First time I played Skyrim back in the day, I intentionally ignored the main quest forever because I just wanted to explore everywhere (I eventually met the Jarl of Whiterun after playing about 100 hours). It's a great way to enjoy the world of Skyrim without being attacked by dragons constantly.
That's how I'm doing my current playthrough, actually. Just go to Riverwood, then Whiterun, but once Balgruuf and Farengar send me for the Dragonstone, I never do it. Cause I just imagine my character thinks "Okay, I went to Whiterun and told them about what happened at Helgen, my work here is done."
I tend to just tell the Jarl about the dragon attack and just leave the area while he is discussing it with his court members. I have done my job and I refuse to wait around because of an objective that doesn't complete itself when it should.
@@jbrisby upside to that is quest items don't have any carry weight. Neat feature that just makes it easier to hold everything you have and your quest items without being overencumbered by the heavy items you don't want
For me, it's when the main questline sends me to High Hrothgar. I just imagine my character thinking "well, that's a personal journey for me, and I will do that when I am damn good and ready." ^^ Not sure whether dragons attack me at that point or not, but I am usually fine with it. :)
There's a great mod I use called "at your own pace" which makes it so you have to actively choose to continue the main and faction quests). Using Balgruuf for example, you deliver the warning, then the dialouge ends. Ask him if you can help then you get Bleak Falls Barrow. Deliver stone and done, ask the wizard if he's seen any dragons, he'll say no and then the first dragon and so on
FD: ‘No longer will you be constantly praised for no other reason than just existing’ Meanwhile Whiterun guard: ‘let me guess, someone stole your sweet roll’ I’ve been playing the wrong Skyrim
Yeah....... it seems that no mater what you do 90% or more of the population sees you as just some random low level adventurer that couldn't do anything of consequence. The guards never acknowledge your thanehood unless you commit a minor crime. Best one is if you do the Companions thing later in the game! Thane of like eight of the nine holds, Protector of Solitude, Arch-Mage, possessor of a number of Dadric artifacts, destroyer of the Dark Brotherhood, and possibly a number of other accomplishments that should send bandits fleeing in terror the moment you set eyes on their hideout (but they don't) and how are you seen by what's-his-ugly? "I've never even _heard_ of this outsider!" I wonder if resurrecting Talos himself and becoming his right hand and chief enforcer would be enough to be known by anyone and seen as worthy of joining the Companions!
@@princedaniel714 Rarely heard that one. If ever. Usually it's "You couldn't possibly be the dragonborn of legand, could you?" or "Maybe I'm the dragonborn and I just don't know it yet." when it isn't "Hands to your self, Sneak-theif." or some comment about my enchanting abilities. Then again, I think I may have gotten to Sovenguard once. I tend to do a lot of side-quests and end up getting board then starting over after playing other games for a while.
Kind of the thing, the game acknowledges and offers certain dialogue based on flags in your save achieved through progress. The more random shiz one does, they less they hear about the dragonborn stuff in the first place.
@@deadizbetter But only 50% nostalgia, the other 50 is just Skyrim still being one of the best and deep games, with such a big lore and world and so much to do.
You missed a big one: when you joined a side in the civil war and got the Jagged Crown, you can bring it to the other side's leader instead of your own. This will let you switch sides, but obviously works only once.
This is a good one. Also, if you’re trying to level up the ebony blade it’s free kills for it. If you side with stormcloaks originally then change to empire both Ulfric and Galmar will count as charges for the blade and Vice versa.
Random fact: You can sell Hroggar firewood to make his disposition friendly towards the Dragonborn. This way he won't immediately turn hostile when you walk into his house.
Thanks for the tip! This will help me. I wanted to make Alva a steward for one of my houses. And I'm at the point in the game where I'm trying to figure out the best way for her to survive.
@@anthonybottigliero8336 Exactly. And that: "isn't killed" is just the trick. I'm currently running around with 14 companions on the hardest difficulty. I didn't want to lift a finger in this playthrough. Let the followers do everything. However, if even one NPC exhibits hostile tendencies, they will pounce on them like a swarm of wasps. Making Alva a companion is easy. That she survives until then, to the end of her quest line, without me breaking any script, rather... tricky.
About Serana, people look up and follow guides on the correct dialogue path to have her accepting to cure her vampirism, but the thing is, you just have to be a decent person. Every dialogue with her has the option to make an assumption, like "yeah your father is thrash", "oh your mother also manipulated you", OR you can simply ask how SHE feels, what SHE thinks about things. And guess what, that's how you should deal with people on real life!
Not disagreeing, but I would push back a small bit on the 'looking up the guides' bit; Bethesda games, and RPGs in general, are infamous for having misleading text-based options that sound VERY different in tone when looking at the short version compared to the full version (mostly an issue in any of the voiced ones)
I think Markarth has the best "choice" quest among the cities in Skyrim. Like we can freely roleplay to side silverblood or forsworn. Both choices are morally questioning. Another interesting choice quest maybe Saadia vs Kematu in Whiterun.
I let the Forsworn escape at late night to avoid killing innocent people. I let them kill the guards and Thonar and get rid of them later in their hideout.
I just got done with a playthrough where I decided to do the assault on the Alik'r Warriors in Swindler's Den. There were two bandits at the entrance talking about how they were protecting the Alik'r because they were paying well. I killed those two and climbed the wall to sneak behind the Alik'r Warriors. I decided to use Frenzy hit and run tactics but something unexpected happened. One of the Alik'r Warriors ran too close to the bandits and they started fighting each other. I only killed 6 people in that cave and yet no one survived.
I consider both despicable, and while Thongvor is untouchable (being a replacement Jarl), Thonar isn't, and has friendly disposition if you kill Madanach. My solution is simple: Kill Madanach (having some Conjuration experience can help to setup bound weapons and a summon). Then escape; Thonar gives me back my equipment, and the Ebony Blade sprouts from his chest. If you're quick enough and sneak is good, that can be immediate, otherwise you can kill him in his sleep. A Forsworn Arrow is an amusing kill method as well, but it's hard to pass up a guilt-free charge of the Ebony Blade. And don't forget to cast Soul Trap beforehand with a Black Soul Gem handy!
I remember that when I played tfrough the game and got to the dark brotherhood quest, I talked to everyone in the cabin and, at some point, Astrid said something like "the only way you're leaving is when someone is dead," and I happened to notice that she didn't say exactly which someone had to be dead. So, like any good heroic rules lawyer, I met her conditions in the best way i could, and got the quest to destroy the dark brotherhood. Xp
@@aidangarcia4985 Considering that I never felt like there was an actual good guy option throughout a playthrough of the game, that's a good point. It's honestly kind of nice to have a game where your actions are judged more on if they are seen as "crimes" rather than if they are seen as "wrong." It can be liberating to play however you feel and face the consequences as they come.
I killed her in shame. My level 84 Alduin-slaying tank that was immune to Poison and Magic somehow got teleported there.(Kinda also made the Karelian Poisoning me thing weird)
Also, you can keep Mercer Frey. During Speaking With Silence, he acts as a follower which means that you can just fast travel away from Snowveil Sanctum and he’ll follow you permanently unless you go back to finish the quest. I do it every playthrough. He’s an absolute beast in combat and really fun to have around bc of how grumpy he is all the time
Did YOU know, you can keep Delphine AND Esbern? Just DO NOT Lead them to Sky Haven Temple! They kick butt, and can not be killed. Just don't EVER strike them (even accidentally in combat!), nor try to pickpocket either of them. They will - "murderlize" you!
As some who's favorite guild is the Thieves Guild, I am extremely disappointed. Why would you want to keep the man alive who is responsible for tearing down and destroying the Thieves Guild? I always make sure I complete the Thieves Guild quests because I don't Mercer, the biggest threat to my fav guild, to be alive. Long live the Thieves Guild!
@@GSBro R-right...long live the Thieves Guild...totally returned the artifact that never breaks....and am totally not a one-man infiltration unit....with over 200,000 gold now.... Oh who are we kidding, we're DRAGONBORN, WE WERE MEANT TO HOARD GOLD.
What's really interesting about the dark brotherhood fact is that while you are in the abandoned shack after being kidnapped in your sleep, Astrid tells you that one of the people in the room has a bounty and this is the person you have to find and kill to "reimburse" the dark brotherhood because you killed grelod in their stead, she never excluded herself from this which also explains why she says "Great job" or something equivalent in her last breath should you try to kill her to start the quest "destroy the dark brotherhood".
Someone had a theory about the game, that she had a contract on the Dragonborn, and that was who she was talking about. However, since she offered to have them join, and they aren't allowed to kill their own, that would mean none of the people she offered are the target (I think Babette mentions presenting three people is a thing Astrid does, and read someplace that was something which was done to Astrid to get her to join the Dark Brotherhood).
@@anthonybottigliero8336 Yep that theory (can't remember who presented it, it was a very well done video) posits that it is an easter egg to the DB in Oblivion. Something about a story of someone taking out a contract but then being killed by their intended victim ... leading to that person getting an invite.
@@anthonybottigliero8336 There's definitely a contract on the Dragonborn as one of the random encounters is a Dark Brotherhood assassin sent to kill you
For Serana to still have vampire powers despite not being a vampire anymore, I’m just gonna suspend my disbelief and say that she still has them because, unlike the Dragonborn, she got her vampirism the “hard way,” and not just from drinking another’s blood or contracting the disease. It’d be the same if Harkon did the same IMO
It could also be something simple like she was a vampire for so long that her body/soul/"whatever allows her to use the spell" simply adjusted permanently.
@@smiffwilm Nope. She is a Daughter of Coldharbour. Which means, she had to be Molag Bal's whore for a period to get her type of vampirism. A Son of Coldharbour is the same. It is what Vivec's body went through with him after all. It does not pass on from children. They must go through that process each time. Harkon is the exception to that, but only because the game would not let a character be put through that.
One thing you missed on curing Serana, you cannot ask her about curing her vampirism before you finish Dawnguard by killing Harkon. If you bring it up before then, you're locked out of curing her and she will refuse. The only thing that can fix this is disabling the flag that is set when choosing that dialogue option via ingame console.
here's another one that i just found out recently : when you meet the random encounter where 3 people over you a mead, if you have black briar mead you can over them the drink instead.. they will be mad and leave.
But if you have Honingbrew mead in your inventory and choose the 'why have only one when you can have two' option, they will give you an amulet that fortifies carry weight by 35
Fun fact: every Dark Brotherhood member is a charge for the Ebony Blade. Wiping out the Dark Brotherhood fills 6 of the 10 "betrayals" needed to fully charge the Ebony Blade.
I did so once roleplaying a good assassin i killed her because too little info to go on as to who should be dead so went with the killer lol. I play with the Assassins Creed rules when played as a good assassin. Killing only the targets of bandit lairs and other things. Collecting most of the daidric artifacts except the staff of dreams for clear reasons not wanting to kill that bro. I also never went in the house with the daedric problem.
Tangentially related to number 4: killing Alva will make the alchemist in town dislike you, as they were friends before Alva was made into a vampire. One way around this is, if you are breaking in during the day to avoid killing Hroggar while Alva is there, you can make her chase you out of the house and let the guards do the killing for you.
I always just use the old invisibility spell trick. Sneak and charge the spell up before picking the lock. The moment the lock is open, the spell goes off and you become invisible a split second before the scene loads. That way you're already invisible and stealthed when the scene loads, and scan slip right past him. Then just do it all again to leave.
@@Floweramon No you don't, in fact she actually hedges her bet and attacks the vampires there (instead of trying her luck against you and the rest of the villagers). If you let her be she becomes friendly-ish and just another member of Morthal's citizenry. I usually spare them both.
I used Muffle and Invisibility to sneak into Alva’s home. Got the journal, and snuck out. Later when I went to clear up the nest, she was there, already dead. 🤷
One part of the quest has you kill the emperor don't know why but I felt a bit of a arse doing that plus you have to keep out of the city for some time until the heat dies down.
