That wasn't really what I was getting at, but yes, that would be one possible benefit.

I meant that there could be less essential characters, e.g. you could find archery trainer in woods instead of just generated hunter. (I though you were referring to benefits of syn talk)

I don't know what other kinds of NPC are there... Killable and not killable, right? So the idea is to make all characters killable, but the killing would be somehow impossible in other way - like Erlick Stormclock would be a very high level until his quest line is complete - this of course makes him harder than Alduin at the end though, and he's the end game boss.

Fewer NPCs being Essential would be nice.


I don't believe in making NPCs unkillable until they're no longer needed for a quest. I feel the player should be allowed to throw away an opportunity to complete quests for a faction they have no interest in, or their character simply isn't built for. I also feel any player who kills NPCs with reckless abandon deserves to suffer the consequences. I prefer the "let the kid stick the key in the outlet and see what happens" approach when it comes to video games, as opposed to Bethesda's "we know you're going to stick a key in that outlet, so we're going to put a magical shield around the outlet that you can't penetrate" method.

That said, I do see benefits to designing certain NPCs to be damn near impossible to kill. But it shouldn't be done through level, it should be achieved through ingenuity. For example, Erlick Stormcloak could have about half the health that Alduin does, and be not nearly as strong, but Erlick is much harder to hit, because of being so much smaller and more agile, while Alduin is the size of a city bus and has to take off into the air to dodge anything. Erlick would also be use to being vulnerable to a number of things (like being sent into orbit by a Giant), while Alduin obviously would not be, so that would affect their combat strategies.

The problem with killable characters in Skyrim is that dragons are unscripted in their action and people (even if they were running away instead of fighting) can get cough in the battle. Vendors are easy to replace, but trainers aren't. There is only one master tainer for each skill - 18 essential characters. I'm planing on creating a mod that puts more focus on those trainers and if any of them would get killed not only quests become unavailable but also skills cannot be mastered.

Erlick having lots of health is enough as for defense, however he should always have guards protecting him - even in his sleeping chamber there would be at least two guards outside the door that can get help in case of something.

I don't see that as necessary. There are lots of ways to make NPCs more unique without giving them much more than a job and a few stats.

A system of personality like this (http://typelogic.com/) is not that many variables, but doing that and giving them a sort of day job and schedule would make for lots of possible combinations. An artsy smith is going to respond differently than an entreprenuerial alchemist who's different than a Rationalist mage. It's still not going to be perfect, but I think it would work a bit better than simply choosing 3-5 responses for an event. An entrepeneur would look at dragons and sell arrows, and artist would talk about the poetry of the epic battle between man and dragon, a fraidy-cat would hide under the bed. Since there are 16 personality types, you should get a reasonable variety of responses to any event, and even more are possible if you can also include a sort of racial response so that Nords respond to an epic Stormcloak victory differently than elves and bretons. You still don't need to have every NPC respond to every single event -- just enough to make it appear that they noticed. The rest could be skoomasvckers for all I care. But having personalities for different types of NPCs would go a long long way toward making the world feel alive.

the artistic contrast of desert/lush jungle would also be a massive boon

also I was thinking that this fictional program might also spice up voices so that those 1000+ NPCs actually have unique voices ALL OF THEM

ALSO I was suggesting that this program will actually voice over any text Bethesda might have in mind, so lets say 10 people can work on the story/quests/dialog type them then the program will voice it ALL OF IT even if its 10 million lines.

its a stretch I know but u never know

Y'know what'd be cool? Playing as one of the quadrupedal khajiit races. It'd be a unique way to set the game apart if it was set in Elswyer. (Oblivion had Oblivion Gates, Skyrim had dragons, Elswyer has talking cats?) It'd actually be pretty easy. Just create one armor model for them (Like with armor now, and how it changes to fit a male or female.) that changes size depending on the sub-race.(Tiger size Pahmar, to housecat sized Alfiq) And let them use conventional weapons by holding them in their teeth (I know it sounds abit ridiculous, but just think. We humans only use our mouths for eating. Someone without "hands" would prboably feel much more at home doing things with their mouths.)
Plus, it's not like they're animals. They'd probably have their own weapons as well.

