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The Elders Scrolls : Speculation Thread

Eagle 209

Banned
I really enjoyed Oblivion. In fact, in boredom earlier this morning, I started another game...having invested hundreds of hours in previous ones. I guess I really liked the freedom of the game. It had issues...each fort or ruin looked like the next. The music got boring. The story could have been stronger. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it enough to still want to play it...after all this time.
 
Gram Negative Cocci said:
I don't think I could handle a metric ton of lizard and cat people and if the next Elder Scrolls game is in either of those places, that's what we'd get.

Well nobody asked me if I liked Dark Elves before they made Morrowind. At least if they did both, you'd get to be sick of both.

If I were to bet, I'd guess TES V will be in the Summerset Isles. Seems like that province came up in Oblivion a lot.
 

gamman

Neo Member
They can improve the gfx as much as they want, but without better animation and AI, it means next to nothing.
 
I loved oblivion, however the flaws were poor voice acting, scaled leveling, and repetitive overworld/dungeons.


Now, if you fix those a new ESV would be SSSS+

On the same token, Oblivion CAN be hard... just turn the difficulty up all the way if you want ....
 

Asmodai

Banned
FishSquared said:
On the same token, Oblivion CAN be hard... just turn the difficulty up all the way if you want ....

Problem is on the difficulty slider, stuff doesn't make sense. Demons in full armor still go down with a couple sword swings, yet unarmored civilians won't die from arrows to the back of the head and stuff like that. I found it messed up the game rather than adding extra challenge. (especially for stealth assassinations.)

Same thing for Fallout 3. Crank up the difficulty and average people can take a submachine gun magazine to the head before falling. But at the lower difficulties, super mutants take punches like a little girl.

They need to find a happy medium. If something looks tough, make it tough.
 

Nocebo

Member
I want random people's homes to contain interesting and or useful stuff for a thieving player that are not related to quests.
Exploration as a whole needs to be encouraged with better loot rewards. They need to make loot make sense too. The Mage guild has novice alchemy equipment all over the place, just feels odd.

I'd like some sort of crafting system too, not just for potions but for equipment too. It would add to exploration if you can find rare materials for items.

I could list a lot of things I would want out of the new Elder scrolls but basically it all boils down to the fact that I'm a player who doesn't care about the main quest in these games, so I just want an interesting world to explore with cool rewards. Which is probably a lot to ask for, though.
 

Lucius86

Banned
With the Oblivion ending
with no heir to the throne of Tamriel after Martin's sacrifice
, I wonder what continent in Tamriel we will be playing in for TES V. Technically, all hell could be let loose now!

I also wonder if Bethesda will use some id Tech 5, since they have just bough id. Probably wishful thinking, but you never know they could just code in their RPG elements into the engine...

I would definitely like to see TES V next, then Fallout 4 - a gap between each franchise would be a nice treat.
 

BushinKun

Banned
BethSoft would do well to rip off Demon's Souls style multiplayer and combat. I've been playing the series since the first game, and it's gotten seriously stale. Once you've played a game that's got more combat depth the "A" in ARPG for Oblivion seems laughable. They'll have to rework their camera system and gameplay mechanics before that's even possible. They'll likely just keep it stale to be safe with sales. If they can release nonfunctional DLC, and people keep buying why bother to progress?

Also Fallout was an embarrassment technically and creatively. Hopefully they'll fund and support Obsidian enough to let them save that franchise before it's too late.
 
I hated the level up system. I always had to save the game right before I was going to level up, level up and see what bonuses I would get, load back the game before I leveled up and grind out the skills that would give me +5 in the skills that I wanted and then finally get the level up again. This was so damn annoying because if you just played naturally then you tended to get mostly +2 and +3 bonuses. MAKE THE LEVEL UP SYSTEM SO THAT YOU CAN PLAY NATURALLY AND STILL GET GOOD BONUSES!!!
 

senahorse

Member
I don't want to speculate...who am I kidding? Ok, I would like to see TESV have co-op. The only thing I would have liked better about Oblivion was the ability to experience it all with a friend. Put 120 hours into that game and loved every minute of it, on the flip side, try as I might I just cannot get into Fallout 3.
 

Gestahl

Member
Oblivion was one of the most awful games I have ever played unmodded, and with mods it merely rose to the lofty status of "bad game". The voice acting, the level scaling, the hideous characters, the ITEM scaling jesus fuck, the samey uninspired design, the generic fantasy setting that was even more generic than a fucking Tolkien book, the crappy combat, the horrendous writing, it was like a perfect avalanche of suck.

