Chances are if you side with the Imperials(And whether or not it's YOU in lore who kills the Emporerer or not) It's likely they'll elect the Dragonborn Jarl of Windhelm as Emperor--being you.
@@alphabroncotwozero392 Tiber Septim. Titus Mede before the Great War. Reman. Alyssia. The Elder Scroll's lore, specifically the Empire from origin to current, has had many good Kings/Emperors who were warriors first and foremost. The Empire itself was founded on conquering the entire continent of Tamriel.
"if we keep them captive we're gonna need to send like 5-10 of our soldiers to keep an eye on them" Vanilla Skyrim: what the hell, that's our whole army!
That’s a pet peeve of mine. People so knowledgeable on lore yet they still mispronounce words used heavily in the game, even in our reality. I heard a dude pronounce Ebony as Ee-bony. And daedra as Deedra. It’s annoying
I know this is an old comment but simple, what if the player chooses a female character? Yeah same sex marrige is possible in the games and I would like to keep this feature but two women usually do not produce children together.
Should've added an option to consolidate power and marry Ulfric if you were female, than it could be claimed similar to the Medieval Era's "divine right" with Kings, but rather known as "Dragon's right."
There are no cannons in Elder Scrolls. Not even in Redguard. People don't "forget about it for whatever reason" because they never existed. Prove me wrong; send me a link; show me a screenshot. You can't.
@@ZyrusSmith I would send you a link but youtube wipes my posts whenever I do. The best evidence in Redguard is barrels that look very strongly like gunpowder barrels which have fuses. Other evidence is a lore bit about a sea battle and cannons referenced by name. Although even if canon I'd prefer if this gets retconned in some way. Like maybe the barrels just look like gunpowder barrels. Or the cannons being referenced aren't gunpowder or alchemical cannons but just way way way weaker magic based ones. And have it that the process for making these cannons cannot be applied to firearms since they are too small for the magic to work. Ex: Elder Scrolls cannons being just simple tubes with an opening in the back, one guy conjures a stable fireball and the other guy uses some sort of pressure/wind spell to launch it. Would probably only be useful in long range but be useless within the range of normal spell attacks which would be far stronger.
@@darken2417 A barrel in Redguard doesn't prove cannons exist and the lore book in question is both a joke book and also in Daggerfall which has been partially de-canonized since Morrowind's release in 2006. If you don't have any references that aren't more than 16 years old, it doesn't look like cannons exist in current canon, like I said.
@@ZyrusSmith Regardless I'm more than happy if they don't exist. Also in Skyrim the Emperor's ship didn't have anything even hinting at cannons. Even pirate ships in oblivion lack them.
I would add a 4th option to the prisoners thing. Assuming you have enough persuation skills (really high) you can convince them to join you in the battle in exchange for their freedom. You should be able to tell them that the stormcloaks refused to negotiate for them thus giving their backs to them. This would generate anger among the prisoners. They would want to avenge themselves and those dunmer who fell fighting for the stormcloaks in vane
I agree what with most you said Zaric, except the part where most of the Stormcloaks are Nords and the Imperials lack them. Isn't the Civil War supposed to be Nords vs Nords as said by Esbern in the trailer "When the Sons of Skyrim spill their own blood". I really like what Bethesda did with Hadvar and Ralof. They grew up in the same village as friends but different ideologies made them enemies.
Miloslolz I agree. The Empire would have locals. It’s more likely that 1/4 of them would be on the Stormcloaks and anothet 1/4 for the Empire. 1/2 would be undecided or with the Dragon Cult.
the imperials should have many more races in the legion like breton battlemages, orc beserkers and various imperial calvarymen. the stormcloaks should have dunmer telvanni wizards, giants and redguard pirates and alikr mercenaries. with huge battles, political intrigue and huge day long sieges
kwadwo baidoo I liked that he had Dark Elves with the Stormcloaks, would have been a great way to give them mages and assassins. Redguard privateers and maybe some Argonians mercs. With the Empire with Orc Berserkers and Breton Spell Knights. Just balancing out their strengths and adding more dynamics.
Here's an idea: as part of Ulfric's daily schedule, when he enters his private chambers for the night (assuming his castle is designed somewhat differently) he enters a secret chamber, a shrine to Kyne, where he meditates on The Way of The Voice, like how the Greybeards do. He keeps his practice a secret, because the Thu'Um comes much more easily to a true Dragonborn.
It would make far more sense for the empire to use non nord forces in skyrim, just like when "barbarians" where recruited into the roman legions they where very rarely deployed to their native area as they would be fighting their own people and obvious issues would arise.
More locals would be fighting for the Stormcloaks, maybe 1/3. Less locals would fight for the Empire, maybe 1/4. That’s over 55% fighting. With everyone left either being undecided, objectors or opportunists, i.e. Thalmor spies, Forsworn insurgents, Brigands and Dragon Cultists.
Yes, but i think in a fort there is a letter saying that the imperial reinforcments coming to help in the civil war has being stopped due to the rute being closed thanks to an avalanch. Making basically all the imperials that where already in skyrim the actual and only army the empire has in the area. Thats the main reason for me to belive that when elder scrolls 6 comes out either the impirials are going to win or the most probable there is going to be a sece fire type of event
Your version of the Civil War sounds way more dramatic! I like it. One thing I noticed you left out was Legate Rikke. She was a character that sort of represented the Imperial side for Skyrim better than General Tulius: she represented the Nords who loved Skyrim and Ysmir, but also loved the Empire, which I think was an interesting and important opinion to have. Rikke served in the Great War, alongside Ulfric no less, and she had many of the same emotions the pro-Stormcloaks had about the White-Gold Concordat. But she still sided with the Empire, because she believed it was right and it was what was best for Skyrim. I think there was some missed potential concerning Rikke as a character, and she's definitely somebody I would expand upon in my "If the Civil War quest was good" synopsis.
Abiwon Kenabi she did strike me as a more dynamic character that was left underdeveloped. Would have liked to help her secretly worship Talos and come into conflict with the Thalmor.
Angie Evalina my bad, It’s been a while since I’ve played the opening, all the war hardened women(Captain, Rikke , maybe Aela, Delphine)have the same voice actor and the races are more difficult to distinguish than in Morrowind and Oblivion (the voice actors overlap and so do the features as if they just made sure the heights were different and randomized everything else (except the beast races, Orcs, and Redguards). Savos Aren, Nazeem, and Anton Virane all have the same voice. A Dunmer, A Redguard, and a Breton. Sorry for the rant, that’s been bothering me for a while.
Your ideal Civil War is absolutely genius. I especially liked that crucial moment of Ulfic wanting to meet you privately behind Windhelm where you are given the chance to defect should the player feel they want to. The freedom of choice is always a plus and there was plenty of it!
after watching all 5 videos about skyrim i just realized this guy has put more thought and care into his story than the entire Bethesda team combined ... makes me suspect that they basically "wrote" skyrims main story in 5 minutes
I got chills when you were describing General Tullius making you demonstrate your Dragonborn powers to a crowd. That's an epic way of properly presenting you as the Dragonborn who fights for the Empire.
"I hope you like having Morag Tong assassins attacking you in your sleep, because they are going to be coming after you for the next month or so." LOL, Since when doesn't any player character sleep in ES 5, dude? All of our meters regenerate constantly!
I have the tendency to like videos only in the beginning and on channels I like, because you can't like in fullscreen and I forget it at the end anyway. You are one of these channels I trust. You may be honored. Hail Lorkhan.
oh my god playing alongside Ulfrik and co-ordinating your shouts with him would have been legendary. Especially like the part where you fight the Morrowind refugees. Heartbreaking, but so fitting of the Dunmer.
I love the elder scrolls, the setting, the lore, the freedom in game but I've always found the story to lack a little, increasingly so with each installment. These videos are absolute gold and show what could have been with a great mind working on the narrative elements of the game. Thanks Zaric and keep them coming!
Why, WHY couldn't this have been the vanilla civil war storyline? Oh right engine limitations, yadda yadda yadda... But that said, I think the idea of Bethesda trying to pull off any sort of all-out warfare with said limitations was laughable. Leaving story and character aside, nothing deflates the Civil War more than seeing a "massive" skirmish between 5 or 10 soldiers determining the fate of an entire hold. I know the point of this video series is envisioning a Skyrim at it's best without limits, but I think Bethesda could have pulled off something more believable even with what was available to them. Rather than have the Stormcloaks be an actual army, they might have been better suited as an almost terroristic force that made their camps in the fringes of the wilds, away from civilization, that relied more on espionage and sedition rather than open war. Sure, that's not the traditionally "Nord" thing to do, but it speaks to the hypocrisies that occur in similar groups in real life. What they'd lack in manpower, they'd more than make up for in sympathy and morale from the majority of the Nord population, which would help to undermine the Empire's already faltering grip on the region. Joining the Stormcloaks would mean slowly regaining Skyrim through stealth and intrigue, whether cutting off Imperial supply lines or installing Stormcloak sympathizers into positions of power. Fighting for the Empire would be more straight-forward; just going out and crush Stormcloak camps and hideouts, learn their locations from citizens or scouts, and try to shift public loyalties to the Empire; either by force or by good deeds. The final taking of Solitude for the Stormcloaks would probably involve something more sneaky while still having some elements of an open battle. While the united forces of the now subverted holds distract the Imperial army both in the fields and at the gates, the player and a small task force sneaks into the Blue Palace or Castle Dour via sewers and eliminates the leaders of the opposition, ending the conflict and securing Stormcloak control. The Imperial side would follow a similar route, only with all forces falling upon the main, hidden Stormcloak fortress.
why not marry ulfric if your a female. eve if its just nord woman that seems like a cool option. ulfric last son of talos marries kynes choosen the last dragon born.
You've really upped your game lately, Zhakaron. I'm really glad for that you create content very consistently, especially of late. Keep up the good work!
I like that you could kill Ulfric regardless of which side you chose. Ulfric doesn't need to be dragon born, he just needs to claim to be dragon born and he could be stuck with just the fus shout. Seems to me that Tullius would want you to marry Elisif to solidify a claim to high king once he found out you were dragon born. Elisif might not be keen on that idea, Tullius may want a convenient end to your spouse if you are already married etc. More could be done about the Thalmor considering Ulfric to be an asset.
