My walk with Ulfric Stormcloak... (spoilers)

[SpikeSpeigel]

I have about 1000hrs on 3 characters so far since buying Skyrim at launch and I still get amazed by things I've overlooked or simply never connected the dots on in the Elder Scrolls universe. For those familiar with this, I apologize for the wall of text.

I Sent the message to Ulfric about the Greybeards peace talks and Ulfric gets up off his throne and leaves. I leave his castle first and go to my home in Windhelm for a short time. Then, I leave Windhelm and see Ulfric exiting at the same time (by himself! pretty macho, right?!). I decide to follow him on his path to High Hrothgar.

Previous to this moment I had only interacted with Ulfric three ways:
1. initial scene in Skyrim. 2. Stormcloak mission-giving 3. As an Imperial PC, final confrontation.

Following Ulfric (quite the walk, btw) I got to see him in action firsthand and hear his own snarky comments (and laughing maniacally ) to his opponents. Of course, he has Unrelenting Force, which he used against: 2 bears, Argonian Shieldmage, Bandits at Valtheim Towers...etc.I'll recount what happened a bit here, but it's better if you just do it yourself.

I'm level 67 so some bandit Marauders dropped him to a knee ocassionally. At that point, I played healer and used dual Healing Hands.
Then, at Riverwood, he finds trouble in the form of a city guard! After the Stormcloak victory at Whiterun, mind you. He shouts down the guard and all the guards are on him! (Guards are generally tougher than soldiers, right?) I'm thinking (along with my follower, Stenvar) "what the hell is Ulfric doing?!"
Now, it's taking Ulfric FOREVER to dispatch two Riverwood guards I tell Stenvar to wait whilst I heal Ulfric and not catch aggression from the guards. Who comes to assist Ulfric against her OWN city guards?? Gerdur!! (It's gettin crazy!)
At Helgen, I had vanquished some Bandits a day or two earlier, so they had not respawned yet and our party kept movin...
To the east of Helgen we were ambushed by Bandits...no big deal, but the Stormcloak Quartermaster came in and helped out. Even though that Stormcloak camp was cleared since I had already "Liberated Falkreath Hold"! Interesting stuff...
after Haemar's Shame he kills wolves with same finishing moves as PC.
And wouldn't you know... after the peace meeting I head straight to Whiterun and dispatch a Dragon outside the gates. Then, the (Stromcloak)guards have something else to get excited about! They attack General Tullius in front of the stables dropping him to a knee. It was so pathetic, I had to heal him and then use Battle Cry to disperse the scene...

Why did not BGS turn escorting him to High Hrothgar into a quest for a Stormcloak PC?? There is so much Ulfric could have said to the PC on this trip!!
I'm sure the same could be said for a General Tullius escort trip too.
Has anyone done this before? If you're one of those Super-Stormcloak-Guild supporters on here, how could you NOT have done this already?
From an immersion standpoint, this is one of the richest experiences I've had thus far. So much more could have been done with this.
Based on this, I'm very interested in hearing what suggestions there are out there on overlooked, immersive in-game experiences.

[BetaB17]

I have done this myself, but only to pass time and because I didn't feel like fast traveling then. I escorted them both, and once again but this time only to the bottom of the mountain.
It would of been very interesting to add escort missions, even adding some for the Campanions or CoW via hire. And the same can be said the other way through Thieves or Brotherhood, like stealing from a random spawned caravan/escorts or a killing target

[Evil-i]

As the OP has discovered, many of Skyrim's best moments happen when you just sit back and observe while the game does its own thing. Sadly, this is the other side of the coin where Bethesda has dropped the ball when it comes to weaving an intelligent, interesting and compelling story. The best journeys seem to be the ones where you aren't the driver.

I find it odd that while so many people are disappointed in the general quest structure, which rarely deviates from fetch/steal/kill objectives, that some people now think that adding baby-sitting quests to the mix would have been a good idea.

[BetaB17]

The story with Serana was simply amazing. And that mainly stems from her interactions and expansion on the quest's story. If only other npc could do this when you escort them around

[merry]

If I happen to be on a playthrough where the NPCs actually talk to each other I often listen to their dialogues. There's some nice eye-openers in those now and then (ever heard Ulfric and Jorleif talk about the Darkelves and maybe later or on a different playthrough talked to Brunwulf, when he is the Jarl of Windhelm, on the same topic? Sounds quite similar ^^ or Ulfric and Galmar discussing the next steps in the war? Galmar wants Ulfric to kill each and every Jarl the way he killed Torygg and take their hold by force. Ulfric is hoping to win over all or at least most of the Jarls by patience and negotiations. Or did you ever have a chat with Ulfric, when the Greybeards already called you but you have not been there yet?)

