Fr I cant stand people who can't tell a story without trying to shove in bits that have no part of the story this dudes story telling quip and witty while being indering and genuinely into the topic at hand
The shock in finding Lucien Lachance's mutilated body hanging inside the Applewatch farmhouse left an indelible impression among players, and that's not all. It was allowed to remain hanging for the rest of the game even after the members of the Black hand departed. A grim reminder to our participation in the Dark Brotherhood. I often hesitate to go back there. The Applewatch farm started as an innocent looking place. Then things started to escalate when Mrs. Draconis was murdered and then it ended by the gruesome acts committed on Lucien Lachance by the Black hand.
Fun fact: Lucien doesn't get flagged as essential until after you murder Rufio, so you can kill him as soon as you meet him (more for roleplaying purposes than anything else, as there's no quest to destroy the Dark Brotherhood without mods). Great video, BTW!
That is very true! I like how Skyrim explored that option of killing Astrid! Would’ve been interesting to see that as an option in oblivion too! I really appreciate it! :)
Awesome! Also… “helping” the scamps kill the Kvatch guard in the first Oblivion gate will also get you a Lucien visit. No need to wait and you can turn right around and leave the gate after he’s dead. No bounty.
Side note: anyone notice that looking at the dialog options for this faction, how much more...enthusiastic the Hero of Kvatch is? Especially compared to the other faction questlines where their responses tend to be a lot more muted and emotionless. (then again, Skyrim implies that the DB quest was canonical for Sheogorath/Hero-of-Kvatch, so who knows, lol)
My headcanon is that after the shivering isles, Sheogorath (or Sheo in the HoKs body) joined the thieves guild and DB for a laugh. Just fits so well for me.
I think the events are canon, just who they were done by isn't confirmed, like, in Skyrim, the events of every guild are probably gonna be canon in the next game, just not all would have been done by the dragon born.
The way J'Ghasta ears perk up before announcing betrayal is so cute. That guy that is allergic to honey also gives it away when he says "By Sithis" in one of his responses, but I never checked his or J'Ghasta's home for those clues. And the way Lucien dies is so gruesome. Terribly explicit, I can only imagine what all of that must've felt for him, loyal till the end and teared apart by his own family. Truly terrifying. The other guilds just felt like they weren't Dark Brotherhood. Mages guild questline was okay, but I personally have always loved DB more than anything in that game. Amazing video. First time I watched it I slept a few minutes in it but after deciding to sit down and just chill, I watched every second attentively.
2:50:00 Should have taken the head. You can get alternate dialog from the mastermind of the plot at the Draconis Estate if you drop the head in the room. Edit: 2:54:44 Nevermind, you did.
Watching you for some time realizing I’m not subbed. I am now! I hope you continue to grow. your content is simple and exactly what most people are looking for!
I have seen all of the previous videos about the DB questline, now I'm putting this one on podcast mode I'm never tired of Oblivion's quests or the AI, I had a good laugh with the Ocheeva moment
Even though I watched all parts separately, I'm still gonna watch this whole thing. Also Mr Bard, you promised more bedtime stories on your 2nd channel! My nights have been sleepless while waiting for a new bedtime story
😂 I really appreciate it! And you’re totally right! I did! I’ve been trying to focus growth on this channel as with the sleep one, my time gets spread too thin, but one day it will return!
It's interesting how the black hand members call upon Sithis and the void when the player works on taking them out. An observant player could get the hint right there.
I know that it was just a lucky break that you did not get caught by the orc while sneaking into into the castle. However, if he was indeed the one that arranged the contract to kill Roderick, it makes sense that he would have looked over your presence there.
"I know that I'm here to find a chest full of gold and others are looking for it, but time for a nap! What's that? 2 people have been murdered? Welp, that makes me sleepy!"
i lways loved how "to do so is to invoke the wrath of sithis" seems like it just means "well be very upset with you" but no it means "if you do this an evil ghost will come try to kill you"
36:27 Oof. To be fair, though, it is kind of weird just rolling out of the prison when they never put you in there (this time), and they don't bat an eye.
You can actually get different dialogue with your fellow assassins depending on your disposition in the DB, wether you’re on good standing or bad standing with them their dialogue when asked for advice will change
I dont know how, but I could swear i was in Bruma when Lucian caught up with me after the last contract. I was on top of a roof and was amused that he was parkoring up buildings to find me. And it causes me to be surprised to see him in Bravil almost every time. I dont know if I just fast traveled away the moment killed the target so it took him a while to catch up or if Im just really confused. But I just keep thinking I've got one more left when he shows up.