I think everybody can agree when I say that the grand civil war, was way to small it was really just a few imperial soldiers raiding stormclouks broken forges, and stormclouks assaulting imperial camps, thats it? where is the war? I would have loved to fight in the open grounds of skyrim (next to whiterun) with massive armies in both sides, shooting rains of arrows in the air and troops charging at the enemy like every medival warfare ever, maybe a 3 stage mission where you have to fight your way to one of the cities isnted of just rush in kill the king and thats it the civil war felt more like a riot control
Wow....your version of the Skyrim civil war beats the Skyrim civil war we have in game ten times over. Actual story and consequence for your part in participating in the war. Also....I didn't know I could hate that Imperal commander woman anymore then that first sequence in the game. Associating me with all the crap that's happened to her. ME, a prisoner she tried to have executed for no reason, and sheeeeee HATES MY guts. What did I do to her? Screw you, you freakin harpie. All in all, the civil war is kickass. Love the episode, it's definitely one of your best.
Yes, I could've swore you had hit 25 but then I log in today and see you're at 24. Figured I wasn't fully awake the first time on something haha. Nice G Gundam insert in the beginning as well hahaha
I like your ideas so much that actually have to occasionally take a break from watching: comparing vanilla Skyrim to the one you're describing, and then remembering that it's never going to happen, is just painful.
The Civil war quest line was terrible. Bethesda should seriously get some better writers because Bethesda can't make a story for shit, they're are so focus on player freedom that they forget to make their quests fun and their quests are getting more lazy each game they make. They should of made the story more like fallout new vegas where the factions play a huge part in the story.
as a whole it sounds so much cooler then the one we have now. The reason the civil war quest was mediocre was because it was a catch the fort simulator with a few quest that where interesting, even then these quest where short and small. Instead of being somebody who does what he is told they should of gave you choices in the civil war quest line and not just picking which faction you want to be in. your actions should also affect your relationship with the factions and the world around you. So as you gain more popularity people will love or hate you. It is like Bethesda got the idea from Fallout NV but did not knew what made the faction quest-lines great.
The civil war was supposed to be much bigger than it was in the game, but it had to be cut down because of the release deadline. Much of the original idea behind the civil war as it was supposed to be is still in the game's files : related quests, influence systems, losing holds, defending owned holds and so on and so forth.
redshirt49 Damn now that sounds fucking awesome, that is what the civil war should be like. Although it does bring up a question, how was obsidian able to pull something like that off in NV in one year, but Bethesda can't do it in 6 years.
iron mask of hell There is reasons for that. Better graphics and performance optimisation in the same shitty, old engine is a huge time-sucking blackhole. It's also what cut down the overall size of the playable worldspace which ended up a lot smaller than what they'd wanted (again, for stability reasons). These same problems and more have effected FO4 as well. I predict that TES6 is going to take quite a while longer but it will likely (hopefully) have a new and improved engine.
I think it would be cool to give the player the ability to usurp either Ulfric or the Emperor as dragon born allowing you to rule skyrim as its high king/queen which would be awesome
if it this version then i thing thing should go ether blade third party or Ulfric side ether way lead to ether a free skyrim or a New Dragonborn Empire siding with empire even in normal game still lead to the Mede empire on the ruby throne and the likelyhood of them trying to kill you after you helped them
I'm so upset because of how awesome the Civil War quest line could have been. Just imagine a long line of Stromcloaks watching you as you stride into their castle about to go 1 on 1 with their king, and their reaction once you defeat him. It just sounds fantastic and it's saddening that this can't be a reality.
With Ulfric’s betrayal as other comments have said, I definitely say a good way to avoid that if you were a female Dragonborn, he would propose a marriage instead of sending assassins after you as a way in his eyes to produce a ‘pure’ Dragonborn heir, if the player hasn’t married yet. Though if you refuse the marriage, he would still send assassins after you.
My favorite change you.made was to the intro. Because even though in my head I think the empire is objectively the better choice, I can just not feasibly roleplay a character that is willing to fight for someone that almost chopped off my head for no reason. So I have done both factions once to experience them and ever since I have never done them again
Here's an idea for Vanilla Shouts for Ulfric: 1. All of Unrelenting Force (of course) 2. That temporary invulnerability, like you said. 3. Two parts of Elemental Fury.
Didn't you in a previous video mention that there would be a option to enter the civil wars with the Blades as a 3rd faction? Was wondering what happen to that.
After becoming Jarl of Windhelm you should be able to go back to that Jarl of Falkreath and say "I'm a Jarl now!" But given what you said about the Blades, it would be extra awesome to then invade the Empire as the leader of the Stormcloaks and really live up to that Reman Cyrodiil 2.0
I think there should be a way to sway the stormcloaks to fight for you without ever joining them after you defeat alduin. On the imperial side I think you should be able to make a claim to the imperial throne if you sided with them and defeated alduin before hand.
Was the choice of whether to kill the prisoners, waste limited manpower guarding them, or let them go and risk them rejoining the enemy for a counterattack based on Henry at Azincourt?
My favorite part of Skyrim is how the guards are basically omniscient and also don't give a shit about it. "I know who you are. Hail Sithis." Especially great when you sided with the empire and most of those guards are imperial soldiers, and you killed the emperor yourself.
I liked your point of veiw on this and i think it's rather nifty you recreated Ulfric as a person and made him backstab you. Can't wait for the next episode!
I like the idea of the Stormcloaks teaming up with Pirates to mess with Imperial supply lines. Mainly because there's a quest in Windhelm that is very similar. The East Empire Trading Company (aka the biggest shipper of goods and supplies in the Empire) is being harassed by pirates working under the pay and direction of the Shatter-Shields shipping company (Windhelm nobility and strong supporters of Ulfric and the Stormcloaks)
It would make more sense for the Imperials to draw from and rely on their own and non-Nord ranks, just as the Soviets drew from nationalities within their reach further afield from Afghanistan during that invasion so there was less chance of local sympathies or their numbers changing sides.
In vanilla, I liked Ulfric's passion. His "why I fight" speech is superbly written and performed. I like your depiction of him but I'd rather ulfric was a more heroic figure. Having him as the shady guy kinda goes against what was set out for him. This is a rewrite so it might not be the case.
There is a fourth option with the meeting between you and Ulfric in your version of the story, if you do the Dragonborn dlc BEFORE the civil war, and you have the bend will shout, you can use it on Ulfric and make him your puppet.
I'd like to see a couple more high level speech checks with the dunmer prisoners and turncoat redguards. With the prisoners, you could persuade/intimidate them to switch to your side. The higher your speech, the more would accept, but some would always decline and you would still deal with them, and some might switch back during the battle. Same with the redguards, you would intimidate/persuade them to stay in your service without having to pay extra
THIS is how I want Skyrim to play out. I hate how popular Skyrim is in its current state because that only means Bethesda won't EVER make an interesting RPG with choices and consequences because this makes them money, despite many people liking Fallout:NV more than Fallout 3 because of it being full of choices and interesting story/dialogue. But personally, if I were you, I would actually try and set up a modding team to try and get this stuff into Skyrim. Having Skyrim by like this would be amazing and if you ever do something like this I wouldn't be opposed to helping, I'm not well versed in modding however I am a good writer and feel I could do a lot to provide more dialogue to the mod. Of course there are things you talk about here that wouldn't be plausible in the Skyrim engine, like the Whiterun city layout you talked about, but just having the better story elements in it alone would make Skyrim into a legendary game. Do you have any thoughts about trying to put together a possible mod team for this Zaric?
Made a new character once. I decided to join the legion. First I try to talk to a captain that's training soldiers in the yard since he should be well fit to start the process to make me a soilder of the legion. He has no dialogue so I move in the keep and realise I am able to walk into general tulius and his highest ranked leutenants quarters without any prior guarding or taking of my weapons. Apparently it's fine if I walk up with my bow drawn and start talking to the leader of the legions armies in Skyrim. That wierdness aside I talk to his female leutenant and is told that she "has a good feeling about me". I haven't done the main quest yet so not being acknowledged as the dragon born doesn't seem odd to me. Since I am literally an unknown person that could be a spy for all they know I assumed I'll be going through the normal process of going through a combat trial to test my skills and based on the results either make me a soilder or require me to train with other aspiring recruits or my myself until my skills were raised. The legion aren't stormcloaks I assumed and seemed to have a roman empire theme, so I assumed they had a requirement for quadrants to be aware of tactics and strategies, so even if I was a great warrior, theory had to be taught. The legion shouldn't be some desperate force that recruits anyone who comes by I thought, they could bring reinforcements from other parts of tamriel if they need to. Maybe there is even an option for joining as a mercenary and join a seperate force of sellswords, but no. This "hunch" she had was apparently enough to send me all by my level 6 hide gear self and face an entire fort of bandits of about 25 people, a mission fit for a legion squadrant. So without knowing or acting as if I'm the dragon born, the game treats me as if I have defeated Alduin himself and should be able to handle a few dozen bandits without an issue. The average legion soldier wouldn't be able to handle more than two bandits at the same time but I'm expected to defeat an entire camp by myself? Are you absolutely fucking kidding me I thought. I later found that the whole questline wasn't being treated as a war at all. I actually laughed at it when it wanted me to aquire the "jagged crown" from a tomb since I had done something very similar for the greybeards and the horn of jurgen windcaller. I killed some guys outside a tomb and then went in to do more mindless, stupid "puzzles" and fight some more draugr. I then realized this questline wasn't a war at all. Everything except the city sieges were a booring version of everything else I had done in the game so far. I could literally run around with stormcloak armor and fight with a "highly sophisticated army" and by a sudden force I was slung back into the real world. All immersion had been broken and I realised. Skyrim wasn't a fantastic game. Skyrim was a collection of different teams, some who sucked ass and some who did a brilliant job. I realised if looking at the world as if it was a game it was great. But if looking at it as another world that talented people had brought to life, it suddenly became a shallow mess that clearly had some immensly foolish design directions.
I like this version of the Civil War far more than the one we got. Also I think the changes to the Stormcloaks are a necessary improvement. I would have liked to know how the Blades/independent faction version of the Civil War would play out. Also, Elisif seems quite young so marrying her children seems a little off. Granted, we don't know how old she is, but a political marriage to her seems like a better option. For a female character? Maybe a nephew of hers or Torig's? Also on that, we should know all the royal major families of Skyrim through dialogue or sidequests. Each jarl and major thane's network of family and retainers should have significance.
I liked it. Though Ulfric being a dragonborn kinda clouds the main quest, that and we basically have 3 dragonborns if we count Miraak. It can work and it's a pretty epic idea, especially with the way it's introduced what I mean is that it would need to be woven carefully into the narrative.
