Skyrim - The Problem with the College of Winterhold
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
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In our latest Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim video we are talking about the problem with the college of winterhold.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an open world action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth main installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2011.
The game's main story revolves around the player character and their quest to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon who is prophesied to destroy the world. The videogame is set two hundred years after the events of Oblivion, and takes place in the fictional province of Skyrim. Over the course of the game, the player completes quests and develops the character by improving skills. The game continues the open world tradition of its predecessors by allowing the player to travel anywhere in the game world at any time, and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely.
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The College is so under populated because Faralda won't let anyone come in to learn magic unless they already know how to use magic.
Anthony Delfino nah it's pure genius
A college that teaches how to do basic magic (at least how it's classes seem)
Requires you to be able to use advanced(novice restoration for example) magic spells.
UUGHHHHHH!!!
good argument IF she wouldn't give you the book to learn the spell
its about controlling the magic not able to use it
I've more than once ran into a situation where she demanded I cast a spell to gain entry that cost more mana than I had available to me.
+Shroom
And I'm about shitting on things to get like, Even if it's false.
Imagine being Tolfdir, dedicating your whole life to this weird sketchy college, and when you’re the senior member, the arch-mage dies and some random brand-new student with no investment in the college becomes the new arch-mage.
I mean like, it's his own fault as he makes you the arch-mage.
the guy has lost his own alembic how many times now...what do you expect?
He’s the one who makes you the Arch Mage. It would make more sense if he promoted Mirabelle
That's nothing... imagine being a Nord that's dedicated to go to Sovengarde, but then some dude kills you and traps your soul and you end up in the Soul Cairn.
@@Nottyastro i mean, they didn't have to kill off mirabelle off screen. she's the perfect person to take over the college.
The average mage dungeon has more magic users than the College.
you find more people that have been kicked out of the college just wandering around skyrim than people in the college.
It's an issue most bethesda games suffer from in general, skyrim is just... An extreme case. I cannot play this game without a mod that expands upon locations and adds in more npcs. Visiting an empty college or a "capital" of an entire region and only seeing a few people and a few shacks just feels wrong!
Good point
Wolfie just a hardware problem really considering the game came out in ps3 days . Hopefully the new elder scrolls will have really lived in city’s
@@ButterBoyism In morrowind and Oblivion there where tones of members.
turns out the spell "greatsword power attack" works in almost all scenarios this questline throws at you
A powerful spell indeez
maybe if you are playing on easier difficulties. The questline is actually quite hard if you play it on legendary.
@@vic44rd well I'm sure lots of things are quite hard on legendary
This reminded me of a manga called Mashle. It's about a super strong kid using insane athleticism to bullshit his way through magic school.
Exactly...what a sham...
And then you get promoted to "Arch Mage"??!! I found myself falling back on bow and swords, and gave up the bullsh mage attempts at solving things which were far better fixed by conventional methods.
What a sham!
the issue with the college was perfectly summed up for me from a meme I saw on reddit once. it showed a picture of an orc wearing the arch mages robes with the caption "grug good wizard, grug know three spells".
Is that not the while game?
Brilliant hahaha
You need 4 not 3. Unless that's a side quest Im thinking of.
@@prime_optimus you can skip the entry spell if you pass the speech check
@@idkwtcm984 you can also skip the ward lesson with spellbreaker shield
First time I went to the College I went there with the intention of learning magic and improving my skills. About 6 missions later I was Archmage of the place despite only being able to cast apprentice level spells.
I was like, "Really? I'm in charge? Already? I'm crap at magic though....that's why i came here in the first place......"
Peter Badger I would really like having lessons or people that could help you get higher level on conjuration, destruction etc, like students that are practicing outside or something :(
Sorry for bad eng
It becomes more ridiculous when you do the college as a Muscle Wizard run.
I became the archmave with my highest magic skill being around 20 points (restoration iirc), the rest haven't even progressed.
That's kind of why I join and go through the forced guided tour, but then go off and get training in magic from the various trainers there and throughout Skyrim (and Solstheim) before I ever go to the "First Lessons" with Tolfdir. That way I feel like I legitimately learned and grew as a mage, as a student of the College of Winterhold, and so it doesn't feel so out of place when I can actually defend myself in Saarthal or why the Psijic Order would at all be interested in me and my abilities. And when I eventually become Arch-Mage, it feels earned.
I only wish the whole quest-line for the College was handled a lot better by Bethesda. But seriously, all their quest-lines in Skyrim feel cheap and cobbled together. I think they grew complacent and relied a bit too heavily on radient quests, thinking we were too stupid or gullible to know the difference.
I always assumed you got made archmage because the events of the college questline damaged the college's already terrible reputation even further and nobody else wanted the job. I actually kinda liked it when my meathead fighter who almost never used magic became archmage because it almost seemed like a shrewd political move for dealing with the local Nords, and it meant that I basically got to be Ridcully from Discworld.
College of winterhold: *gets roasted*
Bards college: *nervous laughter*
at least the bard's college doesn't make you the head bard a few hours after showing up. they treat you like the player should be treated since he doesn't play anying. you're a gopher and they don't even try to hide it.
Lol dab
@@thomasjenkins7506 Mage which can slain with his magic dragon and make himself more powerful by absorbing his soul... And is chosen one... Decent quality for high position.
Bards college so useless to me I forget it's a faction
at least the Bard's college has more students
"I went to the college to learn, but they turned me to an arch-mage before I even learned Illusion spells"
-Dragonborn, 4E 201
Learning magic is hard? Stupid nords I made it to Arch mage on Flames and Healing alone tch.
To be fair, in the College the Psyjik put interest in you (and nearly everybody knows it), and you were capital in stopping Ancano (literally only you and him in the room). Nothing related to the leading and management qualities of an Archmage, but it's still better than the Companions Guild bombarding you Harbinger while you did nothing more than Aela, which is far more of a veteran than you...
@@NWolfsson with the companions it is explained why they chose you: Fark wasn't the 'leader type' but more of a follower, Vilkas had the brains but also a very closed mind on most things like his staunch opposed behavior towards you or how he felt too much guilt and revenge hatred to even face the trials of the honored dead. Lastly Aela is literally#1 hot head blood boiling wolf bound. She's not really much for 'wisdom' as more so one hell of a fighter and wild child. You're all that remains of the circle at that point and was viewed as 'neutral' glue when there was in fighting. The one to replace Kodlak was supposed to be Scyor(can't spell it sorry) but...well he died. The harbinger must have all of the skills of the circle members which from their perspective: you do, they all excel at one characteristics while you embody them all in one way or another. More evidence of this is found in Kodlaks journal and reasons for his decision.
@@NWolfsson also Faralda is Master Destruction mage...why she no fight more lol only one I don't expect to fight is Colette..cause.... restoration ya know. And the Irony of Alteration scholar Tolfdir getting paralyzed by Ancano smh
More like "i went to the college for the main quest, but they suckered me in and i had to do it to clear my log. even though my favorite word is smash"
Psijic Monk: "Know that you have set in motion a chain of events which cannot be stopped."
Me: *Walks away and forgets all about the College.*
Psijic Monk: "Shit."
That's what bothered me the most like why do I stumble onto this crap in the first 3minutes of the questline. Why not like companions go on a few expeditions then find a book that points to sarthal theeeen the whole end of the world arc can be understood
@@SoraTsubasa it’s just a shame that Bethesda thinks everything has to be handed to you, that you need to be the savior in every situation. Why can’t stuff be earned? Why can’t the pain OC order only approach you when you’re worthy? It’s just frustrating
@@MrSkeltal268 the only time it was appropriate to make you the one in charge was with the dark brotherhood
(Because everyone else is dead)
@@nathanielgarza9198 And also because one of the gods the Dark Brotherhood worships is only willing to speak to you
I feel like it wasn't meant as the conventional "learn from professors" kind college, and more like "social club for the magically gifted".
More like the universities of antiquity honestly. Reminds me of how the Library of Alexandria worked
Mystic-Malevolence I saw it as more of an organisation of scholars, with the elders naturally helping out new scholars. Less a strict student-teacher relationship.
Mystic-Malevolence sounds like a private college lol
Mystic-Malevolence even so you almost can’t train your magic in the college the only thing you can do is cast spells in the void, which don’t train your magicka
That was actually the original meaning of college. They were essentially research institutions, the presence of students was incidental.
"Hey, you, new guy, run a couple errands and you're archmage. Deal?"
Two days later, wearing the kick ass archmage robes:
Farengar: "If you got the aptitude, you should go to the mages college of Winterhold."
Dragonborn: "K"
I feel like giving farengar a slap only a dragonborn could give
@@gavinpoley2314 the good old FUS RO DAAH! :D
Wait a second, does he say ‘aptitude’? I always thought he said ‘attitude’.
is farengar high on skooma or what
to be fair, farengar is an asshole, so it's in character.
It's been 200 years since it collapsed and the bridge is still broken. Conjure up a hammer and fix it already.
lol..... senile scribbles much?
Ahaha senile scribbles.
