How should the next Elder Scrolls Game be handled?

[TheIronRuler]

Morrowind's protagonist was the Nerevarine. Elder Scroll protagonists are one-off flavors, you won't see it again.

And I just hope the next Elder Scrolls is more exotic. Battling wolves in Norway Skyrim and Mudcrabs in England Cyrodiil was not exactly creative stuff. Morrowind was about as alien as we're going to get, but I hope they do Sumerset Isles, Black Marsh or Valenwood next, not Elsweyr. I especially want to fight the Sload on Sumerset Isles.

.
Valenwood's Jungles will make you cringe and throw up while Elsweyr's cats will make you schizophrenic - SO MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF CATS.

 

[jamesbrown]

True dat, but still; it was shown in skyrim; esp. if you played through the winterhold arc you learn some surprising things about magic in the elder scrolls. First is that a large number of people distrust magic (unless thier reiligon has anything to do with it), and most people can't do magic (there are less and less people doing magic in every successive game), which is partically why (in my opinon) that the wizards guild fell and they had to become more inclusive of all wizards. Plus most people are upset with thier lives; so what if someone actually made something amazing; and people started to see that as a way out. If an really powerful being; or someone rose to be incribly powerful (Protagnaist anyone?); suddenly took hold of that tension and used it against the Aedra. You could have an civil war of gods on your hands, with some coming to your side of course. And you would be the one at the forefront of this massive war. Talk about using modern day graphics to your advantage, That would be an epic worth 60$.

Actually Nords distrust magic, most other people don't.

The reason why there are less people doing magic every game is because of where the games are set.

-Morrowind is often consdiered THE most magical place on Tamriel and thus has a high level of magic users.
-Cyrodiil is less magical, though the head branch of the mage college being thee does keep a higher level of magic users around.
-Skyrim is full of Nords who hate magic because of their ancestral hatred of elves.
The diminishing appearance of magic is solely based on geography of the the games, and not an overall trend of people in Tamriel.

Also where the Mage's College fell two other organizations, the College of Whispers, and the Synod, took its place, both of which are quite powerful.

furthermore you cant start a war against the gods because the main characters of every game are avatars of Lorkhan/akatosh, you ARE a god incarnate.

Thanks for the clarification; but still why not, doesn't being a god make you more able to start a war

 

[Zenn3k]

The only thing Skyrim really needs to do is make more skills have more interesting effects on the game. Speech checks would be very welcome.

Oh, and more interesting quests which more branching story arcs.

Skyrim's quests are SOOOO BORING.

 

[Jaeke]

Well, in the words of Todd Howard (holy be thy name), each Elder Scrolls game is made in mind as a completely seperate piece from its predecessors.

Also, Skyrim was sort of hinted as the last Elder Scrolls game. At least for this generation.
Next-gen??

I don't know but if it doesn't rhyme with "lack-of-ear" I'm not sure of an alternative route to expand beyond where the series is now.

 

[Jaeke]

I don't want to see them dumb the skills and spells back down to Oblivion/Morrowind levels though...

Are you joking? Is this a clever jest?

Skyrim's spells are dumbed down as compared to the other games.

The good:
You can dual wield spells and/or combine the same spell.
If same spells combined, impact is a useful perk.

Mixed:
Runes are new and can be used a traps for Mages who are patient enough to wait out the MP recharge time (or quaff a potion). It's pointless to cast them unless you dual wield/combine them for more power as they are pretty weak. Unfortunately, the MP consumption is atrociously high. Essentially, not really getting the bang for your buck.

The bad:
The lack of spell creation (a big one)
The removal of an entire school
No touch spells for lesser cost
Even more effects removed from predessecor (MP/Stat/Skill absorbtion, Damage reflection, cure poison (!?), cure disease (!!), dispel (!?), bound armor)
Basically useless wards that cost too much MP and take too long to cast. Dodging is easier.
Basically useless elemental of ice. Almost everything is resistant to it. The go to element is fire.
[sub]Situationally, sometimes lightning is better, but fire is the mainstay.[/sub]
Did I mention, no spell creation...

As for skills:
Dumbed down, in your world, is:
- having unarmed combat as a viable option
- having major and minor skills
- Acrobatics and Athletics are included (run faster, jump higher)
- seperating general skills (like one-handed) into weapon categories.