Plus, there's some followers with quite unique comments about places. Erandur has something to say about most holds or places, especially about the temple in Riften. Vorstag surprised me with some quite knowledgable comments about Dwemer ruins or Nord ruins. These two are my favourites, I just can't stand to have Serana around, I hate it when she reanimates my fellow Stormcloaks... and she complains all the time

[Hawthorn]

Ha ha, that's brilliant! I'm still amazed that even after all this time I still encounter new dialogues between characters. Just the other day I overheard a conversation between Niranye and Jora in Windhelm, with the elf offering to help Jora and her husband dissapear if the Thalmor should ever come calling. It makes me wonder how many other dialogues are out there that I haven't heard.

[Mr.Argonian]

That's the great thing about Skyrim, and the Elder Scrolls in general. Even a year after it was released, I'm still finding dungeons I haven't explored and dialogue I haven't heard. I might actually do this with one of my characters, seems like a fun role playing thing to do.

[CBR JGWRR]

Ha ha, that's brilliant! I'm still amazed that even after all this time I still encounter new dialogues between characters. Just the other day I overheard a conversation between Niranye and Jora in Windhelm, with the elf offering to help Jora and her husband dissapear if the Thalmor should ever come calling. It makes me wonder how many other dialogues are out there that I haven't heard.

Not quite the same thing as hearing them, but if you look on the CSlist side of the wiki you can see most of the dialogue attached to a character. For example, Here's Niranye's file... (Caution - Thieve's Guild spoilers)

http://cs.uesp.net/index.php?game=sr&formid=0x00014123

[kunimitsova]

That is the coolest thing. I missed out on the greybeards + civil war connection because I did things in a strange order (forgot the sequence now, though). I wasn't planning to do the civil war set in my next playthrough but I am now! I wonder who else you can follow around while they do interesting things.

[Evil-i]

Following NPCs around will have you scratching your head at times. For instance, any roadside Thieves I encounter around Whiterun, and Persuade away with the "Do I look I have any money?" dialogue option, will invariably run to Chillfurrow Farm and begin hoeing the crops.

[SpikeSpeigel]

For me, I felt like I now have met the Ulfric that killed the high king. His swagger and bravado that you only hear about second-hand, I saw for myself. And the weirdness with Gerder helping him- crazy.

BGS does not really allow you to get to truly know anyone in Skyrim. The PC, understandably, has a vague history, but this slack should have been picked up in how much you get to know an NPC or two. Not to mention romance marriage.
This is something that Bioware has always done well. They'll be upping the freedom in DA3 to compete w/Skyrim. BGS needs to get cracking on writing some interpersonal relationships!

[Pilaf The Defiler]

Nobody in any of these games will ever be as badass as Modryn Oreyn with his simple iron mace. I was amazed at the things he took down with that. True badass! Oreyn for Emperor! He'd tank the Thu'um and drive those blighters from Skyrim back where they came from, I'd wager.

[CBR JGWRR]

Nobody in any of these games will ever be as badass as Modryn Oreyn with his simple iron mace. I was amazed at the things he took down with that. True badass! Oreyn for Emperor! He'd tank the Thu'um and drive those blighters from Skyrim back where they came from, I'd wager.

For anyone else wondering just who the hell he's talking about: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Modryn_Oreyn

[Hawthorn]

Ha ha, that's brilliant! I'm still amazed that even after all this time I still encounter new dialogues between characters. Just the other day I overheard a conversation between Niranye and Jora in Windhelm, with the elf offering to help Jora and her husband dissapear if the Thalmor should ever come calling. It makes me wonder how many other dialogues are out there that I haven't heard.

Not quite the same thing as hearing them, but if you look on the CSlist side of the wiki you can see most of the dialogue attached to a character. For example, Here's Niranye's file... (Caution - Thieve's Guild spoilers)

http://cs.uesp.net/index.php?game=sr&formid=0x00014123

Hey, thanks! I was wondering if that was listed anywhere.

[merry]

Oh and if you have never tried this, check out the Neloth and Frea dialogues if you take Frea to Nchardak with you. That is amazing, they talk to each other