This thread is for ideas and suggestions for future Elder Scrolls games, and to keep all the discussion in one series of threads.

We also have an official thread specifically for http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1540764-tes-vi-location-and-setting-speculation-27/ suggestions for future games.

Now that Skyrim has been released the number of suggestions and ideas for the next ES game are starting to show up. We have a long way to go before we get another ES game and all topics like this will be closed and either transferred or referred to this one.

Please keep any discussion of Skyrim in the correct forums.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1543910-official-beyond-skyrim-tes-vi-67/

I think it would be great, if the next combat system would be a lot more fluid. The only way to miss a projectile in the past elder scrolls games is to mess up the aiming. Should there be creatures like werewolves in the next game( Or justHumanoid w. braincells), it would be nice if they could dodge/leap sideways and try dodging an arrow.

It is found in fallout 4, reffering to deathclaws, so it most likely will be so in the next game, I guess

I would like to see npc disposition visible in percentage and faction reputation.

A lean mechanic over corners and objects would be nice.

Huh. That's really it.?

I more or less agree, though dodging arrows should be a pain in the rear (they should move much, much faster than they do..). Including a simple double-tap/flick dodge mechanic, and weapon-clash partying (both systems we have seen functioning in games for more than a decade) would vary up combat and work towards making equipment choice have an impact on gameplay without severely hampering a player (Skyrims dual weilding)


They already have it in Fallout, so I don't think its much of a stretch. Without guns, it would be a different activator,but it's definately wothin the realm of possibility.


I don't necessarily think it should he visible, but something definately needs to be done on the disposition front. it was rubbish in Morrowind and Oblivion, but at least it was better than nothing.

A lean mechanic would be suitable for a stealth style of play, allowing you to look round an object with a much lower chance of being caught.

Maybe. Honestly I'd rather see enemies dodge arrows more often before anything else.

Don't know. I don't think having a huge disposition for every individual NPC really works anymore. Having something made up of your Reputation, which factions you might be aligned with, and your Personality should probably factor in more, since older systems of extracting information like from Morrowind aren't necessary or particularly engaging. Now, Companion disposition through a Approval/Disapproval system is both engaging and rewarding.

Regarding the UI, I'm actually more fond of the Witcher 3's UI more then anything else at the moment, if only because it reminds me more of Morrowinds to some extent. I really would like it where it shows what your character is wearing and using again, instead of exiting the menu and going into third person.

I think a generic disposition system is doable, but as more of a non-faction related quest gateway than... Whatever it was in the past. A sloppy discount and persuasion-bonus mini-game...

The main problem with NO generic disposition system is... Well, everyone seems to trust you right away, unless linked to a specific quest line. You get random people you've never met approaching you with their problems because 'Hey! That guy has a camera behind their head!'. There should be SOME mechanism in place to build people's trust, and the older Fame-Infamy system was far too wide-reaching and general... It also imposed a moral compass, which made individual motivations more shallow. Good people liked good things and all that...

A simple system that doesn't have any persuasion or mini-games and relies more on interacting with people (so, talking to them, not shoving them out of the way when you're in a hurry, being a familiar face around town, doing odd-jobs for friends etc) would allow you to build simulated relationships within an area in a more naturlistic manner, solve a bit if the 'everyone's problems' issue, and could be easily tied into Factions and tbhe already present Relationship system.

A more in-depth system for companions and romance options could of course be layered on top of this, but forgoing disposition, or relying solely on an attribute, doesn't really solve any of the problems surrounding it.

I liked that, in Morrowind, you could raise a merchant's disposition by one point simply by using their services. Haggling for too low of a price decreased their disposition by one point. It's just a small touch, but it adds a little bit of realism to the game, and eventually it leads to some preferred vendors, depending on how you play. It could be expanded on a bit, so that vendors with a high enough disposition could give you deals every once in a while, or give you first dibs on some new item. If things are going to be leveled, then this would be a good way for the player to find some advanced loot through their mercantile prowess, rather than lucking out in a dungeon.

I agree with the dodging. We could dodge in Ocarina of Time, and that was 1998. Arrows should be fast, but people should duck and block if they see you drawing.

And, though it's been said many times, I want to play with a spear and shield. I want to be able to throw the spear and pull out a dagger. I would like a mechanism for any weapon to be thrown, really, with some weapons having terrible throwing damage, but maybe good stagger chance (like if you throw a hammer or a claymore, for some reason). Use the 'shout' button for that. Shouts won't be in the next game.

