Shjade said:
Soopy said:
The thing with the Nevarine was that the only reason the things you did, could be done, was because you were Lord Nervar incarnate. Sure there wasn't much flash to it, but it was what it was.
Skyrim, not so much. Most of the story progression is spurred by an completely arbitrary event as the antagonist did bugger all after the opening scene. I mean, we could have just ignored Alduin's little escapade and the world wouldn't have been effected even in the slightest. At least there was the plaque in Morrowind, 6th house assassins and political conspiracy to give the character some reason to persu the antagonist (who's motives aren't even immediately clear).
In theory, sure. In practice, the only reason you make that claim is because that's what you're
told. Nothing that happens in the game ever proves that claim; nothing really
demonstrates that you are, in fact, the incarnation of anything other than a badass. The Dovahkiin can prove he/she is that thing because of the Shouts. The Nerevarine has no such concrete claim. You're basically just told, "You're this guy. Trust me." And that's that.
As for antagonists, if you want to compare Alduin with Dagoth, at least Alduin is
present in the game. 99% of Morrowind's plot is spent running around doing seemingly arbitrary things that you only know are necessary because people swear to you that they are; you don't even
meet the big bad until about five minutes before you kill him, much less interact with him in any significant way. Alduin might be an inconsistently present threat, but Dagoth Ur is comatose by comparison to the dragon's activity. Could just as well "defeat" him by keeping the mountain sealed off and ignoring it as far as I could ever tell by playing the game. Alduin may only be flying around waking up dead dragons, but at least it's something you can see happening.
What you're describing is a very simple, mainstream-friendly plot, which is probably why we were given just that in
Skyrim.
Morrowind's story was a lot better than
Skyrim's. It had craft, style, emotion, depth, intrigue, mystery and so on that was missing or fell flat in
Skyrim. The Dovahkiin is the first player character who is a superman. The Nerevarine and the Champion of Cyrodiil were just badass dudes fulfilling a prophecy. I think that is a much better story but the superman approach has broader appeal.
I agree to some extent. They had an explanation for why you had to unite the Great Houses and such but it was kind of weak and it wasn't expressed in gameplay. You can take Nibani Maesa and Caius Cosades' word that it's a practical necessity but the player does not experience any evidence of that. I also agree that
Elder Scrolls games do
not lend themselves to race-against-the-clock storytelling, which is what they have done in III, IV, and V. If you know you can't do it justice then don't do it. But it wasn't emphasized nearly as much in
Morrowind.
However, I think
Morrowind's approach to the Nerevarine had a lot more craft and style than
Skyrim's Dovahkiin and was way more emotionally rewarding. Basically all the things you are criticizing are things I liked. There were elements of mystery and discovery in
Morrowind. No one knew if the prophecy was real or if you were it's fulfillment. Not even the player knew until you received Azura's blessing and met the failed Nerevarines. Even then, many remained skeptical including the Blades themselves. This doubt left room for political intrigue, mystery and more rewarding challenges. The mystery, skepticism, and divided loyalties made the story better, not worse.
Skyrim missed an opportunity by not doing this, but I guess they couldn't copy
Morrowind too closely. Not everyone believes you are the Nerevarine, and that made the story more exciting.
On the other hand, you know you are because you piece it together before being flatly told. You fulfill the prophecies as you go, you wield his artifacts that only he can wield, and finally a freaking Daedric Prince tells you so and makes you it's champion. You have the powers the Nerevarine is supposed to possess like resistance to all diseases including the dreaded corprus. That was a pretty clear and dramatic demonstration. It may not have been as dramatic as the dragon shouts but it wasn't ambiguous either. And like I said, you're not supposed to be superman. Just a badass.
In
Morrowind you spent your time fighting an active and dangerous Sixth House Cult. You even get accosted and attacked in cities by sleepers and dreamers. You certainly saw all
that happening. There's nothing wrong with saving the big-bad for the final showdown as long as it's built up properly and given interesting relevance to the audience, which it was.
When you finally became the
Nerevarine, it was very rewarding because it not only resolved a mystery but also served as pay-off for all your work so far. In
Skyrim you just kind of get it at the beginning. And you don't even know or care what a Dragonborn is because the game did not build up to it like in
Morrowind. It wasn't exactly an emotional high point. I can't think of
any emotional high points in
Skyrim to be honest, even though it was packed with interesting stuff. Maybe Sovengarde, but that was more about the concept. All it really had was the appeal of being superman. I liked
Skyrim's story, honest I did. It just doesn't compare to
Morrowind.