Here's my suggestions and improvements to the TES V Skyrim Helgen, instead of being a small town with like 2 forts, is an entire castle with tons of rooms, each one serving a reason to be there So you get MUCH more customization, you get perks, like the "Cat" (where you can resist magic by 6.5% and a small sneak bonus but also a small increase in spending magic to have balance) or "Damageborn Werewolf" (Makes you gain the Werewolf ability at start, but a weaker variant, you will not earn the stronger Werewolf ability during the Companions Questline, but the guise who would give you the ability would ask three blessings of Hircine to you, maybe one is "enrage", where you would gain more damage to your werewolf, but also a "missing" mechanic, while this mechanic is uncommon, it could be dangerous for your player, or a "hunterborn" where you gain 30% extra damage to any animal type besides dragons, but a 5% damage reduction to humans, mer, and beast.) After you decide your perks/traits, the Imperial Captain would meet you, she will instead be maybe an infantry captain and runs one of the strong imperial camps, along with her meeting you, General Tullius, Legate Rikke, around 6 Imperial Soldiers, and a Ahtar the jailer will be there, General Tullius will ask why they imprisoned you, as he doesn't remember why and what you did that was bad, Ahtar claims you murdered several innocent people, now you have three choices 1. You killed Stormcloaks 2. You killed Imperial Soldiers 3. You killed innocent peoples If you chose Stormcloaks, General Tullius will apologize that he arrested you. This however will make all Stormcloak supporters despise you, and Ulfric won't even let you into his army due to you killing his soldiers. If you chose Imperial Soldiers and or innocent people, General Tullius will explain that you are a dangerous person and that you don't deserve freedom and leave, after they leave, you have to make a way to escape Helgen, remember how I said it would have tons of rooms, I mean it, like around 90 rooms, and you have to escape through several ways, you could escape the public way, which is breaking down the door, now you can't use any spells by breaking it down, you have to come up with an intelligent way, if you can't do it, the prisoner will remind you that he found a secret passageway, and since the guards are sleeping, you break it down, this will wake up one of the guards, now you have a guard walking around the base trying to find if any prisoners escaped, this will introduce you to sneaking, after you sneak out, it turns out this prisoner is a Stormcloak, if you chose Stormcloaks, he would eventually escape prison, and then encounter you on the road, you can ask who he is, he says he is going to kill you, if you have a strong enough speech, you can persuade him to not, and that you and him could possibly make two great warriors, he could go to make a small encampment to survive the harsh cold of Skyrim, then he will still have a bit of a negative relationship with the player, until you complete the main quest, then he will begin respecting you, and say while you killed a lot of his kind, he now respects that you saved more then you killed. After you escape the Helgen Castle, the same Imperial Soldier will find you and ask who you are, if you stole a pair of imperial armor set from Helgen, you can explain you are one of the Imperial Soldiers and that you need to leave for something important, if you don't have a high enough speech, he won't believe you, but if you do, he will and let you go, this will add "false respect" (respect you got through lying and that the people who respect you will realize that you lied and you will suffer more hate then respect), While you can say you are a prisoner and that you are going to escape Helgen, this soldier will fight you and try to kill you, if you have the prisoner friend, he could kill the soldier along with you, and after you kill the soldier, the prisoner will explain that while he thinks you are a great person, he has to find his way in life without companionship, then later on during main quest, this same prisoner will meet you again, and say how much respect he has given to you ever since you and him escaped, and he could give you a quest to make all the prisoners escape Helgen Keep, and remember how most of the prisoners during the vanilla intro were Stormcloaks, Helgen Keep will be a castle specifically made for the Stormcloaks, if you say you killed Stormcloaks during the start, and freed all the Stormcloak Prisoners, maybe Ulfric will give you the opportunity to join his army, while you killed some of his soldiers, you saved so many more soldiers from dying in prison, and as you saved them, he will now give you a special set of Stormcloak armor given only to the most useful rookie soldiers, with the fur of a snowy sabre cat on the back, more defensive armor such as chainmail and a closed helmet, and also being as much defense as Glass Armor. If you give the note to General Tullius, he will thank you, you could even give the note to a bandit noble who used to be for the Imperials until he got dismissed for crimes he never committed, and that his massive bandit faction will now invade Helgen Keep and after they invade it, the bandits will have a new place to be at, and a courier will send you a letter from General Tullius, you meet General Tullius and he will be outraged that you let a bandit noble take one of his important areas, you can lie to General Tullius, exclaiming that the noble never had anything to do with you, of course speech matters in this situation, if you can't lie to him good enough, the only choice you have is to tell the truth, he will then dismiss you from his army and Ulfric Stormcloak will thank you for somewhat helping out by ruining the imperial castle Helgen, then if you decide to go to Helgen, the bandits will be nice to you, the noble will come to you, asking if you want to help the Stormcloaks out more, and offer you the chance to burn down one of the biggest camps in the hold where Helgen is, there will be around 20 camps and tons of imperial soldiers here, and behind the main player invading this camp, hundreds of bandits, mercenaries, and pirates, you will kill the soldiers, burn down the camps, and the leader will come to you, bloodied, mutilated, and angry, and will ask if you want to fight him to the death for honor, you can say no, and the bandits will execute the leader via hanging, if you decide this, the encampment will be more reinforced, and defended, with cannons, catapults, and a lot of bandit soldiers, the noble will then offer you a bit of his riches, which will be hundreds of gold coins, gems and jewelry that is worth a fortune, and uniquely designed armor and weaponry, another quest will be pirate exclusive, where you track a small island that has been in Imperial control for a long time, they could choose Roscrea for this and flesh out the location more, since we don't know much about it, and the island is in imperial control. There will be Imperial Soldiers here along with warships, cannons, and catapults, it would be like the Jahpets Folly castle, but 5 times bigger, with camps, forts, houses, and even a Jarl palace, your crew of pirates would invade the forts first, there would be pirates still in the ship arming catapults and cannons, and they would be firing at houses, it would be like something straight out of Age of Empires, the Jarl would be a greedy tyrant, and would have 10 guards, laced in armor similar to the Ebony Armor from Oblivion behind him he would be worried about his island being controlled by you and bandits, you have a few choices with the Jarl, you could instead lay out a peaceful end, thus the rest of the people on the island would not be slaughtered, although kicked off the island as refugees, perhaps they could flee to Winterhold and be living in the destroyed houses there with the few supplies they have, you could ask about the hold and if he doesn't tell the truth, he would be killed along with everyone, he will tell the truth and saying a massive slave trade has been happening in the hold, you could then either kill him and free the slaves and force them into becoming bandits, and or make him stop the trade entirely or you would slaughter him and his hold, then he will reluctantly agree, but then trick you and try to kill you, his guards will actually fight along and kill the Jarl, then the guards will work for the bandits along with slaves, then the island will be in control of the bandit population, the army will adapt a new name and make them separate from Imperials and Stormcloaks, After this small but massive questline, Ulfric Stormcloak and General Tullius will be worried about the bandit population threat, then the leaders of the bandits, Imperials, and Stormcloaks will all go on an interview and sort out differences kind of, until one of the people at the interview attempt a suicide attack, he would kill several innocent people, and you would find on his corpse that he was a spy working for the Thalmor, this will show Tullius, Ulfric, and the bandit leader that they should know that the Thalmor are a major threat to Skyrim and Tamriel in general. As is the case; Skyrim has a lot of stuff seemingly unfinished. I decided that this would be a great intro to Skyrim, you escaping Helgen Keep, and then helping out a bandit leader form an empire with several great quests attached to it, having a lowly prisoner become a better person based on the choices you made
WOW, I more or less just stumbled on this but since this is the first that I have watched and I already heard a ton of great ideas and hope Bethesda will take notice of these ideas for the next elderscrolls game so ya I will certainly be watching the other videos on Skyrim
"Whichever side you think is the best." Pretty much life.☺ Everybody ultimately picks a side, and anyone on the side opposite your side, many anyway, may think you a mindless fool. In the end, no matter what, ultimately the choice is *yours*. You choose a side for *your* reasons, *your* beliefs, not because someone else tells you to.
I like that Skyrim has support of Dunmer and Redguards. I note an absence of Bretons on both sides just too make them seem unique in that they are a race of men uninvolved and hint at something boiling in High Rock. I would add Nords too the Legions just too represent the two sides tearing Skyrim apart and how Nords are in conflict of what is the right choice. I would add a few notable Imperials too the Stormcloaks that hint at some new faction in Cyrodiil (a Roman Republic in my fantasy). Also i'd prefer if it was possible to play without being dragonborn, like if u hadnt gone to the greybeards then they wouldnt trigger some of the things you mentioned
I was thinking about this situation and while I of course agree with what you're trying to do, it seems like you are basing it on real world tactics instead of fantasy world ones. Hear me out for a second, second to the Dominion the Empire is THE political, economic, and military power of the world. They should have access to practically whatever they need to get any job done even if an individual soldier doesn't. That includes magical support and enchanting from the mages guild from all over. In fantasy world terms that means you cannot cut their supply lines while they have access to their teleporters (I know Skyrim replaces them with fast travel, but teleporters were in previous games). If the situation if bad enough and the higher ups think that the enemy will be using guerilla tactics, then the scouts and camp guards get issued rings of detect life to counter that. It's even worse than that because for very, very stupid reasons the Nords seem to think that magic is for weaklings. This would mean that they don't really have anything to counter the sheer amount of magic and exotic assists that would just chew though their manpower except for the dark elf allies that you've inserted. Think mass formations of troops don't like arrows? Just imagine what mass charm spells do to formations. It's rather beautiful. Ulfric will have to know this (if I remember right he fought with the legion) so his military priority #1 is to avoid an open battle until he can do something to neutralize the mages, teleporters, magic items, etc while, at the same time, keep his supporters fired up and begging for a fight. He would have to know that he just has one chance to attack, and if he fails then he will be squished. This seems to be a general problem with the genre though. With very few exceptions (Shadowrun, Exalted, Eberron, etc) most authors don't seem to spend much if any time thinking about the practical side effects of that will have to happen if magic is in a setting and how that will change how that setting has to look.
I disagree with you there . I’d say the empire is still the number one power on Tamriel since they control the East empire company which gives them more trade power compared to the Dominion ( Which I highly doubt trades with places like Hammerfell ) and given how the Great War went we can see that the Imperial army is equal if not BETTER than the Aldmeri army because they were able to defeat an overwhelming Aldmeri force to take back the imperial city and were able to drive the war into a stalemate . I say “stalemate” because neither side was ultimately victorious in the Great War .
