What the NEXT mainline Elder Scrolls game needs?

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MrDecember

Oct 10, 2024 @ 1:49pm

What the NEXT mainline Elder Scrolls game needs?

Something like that:
https://youtu.be/SwW7oQ3-d3s

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Originally posted by MrDecember:

Things that TES VI needs to HAVE and AVOID:

1. https://youtu.be/Y1_nCiwK-Qo Facts

2. https://youtu.be/Oj1PFBJBsI4 “There are some ex-employee interviews where they say Todd would always go for the safest most boring monster designs in response to which the employee would make more crazier designs than the last so Todd would settle for the previous one lol. He would also cut a ton of features and only focus on the basics which frustrated some old employees, Skyrim had a TON of cut content, civil war for example felt very unfinished.”

These rumors might be allegations, but they represent what we collectively don’t want. I don’t know the context behind picking the most boring monsters, but Skyrim’s Civil War needed improvements and more stuff in general.

New Game+ was like Civil War part II as it could have potential in being awesome like visiting one of two planets that got destroyed as a result of your choice.

Instead, it was a huge “F you” to anyone who spent all the time in the world by building an epic base or an epic spaceship before completing the campaign and realizing that it was rendered pointless so they have to not be attached to anything before a dozen times of replaying the most linear campaign in a Bethesda game to date.

Also, you lose all your resources, weapons and armor, so it wasn’t really a NG+ but a NG–.

The rewards for doing it weren’t even worth the initial commitment as it was randomized and needed multiple runs to get it to full power, and the Sarah Palmer as a “potted plant” was less funny and *sigh* more “quirky.”

3. https://youtu.be/Hx5SCStj4Tk
—
https://youtu.be/3_38HLfSlAg
The garish pattern is now repetitive? No design docs?

The story in TES 6 SERIOUSLY needs:
A. Choice and Consequence
B. Branching paths
C. Faction allegiance / “Morrowind or FNV faction reputation” system
D. Morality / “Fallout 3 or Fable karma” system
E. Creative or unorthodox solutions/methods (killing the spy currently posing as a friend, using mundane game mechanics like locking a door to prevent an ambush or stacking blocks to access an optional shortcut)

Think about being a combination between Fallout 3 and New Vegas; The “fate of the world” can end in light or darkness, and your way or their way, with more than one or even two methods to do it (think Tranquility Lane or NCR interrogation). It should support seven playstyles: warrior, mage, thief, knight, out of the box, powerhouse or dumb luck.

There should be encounters that are problems to solve, not literal puzzles.

You know something that actually incentivizes replaybility via MULTIPLE created characters rather than a single character save?

We don’t care if we “are locked out of content” because that’s the point; it’s simulation, it’s immersion, NOT to be confused with realism.

Imagine getting mad at your choices (or perhaps lack of awareness) triggering consequences wherever hard or soft.

If people want it that bad, then they can cheat.

There’s nothing fun about a Bethesda game where you can have everything in ONE save and ALSO not be able to ‘finish’ the game due to it being ‘procedurally generated.’ That’s seen as lame and, worst of all: Out of touch.

4. https://youtu.be/JweTAhyR4o0
Essential NPCs didn’t ENTIRELY break the immersion in Skyrim, but they DID BREAK the immersion in Starfield.

There’s a big difference between making a main character who is a leader of a city “literally indestructible” and EVERY single unremarkable, named-nobody “literally indestructible.” Get it?

In fact, there should be no balance, thus you should remove the essential tag altogether and set it up in a way where you can choose to have a free for all and still complete the main campaign like it’s FNV, or just flash a “reload a save because you bricked the main campaign” message like it’s Morrowind.

That’s what the “protected” tag is for, right?

So that chaotic Radiant NPCs don’t rob you a questline (or the fun) from you?