Ahem. Shadowmere is a mare according to the game lore. But, considering it's daedric, it's possible it's all and neither gender. Or could even be whatever the owner wants her to be.
Thank you so much for this compilation. Love your narratives and style to get out as much of information and lore as possible. Damn, makes me want to get that ol' ass dusty PS3 out and do this whole bit again... Sucks my HDD had to reinstall due to corruption, had an epic level 3 character with full chameleon, and almost everything done. Except that I hate the level scaling system so i can not complete the whole achievements on it... Damn, I miss Swaggot the chameleon argonian... RIP. 1:07:47 Bethesda moment
It is wild rhat this was rhe one time i slept to this narration, and my brain built out into a dream with unique but accurate visuals. Its hard to explain just how much i enjoyed rhis video because it was so unusually unique. Ive not been able to see fhe dark brotherhood the same after this lol
I would have thought that at the end the last remaining brotherhoods member (can’t remember her name, the one who becomes your speaker) would have said SOMETHING in the way of “gee, golly. We sure messed up. Sorry Lucien, Night mother, we’ll do better next time.” Did I miss it? I swear I was paying attention xD Thank you for your play Thurough’s. I’ve never played Oblivion before, and I’ve enjoyed watching all your long forum content.
Great videos lately sir! I don’t wanna tell you how to make your videos or course but simply a suggestion - it would be really fun and enjoyable if you role played as your character and asked the NPCs the questions they will be answering for the quests if that makes sense. It would massively improve the dramatization of the quests and you have a nice voice so more dialogue from you the better 😊
Why does Hides-His-Heart even care? The guy "died," and its not like the Dark Brotherhood usually goes around announcing their kills, especially on such small fries. If I was the argonian, I'd let it happen, I doubt his employers would be asking questions.
The quest in skyrim so much easier than oblivion, but I do like oblivion a whole lot more. I just don't like how everything looks like written on paper. I mean the map that's cool, but all the quests and stuff not so good on the eyes. Especially if you're visually impaired that and also Weapons and armor constantly breaking
it's actually hilariously bad written when blackhand members start dying and you do not take your dead drop orders yet lucien makes it only after you killed everyone i mean come the fuck on he found you on the other side of the toddtest to activate the questline but can't find you between kills?
I think if it’s your introduction to vampirism and you weren’t sure what it entailed, some people might take it! For the way I like to play it’s not really worth it!
The Dark Brotherhood is interesting to me. Mostly because... I just can't get into it. I know everyone and their mothers marks out hard for the Dark Brotherhood. The fact that they marked out hard for the Dark Brotherhood is what got Emil his lead writer job for Skyrim and Fallout 4 even. But for me? Well one problem that it shares with Sheogorath in Oblivion and Skyrim as well. it's comedic. And meant to be comedic. But I just don't find it funny. I never popped a smile on the "Killed a little nord girl!" bit like Emil says I was supposed to (in a panel he did he specifically mentioned putting moments like that in there so that the player would feel this comedic light hearted sense only to have reality crashing down around them when Lucien was killed and they realized just what monsters they really were and worked with). A lot of the Dark Brotherhood feels high concept. Like initial brainstorming ideas of "What sounds cool" but wasn't really polished. Like the idea of going through the Tutorial Dungeon backwards. Or the Murder Mystery Party. Or the poisoned apples to assassinate the Captain. I think it just really depended on players entering the quest line with the right mind frame. Like... I've seen a lot of people say over the years how cool Lucien Lechance was. But to me? The way he performs and such doesn't come off as "Cool" or "Badass" or even "Creepy". It comes off as try hard. He sounds like some skinny 90 lbs soaking wet goth kid trying to act mature and dangerous to me when he's laying on his "oooooo! Spooooky faction!" vibes like when you first meet him. As well the first meeting is kind of let down because the game counts a lot of things as "Murder" that most definitely were not. For example the other faction Emil worked on, the Arena and taking out the champion. Or getting jumped by Mythic Dawn agents in cities have resulted in me getting the Dark Brotherhood hook. And a handful of other events and quests where it just doesn't really make sense. I appreciate, to an extent, that Emil really tried to swing for the fences with more of the quests than the average Oblivion quest line. Like instead of just the opener and the conclusion there was a bit more unique variety in things going on. Though even it had a few "Just go there and kill people in whatever fashion" sort of quests I didn't really care for. Or