Wait, ok not literally. But I just mention it because those three movies managed to span everything from hardcoe geeks loving them to average audiences ponying up their money to see it, to the tune of one of the highest grossing franchises (at the box office) ever at almost 3+ billion dollars, and counting with the imminent release of The Hobbit (parts 1 and 2).

So why do I mention this? BecauseThe Lord of the Rings was a huge risk, full of people trying to push something that had never been done before (a box office blockbuster about fantasy??? That was like spinning cement into gold before the first movie came out.) The people who made it took years and years, starting as early as 1997 to begin production on the movies. It was, as far as I know, the longest major movie production in history. Spanning almost 5 years before the first movie came out, and almost 7 before The Return of the King landed in theaters.

And yet Skyrim took a mere 3 years, a game nominally twenty times as long as all 3 LOTRings movie combined, and it really shows. The only real reward it has won is for marketing. And while deserved I'd not be honest if I didn't say even those people who portend to love the game could have gotten a much, much better one. So, the only real thing I want for "another" Elderscrolls game is for those who work on it to feel really involved, to feel passionate, to take however long they want to make what they think is the absolute best game ever made; or at least the absolute best game they could have possibly made in this reality. I'm fairly certain that, more than anything, is what would deliver a truly great game.

Well, I have to say that, for all its faults, I thought Bethesda invested far more love and attention into the making of Skyrim than they put into Oblivion. I have always felt that Bethesda was on auto-pilot when they made Oblivion.

Is possible if Beth only use the pc platform but if they use the consoles then all the graphical tech and whatnot will handicap this vision of yours. The consoles are making great strides though, and I'm pretty sure in the near future the console hardware will be much much more powerful than it is today.

I agree. All things considered, Skyrim is still a TES game and it shows on multiple levels.

This is one of the big problems that people make when they look at the video game industry. Movie Development is nothing like Game development.

There are fundamentals, such as risk, that are similar...but other then that most of the development cycle and potential market is different. Movie budgets are bigger, are owned by bigger companies and able to take more risks, if a big movie flops oftetn the production company can still get a good amount back from strong marketing and later on DVD sales and TV sales. If a big game flops, well basically in this market the company goes bust.

For example, if Skyrim, with all that time and money had completely failed, Bethesda would be a sinking boat now and ZeniMax would go under very quickly.

I agree
Not quite my favourite TES game but still very good
Skyrim got 3 years of development which for the videogame industry is a long time
If EA owned Bethesda instead of Zenimax I dread to think how rushed it would've been

You see that mountain? You can climb it! For just ￡8 in the day one DLC package.

At the end of the day we don't decide what is or is not a TES game. That would be the developers. Anything more than that is personal opinion.

Honestly, i've liked every single TES game so far. I may have liked them for different reasons, and (post-Daggerfall) there has always been the lore layer in books, npc conversations and so forth. I liked Arena for what it spawned, and the iconic locations off the staff pieces, plus the combat is actually quite fun once you geta grasp of it. Daggerfall was interesting for the more political story, some of the more shadowy and supernatural characters, the introduction of books, same fun combat as Arena, and just generally a fun game. I liked Morrowind for the story, though I somewhat disliked the combat, and it felt like a step back in that regard. ALMSIVI were awesome, the lore was facinating, and there were many other interesting characters. Vvardenfell was a deeply interesting setting, as was Sosltheim, and Mournhold. Basically, the rest made up for the combat.

In Oblivion I have to admit I really like it, and in gameplay and setting prefer it over Morrow. And before anyone points it out, I did play Morrowind first. Vvardenfell was interesting; but Cyrodiil is a beautiful setting, and the combat was a big improvement on its predecessor. It was also nice to be spoken to by NPCs. I enjoyed the various Guilds greatly, the rumors, and the new books. Shivering Isles was a masterpiece. However, the animations svcked and the characters were rather ugly. But hell, with how dated Morrowind looked byt hat point at the time they seemed pretty good.

