UPDATE: Thank you for more than 10k views. Contrary to popular belief BOTH Unslaad and Glenmoril are currently unfinished. You can expect a video on both once they are finished. In the meantime I tried to paint the way for some of the themes these videos will be talking about in a video about the Clockwork city (which these mods are heavily inspired from) so if you are looking for more content revolving around this subject, here you go: czcams.com/video/sM2Rlm5AHoQ/video.html&ab_channel=Cotho. 1k views 🎉 I know it’s a small number compared to some of my other videos, but I think this video is so far my favourite on the channel. (The audio is kinda meh but otherwise I am very satisfied with how it came out). Some notes for the video: - I have finished both Unslaad and Glenmoril and I will be making a video on them when they ae completed and voice acted. - At 1:20:30 I got confused about the fact that Belhazar was shown as a human when he is actually a half minotaur. In the inquisition district you can find a book that mentions how the Alessians usurped him and installed a puppet in his place. They had him locked in a secret chamber in the Inquisition district which the player can access by killing Morihaus (Belhazar's dad) and the fake emperor you see in the video and then accessing a barrier tower like that of Pelinel's which allows you to then access his secret chamber. - Finally, I think I skipped too much content in my attempts to cover the entire main quest in a quick enough manner. Most of the things I skipped like Jhunal's library and the Anatomancer were mostly foreshadowing for Glenmoril, so when I make that video (probably later this year if the mod is finished by then) I will be sure to mention them at the beginning. Thank you all so much for watching, I go make YTP now.
@@voiceovernomad I think you nailed it 100%. Usually they give Molag Bal a stereotypical big bad guy voice, but here the mod focuses on the "schemingness" of his personality , and the voice you gave him totally fits that theme. Honestly the entire team did an amazing job, can't wait to hear glenmoril and the rest of unslaad when its all said and done.
Unslaad is now finished! And vicn is back to working on the final update for glenmoril, and the ending for it has been outlined on his patreon since last year, actually. We eatin' good.
Molag Bal has a lot of talents. Proceeds to list them. Half are redacted. Yep, most people don't realize why he's arguably the worst daedric prince in every way.
@@thenewguyinredeh Dagon is the Deadric prince of destruction and ambition his crimes and realm of being is killing war death. He wants you dead and gone if you are in his way. In a way he's similar to Ares in Greek mythology. Baal is worse simply due to the fact that he doesn't let you die doesn't let you end your suffering.
Its funny watching the new models for Vigilant. He actually opened a patreon specifically because me and a few others urged him to get one because if I could pay for Vigilant I would but in true Vicn fashion he wanted to be humble and didn't want to but relented and opened it only to use all the money to buy new original assets for Vigilant. What an absolute legend.
So THAT'S how there's new HQ models for VIGILANT? I played the mod with the original remixed assets, so seeing Pepe's new model, along with several others, is a beautiful surprise. Vicn continues to be an absolute great
Lore friendly is such an interesting way to describe it. Especially when you use bare hands and supplex Molag Bal. Like hey Dragonborn what did you do last day? Oh you know, not much. I did supplex Molag Bal though.
We have to accept that Elder Scrolls is a generic fantasy setting now. Bethesda is interested in selling games that appeal to as many nitwits as possible. Not something engaging lmao. This IS as good as it gets for us.
Coming back again- Another detail I saw is the constant references to Shezzar/Shor/Lorkhan in the last part of Vigilant, specifically Pepe talking about how he looked for Shezzar by opening the coffins that you came in and Sheogorath taunting Molag Bal with the fact that he was nothing like Shezzar, being weak and ugly. Shezzar is basically considered the greatest of the gods (that aren't basically pure primordial forces like Sithis), for better or worse, and is well beloved by the human races. So naturally Molag Bal would be obsessed with him- proving himself better than Shezzar would be the ultimate domination. Molag Bal also seems to have an indirect connection to dragons and by extension Akatosh, through their shared pride and will to dominate. Molag Bal created a new kind of Daedra from the remains of a dragon he ate alive for daring to defy him called the Daedric Titans. Hell, one of the Daedric Titans is literally called 'Son of Molag Bal', much like how the dragons are the children of Akatosh. But unlike Molag Bal, the dragons are a far more noble and dignified race who don't feel a constant need to prove their superiority to creatures they know they are better than. You can even see this in the lore for the Daedric Titans- They're physically stronger yes but they lack the power of the Thu'um, wielding pale imitations of it. And the Thu'um really is quite something, considering how often sound plays into things. Like the Dwemer's Tonal Technology or the Towers stabilizing the 'sympothy' of Nirn. The Thu'um is basically warping reality through sheer knowledge and power. So the Daedric Titans lacking this is a real kick in the balls to Molag Bal. Now consider the Last Dragonborn, a child of Akatosh who proved themselves stronger than Alduin normally is. Alduin, a dragon so powerful he frightens even the Daedric Princes. A master of the Thu'um, a force warping reality that his own precious Titans lack. And finally, the mod also goes off the belief that the LDB is also a Shezzarine, an incarnation of Shezzar. Even if someone else could have fit the role, of course Molag Bal would choose the LDB. Molag Bal is obsessed with domination- On top of humiliating Jyggalag, proving himself better than his fellow Princes and killing Stendarr (and probably Arkay too): he can show his superiority over both Akatosh and Shezzar at the same time too! And of course he fails. Because unlike Pepe who couldn't see his own god climbing out of the coffin he open. Unlike the Bard who lost himself to his desires and weakness. And unlike Molag Bal, cursed to forever lack the dignity and power of his kin- the LDB rises above all of that. Because Akatosh nor Shezzar would be as weak as Molag Bal.
Assuming the Dragonborn is a Shezzarine and Pelinal Whitestrake is a Shezzarine, the fight between the two is essentially a fight between brothers. Two little Lorkhan Jrs.
@@indrickboreale7381molag bal realizing that he brought not only a dragonborn to his realm but the reincarnation of his dead brother who was the most powerful of the e'tada: I think I made a mistake
Emperor beltharza was replaced by a human since the alessian order could not accept the original one to be a minotaur. It was said on one of the notes or book in the first inquisitor court.
I wanted mention a few rather less known things about Vigilant's features, which can be helpful to those who missed them on their first playthrough but which can be real lifesavers in future playthroughs. If you take the easy way to act 4 by stabbing Altano with the needle, you don't really miss out on any unique items, and those few are mostly just some weird misc items which you can't even use. You can still get any ending you desire by taking this shortcut. You may find shared chest A and B in Coldharbour, and they are at the entrance of every major dungeon. These chests are all linked, so you can leave your spare things there and access them later on. And the final feature about Vigilant which is honestly the best part. Once you finish Act 4 and return to Mundus, a mysterious stone tablet appears in Vigilant Librarian's desk. (However, you may have to finish a new quest by the librarian first, been a while since i played through this mod.) If you interact with it, it takes you back to Coldharbour, to the Priory where Pepe greets you at the beginning of Act 4. The priory has these forementioned shared chests. You may return back to the Vigilant Library by interacting with the coffin from which Pepe released you, or by going all the way to the top of the imperial tower and using the gateway to Aetherius. This allows you to finish and discover pretty much everything there is to Coldharbour if you missed something, as well as aquire all the sweet overpowered items. And the best part is, there's some very interesting NPC interactions which only become accessible once you finish Act 4. This mod is honestly so full of stuff, i discovered a few new things just by watching this video.
It should be said all the mods are related actually including some lore including deep elder scrolls lore. Though Vicn takes his own interpretation of the lore and adds his own touches to it it’s very well done. I love the esoteric feel of the mods as you go along.
I wish I can find more on glenmoril but I haven't seen any major updates on the mod and any playthroughs of it I find are so modded it just makes my senses to overload
That last tidbit about not even caring that much about the story but letting the music live rent-free in your head speaks to my SOUL. I wasn't that deep into TES lore when I played it either, but I at least recognized that the scenarios were references to events that happened in Tamriel that I just wasn't familiar enough to fully appreciate, so I managed to hang in there and keep track of the story reasonably well through the character interactions. And then the Dragon Break happened. And we started playing as the Bard, who was somehow a past representative of Molag Bal, Stendarr, Altano and the Dragonborn all at once. And 4 of the 5 endings you could get relied on what you did as the Bard at the ending instead of your karma. And the endings we got in the past both DID and DIDN'T affect what actually happened in the present. I was so close to giving up completely in understanding what the hell I was playing, but then the soft, emotional instrumental kicked in, the voice actress started singing her heart out, and it tricked me into thinking this was one of deepest stories about forgiveness and moving on ever. 11/10 would get mindfucked by a narrative that the music carried harder than the Dragonborn carried every single guild in Skyrim again.
