gaming Annoyance in "TES V: Skyrim"

[Dreadmallon 353]

   This annoyance is something that has its pros and cons. Its a pro is that Bethesda truly wants you to pick a side without any clear cut hints towards the better option. Its a pro that they truly want you to do what you think is right without any morals swaying your opinion.

 

    I'm talking of course, about the Stormcloak v. Imperial war. I get these pros, and I agree with them. But has anyone else felt rather annoyed at one point at the idea that both Stormcloaks and Imperials have about the same amount of pros and cons, and that you never really know which of the two is the lesser evils?

    Not a major complaint, of course, but this has bugged me once or twice before, especially if I'm RP'ing. My Dovahkiin wants to learn how to be a hero, and learn all the traits of a great leader. Basically like some Optimus Prime-esque character. However, I'm not certain which side that character would be on! 

 

    As I said, I mostly like the whole concept of having a war where you can choose a side, but you're unsure of which because there's no clear cut better choice (and it's fun to debate over the Internet), but I'm just wondering: Has this ever bothered you before?

[Jadefire 2,798]

That's exactly the point. These kinds of things don't have any clear-cut advantages, and having neither side being a better choice over the other I think makes for good storytelling, makes the plot that much more complex. 

 

But there is one thing that everyone can agree on: While whether or not the Empire is better than the Stormcloaks, the Thalmor are always worse. x3

[Dusknight Haze 161]

I always choose the Imperials, just because the Stormcloaks are hella racist and that's worse than holding dominion over a territory any day. 

 

Plus there's no way anyone would win against the Thalmor if they were all fractured into their smaller bickering divided realms. NO coordination at all. They'd be crushed.

 

So it's a bit of a difficult decision but I think the balance is at least slightly tipped into the favor of the Imperials. The only reason I could see it otherwise is if you really like the concept of rebellion or something, and thus the Stormcloaks appeal to you by that nature.

[GrimCW 658]

The Stormcloaks are fighting for their freedom, their beliefs, and right to rule themselves . But they're very racist against outsiders (which is a HUGE detractor itself i admit).

 

The Empire is fighting to control all of tamriel and hope to maintain order through expansion.

However the empire isn't even in control of itself anymore as the High elves have taken them over long ago.

The Empire as such has submitted to the elves, and altered their ways accordingly in order to be left alone.

This includes altering their belief systems and the nine are now only eight.

This is due to one of them being an "Ascended Human" of which the elves do not believe in this being possible. So they wish to abolish Talos as a divine

 

The stormcloaks are hard set in their beliefs, and that includes the full nine gods, especially Talos.

 

All in All IMO, the Stormcloaks are in the right since it is their homeland under seige, and their beliefs and entire way of life at risk.

 

The Empire would be my main choice, but given its not even in control of itself, its rather hard to stand by a false government thats merely a face for a greater evil as it seeks world domination.

 

Thats how i've seen it anyways.

The Dominion are like the Nazi's of WW2, and The empire is like France. 

The Empire has been occupied and has little choice but to give in to the control and demands of the empire, lest they're wiped out.

And despite their barbaric ways, the stormcloaks are the only resistance standing between the dominion and world domination.

Edited September 12, 2013 by GrimCW

[long gone 8,929]

They should make a DLC where you take on the Thalmor, but that would make too much sense (and we can't have that), and Bethesda said they're not releasing more DLC for the game (sadly, Dragonborn was good.)

Due to the way how Bethesda designed the Civil War, there is no clear "good" side and "bad" side. The Empire banned Talos worship and the Stormcloaks don't like that, but they were pretty much forced to by the fascist Aldmeri Dominion (it was either sign the White-Gold Concordat or the Dominion destroys you). The Stormcloaks believe that they represent the people of Skyrim and that anyone who fights for them over the Empire is a "true son/daughter of Skyrim", but they suffer the same racism problems that other Nords do, and at the end of the Stormcloak campaign, not even Ulfric Stormcloak himself was sure that they alone had the power to resist the Thalmor.

 

There is one thing that both sides agree on, though: the Thalmor and Aldmeri Dominion as a whole suck and do not represent the Altmer.

[Discordian 6,015]

I haven't played much of Skyrim but I think I went with the Stormcloaks on my playthrough.

 

Either way Skyrim, much like Oblivion, doesn't really have much reason to choose evil. That's always been one of my peeves about the game. There's no benefit to doing an evil playthrough. The odds are always stacked against you if you do something bad and it doesn't even yield better dialog, just a bunch of distaste from everyone.

[Dreadmallon 353]

I always choose the Imperials, just because the Stormcloaks are hella racist and that's worse than holding dominion over a territory any day. 

 

Plus there's no way anyone would win against the Thalmor if they were all fractured into their smaller bickering divided realms. NO coordination at all. They'd be crushed.

 

So it's a bit of a difficult decision but I think the balance is at least slightly tipped into the favor of the Imperials. The only reason I could see it otherwise is if you really like the concept of rebellion or something, and thus the Stormcloaks appeal to you by that nature.

   

   I used to believe that, but think about it. There's only one road to Skyrim from Cyrodiil (Morrowind's out, and so is High Rock (because of Hammerfell), and the Stormcloaks can protect that well (I saw three Thalmor Justiciars (elite Thalmor soldiers) vs three Stormcloaks, I didn't interfere. The end result was one Stormcloak left standing). The only other choice is by water, but there are Hammerfell pirates out there.

 

The Stormcloaks are fighting for their freedom, their beliefs, and right to rule themselves . But they're very racist against outsiders (which is a HUGE detractor itself i admit).

 

The Empire is fighting to control all of tamriel and hope to maintain order through expansion.

However the empire isn't even in control of itself anymore as the High elves have taken them over long ago.

The Empire as such has submitted to the elves, and altered their ways accordingly in order to be left alone.

This includes altering their belief systems and the nine are now only eight.

This is due to one of them being an "Ascended Human" of which the elves do not believe in this being possible. So they wish to abolish Talos as a divine

 

The stormcloaks are hard set in their beliefs, and that includes the full nine gods, especially Talos.

 

All in All IMO, the Stormcloaks are in the right since it is their homeland under seige, and their beliefs and entire way of life at risk.

 

The Empire would be my main choice, but given its not even in control of itself, its rather hard to stand by a false government thats merely a face for a greater evil as it seeks world domination.

 

Thats how i've seen it anyways.

The Dominion are like the Nazi's of WW2, and The empire is like France. 

The Empire has been occupied and has little choice but to give in to the control and demands of the empire, lest they're wiped out.

And despite their barbaric ways, the stormcloaks are the only resistance standing between the dominion and world domination.

   In all honesty, it's been said that the Empire is planning some "Order 66" against the Thalmor (who are almost as weak as the Empire, as well, by the way; the Great War weakened both sides greatly) once they get back in power.

 

 

 

   I'm personally on the side of the Empire, I suppose, but I should put this out there: Nords are racist because of the events of the Great War. They're just ignorant believing that the Thalmor includes all of elvenkind. They're somewhat justified.