Poll: The Elder Scrolls VI: what do you want?

[spartandude]

Also something that has been bothering me (about all RPGs for that matter) is that you have no competition. Oh, you have plenty of enemies, but no rivals. Why are you the only quest-doing kleptomaniac in all the land? There should be other adventurers. They could accept the same quests as you, and then the additional difficulty is added of having to complete said quest first. Or in skyrim itself, you get the option to join the empire or the stormcloaks. If you join one, the quests of the other are largely ignored. If another adventurer-type would join them and do their quests, then it would actually feel like something is happening, because the whole rebellion thing felt like neither the rebels or the empire are doing anything. They just sit in their respective keeps, and whichever lucky enough to have you will send you off to get shit done. If both sides would have a resident shit-doer, then it would feel a lot more convincing.

yh something thats really annoyed me in Elder Scrolls games is how come im the ONLY adventurer out there? i mean i can generally slaughter an entire group of bandits no problem but occasionally come across a bandit boss who owns me, why isnt s/he out there doing things for themselves. this is something that pissed me off so much
heck even pokemon does this better even if its all scripted its kinda cool to see another guy trying to what im doing

 

[Ryan Hughes]

Speaking as someone who appreciates Elder Scrolls, but is not a huge fan, here is what I want:

A more in-depth world. While the worlds are large and seamless in Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, it seems as if they are a "mile wide, but an inch deep." I honestly do not care too much about the size of the map, rather that the map is more diverse and has a greater depth to it.

Forget packaged questing. Folks, in my opinion, questing is simply bad game design. Or, at the least, lazy game design. Give us a larger story made out-of-the-box instead, and leave much of the side questing to the modding communities. This will allow for deeper characterization and storyline.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

1. Set it in Elsweyr: Jungles, deserts, bazaars, lamp genies, flying carpets and mosque-esque palaces are all the rage.

2. Write dialogue that's actually interesting to listen to. The dialogue in Skyrim was about as interesting as watching dry paint.

3. They took a step in the right direction with Skyrim's combat. Now expand it more. Make the weapons feel more distinctive, add variety and uniqueness to them.

4. Actually make me give a shit about the main quest.

5. Just go all out on whackiness and strangeness.

6. Make the fucking difficulty better. I remember this being one of my biggest complaints with Skyrim. Come on, you can do it better than just adding hit points to the enemies and their damage.

7. If you're going to make an M-rated game, use its potential to the fullest. Don't just ramp up the violence. Add ugliness, foul language and dark themes into the world.

 

[ward0630]

I would support a new engine, but I think leaving the current one, which is unquestionably functional and sufficient, frees up more room for engaging stories, good writing, functional mechanics, and content that would otherwise be excluded, or relegated to DLC, due to additional resources being poured into a new engine.

 

[Dedtoo]

My wish for the next one might be a simple one, yet at the same time a complicated one.

I want to go to Black Marsh.

Yes, that is the only wish I really care all that much about, mostly because I really like the Argonians, and I want to explore their homeland. Especially as there'll be a whole bunch of Argonians running about there, instead of Imperials, slightly bigger Imperials (Nords), and Elves, visually speaking.

 

[SajuukKhar]

However, how much do you think designing these models would cost? Skyrim was made on a budget of $85 million, do you imagine that Zenimax cannot afford a budget of $100 million? Do you believe it would cost another $15 million dollars to make 17 models?

Could they afford it? Yes, do they have any reason to when nothing about the narrative would make them go there? no.

And would it be worth the total payoff to spend that much money on one race in one game? probably not either.

Same reason they will probably never do a game set in Black Marsh either, and why TESO only has one form of Khajiit and Argonians at launch.

Particularly when half the Khajiit forms are just bigger versions of another form, six could literally be made as reskins for sabre cats and bosmer respectively, and four could share the same model.

Only two forms of Khajiit look like Bosmer, and only another 2 look like sabre cats, actually, they look like lions.

 

[Tanis]

The scale of a TES with combat more like Kingdoms of Amalur.

 

[unit5016]

I would like more interactivity with the bosses, such as from Dragon's Dogma. The dragons were awesome until the third or fourth one, the problem was either it was too hard (when I upped the difficulty) or too easy (when I lowered it back to what I was playing at) because of the nature of Elder Scrolls combat. They didn't feel epic after the first couple dragons/giants/etc. It got either too cheap because at the higher difficulty the dragon would fly around and one shot me. On the lower difficulty it would die in a couple of hits since the combat only works as standing still and spamming until it dies. In Dragon's Dogma, you can climb onto the dragon and fight it while in the air and various things like that. That would be very awesome in first person.

Add the ability to see your character in his armor on the menu, like it was in Oblivion.

Add meaningful character interactions, such as having a family and being able to have your own kid, like your wife suddenly starts throwing up (sick from the pregnancy) and eventually she would give birth. The adoption thing in Skyrim was too artificial and did not have any of the emotional weight of having your own kid would be like.

