When I read an interview with Bethesda about the future of thier games and they said "We will think about making a new TES game when we get fresh new ideas" I thought "what a dumb ass", storys are easy to come up with.

So looking at oblivion, which was about as generic as you can get, can you think of a better story for future TES games, or just a better story over all?

Can you come up with a better story than Bethesda, A story that you will want to play again and again?

Just one idea I had:

Do you have a link to that interview?

Nah, that interview was way old, like just after they finished Oblivion.

Oblivions story was quite weak in comparison to games like Final Fantasy, or The Witcher which was basically ALL story, But those games are quite linear, to a point.

The Final Fantasy games have a very linear story, but about half way through most FF games, you can bugger off and go play minigames or visit other towns, or follow other quests.

But this thread isnt about that. its about coming up with better stories than Oblivion.

Oblivion's story was bad. As was Morrowind's.
Truth be told, it doesn't matter.
You don't come to The Elder Scrolls for story, or for exploration. You come to make a character.

I come for all three including lore(which is a part of story). I liked Morrowinds MQ better than Oblivion though I hated the third trial test.

Are we talking about story ideas for TES: V?
Or ways they could improve the story for TES: IV? (I think it's this one)
I think this belongs http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1066038

But maybe not.

I think a new story should start of with a man who was accused (or falsely accused) of *insert major crime here*
Then when you finish the tutorial and get out of jail, your first mission is to visit an old friend at a pub. Either that, or you just wanna go to a pub.
Then the bartender/friend asks you about what you were accused of, and you tell him (there will be choices which affect the story).

Then depending on whether you did the crime or not, and what crime you did, the friend will help you out later in the main quest.

And at the moment, the only story I could think of is a group of people rebelling against the main law force of the region. Or maybe even a civil war.
You choose which side to take part on and stuff like that...

Not the best idea, but the first thing that came to mind :shrug: . I may add new ideas later.

I dont play games just for the sake of leveling up, thats why I hate those Korean MMO's like Silk Road. I play games for thier story content, well at least the first time. I dont know how many times I've played Final Fantasy VIII, or Half Life 2, But I play those games cause I love the story. I played Oblivion for so long because I liked the immersion, but I didnt give a rats ass about the story after play it through the first time.

How can we come up with a better story than Bethesda, A story that you will want to play again and again?

story ideas

Sorry but that sounds realy realy boring. Lets think outside the box. Also thats not a story, thats just a very basic setting for a story.

Two completely different departments.

Lore makes the setting which is integral to a great story.

Lore doesnt make the story. Lore is the story before the story. You can have thousands of years of Lore but you can still have a crap story for the main game, like that of Oblivion.

lore is everything prior to the story, the events that happen during the story which effects what happen after the story.

Morrowinds lore was interesting. Everything that has happened afterwards with Oblivion has been boring in terms of lore it scraps politics and other cultures of Tamriel just to focus on Daedra

So.. lets come up with a better story.

let me brainstorm for a while. ill be back later.


hopefully this thread doesnt get closed

A good deep story with complex politics, plottwists with unexpected betrayals and so on take a lot of time to make. It's not something I would be able to do very well, no. Not in the time it takes to write this post anyway

And I think the Oblivion story was good, although it would probably been better suited for another kind of game. The game story was very urgent, one had to hurry to close the portals and save the empire, yet at the same time is TES a series that allow the player to take a break from the main quest and do other things, so in reality it wasn't urgent at all.

I really liked the complex story in Daggerfall though, and would gladly see something similiar yet different

No better story this is epic and tops anything else good luck trying tho lol

Are they? Look at all of he stories that have been written over the countless years of Earth. Coming up with a good, original story is anything but easy.


I would not be so quick to call the guy a dumb ass, he would not have gotten the job if he was a dumb ass.


Congratulations, you just came up with Fable only with a few alterations.


But that's exactly what you did.

So you want to compare a sandbox game to a story game, and then call the story from a sandbox game weaker than the story of a story game?