I rather think that an expert with a sword, may not be an expert with a mace. Skyrim begs to differ...
Did you also notice that the available weapon types has been decreasing since Morrowind? I guess more weapons is dumbed down though...

Also, where the fuck did attributes go?

Moral of the story: Skyrim is the one dumbed down one.

Edit:
Imagine though:
A well placed Rune Spell that causes Paralyze, damages MP and delivers a burst of high lightning damage, as well as 10 seconds of low fire damage. You can almost make that in Oblivion. If you take out the rune part, you definitely can.

Skyrim, not so much.

Creating Spells kind of broke the game
I mean they were fun and all but running around being invisible for 1000 seconds and shooting a lightning/fire/ice cloud from the gods that wiped anything out for 1000 damage for 1000 seconds kind of got a bit boring.

Did anyone actually care for Mysticism?? I mean other than telekenisis (which is still in Skyrim) there really wasn't anything cool about it that wasn't put in some other school.

So because Skyrim doesn't have spears or a distinguished shortsword it's whole combat dumbed down? EDIT: And also in the weapon Perk-Tree's you could distinguish between mace/axe/sword with different perks. Like having an axe deal bleeding damage or a perk that causes maces to ignore armor.

Or instead of drinking mana potions you could just wear a robe and take the perk that removes %50+ of the cost.

Instead of limiting your character to certain pre-determined classes through chosen Major/Minor skills, Skyrim let's you be completely flexible so you don't need to rerole an entire character just because you choose Blunt instead of Blade or Destruction instead of Illusion.

captcha: know thyself
Indeed.

 

[SajuukKhar]

Well, in the words of Todd Howard (holy be thy name), each Elder Scrolls game is made in mind as a completely seperate piece from its predecessors.

Also, Skyrim was sort of hinted as the last Elder Scrolls game. At least for this generation.
Next-gen??

I don't know but if it doesn't rhyme with "lack-of-ear" I'm not sure of an alternative route to expand beyond where the series is now.

Well, according to several people at Bethesda, mind you this comes way back from Morrowind days, Bethesda has had the entire story-arc planned out until Elder scrolls 6 or 7, so we got another game or two before they are done with their planned story.

And they will never go to Akavir, Akavir is like the Dwemer, its cool because you never actually see it, putting it in the game would ruin it because it removes the one thing it has going for it.... the mystery, and yes I do know there was one Dwemer in Morrowind, he doesn't count.

Also the slithering of a snake is a ***** to animate, that's why Bethesda made all the Akaviri in Oblivion's Pale Pass humans, because its a royal pain to get snake slithering working right and not look like shit.

 

[Jaeke]

Well, in the words of Todd Howard (holy be thy name), each Elder Scrolls game is made in mind as a completely seperate piece from its predecessors.

Also, Skyrim was sort of hinted as the last Elder Scrolls game. At least for this generation.
Next-gen??

I don't know but if it doesn't rhyme with "lack-of-ear" I'm not sure of an alternative route to expand beyond where the series is now.

Well, according to several people at Bethesda, mind you this comes way back from Morrowind days, Bethesda has had the entire story-arc planned out until Elder scrolls 6 or 7, so we got another game or two before they are done with their planned story.

And they will never go to Akavir, Akavir is like the Dwemer, its cool because you never actually see it, putting it in the game would ruin it because it removes the one thing it has going for it.... the mystery, and yes I do know there was one Dwemer in Morrowind, he doesn't count.

Also the slithering of a snake is a ***** to animate, that's why Bethesda made all the Akaviri in Oblivion's Pale Pass humans, because its a royal pain to get snake slithering working right and not look like shit.

Ah my old enemy

Have you noticed the size of scale throughout the Elder Scrolls?? They've gotten bigger and bigger. From control of an empire (Arena), to control of a region (Daggerfall), to saving a whole province (well for the most part; Morrowind), to saving the continent of Tamriel (Oblivion), to the entirety of Nirn (Skyrim)??

I can only imagine what would go beyond Mundus being swallowed whole.

EDIT: I was saying it was the last ES game of this generation (ESO doesn't count) not the last Elder Scrolls entirely... hopefully.