Just finished this mod. I got the funeral ending. Having read the book Opisculus Lamae Bal years ago, I got major chills seeing that story brought to life in the final scene. This mod has a lot to love for fans of the lore. Cutting thru waves of Aurorans as Pelinal was a another highlight.
Fuuuuck, Vigilant hits different once you know what the hell is going on. Great job on this, by the way. If you're ever up for it, Vicn has a, ahem, trilogy of mods that get way crazier than this, talking about some VERY deep lore subjects that Michael Kirkbride fantasizes about. Hope you like ending the dream that no longer needs it's dreamer.
Vigilant to this day represents the peak of Skyrim modding. I haven't had a chance to play Glenmoril yet, but I'll definitely find the time once it is finished
59:18 In medieval ages it was pretty common to spouses to have different rooms. They would meet in the wife's room just when they were about to.......''''' and the husband's room was more like an office, where he writes, works and receive co-workers
The fact he understood dragon breaks so well,used the concept of manteling as well as understanding what Sheogorath's role and view on the other deadric princes is makes me wish he was brought on as a writer or narrative designer for TES6
Yeah no it's really not. It has promise, but the back half comes off as tryhard fanfiction, and putting so many Aedra devotees in Coldharbor is a really inane decision.
@@de4dweight545 tryhard fanfiction =/= fanfiction. A lot of TES "deep lore" is at best pseudocanonical or apocryphal and at worst bottom-tier fanfiction that spits on the actual lore as a whole anyway. I don't usually care about gatekeeping but the elitist Morrowboomer/Kirkbride dickrider schtick is beyond annoying and a detriment to the fandom.
The pain in Jacob's voice as he confesses, Thingol's exhaustion, Pelinal's dialogue, the bard's sorrowful serenade after choosing the spawn, Sir Cadwell's... yeah... just *chef's kiss*. Props to the VA's, the voice acting is a bit spotty but that was perfection!
There is a secret Anatomancer room in the Ratway. He asks you few question before you can gain access to his room. Pretty interesting detail and a good hint for Glenmoril. I noticed this on my 3rd Vigilant playthrough lol. In act 1, you can also choose not to kill the woman and the girl. After talking to them you can just go to Altano in Molag Bal's Altar. If you persist on not killing him you will get a different ending of act 1
"In act 1, you can also choose not to kill the woman and the girl. After talking to them you can just go to Altano in Molag Bal's Altar. If you persist on not killing him you will get a different ending of act 1" Slight correction on that, you can get a different ending if you go back to Altano *and win* The second he lands a swing on you, you're right back on the normal track. The alt end can also lead you down the same path (with some differences, i.e. the vigilents and the mother & daughter are still alive), or if you take the less merciful path you go straight to act 4.
If you want to subvert the creator's vision in Act 3, take advantage of the fact that none of the monsters can open doors or climb while being limited to melee, and climb the furniture to plink away at them with impunity.
For me Vigilant was like Wheels of Lull, it was like watching a documentary about the lore and it made me do my homework on the background lore. It was so fun to lookup things along the way and learn about everything I saw.
Vigilant is easily the best quest mod there is. The story is amazing, the ambiance is insane, there are so many alternate cutscenes and so much more to say about it. It becomes so hard not to talk down on other quest modes when discussing this one
You know, I just realized something. When you kill Jo'vanni, the journal entries, implied to be the player character's inner thoughts, change to Jo'vanni. As if part of him is stained on your soul. Kind of like what happens in GLENMORIL...
@@MetalMiIIs At every corner of Coldharbour you'll find a memory. You'll then have the answer to the question the statue asks. Present the wrong item however and I'm not sure of the consequences.
@@MetalMiIIs The statue will be a man-bull within a temple. I'm sorry though, I shouldn't spoil where, it'll take away the magic of finding it all. There are four required memories and a few interactions with npcs. It's well hidden for a reason.
@@TheMoinomedian It's okay, I'll load up a save this weekend and hunt for it. It's weird though, thought I exhausted everything in Coldharbour but definitely missed this. Thank you.
1:07:30 If the dragonborn has achieved amaranth then it means that his/her sacrifice was no such thing as the DB immediately resurrects as him/herself. As proven by the fact that you can give the exact same appearance to your "new character" and it keeps all of its abilities and quest marks. Basically the DB triumphs over Molag Bal by showing him how inferior even a daedra is compared to someone who dreams . A being of true freedom. You enter MB's dimension on your own terms not his.
I think it's a significant part of the path, maybe CHIM in fact since it kind of mirror the victory vivec achieved against molag bal too but the last dragonborn is still within the confine of the God Head dream, so it can't be AMARANTH
Honestly I wouldn't read too much into it. If Vigilant was being made now, much like the bad endings in GLENMORIL, it would just cut to black and ask for a reload.
At this stage in the trilogy, the Dragonborn has not reached amaranth. The sacrificial route isnt canonical, but merely for those who just cant stand to defy Molag Bal themselves. Whether you do it or not, you will still wind up in Coldharbour anyway. And this doesn't really logically give Molag Bal the incentive to be interested in you. How can the Prince be interested in a nobody? The mechanic is intended really for a new character, ultimately.
Yeh no, it's impossible for two dragonborns to exists at the same time at the events of Skyrim ( I said at THE TIME OF SKYRIM BECAUSE OTHER DRAGONBORNS CAN EXISTS AT THE SAME TIME BEFORE THE 4TH ERA )cuz we are the last dragonborn, there's no one after us and we know that bal needed someone with the blood of ada to open the gate to athereius
Just finished Vigilant last night, been a hardcore lore nerd for the elder scrolls for a good few years, so this was a TRIP to say the least. But I absloutly loved it. The story is amazing, and as you pointed out, some of those cutscenes really just...hit the heart hard. The "good" scene for pelinal had me holding back the waterworks. Its also amazing to see that for once, a dragon break was written WELL and...it wasent even cannon. Great vid. Even got me filled in on a few bits I missed which was helpful.
There is also a short epilogue quest which gives some foreshadowing to Glenmoril and Unslaad... Oh and also a certain Anatomancer guy who is quite a big deal in his own right
This mod is what inspired me to create my own fantasy world and comic. I have always loved TES and seeing such an ambitious mod filled with love inspired me to take the leap and create my own grand art project.
Big fan that Jiggalag and Sheogorath just seem to be bros now. Which makes sense since the current sheogorath is the oblivion protagonist that also freed Jiggalag
The hero of cyrodil is still insane tho I'll like the idea that sheagorath was peaking around in comdharbour to see what jyggalag is doing but then he saw the dragonborn roaming around killing everything that stands in his way and maybe he remembered himself before he went made and became sheo, the most intriguing part is that he somehow follows you throughout the memorys or dose he? Was he there at these specific moments in time? Or is he just an observer like us? Did he actually do anything to help/stop these events or did he help prolong the fates of these we meet in comdharbour. Man vicn writings are incredible
Ah Vigilant, one hell of a ride, after completing it for the first time everything else felt so dull :") Here's a fun fact for those who got the best ending : If you head to present day Eldergleam Sanctuary you'll find something quite nice. Great job, it was an excellent documentary on the matter, with how big the mod is it was logical not everything has been covered but you nailed the main points. I recommend Glenmoril, though still WIP (and after that Unslaad) for this story of Bards and Laza is far from being over !
Nice little fun fact for people playing vigilant, if you have a saint staff (I forget what it's called but it's the staff that looks like dawnbreaker was made into one), pope Mangus will actually become passive and you can talk to him since he thinks you're Pepe.
I've played through Vigliant twice, before and after I've played my share of Quest Mods or new lands or whatever. But really I like the way story telling is probably the major highlight of the mod. Some parts early on sort of feels like it railroads you like having to kill certain early people with no real choice, but as it progress things do really open up that do allow you to have the ability to test your character's well character. Each act is so distinct and the Culmination of getting to Coldharbor is a real big highlight. Where you can see the aftermath of your actions with some earlier characters, while developing your character towards the end. I also like how it really introduces you to the deep cuts to Elder Scroll's lore and it's interoperation with Pelinal Whitestrake, the Thrassian Plauge and all of that. And that's not even counting the mod's deeper implication of your character's true role.
I'm glad someone did this. I've always wanted to do something explaining the Kino that is VIGILANT. You'll have to do a video GLENMORIL and UNSLAAD too, you know. Here's to Vicn's batshit stories, bizarre imagery, layers of Japanese translated metaphor, and the wait for GLENMORIL to be done.
Thanks for making this! I just finished the mod and I'm a little obsessed. The lore is so dense, and I was on the CUSP of understanding the whole picture while playing. I can't believe no one in this mods history have done a video like this yet.
Favorite Mod. Favorite mod author. Glenmoril even in it's unfinished state wrecked my soul. Fun fact: If you equip Pepe's Staff before encountering Pope Megus, you can speak to Megus, who mistakes you for Pepe. Instead of him being aggro, you can have a conversation with him which give you more background on the truth about Pepe, some info on Laza, and something about an "owl." Great video, thank you.
