The Ultimate TES game, What would you like to see Bethesda do? Options

[Vital]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but it's not directly related to Skyrim, Oblivion or any of the older games and is a general discussion about an RPG series (The Elder Scrolls) so it seemed the best fit

Just to clarify: This is not a "Which TES game is the best" thread. It is a thread to discuss the various features seen in any of the TES games, whether you liked them or not, how they could've been done better, why they should've left them out, what they should've had instead/as well, etc etc...

Ultimately it is a discussion about what would be the ideal Elder Scrolls Game in your opinion and how Bethesda could combine all the failures and successes of the previous games in order to create this. If you're already happy with one game, how could it be made better? (It can't be perfect )

Feel free to talk about different mods and games other than TES and how these could be implemented into the game as well.


To start:

I personally would love to see a combination of Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim (these being the only TES games I've played in depth) put into one game. The alien environment, number of factions, lack of hand-holding and so on from Morrowind, combined with the brilliant questlines and general feel (I can't explain this one but it just.... is) of Oblivion and the better combat, crafting and mechanical superiority of Skyrim.

This is just a brief description of some of the things I would like to see. I could write a 30 page essay on this and if this thread gets response I will put more stuff up. Anyway, what are you guy's thoughts?

[Vital]

Callidus,

I think there needs to be some restriction to guild membership. If you join an organisation like the DB or Legion then I think you would be completely bound to that one faction, the FG and MG may let you be a member of each but eventually you should have to choose.


I always imagined the legion battle-mages as a sort of heavy support. Not as far from the action as the archers but not right in the thick of the action like the infantry. In Skyrim only two legion battlemages are seen in the entire game (as far as I know) and they use destruction magic to fire at a dragon. The MG is responsible for all use of magic in Tamriel, whereas there are various legal fighter organisations/mercenary groups in Tamriel separate from the FG. A battlemage uses a lot of magic and so the MG would want some control, I'd think. As I said before, a sector in the MG specifically for battlemages would be quite good.


I agree that attributes and majors/minors should be brought back. But I think the system should be slightly altered so I don't have to select majors I will never use in order to balance my levelling. As for failing spells and attacks; spells yes, melee/ranged attacks no. I know its not realistic to pick up a sword or bow and suddenly hit the target every time, but its less realistic to swing right at something and see your sword connect without any effect, IMO.

[Callidus Thorn]

Callidus,

I think there needs to be some restriction to guild membership. If you join an organisation like the DB or Legion then I think you would be completely bound to that one faction, the FG and MG may let you be a member of each but eventually you should have to choose.

I agree, there needs to be a restriction, but I don't think it needs to be on joining. The Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild are both supposed to be clandestine organizations, so why should everyone automatically know you're a member? And since the duties of the Mages and Fighters Guilds don't overlap, it's not like they're competing, so they wouldn't have an issue with each other.

I think the restriction needs to be on how high you can advance in a guild, based off the character's, and player's, skills. The Fighters Guild could determine advancement through trial by combat. House rules of no magic or potions, and they provide the equipment for the fights. The Mages Guild could require you to cast various spells at various mastery levels to prove you're qualified, with the Arch-Mage needing to be a master off all the schools of magic. The Thieves Guild could have obstacle courses: traps to disarm, locks to pick or keys to steal, silent movement sections and the like, again without the use of magic/potions/enchantments, getting harder and harder as you progress through the ranks. And the Dark Brotherhood could dish out missions like in Oblivion, with a bonus for completing them in certain ways, and use the bonuses to determine if you qualify for advancement.

That way you need to be skilled to advance through the guilds, without relying on the blunt number crunching of Morrowind, and the blocks on advancement seem much more natural. Sure, with enough effort you might be able to become the master off all the guilds, but it's going to take a hell of a lot of effort to do so.

I always imagined the legion battle-mages as a sort of heavy support. Not as far from the action as the archers but not right in the thick of the action like the infantry. In Skyrim only two legion battlemages are seen in the entire game (as far as I know) and they use destruction magic to fire at a dragon. The MG is responsible for all use of magic in Tamriel, whereas there are various legal fighter organisations/mercenary groups in Tamriel separate from the FG. A battlemage uses a lot of magic and so the MG would want some control, I'd think. As I said before, a sector in the MG specifically for battlemages would be quite good.

I don't see any reason why a fighter/mage type character shouldn't be able to join both the Fighters and Mages Guilds, since they clearly fall into both categories. And a seperate section for battlemages is a terrible idea in my opinion, just because it caters to one very specific type of character.

I agree that attributes and majors/minors should be brought back. But I think the system should be slightly altered so I don't have to select majors I will never use in order to balance my levelling. As for failing spells and attacks; spells yes, melee/ranged attacks no. I know its not realistic to pick up a sword or bow and suddenly hit the target every time, but its less realistic to swing right at something and see your sword connect without any effect, IMO.

The problem with Morrowind's combat was mostly a lack of animation for misses. If you actually see the enemy dodge, or the blow slide off their armour, I don't see why missing in melee combat shouldn't make a comeback. As for balancing leveling and selection of majors, that's more of an issue with level scaling than one of attributes. And part of it goes to flaws in the gameworld design, like how in vanilla Oblivion everything pretty much stops at level 25, and beyond that enemies simply become damage sponges.