Going along with that maybe add the ability to have some political power and be a lord with your own castle and army, then have the emperor send you a note requesting aid in a battle and actually march out with your army while having a farewell to your son and wife (like in 300).

Finally, to go along with that add bigger battles, giant landscapes with armies and you give the tactics and lead the charge with your own customized army that you chose the colors, banner symbols, etc.

Overall things that would add more heart to the game.

 

[CriticalMiss]

I would like the game to start with your character not in prison/under arrest. It's a big ask but someone had to say it.

I don't really mind if the game map isn't 'x times larger than Skyrim/Oblivion/very big thing'. A smaller map with maybe some more variety in the environment would be nice, perhaps it could span two of the smaller regions of Tamriel?

 

[Cecilo]

I love how everyone assumes there will be a VI. If Elder Scrolls online is a success, you can pretty much kiss Elder Scrolls Single Player games goodbye. Just like WoW and Warcraft's series. Why would you make an entire new game to compete with your MMO.

You are aware that the MMO is being made by a different company, Zenimax Online, specifically so that Bethesda can continue to make single player ES games? Its also why they set the MMO over 1000 years in the past.

Well then, this man

I think you should read the mod page before you talk about it
"This is more like the kind of facial restoration that Uncle Pete, who isn't really your uncle, does in his van in his backyard for 50 bucks a pop. This feature restores battles for Morthal, Markarth, Falkreath, Fort Greymoor, Dawnstar, Riften, and Winterhold - and puts them all back in the game. "

And as I said before as I said before

The only thing that remains in any complete form are the city sieges, but even those are missing dialog, and followup quests, and a bunch of other stuff.

Everything else in his mod is of his own creation, and tries to mimic what Bethesda originally planned, but its not Bethesda's code.

And if you actually read the quote YOU posted, he said Bethesda left the INFO, as in, what they planned to do, not the code itself.

I stand by my statement. The Rights owner (Bethesda) would not allow another game in the series, if it is in direct competition with the MMO set in the same universe. It isn't good business, please remember that Bethesda was the company that put out Horse Armor. If the MMO is good, if it makes money, it if keeps people. Then you can kiss Elder Scrolls Single Player games goodbye, because there is no reason to make a single player game at that point, Developer makes money, publisher makes money.

 

[SajuukKhar]

I stand by my statement. The Rights owner (Bethesda) would not allow another game in the series, if it is in direct competition with the MMO set in the same universe. It isn't good business, please remember that Bethesda was the company that put out Horse Armor. If the MMO is good, if it makes money, it if keeps people. Then you can kiss Elder Scrolls Single Player games goodbye, because there is no reason to make a single player game at that point, Developer makes money, publisher makes money.

Bethesda is also the company who apologized for horse armor, then made Shivering Isles, The Pitt, Point lookout, Broken Steel, Dawnguard, and Dragonborn, amongst other DLC.

Also, IIRC, the rights to the ES series are owned by Zenimax, Bethesda's parent company, who also owns Zenimax online. And Zenimax is run by one of Todd Howard's best friends, and lets Todd do whatever he wants. You have no idea what your talking if when you say they will stop making TES games if TESO does well.

There go those goalposts. I was under the impression that it was long understood by fans that Bethesda intended to do at least one game in every entry part of Tamriel.

I dont know of anyone who believes that. The only thing I have ever seen said is that no one believes they will take the series outside of Tamriel.

Again, how much money do you expect them to spend on this? The resources for most of the races already exist in Skyrim, minor tweaks and they're set.

Minor tweaks? your joking right? Making a cat that's twice the height of an Altmer, and can carry 20 people, is not a tweak.

Isn't TESO suffering from severe Faramir syndrome? Anywho, considering how many fans want a game set in Elsweyr and Black Marsh, ignoring that is a surefire way of pissing everyone off. I mean, what is Bethesda gonna do? "Well we've finished TES 6: Hammerfell, we could go to these very interesting places where races we haven't explored very well live, but let's go back to Cyrodiil instead."

What is faramir syndrome?

Also, they will likely go to Valenwood, and Alinor, to bring The fight to the Dominion, after Hammerfell, if Hammerfell is the next game in the series.

Yes, I know. Two look like Bosmer but the description for the Pahmar/Pahmar-Raht and Senche/Senche-Raht (that's four) is "tiger-like" not "lion-like". The difference between the two isn't all that much either, tigers and lions, so it's a moot point. My point stands, Bethesda doesn't have to spend enormous amounts of money on this project since so many of them will-likely be reskins of previous models. Even if they did create brand new models for every form of khajiit, so what? That isn't going to cost them an enormous amount of money, it would please the fanbase, and they'll likely make several hundred million dollars off of TES 6 even if they just had a 3D-rendering of Todd Howard's ass for 1100 hours.

