(This post is under construction, and will be edited to fix spelling and other errors,)


Hello friends,

I used to be an active poster for Fallout 3 on these boards. Anyhow, i havent been active for awhile and i lost my old account info, but i still been reading up on what everyone here in Skyrim forums have been saying for quite sometime now, so i thought i'd throw in my two cents and ask a couple questions while i'm at it.

The first thing i want to say is this: After playing so many of Beth's games i've learned how to take Roleplaying seroiusly. Some of the main reason for anticlimatic game experiences is that people stick to one charactor to complet all the questlines then complain that the game is unbalanced, broken and becoming boring.

Even though this game has been streamlined (dumb down for the masses some would say), you still need that wisdom and discipline on how to play a ROLEPLAYING game to get the most out of this game.

This has to be the CRUX of all the confusion and mixed reactions of this game. Let this point sink into your minds because it can all be summoned up in this adage:

"Your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness."

What am I talking about? Freedom...

Beth's games are ALL about freedom. And it shins like the 12 o'clock sun. However, with freedom comes its greatest weakness: Responsibility. And for so many gamers, that can be an issue and thus comes the clouds to block out the sun, until one comes along to help you rise above it.

So, i think we can all aggree that we all love freedom and hate responsibility. If you need an example, think of what its like when you get your drivers liscense and have a car. You can go out and do anything you want. You can even speed and have the power to break traffic laws when you're on your what to the strip club and may get away with it for awhile. However, odds are youll get a ticket or worse youll crash; otherwords youll face the conseqnces. Thus, you cant blame the DMV for giving you the freedom to drive when you cant be responsible.

You may be thinking what does this have to do with me roleplaying an Orc? As you will see everything but first let me provide some context.



I have made 4 charactors so far in which i play all on Master difficulty and does not use fast travel expect at public trasnportation:

1)The first was just someone to wonder the world and take in the beauty. He was a Nord that didnt have any sense of himself or what he wanted to be so his life in Skyrim was cut short after 30 hours of game time. He died, otherwords i just started with this charactor, did some misc quest, got the feel of the land and then deleted him.

2) My second charactor was also a Nord, and i I played him with my tried and true game play of theif/assassin. I have 120 hours clocked with him. I completed theifs/dark brotherhood and several misc questlines with him and started the civil war on the stormcloaks side but he got burned out on all the killings and war for now. He owns a house in Whiterun and in Windhelm. He currently has 20,000 gold stashed away and is on a long vacation in his big house in windhelm. I'll go back to him after i create some new objectives that will give his life some purpose. In fact, he's considering killing off all the orcs strong holds in skyrim cause they are pro Imperial, so he's heard.

3) My third charactor is a High elf. His sole purpose of coming to Skyrim was to join the mage college of winterhold. He's clocked in about 20 hours. He's the type of guy that simply wants to take things slow and develop his magical powers. He's not too fond of combat so he hired the merc from Solitude that is a warrior/conjure. With his plus the mercs conjure spell he can usually plow through areas to find what hes looking for. However, he's at a place that will require him to get stronger in magic in order to get what hes after. However, he's in no hurry cause all his needs are met thanks for the college providing room and board. Playing a pure mage is very fun and challenging but i'm putting this guy on the back burner for now until i'm done with my orc.

4) Alas, we come to the point in which the whole thread was working up to: the Orc. Now, this is my first time playing an orc. I never had any desire to play an orc in morrowind or oblivion. I just didnt like thi them. However, three things in my travels with other charactors lead me to want to play an Orc. First, when i stumbled across an orc encampment, the orcs said its only for orcs. Ummmmm, i thought, thats something to consider. That happened about the first 20 hours of game time in Skyrim. The second, when i meet that Orc in the wilderness that wanted an honerable death. I thought, ummm, i like thier mind set. The third thing was when i read someones thread on here that the best way to play Skyrim is with a two handed weapon, heavy aromr armor with blacksmithing. The stars have aligned themselves as i will soon discover.

I've played around 30 hours with him. The mind set i had for this orc was this: I know there is orc encampments in Skyrim, thus, my characator crossed the border to join forces. However, he had no idea where to look for these encampments, which will latter be know as strongholds. Thus, he became a sellsword and blacksmith. For 15 to 20 hours the only thing he did was bounties, mining, hunting for leather and doing what orcs do best, blacksmithing. All the while, his main purpose was to find the orc encampments. (I forgot where it was and i refused to go on wiki for the answer, it would break the immersion). Well, one day he strolled over to Markharth (however you spell it) and ran into an orc that told him about an orc strong hold. That was the turning point in this Orc's life.

