Would you like it if Bethesda starts to make continuous 'add on's after the release of TES V? I mean just like some modders, they can add new quests from time to time and add new places like new provinces and new missions in those new places? ( I mean just like online games such as warcraft) And may be the name of the game be 'TES Universe' instead of 'TES V- Something'. Then after enough time all provinces could be visitable. Do you think this is possible?

I think a more reasonable possibility would be to import characters from previous games to the next rather than accomplish what you're suggesting - though it would admittedly still be very difficult. While I would certainly love for your idea to be a possibility, the difficulties are numerous and perhaps even prohibitive. Here are just a few that seem immediately apparent to me.

-They would have to commit to a locked-in gameplay system (which they have yet to go from one game to the next without major alterations)
-The game engine would have to updated periodically, which means coding a mechanism for implementing unforseen advancements in engine/graphics technology
-Their revenue strategy would have to be rethought. I would personally feel ripped off to pay a full game price for basically an add-on, but Bethesda has to somehow keep the lights on at the same time - and subscriptions are lame. It would cause my abandonment of the series entirely.


As I think about it, though, if they could commit to the same gameplay system, then new releases could simply "upgrade" all the previous games' content and graphics with the latest version. I would pay full price for this, but there is still a minefield of hidden technicalities that this would still be difficult to pull off. Besides, they've said in the past how they like to reinvent their games so this is still pretty much zero possibility.

They did this with SI expansion pack but 'continuous expansions' could be cool... New guild missions, new arena fights...etc. Or new armor types, weapon types in new dungeons. I could prefer such a neverending game instead of completely new games with completely new universes under the name of TES.

The biggest obstacle is the engine, even with some sort of code updating installer, it would be very difficult to implement radical changes, meaning they would be giving us a white board to start with, vanilla will be given a whole new definition.

I would like one expansion and perhaps some smaller add-ons in the form of DLC, but no, I don't want a game to keep being extended through add-ons. The add-on content would constantly be held back by the current game's system and new provinces would be interesting to explore, but it wouldn't be fair to those provinces to only be add-ons. New games should be developed after an expansion for the previous game.

Depends how good TESV ends up being. One thing I love about Bethesda is that every game they try really hard to improve upon the faults of the previous game. So, if TESV has very few gameplay faults, faults that will just be corrected in free patches, I could see this happening and being a good thing. But, if there is still room for improvement in TESV, then they should probably do another game. But continous add-ons and patches might be kind of cool. Like a never-ending saga or an offline mmo.

I'd be fine with it but it would definitely be better with absolutely different games started from scratch so they can take it to the next level each time.

I think that it would be more practical to simply have the data from previous games (all of it minus the MQ, and make the armor look like the modern stuff) exportable to current games.

It's be cool if they did a re-texture of Morrowind and essentially translated the game to run (mechanically) exactly like Oblivion (I'd actually prefer it the other way around, but I doubt Beth would back track that far).

Also, they could then translate this OB/MW mutant into all of the engines used in for the next game (presumably Skyrim).

Or, they could make downgraded versions of TES V available, that will run on OB's level (preserving the OB MQ and scuffing the new one).

The main reason you would have to get rid of the MQs of all but the "dominant" (the one who's engines and mechanics will be used) to avoid lore and date conflicts.

Yes, that would not be that hard for Beth to do. Some mods already do this but have been killed because they aren't exactly legal, so its not that difficult.

Every expansion of TES felt to me like an afterthought.

While a lot of effort seems to go into them, it also seems that devs start taking too many liberties by relaxing lore and allowing too much humour in place of depth.

I haven't had any experience with add ons (DLC and such), but from what i've heard from others it mainly revolves around inconsequentials such as weapon and armour.

My personal feeling is that apart from bug fixes, i want to play the game as it was originally made, warts and all.

Edit: Also, i have nothing but trepidation for standalone, add on quest lines.

Getting close to all provinces being accessible, the team who released the new Elesweyr mod proved that. A German team is working on Skyrim, and various other modders on the other provinces

Only possible if Bethesda was willing to abandon consoles, I dont really have to explain the reasons for that do I?

Add-ons replace new games? No.

Add-ons alongside new games? Yes. YES!! Please!!

There's nothing appealing about a short little quest with new scenery, really... but there's a lot of appeal to a long quest with the same amount of new scenery. Give me something new and different, and long enough for it to be a journey, not an adventure.*

*journey implies a long duration. Adventures? Get cracking and see what ytou can see, be home for dinner.

Using FO3 as a basis, my favorite was Point Lookout. Because I lived there: trips out of PL were rare and only when I wanted to save a large amount of stuff back in my locker. Broken Steel was more essential to the game experience, but nothing approached PL's magnitude, IMO. The thing is that PL is still small. I want bigger areas and more stuff to do. Bethesda can't do that for the price point it used in FO3. That's why I favor at least one full expansion in addition to the DLC (and if they plan well, synergy would be awesome: it worked with Broken Steel and Point Lookout. Reavers in PL = death for me. And it was good. But we need more of that)

Shivering Isles for Oblivion is a wonderful expansion. That is what Bethesda should make for future TES games, in my opinion. However, expansions should not replace actual games.

[quote name='NoMaD81' post='15461297' date='Dec 25 2009, 04:21 PM']Would you like it if Bethesda starts to make continuous 'add on's after the release of TES V? I mean just like some modders, they can add new quests from time to time and add new places like new provinces and new missionscores of developer people to be able to make something that is typically above and beyond what most modders have the resources for. In other words: a large, full-length, complex game.