Skyrim is a perfect blend of the things I loved about Morrowind, Daggerfall and Oblivion. I love the Thu'um and hope it will be modded into any future TES games. I like a few of the characters, such as Ulfric and Paarthunax, but I can't say that pre-DLC there are as many memorable characters. I like what has been doen with the Daedric Princes. However, the weakness for me this time around is actually the landscape. Snow and mountains are my least favorite landscape for gaming, so only small sections of the Skyrim map really appeal. What they have done is beautiful, just not my favorite style. Also, they dropped the ball on the factiosn this time around, except perhaps the DB, but no suprise there. Still, the overall game is amazing, so I can live with it. Also, the radiant system has given the game a life for a roleplayer that just wasn't there for the other games.

I also loved Fallout 3. But this isn't about that.

Basically, i've liked/loved every TES iteration so far. Generally Bethesda give off (especally if you watch the making of vids) a genuine love and passion for their games, and thats rare these days. Its something companies like Bioware have lost in my opinion. I really don't feel they deserve the flack they get game-by-game. Still even people who arn't super-impressed still 'like' their games so it isn't somethignt hat should bother me really. =)

The success of Skyrim and cahs it brought in, plus the radient system, may make Fallout 4 into somethng truly special.

Oddly enough, I feel that aside from two areas, the reverse is true.

Skyrim has more attention obviously given to locations, and the daedric quests took a step up.

The NPCs, however, are too bland to be bothered remembering them, and the average side-quest feels like it's much less developed than in Oblivion. Don't get me started on the rest of the game.

in skyrim the artists poured gheir heart and soul into, the writers...seemed to be half asleep auyopilot. Really the only beef I have with skyrim would be the writing, quest design, and overhaul the perk system. I had fun with it.

But tbh,, the direction they went with skyrim even though its fun, im actually a bit scared on what they gonna do with it. They gonna scrap the atrobutes and go back to fo3 style? Or are they gonna do the smart thing and develope the landscap and location and bring obsidian back for story...is the level up system gonna feel like fallout and will I still be judged by my stats?

Would love to see the lvling instead of int given so many skill points just go woth tes style where u do something to lvl it up instead of throwing points in and int could be the determining factor on if a computer is hackable.

I really wish they'd just throw Fallout 4 at Obsidian.

1) It's going to get in the way of TES VI, and I'd rather not have to wait for FO4 to be developed first.
2) NV was pretty damned good, aside from the relatively small world and invisible walls everywhere.

As far as TES goes, I loved the hell out of Morrowind but I find it hardest to go back and play. I can even get by Oblivion's goofy level scaling, but for some reason just can't get very far back into MW. I think part of it is the fact I've never enjoyed TES' leveling system, and though I love RPGs in general (especially pen and paper) Skyrim tossing the whole thing out was actually for the best. The writing could use some work - but that's something all three needed in areas. Yeah, Morrowind had a lot of great and memorable characters and quests, but it also had a bunch of signpost NPCs and the same fetch/kill/escort stuff the other two games do.

I don't think very TES is LOTR at all. I don't see Nords and Bretons in LOTR. I don't see the elven races very similar. I think TES is just real-world mythology / folk lore based. LOTR just happens to also be mythology based as all successful fantasy lore.

If anything I'd say TES is more in competition with the world famous Warhammer universe.

I mostly have to agree with this post even in its details, except I happen to like snowy mountains as a setting and found many of Skyrim's characters (Balgruuf, Irileth, Wylandriah, Elisif, Elenwen, and many, many others I don't have room to list) pretty memorable and for the right reasons, being interesting characters. But yes, the Elder Scrolls series is interesting for what it is, and any attempt to copy Lord of the Rings or any other fantasy setting/work is just going to make it look like a copy. The inspiration it took early on was enough.

It would be a dream come true to have a LOTR themed TES.