New Elder Scrolls Novels thread #5 : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Fri May 27, 2011 4:20 pm

Is it possible to pre-order it in Finland? I want to know.

I'm really interested in the story, seriously.

Maybe there's a version of Amazon.com that you can order from? I preordered mine from the U.S. site of www.amazon.com.

» Fri May 27, 2011 3:09 pm

Hey, so now Keyes' website is even labeled "offline" by google. So either big things or nothing. Like poker.

» Fri May 27, 2011 8:51 am

pre-ordered mine

» Fri May 27, 2011 5:43 am

My friend pre-ordered it for me for my birthday, heh. Even though it won't arrive until a few days after release, I can't wait to get my hands on it!

I find it odd how his site is offline a month before the novel's release after a long time of little to no activity. I'm not sure what to think about that.

» Fri May 27, 2011 9:08 am

I don't know if this is news or not (I apologize if it isn't) but in the latest issue of Game Informer they have a nice article about how game developers maintain and expand the lore of their series. The Elder Scrolls is one of the series they discuss and The Infernal City is mentioned a few times. They say that Greg Keyes uses The Imperial Library and the UESP for research and has apparently played through Oblivion "several times". Just thought you guys would like to hear that if you haven't already.

» Fri May 27, 2011 11:19 am

I still think letting someone from within write the book would've been a much better decision. I won't/can't say anything personally about Keyes, though. I've never read anything by him.

» Fri May 27, 2011 5:02 am

Just letting you all know: The latest edition of Game Informer (magazine) has an article on game lore. In it, it talks a little bit about Bethesda, The Elder Scrolls series, and The Infernal City. It says that not only did Bethesda allow Keyes to access their own lore wiki (the one that only Bethesda can use and is used as reference during production etc.), but also that they pointed him towards the Imperial Library, had him play through Oblivion (that one I'm not so sure is such great news

) a few times, had him submit all his ideas for the story for approval, and had some pretty in depth lore discussions with him involving things like "the metaphysical significance of the White-Gold Tower in Cyrodiil." That's a little bit of a reassurance, I suppose.

» Fri May 27, 2011 11:42 am

good

» Fri May 27, 2011 3:04 pm

Just letting you all know: The latest edition of Game Informer (magazine) has an article on game lore. In it, it talks a little bit about Bethesda, The Elder Scrolls series, and The Infernal City. It says that not only did Bethesda allow Keyes to access their own lore wiki (the one that only Bethesda can use and is used as reference during production etc.), but also that they pointed him towards the Imperial Library, had him play through Oblivion (that one I'm not so sure is such great news

) a few times, had him submit all his ideas for the story for approval, and had some pretty in depth lore discussions with him involving things like "the metaphysical significance of the White-Gold Tower in Cyrodiil." That's a little bit of a reassurance, I suppose.

Poor man must be traumatized. Must be finishing up the book in a padded cell.

» Fri May 27, 2011 3:16 pm

No one is asking us to bet money or health on GH's claim, and while I don't suggest you simply assume he's telling the truth it would be strange for a long time member of the forums to just make this up. It's also common for bookstores to get advanced copies (for personal use, not for commercial sale) so it certainly wouldn't be strange for someone to have one of these. And if he's making it all up what has he really mislead us about, the acknowledgments and a few vague facts?

If he's just registered here I'd be skeptical, and if he was releasing seemingly juicy facts about the story I'd be suspicious, but neither of these is true.

If that's true than that's terrible. A freaking 50 to 200 year leap in time bypasses so many juicy storylines and political gambits that TES IV failed to capitalize on. Skipping all that good stuff for what I don't know. What I'm hearing doesn't encourage me neither does the expected release date of 2011-2012 for TES V. I think I'll have moved on by then.

» Fri May 27, 2011 9:22 am

Poor man must be traumatized. Must be finishing up the book in a padded cell.

The article sounded like Keyes was the one who was asking questions like that.
I think TES lore has gotten to him. The final pages of the book will be nothing but incoherent, mindless, horrified babble.

» Fri May 27, 2011 1:13 pm

Meh, to each his own. Move on if you wish.
I'm starting to think that a 50-200 year leap might be a GOOD thing:
Allow some time to pass to "Close shut the FLAWS of Oblivion".
A little saddening though....I hope & pray that Greg's put some time into Daggerfall & Morrowind as well, so as to be a 'Renaissance man' of the Elderscrolls Canon.

