How should the next Elder Scrolls Game be handled?

[DoctorObviously]

The beautiful thing about the Elder Scrolls universe is that a huge amount of stories, characters, titles and villains can still be put into the world. Let's forget that Elder Scrolls Online exists, as it will forever ruin the series and just assume the next title of the franchise will be another iteration (as in TES VI).

Please note that these are all simple ideas. I would like to see perhaps two locations, one being Morrowind completely remade and another location. You can have it so that the sizes are plausible, but still large enough for immersion.

A simple, but grounded story would be nice, for a change. It doesn't have to be "hurr durr kill Cthulu" but maybe a much more personal story would be nice, for me. Maybe you are on the hunt for an elusive organisation, a famous murderer or thief. It doesn't have to be a Conan story, but something really sinister and threatening to a single individual.

The sidequests on the other hand can be much bigger and more grand. How about two clans not getting along with each other and battling it out in an open field? Hundreds of NPC's fighting each other. Or a sidequest for the Thieves Guild in which you and a wizard must find a hidden stone SOMEWHERE in the world and you have a limited time, say, a month to find it. You would have no clues, but you must use your skills as a thief to find it, such as eavesdropping in every city, stealing ancient maps and so forth.

Another quest would be to lead another adventurer such as yourself to greatness. You don't babysit him of course, but you can really talk to him into choosing a life path in a L.A. Noire kind of way. Later in the game, based on your conversations, he becomes either consumed by Lawful Good, Chaotic Good, Neutral or Chaotic Evil and you must decide what you should do with him or how you judge his actions you led him to so long ago. Maybe remaking side quests from previous game that didn't really work would also be a good idea.

Giving the conversations system an overhaul would be a good idea. I don't like the fact that you can talk to every single sentient being ever. Sometimes, a person should say: "Hello.", or "Why are you bothering me?". I don't want to click on a person, and be able to listen to his or her life story.

Like in Assassin's Creed, it would be nice if the game really felt more dangerous and the NPC's more paranoid over time because of your actions. Severely limiting Fast Travel would also be nice, it makes the world seem much more grand and real. I don't really know how Bethesda could make it in such a way that it still remains fun, but it's a thought.

On the technical side, I would like to see a better UI and more of a personal 'touch' to the game. What I mean about that is, if you would pick up an item, to have an animation of you picking it up, that your virtual avatar really 'touches' the world. Seasons such as Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring would be lovely. I would love to see a TES game where your actions truly change parts of the world, I've really been missing that, but this may not be possible with my ideas, only in certain parts, like a bloody battlefield or something.

I loved the Bioshock 2 style of combat though, that can DEFINATELY stay. Maybe Bethesda should find a way to SPEED UP the combat, as it felt like one of those old DOS game we used to have.

An example:

/hit dragon

Dragon hit.
Dragon hits you for 89 damage.
What do you want to do now?

/use healing potion

Healing Potion heals you for 50 HP.
Dragon hits you for 54 damage.
What do you want to do now?

Yeah, that can go.

I'm usually full of ideas but I'm really tired now.

 

[Callate]

No, don't do the Dovahkiin again, for Pete's sake. The shouting/dragon souls thing was fine, even kind of neat at points, but a) it was very much tied into the specific story that Skyrim wanted to tell, and b) it was entirely pulled out of Bethesda's nether regions, just like the Nerevarine of Morrowind. I'm sure they can come up with something similarly interesting for the next game, but tying themselves down to the previous game would not be a positive choice.

Personally, I'd be thrilled if they did something with Elsweyr, the homeland of the Khajit, but I'd not hold my breath. (C'mon, a desert full of purring, stealthy libertines? You know you want that as your playground.)

As I work on my second playthrough of Skyrim, I find myself wishing more and more for more intense testing and fleshing-out of mechanics and plotlines, even if it comes at the cost of a smaller map and less things to do. Playing as a dual-wielding swordswoman with ridiculous levels of Enchantment and Smithing skills worked really well; playing as a more magic-centered character, while it has its perks, really highlights how poorly certain things were considered. The wards and the magearmor mechanic in particular are a bad joke; it's like every magician in the world has nightmares about that first arrow in the neck before they get their defenses up, or worse, the knockdown attack that makes their entire repertoire meaningless. Really, for all the poisons and endurance and magicka draining and intricate patterns of strategy one could use to beat an opponent, nothing- nothing- beats hitting them hard, fast, and often until they die. They block? Harder, faster, and more often. They use wards? That will slow you down for about three seconds. Summoned or reanimated minions? Ignore them, aim for the summoner. Multiple opponents? Sneak attack them until there's few enough left that you can hit them hard, fast, and often without getting your rear end cut off.

Alchemy is kind of fun, but it's ridiculous that in a game where nearly every town has an alchemist there's so little information available about what reagants do. I cannot believe that every shop owner got their start wandering around the countryside eating giants' toes and deadly nightshade. Surely someone writes these things down? In a way other than two ingredients on a scrap of paper? Similarly, it's ridiculous that you can't start gleaning extra effects from all that sampling until you have 50 fricking points of Alchemy skill- this should be the first perk on the tree. By the point you're that invested, seeking the ingredients you need should be the priority, not nibbling on weird things you found floating in rivers.

And lockpicking? F@#$ me, did anyone actually waste their hard-earned perks on making it easier not to break widely available tools that cost about seven gold a pop? For the possible future investment in getting more gold and treasure, by which point it will be irrelevant? Some things should just come from skill levels, not investing those few and invaluable perks.

...Sorry, I can rant on about Skyrim at length (clearly). And a good part of that is how enjoyable the game is, and how that makes some of the flaws stick out so baldly.