Maybe if you switch weapons while winding up for a power attack, you throw your current weapon before drawing the new one?

Another combat mechanic I'd like is something like power attacks for spells, at least making the spell more powerful/expensive but ideally making some spells behave differently. E.g. an instant healing spell that changes to a regen-over-time spell when charged. Or a fire bolt that changes into a channelled flamethrower when held. I think something like that was teased for Skyrim early on but didn't make it to release.

On a different note I like that Fallout 4 has some hair/cloth physics now and I hope to see it expanded on for the next ES game; even a little movement makes things look much more organic IMO.

I completely agree with you on this one. Everyone just running straight up to you asking you to do all sorts of important things for them in Skyrim was a bit silly. There was no real progression in the way people treated you (other than some of the passing dialogue) or in how much they trusted you. I think a system where you have to start small, where more people will gradually start giving you quests and just opening up to you a little more in conversation based on the amount of things you've done in the area that they could reasonably be expected to know about would be ideal.

I also loved being able to raise a merchant's disposition by trading with them, and the fact that you could haggle and end up lowering their disposition if you pushed too hard. I think that system should return, just not alongside any of the other persuasion minigame nonsense from Morrowind.

The dodging thing is more a balance issue, I think. Arrows should be much faster and deadlier than they are, and as such enemies should duck in cover or at least raise their shield when they see you draw. That raises issues with making bows way too powerful, though, as well as being able to make most enemies basically just cower in fear whenever you draw a bow. You'd basically be unstoppable against any sort of melee enemies unless they all just rushed you which makes the whole blocking/ducking thing kind of pointless.

I do think FO4's system where it has multiple uses for one button with bashing/throwing grenades could be implemented in a way to give some weapons like daggers or spears a throwing mechanic. I don't think it should be implemented for all weapons, though. Throwing a sword or a greataxe or some such isn't really going to make sense in actual combat. I could see daggers, spears and hand axes being used in such a way, though, while perhaps using the mechanic as a means of an alternate attack (maybe a stab vs. the normal slash?) or maybe a parry for weapons that wouldn't really be practical as throwing implements.

Alright so I got a bit of a question myself... Do a lot of people think the next TES game is gonna be another snowland with a particularly dense Nord population, or do people only call it "Skyrim 2" because Skyrim was the most popular TES game that ever came about? Also was there ever a time that people called Morrowind Daggerfall 2, or Oblivion Morrowind 2? Or is this a phenomenon that only seems to be happening with Skyrim- and TES 6?

Anyways one very brief but quick thing... I personally feel as that, in both Oblivion and Skyrim that oddly enough, the official Expansions were a lot more interesting than the "Vanilla" content, and I sometimes think to myself that if said expansions were the main content that the whole world would've ended up a lot more interesting... Where as in Morrowind, I liked the expansions equally as much as I liked the original content. Mainly talking about Shivering Isles, Dragonborn, and Dawnguard.

The main quests of both Oblivion and Skyrim I just didn't find as interesting as I did the expansions for the most part is what I'm getting down to. Imagine of Oblivion was mainly about the Shivering Isles- being far bigger than it was... And all of the stuff spent on Cyrodiil going there... X_X I would've liked that so much more but... Can't change that now. *Shrugs*. I liked the Shivering Isles a lot and I only wish there was more content of it.

In spite of being disappointed with most of Oblivion.

I have seen people describe Skyrim as 'Oblivion 2' before, so i don't think it's an isolated issue. Moreso, i think it has to do with a far greater influx of players who lack the context to realise that The Elder Scrolls 5 is the primary title, NOT Skyrim.

Depending on where the game takes place, a relatively heavy amount of Nord's in one location is possible. Hammerfell and High Rock being the prime contenders, and my gut feeling is that we'll be visiting those two places before anything else.

Problem is, you can't have it both ways. You want a individual disposition system, you have to be able to track it and be able to actively manipulate it to some extent if you want it to be that important. Given that the mini-games were clunky as all hell, the only alternative is to have it tracked by some manner of reputation your character gains as they interact with the community on some level, with some variations taken in for race and general conduct.

I'd like to see haggling return, with race and disposition being a factor. Though, I don't think us setting that price actively works very well, since its probably too easy to abuse in order to get the maximum deals on everyone in the game. I'd leave it at a roll of the dice, with the success rate depending on their disposition with the character, and the resulting drop in price tied to your Mercantile skill. Makes for a better way of actively leveling that skill as opposed to just relying completely on buying and selling things.

