New Elder Scrolls?

[Rayce Archer]

A giant swamp might not sound very fun on paper, but you never know.

Counterpoint: Point Lookout was pretty great.

 

[SmugFrog]

Until I see confirmation from Bethesda entirely, I won't believe it. Mainly because one, there have been speculations like this all the time that have turned out to be entirely false and two because we've not had a Fallout game in a long time.
I'm not doubting that Bethesda is working on The Elder Scrolls VI, that's a given, but I'd think the development team would be working on Fallout 4 sooner.

I'm with you on that. I think they'll alternate between Elder Scrolls and Fallout. It seems like the going rate is at about 6 years between releases, and Skyrim only came out about 3 years ago so, 2017? I think it will be longer than that as they push more content into their worlds and need more development time.

Morrowind = May 1 2002
Oblivion = Mar 20 2006 = 4 years after TES III
Fallout 3 = Oct 28 2008 = 2.5 years after TES IV
Skyrim = Nov 11 2011 = 5.5 years after TES IV, 3 years after Fallout 3

I don't count New Vegas because it wasn't developed by Bethesda, hence it wouldn't have taken their team's development time. I think we're due for a Fallout 4 announcement any day now, but like I said about them trying to cram more content in (and using Skyrim's new engine), they're probably making it as amazing as possible. There's also the possiblity that with such work being done on the game we may see an average of 6 years between ANY big releases from them, which would put Fallout 4 releasing in the 2016-2017 timeframe, which would probably make the next Elder Scrolls game release around 2022-2023 (long way).

On February 18, 2014, Bethesda game director Todd Howard did an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun. When asked about new game announcements, he said ?We don?t [have a timeframe for our next game announcement], but I think it?s gonna be a while.?

I'm betting that we'll see Fallout 4 AND another Elder Scrolls game before we see Half-Life 3.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I doubt it's anything more than a rumor. Although Black Marsh would be a fun place to visit. Would any of the other races even be able to survive there, though?
I'd personally prefer to visit an Elven region next; either Valenwood or Alinor would be nice. Maybe even Pyondanea, although there are lore regions why that would be unlikely. Perhaps a real scale Orsinium? And I seem to be in a minority here, but I'd much prefer a new TES game than a Fallout one. Don't get me wrong, I like Fallout- I just much prefer fantasy settings to grim realistic wastelands.

Canonically, no, pretty much anything except argonians tends to get diseases and die in Black Marsh.

I'd also like to visit Valenwood, although I don't want it to like the shitey Lothlorien rip off that it was in TES:O. I'd rather it was weird, with wild, dangerous wood elves, with lots of creepy magical things like spriggans and such. Not happy little treehouse people.

Orsinium would also be cool, and its pretty small so doing it with 1:1 scale might even be doable. Having an ES game with a city that actually felt city sized, rather than village sized, would be great.

 

[babinro]

Skyrim was a complete failure for me.

I like the idea of the Elder Scrolls games and their world but I can't get passed the archaic and boring combat system. The story (be it main quest or side quests) is not compelling enough to keep me playing these games on their own.

My thoughts on the next installment?

- It'll be a default mind blowing success.
- Our forums will be flooded with 10x more threads about it than anything gamergate could hope to spam us with
- People will almost certainly claim it the best game ever made within the first 3 months like they did with Skyrim
- Hopefully the combat will see a major overhaul so I can truly enjoy an Elder Scrolls game for the first time since Oblivion (where combat was still dated but not yet unplayable / archaic).

In other words, I don't think the lackluster MMO will have any negative impact on the franchise at all.

 

[Fractral]

I'd personally prefer to visit an Elven region next; either Valenwood or Alinor would be nice. Maybe even Pyondanea, although there are lore regions why that would be unlikely.

My lore's a bit rusty. What's Pyondanea again?

Pyondanea is an island realm some way south of Valenwood inhabited by the Maormer, or sea elves. It's perpetually shrouded in fog and nobody who goes there ever returns, and ruled by an immortal god-king named Orgnum. It would be pretty cool to visit, since there's very little information on it in the games, but unlikely for reasons such as there being only Maormer there and none of the other races.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Skyrim was a complete failure for me.

I like the idea of the Elder Scrolls games and their world but I can't get passed the archaic and boring combat system. The story (be it main quest or side quests) is not compelling enough to keep me playing these games on their own.

My thoughts on the next installment?

