A solid 7,0 out of ten for me. It's a nice little storyline. I felt entertained in a good way. Without any spoilers, I especially liked the epilogue quest.

I saw it more like the classic:

„The journey is the reward.“

GeneralGrundmann wrote: »

I saw it more like the classic:

„The journey is the reward.“

Exactly, which is really cheesy to me, not my thing

Apart from the most un-subtle ending in the history of writing (I saw it coming as soon as they started talking about that character) It was actually really fun

My only main issue was that it was marketed as a SEQUEL, and apart from the end and a few mentions of your old friends there's no connective tissue, so if someone was doing it without doing the first questline they wouldn't really have any problem since the cast is almost all new people.

But, negatives out of the way, the gameplay was fun, at least a few of the characters were likeable, and I liked how low stakes the story was, it wasn't a typical TES "THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS GOING TO EXPLOOOOOOODE" questline, it was a lot more chill, and even if things went wrong, it didn't feel like it was the complete end, there was always a way to get out of a pickle, like being caught or choosing the wrong dialogue option.

My only other "gripe" you could say is all the characters felt too, noble? like they said they were thieves, but when I think of thieves I think of grimy, sketchy people you need to watch your back around, and the three leaders you meet, only one really gives that idea of being untrustworthy. Even the first quest line I feel had this problem, but there it can at least be accepted because they're an actual guild that's been running for years, and not pretty much three random people who just met.

On the whole, it was a pretty good story and I think the actors did a superb job. Special shout-out to Quen's and Edwane's actors as the main cast members who I thought gave particularly memorable performances. Some of the background cast were very memorable, too, but "Koldane Thug" and the like don't provide a lot of information to work from.

Some bits which were unexpected but welcome were some consequential decisions, quest objectives which can be failed, and quest structures beyond the usual "find this, kill that, report back" used by a lot of the rest of the game. The story relies on stealth much more than combat (yay!), but there were a couple of places where I think the designers leaned a bit more into the need for combat than the need for stealth. Honestly, that fight with Urfan in the first mission didn't really need to be there, but it's your story, so tell it how you like and I'll either enjoy or not. And the nicer part is that the story left lots of room for future expansion, so maybe we end up with a den in all the zones at some point. How cool would that be?

It's not ZOS' best work in comparison to some of the other zone-like stories, but it was better than average and far superior to some chapter stories (cough Blackwood cough).

Im just happy it wasnt another bloody cult man.

WerewolfMoonHunter wrote: »

DoofusMax wrote: »

It's not ZOS' best work in comparison to some of the other zone-like stories, but it was better than average and far superior to some chapter stories (cough Blackwood cough).

I see a lot of dislike towards Blackwood. And while I agree it was first chapter that didn’t brought to much influence to the game in general, and was first chapter that got mixed opinions I feel that High Isle deserves way more hate and criticism...

I think Blackwood is generally disliked for the characters, which were wholly different from their previous appearances and/or very unrelatable. It felt like the whole chapter was unnecessary setup for the rest of the story to come in the Deadlands dlc, which was quite a bit better when it finally got into the conspiracies of the Longhouse Emperors (and the stunning performance of Arox, lol).

High Isle/Galen were definitely the lowest points though. Doesn't help that they marketed High Isle as a story of "political Intrigue" like Orsinium but what we got was another world-ending-threat and an entire zone/culture that didn't seem to take itself seriously. The public Dungeons were pretty cool, but the rest of that chapter just screamed 'Disney theme park' to me.

I haven't finished it yet but I'm enjoying it. Such a relief to have a story that doesn't revolve around meddling daedric princes and dremora.

emilyhyoyeon wrote: »

IMO it was a mistake to tie the

Nowhere Vault

so much into the TG. The concept of the (spoiler), from what I understand of it, also just feels weird to me, so it being effectively the main goal* of the story was a letdown.

I would've preferred if the questline was about dealing with the Koldane Cartel and had nothing to do with any fabled powerful magical artefact/place.


