User blog:Madman97/You know what really grinds my Wabbajack's? S2E5: No DLC's.

Yeah, this one has been coming for a long time, and this shall be a day long remembered by Fanatics, Zealots, Madmen, Men of the Rant, and Dave alike. Speakig of Dave, he is here with me, come to share his dissapointment in Bethesda. How are you Dave?

Dave: Well-

Madman97: Thank you Dave. Now without further ado, let's dive right into today's episode of Wabbajack Grinding. DLC's. Anyone who has played Bethesda games know they can pull them off. If you love games like Fallout 3 and New Vegas, Oblivion, games of that sort, you were in for a treat if you spent money for the DLC's. DLC's like the Shivering Isles and The Big MT and the Lonesome road, Mothership Zeta and Achorage and the Pitt( And that Steel thing that actually gave Fallout 3 a decent ending), provided great story, great extra things for you to do, and very suitable rewards. Not every game had all perfectly good DLC's however. I havn't met anyone yet who liked Dead Money with a passion. Honest Hearts wasn't bad, it just wasn't extremely good either, kind of like Knights of the Nine in Oblivion. It wasn't a major deal and had no real impact. Sure it was cool you got to fight an Aeylid King or whatever you call it in the sky. I liked the idea of a crusader in Tamriel and it did it's job. I just feel like the DLC did the bare minimum of what a DLC of the Elder Scrolls could really do. Go to Shivering Isles. For those of you who have been following me for a while will know that I played Skyrim first and then Oblivion, (I got the Game of the year edition with DLC's included), and I didn't expect a whole lot from the DLC's. But the I read the description of the Shivering Isles. "A mantle of a god..."Now that just draws you in. The game itself is impressive of course. Some things are a little rant wrothy, but for the time the game is freaking awesome. I did the Shivering Isles first, and boy, was my mind exploded with enough force to destroy Bulgaria right down to the Bulgarian's old ladies candy shop. Everything about it was flawless. It introduced fascinating lore and another Daedric Lord, new powers that are beyond cool, great rewards for your efforts, (Something that is actually pretty rare in Tamriel at the moment), and new things to bring to the theory table with the Hero of Kvatch being all like "I'm a Bad@$$, I saved Tamriel like a hundred times, AND I became a god. Dragonborn ain't got nothing on me." Yeah, that's how it happened, that's how it is. Dave, take it away!

Dave: Well-

Madman97: Very good points Dave and you are exactly right! With all the greatness surrounding the Shivering Isles, people are bound to get excited about new DLC's for Skyrim. I mean this is next level S*** we are talking about here. We are in the modern age, the game just ripe for expanion and awesome. Here comes Dawnguard...You know, I don't know about you, but I liked Dawnguard. I mean I thought it was kinda "Eh" up until you hit the Forgotten Vale, and then you are just like "Holy S*** this place looks amazing!) You really catch the vibe of a civilization long gone and it's fantastic to see something about those annoying bald white gremlins you find in deep caves that is expanded upon and explained a little, and actually get to meet one! Not only does this provide interesting narrative, it also gives insight on exactly how the conflict between Vampires and Men wor. Now this has the grounds for a very interesting storyline. Unfortunatly, while I liked Dawnguard, what really stole the show for me was the Forgotten Vale. It was a new place, it looked absolutly awesome, there was plenty of places you could explore and go. It took me at least two hours to fully explore one area while they were like three left to explore. But then the story came running back with the Vampires and the Dawnguard. It's your classic Do this, Do that questline, and it get's boring. They should have just made the DLC just about the Falmer and their trnaformation into the vile race they are in Skyrim today. They could have kept the whole Vampire vibe, but make so it actually goes hand in hand, not it's own seperate thing. I honestly felt like the whole, Snow Elf is a Vampire thing was a bit rushed. It would have been a very interesting story if you were trying to track own the remains of the Snow Elf civilization, and along the way you are attacked by Vampire Falmer and you have to unravel the mystery of it and you find out the reason the Dwemer suppressed the Snow Elves was because they were trying to blow up the sun, with a few good Snow Elves. That would make it interesting. I still thought it was alright as it was though. It's the games version of Knights of the Nine in quality level. Dave, any thoughts?

Dave: Well...(Looks at Madman97)

Madman97:...

Dave: Well-

Madman: Thank you Dave!

Dave: NO! I SHALL HAVE MY SAY!!!

Madman97: You did have your say. You kept saying 'Well' so I assumed you were done.

Dave: LET ME FINISH!!! (Sigh) Sometimes, I think you really are insane.

M.A.D.M.A.N.97: What makes you think that?

Dave: Anyway, let's go onto Dragonborn. While when we started playing we thought we would get the DLC we have been waiting for, not counting Hearthfire. It's not even a full DLC, I repeat, HEARTHFIRE WAS NOT A FULL DLC!!! Go to Solstheim, and by God, is it awesome. This town actually praises you for your deeds and you actually feel like you are a part of a community this time around, away from the cold and distant Nordic men of Skyrim, the Dunmer are some pretty cool dudes to kick it with. Solstheim is a visually interesting land with a handful of quests for you to do and places to explore. It was smaller than the Shivering Isles I believe, which actually came as a suprise, though I suppose with this kind of engine there is only so much it can take in. But Solstheim really did it for me, the quests, the villian Miraak, who kind of reminded me of Amon from The Legend of Korra for those of you who watch that show, and it introduced some new architecture on the outside for a change than the old crumbly ruin on the tombs of Skyrim and the towns of Skyrim. RavenRock I think is a pretty cool town with a diverse culture. Neloth's Mushroom place is pretty cool, and there are plenty of magic spells to learn, something I think the game really needs. The Skaal I thought were pretty interesting. Alas, it came across one great problem that almost ruined it for me. It was good.

