The official guide for Skyrim says you don't have to become a werewolf and can still complete the Companions questline. Farkas says you won't be forced into it in the game.
So why does Skor (spelling) and Aida the Lupine (spelling) force you into it? There was no way to exit the dialogue unless you choose to say "I'm Ready." No exit was showing on the bottom of the screen. The tab and load were both blocked from the ability to use them so you couldn't even back out and reload from there! And you were held in place so couldn't just walk out of the cave!!
The only way to get out of it was to agree to become one, then once out of the cave load a previous save. (Or what I did, QUIT the game to menu and then go into the load screen. I reloaded a previous save from before that second quest.
Is this a glitch or what?
(do I sound ticked? I am.)
Also have another chance later if you don't take advantage or collect all the heads. Vikas (or Farkas, one of them) gives a quest to get some as well for the same reason, but he doesn't die before he can be cured.
The next time you talk to the Kodlak (Before he sends you to the Hagravens) there's a dialogue option with something like Purity in brackets, I never did that because I wasn't fussed about being a werewolf, but I suspect that's the one to choose if you want to learn the cure...
@mALX- THANK YOU! I thought I was just missing something and finally checked the Wiki. (Which indicated the same thing- "Oh- you don't HAVE to- you can just go forward anyway.") Um- no, you can't. There are NO options for a different choice.
The only difference I had (on xBox) was that I was able to say "I am not ready," and leave. But it also meant no more Companions quests. It really annoys the... stuffing... out of me that there is not an alternate path. Have to wonder (because of the Guide and the Wiki) if one had been intended and then dropped to rush the game out.
Thanks for commiserating (spelling?) with me Treydog. Everyone says, "What's the big deal, you can always cure yourself at the end of the questline, blah blah..."
Well, so far there are three major quest breaking glitches on that questline that are widespread and make it so you can't finish the questline - meaning you can't get the cure.
When you say you are not ready yet, there is no reason in the world that whole questline should be closed off to you, especially since it is one of the more interesting ones.
Really fries my buns that they did that, and against their own statements about it too.
It isn't even that I would not enjoy playing a werewolf in the game - later, and of my own choice. I just don't like that you HAVE to or no more quests (after Farkas just got through telling you nothing like that would happen) - and I especially don't like being held prisoner till I give the answer they want (I was glad to hear you say that was a game glitch and not Bethesda's intention)
@ Fawkes - Er... what kind of fight? You mean when you try to cure yourself they all attack you? URK !!! If you don't want to put a spoiler up on here, can you PM me with it?
@ Everyone - thank you so much for your info, I really have to decide if I want to go back and take a chance that the questline won't glitch and stick me as a werewolf.
OH !! Also, I heard that while you are a werewolf (even if you aren't in beast form) that your spouse won't sleep with you. Is that true?
**
OH !! Just an observation. I also noticed that while you can't find a marriage partner anywhere else in the game almost (with the exception of every beggar) - that every one of these werewolves are on the marriage list after you complete the questline.
What is that all about?
This is good to know. I will approach that questline with caution.
Wanted to be specific on a couple of points- one gameplay and the other preferences.
I ran into this "show-stopper" with my first character, who was pre-1.2 patch. I did the first few Companions quests, including the one where the player character discovers the secret (helping one of the others- who becomes a werewolf to beat the Silver Hand hunters).
So then got the- "Come with me to the hidden locale under the Skyforge" invite. Did that- saw Aela in wolf form and was asked to joing the Circle. Said- "No thanks" and left. But- at that point I also had to effectively abandon the faction, because I could see NO other way to advance.
And that leads me to the "preference" note. I tend to RP all of my characters. There are things they will not do- or will only do under extreme duress. That includes becoming a werewolf. The idea that there is no "back-path" to solving the Companions' "curse" just strikes me as being rushed and lazy game design. That is ESPECIALLY true since they limited the number of joinable factions in the game AND since my character is pretty darned unsure about joining either the Legion OR the Stormcloaks.
Moral ambiguity can be a GOOD thing in a story or a game- but it is only good if you are given choices. And that is where this seems to break down. It would not matter so much to me if I did not find MUCH about the game to love.
End rant
Throughout the long months leading up to this game I have tried to maintain a wait and see approach to what Bethesda decided to do with Skyrim. Very often that philosophy saw me adopt the role of Bethesda apologist in threads made railing against their philosophy toward the future of the franchise. Well I have waited, Skyrim is here, and I have seen. I apologize to Helena, TK, Black Hand, or anyone else whose views toward the franchise I have lined up against. I can no longer defend what has become Bethesda’s arrogance. Telling me that I have the freedom to play the game any way I want to . . . as long as I play it the way they want me to is a positively Orwellian concept! The argument that it’s okay for you to be forced into being a werewolf because you never have to actually use the power (well, except for that one time) is a hollow one. So is the argument that it’s okay to be forced to join the Mages Guild as an axe swinging Orc in order to get a certain shout word. These are not errors of omission or flaws in game design (though they too do exist). These are deliberate systems of control in a game that sells itself on the freedom to play the game the way YOU want to play!