And from that one strong hold, it lead me to three others: Filled with lore about Orcs, that suggested how Orcs lived, which helped guide following thoughts and actions. Moreover, there are MINES yum yum, for my orc that wants to mine. Now, my orc doesnt have a lot of gold but he has mined enough orish ore to equip all four followers you can get from the encampments with Orish weapons and armor. And wouldnt you know, one of the main quest you get from these strongholds gives you a very nice two handed weapon.

I mean how lucky could i have been in picking an orc that favors heavy armor, two handed weapons and blacksmithing and every one of those have been complemented by random luck and chance by these orc strongholds that i chose to go after on a whim. Its like this game read my mind lol. Moreover, i discovered all this on my own. This surly was a nugget to uncover in the game for me atleast.

Other orcs stories and lore in books in the strongholds have convinced me to join the impire's fight against the stormcloaks. However, my Orcs main source of income is not looting, its mining and blacksmithing. He's not a rich orc in gold, but he none the less feels rich in other areas. Hes equiping all the orc followers with gear that he makes, has to spend a lot of time in the mines working, and gets to go on raids to dirve out the stormcloaks. That truly is awsome.


Closing thoughts:

This charactor has to be my favorit at the moment. Everything that i uncovered was because of little Qs i picked up on and followed through with. It reminds me of Morrowinds quest that didnt hold your hand as you go along. I was and am living it as i go along and uncovered things that i have heared no one else talk about. It makes me wonder what else is hiding underneath the surface. I also left out some things cause i didnt want to ruin anything. But lets just say during one boss fight you have to think outside the box or youll get smashed, as long as your playing on Master. Anyway, this was my story on how finding things to roleplay and not making one Godlike charator that will ruin the entire game cause your just plowing through the content. Casue if you role through everything the gameplay will never change and if you choose to go at it again with a proper charator the surpries will be lost. Also, now that my Orc has a job, mining, i spend more time in epic complex battles then i do with looting bodies after every kill which makes the fights more immersive. And melee combat is just that. Also, i just made a new rule for me, the only fast traveling i can do is from one strong hold to another. This keeps me from being a "City Orc" and thus, it doesnt even feel like im living in skyrim anymore.

So, you are free to choice how you want to play. And dont get mad if the game seems to get repetive or you become over powered. Its your fault, not the games. You just need to become a better driver


***My question to you is this: Does any toher races have such a nice set up to complement different races? If so, i'd like to hear it.

Whats a Chacator ?

i meant charactor...my bad, brain fart :sadvaultboy:

This will be a hard read until i go through and edit it. For now, i hope it gets the point across.

I got your meaning. Yeah, it's a pretty good feeling to try one of the more unique races out only to find out you really like 'em.

Personally I've been considering trying an Orc as well. I didn't give them the time of day in Morrowind or Oblivion aside from a few experimental/brief playthroughs. Would be interesting to roleplay as one but I just started an Imperial mage/rogue type character I intend to stick with for a while.

Unarmed Khajit in heavy armor.

Start bar fights all day long. Fun is had by all!

I have been an orc in all the TES games you can be an orc. They are my favorite race, feared and respected by all men and mer.

Also they look awesome.

I don't understand the point of creating your own story in a world where there is clearly a story already, along with the fact that your actions have almost no impact on the world aside from changing the line of dialogue that a particular NPC will repeat ad nauseum. "Thank you again for bringing me these 10 herbs!" x100.

So you have your Orc. He found his Orc breathren. He now mines and smiths with them. And then...

This is where you lose me. Are you talking at your monitor, and then pretending NPCs are talking back? Are you pretending that the Stormcloaks actually know what you and your band of Orcs are doing, rather than lifelessly standing in the encampment the designers spawned them in? Are you on mushrooms?

Look, I like your attitude, and maybe in a game like Minecraft it works, but not in a game like this. What you are doing is the equivalent of reading a book, say, the Lord of the Rings, and just chosing one or two chapters to read and making up the rest as you see fit. Maybe you create your own character, representing you, and pretend you take the One Ring and become the new King of Middle Earth. Kudos to you, but how that is better than reading the book...

