This game's writing hasn't aged well at all

[toughnails]

Finally played this to completion and it was appalling. The whole Shivering Isles expansion was a dehumanizing insult to all people suffering terrible mental illness. Every person in the isles had life destroying problems, and every single one of them was mocked for it.

[meheezen]

Thats Sheogorath for you

[< blank >]

lmao

[mikaeliby]

Yep. In fact most of the Princes are seriously f`d up beings. Great writing I´d say.

[arottweiler]

It might not be obvious when it's downloaded through Steam but Shivering Isles was released for Oblivion as expansion DLC back when it was originally released so is not part of the main quest. Just mentioning that because I always found Shivering Isles to be a bit too Alice In Wonderland so have never got far in it. I always install it because it's needed for a lot of mods but have yet to complete it.

It was also vastly different from the cozy, medieval theme of Oblivion with the town settlements, shops and city guard etc. You could argue the Dark Bortherhood guild encourages people to become assassins but I think anyone who becomes an assassin after playing the Dark Brotherhood storyline was already heading towards that kind of profession.

[westrud]

Some might argue that the thieves guild drives people towards thievery, I wonder if it does...

[greenraven1]

Shivering Isles was the best expansion pact to any game ever made. Bet you want to censor Alice in Wonderland too. Come on. It is fantasy. It is totally fun.

[Cuchi]

Bruh, it's literally the world (correctly a plane) of the madness, governed by a completely antipathetic mad god; Lord Sheogorath.

Of course will be not treated well, that's the point of Shivering Isles expansion: dehumanizing, torture people on dungeons just for the lulz because Sheogorath ask it.

By the way, he say it, you can go away if you want, you are not obliged to stay in Shivering Isles.

It's like playing Borderlands 2 and complain about... IDK, why the NPCs are Borderline for the jokes instead had a serious talk about mental health, with Handsome Jack getting a hug.

[Metro]

Bethesda Studios hasn't been good at writing anything since Morrowind so... yeah.

[mikaeliby]

A matter of opinion of course. I like many of the storylines in the games.

As far as the question of the thread goes: I understand that the subject of mental health is a serious and delicate thing to portray. If one has had such personal experience, then this can be a very uncomfortable DLC to play, as can some books and movies.

[Jester Black]

toughnails is a bit of a misnomer, may i suggest softbutter

[mikaeliby]

So unnecessary comment, man. I bet you are a real brute, right ;)

[Wendersnaven]

Maybe you just need to check your Woke Privilege and not judge a near-twenty year old game by your brainwashed holier-than-you standards. Judgmental joy-sucking is also a mental disease Sheogorrath relishes.

[mikaeliby]

Yep. One should not blame a piece of art for what feelings it awakes. It is free for anyone to avoid what one does not like. I for one think the writing for the deranged people and beings of the shivering isles is really good. Madness can seem funny at first but gets truly uncanny fast. They captured that well in this fantasy.

There is nothing "badly aged" at all with this story. One just likes it or not.

[Mad Dr. Nadd]

I have schizophrenia and other diagnosed conditions (Note: diagnosed by actual professionals). I've been living with these mental health issues since my first memories and it is a struggle every minute of every day.

With this in mind, I don't count Daedric Princes as beings with the same genetic makeup of other beings in Tamriel. This goes for their brains (or whatever they have) as well. So I never really counted Sheogorath as mentally ill, just beyond our understanding of reality in the series. The Shivering Isles isn't going to be a place with a therapy circle and cafeteria. It's chaos, like its master. And in a world like that, with a ruler like that, people are going to get hurt. Sheogorath thrives on the perversion of rules and safety. He brings in the mentally ill because it amuses him. He's not there to help them.

I assume he invites those he can toy with; people of certain conditions that he finds fun for the moment. So these people arrive with certain predilections that he abuses and disrupts. There is a book on extreme self-harm because he wanted it as so. He probably thought the book was a hoot. Big Head is probably there just so Sheogorath can take his fork and hide it.

Do note that there is a wood elf in Anvil with psychosis that speaks of dragon ships and itchy clothes scaring fish. Everyone who you can talk about him to will say he's "touched by the gods" and you should just let him be because he's not hurting anyone. He seems content. People care for him. This is a pretty positive portrayal of these people doing what they can with what they have. In the Isles, such compassion is absent.

I guess I'll end this wall of text with the summation that everyone in the Isles is there to be toyed with and manipulated. They hurt others and themselves because Sheogorath loves chaos. You don't get better under those conditions, and no matter what, the Lord demands that these people be shaped how he pleases. It's his domain. Not their's. Dehumanization is a part of his power.

[Wendersnaven]

The rabbit hole goes deeper when you realize Sheogorrath is part of the Q Continuum from Star Trek.