I whole-heartedly agree with mALX and trey that all the faction quests feel rushed and half-hearted. As I said via PM to mALX just the other day, it is almost like Bethesda is saying to us: ‘What are you doing this crap for?! Don’t you know there are DRAGONS out there?!’
It feels like they jumped the gun at E3 with the release announcement, only to find 11-11-11 bearing down like a freight train (believe me when I say I know what that’s like). So they decided to perfect the dragons (and they are pretty damn cool, I have to admit) and the environmental details (which, again, are very well done) at the expense of the depth given to the faction quests. They also decided to shelve what was for me the best part of the Elder Scrolls franchise . . . interesting NPCs. Even M’aiq comes across as a zombie in this game! So, while Skyrim is indeed beautiful, it is ultimately soulless. I don't think it's a coincidence that Ken Rolston, a former employee of Bethesda and one of the lead designers of the two games, recently compared Morrowind to Moby D*** while comparing Oblivion to the movie Titanic in the latest issue of gameinformer. His point was to illustrate how 'tragically inaccessible' Morrowind was for the larger audience Bethesda was even then courting. I wonder then if that makes Skyrim Transformers?
I, for one, would have gladly dealt with moving the game back to 12-12-12 if it meant that I could have more thought out faction quests or met characters like Uncle Crassius, Divayth Fyr, Nibani Maesa, Mazoga the Orc, Savlian Matius, or Lucien LaChance.
Okay, that’s my rant. Next!
There are so many choices this game forces you to make its not even funny.
"Be who you want to be?" Riiiight.... I think Destri summed that up pretty well.
Anyways, I am so utterly offended by the lack of roleplaying options in this "roleplaying game" for even the most basic decisions you could make... that I am going to be putting them back once the CK comes along.
I have decided to call the project "Skyrim Derailed," in reference to the term of forcing the player through a scenario where he should be presented a choice being called 'railroading.' So far, I have placed these items on the agenda:
1. All Words of Power will be accessible without needing to join any Guilds. Each Guild has a single Word that can only be obtained by joining them, which means that roleplayers will be stuck with some incomplete Shouts because they chose not to join a specific Guild. Denying full Shouts for not joining a Guild is fine, but only allowing partial completion is not.
2. Will allow for the Main Quest to be reasonably completed without needing to join the College of Winterhold. The idea is that the moment you walk through those gates, you are considered a member. So I'm going to do as Oblivion did and move the guy you need to speak to outside the gates for the duration of the needed quest so non-members can talk with him without being forced into aGuild membership they might not desire.
3. Will allow for full completion of the Companions questline without needing to become a Werewolf. This thread already covers pretty well why to do this.
4. A few transparent decisions (the Paarthurnax dilemma, for instance) will be given some weight. Instead of stalling things out by taking the opposite side that Bethesda intended, the quest will be completed and you will have to live with the consequences of your decision.
5. An obvious attempt to pad out the length of the Thieves Guild questline will be addressed. When you complete a special job for a particular hold, your quest-givers will stop assigning jobs in that hold until you have finished the Restoration project.
6. You have to partially complete the Main Quest (you must complete Dragon Rising) in order to complete the quest Message to Whiterun for the Civil War questline. This will get stopped for anyone who wishes to do only the civil war without needing to worry about dragons.
Those are the biggest offenders at this point. I am sure I will continue to get reports of pre-made choices Skyrim makes for you along the way.
Word to the wise Bethesda: without meaningful choices, you do not get to call your game an RPG. And they don't need to be of the Mass Effect moral dilemmas, either. Just letting the player be who he wants is what The Elder Scrolls does. Skyrim throws wrenches into that philosophy all over the place with several questlines depending on other questlines and even more pre-made choices where the only option is in what manner you wish to say yes.
Morrowind = Total immersion, rich lore, complete player freedom. NPC's that don't move, lots of generalized dialogue.
Oblivion = Broken Immersion with pop-up journal quests, hand-holding, significant dumbing down, NPC that talked....about mudcrabs. NPC's staring at a wall. Little to no Lore, in some cases outright butchering (Tsaesci are humanoid skeletons? Really?)
Skyrim = More buggy than Daggerfall, significantly watered down...everything, no attributes, no classes, no Guild ranks. Yet...more immersive than OB (IMO) return of the lore, and NPC's talk...realistically.