I just think the game isn't as free form as you think it is.

It's called imagination champ. Some of us like to utilize it when playing games that allow for it. This might come as a shock to ya, but people have been roleplaying in TES games for years. Is your mind blown?

Really like the point you're making here. Quite a nice read, even with spelling errors here and there. :thumbsup:

Too many power gamers these days that don't have a sense of actually playing their character and instead just plow through the game maxing everything out as if it's just another run of the mill action-adventure game.

I can see using imagination to add flavor to the game as you're playing it (create a little backstory for yourself, decide whether you are good/evil/indifferent, develop opinions of NPCs), but this is not what the OP is saying.

The OP is recommending that you ignore huge swaths of actual content in favor of imagined content in your head. I'm not saying he's dumb or that he's deliberately misleading people, I'm just pointing out the obvious shortcomings of the approach.

Flame on...

Nice post backstaber, I started with my traditional Argonian Witchdoctor\Assassin and while I am far from done with him, He too has gone home to figure out where he wants his life to go next. I started this character in Morrowind and found something very similar to your experiences with your Orc through the Twin Lamps quest-line. Slavery was an acceptable practice in Morrowind with many of the more traditional great houses using slave labour on their farms. The slaves were mostly the beast-races, Kajits and Argonians like my character. So over many hours we freed the slaves and then went back and started assassinating influential members of the great houses that used slavery. This lead to my character being noticed by the Night Mother and subsequently rising to lead the Dark Brotherhood in Morrowind\Tribunal.
I haven't found much kinship for my Argonian in Skyrim, although I know that there is an Argonian follower to find and recruit somewhere out there, I haven't found him yet (and I am ot going to rad a guide to find him).

The last thing I did last night was roll an Orc with the idea of 2-handers, heavy armour, blacksmith and maybe Alteration. It was really encouraging to read your post and find that there is some fantastic immersion and rp material out there for her to find.

@ OP Now I know you're RPing. This isn't Spiderman, this is end game 2011. There are no freedoms and there certainly aren't any responsibilities. >.>

I think it's pronounced Shacator.

I think you miss understand entirely. I dont sit in the orc camps on mushrooms pretending. I'll make it simple. A) I ran into an orc encampment on an alt that only orcs can go into. B) I made an orc to get into the encampment. C)It took me 20 hours to find the orc stronghold again so in the mean time i was doing bounties, hunting, mining and black smithing. D) I finally found one stronghold, that lead me to others. E) Strongholds have books that you DO READ that gives you Qs on how orcs live and what trads they pick up and how they think. F) in the books and in conversations, among other things, youll find that the Orcs seem to favor Imperials G) By reading the lore it gives you an idea of what an orc would do so i play in that fashion. For example, i cant find any enchantment staions in orc camps so i will regretably not be enchanting. H)In one of the strogholds it lead to a two handed weapon ill love the entire time i have my orc. Which cant be said of my rich theif/assassin who is rich in blood money.

You see, all these things unfolded and i had to search and search and search to uncover them. Now my orc has a real back story in how i Roleplayed him which brings more value to him. It took a lot of work to do get where i did with him. Finding the dam strongholds with out online help was a task. Then uncovering the secrets within them has lead to more rewards. Let me just say the game has provided all the compliments needed to create a orc with context and reasons for certain motivations. My orc right now is at a point where he is retricted from travel, or easy travel in cities by only being able to fast travel from encampments. Not beign able to enchant, to lazy to get into alchemeny, so i'll never be overpowered and will always have to make do in combat, which i did with a boss that 1 shotted me every time until i figured out how to beat him.

And what happens after i complete the civil war? Who knows, if 3 days ago you asked me were my Orc would be today i'd have no idea. But now, i have a context in which to play him from and have a good idea on what this orc would or would not do based on the orcs and books i'[ve read. I could go on and on. But turst me, the way you describe it is not how it is. I think its more meaningful to me cause of how i played it and how i got to be were i am with him on my own. I'd never imagioned that i'd have up to 4 orcs i can chose from to take with me in combat. And just the simple task of outfitting each one for different battles will be tough. My goal is to keep them alive. And if they die they die. I think if all four of my orc followers die in combat i'll retire this orc. But for now there is a lot that can be done. So its not just run in a orc city to pretend to be an orc, its only trading with the orc strongholds and living from them that changes the game. No more going to cities, no more, clearing out tons of loot, less ability to fast travel, etc ect, ect, and all this was made possiable by the suggestions given from in game.