It suffers from the exact same problem as the game as a whole does. Very badly. There is just not enough. We explained before in our season Finale that Skyrim was essentially an unfinished game, with patches being added all the time, and when you have played for a long time, eventually, you actually do run out of things to do. Just like in Solstheim. I am not expecting a huge number of quests, but seriously, a little more would be nice. I would like the Ash Spawn story a little more. It looked like it was a pretty big threat to the town. You could build a whole other DLC from it. But Solstheim is good, but there is simply not enough to keep your total interest. It is appeaing, but alas, not much to do from it. The Prizes at the end are a bit shoddy too. You can take away perks and put them somewhere else...I can just make one of my skills legendary, so I guess F*** the main prize. Dragon riding, (Both Groan), you know the deal. Go see our other rant about it for more. Miraaks clothes look cool. I was kind of hoping for some special power from the Skaal. I know we got those All-Maker stones, which I think contradicts the whole Monotheism thing with the Skaal if the other shrines for the Divines still work, but I mean something directly of the skaal. I'm not sure what kind of knowledge Mora was after when he told you to lead him to the skaal so he could take it, but I kind of want in. Was it the power of those stones? If so, why could he not access them? DId the power of the All-Maker repel Mora? I don't know, but that barrier thing they were doing when you first arrive looked pretty cool. Wouldn;t it be cool to cast a magical deflector shield around yourself that repelled all attacks? I know some would say the magical alteration spells that cast Dragonflesh or what not, but I am talking full on force field that repelled intruders and blocked all attacks. It would be sick. It would add so much to the lacking magic in the game. We need cooler spells. In Oblivion you had like a million different spells. What happened to the variety. The things you can do with Magic is what really sets a fantasy story apart from others. Having just the generic fireball frostbolt S*** dissapointed me with the DLC's, even if the Dragonborn one did provide a couple new ones.

Madman97: Neato Burrito reasons man, and I agree. Skyrim still remains incomplete. The thing that worked with Oblivion and it's DLC's, what worked with New Vegas and Fallout 3, is that their stories wrapped up the main characters journey and gave insight with what they were going through, something I think Lonesome road did very well. While I respect the game for giving you free reign over who your character is and what he or she has done, at least provide little tidbits of the characters past. Heck, even have the chracters past come back to haunt you. I'm not saying rip-off lonesome road, but the story is well worth adapting into the Elder Scrolls. But anyway, Oblivion had things bring the story of the Hero of Kvatch Full circle with ascending to the role as a god and ruling on ever since, (in theory, but who has ever denied it?) Fallout 3 had a whole DLC dedicated to wrapping up the ending for crying out loud! Skyrim still needs a DLC! I want to see something we have never seen before. Solstheim we have already seen in a previous game, the Dawnguard has one new location that tries to save the whole thing, and it almost does, but if I was told I hait to wait a couple hours before the real deal of the DLC was given to me, I would be like "I ain't wasting money on that S***!" I want something whole, fresh, something that will blow you away with every moment of the DLC. I want to see some effort! Heck, I alway's wanted to see a DLC take place in Hammerfell, Black Marsh, or Elsweyr, probably Elsweyr most of all, because what can I say? I have a soft spot for deserts and skooma drinking cat people.

Not only would an additional DLC help sell more copies of the game, further making Bethesda money, new and interesting things can be experienced in a fast becoming boring game. Skyrim is still fun on its own to some peopl, but to the veterans of the game who have maxed out everything they can do and just beat everything, it's such a shame you can't do anything with it. I want the Dragonbron's power to be fered, questioned. There was a wisp of falsehood in the Cult of Miraak, where people actually challenged the Dragonborn in his power. I want to see that full scale. I want to see a community where they think the Dragonborn is BS, and he/she would need to come down their and take control, answering personal questions that would give the player's character depth. I want to see the Dragonborn question his/her's own morals and either become full on hero or full on villian. I want to see some consequence for the Dragonborn's actions in the past. I want to see the Civil War expanded upon, the Dark Brotherhood and the choices you made with them expanded upon, (Where the heck is the backlash from the Emperor's murder?!), the Mages College expanded, the Companions Expanded. How about this? You are found guilt by a bunch of powerful spirits and are brought before a hearing of sorts in Elsweyr, where the spirits of characters you have killed in the past are there or even visions of characters that are alive, (In dream state or whatever) there too, and you are judged upon your actions and set to go through trials, where you are either given an ultimate reward or an ultimate defeat depending on your actions throughout the trials. Both end, Evil and Good would offer equal rewards, though one should make them very different from eachother or it would just eliminate the point of choice, but the question is what would you want most out of your character. Pretty chill or @$$hole? That would be pretty cool. Nothing has ever come up to the dragonborn and said "What you are doing is wrong, so stop it," except the guards, and do you ever willingly go to prison? For the achievment maybe, but after that?

What I am saying is that Skyrim desperatly needs something new just to drive the same old Nordness away. Throwing in a setting that is completly different from forest and Snow would really take things in an interesting turn. The announcment that they were not making more DLC's for this game just killed part of me inside and I kind of hate Bethesda right now, until of course, they prove their worthiness with ESO. But right now...(Shakes head). You dissapoint me from backing out of this Bethesda.

Dave: You really do.

Madman97: And that is it for this round. We are about halfway through Season 2, and there will be more next time on Wabbajack Grinding, thank you for all your support. Credit to that one guy whose name I forgot that gave me this idea on the Wabbajack Grinding contest announcment, and thank you Dave for coming, and goodbye to my fellow Madmen. Stay Ranty everyone.