If you either use an alternative start mod and never go to Helgen *or* you never progress the main quest line by bringing the Dragonstone back to Farengar, you can still unlock one shout. Just use the Ritual Stone on a Draugr Deathlord, bring it to Blackreach, and get it in front of Vulthuryol's giant hamster ball. Hit the Deathlord until it uses the Unrelenting Force shout and hits said hamster ball, and you will have spawned a dragon without completing Dragon Rising. You are able to absorb the soul and unlock any shouts that you have learned -- this works great for unlocking Bend Will, which allows you to complete all of the Dragonborn DLC quests right up until you would normally fight Miirak (which requires all three words of Bend Will). If I recall, if you kill Vulthuryol while Dragon Rising is active, you'll be forced to spend the soul on Fus.
Plus of course you might have to back track and have a good memory or write a lot down I used to take loads of notes to get the best voice thuum unlock s I always do multiple quests and the main one simultaneously maybe I am a sucker for making my own life harder? 😂 Lol
Though Babette will not be in the Sanctuary in Destroy the Dark Brotherhood because of the whole 'don't kill children' rule that Bethesda games have. This also means that there is one person left who can potentially restart the Brotherhood. You're also not required to kill Cicero to complete the quest.
When it comes to choosing a "good" or "evil" path, I actually like to start with the most extreme of one arc, then slowly transition through the major questlines into the opposite extreme. I imagine the narrative is that you start off as the most evil figure in Skyrim, but over time, you earn redemption for eventually saving the realm several times over. Alternatively, you start off as the grand hero/Dragonborn, but you progressively give into temptation and corruption until the hero has secretly become a scourge of the citizenry of Skyrim - even though you are well liked by heroic figures such as Mjoll and the Companions.
I always try and be good like a true hero but life is never black and white so occasionally I do some pretty messed up stuff just to see what happens he he he hey don't judge me x
@@Amo-v27 Im on my first playthrough and I literally did that yesterday!! So glad I looked up if it mattered who to talk to. Bye Bye Delphine talk to you never
@@JustinQuinn623 Don't work. Esbern approaches you before you even get out of your seat if Delphine has not spoken to you. Talking to Arngeir afterwards and choosing not to kill Parthurnax turns the quest to failed. Arngeir is the only one that can do that. Even talking to Parthurnax himself cannot.
The cool thing about the Laid to Rest quest is that, even though I dislike Alva due to her obvious vampirism, you can actually prevent her death. When the Jarl asks you to find evidence, she’ll have a small book in her coffin with her during the day as she’s sleeping. If you choose to go in there during the day, make sure the guy is at the woodcutting area, then as your sneak level may be a good enough level, or if you find a piece of clothing with the muffle enchantment that can be disenchanted and put on a different piece (if you wish to do so), then just sneak in and very carefully creep up to her coffin and take the book then sneak back out to take said book to the Jarl. She’ll normally run out and go to Movarth’s Lair/cave and possibly get killed by her fellow vampires in the cave, but if you’re quick and sneaky enough, you can sneak through the cave and actually HELP keep Alva alive. It’s a plus that Movarth’s boots kinda help too. That’s just my opinion. 🙂👍👍
Alva.....one of the very first mods I ever used, well it was really console commands in a bat file..."marry anyone". Married Alva (first and one of the last times I married in game), and the two of Us quested across Skyrim.
@MissIllLil. Meh. She's annoying. She ranks up there with Lydia. Granted she's a free-walker but she still tends to get in my way when I'm trying to fight, and I think she likes the sound of her voice with all the complaining that she does. I had her for 10 levels, and by the tenth, I was ready to kill her myself, she was getting on my last nerve, like Barbas did within two levels. Too bad she's unkillable...
Some more choices I wish I'd known about for roleplaying a heroic Dragonborn: - Joining the Thieves Guild isn't required to find Esbern in the main quest as the game leads the player to believe. The bartender at the Ragged Flagon, Vekel The Man, can be bribed for his location. - The Dragon Infusion perk can be acquired without killing Paarthurnax as long as the Blades' side quests are completed in the small window of time between Alduin's Wall and Alduin's Bane. - Aela the Huntress can be recruited into the Blades so the Companions can be free of werewolves. - Brother Verulus can be saved in The Taste Of Death by betraying Eola at the last minute. - The Fiery Soul Trap enchantment, scrolls, and staves can be used as an alternative to conjuration. On a more villainous note the executioner in Solitude, Ahtar, can be sacrificed to Boethiah for irony or Janessa since she is pretty shadey. Edit: I found out about two more, - Molag Bal's quest, The House of Horrors, if you kill Logrolf while he is being held captive the quest immediately fails. - Hermaeus Mora's quest, Discerning the Transmundane, Septimus Signus can be killed after he gives you the dwarven lexicon and asks you to collect blood failing the quest.
Another trick in the game when you're leaving the cave at the very beginning is to go behind whoever you're escaping with, crouch down, and attack them from behind. Wait until their awareness meter goes back to normal before doing it again. Rinse and repeat until your sneak skill gets to 100. Makes the game a lot easier, especially if you're doing a thief or assassin playthrough.
You can endlessly attack the graybeards at high hrothgar and they will never detect you. They become hostile very very rarely it has to be less than 1% chance each hit from what I’ve experienced. Just save once every 50 hits and you are level 100 sneak in less than 10 minutes
1. Actually you can meet Jarl Ballin, even take reward for delivering the word about Helgen. You CANNOT follow Irileth to the Western Watchtower, as that event releases dragons into the world.
The funniest thing is if you're only there for Aventus Avennici and delivering the sword, or to buy spells from Farengar, Irileth will draw her weapon and approach you approximately across half the throne room, and start her usual dialogue. But you can just ignore her and leave without answering which promts her to say "I've got my eyes on you". She will then do the same thing over and over again everytime you get too close to her.
I learned two new options from this video…the talking to the champion guy with the ebony armor (can you possibly pickpocket his armor tho with perfect touch perk?) and saving the vampires thrall. This last one will be good for my next Paladin RP. Thank you for sharing this info!
Always loved playing as a non dragonborn, especially after completing the companions questline. As all the guards will simply know you as the Harbinger.
You can talk to Balgruuf and give the wizard the dragon stone and still not be the dragon born. Killing the first dragon is what reviles the character as Dragonborn, and is what triggers dragons spawning.
@@toussaintmaxwell8071 If you don't enter Dragonsreach then you can't buy Breezehome. This is why I always just advance the main story to where the jarl says to go kill the dragon at the Western Watchtower and then I just don't go there, but I'm able to buy Breezehome at that point.
I knew all of this. Also, you can spare Alva as well. Strangely enough, she'll usually continue to live in the town as normal. It's a toss-up on whether the other villagers and guards will be hostile towards her after the questline is complete but you can complete it without killing her.
The first secret choice is my favorite. After my first character, I decided I didn't want to be the dragonborn again, and now I never want to go back. It's still fun sometimes to play on that old save, but none of my other characters have met Balgruuf
He calls you a fellow dovah, that's it. If you didn't do the watchtower quest, you can ask him why he calls you that and he will say it was his instinct to call you a dovah and that perhaps time will reveal why.
It is not exactly dovahkin btw. I forget what he called it, but it's something that called the player as the worthy opponent for dragon. I am not sure, "dragon brother" maybe. Because there's line from player that says something like, "But, I am not a dragon, why you call me that?!" But yeah, it's just dragonborn. Before that, Serana's mom also mentioned something about that "dragonborn" thing after defeating Duhneviir. I guess, we can't really escape from roleplaying as Dragonborn if we want to play DLCs..
He doesn't call you Dragonborn, he calls you something that equates to vanquisher in the dragon tongue and says he doesn't exactly understand why is offering the title to somebody that isn't a dragon but it does feel right
Here's a fun one to cheese the game. In 100% unmodded vanilla Skyrim you can actually have more than one companion at a time. In fact, you can have more than 10 with you at once, and each of them are essential and unkillable. By starting escort quests that give you an npc follower, you can just not take them to the location they're heading to. Esbern and Delphine (sky haven temple), Serana (before you take her home), Barbas (clavicus vile quest when you are tasked to get the rueful axe), Verulus, and so on. Combined with the standard follower of your choice, such as Janessa or Lydia. As long as they are not location bound and don't replace your chosen companion, they can tag along with you indefinitely.
Not being Dragonborn is my favourite way of playing, in fact, in the last 12 years I have completed the main quest once - just so I could say I did it. As sword and board too btw.
Not becoming the Dragonborn was one of the most refreshing things i ever did. I joined the Thieves killed, honed my skills, and became basically the best stealth character i could, then the Dark Brotherhood took notice and recruited me, so i joined them, becoming more and more powerful. Needless to say, i went about 250 hours before even becoming Dragonborn / Killing the whiterun watchtower dragon. It felt all the more rewarding because when i became the Dovahkiin, i actually felt powerful, it felt right, not forced. I felt worthy, not lucky.
I'm doing a no-Dragonborn Survival playthrough right now. I spent the first couple hundred hours hrs. getting started with the Thieves Guild before heading to Solstheim. You can do a lot there without being the Dragonborn. And now well into the Dawnguard DLC. Once I get the Dragonrend shout I'll consider starting the MQ. No sense fighting dragons on higher difficulty levels without the ability to force them to land. lol
If you kill Astrid she does say something "well done" and if you got to make sure if you join the dark brotherhood and don't kill her. You make sure you complete the first quest and the optional quest that way you can get all of Ciceros journals, but if you don't do the optional you will only get one journal. Now if you read his journals you will find out he was going to pretty much look into Astrid, so technically in one sense of the word if you kill Astrid you pretty much are helping the nightmother and Cicero in that way. So your pretty much not really betraying the dark brotherhood because Astrid pretty much did by not following the old ways.
Except after killing her you pretty much take out the entire brotherhood in the following quest except for the little vampire of course cause you can't kill children cause they are always innocent, even as killer vampires I guess.
Funny thing about Hroggar: He can become an unofficial follower, although I think this is borderline a glitch. In my most recent save, I didn't kill Hroggar, delivered the information of the journal to the Jarl, and basically the whole town went to the vampire lair to kill them, but arriving at the cave everyone chicken out and came back to town. Everyone except Hroggar. After a lot of tries, me, Lydia, Hroggar and a flame atronach together weren't able to kill the master vampire, not even I put the novice difficulty. I figure the mission was too high level for me and leave to grind, thinking that Hroggar would come back to town after getting far enough. But He Didn't! He kept following me everywhere, and it really looks like the game made him invincible, he didn't died even in situations that I had to reload because Lydia died.
never killed the guy who is enthralled. i always thought breaking into his house was a crime (whether you get an actual bounty or not) so i snuck in using invisibility potions and entering while crouched.
Talking to the champion of Boathiah was news to me. Good to see, there's still stuff in Vanilla, I've not seen or tried yet. Side Note on Eltrys: You do not need to investigate everyone. In my last playthrough, I did not get to Thonar, because I was broke and couldn't afford a bribe and also not good enough at Speech to talk my way in, so I left and did the Nepos the Nose part. After that - before going back to Thonar - I went to the Shrine of Talos and Eltrys was dead. The guards arrested me. This way, Thonar's wife - as far as I could see - survived.
Frankly, I find it kinda weird some people don't figure that one out. You're a dragon slaying badass. Astrid first has _the nerve_ to kidnap you. That alone seems like reason enough to kill her first chance you get. Then she tries to boss you around - and it's to coerce you into doing something evil. Who the hell does she think she is? And who the hell does she think you are? Also doesn't help that she's dressed kinda like a bandit. I don't get how people don't immediately start looking for the best way to foil her plans and fuck her up after all that. Or how maybe attacking her like any other bandit that gets in their way doesn't come as their natural first response. Speaking for myself, I killed her immediately in my first playthrough. It was only as I was wiping out the sanctuary, and I saw that they had a werewolf, a dunmer, a redguard and a named giant pet spider, that it occurred to me maybe this could be a pretty interesting cast and that maybe they're not just some generic trashmobs I was supposed to massacre without a second thought after all.