Great video! Also I’d say the Sheogorath voice actor “killed it” (your words) because it’s apparently the actual Wes Johnson voicing him, who also voiced him in Oblivion and base game Skyrim.
@@DanielHodgeVoice It says something about the quality of your performance that people can seriously believe it was actually Wes Johnson. Props to you!
I ended up first doing this mod when I was role-playing as a vigilant already, had no idea what I was getting into. It was perfect, jank and all. So much fun.
I always tailor my playthroughs around Vigilant being the endgame. Everything up until that point is to prepare me for Vigilant. I have a dozen mods that increase skyrim difficulty and Vigilant MCM sliders set to maximum.
Is Varla like Altano? Someone who dreams without their dreamer. I’m pretty sure he’s the child of Mary and Umaril who Pelinal prevented from being born in the canon timeline. Also that Mary might be the Mary, whom the Alessian Order burned as a witch (btw for those of you who thinks that’s weird, remember the Mage’s Guild won’t be formed for an Era, so healers would likely be priests or witches).
I believe the story is that all the bad karma choices were actually made by the characters in Coldharbour. Meaning Pelinal killed Mary, she rose again due to the blood of Ada or something and was burned at the stake. Varla's her kid, but it sounds like he was abandoned early on. The story's crazy, man.
@@JXEditor Actually she doesn't. But could be cause the Mary that was in the cage was killed by Pelinal, which means I may be wrong about them being the same Mary, or she rose again and looked similar enough to Alessia. The Mary in the sewers though, I may have to play through it again to see if she looked like Alessia or the Mary in the cage.
Vicn's interpretation of the "Middle Dawn", Marukh and the Alessian Order are part of my headcanon. Bethesda seriously need to reevaluate what they are doing with the series, because VIGILANT is way better than what they are planning for TES VI 😅
In my mind, the Bard was the daedric prince Bal, who became Molag Bal after turning Lamae into a vampire. My headcanon is that Bal was in love with Lamae and Sheogorath (as revenge for the whole Jyggalag thing) planted the seed of madness in his mind. Bal decided that saving Lamae from her inevitable death was something she would be cool with, and when she rose as a vampire, she hated Bal for what he did. That's when Bal became the cruel and sadistic Molag. Fast forward, and Jyggalag, now free of his curse, invades Coldharbor to kill Molag, seeing it as his responsibility to destroy the monster he created. Laza is also there, acting as General of the Army of Order. The Dragonborn reaches Molag first and, thwarting his attempted takeover of Aetherius, enters the final arena. The Dragonborn frees the last two souls, Maruhk and Pepe, then defeats the weakened Molag, whose strength was compromised by Greymarch destroying his realm. When you beat Molag in the boss fight, you kill him. For realzies. The last sand pile is the last soul you have to free and it's Molag Bal himself. Each soul you free, you undo their memories of their greatest mistakes, and Molag's greatest mistake was turning Lamae. So you show him the other path -- that letting her rest is what would've given them both peace. And with that, Molag Bal is freed from his own suffering, symbolized by the destroyed statue in Aetherius.
That's beautiful but you have to remember the bard and alatano were both parts of bal that had their redemption in the end , think of it as a Talos situation three people forming/are a part of one being so molag bal is druegh king from the previous kalpa/lygg and the bard who's a Branch of the evergreen that hermues mora took off and finally altano Is the last piece that is a walking corpse with no memorys or goals. At the final showdown we fight bal and when we defeat him we redeem lame and the bard/altano leaving the druegh king soul to go to an area in chapter 4 of glenmoril where we put him down one last time
I played Vigilant awhile back and I had forgotten the chanting in the desert, thank you for reminding me that I thought it was hauntingly beautiful. Can't wait to try it again. Thank you for taking us on this journey. Hope to find more of your journeys
WHAT. ARE YOU SHITTING ME. There's been a mod like this for Skyrim all this time? Among all the shitty nudity mods and half-baked memba-berry filled adventure mods that just make you kill someone for a book that throws jibberish at you, there was something like this, all along? Why, if there's ANY mod that proves Todd's overreliance on modders to actually make the game good, it'd be this! Just watching this video was, frankly, an amazing journey. There aren't many stories in games that move me much. Even if I'm fairly young to be saying this, any imagination and wonderlust I might have had as a child has long faded. I don't want to explore off the beaten path any more, I feel like applying myself to anything is meaningless, and life feels cold, as if I were merely waiting for death. Mods, games and other media like this, as well as your fantastic video that made me aware of it in the first place, those are the kinds of things that bring a bit of joy to my life. That... Sounds quite sad. Well, to put it nicely, you've made me a very happy boy. Yeah, *boy.* For another minute or two, I'm gonna feel like a boy again. Like that young, silly me who looked at the world with wide eyes, just waiting to see what glorious new things tomorrow will bring. Before serious and frankly dubiously structured systems and expectations and all the other things of adulthood slowly crept up on me, poisoned me, and killed all that made life wonderful before I even knew what was going on. Before I saw how bitter life is, how bitter the people who live it are, and how bitter it has made me in turn. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you, and the maker of this mod, for making me feel like a boy again.
Interesting little thing I found, you can actually find the summoner in the drunken huntsman during the first quest to kill the vampire, but she says nothing and you can't interact with or kill her.
This mod got me HOOKED on the Alessian Empire and its order. I loved watching this after learning more about the early lore, and having a lore-minded person walkthrough it was amazing. HUGE props not only to vic but you as well!
I still can't believe you can equip a staff of the arch priest and then pope mangus won't be hostile to you right away, how many unique encounter can we have when we think of that possibility
I played this mod barely knowing anything about the lore a couple years ago. It has always stuck eith me. One of my personal favorite mods. Thanks for taking the time to make this video, really helped understand the lore and the little things too. Deserves way more views and love (just like the mod).
Great vid man! Vigilant has been a favourite of mine since 2017,and it's nice to see it get some more recognition. Btw the dreg's of Sithis dialogue is a Glenmoril teaser, actually alot of things in Vigilant lay the foundation for Glenmoril, so even though Glenmoril is still WIP it's still worth checking out if you're curious as to where Vicn takes those concepts next
Such a great review done thoroughly! I was looking for this kind of review for quite a long time. Thank you man. For me, Vigilant deserves much much more recognition, as it is a massive mod created by a single person, who managed to write the story so beautifully with a plethora of mind-blowing scenes, not to mention the design, world-building etc etc. This is a must-have mod for me and I will gladly reinstall and replay it again each time I reinstall Skyrim.
you can find the original emperor in the first inquisition court if you did the dream without a dreamer side quest nearby, he explains the whole disposition and confusing details, as i’ve literally just found out while on a playhthrough
If you plan on a vigilant playtrouvh i highly reccomend khajiit will follow, it has a patch that adds interaction to vigilant playtrough for all the acts. Most of them fully voiced Ma'kara is voiced for act 1 and 2, the dev says he is working on adding act 3 and 4 but they are available as silent text
this video is fantastic, your channel is criminally underrated. the pacing between explanations of the plot, your thoughts on it, and the jokes are perfect can't wait to see what you make for glenmoril and unslaad, once those mods are finished!
Man it seems like a very well made mod but my brain broke when I was told about the cycles of guilt and the 3 personas of the same person who commited an atrocity to a woman he loved. Literally just Eye:Divine Cybermancy.
One of the new additions is that for example, you are not forced to kill the family. You can go and tell Altano that you won't and he will turn into a creature and you have to defeat him. Also if you have equipped the staff of the boss that you find before finding Pope Megus, you can start a conversation with him and it only becomes hostile if you unequip it. (and explain the subject with egg) Or that the dark hand is hidden behind a skeleton in the Arkay graveyard and you can only access it if you use the boss sword to break the skeleton and only talk to you if you have a certain ring equipped... I don't want to tell more so as not to ruin the experience of others. But the continued work on the mod and the attention to detail in it earns it a permanent spot on my load order. Hopefully you'll also made a video of Unslaad.
This mod has never left my load order. im on my 5th playthrough at the moment. Also, the Dremora that were summoned , were ones that you Could meet IN BATTLESPIRE. had to add this, by the way Cotho when your in the memory of Varla and your at that burned down village, before talking to the Belharza if you turn around and head towards some burned huts on the ground you can find a SECOND version of Dawnbreaker thats not enchanted if you havent done Meridia's quest yet. So you can end up with 2 of them XD.
That secret vampire city under Windhelm reminds me of the movie Kolchak: The Night Strangler. The finale of the movie takes place in the Seattle underground with the wreckage of buildings and broken wagons lying in the street. Both look great and are eerie in their own way.
