Elder Scrolls V?

[Don Garcia aka NjNakedSnake]

I don't know how many of you have been keeping an ear to the ground for any word of future Elder Scroll titles, but a new one may come out next year. I'm sure at least a few of you have heard of this. Now it very likely won't drop in '10, but back in late October, a Bethesda publishing exec. by the name of Paul Oughton was quoted saying:

 

 

At the moment we've got Fallout 3 for this year and potentially there's a new Elder Scrolls title in 2010. At the moment we're not that interested in the Wii. We're going to stick to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. We'll continue to pursue three or four titles a year and go for big titles

 

Source.

 

I enjoyed Oblivion, although I had a fair share of complaints and frustrations with it, and the thought of a new ES is pretty f*cking exciting. Graphics, combat-wise, etc., it made a big leap from Morrowind, although I hear it didn't come close in terms of content and enjoyment. I only played Morrowind for a few hours back on the XBOX...it kicked my ass. But I do recall the making of serious fun, what with the Tong (?), the guilds, and scary open-endedness. A lot of you can do a better job of praising Morrowind over Oblivion so I'll leave it at that. The idea of Morroblivion sounded awesome though.

 

Well, I'd love to believe V, which I'm assuming is what the next title will be and not some spin-off, will make a big leap from Oblivion. There was a lot that could have been better, a lot that could have been added. Frankly, I didn't like Cyrodill, especially after learning it was supposed to be a jungle environment which would have been so much cooler. I'm hoping for a better setting, or just anything different like maybe Valenwood. I would also prefer a bigger variety of guilds a la Morrowind, a bigger population of NPC's, and the ability to buddy up with other warriors just to name a few.

 

Last month, Game Informer crafted a list of 7 ideas for the next ES. I pretty much agree with all 7. Here.

 

SO, like what do you guys think and stuff? For me, Oblivion was a love/hate thing. I loved so much, and hated so much, but in the end it's one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. I drained so many hours playing the damn thing. So, a new ES sounds great. I'm just assuming we're looking at better graphics, better combat system, and a better story. All of which I'd happily welcome. The bottom-line is I just want it, and Fallout 3 showed Bethesda's still got the stuff.

[asimov]

It's good to know it's only a matter of time before it's released. I wasn't a big fan of Morrowind, but Oblivion was heaps of fun. It should be pretty obvious to Bethesda what they have to improve now, a few things I would like to see are.

 

- A larger voice cast! I honestly think it took a heap away from the experience when the same 10 voices are used for every NPC. I'd go as far to say it was the worst thing about the game.

- Ability to play own music in the background, should be very very easy to implement.

- Possibly make the combat seem more realistic, it's a bit weird just flailing a sword wildly at a goblin and it dosen't react, then suddenly collapses. I'm thinking NPC's can get injuries simiple to the main characters injuries from Fallout 3. ie limp around.

 

That about sums things up for me, Bethesda more or less nailed it with IV.

Edited April 7, 2009 by asimov

[Guybrush Threepwood]

The last Elder Scrolls was horribly frustrating at a few points in the game. A sh*tty map/quest system didn't help. The combat got boring after a while, I just sneaked around and hurled arrows into the nearest thing I could find, friend or foe alike.

The story was a little boring, or maybe that's just because it didn't feel as epic as it could've. The ending definitely was a bummer, and I feel it could've been much more.

 

That said, I played it mostly for the sneaking around and hurling arrows at everybody and their mother. Bethesda worked that out well, and I really enjoyed going on killing sprees. So if the next Elder Scrolls involves that, sh*t, I'm in.

[Hart]

The last Elder Scrolls was horribly frustrating at a few points in the game. A sh*tty map/quest system didn't help.

I always thought they did that really well, you just activate a quest and it shows you where to go on your compass thing.

 

I never really had any complaints about Oblivion anyway, it was pretty much perfect. I always hear people talking about glitches etc, the only thing that ever happens on mine is that it gets a bit laggy when going through a forest with the sun beaming through the trees. Even then it's not that bad.

 

Only things I want really for the next game is:

- Shorter loading times

- Better graphics

- Longer main quest

[Damo.]

I prefer Morrowind to Oblivion. Morrowind was more of a true RPG and had much more content than Oblivion. There was a lot more items and quests and the game in general was more fun to play.