@@SirConto The join storyline was poorly written. A better idea I had was that you could either kill Victoria OR go to Tullius and tell him what's going on because you have bad feeling about this. In either case the real plot is to reveal the truth that the Emperor wants his own personal Black Brotherhood hit squad and Astrid is meant to train the new group but first has to wipe out the current brotherhood. If you kill Victoria then the Emperor gets his way and the brotherhood old gets killed off for the new. If you don't kill her then Tullius and Elisif become angry this happening right in their backyard. They and the Dragonborn kill the emperor and his direct heirs along with the Oculus who is neck deep in the conspiracy. Victoria (who is Mede's cousin) becomes empress. Astrid gets killed but rest of the Brotherhood survives. They are told leave Skyrim and never return or they will be killed off.
@@SirConto It is because most quest NPCs are unkillable. in my first playthrough I decided to take Legion headquarters by storm, and found out that I can't kill anyone with name there. Moreover, I am getting bounty and everyone is hostile to me. So it is no surprise that you would not even try attacking someone named after a few failed attempts - attacking quest NPCs is shooting yourself in a foot most of the times.
My ideal strat? Be a 'Good Guy', pickpocket her Blade of Woe, then kill her. Also dunks on Maven Black-Briar's 'connections', meaning she can't just remove certain obstacles. Brynjolf is a fair guy though.
It's cause of the way this game handles the Dark Brotherhood, compared to Morrowind. In Morrowind. The brotherhood show up if you kill ANY 'Non-Enemy' NPC, for ANY reason. No was no questline to trigger it. Just killing ANY NPC who wasn't an enemy would immediately cause the Dark Brotherhood to trigger the next time you slept. But in Skyrim, they changed it. You SPECIFICALLY have to do the questline. And if you don't, you can kill all of Skyrim, and never meet the Dark Brotherhood. Because of this change... Well, why would you do the questline, EXCEPT to join the brotherhood? Who, logically, would do the questline to join the brotherhood, just to kill Astra in the very first meeting? Only people who KNEW such a quest existed BEFORE doing it. Namely, seeing spoilers about it online first.
I don’t know if this has been in your videos, but in Skyrim you can get both Deadric Artifacts: Savior’s Hide and Ring of Hircine, if you kill Sinding after you have killed the hunters and he wont even fight back.
You can actually unlock shouts (including all three words of Unrelenting Force) then start a certain quest which will delay any "random" dragons from spawning until you finish it. Start A Blade in the Dark and proceed until Delphine leaves for Kynesgrove. Dragons will still appear at their lairs or in scripted events. You can still return the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller to the Greybeards, which will unlock the third word for Unrelenting Force. I've found this to be extremely useful on Legendary difficulty where I'll delay finishing A Blade in the Dark until I'm strong enough to deal with dragons pretty quickly.
Oddly enough Alva can survive the vampire quest. If you don't kill her before you kill the vampire leader, she will no longer be hostile and killing her will get you arrested
I remember reading the instructions on how to do it. Something about sneaking into the caves and finding her without getting aggro’d. I’ve never done it, but it sounded pretty hard to do.
Triggering dragon spawning actually requires bringing the Dragonstone to Farengar. You can go, talk to the Jarl, get the reward for warning him about the dragons, get the quest to go to Bleakfalls Barrow to fetch the Dragonstone... And then just not do it. That way, you don't need to worry about Irileth ambushing you whenever you want to talk to Farengar, giving access to his alchemy set and enchanting table as well as his shop and his quest to deliver Frost Salts, you can deliver the sword to Proventus for Adrianne, you can purchase the Tundra Homestead if you have the Anniversary Edition Upgrade or that Creation, you can do all of the quests in the area with no problems. As long as you don't pick up the Dragonstone and visit Farengar, dragons won't spawn. Of course, if you went to Bleakfalls Barrow to do the Golden Claw quest and picked up the Dragonstone without being told to, then talking to Balgruf locks you out of talking to Farengar if you don't want to start dragon spawns. I'd rather never talk to Balgruf and briefly miss out on some quests than lose a shop to sell stuff to. For curing Serana, don't ask her about getting cured early or she'll decide she shouldn't, and don't be selfish when you suggest she gets cured or she'll refuse.
I definitely knew about curing Serana. I do it every time. Her Drain Life spell is bugged and, if you get hit with it, there's a chance of contracting an incurable version of Sanguinus Vampiris. If you cure her, she swaps out the Drain Life for a different spell, making her a much safer companion to travel with, and she still retains her Essential status.
@@dubuyajay9964 - I don't know if the glitch effects werewolves, but I do know that master vampires like Harkon and Serana will override lycanthropy if you ask either to turn you. Aela and Serana let you switch back and forth without the need for the usual cures. This may actually be the source of the bug since her Sanguinus Vampiris isn't the typical version you get from regular unnamed vampire enemies.
You can actually get both rewards for the No One Escapes Cidhna Mine quest, but you are a total backstabbing traitor if you do: 1. You have to join Madanach and follow him until he gives you your equipment and the Armor of the Old Gods. 2. Keep him locked in dialogue until the other Foresworn leave the cave. 3. Kill Madanach. 4. The other Foresworn will run back in after you attack Madanach, so it's best to finish him off quickly with a stealth attack if you can as it will be a brutal fight to kill all of the Foresworn and Madanach. 5. Once all of the Foresworn are dead, exit the cave and head back into Markarth. 6. Thonar will reward you with the Silverblood Ring, same as if you had killed Madanach from the start. Unless you are OP with mods or playing on the easiest difficulty, this is VERY difficult to pull off. I recommend maxing out stealth perks and using a Legendary dagger to one-shot Madanach.
Most of the guild playthroughs are hard to swallow if you're trying to play an unrepentant do-gooder. The Companions, for instance, have devolved into a bunch of mercenary thugs whose leadership willingly accepts the "gift" of a Daedric Prince. At least in the College of Winterhold questline you legitimately save the world.
Yeah I normally play as a self insert (like most ppl do I would think) and pretty much as soon as I did the Companions quest I was like welp I'm already morally grey now so what's the difference if I join some more shady organizations like the DB???
As strange as it is, I've been doing many playthroughs in which I never properly become the dragonborn for years now, it's basically my preferred way to play the game. It just makes the whole thing feel just a little bit more immersive not having access to shouts and no inherent glory to your name, and it's also nice being able to explore the province without having to worry about dealing with dragons.
1). I've known this for years. I don't like having dragons bothering me constantly, especially early game when I don't have very much in the way of means to fight them solo, beyond the tutorial dragon. So, I simply don't initiate the quest at all. You can meet the Jarl of Whiterun, just don't turn in the dragonstone to Farengar and you'll never see a random dragon spawn, ever again until you're darn well _ready_ to face them. You can even pick up the Dragonstone (I usually do that dungeon before even arriving at Whiterun), just don't click on the dialogue option to actually present it to him.
A lot of games are like that. I think Red Dead Redemption 2 is the biggest game with a ton of content that barely anyone will discover all of it. But that makes each persons playthrough unique.
It is strange that Serana can still use Vampiric drain but here’s a good little theory or head canon that you can use. Serana is a daughter of Coldharbor, and has been for many years, much longer then any vampire who took the pact with Molag Bal. So bear with me here, since she has been one for so long and is a much rare and more powerful vampire, it’s possible that the reason why she still uses Vampiric Drain because she is just that familiar with the spell. Like riding a bike, it comes naturally to her to use it. And obviously the reason she doesn’t like the Sun isn’t that big an issue, she’s got pale skin and always loved her life in the dark, so that means she isn’t use to the sun, not really too unrealistic as I myself am not a fan of the heat from the sun myself even though I live in the south. Any way yeah, even though she should’ve forgotten Vampiric Drain, she still has it because she’s been a vampire for so long that the power is part of her still.
Same thing but with the spell. Just charge it up before picking the lock. The spell goes off in the split second between the door opening and the next scene loading, so you spawn into the new scene already invisible. Hit yourself with muffle ahead of time and you'll be completely undetectable.
@@FoxInnaHat I also play with Ordinator! Frankly, vanilla magic is not great. A warrior's weapon damage scales with multiple things, while a mage's damage and defences scale only with a small number of specific perks.
I hope future installments of elder scrolls will give you similar options like destroying the dark brotherhood but rather instead destroying daedric artifacts. I would love to see there be more good/evil balance. So perhaps... a character on the good path gets requested by a vigilant to hunt down and obtain a daedric artifact whereas someone on an evil or neutral path could simply go and obtain it at their will. But following the good path, the vigilant will require the player to find a way to destroy the artifact and that daedric prince's connection through said artifact. There would be rewards for this path whereas the an evil path would see the player offered additional quests from the daedric prince as their supposed "champion". These quests may pit the player against other daedric followers of the same prince or different princes and come with additional rewards. a neutral path may see the player simply offered the quest to obtain the artifact for a potential buyer. These buyers might offer the player use of the artifact at times or might even offer the player quests to help the buyer find a way to create a duplicate artifact. And of course all paths should see the player having the ability to traverse into the daedric prince's realm.
One downside to avoiding your revelation as dragonborn is that completing Balgruuf's task is required to progress the civil war, as well. So if you don't want to fight dragons, it will lock you out of two major questlines, rather than just one. (aside from modding, I'm sure)
something else I found out is that during the Forsworn Conspiracy quest, when you are sent to Cidhna Mine, if instead of talking to the prisoners you just kill them, it will change the quest outcome and objectives. You will then be tasked with killing Madanach and you can calm him with a spell as well and tell him that you killed all of his forsworn buddies and that He is next. Also when you exit the mine, Thonar Silverblood will have a different reaction and will actually give you his family ring which allows you to improve weapons and armors at forges for 15-35% better.
Fun fact: during the dark brotherhood quest where astrid tells you to choose who you think deserves to die. You can use clairvoyance to see who the contract was really on.
Well, Astrid did say that “one person in this room has a contract on their lives”, and to “kill one”. The bounty likely belonged to Astrid. She says, “not bad” after you kill her.
“You’ll have to earn your reputation instead” meanwhile brynjolf will track you down in riften market to try and force you into becoming a thief, even if you have no stats in thieving and are wearing heavy armour. You can also just fail the job by getting sent to jail and he’ll shrug and tell you about his secret hideout cause… reasons? Also literally non of the 4 major side quest factions ever acknowledge your importance as Dragonborn as far as I’m aware.
I found it was fairly easy and all my level were low only archery was 50% done just got to fight wisely but everyone is different in their own choices 😜
Technically you can still talk to balgruuf, you just need to either 1) not turn in the dragonstone to Farengar or 2) turn it in and then just never go fend off the first dragon attack. Dragons only spawn and people only figure out you're dragonborn if you kill that first dragon.
Literally not a single one choice that is at least obscure. Even x360 players were well aware of those choices, how can you name them "secret choices" wtf
Non exploit tip: Creep Cluster, Mora Tapanella, Scaly Pholotia 15 of each at the CC farming location. Post tip comment. Current modfree playthrough is at level 192, and have not touched any of the major story quest lines other than... Mages College, access to master spells and doesnt clash with other quests. A must have for leveling magic skills. Companions, just far enough to access training from Farkas and Vilkas(not using heavy armor or 2 handed weapons so have to get training to gain levels). Almost done with all of the CC content and simple "help my people" type quests. Have all the homes except Windhelm because of the Civil War requirement for that one. I have an armored horse in every stable, Frost hidden away. All the tamable horses. Just waiting on Arvak and the Dwarven mount when I get into those quests. Completed the Boethia chain as soon as it appeared to prevent merchant deaths. Same with the various CC quests that spawn more bandits and such around the map. Haven't opened any Dawnguard dialogue so no vampire raids. No dragons. No dragonborn cultists. No Boethiah cultists. No resto glitch exploiting. No mods. But I have been carrying around a 25lb dragonstone for 190 levels and have not yet set foot inside Dragonsreach
The 1st one is not entirely true. You can't skip out on the main quest line but if you still want shouts and dragon souls. You can just go to the dragon mountains or dragon mounds and those dragons still spawn and they will respond after a month of in game time.
