Elder Scrolls 6 Locations (Some plot spoilers from skyrim)

[exneph]

First, about game developers/development/gripes/blah blah blah. Spoilered, as not to detract from the main topic.

 

 

The only problem with developing games anymore is the niche that plays them. PCs were king back in the days of Daggerfall and Morrowind. Then again, the genre of games have changed almost akin to the genres of music. It used to be people listened to Rock, Metal, Hip-hop, Rap, Country, and that's it. Now it's Classic Rock, Soft Rock, New Rock, Nu-Metal, Death Metal, Power Metal, Tech Metal, Tech Death, Death, Hardcore, any of the -cores, Country, Country-Western, Country Rock, Rap, Gangster Rap, (I can't think of other genres of Rap.).. There's too many genres to list anymore.

 

The point being: Time presents change. Game developers don't cater to anyone. They have to broaden their spectrum in order to even make any sales. No sales, no money for development, no games. More and more people are going with consoles because they're convenient. Hell, I use a PS3 because yes, some games are fun, but also because it replaced my DirectTV cable box since I now use it for Netflix, and replaced my DVD/Blu-Ray player. If I wanted to do that for my PC, I would have to get new peripherals, and if I wanted to watch it on a bigger screen, I'd have to shell out more for either a larger monitor or even some peripheral cables so I can connect it to my TV.

 

However, this doesn't change the fact that I still run a PC, and I still hold the belief in my heart that PC will always be king. Not too many people think like that anymore. Years upon years ago, we would have discussions on what hardware and software we each had, who could outperform who, etc.. Either way. Consoles aren't the destroyers of quality gaming. They're merely another option that have arisen over the past ten or so years that enable people to play games without dealing with built-in obsolescence. How long have you owned your PS2/3/Xbox/360? What's the most you've had to buy for it? A new controller? Memory card? Now how long have you owned your PC? Hell, I just sank $800 into this machine _because_ of some of the newer games, but mainly because I've owned my old PC for far too long causing hardware options to diminish vastly.

 

You also have to take into account that game developers understand that with each passing year, more and more people are added to the world, more people reach the age of first-gaming. So what can they do to appeal to them? Most of us grew up in an era of RPG elements BEING RPG elements. Saving rolls, character rolls, backstories, character development, relating to NPCs, dealing with moral decisions.. Now, most RPG elements are "Level up. Visit new area. Buy new weapon. Repeat. Boss. Repeat. OMFG EXP.". Another thing to consider: When playing through any of the newer Elder Scrolls games, and they make a reference to the older games, it's not "Oh, hey. That's neat how they related that.". It's "Oh wow, easter egg!'. Whether or not that holds true, I don't know, that's just my opinion. Haha.

 

 

Now, about the next game setting.

 

Reading through some of the old books in the game, it's funny how they set everything up. Remember the "Where were you when the Dragon broke?". Yeah, while it probably wasn't meant to be taken so literal, it just seems so relative to me. The only way I can guess what could be the setting for the next game is by going through a lot of the lore, and going by past Elder Scrolls games. With every game, so many years have passed, and so much has happened. I mean, I truly wasn't expecting that a lot of the Dunmer fled Morrowind because Vvardenfell erupted. That just completely blew my mind. I also wasn't expecting an Aldmeri Dominion to happen. That's almost akin to some of the backstory in Cyrodill, in which you hear about how the Ayleids were pretty much wiped out due to the Nordic and Cydrodillic populations. Of course, the lore also provides a complete relative backstory to that, considering that the Ayleids were Aldmeri, and maintained control over much of the area until a rebellion happened. Hence, that could explain most of the reasoning behind the Aldmeri Dominion, and possibly the reason that Bethesda chose Skyrim in the first place: To continue the story about the Aldmeri and the repercussions that arose due to the slave uprising.

 

However, while Summerset Isle may be the perfect place for the next game, it may also be the worst place to set the next game. If they were to set it there, they would have to continue with Aldmeri politics, struggles with maintaining order in the rest of Tamriel, and possibly another Great War/Rebellion/Secession. It would be a perfect final game in the series, though. Yet, given the lore and the wars, setting it on Summerset Isle would generally be kind of difficult. They would have to make it hard to start off as any race, other than Altmer, in the game. But at the same time, they would be able to continue with the "Start game off as prisoner" aspect that they've held since Morrowind (Can't recall if they did that in Daggerfall or Arena.). That would actually be a great basis for the game: Prisoner released/escapes and goes through quests to lead great uprising and/or weaken defenses in order for united Tamriel to invade. But at the same time, if that were to happen, how would they be able to continue with the series? Unless they decide it's time for a plot device in order to bring the next game back into the rest of Tamriel (Oh no, Sloads again! ... Sigh.).

