So you are wandering along, minding your own business when you decide to check out this Kvatch thing and find some dude called Martin who is the only surviving heir of Patrick Stewart. You arrive and have a little chat with Savlian Matius and you spot this giant door sitting in the middle of the ground with daedra coming out. The officious Captin then decided the best thing for you is to go in and see what has happened to his men and close the gate.

Hang on a sec...you wan't me to do what??! You expect me to go in there, to an environment that looks suspiciously like hell, fight more daedra, avoid traps, fight some more daedra, dodge lava pits, fight some more daedra, grab some sigil stone and get my ass punted back out into the real world? Really? Is that all?


This is why Oblivion is awesome bliviongate:




When setting off in Oblivion for the first time did anyone else think, hang ona minute, i didn't sign up for this!?

And of course Grandmaster Jauffre would prefer that a complete stranger, with low skills and low level, who just happened to crawl out of a prison sewer with the dead emperor's amulet, save the only remaining hope of avoiding complete destruction of the world, So he entrusts your character with the secret of where the only heir to the throne might be, and asks you alone to escort him back, rather than employing his trained, oath sword and battle hardened Blades who don't seem to be doing anything other than sparing at Cloud Ruler Temple at the moment.

At least he keeps the amulet with himself for save keeping -- good thinking.

Absolutely. At first I was all "yeah sure, save the world, no problem". Then I entered that gate and was like "[censored] THIS [censored] I'M BUYING A HOUSE IN SKINGRAD".

When my character first met Savlian Matius, he told her 'Stay back, citizen!'

She listened.

"And your name is...Gorgoroth? And you are a viking, is that right? Right. Okay, well those are some nice tusks you have there and I don't believe I have seen an orc with eyes so...well, they certainly aren't as bloodshot as some of the ones I've seen, that is for sure! Now, this is apparently the amulet of kings - yes, definitely. Looks just like it. Well, the king was just murdered as you say and we have no idea who did it. You said one of the blades sent you here, is that right? Why didn't he come again? Guarding the corpse of the emperor? Ah. But he gave you the amulet...mmm...okay, sounds legit. And you were in that prison for what, again? ...Pardon? You did what? To a high elf? And his wife...? Oh...oh goodness...well, I can't say I would have involved the mudcrab, myself but to each their own. Now, the last heir of the emperor is in Kvatch - be careful now, if he dies, then the enemy - who could be ANYONE - will surely succeed. Can I trust you with that? Ahh, your snorts and drool speak volumes, my green friend. Take care now."

First time I reached Kvatch, at level two, I took one look at the gate and thought; You literally want me to go through hell to get to this guy? Maybe later, much later.

Jauffre is a moron. He puts the amulet in a secret room, one that I found accidentally by just walking up the stairs to his desk. Perhaps he should of put it in a jewelery box in Cloud Ruler Temple?

I was really confused by that encounter. Here was a watch captain who had two skilled warriors by his side. He's known (and commanded) these guys for years and trusts them implicitly. Then, some some stranger comes up the hill asking about a priest (after passing one on the way up). This weirdo doesn't seem bothered by the gateway to hell not too far away, so he/she is clearly ignorant, stupid or both. Savlian has no idea who this whack job is or what his/her skills are, yet trusts him/her to go in, find his missing men and close the hell portal.

It really struck me as odd that this experienced warrior trusted a complete stranger he knew nothing about to do something that an entire team of his men couldn't do.

:lmao:

My thoughts exactly...

He could have just stuck it in his pocket, and it would have been safer than in that room.


He'd already tried it with the team, and they didn't come back. Nobody else was volunteering, right?

...And he probably thought it was a good way to get rid of the stupid civilian who was asking all the questions... :wink_smile:

The Blades are so incompetent that Jauffre felt that it would be safer to entrust the fate of Tamriel to a complete stranger.

In fact the Blades are suspiciously incompetent. Perhaps the organization has been infiltrated by the Mythic Dawn? Jauffre may have suspected this. And he may have felt that, until he could discover who the traitors were, the player character was the only one he could trust.

At least in Morrowind you were chosen by the gods being the Nevarine and all, and in Skyrim you seem to be some once born unto a generation uber-hero too. In Oblivion you were general dude number 1 who happened to be in the right or wrong place depending on how you like to view things and everyone expected you bebe saving the world for them.

What made it even more aggravating is that if you did Kvatch BEFORE Jauffre, he still insists that you give him the amulet.

Um, dude? I literally carried this very important artifact into Hell without loosing it. I'm pretty sure I can hold onto it for the few hours it'll take me to walk back to the newly liberated Kvatch.

Different characters had different reactions.

Severus Snape;
Just what I need; another arrogant military type telling me what to do. Fine! I'll do it. Just shut up.

Sarrah;
Well..... ok......If you think I should....then..... I guess........who knows where it might lead........


Angel;
Uh, actually sir, when I asked if I could help I just meant maybe I could bring you and your men some apple-berry juice and sweetroles.

Maybe he figured that the Player Character was expendable.

Or he figured that since you could survive where two blades couldn't, he might as well see if you're worth recruiting. On the other hand if three blades wasn't sufficient to protect the Emperor, and they'd failed to protect his sons (I'm assuming they would've been responsible for their protection), I would've expected him to send every blade he could get hold of to Kvatch.

I think Jauffre realized that this was a video game, and that thusly only the Player Character could stand a chance of seeing the main quest through to its fruition.

The first time you see that gate it does tighten you up a bit. You seem to be the chosen one and it’s something you have to do to advance the game, so you do it, hoping it’s not a trap to kill off your character. On my first play through I dutifully followed the quest and got Martin to Cloud Ruler Temple while riding some crazy horse - I’ve never been on one since. Looted Kvatch to help my young character along then wandered off doing what she wanted to do.

One of my later characters hasn’t bothered to close the Kvatch gate yet (after a year or two). Other characters close all the Oblivion gates they can find. I guess you get used to the fiery gates after a while, but the first time is terrifying.

Yeah, I agree the game writers needed a little more imagination. Back when, the 4rd grade ‘jump rope’ girls told better tales than that stuff.