The way you're all feeling about Skyrim right about now...is exactly how I feel about Oblivion. Yet in spite of all it's faults...I love Morrowind. And in spite of its...significantly dumbed down aspects, and undeniable bugs and faults. I like Skyrim.
The quests in Morrowind were predetermined too. The Quests in Oblivion were predetermined with a green arrow saying "Here, Dummy!" Skyrim is like the...offspring of the two.
Maybe because I had no expectations with Skyrim, it worked out for me. In large part because the last release was a...trying to choose words carefully here...letdown....a very....well you get the idea, I didn't expect it to knock my socks off.
I am biased of course, hell, Im not even really defending Skyrim, but its second on my list of TES games I would like to play, and I've loved Werewolves since I was a kid.
Yet at the same time, it makes sense from a 'lore' perspective to say that they won't trust you to join the circle until you're one of them, on the other hand, Beth didn't even offer a choice, which is one of the things that does irk me as well.
You figure the majority of people playing this game are going to join the Fighters Guild or companions in this case, so to make lycanthropy an option is not a bad thing, but for it to be forced...why couldn't they just make it a random attack once a month on the road? God knows my fellow thieves and those wannabe assassins pester us enough!!
[/endrant]
*The preceding was merely an opinion, in many cases meant to be taken with a sense of humor, the writer reminds you that text does not convey tones or inflections, and also reminds you that above all else...it's just a game.
EDITED TO ADD: I admit that the Dramatic Brotherhood was VERY well done in Oblivion, and am in fact a total Fanboy for Lucien LaChance. That being said: They ruined everything in Skyrim in terms of the DB! The Spectral Assassin is annoying! NOT even close to fanboying that!!
As proof and tempering of tempers, may I present the greatest fanvid...ever made!....By Humans....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ldEB5DOaU
Seriously,...watch it...its like my skooma...
I'm glad I read this thread because this is something that bugged me, too. My nord fighter was doing Companions until he got to the werewolf decision part. He just didn't want to do it, and it bummed me out because I was enjoying Companions up till then.
On the other hand, those who say there are no consequences for our decisions in this game need to just shut up on this one.
There should of been two parts of the Companions which branched out. The option to join the Circle and become a shapeshifter werewolf or remain a regular person and still help out Kodlak with his Lycanthropic state. Overall, the whole Silver Hand thing should of just been in a werewolf questline alone.
In my opinion, the Companions questline would of been better without werewolves, since many people don't enjoy playing as werewolf. Likewise, some people wanted a better werewolf experience. Bethesda could of just done two seperate factions, one less than the other. All we know is that these "werewolves" were altered by the Glenmoril Witches and that an old man wants a cure. Not many people enjoyed that.
I even heard there were scripted full moon transformations. It would of been likely to add a random wild pack of Lycanthropes rather than just a mercenary group.
I cannot see me ever doing the Companions quest line because I do not want my characters forced to become a werewolf. That aside, they also seem to be a bunch of arrogant jerks as well.
Yeah. Kodlak, Farkas, Vilkas are just plain meh. Skjor and Aela are cool though. They're nice.
Bethesda did dissapoint fans. I can't believe I have to play as dragonborn to finish the civil war quests. It's just horrible.
Indeed, the Civil War quest is horrible... ...
I loved some of the story itself on the Companions. Mostly the quests where you and Aela rage war against the Silver Hand by launching a period of assaults in their headquaters. And the Totems of Hircine was cool too, a real throwback to Bloodmoon where Hircine told you to protect one of his Totems. Of course, I felt that the Companions would of been better without werewolves to appeal to the non-furry fans. It was a poor decision to force people to do those quests.
Personal rant; I even heard there were scripted full moon transformations in the game. Yet Bethesda pulled them out, it seemed. The characters in the Companions who have Lycanthropy should really not be complaining that much considering their condition is modified by the Witches of Glenmoril, meaning they can turn at will and are not supceptible to lunar transformations. Nor do they lose health if they do not make a kill(a mortal sacrifice) to honor Hircine during a nightly hunt. Their only concern is of course, the afterlife. True Nords go to Sovngarde. True hunters go to Sovngarde. But really...just leave Lycanthropy in a good faction that will give it justice. Leave the Companions as it should of been; the Skyrim's version of the fighter's guild.
My character was suppose to be like Sinding, a Daggerfall style werewolf. With no control and with partial insanity. Yet, she gets to be the new breed.
And just a side-note, what is with all this afterlife stuff? I've seen in other ES games but not as prominant in Skyrim. I think it's cool. Though troublesome when you do the Thieves Guild and the Companions(I won't spoil it.)
"You know what is the problem in Skyrim these days? Everyone is so obsessed with death". So true.
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