You are ignoring the fact that the Senche/Senche-Raht are as tall as, or in the case of the Rhat, twice the height of, an Altmer. It's not something to where you just can upscale a sabre cat and call it a day. All of the different forms of khajiit would require their own models, textures, animations, skeletons, etc. etc., and they would also have to completely design a world that can fit all 17 forms of these things.

As it stands now, the only reason Bethesda is able to put all of the 10 races they have now, is because they all share the exact same framework, and they can just copy-pasta everything, from skeletons to animations, to no end. Making all 17 forms of Khajiit would take more work then it does to make all 10 races/both genders already, and that simply isn't worth it for one game.

 

[King of Wei]

I want a stable game! Seriously, If I can play it without having to wait a year for all the patches to make shit work, I'm a happy man.

Far as features go...

1: Have enemies be able to sneak up on/sneak attack the player. Like those guys that stalk you in crowds in Assassins Creed Revelations, so awesome!

2: Morrowind's factions system. The ranks and relationships with the other factions really added to the immersion.

3: Text based dialogue! You can convey more information with 'em and it's probably cheaper!

4: Tougher riddles in tombs. Don't gotta be overly complex but putting the combination right next to the door you want sealed isn't very effective. Then again Skyrim's tombs were built by Nords, so that may actually be lore friendly.

 

[MrGalactus]

There has to be a new engine, right? Every TES game comes with one.

Morrowind and Oblivion both used Gamebryo. They do feel very different, though.

YOU SRS? Damn, they feel years apart in every aspect.

 

[MrGalactus]

1: Have enemies be able to sneak up on/sneak attack the player. Like those guys that stalk you in crowds in Assassins Creed Revelations, so awesome!

Great idea. I'd never considered until now the fact that nobody uses stealth but the player character..

 

[SajuukKhar]

You?re being disingenuous; it?s been a contention of fans for as long as I can remember that we will eventually explore all of Tamriel, and not in a dinky ?everything in one go? MMO or in Arena. There?s certainly no technological or artistic reason for avoiding it, despite your claims to the contrary.

There is a reason to avoid it.... its not cost efficient, its not worth having to design the world to fit all the forms of Khajiit, nor is it worth all the animations/skeletons needed to get it to work.

What system do you play Skyrim on? I?m just curious, because you talk as if you?ve never cracked open the Skyrim modding tools. Yes, it absolutely a minor tweak. What you state here is certainly not true in the slightest.

Are you serious? are you REALLY trying to say that a half-assed jury-rigged solution like that would be acceptable in anything outside of a mod?.....

Upscaling the skeleton of a Khajiit and a sabre cat is exactly what muppetpuppet did when he created Cathay-raht and pahmar-raht for the Moonpath to Elsweyr mod. No new animations were needed, at worst you?re looking at a retexture. Animations might need very slight tweaks to address possible pathfinding and clipping issues. They certainly wouldn?t need to create all 17 forms of khajiit from scratch as you?re claiming.

.....Apparently so

Have you actually played Moonpath to Elsywer? The kahjiit forms in that mod had obvious animation problems, especially the larger ones walking like a much smaller animal then they should. That mod was hack-job, a barely acceptable hack-job, and while some mod may be able to get away with it, if Bethesda seriously tried to release an Eslweyr game that was that half-assed, it would be just as bad if they made an Eslweyr game without all the forms of Khajiit.

Valenwood would be nice but I have reservations about Hammerfell being next in line. Everything we?ve been told about Hammerfell in Skyrim is that Hammerfell and the Dominion have a ceasefire in effect. I?m willing to bet that the canon result of the Skyrim civil war is an independent Skyrim, so I imagine the Dominion will be prepping for an invasion of a very isolated Cyrodiil rather than opening hostilities with Hammerfell a second time around.

If Skyrim plays out like literally every other TES game, both endings will be canon, or be made moot through some event.

But if they did chose one ending over another, I think the Empire ending would be the one they pick. Ulfric is unable to defend himself against the full might of the Legions, something he makes clear if you try to attack Solitude when The emperor is there, or when Victoria is getting married. If he can't fight off the Legion, he has no chance against The Thalmor. On top of that, all the mythic heros of history have been pro-Empire. Pelinal, Ysmir, Reman, Tiber, the Empire was made by Akatosh, and his conjoined twin Lorkhan, they wont just let it fall to the elves, nor would they let their avatar destroy it.

Evidence? You?ve certainly been asserting this a lot but your stated reasons don?t hold up under scrutiny.

Evidence? just open up the damn creation kit and look, all races use the EXACT same stuff, that's why they changed the Khajiit and Argonians used in their games, between Morrowind and Oblivion, to the normal footed ones, so they can use the same animations/skeletons for all of them, because it wasn't cost efficient to keep them the way they were in Morrowind.

You are woefully uninformed about basic game development.