It all depends on the extent magic can be used. I'm no lore expert for TES, but I'll focus on what I do know. While they surely would be able to teleport supplies into Skyrim, the amount would probably be far less than many large ships can carry. Teleporters in Morrowind, though this may've just been gameplay, only seem to be able to teleport a person and their own supplies at a time, and for a decent price. I imagine, sensibly (not using the word realistic here), the more you teleport and farther you go, the harder is is, the more energy it takes, and the easier it is to make mistakes, losing some cargo or setting things in the wrong spots. Blocking out mountain passes and, especailly, ports would still really, really stagnate the movement of supplies, though it certainly wouldn't end it. As for the Nordic thing, they simply don't trust mages outside the College of Winterhold and such. But surely they'd have plenty of wizards who trained there; not to mention, the Dunmer are decently well known for their magics, or at least the Telvannis (though I'm not sure what state they're in by Skyrim's time). So they surely would have mages, even if not as many as the Empire with their Bretons and such. It all depends on the specifics. I know in my world at least, "mass charm spells" wouldn't really be a thing, as magic is extremely regulated, and anything that might mess with someone's mind is almost outlawed except for in very particular cases; beyond that, simply casting and holding a spell over someone for even a few minutes would be tiresome (I believe, tho I could be wrong, in Morrowind your spellcasting was in some way tied to Fatigue as well). Casting charm over an entire army or even platoons would be extremely difficult and highly susceptible to failure. Still, all very fun to think about and good brain exercises.
I believe they should have gotten rid of Alduin completely, made him a dlc maybe. The civil war should have been the mq, the dragonborn should be(eventually) crowned emperor, but I want it to lead into a larger story line with a second war with the thalmor. If they did this right it could have been amazing.
Nice video. Makes me wish I was not too lazy to make mods lol. I got so many ideas not just for fixing existing content but adding new content as well among other things.
You know a lot of your ideas remind me more of how fallout 4 quest lines were approached. And I swear I mean that in the best way. Quests were a lot more conditional in F4 and that’s cool. It’s like what you’re saying in these videos, except all the your story concepts are actually cool and not a constant let down the further you progress.
I enjoy the fact that you always try to conserve the player's right to have a choice in stories. I think that's the reason that people have been disappointed with rpgs recently. The lack of choice and consequences that really gives the world depth. Hopefully Bethesda will try to make it better in the next game, but I can't get my hopes up.
Woah. I LOVE what you did with the Civil War. It actually made me want to join either faction. In vanilla Skyrim, I tend to avoid the Civil War like the plague...because I don't want to join a bunch of racists (Stormcloaks), but the Empire just...wasn't a real option for me either. Basically, I've been waiting and hoping since I first played the game for an opportunity to tell both factions to go f*** themselves and go fight the Thalmor instead. But you...you just made *both* factions interesting. While still keeping Ulfric a b***** that I could still kill even when I'm with the Stormcloaks (more history or not, I can't bring myself to like him) and also giving the option of changing sides. It really is a damn shame that this awesome series (the earlier episodes too) is going to remain fiction.
One thing that really stuck out to me, in the Vanilla Skyrim civil war, is how it didn't take any cues or story elements from the Legion/NCR War in Fallout: New Vegas. Now my only explanation, is that the team didn't want to look like they were copying New Vegas. But the Civil War quests in Skyrim would have been so much more interesting if you had to go and do a series of Quests, to eliminate, pacify or recruit various factions around Skyrim. Though it would be optional in Skyrim, just doing this, will actually give you more options in Skyrim's civil war quests. I'm talking about being an envoy to the Giants, or individual Giant tribes. Seeing those armed and armoured Giants from that civil war mod, made it clear, how awesome they would be in battle. They could be like powerful shock troopers, or maybe living siege weapons, like the armoured trolls in the Lord of the Rings, movies. Maybe just to get an invite to talk to a Giant Chieftain, you'd have to bring gifts, like the sacrificial cows i.e, the painted cattle, brought to the Giants, by farmers, in vanilla Skyrim. Or maybe weapons specifically crafted for a Giant. Like Giant bows or hammers etc. You'd get all kinds of quests, radiant ones, like maybe killing a pack of Sabrecats that have been harassing their Mammoths. And more involved quest lines, like cleansing one of their ritual sites or burial grounds, which Necromancers have been using. Maybe even tie that into the Potema quest, with her reviving undead/skeletal giant minions. You should also have to go through some kind of brutal proving ritual, where you're on hallucinogenic drugs. Or under various spells, just to talk to the Forsworn. Kind of like the Tribal people, from Fallout 3's, Point Lookout. Only with less lobotomy. Maybe having to fight off The Forsworn quest line would tie-in Cidna Mine and involve helping to break out their King or negotiate his release. Eventually following the Forsworn quest line will get you the option to make Madonach the new Jarl of Markarth. Or the King of the Reach, if you want to go a more independent route. The option to align yourself with the Silver Blood Family and the Empire, would also be there. The Forsworn would despise the Empire, for kicking them out of their lands originally but respect Ulfric as a strong and capable individual. And be even more impressed by you, since you are a true Dragonborn. It could even tie in other side quests, like recovering Red Eagle's blade. Given the Forsworn are also Daedra worshippers, they'd probably get along with Stormcloaks in your version, since they accepted the Dunmer into their ranks. Not that their won't be some resentment for the Nords, booting them from the Reach originally. But this quest line would be the start of making amends for this. The orcs living in the Orcish strongholds should each be a minor faction in their own right. You would have to earn their respect before they even let you in. Like killing a unique giant, wiping out a large group of bandits or maybe giving one of their old warriors, an honourable death in battle, via a duel. The strongholds could lead you to additional Daedric quests, which allow you to receive Malacath's artefacts. Not just Volendrung, you should be able to also acquire Scourge. Once you become respected by the orcs, you'll be able to get them to send warriors to either help you in your takeover of Skyrim and the Empire. Or to assist whichever faction, you're siding with. The Skaal are traditionally isolationists, and have their own unique faith, like in Dragonborn. However, they should have more than one village. I'm thinking two or three on Solstheim alone, and one on the mainland Skyrim. Presumably close to the Sea. The mainland village trading with and supplying their islander counterparts, with things they can't get on the island. They're ruled by a chief, who acts as their spiritual and day to day leader. Settling squabbles, performing wedding ceremonies etc. I could see the leaders of the villages having you go on some kind of pilgrimage, to each of the monoliths, to recieve the blessings of the All Maker. Should you succeed, you would be inducted into their culture as part of the Skaal. You'll likely have to solve puzzles, or navigate hard terrain to reach each one. Should you succeed, you'll be able to earn your place, and replace the leaders through various quests. Uniting the Skaal as a single faction. And have them assist you, in the civil war.
So something kinda interesting occured to me, while watching this video. Taking your version of Dragonborn into consideration, and assuming Ulfric is still alive, or allied with you. Perhaps you could bring him along on your quest to defeat Miraak? Maybe have a scene where Miraak verbally roasts Ulfric, when he initially paralyses you in Apocrypha? And sends him back to Nirn, deeming him unworthy of his time. Which only drives his paranoia to kill and get rid of you later, as he sees what Dragonborn are truly capable of, and has begun to actively fear and resent you in private. Maybe this could also start a unique side quest, where Miraak begins poisoning Ulfric's mind. Sorta like in LOTR, with Théoden? This would then require you to either sneak into or fight through the Stormcloak soldiers to reach Ulfric and free him. Using your Thu'um or kill him, resulting in Ulfric dying in infamy. This whole sidequest would be about gaining access to Stormcloak held territory again, as the effect would linger, even after Miraak's defeat.
Whoa, I'm a bit behind not his series, but dam, this was a good video, I would've loved a civil war like this... And I was one of the few people who didn't mind the civil war as it is.
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"It's about their tears" - Zaric Zhakaron,
"Because they dance like puppets in my commet section and amuse me."
How he descibes fan boys is fucking gold xD
That is why I love this channel.
*****
That what I meant, it was a typo. Fixed now. Sorry ;)
The best alchemy ingredient.
Every day i want to subscribe to this guy more and more
ITS NOT ABOUT THE VIEWCOUNT.
*ITS ABOUT THEIR TEARS*
Liberal tears
Outside Ubisoft Conservative tears
LOL you finished the replys perfectly
@@pettersoderberg6903 your mom's tears
CGB Spender Oh, they dried up a long time ago.
you need to talk to bethesda or someone to become a writer 10/10 (ign rating)
7.8/10 "too much effort"
iron mask of hell 5/10 "not enough guns"
He's writing his own series of games and books
If you sided with the Blades and Greybeards and want to be the next Emperor, how would the civil war play out? Kill everyone and lead Skyrim?
I was curious about this as well.
Chances are if you side with the Imperials(And whether or not it's YOU in lore who kills the Emporerer or not)
It's likely they'll elect the Dragonborn Jarl of Windhelm as Emperor--being you.
Good warriors don't make good Kings but aight
@@alphabroncotwozero392 Tiber Septim. Titus Mede before the Great War. Reman. Alyssia. The Elder Scroll's lore, specifically the Empire from origin to current, has had many good Kings/Emperors who were warriors first and foremost. The Empire itself was founded on conquering the entire continent of Tamriel.
@@serathaevistille995 you just cold blood murdered @Alpha Bronco Two Zero
"if we keep them captive we're gonna need to send like 5-10 of our soldiers to keep an eye on them"
Vanilla Skyrim: what the hell, that's our whole army!
Has Ralof been changed to Rolf in this new version?
I think he legitemately thinks Ralof's name is Rolf
Ed boy
Many doors yes?
That’s a pet peeve of mine. People so knowledgeable on lore yet they still mispronounce words used heavily in the game, even in our reality. I heard a dude pronounce Ebony as Ee-bony. And daedra as Deedra. It’s annoying
@@kingharlaus43 Thats just how accents and voices work.
One person may pronounce to the word "cat" as "ka-t" another may pronounce it as "ket".
Why can't you marry Elisif? Produce an heir of true dragonblood!
No mod can't fixed that
The comment I was looking for. So many missed opportunities with this game. Still love it tho
I know this is an old comment but simple, what if the player chooses a female character?
Yeah same sex marrige is possible in the games and I would like to keep this feature but two women usually do not produce children together.
Should've added an option to consolidate power and marry Ulfric if you were female, than it could be claimed similar to the Medieval Era's "divine right" with Kings, but rather known as "Dragon's right."
and he would kills you anyway LMFAO
"People forget about it (cannons) for whatever reason."
Maybe because nobody ever played Redguard.
Nevertheless. Cannons would be cool in TES V.
There are no cannons in Elder Scrolls. Not even in Redguard.
People don't "forget about it for whatever reason" because they never existed.
Prove me wrong; send me a link; show me a screenshot. You can't.