at least, I should say it felt like more of a slog to do. But I also think I would have appreciated less 'high concept' swing for the fences quests with particular new mechanics or ideas cropping up over having more of a solid foundation. The best part of it for me was Lucien's execution and events leading up to it. Just solid use of some voice acting and having a clever use of a zombie model for the corpse. As well as leaning into more horror theming for the journal you find. But... the ending really let me down with the big plan the guy had was "Take a knife that can't even hurt a ghost against some immortal ghost spirit thing". A lot of build up for a wet fart of an encounter in the end. Emil has, over the years, been clear about what he wanted with this. He wanted a high comedy romp where the Dark Brotherhood was "Catholicism, but Evil" basically with Sithis as the Father and the Night Mother as Virgin Mary and the Listener as Jesus. And he wanted this line of "Comedic into uncomfortable". I think most people got the Comedic and liked it, but I don't think most people had that "uncomfortable" response of realizing what a monster they are. In part because the quest keeps you rolling in rewards, never really confronts you THAT much with monstrous actions/consequences... heck in game you are less "Evil" for becoming the Listener of the Night Mother than you are for being the Grey Fox, leader of the noble Robin Hood thieves. And outside of the Draconis family job... they never really give you targets that you might feel upset about having assassinated. In that case a mom trying to get gifts for all her children. But... otherwise? You're assassinating a would be Lich, greedy assholes with dark secrets and self serving attitudes, a pirate captain with a long list of crimes themselves, or clearing out a den of assassins who are gleefully blatantly evil and reveling in it. So if the comedy didn't work for me, and being uncomfortable with being a bad person didn't work for me... what's left? Because I'm not going to feel squeamish in a game about having killed some Orc bragging about killing children. Like stabbing asshats like that is what heroes do in fantasy RPGs. And I'm not laughing at the jokes. I can kind of appreciate the high concept ideas but they're so random, buggy, and prone to failure (like the Poisoned Apples, complete luck if I could get them to work properly) that I'm not having that much fun with it either. I can see how people like the comedy, because that's constantly referenced with the Dark Brotherhood (and why Skyrim's is also heavy on comedy that just doesn't work for me). But the monstrous realization was just missing. Like dumb as it might sound, if Emil wanted that crawling "What sort of monster have I become?" revelation from players... they needed more horror elements like the events leading up to the execution of Lucien. They needed more depravity with the targets where targets like the Draconis Family. They needed something to push the boundaries. Just killing targets wasn't going to be it. It's Oblivion. You kill stuff all the time. Monsters, other people, etc. It needed, I think, actual consequences. Because when the only real consequences of being in the Dark Brotherhood is "You get a small amount of Infamy", less than being a noble bright Robin Hood... and then the Dark Brotherhood also showers you with a bunch of unique treasures as well... you're not going to get that response of feeling like you're some horrible monster looking at your screen going "What did I do?". Like even simple as it is, in Knights of the Nine when you get a single point of Infamy and people open up conversations with you everywhere about how they're disappointed in you, and used to look up to you? THAT made me more uncomfortable and questioning what I was doing in game more than anything the Dark Brotherhood did.
![Eminem - Fuel (feat. JID) [Official Lyric Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/t5H_CewqpKA/mqdefault.jpg)
Beautiful reading voice, no corny jokes, no excessive swearing, great content. I love this channel so much
Fr I cant stand people who can't tell a story without trying to shove in bits that have no part of the story this dudes story telling quip and witty while being indering and genuinely into the topic at hand
@@Gyummiimore like
Gee, why, you, me???
Can't wait to fall asleep to this!
I hope you enjoy it and it puts you to sleep quickly!
me you both brother
@@plantnichplantdied this guy knows..
May the Hero of Cyrodil not perform a cleansing on your sanctuary!
Bro saw this in my recommended 2 seconds ago and thought the exact same thing
The shock in finding Lucien Lachance's mutilated body hanging inside the Applewatch farmhouse left an indelible impression among players, and that's not all. It was allowed to remain hanging for the rest of the game even after the members of the Black hand departed. A grim reminder to our participation in the Dark Brotherhood. I often hesitate to go back there. The Applewatch farm started as an innocent looking place. Then things started to escalate when Mrs. Draconis was murdered and then it ended by the gruesome acts committed on Lucien Lachance by the Black hand.