@@Karthull The Dragon Roost Dragon spawnpoints are filled with Hagravens, Wispmothers, and Necromancers rather than dragons when you dont go to the watchtower. However, during the quest Blade in the Dark, dragon spawns are paused, and the only dragons are in the roosts. Additionally regardless of quests completed, there is always the dragon in Blackreach which can be summoned from a Dragur Shout or ulfrics shout
tip for alva's house: you can sneak in during day but not go in to the basement because alva sleeps during day. instead just wait at the stairs till night so that alva leaves and you enter basement and get the journal. repeat same when you leave basement. so that you'll never encounter the poor innocent man.
You can actually spare Alva's life as well, but it's tricky: 1. Before going into her house to read her journal, you have to clear out Movarth's Lair (otherwise, the vampires there will kill her). 2. Next, you have to successfully sneak up to her coffin and read her diary without alerting her; after picking up her diary, she will wake up and run to Movarth's Lair. 3. Just to be extra careful, I usually wait one hour which will force her to spawn in Movarth's bedroom; otherwise, there's a chance that Movarth kills her when she enters the dining area of the cave. 4. Finally, you have to complete the quest (and might have to complete all activities to become Thane as well...?), and you will then see Alva walking back to the town from Movarth's Lair. She will still use the same dialogue and engage in the same routine. It's quite funny because at this point, everyone knows that she's a vampire, but they seem okay with it. Plus, Hroggar will thank you for saving him from Alva, but he and Alva continue to live together. A happy ending for everyone:)
I managed to keep Alva alive without knowing all of this. It just happened that she wasn't there when I entered the house. The husband tho, dead and naked in the kitchen lol
It's amazing that a game this old is still played regularly due to the fact that it's popular and can be downloaded to many different consoles and devices. However that basically kills any nostalgia that could be gained from it. Not to mention everyone has already beaten every aspect of the game at this point there's really no surprises. However thanks to mods there's plenty of new content being created for this game even though creations have slowed down lately
You can also choose to be a morally grey good doer that still joins the dark brotherhood because at least some of the people you're told to kill have to be bad people. I mean Hert and Hern most definitely are, they're vampires killing innocent adventurers.
This is my first playthrough and that was my exact reasoning is that I'm killing people anyways for the good of the multitude and besides maybe a few contracts most of the people you're told to off aren't very clean either. Also the fact that they're organization is more of a Family than most of the others is strangely wholesome??
@@WoolooWarfare yeah, I mean Babette, a child vampire, picks off pedophiles and tells you that everyone looks out for each other like a real family, it's cute.
7:45 iirc she tells the player that "one of the people in this room has a bounty on them, kill them" or something similar; and if you choose to kill Astrid she says, in her dying breath, "good job"
During the mission where you go to rescue Fralia’s son Thorald, if you sided with the Legion, you can ask General Tulius for permission to enter the keep where Thorald is kept, but he will refuse out of fear of damaging his relationship with the thalmor
I mean, it would tip his hand to the Thalmor, as they are natural distrusting of others. Staying on the down-low and playing goodie two shoes would allow him to raise up an experienced army, and actually launch an assault on the Thalmor in the hopes of pushing them back, nullifying the White-Gold Concordat, and having the Emperor's Shame be semi-erased. All in all, he's thinking later down the road, which is smart for a General.
@@tigerwarrior1787 Tullius is a foolish old man. He doesn't realise the only thing he'd need to push back the Thalmor is the Dragonborn. Every self-respecting Dragonborn is, after all, already slaying all the Thalmor patrols out there.
He will agree to if you finish the civil war with the Empire, Ulfric dead and gone. Walked in and escorted Thorald out. The Thalmor won't aggro unless you attack them.
@@herrakaarmeTullius had Ulfric bound and ready to be executed within months of arriving in Skyrim, despite the fact that the Pale Pass was blocked and he had no reinforcements. He’s anything but a fool, and is probably the most strategically minded character in the game.
@@DovahFett Yet he doesn't have working eyes, for not seeing what I said up there. Why is he afraid of the Thalmor if he has the Dragonborn on his side? The Thalmor have been walking over Tullius from the north, from the south, from the east, and from the west so many times that bravery was trampled out of him.
I put nearly 400 hours into a no fast travel playthrough and it was such a breathe of fresh air for the game. This was nearly 10 years ago now and I can’t bring myself to slog through Skyrim again. Morrowind playthrough #10 here I come.
Sounds interesting. I might try this. Did you count the wagon rides to the major cities as fast travel? Otherwise I guess you walked or rode a horse everywhere?
@@michaelirwin7258 I never rode a horse because it just didn’t feel right and I also didn’t use carriages to get around. I thought I knew the Skyrim map but I discovered so many places and things I never would have seen if I fast travelled. The survival Mod is also a good addition to this gameplay!
@@sheldonhiebert49 Survival Mode makes Carriages highly impractical, seeing as when the ride is over you are freezing to death, overtired, and malnourished
GREAT content man you definitely deserve more and so i hope you keep up the work. Also if you ever feel stuck trying to feel ideas for skyrim videos, I think you can try to do the same kind of content with other games.
I learned about destroying the brotherhood by accident. I was pretty tanky and was fucking around, decided to start the DB, get kidnapped and with an intrusive thought and overwhelming curiosity, I killed Astrid. I was going to see if she was Essential, and then load an old save, but surprise surprise, she died. I continued, destroying the DB altogether. I later regretted it, with the measly 3K being far less than the full benefit of the DB Questline, so I haven't done it since. Now I'm currently doing a 'good' character, being a thief which abides to the Guilds laws, meaning No killing innocents, just take the valuables. So I'm now wondering, do I do the DB or destroy it? I also have had 0 total bounty in the 104 in game days, and the DB has a quest that forces a bounty. No way around it. I'm tipping toward destroy just to keep a perfect record, no jail time and bounty paying.
It sounds like you kind of already made the decision; but my two cents as also playing a 'good' thief character also with no jail time or bounties, who goes out of her way to help everyone I still sided with the DB and while this is my very first Skyrim playthrough ever (I was still aware killing Astrid was a choice as I must google every major decision to weigh the pros and cons lol) and while I can't give 'good' reasons to side with DB as a 'good' character for me it was the fact that I go out and kill people everyday already just for questing...
You can meet the jarl of Whiterun and anyway not have dragons in the game. The dragons "activate" after you go to the south tower after speaking with the Jarl
My headcanon is when Serena's vampirism is cured, she becomes a dhampir daywalker ala Blade. After all, she did get her vampirism from a Daedric ritual. Odds are it's not a common strain and when "cured" something of that nature still remains.
Actually, you don't completely destroy the Dark Brotherhood as Babette, the Whispermother and one of the assasins wheren't there in the cave near Falkreath. There's a second DB cave next to Dawnstar..
@@FoxInnaHat Yes, I know, but the Dawnstar hideout with the door and all is always there. Even if you decide to kill Astrid and destroy the DB yourself.. or whatever whenever. The only difference is when you destroy the DB yourself, you don't know the keyword to enter the Dawnstar hideout to actually see whp's there. Not to forget about the annoying Jester, where is he in that case anyway?
Personally I joined all the guilds and focused on resurrecting the revivable npcs and relocated them to my personal sanctuaries through various mods except for the npc at the college of winter hold who killed the archmage and the other npc who gave the tour at the beginning of the quest to join the college of winter hold on top of that I play as a magic using vampire werewolf hybrid multi class who feeds on anyone in the dead of night while also eating the corpses of the enemy NPCs
![กี่หมื่นฟ้า | Your Sky Series EP.1 [2/4]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qJbQs_nhjD4/mqdefault.jpg)
First time I played Skyrim back in the day, I intentionally ignored the main quest forever because I just wanted to explore everywhere (I eventually met the Jarl of Whiterun after playing about 100 hours). It's a great way to enjoy the world of Skyrim without being attacked by dragons constantly.
Right, I would turn it into novice when a dragon comes, kill it then turn it back into legendary.
I wish that had occurred to me when I started. Now I avoid that stupid tower until I feel like it.
I like to give myself a small backstory before becoming dova
I never really get attacked by dragons constantly. It's every now and then
@@usernamecharlie u are like me
That's how I'm doing my current playthrough, actually. Just go to Riverwood, then Whiterun, but once Balgruuf and Farengar send me for the Dragonstone, I never do it. Cause I just imagine my character thinks "Okay, I went to Whiterun and told them about what happened at Helgen, my work here is done."
You can actually fetch the stone. Just avoid the first dragon at the watchtower.
I tend to just tell the Jarl about the dragon attack and just leave the area while he is discussing it with his court members. I have done my job and I refuse to wait around because of an objective that doesn't complete itself when it should.
@@jbrisby upside to that is quest items don't have any carry weight. Neat feature that just makes it easier to hold everything you have and your quest items without being overencumbered by the heavy items you don't want
For me, it's when the main questline sends me to High Hrothgar. I just imagine my character thinking "well, that's a personal journey for me, and I will do that when I am damn good and ready." ^^ Not sure whether dragons attack me at that point or not, but I am usually fine with it. :)
There's a great mod I use called "at your own pace" which makes it so you have to actively choose to continue the main and faction quests). Using Balgruuf for example, you deliver the warning, then the dialouge ends. Ask him if you can help then you get Bleak Falls Barrow. Deliver stone and done, ask the wizard if he's seen any dragons, he'll say no and then the first dragon and so on
FD: ‘No longer will you be constantly praised for no other reason than just existing’
Meanwhile Whiterun guard: ‘let me guess, someone stole your sweet roll’
I’ve been playing the wrong Skyrim
Yeah....... it seems that no mater what you do 90% or more of the population sees you as just some random low level adventurer that couldn't do anything of consequence. The guards never acknowledge your thanehood unless you commit a minor crime. Best one is if you do the Companions thing later in the game! Thane of like eight of the nine holds, Protector of Solitude, Arch-Mage, possessor of a number of Dadric artifacts, destroyer of the Dark Brotherhood, and possibly a number of other accomplishments that should send bandits fleeing in terror the moment you set eyes on their hideout (but they don't) and how are you seen by what's-his-ugly? "I've never even _heard_ of this outsider!" I wonder if resurrecting Talos himself and becoming his right hand and chief enforcer would be enough to be known by anyone and seen as worthy of joining the Companions!
Whenever I pass by a gaurd I hear "Dragoborn its an honor". Guess being a hero pays off.
@@princedaniel714 Rarely heard that one. If ever. Usually it's "You couldn't possibly be the dragonborn of legand, could you?" or "Maybe I'm the dragonborn and I just don't know it yet." when it isn't "Hands to your self, Sneak-theif." or some comment about my enchanting abilities.
Then again, I think I may have gotten to Sovenguard once. I tend to do a lot of side-quests and end up getting board then starting over after playing other games for a while.
@@travissmith2848 I hear you we've all been there 😉
Kind of the thing, the game acknowledges and offers certain dialogue based on flags in your save achieved through progress. The more random shiz one does, they less they hear about the dragonborn stuff in the first place.
There's something about watching Skyrim videos even after 10 years that I find both so interesting and calming
Nostalgia
Memories from a simpler time
Ah...sweet escapism.
The music. The music has Soule
@@deadizbetter But only 50% nostalgia, the other 50 is just Skyrim still being one of the best and deep games, with such a big lore and world and so much to do.
You missed a big one: when you joined a side in the civil war and got the Jagged Crown, you can bring it to the other side's leader instead of your own. This will let you switch sides, but obviously works only once.
This is a good one. Also, if you’re trying to level up the ebony blade it’s free kills for it. If you side with stormcloaks originally then change to empire both Ulfric and Galmar will count as charges for the blade and Vice versa.
Random fact: You can sell Hroggar firewood to make his disposition friendly towards the Dragonborn. This way he won't immediately turn hostile when you walk into his house.
Thanks for the tip! This will help me.
I wanted to make Alva a steward for one of my houses. And I'm at the point in the game where I'm trying to figure out the best way for her to survive.