As shown in the following vids:
https://youtu.be/dRDi6XHfcJ8
https://youtu.be/J0nPx9R59C0
https://youtu.be/hS2emKDlGmE
https://youtu.be/GwmRsSWA7Bc

5. https://youtu.be/MGpFEv1-mAo
Realism ≠ Immersion
Immersion = Fun
Realism ≠ Fun

6. https://youtu.be/IyAC9ltYdQo

M is for Gorey ASF, not soft asf!!!

Fallout 3 and even Fallout 4 absolutely nailed it.

Starfield unironically makes the act of vanquishing seem like making someone take a nap (or unconvincing acting in a theatre play if they are sitting/resting at the same time it happens — you know that ugly oversight in the code).

We want spectacle! It’s not immersive if you hit someone with a sword, and the only thing he pours is ketchup that completely evaporates before it hits the ground and the only thing that is detached from him is nothing because apparently you can’t take the clothes off dead NPCs even when it says you did.

https://youtu.be/xBvn5F-GRvs

Just why?

https://youtu.be/RV-gVb_Zr0s

Which the answers always gets us to #7 and why it’s inevitable no matter how hard we pretend “the influence” does not exist, and no matter how harder we pretend it is harmless or perhaps ignorable.

7. https://youtu.be/pkuVOLoWY2M

No politics from planet Earth—none at all. Whether subtle or overt, big or small, direct or indirect, leave it out.

It should be treated like germs, and YOU don’t want germs! The truth is… NO ONE wants germs!

If it’s “yes”, leave it out. If it’s “maybe”, leave that out too.

> Here’s the request, plain and simple:
We want a Tolkien-style fantasy story—a universe centered on the timeless struggle of good versus evil. The only politics in the narrative should arise organically from the world itself, shaped by its own unique isolation, history, and culture—not borrowed or shoehorned from ours.

We’re not asking for some flashy fan-fiction where the protagonist or perhaps a Earthly-familiar side-character becomes a glorified, incorruptible self-insert that exposes the other characters as evil premeditatedly for one-dimensional reasons that aren’t evil if you think about it or the story devolves into a clumsy Allegory pushing modern buzzwords — 21st century internet subculture modern. We’re all here for escapism, not soapboxing. Keep the mysticism and esotericism intact—don’t let timeless lore become a “host” for an exterior message-driven agenda.

This isn’t about shield-wing or sword-wing politics. It’s about neither. Let the story remain pure fantasy, untainted by real-world ideologies or contemporary moralizing.

But here’s why frustration boils over: many creators past seem compelled to inject modern, divisive narratives where they don’t belong. Instead of timeless themes, we get what others call “influencing”—a relentless push on others to align with specific agendas: unquestioning allegiance to a group, disparaging certain groups, or going as far as dismantling golden values. There’s always some people who call it out for being chaos disguised as progress, and it alienates everyone who simply want to lose themselves in a good story but they can’t due to being able to read between the lines, or worse, the between has a mandatory audiobook format that includes cliff notes.

Fantasy is meant to transport us to another world, free from Earth’s baggage. Remember: It’s the “escape of the prisoner” rather than the “escape of the deserter.” That means no shoehorned concepts or other modern ideologies that don’t fit the genre’s medieval or mystical roots. These terms feel out of place and only serve to disrupt the immersion, and mistake its precious “applicability” for the intellectually despised “allegory.”

The result? Revisionism. A rewriting of lore and culture that erodes the very foundation of the stories we love. Retconning. Effectively stripping it of both spirit and meaning, and maybe even replacing it with predictably lesser forms of the two that only shines a light on the hidden motive behind it all. Those behind such efforts may claim the moral high ground, but it’s nothing more than projection—transparent to anyone willing to see it for what it truly is, and we could say the exact same thing.

So please, give us a good story untainted by Earth’s modern politics, squabbles and even its recent brand of “modernity.” Just escapism, pure and simple.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

Just NONE of it.

