(AfroGamers.com) Elder Scrolls is a franchise where anything magic, supernatural or paranormal can exist and often overlap. I’ve always been interested in the paranormal aspect of TES because Bethesda worked on it over the years to make it a path worth exploring. Case in point: vampires and werewolves in Tamriel.
Elder Scrolls and Changing Things Up in RPGs
Both Morrowind and Oblivion are my favorites of the Elder Scrolls games but Skyrim truly modernized the mechanics of the franchise to where you could actually do things and shape a character even if you’re new to action RPGs or RPGs in general.
Prior to and beyond Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, RPG mechanics such as skill trees, allocation of points, building towards skills, and understanding your character’s stats had been simplified over time to accommodate new players while keeping genre veterans engaged. Of course, you’ll have some complaints of the game being dumbed down early on but this was one of those cases where I welcomed it.
Some games simply play as if they’re from a different time in gaming. Morrowind is a prime example of this. As player (and for developers themselves), I feel that you want that big leap in gameplay between games. Especially if they’re released years apart. Sure, you have players that don’t mind a game playing almost identically to the previous installment, just look at sports titles in general, but you to feel like “Hey, maybe this new entry is worth picking up”.
A new experience is great but I’ve always enjoyed a new take or new ways to navigate and interact with a new story in a familiar setting.
Oblivion
This brings us to Cyrodiil, the setting for Oblivion. A very different locale compared to the mostly grim setting of the Morrowind province. While I spent most of my time either in the Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood but I’ll dabble in the Magic Guild and Arcane University. I might get busy with the Fighter’s Guild.
Actually, in every playthrough, I get busy with the Fighter’s Guild. They’re hard to avoid. Occasionally, I’ll get into vampirism. Oblivion is my first introduction to vampirism in Elder Scrolls and it’s pretty basic. You get the dark gift and that’s pretty much it. Sunlight wreaks havoc on your health but you get bonus and spells which are fun to use.
While it can be a hindrance to your adventuring, moving at night or when night is getting ready to fall is an immersive way to include vampire gameplay in a game with a day-night cycle. The sun is treated as one of your character’s greatest foes. Or rather, it’s your most unbeatable foe.
The problem I have with the mechanic (which is solved in a Skyrim expansion) is that there’s little much of an overarching storyline that comes with being a vampire. There are adventures that part of larger storylines involving a few vampires but nothing that centers the vampires. This could simply be down to vampire hunting efforts in Cyrodiil being especially effective and the existing vampires mostly having their sh*t together to where they can exist among the living.
Skyrim
That isn’t to say that vampire hunting is a lost art in the northern province of Skyrim. Vampires seem more plentiful but that’s aided by stronger hardware, better writing to explain why they are so many still around, and a larger world to explore. Vampires in Skyrim exist similar to their kin in Cyrodill.
They dwell in caves, abandoned forts…anywhere not frequented by the living outside of adventurers. At their sides are usually their thralls, living henchmen who are pretty much equal to any bandit or ne’er-do-well you might encounter in the world. What Skyrim does differently with vampire mechanics is focus more on of vampirism is a virus that can be contracted by the living.
From there you have mechanics that are easier to utilize such as feeding (thanks to improved stealth in Skyrim) and the sun not being as much of a foe. It weakens your character but it doesn’t attempt to actively kill your character off.
I was mixed on this when I first played as a vampire in TES V but I remembered how violent the sun could be in TES IV and figured “I can actually do adventures during the day, at least.” It was that simple, folks. Quality of life from the sun. Being weakened during the daytime presented its own challenges but they were manageable.
It made being a vampire and interesting path to explore. Yes, it could get boring quickly but that’s where the Dawnguard expansion comes in. Dawnguard presented a storyline centered on becoming a vampire and joining an ancient clan of the night stalkers or joining the Dawnguard, an order of vampire hunters. Each had their advantages and you could join the Dawnguard as a vampire.
Now, you couldn’t stay a vampire the whole time in the DG but you could use some cool silver weapons and they had my favorite faction armor in Skyrim. Meanwhile, you could join the vampires and wield vampire lord powers.
But that’s a lot of talk about bloodsuckers, what about the murder mutts? You can be a werewolf in Skyrim but I always found being a werewolf boring after a while. I mean, it’s fun initially and it ties into The Companions storyline and career line but I just found playing as a vampire more enjoyable and beneficial when playing as a thief or assassin.
Did you enjoy playing as a vampire or werewolf in TES? Did you enjoy Dawnguard? Let us know in the comments.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.