Ok, so as I have said before, I'm quite active in the GI Online community. Over the past year or so I have written two blogs on GI Online outlining my ideas/wishes for the next Elder Scrolls game. When Skyrim was announced, I updated and complied my two past lists into one massive list and posted it to the GI blog page. The list is quite long, and I'll show you it in a minute, but first you should see this quote:

"Solid list, I think that Bethesda has you covered for most of these."

That's a comment GI staffer Ben Hanson left on my blog.

And without further ado, here's my ideas:

1.) MORE ARTIFACTS. For those of you who picked up a copy of Tamrielic Lore while playing Oblivion, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I want to be able to get every item in that book and more. I want my character to be able to possess every artifact Tamriel has ever seen.

2.) MORE WEAPONS/ARMOR/CLOTHING ETC. Besides artifacts, I want to see a wider range of regular items in the game, like spears, cross bows, and stuff like that. I’d also like to see some new types of weapons and armor, like diamond armor, or maybe some of the old armors that were in Morrowind.

3.) IMPROVED CHARACTER CREATION. The characters, at least appearance wise, svcked in Oblivion. It took me like an hour to create a character that looked at least halfway decent, and even then the dude was still pretty ugly. I want to see more hairstyles, facial hairstyles, skin tones, scars, tattoos, etc. I also liked what Bethesda did with Fallout 3, in terms of how you could edit your characters appearance during the game by going to the barber and the facial surgeon guy. I expect a feature like that to be included in TES V.

4.) ITEM CUSTOMIZATION. Building off my last point, I want to see some form of item customization in which you can personalize weapons, armor, and clothing to really make them your own.

5.) IMPROVED COMBAT. I’m not sure about the specifics of how Bethesda should do this, and I really don’t care. I just want to see improved, streamlined combat and magic systems that feel more natural than they did in Oblivion. Maybe Bethesda could introduce something similar to Fallout 3’s V.A.T.S. system in TES V? I’d also like to see horse combat.

6.) MORE GUILDS. I’d like to become a pirate, or a town guard, or maybe even join the Morag Tong instead of the Dark Brotherhood. Just give me more options and more things to do and I’ll be happy.

7.) ANIMAL COMPANIONS. If I’m playing as a Nordic warrior, I’d love to have a ferocious wolf fighting by my side. You get the idea. It would be cool to have pets too.

8.) LARGER SCOPE. Let me go to more than one province. All of Tamriel would be ideal, but I know that’s not very realistic.

9.) WEREWOLVES AND DRAGONS. Bring back werewolves and add dragons.

10.) If I steal something from someone and DON'T get caught, I want to be able to sell the item to whoever I want. I mean how do they know its stolen if I didn't get caught. Only put that little red flag on a stolen object if it is a unique, one-of-a-kind item that other NPCs know shouldn't belong to me.

11.) If I kill a guard and no one is around, why is it that every other guard in the game somehow magically knows about it?. There should only be a bounty put out on you if you get caught doing something. This should go for all the other various crimes you're able to commit in the game as well.

12.) I want to be able to train more than five times a level. I'd like to see the training cap raised to 10 times a level.

13.) I'd like to be able to un-enchant and re-enchant items.

14.) I'd like to see more variation in the dungeons and caves. In Oblivion, if you've seen one cave/dungeon, you've essentially seen them all.

15.) I want more random quests put into the game that aren't related to guilds or the main quest line.

16.) I'd like to be able to arrange the furniture in my house.

17.) There should be more variation in terms of voice actors. Everyone basically sounded the same in Oblivion.

18.) I'd like to have a full screen game map, or at least the option to have a full screen map.

19.) And lastly, please don't ruin the game by adding co-op or making it an mmo. The Elder Scrolls franchise needs to remain a single player game.

Told you it was a long list... Anyway, when Mr. Hanson says he thinks Bethesda has me "covered" on most of these, I take that to mean that the majority of my ideas on this list have been implemented into TES V: Skyrim in some way, shape or form. I know it's really general and in no way reveals any new info, but still... This list may be a good 'heads up' of things we can expect to see in the game. So what do you guys think? Do you like my ideas? Hate my ideas? Please share your thoughts...

And here's the link for all you doubters: http://www.gameinformer.com/blogs/members/b/kimbofife_blog/archive/2010/12/12/my-elder-scrolls-v-ideas-updated-and-compiled.aspx

Thats good at least we know some.

You might want to SNIP that...

Good lists of suggestions! Thanks for giving us a heads up, this is the most info we've recieved about Skyrim so far, save the reveal. xD

I'd be suprised if Andew Reiner doesn't just send you a pdf copy of the next issue Nannersaur, especially seeing how much you've bugged him about Skyrim.

Hahaha, it could happen. They do love me over at GI...

I hope the GI "most" comment doesn't apply to the idea of a VATs equivalent in TES.

Yes I know you don't mean just taking VATs from FO3 and putting it into Skyrim with no changes made, but still. Bleugh.

I second this. However, I do agree with most of your ideas Nannersaur and it's awesome that it seems some of them will come true!

Now to wait for the february issue of GI....