No modern constructs like theories of you know what or Earth-specific agendas in a medieval fantasy world! These elements feel out of place in the genre and disrupt the timeless and universally applicable immersion such stories aim to create.

ABSOLUTE ZERO modern intrusions. Concepts such as Avowed’s objectively questionable feature or any other similar Earth-centric ideas (that never existed in Earth’s Medieval or Renaissance period, for the record, like cars) don’t align with the narrative or setting of a medieval fantasy world. They stand out as anachronistic and detract from the authenticity and escapism that make these stories enduring, by being free from everything that’s contemporary or “of the moment.”

It’s NOT about being “clever with messaging” as it will ALWAYS NOT “feel right” like… adding essential tagged children for “realism” in a game where no one else is tagged essential, or using a car as a Deus ex Machina in The Hobbit despite it being a result of magic or simply “knowing how to build one.”

Remember: Fantasy is anything but the profane.

And no matter how loudly corporations like Microsoft push for these changes, resist the urge to comply. Instead, focus on creating stories that will endure for generations after and the generations before. “The strength of the pack is the wolf. The strength of the wolf is the pack.”

If it touches the red line, it crosses the red line and thus it breaks the one rule that must never be broken for it and everything it upheld to be taken seriously.

Let’s keep fantasy what it’s meant to be: an escape into a world of magic, wonder, and the timeless truth—not a platform for Earth’s ever-changing (and tiresome) doctrines of today.

I sincerely mean it as a request for respect and of respect.

It is a humble request.

https://youtu.be/4zLnGJsuS8o?t=1687
https://youtu.be/QiLegAVttdg

8. https://youtu.be/xCDoS0nOVPQ 13:43

A trend seen in Starfield… Don’t lock the ‘ability to crouch’ (abilities we took for granted in the history of Bethesda games) behind a “perk wall” and let’s just stop adding “padding” altogether like ‘radiant quests’ where you talk to a guy and he tells you to talk to a guy.

The quests should be Quests, not ‘radiant quests.’

It should be like Oblivion, not like Daggerfall.

9. Copy Arcanum for its writing, quest and also role playing mechanics from speech checks to NPC reaction and writing.

10. Copy either Chivalry 2 or Mordhau for its melee combat. Skyrim’s melee and overall combat will not successfully work in 2025 as it did in 2011. There needs to be some sort of realistic impact and satisfying rhythm when you swing a sword (right clicking does a horizontal slash as the quickest attack, forward mouse wheel does a impale as the longest reach attack and backward mouse wheel does a vertical overhead attack as the strongest attack); it should be both fun and have some sort of strategic depth like live dismemberment and non-hitscan blows without the slow tank movement where you can BOTH swing and run/jump/swim (unless you are wearing heavy armor which can prevent being staggered and make puny daggers do no damage as a trade-off for “free flowing mobility”). Perhaps bring back Morrowind’s more individualized clothing like “left gauntlet” and “pants” instead of “torso” and “head” while using Mordhau as inspiration for how it determines both movement (like medium armor in legs allowing sprint while attacking unlike heavy) and protection (like non-iron/wooden heavy armor decreasing damage taken when walking on fire). There should be weapon/attack types, similar to Chivalry 2, like blunt”, chop, slash and piercing” with a large array of D&D/Warframe/Fallout elemental damage with their own unique profiles in determining their individual worth and systems in determining the uniqueness of enemies like Undead being healed by poison rather than damaged being by it. There’s a lot to be inspired by and improve, but it should be a competent and cathartic hack and slasher especially when it’s easy mode; employ “minion enemies” that die in one hit but are always plentiful in coordinated groups.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2820203415

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Damage
https://warframe.fandom.com/wiki/Status_Effect
https://arcaneeye.com/mechanic-overview/damage-types-5e/

11. More believable Radiant AI from Gothic 2 and make use of the “radiant invasions” from Oblivion. However, the NPCs, especially the townspeople, should all be realized characters like the ones found in Skyrim and NOT “Cyberpunk 2077 pedestrians.” Immersion > poor realism > realism. You gotten away with in-game Whiterun being a microcosm of a big city, but big cities would be nice if we don’t lose any quality in the process.