- It'll be a default mind blowing success.
- Our forums will be flooded with 10x more threads about it than anything gamergate could hope to spam us with
- People will almost certainly claim it the best game ever made within the first 3 months like they did with Skyrim
- Hopefully the combat will see a major overhaul so I can truly enjoy an Elder Scrolls game for the first time since Oblivion (where combat was still dated but not yet unplayable / archaic).

In other words, I don't think the lackluster MMO will have any negative impact on the franchise at all.

Hopefully they'll be looking closely at the recent spate of medieval FPSs (Chivalry, War of the Roses, etc.) and take some of the mechanics from them. It wouldn't hurt to make spellcasting more exciting and intuitive either.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Spoiler

It's been ten years since the first Elder Scrolls title released, and fans have been waiting desperately for the next title.

Am I reading the same article here? This seems to be loaded with inconsistencies and awkward statements.

Spoiler

Bethesda Softworks is responsible for creating half the fantasy RPG that we currently have, from Skyrim to Doom and Wolfenstein, etc.

Or

Spoiler

Gold is expected to be harder to find at night in Elder Scrolls 3: Argonia

This just seems off to me.

My thoughts exactly; the whole article looks like it's been written by someone who has never used the English language before, let alone played any of the Elder Scrolls games.

Of all hoaxes out there this seems like the most implausible based purely on its complete inability to seem even the slightest bit convincing as a piece of game journalism.

 

[Yuiiut]

-snip-
As for what they claim, I would be extremely happy if it was set in Argonia. The biggest issue I can see with that is that the main plotlines of TES titles tend to focus on mysticism and prophecy (Dragonborn, Nevarine, The Septim's Bloodline etc.), and although fighting the Thalmor in Blackmarsh would be awesome (especially if the Hist gets involved somehow), it doesn't have the 'end-of-the-world' feeling about it. Randomly guessing here, but there's something in the lore about there being 5 towers which anchor reality that the Thalmor are seeking to destroy somehow? And there's not many of them left? If someone more lore-knowledgeable than me knows what I'm talking about about and if any of the towers are in provinces that haven't been visited in the series yet, then that's where I'd place my bets on the next location. Of course, I'm probably completely wrong-maybe it will be Blackmarsh and they'll play up the Hist. Provided we visit somewhere interesting (non-human dominated, preferably), then I'll be happy.

I agree that Blackmarsh would be an awesome place for the next Elder Scrolls, and I think the Hist would probably be central to the plot (The Hist are threatened and choose you to save them from whatever is trying to destroy them or something) But these articles certainly bring no weight to the table in their blind guessing.

The towers are a very interesting concept. The idea is that there are eight towers (that we know of) and these towers all have activation stones that provide Tamriel with stability in the middle of the chaos of Oblivion. If either the stone or the tower itself is deactivated or destroyed then Tamriel loses that anchor of stability. Once all towers are deactivated the physical reality of Tamriel will dissappear, plunging everyone into a timeless soup of nothingness.
The Elves believe that they are directly descended from the gods who existed contentedly in this nothingness until the world was created, and see that state as their nirvana-heaven.

So far the towers that have been destroyed are:

The Brass tower, which is the Numidium (a giant Dwarven mech-walker weapon that warped time all around it - destroyed during Daggerfall)
The Red Mountain in Morrowind (destroyed during Morrowind),
The walking city in Valenwood (deactivated some time before Oblivion)
The Crystal tower in the Summerset Isles (destroyed during Oblivion)
The Orichalc Tower (located somewhere else and destroyed by someone - not a lot of details on it)

The White-Gold tower had it's stone deactivated for Oblivion to happen, but it may have been reactivated by Akatosh at the end of Oblivion.
The mountain the Throat of the World in Skyrim is a tower, and while the mountain is definitely still standing the stone is never fully explained, although it's stone is either something to do with Alduin's banishment and return or the fall of the rightful king (explaining the Dragonborn's presence as a requirement to Banish Alduin/reinstate a ruler to maintain the tower)

And finally the Adamantine Tower between Hammerfell and High Rock, which is still activated.

The poem in the Book of the Dragonborn at the beginning of Skyrim seems to support the towers idea.

Spoiler

When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world

When the Brass Tower walks and Time is Reshaped

When the Thrice-Blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles

When the Dragonborn Ruler loses his throne, and the White Tower falls

When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding

The World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn.

\

Ooooh, High Rock would be fun to visit-if I remember correctly, it's gothic-inspired villages surrounded by werewolves, vampires etc. Then they've got the whole blood-twin thing going on? It would be fun and interesting to explore some of the more esoteric sides of the lore, like in Morrowind with CHIM. Of course, I'm still holding out for a non-human-dominated region, but if it has to be human, Breton's are the most 'non-generic'. Hammerfall would be ok, I guess, but what makes Elder Scrolls is the weird lore, of which the redguards only have the whole 'atlantis' thing going for them.