That's pretty much where I stand on it. If you're a newcomer to an area, people are not about to spill their guts to you unless you have a pretty good Speechcraft skill. You should at least have to work in order to establish yourself in order to handle the more sensitive matters depending on where you are, and your race could make that challenge easier or more difficult, depending present company.

A lot of the fun in oblivion was trying to get people to like you enough to actually give you info instead of every one just coming up to you and giving there life story then sending you on a quest. I would like to see spells like charm and things like that return

I don't recall hearing anybody refer to Morrowind as "Daggerfall 2." But there was a very large and very vocal segment of older fans who expected Morrowind to be "Daggerfall 2." These fans were very, very, very upset with Morrowind and with the direction the series was taking.

But, then, it was a much smaller community back then. It's hard to realize now just how insular these forums were in those days. Most of the people who posted here when I joined up knew the Elder Scrolls series inside and out, and would never have made the mistake of thinking a new game was part two of a previous game.

Difficulty levels altering gameplay:

On Novice enemies bump blind and unknowing, with randomly generated equipment and fighting style.

On Normal it's just normal, whatever it would be.

On Master enemies sneak to assasinate the player, place rewards on player's head (on Wild-West style posters in taverns), use alteration and illusion spells on themselves to take advantage of player in fight or to avoid the player if they're weaker, check player's quest log to plan an attack/assasination (the more quests in one area the higher chance of threat), scout on player and player's home to know player's weakness (random encounter with a thug who takes two hits then runs like mad to just run away from player, then few days later a player is attacked by a band of thugs resistant to player's weapon used on that runaway scout), steal stuff from player's home (if unarmored or if guarded - try to kill guards while player's away so you come back to drop off trasured loot but see your guard killed and chests open missing stuff and have to find out what bandits made the assault and where is their camp to take your stuff back, the longer you're absent from home the more groups of bandits take a piece of it).

On Expert, adding to Master's difficulty features, enemies protect each other from the player, preparing themselves in forts/dungeons/towns to fight against the player on the basis of player's style and actions or story/quest decisions (for example if player did thieves guild quests recently then enemies in forst and towns will carry silent movement or invisibility potions or use spells to detect life so player will have a hard time sneaking, or if player did mages guild quests recently then there will be much more archers around than hand-to-hand fighters).

I'm not so sure about shifting AI packages along with difficulty (enemies should be as smart as possible all the time) but we have talked about difficulty doing more than just scaling damage before. The general idea was that, the higher the difficulty, the more you had to worry about. Deadlier diseases, weapon and armour degredation, straight up to food and drink. Make difficulty less about combat, and more about having to juggle more systems, with 'Master' basically being hardcoe mode.


Oh, I agree, but I think the issue is easier to resolve simply by basing it on presence. You don't need silly (and they were silly) minigames to drive a disposition system... And really that's not how Interaction tends to work anyway. Its more an issue of presence and familiarity. The more you see and interact with someone, the more you like them (typically. Hate works in this system too, but let's work on basics before expanding). Just by being around and becomming a familiar face, disposition rises. Every day, you gain an increase to people who see you, which has an overflow effect to individuals with relationships to them at set milestones. You could even implement simple greetings with the dialogue interface Fallout uses, and a bit of variable-use button mapping (say, tap E for Hello, hold E to initiate dialogue) for some more active involvement.

Setting disposition thresholds for quests, allowing for a gradual ramp-up, helps this process, allowing communities to open up in a more realistic way and simulating a characters gradual integration nto social circles. This would also serve as a good system for a Personality or Charisma attribute to influence, because it would be less about your persuasion and ability to speak, and more about the vibe of civility ans trust around you.

Get rid of that boring, deppresive athmosphere which was in Skyrim im trying to have some fun not to commit suicide. Plus it was the reason i spent my time in modding more than playing skyrim so that i wouldnt get in a deppresive mood. And put some hot chicks in da game

I never found it depressing. In fact, I found it less offensive to the sense and mood and the sickeningly sweet design of Oblivion, and it's almost comedic outlook on 'dark'. Hackdirt was probably the only legitimately unsettling place in the entire game...

But, people have different triggers. What was it that made it depressing to you? The atmosphere? The colour palette? The lack of comedy? The recurring themes?

