the main quest is about being the dragon born. every TES game is about being a open ended world that posses as few restrictions to role players as possible. the op wasn't complaining, he said how he was going to play the game and was wondering how invasive the MQ was going to be in the rest of the game.

You do get their soul everytime, but you dont get the powers unless you search the words from walls with dragon language on it.

Oh, really? Problem solved then.

Still, the point I made earlier stands strong. Like an oak tree wrapped in awesome bacon.

1. I didn't ask you. Sorry.

2. The OP wants someone to answer whether or not we will be forced to absorb a dragon's soul upon killing it. According to what Todd has said about it in passing, I would assume we have to to complete the MQ. Do we have to every time we kill one? IDK
There's a legitimate answer to what the OP asked. That should make you feel better.

More importantly, I want to know the OP's reasoning for caring whether or not we have to absorb a dragon's soul. You can't NOT be Dragonborn in Skyrim. No matter how much you RP, you will still be one. So, from that point, I move to the key point that absorbing a dragon's soul is a boon to the PC. How could that be a bad thing for gameplay, or for the story?

If the OP answers those for me, then that will be fine. Obviously other opinions about it will come up, but I just want to know the OP's reasons.

But is it going to be as dramatic as it is in the trailer everytime we absorb a dragon soul?

cool thats fine if thats the case then. I just thought you were trying to put the op down. but in other regards. you can, not, be the dragonborn. thats what role playing is. I start the game and play it as if I weren't the dragon born the MQ isn't forced and we don't have to complete it in any other fashion than our own leisure. thats the point of roleplaying.

Yes. And bee is right, you do absorb them every time....at least according to the info about it so far. However, Todd has purposely been withholding a full disclosure about absorbing their souls and how it works, as well as its true impact on the player. So we won't know what's really going on with it until they release that new info.

This all just reinforces the point that being a Dragonborn in Skyrim entails certain things happening, like absorbing a dragon's soul when you kill it.

You are also saved from being executed by Esbern. Would you rather him not do that? I'm sure the only reason he thinks you're worth saving is because he knows you're a Dragonborn, otherwise I doubt he'd care.

The world will be destroyed unless the prophesied Dragonborn hero stops it. Would you rather that be someone else? Well too bad, because it's you.

EDIT: @Mirglof - Bethesda doesn't care if you roleplay. There are lines of code in the game that state you are Dragonborn and lines of code that give you the ability to absorb a dragon's soul. So unless you hack the game to change that, you are a Dragonborn, no matter how much you pretend you aren't. I get your point that we should be able to RP, and we can. My point is that there are limitations to that at some point. The rules of the game have to limit you eventually, no matter how much you "RP".

Link please.

I know I wouldn't because then a damn Dunmer would be saving Skyrim instead of a hot Nord chick.

And that would NOT be acceptable. :verymad:

How should I ignore those dragons don't exist? They attack villages, and they won't stop, until the campaign's finished.

Please Bethesda, give people the option to deny the main quest. I should be able to tell Esbern he's insane, then choose to deny the existence of dragons. As in, dragons don't return. Ever.

*Darth Vader voice* I find your sense of humor.....disturbing.

Actually, it's quite refreshing.

No need to be so condescending, TES has never forced a character into any particular role without doing the main quest and I don't think that should change. If I want to play a dragon slayer that isn't "dragonborn the soul eater" then why shouldn't I be able to?

first of all BGS definitly cares about having openworlds/sandbox its one of their calling cards. and having lines of code does not mean no matter what I have to play out the game as the dragon born, you can tell me that how I play the game is wrong but it does not change the fact that when I RP in MW i am not the neverine and when I RP in OB I am not the imperial champion, and when I RP in Skyrim I won't be the dragon born. BGS doesn't force people to play any of their games a specific way, that line of code is just for the sake of the mainquest, in any other context it is meaningless if it is meaningless to the player.

So Dovahkiin is going to stare into the camera and absorb the soul with dramatic effects and music everytime a dragon is slain?

Ugh.....sigh.....no one gets the point, it would seem.

When I refer to you being Dragonborn, let's go under the assumption you will do at least some of the main quest at some point. That would be called completing the game's story. You know, that thing that Bethesda has had people writing up and designing for 4 years? Yeah, that's what I'm referring to.

Now, on the contrary, I can see what the RP people are saying. Oh, I get it. For instance, now that I think about it, I'll RP having one of my characters get frozen in place by the gods after the intro, so that his only interaction with the world will be to spin in place indefinitely. Because I don't want anything in the game to interfere with my ability to "RP" my character. No, in fact, if I have to choose a race when I make my character, then I won't get Skyrim, because that interferes with me being able to RP as a gerbil. :facepalm:

....... :stare: Get the point yet?

For the last time: If you want to RP with no limitations, use your imagination. If you'd like to play a great game made by Bethesda Game Studios, buy Skyrim and play it. You will still be able to RP in Skyrim, but it's not "however you want". There will be rules to follow. And me stating that simple fact is not to be condescending to anyone, it's simply stating a well-known fact that many people here seem to have forgotten.

Read my above post. The point is made clearly there.

