Which type of Thieves Guild atmosphere did you enjoy more?


I enjoyed the Morrowind "Robin Hood" or Oblivion Grey Fox "steal from the rich, give to the poor" thieves mantra more than I enjoyed the more thuggish style Skyrim Theives Guild. Not to say that Skyrim TG didn't have a good story, but for some reason the romanticised "Robin Hood" style appeals more to me. Or would some argue that it doesn't matter how much you "romanticise" or legitimize it, a thief is a thug and a thug is a thief?

Good question.

It can be argued that Robin Hood was a redistributer of wealth and that an assassin of murderous people is really a bounty hunter (or a redistributer of life). Games will eventually reach the level of sophistication where you can be a good or bad thief and a good or bad assassin. I'll be pleased when they reach the level of sophistication where I don't accidentally become a thief because of an oversensitive mouse button ;o)

I liked what I have experienced (so far) of Daggerfall's TG!!

I haven't played the Skyrim thieves guild yet but I am wondering if I will be uncomfortable to play a character that does that. I rationalize pick pocketing gold in Skyrim same way as I do in a lot of games in that I am saving the world and I need the best equipment. If I am uncomfortable to play the content that is okay as I'm sure a lot of people enjoy it and there is no shortage of content to the game. I never did the dark brotherhood quests in other elder scrolls just because it made be uncomfortable.

Would have been interesting to be able to play an agent that infiltrates these "bad guy" guilds and bust them from the inside. Yeah, the misclicks can be a pain such as my latest character trying to get up from the dinner table at an inn, but at least BGS did put some code in there where the NPC will kindly take back the stolen item from your inventory and tell you to be more careful, instead of calling the guards on you. Depends on how good of terms your character is with the NPC

Help refresh our memory a bit. Been a while since I played. What sort of quests does Daggerfall TG have you doing so far?

One nice thing about the Skyrim TG is they still have the motto that killing is bad for business. They still shun killing their marks or anyone for that matter. For the most part, anyway

Thuggish...

I might say that I prefer that for all the guilds in Skyrim (even mages.. when it comes to ambition/competitiveness and whatnot. Although it's pretty mild here). I'll leave the more heroic side of things for the main quest. A way to redeem myself from all the muck in the rest of the story

Pretty sure I liked the morrowind / oblivion incarnations a bit better, but I think the more thuggish type has more options and more playability / replay value. I'd prefer a mixture of both, actually, done in a way that feels more like a serious lifestyle and less like dabbling in a hobby.

Thats just a romanticisation though, much like dike Turpin. Romantic legends grow afterwards (the original records survive and if he was alive today he'd be classed as a violent dangerous criminal with no redeeming features whatsoever).

Much the same as the TG really they only avoid actual murder because they're nervous of stepping on the DB's toes.

Me too but I joined the TG mainly because of the perks and because my char is rather light fingered as it is, though he prefers to go freelance (being able to bribe guards is sooooo useful). Not that it feels comfortable at all but rather that one outweighs the other and I guess I'll live with guilt, for now.

Ah, moral dilemnas.

I disliked the romanticized Thieves Guild in Oblivion. The tone of the story, the dialogue, the characterizations, it all felt wrong to me. I am someone who prefers Skyrim's guild quests over Oblivion's guild quests in general anyway. I think the writing is better in Skyrim.

I do not agree that Morrowind's Thieves Guild was romanticized as Oblivion's was. We are asked to do some pretty thuggish things in the Morrowind Thieves Guild, including murder.

I figure they also avoid murder to ensure there isn't too much heat on the guild by local authorities.

It's also been a while since I played Morrowind. My memory from it was a romanticised TG, but that's based on the last few missions you do for the guild where the guildmaster has you "giving back to community". I've largely forgotten the earlier quests for Morrowind's TG.

Give me Daggerfall's serious criminal organization type of Guild any day. Everything else is too soft for me.

A serious and self respecting thieves guild must have a running economy based on Skooma/Alcohol trafficking plus a small team of hitmans doing some pretty dark stuff behind the scenes. I don't like the fairy tale type of Thieves we've got in Oblivion and Skyrim.

In Morrowind it was pretty obvious that the TG had political connections, was used for requiting agents and that the empire wanted it to replace existing organized crime who also often was against the empire. Part of the bargain was probably the no killing deal, it also made it easier to justifying going easy on them.


Oblivion had no standard thief guild mission where you stole for clients, it was one but it was an plot. Guild was in too much disarray for it and the grey fox probably didn't like it.

Did the TG once at release. Not doing it again ever. I didn't do any of the guilds in the older games except Fighters Guild, and one run through of the Mages quest line in Oblivion. I never play thief characters - SO not my thing. Now of course there are lovely mods so that Brynjolf's not up your nose the minute you walk into the market in Riften, which is a very nice thing. At least my girls go to that city once in a while now.... not real often, because I do find I never have much reason to bother with Riften.