 

[SajuukKhar]

Ah my old enemy

Have you noticed the size of scale throughout the Elder Scrolls?? They've gotten bigger and bigger. From control of an empire (Arena), to control of a region (Daggerfall), to saving a whole province (well for the most part; Morrowind), to saving the continent of Tamriel (Oblivion), to the entirety of Nirn (Skyrim)??

I can only imagine what would go beyond Mundus being swallowed whole.

EDIT: I was saying it was the last ES game of this generation (ESO doesn't count) not the last Elder Scrolls entirely... hopefully.

Well the Thalmor plan to unmake Mundus itself, so if the next game deals with fighting them, we would have a game were we protect the largest thing yet, the entirety of the mortal realm.

 

[Jaeke]

Ah my old enemy

Have you noticed the size of scale throughout the Elder Scrolls?? They've gotten bigger and bigger. From control of an empire (Arena), to control of a region (Daggerfall), to saving a whole province (well for the most part; Morrowind), to saving the continent of Tamriel (Oblivion), to the entirety of Nirn (Skyrim)??

I can only imagine what would go beyond Mundus being swallowed whole.

EDIT: I was saying it was the last ES game of this generation (ESO doesn't count) not the last Elder Scrolls entirely... hopefully.

Well the Thalmor plan to unmake Mundus itself, so if the next game deals with fighting them, we would have a game were we protect the largest thing yet, the entirety of the mortal realm.

Well we kinda already did that with Alduin but still...
Damn elves. [sub]Even though I role Dunmer[/sub]

 

[Jaeke]

Each Elder Scrolls game casts the player into a unique role within the world. Starting as a prisoner with nothing to eventually become a hero. In Morrowind, we played the Nerevearine, the reborn Nerevar. In Oblivion we were the Champion of Cyrodil/Hero of Kvatch. This time the Dovahkiin. Next time should be something else.

Obviously the dragons are back in Tamriel now, so they won't be going away. I'd like to see the next game, a couple of years from now, take us to High Rock, Black Marsh or Elsewyr. I'd *love* to see Elsewyr next but I fear it might be a hard act to follow. Still, after the cold and snow of the north, it would be great to have some desert and jungle.


My biggest want for a future game would be to give NPCs real character, like BioWare manage in their games. Even possibly making it akin to a party experience. Trekking through the land with a handful of fellow adventurers, each with a personality (and a manageable inventory).

Two things that would make for a great theme:
The return/rebirth/awakening of the Dwemer and *Major Dawnguard Spoiler

Spoiler

With the Orsimer back as of Dawnguard that could lead to something interesting too

.

... You mean the

Spoiler

Falmer??

Orsimer are the orcs.

 

[SajuukKhar]

Well we kinda already did that with Alduin but still...
Damn elves. [sub]Even though I role Dunmer[/sub]

Alduin wishes to rule Nirn, not destroy Mundus.

Also lets bring our whole tower thing over here so we don't flood the cliffhanger thread.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Some things that I would like to see in TES VI:

[list type=bullet]
[li]A new engine with limb awareness like in Mirror's Edge[/li]
[li]Continue evolving the combat mechanics(as much as I liked Morrowind, action RPGs don't need dice rolls to determine whether you hit or not)[/li]
[li]Add climbing into the game(to help enhance the thief/stealth experience)[/li]
[li]Skyrim's magic system was more interesting than Oblivion's. Make the next one more interesting than Skyrim's[/li]
[li]For the love of god, please hire some people that are actually good at writing dialogue. It's 2012 and TES's dialogue is only marginally more engaging than that of Ultima IV[/li]
[/list]

Beyond that, just keep playing to the strengths of the series.

 

[AnotherAvatar]

... Set it in the distant future?

Make your character a cyborg?

You know what, fuck it, just give me another Deus Ex.

 

[AnotherAvatar]

snip

How does anything you replied to contradict the fact that Skyrim is dumbed down as opposed to earlier games. That's right, none of it does.

Next time, respond with something valid. Until then, my statements stand - Skyrim is dumbed down.

I actually found Skyrim to have a lot of features I felt were lacking from what I could stand to play of Oblivion.