That's why people play multiple characters though. To get a different experience each time since each character they play is likely varied from the last. From my experience, playing this way will make for a much richer and enjoyable experience as you approach things from different points of view, morality and how you deal with the situations presented to you.

You could be a gung-ho warrior, charging in to bandit camps, ruins, etc. and taking the enemy head on. Maybe you'll play a mage and rely on summons or your smarts to out-do your enemies. Then again, you could be a sneaky thief, striking from the shadows, never seen by your enemies.

Hell, those are just the trinity archetypes focusing on combat, you could make any number of different characters with quirks and such that will further alter how you play.



..What?

Actually my Orc is my current faovrite character also. A straight up 2 handed orc barbarian.

The "actual content" is there for those without imagination, which would be the majority who want all the linearity in Skyrim compared to earlier TES.

Isn't the point of a game's sandboxing to allow you to play the way you want to play? And TES is a highly sandboxed genre. If the OP was saying these things about, say, his Minecraft character on a Minecraft RP Server, you'd probably say "why are you playing on a Minecraft RP server that's stupid", but you wouldn't be as quick to say roleplaying in Minecraft is stupid.

Yes, electronic RPGs has always been about taking the reality of the game's limitations and supplanting your own imagination to help fill the gaps. Otherwise they become more like an enhanced visual (or text) novel.

But on the other hand...I play an Orc because of their overpowered Racial due to how my character build works first, and to try out playing an Orc second.

Glad you found a character/race that you could attach yourself too. I find that to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. Once you find that character or race then everything else fits like a glove. I myself am trying to find that same point, I've got the race down (Nord), all I've got left is how to roleplay the character.

I've always disliked High Elves, so I decided to finally roll a High Elf this time around and...
I still hate 'em! :biggrin:

But yeah, orcs are pretty fun to play as, my main Oblivion character was an orc.

Wonderful story, Backstabber. (I don't think I'd ever hear those words come out of my mou-er, typed out.)

I recently made an orc myself, and it's fun pretending you're a blacksmith and traveling by FOOT this time. (I fast traveled all the time in my main)
It really puts me in a different mindset when I play as a beast race. Also when I play the game properly and not speeding through everything I can. You've inspired me to continue playing the game slowly. For that, I thank you.

It's true that playing a certain race makes you think differently about certain aspects of the game.

When I'm playing my High Elf I feel like I'm not hating the Thalmor as much as I should.

I'm on my 4th character who's an orc too!

Like you, I just feel a connection to their race, whether it be their don't give a crap attitude or their don't [censored] with me look/feel they have about them. They're just down right bad ass! I'm surprised it took me so long to make an orc warrior really, I'm having a great time role playing this guy. Their berserk racial feature is nasty too!

I'm also restricting a couple little things for role playing purposes like no fast travel, only using weapons/armor that suit him (fur, scale, etc) he's wearing Tsun's armor now which looks awesome and he's also heavily into mining and smithing like most orcs. Only difference to you though is he hates the empire and will kill any imperials on sight, he hates authority!

Like you, I've only put about 30 hrs on him on expert, but I expect to complete most of the games content with this character.

Alright, I'll concede that your idea is a perfectly viable way to play the game, and now that I think about it, I have been contemplating how to play through this game a second time (right now i'm a dark elf mage) as a Nord warrior. I had not considered reading the books too much. Perhaps I'm losing a lot of flavor of the game, so I think I'll start reading at least a few of them during my game tonight to help me better decide how to build my second character.

Hey look you used the power of reason and ideas to change someone's mind on the internet. Miracles do happen.

Why should you deliberately have the to restrict yourself to deal with the lack of balance and fill in the blanks story-wise? Isn't this the developer's job - ya know - to actually create the content rather than the player having to make it up?
I'm looking forward to Witcher 2 on Xbox, a game where actions have real in-game consequences.

The Witcher 2 does paint a nice story for you, but once you've finished it once, it's done. No replay value whatsoever. And i don't recall there being any real in-game consequences as you say, the game is extremely linear and limited. Great game, don't get me wrong, but it has major faults as well.