Is it just me, or does Blackreach suck?

[Souls]

Every time I hear the name, or go to it, a part of me dies.
It could be because the first time I played the game I went straight into it at level 14 or so, and died. Or it could be because the place is so massive it intimidates me, or possibly all the enemies. I'm not completely sure what it is, but I honestly hate it.

For anyone that doesn't remember, or know what it is, blackreach is the massive lit up colorful place with a bunch of giant glowing mushrooms, 1 or 2 dwarven enemies, falmer, chaurus, (and apparently giants), and a bunch of doors that lead to different ruins.

[MageThis]

Its you, OP. Blackreach actually blows which is 180 degrees from sucking. But aside from that ....

[LordAziki]

I actually enjoy Blackreach. Exploring a large cavern deep under the ground, picking up any crimson nirnroots I happen to find, mining geodes for soul gems, and trying to find every elevator leading to the surface to see how much it extends beneath Skyrim. I will always like it and be impressed with how much the Dwemer built before they all vanished. There is so much mystery and so much to explore. But I enter a dungeon more focused on finding what its story is then completing anything. For me, the lore and settings are what make this game enjoyable.

[فاطمة]

Soul gems on the ground and in the rocks like candy, the most advanced tech in Tamriel, the fanciest weapons and armor, the only robots, massive "cities/ ruins" an even bigger army and enough power to challenge both gods and daedra alike, yep the Dwemer are pretty hardcore, shame we never go to do more than meet the last one in *spoiler* *spoiler*, i'd have loved a dlc that let us time travel to the last great war of the Dwemer on Red Mountain, but nooo, we just get to travel to that stupid showdown with old dragonborn's and Al'doomed.

[Grathagis]

I loved Blackreach. The first time I entered it I got a sense of awe. I was extremely paranoid of those large moving mushrooms. And the fact that it is so big means that you can actually get lost.

[Fabea]

Originally posted by Gril Penetration Unit (GPU):

i ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hate it for these reasons:

1. its massive
2. you cant ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ see anything
3. full of falmer
4. unmarked hunting quest for the nirnroot (which took me ages to do)
5. there's no map or anything to navigate by (made worse by darkness)
6. when you go through for the first time, you're usually in a rush to complete the main quest and want to avoid large side tracks
7. when you enter, you've just spent the last half hour or so going through a dwemer ruin, i want to return to the surface at that point. My heart sunk the first time i entered blackreach because i was expecting that to be the end of the dungeon, but i was met with something more annoying instead this was made worse by the fact that this was also my first ever dwemer ruin in skyrim and wasnt mentally prepared for such a long dungeon to begin with.

My Advice, don't do it the first time you get there leave it until you have finished most other quests.
I did the mod, grey cowl of nocturnal at one point, Blackreach is a great place to use the cowl in the vanila game. It enables you to see all, dead, undead, mechanicals and living and no Guards around to swarm on you for wearing it rofl

[sledgehammer44]

when you take an elevator to the surface and are on the other side of the map where you entered Blackreach..

[Mephitic]

I like all of t he aspects of Blackreach. It is much better than that blasted Soul Cairn.

[Drahcir0]

Originally posted by Gril Penetration Unit (GPU):

i ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hate it for these reasons:

1. its massive
2. you cant ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ see anything
3. full of falmer
4. unmarked hunting quest for the nirnroot (which took me ages to do)
5. there's no map or anything to navigate by (made worse by darkness)
6. when you go through for the first time, you're usually in a rush to complete the main quest and want to avoid large side tracks
7. when you enter, you've just spent the last half hour or so going through a dwemer ruin, i want to return to the surface at that point. My heart sunk the first time i entered blackreach because i was expecting that to be the end of the dungeon, but i was met with something more annoying instead this was made worse by the fact that this was also my first ever dwemer ruin in skyrim and wasnt mentally prepared for such a long dungeon to begin with.

1. what exactly is bad about that?
2. false, everything is glowing.
3. git gud
5. false.
7. false, there are elevators everywhere.

[Souls]

I read all, or most of the comments and only a few thought blackreach sucked.