Also it was only 80 years wasn’t it?
I get that joke.......senile scribbles
Dude actually expected Skyrim fans to not get a reference from a Skyrim video
Wise Ferret senile scribbles eh?
*Literally my life*
Wake up
Get ready
Go to school
Take a couple classes
Dont learn much of anything because its only one day
Principal dies
*becomes principal*
Makes sense
Skyrim in a nutshell tho
Seems legit
Seems legit, the principal of my high school couldn't even write on the chalk board (or black board?). Maybe that's why we saw him once in three years.
Just be glad you weren't at the White House when the president dies.
You would think they would fix the fucking bridge after 90 years
At least throw some fucking wooden railings up for Talos' sake! I've actually died falling off of it due to accidentally hitting Q while waiting for the high-elf with pigtails to trundle her ass up the stairs.
Just fucking conjure up a hammer and just fuck rebuild that shit
Harri Phd
That spell doesn't exist....yet. ;-;
What about Fallout4? You would think after 200 years someone could have found a broom and some fucking paint? Some if the cities in Europe were bombed into fucking rubble 70 years ago, they were rebuilt.
Goro
Someone should conjure up a fucking Hammer and fix the goddamn bridge already.
Did ya get the reference
The amount of times my pure mage low level character straight up died in Saarthal isn't funny Tolfdir.
I accidentally power leveled my character, while trying to level my sneak to finish the “diplomatic immunity” quest. Once I had, like, level 95 sneak, my level was so high, that my enemies were *leagues* stronger than me. I couldn’t even defeat the first draugr in Saarthal. Lesson learned. Don’t cheat the game.
@@arcader8138 it's worse too if you play on legendary and don't have good health lol
Dude idk if it's due to one of the mods I have, but, remember the boss that has the staff of magnus? Defeating that ducker at lv35 was impossible, if you got remotely close, as in, close enough to acknowledge his existance, shock damage would just apply to you over time, in fact, I lied, cause that shit still applied to you even if you were behind a wall, plus the dude summoned a storm antronach, and I was playing in master
@@mk-ul5tv iirc that was a dragon priest, and all of the (non dragonborn dlc) ones are level 50 so it makes sense that you struggled
@@aradia9726 thanks for giving my suffering validation, to kill that fuck I used every potion, every venom, every arrow, I had to cheese him, there was just no way, even with shouts like become etherial or slow time
The college should've taught you all spells through quests. Books is so boring and unrealistic in terms of the world setting. You litterally cast two spells in the college quest line and that's it.
Or give you repeatable Quests where you could earn the Gold to buy the books in the first place. Like pretty much any other guild.
Even more both of those spells are provided for you if you don’t already know them. And the first one can be skipped if you pass the speech check
@@MrMitchbow yeeeeaaah. By the time you have the speech and perks to pass that check, the measly amount they ask for the spell its so miserable its basically useless to waste time in checks
@@MegaAgamon Put the problem with that is obtaining gold is so easy in Skyrim that you'd only need to do at max 5 side quests and between the gold from them and gold from the loot you got you'd be able you buy all the spells you want/need for you build. So unless they made gold harder to obtain I.E made valuable items rare and non enchanted items only sell for at max 100 gold and made the spells cost thousands of gold.
*literally
My problem with it is tht you become archmage, and it means nothing. Not once do any of the letureres or ANYONE ask you to make any descision that is relevant to the running of the college. I am not suggesting getting bogged down in book keeping, but just every now and then doing some Archmaging.
Lmao right, I remember accepting Onmund's request, then finishing the storyline without following up on his side-quest. I became Arch-Mage, then talked to Enthir and he was still talking to me like I'm the retarded apprentice who wants Onmund get his amulet back. Learn some respect, boy.
It means you can take free stuff from archmage quarters without stealing it :)
K L That’s what I call the Guild Problem. You become the leader and never have to make a single damn choice
I mean, you also didn’t have any responsibilities in Oblivion so I don’t see your point...
Honestly think a dragonborn/adventurer shouldn’t be able to become archmage... it’s like becoming Jarl.
Honorary master title or something should be good enough
I did find it interesting that after progressing to 50 restoration without doing the college questline, a prospective student approached me and asked me to demonstrate how to use wards for his entrance exam. I used a ward while he attacked with magic. Then Lydia killed him because he shot a firebolt at me. I shrugged, looted him, and left his naked corpse in the middle of the streets of Whiterun.
This is why I leave Lydia at Breezehome. She can take care of my house while I do the killing.
@@shadowstrider5033 lydia is the best steward, though. that aggressive behavior is perfect then.
I was once getting out of Winterhold when said guy came to me asking the same thing. As soon as I started casting my ward, a dragon appeared and started attacking me. It was very frustrating
Amazing how after all these years I still haven't encountered this
Thomas Jenkins I married her lmfao
Does anyone else find it incredibly lazy that the player character so often is made the leader?
I'm a stealth archer. I don't want to be fucking Arch Mage. I joined the college largely because I wanted to complete the question, and going through the questline is necessary for getting some of the shouts.
Leave Mirabelle alive, and make _her_ the arch mage.
I mean it’s the case for ever guild/faction in almost every game. It is what it is. These missions are clearly designed to be played by a character of the specific type. They barely finished the missions and dialogue they had, I wouldn’t expect them to have branching paths depending on your individual skill distribution. I’m more upset that you don’t get anything for ever being in charge. It would be cool if you could send groups to go do an expedition with you like the case for sarthaal, or recruit members in random encounters or people you have built relationships with through other missions elsewhere.
@@Theevilrhino the only benefits from leadership is being able to take certain things items from a specific room without it counting as theft. even then, that will only stop a player doing a good guy playthrough. i doubt anyone will sell the daedra heart you find in kodlaks room (why would he have a daedra heart lying around anyway?)
god same, i also don't like it in the thieves guild and the companions (tbh i dont really remember id the dragonborn became the ""leader"" in the end, i don't join the companions very often). i don't wanna be no boss, i came here only for the main quest/shouts. at least in the dark brotherhood the night mother is technically the leader, instead of the dragonborn...
they could've given a choice if you want to become a leader of some fraction??? u get extra benefits if you do (for examples thieves giving you some gold they've stolen if you're the thieves guild leader, not only when u have the nightgale armor on) and if you don't want to be the leader, then you just chose not to be and another npc is the boss
@@Theevilrhino Not quite true. You can't be the leader of different factions in Fallout. Couldn't when I last played it anyway.
@@satinizer8021 There's also the fact that you're approached to join the apparently illegal Thieves Guild. You could have no stealth perks and be a hulking brute in full Ebony armor with a huge battleaxe strapped to your back, and stupid Brynjolf will say you're a thief.
No magic build = "Youre the archmage now"
Harapeko I only joined to get all the masks
Has warrior build and only uses healing spells. "apparently one of the best mages"
I mean as Dragonborn you're the master of the Thu'um which is technically a school of magic.
@@FilmsNerf2 are you though? you can beat the game with just 4 shouts: unrelenting force, whirlwind sprint, dragonrend, and clear skies. they are all just handed to you, too.
@@thomasjenkins7506 fire breath. Which is also handed to you
I always thought the whole College of Winterhold was underwelming. Even aesthetically it was dull. It seems so cold and uninviting.
Surely a Mage’s College should have magical fireplaces and a cozy interior...not the ‘classic’ Nord architecture.
I expected it all to look like the arch-mage's garden but no, fuck me for wanting a nice anything to look at in the north of skyrim
Giant Miniature Space Giraffe
Well, the North is a cold and inhospitable place. Of course people would want their homes to be as warm and invit.....oh wait, as cold and miserable as the outside.
Damn stubborn Nords.
I hated the inside a lot I walked inside and it had one room for study and a few generic rooms for its students I was like what is this SMH. But then like the quest line wasn't even dope it was just ight
Twice19 That’s why one of the first mods I got for Skyrim when I got it on ps4 was a mod that changed the college. It was always so boring before. It’s nothing insane or anything but the stuff it adds was really needed in my opinion.
Drew 38 Yeah
The reason there are only three students is because Tolfdir used the rest as meat shields while fighting draugr
It made me laugh how he told a new student in the college to go ahead without him and explore a dangerous ruin more
"Not everything is a competition, you know."
- "Ohh, but you are wrong. The only reason you could disagree, is because you're losing so badly, you cannot see it."
To me, J'Zargo is the best aspect of the College, period. x) Somehow amongst the approximately or archetypally written and acted characters there is this gem of perfect balance between sass, pride and charisma.
best character in the college, and one of my fave followers 😍
Yeah. He's a tosser. An arrogant little clown mumbling non-sensical drivel thinking it's profound and highly applicable; and all the intellectual wannabes fall for it. Ha!
Clown planet 🤡
first time I heart it I burst out laughing lmao 🤣🤣
I like the arch mages quarters and everything but... Mirabelle deserved to be arch mage more than I did
@Red Red Well, considering there are ways of killing just about anyone, he might of just accidentally killed her. Happens to alot of people, apparently.
