The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Part 3)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

The quest continues! Speaking of…

VISITING SKYRIM: THE MAIN QUEST

Solitude. It's even bigger than Whiterun, but I don't feel
quite as much attachment to it.

If you’ve paid attention to the previous parts, you may notice that the main quest of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim takes you all over the map. That’s pretty understandable, especially for an RPG. It’s good game design to make the player see most areas of the game during a playthrough. In wide-open sandboxes and large-scale RPGs like these, it's a bit different; the player is ultimately able to choose whether or not they carry through with the main quest – and if there’s any area of the map that they feel like checking out, they will do so by themselves.

So far, the main quest has taken us from the bottom center to the central city of the land. And from then on, we’ve scaled the tallest mountain of the map, visited Kynesgrove, headed to Solitude and Riften, and came close to some of the other major cities. The main quest will take us to other places such as Winterhold (North-East) and Windhelm (East).

You can discover all of those places by yourself as well, in fact that’s more likely to happen. It’s fun to get to the big cities before the main quest catches up. It’s also great that each city has a distinct feel to it, a thematic appearance to match what you come to learn about it.

Riften. Not shown: The massive maze of sewer passageways.

Whiterun is the prosperous, peaceful big city atop a mountain. Riften looks warm enough, but as a city that exists on two separate “floors”, there’s a shady underbelly to discover. Markarth is built into the ancient Dwemer ruins in the mountainside; it feels ancient and fantastic, but also secretive. Ad it does have secrets; the first thing you see when entering the city is a murder. In opposite, Windhelm looks modern within the setting, with dark stone homes that remind of the Renaissance and very thin passageways. Winterhold was half-destroyed by the elements, and looks pitiful next to the College for magic practitioners located just a bridge away. Solitude is a big city, but its location atop a mountain makes it feel like it’s inhabited by the masters of the world, alone in their ivory towers; the city’s name feels ironic. Morthal, placed around a small lake, looks like a village and bigotry runs rampant among its population. Falkreath, surrounded by nature and home to a graveyard, carries a sense of the natural order of things; life and death, and nature around it.

Am I waxing philosophical again? Sorry. On with our regularly-scheduled program.

ELDER KNOWLEDGE

Long-bearded headmaster and creepy alchemy expert
not included in the package.

This is a long one. After speaking to Paarthurnax, we know we need to find an Elder Scroll. According to Master Arngeir of the Greybeards, the mages of the College of Winterhold might know where to find such an elusive item. And so we travel across the land, to the north-eastern corner. Much like Solitude, getting there is an adventure all by itself. One does not simply enter the College without displaying some aptitude with magic, as it is home to experts in all types of spellcasting available in this universe – destruction, alteration, restoration, conjuration and illusion. And if you want to access the rest of the quest, well – gotta become a student. Which is fairly simple. I don’t even need to describe that quest.

Soon enough we’re allowed to explore the College and talk to Ura Gro-Shub, an orc librarian. He brings two books discussing the effects of Elder Scrolls, which seemingly exist beyond space and time and induce madness in the unprepared minds that read them. He also indicates that a fellow mage, Septimus Signus, has been studying the Elder Scrolls and left for a cave located further north to pursue further research. This takes us to the edge of the map, in the middle of an ocean, in a cave among the icy platforms. Signus is… um… an oddball. He speaks mostly nonsense, but however little sense he makes is vital to the quest. He hands the protagonist two items and sends him to the known location of the legendary item: The ruins of Alftand.

This underground cathedral is merely 1% of what awaits you
within these depths. If you were impressed by the overworld of
Skyrim... there's more to see beneath!

When I first came here, my jaw dropped.