@@ZyrusSmith
I would send you a link but youtube wipes my posts whenever I do.
The best evidence in Redguard is barrels that look very strongly like gunpowder barrels which have fuses.
Other evidence is a lore bit about a sea battle and cannons referenced by name.
Although even if canon I'd prefer if this gets retconned in some way.
Like maybe the barrels just look like gunpowder barrels.
Or the cannons being referenced aren't gunpowder or alchemical cannons but just way way way weaker magic based ones.
And have it that the process for making these cannons cannot be applied to firearms since they are too small for the magic to work.
Ex: Elder Scrolls cannons being just simple tubes with an opening in the back, one guy conjures a stable fireball and the other guy uses some sort of pressure/wind spell to launch it. Would probably only be useful in long range but be useless within the range of normal spell attacks which would be far stronger.
@@darken2417 A barrel in Redguard doesn't prove cannons exist and the lore book in question is both a joke book and also in Daggerfall which has been partially de-canonized since Morrowind's release in 2006.
If you don't have any references that aren't more than 16 years old, it doesn't look like cannons exist in current canon, like I said.
@@ZyrusSmith
Regardless I'm more than happy if they don't exist.
Also in Skyrim the Emperor's ship didn't have anything even hinting at cannons.
Even pirate ships in oblivion lack them.
I would add a 4th option to the prisoners thing. Assuming you have enough persuation skills (really high) you can convince them to join you in the battle in exchange for their freedom. You should be able to tell them that the stormcloaks refused to negotiate for them thus giving their backs to them. This would generate anger among the prisoners. They would want to avenge themselves and those dunmer who fell fighting for the stormcloaks in vane
"Do you want a shady guy or an idiot as high king?" Sounds an awful lot like Presidential Elections doesn't it?
lol
I think calling Hillary shady is an understatement lol
well, Trump is just a shady guy.
Hillary is both shady and idiot
Wow this is the first Ive not heard idiot be applied to Trump as thats the thing that is still said by people who dislike him.
actually i'm pretty sure that Hillary and Trump are both shady and idiotic in equal measure.
I agree what with most you said Zaric, except the part where most of the Stormcloaks are Nords and the Imperials lack them. Isn't the Civil War supposed to be Nords vs Nords as said by Esbern in the trailer "When the Sons of Skyrim spill their own blood". I really like what Bethesda did with Hadvar and Ralof. They grew up in the same village as friends but different ideologies made them enemies.
About 20-30% Nord Legionaries fulfill the prophecy while still allowing for a pure-blood Nord army vs a more cosmopolitan Imperial legion.
Miloslolz o
Miloslolz I agree. The Empire would have locals. It’s more likely that 1/4 of them would be on the Stormcloaks and anothet 1/4 for the Empire. 1/2 would be undecided or with the Dragon Cult.
the imperials should have many more races in the legion like breton battlemages, orc beserkers and various imperial calvarymen. the stormcloaks should have dunmer telvanni wizards, giants and redguard pirates and alikr mercenaries. with huge battles, political intrigue and huge day long sieges
kwadwo baidoo I liked that he had Dark Elves with the Stormcloaks, would have been a great way to give them mages and assassins. Redguard privateers and maybe some Argonians mercs.
With the Empire with Orc Berserkers and Breton Spell Knights. Just balancing out their strengths and adding more dynamics.
Here's an idea: as part of Ulfric's daily schedule, when he enters his private chambers for the night (assuming his castle is designed somewhat differently) he enters a secret chamber, a shrine to Kyne, where he meditates on The Way of The Voice, like how the Greybeards do. He keeps his practice a secret, because the Thu'Um comes much more easily to a true Dragonborn.
It would make far more sense for the empire to use non nord forces in skyrim, just like when "barbarians" where recruited into the roman legions they where very rarely deployed to their native area as they would be fighting their own people and obvious issues would arise.
Luke McInerny yes, but this is partially a civil war. So much of it should be more v nord
More locals would be fighting for the Stormcloaks, maybe 1/3. Less locals would fight for the Empire, maybe 1/4. That’s over 55% fighting. With everyone left either being undecided, objectors or opportunists, i.e. Thalmor spies, Forsworn insurgents, Brigands and Dragon Cultists.
Yes, but i think in a fort there is a letter saying that the imperial reinforcments coming to help in the civil war has being stopped due to the rute being closed thanks to an avalanch. Making basically all the imperials that where already in skyrim the actual and only army the empire has in the area. Thats the main reason for me to belive that when elder scrolls 6 comes out either the impirials are going to win or the most probable there is going to be a sece fire type of event
Your version of the Civil War sounds way more dramatic! I like it.
One thing I noticed you left out was Legate Rikke. She was a character that sort of represented the Imperial side for Skyrim better than General Tulius: she represented the Nords who loved Skyrim and Ysmir, but also loved the Empire, which I think was an interesting and important opinion to have. Rikke served in the Great War, alongside Ulfric no less, and she had many of the same emotions the pro-Stormcloaks had about the White-Gold Concordat. But she still sided with the Empire, because she believed it was right and it was what was best for Skyrim. I think there was some missed potential concerning Rikke as a character, and she's definitely somebody I would expand upon in my "If the Civil War quest was good" synopsis.
Totally! One of my favourite characters!
Abiwon Kenabi she did strike me as a more dynamic character that was left underdeveloped. Would have liked to help her secretly worship Talos and come into conflict with the Thalmor.
He didn’t leave out Legate Rikke.He made her an a-hole that gets demoted runs with bandits and hates your guts
@@NamelessKing1597 It was captain from opening that sent you to get your head chopped off, not Rikke.
Angie Evalina my bad, It’s been a while since I’ve played the opening, all the war hardened women(Captain, Rikke , maybe Aela, Delphine)have the same voice actor and the races are more difficult to distinguish than in Morrowind and Oblivion (the voice actors overlap and so do the features as if they just made sure the heights were different and randomized everything else (except the beast races, Orcs, and Redguards). Savos Aren, Nazeem, and Anton Virane all have the same voice. A Dunmer, A Redguard, and a Breton. Sorry for the rant, that’s been bothering me for a while.
Your ideal Civil War is absolutely genius. I especially liked that crucial moment of Ulfic wanting to meet you privately behind Windhelm where you are given the chance to defect should the player feel they want to. The freedom of choice is always a plus and there was plenty of it!
after watching all 5 videos about skyrim i just realized this guy has put more thought and care into his story than the entire Bethesda team combined ...
makes me suspect that they basically "wrote" skyrims main story in 5 minutes
Tarek Chamas ikr he should've been hired
it is pretty 1st drafty
@@marvalice3455 If you mean this fan fiction - that makes it all the more impressive
@@vdoxsamp7283 LOL
I got chills when you were describing General Tullius making you demonstrate your Dragonborn powers to a crowd. That's an epic way of properly presenting you as the Dragonborn who fights for the Empire.
"I hope you like having Morag Tong assassins attacking you in your sleep, because they are going to be coming after you for the next month or so."
LOL, Since when doesn't any player character sleep in ES 5, dude? All of our meters regenerate constantly!
I have the tendency to like videos only in the beginning and on channels I like, because you can't like in fullscreen and I forget it at the end anyway.
You are one of these channels I trust. You may be honored. Hail Lorkhan.
Aaaand, I like it. Another!
we'll need some dlc-sized mod for the "real" civil war now.
Hail sithis!
oh my god playing alongside Ulfrik and co-ordinating your shouts with him would have been legendary. Especially like the part where you fight the Morrowind refugees. Heartbreaking, but so fitting of the Dunmer.
I love the elder scrolls, the setting, the lore, the freedom in game but I've always found the story to lack a little, increasingly so with each installment. These videos are absolute gold and show what could have been with a great mind working on the narrative elements of the game. Thanks Zaric and keep them coming!
Why, WHY couldn't this have been the vanilla civil war storyline? Oh right engine limitations, yadda yadda yadda...
But that said, I think the idea of Bethesda trying to pull off any sort of all-out warfare with said limitations was laughable. Leaving story and character aside, nothing deflates the Civil War more than seeing a "massive" skirmish between 5 or 10 soldiers determining the fate of an entire hold.
I know the point of this video series is envisioning a Skyrim at it's best without limits, but I think Bethesda could have pulled off something more believable even with what was available to them.
Rather than have the Stormcloaks be an actual army, they might have been better suited as an almost terroristic force that made their camps in the fringes of the wilds, away from civilization, that relied more on espionage and sedition rather than open war.
Sure, that's not the traditionally "Nord" thing to do, but it speaks to the hypocrisies that occur in similar groups in real life. What they'd lack in manpower, they'd more than make up for in sympathy and morale from the majority of the Nord population, which would help to undermine the Empire's already faltering grip on the region.
Joining the Stormcloaks would mean slowly regaining Skyrim through stealth and intrigue, whether cutting off Imperial supply lines or installing Stormcloak sympathizers into positions of power. Fighting for the Empire would be more straight-forward; just going out and crush Stormcloak camps and hideouts, learn their locations from citizens or scouts, and try to shift public loyalties to the Empire; either by force or by good deeds.
The final taking of Solitude for the Stormcloaks would probably involve something more sneaky while still having some elements of an open battle. While the united forces of the now subverted holds distract the Imperial army both in the fields and at the gates, the player and a small task force sneaks into the Blue Palace or Castle Dour via sewers and eliminates the leaders of the opposition, ending the conflict and securing Stormcloak control. The Imperial side would follow a similar route, only with all forces falling upon the main, hidden Stormcloak fortress.
I like your shadier Ulfric, lines up well with his secret with the Thalmor.
why not marry ulfric if your a female. eve if its just nord woman that seems like a cool option.
ulfric last son of talos marries kynes choosen the last dragon born.
A women dragon born.... she’ll prob make ulfric a good dragon kebab.
You've really upped your game lately, Zhakaron. I'm really glad for that you create content very consistently, especially of late. Keep up the good work!
I like that you could kill Ulfric regardless of which side you chose. Ulfric doesn't need to be dragon born, he just needs to claim to be dragon born and he could be stuck with just the fus shout. Seems to me that Tullius would want you to marry Elisif to solidify a claim to high king once he found out you were dragon born. Elisif might not be keen on that idea, Tullius may want a convenient end to your spouse if you are already married etc. More could be done about the Thalmor considering Ulfric to be an asset.
I'm starting to believe you don't like Ulfric very much.
I think everybody can agree when I say that the grand civil war, was way to small
it was really just a few imperial soldiers raiding stormclouks broken forges, and stormclouks assaulting imperial camps, thats it?
where is the war?
