We start this third making of video on- maybe not the most happy of moments. Odgrub has
just killed his friend, and hopefully the audience is sad about that. And so begins
Odgrub’s redemption, which starts with him realising what he’s done.
The video is split into separate ‘scenes’, but as well as that there are mini stories,
this 3rd making of video starting with the 3rd. We’ve had the fun bit, we’ve built
the characters up, and now it’s put a plan into action as Odgrub sets out to meet Lydia
again. But first I’ve got to explain why he wants to do that. He has, after all, just
killed her. It seems like a bit of a U-turn for him to immediately want to see her again,
doesn’t it. Hence the regret sequence. It’s pretty much
a standard fight scene, but without ANY sound effects, with sad music, and with the colour
saturation halved. Because without Lydia Odgrub’s only half of what he used to be or something
deep like that I don’t care. Odgrub’s an impulsive and aggressive character,
so it lets him kill first and ask questions later. That’s my excuse for this U-turn
in a single, short scene. Note how Odgrub’s baring his teeth- I didn’t
realise until making this video that characters in Skyrim do this when there are enemies nearby.
Seems there’s a civilian somewhere left alive, cowering in a corner somewhere. I don’t
blame him. I couldn’t believe my luck when I found these audio files for Lydia. I’m
sure the makers of Skyrim had to be in on the joke when recording stuff like ‘unsheathed
weapon’. I thank them for it! And although this was meant to be an emotional, nostalgic
scene, there’s always room for a few dick jokes.
Also note how Odgrub’s on the left of the screen and Lydia’s always on the right.
I did this deliberately, but there wasn’t any further thought behind it. I’m sure
my media-studies teacher would be able to think up something though!
Odgrub spends a lot of time standing still while I narrate the story. So much so that
I worried it would become something of a dank meme. But looking at the final video I think
I get away with it, what with how fast-paced so much of the video is. They almost serve
as welcome breathers, and let the viewer catch up with the story. Which is something that
Game of Thrones season 8 failed to do. I wonder if this kind of narrated story will
become more popular- not just in videogames but in regular media. When I think about it,
Skyrim’s very limiting with the camera angles and character possibilities it offers compared
to, say, what mainstream movies can achieve with actors and a 9-figure budget. But being
able to talk over the whole thing is nearly CHEATING! I can make up whatever I need to
to enable the story to happen. I’m pretty much a D&D Dungeon Master at this point.
I know you’re always meant to show rather than tell, but in a way I think me narrating
it leaves more to the viewer’s imagination when it comes to how they perceive Odgrub.
It’s a bit like with older Final Fantasy games when it’s all text and you never hear
what the characters actually sound like. It doesn’t matter. In fact, I kind of prefer
the mystery. What does Vivi sound like?! What about QUINA? And can it possibly ever live
up to how I think he should sound in my head? I’ve always pictured him as kind of like
Mister Blobby. Now this is a nice call-back to the first
Odgrub video. Back then, it was a montage showing how to make an OP character by combining
crafting systems. But here it’s a plan to see Lydia again, since she’s conveniently
a nord who will probably deserve to go to Sovngarde after her death. Of course, she
isn’t there but I’d rather build the audience’s hopes up for a happy ending. But of course
that doesn’t happen because I’m a horrible person.
Capturing a dragon is one of the more memorable bits of Skyrim’s main storyline, it’s
utterly ridiculous and buggy but that’s what an Odgrub video needs! I rehearsed this
a few times, just to get the right camera-angles. I love how oblivious this guard here is to
the whole thing. Must suck to be an NPC who exists only to die. Lydia would know.
I think me hitting the dragon was what resulted in the bug where he attacks everybody after
this sequence. I have since been told that you don’t interrogate somebody by hitting
them over the head with a sword. I think it’s funny that the NPCs know better
than anybody else here. But I have nothing else to say about it so I’ll skip this dragon
fight. The game bugs out and the quest becomes impossible to complete.
The Odgrub series has always been about Odgrub battling the bugs and exploits in Skyrim,
but this one really was game-breaking. But how can I keep this in, while still progressing
with the story? Yup, third time in 20 minutes that IT WAS
ALL A DREAM! This scene required 2 mods and 1 cheat, believe it or not- a mod to show
Odgrub waking up from the bed. Another mod to replace the 4-poster bed with another that
didn’t get in the way of the camera-angles… and a cheat to let me steal all of the Yarl’s
clothing. I don’t think anybody noticed that this
bed changed into a different design from when we saw it earlier on. Ironically I lost sleep
over what to do about this bed. So yeah, a heavily modded scene all to tell
a simple joke. But there are serious implications about this- it sets a dangerous precedent
if I can get Odgrub out of problems by making it ALL A DREAM. Maybe killing Lydia was all
just a dream? Introducing what’s effectively time-travel into the Odgrub video can lead
to all kinds of problems with the story and what can and should be taken seriously.
Like, I can’t be alone in being frustrated with the stuff in the Harry Potter series.
Hermione is given the ability to time-travel… so uses it just to attend more classes. Harry
Potter is given Liquid Luck- something that makes him effectively a GOD. You’d think
he should have gone into battle with Voldemort with dozens of these vials, wouldn’t you.
Also the second Fantastic Beasts movie was the worst movie I have ever watched. I don’t
understand how a movie can be so complicated, yet so boring at the same time! Its only saving
grace was its excellent poster, which I’ve got 2 of in my room. But I don’t know where
the series can go from here, I think they’ve royally messed it up and I don’t understand
what audience will still be interested in any future videos. I certainly won’t be.
I’m sorry, this making of series also doubles up as some kind of a therapy session for me.
