15 Times Skyrim Made No Sense (And You Didn’t Notice)
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Despite Skyrim’s immense success, the game has done so many things that make zero sense. Here’s some of their worst mistakes.
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First released in 2011, Skyrim is the iconic RPG from Bethesda that has since gone through a myriad of improvements both by the official development team and player base alike. It’s various intricate mechanics made it a highly anticipated title, and it most certainly did not disappoint. However, it’s nearly impossible for such a vast and complex game with so many moving parts to be perfect (it still can be, with the right mods). Certain flaws of the game are glaringly obvious, such as how killing a chicken causes an entire town to attack you. Also, horses are immune to the laws of physics.
Still, other puzzling aspects require a deeper look into the lore or more unique interactions to find. It goes without saying that there will be spoilers but if you haven’t played the game at this point, then spoilers likely won’t be a problem anyway. You may have come across at least one of these inconsistencies in your travels, but some of them just might make you think “But… how?” Then again, coding such an ambitious game was no easy task, and some oversights are definitely understandable (we still love you, Bethesda).
15 I Get No Respect, No Respect At All
As with most games of this genre, you play as a legendary hero whose fame is more endowed by fate than earned. The Dragonborn is a character deserving of great respect from almost all factions. This stature is augmented by actual feats you’ve accomplished such as saving people, clearing dungeons, and of course, slaying dragons.
And yet, a main premise of the story is a war over who should be the next High King, after the death of the last monarch, Torygg. By law, with no legitimate heir (I mean, there’s the king’s widow but let’s be real here) the Jarls simply vote. In short, Ulfric believes he has a claim, but the other side disagrees. However it seems that even after the Dragonborn literally saves the world, they still can’t decide on the best candidate. Luckily, the community saw fit to remedy this plot hole with a creative mod.
14 Bandits Have No Chill
If you were walking alone in the woods with your starting gear, a group of bandits might see an easy score (and you probably would be too). You essentially have the same armor and weapons as them, if not worse, so why would they not pick off a lone adventurer?
However, say you’ve maxed out all your skills. You’re wearing glowing daedric armor, wielding a sword imbued with fire magic, and riding a spectral horse. You’d think bandits would run and hide without a second thought. You’d be wrong. No matter your level or your gear, bandits have no problem talking smack and attacking you along your mostly innocent travels. But either by loading a previous save and going around OR throwing out a single max-level Thu’um, you can usually deal with them.
13 How Smart Are Dragons Anyway?
In certain mythologies, dragons are generally just animals, beasts with an instinct to kill. In others, including the lore of Skyrim, they have a more intelligent disposition. These dragons even have their own language, in the form of a Thu’um. They have the higher reasoning skills to form a language, communicate, form a leadership hierarchy. This begs the question: why are they usually hunting alone? Why wander Skyrim by themselves, knowing full well they can be killed by the Dragonborn (assuming word got around after the first one).
If they were truly intelligent, they would team up for a coordinated attack on Whiterun or some other large population center. In fact, three or four normal dragons (not even elemental) could reduce Riverwood to a pile of ash before the Dragonborn could say “Fus”.
12 Forging Your Way To Better Speechcraft
One the things Skyrim is best known for is its unique levelling system. You are given dozens of skills from combat to crafting to utilities, all independently raised and collectively contributing to your overall level. After levelling up, you gain a skill point that can be applied to any skill tree (with some limitations based on skill level). This means that you could technically spend hours smelting ingots, level up, and then unlock the ability to bribe guards. Who knew the secrets of persuasion were locked deep in the rare minerals of Tamriel? You could even spend enough time crouched to increase your sneaking a bit, kill everyone violently with a sword, then learn the art of taking muffled steps.
11 Fireproof
A large palace and home to the Jarl of Whiterun, Dragonsreach was originally designed to capture and contain a dragon, as one does later on in a story quest. However, you’ll notice that it’s made mostly of wood, which is rather flammable. Either it’s enchanted, magical wood which cannot be set ablaze, or the architects of the building knew nothing about dragons. Sure, the core structure where the dragon would be is made of stone, but the architectural connection to wooden material is far too insecure.
And while we’re on the topic of fire, let’s all remember fondly to the time when we found a lit torch just sitting in a chest… underwater, usually along with a book that was totally intact.
10 Thanks, Karliah
In the Thieves Guild quest line, you work on honing your sneaking and stealth kill abilities. However, near the end, you are betrayed by their leader, Mercer. Poisoned by a dagger wound and left for dead, it seemed that the Dragonborn had found a rather anticlimactic death. However, you are saved by Karliah, an ex-member of the guild whom Mercer had led you to believe was evil (she’s not).
Nevermind the fact that for some reason Mercer didn’t bother to make sure you were dead. Karliah reveals she’s been watching you the whole time, since your earliest jobs for the guild. Well, if she knew about Mercer’s true alignment, was present during his attack, and is a decent shot with a bow, why didn’t she just stop Mercer before he took a stab at you? Why not just kill him there and then? Instead of shooting you with an anti-death poison arrow, why not shoot Mercer with an actual arrow???
9 Anti-Thu’um Cloth
The empire did it, they found the single greatest weakness of the Dragonborn, or anyone that is able to perform a Thu’um: a thin strip of cloth. A mighty hero who can summon storms, beasts, and unimaginable force from only their voice… somehow can’t use that power to break out of a gag.
At the very start of the game, you’re being escorted to your execution with some others, including none other than Ulfric Stormcloak. He is the only prisoner who is gagged by a piece of cloth to prevent him from shouting (the magical kind). Not so much of an “Unstoppable Force” now, is it? Also, his hands are free. Why not just, oh I don’t know, take off the cloth?