@@sarahnachtrose If Alva isn't killed, she remains in Movarth's Lair for the rest of the game.
@@anthonybottigliero8336 Exactly. And that: "isn't killed" is just the trick. I'm currently running around with 14 companions on the hardest difficulty. I didn't want to lift a finger in this playthrough. Let the followers do everything. However, if even one NPC exhibits hostile tendencies, they will pounce on them like a swarm of wasps.
Making Alva a companion is easy. That she survives until then, to the end of her quest line, without me breaking any script, rather... tricky.
Or do what I did, and sneak in as a thief. Had no idea that most would kill the poor bastard.
@@randomxnpsame
Serana "cured" her vampirism with contacts to get you off her back
About Serana, people look up and follow guides on the correct dialogue path to have her accepting to cure her vampirism, but the thing is, you just have to be a decent person. Every dialogue with her has the option to make an assumption, like "yeah your father is thrash", "oh your mother also manipulated you", OR you can simply ask how SHE feels, what SHE thinks about things. And guess what, that's how you should deal with people on real life!
true!
Simp
feeling lowkey proud now as I got that ending guide free
You’re so cute
Not disagreeing, but I would push back a small bit on the 'looking up the guides' bit; Bethesda games, and RPGs in general, are infamous for having misleading text-based options that sound VERY different in tone when looking at the short version compared to the full version (mostly an issue in any of the voiced ones)
I think Markarth has the best "choice" quest among the cities in Skyrim. Like we can freely roleplay to side silverblood or forsworn. Both choices are morally questioning. Another interesting choice quest maybe Saadia vs Kematu in Whiterun.
I let the Forsworn escape at late night to avoid killing innocent people.
I let them kill the guards and Thonar and get rid of them later in their hideout.
@@PauloArais i betray the forsworn after they get me my gear then assassinate the silverbloods. this happens every playthrough
I just got done with a playthrough where I decided to do the assault on the Alik'r Warriors in Swindler's Den. There were two bandits at the entrance talking about how they were protecting the Alik'r because they were paying well. I killed those two and climbed the wall to sneak behind the Alik'r Warriors. I decided to use Frenzy hit and run tactics but something unexpected happened. One of the Alik'r Warriors ran too close to the bandits and they started fighting each other. I only killed 6 people in that cave and yet no one survived.
Or take a third option and purge markarth of both forsworn and silver-blood factions
I consider both despicable, and while Thongvor is untouchable (being a replacement Jarl), Thonar isn't, and has friendly disposition if you kill Madanach. My solution is simple: Kill Madanach (having some Conjuration experience can help to setup bound weapons and a summon). Then escape; Thonar gives me back my equipment, and the Ebony Blade sprouts from his chest. If you're quick enough and sneak is good, that can be immediate, otherwise you can kill him in his sleep.
A Forsworn Arrow is an amusing kill method as well, but it's hard to pass up a guilt-free charge of the Ebony Blade. And don't forget to cast Soul Trap beforehand with a Black Soul Gem handy!
I remember that when I played tfrough the game and got to the dark brotherhood quest, I talked to everyone in the cabin and, at some point, Astrid said something like "the only way you're leaving is when someone is dead," and I happened to notice that she didn't say exactly which someone had to be dead. So, like any good heroic rules lawyer, I met her conditions in the best way i could, and got the quest to destroy the dark brotherhood. Xp
Honestly a waste since if you do the questline the rewards are much better than killing them
@@aidangarcia4985 Considering that I never felt like there was an actual good guy option throughout a playthrough of the game, that's a good point. It's honestly kind of nice to have a game where your actions are judged more on if they are seen as "crimes" rather than if they are seen as "wrong." It can be liberating to play however you feel and face the consequences as they come.
@@aidangarcia4985 Some of us don't give a crap about rewards
I killed her in shame. My level 84 Alduin-slaying tank that was immune to Poison and Magic somehow got teleported there.(Kinda also made the Karelian Poisoning me thing weird)
@@williamcross210 especially considering its so easy to get rich asf in skyrim.
Also, you can keep Mercer Frey. During Speaking With Silence, he acts as a follower which means that you can just fast travel away from Snowveil Sanctum and he’ll follow you permanently unless you go back to finish the quest. I do it every playthrough. He’s an absolute beast in combat and really fun to have around bc of how grumpy he is all the time
that actually reminds me of a joke from an abridged series I watch lol
Did YOU know, you can keep Delphine AND Esbern? Just DO NOT Lead them to Sky Haven Temple! They kick butt, and can not be killed. Just don't EVER strike them (even accidentally in combat!), nor try to pickpocket either of them. They will - "murderlize" you!
I did that with Brother Verulus because he just seemed like a nice dude and I couldn't bring myself to lead him to his sacrifice.
As some who's favorite guild is the Thieves Guild, I am extremely disappointed. Why would you want to keep the man alive who is responsible for tearing down and destroying the Thieves Guild? I always make sure I complete the Thieves Guild quests because I don't Mercer, the biggest threat to my fav guild, to be alive.
Long live the Thieves Guild!
@@GSBro R-right...long live the Thieves Guild...totally returned the artifact that never breaks....and am totally not a one-man infiltration unit....with over 200,000 gold now....
Oh who are we kidding, we're DRAGONBORN, WE WERE MEANT TO HOARD GOLD.
What's really interesting about the dark brotherhood fact is that while you are in the abandoned shack after being kidnapped in your sleep, Astrid tells you that one of the people in the room has a bounty and this is the person you have to find and kill to "reimburse" the dark brotherhood because you killed grelod in their stead, she never excluded herself from this which also explains why she says "Great job" or something equivalent in her last breath should you try to kill her to start the quest "destroy the dark brotherhood".
The game didn’t let me kill her, she would just kneel when low on hp
@@itsjose8520 She is protected so you have to lay into her again in order to kill her while she is down.
Someone had a theory about the game, that she had a contract on the Dragonborn, and that was who she was talking about. However, since she offered to have them join, and they aren't allowed to kill their own, that would mean none of the people she offered are the target (I think Babette mentions presenting three people is a thing Astrid does, and read someplace that was something which was done to Astrid to get her to join the Dark Brotherhood).
@@anthonybottigliero8336 Yep that theory (can't remember who presented it, it was a very well done video) posits that it is an easter egg to the DB in Oblivion. Something about a story of someone taking out a contract but then being killed by their intended victim ... leading to that person getting an invite.
@@anthonybottigliero8336 There's definitely a contract on the Dragonborn as one of the random encounters is a Dark Brotherhood assassin sent to kill you
For Serana to still have vampire powers despite not being a vampire anymore, I’m just gonna suspend my disbelief and say that she still has them because, unlike the Dragonborn, she got her vampirism the “hard way,” and not just from drinking another’s blood or contracting the disease. It’d be the same if Harkon did the same IMO
Ha. The "hard" way.
It could also be something simple like she was a vampire for so long that her body/soul/"whatever allows her to use the spell" simply adjusted permanently.
@@smiffwilm Nope. She is a Daughter of Coldharbour.
Which means, she had to be Molag Bal's whore for a period to get her type of vampirism.
A Son of Coldharbour is the same. It is what Vivec's body went through with him after all.
It does not pass on from children. They must go through that process each time. Harkon is the exception to that, but only because the game would not let a character be put through that.
One thing you missed on curing Serana, you cannot ask her about curing her vampirism before you finish Dawnguard by killing Harkon. If you bring it up before then, you're locked out of curing her and she will refuse. The only thing that can fix this is disabling the flag that is set when choosing that dialogue option via ingame console.
here's another one that i just found out recently :
when you meet the random encounter where 3 people over you a mead, if you have black briar mead you can over them the drink instead.. they will be mad and leave.
But if you have Honingbrew mead in your inventory and choose the 'why have only one when you can have two' option, they will give you an amulet that fortifies carry weight by 35
@@crandleberrysadie Or do what I do, just kill them all and still get the necklace.
I found that one by mistake.
@@crandleberrysadie only does it by 25 not 35
hahahahaaa
Killing the dark brotherhood was my first option actually, I was being a smart ass when she said kill someone in the room 😂
same, though it took me a few attempts, she is a tough opponent.
I figured it out after save-scuming a few times, after I got the new quest I was like "oh shit... they actually planed for this decision!"
same
Fun fact: every Dark Brotherhood member is a charge for the Ebony Blade. Wiping out the Dark Brotherhood fills 6 of the 10 "betrayals" needed to fully charge the Ebony Blade.
I did so once roleplaying a good assassin i killed her because too little info to go on as to who should be dead so went with the killer lol. I play with the Assassins Creed rules when played as a good assassin. Killing only the targets of bandit lairs and other things. Collecting most of the daidric artifacts except the staff of dreams for clear reasons not wanting to kill that bro. I also never went in the house with the daedric problem.
Tangentially related to number 4: killing Alva will make the alchemist in town dislike you, as they were friends before Alva was made into a vampire. One way around this is, if you are breaking in during the day to avoid killing Hroggar while Alva is there, you can make her chase you out of the house and let the guards do the killing for you.
That's cool
I always just use the old invisibility spell trick. Sneak and charge the spell up before picking the lock. The moment the lock is open, the spell goes off and you become invisible a split second before the scene loads. That way you're already invisible and stealthed when the scene loads, and scan slip right past him. Then just do it all again to leave.
@@adamb89 But then you still have to deal with Alva at the vampire cave if you don't kill her at the house.
@@Floweramon No you don't, in fact she actually hedges her bet and attacks the vampires there (instead of trying her luck against you and the rest of the villagers). If you let her be she becomes friendly-ish and just another member of Morthal's citizenry. I usually spare them both.
I used Muffle and Invisibility to sneak into Alva’s home. Got the journal, and snuck out. Later when I went to clear up the nest, she was there, already dead. 🤷
I killed Astrid at first play through. After that I found out that there is an entire "hidden" quest line if I let her alive.
One part of the quest has you kill the emperor don't know why but I felt a bit of a arse doing that plus you have to keep out of the city for some time until the heat dies down.
@@markhalsey5995 Dunno always went to town right after killing him, Rather be part of the DB then destroy them
If you either use an alternative start mod and never go to Helgen *or* you never progress the main quest line by bringing the Dragonstone back to Farengar, you can still unlock one shout. Just use the Ritual Stone on a Draugr Deathlord, bring it to Blackreach, and get it in front of Vulthuryol's giant hamster ball. Hit the Deathlord until it uses the Unrelenting Force shout and hits said hamster ball, and you will have spawned a dragon without completing Dragon Rising. You are able to absorb the soul and unlock any shouts that you have learned -- this works great for unlocking Bend Will, which allows you to complete all of the Dragonborn DLC quests right up until you would normally fight Miirak (which requires all three words of Bend Will).
If I recall, if you kill Vulthuryol while Dragon Rising is active, you'll be forced to spend the soul on Fus.
Actually a neat workaround
Not becoming the dragonborn doesn't count, because it does lock you out of the main quest. Thus, you can only delay becoming the dragonborn.
Plus of course you might have to back track and have a good memory or write a lot down I used to take loads of notes to get the best voice thuum unlock s I always do multiple quests and the main one simultaneously maybe I am a sucker for making my own life harder? 😂 Lol
Agreed, the first one was a cop-out, and a number of these I think were well-known to most people.
Though Babette will not be in the Sanctuary in Destroy the Dark Brotherhood because of the whole 'don't kill children' rule that Bethesda games have. This also means that there is one person left who can potentially restart the Brotherhood. You're also not required to kill Cicero to complete the quest.
When it comes to choosing a "good" or "evil" path, I actually like to start with the most extreme of one arc, then slowly transition through the major questlines into the opposite extreme. I imagine the narrative is that you start off as the most evil figure in Skyrim, but over time, you earn redemption for eventually saving the realm several times over. Alternatively, you start off as the grand hero/Dragonborn, but you progressively give into temptation and corruption until the hero has secretly become a scourge of the citizenry of Skyrim - even though you are well liked by heroic figures such as Mjoll and the Companions.
