TES Future Debate.

[Arthmoor]

LOD data is low poly models and low res textures.

my point is that with that already in the game Beth wouldn't have so much to add to open up the TESV world a bit.

 

While true that they had to generate the hi-res in-game landscape data to get to the LOD, it isn't true that reconstructing landscape based on that LOD is easy. It's not. That's not even remotely feasible even with 3rd party tools to assist.

 

Besides, there's the 64x64 bug. Any attempt to add Morrowind within the bounds of the Tamriel worldspace will end in disaster due to that bug, which Bethesda has already blamed on Havok and said they won't fix.

[Bovel]

Slightly necromancy on this but it's a topic I want in on.

 

There loads of things that comes into play, pondering on the next TES game but if we ignore everything but lore, I got some ideas. (If you consider for example the playability of all the races or how they fit into stories and so forth limits the possible stories/games you can create.)

 

 

I mean, to have the empire basically already in pieces and whatnot, and then adding the Thalmor into the picture, I don't know, I just didn't like it.

1. Alinor (formerly Summerset Isles)

It has been suggested by many but not for the same reason as I would. Allow us to be able to play Thalmor, explain their behavior and "humanize" the elves and their faction because in Skyrim they don't make much sense to me. It seems at least that there are many that support the Dominion, but why? We are offered no explanation to why anyone, elves or khajiit, would want to join them. This would make the game quite restricting but it could be quite fun and the end of the Thalmor/AD could easily be incorporated into the game, either because of the action of the player or something they have tried to prevent.

 

 

My personal preference would be to see the next game set in 4th era Argonia. Of all the provinces we've been told about, that one sounds like the most exotic and interesting.

2. Blackmarsh and the Red Year

I don't like the idea of games set in the past, mainly because to me that cripples our influence players over the world because... we know what will happen, perhaps not in detail but in the end we know who will win the war for example. BUT I think it would be a great way to showcase and explore Argonia and the fate of Morrowind in one game, where we also learn about the An-Xileel and their agenda. Your character would be someone that holds a key role in the invasion of Morrowind in the aftermath of the Red Year and up to that point you get to shape one of the champions of that war/slaughter. Fighting style, allegiances, motivation and so on. (This would also include something I miss in all TES games, the passage of time.)

 

 

3. Valenwood, Ne Quin-Al & Pa'alatiin

The one thing that bothered me most in Skyrim was the events after the Void Nights that led to Elsweyr disbanding. To me there is not a chance that even half of the population of the khajiit lands would believe the Thalmor in their claim or join them. According to their own faith, khajiit are the ones secretly gifted with the power to restore the moon in the heavens, acknowledging that someone else did it contradicts their religion. And the rotten cherry ontop is that khajiit are in their faith warned of the elves (bosmeri especially) and accepting them as saviors again tramples their own faith. Events in Skyrim describe how wood elves were harassed attacked and more or less forced into the Dominion.

So let us see the fall of the Thalmor through the rebellion of their own states. Explain how the Thalmor managed to take control over Elsweyr and possibly assassinated the Mane. Me loving khajiiti over any other race also makes me want to see this happen.

 

 

4. The Great War

I come back a bit on Ayra's comment on this one; I would like to experience the Great War as either side instead of all that being skipped. This could also be the perfect setup for a co-op Hunted-style.

[mizdarby]

Though I suspect TES VI will again be set on Tameriel, I would like the series to move off of Tameriel, and be based on another landmass altogether. The kingdom of Pyandonea, caught my fancy, as a set of islands with tropical rain forests, could allow for a more diverse set of activities, possibly with some degree of maritime activities. The king of Pyandonea is the immortal Orgnum Thras, a wizard who claims to be God-Snake of Satakal, who has had poor relationships with Tameriel in the past, leading to the destruction of his entire fleet, seeting up a possible storyline around revenge or reasserting a powerbase. The Kingdom of Solitude was linked to the loss of the fleet, and would make an obvious dlc for the game. There is also the Tropical Elves the ruling race, water spirits and a human element, which could be based on Summerset Isles, who were formerly allied to Pyandonea. Perhaps, along the lines of Orgnum Thras making a pact with some otherworldly power, probably Daedric or similar, to conqueor or attempt to conqueor Summerset Isles, the player could then play one of Tameriels unsung heroes, aiming to free Summerset isles from its oppressors. The Daedric of course would have their own agenda, and are using the Tropical elves as a means to an end.

