear, I always keep at least 20 cure disease potions in my inventory. And I have a resist disease necklace that I always keep equipped. And I pray everytime I have the chance to) but I don't think I could force myself playing this quest again.

@LuckyLand Yeah, while it's one of my favorite questlines, there are a couple things in there that don't make a whole lot of sense.

I wanted to kill all the merchants and loot their items and then run before the guards catch me... I somehow got the impression you could play Skyrim that way.

But now I guess that's not possible...

I really liked Planescape Torment. In this game you can exterminate whole towns and loot everyone. The consequence is: The more people you kill the more overpowered guard troops spawn. And the towns and people never forget what you did to them. I took it too far though, I tried to kill the whole city and I spawned so many troops, that I wasn't able to make any more progress.
Imagine GTA with a 6-star police-level for the rest of the game.

How is the memory of the NPCs and Guards and Towns in Skyrim?
Will they forget about you if you hide in a bush for a few seconds, or can you make them enemies for the rest of the game?

@SKTTR Merchants don't really work that way. They have a massive amount of items when you're buying or selling from them, but if you check their actual inventory, they won't have any more stuff than a regular NPC would. You would basically be losing a person to barter with for no reason. Becoming a better pickpocket is probably the better course of action if you want to avoid bloodshed, but even then, merchants have the same amount of items as anyone else.

You could technically kill everyone in towns, but certain NPCs are invincible until you complete the quests that they take part in, so you would have to beat the quests before you did that. It would also result in towns being barren and ultimately really boring and pointless to go to, but it's up to you. You could just slaughter everyone as a last hurrah when you're totally done with the game or something.

(These aren't really spoilers, but if you don't want to know about how NPCs react to different levels of crime in the game and how the bounty system works, I recommend not reading) As for their memory, it depends. Most NPCs will either be friends with you or shun you depending on your actions. (Of course, if they see you committing a crime like stealing everything from a merchant's stall or killing someone, they'll try to kill you, at least in that moment. If you get away, then the shunning commences, rather than the attempted murder, lol) As for guards, if you do a petty crime (or a few petty crimes) and have a small bounty on your head and manage to escape, they'll basically forget about it, but if you walk up to them, they'll say "Wait...I know you." and if you speak with them, they will attempt to arrest you. On the other hand, if you have a large bounty on your head, guards will basically chase after you non-stop if they spot you, which means you'll either have to be a major ninja in town, or submit to them.

I hope that made some sort of sense, lol.

@KirbyTheVampire

Oh yeah! Thank you very much for this insight.
These are some of the things I wonder about in freeroam RPGs. ^^

So, they added invincibility for every NPC that still might have a quest?

Does that mean "100% Quests" is always completable at any given time, any way you play?

Aren't there situations in where you could miss or skip a quest, or take another path/make a different decision and get a different quest?

@SKTTR If they're essential to a quest's completion, then yes, they will be invincible until you complete that quest.

As for whether you can always do 100% completion or if there are opportunities to miss quests, I honestly don't know. I've never tried for or worried about 100% completion. Someone else will have to answer that. I do know that no matter what you do, you can at the very least get really close to 100% completion.

@SKTTR TES Games don't really track completion like that. Mainly because there are quests that close off a route when you pick a side, and there are persistent radiant quests (smaller quests that are continually seeded and able to be activated not to mention the busted quest flags still in place in some of the game). You don't really 100% the game so much as you can complete the main quest and guild quests as well as the main dlc quests (If you are looking for markers of completion)...after that it is up to you. However the game is designed that none of it is mandatory. Want to be a thief but don't want to save the world? Go do the Thieves' guild quest and whatever else strikes your fancy. A lot of people try to beat the main quest at least once though. The game stats don't even track percentage completed....they just tell you the number of quests completed or failed and so on. http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Statistics

@Ryu_Niiyama: Wow. XD While I appreciate the realism in regards to an NPC's death, that would be quite a pain if you needed them for quests. It sort of reminds me if Fire Emblem in a sense.

Yeah, I don't think a failable main quest is a feature we want. It would be cool if shops and house leaders/counts/jarls repopulated with some sort of chain of succession though. Guild, main questline, and companion NPCs should be essential though.

The global age is so strange, I love it (from TGS Twitter).

@Haru17 It is not very important, but imho a failable main quest would be a nice touch, expecially if it is just up to you to decide if you want it to fail or not (for example if essential npc are always in safe situations and you are the only one who can kill them, so if you fail is just because you wanted to).
Elder scrolls game are fun beyond the main quest so it would be a natural feature for this kind of games imho.