EDIT: Well, apparently she does die. I haven't played it, but he doesn't seem to be the only one saying this. Maybe something happened in your playthrough, and she bugged out and survived, lol.
@@jonathandoe1367 yeah, I was halfway done mentally writing a reply. She dies. I've played through the college dozens of times, I've never had her survive a single time. No idea what could even cause that.
When you consider that YOU are the one who dealt with Ancano, Labrynthian, the Eye, the staff, the synod, the caller, and with Faralda and Sergius saved the city and were already third in command it kinda makes sense that you're the new archmage.
@@iami3rian394 Well, it could make sense that you've demonstrated qualifications for defending the college, but that's very different from running it.
@@KarmasAB123 right, so we should have to seal the only other surviving members of our class in a tomb, enthralled to imprison a dragon priest lich for all time because we can't deal with him....
Or maybe insist that the Auger is a fairy tale, but be absolutely nonplussed on hearing that others have consulted him....
Or just be completely oblivious in general to the enemy agent infiltrating the college and capturing quite possibly the most powerful relic in Nirn....
Maybe let the new recruit deal with the city being overrun with magical anomalies the college caused, while simultaneously whining about the negative reputation it's attained....
Or maybe lie about the cause of the great collapse (in game references rather strongly indicate that whatever created the Auger was also the cause of the great collapse.... unless you believe the eruption _two hundred years ago_ was the cause.)...
Perhaps any one of _THOSE_ would indicate the ability to run the college more adequately.
@@iami3rian394 I didn't say the previous guy was any good, but either way that doesn't change the fact that I'm not qualified.
I think the College could have worked better if you had to pass all the master spell quests to become Arch Mage in addition to finishing the College Quest Line
I feel like Master would take a while. Maybe reach Expert level in all of the skill trees, which is 75 for each if I remember correctly?
My biggest gripe with the mage guild in Skyrim was how useless it felt. I personally think all spells beyond basic ones should be taught there and incorporate mini quests that act as classes for each spell. It would make going to the school essential for anyone who wants to be a mage. I also wish they expanded on the quest line and incorporated more of the Psijic order after the events with Ancano.
@@pancakes8670 expert in all but master of one would make more sense I think, like you are essentially a PhD of Illusion now so here's your tenure and job offering of Dean
Yeah like the thieves guild having you restore its former glory which also proves you to be a master thief
My level 130 mage in Skyrim would still be a noob then. Think I'm missing 2 master quests still.
Real talk, when I first went to the College of Winterhold I thought it was gonna be like Harry Potter.
Gosh I thought I was the only one 😂😂😂
Same :/. I was so excited especially because my first character was a magic user. Once I heard of the college I wanted to go there immediately. Needless to say I was very disappointed. Only 3 students? That place was way overhyped and unfinished
Me too bro i was severely let down
There’s a mod that makes the college look less boring 👏
@@AstarionWifey what’s the name?
I always thought Tolfdir, Mirabelle, the arch mage and the librarian were the only staff and the expert mages were more like upper class men
It does seem improbable that a college thousands of years old, which is the only place in the whole country that you can study magic in, would only have a handful of students
Yes, more like the X-men than a university.
@@dzonbrodi514 actually it's *not* all that improbable once you take that fact in the context of in-game recent events. After the Oblivion Crisis, Nords began to trust magic less and less. Add that to the fact that most of those within the Dominion are magic-users and the fact that the College is the only thing left standing after the Great Collapse and you get a recipe for Nord parents who shun the magic found in their kids rather than let them go to the College. And you also get the recipe for why there are so few students and so many younger mages who are being taught magic by not-so-trustworthy people instead of a well-trained person at the most prestigious and well-organized college in the country (because it's the *only* one in the country). So, the recent unpopularity of magic leads to less and less students. This is like going to an unpopular school with a shady history, realizing that there are not many students there, and asking why is there so few students at this place when the reasons are obvious. If things get any worse magic-wise in the Elder Scrolls universe, I'd say that the mages of Tamriel should Harry Potter it up, and study magic in secret, make magic, as a whole be something that next to know one knows even exists. Make the existence of magic be forgotten by the people of Tamriel, and continue their existence in secret, turn it into something that only exists in fairytales and legends.
The lack of students is a big issue for me as well. But the thing that really irritated me about this storyline was the first time I played through: I was an archer/thief character and had no interest in Magic. I managed to get through the whole storyline without casting any spells stronger than the novice spells or using scrolls and staffs when needed. I was then given the title ArchMage with almost no magic training or proficiency. After that first playthrough, I installed the "Immersive College of Winterhold" mod and that made the college better. And at least you can decline to be ArchMage and pass the title on to Tolfdir.
@@dominickd3807 shield + 1 hand heavy ftw
Immersive college of winterhold mod?? What s that??
@@maryblue6071 the title is pretty self explanatory
I used a Blizzard Scroll, but you can guess the situation I used it in.
I never understood this criticism - you could RP a witch-hunter or non-mage scholar. Even if you don't use magic for combay, you're doing very high level magical research in discovering the Eye and killing all these powerful wizards.
Accurate College of Winterhold Experience:
"Oh, hey, its J'zargo. Neat."
"Glowy guy. Huh, neat."
"A skeletal dragon? Neat."
"Guess I'm the arch mage now. Neat."
J'zargo should be the arch-mage. His innovations in destruction magic are remarkable, especially the suicide vest.
If one could make a dremora use it in their stead.
I would have loved a quest revolving around the Great Collapse, what caused it and why 🤔 some kind of big conspiracy
+Ashbee Gaming Agreed
Well, the immersive college of winterhold mod kind of features a quest, which includes travelling into the depths of Winterhold and fighting your way through the ruins of the collapsed city. It is only available after the end of the college questline when becoming archmage, and starts in the midden.
Fafnir Geser and it's, if not scary at least, unsettling. It was also as intence as it could get.
Ashbee Gaming It'S tHe BuGs In JaRs!!!
Bethesda really droped the great collapse idea too easily. Just like "No One Escapes From Cidna Mines" was more or less the conclusion of The Markarth incedent they could have made a quest chain that allowed the truth of The Collapse to be explored and for Winterhold and The College's relationship to be rebuilt between that and rebuilding the town.
I felt like there were too many quests were you're the only one that can save the world from ending. Skyrim was like end of world fatigue.
Totally agree, especially when there's no actual time pressure on you and each of the world ending events just queue up and patiently wait for the previous event to be resolved one by one.
Agreed. You save the world like 3(+?) times. I get it for the main quest, but it feels kind of ridiculous after a while.
@@erodiumminer I think at least 4? Dragon Crisis, Vampires trying to turn everything to permanent night and the Possible return of Miirak and the eye of Magnus.
And every NPC is dumb as shit....
@D. R. Lol 😂😂😂
I wish all the quest in the guild were like the first quest, when you learned how to use wards and stuff like that.
You mean actual magic lessons at the magic college? Absurd!
But, wards don't protect against swords, how'd I pass the companions test?
no please
*enters college*
*saves college and becomes principal*
*enters white house
saves president and becomes president.*
@@sci_pain3409 That's how mafia works
@@sci_pain3409 more like:
*enters white house
watches president being murdered
murder the murderer
becomes president*
Just beat the devil out of it
So I've been playing through Skyrim (again). And I have a theory that the Thieves guild was the most well thought out faction. Because of this, I've been thinking of ways they could have made the other factions just as good.
In order to become guild master of the Thieves guild, you have to do more than just finish the questline. You have to take jobs in other holds in order to establish a presence there. And after doing so in each of the walled ones, and finishing a capstone quest, you get one step closer to it.
They could have done the same with the College. And tied it in with Urag and the Enchanting guy just like they did with Vex and Delvin's quests, this time with the unwalled holds like Morthol and Dawnstar. Find some books here, do enchanting services there, that sort of thing. With each hold having a capstone quest that gets you closer to becoming Archmage. Your goal isnt to be a master of the Arcane, but to re-establish the "good graces" of the College. Each capstone quest could result in a new student, mirroring the vendors in the Thieves guild.
Finally, and additional objective of the Thieves guild is finding the collectibles for the shelf. In the College, this could be something else. Maybe instead of collectibles, it's some sort of Arcane Anomally off the main path resulting from the eye of magnus you have to dispel.
Sure, this basically boils down to "Make everything like the Thieves Guild." But a majority of the factions have the same theme of "Return to Glory." And it all could have made for a better experience.
That would definitely be cool. However, I kind of liked how the reputation of the college remains piss poor and unsavable because all its mages just don't give a damn. The thieves guild wants to reinvent itself and rise to glory again, the college doesn't really seem to think there's a problem with how things are. Being arch age is more like making sure a group of kindergarten students with flame throwers remains within the property lines.
You could literally know 2 spells and become the arch mage....