I remember this mod, was extremely fun and memorable. I did it during a paladin themed modded run which added an extra layer of badassery to it. Only thing that annoyed me is how much of a turn a lot of the final act took in terms of gamplay. It felt like the dev had just beat a DS game and really really wanted to incorporate it into his quest mod, and while i ain't bashin (creative freedom baby), I've never cared for the whole turning skyrim into a souls-like thing that so many people in the communtiy seem to really get drawn towards XP. That being said, its a positively bangin mod, glad to see a video of it.
One of the best mods I've played like around 2016...? And replayed it when SSE started picking up its modding community to compete with the original one. It's crazy to me that the mod has over millions of downloads now. I'm weirdly proud. It was also the mod that made me try dark souls and went on a fromsoftware marathon. I'll never forget vicn's works!
Hands down my favorite mod,can't play syrim without it,also i have that "on your grave" song saved on my phone and still get chills whenever i hear it lol
Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all of this unknown lore…! I learned so much in just this one video about Skyrim that I never knew… Keep up the great work and be blessed.
When i first played this mod I didn't know about the diffculty setting in the mod menu, so i ended up killing altano right away after refusing to kill the witch which made me end up missing the entire altano villan arc and only ended up finding out about it when i replayed it a couple days ago so a pretty nice surpise actually lol. Also anybody wanting to replay this mod with something new id recommend the Khajiit will follow mod which has a patch for forgotten city and vigilant which I found really enjoyable.
I ran into this mod by chance. Just getting random quest mods. Was about to quit cause the first act was meh. But I kept going since I figured I'm already in it...Holy shit...best quest mod hands down. I now play that mod as end gane after I beat all the dlc, get all the shouts and finish all the other quests mods I have downloaded. Amazing
A mod I can play again and again. Thanks for this tribute and summary, definitely worth watching for an even better understanding of the overarching story! It did such an amazing job of telling an original story but incorporating some of the more "deep lore" aspect of Elder Scrolls.
getting to the Real Belharza is difficult without the guide. And you have to give him Morihaus's nose ring or Kyne's old feather. But after act 4, go to the temple of stendarr and there will be a minotaur waiting for you.
the thing is its for Vigilant of Stendarr and 1 of my characters is Necromancer that worship Mannimacro with Wintersun Faith mod and the other is a Vampire that worship Molag Bal.
Pelinal's Flashback cemented this fan made mod as rivaling my favorite questline, the Dark Brotherhood, in TES. During the Khajiit quest in act one (in the Ratway) I new Vigilant was gonna be nuts, Holy shit, what a ride. Watched the whole thing in one sitting, excellently done and thank you.
I recently played and finished the mod, after years delaying it, and now I am still obsessed with it. As much as I love Elder Scrolls, theres a lot of the overall lore that I never learned so playing through Vigilant was needless to say very confusing. Even now after having played it and watched this video, some parts are still kinda confusing. Especially the Dragon Break part and how the Bard is affected by it, but its mostly my fault for not being well versed on the ES lore. Also, this is kinda of a headcanon of mine, but I absolutely love to believe that the bad ending is what canonically happened. Like, Molag Bal was actually the nameless human Bard who just happened to be at the wrong place, touched a weird demonic baby spawn, got fused/possessed by it, slowly turned into Molag Bal's form, and losing control of his actions made him rape the woman he loved, and turned her into the first vampire. I know this is not how he was canonically born, but I really wish it was.
Whats with the new character after the Marty choice? Is he a reincarnation of the dovahkiin or do we mantle the old character when we're given control of him? That's my headcanon, we taking control of the new vigilant symbolizes him being mantled as the dovahkiin, gaining his powers and everyone thinking that he and the old one are the same person.
That is a pretty good take. My take was that he IS the Dovahkiin but because the dragonborn has the power of chim he can just influence the dream and come back to the manor. Idk if you know/remember this, but Vivec never even dared attack the Nerevarine because he knew very well that the player character could come back and assault him as many times as he wanted anw). I assume that this is what is happening here.
@@cotho. so all player character have Chim, represented by us, the player? I like that interpretation. It explain every one the game mechanics In universe.
I wish I could give you more than a like, but I can! Subscriber Added. This was really really interesting. Spent an afternoon learning so much about the lore and about this incredibly detailed mod - and now I'm off to watch another one of your videos from a few months back. Thanks again!
Your video changed my mind on Vigilant. I don't know which version I've played, but there was no VA and te english transtaion was pretty "amature" to the point where I loaded a save before starting Vigilant and didn't touched it again. Now I'll propably reinstall Skyrim and give this mod one more try c:
There's a secret merciful route in act 1 which occurs after returning to Altano when meeting the witches and letting them be. After refusing to follow his orders, he turns hostile and tries to kill you. With this, you can spare vigilant base from being slaughtered. However, i bet that this ending is not canonical to the mod since NPCs in the vigilant base are missing voice dialogue when you talk to them about what had happened.
2:02:54 Actually it was the Wes Johnson himself who made a commission and voiced Sheogorath for this mod. Edit: I jinxed it, wrong assumption🤦♂it's actually Daniel Hodge
@@cotho. Oh you are right, I jinxed it, apologies for my wrong assumption. It was actually Daniel Hodge's impression but it makes you think of how phenomenal he is when you accidentally mistake him for OG voice actor 😅
UPDATE:
Thank you for more than 10k views. Contrary to popular belief BOTH Unslaad and Glenmoril are currently unfinished. You can expect a video on both once they are finished. In the meantime I tried to paint the way for some of the themes these videos will be talking about in a video about the Clockwork city (which these mods are heavily inspired from) so if you are looking for more content revolving around this subject, here you go: czcams.com/video/sM2Rlm5AHoQ/video.html&ab_channel=Cotho.
1k views 🎉
I know it’s a small number compared to some of my other videos, but I think this video is so far my favourite on the channel. (The audio is kinda meh but otherwise I am very satisfied with how it came out).
Some notes for the video:
- I have finished both Unslaad and Glenmoril and I will be making a video on them when they ae completed and voice acted.
- At 1:20:30 I got confused about the fact that Belhazar was shown as a human when he is actually a half minotaur. In the inquisition district you can find a book that mentions how the Alessians usurped him and installed a puppet in his place. They had him locked in a secret chamber in the Inquisition district which the player can access by killing Morihaus (Belhazar's dad) and the fake emperor you see in the video and then accessing a barrier tower like that of Pelinel's which allows you to then access his secret chamber.
- Finally, I think I skipped too much content in my attempts to cover the entire main quest in a quick enough manner. Most of the things I skipped like Jhunal's library and the Anatomancer were mostly foreshadowing for Glenmoril, so when I make that video (probably later this year if the mod is finished by then) I will be sure to mention them at the beginning.
Thank you all so much for watching, I go make YTP now.
I voiced Molag Bal in this! What did you think?
@@voiceovernomad I think you nailed it 100%. Usually they give Molag Bal a stereotypical big bad guy voice, but here the mod focuses on the "schemingness" of his personality , and the voice you gave him totally fits that theme. Honestly the entire team did an amazing job, can't wait to hear glenmoril and the rest of unslaad when its all said and done.
@@voiceovernomad Your Molag Voice was easily the best VA job.
Unslaad is now finished! And vicn is back to working on the final update for glenmoril, and the ending for it has been outlined on his patreon since last year, actually. We eatin' good.
the quest doesnt even start. it says installed and everything is installed. also my level is high enough and i went to the correct location
Molag Bal has a lot of talents. Proceeds to list them. Half are redacted. Yep, most people don't realize why he's arguably the worst daedric prince in every way.
dagon not great either
Truth! He is the foulest dadric prince, even more so than Peiriyte and Namira in my opinion
@@thejirenplayerofalltime8981 At least Dagon didn’t raped a poor woman to death and raised her a vampire who massacred an entire town.
@@thenewguyinredeh Dagon is the Deadric prince of destruction and ambition his crimes and realm of being is killing war death. He wants you dead and gone if you are in his way. In a way he's similar to Ares in Greek mythology. Baal is worse simply due to the fact that he doesn't let you die doesn't let you end your suffering.
@@eliahlang8732 True, one is a warlord, the other a torturer.
Its funny watching the new models for Vigilant. He actually opened a patreon specifically because me and a few others urged him to get one because if I could pay for Vigilant I would but in true Vicn fashion he wanted to be humble and didn't want to but relented and opened it only to use all the money to buy new original assets for Vigilant. What an absolute legend.
So THAT'S how there's new HQ models for VIGILANT? I played the mod with the original remixed assets, so seeing Pepe's new model, along with several others, is a beautiful surprise.
Vicn continues to be an absolute great
Are you kidding me?
Fuck. I wanna give him my money now.
He deserves it.
