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You're exploring an ancient Ayleid or Dwemer ruin that's been deserted for centuries and has only just been rediscovered. What's that lying over there? It's a book! You rush over to read it, in case it's a skill book. Oh, look, it's... written by a modern author. WTF?

Am I the only person who finds that scenario rather silly? And it seems to happen quite a bit in The Elder Scrolls. You'd think that the books found in a particular dungeon or ruin would appropriately reflect the history or culture or interests of the occupants, and once in a while they do-- especially in the case of necromancy. But not always.

What are your favorite "What were they thinking?" moments while playing The Elder Scrolls games, where something just seems incredibly silly or wildly out of place?

Well in that case I like to think that maybe someone ventured ahead of you and fell victim to the horrors within, leaving behind their favorite chamber pot reading material behind.

That being said, when you Dragon-Claw yourself into the final chamber of a nordic ruin, search a burial urn (which usually contain ashes, mind you) and find a fresh apple/modern currency... yeah, that's a little silly.

How about the option to escape Helgen with Hadvar and align yourself with the Imperial Legion? Well, Hadvar did apologize after he made that off-color racial remark, and he did threaten that I'd better stick close to him if I want to live right after a dragon invalidated his front-row seat to my execution, so I'd better go with him and get in on whatever his friends are doing.

I giggle about encumbrance math and consumables. Game tells me I'm carrying too much, so I eat a cartload of meat and vegetables and guzzle potions until my teeth float so that I can move freely. Contrast to yesterday, IRL, when we took the family to a festival. Similarly, it is difficult navigating the crowd with an umbrella, the wife's shopping bag, my gyro, my drink, one of the kid's drinks, and another bag full of candy apples (not to mention my "followers" kept getting in the way/ poor wayfinding code). Let me assure you that after wolfing down a pita stuffed full of mutton and veggies and covered with sauce, washing that down with a big Pepsi, and finishing off two candy apples that the kids lost their appetite for (can't waste 'em), mobility was in fact downgraded rather than improved.

Why are there lit braziers and torches in a spider den? Have they mastered fire? Because that would be yet another reason to turn around and run back out!

The remark about encumberance brings to mind the whole inventory thing in general. Yeah, I'm carrying around a dozen warhammers and another dozen full suits of heavy armor. Screw the weight issue, how about the space all that stuff should occupy?

It's literal hammerspace!

Warning: TVTropes link

I'm not saying that Pelinal did it but Pelinal did it. CODA confirms it.

Or it's timey wimey in effect. Or well, random loot generation is kinda [&@%!] for consistency. That or someone really loves books and must collect them all.

Hah, thanks for posting that link, I'd never heard the term before.

I actually don't mind the unreality aspect of hammerspace, but it does bug me when you can carry around a whole lot of stuff but then it takes, like, one large chest, five large barrels, eight crates, and a dozen large cloth sacks to store it-- and even then, you still can't fit all your stuff into those containers. I'M LOO-SING MY MI-I-IND! (Just kidding, I lost it a long time ago and never found it again.)

I guarantee that if the limits were more strict, a lot more players would be down with Conjuration. You can tread far more lightly when your entire suit of armor and weapons can be quickly fabricated from sheer will, intense concentration, and focused magicka.

Failing that, it doesn't hurt to know the location of your nearest bottomless perma-corpse.

Yeah, in Skyrim I got tired of hauling around weapons, so I just conjure them as needed. But I draw the line at going about in my undies and conjuring armor as needed. Not that it's a bad idea, just that it takes a moment to conjure one item, and having to conjure an entire ensemble at the drop of a hat is just tedious.

One thing that bugs me is the fact that everyone in Morrowind is telepathic.

At least, that's the only explanation I can think of for why, when you commit a crime, everyone in the entire freakin' game knows about it instantly.

Even if you're nowhere near civilization when you commit the crime!

You look guilty, outlander.

The inventory hammerspace isn't much a problem if you approach the game itself as an Elder Scroll being written in real time. Your journal keeps a record of all items you've gathered, dropped, or sold. Whenever a situation demands it, you rewrite reality through the Elder Scroll (also known as the Inventory Screen) so your hero has changed gear.

The Elder Scrolls being non-fixed is such a convenient cop-out sometimes :P