Yes, that would be EPIC. Of course, only high-end Gaming PC's could do it, and Xbox 360's (yay!)

It would be epic, I would like to see something like it done. :foodndrink:

Illusion is always the best ingredient for large scale battles :thumbsup:

What we need to remember is that Skyrim is all about war: civil and exotic. Take what's already happening in Skyrim: the war between the "Pro-Imperials" and "Anti-Imperials". If you really look at viking culture, you see that at many times the clans within a certain group would war with each other over land, power, etc. Therefore, fairly big battles (on a reasonable ES scale) wouldn't just make sense in Skyrim in terms of inherent lore but also basic nordic history. You don't need hundreds of npcs, either. Usually, a domestic war between clans would include at the most one hundred men from each side. Seeing as how the combat has been improved, Bethesda should be able to convey small, intense battles between each side.

"Glorious war"? Not so much, but war nonetheless.

Sorry.. but this sounds like a totally different game than Elder Scrolls. I don't want Elder Scrolls to evolve into some RTS game, like they did with the Might and Magic series.

I didn't mean to insult you. Alls I was saying is maybe you had a craving for large scale battles...so I offered a game. haha. :celebrate:

I prefer not to have it in TES games. They are not your typical war games and I like it that way.
So I don't think it would be an improvement.
I hope you are ok with me disagreeing with you.

btw..welcome to the forums.

i agree that it might work with very very little detail on the NPCs. still it would be hard to keep track of what happens with more than 50 or so soldiers. you could even add a fog or smoke over the battlefield to have less imagery on screen, but really hundreds(exaggeration) of guys near you

Doesn't matter what we like, hardware limitations must be considered.


But that wouldn't be adding large scale battles to a TES game. That would be changing a TES game into one that can support large scale battles but then it's not a TES game anymore.


The Xbox 360 and the PS3 both have only 512mb of memory. You can have large scale battles OR a Bethesda open world but you can't have both I'm afraid not until the next gen consoles.

Look...friend...it is not a totally different concept...they could pull it off and nothing would stray from elder scrolls...how the hell would it end up like an rts? just read my last comments and you'll understand friend...

If they put in epic battles that kill the performance like at the end of Oblivion's main quest, I will hurt someone.

lol i didn't take offence, but i like knowing that others play that awesome game! pleasure to meet you friend!

As many poster have already pointed out, the current gen hardware just can't handle large scale battles. Games like M&B work because they're specifically designed to function around having hundreds of units. Anyone (including myself) who has played M&B can tell you that the graphics, details, and location sizes suffer in order to compensate for the heavy computing load.

Rather than large battles, I'd rather they focus on making quality battles. In my opinion, the reason the "epic" gate battle in Oblivion felt weak was that the area of the battle was too bland. It was just an open area with a few gates and NPC's running around throwing sticks at each other. There was little scenic immersion aside from the very distant view of the city (and its inhabitants, who were going about their day as if nothing was happening). The Bruma gate attack quest failed in the way that the Kvatch gate attack quest succeeded. Both used relatively the same number of NPC's, but the latter's more chaotic and contained location made the battle more frenetic and engaging.

Imagine the battle of Thermopylae if it took place in an open field in someone's backyard. Now remember it taking place in a craggy pass, with mountains on one side and a sheer drop into the ocean on the other. Again, size isn't everything about making a glorious battle (though it helps). Quality of location can make up for a lack in quantity of units.

i am not calling it a war game...i am calling it an epic...worthy of song and battle...where did i say that it was a war game?...anyways...it wouldn't stray from elderscrolls at all...it would only enhance the epic endings...who wants to see 5vs 5?...thats stupidity...20vs 20 and a cool scenery backround of fake npcs duking in the distance would only enhance a dark battle and feeling...i am not making this out to be a war game friend...

very true friend...but no battles only have 5 guys duking it out in a small area...20 guys per little area...and a bunch of fake characters in the gorge below (1000 fake npcs) bloodying eachother while you and 10 vs 10...move to the next small area over the small hill...more 10 vs 10...it's a possibility...and i do realize that technology and state of the art programming couldn't handle actual large scale battles... a pleasure meeting you friend...(non sarcastically)

dont worry...read all my other comments on page 2 and you'll understand...heck...just read the comments i have posted and you'll understand how it is a great possibility...

Since dragons will be attacking the various towns, I imagine we'll see at least 20+ NPC characters flailing about the scene.

I'd really like to see larger scale battles. I dont think its realistic for the game to have 200 men fighting, but I think a total of between 50-100 on all sides would be great for a final battle, with some smaller battles of lesser scale throughout the campaign.

Honestly, the battle of Bruma--hyped througout the whole game of Oblivion--turned out to be a cakewalk with like 20 soldiers and you versus a bunch of daedra that only attack in groups of like 3 at a time. Plus, the way it was set up, it was really anticlimactic--the music was the same old, everyone is shouting and voices of clone soldiers just sort of overlap into an irritating mush, and the combat never looks all that cinematic because of the old setup being kinda clunky. Not that it wasn't fun, but...I think Skyrim will have better.

Ripaxe, please use the multi-quote system instead of triple posting.

And large, chaotic battles are cool, but Skyrim should have only one or 2

Yeah, let's have Dynasty Warriors or Total War-scale battles!

We'll just have to axe the whole "unique character models" thing and turn NPCs into the clone army. Then we'll axe all the detail out of those lush environments. And physics on every object you can pick up in the game? Yeah, that'll have to go....

Sorry, but you can keep the large-scale battles. I'd rather have TES than another RTS.

Sorry for my current anger and lack of enthusiasm...READ MY OTHER POSTS ON THIS FORUM AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!........look...i have told everyone this and it's getting old...it is a grand possibility that the battles i vision will appear with all the grand details you people love so much (including me)...just read my other posts...(then stop announcing just how downgraded programming really is! again...sorry for my lack of enthusiasm and my sarcasm...i am merely tired and angry...

How do you use the triple quote system?

To the right of the reply buttonbis a multi-quote button

Nah it would explode the moment 5 NPCs appear on the screen.