You don't have to join any faction to complete the main quest.

Some recent examples of people who just can't be bothered to read the thread before replying. No wonder that people can't seem to find the options available to them. They just follow the easiest path. In game it's blindly following the quest markers, picking the easiest choice and here it's basically reading the OP then replying without noting that they've already been proven wrong

Um, no...did you actually listen to what the NPCs were saying? There is a very specific sequence of events there. Dragonborn is a title, not that you were actually born that way...at least I don't THINK my Kitty is the descendant of the human emperors...

To the people who complain about having to steal for the Thieve's Guild to find knowledge of Esbern, you're wrong. You can ask a few NPCs around town for the information. The argonian lady in the Bee & Barb will tell you what you need to know. If you're stealing for the Thieve's Guild, it's your own fault for not exploring other options.

So in conclusion, TES VI needs more quest markers? :lmao:

I guess people are still not reading the thread.

You don't HAVE to join either guild.

This one can be circumvented. There is another way.

I didn't see a problem with it.

There were contacts within the Thieves Guild that could help you. In order to get their help, you have to do a favor for them.

Makes sense to me.

Sometimes, in life, you have to do things you don't want to do in order to accomplish what you want. That's not "immersion breaking" or compromising roleplaying. If anything, it enhances roleplaying. Not every situation in life puts you in a neat little box to "act out in character", sometimes you have to make decisions that go against what you might believe in or want. And the same is true in Skyrim.

Yeah this was quite fustrating to me. Especially because I role-play. My characters are always separate, Warrior/Mage/Thief, unless I'm role-playing a battlemage or something. On my Assassin/Archer he is a purist and won't touch magic.



I guess you've got to do things in life you don't want to do haha. It's just that it ruins my role-play characters purist style of no magic.

Well really, Bethesda did this by adding a quest marker to specific places/individuals. They encourage mindless following instead of intelligent problem solving.

Imo, a quest marker should lead you to the right town. After that, you should simply be able to ask anyone you meet about the problem until you find somebody who knows, or are given the area in which the person you're looking for might be found - to which end you can ask for directions once you get to town.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution got this aspect right. You're given an objective, but you aren't given such great directions there ie. you won't get specifically highlighted doors etc. It encourages you to find one of the many other entrances to your goal.

Rofl, I like this guy/girl...

You are not forced to join the Thieves Guild.

You are not forced to join any guild.

I agree. I wanted to find out about an 'unusual gem' I found, only to travel to Riften and discover that the woman I need to talk to won't have anything to do with me unless I'm a full fledged member of the Thieves Guild which totally goes against how I'm playing my character. Ugh.

You mean the gem you stole from the Jarl of Whiterun? Makes perfect sense to me.

Actually, no. I didn't steal it from anyone. I got it legitimately after doing quests for the College of Winterhold.

I got my first gem from a necromancer in a dungeon is was dropping people down pits and rising them from the dead.

Heh, well I guess there's more of a demand for gem appraisers in Skyrim than I thought.

Not really. When needing to speak to Tar-Meena in the Arcane University, she simply appeared in the Lobby, and did NOT force you to have to join the Mage's Guild in order to talk to her.

Those gems are a trap to herd you towards the thieves guild. I found a couple just from regular adventuring, no thieving involved, and thought I'd just find an appraiser, but no...

Now I'm stuck with the stupid things in my inventory forever and the quest in my log if I don't join the guild.

So ? People seem to want to be able to choose what they want but they complain about their choice having consequences they don't like ?
She is a thieves guild member and she won't indulge info to people she doesn't trust.
True there could be more than one person available to ask for info about that quest but then again it makes perfect sense that it's a thief who has the info you want in order to do that quest.

"Halt, you may cross the bridge but the gates will not open"

"[censored], Im the Dragonborn, "

"Excuse me sir, go right ahead"

Guess what?

You don't have to join the Mage's Guild in Skyrim either!

You know unfinished quests stayed in your log in Morrowind too?

Just because a quest is in your log doesn't mean you have to do it. This complaint is just... :facepalm:

But it was buried like 4 pages back, I can't be bothered to go back that far!

No it wasn't. Oblivion even made NPCs in the Arcane University sit in the public area when you had related quests where those NPCs would normally be unaccessible. You have to join the Arcane University for the amulet quest in skyrim, I believe the step for the main quest might be skip-able where you go to the college but I'm not certain since I haven't tried. The NPC who you speak to normally is in the college, and given how the quest in the thieves guild makes the related NPC go to the local Inn I wonder why there is this design flaw, why can't the other NPCs go to the inn as well? And why is the same dungeon used for two completely unrelated quests but entirely blocked off by one of them.

I also find it annoying that some shouts are blocked off by guild quest lines as well, I mean the main quest line makes sense that it'd hold some of them back but that other shouts are blocked off is annoying. It'd by like Oblivion making you have to join the Fighter's guild to learn the water-breathing spell... or joining the thieves guild to learn fortify attribute.