The best thing about Oblivion is the LACK of story...youc an go out and make your own. If you don't like that, go play a story game.

We have all the time in the world.

So what kind of complex pilitics?, who betreys you?, Are you saving the world from something? do you have to become a hero?

e.g. A holy Man, from the blackmarsh rises in ranks of his monestary to find out that his best ferind has joined the preists of tor who are a zealous bunch and seek to wipe out the existancew of your religion, then you find out his freinds mind is being controlled by a dark evil power and the preists of tor are all brainwashed into taking over the world... along the way they meet a Murlock named Goblin and nine Barcelet Boogymen....

Just so you know Damuncha im writing assuming that the game takes place in Skyrim and shortly after the events of the novel. Since the second novel hasnt been released yet ill have to use my imagination and assume Umbriel is gone and the Imperial city is still intact.

I don't know if it'll how polished I can make it but im going to take my time and think through some things as well as do some research to make sure it doesnt contradict any lore.

but...thats the plot from that Dungeon Siege movie.

There's no reason for a game to not have a good story just because it's a sandbox game.

The game begins with you riding a amongst a group of traveling merchants towards the city of Whiterun , an imperial allied city state, with your good friend Ramus whom you work with(character creation). You’re a member of the Penitus Oculatus and you’ve been sent by the emperor to Skyrim for reasons that will be told to you once you reach the city. A cold wind blows lowering visibility even more in the as snow begins to fall. You tightly wrap your cloak around you when your group is ambushed by bandits killing the whole caravan leaving you and Ramus unconscious.

When you regain consciousness you find yourself lying in bed with your friend sitting next to you. He tells that you two are lucky to be alive. The Oculatus sent out scouts searching for them since hadn’t arrived on time and managed to kill off most of the bandits. Your friend instructs you get up and walk around a bit so he can make sure you didn’t forget anything(tutorial). Seeing as you are okay, a man walks in, smiles and introduces himself as Colin, head of the operation going on in Skyrim. He briefs you two on what your mission is telling both of you that in a few days a conference will be held in the city state of Winter Hold. There primary function of the conference is for Winter Hold and Solitude to forge an alliance against the Mede empire as well as foster relations with the Dunmer of Morrowind since they are pivotal in helping Skyrim keep the empire from expanding north. Other participants from High Rock and Hammerfell are present as well.

Colins informs you two that the meeting must be stopped since an alliance between the three primary factions could pose a threat against the empire if it comes to fruitation. In order to help achieve this he tells you two that emperor wants relations to break down so that the Nords cease talks with the Dunmer and Winter Hold and Solitude begin fighting each other. It won’t be until after this has been achieved that the empire can begin making its move against Skyrim. He instructs Ramus to help stir up unrest in the other city states and towns to weaken the province. As for you, he informs you a sect of Nords who believe that Shor will punish the Nords if they try to help the Dunmer. The sect has become more zealous as the meeting day approaches and that you should use them to your advantage to end relations with the Dunmer. As for the two city states he suggests infiltrating the conference and trying to see if any bad blood exists between any of the aristocracy to manipulate the outcome of the meeting. Handing you both 400 Septims(?) he sends you two on your way.



Alternate outcome: You quickly learn that Ramus is a double agent working for the good of the two City states. They are aware of the empires presence in the province and were the reasons why the bandits attacked and are conspiring to assassinate prince who is under the protection of the Penitus Oculatus in Whiterun. The empires goal was to begin operations as soon as war broke out between the two city states. Instead of killing Ramus and ending the conspiracy you join up with him to help carry out the mission.



The last part felt kind of rushed since I didn’t feel like writing out that scenario in depth.

I hope what I wrote is tolerable for a story idea.

I’ll see what the guys on the suggestion thread think.

Nice. My only concern is it creates problems for an Imperial character (unless he's going to betray the empire). It sounds like you're setting up for a war with the Empire... but if you're an Imperial loyalist, without some convenient change of beliefs, you could be forced out of the story before long.