8 Weight Watchers
We’re all familiar with how we can be encumbered one minute, but running along at a normal pace the next, simply by dropping a ring. The weighted inventory concept is realistic but annoying, and in many cases poorly implemented.
One strange happening has to do with food. Eating and drinking consumables in your inventory actually causes you to lose weight (must be all that cardio from fast-travelling). Also, your gold has no weight. A single Septim is about 32 grams or 0.07 pounds. Say you just finished that lucrative Dark Brotherhood quest and are now carrying your well-earned 20,000 GP. That’s over 1400 pounds, but apparently that book you just picked up is just too heavy.
7 Collateral Damage
The combat in Skyrim can be a lot of fun. The dual-wield mechanic adds a lot of versatility, allowing you to go from warrior to archer to battlemage almost on a whim. However, most attacks are AoE, meaning they have a high probability of hitting an unintended target, such as a guard. Now, normally in quests with companions, your sidekick might tell you to knock it off and get over it. However, in dragon battles with Whiterun guards, they won’t be as kind. A stray arrow, a sword swung too wide, or even an out-of-control spell can mean a fine or even jail time. Sure, you saved the town from a dragon, but that guard has third-degree burns and your Thane title won’t save you this time.
The worst is Storm Call, a shout which does exactly what you’d think. Fun fact: lightning doesn’t discriminate.
6 Must Be The Wind
The A.I. in Skyrim is pretty impressive, but it’s not perfect. Performing a kill while sneaking doesn’t give you a bounty or negative reputation among any neutral NPC. Similarly, inflicting damage on an enemy may alert them momentarily, but if you’re able to hold sneak long enough, their suspicions naturally reside.
This often leads to some strange results. For example, killing a member of a neutral group of NPCs in stealth, then revealing yourself will not make them suspicious. Sure, they’ll see you covered in blood, holding a weapon, but they won’t connect the dots. Similarly, firing an arrow into an enemy’s knee while in stealth will alert them for a while, but once the stealth indicator goes back down, they’ll say something like “probably just my imagination”, somehow not writhing about in agonizing pain.
5 Freshly Stocked Dungeons
The developers did a good job of depicting Skyrim’s various dungeons as dark and perilous places, usually in hidden caves or underground catacombs. Some even require a key to get in, and some are so obscure they require a fair amount of travel to even get to the entrance. But when you do enter an ancient dungeon, devoid of all natural life, certain things conflict with the design.
The primary piece of evidence is the fresh fruits and cheeses scattered about in even the oldest dungeons. Eating the food doesn’t result in any negative health effects, and actually heals you. Thousand-year-old wine might make sense, but a perfectly ripe apple is very much out of place. Another oddity is the lit torches, conveniently aflame when you enter as a light source. Perhaps the Draugr like to keep things homely.
4 Just A Flesh Wound
There you stand. Your armor chipped and cracked, bloodied from a recent battle. Your skin is charred from spits of dragonfire, and open wounds lay exposed to all forms of infection. Also, your body is like a pincushion for arrows. Your health has drained to a critical level, and while you’re in a safe place, you can’t find any health potions or food in your inventory.
You sigh, then wince in pain as you realize what you need to do. You take a deep breath, then just… wait an hour. Like magic, your armor is mended, cleansed of all blood and grime and foreign bodies. Your wounds are healed and your HP back to normal. All without a scrap of food or drop of potion.
3 Courier Work Ethic
Couriers will frequently come to you with messages, either as random occurrences or triggered by an event. Some deliveries start quests, while some just acknowledge a recent accomplishment. In any case, couriers will find you no matter your circumstances to perform their duties. Perhaps you’re strolling along a path in the middle of the day, they’ll deliver. Perhaps you’re in the wilderness in the middle of the night, they’ll deliver. Perhaps you’re literally in the middle of a battle with a dragon, they’ll deliver. You could be walking the frozen northern tundras in the middle of a blizzard on your way to a dungeon and a courier will come running up behind you to personally hand you a thank you note from the Jarl. In the occasion above, you might even be in the middle of a dragon interrogation. If only tipping was a thing in Skyrim.
2 Law(less) and (Dis)order
At the start of the game, as you jump off the cart and prepare to be executed, a somewhat sympathetic officer tells his commander, “(s)he’s not on the list”. But she couldn’t care less, and has you executed anyway (until the main antagonist of the game comes and saves you). So clearly, the empire has no qualms with killing someone who may or may not have been associated with rebels.
Then later, after saving Whiterun from multiple dragon attacks, the guards still come at you for stealing 2 gold off a merchant (before you killed them, but that was while stealthed so it doesn’t count). Then later, in the middle of a dragon fight, a guard will literally turn around and say “hey, you look familiar”. Like, bro, time and place. Basically, they either try too hard or not hard enough to properly bring justice to criminals.
1 A Scroll A Dozen
As evident by the name of the franchise, the Elder Scrolls are objects of great power and mystery, crucial to the fate of the universe. They cannot be counted or measured, as they technically exist outside the tangible plane of space-time. They contain prophecies of events that have both passed and have yet to; reading them causes you to go blind.
Before the events in Skyrim, the scrolls were lost and scattered across Tamriel. Their fickle physics made them rare artifacts and difficult to find. However, somehow the Dragonborn finds three of them (and reads them without any adverse effects, but that’s somewhat explained in the canon). But the most confusing thing is that these scrolls can be sold after their use in the main quest line. A mortal emperor’s life is worth 20,000 Septims, but a timeless, magical artifact of god-like origins is worth less than half that value.
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/15-times-skyrim-made-no-sense-and-you-didnt-notice/