I expect

[edstamos1]

i'm glad it's not going to be multiplayer. I'm sick of multiplayer games. (well, except soul calibur 2 ^_^)

 

what do i expect? well, a next generation morrowind of course. same freeform play, better graphics, smoother, more realistic animation. radiant AI sounds awesome. different greetings when they see you for the fiftieth time (do I know you?....)

 

more roleplaying aspects - like in Complete Morrowind with cooking, smithing, etc. food could even be a requirement on a simplistic level - easily satiated by eating a couple pieces of cooked food (or bread or something) a couple times a day. not eating would cause greater loss of stamina when running or something - nothing to bad. maybe after a couple days of not eating, your stamina would just slowly drop even standing still.

 

responsibility for guild leaders - from as simple as greeting the newest initiates to weeding out informants to acquiring your own spies in the opposing guilds.

 

combat - this is the main thing they're supposed to focus on (i read somewhere). it's supposed to get a great improvement and each class of skills (fighting/magic/stealth) is supposed to be more balanced so that you can get by just using one of the three groups, and none of the others. so only using magic and not having to fight, or only using stealthy equipment (daggers, throwing weapons, light armor) and not having to worry about magic, etc. but what i'd like to see is a nice, simple combo system. like a double slash would slash in both directions rather in the same direction twice. jump attacks would be nice too (actually, i do that alot in morrowind - not that elegant, but it's worked well sometimes)

 

more spell effects! how about making a wave of fire come out in all directions rather that just another fireball spell? what about earth magic? conjuring a giant boulder to squash the enemy (i saw this somewhere - was it a plugin for morrowind?) or a wave of earth to come out of the ground clobbering the enemy, only to settle back into the earth (or leave a nice skid mark on the ground x)

 

well, that's it for now. i'm gonna buy it when it comes out no matter what - i just gotta upgrade my computer at the same time.

[Abramul]

How 'bout being able to actually assasinate people? For the MT missions, one would think you should be able to slit the target's throat while they were asleep, but no! They always know that you are in the MT, and you always have to fight them...

[Slaiv]

I, too, would like more realism. But I doubt it will happen. They are appealing to mainstream gamers, and mainstream gamers don't like this.

 

But, if there were no mainstream gamers, they wouldn't have to appeal to them..... Hm....... :shifty:

 

*Cocks his H&K MSG90A1*

[Luxar]

I, too, would like more realism.  But I doubt it will happen.  They are appealing to mainstream gamers, and mainstream gamers don't like this.

 

But, if there were no mainstream gamers, they wouldn't have to appeal to them.....  Hm....... :shifty:

 

*Cocks his H&K MSG90A1*

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Realism is only good to a point. I don't want Oblivion to become the Sims-I don't want to be forced to eat, sleep, or poo-I can roleplay that already in real life. I believe Morrowind was 'realistic' enough for me, although it would definitely benefit from more things to do(ie: craft skills).

[edstamos1]

here's a few more x) i wish i got paid to sit around and think this stuff up x)

 

how about being able to alter terrain? pushing a boulder over the edge of a cliff by using a makeshift lever? splitting rocks with picks, chopping down trees. split open wooden doors with an axe! (not the activator types) split apart anything wooden with an axe (npcs would react to destruction of property similarly to stealing)

 

more particles effects on weapons. fire enchanted weapons burning, shock enchanted having sparks going around it. other ones could luminesce (more subtle the the morrowind weapon glow), etc.

 

cast on hit enchantments - get hit by a blow, it could cast a low power healing, or boost resistance, etc.

 

climbing - great skill for stealth - climb walls, get up on rooftops. even a way of getting to higher entrances to some caves.

 

crawling - a way of getting into some tight spaces, or for a higher level of stealth when behind something or on a roof.

 

another earth style spell effect - utilizing nearby plants - trees, vines, trauma shrubs - to immobilize the opponent. "no you won't run away from me just before i killl you" x) (i don't know if new magicks like this would be going against tamrielic lore...)

 

wind magic? wind blades or mini tornadoes? (make those flyers land!)

 

launch giant icicles at opponents, see an actually bolt of lightning come from you to your opponent rather than from a little ball that flies toward them...

 

 

actions having consequences! shutting down a mine should impact the economy in the nearby town. they could also get the mine up and running again after a couple weeks, and the economy could then recover...

 

selling lots of one type of item could increase the amount of that item throught the town - so i sell lots of guar to the local alchemist/grocer - more people buy it to eat at home!

 

other adventurers - going between towns, stuck in caverns and you are given the chance to rescue them, leave them their to die, etc. they wouldn't complete any of your jobs, but the more adventurers in an area could reduce the number of respawning creatures, and the opposite as well.

 

roaming bandits - not just waiting for you at their encampment. they could be on the prowl, making their way between two towns, just off the main road so as not to be seen, and to take advantage of any travellers taking that route.

 

passive wildlife

 

more birds. birds that land! (those cliff racers wings must really hurt by now...)

 

being able to write books - write notes on sheets of paper and pay to have them bound.

[SilvuruAgnost]

I expext only one thing. AND THAT IS THE BEST GAME EVER TO BE REALSED. :P

[Slaiv]

Somehow I doubt any of your suggestions will make it to BethSoft's game..... Despite how good they are, and how much fun they would be, BethSoft has seemingly turned mainstream. AKA they want flashy graphics, a short game, and violence, so that they can appeal to mainstream gamers.