You literally only need to ever learn: lesser ward, frostbite and flames. The only other time you might need another spell is getting access to the bridge but even that can be circumvented
Squiffles go watch one of ymfah’s video,he became the arch mage without learning any spells
@@Dante101Virgil Yes I am aware of ymfah, but I meant if you played through it without purposefully trying to avoid magic. You could be the average player just using a sword and shield and simply use those spells as and when required and become arch mage. Ymfah takes it to a whole new level
Snape I mean I finished the thieves guild as a mage with like level 22 lockpick 16 pickpocket and 15 sneak...These are skyrim “problems”that aren’t unique to any one guild. You are given honorary titles that mean nothing, attained in a day or two, regardless of your actual skill distribution..I’m just shocked they didn’t let me become a Jarl for more meaningless power
On one of my first few playthroughs of Skryim, I was playing as a tanky, armoured warhammer weilding Nord. To actually get into the college, I chugged an extra magika potion to cast the thing Faralda wanted me to do. Lesser ward, frost and flames, were the only spells that you actually need to complete the quest. I otherwise got through the entire thing by crushing everything with my daedric warhammer. Made some of the fights especially sad.
Morokei who drains Magicka was pretty funny for this reason. Ancano was also a complete joke. He couldn't hurt me because I had also gone for enchanting all my armour to resist all kinds of magical attacks. So all destruction magic was virtually useless on me. Plus I had my health regeneration boosted constantly due to my armour and lifesteal enchantment on my warhammer.
The whole questline is arguably a lot easier if you aren't a mage, because more often than not, your biggest foes will better counter you if you use magicka.
Fancy yourself a mage, eh? I'm more of a warrior myself.
Devansh Kumar i play an mage assasin that focuses on ice magic and necromancy
cool i play an disabled snow elf who is a master in speechcraft
i had you figured for a mage
Devansh Kumar Fancy the bow eh I'm a sword man myself
SiefausOsna you cant play as snow elves
Winterhold Illusion Master: "Am i even invisible?"
Some Khajiit student in the Mages Guild: "its just a prank lmao"
YESSSSSS! Finally someone points out how stripped down the magic options were in Skyrim. As one who favors Conjuration, I felt this hard.
Necromancer magician or summoner?
Still don't get how everyone is a necromancer...mannimarcos staff had a 30 second raise corpse power and was super dangerous and yet the ritual stone raises everyone in 75ft...ridiculous
Call me dumb or Something else, but imo conjuration is one of, if not, the best kinds of magic in skyrim and at least somehow Worth it. Maybe illusion is good for stealth but everything else is pretty disappointing.
@@nuke1863 I feel like conjuration is not that great late game
With the Ordinator mod, conjugation is tons of fun. I stroll in to most situations with an army of skeletons, conjure dremora, and raise the dead to fight for me, all in the same fight. It’s just like showing up and being the ultimate badass. I don’t even lift a finger
I am of the opinion that all the colleges in Skyrim suck as a pejorative representation of the state of higher education these days
Extremely underrated comment
found the American.
Ah man. This comment came off as pompous and pretentious as hell lol
@@gregorybarker8835 which one
"All the colleges in Skyrim"
Come here let me see if I can get those bindings off
+Tom Eccles haahaha
Tom Eccles If you're bound up then you should take some laxatives.
Why fid the college not tell you about the forge? I didnt find it until last year
Come here let me see if i can get those bindings *O N* ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Mega Gaming omg HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
How about ancano, a thalmor being in winterhold in the first place considering it's under stormcloak occupation
The College didn't take sides in the war and as long as he wasn't a prick to them he was as welcomed as any one else allowed in the college. Kinda shady but yeah since no one even trusted him anyways.
Johnny Silverhand he could have traveled through portal possibly
Johnny Silverhand or just threw on a cloak and moved covertly. The storm-cloaks aren’t the brightest.
Early on they fought the empire and nearly won, they signed a treaty the White Gold Condrat I think so they can pretty much go anywhere they please thats why they can capture and kill people without consequence. And the Winterhold College didn't take sides in the war
My theory: He’s been there since before the beginning of the civil war, and has been stuck there for years. He couldn’t actually leave, since he’d be killed. He goes mad because he is stir-crazy.
The college of Winterhold is just shallow - that's it basically. It clearly didn't get the time and effort it needed to be special. It somewhat extends to some of the other guilds in Skyrim too, but COW was definitely the weakest overall.
Aside from just the college itself (and it's questline) needing to be fleshed out you need a feeling of progression. A sense that you are climbing the ladder from a rookie who is just learning and doing basic tasks, up through the ranks and unlocking more privileges as you go.
Start off in a shitty bunk-bed room with 3 other students of questionable quality to begin with and have to work at it to become a proper member. Also I think it may actually be better if they don't always end up making you the guild leader in the end. It's just so unbelievable that you would become the top authority in the sort of timescale we are playing in - especially since you will always be an adventurer primarily and not a school headmaster. As a headmaster there's really nothing for you to do to fill that role anyway, so it just break the illusion and makes you realize the college is shallow and static. It's more than good enough if you reach a high rank second only to the archmage that only one or two rivals hold.
I think a great idea for any guild once you "complete it" is that the leader suggests you have learned what you can from this place and recommends you to practice your skills in the world to grow more. To facilitate this they will keep a lookout for interesting opportunities and relay this to you. This would essentially be a radiant quest type that dynamically points you towards questlines you haven't yet completee. The leader will tell you they have heard about something interesting - say a few lines about the rumor they heard and drop a hint or two as to the nature of it - and then send you on your way. Each guild-type could prioritize questlines that vaguely fit the theme although there's plently of room for overlap. The archmage might suggest exploring a dwemer ruin in the name of gaining knowledge, but the thief leader might suggest the same in the name of uncovering great treasures.
I feel this is a very low-cost way to add more content as it only costs a bit more dialogue. Put a reasonable in-game time limit on it so it's clear you aren't really supposed to chain-perform these quests. Instead the intention is that each time you go home to your guild you will feel that it still has something new to offer rather than being just a static house with a couple of merchants from whom you have already bought everything that was interesting and unique.
Write in some camaraderie and rivalry too for the classic "hogwarts" experience. Maybe some of the initial rookies you join the ranks of also manage to advance at a similar pace that you do. At least it would make it feel like something is changing and progressing, and those characters can easily be spun into sub-plots in various ways.
All in all there's no shortage of thing you can do to make guilds awesome if you just put in the work for it - this one just felt rushed.
This comment is excellent and deserves much more attention.
Perfect example of how radiant quests can be appropriately applied in a way that enriches another part of the game!
I agree becoming leader is a poor choice on Bethesda's part, because there's no way for them to really make that position feel appropriately involved.
I feel like the Factions should also be somewhat encouraging the player to take in their role as Dragon born more actively.
Offering to train you and possibly offer assistance, but all the while knowing you have more a important destiny.
A quest on the main story of the game that opened up optional paths where factions you've advanced with could be chosen to Aid you with the Dragon Crisis would be really cool and it would sort of make the side quests feel validated as part of the heroic main quest and not some distraction.
Given how shitty magic is, especially desteuction magic, is it any surprise the college where you learn magic is shitty?
I remember seeing the COW in the distance and thinking "that's a bit smaller than I expected I'll hardly get any steak for my restaurant"
the greybeards send you to an ruin or
dungeon like you said but to look for a shout idk why it couldn't have been implemented in skyrim too in other factions
Here is an Idea for making better guilds, have them read your stat level and act accordingly. That way you cant be a head of a faction while your still a novice. In Skyrim you can be an Arch-mage who only knows a few spells.
I hated how the game just lets you walk in an run the place in a week. How about some radiant quests to help you level up until your at the required skill level to do a guild quest.
Like Morrowind? TOO CONFUSING is the bethesda excuse
That's a good idea
Seriously it makes literally no sense. Also I love the Companions as I almost always play a warrior but fucking hell your telling me 3 days with these guys and I am the fucking Harbinger their leader and the most respected guy there get the fuck out of here. Same thing with the College, I literally played an illiterate barbarian who got in using shouts and never once used magic. (He used Spellbreaker to get past the ward requirement.) And they made him archmage. And I'm like... Guys this guy cannot use magic are you fucking kidding me?!
mods
I've always wondered if the events of Skyrim happen as is BECAUSE we are Dragonborn. Like we're the person in Kodlak's dreams, or the Listener of the Nightmother because our inborn will to dominate(As stated by Paarthurnax) doesn't always mean it's us consciously dominating things, but the world kinda bends to us regardless. For example, the arrival of Alduin in Helgen. What if the world, or perhaps time, was bent to release Alduin when the Dragonborn was in trouble. That's why Alduin just so happened to attack when he did. Or when the Psyjic Order says you alone can change the future, it's them being bent by the world, or them realizing the that Dragonborn has an innate ability to dominate whatever situation they're in.
Maybe that's a little far fetched, but that's how I rationalize us being able to join and lead guilds like the Dark Brotherhood and Companions, or be the Champion to multiple Daedric Princes at the same time. The world, and perhaps even those beyond, are being bent by the power of Akatosh held within us, and it's why the Dragonborn is often so strong(Like Miraaq, who made a shout to dominate the very wills of others).
So the Dragonborn is a canon Gary Stu/Mary Sue?