For the TLR crowd, my most salient points: don't re-use the dovahkiin, go somewhere interesting, focus on quality/testing over quantity.

 

[likalaruku]

Next ES game is Elder Scrolls Online.

::sigh:: Still waiting for Skyrim GOTY edition. Late to the party, but it will be fully patched with all the goodies.

 

[SajuukKhar]

Next ES game is Elder Scrolls Online.

Wrong.

ESO is a side-game, saying its the next real Elder scrolls game is like saying Fallout:New Vegas was Fallout 4, it is not.

 

[likalaruku]

Next ES game is Elder Scrolls Online.

Wrong.

ESO is a side-game, saying its the next real Elder scrolls game is like saying Fallout:New Vegas was Fallout 4, it is not.

As long as it comes out before ES6, it's still the "next" ES game.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Here's another thing I want: meatier DLC.

Hearthfire's kinda fun in a grindy, time-waste-ey manner, and it felt like Dawnguard was over far too quickly. If they don't resolve the issue with the Thalmor sometime soon, I'll also start murdering puppies.

I mean, seriously. I'm up for Game Jam cruft as much as anyone else, but I want meat on those bones, too. I want to kick the real assholes out of Skyrim for good, so the poor Stormcloaks can wake up and realize how much of a tool Ulfric actually is.

 

[Ezekiel T Bluff]

I would love to see a more steampunkish sequel, like Arcanum.
It would make sense if the next game took place 500 years after Skyrim.

Skyrim takes place 200 years after Oblivion, and yet everything stayed the same technology wise

 

[Randomologist]

Don't make everyone an asshole. Everywhere you go, whatever side you take, its six of one and half a dozen of the other. Much as I sympathise with Ulfric and freedom of religion, he's a negligent Jarl whereas Elisif does at least try to keep everyone happy, if surrounded by lickspittles and the often corrupt Empire.

Perhaps it's my play style, but I'm always running into many types of armour in a very short progression of levels. I start out in steel, then I find a single superior Dwemer piece. Cool, but by the next level I'm starting to find Orcish armour all of a sudden. Maybe its me being picky but the unmatching and unlikely combinations break the immersion.

Long story short, pace your levelling out- and while you're at it, I don't want to have to choose (NOW, RIGHT NOW) health/etc upgrades when I just want to look at my perks, I'd like to train as much as I like (If I'm unbalanced, my own fault), and some way to reassign points away from those many useless perks you chucked into the game.

 

[el derpenburgo]

The Aldmer homeland is Alinor, also known as the Summerset isles, and it is perfectly fine.

Aldmeris, the place the elves believe they came from, is a fictional place, it is a collection of dreams and memories from back when the elves were one race, before the spirit wars splintered them into the various races we see today, Aldmeris never actually existed.

Well, it really has been a while because for some reason I had it in my head that Aldmeris was real. The specific book I was talking about featured this Imperial cartographer who stumbled upon what he thought to be Aldmeris and found a bunch of stuff but in hindsight I suppose that was probably a tongue in cheek reference to Columbus' discovery of the 'East Indies', but it's a shame I don't actually remember what it was called. Also I used Aldmer because I specifically thought they were the proto-mer from which the Altmer (the Summerset Isles folk) and company grew from, but I see that they basically are the Altmer. I feel like an idiot for not checking uesp first :/

 

[SajuukKhar]

I would love to see a more steampunkish sequel, like Arcanum.
It would make sense if the next game took place 500 years after Skyrim.

Skyrim takes place 200 years after Oblivion, and yet everything stayed the same technology wise

Technology will most likely never advance for one simple reason... magic... when you have magic technological progress becomes stagnate because the limits that cause technological improvement to be necessary get removed via magic.

 

[Jynthor]

I wonder what they'll replace the Dragonshouts with, I very much doubt you'll be Dragonborn again and it would be weird to go back to being a normal human. Now they're stuck in the endless cycle of introducing new gimmicks.

 

[Ezekiel T Bluff]

I would love to see a more steampunkish sequel, like Arcanum.
It would make sense if the next game took place 500 years after Skyrim.

Skyrim takes place 200 years after Oblivion, and yet everything stayed the same technology wise

Technology will most likely never advance for one simple reason... magic... when you have magic technological progress becomes stagnate because the limits that cause technological improvement to be necessary get removed via magic.

That is sort of true, but I didnt see anyone in Skyrim cook food or drive around on anything powered by magic. Not everyone knows how to use magic. So technology could be advanced by those people, rendering mages unwanted for the reason that technology doesnt work around them, bla, bla... (I know that this is basicaly Arcanum, but it is an interesting concept to me at least, and I know it will never happen)

 

[SajuukKhar]

I really want a game in Black Marsh.

I know they'd have to rape the lore to pull it off, but hey, its not like Bethesda mind doing that, is it? At least it wouldn't become another hiking simulator like Skyrim. If the biggest pull of a game is great landscapes, that game should make sure it has landscapes different from the ones in fucking Wales.

Making a game in Black Marsh wouldnt be so hard.

Also Skyrim's landscape is the way it is becuase that is the way it has always been in lore
Morrowind = Giant mushroom place
Valenwood = Giant forest
Skyrim = Viking land
Black Marsh = swamp
Hammerfell = giant desert
Cyrodiil was a tropical jungle, but Tiber Septim hated it and turned it into like some generic mid-evil landscape

I wonder what they'll replace the Dragonshouts with, I very much doubt you'll be Dragonborn again and it would be weird to go back to being a normal human. Now they're stuck in the endless cycle of introducing new gimmicks.

There is Redguard Sword Singing and Akaviri Kiai