Mind you, I make no comments on the older games as I've heard Morrowind was epic and deep, and what I played of Daggerfall seemed absurdly massive, so you're probably right on those, but I would argue it was a step up from Oblivion in more than just it's graphics.

 

[AnotherAvatar]

Well, in the words of Todd Howard (holy be thy name), each Elder Scrolls game is made in mind as a completely seperate piece from its predecessors.

Also, Skyrim was sort of hinted as the last Elder Scrolls game. At least for this generation.
Next-gen??

I don't know but if it doesn't rhyme with "lack-of-ear" I'm not sure of an alternative route to expand beyond where the series is now.

Well, according to several people at Bethesda, mind you this comes way back from Morrowind days, Bethesda has had the entire story-arc planned out until Elder scrolls 6 or 7, so we got another game or two before they are done with their planned story.

And they will never go to Akavir, Akavir is like the Dwemer, its cool because you never actually see it, putting it in the game would ruin it because it removes the one thing it has going for it.... the mystery, and yes I do know there was one Dwemer in Morrowind, he doesn't count.

Also the slithering of a snake is a ***** to animate, that's why Bethesda made all the Akaviri in Oblivion's Pale Pass humans, because its a royal pain to get snake slithering working right and not look like shit.

Ah my old enemy

Have you noticed the size of scale throughout the Elder Scrolls?? They've gotten bigger and bigger. From control of an empire (Arena), to control of a region (Daggerfall), to saving a whole province (well for the most part; Morrowind), to saving the continent of Tamriel (Oblivion), to the entirety of Nirn (Skyrim)??

I can only imagine what would go beyond Mundus being swallowed whole.

EDIT: I was saying it was the last ES game of this generation (ESO doesn't count) not the last Elder Scrolls entirely... hopefully.

Wasn't Daggerfall much bigger than the modern ones? I thought it was the biggest encompassing several provinces, and the majority of Tamriel?

Edit: Seems to me like you mean the scope of the quest, not the size of the world. Right?

 

[SajuukKhar]

Also, bring back levitation! Make the world more exotic and interesting like Morrowind was. Basically bring back the soul of the game.

You are aware Morrowind is the only game in the ENTIERE series to be exotic like that?

I find it funny people mention Morrowind so constantly when talking about the "soul" of the game when Morrowind is and was the antithesis to the games before and after it.

Wasn't Daggerfall much bigger than the modern ones? I thought it was the biggest encompassing several provinces, and the majority of Tamriel?

Edit: Seems to me like you mean the scope of the quest, not the size of the world. Right?

Arena had the entire continent of Tamriel.

Daggerfall only covered a small part of Hammerfell, and High Rock, though the game was the largest in terms of how large the section of the world presented in-game was, but that's only because 99.99% of it was randomly generated.

Also, where the fuck did attributes go?

Attributes were removed because they killed character diversity.

When leveling up your Major/Minor skills In Morrowind and Oblivion you would eventually reach a point were the bonuses to attributes would cause you to reach 100 in all attributes that mattered to your character.

This forced you to have to level up attributes that didn't matter to you. that in turn caused you to eventually have max, or nearly maxed attribue stats in all attributes by the time you go to a high level.

The problem with that is that it killed character diversity because when you have attributes, and you have them control things like your health, all character end up being exactly the same near the end.

in removing attributes Skyrim caused the exact opposite effect.

while in Morrowind and Oblivion one could describe the leveling system as "start off unique but become the same", Skyrim changed the leveling system to "start off the same but become unique"

Attributes, along with major/minor skills, were removed because they did nothing but constrain character diversity and cause all character to end up being the same.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

I would like to see some more Orc based stuff, just in general. Take Skyrims system for the game and just add what was missing from previous titles: Making spells, acrobatic abilities etc, I'm sure others can think of more, but I would like to see a story about the green skins.

One thing I would like to say, is that some see Skyrim as dumbed down, fine you can think that. I don't consider it so, I would say the way Skyrim works for me is more convenient then dumbed down.

 

[poxyrom]

You don't need to be a Dragonborn to learn shouts, you just need a lot of practice.
They could make it so that you can learn shouts from master(s) of the voice. They start off being weak, then as you "learn" how to do them, they gradually become better and better.