@@thesittingtraveller3467 Being a child of the Dragon God of Time has its perks I guess
I will say that the way Bethesda has gone about this before, from what I recall, is that while we as the player get to do all the fun guild things, it canonically isn’t the protagonist doing it - it’s just some random person. So in the canon of Skyrim, the Dragonborn isn’t the one leading the various factions; you just play through them because it’s more fun that way. So in canon, the person who saves the College is just some random person, separate from the dragonborn and the people who go onto lead the other guilds
@@everettw.9610so you're saying our actions mean nothing
@@funnyvalentine4078 I mean, yes and no. If anything, it's a way Bethesda protects the player's choices. In Skyrim, the Hero of Kvatch is barely ever mentioned, if at all, because of this principle. If the Last Dragonborn was also, canonically, the Archmage of Winterhold, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, etc etc, then that is honestly pretty wild and there's no reason that that person isn't as idolized as much as Ysgramor or the likes. In TES you get to choose every aspect of your character, and having the world where your character does everything you could possibly do in the games puts a lot of pressure on the lore to specifically name the Last Dragonborn, invalidating the basic premise of creating a character
A Psijic DLC would’ve been absolutely amazing.
My first character was kindof a "Fuck all I want to do whatever I want" because I wanted to see all the main factions and such.
Got through the whole College of Winterhold quest line with like all novice spells of which I barely used.
Someone with barely any magical prowess becomes archmage because reasons I guess.
Purifyerino Kripperino Me too
That should be something that happens after you get all of the Master spells.
Having started my Bethesda library with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Daggerfall, I've long been aware of the steps backward Bethesda Game Studios has taken with their flagship RPG series.
Removal of etiquette from dialogue, homogenizing skills, removing context specific actions like bashing down doors, removing skill requirements for guild advancement, removing spellcrafting, toning down race specific disposition and attitudes, removing the ability to play a class build or start blank, and on and on and on.
It seems like the number 4 is a cursed one in the games industry, for Bethesda especially. First there was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and now Fallout 4 has fallen flat on its face.
Magic is nearly worthless in Skyrim imo. It needs to be about 5X as strong minimum for me to bother. Enchanting is the only worthwhile 'magic' related option.
Purifyerino Kripperino only spells I use Are Summon Arvak Arniel’s Shade and Fast Healing that’s it
Winterhelm is not a city.
Its three buildings and a big ass building.
Miraak is apparently dyslexic
Oh my fucking god i just realized that i typed "Winterhelm"..
Skyrims a pretty small country. In ingame hours how far does it take to travel from one side of Skyrim to the other? Let's say from Riften to Markarth?
+Pelcogo
I've read somewhere that it only takes you 2 hours to WALK from one end to the other. Like, from Riften to Markarth. Walking. Like, Vanilla walking. No buffs, no nothing. In 2 hours. Meanwhile, in Daggerfall, it took you REAL-LIFE WEEKS to get from one end to the other..... while on a horse.
That's how small Skyrim is.
Geez. I don't even think Breath of the wild is that big.
Skill checks need to come back. You shouldnt be able to complete a mage centric quest line without heavy investment into those skills.
And it doesn't have to be simple "have x amount in this skill" type stuff. You can get interesting with it. Like maybe add a magical bridge in saarthal that requires a constant stream of the Sparks spell to stay active, meaning you have to have enough points invested into magika and/or reduction of destruction spell costs to make it across the bridge. Could do many things like that.
Or potions
But then people would bitch about How difficult it is to Cross a certain bridge when you're a fucking Dragonborn with Daedrik armor and what not. And how "The Game forces you" to put points in Magicka...
People will always have complains.
Collage was too bare for me. It was supposed to be the last place for mages of skyrim to be a learning heaven. And it was built by the SHALIDOR himself. I expected much more...stuff in it. Study rooms full of magical mytical stuff A building for every school. I believe a mod do this amazing place justice. I wished beteshda put more though and effort in such a cool place. 3dnpc mod do skyrim NPC'S jusdice as well. Honestly some people who doesn't even work with beteshda do better jop creating things for skyrim then beteshda themselves.
Not gonna lie, it was kinda bare but I do disagree with a few things:
1) There is study rooms, the library and your own room is full with gems, paper and many alchemy ingredients
2) A building for every school would be cool but, would also be annoying for quests. Let's say you got a quest from a destruction master and they need you to give some fire salts to the illusion master, which they are in their own separate building of teaching. You would have to go into 4 loading screens(Leaving the destruction building, going into the illusion building, leaving the illusion building then finally going back into the destruction building) You might have an amazing PC but others, like myself don't have that(I can only go on high quality which the loading screens are 10-15 seconds(Yes I'm that pathetic :) ) )
3) I completely disagree with this one for sure. All they are doing is adding one, or even two things(Except with the Bruma mod) they worked on an entire team with about 100 people, which by today's standards are quite small (1000+ is what I hear but I feel it's more 300-500)
I can’t decide which quest line I dislike more, the Companions or the college? They are both pretty bland and disappointing.
How did you manage to misspell Bethesda multiple times?
The Lizard Wizard thank you!! I was typing on my phone and english isn't my fist language and I forgot how to spell it. Sorry 😅
beril şevval bekret all good mate 😁
It's such a shame that every Mage, Necromancer, Witch that we run into in the Wild attacks us immediately and has to die because of it.
For the Illusion Master Quest, They could've used the Dawnstar nightmare quest in an effort to reestablish the college reputation within Skyrim's population.
yeah it's actually fitting and if you didn't took the nymera's staff you could recruit the guy who was keeping the staff safe as part of the college , give him a bigger role in the college story like all of this was just a test so that psyjic order can recruit him. in that way if ever TES vi involves the psyjic order again they could use that character.
another thing that i didn't like in skyrim is alchemy , it could've been an alternate to magic. instead of learning fire bolt characters could learn to make molotovs or poison gas vile. throwing it into the ground and burst into flames or poison or ice or shrapnel.
in that way we could create rogue like characters.
Tbh I think most of the guild in Skyrim are average. The pacing is horrible 1 minute you are doing some tedious task the next you are saving the world. Oblivion did the guilds so much better.
Companions were the worst though
Yeah, the companions quest line was almost laughable. Fun for sure the first time you play through it, but once you realize how short it is, it becomes a lot less enjoyable.
At least Oblivion was made by the Bethesda. For Fallout fans we have to deal with people saying Obsidian can do no wrong
Another thing I don't like is how most of every faction minus the college has you swear yourself to a Deadric Prince which completely ruins a lot of roleplay value since an average character wouldn't even consider it. Biggest insult to this is the Theives Guild. Like I'm a thief, I don't fucking care about this Nightingale shit I just want to get paid.
*Cough cough* The fighter's guild was just the menial task league, and the mages guild recommendations were a fucking chore and a half, for yet another rather short questline. DB was better imo tho, as was the Thieves Guild (Because you had to actually steal and pawn enough loot to progress) and I liked the simple aspect of the arena.
I would honestly love it if the college was actually like a college. I wish we had classes to go to and learn. It may be weird but I want a school simulator type thing.
Pond sims
boringgggggg
That’s the exact reason I went to the college. I wanted to become a better mage! You will not believe how disappointed I was to learn that there was an actual questline.
@@jurgenwind Magic is boring?
I think the way lessons and teachers work should be changed. Instead of just advancing you a level there should be perks that are only available through instructors. So if you go to the college and participate in practical lessons and tests, and pass, you get a unique perk. The college could've had a sparing hall or even done lessons around Skyrim.
There's ways to make lessons more interesting than just holding up a ward.
Mods like Ordinator or Sacrosanct showed how underdeveloped the perk system was too.
“I’m looking for a Jizz.....last name Argo?”
Yes I love seanzoz
Yeah your test came back positive
I've got another three letters here for you
ITS J'ZARGO
ITS JZHARGO
*Plays 1 hour of Morrowind with the Redoran House and Fighters guild*
“I did two quests, why aren’t I the leader yet?”
Honestly I felt that while playing Oblivion, as someone who was introduced with Skyrim
Morrowind had it right. You actually needed specific skills developed to certain levels in order to progress through the ranks and through the questline. If you were playing as a warrior and wanted to progress in the mages guild, they would tell you to go level up your magic skills first.
@@SereglothIV and they had 3 skills requirements , so you basically can't advance through with just destruction and restoration skills, which is the most common magic combo in warrior builds.
The College of Winterhold:
"Come to us as a student,
Leave us as a chancellor"
Mages Guild: Hey well teach you a lot of stuff.
Also mages guild: You learned a few spells, did a few things, and now you definitely deserve arch mage more than Mirabelle, or Someone like that
I would have actually loved to see classrooms where the teachers could be found teaching lots of students about all of the different classes of magic.
All of Skyrim had load of potential with lackluster endings on so many quests, and lack luster bosses.
Honestly the only questlines I absolutely felt engaged in were the Dark Brotherhood Quest Line, the Thieves Guild Quest Line, and the Dawnguard DLC (despite all the lack luster bosses as well).