Morrowind was a bit of an acquired taste, but I still think it's better than Oblivion. A lot of features were lost in Oblivion, and it seemed dumbed down for the console.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Oblivion too. I just feel it was missing the appeal that Morrowind had. Still, it didn't have those bloody Cliff Racers, which is a huge plus.

 

If they can make a game with the features and atmosphere of Morrowind, coupled with the graphics of Oblivion and a good story, I'll be happy.

[Tetsuo2501]

The last Elder Scrolls was horribly frustrating at a few points in the game. A sh*tty map/quest system didn't help. The combat got boring after a while, I just sneaked around and hurled arrows into the nearest thing I could find, friend or foe alike.

The story was a little boring, or maybe that's just because it didn't feel as epic as it could've. The ending definitely was a bummer, and I feel it could've been much more.

 

That said, I played it mostly for the sneaking around and hurling arrows at everybody and their mother. Bethesda worked that out well, and I really enjoyed going on killing sprees. So if the next Elder Scrolls involves that, sh*t, I'm in.

you should have leveled a magic user to max level. Taking over cities and killing everyone in them was he most fun I ever had.

 

of course I also made a sneaky archer as well, getting head shots with arrows is a great feeling whenever you see said victims body go flailing through the air.

[blitsie]

yess!!!

 

I loved Oblivion,but there was a few annoyances here and there.

 

hopefully this one will be perfect.

[DemonKing]

Yes Elder Scrolls V, is a def buy for myself.

 

I spent ages on Oblivion GOTY like maybe a year? Great times, great times. Though I agree buggy as hell it is.

[Stig]

If this is true, then definatley a buy from me, I cannot even begin to describe how many hours I put into TES4.. So many, so many fun times

[The-King]

There are still some serious doubts about that release date, especially since they're still producing new DLC for Fallout 3.

 

I hope it sticks to the traditional TES style unlike Oblivion, I don't want a generic fantasy RPG world which was played out ten years ago, I want TES. At this point I'm almost certain it's going to take place in Skyrim since Bethesda purchased the domain name already, though it would be amazing if it took place in Hammerfell or the Summerset Isles. Although at that, Hammerfell has already been done in Redguard so that lessens the chances of that. As long as it's a true Elder Scrolls game than I'll be happy.

 

I won't even get into the Morrowind v. Oblivion argument.

[Don Garcia aka NjNakedSnake]

- A larger voice cast! I honestly think it took a heap away from the experience when the same 10 voices are used for every NPC. I'd go as far to say it was the worst thing about the game.

I hear that so bad.

 

Was a f*cking pain, especially hearing a black character talk with a blatant white voice. Same sh*t irked me in Fallout 3.

[Otter]

....but they aren't black, they're redguard.

 

Yeah, the voice cast could stand some improvement. I'm still consistently blown away by the amount of voice work done in GTA4, and I think it adds miles to the immersion factor. Bethesda should cough up a bit more for decent character performers than blowing the load on one main character this time.

 

 

 

 

[Don Garcia aka NjNakedSnake]

....but they aren't black, they're redguard.

Hence the italics homeslice. Redguard... Pfff, they look like Imperials to me.

 

But seriously, just changing how they do voice work would improve the game insanely.

[Mike Tequeli]

I'm so pumped for this, I can't put it into words. I'm kind of in an Oblivion phase (well fantasy in general, I got the urge to watch LOTR the other day) so I'm especially excited for this. I will be getting it for the PC first this time.

 

I'm looking for a game that is as deep as Morrowind, with better graphics, realistic non-rpg combat (more like fallout except with swords), the ability to micromanage to the extreme (but not forced micromanagement), better main quest and more voice actors. I want more houses, bigger cities, bathrooms and some new lands to explore.

 

Bethesda sets themselves up for years in advance for future games, everyone may not notice this but I do. They establish details about far off never seen lands, ready to go there at any time. I remember hearing some rumors (in game) that our hero from Morrowind has journeyed off to another continent, they wouldn't say things like that if they didn't have plans.

[Ronmar The Only]

Or they never wanted people to cry out about not seeing Nerevarine ever again.

 

Who knows where they will set the V one though, but I know one thing, I'll be getting it day one most likely.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

I want more houses, bigger cities, bathrooms and some new lands to explore.

At the risk of being called a mongrel; but if my character had to take a leak every now and again, I'd do it in the middle of the forest, town or bumblef*ck mudhut village I'd be plundering at that point. Hell if the wetness in my pants gave me +5 agility (you can't grab a slippery enemy!) I'd piss my pants... in the game, of course.