how are people still asking for levitation?

it's been stated by the developer already that the removal of levitaton was due to the "cells" they incorporated into the game after Morrowind which renders the possibility of it ever returning non-existent.

and most of these requested "features" aren't needed, and really could be seen as nothing more than nitpicking rather than genuine hopes.

example: spell-crafting. yes, it was removed. but to what consequence? I used a whopping total of TWO spells in Oblivion (Soul Trap and Restore Wounds), besides that? magic was nearly irrelevant. it was uninteresting to use, and largely added no degree of enjoyment to the experience. when something IMPORTANT is actually removed, it's lack of inclusion will become immediately apparent. this can't be said for spell-crafting as I didn't even notice it was gone until I ventured onto these forums.

something that NEEDS to come back? first-person horse travel. the removal of it makes me opt out of even using them and I'd appreciate it being readded for the next installment.

The problem with spellmaking was that it left players with 80% spells that are no longer needed, and even the master spells dropped into that cathegory when there could be customized spell in its place.
I would suggest adding customazing the spells so the player could change the stats when he reaches new level - there would be only one calm spell that would change its name and magika cost when his power were changed. This of course just asks for more spells, so we won't end up with 3 or 5 customizable spells in each skill.

I recently was thinkng about bringing back hand to hand combat skill, but then I realised that the problem was that it just didn't have a perk or two in One Handed skill - its already linked to it, but unlike swords and such it doesn't improve above normal damage - plus it's linked to only one kind of armor removing the roleplaying option.

Acrobatics and Athleticism didn't show up because it wouldn't add much to gameplay and not many players would use it without profits like climbing or jumping on buildings - Cities and dungeons aren't build to incorporate that option.

I hope that 6 has NPC dispositions again. I miss having those nuances of how much a character likes or hates me.

Also whether 6 has spell creation back or not I am not too worried about but the game will need to have more spells in the game either way I think.

As far as perks go if they are in the next game I think they should be less of "Add 5% to X skill." and more like the perks that add disentigration, or the wax key perk or any of the perks that add to the game in that way.

My last idea even though it would likely never ever happen (at all lol) is if Bethesda could add special things to the world to make certain surfaces slippery or crumbly, or perhaps have a lot of wind and dangerous lightning for some storms. Would probably never happen but I think that would be really interesting.

Of course I want mount combat. As long as there are mounts in the game there should be combat as well. And I really hope they bring back 1st person view, I hate the horse animations in 3rd.

Funny how Todd says Skyrim is ?primarily a 1st person game? when the game automatically swiotches to 3rd in a number of instances. Meaning you can play the game entirely in 3rd person, but not in 1st.

Go figure.

Nope, loading screen unfortunatly.

I personally would like to see not as many canned animations, especially such that takes you out of first person. I more enjoy whacking an enemy dead instead of watching a movie. I suppose Skyrim doesn't go to such extremes as say, Deus Ex, human revolution (Press Q to win!) but I enjoy being in control at all times. Speaking of which, there shouldn't be anything that forces you out of first person at all should you choose. In Oblivion, I understood where the developers came from by taking you out of first person if you were paralyzed or were mounting horses, because I'm sure they believed the camera would be awkward, but even then that's nearing the line.

In regards to mounted combat? As others have said, if you can ride the thing, you should be able to swing a weapon on it. It's not nearly as difficult as people make it seem, either. WASD to pilot the mount, and mouse to look around as always (Or left anolog and right anolog, if you're into that kind of thing). There is a game called Mount & Blade, which focuses entirely around mounted combat, and has some of the best horse (and lance) mechanics I've experienced in a game as well as uses the aforementioned controls and unlike Skyrim, you can play it 100% in first person (Even when mounting a horse!).

When it comes to the setting, I think the Summerset Isles would be a good idea, being waist deep in Thalmor territory would be a good departure from the Empire we know and love (and sometimes hate). From what I've seen of Skyrim, we've seen that departure already to an extent. Heck, it was pretty much the first game where you aren't an agent of the Empire from the get go. I personally just would like to see the other side of this conflict, and being in such a hostile political and social climate would really bring back the 'unwelcome' feeling Morrowind did so well to deliver by twofold.