@@mr.heisenberg6517 Vicn is a fucking legend. he has a patreon so give
I'd say vicn is worthy of being donated to. His work certainly deserves the extra quality.
"His eye drives people mad you have to kill him."
Eyepatch. He needs an Eyepatch.
As someone who only knew about Vigilant from a few clips and screenshots, the fact its lore-friendly terrified me slightly.
Elder Scrolls lore is batshit insane.
Lore friendly is such an interesting way to describe it. Especially when you use bare hands and supplex Molag Bal.
Like hey Dragonborn what did you do last day?
Oh you know, not much. I did supplex Molag Bal though.
It isn’t though, it uses elder scrolls lore but its not actually lore friendly and thats fine it doesnt have to be
It’s a shame that one modder is more capable of utilizing Elder scrolls deep lore to tell an engaging story than Bethesda’s own writers.
We have to accept that Elder Scrolls is a generic fantasy setting now. Bethesda is interested in selling games that appeal to as many nitwits as possible. Not something engaging lmao. This IS as good as it gets for us.
Blame Emil Pagliarulo, Bethesda's lead writer/designer, works in company since TES 3 Bloodmoon.
Just fyi, VIGILANT is not actually lore friendly.
@@RCN2820 A lot of Elder Scrolls lore by Bethesda is apocryphal at best
@@RCN2820true, but the lore is at its best when its a weird and abstract mess imo
Coming back again-
Another detail I saw is the constant references to Shezzar/Shor/Lorkhan in the last part of Vigilant, specifically Pepe talking about how he looked for Shezzar by opening the coffins that you came in and Sheogorath taunting Molag Bal with the fact that he was nothing like Shezzar, being weak and ugly.
Shezzar is basically considered the greatest of the gods (that aren't basically pure primordial forces like Sithis), for better or worse, and is well beloved by the human races. So naturally Molag Bal would be obsessed with him- proving himself better than Shezzar would be the ultimate domination.
Molag Bal also seems to have an indirect connection to dragons and by extension Akatosh, through their shared pride and will to dominate. Molag Bal created a new kind of Daedra from the remains of a dragon he ate alive for daring to defy him called the Daedric Titans. Hell, one of the Daedric Titans is literally called 'Son of Molag Bal', much like how the dragons are the children of Akatosh. But unlike Molag Bal, the dragons are a far more noble and dignified race who don't feel a constant need to prove their superiority to creatures they know they are better than. You can even see this in the lore for the Daedric Titans- They're physically stronger yes but they lack the power of the Thu'um, wielding pale imitations of it.
And the Thu'um really is quite something, considering how often sound plays into things. Like the Dwemer's Tonal Technology or the Towers stabilizing the 'sympothy' of Nirn. The Thu'um is basically warping reality through sheer knowledge and power. So the Daedric Titans lacking this is a real kick in the balls to Molag Bal.
Now consider the Last Dragonborn, a child of Akatosh who proved themselves stronger than Alduin normally is. Alduin, a dragon so powerful he frightens even the Daedric Princes. A master of the Thu'um, a force warping reality that his own precious Titans lack. And finally, the mod also goes off the belief that the LDB is also a Shezzarine, an incarnation of Shezzar.
Even if someone else could have fit the role, of course Molag Bal would choose the LDB. Molag Bal is obsessed with domination- On top of humiliating Jyggalag, proving himself better than his fellow Princes and killing Stendarr (and probably Arkay too): he can show his superiority over both Akatosh and Shezzar at the same time too!
And of course he fails. Because unlike Pepe who couldn't see his own god climbing out of the coffin he open. Unlike the Bard who lost himself to his desires and weakness. And unlike Molag Bal, cursed to forever lack the dignity and power of his kin- the LDB rises above all of that. Because Akatosh nor Shezzar would be as weak as Molag Bal.
Assuming the Dragonborn is a Shezzarine and Pelinal Whitestrake is a Shezzarine, the fight between the two is essentially a fight between brothers. Two little Lorkhan Jrs.
Also Pepe was wrong - Shezzar did return, because we are Ysmir - reincarnation of Shor
@@indrickboreale7381molag bal realizing that he brought not only a dragonborn to his realm but the reincarnation of his dead brother who was the most powerful of the e'tada: I think I made a mistake
@@deadsoul7409"it was a misinput, calm down"
Emperor beltharza was replaced by a human since the alessian order could not accept the original one to be a minotaur. It was said on one of the notes or book in the first inquisitor court.
I never noticed the Stendarr model walking away in the distance, holy shit that is such a kick ass feature.
Time stamp?
@@potatoman46801:52:13
@@dylanyap5983 thank you!
I wanted mention a few rather less known things about Vigilant's features, which can be helpful to those who missed them on their first playthrough but which can be real lifesavers in future playthroughs.
If you take the easy way to act 4 by stabbing Altano with the needle, you don't really miss out on any unique items, and those few are mostly just some weird misc items which you can't even use. You can still get any ending you desire by taking this shortcut.
You may find shared chest A and B in Coldharbour, and they are at the entrance of every major dungeon. These chests are all linked, so you can leave your spare things there and access them later on.
And the final feature about Vigilant which is honestly the best part. Once you finish Act 4 and return to Mundus, a mysterious stone tablet appears in Vigilant Librarian's desk. (However, you may have to finish a new quest by the librarian first, been a while since i played through this mod.) If you interact with it, it takes you back to Coldharbour, to the Priory where Pepe greets you at the beginning of Act 4. The priory has these forementioned shared chests. You may return back to the Vigilant Library by interacting with the coffin from which Pepe released you, or by going all the way to the top of the imperial tower and using the gateway to Aetherius. This allows you to finish and discover pretty much everything there is to Coldharbour if you missed something, as well as aquire all the sweet overpowered items. And the best part is, there's some very interesting NPC interactions which only become accessible once you finish Act 4. This mod is honestly so full of stuff, i discovered a few new things just by watching this video.
Glenmoril ripped my heart out. Vicn knows how to make good stories!
It should be said all the mods are related actually including some lore including deep elder scrolls lore. Though Vicn takes his own interpretation of the lore and adds his own touches to it it’s very well done. I love the esoteric feel of the mods as you go along.
@@2265Hello Agreed, 100%.
I wish I can find more on glenmoril but I haven't seen any major updates on the mod and any playthroughs of it I find are so modded it just makes my senses to overload
@@2265Hello Vicn wrote down a couple of endings for Glenmoril!:)
@@2265Hello is it Japanese only or a mix of Japanese and English?
That last tidbit about not even caring that much about the story but letting the music live rent-free in your head speaks to my SOUL. I wasn't that deep into TES lore when I played it either, but I at least recognized that the scenarios were references to events that happened in Tamriel that I just wasn't familiar enough to fully appreciate, so I managed to hang in there and keep track of the story reasonably well through the character interactions.
And then the Dragon Break happened.
And we started playing as the Bard, who was somehow a past representative of Molag Bal, Stendarr, Altano and the Dragonborn all at once.
And 4 of the 5 endings you could get relied on what you did as the Bard at the ending instead of your karma.
And the endings we got in the past both DID and DIDN'T affect what actually happened in the present.
I was so close to giving up completely in understanding what the hell I was playing, but then the soft, emotional instrumental kicked in, the voice actress started singing her heart out, and it tricked me into thinking this was one of deepest stories about forgiveness and moving on ever. 11/10 would get mindfucked by a narrative that the music carried harder than the Dragonborn carried every single guild in Skyrim again.
Just finished this mod. I got the funeral ending. Having read the book Opisculus Lamae Bal years ago, I got major chills seeing that story brought to life in the final scene. This mod has a lot to love for fans of the lore. Cutting thru waves of Aurorans as Pelinal was a another highlight.
Gotta love the "black tristars" encounter Vicn snuck into that bit too.
Gaia, Ortega, and Mash are peculiar names for Aurorans.
Fuuuuck, Vigilant hits different once you know what the hell is going on. Great job on this, by the way. If you're ever up for it, Vicn has a, ahem, trilogy of mods that get way crazier than this, talking about some VERY deep lore subjects that Michael Kirkbride fantasizes about. Hope you like ending the dream that no longer needs it's dreamer.
Vigilant to this day represents the peak of Skyrim modding. I haven't had a chance to play Glenmoril yet, but I'll definitely find the time once it is finished
59:18 In medieval ages it was pretty common to spouses to have different rooms. They would meet in the wife's room just when they were about to.......''''' and the husband's room was more like an office, where he writes, works and receive co-workers
This mod is significantly better than the main story of Skyrim. Bethesda needs to hire this man or at very least copy his homework
The fact he understood dragon breaks so well,used the concept of manteling as well as understanding what Sheogorath's role and view on the other deadric princes is makes me wish he was brought on as a writer or narrative designer for TES6
For me, this mod feels like some asian fanfiction.Bleh
ahh always with the Western supremacy eh?@@ukaszfiuk2719
Yeah no it's really not. It has promise, but the back half comes off as tryhard fanfiction, and putting so many Aedra devotees in Coldharbor is a really inane decision.