I don't like the prospect of constantly dribbling money out of my wallet to purchase things that will make the base game 'more complete' - I want it complete right off the bat. I do like expansions - and I mean REAL expansions, like they were 'in the old days' where you get at least half as much new content, play-time, and land-mass as the main game.

Also, one important aspect of releasing an entirely new game is that it provides the opportunity to have a new engine, update the game mechanics, and overall get a fresh start -- risky, but sometimes quite fruitful.

Being stuck to one engine, one gameplay mechanics, one style is very limiting. So definitely NO from me. I'd prefere new games. And if those add-ons were to improve the game engine itself (hard to imagine that, really) the modding community would suffer a great blow.

It's possible, but sounds tedious. I'm sure after a while gamers would want updated technology and a whole new gaming engine to play in. Plus devs would have to make sure the initial game stands well on its own without having to rely on DLCs to bolster it. Also, as a consumer, I'd make sure it's worth my money before I buy it.

Simple as say, hell freaken no. I prefer they make the game within that specific time line and make it 100% content and not scatter it to DLC-state. In other words, I want the whole pie, not paying full price for a slice. Province-wise, it wise that they stick with one province at a time and not make a bunch of province into one map. That way, one province per whole-game is a way to go.

Using modders as an example of the dev to put in quest one at a time is like comparing hobbyist and a job. The Dev are doing this in deadline and getting paid; modders have all the time of the world and make revision of their mods, not to mention they are doing it for free.


The dev are not going to waste their time on recreating their past game as long it is still being sold or given for free (like Arena/Dagerfall). With that said, the modders of both games pretty much added a hell lot more content since the release date of CS for Morrowind and Oblivion.

In fact it would be the still 'whole pie'. I am not talking about making uncomplete games. Think about several devs developing new content and adding it to Oblivion once in 6 months... Or one year. Every add-on will be like a new game. I saw that 'elsweyr' mod and I was really stunned. And as you said, they are just modders doing the work free... Think about professionals doing the same thing. It is like adding new games to the older one. And this way it will be a whole story after all provinces are added.

I dont mind if graphics are better or not because the story and deepness of the game is more important for me. Sometimes imagination does a better work than a graphics card. That's why there are lots of people who still like morrowind more than oblivion. On the other side positive changes are still important about a game and if they can be added with the new expansions, that would be awesome.

A big advantage of expansion packs is that they take less time to develop as the engine doesn't need to be rewritten but tweaked and it's a good way to expand already existing gameplay functions. Essentially you keep getting new content for your game.

A big disadvantage is that in many cases you're stuck with what's already present and if that feels broken or bad... tough luck.
For me one of those would be the design of the Beast Races as it just didn't feel right for me in Oblivion, having expansion packs would most likely mean they wouldn't make new animation sets and body designs for them but just re-use the already existing ones. So personally I'd be stuck with a design I just don't like with hardly a way to REALLY change it, most hope on that point is a actually NEW game.


However they could consider one thing, continuing free mini content add ons and "human computation". The modders did great work on the game and, in small ways, their works could be officially added into the game in some field if they're willing to "donate" it.
For example, the game could start out with a relatively basic library of ingredients, different things you can make out of them (powders, concentrated extracts...), chemical combinations and food you can make out of it, just enough to cover the game. Over time beth can make more ingredients, add more possible combinations and recipes, more meshes and different textures and put them together in mini add on packs.
The modders can come into play here too, when they create those they could OFFICIALLY submit them, the meshes, textures, functions and scripts can be reviewed (which I think would take less time than making them) and, if they are good, added into a official pack. For the modders each pack could contain a "credit" list with the contributing modders name. That way that part of the game can be extended continuously and there miiiight even be a chance this can be extended to the consoles.

Then I'd rather wait a year for the game to be release with all that stuff.

The elsweyr mod was all done with one person, within one/two year with alot of modder resources use up, and was able to get it updated when the time is needed. All this with the mesh, texture, animation, script, and what nots the game already provided for the modder to build on for the elsweyr mod. I rather doubt the professional have that much time to do one addon for that if they have other projects and publishing to worry about. Beside, I rather if they do a project, they do not just rush it within a 6 month - year bases but rather in years (3-6 years in fact) to make it decent.

And that still a "piece" of pie if ya do it that way. It does not do any justice to put the province as "addon" if all the culture, mission, quest, people, mobs, texture, meshes, weapons, leveling scale, and etc to be smush up to an addon to a continuing game and all done with in a short amount of time. If they going to make a province addon that takes a long time build (like 2 - 6 years), they might as well make a whole game base on it and that right there is a "whole" pie.


And I did not talk about graphics. There is a hell lot reason why people will choose Morrowind over Oblivion, and its not just about graphics (in fact with a certain program, Morrowind's graphics is equal or superior to Oblivion's). If they are going to add in expansions, I rather its done in a land base with content, like that from Morrowind's or Oblivion's, and not make it like a whole province (its too big for that) or small stuff like that of DLC from Fallout 3.

I'd have no objection to them just producing expansions to a game rather than a new game every few years providing the base game was good
After all a new game every few years means a lot of resources are put into redoing the same things (game mechanics, graphics etc) every few years
I can't see them doing it though. An expansion will only sell to people who bought the original game and liked it which will always be a smaller potential market than that for a new game

It's not as bad as it sounds, companies like Bethesda are usually able to remodel old work and integrate new work to make a brand new game. They have access to libraries of codes shared by other companies and the models are relatively easy to make. I would also like to say that they are probably keeping an eye on the modding community and are probably choosing certain popular qualities to add to the next game (e.g. harvest flora, i'm pretty sure they will add something similar in the next game)

I wish that was true for the beast races models and animations, if it would go by Oblivion and just expand we'd NEVER have a chance to see the more animal like styles again.