Also, define hot. Apparently, people find Aela hot. I've never seen it, but she's been a popular image of six appeal in Skyrim. If by hot, do you mean the Teenaged image of a big briasted, scantily clad porm star? Cause, really, I think we get enough of that shallow depiction. Yennifer is hot not because she runs around in a bikini, or even because of her figure,but because of character underneath all that felt.

If youre talking purely aesthetics... I rather liked Elesif, Kateriah, Breylina, Ysolde and one of the Dibellan priestesses. And the default Nora is rather foxy. But if you need implants and half an inch of makeup, you're unlikly to ever get it from an unmodded Bethesda game...

Though, some more body sliders wouldn't hurt. I think the face-gen in Fallout is frankly the best we've he, and with increased resolution, a few more sliders to change some of the body shape (hips, a bit with leg-length maybe a bit of posture, some more muscle variability...) We'd have basically the best system current tech can give us.

PLEASE for the love of god, i hope the armor system doesn't work the way it does in FO4. Armor needs to be in pieces (head/body/legs/feet/hands/maybe shoulders/etc), not full suits, and not in little pieces that all look the same.

We were talking about this last thread, and at the end of the day you can do a lot more, far easier, using Fallout's system than you can by carving things up Morrowond style.

And I would disagree with that sentiment, since its not structurally different then Fallout in the first place. Just with more real options without having to rely on a crafting UI.

Whatever is in Nexus's top files for the week I guess, since there's a guarantee that one of those mods will pop up.

The options afforded by dividing it up are considerably less (without an inordinate number of slots) unless you use the crafting modability anyway (say, a 'Shoulder slot' can contain a Rerebrace and Pauldron, while.a 'Hand sit' contains a gauntlet, vambrace and couter). And if you keep Fallouts slots, you allow for easy tracking if body part stats without having to add an aditional calculation on it to com one otherwise seperate elements.

It's just a simpler solution to the problem. The only reason to carve it up more is because of traditional comfort zones and imagined choice, when you'd mire likely be sacrificing choice instead.

And that's not factoring in new mechanics to diversify enchanting and Artifacts.

The math is on my side with this one, just as it was on your side with Weapon Skills.

I definitely agree the difficulty system has always been overtly simplistic. And no pun intended here's a simplified version of how I'd do difficulty.

Story Mode: Easier than vanilla Skyrim on moderate difficulty. There is no durability system, magicka comes back quickly like in Skyrim, diseases aren't that big of a deal, and enemies are leveled so you can do pretty much everything at a low level, even being naked with an iron dagger and starter spells. You can also bash down locks or blow them open with a spell with no failure rate. There are no sleep attacks at this level.

Easy Mode: To be honest like vanilla Skyrim on moderate difficulty yep... And still having the psychic clairvoyant arrow guiding you around. Again there is no durability system, magicka comes back quickly like in Skyrim, diseases aren't that big of a deal, and enemies are leveled. In easy mode, iron weapons, and the starter spells aren't as effective as they are in Story mode, and a starting out character is a bit more vulnerable. Though you have to use things like Ondusi's Door Opener or lock picking to get through doors... If you try to bash something open it has a lower chance of working.

You can be sleep attacked but never in cities, and the enemies are always weak.

Moderate mode: This would be highly similar to Morrowind, where yep, eventually the challenge of combat pretty much goes away cause you become so powerful... And early on you're like a miniature Mudcrab with needle thin claws made of tissue paper. Durability exists now, a lot of enemies are not leveled, starter spells and iron weapons won't be good enough for long, everything made from smithing is much weaker than anything of Dwemer or higher quality, and the common materials- IE, Iron, Steel, regular wood and so fourth are a lot weaker. Diseases are also more of a problem, making you much much weaker even on an endgame character.

If you try to bash something open... You could damage what's inside, or if it's a door you could accidentally hurt innocents on the other side. So lockpicking and lockpicking spells are more important. Your magicka also regenerates a bit slower.

Durability is a thing now, and magicka regenerates much much slower... A rate of about 2 magicka every 60 seconds. If you enter a high arcane energy pool which are scattered across the world, you can make it recharge much faster, but these energy pools will be away from most enemy encounters, and being in the pools will make you more vulnerable to magical damage as well. You also now have to have a journal guide you around and read it to find your away around, no more psychic guiding arrows.

