Thoughts on summerset

boi_anachronism_

So I spent the vast majority of my first year of eso doing raiding and I've just lately started doing zone quests. I found elsywer to be very enjoyable and I'm now part way through summerset and I gotta say: the high elves are largely terrible. I mean I could use some colorful language but good lord what a mirthless, miserable bunch. The story is good but I can barely stand interacting with the npcs. My favorite quest so far has been the one where you help the orc duel one of the elves and you watch him get thwomped.

Amottica

The point is high elves tend to look at themselves as superior and Summerset High Elves look at themselves as even more superior and have been mostly isolated from others as the experience should have indicated.

It is a good story and is the end of a thread that ties a couple of other zones together. IIRC, Morrowind and CWC preceded them.

boi_anachronism_

Oh yes I'm aware of the intent. I'm a lore head and have played all the previous elder scrolls games as well. I just didn't expect basically all of of them to be like that. It's ironic because I think out of the 3 factions AD has the best and most competent leader. She even seems to show some growth and progression as character periodically throughout the game.

Amottica

boi_anachronism_ wrote: »

Oh yes I'm aware of the intent. I'm a lore head and have played all the previous elder scrolls games as well. I just didn't expect basically all of of them to be like that. It's ironic because I think out of the 3 factions AD has the best and most competent leader. She even seems to show some growth and progression as character periodically throughout the game.

And Queen Ayrenn reflects a very different persona in that regard as you already know.

boi_anachronism_

I feel like my OP came off as I don't enjoy the story, I definitely do. I
There are a lot of layers, it's not just the big baddie threat. It actually feels more like it's a backdrop to their cultural, social, and political issues. The npcs interactions do make me cringe from time to time though 😅 like excuse me, what did you just say? Just savage.

RaddlemanNumber7

Playing through Summerset on an Altmer character was the worst for me. That stuff's not any part of my fantasy. So, I changed my Altmer characters' backstories so that they are both narrated as hulkynd, (deformed outcasts).

I stick to the main quest whenever I run through there on new character now.

NordSwordnBoard

I park any crafters in Alinor, and generally like the old world resort-like feel the island offers. Yeah, many residents remind me of candidates from Monty Python's "Upper Class Twit of the Year". I suppose every village has it's idiot, some more than others... many of these elves are blinded by prejudice, and overcoming it is part of the story. I own the boat too, so that kind of anchors me to the zone as well.

ice34697

For what it's worth, Queen Ayrenn is the ONLY Altmer I have ever met that I actually enjoyed, let alone tolerated. I have always despised Altmer (starting in TES 3 and actually hunting them in TES 5).

I just finished Summerset yesterday. As enjoyable as it was (the overall story was extremely well put together), having to deal with Altmer 24/7 made my head hurt. Very thankful that it's finally done for me. Time to move on to Murkmire (oh joy...lizards)

For the record, I'm a Bosmer

amig186

To be honest, that attitude is much more prevalent in the main quest than the rest of the zone, most of the friendly high elves in Summerset seem to have been relegated to side quest characters. Which probably makes sense since the story has you dealing with a lot of nobility, who tend to be the absolute worst of the worst even by the race's standards. I remember largely feeling the same way about the high elves when first playing Summerset, but taking a stroll around the isle and doing the side content made me like them a lot more. Not that the side quests don't have their share of jerks, but it's pretty minor compared to the main one. I'd thought that doing the story with a high elf character would make the reception warmer, and it does to a small extent, but even though nobody calls you 'nebarra' to your face, they're still far from welcoming. Auridon is definitely the more pleasant of the two isles when it comes to the people.

boi_anachronism_

It's hard to judge tbh. Mainland of anywhere seems to have its own share of... Questionable practices. Vvardenfell still has slavery in some areas but deshaan is very progressive. The reach is very suspicious of outsiders and solitude is cosmopolitan. Black marsh is similar but understandably so thanks to the dumner. Seems like the khjit are pretty cool with everyone from what Ive seen but everyone kinda seems to distrust and treat them poorly. So in closing: tamerial is no better off then the rest of us 🥴

amig186

Yes, that pretty much sums it up. None of the races were designed to be flawless, so you just have to take the good with the bad. The altmer certainly have a few practices that would be considered immoral by modern standards (abandoning hulkynds for example), but whether or not they are overall any worse than the other nations of Tamriel is tough to objectively say. As for the khajiit, well, their feline instincts are just often incompatible with the usual widely accepted property laws, hence the distrust.

Pelanora

Favorite place. Didn't mind any of them. Worse they got the more i laughed. Love summerset.