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But i would choose Smaller Scale Battles (Oblivion's daedra attack), and they should happen rarely. With rarely i mean almost never

No. Not unless TES is coming out much later, like 2013, in which case I won't be buying it.

Not in a normal TES game - those should strictly be action RPGs with less than ten participants in each battle at a time.

Another Elder Scrolls Adventures, however, using another engine - possibly something like an RTS game, would be fun.

What would that have to do with anything? Doing it that way could be done on today's engines, that's the point of doing it that way.

I think it would be interesting to have very large battles, but I think it would only make sense on a smaller scale (for instance, a war between two or three kingdoms/fiefdoms in Highrock or Skyrim) and only related to quests in the game. There could be random skirmishes of soldiers from one faction attacking the "supply caravans" of another faction, but those wouldn't be "large battles." Something of that size would need some sort of pre-scripted strategy in order for npc's to go to the right places. Not to mention that the large battles would mostly be about troop formation and involve very little individual action (unless you're guarding artillery or something). However, having the battle play out like risk might not be such a bad thing, and could give rise to some interesting gameplay shifts.

Spore was an interesting game because of its ability to shift continuously from one game form to another.

I have to agree with the OP there because if Beth were to release it within the next 2 years theres an 80% chance it will be using a slightly updated version of what they used with Fallout 3 which was a slightly updated version of what Oblivion used and will still carry the age-old issues that both games show. The other 20% is them picking and modifying a different engine to suit the next title so it can handle more for less power.

TES games have never been about large scale battles. If I wanted that I'd go play http://www.taleworlds.com/.

The battles were ok in size but not breath taking epic battles say the lord of the rings scale.I love elder scrolls but a massive war could spice things up a bit.

I would actually consider that in Oblivion is what I would expect in a "large" battle without killing the engine. Same applies when they tried it again with Broken Steel in Fallout 3. With that said, I would prefer these "epic war battles" kept in novels and literature rather then being actual event in game. Game is all about the player, not about "spicing" it up by getting (re)involved with war.

Regarding engines:
Bethesda will never, ever, ever, ever, ever switch from Gamebryo. They will modify the crap out of it. But they will not switch to a completely different engine. Fun fact: Bethesda used Gamebryo in both Morrowind (called netImmerse then) and Oblivion. That engine can and will go a long ways.
Not to mention, they know how to use it. They've said themselves plenty of times that something new and shiny does not outweigh the familiarity and knowledge of use/experience of old and reliable.



Seriously, I still have to side with this.
The game is about "I." Not "I and several hundred other sweaty dudes locked in pure uncontrolled combat."

Operation Anchorage style warfare is something they should stick too, if they do some sort of large battle scenario. Allowed the player to pretty much be by himself (the grunts you got were nothing but cannon fodder and often were not in your way) and contribute to the war effort. Then at the end, the NPCs storm the base, and you have a 1v1 with the last guy, while everyone else is fighting each other and not interfering.

Did you read what I had posted originally? If they did it that way it couldn't be just a slightly updated version of Fallout/Oblivion.

Open conflict could enhance you vision for fantasy this a fantasy game i know a massive scale conflict could not be done with current gen technology...

A smaller less epic war could still create a grand vista to play in with a player driven focus.

Haven't tried it yet, but from what I heard, isn't that DLC that tries to make it FPS as much as possible?


I don't really see much "enhancement" of fantasy which involving a large battle/"epic" war that my PC end up getting involve with, like it or not. Better fantasy tell involve finding many solutions to a situation by one self and not require fighting as an only mean to solving it.

Maybe have a castle siege where fighting is interior only, with no light sources. Maybe then the pc could handle it.

Gamebryo isn't bad, Bethesda just has to work on their optimization (and possibly incorporating some highly desired middleware such as Umbra and Lightspring into it). Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_(video_game) can work quite well.

Oh, I know. I wouldn't have it any other way. I always laugh when people start begging for Beth to use CryEngine 3 or somesuch. It's not the engine that makes the game. It's the people and the experience of working with that engine.

Yeah, it kinda does. You first start out trying to get to this base to disable the cannons. After that stealth or storm in like an idiot mission, you are sent ground-side to destroy fuel-lines, communications, and the EMP field. It is a simulation of the war effort to defeat the Chinese at Anchorage.

Yall know what. i think battles between two individuals or an individual against a number of individuals would be good. Lets say a dark mage against a old argonian mage happened. u wouldnt truly expect such power from a small woman. The mage attacks the woman. she gets out her wand and sends it back. the mage is able too withstand the blow. she then says " not what u expected huh." he then sends daedra that he summons maybe a dozen or so. she then sends a lasso of fire that surrounds them all. and turns into walls of fire. the the fire falls and devours both the mage and his minions. She then says too you " see what granny can cook up dearie."

That's the kind of role playing you're really just gonna have to imagine in your head as you defeat generic NPCs.

Although some boss level characters like Mannimarco and Mankar Camaron made speeches in Oblivion, and of course there was good old Dagoth Ur, Hircine and Almalexia in Morrowind/Bloodmoon/Tribunal. These are always scripted events that usually occur when some huge, overpowered, hyped up juggernaut in the lore is about to go into "killswitch engage" mode.

I can imagine gambryo evolving to the point of being able to handle enough NPCs for a battle (I've seen mods that have them), but I can never imagine scrpting (and certainnly not any AI) that could carry out the complexity of it. Even without the player who has his own mind and is able to fail or suceed where NPCs cannot, there is just no way that the issuing orders and moving of the squads not to mention holding line can be properly simulated in a an RPG. However if this ever crosses the line to slightly less impossible, I would gladly participate in a clan-sized battle (as in up to 200 on each side).


EDIT: Oh, and for the stealth-aligned, there is much more to do in battles than just walk to your death on the frontlines. Battles are won through deceit at least as often as through sheer power. At the very least you could be an archer or something.

I think that war between provinces every once in a while would make sense. That's what I voted.

Its either that or a generic 1v1 battle. Id rather have a kinda biggish battle which are always fun. The battle of Bruma kinda svcked for me (pure mage) I kept killing my own guys with my massive fire blast. R.I.P Jauffre

well I think all the monsters in the oblivion realms (in the gates) were all loaded and running at the same time. the oblivion gates were just one big cell right? (except the underground parts of course). So if oblivion was able run all that I think it would have been more than capable of running large scale battles. And seeing as how technology has advanced 4 years since Oblivion, I think large scale battles would be very possible in future TES games.

Also I dont want to have to be the only thing defending our army. Like if you didnt do anything, in oblivion, the Deadra would just poor out and slaughter everyone, so the whole battle rests on you. But I dont want that, I dont want the guards to be completely inept at fighting anything larger than a mud crab. Sure me the hero and all, but the whole battle shouldnt be completely dependant on your assistance.