ScrollsOfTamriel
New Member
The more I replay Oblivion the more I notice how much the Mages Guild questline falls apart in the back half. Like the early stuff is genuinely solid - Anvil recommendation, the necromancer quest, even the recommendation chain feels like you're actually earning rank. But then you hit the Lich questline and it just... stops being about anything? You're suddenly hunting down some random Lich and his phylacteries and I genuinely cannot remember why I'm supposed to care.
And then Telaendril shows up and the whole thing pivots to "oh actually the guild is full of traitors" which would be interesting except it happens so fast and with so little setup that it feels like two different questlines got stapled together. Compare that to the Dark Brotherhood which has Sithis and the Night Mother woven in from the start, or even the Thieves Guild where Mercer's betrayal actually lands because you've been working with him the whole time.
I think the issue is the Mages Guild in Oblivion doesn't really have a central conflict until the very end. It's just recommendation quests in different cities and then suddenly conspiracy. Skyrim's College at least has the College vs Thalmor tension hanging over everything from the start, even if it doesn't go anywhere interesting.
Anyone else feel like the Mages Guild should've been restructured? Or am I just remembering the early quests as better than they actually are.
And then Telaendril shows up and the whole thing pivots to "oh actually the guild is full of traitors" which would be interesting except it happens so fast and with so little setup that it feels like two different questlines got stapled together. Compare that to the Dark Brotherhood which has Sithis and the Night Mother woven in from the start, or even the Thieves Guild where Mercer's betrayal actually lands because you've been working with him the whole time.
I think the issue is the Mages Guild in Oblivion doesn't really have a central conflict until the very end. It's just recommendation quests in different cities and then suddenly conspiracy. Skyrim's College at least has the College vs Thalmor tension hanging over everything from the start, even if it doesn't go anywhere interesting.
Anyone else feel like the Mages Guild should've been restructured? Or am I just remembering the early quests as better than they actually are.