1:15:28 Ah yes, one of my favorite quests in the DB questline. Where you have to be a false guest; an imposter, if you will.
Seems kinda sus if you ask me
I would go so far to say Agatha Christie would be proud.
Fun fact: Lucien doesn't get flagged as essential until after you murder Rufio, so you can kill him as soon as you meet him (more for roleplaying purposes than anything else, as there's no quest to destroy the Dark Brotherhood without mods). Great video, BTW!
That is very true! I like how Skyrim explored that option of killing Astrid! Would’ve been interesting to see that as an option in oblivion too! I really appreciate it! :)
@ABardsBallad Astrid was no Lucien though
This was what I did forst time I encountered him, it was really bloody hard but i managed it lol.
Fun fact, depending on your brothers/sisters disposition towards you they offer different dialogue when asking for advice.
Ahhhh very interesting! I actually didn’t know that!
Watch @darkloredash videos he goes through every single brother and sisters voice dialogue for all dispositions in his DB series!!
Awesome! Also… “helping” the scamps kill the Kvatch guard in the first Oblivion gate will also get you a Lucien visit. No need to wait and you can turn right around and leave the gate after he’s dead. No bounty.
Interesting! I didn’t know that! That’s a pretty easy way to do it!
That's how i used to do it back in the day as well :D
Ocheeva killing Antoinetta unprompted is so funny 😭 like...
That traitor must've felt really good about it. lol
I did not expect it
Probably beaten the Dark Brotherhood quest 5+ times and never once thought to drop the head to try and weasel Out the traitor, that's amazing.
Can’t wait to listen to this even though I’ve already watched each individual video 10+ times.
😂 I appreciate it! I hope you enjoy the compilation!
Side note: anyone notice that looking at the dialog options for this faction, how much more...enthusiastic the Hero of Kvatch is? Especially compared to the other faction questlines where their responses tend to be a lot more muted and emotionless.
(then again, Skyrim implies that the DB quest was canonical for Sheogorath/Hero-of-Kvatch, so who knows, lol)
Bethesda doesn't even understand what canon is.
My headcanon is that after the shivering isles, Sheogorath (or Sheo in the HoKs body) joined the thieves guild and DB for a laugh. Just fits so well for me.
I think the events are canon, just who they were done by isn't confirmed, like, in Skyrim, the events of every guild are probably gonna be canon in the next game, just not all would have been done by the dragon born.
Bard you spoil us with all the quality uploads you keep giving us!
😂 it’s what I’m hear for! To please the people! I hope you enjoyed this one! :)
Agreed it so good keep the oblivion content coming brother
The way J'Ghasta ears perk up before announcing betrayal is so cute.
That guy that is allergic to honey also gives it away when he says "By Sithis" in one of his responses, but I never checked his or J'Ghasta's home for those clues.
And the way Lucien dies is so gruesome. Terribly explicit, I can only imagine what all of that must've felt for him, loyal till the end and teared apart by his own family. Truly terrifying.
The other guilds just felt like they weren't Dark Brotherhood. Mages guild questline was okay, but I personally have always loved DB more than anything in that game.
Amazing video. First time I watched it I slept a few minutes in it but after deciding to sit down and just chill, I watched every second attentively.
Thank you for entertaining with nostalgic gameplay and expert level commentary (chill voice and good insight)!
I appreciate your kind words! :) I hope you enjoyed it and hopefully my future content continues to deliver!
An entire channel dedicated to Oblivion is something I need in my life. Subbed
I wish there was a tangent quest where we could follow clues about the switched dead drop targets and destroy the traitor before it all went wrong.
2:50:00 Should have taken the head. You can get alternate dialog from the mastermind of the plot at the Draconis Estate if you drop the head in the room.
Edit: 2:54:44 Nevermind, you did.
Maybe wait until you've watched the video before commenting?
Watching you for some time realizing I’m not subbed. I am now!
I hope you continue to grow. your content is simple and exactly what most people are looking for!
I have seen all of the previous videos about the DB questline, now I'm putting this one on podcast mode
I'm never tired of Oblivion's quests or the AI, I had a good laugh with the Ocheeva moment
Even though I watched all parts separately, I'm still gonna watch this whole thing. Also Mr Bard, you promised more bedtime stories on your 2nd channel! My nights have been sleepless while waiting for a new bedtime story
😂 I really appreciate it! And you’re totally right! I did! I’ve been trying to focus growth on this channel as with the sleep one, my time gets spread too thin, but one day it will return!