And also, who the game is made by does not hinder the ability to "RP". By your logic, I should go play Halo and "RP" that I'm a fluffy bunny instead of the Master Chief.

If you want to mod the sh*t out of your game so you can be a fluffy bunny, then be my guest. For the rest of us, Bethesda has made a great series of games with great stories and gameplay, without the need to "imagine" that the game is different.

^This sums up the thread quite nicely.

I played MW for 4 years before ever completing the main quest, most of the characters I play never even touch the main quest so your assumptio is groundless. if you are suggesting that any TES game is about "beating" or "completing" it. thats fine, thats how it works for you. but you seem to not realize that TES is a game specificly and intentionally made to a standard beyond play it, beat it, move on. your telling people that they are wrong if they play the game a certain way, don't be surprised if people in the community contradict you. any ways, this has gotten off track, your clearly some one who has disdain for role playing and thats too bad.

In an effort to be an [censored] you completely missed my point which isn't about the main story it's about RPing of course if you're doing the main quest you would because the main quest entails being dragonborn RPing does not (necessarily). RP? You know that thing people have been doing in TES games for 15-20 years or so? Giving extremely [censored] examples of roleplay doesn't help your position at all and doesn't change that past TES games haven't forced the character into any particular role and that I think they shouldn't start.

Well, if the Dragon decides to crash 50 feet away from you, I doubt your character will walk over there on his own. I'm positive you take their soul by clicking on their corpse.

No surprises here^

You guys are still being defensive and not listening. Try being unbiased for once and read what I have to say.

Trust me, I could support either side of this issue quite easily, because I don't get ridiculously defensive. As for you guys, apparently not.

The MQ has nothing to do with it, btw. The point is that you can't RP to an unlimited extent, as I described mockingly in my post.

@mirglof - I don't care how you play, and I never said I did. I support Bethesda making good videogames, and I've been trying to tell you that, but you're not listening.

@br0ski - Grow up and leave the expletives out. Accept that RPing means "imagining" something that is not built into the gameplay. Or not. I don't care. I'm sincerely surprised you don't see that, though.

And if this helps at all, you should know I always RP, and I've written my own fan fics for TES. I just happen to know that I have to stay within the bounds of the rules of the TES universe when I do so. That's all I've been trying to say. :shrug:

That is very true and has eased my concern.

could have fooled me I thought you were the one being defensive. since I don't have any POV that enters into this discusion I don't know what I am defending other than the OP's right to have an opinion. your the one who brought up the MQ you assumed that we would HAVE to play it at some point. no one here said that RP had to be unlimited, I am merely saying that if the OP wants to rp as something other than the dragon born he can. and you are some how telling me that is not true and we all have to play the game one way. I will contradict you every time you try to say I or any one else has to play the game a specific way.

I don't know if absorbing dragons' souls is something you get any choice in or not, we know you can do it when you kill them, but Bethesda never said if you can choose to or not, and I don't really care, because if I can choose to, I'll probably absorb them anyway since as far as I see it, nothing is gained by not doing so, and if I kill something as powerful as a dragon I want some kind of reward, otherwise it's just a waste of time.

If I don't want to have anything to do with dragons, I'll just not kill them at all if at all possible, and my hope is that, like Oblivion gates, dragons don't start appearing until you complete a certain stage of the main quest, mostly because it's going to be annoying if I just have to stand aside and watch while dragon's terrorize cities if I don't want my character to be a dragon slayer.



The problem with that is that past games DID force some things on you, they had to, in Oblivion, from the start, you're given the Amulet of Kings and told to take it to Jauffre, you can ignore that request, of course, and under the circumstances, one supposes you didn't have an oportunity to refuse, but you can't tell Baurus to take it to Weynon Priory for you either, nor can you go to Jauffre, give him the Amulet, and then say "[censored] Martin, I'm done working for you, you take the Amulet and find someone else to do your work for you." and then walk off. Or how about Morrowind? At the start, you're released from prison with directions to deliver a coded message to someone named Caius, you don't get any choice in this, you can't say you don't want to do it, though you can go and throw the message in a muck pond or something, but what's more important is that the REASON behind your release, it's because you appear to fulfill certain aspects of the Nerevarine prophescies, you don't know this at the start, of course, but just because you don't know it doesn't mean it's not true, nor does it mean that it's not the reason Uriel Septim released you in Morrowind, you might claim your character actually isn't the Nerevarine but just someone who happens to fulfill a few aspects of the prophecy, but that doesn't really change much, you still get some details forced upon you, details which you have no choice in. Simply put, you never got to choose your character's destiny in Morrowind or Oblivion, at least as far as the main quest was concerned, you could just choose to ignore it, I see no difference here. Sometimes, a game NEEDS to force some things on you, because it's story requires it, the fact that the series uses freedom as a selling point doesn't change that, Bethesda may say "Be anything you want." but that's only because "Be whoever you want, within the limits of what the game allows." doesn't sound quite as impressive.

It saves our ass from Alduin or else it gets the ice again.

Is this a parody of your own unwillingness to see, the role of savior is one role out of a dozen? If I ignore the dragons, they'll attack cities until Alduin wakes to eat the world again. This isn't like ignoring an amulet, which doesn't eat the world.