Why Skyrim's Successor Should Have Been A Valenwood Game

[melvinius]

Why Skyrim's Successor Should Have Been A Valenwood Game

DISCLAIMER: The Elder Scrolls games contain references, depictions, and discussions of mature themes including issues of racism and slavery. Civil discourse concerning such topics takes place all the time in Elder Scrolls game communities within the context of "lore." I would certainly hope that mature and civil discourse can take place within the context of this post as well.

I am a long-time Elder Scrolls fan who goes by the handles "Shade the Bandit" going back to Morrowind and more recently by "Melvinius." Although I am aware of older games like Arena, Daggerfall, Battlespire, and Redguard, Morrowind was my first introduction to the Elder Scrolls universe and it is still my favorite Elder Scrolls game. I have played Oblivion and Skyrim extensively as well. I played a little bit of The Elder Scrolls Online (meh) and a lot of The Elder Scrolls: Legends (loved it) also but those are fundamentally different games from the usual Bethsoft open world concept.

Skyrim (Bethsoft's drive to milk the title with endless releases aside) is a great game. Oblivion was a bit vanilla and felt like a generic European fantasy game. Skyrim put a slightly exotic Nordic flavor to things and while admittedly bringing dragons into the Elder Scrolls universe in such an overt fashion lacked all subtlety, it was just outright FUN to go slay some wyrms. I'm still doing it occasionally to this day. The Dragonborn expansion was particularly welcome to a Morrowind lover like myself. But the real diamond in the rough of Skyrim was the Civil War setting and the debates that this setting sparked both online and in the game world. Globalism versus nationalism? Federal government or states' rights? Morality of slavery, issues of racial superiority? Skyrim's Civil War, while heinously underdeveloped, offered so many deep parallels to American and world history that its themes cut deep (for this student of history). Non-Americans may have missed the parallels to the American Civil War. The Stormcloaks, with their slogan of "Skyrim for the Nords!" echoes the sentiments of the American Deep South as well as elements of the American political right today. The Empire, ostensibly a tower of law and order, resembles the American federal government, increasingly imperialistic but with corruption at home eating at its heart and foreshadowing an impending collapse. The Thalmor reflected the rise of entire empires of the past which were rooted in the doctrine of their own racial superiority and right to rule over others accordingly. And issues of slavery, free speech, religious freedom, and others played out in the setting of Skyrim as well.

I can understand why Hammerfell is going to be the setting for the next Elder Scrolls game. Bethsoft is an American game development studio, after all, and she is a product herself of her culture and time. America is currently clutched in the grasp of extreme wokism, and government, society, higher education, and now even individuals are being made to pander to minorities more and more. There are many reasons and causes for this phenomenon which are beyond the scope of this post, but choosing Hammerfell, ancestral home of the Redguards, simply fits with the political climate of our time. I would not be surprised at all if race-based slavery is a central theme to a Hammerfell game as well, despite to my knowledge the Redguard being largely free and independent in Elder Scrolls lore. Hammerfell as a game could potentially be a huge hit if Bethsoft does something technically astounding with it. Specifically the opportunity I see would be to create a truly dynamic Alikr Desert, which can shift and swallow up entire cities and towns or potentially receded to uncover previously lost and buried civilizations. Barring something like this, if Bethsoft sticks to their usual formulaic presentation, I think a Hammerfell game will likely fall a bit flat in comparison to Skyrim unless Bethsoft goes the extra mile on the little details. (Bethsoft as a studio is quite lazy, with the amount of skills, weapon skills, spells, spell effects, factions, cities and settlements, NPCs, etc. diminishing every new game release. Another reason why for me Morrowind is the deepest and most compelling Bethsoft title to date. Other things like basic physics systems, footprints, shaders on characters for wet/blood/dirt have been pretty standard in modern games but lacking on Bethsoft's side. Starfield was a particularly lazy release in many ways.)

I feel that if Bethsoft had simply paid attention to their fanbase and the Skyrim modding community's direction, that they would have had a clear answer to what their next game could have been. Nomenclature aside (the "V" and "L" in Valenwood could easily be stylized to be a "VI") let's go down my mental process for determining the next Elder Scrolls game. High Rock (Daggerfall), Morrowind, Cyrodiil (Oblivion), and obviously Skyrim have all now been settings for Elder Scrolls games. While a case could be easily made for a revisit to the province of Morrowind (or even a modern remake of the game Morrowind itself) we'll exclude that as unlikely. Hammerfell, as already mentioned and for obvious reasons, is the most obvious low-hanging-fruit choice given America's current social/political climate. But Valenwood offers more potential.

Think about it. Skyrim laid out a scenario of the Aldmeri Dominion fighting against the crumbling Cyrodiil Empire for outlying territory. A continuation of this theme would be both logical and desirable for players who want some closure to the conflict. But what would be the best way to proceed with the narrative in a new ES game? Well, look at the direction that Skyrim modding went. The Second Great War mod saw another Thalmor invasion of Skyrim take place, with the player either thwarting it with an alliance of Imperials and Stormcloaks, or joining the Thalmor. Moonpath to Elseweyr saw the Dragonborn assisting the Khajiit in guerilla warfare against the Thalmor, repulsing and even capturing one of the Thalmor airships. The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal saw the Dragonborn reclaim that artifact while visiting the Alikr Desert in Hammerfell... and unless Bethsoft does something truly unexpected in their Hammerfell game I doubt they will surpass MannyGT's rendition of the Alikr or even other games' presentations of desert environments (Fable 3 comes to mind). But the modding community showed where the fanbase lies: pretty much everyone hates the Thalmor and wants to see them get thrashed.

So without further ado, let me present... The Elder Scrolls VI: VaIenwood

The Thalmor machine lost the Second Great War for Skyrim. They greatly underestimated the primitive Nords' determination to repel invaders from their ancestral homeland. With the Thalmor might in the north of Tamriel shattered, Cyrodiil is once again a contested province. But Valenwood, suffering under the iron yoke of the Thalmor, is a staging ground for a massive Thalmor counteroffensive, through which the Thalmor intend to retake the Imperial City and then the rest of Tamriel, wave by wave.

The Elder Scrolls VI: VaIenwood begins with the main character, a guerilla fighter operating with a wood elf resistance faction, being imprisoned on a Thalmor slave airship after being captured during a failed night raid.  The prisoners plan and execute an escape, kill their Thalmor captors, and take the airship.  The main quest of the game focuses on the main character's continued campaign against the Thalmor invaders, but in Bethesda fashion ancient powers are awakened in the deep forests of Valenwood and the player is chosen as an avatar of the forest or recipient of the Wild Hunt or something in order to expel the Thalmor.  I'd love to see nature related powers, summoning vines, calling up mobile trees to destroy enemy fortifications, etc.

Mobile tree cities would be a part of this game and much of it would take place underneath the deep forest canopies of Valenwood.  Destructible environments and mobile siege machines and airships would all be at play during the wargames.  The potential for this setting is endless.  If the player is a Green Pact wood elf, part of the mechanics of survival/needs gameplay could revolve around a hunting system and a system of eating one's defeated enemies.

Thoughts?

[reissue1426]

"I would certainly hope that mature and civil discourse can take place within the context of this post as well"

"America is currently clutched in the grasp of extreme wokism"

okay buddy

[DirebearCoat]

5 hours ago, reissue1426 said:

"I would certainly hope that mature and civil discourse can take place within the context of this post as well"

"America is currently clutched in the grasp of extreme wokism"

okay buddy

Well, melvinius has a point.  You can't talk about certain things without someone trying to shame you into silence about it, or trying to get you removed from a platform for saying something that they don't like.