You could be sleep attacked by a Dremora Lord out in the wilderness at level one albeit it's unlikely... Inside of cities you can be sleep attacked but only by rats and spiders- barring quest events perhaps. In Moderate and harder modes, health potions heal over time.

Hard mode: This would be again similar to Morrowind's scaling system only you wouldn't be so powerful end game... End game would be harder than vanilla Morrowind, as character stats wouldn't be enough on it's own to make everything easy.

Until you have a 100 destruction skill with spells to match you will struggle in combat as a destruction mage, and as a more regular physical combatant until you have gear that is of Dwarven or higher quality you will struggle a lot... Even with very high strength and health. In full Dwarven or with enough powerful spells and enchantments at your disposable you will finally stand a chance... Being about as strong as a level 10-15 character in Morrowind that has decent combat abilities... Be they stealth, magic or direct combatant warrior-ish.

Although there will be an animation warning to get out of dodge- some endgame enemies- who have godlike power will be able to kill you in three hits, unless you sacrifice magicka and stamina to get the highest health possible in which case it's four hits.

Sleep attacks are still a thing, but now the chances of being sleep attacked by powerful enemies are higher... And more numerous amounts of weaker enemies may attack you in your sleep.

Challenge mode: In challenge mode, you have to be pretty much absolutely metagaming just to make it through, you go from being like that mudcrab until your stats, abilities, character power, and skill as a player are nearly maxed out. Unlike in Skyrim, where stacking enchanting, smithing and all that, makes you able to casually walk through everything with relative ease so long as you have decent combat skills as a player, this time you need all that just to stand a chance. The game would have the difficulty I'd say, of an Ocarina Of Time boss fight, and you'd need all that metagaming just to stand a chance. In Challenge mode, Daedric artifacts, and top tier gear will be pretty much essential just to get through the game.

Some enemies will be able to kill you in one hit unless you stack your health stat as high as possible- in which case it's a two hit kill, and this move will be significantly faster than in Normal mode so it's harder to predict. Durability is a thing, and stuff wears out faster than on normal mode, magicka regenerates even slower with it being 1 magicka per 120 seconds. and being at a magicka energy pool makes you take three times more damage rather than double damage in normal mode. Diseases if they go untreated for too long, can also become fatal now. And again you also now have to have a journal guide you around and read it to find your away around, no more psychic guiding arrows.

Sleep attacks are more likely than the other modes, high level enemies are more likely to sneak attack you, and sometimes even Dremora Lords, Golden Saints and stuff can even attack you while sleeping in cities... At a low level too.

Maybe programming it all in would make things far too complicated and somehow negatively effecting modding potential or something for all I know, but I think it'd be way better than the difficulty slider in every TES game to date. And the higher the difficulty level, the weaker common materials, and the starter spells are in comparison to who you fight... So Dwarven, Daedric, Glass, and Daedric Artifacts don't have their stats nerfed, but iron, steel and so forth do in higher difficulties. Making high quality gear essential for success in harder difficulties.

I'd really like a difficulty mode where it's pretty much impossible to succeed, wearing steel armor and dual wielding iron daggers. As I personally like the challenge of struggling to survive, on a scavenger hunt basically... And then I only stand a chance when I have the gear or spells required to defend myself. In vanilla moderate difficulty Skyrim I could even defeat Sabrecats quite reliably around level 5-7, by just utilizing decent combat skills as a player... With just like... Steel weapons, or kiting the Sabrecat around while using spells. And I wish I had to be almost level 20, with Dwarven gear, or 90 skill in destruction or conjuration just to stand a chance. I think at least in Skyrim for instance the vanilla difficulty with no mods and stuff, would be better as Easy difficulty- and easy difficulty would be recmmended to new players, and Moderate difficulty would be tougher.

Looking at the difficulty between various TES games I played... Daggerfall seems to have the hardest difficulty starting out, Morrowind the second hardest... And Skyrim a very very very very distance third... Oblivion it was the easiest starting out. But then in Skyrim it felt like the main character grew in power too quickly. Like in Skyrim gains in power throughought say 5 levels, should've taken 20 or 30 levels I feel.

I think one of the main issues is, it's too easy starting out in Oblivion and Skyrim in Moderate difficulty... Making endgame feel less rewarding. And the other issue is, for people who want the thing to remain challenging the whole time through, they get bored even in Daggerfall and Morrowind when nothing is challenging anymore... Probably because there not being much of a Hard or Challenge difficulty being optional by default.