My favourite location would be black marsh or Elesweyr though.
Thanks for the lore update/correction btw

 

[Recusant]

Ooooh, High Rock would be fun to visit-if I remember correctly, it's gothic-inspired villages surrounded by werewolves, vampires etc. Then they've got the whole blood-twin thing going on? It would be fun and interesting to explore some of the more esoteric sides of the lore, like in Morrowind with CHIM. Of course, I'm still holding out for a non-human-dominated region, but if it has to be human, Breton's are the most 'non-generic'. Hammerfall would be ok, I guess, but what makes Elder Scrolls is the weird lore, of which the redguards only have the whole 'atlantis' thing going for them.

My favourite location would be black marsh or elsenor though.
Thanks for the lore update/correction btw

I have great news for you: High Rock and (part of) Hammerfall are visitable- in Daggerfall, which Bethesda is still distributing, free, on their website at http://www.elderscrolls.com/daggerfall/ Give it a whirl; it's a blast. Still my favorite in the series. A working 3D map (the fact that no one else has done this since makes me despair for the industry), a stupidly in-depth character customization system (want to make a class whose primary and secondary skills are all languages? Go for it!), a map 3.5 times the size of the UK (I'm pretty one of the dungeons (if you've played it, you know which one I mean) was larger than the entire overworld map of Oblivion), and all the bugs and weirdness you expect from an Elder Scrolls game (walk into a shop, loiter around until it closes, then just take everything off the shelves, turn around, and sell it back to the merchant)- and it's free! Even if you don't download it, pause a moment and appreciate just how much of game it was, that the largest installation size was four hundred fifty megabytes- in 1996. I'd say I have even better news for you, in that not only do you not have to wait to visit Elsinore, you can do so in real life, since it's not in Tamriel but Denmark, but I suspect you may have meant Elesweyr.

This announcement is pretty clearly fake. A pity; Argonia would be an interesting place to visit- or rather, revisit; you can go there in Arena, also available for free on Bethesda's website. Check them out.

 

[JonSherwell]

I'm not going to believe anything about the next Elder Scrolls until I see something official.

Also give me Fallout not TES, please.

Until I see confirmation from Bethesda entirely, I won't believe it. Mainly because one, there have been speculations like this all the time that have turned out to be entirely false and two because we've not had a Fallout game in a long time.
I'm not doubting that Bethesda is working on The Elder Scrolls VI, that's a given, but I'd think the development team would be working on Fallout 4 sooner.

I think that TES6 isn't dependent on the same dev team as FO4, I would suspect that there's a fallout team, and an elder scrolls team, with some overlap for certain, but not so much that their working on one would mean the absence of the other.

 

[Souplex]

Why title it "Argonia" instead of "Blackmarsh?"

Thoughts?

Lore stuff.
1. Back in the third era, the empire never fully conquered the southeastern region. The region was called Argonia, the part they conquered was called Black Marsh.
2. During the Oblivion Crisis Argonia became its own independent nation.
Also, Black Marsh doesn't sound like a marketable name.

 

[Aerosteam]

I think that TES6 isn't dependent on the same dev team as FO4, I would suspect that there's a fallout team, and an elder scrolls team, with some overlap for certain, but not so much that their working on one would mean the absence of the other.

Aye, but I'm really looking at the release dates for the games in the two franchises.

The last Fallout came out in 2010 and the last Elder Scrolls came out this year. It just makes sense that the next game revealed would be Fallout.

 

[Roxas1359]

I think that TES6 isn't dependent on the same dev team as FO4, I would suspect that there's a fallout team, and an elder scrolls team, with some overlap for certain, but not so much that their working on one would mean the absence of the other.

Oh no doubt there are different development teams. What I was meaning more though is that Bethesda tends to dedicate resources to one franchise for a time, then when that game is out and launched they start focusing on the other.

In hindsight I'm more just waiting for my next damn Fallout game. >.<
Preferably one with the story made by Obsidian, and the environments and setting being done by Bethesda. Gameplay wise, just improve on New Vegas' system because those weapon mods were a lovely addition to the game.

 

[JonSherwell]

I think that TES6 isn't dependent on the same dev team as FO4, I would suspect that there's a fallout team, and an elder scrolls team, with some overlap for certain, but not so much that their working on one would mean the absence of the other.

Oh no doubt there are different development teams. What I was meaning more though is that Bethesda tends to dedicate resources to one franchise for a time, then when that game is out and launched they start focusing on the other.

