I know this is probably heresy on this sub, but I just finished Shirley’s questline and… was that it?


Don’t get me wrong, I liked the idea of connecting her to the Forebears and making her this retired healer who used to smuggle wounded soldiers out of Crown territory during the border raids. That part was cool. The reveal that she knew the old Order of Diagna safehouse passwords was also genuinely a nice lore touch.


But after all the buildup, her entire quest is basically:


1. Pick mountain flowers

2. Walk slowly with her to a ruined watchtower

3. Listen to her say "roads used to be safer" seventeen times

4. Kill six bandits named "Desert Cutthroat"

5. Choose whether her soup recipe goes to the Forebears or the Crowns


And somehow people are calling this "Bethesda’s best writing since Oblivion"?
The final choice was especially weird. Why does giving Shirley’s stew recipe to the Forebears increase my Speechcraft by 3 but giving it to the Crowns gives me a unique shield? What does the shield have to do with soup? Why is the shield called "Grandmother’s Rebuke" when her name in-game is literally just Shirley?


Also, her companion perk is cute for like ten minutes, but "Shirley occasionally reminds you to save your game" is not as useful as everyone is pretending it is. I already have autosave. I do not need an elderly woman emotionally judging me every time I quickload after pickpocketing a camel merchant.


Maybe I missed something, but for a character everyone hyped up for years, I expected more than a wholesome fetch quest with Forebear paperwork attached.

Am I the only one not impressed with "grandma" Shirley's storyline?