In both Skyrim and Oblivion, the Dark Brotherhood questlines have, in my opinion, blown any other questline out of the water. Do you think that Bethesda holds the Dark Brotherhood to a higher standard than other factions? I would like to hear everyone's opinion about this.
It does come across as Bethesda favoring the DB. This could be due to the insane popularity of assassins in recent years, or maybe just the fact that people like really dark material. Either way though I think many other quests have their charms. The fighters guild in Oblivion was really good and as Ni'jami said the College of Winterhold is probably one of the best quest lines in Skyrim. Thieves guild also has its moments (if not also its plot holes XD).
I agree. Assassins are interesting. Hood and caps are cool. Stuff like that. But I actually thought the Thieves Guild was more fleshed out than all the others. Both College and Companions were incredibly quick. I felt like a part of the Thieves Guild more than any other.
The population was a huge part. I felt really bad for the Dark Brotherhood, but speaking of them why did they just call the new people initiates. The Thieves Guild initiates had names and backstories. And NPC-NPC dialogue is huge. I love eavesdropping on Delvin hitting on Vex and the bartender's relationship with Tonilia.
Then again, Cicero provides enough dialogue for everybody in the brotherhood. :)
I don't think the Brotherhood questline was that great actually. Some of the missions are sort of fun but they're mostly set in dungeons or locations you can go to without joining the Brotherhood. You kill a lot of innocent people which could be good for RP if you want to play a "pure evil" character, but I normally play as good or neutral characters so I either avoid or destroy the Brotherhood.
Like a lot of people have already said, I think the Thieves Guild is the most thought out faction and has the best storyline. I've completed it twice and both times it felt awesome chasing down Mercer in the Dwarven ruin, then duelling him on top of the big statue. The thing with becoming a Nightingale is also pretty cool, and the armour looks amazing.
True it's not long enough. You'd expect the "apprentice" part to last longer, with Tolfdir teaching you and the rest of the group about magic.
Then there's that part about the Archmage asking you to do some research... when I did it the first time, I had no idea to what extent this game was realistic, so I thought I would have to read a bunch of books and do some actual research, do some guesswork and find out what has to be done. Fact is, they do everything for you. You never have to read any books, they just point you in the right direction and you do the whole thing in braindead mode.
I know what you mean about the Brotherhood armour, it doesn't look anywhere near as good as the Nightingale armour, and the enchantments aren't great for an assassin either. I like the Brotherhood robes though, but they have even worse enchantments...
Joining the Brotherhood as a neutral character could make an interesting roleplay, as you would have to decide which contracts to go along with. However I think that overall it suits evil or indifferent characters the best because of the nature of some of the killings. Others like Alain Dufont and the one in the Dwarven Ruin aren't as bad because the people have actually done something wrong. It kind of ruins the feel of being a "professional assassin" if you're just killing beggars and civilians.
Thieves Guild and College of Winterhold top DB questline for me. Every Dark Brotherhood member seemed like a bloodthirsty cutthroat with no professionalism and focus of an assassin (except Veezara, he was the only one I didn't want to kill in numerous times I destroyed the faction). Their random attacks are annoying at best ("Never should've come here!" and rushes at you - typical assassin). The questline involves killing a bunch of people just for the sake of it. Cicero is crazy and annoying. You can stand in full DB armor and a chef's hat and cook a poisoned meal for an emperor. The unique rewards are: Shadowmere (rendered obsolete with Arvak for me), Summon Spectral Assassin (is a power but casts like a regular Conjuration spell and can be replaced with those, more powerful ones, which are not limited to daily use), a ton of gold (can be obtained easily in two-three potions), shitty enchanted weapons (Blade of Woe can be obtained without joining them)... The only things I miss out are the access to Dawnstar Sanctuary and master trainers in Alchemy (not very useful with roe potions) and Light Armor (this one is quite useful).
"Hero" is the primary way I play, but I didn't destroy the dark brotherhood with a 'hero' type - you have a strange definition of 'hero' if that includes murdering old ladies in cold blood.
I've only destroyed the Dark Brotherhood once. I've also only completed the Dark Brotherhood quest-line once.
I actually thought that the dark brotherhood quest line was really fun… until i actually thought about it. Its sick- I mean, Having a child praying over a dead corpse to another dead corpse…. A Necrophiliac Jester (who i would enjoy if the Necrophilia was not present)……
I also found it really hard to role-play on one of my previous assassin characters that was loyal to the empire. Thieves guild> Mages guild> Companions> Bards college> Dark brotherhood.