*the real/first main goal being to unite the three Daggerfall thief groups: I like this concept, but I hate how it was executed. The ending moment in particular, talking to Quen, where she basically says

well, we lost the main artefact, the Thieves Moon, but we got the three factions to work together

felt really cheesy to me.

Wasn't that actually her primary goal? Also, it sounds like it would be in-character for Quen to treat the artifact as merely a means to an end.

For my part I am enjoying the magical artifact aspect of the story. It feels very true to the Elder Scrolls to have magic be so fundamentally important that its artifacts are sought after by mages, fighters and rogues alike. It also feels a bit like a callback to the TG quest in TES Oblivion, a heist for the ultimate magical artifact.

emilyhyoyeon wrote: »

BretonMage wrote: »

I haven't finished it yet but I'm enjoying it. Such a relief to have a story that doesn't revolve around meddling daedric princes and dremora.

emilyhyoyeon wrote: »

IMO it was a mistake to tie the

Nowhere Vault

so much into the TG. The concept of the (spoiler), from what I understand of it, also just feels weird to me, so it being effectively the main goal* of the story was a letdown.

I would've preferred if the questline was about dealing with the Koldane Cartel and had nothing to do with any fabled powerful magical artefact/place.


*the real/first main goal being to unite the three Daggerfall thief groups: I like this concept, but I hate how it was executed. The ending moment in particular, talking to Quen, where she basically says

well, we lost the main artefact, the Thieves Moon, but we got the three factions to work together

felt really cheesy to me.

Wasn't that actually her primary goal? Also, it sounds like it would be in-character for Quen to treat the artifact as merely a means to an end.

Yes I said that's the real/first main goal.

I don't know what it being presented cheesily has to do with it being in character or not.

Ah, I thought you meant the fact she was pleased at achieving her primary goal, despite losing the artifact, was cheesy.

ETA

BretonMage wrote: »

For my part I am enjoying the magical artifact aspect of the story. It feels very true to the Elder Scrolls to have magic be so fundamentally important that its artifacts are sought after by mages, fighters and rogues alike. It also feels a bit like a callback to the TG quest in TES Oblivion, a heist for the ultimate magical artifact.

IDK if this was also as a response to me: but I don't dislike the Nowhere Vault's involvement because it's magical or whatever. I don't like the involvement because it felt the TG story was used as an ad for it, and that feels lame. Like, they didn't have to include it in the plot. The Vault could've had its own quests that gave the lore/background that was revealed during the TG, and the TG could've had a new plot, still based around the Cartel and the three mini Daggerfall groups, replacing what the Vault covered. When content is already super spread thin recently, it feels bad.

Just my personal opinion of course, but I was thinking that the story might have been a bit thin if it just revolved around the Cartel. I guess they could have substituted in another powerful artifact as you say.

I also look at it this way: these quests were written when they had their full team. I'm not sure expecting more content is going to work out, going forward. I myself am just happy to see characters who are fairly well fleshed out and well acted, with an interesting story too.

It was not my type of content, but I was glad it was there for the folks whose interest it was, 100%.

It delved into different characters' stories, touched on a few dofficult topics (Walks Softly).

Yet...

Quen is not my favorite character, and the no combat commentary felt a bit...off-putting in how it was portrayed. It felt a touch elitist? What, no swashbuckling, dashing rogues?

Thieving is, at its heart, violating someone's sanctuary and sense of safety. Someone violated another's safe space. They broke into a family's house. _They could get you and your family at any time_.

It felt a bit...rose-tinted.

I enjoyed the Telvanni storyline, and Isobel's plotline felt adorable and well-done. Same w Sharps.

For Blackwood, yeah. We don't talk about Heem-Jas 2.0. Lady Lamont was a hoot, tho. I swear there is a contest at zos to see who can up the ante.

Good stuff - i wish they consider extensions (new maps, conditions, levels etc.) for Heist dailies or even additional content like that in general.