Marriage is an issue I believe should be left out of the Elder Scrolls. Wooing a character and tying the knot while trying to save the region (or world) is a bit much. On the flipside however I don't mind 'romancing' certain NPCs, but I believe that is where the limit should be as I don't believe the champion we play as really has much time for anything more than sharing strong feelings with someone until the crisis is over. (Perhaps when the Main Quest is complete a wedding celebration could be mentioned in the epilogue depending on your actions, but again, that's nearing the limit).

Lastly, as others have also said, a main quest more political in nature would be fantastic. As much as many fans like myself enjoyed Oblivion, more often than not it wasn't because of the main quest, which was essentially close gate, go here, grab this, repeat. Tamriel has always had an extremely volatile political climate, and up until Oblivion it was quite integral to the overall plot in some manner.

I actually think Valenwood and Elswyre would be a good choice for the next game, The deserts would be easy to create with our current technology, plus the khajiit and their culture hasn't been explored too deeply yet and it could provide an interesting MQ.

I like the idea of the Summerset Isles but I think that it would be best fit as DLC. As for Black Marsh, having read the Argonian Accounts I feel that it would be kind of tricky for Bethesda to pull it off at this point... it just isn't the kind of setting that would work well with the current state of the game engine. I think it would be best to save Black Marsh for TES: VII

You are correct, the areas you mentioned would be a great place to have a game setting in, as those two territories have very ample opportunity for conflict and being able to explore the Thalmor mindset a bit more while at the same time experiencing various cultures. One thing I cannot agree on is Valenwood and Elsweyr for the setting of the next game. I would very much prefer they focus on one province at a time to maximize detail and focus on the race in question, rather than work on fleshing out both the Bosmer and the Khajiit, and thus not doing one or both of them enough justice.

In regards to Summerset being DLC, I can't agree on that. I don't believe any province would get enough justice as DLC. Besides, isn't Summerset just about as large in area as Vvardenfell? In my opinion it's not right to relegate an entire race's home (And what is pretty much the Thalmor's seat of power) to a mere expansion.

You are right about the whole dubble provence thing, but concerning Summerset, it is one of the smallest provences so it could be alot like Oblivion's Shivering Isles DLC but much more in-depth due to it being a bigger part of the story in Skyrim than Shivering Isles was to Oblivion's story.

I just want bigger cities. Like, WAY bigger cities.

Hmm, perhaps, but again I just can't see a province being DLC. You bring a good point regarding Shivering Isles, but that was merely a Plane of Oblivion, and yet still I don't believe that expansion did Sheogorath's realm much justice. However I suppose we'll agree to disagree.

Give speechcraft a combat component.

If they keep followers you could add
Rally increase follower health and stam regen
Inspire Increase follower combat skills

for enemies
Taunt This would make them attack you if your follower is a mage/archer
Intimidate This would make them attack your follower if they are a tank type

Just rough ideas
If already suggested I agree with whoever posted it(Reading the 5 previous posts is more than I am up to)

Because we can

And because it is so damn fun.

Why do the Jarls act so busy and important when they rule over like 15 people? Ok, a rough population breakdown: 30% of the pop are average citizens living on farms or in towns, 30% are guards/military, 40% are bandits/necromancers ect. There is no way an economic system could support this breakdown.

Anyway, most of TES games have occurred in different time periods with new world events, so if the trend stays, then any province could be chosen for the next installment and any hang-ups about the Thalmor or dragons would be nothing but a distant memory. This allows Beth the creative freedom to shape the world within the universe and still pay homage to the entirety of the lore. I just hope they use that freedom next time, or is any story-line other than a doomsday scenario too complicated for Call Ripken Jr. Political and social intrigue would be greatly appreciated.

As for new features such as climbing and horse combat, although they would be awesome, I think maybe for the next game I shouldn't be able to shoot an npc in the face and thier reaction be, "Is someone there?" then "Oh, it must be my imagination."

Also, if I was a betting man, which I am, I would wager that the next TES would be based in Hammerfell, although I would prefer Summerset Ilses or Black Marsh. Just a hunch.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo what a boring province I hope not they should do something unique and daring like Black Marsh.