The Dark Brotherhood questline made me wish they made a spin-off game just based on them. It's really nice, and the Daedric quests are also very valid. They're probably the better written parts in the whole game.
Those are definitely the parts of the game where the developers put in most work. The majority of the Daedric quests present the player with a choice, and you even have the option to wipe out the Dark Brotherhood if you'd like, the only faction where this is possible.
And Cicero has more character than any two other vanilla characters put together.
Dragonborn is also very atmospheric and decently written, and very chunky: that darn island provides quite a few hours of gameplay (10-15, depending on completionist obsession?).
The best part is that it is an entirely new island, and not just new interiors placed in Skyrim's already overcrowded landmass (political and geographical). It's a chunk of a new world with new enemies, items, architecture, abilities all separated from the main story. There's plenty to see, and still small enough that you can explore it all without feeling exhausted.
I installed the
Compass Tuner mod and turned off undiscovered locations before going, which made for a much more natural experience when exploring (
"Just for once, let me look on you with my own
eyes." -Darth Vader).
And the new music and the re-used Morrowind music really tugs at the heartstrings of this outlander.
Dawnguard is dull, and the vampire transformation is OP as shit (also, ugly as fuck). There are some pretty amazing visuals to be seen while completing the questline, but they're not really worth the general dullness. There are hints of "atmosphere" here and there, but are all wasted in a sea of mediocre dullness.
I should point out that I think Vampire Lord form is fun, not Werewolf fun, but still very fun. Vampiric Grip in particular.
The summon steed spell was fun.
And Auriel's Shield is probably the best item in the game, both in terms of its unique ability and how you get it off the beaten path (more of this, Bethesda!).
The plot on the other hand, is disappointing, contradictory, illogical nonsense no matter what faction you side with.
Last I just wanna add something in favour of the Companion quests: the questline is fairly short, but mandatory if one wants to play as a werewolf, which is quite fun actually (you literally send people flying around, the "finisher" is satisfactorily violent and brutal, and then you get to feed on the corpses). The player gets the chance to become a werewolf pretty soon, so they can stop playing just then, if they find the Companion questline too dull (it -is- somewhat meh and half-assed, truth be told).
Agreed, playing as a Werewolf is hilarious, especially after Dawnguard buffed them with the Werewolf perk tree.
But the questline itself is barely a questline, you're railroaded through a series of generic fetch quests and a narrative where you are not given the option to join the antagonists even though it makes all the sense in the world to do so.