 

Personally, I believe the next game would be set perfectly in two areas. Between both Elsweyr and Valenwood. Reading through the lore of the Khajiits, you essentially see that the Bosmer and Khajiit were actually born from the same gods, but twisted by rivalries/jealousy. Based on that alone would be cause for a neat border war. But how it would play off in the rest of the lore is confusing. Throughout it all, the only major change to any of the populated areas were the Warp In the West, and when Anequina and Pelletine unified. At least from what I can remember. Yeah, there was a war that already happened between Valenwood and Elsweyr, but by that logic there was also a war that happened between the Aldmeri and Nords. Going this route, by setting the game in Elsweyr/Valenwood, would give even more cause and backstory to the entire Aldmeri Dominion. Also, from what I just read from the lore, it would be a perfect setting due to the fact that the Elsweyr Confederacy seceded from the Empire, and the Aldmeri Dominion split Elsweyr back into the two kingdoms of Anequina and Pelletine.

 

Of course, they could always set it in Black Marsh. Though, it would be nice if they included the rest of Morrowind in it as well, not just Vvardenfell. It could incorporate the entire past from Umbriel, how the Aldmeri recognize that Black Marsh seceded from the Empire as well.. But that's about it, really. I can't think of how they could incorporate Black Marsh into anything. Yes, they were there for the Oblivion Crisis, but I can't seem to find or think of anything notable that would inspire a series taking place there.

 

If they were, however, to set the next game in Elsweyr, Valenwood, combination of both.. They could take some time and factor in Black Marsh by giving them some more backstory and setting up some politics/wars for them, thus giving them reason to be a decent setting.

 

As for High Rock and Hammerfell.. Yeah, they were already in the first two games. If I remember right, they've been fighting the Aldmeri Dominion since it started. It would be a pretty damn neat setting for the next game, but at the same time I don't want Bethesda to go "Been there, done that", and strike it from the series. The only decent way of plot I can think of for setting the game here, however, would be the continuing struggle between the lands and the Aldmeri. Possibly the Sload.

 

Those are just my opinions. I would LOVE to have it set in Elsweyr, though. I think it would be pretty neat, wandering around vast savannahs, setting up camps in the night, forming a small rebellion against Aldmeri/Empire..

[drogun]

It doesn't matter if their is profit. The amount of pirating pushing the console profits far beyond that of the PC. So i ask you should they work to make gear a game towards the console and the people that buy the game honestly, Or put their time into making the game better for thieves who steal their master peace that took them tens of thousands of man hours to make.

[SaturnFX]

No, pirating is not a big problem

Overall, the piracy of games accounts for about 10k in "lost" sales. I say lost in quotes because that in itself is not correct. Most people whom pirate something have no plans on ever purchasing it anyhow, so just grab it for free.

I am not coming off as a pro-piracy guy, but rather just establishing the facts...if you sell a million copys, and are complaining about the 10k pirated versions (of which 7k were never going to buy anyhow), then you lost nothing.

 

If they were truely upset about piracy, well, the same issue applies to consoles, be it chipped consoles, or simply using a burner to copy the game (downloaded from a pirate website)..so, that argument is still flawed.

 

The reason why developers are soo focused on consoles is that quite often the head dudes are "in bed" with the console folks and get paid large sums of money to release it to their consoles first, or only, etc. Its corporatism at its finest that is the problem, not some ragtag net dudes snatching a free copy that have enough knowledge and lack of principles to do it to begin with.

[SaturnFX]

Those are just my opinions. I would LOVE to have it set in Elsweyr, though. I think it would be pretty neat, wandering around vast savannahs, setting up camps in the night, forming a small rebellion against Aldmeri/Empire..

 

Well, to me, I would get bored of being in the land of cats. I think Valenwood is really the key, or the whole area in and around really if its set in the near future (kicking away the Thalmor/Aldmeri influence). To me, that seems the logical choice given the motivations of the people after skyrim is resolved one way or another (eyes now at the south).

 

They are going to go big though..the cliffhangers of this are simply too big to ignore and so I wouldn't be at all suprised if they did all of Tamriel

 

Of course you know if you remove clipping (and something else..not sure), you can go south and they have the entire map rendered out, of course the question is..why? there is no point anywhere in skyrim where you can see off into hammerfell, or cyrodiil, etc...no mountain that allows you to see morrowind, yet there it is, going on and on for ages in perfect landscape detail.

 

So...what does it mean? I think they are testing it out...seeing how easily the landscape flows so that they can plop down the next thing..be it expansion packs, or more than likely TES6.