[Luxar]

Somehow I doubt any of your suggestions will make it to BethSoft's game.....  Despite how good they are, and how much fun they would be, BethSoft has seemingly turned mainstream.  AKA they want flashy graphics, a short game, and violence, so that they can appeal to mainstream gamers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

BethSoft already turned mainstream, courtesy of Morrowind. I believe any game that is a bestseller on an action console can be considered "mainstream". Not saying that's a bad thing, however.

 

Also, 'short' really can't apply to any of the Elder Scrolls games. Like the others, Oblivion will go on forever(supposing you decide to continue playing that long). The only thing shortened will be the main quest, which I don't really think would hurt anything.(Morrowind's was a tad long IMO...it took me over 2 years to finally get around to beating it! lol).

[Zonko]

They have already stated that there will not be multiplayer.

 

And I'm glad for that, think about this; people that runs around yelling:

"Selling glassdagger, only 2k!!!!!!!"

Or:

"Please, I'm a noob, can someone give me some free muck?"

 

... It gives me creeps :wacko:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

:D LMAO

[Abramul]

Somehow I doubt any of your suggestions will make it to BethSoft's game.....  Despite how good they are, and how much fun they would be, BethSoft has seemingly turned mainstream.  AKA they want flashy graphics, a short game, and violence, so that they can appeal to mainstream gamers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Todd's Letter

Todd Howard, Executive Producer

 

 

Last month we revealed that our next game is indeed, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. And information is starting to flow on just what we've been up to. So, what have we been up to?

 

(Quick sidebar so you won't miss this below -- Oblivion is larger than Morrowind. Ok, read on now.)

 

Well, we started the project soon after Morrowind, and our team was split into two groups -- one working on technology for Oblivion, and one working on expansion packs. The Oblivion group was mostly comprised of programmers and the expansion team mostly artists and designers. But we were still one big Elder Scrolls team. We were also fortunate to add a lot of new talent during this time as our profile as a strong developer grew. After the expansions were done (Tribunal and Bloodmoon) the entire staff was full steam ahead on Oblivion.

 

The first thing we do when we start a game like this is say -- "What did the fans like about the last game? What do they want improved?" Over the years we've gotten thousands of letters from you all, and we can't thank you enough. Yes, we read them all. Our forums are an endless source of inspiration to us. From Arena to Daggerfall to Morrowind, we've had the best fans you could ask for over the last 10 years. They're smart, engaged, and full of wild excitement. Keep it up.

 

But there is a key part of this plan that has guided The Elder Scrolls every time we do a new one, and that is "Reinvention." You see, even though each game has been a sequel to the last game, our goal is to always make a new game that stands on its own, that has its own identity. Even down to the naming of them, our games are generally known by their single name, and not their numbered sequence. How do we create the definitive "RPG for the Next Generation?" Not just in terms of technology -- but how it plays?

 

We go back to the main theme of the series -- "Live another life, in another world" -- and think about how we can make that come alive for the next game. To simply add onto Arena would never have yielded Daggerfall, and to add onto Daggerfall would never have yielded Morrowind. To present the best game we can each time, we must reinvent it for the next generation of hardware and gameplay.

 

So we reach all the way back to Arena, see what worked then. Replay Daggerfall -- what worked well there, and of course Morrowind. We then look at what games of the future could do. Not just RPGs, but what could any game do? What are the key elements that make a great RPG and how can they be done in the future?

 

There is not a single system that has not gone through a change. Combat, dialogue, exploration, magic…you name it. That change could be a small tweak, major addition, or major deletion. Tweaks include things like rebalancing the skills to get better class progression. Major additions include all new AI, forests, combat, mounts, and more. One major deletion is thrown items and crossbows.

 

What!!?? No thrown items and crossbows? Hear me out here, because it will let you into our thought process. When we look at characters that like to do ranged combat, they mostly want to use bows and arrows. So instead of doing many types of ranged combat, we decided to stick with bows and arrows -- but -- it's a grand implementation of bows and arrows. You feel the string draw, arrows arc properly, bounce realistically, and stick deep into the right materials. You can see the quiver on your back and type of arrows you have and there are tons of different bows and arrow types. So we trade having several types of ranged combat done in an average way, and get bows done in a grand way.

 

One major assumption everyone makes when we do a new Elder Scrolls game is that it will be small. Everyone thought this about Daggerfall and Morrowind as well when we talked about them "being more focused." No Elder Scrolls game will ever be small. Ever. We make 'em big folks. We super-size them. Why? This is a question everyone asks us, "Why make them so damn big? You could make it small and most people still wouldn't finish it."

 

My answer is this -- For the time you did play it, it wouldn't be as fun. The Elder Scrolls is about choice -- player choice to do what you want in any way you want. You need a certain amount of size and choices so that experience is actually meaningful.

 

Now, we do change scale in each game, because certain things you do cause the game to flow differently. Even though Morrowind is about 0.0001% the landmass of Daggerfall, the way you play it makes it feel even richer. Oblivion's landmass is larger than Morrowind's, but you can fast travel around much easier. It still has Morrowind's feel of open exploration, but Arena's feel of ease of travel and, well, it's more fun.

 

So what do we actually mean when we say Oblivion is more focused? The quests and NPCs are more focused. Are there less NPCs and quests than Morrowind? Yes, but still too many to count. If we hadn't told you, you'd probably never notice. This is still a game measured in the hundreds of play hours. We're trying to stay away from mindless filler (something, Ok, we've been guilty of in the past) and create quests and NPCs that are dynamic, alive, and more engaging than anyone's seen.

 

I could go on and on for 100 pages here, because the depth of Oblivion and our excitement to bring it to all of you is huge. You'll start seeing more and more info about the game in the press everywhere and on elderscrolls.com. We'll do our best to create the best game we can for you.

 

 

Bolds added-'nuff said.