This… oh boy, I thought I had my hands full with previous dungeons (I cleared a buttload of dungeons by myself before getting this far in the main quest), but this one takes the cake. It starts in icy caves, and the Dragonborn encounters members of previous expeditions that attempted to retrieve the Scroll, all at different levels of despair and/or insanity. The ice caves make way for Dwemer ruins. I didn’t mention it yet, but the Dwemer are both the dwarves of the setting, and also a long-gone ancient race of elves. Ironic, these dwarves are the very thing they hate. They also happen to be far more advanced than the rest of the world, having created factories and steam machines and robots that adventurers must battle. It’s literally steampunk within medieval fantasy. I love the idea. Deeper within the area, we also battle Falmer, a different race of elves who’ve been hunted and banished deep underground and, while still alive, have become eyeless, monstrous beasts. Christ, the lore of this series is dark. More dark caves and steampunk ruins, then we get to Blackreach.

I have too many buttons!

This is a gigantic cave, so large and with so much to see that one could get lost. Mostly Falmer in here, but also a lot of wild monsters. Several surprises if you explore the whole place, as well, such as extra quests and humans serving the Falmer. Oh, and a dragon, too, if you can bring it out. Eventually the Dragonborn and their follower reach the Tower of Mzark, in which the Elder Scroll is contained. It’s a puzzle to bring it down and collect it from the complex Dwemer mechanism, but it’s a success. Good! Now we can bring some information back to Signus. We can also carry the Elder Scroll to the Throat of the World, allowing one to finally defeat Alduin… or so we hope.

Akatosh almighty, this was long.

ALDUIN’S BANE

In theory, this one’s simple. Go back to the highest peak in Skyrim; read the Elder Scroll near the Time Wound (AKA, the odd portal that opened that seems to be the cause of Alduin’s arrival in the current era); learn the Dragonrend shout by watching the people of the past use it to banish Alduin into the future; kill Alduin.

This battle would have been easier without the
rain of goddamn rocks throughout.

In practice… well, it’s simple for the most part. Reading the Elder Scroll at the Time Wound leads to a long cutscene where the Dragonborn watches the decisive fight in the past, and learns Dragonrend from it. However, Alduin attacks immediately afterwards, so you’re thrown into battle right away. On top of its supposed effect of making them feel mortality, Dragonrend forces dragons to land and stuns them temporarily. This proves necessary to defeat Alduin, as the elder dragon loves to fly around. It’s a true test of all the skills obtained so far, and the toughest boss I’ve personally faced in the 130+ hours I had spent in that game already by the time I got to this part. Feels like a final boss. The rubble and fire raining down onto the battlefield make it feel as such. It took me multiple tries before I could defeat the large dragon. I had to adjust my strategy, and use the right Shouts at the right time. Fun fact; I played through this battle on the 31st of December 2019. I started playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim at the end of June. It took me half a year to get here.

And for the record, no, this isn’t actually the final battle. Alduin flees when defeated, but its evil remains. To find Alduin again and beat him for good, we need to find one of his allies. By asking around, we learn that the castle of Dragonsreach, in Whiterun, was used long ago to capture and detain a dragon…

THE FALLEN

In order to know more, Nikhaolaas asks Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun about this. However, with the threat of a massive civil war looming over his head, the Jarl claims he has more pressing matters to tend to. The only way he’d be willing to help is if you could convince both sides of the war, the Imperials and Stormcloaks, to sign a peace treaty until the dragons are dealt with. 

SEASON UNENDING

General Tullius of the Imperials. If there's one thing I
learned from reading Asterix all these years, it's to
never trust a guy wearing Roman-like garb.

In this game, nothing’s ever really simple, huh? High Hrothgar will serve as the location for the meeting, even if Arngeir isn’t too happy with having warriors inside the sacred temple. As for convincing both sides… I swore to myself that I wouldn’t get involved into the damned Civil War until after the main questline. As the Dragonborn, Nikhaolaas couldn’t care less about picking a side. I fight giant lizards from the sky and eat their souls for breakfast, for the Gods’ sake! Your political games only interest me as far as I can get nice equipment from it that I can then use to slice up more dragons later.

From this point on, I’m not entirely sure; apparently you can remain neutral in the conflict, but I  didn't know how to do that, so I wound up with the Imperials. They may have almost killed me due to bureaucratic bullshit back in Helgen, but they appear to be the lesser of two evils. Which says an awful lot about the Civil War. I had to complete a few quests…

JOINING THE LEGION

…first by proving my worth to the Imperial Legion, which included clearing the bandits out of a fort, then taking the oath of the Legion…

THE JAGGED CROWN

Peek-a-boo! Surprise draugr!