I would have loved to fight in the open grounds of skyrim (next to whiterun) with massive armies in both sides, shooting rains of arrows in the air and troops charging at the enemy like every medival warfare ever,
maybe a 3 stage mission where you have to fight your way to one of the cities isnted of just rush in kill the king and thats it
the civil war felt more like a riot control
Engine limitations.
Wow....your version of the Skyrim civil war beats the Skyrim civil war we have in game ten times over. Actual story and consequence for your part in participating in the war. Also....I didn't know I could hate that Imperal commander woman anymore then that first sequence in the game. Associating me with all the crap that's happened to her. ME, a prisoner she tried to have executed for no reason, and sheeeeee HATES MY guts. What did I do to her? Screw you, you freakin harpie.
All in all, the civil war is kickass. Love the episode, it's definitely one of your best.
ITS A GOOD DAY WE GOT A PART 5 ^_^_^__^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^
Praise Mara and Sheogorath, I've been waiting for this.
Congrats on 24,000 subscribers by the way.
Yes, I could've swore you had hit 25 but then I log in today and see you're at 24. Figured I wasn't fully awake the first time on something haha.
Nice G Gundam insert in the beginning as well hahaha
Zaric Zhakaron
Hahaha well what do you know you're right. That video made my day. Good ole Shining Finger.
"I sure hope Ulfric isn't in league with the dragons!"
Dragonborn: *Leads dragons AND dragon cult* "Yeah, that'd be terrible! I'm gonna go..."
I like your ideas so much that actually have to occasionally take a break from watching: comparing vanilla Skyrim to the one you're describing, and then remembering that it's never going to happen, is just painful.
"Life has many doors, Dovahboys." -Ralof
The Civil war quest line was terrible. Bethesda should seriously get some better writers because Bethesda can't make a story for shit, they're are so focus on player freedom that they forget to make their quests fun and their quests are getting more lazy each game they make. They should of made the story more like fallout new vegas where the factions play a huge part in the story.
#BringBackKirkbride
as a whole it sounds so much cooler then the one we have now. The reason the civil war quest was mediocre was because it was a catch the fort simulator with a few quest that where interesting, even then these quest where short and small. Instead of being somebody who does what he is told they should of gave you choices in the civil war quest line and not just picking which faction you want to be in. your actions should also affect your relationship with the factions and the world around you. So as you gain more popularity people will love or hate you. It is like Bethesda got the idea from Fallout NV but did not knew what made the faction quest-lines great.
The civil war was supposed to be much bigger than it was in the game, but it had to be cut down because of the release deadline. Much of the original idea behind the civil war as it was supposed to be is still in the game's files : related quests, influence systems, losing holds, defending owned holds and so on and so forth.
redshirt49
Damn now that sounds fucking awesome, that is what the civil war should be like. Although it does bring up a question, how was obsidian able to pull something like that off in NV in one year, but Bethesda can't do it in 6 years.
iron mask of hell There is reasons for that. Better graphics and performance optimisation in the same shitty, old engine is a huge time-sucking blackhole. It's also what cut down the overall size of the playable worldspace which ended up a lot smaller than what they'd wanted (again, for stability reasons).
These same problems and more have effected FO4 as well.
I predict that TES6 is going to take quite a while longer but it will likely (hopefully) have a new and improved engine.
I think it would be cool to give the player the ability to usurp either Ulfric or the Emperor as dragon born allowing you to rule skyrim as its high king/queen which would be awesome
if it this version then i thing thing should go ether blade third party or Ulfric side ether way lead to ether a free skyrim or a New Dragonborn Empire
siding with empire even in normal game still lead to the Mede empire on the ruby throne and the likelyhood of them trying to kill you after you helped them
I'm so upset because of how awesome the Civil War quest line could have been. Just imagine a long line of Stromcloaks watching you as you stride into their castle about to go 1 on 1 with their king, and their reaction once you defeat him. It just sounds fantastic and it's saddening that this can't be a reality.
In another life 😔
Zaric you asked for a comment so here is a comment: THIS SERIES IS GOLD!
With Ulfric’s betrayal as other comments have said, I definitely say a good way to avoid that if you were a female Dragonborn, he would propose a marriage instead of sending assassins after you as a way in his eyes to produce a ‘pure’ Dragonborn heir, if the player hasn’t married yet. Though if you refuse the marriage, he would still send assassins after you.
My favorite change you.made was to the intro. Because even though in my head I think the empire is objectively the better choice, I can just not feasibly roleplay a character that is willing to fight for someone that almost chopped off my head for no reason. So I have done both factions once to experience them and ever since I have never done them again
loving your ideas you are making my skyrim fan fiction 100 times better then i ever could
Should rename the series if Obsidian made Skyrim
What an absolute legend of an intro 👏
Here's an idea for Vanilla Shouts for Ulfric: 1. All of Unrelenting Force (of course) 2. That temporary invulnerability, like you said. 3. Two parts of Elemental Fury.
After watching 5 episodes of this seires I have to say... I'd love to play Skyrim as created in your vision!
I want to play this game so badly, I can totally imagine everything that you've explained
Didn't you in a previous video mention that there would be a option to enter the civil wars with the Blades as a 3rd faction? Was wondering what happen to that.
PART 5 YAAAS, been waiting for this for too long!
You are a fantastic story teller sir.
After becoming Jarl of Windhelm you should be able to go back to that Jarl of Falkreath and say "I'm a Jarl now!"
But given what you said about the Blades, it would be extra awesome to then invade the Empire as the leader of the Stormcloaks and really live up to that Reman Cyrodiil 2.0
I think there should be a way to sway the stormcloaks to fight for you without ever joining them after you defeat alduin. On the imperial side I think you should be able to make a claim to the imperial throne if you sided with them and defeated alduin before hand.
Was the choice of whether to kill the prisoners, waste limited manpower guarding them, or let them go and risk them rejoining the enemy for a counterattack based on Henry at Azincourt?
I will never be able to play Skyrim without feeling disappointment after watching this series
My favorite part of Skyrim is how the guards are basically omniscient and also don't give a shit about it.
"I know who you are. Hail Sithis."
Especially great when you sided with the empire and most of those guards are imperial soldiers, and you killed the emperor yourself.
I liked your point of veiw on this and i think it's rather nifty you recreated Ulfric as a person and made him backstab you. Can't wait for the next episode!
I like the idea of the Stormcloaks teaming up with Pirates to mess with Imperial supply lines. Mainly because there's a quest in Windhelm that is very similar. The East Empire Trading Company (aka the biggest shipper of goods and supplies in the Empire) is being harassed by pirates working under the pay and direction of the Shatter-Shields shipping company (Windhelm nobility and strong supporters of Ulfric and the Stormcloaks)
+Zaric Zhakaron I just discovered your channel yesterday... and god I love it :D
It would make more sense for the Imperials to draw from and rely on their own and non-Nord ranks, just as the Soviets drew from nationalities within their reach further afield from Afghanistan during that invasion so there was less chance of local sympathies or their numbers changing sides.
In vanilla, I liked Ulfric's passion. His "why I fight" speech is superbly written and performed. I like your depiction of him but I'd rather ulfric was a more heroic figure. Having him as the shady guy kinda goes against what was set out for him. This is a rewrite so it might not be the case.
There is a fourth option with the meeting between you and Ulfric in your version of the story, if you do the Dragonborn dlc BEFORE the civil war, and you have the bend will shout, you can use it on Ulfric and make him your puppet.
aye looking sharp in that suit bro
What suit?
the tiny talking man in the right
he is in the bottom right corner
Zaric isn't wearing a suit.
i don't see a suit
I'd like to see a couple more high level speech checks with the dunmer prisoners and turncoat redguards. With the prisoners, you could persuade/intimidate them to switch to your side. The higher your speech, the more would accept, but some would always decline and you would still deal with them, and some might switch back during the battle. Same with the redguards, you would intimidate/persuade them to stay in your service without having to pay extra
I used to be a casual scrub like you, then I took a Zaric to the knee.
THIS is how I want Skyrim to play out. I hate how popular Skyrim is in its current state because that only means Bethesda won't EVER make an interesting RPG with choices and consequences because this makes them money, despite many people liking Fallout:NV more than Fallout 3 because of it being full of choices and interesting story/dialogue.
But personally, if I were you, I would actually try and set up a modding team to try and get this stuff into Skyrim. Having Skyrim by like this would be amazing and if you ever do something like this I wouldn't be opposed to helping, I'm not well versed in modding however I am a good writer and feel I could do a lot to provide more dialogue to the mod. Of course there are things you talk about here that wouldn't be plausible in the Skyrim engine, like the Whiterun city layout you talked about, but just having the better story elements in it alone would make Skyrim into a legendary game. Do you have any thoughts about trying to put together a possible mod team for this Zaric?
Cannot wait for the next episode !
God Zaric, I wish you could have laid a heavy hand in creating Elder Scrolls Stories. You are my Lorebeard. One and True Emperor!
It's not about view count, it's about tear count.
Made a new character once. I decided to join the legion. First I try to talk to a captain that's training soldiers in the yard since he should be well fit to start the process to make me a soilder of the legion. He has no dialogue so I move in the keep and realise I am able to walk into general tulius and his highest ranked leutenants quarters without any prior guarding or taking of my weapons. Apparently it's fine if I walk up with my bow drawn and start talking to the leader of the legions armies in Skyrim. That wierdness aside I talk to his female leutenant and is told that she "has a good feeling about me". I haven't done the main quest yet so not being acknowledged as the dragon born doesn't seem odd to me. Since I am literally an unknown person that could be a spy for all they know I assumed I'll be going through the normal process of going through a combat trial to test my skills and based on the results either make me a soilder or require me to train with other aspiring recruits or my myself until my skills were raised. The legion aren't stormcloaks I assumed and seemed to have a roman empire theme, so I assumed they had a requirement for quadrants to be aware of tactics and strategies, so even if I was a great warrior, theory had to be taught. The legion shouldn't be some desperate force that recruits anyone who comes by I thought, they could bring reinforcements from other parts of tamriel if they need to. Maybe there is even an option for joining as a mercenary and join a seperate force of sellswords, but no. This "hunch" she had was apparently enough to send me all by my level 6 hide gear self and face an entire fort of bandits of about 25 people, a mission fit for a legion squadrant. So without knowing or acting as if I'm the dragon born, the game treats me as if I have defeated Alduin himself and should be able to handle a few dozen bandits without an issue. The average legion soldier wouldn't be able to handle more than two bandits at the same time but I'm expected to defeat an entire camp by myself? Are you absolutely fucking kidding me I thought.