The thieves guild and Dawnguard specifically the snow elves were the most interesting story lines of the entire game
Even the final boss of the game is essentially a joke. You don't even have to attack Alduin to beat him...
Dragonborn dlc was awesome as well
So you can cast a few spells.. am i supposed to be impressed?
Incredibly Undeniable Go cast that fancy magic some place else
*is the dragon born*
*wields the staff of Magus*
*is equipped with dragon bone armor*
*intimidating sword in free hand*
Guard : So you're the new member of the companions? So you, what? Fetch the mead?
You have the hands of a healer.
Funny thing is my character isn't even a mage and the guards still taunt me
Hail Summoner, conjure me up a warm bed, won't you?
To be honest, I had a problem with quite a few of the major factions. Bard's College barely exists, Winterhold College is super bared bones and barely cares if you have magic or not, the Companions try to induct you into their super secret Inner Circle super fast and there is no option to turn down the werewolf blood, the main problem with the Thieve's Guild is how idiotic their introduction is, with the man speaking to you to help him rob and frame other shopkeepers feet away from them in broad daylight.I'm mostly okay with the Dark Brotherhood, even if none of the quests stand their own against the Oblivion quests.
Oh god, the Bard's College. Pretty much every questline in Skyrim has a lot of wasted potential, but the Bard's College especially. It doesn't even have anything to do with music, you're just sent into a ruin to retrieve some stuff, and that's it. The big festival they kept talking about wasn't even a city-wide festival or anything, it was just some backyard barbeque. What a let-down.
I really, really feel you with the Companion questline. I've ended up never doing it because I simply don't want my Dragonborn being a werewolf even if its temporary. Its just something she would never do. Just like turning into a vampire, even for the Soul Cairn quest is something she would never do. Instead I do the soul-trap thing then make a beeline for the soul gem. I ignore everything else until I recover that first.
The thing is, I find a Dragonborn vampire really lore breaking. Vampires are dead. Undead. They have no soul anymore. The thing is that the Dragonborn has the soul and blood of a dragon while everything else about them is mortal of the race you chose at the beginning. My Dragonborn is a female Breton mage for example. Its your dragon soul that lets you do all the special Dragonborn-stuff that you do. Absorbing souls, mastering shouts in moments without effort, being able to defeat Alduin.
A vampire-Dragonborn shouldn't be able to do that. Her soul is gone. She doesn't have one. So she isn't a Dragonborn anymore. Even her dragon blood shouldn't work anymore because its dead blood. A vampire is dead. Blood coagulates and ceases to function or retain the same chemical properties when its dead. So, no soul, no blood. She isn't a dragonborn in any sense of the word as a vampire. Literally just an undead body. We know this because curing vampirism requires a black soul, which I'm strongly implying/theorising is replacing yours to become mortal again.
So..... how does that work exactly if you're cured? You've picked up a replacement black soul of a random person. It 'aint a dragon soul. I suppose the only explanation for that is that Akatosh turns it into a dragon soul again once it re-enters your body. But either way the whole thing doesn't make sense.
Getting back on topic, I don't know really how lore friendly lycanthropy is given you're a Dragonborn. Might be something to research. But yeah all the quests for the guilds seem way too short. And Bethesda still hasn't learnt the difference between "leader" and "grunt."
Yeah, Bethesda seem to have gotten worse on the whole leader/grunt difference if you take a look at the Minutemen stuff in Fallout 4.
@@Niobesnuppa Hey a tleast in the bards college you at least go after a sonnet of tyrannical king.
the bard's college actually makes perfect sense. some person shows up at the college wanting to be a member and doesn't play an instrument? what else are you going to do?
I thought the bard college is worse myself. No achievements. Basically one main quest and three fetch quests. Unless you have mods, no instrument playing. On the bright side, it can be done quickly
Skyrim For Pimps Season 2 had a great arch mage task for the collage of Winterhold, cleaning the toilets (really that Out of Balance focal points quest). I’d ditch them all and marry Ysolda too.
oh, i totally forgot the bard college even existed
Wait there's a bard college. Oh shit right i got told about it from a dark brotherhoos target.
I never even touch the bard's college, that is how forgettable it is lol.
I thought that the end of the Bard's College quest line was satisfying, but getting there was not.
Ysolda has the skooma trade locked down, you would be set for life.
I alway thought the beginning was very promising. The Harry Potter-esque start were they great you in the great hall, then teach you Ward spells and ask you to demonstrate it. That little segment I loved. I know it isn’t a challenging quest but I didn’t really care. I think it needed more of that. I’d say 1 lesson + demonstration per class in between the quests we currently have. Like making an invisibility potion, then demonstrate it by sneaking past someone for alchemy, using a firebolt to hit targets for destruction, use telekinesis to move items between targets for Alteration etc. Just simple tasks like that in between missions would have gone a long way for immersion. + it would pad out the Questline to make it seem longer before you eventually take the archmage title. And yes like you mentioned : random “student” NPC’s running around. That’s all it needed for me.
Finished their questline using sneaky archer build and now i'm an archmage, wtf.
Yeah the problem with some of these quests is that they aren't really dependent on your class. You could rush you're way through the thieves guild missions as a heavy armored warrior if you want.
Pelcogo thats what i did..
Yeah I found it kind of annoying that you can do stuff like that without any repercussions. The game should reward you for being stealthy for thieves guild missions.
CONFIRMED HANZO IS A MAGE IN DISGUISE
You bring up a great point about the master spell quests. How much more immersive would it feel to have Tolfdir be acting Archmage while you are granted the highest non-archmage rank. Then you are able to travel to Artaeum through the aid of the Psijic monk who only trusts you and won't teleport anyone else there, but has decided to stay at the college for a little bit longer to ensure there are no lasting effects from the Eye of Magnus.
In Artaeum you could be confined to a relatively small area since you are an outsider, but you could purchase expert level spells here. The Master Spell quests should also be performed in Artaeum as a challenge set forth by one of the Psijic Monks to proof your understanding of magic. When you obtain the Master Spell you can speak to the College of Winterhold's resident expert in that school and they will support your bid to become Archmage which you can trigger by speaking to Tolfdir once you have the minimum amount of support needed to be chosen.
You only need the support of half of them to become Archmage, but you could get different dialogue based on if you trigger the final step with unanimous support or only partial support. This would let you roleplay as a master of all magic or as a master of just a few schools.
Just my quick thoughts on rewriting the ending of this questline to become so much more epic.
William Mell just remember there was four people working on the game
We need a mod
Zer0 Gaming Actually there was 5, you forgot the Khajit they hired, he mostly showed up high on skooma trying to sell his wares to those who had coin, but he was a huge inspiration that led to the amazingly faithful representation of the Khajit people that the game is praised for to this day.
Fucking brilliant. Sad that Bethesda doesn't hire truly creative people like yourself.
Honestly, I think the number of students is fine. Everything in the game is on a smaller scale than reality, so that doesn't bother me at all. Imo, the real issue with the college is, that there are no actual lectures. I think at least every professor should have one lecture, where he teaches you a spell, just like the very first one you attend.
Generally Ilike the video, but there is just too much of you telling us the story (which we all know) without having said a lot of new things.
Agreed
WlLDEHlLDE especially since magic is a taboo in skyrim.
Otto Ringrose What times are those? I really wanm see that.
Well I never saw those lectures and I sepnd a lot of time there. The only thing related to magic training is that they sometimes come to the hall of elements and cast some spellt against the wall...
The thieves guild was kind of a gold standard for guilds in skyrim, it literally turns Riften, probably one of the worst big cities in Skyrim, into the best one by unlocking the vendors. They could have done something similar with the College restoring Winterhold to its former glory, or another progression system involving separate questlines themed around the magic schools.
>becomes the archmage
>Is both the Master of the thieve's guild and an Imperial soldier
>is a sneak archer and knows nothing about magic
>Still referred to as a talented mage
10/10 writing
I'm just glad many moders out there are dealing with these loopholes and your videos would certainly inspire more moders to do the same thing
So far , Cutting room floor/Ordinator/Immersive college of winterhold or Magical college of winterhold/Spell crafting for Skyrim add more depth to this faction
A simple solution for student shortage can easily be explained by providing plenty of rooms but saying most of the students were either transferred or died recently. It would drill in the fact that magic is dangerous if not practiced carefully
Maybe having a burned out dormitory wing or something, and saying a lot of the students left after the "lusty atronach maid" incident.
While I'm sure that's the point, I feel that would only bring more questions than answers
there is a broken mission in the midden about missing students (daedric gauntlet)
While, yes, that is the case, the College itself shows no evidence they were ever there
Its not actually broken
I think the main issue stems from the fact that skyrim assumes that you're a "sword and board Nord" and so the dev's wanted to make sure that you can always complete the whole game no matter what.
"He has a keen interest in Dwemer artifacts"
I see what you did there
Luke P it wasn’t a pun though that’s what their called
"Secrets" he said "secrets." Not artifacts
>Literally becomes headmaster, knowing 3 spells and having 100 Magicka
Dude just perfected the entire college in 25 minutes. All he'd have to do now is make it a mod or something and the whole faction would be so much better.
