The weakness of the main plot, whilst disappointing, doesn’t take away from the experience nearly as much as it would in other games. The main plotlines has never been the most important aspect of the Elder Scrolls games, and there are lots of much more compelling mini narratives within side quests. However, Hermaeus Mora is a much more interesting character, and his scenes steal the plot. Miraak never feels as potent a threat as he should, and feels oddly underplayed. In this regard Dragonborn is actually weaker than Dawnguard, where I actually really enjoyed the main storyline. The main storyline is…actually kind of poor. In addition to this main quest, we have the plethora of side quests which define the Elder Scrolls series. The Dragonborn journeys to Solstheim to take down Miraak and free the island from his thrall. Miraak has gained the support of Hermaeus Mora, who has been helping him to return to the physical plain. Miraak was sealed on Solstheim by the Dragon Priests, of which Miraak was originally a member before betraying them. The cultists worship Miraak, the first Dragonborn, who desire to bring down the protagonist as a pretender to the title. Apocrapha is utterly trippy, and a fun break from the more grounded land of Solstheim.ĭragonborn kicks off as the player character journeys to any major city in Skyrim, where they will be attacked by mysterious cultists bearing a note from Solstheim. A lot of the game takes place in Apocrapha, the plane of Oblivion which is the demesne of the Daedric Lord Hermaeus Mora. Solstheim really is Skyrim in miniature, which is really what Skyrim DLC should be. There aren’t any huge cities on Solstheim, but we do have the town of Raven Rock (which Morrowind veterans will remember actually founding in Bloodmoon), as well as the return of the Skaal Village and the small Telvanni holdfast of Tel Mithryn in the south east. As much as I liked Dawnguard, it missed the point of what made Skyrim great, and thankfully Dragonborn does not make this mistake, and gives us another big, beautiful world to explore packed to the brim with stuff. Things have changed in Solstheim since Bloodmoon however the eruption of the Red Mountain between Oblivion and Skyrim has coated the south of the island with ash. The snowy mountains in the north certainly aren’t far away from Skyrim, with Morrowind style mushrooms found in the south. Solstheim does tread a line between the geography of Skyrim and Morrowind. Although this DLC, Dragonborn, doesn’t quite capture the Morrowind magic, it still almost had me weeping with nostalgia at times, and is an excellent slice of Skyrim in its own right, and is definitely a great improvement over the Dawnguard and Hearthfire DLCs. I was therefore, frankly rather giddy with the news that the newest Skyrim DLC will return us to Solstheim, an island midway between Morrowind and Skyrim which was previously featured as the setting of the excellent Morrowind expansion pack Bloodmoon. The Roman influenced Cyrodill of Oblivion and the Nordic influenced Skyrim, as great as they are, could never come close to a land absolutely brimming with weird and wonderful sights. I sunk a frankly terrifying amount of time into Morrowind I loved the island of Vvardenfell, in it’s beautiful weirdness, and the truly alien culture of the Dunmer. However, Skyrim isn’t my favourite Elder Scrolls game, oh no, that would be a little game named Morrowind. Sure the combat is extremely ropey, the character animations are terrible and the writing isn’t even that great, but I don’t care about that, because I just want to explore. It appeals to everything that I most enjoy about gaming. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Dragonborn DLC for Xbox 360
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