Like many other Elder Scrolls fans, I dove straight into The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered when it was released. With a wonderful dose of nostalgia, stepping back into Cyrodiil seems like the perfect way to fill the long gap until the next installment of the series. However, the more I played, the more my mind drifted to how stripped back many of Skyrim's mechanics and features were, and this only got worse as I started playing through one of my favorite guild questlines.

When comparing Skyrim and Oblivion, it's important to keep the time gap between the two games in mind. Oblivion features plenty of big differences that could lead to disappointment for those used to playing the newer of the two. However, there are also many positives in Oblivion that Skyrim left by the wayside. This is the most obvious for me when looking at the guild questlines and, in particular, the Fighters Guild when compared with Skyrim's Companions.

Skyrim’s Companions’ Questline Is Rushed

Becoming The Leader Makes No Difference In Status

As I was playing through the Fighters Guild questline in Oblivion Remastered, I couldn’t help thinking about Skyrim’s equivalent and the Companions. The differences seem slight at first, with the Companions offering a new Nord twist on the traditional melee-focused guild. However, the further into the Fighter’s Guild plot I got, the more I realized just how much of a rushed mess the Companion’s storyline actually is.

The entire questline moves far too quickly, with many boring radiant quests, some of which seem at odds with the Companions' honorable reputation. By comparison, climbing through the clearly defined ranks of the Fighters Guild and eventually being offered more involved contracts as you gain reputation with them is natural. This cohesive story allows you to feel like a full guild member, interacting with the various chapters throughout Cyrodiil, while Skyrim’s Companions focuses on The Circle, leaving the other guild as little more than filler NPCs to make the faction look like it has plenty of .

The Companions as a whole feel very rushed, with little thought given to other than the senior in The Circle. As you are sent out on radiant quest after radiant quest, including ones that amount to the Dragonborn being little more than a hired thug threatening people, I found myself amazed at how far removed the Companions are from how the people of Skyrim view them.

As the storyline comes to a close, and you head to Ysgramor's Tomb with Vilkas, Aela, and Farkas, the final quest is very anti-climactic. Despite having three senior of the faction with you, they will peel away throughout the dungeon, leaving you to face things alone. Then, suddenly, you are the Harbinger and supposedly the leader of the Companions. This comes out of nowhere, makes little to no sense depending on the Dragonborn’s race, and changes absolutely nothing.

Becoming the leader of the Companions allows you to forge Ancient Nord Armor and Nord Hero items at the Skyforge.

Even as the leader, you can't do anything, and you still report to other Companions like Aela for quests. Despite becoming the Harbinger, the Dragonborn can't change how the guild works or build it up again in a similar fashion to Skyrim’s Thieves Guild questline. In contrast, becoming the Master of the Fighters Guild in Oblivion allows you to shift the guild's priorities, such as focusing on recruitment or getting more contracts, as well as gain a monthly salary from the Guildmaster's Chest.

The Faction’s Values Make No Sense

Forced Lycanthropy Is No Substitute For Clear Values

Returning to Oblivion and playing through the Fighters Guild quests also made me take a closer look at the concept of the Companions as a faction. Unfortunately, they are just as much of a mess as their questline, with overall faction values that don’t make sense and no identifiable group goal. Even the first time you meet them doesn't make sense, as regardless of level or skill set, the Dragonborn will get an invite to .

First met outside of Whiterun, you can find a small group of the Companions dealing with a giant who has been harassing a local farmer. When you approach, Aela will chastise you if you don't help them with the fight, but that seems illogical to me. It wasn't your job to fight the giant, it was their contract. There is also no recognition of the Dragonborn’s status, even if you’ve completed the main quest and have just saved the world, although that is an issue present in all of Skyrim’s factions.

The entire group seems to exist to give you, as a player, the option to become a werewolf, which is very fun, but then that option becomes a mandate. It is logical to the Companions and expect to be a warrior or a mercenary, but the faction forces you to become a werewolf at war with another faction. You cannot progress the plotline any further if you don’t want to become a werewolf. Beyond the senior member’s lycanthropic drama, the Companions have very little to offer, with no clear hierarchy, similar to other guilds in Skyrim.

Meanwhile, the Fighters Guild is exactly what it says it is, a security firm of sorts. During the Planemeld incident seen in Elder Scrolls Online, the Fighters Guild was hired to destroy Dark Anchors all over Tamriel. In Oblivion, the guild is very much business as usual until new competition starts to cause problems, which requires you to progress in rank to even hear about, something that makes sense given the professional nature of the faction.

The Silver Hand Is Not A Distinct Enough Skyrim Enemy

Werewolf Hunters Are A Cool Idea, But The Silver Hand Are Easily Replaceable With The Vigil Of Stendarr

This leads into my main issue with the Companions: the lack of a decent enemy. The Silver Hand is not distinct enough or explained in any meaningful way. In Skyrim, the Silver Hand comes across as obsessed with Ysgramor and getting the fragments of Wuuthrad, which, despite them apparently having connections to the Vigil of Stendarr, would point to them perhaps being a splinter group from the original Companions. However, no effort is put into making them look like a unique faction.

When an elf named Henantier the Outsider became the Harbinger of the Companions in the late First Era, many left in protest.

of the Silver Hand look like generic bandits, and even the quests where you interact with them are randomly generated. Each time, a different area is chosen for the quests to assassinate their leader, steal plans from their supposed headquarters, or retrieve a fragment of Wuuthrad. This is the opposite of the Blackwood Company, the rivals of the Fighters Guild, who possess clear motivations, headquarters, and identity.

The entire Blackwood portion of the Fighters Guild questline is fantastic, with the mystery unfolding steadily. I the first time I ever completed the quest “Infiltration” and the horror I felt when the twist was revealed. The finale of this plot makes you feel as though you’ve earned the right to be the Guildmaster after taking down such an unscrupulous group that clearly posed a threat to innocents, and the whole group fits in wonderfully with the lore surrounding Argonians and the Hist.

Overall, replaying the Fighters Guild has made me appreciate just how well written some of the questlines in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered are. The whole Companions questline in Skyrim is a mess that moves too quickly and reduces the Dragonborn to an errand runner rather than a full member, something that also happens in the College of Winterhold questline. The only thing that makes the questline compelling is the werewolf form, but since it's forced on the player, it ends up being another potential downside to an underwhelming experience.