…and then getting dragged into a mission where a group of Legionnaires walk into a crypt, attempting to retrieve the Jagged Crown, an artefact sought by both sides and hidden in the ruins of Korvanjund. This mission opens regardless of the side one chooses in the conflict, and the Dragonborn will face enemies of the opposing faction when inside the ruins. At the end of the ruins, three powerful draugr await, one of which wears the crown. They’re a lot easier to deal with considering you’ve got a full group of warriors helping you this time around. Then, even if you have picked a side, you can choose to bring the Crown to the leader of the opposing faction. You can also keep it for yourself, it's a powerful helmet! The ruins are also home to a word of power, granting the Dragonborn another ability. Hurray for that. Now back to…

SEASON UNENDING (BIS)

Now that we're done with the tea, the crumpets, and the
brutal negotiations over who gets which piece of the
world while it still exists, can I go back to killing the
WORLD-EATER please?

…our regularly-scheduled program. Time to negotiate that peace treaty. As the Dragonborn, Nikhaolaas finds himself having to make some pretty major decisions during the meeting. Both sides agree that the dragons must be stopped, but for the treaty to be signed the two factions attempt to split ownership of the Holds evenly. I’m surrounded by warriors, yet I feel like a barbarian at a tea party. Like I said, I couldn’t care less about these politics, but they’re a necessary evil so I can go back to slicing dragons. The negotiations go on until both sides are satisfied. It feels tedious seeing these men of power ague over who gets what piece of land, when there might not be a land left if we don’t act!

…Well, it’s eerily close to real-life politics, then.

"Call Dragon" is a shout that also summons a (tamed)
dragon to figt by your side. It can lead to dragon-versus-
dragon fights like this one.

Eventually, everyone agrees to the terms of the treaty, and as people leave, you reap the rewards: A special weapon is given to you. You learn that Dragonsreach is still equipped to capture a dragon, and thus it might be possible to call Alduin’s right-hand dragon, Odahviing, and catch him. I assume things will be more complicated than just chucking a ball at it… Dragons’ names in their tongue are words of power themselves, therefore using the Dragon Call shout, which you’re taught right there, you can literally bring a dragon to you, provided you know its name. Lastly, a new mission from the Blades; sure, why not. Point me at what to kill, and I’ll go kill it. That's what I've been doing so far.

Esbern asks the Dragonborn to kill Paarthurnax.

PAARTHURN-

…Okay, no, that’s the sole exception. Send me to kill any of these lizards, but I’m not killing the wise old Charles Martinet dragon. Go fuck yourselves, Blades. Anyhow…

THE FALLEN (BIS)

Hm. Good for catching a dragon maybe, but it doesn't
beat killing them.

Now that this parenthesis is out of the way, we can ask Jarl Balgruuf to use the mechanism of Whiterun in order to catch a dragon. Not any dragon, either; Odahviing, one of the mightier dragons out there. You know it’s a mighty one; it has a name. Using Dragon Call while on the Great Porch brings the dragon to the castle. Guards might attempt to attack it, but it doesn’t take damage at all. No, you have to drag it deeper within the Porch, so that Whiterun guards will activate a mechanism and drop a heavy bar of wood and steel onto it.

Lydia! God damn it, stop trying to attack the dragon, you’re not doing any damage, and besides we need that one alive! I know my thirst for lizard blood has rubbed off on you, but you’ve got to let that one go! 

I can ride this? Awesome.

Once trapped, Odahviing is forced to explain. As it turns out, Alduin fleeing at the end of his fight with the protagonist has led to dragons questioning his leadership as the most powerful of them all. Some dragons might even be willing to side with the Dovahkiin now, since he has displayed more power and courage than the World-Eater. As for where Alduin is now, well, he’s in the Elder Scrolls afterlife of heroes, also known as Sovngarde, to restore his own power by absorbing the souls of dead people. There is a portal to Sovngarde, but unfortunately it’s in Skuldafn, an area that the Dragonborn cannot access as it’s outside the map. The only way there is to fly – and so Nikhaolaas will ride Odahviing, who has agreed to lend his help (and will remain calmly on the Great Porch of Whiterun while waiting for you to be ready).