I always try and be good like a true hero but life is never black and white so occasionally I do some pretty messed up stuff just to see what happens he he he hey don't judge me x
7: You don't have to kill Partysnacks if you talk to the Greybeards.
Found this out myself a few days ago. Went to Paarthanax for the Call Dragon shout and never spoke to the Blades again.
@@Amo-v27 Im on my first playthrough and I literally did that yesterday!! So glad I looked up if it mattered who to talk to. Bye Bye Delphine talk to you never
Yeah you just have to avoid the conversation from Esbern after the council happens
@@JustinQuinn623 Don't work. Esbern approaches you before you even get out of your seat if Delphine has not spoken to you.
Talking to Arngeir afterwards and choosing not to kill Parthurnax turns the quest to failed.
Arngeir is the only one that can do that. Even talking to Parthurnax himself cannot.
@@shauntempley9757 Parthunax must go! I've never spared him in any play thru
The cool thing about the Laid to Rest quest is that, even though I dislike Alva due to her obvious vampirism, you can actually prevent her death. When the Jarl asks you to find evidence, she’ll have a small book in her coffin with her during the day as she’s sleeping. If you choose to go in there during the day, make sure the guy is at the woodcutting area, then as your sneak level may be a good enough level, or if you find a piece of clothing with the muffle enchantment that can be disenchanted and put on a different piece (if you wish to do so), then just sneak in and very carefully creep up to her coffin and take the book then sneak back out to take said book to the Jarl. She’ll normally run out and go to Movarth’s Lair/cave and possibly get killed by her fellow vampires in the cave, but if you’re quick and sneaky enough, you can sneak through the cave and actually HELP keep Alva alive. It’s a plus that Movarth’s boots kinda help too. That’s just my opinion. 🙂👍👍
Huh…
Alva.....one of the very first mods I ever used, well it was really console commands in a bat file..."marry anyone". Married Alva (first and one of the last times I married in game), and the two of Us quested across Skyrim.
@@johnniewoodard648why not Serena?!
@MissIllLil. Meh. She's annoying. She ranks up there with Lydia. Granted she's a free-walker but she still tends to get in my way when I'm trying to fight, and I think she likes the sound of her voice with all the complaining that she does. I had her for 10 levels, and by the tenth, I was ready to kill her myself, she was getting on my last nerve, like Barbas did within two levels. Too bad she's unkillable...
@@maxmchan7271 hehe I love her complaining and banter, but then again she's just one of my fav followers 🤷♀️
Some more choices I wish I'd known about for roleplaying a heroic Dragonborn:
- Joining the Thieves Guild isn't required to find Esbern in the main quest as the game leads the player to believe. The bartender at the Ragged Flagon, Vekel The Man, can be bribed for his location.
- The Dragon Infusion perk can be acquired without killing Paarthurnax as long as the Blades' side quests are completed in the small window of time between Alduin's Wall and Alduin's Bane.
- Aela the Huntress can be recruited into the Blades so the Companions can be free of werewolves.
- Brother Verulus can be saved in The Taste Of Death by betraying Eola at the last minute.
- The Fiery Soul Trap enchantment, scrolls, and staves can be used as an alternative to conjuration.
On a more villainous note the executioner in Solitude, Ahtar, can be sacrificed to Boethiah for irony or Janessa since she is pretty shadey.
Edit: I found out about two more,
- Molag Bal's quest, The House of Horrors, if you kill Logrolf while he is being held captive the quest immediately fails.
- Hermaeus Mora's quest, Discerning the Transmundane, Septimus Signus can be killed after he gives you the dwarven lexicon and asks you to collect blood failing the quest.
Ahtar's got a wife and kids.
Consider sacrificing Eola instead, a Daedric cultist for Namira.
Yeah baby we all love a bit of poetic justice ⚖️ except fairly bad poets like me DOH 😣
@@JoshSweetvale She works, but you can't get her as a follower without committing a different evil action yourself
8:04 I was drinking milk from a cereal bowl when he called me out 😂
Another trick in the game when you're leaving the cave at the very beginning is to go behind whoever you're escaping with, crouch down, and attack them from behind. Wait until their awareness meter goes back to normal before doing it again. Rinse and repeat until your sneak skill gets to 100. Makes the game a lot easier, especially if you're doing a thief or assassin playthrough.
I think you can also simply walk into the wall constantly in the room with the bear. All you need is an enemy nearby.
You can endlessly attack the graybeards at high hrothgar and they will never detect you. They become hostile very very rarely it has to be less than 1% chance each hit from what I’ve experienced. Just save once every 50 hits and you are level 100 sneak in less than 10 minutes
@@cl8733the *bear*
Just crouch and walk super slow close to the bear
1. Actually you can meet Jarl Ballin, even take reward for delivering the word about Helgen.
You CANNOT follow Irileth to the Western Watchtower, as that event releases dragons into the world.
The funniest thing is if you're only there for Aventus Avennici and delivering the sword, or to buy spells from Farengar, Irileth will draw her weapon and approach you approximately across half the throne room, and start her usual dialogue. But you can just ignore her and leave without answering which promts her to say "I've got my eyes on you". She will then do the same thing over and over again everytime you get too close to her.
One of my dragon mods had dragons in the game at the start. I died many times at level 1 before I learned the value of running.
I learned two new options from this video…the talking to the champion guy with the ebony armor (can you possibly pickpocket his armor tho with perfect touch perk?) and saving the vampires thrall. This last one will be good for my next Paladin RP. Thank you for sharing this info!
Always loved playing as a non dragonborn, especially after completing the companions questline. As all the guards will simply know you as the Harbinger.
You can talk to Balgruuf and give the wizard the dragon stone and still not be the dragon born. Killing the first dragon is what reviles the character as Dragonborn, and is what triggers dragons spawning.
Or don't enter Dragonsreach in the first place.
@@toussaintmaxwell8071 If you don't enter Dragonsreach then you can't buy Breezehome. This is why I always just advance the main story to where the jarl says to go kill the dragon at the Western Watchtower and then I just don't go there, but I'm able to buy Breezehome at that point.
I knew all of this. Also, you can spare Alva as well. Strangely enough, she'll usually continue to live in the town as normal. It's a toss-up on whether the other villagers and guards will be hostile towards her after the questline is complete but you can complete it without killing her.
You can’t marry Serana because she has trauma from Molag bal
Real shit?
Little does she know I'm ace and I just want to marry for the bonuses / food
@@akechijubeimitsuhide it doesn’t matter do you know how trauma works?
@@stonelyy9233 mods
@@alexbedel6320 im saying base game everyone knows mods exist
I never knew I had these choices bro
Bro same bro
Bro…
I mean that was the point of the video
@@Afrancis16 🤓
@@iAmTheFoeOfInhumans Sorry about that RickyDooDaaGrimes
4. Sparing Hroggar is also as simple as having enough sneak skills to get by him without getting noticed.
Yeah My first thought wasnt to kill him I just snuck passed while he slept
Actually, my first time in markarth was when I got drunk with a daedric prince, trashed a temple, stole a goat, and married a hagraven.
The first secret choice is my favorite. After my first character, I decided I didn't want to be the dragonborn again, and now I never want to go back. It's still fun sometimes to play on that old save, but none of my other characters have met Balgruuf
Tell me Im wrong, but i believe that Durnehviir tells you that you are the Dragonborn even without killing the watchtower dragon
He calls you a fellow dovah, that's it.
If you didn't do the watchtower quest, you can ask him why he calls you that and he will say it was his instinct to call you a dovah and that perhaps time will reveal why.
It is not exactly dovahkin btw. I forget what he called it, but it's something that called the player as the worthy opponent for dragon. I am not sure, "dragon brother" maybe. Because there's line from player that says something like, "But, I am not a dragon, why you call me that?!" But yeah, it's just dragonborn.
Before that, Serana's mom also mentioned something about that "dragonborn" thing after defeating Duhneviir. I guess, we can't really escape from roleplaying as Dragonborn if we want to play DLCs..
He doesn't call you Dragonborn, he calls you something that equates to vanquisher in the dragon tongue and says he doesn't exactly understand why is offering the title to somebody that isn't a dragon but it does feel right
@@goodenoughright5433 quanahhrin, something like that
@@goodenoughright5433 I mean to be fair, he does call you that after you defeat him in battle so it's not entirely unwarranted
Dragons can still be skipped after talking to the Jarl, just don't do the quest where you go to the Western Watchtower.
Here's a fun one to cheese the game.
In 100% unmodded vanilla Skyrim you can actually have more than one companion at a time. In fact, you can have more than 10 with you at once, and each of them are essential and unkillable. By starting escort quests that give you an npc follower, you can just not take them to the location they're heading to. Esbern and Delphine (sky haven temple), Serana (before you take her home), Barbas (clavicus vile quest when you are tasked to get the rueful axe), Verulus, and so on. Combined with the standard follower of your choice, such as Janessa or Lydia. As long as they are not location bound and don't replace your chosen companion, they can tag along with you indefinitely.
Yeah, I have 15 - 16 companions with me right now. I assume they're my Dark Brotherhood gang lol
Not being Dragonborn is my favourite way of playing, in fact, in the last 12 years I have completed the main quest once - just so I could say I did it. As sword and board too btw.
Not becoming the Dragonborn was one of the most refreshing things i ever did. I joined the Thieves killed, honed my skills, and became basically the best stealth character i could, then the Dark Brotherhood took notice and recruited me, so i joined them, becoming more and more powerful.
Needless to say, i went about 250 hours before even becoming Dragonborn / Killing the whiterun watchtower dragon. It felt all the more rewarding because when i became the Dovahkiin, i actually felt powerful, it felt right, not forced. I felt worthy, not lucky.
I'm doing a no-Dragonborn Survival playthrough right now. I spent the first couple hundred hours hrs. getting started with the Thieves Guild before heading to Solstheim. You can do a lot there without being the Dragonborn. And now well into the Dawnguard DLC. Once I get the Dragonrend shout I'll consider starting the MQ. No sense fighting dragons on higher difficulty levels without the ability to force them to land. lol
If you kill Astrid she does say something "well done" and if you got to make sure if you join the dark brotherhood and don't kill her. You make sure you complete the first quest and the optional quest that way you can get all of Ciceros journals, but if you don't do the optional you will only get one journal. Now if you read his journals you will find out he was going to pretty much look into Astrid, so technically in one sense of the word if you kill Astrid you pretty much are helping the nightmother and Cicero in that way. So your pretty much not really betraying the dark brotherhood because Astrid pretty much did by not following the old ways.
Except after killing her you pretty much take out the entire brotherhood in the following quest except for the little vampire of course cause you can't kill children cause they are always innocent, even as killer vampires I guess.
You said " Pretty much " four times 😂
You can also keep Hroggar passive towards you if you chop wood and sell it to him before breaking into Alva’s house
Funny thing about Hroggar: He can become an unofficial follower, although I think this is borderline a glitch. In my most recent save, I didn't kill Hroggar, delivered the information of the journal to the Jarl, and basically the whole town went to the vampire lair to kill them, but arriving at the cave everyone chicken out and came back to town. Everyone except Hroggar. After a lot of tries, me, Lydia, Hroggar and a flame atronach together weren't able to kill the master vampire, not even I put the novice difficulty. I figure the mission was too high level for me and leave to grind, thinking that Hroggar would come back to town after getting far enough. But He Didn't! He kept following me everywhere, and it really looks like the game made him invincible, he didn't died even in situations that I had to reload because Lydia died.
never killed the guy who is enthralled. i always thought breaking into his house was a crime (whether you get an actual bounty or not) so i snuck in using invisibility potions and entering while crouched.
The ambient music for this game is still unmatched imo.
0:28 honestly i didnt know this was possible .Time to make a dragonbornless skyrim run
Talking to the champion of Boathiah was news to me. Good to see, there's still stuff in Vanilla, I've not seen or tried yet. Side Note on Eltrys: You do not need to investigate everyone. In my last playthrough, I did not get to Thonar, because I was broke and couldn't afford a bribe and also not good enough at Speech to talk my way in, so I left and did the Nepos the Nose part. After that - before going back to Thonar - I went to the Shrine of Talos and Eltrys was dead. The guards arrested me. This way, Thonar's wife - as far as I could see - survived.