@@de4dweight545 tryhard fanfiction =/= fanfiction. A lot of TES "deep lore" is at best pseudocanonical or apocryphal and at worst bottom-tier fanfiction that spits on the actual lore as a whole anyway.
I don't usually care about gatekeeping but the elitist Morrowboomer/Kirkbride dickrider schtick is beyond annoying and a detriment to the fandom.
The pain in Jacob's voice as he confesses, Thingol's exhaustion, Pelinal's dialogue, the bard's sorrowful serenade after choosing the spawn, Sir Cadwell's... yeah... just *chef's kiss*. Props to the VA's, the voice acting is a bit spotty but that was perfection!
There is a secret Anatomancer room in the Ratway. He asks you few question before you can gain access to his room. Pretty interesting detail and a good hint for Glenmoril. I noticed this on my 3rd Vigilant playthrough lol.
In act 1, you can also choose not to kill the woman and the girl. After talking to them you can just go to Altano in Molag Bal's Altar. If you persist on not killing him you will get a different ending of act 1
But then you'd miss out on that epic boss battle.
"In act 1, you can also choose not to kill the woman and the girl. After talking to them you can just go to Altano in Molag Bal's Altar. If you persist on not killing him you will get a different ending of act 1"
Slight correction on that, you can get a different ending if you go back to Altano *and win*
The second he lands a swing on you, you're right back on the normal track.
The alt end can also lead you down the same path (with some differences, i.e. the vigilents and the mother & daughter are still alive), or if you take the less merciful path you go straight to act 4.
Yes, but it was act 3@@de4dweight545
If you want to subvert the creator's vision in Act 3, take advantage of the fact that none of the monsters can open doors or climb while being limited to melee, and climb the furniture to plink away at them with impunity.
For me Vigilant was like Wheels of Lull, it was like watching a documentary about the lore and it made me do my homework on the background lore. It was so fun to lookup things along the way and learn about everything I saw.
Only with 99% less painful platforming and BS bossfights XD
Vigilant is easily the best quest mod there is. The story is amazing, the ambiance is insane, there are so many alternate cutscenes and so much more to say about it. It becomes so hard not to talk down on other quest modes when discussing this one
The best news for TES 6 would be an announcement this mod author got hired as a writer.
You know, I just realized something.
When you kill Jo'vanni, the journal entries, implied to be the player character's inner thoughts, change to Jo'vanni. As if part of him is stained on your soul.
Kind of like what happens in GLENMORIL...
There is also a update that Vigilant is gonna cross paths with Serana Dialogue Add-on.
I think its still a work-in-progress.
The real Belharza is hidden behind an illusory wall, in a pocket dimension. Just gotta' follow the memories.
Can you elaborate on this? Which flashback are you referring to? I've only ever found him in Varla's tower.
@@MetalMiIIs At every corner of Coldharbour you'll find a memory. You'll then have the answer to the question the statue asks. Present the wrong item however and I'm not sure of the consequences.
@@TheMoinomedian You mean the memory towers? What statue asks questions, where is that at?
@@MetalMiIIs The statue will be a man-bull within a temple. I'm sorry though, I shouldn't spoil where, it'll take away the magic of finding it all. There are four required memories and a few interactions with npcs. It's well hidden for a reason.
@@TheMoinomedian It's okay, I'll load up a save this weekend and hunt for it. It's weird though, thought I exhausted everything in Coldharbour but definitely missed this.
Thank you.
1:07:30 If the dragonborn has achieved amaranth then it means that his/her sacrifice was no such thing as the DB immediately resurrects as him/herself. As proven by the fact that you can give the exact same appearance to your "new character" and it keeps all of its abilities and quest marks.
Basically the DB triumphs over Molag Bal by showing him how inferior even a daedra is compared to someone who dreams . A being of true freedom.
You enter MB's dimension on your own terms not his.
That makes a lot of sense actually. Would you say that its kind of like the holy piper for later?
I think it's a significant part of the path, maybe CHIM in fact since it kind of mirror the victory vivec achieved against molag bal too but the last dragonborn is still within the confine of the God Head dream, so it can't be AMARANTH
Honestly I wouldn't read too much into it. If Vigilant was being made now, much like the bad endings in GLENMORIL, it would just cut to black and ask for a reload.
At this stage in the trilogy, the Dragonborn has not reached amaranth. The sacrificial route isnt canonical, but merely for those who just cant stand to defy Molag Bal themselves. Whether you do it or not, you will still wind up in Coldharbour anyway. And this doesn't really logically give Molag Bal the incentive to be interested in you. How can the Prince be interested in a nobody?
The mechanic is intended really for a new character, ultimately.
Yeh no, it's impossible for two dragonborns to exists at the same time at the events of Skyrim ( I said at THE TIME OF SKYRIM BECAUSE OTHER DRAGONBORNS CAN EXISTS AT THE SAME TIME BEFORE THE 4TH ERA )cuz we are the last dragonborn, there's no one after us and we know that bal needed someone with the blood of ada to open the gate to athereius
Just finished Vigilant last night, been a hardcore lore nerd for the elder scrolls for a good few years, so this was a TRIP to say the least. But I absloutly loved it. The story is amazing, and as you pointed out, some of those cutscenes really just...hit the heart hard. The "good" scene for pelinal had me holding back the waterworks. Its also amazing to see that for once, a dragon break was written WELL and...it wasent even cannon. Great vid. Even got me filled in on a few bits I missed which was helpful.
*canon
There is also a short epilogue quest which gives some foreshadowing to Glenmoril and Unslaad...
Oh and also a certain Anatomancer guy who is quite a big deal in his own right
I play Skyrim to this day, and Vigilant, Unsladd and Glenmorill are the only constants.
Vigilant is so great
This mod is what inspired me to create my own fantasy world and comic. I have always loved TES and seeing such an ambitious mod filled with love inspired me to take the leap and create my own grand art project.
I knew something was wrong with Jacob since the attack on the Beacon - I tried to use healing spells on him, but he resisted them all.
Big fan that Jiggalag and Sheogorath just seem to be bros now.
Which makes sense since the current sheogorath is the oblivion protagonist that also freed Jiggalag
The hero of cyrodil is still insane tho I'll like the idea that sheagorath was peaking around in comdharbour to see what jyggalag is doing but then he saw the dragonborn roaming around killing everything that stands in his way and maybe he remembered himself before he went made and became sheo, the most intriguing part is that he somehow follows you throughout the memorys or dose he? Was he there at these specific moments in time? Or is he just an observer like us? Did he actually do anything to help/stop these events or did he help prolong the fates of these we meet in comdharbour. Man vicn writings are incredible
Best quest mod of all time. Plot, custom assets, music, boss fights. Everything is so good. Vigilant, Glenmoril and Unslaad have an amazing story arc
Ah Vigilant, one hell of a ride, after completing it for the first time everything else felt so dull :")
Here's a fun fact for those who got the best ending : If you head to present day Eldergleam Sanctuary you'll find something quite nice.
Great job, it was an excellent documentary on the matter, with how big the mod is it was logical not everything has been covered but you nailed the main points.
I recommend Glenmoril, though still WIP (and after that Unslaad) for this story of Bards and Laza is far from being over !
Nice little fun fact for people playing vigilant, if you have a saint staff (I forget what it's called but it's the staff that looks like dawnbreaker was made into one), pope Mangus will actually become passive and you can talk to him since he thinks you're Pepe.
I've played through Vigliant twice, before and after I've played my share of Quest Mods or new lands or whatever. But really I like the way story telling is probably the major highlight of the mod. Some parts early on sort of feels like it railroads you like having to kill certain early people with no real choice, but as it progress things do really open up that do allow you to have the ability to test your character's well character. Each act is so distinct and the Culmination of getting to Coldharbor is a real big highlight. Where you can see the aftermath of your actions with some earlier characters, while developing your character towards the end.
I also like how it really introduces you to the deep cuts to Elder Scroll's lore and it's interoperation with Pelinal Whitestrake, the Thrassian Plauge and all of that. And that's not even counting the mod's deeper implication of your character's true role.
I'm glad someone did this. I've always wanted to do something explaining the Kino that is VIGILANT. You'll have to do a video GLENMORIL and UNSLAAD too, you know. Here's to Vicn's batshit stories, bizarre imagery, layers of Japanese translated metaphor, and the wait for GLENMORIL to be done.
Thanks for making this! I just finished the mod and I'm a little obsessed. The lore is so dense, and I was on the CUSP of understanding the whole picture while playing. I can't believe no one in this mods history have done a video like this yet.