@@ABardsBalladWhat's your second channel called?
It's interesting how the black hand members call upon Sithis and the void when the player works on taking them out. An observant player could get the hint right there.
I know that it was just a lucky break that you did not get caught by the orc while sneaking into into the castle. However, if he was indeed the one that arranged the contract to kill Roderick, it makes sense that he would have looked over your presence there.
I hope he levels up sneak here a good bit. He is going to need it here and for the Thieves Guild quest line as well.
I did what I could for sure! But you’re right, I’m going to need more experience for the thieves guild!
Perfect content to fall asleep to, don't get me wrong - I will be rewatching this again when I wake up. Keep up the good work man ❤️
during the whoduunnit quest you can make the final two fight to the death
"I know that I'm here to find a chest full of gold and others are looking for it, but time for a nap! What's that? 2 people have been murdered? Welp, that makes me sleepy!"
i lways loved how "to do so is to invoke the wrath of sithis" seems like it just means "well be very upset with you" but no it means "if you do this an evil ghost will come try to kill you"
lucien looks like Anthony Padilla
Lol
The absolute best quest line bethesda has ever done...
Gonna watch the whole things Im a security building guard I got 8h to watch this im doing nothing hahahah....much love to all oblivion fan here!
36:27 Oof. To be fair, though, it is kind of weird just rolling out of the prison when they never put you in there (this time), and they don't bat an eye.
Yeah I agree 😂 that’s partially why I assumed you couldn’t leave that way, but what can you do now!
You can actually get different dialogue with your fellow assassins depending on your disposition in the DB, wether you’re on good standing or bad standing with them their dialogue when asked for advice will change
1:07:47 ive seen some crazy unexpected things in oblivion, but this is a new one. Rest now in the void, sister
I dont know how, but I could swear i was in Bruma when Lucian caught up with me after the last contract. I was on top of a roof and was amused that he was parkoring up buildings to find me. And it causes me to be surprised to see him in Bravil almost every time. I dont know if I just fast traveled away the moment killed the target so it took him a while to catch up or if Im just really confused. But I just keep thinking I've got one more left when he shows up.
One of my favorite moments was during this quest!
"You awake screaming"
Ahem. Shadowmere is a mare according to the game lore. But, considering it's daedric, it's possible it's all and neither gender. Or could even be whatever the owner wants her to be.
I always wished I could have warned Ann marie and vichente, about the purge. To get them to leave. I liked their upbeat natures.
Oh no, did I invoke the wrath of Sithis?
That orc, Gogron gro-Bolmog...so loving....so savage
Thank you so much for this compilation. Love your narratives and style to get out as much of information and lore as possible. Damn, makes me want to get that ol' ass dusty PS3 out and do this whole bit again... Sucks my HDD had to reinstall due to corruption, had an epic level 3 character with full chameleon, and almost everything done. Except that I hate the level scaling system so i can not complete the whole achievements on it... Damn, I miss Swaggot the chameleon argonian... RIP. 1:07:47 Bethesda moment
It is wild rhat this was rhe one time i slept to this narration, and my brain built out into a dream with unique but accurate visuals.
Its hard to explain just how much i enjoyed rhis video because it was so unusually unique. Ive not been able to see fhe dark brotherhood the same after this lol
Absolutely love these videos keep up the great work!
Don’t forget the equipment enchantments scale with your character level!
We report back to Ocheeva for our next contract.
Fot the purification quest, can you loot the bodies after you kill them without any repercussions or is it still forbidden?
I watched every individual episode from start to finish. Am I also going to watch this from start to finish? What a stupid question. Of course I am!!
😂 that’s perfect! I appreciate the continued support!
10:48 Hmm.. I wonder if breaking a tenet of the Dark Brotherhood will invoke the wrath of sithis... 🤔 I guess we'll never know 🤷♀️
I would have thought that at the end the last remaining brotherhoods member (can’t remember her name, the one who becomes your speaker) would have said SOMETHING in the way of “gee, golly. We sure messed up. Sorry Lucien, Night mother, we’ll do better next time.” Did I miss it? I swear I was paying attention xD
Thank you for your play Thurough’s. I’ve never played Oblivion before, and I’ve enjoyed watching all your long forum content.
