Dark Brotherhoold questline: Extra short and...

AnduinTryggva

I have to say it: Extra boring.

It is the ONLY story questline that up to now I started on some of my characters but only finished it yesterday on one just for the Adventurer of a Decade achievement.

And it had such potential! The basic story idea was actually really good. But then so much rushed through. The characters coming over as completely irrelevant and non attaching at all as we get too many of them and too little time with them.

The area of Gold Coast actually looks AWESOME.

But then again: It is so SMALL and scarcely populated with things to explore.

It's a real shame.

Toanis

IDK, I'm bad with names, but the Argonian philosopher, the breton minx and the shy werewolf girl certainly stand out from one-shot NPCs in other DLCs. I barely remember anything about the Greymoor cast, for example, aside from Lyris kinda being there. (Verandis and crew were only in Markath, right?)

licenturion

I am very happy they only did main quests in a DLC like this for brotherhood and thief’s guild or I would have stopped playing and buying ESO DLC for good.

Horrendous design to progress and super boring. I am amazed they didn’t change the main story by now and removed the ‘do mundane boring thing 12 times to progress to next quest’.

licenturion

Toanis wrote: »

IDK, I'm bad with names, but the Argonian philosopher, the breton minx and the shy werewolf girl certainly stand out from one-shot NPCs in other DLCs. I barely remember anything about the Greymoor cast, for example, aside from Lyris kinda being there. (Verandis and crew were only in Markath, right?)

Only thing I remember from that is that they said the words ‘the dark heart’ like 3000 times in the main quest lol

vsrs_au

The thing I most remember about that quest line is what happens after it finishes. Several times, when you enter the sanctuary, the werewolf nord is having some absolutely hilarious conversations with some of her brotherhood colleagues.

Hildegard: "No, I don't shed, nor do I chase tossed bones. Yes, I mark my territory. No, I don't know why."

WhiteCoatSyndrome

I thought it felt like Thieves Guild 2.0, but less interesting. In part because we’d just done the Thieves Guild, in part because where the Thieves Guild was all, ‘Someone is trying to kill us all, what do we do?!!’ the Dark Brotherhood was like ‘Someone is trying to kill us all, let’s kill them back!’ Is it in character for a group of assassins? Yes. Is it interesting compared to the shenanigans the Thieves Guild got up to trying to clear their names? By Sithis no, we kill things all the time in the base game.

Heren

While I kinda agree that the Gold Coast zone ( and background ) was maybe a bit wasted ( but hey, Gold Coast and Hew's Bane are, in fact, very small zones so there's only so much you can put in it ), I don't think the Dark Brotherood questline was that bad. Maybe not the best either, but then, it's everyone taste.

As for the character and attachement for it, I think it's really up to the player to have interest in them, to read the books and written scraps between quest, to talk to them, etc. I kinda liked the nord girl, remember her story with the giants, how she ( maybe ? ) helped them; the written scraps for the breton girl were interesting, even if I don't really mind her; the redguard strong guy was, well, not standing out but still; the argonian alchemist was kinda alway funny to talk too, and i'm a bit sad we never seen him again ( yet ); and the rest of the cast ( the dark elf questgiver we see again in Blackwood, the Speaker, the nord big brother, the mother superior of the refuge, the ennemy, the archon of the order of the hour, the count of Kvatch, the pirate queen of Anvil, and i'm not even talking about all the others that are not in the main questline ), while not that important or developped, are still there with their motivations, stories, actions, manners, attitudes, etc ). And Remain-Silent have such wonderful dialog options.

One of the problem is the obvious lack of interest you have for this story : if you don't want to invest yourself in it, well, you can blame whatever you want, but I think it's also a you problem.

And then, everyone have personnal tastes : I would have like more political plots, more content about the rivalry between Kvatch and the pirate controled Anvil, more Ayleid stuff, a nice reference to the Grey Prince quest in Oblivion, or the haunted manor, etc. I was not entirely convinced by some parts of the main questline. I have my preferences, my own tastes, and that's fine : not everything will entirely please me. But it's a me problem.

Toanis wrote: »

IDK, I'm bad with names, but the Argonian philosopher, the breton minx and the shy werewolf girl certainly stand out from one-shot NPCs in other DLCs. I barely remember anything about the Greymoor cast, for example, aside from Lyris kinda being there. (Verandis and crew were only in Markath, right?)

Well Fenn-vampire was a big part of the main greymoor questline, and one other vampire girl I thing ? Not sure about Lyris, she show up in markath in a side quest with Say ( where he learn to, hum, reignite his 'sword' with her ). Greymoor have some nice sidequests characters tho.

AnduinTryggva

The thing is: The characters themselves might have been good but you get at best one mission with them. Really difficult to get attached to them if you just meet them for a very short time and then they get irrelevant again sort of.