 

It would be epic to go anywhere and everywhere...but your talking about a 30 hour direct play main quest turning into a hundred + hour direct main quest only gameplay experience...not fully sure if that is desirable..might be too overwhelming. Not for me, but for many.

[exneph]

I don't know if they'd be able to kick away the Aldmeri influence, mainly due to the fact that it's been there since Oblivion. Possibly earlier.

 

I know about the landscapes and all there, but from what I've read about them, they're not static. Ergo, if you were to noclip to them, then turn collision on, you would fall through. I don't think they're truly testing the lands out, moreso just putting them there as if to say "See? Do you see what we can do with this engine?". Hell, look how far north you can swim in Skyrim without hitting any invisible walls. Yet, there's nothing up there. An iceberg or two, with absolutely nothing on it. Maybe a tree, or some seaweed underwater.

 

I'm doubting that within the upcoming months or years that they'll actually do anything with the landmasses themselves. Mainly due to the fact that if they do decide to mod the lands into the game for an expansion pack, they would have to remove the borders in the game, thereby making every border accessible and possibly causing instability. One of the main reasons the borders are there in the first place is so people don't just take off away from the game world, get lost, and say to hell with this. They have to constrain the game somehow.

 

Now I can understand if they were to take the landmass cells and make a transition between them, as they did with the Shivering Isles. But to use an unmapped area for an expansion pack would mean a much, much longer wait for pretty much anything. Besides, I'm also fairly certain that even though the landmasses were there, that they weren't to scale. So they would have to scale the maps up, blah blah blah.. I'm thinking that either the maps were there as an homage to both Morrowind and Oblivion, or just an easter egg brought on by the fact that many people modded Oblivion to the point where you _had_ to disable the borders in order for the mods to work.

 

However.. If it were The Elder Scrolls VI: Tamriel, coming to you on an eight DVD disk set.. Hahaha, one disk per area. That would be pretty damned neat. Can you imagine the amount of space it would take up on the drive? 50GB space required. Construction set must be run on a system similar to SKYNET.

 

Oh, future speculations are fun, aren't they?

[Ftumch]

It's not just PC versions that are prated, console games are pirated too, I know lots of people who had the xbox 360 version 2 weeks before the official release.

[Caracolito]

I read my share of lore because I'm a nerd, but correct me if I'm wrong...

 

Didn't they sort of pull the events of Oblivion out of their butts? I mean, there was some stuff going on with Mr. Merhunes Dagon before Oblivion, but not enough to foreshadow the events of Oblivion.

 

Was there any warning that the dragons were going to surface again before Skyrim came out? They sent Alduin forward in time with the Elder Scroll, but he could have popped out at any given time.

 

My point is, the next TES game will probably introduce something completely new. Honestly, a continuation of the whole Dominion/Empire war as the main plot would be extremely drab for a TES game. As a continuing backstory, it would be fine, but I'm guessing there will be 100% new material in the next TES, which, to me, means that any province is fair game.

 

That said, I think sticking Valenwood and Elsweyr together and using that region would be a good bet, maybe an expansion or something that allows you to travel to Summerset, or just stick that into the vanilla. I'm hoping for a larger region just because I feel like I flushed out Oblivion and Skyrim too quickly with the fast travel thing.

 

Or... Akavir!

[RejectedCamel]

Black Marsh = Noooo. yuck. what a crap area

STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!

 

Also, I agree with exneph. Elsweyr and Valenwood do indeed seem like the best areas, unless Bethesda decides to ignore logic. Plus, the gigantic contrasts between both areas as well as the biomes within them would give Beth loads of room for a visually beautiful game.

[Fredrick42]

My personal belief is that the shattered Empire will be united under a new dragonborn emperor. I believe the one of the expansions for Skyrim will end up with the hero of Skyrim, the only known dragonborn, on the throne. The other will be fixing Morrowind to some degree. So sorry I don't see joining the Thalmor as an option.

[Aarkon]

either Valenwood or Black Marsh would be a great location for part 6 IMO or better yet since they are all part of southern Tamriel make them all in one game.

 

Elswhere Black Marsh and Vallenwood rise up against the Aldmeri Dominion. ofcorse others would join aswell but these being on the front lines so to speak would be ideal

 

i doubt they will do a muti-provence game tho so top of my hope list is Valenwood followed closely by Black Marsh ( argonians need some love )

 

if for no other reason than a change of scenery so far ( last 3 games ) we have had .. mountians ( morrowind ) mountainous citys ( oblivion ) and now snowy mountians ( skyrim ) i want some jungles damnit or swamps or anything aside from butloads of mountians

Edited March 20, 2012 by Aarkon