I get that this isn’t “ The elder spells: magerim” but c’mon the entire mage aspect of the game probably took like 2 weeks to finish. If you’re going to make a world with magic then it has to have depth or it’s just bland and uninteresting. We all know Bethesda can do better, here’s hoping we get questlines for the mage guild and all the other guild that are more comparable to the main story in length. Also yea where tf is everybody in like every Skyrim guild or even some cities for that matter? 10 people isn’t a city, it’s a large household. I honestly think everyone would prefer generic civilians or whatever stand in name over empty places cause at least it’ll feel populated
hell, the companions guild is even worse. how is there only 1 branch of the companion guild even though they are the founders of the nation and are considered the pinnacle of nords? you'd think ulfric would be jumping at the chance to set up a branch in windhelm. as you said, this isn't magrim. i don't expect nords to be lining up to learn magic, but you think they would be lining up to follow in THEIR GOD'S footsteps.
I think pretty much every guild would had worked far better if they didn't try to sell you how awesome they are at every turn.
The entire college questline would work if, instead of having several professors and even an Archmage, was just a bunch of wizards that took the college as a refuge. With the 3 "students" just being the newbies.
Would even make the ending of you being "the boss" work because the title wouldn't be so much a "you're the best wizard around" but a "we respect you and want you to lead/represent us"
You can read the colleges original story line online, it was supposed to be a lot deeper and better, but because of time constraints they had to cut basically all of it.
2 weeks is a very naive estimation. Game development is very time and labor intensive just for basic features. Some games take a year or more just to get movement working. In in the months leading up to release Bethesda employees were working overtime crunch hours. And they're one of the more lenient companies with a very high employee retention rate. Other companies work much harder and pay much less.
This isn't to say don't criticize video games, because c'mon. Ain't no game been perfect. But don't diminish their effort. Its a hard job. A lotta man hours go into failures.
@@hvw2377 I have lots of respect and sympathy for the devs at Bethesda for sure. Don’t take what I say as a jab at them, it’s a jab at the corporates who look at this content and decide it’s ready and fit for release. Those devs are absolutely capable of making something 10x better if given the time and it’s the job of the people overseeing the games development to give it enough time to make something fantastic not to cut things off early and send out mediocrity. My heart goes out to the devs who suffered crunch and generally shit conditions but that doesn’t change the fact that someone at bethesda made the call to shaft certain parts of the game either in terms of resources or time and they deserve getting shit on for it. If you can make something great but it takes another 3 months instead of the standard 1 month they should invest that for their consumers and just for the overall product. That’s my point, let’s hope we see more of those pro-consumer decisions with the Microsoft acquisition
Skyrim felt almost like a wasteland sometimes. Such a huge province but there's only like nine small villages. The "Cities" have like 50 people in them max.
Engine limitations Physics break when their is to much NPC's in a cell,
All because of the stupid consoles.
It's quite amusing when you compare some of the holds too.
Like I'm supposed to belive Whiterun is under threat when dragons reach is a literal fortress, while Falkreath is a cemetery with some log cabins....
The Labrynthian is an amazing dungeon especially as a mage build. One of the best
If u calculate how fast u can get the archmage than I understand why there are almost no students (they are all bandit mages after 1day in the college)
If only you could join the psijic order after becoming archmage of the college of winterhold and then do quests for them. Kind of like how in oblivion you did quests in each of the mage halls before joining the arcane university.
Except the whole philosophy of the Psijics is non-interference, if you joined them you'd have to sit on an island philosophizing for the rest of the game...
I highly doubt Psijic monks stand idly wondering why a leaf has fallen from a tree... they're powerful mages, they can stop time, they can probably reenact events, fight beings from other dimensions, control magic too unstable, see into the future, teleport on whim. They're not the fucking greybeards! if you want to compare, I'd say they are like... Doctor Strange, but more isolitionists. Recovering artifacts, investigating magical anomalies, interfering in events that could end Nirn, all that could be their daily routines.
All evidence in the game suggests they are more like the ascended Ancients in the Stargate franchise - super-powerful beings who do not permit their members to use their powers to interfere with the natural progression of the universe.
Indeed, it is the unnatural ones I was refering, the extraordinary exceptional events that require their input. They're so powerful they know everything that's going on in Nirn and other planes, unlike the greybeards, which is why I cannot seem them as true Monks, sure they could train their discipline and live an ascetic life, but why though? Magic is perfect, wonderful and dangerous, why the most powerful mage conclave would shun most of their powers is beyond my keen, perhaps it is that their magic is too unstable? or Nirn isn't ready for it.
It is usually the "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" adage that underpins the philosophies of such fictional groups/beings. While they have great power there is essentially no way for them to be certain their use of that power would be for "good" rather than for "evil" because reality is complex and multifaceted (and "good" and "evil" are subjective ideas). See also Parthernax's (sp?) questioning whether defeating Alduin is ultimately the "right" thing to do. Or consider if some ultimate power had prevented the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth. Thus the only way to prevent themselves becoming tyrants is to abstain from using their powers except to prevent others from using similar powers.
Hell, I'm still trying to figure out how ice wolves in the area are more dangerous than the two dragons I fought on the way to the college. 🤷🏻♂️
I was actually really hyped for the rest of the quest when I did training with tolfdir (casting a ward as practice)
That was exactly what I was looking for, actual training, tips and improvement to my magic.
The last one certainly happened but the rest just felt like any other quest.
You can even become an arch-mage without actually being a mage.
My 50th level archer/thief, goes through the entire questline, using only bow and 1h sword/dagger.
Occasionally casts detect life, which she can hold up for the entirety of 2 seconds (mostly because she didn't bother to go grab Aura Whisper yet).
Kills Ancano by DPSing him with ebony arrows.
"The Psijic order truly thinks that you are the best candidate for the position of the next arch-mage"
... Thanks? Though I do think that perhaps you were secluded on that island of yours a bit too long, if I am really the best candidate you can think of.
They could've done it so that your rank depends on your level of skill with a certain school. For example, you have to reach mastery of one of the schools to become a graduate, then you have to have all four schools maxed out in order to be recognized as the arch-mage. Would stop the above stupidity where you can become an arch-mage as a 2H weapon specialist tank.
I mean that’s the case for every guild...
That's what Morrowind did. Specific skills at certain levels were required to progress through the questlines of various guilds. Otherwise they would tell you to fck off and practice more before bothering them.
Kinda like the thieves guild thing where you get the master armour after you restore it to former glory by doin boring and repetitive quests
I like to tell myself that the Psijic order decided that as an Archer with all of three spells I'm the least likely to blow up the remainder of Winterhold and that was all the qualification needed.
"From noob to archmage superfast"
Well this is with everything in Skyrim. It is like every damn faction is waiting for the new rookie leader.
"You're now the arch-mage!"
Me, who is decked out in Daedric Armor using nothing but a Greatsword throughout the entire questline, only using magic and staffs when I had to: "Neat"
I feel this, i know its a year old but i just fuck around with heavy armor and a Greatsword only spells i know are armor and healing spells
I'd like to address some points:
I don't really think you could even consider the player character to anything even remotely close to a novice. Yes, the Dragonborn may not have spells available beyond the novice ones and they may be on a low level with low stats, but still they will just fight their way through all the Draugr alone in such speed, Tolfdir was having problem catching up to them in the already cleared hallways.
The thing about the Dragonborn is that they have an insane amount of potential, accomplishing things impossible for individuals(clearing entire Nordic ruins, bandit camps, covens, rogue mage lairs, platoons of enemy soldiers, etc.), people even sometimes call you insane for planning to do the quest alone.
There are even some characters who indeed realize the Dragonborn's potential pretty early, like Mercer mentioning he knew he will have to fight you eventually himself the moment he met you, Kodlak recognizing your potential, Tolfdir going on and on about what a brilliant youth you are, etc.
So the couple of guys from the Psijic Order going out of their way even against the general opinion of the members to guide you to the right direction makes sense. It is not the entire order having faith in you it's the fact that only these couple of members having any faith in the possibility of this crisis an be even resolved at all by the people while the rest thinks "these regular plebs will just nuke themselves because those cavemen are just too derp to understand our greeeeater and vastly SUPREME perception".
In the book quest only one book had information about Saarthal and even that was just a history record about elves killing everything, then Ysgramor coming back pissed and thirsty for blood with the original Companions. It would have made sense if it were more than 3 books tho but then Urag would have been pissed beyond measure most likely.
Ancano most likely suspected that something big is under Saarthal or even knew that it's the Eye of Magnus. The Augur of Dunlain even mentions that he was there asking questions about the Eye. It is also suspicious how did Ancano knew the exact methodology of activating the Eye with no former preparations and he went straight to start using it instead of asking for reinforcement from the Thalmor to claim it until further orders or higher ranking mages come. The Thalmor has it's own hierarchy with certain people being more AMAZINGLY SUPREME than the just averagely supreme plebs after all, so someone like Ancano normally shouldn't have had the authority to operate it unless having direct orders.