[Oubliette]

I'd like for them to stay away from the human lands with the next game but I think Bethesda is aware of (and patently afraid of) the amount of work inherit in pulling of the more unique lands. As much as I'd love to see Elsweyre, Bethesda has shirked the duty of 'beastlike' Khajiiti for two games in a row now, that doesn't leave me much hope for a game featured in a continent that would require those, as well as several even more beast like Khajiiti races. Akivar has the same problem as Elsweyre as well as the same problems as Black Marsh. Argonians might have a currently more intriguing history going on but it's no one's favorite race to play (none of the beast races are terribly popular).

 

Then there's the remaining Elvish races. I honestly have no idea where the Orsimer even come from, let alone whether or not I'd like to play an entire game there. Valenwood with it's green pact and cannabalistic savages, aka Bosmeri, would be beautiful to visit but I can imagine it being a hell to construct. Same goes with the Altmeri, the psijics and their heavy class system all housed in the 'usual' mind boggling Elvish splendor (I presume).

 

But that's what I want.

 

I am tired up to here with 'boring' human lands. I think Bethesda is 'trying' to cover all the races, not go back and do any do overs, so at least there's some hope. There's only so many 'easy' races on Tamriel, eventually Bethesda will have to swallow the bitter pill and spend an extra year or two creating a game in a more interesting and unique setting. It just might not be the next game.

[Beriallord]

With bluray disks you can fit 40 GB of data, which is more than enough to fit all of Cyrodil in the game. Have a campaign in each country as well as a bunch of side missions. To do that and make it good would be a massive undertaking and possibly too expensive to develop just to sell the game for only $60. They might have to split some of the regions up as DLC.

[sukeban]

Personally, I would like to see a continuation of the Thalmor conflict, with the logical extension being in Hammerfell. Others seem to have elaborated on the finer points of lore, but I, for one, would be vastly intrigued by the geography of the region (makes me think of that Romantic poem "Ozymandius") as well as a possible expansion into the Dragontail mountains with the Orcs and/or to Stro's M'kai as a sort of Mos Eisley of Nirn.

 

Gameplay-wise, I would desperately like to see the next generation of consoles (to say nothing of advances in PC gaming) immensely expand the map of the next game, wherever it may be. I actually favor procedurally generated terrain a la Daggerfall, as means to enhance the feeling of distance between settlements and to add a genuine feeling of space in the in-game world. Skyrim and Oblivion both lack this tremendously, with Skyrim being the worst possible offender. Morrowind, even now, still feels like a large world; Skyrim, emphatically, does not. Running distance between Whiterun and Solitude is like fifteen minutes. Having played some old school (NES and SNES) RPGs recently, I appreciate the sense of scale that they generated even without access to many graphical bells and whistles (Mode 7 definitely does not count). The world of Shin Megami Tensei feels far larger than Skyrim, despite being 20 years older.

 

So sense of scale and--and it is a big "and"--a return to more inter-personal relationships with NPCs a la Morrowind would be appreciated. The mini-game in Oblivion was a step down from Morrowind, but, retrospect, feels downright immersive compared to hearing Belethor's welcome spiel for the 15,000th time. Please Beth, hire writers--a veritable Roman legion of them--to pen dialogue for hundreds of NPCs, including more permutations of disposition than are available in Skyrim. Voiced dialogue is nice and is likely here to stay, but I would also much prefer Beth hire many, many no-name voice actors (I am sure that many of us in the modding community would be more than happy to lend whatever talents we have just for the joy of being a part of a series that we love) instead of the big-budget figures that they currently employ. That said, Belethor/the guy from the Thief series NEEDS to always be featured. I would like to be able to make enemies of NPCs again--and to make friends--and to have this materially affect what happens to me in-game. I recently played The Walking Dead and was blown away at the level of choice --> consequences that that game featured, to say nothing of the superb and taught storytelling. Beth should just buy out that studio and set all those folks to work on TES.

 

So those are my two big things: 1) better sense of scale, and 2) more/deeper NPCs.

[TheUninvitedGuest]

I would love to either see more of the Summerset Isles, perhaps expanding upon the idea that there is infighting amongst the Mer.

This might not offer a wide enough range of possibilities for a full game (though who knows where Bethesda will take the lore) however.

 

I would also be very interested to see a game focused around Black Marsh and Mainland Morrowind. There is certainly enough scope for conflict there as the Argonians have expelled the Dunmer. Furthermore, neither of those areas have been particularly well explored, and would be large enough to provide a very large gameplay area with some distinct environments.