Which Province Do You Want TES VI to be in?, Pick one Options

[King Of Beasts]

Chose one and discuss it.


Anyway.....

I think it would be pretty cool if TES VI was set in Black Marsh or Elsweyr. Both places seem awesom and somewhat mysterious....though I'd prefer black marsh.

This post has been edited by King Of Beasts: Jan 15 2013, 12:32 AM

[SubRosa]

I guess in comparison to most long-running games, TES doesn't have as much as a following as I thought.

The early TES games were not really big sellers. They were not a top tier gaming company back then, but rather a plucky new kid on the block noted for doing what no one else would: making huge open sandbox games where the world itself was the main focus, rather than just being the scenery you looked at as you went down the linear path the game's plot forced you upon. Morrowind was their first big success, and it got them a lot of real attention because of how it broke from the generic Western Europe Medieval style setting that so predominates Western RPGs. Before then they were actually on shaky ground. That is why they released little miniature games like Redguard and Battlespire between Daggerfall and Morrowind.

But while Morrowind got them noticed, it was Oblivion that made them a top level game company. It made tons more money than Morrowind. But the interesting thing is, they did not try to repeat making an exotic, alien landscape again. While it got them critical acclaim and a small legion of zealous fanboys, Morrowind also turned off a lot of potential gamers as well. For every person I have seen praise Morrowind for being more momentous than the creation of the Universe, I have also seen another say that it was just too weird for them to handle.

I think Bethesda was paying a lot of attention to that crowd, because Oblivion went back to the old formula of the "standard" 13th Western Europe with magic setting that the games before Morrowind had. And let's face it, that brought a lot more people in. They tried to flirt with exoticness once more with the Shivering Isles expansion. But while it garnered a lot of praise from some people, once again it completely alienated others.

Their follow ups have been Fallout 3, which is your standard post-apocalyptic setting that everyone in the world knows by heart. Then Skyrim, which is your basic fantasy world that everyone knows by heart. They did at least remove some of the genericness by putting some emphasis on a pseudo Norse setting. But it is still close enough to what people expect that no one was weirded out. Vikings, dragons, etc... are not going to surprise anyone after all.

I believe that Shivering Isles is the last time that Bethesda will try to experiment with an unusual setting. For the past decade or so every game they have made that was easily accessible to a mass audience has made them more and more money. Skyrim's sales have been phenomenal, to the point where it became a pop culture reference, something Morrowind and Oblivion never achieved. Sky brought in a huge crowd of people who had never played an ES game before. I am sure Todd Howard's toilets are now all made from solid gold. Probably his underwear too. Given how much money they have made from making the games more accessible, I cannot imagine they would risk that to make something wild and edgy once more. I am not saying that to bust their chops either. Video games are a business, same as any other. A business has to make money, or it dies. So of course they are going to do whatever they can to be as profitable as they can.

- I heard somewhere that Xenimax has a trademark on the name Redguard that they have already renewed more than once. Since their last trademark names (Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn) resulted in DLC it is logical to assume that Hammerfell will be visited as DLC for Skyrim, which makes a stand-alone game redundant.

- I stand with ‘Rosa on the Summerset Isles/Alinor. I hope they leave it alone unless they decide to really go for it like they did with Morrowind.

- Valenwood is my personal pick for two reasons: First the idea of getting vertical in an Elder Scrolls game again! Valenwood would give Bethesda an excuse to explore a climbing mechanic similar to what Assassin’s Creed gives us. You couldn’t create a land of such extraordinary trees and then not give us the ability to climb them! Which brings me to my second reason . . . once I reach the upper terraces of said trees I want to look down and see those stuck on the ground devoured in the fury of the Wild Hunt!

Nice to have you back Destri! Hope you have been well during your interregnum from Chorrol...

Bethesda/Xenimax has been renewing the trademark on Redguard for a while now. They have to or else they will lose the rights to it. So it could mean they are going to make a Redguard dlc for Skyim. Or it could just be that they want to make sure they keep the legal rights in case they want to make a future Hammerfell game, even years from now. Only time will really tell.

Valenwood stands a good chance for another reason. It is basically a big forest. Not hard to make, and something easily accessible to the general public. No one is going to be shocked by a fantasy setting that mostly consists of trees. Hammerfell I think is a likely one because as far as the general public is concerned, it's just 1001 Arabian Nights. Lots of sand, some curly pointed shoes, curved swords (they have curved swords...), nothing that will blow anyone's mind like the giant mushroom trees of Pelagiad or Mania.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jan 15 2013, 04:40 AM