I don't think number 6 is that big secret. A lot of people are killing her
Frankly, I find it kinda weird some people don't figure that one out. You're a dragon slaying badass. Astrid first has _the nerve_ to kidnap you. That alone seems like reason enough to kill her first chance you get. Then she tries to boss you around - and it's to coerce you into doing something evil. Who the hell does she think she is? And who the hell does she think you are?
Also doesn't help that she's dressed kinda like a bandit.
I don't get how people don't immediately start looking for the best way to foil her plans and fuck her up after all that. Or how maybe attacking her like any other bandit that gets in their way doesn't come as their natural first response.
Speaking for myself, I killed her immediately in my first playthrough. It was only as I was wiping out the sanctuary, and I saw that they had a werewolf, a dunmer, a redguard and a named giant pet spider, that it occurred to me maybe this could be a pretty interesting cast and that maybe they're not just some generic trashmobs I was supposed to massacre without a second thought after all.
@@SirConto The join storyline was poorly written. A better idea I had was that you could either kill Victoria OR go to Tullius and tell him what's going on because you have bad feeling about this. In either case the real plot is to reveal the truth that the Emperor wants his own personal Black Brotherhood hit squad and Astrid is meant to train the new group but first has to wipe out the current brotherhood. If you kill Victoria then the Emperor gets his way and the brotherhood old gets killed off for the new. If you don't kill her then Tullius and Elisif become angry this happening right in their backyard. They and the Dragonborn kill the emperor and his direct heirs along with the Oculus who is neck deep in the conspiracy. Victoria (who is Mede's cousin) becomes empress. Astrid gets killed but rest of the Brotherhood survives. They are told leave Skyrim and never return or they will be killed off.
@@SirConto It is because most quest NPCs are unkillable. in my first playthrough I decided to take Legion headquarters by storm, and found out that I can't kill anyone with name there. Moreover, I am getting bounty and everyone is hostile to me. So it is no surprise that you would not even try attacking someone named after a few failed attempts - attacking quest NPCs is shooting yourself in a foot most of the times.
My ideal strat? Be a 'Good Guy', pickpocket her Blade of Woe, then kill her. Also dunks on Maven Black-Briar's 'connections', meaning she can't just remove certain obstacles. Brynjolf is a fair guy though.
It's cause of the way this game handles the Dark Brotherhood, compared to Morrowind.
In Morrowind. The brotherhood show up if you kill ANY 'Non-Enemy' NPC, for ANY reason. No was no questline to trigger it. Just killing ANY NPC who wasn't an enemy would immediately cause the Dark Brotherhood to trigger the next time you slept.
But in Skyrim, they changed it. You SPECIFICALLY have to do the questline. And if you don't, you can kill all of Skyrim, and never meet the Dark Brotherhood.
Because of this change... Well, why would you do the questline, EXCEPT to join the brotherhood? Who, logically, would do the questline to join the brotherhood, just to kill Astra in the very first meeting? Only people who KNEW such a quest existed BEFORE doing it. Namely, seeing spoilers about it online first.
im sorry but you just decapitating serana at 2:14 was the funniest thing to me
I don’t know if this has been in your videos, but in Skyrim you can get both Deadric Artifacts: Savior’s Hide and Ring of Hircine, if you kill Sinding after you have killed the hunters and he wont even fight back.
And the crazy part for me was that he eventually respawned in the grotto and just stayed in there, non aggressive and all!
You can actually unlock shouts (including all three words of Unrelenting Force) then start a certain quest which will delay any "random" dragons from spawning until you finish it. Start A Blade in the Dark and proceed until Delphine leaves for Kynesgrove. Dragons will still appear at their lairs or in scripted events. You can still return the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller to the Greybeards, which will unlock the third word for Unrelenting Force. I've found this to be extremely useful on Legendary difficulty where I'll delay finishing A Blade in the Dark until I'm strong enough to deal with dragons pretty quickly.
Oddly enough Alva can survive the vampire quest. If you don't kill her before you kill the vampire leader, she will no longer be hostile and killing her will get you arrested
I remember reading the instructions on how to do it.
Something about sneaking into the caves and finding her without getting aggro’d.
I’ve never done it, but it sounded pretty hard to
do.
Triggering dragon spawning actually requires bringing the Dragonstone to Farengar. You can go, talk to the Jarl, get the reward for warning him about the dragons, get the quest to go to Bleakfalls Barrow to fetch the Dragonstone... And then just not do it. That way, you don't need to worry about Irileth ambushing you whenever you want to talk to Farengar, giving access to his alchemy set and enchanting table as well as his shop and his quest to deliver Frost Salts, you can deliver the sword to Proventus for Adrianne, you can purchase the Tundra Homestead if you have the Anniversary Edition Upgrade or that Creation, you can do all of the quests in the area with no problems. As long as you don't pick up the Dragonstone and visit Farengar, dragons won't spawn. Of course, if you went to Bleakfalls Barrow to do the Golden Claw quest and picked up the Dragonstone without being told to, then talking to Balgruf locks you out of talking to Farengar if you don't want to start dragon spawns. I'd rather never talk to Balgruf and briefly miss out on some quests than lose a shop to sell stuff to.
For curing Serana, don't ask her about getting cured early or she'll decide she shouldn't, and don't be selfish when you suggest she gets cured or she'll refuse.
I definitely knew about curing Serana. I do it every time. Her Drain Life spell is bugged and, if you get hit with it, there's a chance of contracting an incurable version of Sanguinus Vampiris. If you cure her, she swaps out the Drain Life for a different spell, making her a much safer companion to travel with, and she still retains her Essential status.
What if you're a werewolf? I thought you couldn't get vampirism as a werewolf.
@@dubuyajay9964 - I don't know if the glitch effects werewolves, but I do know that master vampires like Harkon and Serana will override lycanthropy if you ask either to turn you. Aela and Serana let you switch back and forth without the need for the usual cures. This may actually be the source of the bug since her Sanguinus Vampiris isn't the typical version you get from regular unnamed vampire enemies.
You can actually get both rewards for the No One Escapes Cidhna Mine quest, but you are a total backstabbing traitor if you do:
1. You have to join Madanach and follow him until he gives you your equipment and the Armor of the Old Gods.
2. Keep him locked in dialogue until the other Foresworn leave the cave.
3. Kill Madanach.
4. The other Foresworn will run back in after you attack Madanach, so it's best to finish him off quickly with a stealth attack if you can as it will be a brutal fight to kill all of the Foresworn and Madanach.
5. Once all of the Foresworn are dead, exit the cave and head back into Markarth.
6. Thonar will reward you with the Silverblood Ring, same as if you had killed Madanach from the start.
Unless you are OP with mods or playing on the easiest difficulty, this is VERY difficult to pull off. I recommend maxing out stealth perks and using a Legendary dagger to one-shot Madanach.
Most of the guild playthroughs are hard to swallow if you're trying to play an unrepentant do-gooder. The Companions, for instance, have devolved into a bunch of mercenary thugs whose leadership willingly accepts the "gift" of a Daedric Prince. At least in the College of Winterhold questline you legitimately save the world.
Yeah I normally play as a self insert (like most ppl do I would think) and pretty much as soon as I did the Companions quest I was like welp I'm already morally grey now so what's the difference if I join some more shady organizations like the DB???
serana ends up looking like she's got serious liver disease with that jaundice in her eyes.
As strange as it is, I've been doing many playthroughs in which I never properly become the dragonborn for years now, it's basically my preferred way to play the game. It just makes the whole thing feel just a little bit more immersive not having access to shouts and no inherent glory to your name, and it's also nice being able to explore the province without having to worry about dealing with dragons.
1). I've known this for years. I don't like having dragons bothering me constantly, especially early game when I don't have very much in the way of means to fight them solo, beyond the tutorial dragon. So, I simply don't initiate the quest at all. You can meet the Jarl of Whiterun, just don't turn in the dragonstone to Farengar and you'll never see a random dragon spawn, ever again until you're darn well _ready_ to face them. You can even pick up the Dragonstone (I usually do that dungeon before even arriving at Whiterun), just don't click on the dialogue option to actually present it to him.
The fact that you cant marry serana... It makes me sad
It's insane how after all these years of playing Skyrim, there are still new things to learn about this game.
A lot of games are like that. I think Red Dead Redemption 2 is the biggest game with a ton of content that barely anyone will discover all of it. But that makes each persons playthrough unique.
It is strange that Serana can still use Vampiric drain but here’s a good little theory or head canon that you can use. Serana is a daughter of Coldharbor, and has been for many years, much longer then any vampire who took the pact with Molag Bal. So bear with me here, since she has been one for so long and is a much rare and more powerful vampire, it’s possible that the reason why she still uses Vampiric Drain because she is just that familiar with the spell. Like riding a bike, it comes naturally to her to use it. And obviously the reason she doesn’t like the Sun isn’t that big an issue, she’s got pale skin and always loved her life in the dark, so that means she isn’t use to the sun, not really too unrealistic as I myself am not a fan of the heat from the sun myself even though I live in the south. Any way yeah, even though she should’ve forgotten Vampiric Drain, she still has it because she’s been a vampire for so long that the power is part of her still.
Did you know that you can sell the Sun and Blood Elder scrolls to Dexion if you side with the Dawnguard after killing Harkon?
I have tried most of these things. For Hroggar, I usually use invisibility potions and stealth to slip by him without setting him off.
Same thing but with the spell. Just charge it up before picking the lock. The spell goes off in the split second between the door opening and the next scene loading, so you spawn into the new scene already invisible. Hit yourself with muffle ahead of time and you'll be completely undetectable.
Literally just use calm spell. no sneaking required
@@FoxInnaHat Is he low-level enough for Calm, or is this a situation where Pacify with some relevant perks is needed?
@@lexslate2476 not sure, I play with mods like Ordinator, which happens to make illusion scale way better than vanilla
@@FoxInnaHat I also play with Ordinator! Frankly, vanilla magic is not great. A warrior's weapon damage scales with multiple things, while a mage's damage and defences scale only with a small number of specific perks.
I hope future installments of elder scrolls will give you similar options like destroying the dark brotherhood but rather instead destroying daedric artifacts. I would love to see there be more good/evil balance. So perhaps... a character on the good path gets requested by a vigilant to hunt down and obtain a daedric artifact whereas someone on an evil or neutral path could simply go and obtain it at their will. But following the good path, the vigilant will require the player to find a way to destroy the artifact and that daedric prince's connection through said artifact. There would be rewards for this path whereas the an evil path would see the player offered additional quests from the daedric prince as their supposed "champion". These quests may pit the player against other daedric followers of the same prince or different princes and come with additional rewards. a neutral path may see the player simply offered the quest to obtain the artifact for a potential buyer. These buyers might offer the player use of the artifact at times or might even offer the player quests to help the buyer find a way to create a duplicate artifact. And of course all paths should see the player having the ability to traverse into the daedric prince's realm.
One downside to avoiding your revelation as dragonborn is that completing Balgruuf's task is required to progress the civil war, as well. So if you don't want to fight dragons, it will lock you out of two major questlines, rather than just one. (aside from modding, I'm sure)
Eh the civil war is always the last thing to do in a playthrough anyway, least interesting and thought out “main” questlinr
@@Karthull There's a few mods that improve it a lot tbf - Vanilla civil war is so disappointing tho, you're right.
Civil War Neutrality paired with Civil War F Off - No Season Unending makes for a pleasant playthrough.
something else I found out is that during the Forsworn Conspiracy quest, when you are sent to Cidhna Mine, if instead of talking to the prisoners you just kill them, it will change the quest outcome and objectives. You will then be tasked with killing Madanach and you can calm him with a spell as well and tell him that you killed all of his forsworn buddies and that He is next. Also when you exit the mine, Thonar Silverblood will have a different reaction and will actually give you his family ring which allows you to improve weapons and armors at forges for 15-35% better.