 

I like the whole concept of owning stuff like houses. Fable2 was really great in that regard, buying houses, renting them out, buying sh*t for your homes, buying businesses. It's kind of a side-track from the real RPG elements, but I love it, especially if it means killing the owner and taking over.

[lloydo]

I cant wait for the next Elder Scrolls game, Oblivion was immensely addictive though there were a few annoyances.

 

The cities were too small with not enough population, the dialogue was big but the number of voices were low and some quests weren't completed properly. I can't complete one quest because two combine with eachother.

 

Anywho, it's sure to be a great game, it can only get better with it's imaginative feel.

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

The cities were too small with not enough population

That's one thing, I made peace that the city was divided into sections, but that made it feel like a really small city. And there was barely anyone around.

 

One thing I would really like to tell game developers is that (random) events are the shiznit. For example; a market once a week. Random robberies on the street that you can either break up or kill the robber and rob the victim anyways. Events like invasions, villages going to war with eachother, caravans traversing the land. They don't even have to be violent affairs, just affairs you can watch happen.

 

They sound like small things in themselves, but I know coding them is a huge ammount of work. That said, they give that little extra edge that makes you experience the world differently each day.

[Don Garcia aka NjNakedSnake]

^ Ya, but those events would probably get repetitive like some of the stuff in Fallout 3. Not that they wouldn't be fun the first few times.

 

The market sounds cool. But the idea of a living city with a large population sounds even cooler.

[Otter]

...what got repetitive in Fallout 3?

 

I'd like some more work done on their "Radiant AI". Giving NPCs more motives, more possible reactions, more thinking processes.

 

Imagine a spell that allows you to confuse a guard into thinking that someone random has stolen something? Stuff like that excites me.

 

Also, more magic that allows you to interacts with the world, like freezing water into ice to trap an enemy, or burning a house down. The local firefighters guild could be a bunch of old bastards with water spells. I dunno. Just more options.

 

But most of all fix the god-damned leveling system.

[Democrab]

What I want, is an ownable ship that you can control, especially if theres Summerset Isle (Out to sea), with working cannons, etc, imagine finding a trade vessel, sliding up next to it, shooting it with your cannons until its sinking, then running into the wreck and grabbing the gold?

 

Or epic sea battles between certain races that you could join in with, watch, etc.

 

And don't get me started on ideas for everything else... Imagine being able to give people the "idea" that they should open say, a weapon shop? They'd have lower prices than the weapon shop thats already there, causing competition to form and then, in turn, causing lower prices for everyone else.

 

Then having a high barter skill to get even LOWER prices, you'd get some nice deals.

[Don Garcia aka NjNakedSnake]

 

...what got repetitive in Fallout 3?

 

Also, more magic that allows you to interacts with the world, like freezing water into ice to trap an enemy, or burning a house down.  The local firefighters guild could be a bunch of old bastards with water spells.  I dunno.  Just more options.

 

But most of all fix the god-damned leveling system.

1. Well a lot. But off the top of my head in terms of random events, being attacked by Mercs/Regulators, random Wastelanders running up to you to disarm a collar, what have you.

 

2. Ha, that sounds like something outta Harry Potter. I'm pretty sure that's how they handle fires at Hogwarts.

 

3. And yes, please. I hated leveling up, only to find the world had leveled up and beyond with me. And the fact that treasure/loot corresponded to your level was just sh*tty.

[Democrab]

The only problem I see with the world not levelling up with you is that everything becomes more of an annoyance rather than an actual threat, unless you can fight off your horse, its annoying to see a wolf that can't kill you because its that weak be running after you for half a mile....

[The-King]

The only problem I see with the world not levelling up with you is that everything becomes more of an annoyance rather than an actual threat, unless you can fight off your horse, its annoying to see a wolf that can't kill you because its that weak be running after you for half a mile....

The whole point behind not having a world that levels with you is the feeling of power you get as well as the way it progresses your ability to go to different dungeons, do new quests and fight bigger creatures. You feel a sense of accomplishment when you can squash that Mage who only a few levels before wiped the floor with your flaming body. What fun is facing enemies who essentially keep the same level of difficulty throughout the entirety of a game? And if it making the game too easy in the later levels is what your worried about than just turn up the difficulty slider, that's why Bethesda incorporated it into the TES series after all.

[asimov]

...what got repetitive in Fallout 3?

