Tangent: I wish games wouldn’t force speaker names in the subtitles.
At the opening of Skyrim we have no way as a player to know this guy is ‘Ralof’ and the way he talks makes it clear he doesn’t know who you are either, yet his name is right there.
It’s really immersion-breaking to have this omniescent knowledge of things we shouldn’t know - so thank you to games which let you turn it off.
Also good are games which show names as ‘???’ or generic ‘Man’, ‘Child’ etc until you learn their names and then it fills in :)
Agreed, also because it doesn’t matter.
“Ralof” dies almost immediately upon meeting him so I feel like the hassle of naming him wasn’t even worth the time spent thinking about it.
I feel them giving him a name was a way to humanize him a bit and try to give him personality but there just wasn’t even time between knowing him and his death to make anyone care.
On another note, I think allowing to skip the intro and even the tutorial sections in games should become standard. Yes I’m sure studios put a lot of effort (lol) into that initial hook, but when you go through it for the third or fourth time it’s just annoying.
Admittedly I haven’t played Skyrim in ages, but surely Ralof doesn’t die during the intro? One of the prisoners does die when they try to escape but not Ralof.
according to hastily googled 'scrolls wiki: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Ralof
… However, Alduin attacks Helgen, and Ralof is able to escape. After reaching shelter, Ralof frees the Dragonborn from their bindings and asks for help against the Imperial soldiers. Later, the Dragonborn has the opportunity to rejoin Ralof and escape from Helgen. …
he’s part of few quest lines later on as well.
edit: but truth be told, even with name, I wouldn’t have regognized him after helgen anyway.
Oh yeah you’re right, my bad, haha. Same, I cared so much for him that I forgot he survives Helgen smh.
heh, it happens.
Frankly, I didn’t even regognize Ulfric either once I got to meet him later in the game. Sidequests for days until progressing anything main plot related, heh.
Isn’t Ulfric optional? I don’t think the civil war is required for the main quest.
could be, honestly not even sure - it’s been a while since last visit to Skyrim, and even then it likely was just random exploration and sidequests! :P