I haven't even left the starting village in Morrowind yet but I can already tell it's leagues better than that piece of garbage. If only I could figure out how to stop the screen tearing...

Fallout 3 still had terrible most of the above but it improved in key areas and was actually a worthwhile experience.
 
Night_Trekker said:
The next ES game will have a single Guild of Adventurers, once voice actor, 3 weapon classes and will take place entirely in an insanely detailed castle, though the compass will be there to help people who wander into the rather large pantry and can't find the way out.

Dude that sounds fucking rad.


Anyway, for ESV, all I ask for is a more dense world. Point Lookout is amazing in that respect (Fallout 3) as it makes for thicker atmosphere.

I have no qualms with enemy level scaling, but ditch the bullshit of petty roadside thieves sporting glass armor and sledgehammers. Shit's ridiculous.

Lastly, either do a narrative or don't. I understand that the main quest should be included in some form or another, but don't make it one that can be completed rather quick. It should be a journey, not just a trip to a few places. Cover the fucking map with things that can tie into a main quest line.
 

Vorador

Banned
Well the only thing i hope is that they get help from Id Software in the animations and character models department.

Also a Elder Scrolls with the Id Tech 5 would be fucking rad.
 

Kritz

Banned
Realistic wishlist:

Spells that aren't just different flavours of floating ball.
Melee combat that's entertaining and rewarding.
Monsters in the world that will kick my ass and / or take ages to defeat, requiring planning, skill and experience. Like a dinosaur that could shoot man eating lava from its butt.

Unrealistic wishlist:

More voice actors!
Give the character less importance. Being a hero is boring.
Multiple endings... with most of them being "bad" endings.
Make the world dynamic, like Megaton blowing up. But times ten.

I probably don't want a Bethesda game wishlist:

Better voice actors!
Better dialogue!
Less repeated dialogue between NPCs. By which I mean, less dialogue between NPCs. MUUUUDDDCRAABBS?!~
A third person view that isn't horrible!
Models that don't look like deformed man babies!

But the thing I want most of all? A well written and coherent story. I love those.
 

GavinGT

Banned
Night_Trekker said:
Whoa, I just noticed Bethesda released Daggerfall for free. Nice!

I'm failing pretty hardcore at Daggerfall. I'm told to get some item from a dungeon, and given like 12 days to bring it back. Problem is, the dungeon is huge and I need to rest a lot. Before I know it, the quest is expired and I'm trapped inside this labyrinth. I suppose I know what I'm doing wrong (get Mark and Recall, get some Cure potions), but this game is really not nice to newcomers.
 
Gestahl said:
I haven't even left the starting village in Morrowind yet but I can already tell it's leagues better than that piece of garbage. If only I could figure out how to stop the screen tearing...


That's pretty remarkable. I liked Morrowind a hell of a lot more than Oblivion too but I also was playing it back in 2002. I don't know how I'd feel about it if I was going through it for the first time today. Too many problems going on in that game that I'd have trouble ignoring.
 

Meadows

Banned
Gram Negative Cocci said:
That's pretty remarkable. I liked Morrowind a hell of a lot more than Oblivion too but I also was playing it back in 2002. I don't know how I'd feel about it if I was going through it for the first time today. Too many problems going on in that game that I'd have trouble ignoring.

Funny you said that but I bought the game a couple of days ago because I love Oblivion. Every video setting on full it looks like ass. I mean of course I expect it to because it was released 7 years ago, but it looks really terrible. Indoors it looks fine, but outdoors..ugh. Combat was terrible too.

I'm not wailing on anyone that likes Morrowind, but it doesn't hold up today.
 
Yeah, Morrowind hasn't aged well, even with the graphicmods. The gameplay feels very stiff to me (combat!!!). I still like it but you can feel it's an old game. I also don't like the more complicated menus/interface. I would love to see a remake, though. It really has the soul and potential of being great, even today...So it would have to be not just a port but the whole game being reconstructed. One can dream. ;)
 

Ledsen

Member
Meadows said:
Funny you said that but I bought the game a couple of days ago because I love Oblivion. Every video setting on full it looks like ass. I mean of course I expect it to because it was released 7 years ago, but it looks really terrible. Indoors it looks fine, but outdoors..ugh. Combat was terrible too.

I'm not wailing on anyone that likes Morrowind, but it doesn't hold up today.

