Paarthurnax Bypass (by Gshinji)

[Omolong]

Paarthurnax Bypass (by Gshinji)

 

This seems like a pretty interesting alternative to The Paarthurnax Dilemma. According to the description/comments, it's got a few advantages over TPD. It's apparently less script intensive, it's got voice acting (though it comes from existing lines for Delphine), and apparently what you have to do to save Paarthurnax only requires you to speak to Delphine. The lines for the player are apparently more in character as well, though that's obviously a bit subjective.

 

I don't have Skyrim installed currently (as I'm waiting for the next version of STEP before I do) so I can't really test this or compare it to TPD, but I thought I would bring it up as a possible alternative to TPD.

[kryptopyr]

Thank you for pointing this out!  I never have cared for the dialogue choices in Paarthurnax Dilemma.  I've thought about making my own bypass for this quest to add to The Choice is Yours, but I've never gotten around to it.  This looks like the next best thing, and possibly a better ("more vanilla") candidate for STEP.

[Octopuss]

Anyone tried this yet? How much more different is it than Arthmoor's mod?

[Kravis]

Anyone tried this yet? How much more different is it than Arthmoor's mod?

I really like the short exchange between you and Delphine.  Right after she demands his death, you get an "About Paarthurnax..." dialogue choice.  This is where you stand your ground and convince her that she's wrong, to which she'll grumble and say "Ok Ok, Sorry for bringing it up."  The quest completes on screen, however there's a major bug that breaks continuing Blades 'membership' features.  I've posted my results on the Nexus page for the mod author to look further into.

 

It appears that the "Paarthurnax" quest doesn't appear completed (or grayed out) in your quest log.  This could point to at least something that hasn't been fully locked in.

 

What Arthmoor's Paarthurnax Dilemma does is end the questline with two script results: Paarthurnax was spared and he + the Greybeards are grateful AND The Blades believe you successfully killed Paarthurnax and are grateful.  Thus, this opens up a win-win for everyone.

 

I believe that Paarthurnax Bypass initiates no result and removes the quest from your journal.  So Paarthurnax and the Blades both believe you haven't decided yet.

 

This small mod has great promise, and I plan to look further into the CK and TES5Edit to see if I can help the mod author in any way I can.  Once this gets resolved, I believe this could be a fine contender for S.T.E.P. 2.3.0

[dstansberry]

It looks like the mod author responded:

 

"The Paarthurnax quest did complete but because I made a mistake with a script fragment it didn't show up in the journal. Thanks for pointing that out it should be fixed now. I changed Paarthurnax's dialogue so that the player won't mention about the blades wanting to kill him. Slaying Alduin and hearing Delphine and Esbern talk about killing Paarthurnax shouldn't effect recruiting blades agent members. You still need to recruit three blades members before Esbern will give you the radiant dragon slaying quest because that's how it is in vanilla Skyrim."

 

I don't yet have a functioning Skyrim game to test with, but I'd be curious to know if the issues appear to be resolved in-game.

Edited May 2, 2015 by dstansberry

[Kravis]

I've retested it, and it appears that everything is in order.  The quest summary of the Paarthurnax quest is kind of lacking... but *meh*.  It slightly breaks immersion when Delphine later tells you that she's sticking to her guns about Paarthurnax needing to die, but after that script.. she or Esbern never mention it again.

 

I've tested that you may still receive / change P-Nax's thu'um blessing.  And I am now no longer having issues recruiting blades members and executing Esbern's radiant dragon hunts.

[Shadriss]

It slightly breaks immersion when Delphine later tells you that she's sticking to her guns about Paarthurnax needing to die, but after that script...

Not really - She simply knows who runs the Blades, so to speak. She could still very well believe in her soul that Paarthunax does need to die... but she also knows that the Bragonborn is whom the Blades serve. A close anology would be the crew of a ship and her Captain. We don't always agree with what we are directed to do, but the Captain gives the orders and we follow. Recommend anything we want to, but once the law is laid down...

 

So yeah, I don't see anything 'breaking' about that statement in and of itself.

 

Otherwise... looks like a solid replacement then, and gets rid of those unspoken lines as well, which is even better.

[kryptopyr]

I think Paarthurnax Bypass could very well be a better fit for STEP.  It uses a simpler dialogue exchange with voiced dialogue and is a bit more "generic" in the tone and wording of the dialogue, which seems to make it blend much more seamlessly into the game and feel more immersive for a wider range of characters.  The one thing I never cared for about Paarthurnax Dilemma is that the dialogue always felt out of place and almost never fit the nature of the character I was playing.

[TechAngel85]

Does the added dialogue fit and sound okay? I heard that the author pieced it together from vanilla files so he/she didn't have to make new audio for it. If that is okay, I think you're probably right in your review, kryptopry.

Marked for Testing.

[EssArrBee]

Anyone had time to try this yet? I've got one playthrough that is barely to the Blade's Temple, so it's going to take me until tomorrow to test this. 

[TechAngel85]

Not yet. I've just completed the Thalmore Embassy so you're further along than I am; however, I don't have this installed because Paarthurnax Dilemma is a master to the STPE Patch so I'd have to get rid of the patch just to test this.

[Penrutet]

I'm not playing Skyrim at the moment but I downloaded a vanilla save file from Nexus where I could try out the mod and recorded the dialogue via Shadowplay. Is there a faster way for me to upload it and show it to you guys than youtube? 

[TechAngel85]

Only other options would be Copy or Google Drive.

[Penrutet]

Upload took forever, here it is:

 

 

 

[n0mad23]

I installed this probably a day after this thread went up.  Only a couple days ago I got to this point in the game (I've been doing mostly radiant quests) and found that it unfolded seamlessly enough that I didn't even remember that I was using Paarthurnax Bypass until I was discussing the game with my daughter last night, and she mentioned A Blade in the Dark which her good friend is currently attempting.  When she asked me what I was going to do when forced to decide about Paaarthurnax by the Blades is when I remembered the sequence in the video above this post - the exact sequence I'd done.

 

Sometimes real success is measured by how unnoticeable things are.

 

BTW - thanks Penrutet for posting that.