The Warlord Roderick quest is meme material.
Great videos lately sir! I don’t wanna tell you how to make your videos or course
but simply a suggestion - it would be really fun and enjoyable if you role played as your character and asked the NPCs the questions they will be answering for the quests if that makes sense. It would massively improve the dramatization of the quests and you have a nice voice so more dialogue from you the better 😊
I really like that idea! I can do that going forward! :)
Oddly my first time for the Dark Brotherhood came from the fight with the prisoners in the arena
By Sithis, this is such an excellent video!
1:08:11 Good Ol' Bethesda jank. But I will say that is a new one, but it is in your favor for later.
That’s why we love the game! And yeah I certainly wasn’t complaining! 😂
Your videos are always amazing
I really appreciate it! I hope you enjoyed it! :)
such an amazing set of quests... I LOVE Skyrim but I was really disappointed by the Dark Brotherhood story.
Its like a thousand ads on this video chill out Mr. krabs
RUclips places them every 8 minutes or so automatically, so there’s going to be a lot on these 3 hour videos
@ABardsBallad its fine, jus made me go back to my old ad blocker. Problem solved. F youtube
“He sort of had it coming.” How can you diss Taj Mahal like that??? 😭
I hear the Dark Brother can help my manhood
"Green Road. Initiation. Do This. Eeeeeexellent!"
Man thank you so much ❤
20:38
No way he just said that so casually 💀
Nice my man
I hope you enjoyed it my friend!
Aunt Margret, you're looking the worse for wear..
Why does Hides-His-Heart even care? The guy "died," and its not like the Dark Brotherhood usually goes around announcing their kills, especially on such small fries. If I was the argonian, I'd let it happen, I doubt his employers would be asking questions.
Movies worth of content!
I’m competing with Netflix 😉 I hope you enjoy it!
“She won’t make it to see six” how came he can kill kids and I can’t lmao
By the nine this was good lore
The quest in skyrim so much easier than oblivion, but I do like oblivion a whole lot more.
I just don't like how everything looks like written on paper. I mean the map that's cool, but all the quests and stuff not so good on the eyes. Especially if you're visually impaired that and also Weapons and armor constantly breaking
it's actually hilariously bad written when blackhand members start dying and you do not take your dead drop orders
yet lucien makes it only after you killed everyone
i mean come the fuck on
he found you on the other side of the toddtest to activate the questline but can't find you between kills?
Man's unhinged, as an assassin for sithus the man won't even get stealth crits. W0t
it was so easy to end it all with all db death
watching this has made me realize the voice acting in this game is SEVERELY lacking
Vicente valteri gift does anyone actually want it
Considering how much of a hassle vampirism is in the game, not really unless you want to go through the quest to get rid of said vampirism
I think if it’s your introduction to vampirism and you weren’t sure what it entailed, some people might take it! For the way I like to play it’s not really worth it!
@@ABardsBallad I did one playthru as a vampire hated it
Matilda Petit: Certified N'wah. 😒
*You sleep rather soundly for a murderer*
Bethesda loves making weapons look stupid
but why andwho sent them to kill them
My favorite
Cool
Or you could just go invisible 31:30
I don't think I've made it through more than 20 minutes of any of these videos
2:01:54 Same
would have been nice to give motierre some acting lessons. he nearly gives the game away with that whack ass dialogue
hell yeah, something to listen to while doodling
That’s awesome! I hope you enjoy and happy drawing!
Thank you for your work! 🧝♀️
I’m happy you’ve been enjoying the videos! I appreciate the support! :)
The Dark Brotherhood is interesting to me. Mostly because... I just can't get into it. I know everyone and their mothers marks out hard for the Dark Brotherhood. The fact that they marked out hard for the Dark Brotherhood is what got Emil his lead writer job for Skyrim and Fallout 4 even.
But for me? Well one problem that it shares with Sheogorath in Oblivion and Skyrim as well. it's comedic. And meant to be comedic. But I just don't find it funny. I never popped a smile on the "Killed a little nord girl!" bit like Emil says I was supposed to (in a panel he did he specifically mentioned putting moments like that in there so that the player would feel this comedic light hearted sense only to have reality crashing down around them when Lucien was killed and they realized just what monsters they really were and worked with).