See, I figure the thing I don't like about Blackreach is the fact that it's a massive cave, too much to do in it, and so much to find, puts a lot of weight on my shoulders making me feel like I absolutely have to go through every door to make myself feel better.
I loved the massive place close to the end of the dawnguard questline, because it was snowy, it wasn't indoors, it wasn't dark and lit up by a bunch of bright blue mushroom type things, and not a whole bunch of falmer/chaurus/dwemer enemies. It was actually really fun to explore, unlike Blackreach.

[Frondson]

I love the Underdark. I mean Blackreach.

[Polverrati]

Personally I hate most Dwemer ruins, the only time I enjoyed them recently is when I installed Monster Mod, because it added more unique enemies to the ruins.

[KalkiKrosah]

I probably would have liked black reach more if the Falmer and Chaurus weren't the ones inhabiting it. I hate fighting them. Especially the Chaurus. Hardest target to hit with a bow and the fact that they like close enclosed spaces makes them more annoying.

[Fabea]

Originally posted by RB ImSouls:

I read all, or most of the comments and only a few thought blackreach sucked.

See, I figure the thing I don't like about Blackreach is the fact that it's a massive cave, too much to do in it, and so much to find, puts a lot of weight on my shoulders making me feel like I absolutely have to go through every door to make myself feel better.
I loved the massive place close to the end of the dawnguard questline, because it was snowy, it wasn't indoors, it wasn't dark and lit up by a bunch of bright blue mushroom type things, and not a whole bunch of falmer/chaurus/dwemer enemies. It was actually really fun to explore, unlike Blackreach.

I am claustrophobic about caves, all caves. I got over my dread early in the game or I would not still be playing it with all the burial places we have to work our way through. Darkreach is easier, I can't see the rocks above me and the dark blue sparkles look like stars in a night sky... And there really are not too many Falmer around at all, it took me just 30 minutes to get rid of them all in the cave.
Those in the city and market a little longer because of the distances.

[Storm_at_Sea]

Blackreach was really interesting to me initially.

I like to explore, sneak, usually max archery pretty early- no challenges too big for you down there with that & peerless or other high lvl jewelry enhancing archery (usually the 2 weapon types I use most often, depending on the situation are 2H & bow).. perhaps it's different for mage builds (wouldn't know, not into mages). Most often I wear hvy armor, tho I'll lapse into lt.armor sometimes. Having a good bow (enchanted w/fire or shock even better) I can sneak (3x dmg) on a Centurion & drop it before it notices me, giants too (or 2shots max- all depending on my lvl/equipment of course). The sneak 3x dmg perk is helpful for lower lvl'd characters, but warrior builds tend to make Skyrim easy earlier in my experience (which makes me understand why there's difficulty mods available- you'd need it for challenge).

As a rule, I don't mind dwemer ruins, & I have a lot of time in Skyrim (& any w-rpg I enjoy), but lately I play for a family member that- let's just say isn't from the computer era!- she absolutely loves Blackreach & the d.ruins... I love going thru dark areas like Blackreach, so that's not a negative point for me. If anything, I find the buildings in it more of a tease (often hoping they were more involved, but I'm careful when playing if I don't enjoy whatever I'm doing- I save, then take a break -try not to force myself to 'just get it over with already', then come back to it (unless it's something I just didn't like at all from the start). (The 30 c.nirnroots quest I did find tedious tho).

I enjoyed the s.cairn as well- I find the dark, stormy atmosphere cozy, but I use mods now to enter or player.coc command since I don't like the 2 options the game gives the player (s.trap or vamp.). I completed the game quite a while back so now I just play to enjoy it 'my way'. That's the beauty of a moddable, open world w-rpg.- very customizable.

[Hebr3w_Hammer]

Originally posted by Souls:

Then I'm guessing it's just me. I think Blackreach is neat, it looks nice, but something about it just has a terribly terrible feel to it.

It's not just you at all. I went in there by accident just going with the flow on my current playthrough, and turned right back around and went back out to do everything else, I can possibly do first. Imo, it's one of the worst designed areas in any game I've ever played. Honestly it's only trumped by that garbage maze area in FFXII, where every exit takes you right back to where you just were.