Fun fact: during the dark brotherhood quest where astrid tells you to choose who you think deserves to die. You can use clairvoyance to see who the contract was really on.
I read that it's because she was the last objective added to the quest log and clairvoyance always takes you to the last objective.
@@johnv5827 Clairvoyance only points to current objectives, and only the nearest one at that.
Bruh the fact Serana can become human again blew my mind
Well, Astrid did say that “one person in this room has a contract on their lives”, and to “kill one”.
The bounty likely belonged to Astrid. She says, “not bad” after you kill her.
it is one of the captives actually, you can find out using the clairvoyance spell.
She says. “Well done”
The contract is on You.
“You’ll have to earn your reputation instead” meanwhile brynjolf will track you down in riften market to try and force you into becoming a thief, even if you have no stats in thieving and are wearing heavy armour. You can also just fail the job by getting sent to jail and he’ll shrug and tell you about his secret hideout cause… reasons? Also literally non of the 4 major side quest factions ever acknowledge your importance as Dragonborn as far as I’m aware.
To destroy dark brotherhood, you have to be very powerful. I realised when Astrid one shot me.
You have to freeze her right after you land the first hit
I actually used Mehrunes Razor to kill her.
I found it was fairly easy and all my level were low only archery was 50% done just got to fight wisely but everyone is different in their own choices 😜
Technically you can still talk to balgruuf, you just need to either 1) not turn in the dragonstone to Farengar or 2) turn it in and then just never go fend off the first dragon attack. Dragons only spawn and people only figure out you're dragonborn if you kill that first dragon.
Literally not a single one choice that is at least obscure.
Even x360 players were well aware of those choices, how can you name them "secret choices" wtf
7. You can save Margaret in Morthal. It's not easy, but it can be done.
Non exploit tip: Creep Cluster, Mora Tapanella, Scaly Pholotia 15 of each at the CC farming location.
Post tip comment.
Current modfree playthrough is at level 192, and have not touched any of the major story quest lines other than...
Mages College, access to master spells and doesnt clash with other quests. A must have for leveling magic skills.
Companions, just far enough to access training from Farkas and Vilkas(not using heavy armor or 2 handed weapons so have to get training to gain levels).
Almost done with all of the CC content and simple "help my people" type quests. Have all the homes except Windhelm because of the Civil War requirement for that one. I have an armored horse in every stable, Frost hidden away. All the tamable horses. Just waiting on Arvak and the Dwarven mount when I get into those quests.
Completed the Boethia chain as soon as it appeared to prevent merchant deaths. Same with the various CC quests that spawn more bandits and such around the map. Haven't opened any Dawnguard dialogue so no vampire raids. No dragons. No dragonborn cultists. No Boethiah cultists.
No resto glitch exploiting. No mods. But I have been carrying around a 25lb dragonstone for 190 levels and have not yet set foot inside Dragonsreach
So nice to see someone to discover all these things it's like nostalgia coming back for me after years of playing and someone discovered this so nice
The 1st one is not entirely true. You can't skip out on the main quest line but if you still want shouts and dragon souls. You can just go to the dragon mountains or dragon mounds and those dragons still spawn and they will respond after a month of in game time.
Don’t they not spawn until you reach a certain point in the story? So no matter what dragons don’t spawn until your dragonborn
@@Karthull The Dragon Roost Dragon spawnpoints are filled with Hagravens, Wispmothers, and Necromancers rather than dragons when you dont go to the watchtower.
However, during the quest Blade in the Dark, dragon spawns are paused, and the only dragons are in the roosts.
Additionally regardless of quests completed, there is always the dragon in Blackreach which can be summoned from a Dragur Shout or ulfrics shout
tip for alva's house: you can sneak in during day but not go in to the basement because alva sleeps during day. instead just wait at the stairs till night so that alva leaves and you enter basement and get the journal. repeat same when you leave basement. so that you'll never encounter the poor innocent man.
You can actually spare Alva's life as well, but it's tricky:
1. Before going into her house to read her journal, you have to clear out Movarth's Lair (otherwise, the vampires there will kill her).
2. Next, you have to successfully sneak up to her coffin and read her diary without alerting her; after picking up her diary, she will wake up and run to Movarth's Lair.
3. Just to be extra careful, I usually wait one hour which will force her to spawn in Movarth's bedroom; otherwise, there's a chance that Movarth kills her when she enters the dining area of the cave.
4. Finally, you have to complete the quest (and might have to complete all activities to become Thane as well...?), and you will then see Alva walking back to the town from Movarth's Lair.
She will still use the same dialogue and engage in the same routine. It's quite funny because at this point, everyone knows that she's a vampire, but they seem okay with it. Plus, Hroggar will thank you for saving him from Alva, but he and Alva continue to live together. A happy ending for everyone:)
I managed to keep Alva alive without knowing all of this. It just happened that she wasn't there when I entered the house. The husband tho, dead and naked in the kitchen lol
It's amazing that a game this old is still played regularly due to the fact that it's popular and can be downloaded to many different consoles and devices. However that basically kills any nostalgia that could be gained from it. Not to mention everyone has already beaten every aspect of the game at this point there's really no surprises. However thanks to mods there's plenty of new content being created for this game even though creations have slowed down lately
You can also choose to be a morally grey good doer that still joins the dark brotherhood because at least some of the people you're told to kill have to be bad people. I mean Hert and Hern most definitely are, they're vampires killing innocent adventurers.
how many people do you have to kill to get to that point?
Plus that pirate captain or whatever at the end of the quest. A lot of the targets are bad people, and only a few of them are actually good
This is my first playthrough and that was my exact reasoning is that I'm killing people anyways for the good of the multitude and besides maybe a few contracts most of the people you're told to off aren't very clean either. Also the fact that they're organization is more of a Family than most of the others is strangely wholesome??
@@WoolooWarfare yeah, I mean Babette, a child vampire, picks off pedophiles and tells you that everyone looks out for each other like a real family, it's cute.
Killing that bride at her wedding was kind of the breaking point
Im sure there is a major reason why serana isnt marrige material, molag bal had his way with her and the daughters of coldharbor as been said by lore
M'aiq didn't know about these choices.
7:45 iirc she tells the player that "one of the people in this room has a bounty on them, kill them" or something similar; and if you choose to kill Astrid she says, in her dying breath, "good job"
During the mission where you go to rescue Fralia’s son Thorald, if you sided with the Legion, you can ask General Tulius for permission to enter the keep where Thorald is kept, but he will refuse out of fear of damaging his relationship with the thalmor
I mean, it would tip his hand to the Thalmor, as they are natural distrusting of others. Staying on the down-low and playing goodie two shoes would allow him to raise up an experienced army, and actually launch an assault on the Thalmor in the hopes of pushing them back, nullifying the White-Gold Concordat, and having the Emperor's Shame be semi-erased.
All in all, he's thinking later down the road, which is smart for a General.
@@tigerwarrior1787 Tullius is a foolish old man. He doesn't realise the only thing he'd need to push back the Thalmor is the Dragonborn. Every self-respecting Dragonborn is, after all, already slaying all the Thalmor patrols out there.
He will agree to if you finish the civil war with the Empire, Ulfric dead and gone. Walked in and escorted Thorald out. The Thalmor won't aggro unless you attack them.
@@herrakaarmeTullius had Ulfric bound and ready to be executed within months of arriving in Skyrim, despite the fact that the Pale Pass was blocked and he had no reinforcements. He’s anything but a fool, and is probably the most strategically minded character in the game.
@@DovahFett Yet he doesn't have working eyes, for not seeing what I said up there. Why is he afraid of the Thalmor if he has the Dragonborn on his side? The Thalmor have been walking over Tullius from the north, from the south, from the east, and from the west so many times that bravery was trampled out of him.
I put nearly 400 hours into a no fast travel playthrough and it was such a breathe of fresh air for the game. This was nearly 10 years ago now and I can’t bring myself to slog through Skyrim again. Morrowind playthrough #10 here I come.
We make a special trip just for you, same low price.
@@tigerwarrior1787 if only silt striders existed in Skyrim lol
Sounds interesting. I might try this. Did you count the wagon rides to the major cities as fast travel? Otherwise I guess you walked or rode a horse everywhere?
@@michaelirwin7258 I never rode a horse because it just didn’t feel right and I also didn’t use carriages to get around. I thought I knew the Skyrim map but I discovered so many places and things I never would have seen if I fast travelled. The survival Mod is also a good addition to this gameplay!
@@sheldonhiebert49 Survival Mode makes Carriages highly impractical, seeing as when the ride is over you are freezing to death, overtired, and malnourished
actually, you also can't progress the civil war storyline unless you kill the first dragon (and thus is revealed to be dragonborn)
Not talking to Jarl Ballin' upside: be the nobody I've always wanted to be so much
Downside: I demand my housecarl
GREAT content man you definitely deserve more and so i hope you keep up the work. Also if you ever feel stuck trying to feel ideas for skyrim videos, I think you can try to do the same kind of content with other games.
You also can save Alva. After retrieving the journal she will run to the cave. Kill other vampire, she will not attack you.
I learned about destroying the brotherhood by accident. I was pretty tanky and was fucking around, decided to start the DB, get kidnapped and with an intrusive thought and overwhelming curiosity, I killed Astrid. I was going to see if she was Essential, and then load an old save, but surprise surprise, she died. I continued, destroying the DB altogether. I later regretted it, with the measly 3K being far less than the full benefit of the DB Questline, so I haven't done it since. Now I'm currently doing a 'good' character, being a thief which abides to the Guilds laws, meaning No killing innocents, just take the valuables. So I'm now wondering, do I do the DB or destroy it? I also have had 0 total bounty in the 104 in game days, and the DB has a quest that forces a bounty. No way around it. I'm tipping toward destroy just to keep a perfect record, no jail time and bounty paying.
It sounds like you kind of already made the decision; but my two cents as also playing a 'good' thief character also with no jail time or bounties, who goes out of her way to help everyone I still sided with the DB and while this is my very first Skyrim playthrough ever (I was still aware killing Astrid was a choice as I must google every major decision to weigh the pros and cons lol) and while I can't give 'good' reasons to side with DB as a 'good' character for me it was the fact that I go out and kill people everyday already just for questing...
Fun Fact: You can find Eltrys Body in the Hall of Dead from Markath after the Questline and collect his money out of his coffin
You can meet the jarl of Whiterun and anyway not have dragons in the game.
The dragons "activate" after you go to the south tower after speaking with the Jarl
My headcanon is when Serena's vampirism is cured, she becomes a dhampir daywalker ala Blade. After all, she did get her vampirism from a Daedric ritual. Odds are it's not a common strain and when "cured" something of that nature still remains.
Actually, you don't completely destroy the Dark Brotherhood as Babette, the Whispermother and one of the assasins wheren't there in the cave near Falkreath.
There's a second DB cave next to Dawnstar..
Thats abandoned...
How do you know, is there a way to get in? Maybe they're somewhere else, back in Cirodill.
@@rjdeseijn After the end of the Dark Brotherhood questline when the Falkreath sanctuary is destroyed, the Dawnstar Sanctuary becomes the new hideout
@@FoxInnaHat Yes, I know, but the Dawnstar hideout with the door and all is always there. Even if you decide to kill Astrid and destroy the DB yourself.. or whatever whenever.
The only difference is when you destroy the DB yourself, you don't know the keyword to enter the Dawnstar hideout to actually see whp's there. Not to forget about the annoying Jester, where is he in that case anyway?
A couple of these will leave the quests sitting in your journal, which is not ideal if you're a completionist.
Personally I joined all the guilds and focused on resurrecting the revivable npcs and relocated them to my personal sanctuaries through various mods except for the npc at the college of winter hold who killed the archmage and the other npc who gave the tour at the beginning of the quest to join the college of winter hold on top of that I play as a magic using vampire werewolf hybrid multi class who feeds on anyone in the dead of night while also eating the corpses of the enemy NPCs