A lot of the Dark Brotherhood feels high concept. Like initial brainstorming ideas of "What sounds cool" but wasn't really polished. Like the idea of going through the Tutorial Dungeon backwards. Or the Murder Mystery Party. Or the poisoned apples to assassinate the Captain. I think it just really depended on players entering the quest line with the right mind frame.
Like... I've seen a lot of people say over the years how cool Lucien Lechance was. But to me? The way he performs and such doesn't come off as "Cool" or "Badass" or even "Creepy". It comes off as try hard. He sounds like some skinny 90 lbs soaking wet goth kid trying to act mature and dangerous to me when he's laying on his "oooooo! Spooooky faction!" vibes like when you first meet him. As well the first meeting is kind of let down because the game counts a lot of things as "Murder" that most definitely were not. For example the other faction Emil worked on, the Arena and taking out the champion. Or getting jumped by Mythic Dawn agents in cities have resulted in me getting the Dark Brotherhood hook. And a handful of other events and quests where it just doesn't really make sense.
I appreciate, to an extent, that Emil really tried to swing for the fences with more of the quests than the average Oblivion quest line. Like instead of just the opener and the conclusion there was a bit more unique variety in things going on. Though even it had a few "Just go there and kill people in whatever fashion" sort of quests I didn't really care for. Or at least, I should say it felt like more of a slog to do. But I also think I would have appreciated less 'high concept' swing for the fences quests with particular new mechanics or ideas cropping up over having more of a solid foundation.
The best part of it for me was Lucien's execution and events leading up to it. Just solid use of some voice acting and having a clever use of a zombie model for the corpse. As well as leaning into more horror theming for the journal you find.
But... the ending really let me down with the big plan the guy had was "Take a knife that can't even hurt a ghost against some immortal ghost spirit thing". A lot of build up for a wet fart of an encounter in the end.
Emil has, over the years, been clear about what he wanted with this. He wanted a high comedy romp where the Dark Brotherhood was "Catholicism, but Evil" basically with Sithis as the Father and the Night Mother as Virgin Mary and the Listener as Jesus. And he wanted this line of "Comedic into uncomfortable". I think most people got the Comedic and liked it, but I don't think most people had that "uncomfortable" response of realizing what a monster they are. In part because the quest keeps you rolling in rewards, never really confronts you THAT much with monstrous actions/consequences... heck in game you are less "Evil" for becoming the Listener of the Night Mother than you are for being the Grey Fox, leader of the noble Robin Hood thieves.
And outside of the Draconis family job... they never really give you targets that you might feel upset about having assassinated. In that case a mom trying to get gifts for all her children. But... otherwise? You're assassinating a would be Lich, greedy assholes with dark secrets and self serving attitudes, a pirate captain with a long list of crimes themselves, or clearing out a den of assassins who are gleefully blatantly evil and reveling in it.
So if the comedy didn't work for me, and being uncomfortable with being a bad person didn't work for me... what's left? Because I'm not going to feel squeamish in a game about having killed some Orc bragging about killing children. Like stabbing asshats like that is what heroes do in fantasy RPGs. And I'm not laughing at the jokes. I can kind of appreciate the high concept ideas but they're so random, buggy, and prone to failure (like the Poisoned Apples, complete luck if I could get them to work properly) that I'm not having that much fun with it either.
I can see how people like the comedy, because that's constantly referenced with the Dark Brotherhood (and why Skyrim's is also heavy on comedy that just doesn't work for me). But the monstrous realization was just missing. Like dumb as it might sound, if Emil wanted that crawling "What sort of monster have I become?" revelation from players... they needed more horror elements like the events leading up to the execution of Lucien. They needed more depravity with the targets where targets like the Draconis Family. They needed something to push the boundaries. Just killing targets wasn't going to be it. It's Oblivion. You kill stuff all the time. Monsters, other people, etc.
It needed, I think, actual consequences. Because when the only real consequences of being in the Dark Brotherhood is "You get a small amount of Infamy", less than being a noble bright Robin Hood... and then the Dark Brotherhood also showers you with a bunch of unique treasures as well... you're not going to get that response of feeling like you're some horrible monster looking at your screen going "What did I do?".
Like even simple as it is, in Knights of the Nine when you get a single point of Infamy and people open up conversations with you everywhere about how they're disappointed in you, and used to look up to you? THAT made me more uncomfortable and questioning what I was doing in game more than anything the Dark Brotherhood did.