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?

[gpstr]

@haute ecole rider - I just have to say that I DETEST Arthmoor's Alternative Start. I used it on one character with whom I had no intention of playing the MQ and ended up essentially forced into it when the old guy showed up and forced a note onto him, then turned the guilt screws on him to get him to go to the prison. With the way that Arthmoor handled that whole process, it was literally impossible to entirely avoid the MQ and essentially impossible for any reasonably decent character to even turn it down. That mod actually puts even MORE pressure on the character to do the MQ than the vanilla game does. I think it's a terrible mod and I wish I'd never used it - it ruined that character.

That out of my system - I like the idea of a linear "main quest" main game and roleplaying DLC. It's sort of a shame to consider having to buy additional content just to get an RPG, but at this point, that might be the only option (other than an indie game). As I've noted, there's just no way that mainstream publishers are going to put out a complex and nuanced game - they have to be guaranteed a profit, and the only thing that's guaranteed to be profitable at that level is failure is not an option vanilla with a coating of flash and dazzle.

@Winter Wolf - D&D is just one approach to roleplaying. I certainly don't want to see something as innately creative as roleplaying constrained to the standards that were set by one form of it, no matter what that one form might be. By its very nature, roleplaying is virtually unlimited. I see nothing to be gained by imposing traditionalist limitations on it - by, for instance, barring "mages" from using "armor" because that's what D&D did. The only things I care about as far as anything like that goes are variety, balance and internal logic. I couldn't care less what the specifics are, just so long as the reality that's being created is internally consistent and amenable to a variety of effective characters.

@Acadian - I agree wholeheartedly. I have no problem at all with some manner of limitations - with the sorts of things you've done with Buffy - because those make sense to me. By their nature, characters who specialize, and particularly characters who specialize in difficult fields, should have limited abilities in other fields if for no other reason than just because they don't have the time and energy left over to dedicate enough effort to those other fields to get good at them too. But the idea that there's some sort of force that somehow entirely prevents a character from one "class" from even being able to handle a weapon or item that's somehow designated for some other "class" just makes no sense at all to me.