In hindsight I'm more just waiting for my next damn Fallout game. >.<
Preferably one with the story made by Obsidian, and the environments and setting being done by Bethesda. Gameplay wise, just improve on New Vegas' system because those weapon mods were a lovely addition to the game.

I think that TES6 isn't dependent on the same dev team as FO4, I would suspect that there's a fallout team, and an elder scrolls team, with some overlap for certain, but not so much that their working on one would mean the absence of the other.

Aye, but I'm really looking at the release dates for the games in the two franchises.

The last Fallout came out in 2010 and the last Elder Scrolls came out this year. It just makes sense that the next game revealed would be Fallout.

And I agree wholeheartedly with both. I want nothing more than a new Fallout, I've been waiting for what, 5 years now? Too long in my opinion. It would make sense, and here's hoping we hear of it soon.

 

[SajuukKhar]

The mountain the Throat of the World in Skyrim is a tower, and while the mountain is definitely still standing the stone is never fully explained, although it's stone is either something to do with Alduin's banishment and return or the fall of the rightful king (explaining the Dragonborn's presence as a requirement to Banish Alduin/reinstate a ruler to maintain the tower)

The stone of the throat of the world was explained to be "the cave", a passage to the underworld that Shor used to visit his father Lorkhan.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/michael-kirkbride-irc-qa-sessions
Question: What are the stones of Snow-Throat, Crystal-Like-Law, Falinesti, and Orichalc?
Answer: The cave, a person, a fruit, and a sword.

I think that TES6 isn't dependent on the same dev team as FO4, I would suspect that there's a fallout team, and an elder scrolls team, with some overlap for certain, but not so much that their working on one would mean the absence of the other.

Oh no doubt there are different development teams. What I was meaning more though is that Bethesda tends to dedicate resources to one franchise for a time, then when that game is out and launched they start focusing on the other.

Actually, there isn't.

Bethesda Game Studios has one team, of less then 100 people, and its the same people making both TES and Fallout.

 

[Roxas1359]

Actually, there isn't.

Bethesda Game Studios has one team, of less then 100 people, and its the same people making both TES and Fallout.

In that case it would lead more into credence that Bethesda works on one game/franchise at a time and can't afford to allocate man power to work on two on the time. Perhaps though, if Bethesda did have more staff, they could do better bug testing... >.>

 

[Storm Dragon]

I think that these choice quotes from the article speak for themselves.

Bethesda Softworks is responsible for creating half the fantasy RPG that we currently have, from Skyrim to Doom and Wolfenstein, etc.

some of the most popular stories claim that numerous additions will be made to the game, including the maps, journals, dungeons and quests.

The general idea is to make the gameplay more interactive, in order to attract and retain the attention of the gamers.

It is important to incorporate shops into the game, not just within towns, but the outskirts too and in random places.

Gold is expected to be harder to find at night in Elder Scrolls 3: Argonia while traps set inside dungeons will decrease the health of our protagonist.

Let me know when a source I can take seriously reports something about the next Elder Scrolls game.

 

[SajuukKhar]

In that case it would lead more into credence that Bethesda works on one game/franchise at a time and can't afford to allocate man power to work on two on the time. Perhaps though, if Bethesda did have more staff, they could do better bug testing... >.>

Bethesda Game Studios doesn't do bug testing, that is the job of Bethesda Softworks, the publishing company.

Bwthesda Softworks does all the bug testing for games made by Bethesda Game Studios, Id, Arkane, Machine Games, Zenimax Online, and Tango Gameworks.

 

[Roxas1359]

Bethesda Game Studios doesn't do bug testing, that is the job of Bethesda Softworks, the publishing company.

Bwthesda Softworks does all the bug testing for games made by Bethesda Game Studios, Id, Arkane, Machine Games, Zenimax Online, and Tango Gameworks.

Then they fail at their job in every way. Or should I say, the publisher's want to push the game out before the bugs are for the most part patched out shows how messed up it is. Now I understand not getting every possible bug, but the games have had so many making them unplayable that it's rather pathetic.

 

[Storm Dragon]

The stone of the throat of the world was explained to be "the cave", a passage to the underworld that Shor used to visit his father Lorkhan.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/michael-kirkbride-irc-qa-sessions
Question: What are the stones of Snow-Throat, Crystal-Like-Law, Falinesti, and Orichalc?
Answer: The cave, a person, a fruit, and a sword.

That page you linked reads like something written by people who spent far too much time in the companies of Sheogorath and Hermaeus Mora.