There are quite a few things disagree with in here, or at least wouldn't prioritize. Most of these seem like just adding quantity rather than quality, focusing on "gamey" aspects such as training levels all the way to ten, meaning that if you have the cash you could buy your way to the final levels. What I disagree with most (aside from vats in skyrim which would be.... awful) is this;



that makes me think of that funny morrowind fan-made image showing all of the characters, with the PC in the middle decked out in the best gear and hoarding all sorts of items... if you can possess 50 different artifacts, the worth of each artifact and the satisfaction you get from acquiring/owning them diminishes. I don't care how many are in the game, I'd much rather have each of them be hidden or guarded well enough that when i finally do manage to get my hands on one I can be proud of the journey it took to get it, fighting non-leveled enemies and such.

I'd also rather more "mundane" unique items. that one set of armor you found in the crypt in oblivion for instance, that helped make the world seem a little more unique and alive.

I disagree. If you only get one or two, well I think I wouldn't care much about them. Part of the fun with artifacts is collecting them and hunting them. Along the way you may use some, get new items, replace unique armor or blades and such, it's fun. Plus they're all different and mostly look all great and usually are tagged with great quests or hidden inside very unique dungeons. In the end, I didn't care much about Oblivion's artifacts save a few. They were all obtainable with daedric lords, so if you wanted an handful, you had to get them via quests that were designed the same way. Find the shrine, appeal to the daedra (may require you to do something) and then do his quests. 15 daedra lords, the formula wears thin by the end. Being able to get all sorts of artifacts via all sorts of way makes the game a lot better to me.

what if they write their name on it?

Thats cool news, i hope we get animal companions. They are the best as they don't talk back. I agree with most of your wants, only time will tell now. I think we should get the next issue around January 10th. That is usually when i get my issues at least. I remember when they did the New Vegas issue i was the first to post about it on the forums. It was all very exciting. :thumbsup:

This is good news. If everything on your list was added I wouldn't be disappointed (with the possible exception of a VATS-like system, depending on how it was implemented). Thanks!

Is he even allowed to say anything about the games features? I guess he would just be spoiling his own employers cover story.

Awesome! Although expected, the guys would have been sent through the nine circles of hell for missing most of those out :flamethrower:


I agree with this - I found so many unique items in Morrowind that I had an overload (that's a good thing)

I'm still searching for an Amulet of Recall... it will be mine!

It's silly to think that every single artifact in Elder Scrolls lore would all happen to be in the same province at the same time.

Everything except the VATS thing sounds great. I personally think games should try and tend away from numerical based stuff and more towards action-simulation style, since the numerical things were only introduced as a way of doing the more live-action/resource-intensive things before the computers could handle it.

It's 'silly' that you can suspend disbelief for long enough to actually lose yourself in TES but you can't imagine the machinations of the gods all centring around the most interesting place on Mundus, and their artefacts following.

That's just speculation; how do we know it's the most interesting place? How do we know artifacts have such properties and just go wherever their god would think it's going to find the most utility? I still say that it's silly to have all artifacts in a single province at a the same time.

"It is said that whenever Kynareth deigns the wearer unworthy, the Lord's Mail will be taken away and hidden for the next chosen one."

-Lord's Mail, Tamrielic Lore

"It is said that Spell Breaker still searches for its original owner, and will not remain the property of anyone else for long. For most, possessing Spell Breaker for any length of time is power enough."

-Spell Breaker, Tamrielic Lore

"Seldom has Chrysamere been wielded by any bladesman for any length of time, for it chooses not to favor one champion."

-Chrysamere, Tamrielic Lore

Need I go on?

*http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Tamrielic_Lore*

Maybe the fact that that's where the game is going to take place? I mean interesting as in interesting in the present. As in, the most interesting events in Tamriel will be unfolding in Skyrim at the time of the game.

Otherwise it would be ordinary Nordic life punctuated with the occasional "did you hear about that civil war in Hammerfell that coincided amazingly with a dragon invasion? There's an apparent reincarnation of Tiber Septim trying to unify the Redguards against the threat, but there's lots of intrigue around how truthful his claims of divinity are."

"Yeah I've heard... so. Pretty boring here huh? Why would anyone set a game here? Wow. Really. Wow."

That's how I know that at the time of Skyrim Skyrim will be an interesting place.

The only thing I care about is being the Dovahkiin. This is going to sound silly to most, I'm sure, but that's really a breaking point for me. One of the reasons I've never Oblivion is because the player wasn't the heir. It just simply isn't as fun for me to make my way through a game and NOT be the guy who turns into a fiery dragon and sends Mehrunes Dagon make into Oblivion, or in this case, I'm guessing, save Tamriel from being scorched by dragons. I play fantasy games to be a true hero (or villain in some cases), not set out on a quest to find one. I want to be the Champion of Cyrodiil, I want to be the Nerevarine again, not find wherever he's buried/hiding/imprisoned and awaken/free him/convince him to save everybody.

If the player isn't the Dovahkiin, I won't be buying Skyrim. There'd be no point for me, really.

Man, we're all really desperate for info aren't we?

Well no TES game is linear, unless if you count Arena. The only thing to do really is beat the main quest(In Oblivion). The heir died at the end, so Its a good thing we did not play the role of the heir. Plus we would have to be Imperial(I believe, don't quote me on Lore information lol). So I'm guessing there's a 50/50 chance on this. We'll probably be the Dovahkiin if he/she survives the main quest.

Nannersaur, you are the man! Most of the things we know about Skyrim and speculation info back before the announcement were only possible thanks to you.
Keep up the good work