» Fri May 27, 2011 1:48 pm

The article sounded like Keyes was the one who was asking questions like that.
I think TES lore has gotten to him. The final pages of the book will be nothing but incoherent, mindless, horrified babble.

I ARE ALL WE [NUMINIT]

» Fri May 27, 2011 12:26 am

...had him play through Oblivion (that one I'm not so sure is such great news

) a few times...

That poor man. While Oblivion is the most relevant to the story, they should just have him play the entire series - so he can understand the full timeline and adapt the freeform mindset that the Bethesda developers ~~have~~ used to have. Of course at that point it'd probably just be considered indentured servitude. Could you imagine offering to write a novel for a video game series and then being put through all this? I know the universe as we know it will come to an end if the lore is violated, but seriously. And where were the scrutinizing people who arranged this "lore primer" for Keyes during the production of Oblivion? I think they could've really used their help. :stare:

» Fri May 27, 2011 2:05 pm

The only thing I hope for is it being very true to lore as it can get to the games. I wish they made him play through Morrowind first, THEN Oblivion. Morrowind in my opinion, had lore so deep.... its like a black hole of stories!

I just hope it is a page turner and if it isnt, if its TRUE to game lore, I will be happy.

» Fri May 27, 2011 12:53 pm

Meh, to each his own. Move on if you wish.
I'm starting to think that a 50-200 year leap might be a GOOD thing:
Allow some time to pass to "Close shut the FLAWS of Oblivion".
A little saddening though....I hope & pray that Greg's put some time into Daggerfall & Morrowind as well, so as to be a 'Renaissance man' of the Elderscrolls Cannon.

I totally agree. Except I've always thought it would be a good idea to skip ahead in time a couple of centuries with whatever came next. It would give the player (or in this case, reader) a much broader and more complete snapshot of what happened to Tamriel after the Oblivion Crisis.

» Fri May 27, 2011 10:02 am

[...] And where were the scrutinizing people who arranged this "lore primer" for Keyes during the production of Oblivion? I think they could've really used their help. :stare:

:lol:
To be honest, I had never even thought about the developers keeping an up-to-date "data-base" of their series' lore. The article also had some interviews with the guys from BioWare. They have these "lore primers" as well. It was kind of interesting.

Anyway, I'm quite looking forward to the book. It'll be my return to the fantasy genre - I've been more into other genres lately - so let's hope it's a good one, eh?

» Fri May 27, 2011 3:15 pm

now i really want to take an editing stick to Beth's secret wiki.

» Fri May 27, 2011 3:00 am

At least they pointed him to the Imperial Library. That's good. But yes, it would've been smarter to play each game. Oblivion isn't nearly as deep as Morrowind. And no, I'm not saying Morrowind is the greatest game of all time (even though it's probably close in my eyes). I just haven't played the past games. Morrowind's lore aspect of the game, in my humblest opinion, is much more detailed and deep than Oblivion's.

» Fri May 27, 2011 4:58 am

At least they pointed him to the Imperial Library. That's good. But yes, it would've been smarter to play each game. Oblivion isn't nearly as deep as Morrowind. And no, I'm not saying Morrowind is the greatest game of all time (even though it's probably close in my eyes). I just haven't played the past games. Morrowind's lore aspect of the game, in my humblest opinion, is much more detailed and deep than Oblivion's.

I'm kind of encouraged overall. It could have been much worse; they might have had Keyes only glance at a couple of summaries and not even play a TES game.

I read once that TV shows such as the various versions of "Star Trek" also keep "bibles" of their lore, timelines, and so on, so that writers for the shows can stay within canon.

» Fri May 27, 2011 4:46 pm

while I think Morrowind is better for the lore aspect than oblivion he is afterall writing a book that is more relevant to the events that happened in oblivion so it makes more sense

» Fri May 27, 2011 4:30 pm

now i really want to take an editing stick to Beth's secret wiki.

I want to take a defibrillator to it.

» Fri May 27, 2011 1:39 am

I just had a thought. Will Khajiits in the book speak in third or first person?

Hmmmm.

» Fri May 27, 2011 8:45 am

That is a good question... Maybe it'll depend on their sub-breed.

» Fri May 27, 2011 5:22 am

Hopefully he got a copy of Morrowind too.

What's all this about TES:V being set 200 years after Oblivion? Was there any clarification on that?