I personally don't think the Augur needs more to be spelled out about him.
-Wanted UNLIMITED PAAAAUWAAAAHHHHH!!!
-Had an magical accident.
-Became UUUUUNNNLIMITED POOOOOOWWWAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
It is interesting however how can he recover energy. The Ideal Masters are basically the same thing but their existence expends magicka, meaning they need to consume souls with as low loss on profit as possible. Since the Augur is the central figure of the Restoration Master quest it may be possible that he is ascended similarly to the Ideal Masters, but he used the means of Restoration and maybe Alteration(Tolfdir being a friend of his) instead of necromancy and conjuration.
About Savos' past the College storyline revolves around the theme of the volatile and dangerous nature of magic. In your first encounter with Tolfdir he is lecturing about that and teaches a ward spell, in the ruins you blast through the ancient dead with magic, then you run into a Gauldurson and a quest begins that revolves around how maddening and corrupting great power can be, there is a scrapped sidequest with the dialogue left in the game about missing students, who you'll found dead because they couldn't control their spells properly, the Augur of Dunlain paying everything he had for power, and Savos losing all of his friends in their pursuit for knowledge and power.
Savos' comment about another student being incinerated most likely refer to those sweet and hot flame traps commonly used in Nordic ruins. With the high death rate by magical accidents and traps, combined with his age, he had students selfdestruct so much he is desensitized...
Well that ended up being quite long...
I actually liked the quest for the master level conjuration spells (which also happened to be the only really cool master level spells imo)
Beating a Dremora Lord until he stops being stubborn really is one of the best master quests, especially when random thugs and A dragon shows up during the mission
I almost always have a permanent storm atronach or two ready for when dragons appear. They can hit the dragon in the air while the other types fail.
That said, I will often have a flame out as well due to the Frostfall mod and a patch that makes the flame atronach count as a bonfire. Just too bad that 95% of the time their fireballs will miss a dragon in flight.
Imo, these are two of the most useful spells in the entire game.
So, I went back and started playing Skyrim a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to see how it held up now that I've experienced games like Dark Souls and Witcher. Here are my thoughts.
Pros: The game is still tons of fun and a great time killer. The game has this sense of openness that no other game I've played has, you can marry, cut wood, be a vampire etc, even if the game does these things in flawed ways, other open world games don't do this often. Until another game comes through that has Skyrim's level of production and does this as well, I will keep coming back to Skyrim to play this way. Not only that, however, Skyrim's magic system did make me feel like a badass mage whereas Dark Souls magic system feels like you're a complete novice even when you've maxed out INT, because there's no difference between a lot of its spells.
Cons: The writing is INSULTINGLY lazy in 95% of the game's quests (non dlc, non mod). Oblivion has one of my favorite questlines EVER, in the Thieve's Guild questline, and one of my favorite individual quests ever, in the Whodunit? quest. Base game, Skyrim has NOTHING that lives up to that. The best questline in Skyrim's main game is (to me) the Dark Brotherhood, which is just meh. Not only that, however, the game crashed on me SEVERAL times (without the mods fixes). In 2018!!!! That is unacceptable.And also, minor problems plague the combat, such as shields being useless and things like that.
Without mods, the game is a solid 7/10 for me, as long as gameplay isn't the focus for you, like it is in a game like Dark Souls, and you focus more on exploration and character building.
WITH mods, the game is a 10/10. The modding community has basically fixed all of my major issues with the game, and ENBs make this game one of the most beautiful games I've ever played.
I'm not a Nazi Mmk?
Also it's comedy heaven
The only way the college of winter hold quest line makes sense is if your character is self taught or had formal training elsewhere because it still annoys me that they’re so willing to make you arch mage so quickly
I thought winterhold was a spell book market
Also, not to mention, the place screams NORDS
I wanted it to scream MAGIC
what?
Ironicly anything else in skyrim screams *CYRODIIL*
In my game it screamed CAN'T WAIT TO COUNT OUT YOUR COIN! @@powerthunfischdesdonners3086
@@ryansmith3448 especialy with magic mods. so many spells to buy with tons of gold
That's what the description for the magical college of winterhold mod said
I always found it absolutely laughable that you could rise to the position of leader in any guild despite not being suited for that guild at all. A lumbering orc wearing crude armor, swinging a huge mace and barely having enough magica to cast the magical lightbulb spell can become the archmage of the College of Winterhold. The same orc character, who couldn't pickpocket a corpse, can become the leader of the Thieves Guild, a guild which emphasizes sneaking and being careful. A frail mage dressed in robes and carrying a dagger at best can become the Harbinger of the Companions and be armed with a two-handed axe of legend.
It wasn't even like these guilds were exclusive to each other. You could join all guilds, become the leader of every one and the others wouldn't even notice. Just like being able to become the champion of every Daedric Prince, wielding their most powerful artefacts and acting in their name.
It's like Bethesda wanted gamers to not make any choices at all. In Gothic 1 and 2 you choose a guild or group and that's it. That group defines what you will play as and there's no going back. Playing a mage will require a new game. In Skyrim you can basically complete the entire game in one go if you're really obsessive.
basically
Skyrim: "Enchantment!"
Morrowind: "Unlimited.. POWER!"
I was playing as a two-hand melee warrior and have become the archmage wich gave me some cool, but useless, clothes that later on i used to level to 80 trought spamming illusion spells in front of my house. I was pretty exciting.
Every Faction in skyrim is pretty lame :D companions=70%random Quests, College=Visit 2 Big Ruins and Become Archmage,DB=okay but i like it more in Oblivion,Thives:same as DB but you get a nice set of Armor,Mainquest:Delphine ruins it for me lol,Dawnguard: i dont like Vampires so joined the DG it was nice until i got forced to take serana with me.Why? I joined the DG because i dont want any Vampire Companions.Dragonborn:Really Fucking Good..Dont get me Wrong i love this Game but skyrims Quests are Really Bad Imo
I completely agree. Skyrim is BAD
Max Frank I couldn't agree more
Agreed....In Oblivion you had to earn your way to the top in a guild, shitty quests and pay in the beginning, with you getting more responsibility as you advanced in rank, but in Skyrim you're like the highest ranking dude after a couple quests
You actually get to cure her at the end of the quest
Max Frank dawnguard and db were the best in skyrim .
Of Course they cant train more than four students at a time when all the old archmages like Shalidor tend to return from Aetherius whenever they feel bored, or hang around in some ruins and so on. If they would have trained lots of mages all the time no farmer in Tamriel could tend a field without having to kick some archmage (in some stage of immortality) out of the way every few steps.
best excuse.
To be fair, Neloth basically calls every single mage in the college a child, not even the archmage was fit to be his student. If mentioned that you are the archmage, he puts his current apprentice ahead of you and tells you to come back when he's done with him, and only then, a few decades later, will he teach you a thing or two. Combat-wise, I'm also pretty sure his apprentice knows stronger magic than the archmage too lol.
Neloth himself is ridiculous. In Morrowind he was a grumpy and cruel old man. His role in Skyrim is based on Divayth Fyr or Baladas Demnevanni or Aryon, other Telvanni masters.
Whoever wrote Neloth in Skyrim never played Morrowind. And it's awful.
Psijic Monk build?
Wild Productions Yes! there robes are pretty cool
Would require mods and/or console commands.
with the ordinator perk overhaul mod there is a perk you can take that makes it so that you have spell slots and that the spells you cast use the spell slots instead of magicka so that would be one way to combat that issue
The reward after completing this questline is also rather lame. if you play a pure mage, the archmage robes & Moreki mask are quite useful, but otherwise being archmage is meh. I use a "simple teleport" mod that mimics the idea the Psijic give you a reward. the ability to Mark 10 spots around skyrim & transport to them. Adds some immersion, without breaking the gameplay.
Isn't that the Vancian Magic in Alteration tree? I feel like if a person is gonna be a strong caster type, getting that perk early is a bad idea. Best to get it when you already have Alteration at level 90 or 100 to complete the tree. But that's just my thoughts on it.
students have a high mortality rate ... conjuring dremora setting themselves on fire failed skeever armys turned rabid
don't forget getting disintegrated...
Or get turned into whatever down in the sewers under the college.
I Like how you can become an Arch Mage by only know a few novice spells.
In Morrowind, the Mage Guild had standards. They wouldn't promote you unless you had the appropriate skills and attributes. It's Sad how low the bar has been lowered during the 4th era. Shame.
Right up until the reveal in the College of Winterhold questline, I was holding onto the possibility that Savos Aren was the antagonist betraying his fellow mages, and that Ancano was, despite all appearances, genuinely trying to help. I was incredibly disappointed with the reality, but I often role-play this version of events anyway.
Should have the option to become a necromancer.
Yeah. The perks are boring. More duration and 100hp.
Zephyre Razortail and the robe you get isn’t that good if you have the dawnguard dlc
Destruction magic is far better
I wanna hear about the problems not a 10 minute walkthrough about the story I already know...
Yeah to be honest I would’ve preferred a brief summary of the quest and then actual critique.