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?

[Thomas Kaira]

It's rather unfortunate, but the trend for the entire previous generation of RPGs has been about removing choice. Only, instead of the linear option where you can only do one thing and nothing else, instead you can just do everything from the word go. No need to specialize, no need to plan ahead, no need to exercise that brain. It's a bad trend, and I'd like to see the adult game market return to asking you to think about things.

So, what would I want to see in my ideal TES game? Well, a lot of things, but let's start on one of the most critical aspect of an RPG: the stats and abilities of your character.

1. A more complex stat system. Skyrim was over-simplified in my eyes, as it only had two stat systems. The primary attributes, which you increased by a flat 10 points every time you level up, and the skills, which improve as you use them. But the actual meat of the game was not in the stats, it was the perks you pick every time you leveled up. It was to the point where the stats of your skill didn't actually mean much because the perks far outclassed what you could do through practicing your skills alone. I'd like to see this reversed. However, perk points would be refundable, as they represent your character's skill style. If you want to change styles, you should be allowed to do so.

2. I'd also like to see the old style attributes returned, but handled differently:
>Instead of choosing three attributes to increase every time you level up, with the amounts determined by your skill usage, you'd get a flat 5 attribute points instead that you could allocate however you wanted.
>As you improve your attributes, you will gain traits, which are minor passive abilities based on the attribute. For example, as your strength improves, you would gain traits that reduce stamina drain from holding a drawn arrow, or allows you to swing two-handed weapons faster, or gives you some extra carry capacity.
>Attribute points would be hard-capped at 250, though, so you would only be able to max out about three attributes.
>These points are non-refundable, as they represent your character's base abilities.

3. The perks themselves would be less about improving your skills and more about augmenting them. Things like unlocking new attacks with weapons or being able to do something you weren't able to do before. Things like "deal 10% more damage with bows" would be moved to traits, while perks like "you can zoom in while drawing a bow" would remain perks. To help reinforce the point, each skill would have multiple paths you can take up the perk trees to represent different playstyles. Take for example archery.
> There would be two paths, the skirmisher's path and the ranger's path. Skirmisher style would emphasize quick shooting with little thought given towards where the arrow is actually going to land, so the perks would be along these lines:
a. Quick-draw: You can draw your bow 20% faster.
b. Fleet of foot: You can move faster while you are holding an arrow at knock.
c. Rapid-draw: Immediately drawing a new arrow after firing will draw your bow 50% faster.
d. Rapid-fire: Firing your arrow as soon as it is fully drawn will deal 20% more damage.
e. Skirmisher's Intuition: Firing an arrow as soon as it is fully drawn reduces aim spread by 50%.

>Then there's the ranger's path, which emphasizes taking your time and lining up your shots.
a. Eagle-eye: You can zoom in while your bow is drawn.
b. Focused eye: The longer you hold your aim, the more accurate your shot will be, to a maximum of 50% less spread.
c. Focused aim: The longer you hold your aim, the more damaging your shot will be, to a maximum of 50% greater damage.
d. Slowed pace: Zooming in will slow time.
e. Ranger's intuition: you can see the arc your arrow will fly.