12. BRING BACK Jermey Soule to restore the timeline by continuing the legacy of your history while he continues his back-to-back work from the ONLY three games that everyone cares about. Dude’s a legit genius and not having him on board isn’t just a real injustice but the most unenlightened decision that will haunt you for eternity regardless if the final product is a masterpiece or rubbish.

13. Just do cool stuff in general, like average gamers should independently feel discouraged to mod stuff in based on how well you designed things. Bugs? Who cares?! Just make sure they don’t brick the game or ruin the experience. No matter what happens, you want to tell a good story, through both gameplay and narrative, with the tools you have, and if it’s strong enough then people will *maybe* tolerate *most* of the lesser jank and *maybe* the loading screens too. Remember: Story and game design are the two things mods can’t satisfactorily “fix” entirely.

However, if it’s sooooooo fuuuuun but you can’t play the actual game for more than a weekend day without being told to, then there’s an actual problem.

14. CBBE character customization: We want to adjust everything about a character’s anatomy and characters to have the potential to look like ridiculous supermodels with unmatched beauty or average people with average looks. There should be a choice between the two, especially for the NPCs. Also, stop making every NPC the exact same height!

15. Crusader Kings 3 traits in character customization; we should have traits like beautiful or horrid, intelligent or dull, strong or frail, and even sane or mad which not only changes the look of our character but changes how we play and how NPCs react to us. It should be balanced as a pros vs. cons system where a certain size of disadvantages have to be applied for additional equally sized advantages to be applied. There should be personality traits like “greedy” or “generous” that not only add dialogue choices but (maybe) rewards or (maybe) punish you (via relief or stress) for acting upon pre-existing choices that either align with or go outside your nature with the potential of changing it altogether. Imagine having two traits that earned through in-game actions like “knight” or “thief” where one making all civilized tagged NPCs respect you for your proven high moral status through hard earned deeds and even mannerisms while the other one makes shopkeepers or the law in general not very generous to you (if caught).

16. For the selection of your character’s species/race and sex, the design should take inspiration from Arcanum in terms of meaningful world impact—going beyond simple dialogue changes to truly influence how the world reacts to your character. Meanwhile, stats should follow the depth of Morrowind and Oblivion, bringing back mechanics like personality-based attributes to enrich gameplay. The choice of being a female Nord should go beyond granting a daily superpower ability and/or minor resistances, both with a side of nothing else; it should feel substantial, with tangible effects that make these decisions deeply impactful and integral to your character’s journey.

17. The target audience of The Elder Scrolls 6 should be late teens or MUCH higher, and NOT children. Stop treating us like children and your game as something only a child can enjoy. It’s a trend we noticed and we really don’t like it as feel like it’s holding it back, especially Starfield as a M rated game; nothing scary or complicated demonstrated and feel like child for taking it seriously. To put it in perspective it should be edgy dark, like Arcanum or Dragon Age 1; TES 4 (The Dark Brotherhood questline being one of many examples of “not everything is as it seems within the green fields of Cryodiil”) and especially, especially 3 (look at sseth’s video) were pretty gnarly too. Thus, the game shouldn’t ever pull its punches and should have a lot of punches in store.

https://youtu.be/0ClIFi5jM7s
https://youtu.be/nMmZ7kC9I1k
https://youtu.be/4Ow5lGFju1c

The cherry on top of the following above is that the “neutral narrator of the story” should remain as the “indifferent narrator of the story” like in Morrowind or a good legislative sim: https://youtu.be/4zTl5Xx2KeM

18. https://youtu.be/lRWmVHOPHXI

https://youtu.be/utnTBn8X41Y

Keep it Pure and Timeless. Keep those that are a threat to this integrity of non-allegory, outside or out of here.