ArchMikem

Remember too, DB and TG are YEARS old and were the games very first Adventure zone expansions before the idea of Chapters were even a thing. They're essentially test beds, ZOS getting their footing.

EdjeSwift

Keep in mind, they changed how you do the story significantly from release. It probably felt rushed because you could knock it out much faster than you used to. You used to have to grind up your Dark Brotherhood Rep before the next quest would unlock giving you more chances you to go in and out of the Sanctuary and possibly hear more conversations.

Each story was a nice break from going out and being the blade for hire for the DB as opposed to now where you just knock it out in a few hours.

Syldras

Toanis wrote: »

I barely remember anything about the Greymoor cast, for example, aside from Lyris kinda being there. (Verandis and crew were only in Markath, right?)

Verandis was only in Markarth. But Greymoor had Fennorian, Lyris, old hag Mjolen, Princess Svana, King Svargrim, Rada al-Saran,... Some I didn't even find well-written, but I somehow still remember them, at least.

Kisakee

It's one of the very first DLC's that came out over 8 years ago in 2016, come on..

Kappachi

I think it was more about the skill line, in which case it's fine. I wish they'd give more small zone DLCs if it meant it came with a full skill line that can be used by all chars with more new & unique offerings. Not just barren wastelands though, I actually liked gold coast's atmosphere & bosses at least

katanagirl1

I never did understand the fascination players have with DB. It’s an over-the -top ultra overdramatic Daedric cult which glorifies murdering civilians for a so-called higher purpose. Lol.

I do enjoy the passives, though. Most notably the shadowy rider one.

Kappachi

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I never did understand the fascination players have with DB. It’s an over-the -top ultra overdramatic Daedric cult which glorifies murdering civilians for a so-called higher purpose. Lol.

I do enjoy the passives, though. Most notably the shadowy rider one.

It's the choice. A choice most games won't allow, especially not MMOs where you're supposed to be the all-great "hero" of the world... ES actually lets you diverge from that path, you can have a villainous character, a charitable character, a rogue mercenary/etc... ESO is effectively the GTA of RPGs which is part of why it's so good.

liliub17_ESO

Kappachi wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I never did understand the fascination players have with DB. It’s an over-the -top ultra overdramatic Daedric cult which glorifies murdering civilians for a so-called higher purpose. Lol.

I do enjoy the passives, though. Most notably the shadowy rider one.

It's the choice. A choice most games won't allow, especially not MMOs where you're supposed to be the all-great "hero" of the world... ES actually lets you diverge from that path, you can have a villainous character, a charitable character, a rogue mercenary/etc... ESO is effectively the GTA of RPGs which is part of why it's so good.

I understand that, but it also is one of those achievements for the decade reward, so what it feels like is that the divergence is forced upon a player. In a strange way, I'm having a really hard time even starting the storyline (have been playing since early testing and never wanted to do any DB).

Syldras

Kappachi wrote: »

It's the choice. A choice most games won't allow, especially not MMOs where you're supposed to be the all-great "hero" of the world... ES actually lets you diverge from that path, you can have a villainous character, a charitable character, a rogue mercenary/etc... ESO is effectively the GTA of RPGs which is part of why it's so good.

But in most of story quests outside of DB and Thieves Guild, you're still playing the good guy. If you want the skills associated with Fighters and Mages Guild, the same. Or if you want to use scribing.

I'd prefer playing an assassin character without the need to be part of an edgy cult.

Kisakee

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I never did understand the fascination players have with DB. It’s a [...] cult which glorifies murdering civilians

And that's just what people like about it. Espcially me. I don't use the Blade most of the times though, open murder in plain sight right on the market place is fine. I love collecting bounties and looting freshly murdered bodies.

katanagirl1

Syldras wrote: »

Kappachi wrote: »

It's the choice. A choice most games won't allow, especially not MMOs where you're supposed to be the all-great "hero" of the world... ES actually lets you diverge from that path, you can have a villainous character, a charitable character, a rogue mercenary/etc... ESO is effectively the GTA of RPGs which is part of why it's so good.

But in most of story quests outside of DB and Thieves Guild, you're still playing the good guy. If you want the skills associated with Fighters and Mages Guild, the same. Or if you want to use scribing.

I'd prefer playing an assassin character without the need to be part of an edgy cult.

I guess the good thing about DB is once you have leveled up and done all the achievements like me, you can just leave it all behind and go do your own thing.

tsaescishoeshiner

I liked the characters in Dark Brotherhood, and overall enjoyed the questline. There were personal attachments between the characters involved, and you got to spend some time with all of them. The characters have motivations and emotions about what's going on. I'd agree that more time with characters in general is good.

The DB characters had more of an attachment to the story than Leramil or Beragon (I at least like Beragon, but he's sorta Just There), which I think helps it shine.

It's not my favorite zone story, but I liked it. I'd like if we got more guild content in general. (Scribing was sorta like that.)