I later found that the whole questline wasn't being treated as a war at all. I actually laughed at it when it wanted me to aquire the "jagged crown" from a tomb since I had done something very similar for the greybeards and the horn of jurgen windcaller. I killed some guys outside a tomb and then went in to do more mindless, stupid "puzzles" and fight some more draugr.
I then realized this questline wasn't a war at all. Everything except the city sieges were a booring version of everything else I had done in the game so far.
I could literally run around with stormcloak armor and fight with a "highly sophisticated army" and by a sudden force I was slung back into the real world. All immersion had been broken and I realised. Skyrim wasn't a fantastic game. Skyrim was a collection of different teams, some who sucked ass and some who did a brilliant job. I realised if looking at the world as if it was a game it was great. But if looking at it as another world that talented people had brought to life, it suddenly became a shallow mess that clearly had some immensly foolish design directions.
I like this version of the Civil War far more than the one we got. Also I think the changes to the Stormcloaks are a necessary improvement. I would have liked to know how the Blades/independent faction version of the Civil War would play out.
Also, Elisif seems quite young so marrying her children seems a little off. Granted, we don't know how old she is, but a political marriage to her seems like a better option. For a female character? Maybe a nephew of hers or Torig's?
Also on that, we should know all the royal major families of Skyrim through dialogue or sidequests. Each jarl and major thane's network of family and retainers should have significance.
looking forward to the next part.
I liked it. Though Ulfric being a dragonborn kinda clouds the main quest, that and we basically have 3 dragonborns if we count Miraak. It can work and it's a pretty epic idea, especially with the way it's introduced what I mean is that it would need to be woven carefully into the narrative.
Here's my suggestions and improvements to the TES V Skyrim
Helgen, instead of being a small town with like 2 forts, is an entire castle with tons of rooms, each one serving a reason to be there
So you get MUCH more customization, you get perks, like the "Cat" (where you can resist magic by 6.5% and a small sneak bonus but also a small increase in spending magic to have balance) or "Damageborn Werewolf" (Makes you gain the Werewolf ability at start, but a weaker variant, you will not earn the stronger Werewolf ability during the Companions Questline, but the guise who would give you the ability would ask three blessings of Hircine to you, maybe one is "enrage", where you would gain more damage to your werewolf, but also a "missing" mechanic, while this mechanic is uncommon, it could be dangerous for your player, or a "hunterborn" where you gain 30% extra damage to any animal type besides dragons, but a 5% damage reduction to humans, mer, and beast.)
After you decide your perks/traits, the Imperial Captain would meet you, she will instead be maybe an infantry captain and runs one of the strong imperial camps, along with her meeting you, General Tullius, Legate Rikke, around 6 Imperial Soldiers, and a Ahtar the jailer will be there, General Tullius will ask why they imprisoned you, as he doesn't remember why and what you did that was bad, Ahtar claims you murdered several innocent people, now you have three choices
1. You killed Stormcloaks
2. You killed Imperial Soldiers
3. You killed innocent peoples
If you chose Stormcloaks, General Tullius will apologize that he arrested you. This however will make all Stormcloak supporters despise you, and Ulfric won't even let you into his army due to you killing his soldiers.
If you chose Imperial Soldiers and or innocent people, General Tullius will explain that you are a dangerous person and that you don't deserve freedom and leave, after they leave, you have to make a way to escape Helgen, remember how I said it would have tons of rooms, I mean it, like around 90 rooms, and you have to escape through several ways, you could escape the public way, which is breaking down the door, now you can't use any spells by breaking it down, you have to come up with an intelligent way, if you can't do it, the prisoner will remind you that he found a secret passageway, and since the guards are sleeping, you break it down, this will wake up one of the guards, now you have a guard walking around the base trying to find if any prisoners escaped, this will introduce you to sneaking, after you sneak out, it turns out this prisoner is a Stormcloak, if you chose Stormcloaks, he would eventually escape prison, and then encounter you on the road, you can ask who he is, he says he is going to kill you, if you have a strong enough speech, you can persuade him to not, and that you and him could possibly make two great warriors, he could go to make a small encampment to survive the harsh cold of Skyrim, then he will still have a bit of a negative relationship with the player, until you complete the main quest, then he will begin respecting you, and say while you killed a lot of his kind, he now respects that you saved more then you killed.
After you escape the Helgen Castle, the same Imperial Soldier will find you and ask who you are, if you stole a pair of imperial armor set from Helgen, you can explain you are one of the Imperial Soldiers and that you need to leave for something important, if you don't have a high enough speech, he won't believe you, but if you do, he will and let you go, this will add "false respect" (respect you got through lying and that the people who respect you will realize that you lied and you will suffer more hate then respect), While you can say you are a prisoner and that you are going to escape Helgen, this soldier will fight you and try to kill you, if you have the prisoner friend, he could kill the soldier along with you, and after you kill the soldier, the prisoner will explain that while he thinks you are a great person, he has to find his way in life without companionship, then later on during main quest, this same prisoner will meet you again, and say how much respect he has given to you ever since you and him escaped, and he could give you a quest to make all the prisoners escape Helgen Keep, and remember how most of the prisoners during the vanilla intro were Stormcloaks, Helgen Keep will be a castle specifically made for the Stormcloaks, if you say you killed Stormcloaks during the start, and freed all the Stormcloak Prisoners, maybe Ulfric will give you the opportunity to join his army, while you killed some of his soldiers, you saved so many more soldiers from dying in prison, and as you saved them, he will now give you a special set of Stormcloak armor given only to the most useful rookie soldiers, with the fur of a snowy sabre cat on the back, more defensive armor such as chainmail and a closed helmet, and also being as much defense as Glass Armor. If you give the note to General Tullius, he will thank you, you could even give the note to a bandit noble who used to be for the Imperials until he got dismissed for crimes he never committed, and that his massive bandit faction will now invade Helgen Keep and after they invade it, the bandits will have a new place to be at, and a courier will send you a letter from General Tullius, you meet General Tullius and he will be outraged that you let a bandit noble take one of his important areas, you can lie to General Tullius, exclaiming that the noble never had anything to do with you, of course speech matters in this situation, if you can't lie to him good enough, the only choice you have is to tell the truth, he will then dismiss you from his army and Ulfric Stormcloak will thank you for somewhat helping out by ruining the imperial castle Helgen, then if you decide to go to Helgen, the bandits will be nice to you, the noble will come to you, asking if you want to help the Stormcloaks out more, and offer you the chance to burn down one of the biggest camps in the hold where Helgen is, there will be around 20 camps and tons of imperial soldiers here, and behind the main player invading this camp, hundreds of bandits, mercenaries, and pirates, you will kill the soldiers, burn down the camps, and the leader will come to you, bloodied, mutilated, and angry, and will ask if you want to fight him to the death for honor, you can say no, and the bandits will execute the leader via hanging, if you decide this, the encampment will be more reinforced, and defended, with cannons, catapults, and a lot of bandit soldiers, the noble will then offer you a bit of his riches, which will be hundreds of gold coins, gems and jewelry that is worth a fortune, and uniquely designed armor and weaponry, another quest will be pirate exclusive, where you track a small island that has been in Imperial control for a long time, they could choose Roscrea for this and flesh out the location more, since we don't know much about it, and the island is in imperial control. There will be Imperial Soldiers here along with warships, cannons, and catapults, it would be like the Jahpets Folly castle, but 5 times bigger, with camps, forts, houses, and even a Jarl palace, your crew of pirates would invade the forts first, there would be pirates still in the ship arming catapults and cannons, and they would be firing at houses, it would be like something straight out of Age of Empires, the Jarl would be a greedy tyrant, and would have 10 guards, laced in armor similar to the Ebony Armor from Oblivion behind him he would be worried about his island being controlled by you and bandits, you have a few choices with the Jarl, you could instead lay out a peaceful end, thus the rest of the people on the island would not be slaughtered, although kicked off the island as refugees, perhaps they could flee to Winterhold and be living in the destroyed houses there with the few supplies they have, you could ask about the hold and if he doesn't tell the truth, he would be killed along with everyone, he will tell the truth and saying a massive slave trade has been happening in the hold, you could then either kill him and free the slaves and force them into becoming bandits, and or make him stop the trade entirely or you would slaughter him and his hold, then he will reluctantly agree, but then trick you and try to kill you, his guards will actually fight along and kill the Jarl, then the guards will work for the bandits along with slaves, then the island will be in control of the bandit population, the army will adapt a new name and make them separate from Imperials and Stormcloaks,
After this small but massive questline, Ulfric Stormcloak and General Tullius will be worried about the bandit population threat, then the leaders of the bandits, Imperials, and Stormcloaks will all go on an interview and sort out differences kind of, until one of the people at the interview attempt a suicide attack, he would kill several innocent people, and you would find on his corpse that he was a spy working for the Thalmor, this will show Tullius, Ulfric, and the bandit leader that they should know that the Thalmor are a major threat to Skyrim and Tamriel in general.
As is the case; Skyrim has a lot of stuff seemingly unfinished. I decided that this would be a great intro to Skyrim, you escaping Helgen Keep, and then helping out a bandit leader form an empire with several great quests attached to it, having a lowly prisoner become a better person based on the choices you made
WOW, I more or less just stumbled on this but since this is the first that I have watched and I already heard a ton of great ideas
and hope Bethesda will take notice of these ideas for the next elderscrolls game
so ya I will certainly be watching the other videos on Skyrim
Leaving the "what if" aside, your comments are great for story and setting building.
Love your videos dude :) could you finish the "Before Skyrim" series? that one is also really really good
"What if Skyrim was good - The Cvil War"
10/10 this should be the next game
"Whichever side you think is the best."
Pretty much life.☺
Everybody ultimately picks a side, and anyone on the side opposite your side, many anyway, may think you a mindless fool. In the end, no matter what, ultimately the choice is *yours*. You choose a side for *your* reasons, *your* beliefs, not because someone else tells you to.
I kind of like your take on the civil war. It actually sounds like a civil war.
I like that Skyrim has support of Dunmer and Redguards. I note an absence of Bretons on both sides just too make them seem unique in that they are a race of men uninvolved and hint at something boiling in High Rock.
I would add Nords too the Legions just too represent the two sides tearing Skyrim apart and how Nords are in conflict of what is the right choice.
I would add a few notable Imperials too the Stormcloaks that hint at some new faction in Cyrodiil (a Roman Republic in my fantasy).