This sounds like the final dungeon – so I think I’d better prepare before going. Who knows how big that dungeon is – who knows if there’s a way to come back. Best be ready for anything. If there’s something Nikhaolaas has to do, better get to it immediately. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. Strip yourself of anything you don’t need, level up your skills however needed.

SKILLS AND STONES

I've gone Legendary for Smthing and I'm back at Level
99 there again! Wow.

Might as well end Part 3 on a discussion on skills, a very important aspect of the game. There’s a skill for every major element the Dragonborn can do – battle skills, talent skills, magical skills. Every single skill has its own experience bar that increases as you use it. Since I built my character as mostly a melee combatant, the one-handed weapon skill is the one that increased the fastest, though some spell skills increased as well once I learned to use healing and attack spells. I was also really quick to level up in smithing and alchemy, once I got used to both of them. Kinda needed to; after accumulating so many dragon bones and scales from my travels – two items that are very heavy in one’s inventory, for the record – I couldn’t use them as smithing materials until I had reached Level 100 in smithing. I got some pimpin’ armor from it, though. And so did Lydia, obviously.

There are several people around the nine Holds of Skyrim that can teach the Dragonborn their skill. They won’t do it for free, though; and also you can only pay to increase skills that way five times per current overall level. Used up your five while you were Level 48? Gotta wait till you’re level 49 before you can go to a teacher again and ask for training in any skill. Precise books found around the world and a few random occurrences can also raise skill levels quickly.

Hello, stone. I must activate you now.

Do I want that, or is there another stone out there
with an ability I'd prefer?

I mentioned the standing stones in Part 1; each stone has an ability, and you can only have one stone ability active at a time. Some will indeed help you raise some skills faster, while others will benefit you in other area (one, in particular, increases your carry capacity, while others give you a once-per-day special ability). So yeah – you can go back to a stone to change the bonus you get, and adapt your playstyle afterwards.

It’s both an awesome and a daunting thing that Skyrim allows for so many possible play styles; focus on melee combat? Sure. Ranged? Yep, you can collect bows and arrows. Fighting with spells? Switch it around with destruction, alteration and conjuration. Do you like sneaking around? There’s a skill for that. Pickpocketing, lockpicking? Yep and yep. Enchanting weapons and armor? Yup! The only thing that doesn’t have a skill (but definitely should have one) is cooking, seeing how much food you can gather on your travels.

There’s even the possibility, when you’ve hit Level 100 on a skill, to upgrade it to Legendary. It’ll be brought back down to Level 15, but you don’t lose the experience gained so far, and you regain the skill points that were used on perks. The improvements will be better, but you have to grind for experience all the way up again.

Don't get me started on enchanting, speech, and
several other skills that increase very slowly due to
how little they find use in normal gameplay!

It’s a pretty good system, but what annoys me is that the placement on some of these perks may be a bit troublesome. As mentioned earlier, you can’t make dragon armor until you’ve hit Level 100 in smithing – by the time you get there, you’ll have over a hundred dragon bones and scales total in your personal chests. Some perks could have been placed better on their own skill tree. Meanwhile, there’s also a few skill trees you might never use. Why put any skill points into lockpicking? And there are playstyles you might hardly ever touch upon.

As I hit beyond Level 40, I started playing around with skills I had never used before. It’s an excuse to level them up, which in turn increases my overall experience a little faster. In theory, a dedicated player could bring every single existing skill up to 100, make them Legendary, and raise them to 100 again. I’m not THAT dedicated…

So yeah, as a system, it’s pretty fun and extensive, but it comes with some bothersome limitations and ideas. Anyhow, see you in Part 4 for the conclusion of the story. Then hopefully I can end with a few more elements of the game, and perhaps finish in Part 5 with my overall thoughts…