It does if you follow these instructions:

http://morrowind2009.wordpress.com/

(skip step 10 though)

Morrowind has tens of thousands of mods, and if you combine 10-100 of them (depending on how in-depth you want to go) you'll find that the game has suddenly transformed into something that could be released today.


SomewhereOnlyWeKnow.jpg


Morrowind%202009-06-24%2023-11-26-26.jpg
 

Fearless.

Banned
Ledsen said:
It does if you follow these instructions:

http://morrowind2009.wordpress.com/

(skip step 10 though)

Morrowind has tens of thousands of mods, and if you combine 10-100 of them (depending on how in-depth you want to go) you'll find that the game has suddenly transformed into something that could be released today.


Wow, thats awesome. Wish my pc could run that. Morrowind looked so bad on the original xbox.
 

Munin

Member
More Morrowind+mods screens because I love my regular Morrowind mod propaganda:

balmoramod01.jpg


The only way in which Morrowind "doesn't hold up" is animations, but Oblivion is just about as terrible, so what gives.
 

Ledsen

Member
Munin said:
More Morrowind+mods screens because I love my regular Morrowind mod propaganda:

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i201/Vality7/Screenshots2/balmoramod01.jpg[img]

The only way in which Morrowind "doesn't hold up" is animations, but Oblivion is just about as terrible, so what gives.[/QUOTE]

Is there more than Visual Pack 3.0 going on in that picture? Seems like lots of new trees, or am I mistaken? Also that glow effect between the trees, is it photoshoped or a mod?
 

onken

Member
I've recently gone back to play some vanilla Oblivion, and seriously I think it's fantastic. Having said that, here's my short wish-list:

- (duh) enemy leveling could use a bit of work (FO3 was just about right)
- the map shouldn't tell you where a quest person/object specifically is inside a room/dungeon
- more skill involved for melee combat (but I'd say no to a VATS system)
- less but better dungeons

I loved the setting/atmosphere/music so I wouldn't want any of that changed. Eh, who am I kidding I'm buying the next game day one regardless.
 

Zeliard

Member
Solo said:
Fire the entire modelling/animation staff, for starters.

Seriously.

There is nothing more jarring than walking around an otherwise beautiful world only to be taken out of it immediately by some of the worst NPC character models and animations of any modern game (hire more voice actors, too).
 

bengraven

Member
Zeliard said:
Seriously.

There is nothing more jarring than walking around an otherwise beautiful world only to be taken out of it immediately by some of the worst NPC character models and animations of any modern game (hire more voice actors, too).

WHERE IS YOUR UNIFORM?

WHERE IS YOUR UNIFORM?

WHERE IS YOUR UNIFORM?
 

Sylarkiller

Neo Member
I think if Bethesda look over the criticisms and praises levelled at both Morrowind and Oblivion and really get to work on what makes these games fun, they could come up with an awesome game that will cater to both the PC and Console crowd.

First and foremost set a standard for quests, hands down the best quests in the game were the Dark Brotherhood quests, they were fun and inventive. If they set a standard in their quests and work on them, that would be a lofty goal but if anyone can do it Bethesda can.

Sort out the dialog system, Bioware have shown you all the way with Mass Effect, so now follow suit and sort it out.

Next up is more an engine specific thing, but dear lord stop the whole standing-unblinking-staring right at you nonsense. Also get more voice actors. That was the most laughable thing in the game.

Also the setting, Oblivion was generic mediaval "oh look we can be Lord Of The Rings" style and the game suffered for that. Morrowind was an inventive setting because it was such a bizzard land, you had mushrooms bigger than buildings, the cities varied in design and it felt like a true fantasy game.

Levelling - they have never really got this quite right, so some work needs to go into that too.

It doesn't matter what I say though, because I know that when the 5th game comes out and it is for consoles, I'll be there snapping it up and investing myself in the world Bethesda have conjured up, just like I am doing now.
Also the Morrowind upgrading stuff has made me serioulsy consider tossing my old PC out and getting a new one, one that could actually run the uprgaded Morrowind at a fair lick.
 

X26

Banned
- No level scaling
- More than 3 different types of dungeons
- No level scaling
- Seemsless environments (let me ride my horse into a town, let me interact with the inside of buildings fro mthe outside, no loading)
- No level scaling
- Fire everyone involved in character models in Oblivion/FO3 and hire someone competent
- No level scaling
- Less simplistic combat
- Improved stealth/theft/general badass gameplay
- No level scaling
 

-NeoTB1-

Member
Ah, TES. I have such a love-hate relationship with you.