Also i'd prefer if it was possible to play without being dragonborn, like if u hadnt gone to the greybeards then they wouldnt trigger some of the things you mentioned
I was thinking about this situation and while I of course agree with what you're trying to do, it seems like you are basing it on real world tactics instead of fantasy world ones.
Hear me out for a second, second to the Dominion the Empire is THE political, economic, and military power of the world. They should have access to practically whatever they need to get any job done even if an individual soldier doesn't. That includes magical support and enchanting from the mages guild from all over. In fantasy world terms that means you cannot cut their supply lines while they have access to their teleporters (I know Skyrim replaces them with fast travel, but teleporters were in previous games). If the situation if bad enough and the higher ups think that the enemy will be using guerilla tactics, then the scouts and camp guards get issued rings of detect life to counter that.
It's even worse than that because for very, very stupid reasons the Nords seem to think that magic is for weaklings. This would mean that they don't really have anything to counter the sheer amount of magic and exotic assists that would just chew though their manpower except for the dark elf allies that you've inserted. Think mass formations of troops don't like arrows? Just imagine what mass charm spells do to formations. It's rather beautiful. Ulfric will have to know this (if I remember right he fought with the legion) so his military priority #1 is to avoid an open battle until he can do something to neutralize the mages, teleporters, magic items, etc while, at the same time, keep his supporters fired up and begging for a fight. He would have to know that he just has one chance to attack, and if he fails then he will be squished.
This seems to be a general problem with the genre though. With very few exceptions (Shadowrun, Exalted, Eberron, etc) most authors don't seem to spend much if any time thinking about the practical side effects of that will have to happen if magic is in a setting and how that will change how that setting has to look.
I disagree with you there . I’d say the empire is still the number one power on Tamriel since they control the East empire company which gives them more trade power compared to the Dominion ( Which I highly doubt trades with places like Hammerfell ) and given how the Great War went we can see that the Imperial army is equal if not BETTER than the Aldmeri army because they were able to defeat an overwhelming Aldmeri force to take back the imperial city and were able to drive the war into a stalemate . I say “stalemate” because neither side was ultimately victorious in the Great War .
It all depends on the extent magic can be used. I'm no lore expert for TES, but I'll focus on what I do know. While they surely would be able to teleport supplies into Skyrim, the amount would probably be far less than many large ships can carry. Teleporters in Morrowind, though this may've just been gameplay, only seem to be able to teleport a person and their own supplies at a time, and for a decent price. I imagine, sensibly (not using the word realistic here), the more you teleport and farther you go, the harder is is, the more energy it takes, and the easier it is to make mistakes, losing some cargo or setting things in the wrong spots. Blocking out mountain passes and, especailly, ports would still really, really stagnate the movement of supplies, though it certainly wouldn't end it.
As for the Nordic thing, they simply don't trust mages outside the College of Winterhold and such. But surely they'd have plenty of wizards who trained there; not to mention, the Dunmer are decently well known for their magics, or at least the Telvannis (though I'm not sure what state they're in by Skyrim's time). So they surely would have mages, even if not as many as the Empire with their Bretons and such.
It all depends on the specifics. I know in my world at least, "mass charm spells" wouldn't really be a thing, as magic is extremely regulated, and anything that might mess with someone's mind is almost outlawed except for in very particular cases; beyond that, simply casting and holding a spell over someone for even a few minutes would be tiresome (I believe, tho I could be wrong, in Morrowind your spellcasting was in some way tied to Fatigue as well). Casting charm over an entire army or even platoons would be extremely difficult and highly susceptible to failure.
Still, all very fun to think about and good brain exercises.
Looking forward to the next one!
a mod of this civil war questline needs to happen/. Become a jarl after killing ulfric is lit
You're such a nerd... Also, makes me want to be so invested in a series... Well done content!
16:56 "Look at me. I'm the Ysmir now."
I believe they should have gotten rid of Alduin completely, made him a dlc maybe. The civil war should have been the mq, the dragonborn should be(eventually) crowned emperor, but I want it to lead into a larger story line with a second war with the thalmor. If they did this right it could have been amazing.
This is so cool. You have really outdone yourself here!
Nice video. Makes me wish I was not too lazy to make mods lol. I got so many ideas not just for fixing existing content but adding new content as well among other things.
at min 34:00 if you are a girl you should be able to marry him and make an ultimate dragonborn bloodline
My favourite part! Thanks for this :)
Yeah new "What if Skyrim was Good?" Video WOO
You know a lot of your ideas remind me more of how fallout 4 quest lines were approached. And I swear I mean that in the best way. Quests were a lot more conditional in F4 and that’s cool. It’s like what you’re saying in these videos, except all the your story concepts are actually cool and not a constant let down the further you progress.
I enjoy the fact that you always try to conserve the player's right to have a choice in stories. I think that's the reason that people have been disappointed with rpgs recently. The lack of choice and consequences that really gives the world depth. Hopefully Bethesda will try to make it better in the next game, but I can't get my hopes up.
Woah. I LOVE what you did with the Civil War. It actually made me want to join either faction. In vanilla Skyrim, I tend to avoid the Civil War like the plague...because I don't want to join a bunch of racists (Stormcloaks), but the Empire just...wasn't a real option for me either. Basically, I've been waiting and hoping since I first played the game for an opportunity to tell both factions to go f*** themselves and go fight the Thalmor instead.
But you...you just made *both* factions interesting. While still keeping Ulfric a b***** that I could still kill even when I'm with the Stormcloaks (more history or not, I can't bring myself to like him) and also giving the option of changing sides.
It really is a damn shame that this awesome series (the earlier episodes too) is going to remain fiction.
One thing that really stuck out to me, in the Vanilla Skyrim civil war, is how it didn't take any cues or story elements from the Legion/NCR War in Fallout: New Vegas. Now my only explanation, is that the team didn't want to look like they were copying New Vegas. But the Civil War quests in Skyrim would have been so much more interesting if you had to go and do a series of Quests, to eliminate, pacify or recruit various factions around Skyrim. Though it would be optional in Skyrim, just doing this, will actually give you more options in Skyrim's civil war quests.
I'm talking about being an envoy to the Giants, or individual Giant tribes. Seeing those armed and armoured Giants from that civil war mod, made it clear, how awesome they would be in battle. They could be like powerful shock troopers, or maybe living siege weapons, like the armoured trolls in the Lord of the Rings, movies. Maybe just to get an invite to talk to a Giant Chieftain, you'd have to bring gifts, like the sacrificial cows i.e, the painted cattle, brought to the Giants, by farmers, in vanilla Skyrim. Or maybe weapons specifically crafted for a Giant. Like Giant bows or hammers etc. You'd get all kinds of quests, radiant ones, like maybe killing a pack of Sabrecats that have been harassing their Mammoths. And more involved quest lines, like cleansing one of their ritual sites or burial grounds, which Necromancers have been using. Maybe even tie that into the Potema quest, with her reviving undead/skeletal giant minions.
You should also have to go through some kind of brutal proving ritual, where you're on hallucinogenic drugs. Or under various spells, just to talk to the Forsworn. Kind of like the Tribal people, from Fallout 3's, Point Lookout. Only with less lobotomy. Maybe having to fight off The Forsworn quest line would tie-in Cidna Mine and involve helping to break out their King or negotiate his release. Eventually following the Forsworn quest line will get you the option to make Madonach the new Jarl of Markarth. Or the King of the Reach, if you want to go a more independent route. The option to align yourself with the Silver Blood Family and the Empire, would also be there. The Forsworn would despise the Empire, for kicking them out of their lands originally but respect Ulfric as a strong and capable individual. And be even more impressed by you, since you are a true Dragonborn. It could even tie in other side quests, like recovering Red Eagle's blade. Given the Forsworn are also Daedra worshippers, they'd probably get along with Stormcloaks in your version, since they accepted the Dunmer into their ranks. Not that their won't be some resentment for the Nords, booting them from the Reach originally. But this quest line would be the start of making amends for this.
The orcs living in the Orcish strongholds should each be a minor faction in their own right. You would have to earn their respect before they even let you in. Like killing a unique giant, wiping out a large group of bandits or maybe giving one of their old warriors, an honourable death in battle, via a duel. The strongholds could lead you to additional Daedric quests, which allow you to receive Malacath's artefacts. Not just Volendrung, you should be able to also acquire Scourge. Once you become respected by the orcs, you'll be able to get them to send warriors to either help you in your takeover of Skyrim and the Empire. Or to assist whichever faction, you're siding with.
The Skaal are traditionally isolationists, and have their own unique faith, like in Dragonborn. However, they should have more than one village. I'm thinking two or three on Solstheim alone, and one on the mainland Skyrim. Presumably close to the Sea. The mainland village trading with and supplying their islander counterparts, with things they can't get on the island. They're ruled by a chief, who acts as their spiritual and day to day leader. Settling squabbles, performing wedding ceremonies etc. I could see the leaders of the villages having you go on some kind of pilgrimage, to each of the monoliths, to recieve the blessings of the All Maker. Should you succeed, you would be inducted into their culture as part of the Skaal. You'll likely have to solve puzzles, or navigate hard terrain to reach each one. Should you succeed, you'll be able to earn your place, and replace the leaders through various quests. Uniting the Skaal as a single faction. And have them assist you, in the civil war.
30:07 "Use the cannons to blow open THE GATES OF OBLIVION"
So something kinda interesting occured to me, while watching this video. Taking your version of Dragonborn into consideration, and assuming Ulfric is still alive, or allied with you. Perhaps you could bring him along on your quest to defeat Miraak? Maybe have a scene where Miraak verbally roasts Ulfric, when he initially paralyses you in Apocrypha? And sends him back to Nirn, deeming him unworthy of his time. Which only drives his paranoia to kill and get rid of you later, as he sees what Dragonborn are truly capable of, and has begun to actively fear and resent you in private.
Maybe this could also start a unique side quest, where Miraak begins poisoning Ulfric's mind. Sorta like in LOTR, with Théoden? This would then require you to either sneak into or fight through the Stormcloak soldiers to reach Ulfric and free him. Using your Thu'um or kill him, resulting in Ulfric dying in infamy. This whole sidequest would be about gaining access to Stormcloak held territory again, as the effect would linger, even after Miraak's defeat.
The biggest missed opportunity in Skyrim's civil war quest was that the Aldmeri Dominion wasn't really present at all, nor joinable.
Ayla Nelson why would anyone want to join them!?
ravenclawtom muh elven supremacy
ravenclawtom role play. Also because Elven supremacy is the only truth
Whoa, I'm a bit behind not his series, but dam, this was a good video, I would've loved a civil war like this... And I was one of the few people who didn't mind the civil war as it is.