 

I'd like some more work done on their "Radiant AI". Giving NPCs more motives, more possible reactions, more thinking processes.

 

Imagine a spell that allows you to confuse a guard into thinking that someone random has stolen something? Stuff like that excites me.

 

Also, more magic that allows you to interacts with the world, like freezing water into ice to trap an enemy, or burning a house down. The local firefighters guild could be a bunch of old bastards with water spells. I dunno. Just more options.

 

But most of all fix the god-damned leveling system.

I didn't mind the scaled levelling system so much, moreso the fact that some skills required an obscene amount of time to get anywhere, for example the merchant/trading skill, destruction and so on.

[Democrab]

The only problem I see with the world not levelling up with you is that everything becomes more of an annoyance rather than an actual threat, unless you can fight off your horse, its annoying to see a wolf that can't kill you because its that weak be running after you for half a mile....

The whole point behind not having a world that levels with you is the feeling of power you get as well as the way it progresses your ability to go to different dungeons, do new quests and fight bigger creatures. You feel a sense of accomplishment when you can squash that Mage who only a few levels before wiped the floor with your flaming body. What fun is facing enemies who essentially keep the same level of difficulty throughout the entirety of a game? And if it making the game too easy in the later levels is what your worried about than just turn up the difficulty slider, that's why Bethesda incorporated it into the TES series after all.

I guess, but I was finding Oblivion and Morrowind not much of a challenge (There were hard bits in it, though) with that on the highest setting.

[Don Garcia aka NjNakedSnake]

They oughta make a better effort to create an even number of HARD and EASY-er enemies. So weak players can fight the less challenging baddies to raise their stats, and the stronger players have a big pool of tough enemies to keep things fresh.

 

Leveled bad-guys just sucks. Bears shouldn't only appear when I'm level so-and-so, they should just be there. If I'm too weak, let me get my ass kicked. That's part of the fun.

[Don Garcia]

Le bump for Elder Scrolls V rumor hope.

 

So 8 days ago on Friday, Kotaku broke the news of a very interesting book blurb from the upcoming official Elder Scrolls novel: The Infernal City by author Greg Keyes. On its Waterstones (UK bookseller) page read, "A novel that takes places forty-five years after the Oblivion Crisis, which is the story of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion game and the expansion pack Shivering Isles. It partly bridges the gap for the next game, which is set 200 years after the Oblivion crisis." This sales blurb was spotted by a Kotaku reader but has since been removed. Hm...

 

 

The plot of the actual novel FYI: "Four decades after the Oblivion Crisis, Tamriel is threatened anew by an ancient and all-consuming evil. It is Umbriel, a floating city that casts a terrifying shadow - for wherever it falls, people die and rise again. And it is in Umbriel's shadow that a great adventure begins, and a group of unlikely heroes meet. A legendary prince with a secret."

 

In addition to this interesting bit, back in August at QuakeCon '09, Bethesda's Todd Howard was quoted as saying there was "no current plans" for a new Elder Scrolls. However, Bethesda quickly stated Todd was quoted out of context in the form of a blog release from Pete Hines. Kotaku reports --

 

 

That was not a direct quote from him. That was someone's interpretation of what he said. I know, I was there. At his QuakeCon talk he was asked when TESV is coming out and Todd replied, "Don't look for a new Elder Scrolls game in the near future." He also went on to say how much the franchise means to us and that it definitely will continue. He just wasn't going to provide any timeframe on "when." This should not be news to anyone that has been paying attention. Both Todd and I have said repeatedly that, of course, we're going to do another Elder Scrolls game. The last one was enormously popular. So was the one before that. You get the idea. So do we.

 

Hines goes on in his post to clarify statements Howard made about an Elder Scrolls MMO, pointing out that neither Todd nor anyone on Todd's team worked on MMOs, and when the studio that does work on them - ZeniMax Online - is ready to show what they are creating, they'll show it.

 

blog

 

So here's hoping this plot tease is referring to the next Bethesda game, and not some MMO spin-off. 200 years!? Good Lord imagine the possibilities. The advancements in technology and so forth. Cool.

 

 

[Reconite]

Bethesda have too much trouble with Interplay (court cases and such about Fallout) at the moment to be worrying about Elder Scrolls V.

[asimov]

I sure hope they don't make the next ES a MMO exclusive. I'd like a MMO, but one of the main reason I like TES is because it's SP.