Like many people, I was introduced to this series with Morrowind. Also, like many people, I found it to be vastly superior to Oblivion. Even though I own both games on PC as well as console, I much prefer the PC.

Morrowind was awesome. My only complaint with the game was the bland combat system. It's not that it was boring, but rather it was void of any strategy. So aside from that and the annoying Ridge Racers, I loved almost every minute I played. Great story, interesting characters, sweet loot. Overall a great experience.

Oblivion, on the other hand, was mostly a mess. Item/level scaling, boring story, generic quests. I guess I'm being a little harsh on it, but I think a lot of us TES fans expected something more grand from it. But hey, at least they made combat a smidge more interesting, especially for stealthers/archers.

If they continue to improve the combat and get rid of scaling in the next entry, I'll be a happy camper.
 
I <3 Oblivion, and I was introduced to TES series back in the days of Daggerfall! Unlike some, I have no fond memories of that latter game (only nightmares of being slaughtered by a bat outside the first city). And as neato as I Morrowind was for its time, I really didn't like it. I found the scenery really bland. <shrugs>

Regarding TES 5, I'd like more of what was teased in Oblivion: Heavily populated cities, wide-open country, a rich tapestry of quests, dungeons, mines and ruins. More weapons, a subtler approach to leveling, and a longer plot. The plot in Oblivion is remarkably short minus the annoying 'close gate by _____' missions you're spammed with.

So... maybe incorporate several 'main' plotlines, rather than just one?

Plus all that stuff about hiring more voice actors; I mean, they still used the same crew of 6 for Fallout 3!
 

Truant

Member
A thing I would like to see is a chat window, where you can chat with other players playing the game, sort of like an MMO global/general chat. Optional, of course, but it would be kinda cool when you're just roaming around.
 
Just stoppin in to say that no matter what they do, they will always fill a much needed gap that almost no other developer manages to do. I'll be there day one unless there is a massive departure in the kind of game.

Oh and no fucking level scaling.
 
I agree with those touting mods, however I wish there was an easier way to get loads of them to work together well. I tried installing a bunch and could only play 5 minutes before crashing. They need to develop better mod tools so that installing mods and having them coexist with other mods works better. Something like the curse add-on manager for WoW, WAR, and RoM would be great. It's probably tough to do, but it would make installing mods so much easier, hell I'd pay extra for it if I had to.
 

fatguy2012

Neo Member
Multiple regions and more Dark Brotherhood style quests please.

Edit: Mass Effect style dialog system would be alot better then the system in Oblivion. Hell, text only would be alright for me, but that probably wouldn't fly today. More amazing sights would be nice too. I remember looking out at the Imperial City for the first time at a distance and my mind was blown. Also, the night sky in the Shivering Isles was pretty cool as well.
 

Plywood

NeoGAF's smiling token!
Zeliard said:
Seriously.

There is nothing more jarring than walking around an otherwise beautiful world only to be taken out of it immediately by some of the worst NPC character models and animations of any modern game (hire more voice actors, too).
STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!

edit: Wow those Morrowind shots are awesome. I had only played it on Xbox.
 

Ledsen

Member
Maleficence said:
I agree with those touting mods, however I wish there was an easier way to get loads of them to work together well. I tried installing a bunch and could only play 5 minutes before crashing. They need to develop better mod tools so that installing mods and having them coexist with other mods works better. Something like the curse add-on manager for WoW, WAR, and RoM would be great. It's probably tough to do, but it would make installing mods so much easier, hell I'd pay extra for it if I had to.

They already exist, you just don't know about them. Look around the official forums. Start with the Oblivion Mod Manager, I don't know if it's still THE mod organizer but it was when I was really into mods ~3 years ago. Wrye Bash is also must, and I'm sure there are lots of new tools I don't know about.
 

Asmodai

Banned
Maleficence said:
I agree with those touting mods, however I wish there was an easier way to get loads of them to work together well. I tried installing a bunch and could only play 5 minutes before crashing. They need to develop better mod tools so that installing mods and having them coexist with other mods works better. Something like the curse add-on manager for WoW, WAR, and RoM would be great. It's probably tough to do, but it would make installing mods so much easier, hell I'd pay extra for it if I had to.