Let’s get back to Odgrub again. So the dragon glitch was all a dream, he wakes
up naked next to the Yarl of Whiterun, they capture the dragon and Odgrub rides it off
into the sunrise. This is the logical point to split the video
in 2. I thought long and hard about it. It would have been awesome to have 2(!) Odgrub
videos for the price of one. Both would have been about the same length as the previous
Odgrub videos. It might have helped with audience retention, and it would definitely have resulted
in more views. It made sense to end it here. But I didn’t! I wanted to explore new Youtube
video territory- anything beyond 20 minutes long for me is kind of exciting, so to have
a 40-minute long epic on my youtube channel was something I desired very deeply. I also
thought that this first half was important in building up the characters and story, so
if somebody started on the second half first they’d be all like ‘who’s Lydia what
is he doing why is he here’ and they’d simply dislike the video and leave. And last,
there are a few flaws with the story, like the fact that Lydia isn’t in Sovngarde,
which I thought more people would pick up on if I released the second half at a later
date. So for those reasons, the video remained as
a single, 40-minute long release.
When I started work on Odgrub 3, I had high hopes for Skuldafn. I saw it as the one place
that could possibly one-up the finale of Odgrub 2. Especially at sunrise! I think this whole
section looks excellent. But because of the story, it ends up not being an important sequence.
I cut this segment back and back, what you see here is far shorter and more condensed
than I had initially planned for. Legendary difficulty worked against me here. It takes
SO MANY HITS to kill each enemy that it would be boring to show the whole fight, but because
I cut it it makes these enemies seem just as weak as any of the other people Odgrub
kills. They aren’t. Deathlords are tough things! At least I kept the bashing bit as
he finally drops one of them down the staircase. Which is the only bit of this fighting montage
that I care about. And then after this last fight against the
guardian, Odgrub goes to Sovngarde. I noticed that there were 2 dragons sat about that I
think I was supposed to fight, but I guess they got glitched and broken in some way.
I’m fine with that- I want to get on with the story!
Odgrub is in Sovngarde twice: once to finish the main quest, and the other, when he dies.
It sounds like the visits should be done in that order, but for a while I had it the other
way around, which worked better for some parts of the story, but not others.
You’ll have to use your imagination here: imagine if the Ebony Warrior killed Odgrub
earlier in the video, like just after he had tossed her gauntlets off the mountain. Odgrub’s
first visit to Sovngarde would end with him killing everybody there to escape again. He
could then find Lydia’s gauntlets on the mountain and together fight one last time
to defeat the Ebony Warrior, proving Lydia’s value to Odgrub, even if she was just a pair
of gauntlets. Having turned good and sentimental, he could then voluntarily go to Sovngarde
later on to save Skyrim from Alduin, and also to drop Lydia’s gauntlets off because he
wants to give her story a happy ending. Had I chosen the trips to Sovngarde to be in this
order, it would have resulted in a completely different second half to this video.
Ultimately, I didn’t do this and I’m happy with the way the video turned out. But there
are some bits in Odgrub 3 that are a bit questionable as a result, like how when Odgrub decides
to be good, the first thing he chooses to do is to massacre everybody in Sovngarde.
Losing the battle where he’s wearing Lydia’s gauntlets is anti-climactic. And completing
the main quest of Skyrim is no longer important to the story, but is still something I have
to do so I do it but as quickly as I can. I love the camera angles here, with hindsight
I think I subconsciously ripped off the Bridge of Khazad Dum from Lord of the Rings. As if
that’s such a bad thing! And here’s Odgrub, arriving at the Hall
of Valor and discovering that Lydia isn’t there. I’ve managed to slip this song in
to all 3 Odgrub videos, it’s always when he’s searching for something, be it dragons,
legendary dragons… or Lydia. Nice tune. Here’s a how-to-make-an-Odgrub-video. Think
up 2-3 cool sequences. For this video it was Lydia’s death, the Ebony Warrior’s fight
and the Sovngarde slaughter. Next, think up the best possible ending that can result from
all of those things. And then you need to gradually flesh out all of the bits in between.
It's important not to be too specific or to become too attached when thinking up ideas
for the video, since you’ve got to be able to adapt it for whatever happens between now
and actually recording it. Some bits you think will work may not, and other ideas you didn’t
think up may suddenly come to you. That beheading scene in the second Odgrub video was something
I thought up as I was recording it, for example. But to reveal where Lydia was with the shot
of the gauntlets on the mountain was a pivotal reveal moment that I knew I’d want to feature,
and that I visualised in my head early on. Plus, black gauntlets on a white backdrop.
I’m sure that’s symbolic of something as well.
It says so much, without saying anything at all. And it’s an abrupt wake-up for the
viewer that this video might not have such a happy ending.
No explanation needed for how he got out of Sovngarde. Just a white fade and he’s back
in the real world. Some effective time-saving right there!
And that’s the end of the third mini-story in this Odgrub video. He has made a BIG MISTAKE.
He’s feeling pretty bad about it all. Next I’ve got to some how get him up to the top
of this mountain here to carry on the story. And I had better get it done soon- youtube’s
audience retention ratings are at stake here! I know I joke about it a lot in this video,
about all the deeper meaning and pretentious ways that seemingly simple scenes from the
Odgrub video can be interpreted. But it is surprising what can go on in your mind if,
instead of spending a few days on a video, you stretch it to several months and are particularly
excited to make it. This Odgrub project did become my go-to thing to think about when
queuing in a shop, or lying awake at night. I don’t think I’ve been so excited about
a project since I used to make games back in secondary school. And I never finished
them. I hope this making of series motivates people
to embark on similar projects of their own. It’s easy to endlessly browse the internet,
or to turn on a Netflix series, but there’s something far more rewarding about investing
time into a larger project, and knowing that long after memories of that Netflix binge
have faded, you’ll still fondly remember all that time you spent on that dream project
of yours.