Man Molag Bal's voice actor was great
Favorite Mod. Favorite mod author. Glenmoril even in it's unfinished state wrecked my soul.
Fun fact: If you equip Pepe's Staff before encountering Pope Megus, you can speak to Megus, who mistakes you for Pepe. Instead of him being aggro, you can have a conversation with him which give you more background on the truth about Pepe, some info on Laza, and something about an "owl."
Great video, thank you.
59:57 "... and everyone's breath smells so foul one has to wonder whether they eat corpses for their meals."
*Mmmmmhhhh intensifies*
Great video! Also I’d say the Sheogorath voice actor “killed it” (your words) because it’s apparently the actual Wes Johnson voicing him, who also voiced him in Oblivion and base game Skyrim.
Naw I voiced sheogorath for this mod way back. But a lot of people have thought Wes did. There was some miscommunication.
@@DanielHodgeVoice It says something about the quality of your performance that people can seriously believe it was actually Wes Johnson. Props to you!
@@DanielHodgeVoice That's an incredibly performance!
WHO VOICED MOLAG BAL? this voice acting is IMPECCABLE
SHEO'S VA IS POG TOO
I ended up first doing this mod when I was role-playing as a vigilant already, had no idea what I was getting into. It was perfect, jank and all. So much fun.
I always tailor my playthroughs around Vigilant being the endgame. Everything up until that point is to prepare me for Vigilant. I have a dozen mods that increase skyrim difficulty and Vigilant MCM sliders set to maximum.
Is Varla like Altano? Someone who dreams without their dreamer. I’m pretty sure he’s the child of Mary and Umaril who Pelinal prevented from being born in the canon timeline. Also that Mary might be the Mary, whom the Alessian Order burned as a witch (btw for those of you who thinks that’s weird, remember the Mage’s Guild won’t be formed for an Era, so healers would likely be priests or witches).
I believe the story is that all the bad karma choices were actually made by the characters in Coldharbour. Meaning Pelinal killed Mary, she rose again due to the blood of Ada or something and was burned at the stake. Varla's her kid, but it sounds like he was abandoned early on. The story's crazy, man.
@@TheMoinomedian If she is the same Mary that was burned, then she would be an aspect of Mara and a skilled healer. Could account for her survival.
@@JXEditor That could very well be it. Vicn put a lot of thought into these stories of his.
@@TheMoinomedian I just thought of something. Pepe says Mara insulted them by taking the form of Alessia. Does Mary in the cage look like Alessia?
@@JXEditor Actually she doesn't. But could be cause the Mary that was in the cage was killed by Pelinal, which means I may be wrong about them being the same Mary, or she rose again and looked similar enough to Alessia. The Mary in the sewers though, I may have to play through it again to see if she looked like Alessia or the Mary in the cage.
Vicn's interpretation of the "Middle Dawn", Marukh and the Alessian Order are part of my headcanon.
Bethesda seriously need to reevaluate what they are doing with the series, because VIGILANT is way better than what they are planning for TES VI 😅
In my mind, the Bard was the daedric prince Bal, who became Molag Bal after turning Lamae into a vampire.
My headcanon is that Bal was in love with Lamae and Sheogorath (as revenge for the whole Jyggalag thing) planted the seed of madness in his mind. Bal decided that saving Lamae from her inevitable death was something she would be cool with, and when she rose as a vampire, she hated Bal for what he did. That's when Bal became the cruel and sadistic Molag.
Fast forward, and Jyggalag, now free of his curse, invades Coldharbor to kill Molag, seeing it as his responsibility to destroy the monster he created. Laza is also there, acting as General of the Army of Order.
The Dragonborn reaches Molag first and, thwarting his attempted takeover of Aetherius, enters the final arena.
The Dragonborn frees the last two souls, Maruhk and Pepe, then defeats the weakened Molag, whose strength was compromised by Greymarch destroying his realm. When you beat Molag in the boss fight, you kill him. For realzies.
The last sand pile is the last soul you have to free and it's Molag Bal himself.
Each soul you free, you undo their memories of their greatest mistakes, and Molag's greatest mistake was turning Lamae. So you show him the other path -- that letting her rest is what would've given them both peace. And with that, Molag Bal is freed from his own suffering, symbolized by the destroyed statue in Aetherius.
That's beautiful but you have to remember the bard and alatano were both parts of bal that had their redemption in the end , think of it as a Talos situation three people forming/are a part of one being so molag bal is druegh king from the previous kalpa/lygg and the bard who's a Branch of the evergreen that hermues mora took off and finally altano Is the last piece that is a walking corpse with no memorys or goals. At the final showdown we fight bal and when we defeat him we redeem lame and the bard/altano leaving the druegh king soul to go to an area in chapter 4 of glenmoril where we put him down one last time
I played Vigilant awhile back and I had forgotten the chanting in the desert, thank you for reminding me that I thought it was hauntingly beautiful. Can't wait to try it again. Thank you for taking us on this journey. Hope to find more of your journeys
WHAT.
ARE YOU SHITTING ME. There's been a mod like this for Skyrim all this time? Among all the shitty nudity mods and half-baked memba-berry filled adventure mods that just make you kill someone for a book that throws jibberish at you, there was something like this, all along? Why, if there's ANY mod that proves Todd's overreliance on modders to actually make the game good, it'd be this! Just watching this video was, frankly, an amazing journey. There aren't many stories in games that move me much. Even if I'm fairly young to be saying this, any imagination and wonderlust I might have had as a child has long faded. I don't want to explore off the beaten path any more, I feel like applying myself to anything is meaningless, and life feels cold, as if I were merely waiting for death. Mods, games and other media like this, as well as your fantastic video that made me aware of it in the first place, those are the kinds of things that bring a bit of joy to my life. That... Sounds quite sad. Well, to put it nicely, you've made me a very happy boy. Yeah, *boy.* For another minute or two, I'm gonna feel like a boy again. Like that young, silly me who looked at the world with wide eyes, just waiting to see what glorious new things tomorrow will bring. Before serious and frankly dubiously structured systems and expectations and all the other things of adulthood slowly crept up on me, poisoned me, and killed all that made life wonderful before I even knew what was going on. Before I saw how bitter life is, how bitter the people who live it are, and how bitter it has made me in turn.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank you, and the maker of this mod, for making me feel like a boy again.
Watched this video 3 times already, I think Vigilant is the perfect example of a DLC sized mod.
When Act 2 The Blood Matron start i felt the creepy vibes 😢of this mod and Act 3 Child of Oblivion was horror core....
Vigilant
Interesting little thing I found, you can actually find the summoner in the drunken huntsman during the first quest to kill the vampire, but she says nothing and you can't interact with or kill her.
Vigilant is genuinely one of the best games out there. The raw love and passion Vicn poured into this makes it so amazing.
Nirn is just a feudal world in the Emperor’s Imperium with some deities still intact, so things get terrifying sometimes lol
This mod got me HOOKED on the Alessian Empire and its order. I loved watching this after learning more about the early lore, and having a lore-minded person walkthrough it was amazing. HUGE props not only to vic but you as well!
At first I thought "A 2 hour mod showcase? That's crazy." and then you mentioned having to explain the lore. Suddenly it all made sense.
I still can't believe you can equip a staff of the arch priest and then pope mangus won't be hostile to you right away, how many unique encounter can we have when we think of that possibility
I played this mod barely knowing anything about the lore a couple years ago. It has always stuck eith me. One of my personal favorite mods. Thanks for taking the time to make this video, really helped understand the lore and the little things too. Deserves way more views and love (just like the mod).
Great vid man! Vigilant has been a favourite of mine since 2017,and it's nice to see it get some more recognition.
Btw the dreg's of Sithis dialogue is a Glenmoril teaser, actually alot of things in Vigilant lay the foundation for Glenmoril, so even though Glenmoril is still WIP it's still worth checking out if you're curious as to where Vicn takes those concepts next
Such a great review done thoroughly! I was looking for this kind of review for quite a long time. Thank you man. For me, Vigilant deserves much much more recognition, as it is a massive mod created by a single person, who managed to write the story so beautifully with a plethora of mind-blowing scenes, not to mention the design, world-building etc etc. This is a must-have mod for me and I will gladly reinstall and replay it again each time I reinstall Skyrim.
you can find the original emperor in the first inquisition court if you did the dream without a dreamer side quest nearby, he explains the whole disposition and confusing details, as i’ve literally just found out while on a playhthrough
If you plan on a vigilant playtrouvh i highly reccomend khajiit will follow, it has a patch that adds interaction to vigilant playtrough for all the acts. Most of them fully voiced
Ma'kara is voiced for act 1 and 2, the dev says he is working on adding act 3 and 4 but they are available as silent text
this video is fantastic, your channel is criminally underrated. the pacing between explanations of the plot, your thoughts on it, and the jokes are perfect
can't wait to see what you make for glenmoril and unslaad, once those mods are finished!