That's pretty much an inherent problem with mods,modders all do things their own way and it wreaks havoc with trying to run several of them at once. Probably their biggest disadvantage.
 

Crye

Member
A lot of things we want, but we all know exactly what we are going to get I think.
Long as they keep it mod friendly which they will, they wouldn't kill off their own mod community, its all good I guess.

They really should look at the mod community because they've made strides in much of what I mention below but in many cases its all very basic in its implementation ofc.

- More true to the RPG genre this time, then an action game.
- Fixed loot and interesting dungeons. There were a couple of these in Shivering Isles, optional dungeons with a small story, which were pretty good.
- Mods to be bonuses to the expereince rather then necessities, UI mods etc.
- A believable world, people transporting goods from town to town etc.
- Expanding on above, a game world economy, let the player make their mark in the world this way.
- More storytelling. Everyone has a story, expand on that a lot.
- A main quest a bit more original then, the bad guys are coming oh noes. I know "The world is doomed and you must save it" sells, but does it really have to be so. Why not a smaller scale deeper story. Potential.
- More freedom, no seperate worldspace towns.
- An in depth proffession system.
- A better criminal system, if you murder and rob, your an outlaw and should be treated as such.
- Facilities to survive as an outlaw, or a trader, or of any profession.
- A more involving/hardcore expererince, none of this complete alignment swapping, or becomming the guildmaster of every single guild with a single character, etc.
- An evolving game world, its not like this is an MMO, so why not evolve the gameworld in meaningful ways?
- More off the beaten path exploration, small towns, monuments and scenic areas etc, rather then just masses of monster caves.
- An appropriately scaled game world and good methods of transport.
- No on demand instant teleportation without some strong game world rules and reasoning.
- More character customization, stat allocation, equipment options.
- More risk vs reward, boss encounters, challenges the game does not want the player to beat!

Could go on and on, so much potential and its not exactly original in the least on a concept level.

Lastly, no MMO unless they intend to actually create a new breed of MMO or the genre actually advances itself to be worth cloning.
http://i27.tinypic.com/aw9e0o.jpg
 
Ledsen said:
They already exist, you just don't know about them. Look around the official forums. Start with the Oblivion Mod Manager, I don't know if it's still THE mod organizer but it was when I was really into mods ~3 years ago. Wrye Bash is also must, and I'm sure there are lots of new tools I don't know about.

I've pretty much always used Mod Manager, I just don't think it's very useful personally, Wryebash I also used, and it's very technical. Even following all the instructions for the installation of a bunch of mods using Wrye bash to the letter, I couldn't get it to work right.
 

MMaRsu

Banned
Space Cadet said:
This one is, just take my word for it.

Really now.. hmm allright if you say so :).

For me personally, it would be dissapointing. I don't think Bethesda has the ability to make a really great MMO. They are just getting the hang of making a very good SP RPG game. Ofcourse Morrowind was great, but Oblivion was not as good. In my opinion Fallout 3 is a very good step in the right direction.

I still loved Oblivion by the way.
 

Ledsen

Member
Maleficence said:
I've pretty much always used Mod Manager, I just don't think it's very useful personally, Wryebash I also used, and it's very technical. Even following all the instructions for the installation of a bunch of mods using Wrye bash to the letter, I couldn't get it to work right.

Yeah well honestly I think that's as good as it's going to get for a Bethesda game. They don't particularly go out of their way to make things easy for modders...
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
jon_irenicus said:
Can we actually get back to digging into some dirt about the actual sequel rather than criticizing the previous iterations that always seems to plague every Elder Scrolls thread?

From what I've heard, it's strongly rumored to take place in Skyrim though I'm putting my hopes into something that focuses on the lost Dwemer civilization, one of the more fascinating creations in the fantasy universe that we've only seen brief glimpses of in Morrowind and Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard. Todd Howard and crew also mention that it will be single player, as all sequels to the Elder Scrolls saga will ALWAYS be.
The Skyrim rumor actually comes from a trademark they filed on the name back in 2006. It seems they intend (or at least intended) to do something with the region that was large enough that it needed a trademark.
 

ronito

Member
I'd like to take what I liked about Morrowind and Oblivion and put them together.

I know as much as people love to bitch about level scaling it was admittedly nice to not have to worry about "is my level high enough to do this?" I mean in Morrowind I was like "What's that a dark brotherhood you say? Why I'll take care of it!" Only to find out I needed to be like level 26 and I was at level 3. There must be some happy medium.
 
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