< >

Showing 1-15 of 33 comments

MrDecember

Oct 14, 2024 @ 10:20pm

TES6 needs something, but NOT this: https://youtu.be/Bi51-wjcwp8

“This man must have darkest secret on Howard for him to still be employed”

“This is so revealing into how Emil just makes stuff up as he goes.
‘Yea so the Dark Brotherhood is like the dark Catholic Church because Sithis is God and the Night Mother is
Mary.’
‘Okay...is there anything else?’
‘So I grew up in Boston-‘
‘Oh I guess not...’
‘-and I was scared of this Irish mobster when I was a kid and that's how I wrote for the institute.’
‘Emil, how does that relate to the Synths and Shaun's goals and-‘
‘Yea so you can create the Irish mobster and play as him. Anyway on to my 3rd point.’”

“This dude is Starfield writer & design director.
Well... that explain a lot.”

“‘Don't bother writing a good story for a movie, the audience is just going to eat popcorn and whisper to each other.’”

“‘The main theme of Fallout 4 is suspicion. Is this person sitting next to me human’
-Writer of a game in which decisions don't matter, so you have no reason to fear or suspect anyone.”

“In short: If you want to become a great writer, listen to all of his advice and do the exact opposite.“

Yeah.

MrDecember

Oct 15, 2024 @ 5:46pm

Yeah.

The Emil Pagliarulo Duality Theorem Explained (Just because the “Steam Sale” impulse buyer won’t see your story 200% does not mean it won’t stop the treasured few from digging for its deepness rather than be content with its one and a half layers of deepity — Look at the BioShock series, the original Deus Ex, the Old Bungie Games including the Halo Trilogy, the cut vanilla Destiny 1 story [how people were initially confused and then felt duped without it to this day] and especially The Elder Scrolls universe): https://youtu.be/SsO2clwGKB8
20:54 When someone like this guy tells a better argument of why story matters in games and how it can be best communicated to the gamers than Emil Pagliarulo in his little conference presentation, then something has to be repaired cuz it’s broke: https://youtu.be/rxOKEsBx4NU?t=1254
42:10 The only time IRL politics was handled/done right in games and even MORE: https://youtu.be/tffX3VljTtI?t=2530
1:48 Why Deus Ex is called Deus Ex. In this case, Mr. Pagliarulo are the Greeks and Romans rn: https://youtu.be/STaH1V5btIE?t=108
Nothing today can quite match up to its legacy, it’s quite legendary in every future development with the same forces involved: https://youtu.be/IlG1sh98Cxg

MrDecember

Oct 15, 2024 @ 5:53pm

In conclusion, this is WHAT The Elder Scrolls 6 NEEDS the MOST right now — more than ever: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/warren-spectors-commandments-of-game-design

“Warren Spector's Commandments of Game Design”

Also known as:
— “The RPG Manifesto”
— “The RPG Commandments.“

MrDecember

Nov 16, 2024 @ 1:55pm

The ONE thing that will solve A LOT of problems overnight, same for Xbox, is that:

Bethesda Game Studios needs ACTUAL GAMERS, of the male teen demographic (— the affectionate “dude bro” attitude), the only kind of culture in the world to ever make the glorious mistake that was the marketing for Daikatana.

Not “players.”

https://youtu.be/MbyVZp2ncY4 “I want my character to become the manifestation of a cool character from a grimdark franchise I seen!” vs. “I want the character to literally look like me. Yippee!”

That’s the microcosm of a pesky and stubborn misunderstanding that’s making gaming less golden.

MrDecember

Dec 16, 2024 @ 6:16pm

Setting aside the cringeworthy plastic humor of the early 2010s, this is why Bethesda’s games, from Oblivion to Skyrim, are unironically celebrated as “masterpieces” despite their all-too-familiar and inevitable imperfections of bugs and other jank. https://youtu.be/frChNKiMveE