Damn I thought I had left Skyrim far behind but this video is fire, great documentary of a great mod.
At least this guy is making an effort for Skyrim, unlike Bethesda ffs...POG video my guy keep up the god tier content
I imagined Stendarr just waiting for Molag Bal at the other side of the portal to Aetheirus and "Surprise, motherfucker!" him with a spear.
"this fucker really walked in here with his weak ass after running from the dragonborn like a bitch"
This quest mod is still getting updated it's so awesome
1:49:40 I feel like this should have been how all the endings started, considering what greets you when you walk in for the good ones.
Man it seems like a very well made mod but my brain broke when I was told about the cycles of guilt and the 3 personas of the same person who commited an atrocity to a woman he loved. Literally just Eye:Divine Cybermancy.
One of the new additions is that for example, you are not forced to kill the family.
You can go and tell Altano that you won't and he will turn into a creature and you have to defeat him.
Also if you have equipped the staff of the boss that you find before finding Pope Megus, you can start a conversation with him and it only becomes hostile if you unequip it. (and explain the subject with egg)
Or that the dark hand is hidden behind a skeleton in the Arkay graveyard and you can only access it if you use the boss sword to break the skeleton and only talk to you if you have a certain ring equipped...
I don't want to tell more so as not to ruin the experience of others.
But the continued work on the mod and the attention to detail in it earns it a permanent spot on my load order.
Hopefully you'll also made a video of Unslaad.
This mod has never left my load order. im on my 5th playthrough at the moment. Also, the Dremora that were summoned , were ones that you Could meet IN BATTLESPIRE. had to add this, by the way Cotho when your in the memory of Varla and your at that burned down village, before talking to the Belharza if you turn around and head towards some burned huts on the ground you can find a SECOND version of Dawnbreaker thats not enchanted if you havent done Meridia's quest yet. So you can end up with 2 of them XD.
That secret vampire city under Windhelm reminds me of the movie Kolchak: The Night Strangler. The finale of the movie takes place in the Seattle underground with the wreckage of buildings and broken wagons lying in the street. Both look great and are eerie in their own way.
simply fantastic, thank you for making this video.
I remember this mod, was extremely fun and memorable. I did it during a paladin themed modded run which added an extra layer of badassery to it. Only thing that annoyed me is how much of a turn a lot of the final act took in terms of gamplay. It felt like the dev had just beat a DS game and really really wanted to incorporate it into his quest mod, and while i ain't bashin (creative freedom baby), I've never cared for the whole turning skyrim into a souls-like thing that so many people in the communtiy seem to really get drawn towards XP. That being said, its a positively bangin mod, glad to see a video of it.
One of the best mods I've played like around 2016...? And replayed it when SSE started picking up its modding community to compete with the original one. It's crazy to me that the mod has over millions of downloads now. I'm weirdly proud. It was also the mod that made me try dark souls and went on a fromsoftware marathon. I'll never forget vicn's works!
Hands down my favorite mod,can't play syrim without it,also i have that "on your grave" song saved on my phone and still get chills whenever i hear it lol
What is the song called and who is the singer? I can't seem to find this specific version.
@@Daanikduul try searching "on your grave" by wellman and the video's thumbnail has 3 gravestones and a raven.
thank you@@mercenary7762
So many voice actors have scottish-ish accents, I'm loving it
Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all of this unknown lore…!
I learned so much in just this one video about Skyrim that I never knew…
Keep up the great work and be blessed.
This is how Bethesda should have made Skyrim with true choices and consequences
When i first played this mod I didn't know about the diffculty setting in the mod menu, so i ended up killing altano right away after refusing to kill the witch which made me end up missing the entire altano villan arc and only ended up finding out about it when i replayed it a couple days ago so a pretty nice surpise actually lol.
Also anybody wanting to replay this mod with something new id recommend the Khajiit will follow mod which has a patch for forgotten city and vigilant which I found really enjoyable.
I ran into this mod by chance. Just getting random quest mods. Was about to quit cause the first act was meh. But I kept going since I figured I'm already in it...Holy shit...best quest mod hands down. I now play that mod as end gane after I beat all the dlc, get all the shouts and finish all the other quests mods I have downloaded. Amazing
"you have probably never heard of"
the number 1 ranked mod by downloads in the "quests and adventures" category
A mod I can play again and again. Thanks for this tribute and summary, definitely worth watching for an even better understanding of the overarching story! It did such an amazing job of telling an original story but incorporating some of the more "deep lore" aspect of Elder Scrolls.
getting to the Real Belharza is difficult without the guide. And you have to give him Morihaus's nose ring or Kyne's old feather. But after act 4, go to the temple of stendarr and there will be a minotaur waiting for you.
Vigilant, Glenmoril and Unslaad are the must have mods that Vicn made
the thing is its for Vigilant of Stendarr and 1 of my characters is Necromancer that worship Mannimacro with Wintersun Faith mod and the other is a Vampire that worship Molag Bal.
Pelinal's Flashback cemented this fan made mod as rivaling my favorite questline, the Dark Brotherhood, in TES.
During the Khajiit quest in act one (in the Ratway) I new Vigilant was gonna be nuts,
Holy shit, what a ride. Watched the whole thing in one sitting, excellently done and thank you.
I have watched this all the way through 4 times now. Vigilant is by far my favorite part of Skyrim, period.
that voice actor for sheogorath does an almost perfect impression... almost too good
I recently played and finished the mod, after years delaying it, and now I am still obsessed with it. As much as I love Elder Scrolls, theres a lot of the overall lore that I never learned so playing through Vigilant was needless to say very confusing. Even now after having played it and watched this video, some parts are still kinda confusing. Especially the Dragon Break part and how the Bard is affected by it, but its mostly my fault for not being well versed on the ES lore.
Also, this is kinda of a headcanon of mine, but I absolutely love to believe that the bad ending is what canonically happened. Like, Molag Bal was actually the nameless human Bard who just happened to be at the wrong place, touched a weird demonic baby spawn, got fused/possessed by it, slowly turned into Molag Bal's form, and losing control of his actions made him rape the woman he loved, and turned her into the first vampire. I know this is not how he was canonically born, but I really wish it was.
I think you will enjoy Glenmoril and Unslaad :)
@@cotho. lol now I am curious. I will be playing them soon for sure!
Whats with the new character after the Marty choice? Is he a reincarnation of the dovahkiin or do we mantle the old character when we're given control of him?
That's my headcanon, we taking control of the new vigilant symbolizes him being mantled as the dovahkiin, gaining his powers and everyone thinking that he and the old one are the same person.
That is a pretty good take. My take was that he IS the Dovahkiin but because the dragonborn has the power of chim he can just influence the dream and come back to the manor. Idk if you know/remember this, but Vivec never even dared attack the Nerevarine because he knew very well that the player character could come back and assault him as many times as he wanted anw). I assume that this is what is happening here.
@@cotho. so all player character have Chim, represented by us, the player?
I like that interpretation. It explain every one the game mechanics In universe.
Absolutely amazing video mate, hope your channel grows a lot!
I wish I could give you more than a like, but I can! Subscriber Added. This was really really interesting. Spent an afternoon learning so much about the lore and about this incredibly detailed mod - and now I'm off to watch another one of your videos from a few months back. Thanks again!
Would love to see more stuff like this. All these videos on topics I've never explored is really engaging. Great stuff!
Your video changed my mind on Vigilant. I don't know which version I've played, but there was no VA and te english transtaion was pretty "amature" to the point where I loaded a save before starting Vigilant and didn't touched it again. Now I'll propably reinstall Skyrim and give this mod one more try c:
I wanted Lusine to say "would the sweetie like a sweetie?"
There's a secret merciful route in act 1 which occurs after returning to Altano when meeting the witches and letting them be. After refusing to follow his orders, he turns hostile and tries to kill you. With this, you can spare vigilant base from being slaughtered. However, i bet that this ending is not canonical to the mod since NPCs in the vigilant base are missing voice dialogue when you talk to them about what had happened.
The family also ends up dead in Coldharbour anw, thought that might be because the glenmoril witch kills them anw.
That path was just added in after the english voicework had been finished. I think they're still planning to cover it sooner or later.
2:02:54 Actually it was the Wes Johnson himself who made a commission and voiced Sheogorath for this mod.
Edit: I jinxed it, wrong assumption🤦♂it's actually Daniel Hodge
really? I am asking because in the VA for sheogorath it mentions someone else.
@@cotho. Oh you are right, I jinxed it, apologies for my wrong assumption. It was actually Daniel Hodge's impression but it makes you think of how phenomenal he is when you accidentally mistake him for OG voice actor 😅
clearly this can only be explained by a dragonbreak