[Dragonz Dancer]

Someone mentioned earlier that it took 2 years to make Fallout 3. This is wrong, it actually took 4 years, and took longer than Oblivion. And you guys have to realize, Bethesda made Oblivion's DLC until 2007, and Fallout 3's DLC until 2009, so it's not like they haven't made anything for years and years. I personally believe it's likely that Bethesda started work on TES V after they finished Shivering Isles, but no earlier.

As for TES facing competition, well, I'm sure Bethesda isn't worried. Lets not kid ourselves, there are better RPGs out there, just look at Dragon Age and Mass Effect 1, but aside from a teeny-tiny number of poorly done imitators (Two Worlds, etc.), Bethesda is the only developer out there that makes RPGs with such massive, detailed worlds, and makes the actual game great. They don't have to worry about competition.

[jodie]

What is the world of warcraft mousewheel?

He's essentially bashing World of Warcraft. A bold and original concept.

[Tamika Jett]

I'm still of the opinion, that, professionally, 5 years is too long to wait between installments of a successful series. 1 year is too short for most games outside of sports franchises, Call of Duty, etc, 2 years is maybe fine for heavily storied games of lesser content, and 3 years is probably enough to make a decent Elder Scrolls game or similar. 3 and half if you want to go over things with a fine toothed comb.

The only games that take 4+ years to make are games which 1) have not been established as a series 2) have been met with limited success or other business related delays.

So even if TES V were announced this month, releasing it a year or two from now just isn't cutting it. Maybe Beth doesn't care. Maybe they'd rather just publish other peoples games, let their brains relax, and collect royalties on games whose success they are not particularly invested in.

Meanwhile, other innovative companies will continue to create new games and deliver them in a more timely manner. The biggest problem with 5 year cycles is that you are simply outdated. The technology you started the game with is no longer near the cutting edge, its at the back-asswards dull side. The gameplay, concepts, and style are similarly outdated. Other games have come and gone with new insights or innovations, such as Red Deads environments and random side quests, even they way they handle horses and combat from them, which can not be introduced into your game without more significant delays.

Also, there is less feedback. Oblivion was blasted for it's level scaling. Well guess what. I'm sure with this next installment, the solution will be similarly drastic to the problem that level scaling was meant to address. When you only release a game twice a decade, you cannot improve past mistakes quickly enough to avoid backlash from the new ones.

When I first saw the ads for Oblivion, I was beyond excitement. I'm now cautiously optimistic about TES V. What I'm really excited for is a new series, by a new company. The past 5 years have given us several Fables, Dragon Age, and Two Worlds. While none of these games are on par as far as openness, content, and polish, they are all VERY young franchises compared to TES, Zelda, Final Fantasy, and they show that there is a market out there for RPGs. While Beth sits on their property in behind a wall of silence, someone out there is making an Fantasy game of unrivaled scope and detail, and they can't wait until they have enough to show the world what they've been working on. My hopes are set on a cross between Rockstar and whichever two companies have been fighting over COD, they seem to have all the elements of sandbox style games with character customization and progression, with a possibility of online co-op with a small group of friends.

Interesting ideas...

[Kelly Tomlinson]

And you guys have to realize, Bethesda made Oblivion's DLC until 2007, and Fallout 3's DLC until 2009, so it's not like they haven't made anything for years and years

Yet, I doubt simple DLCs require the whole developement team to be made. You can't just say "they've been working only on this at this time", in my opinion.

[Dalton Greynolds]

Yet, I doubt simple DLCs require the whole developement team to be made. You can't just say "they've been working only on this at this time", in my opinion.

Shivering Iles was not "simple" by any stretch of the imagination.

[CHARLODDE]

Shivering Iles was not "simple" by any stretch of the imagination.

hell it had more imagination than Oblivion and Fallout 3 combined. But that's neither here nor there.

I think all this is moot. They are waiting so that they don't have two years between announcement and release because that kind of gap can pose some crazy problems.

[Nims]

Sure Shivering Isles wasn't "simple", but it's nothing but new landscapes, NPCs, scripted quests. No deep changes to the game, I think progammers did have time to do something else. They're not the ones placing trees and whatnot.

[Nana Samboy]

Someone mentioned earlier that it took 2 years to make Fallout 3. This is wrong, it actually took 4 years, and took longer than Oblivion. And you guys have to realize, Bethesda made Oblivion's DLC until 2007, and Fallout 3's DLC until 2009, so it's not like they haven't made anything for years and years. I personally believe it's likely that Bethesda started work on TES V after they finished Shivering Isles, but no earlier.

As for TES facing competition, well, I'm sure Bethesda isn't worried. Lets not kid ourselves, there are better RPGs out there, just look at Dragon Age and Mass Effect 1, but aside from a teeny-tiny number of poorly done imitators (Two Worlds, etc.), Bethesda is the only developer out there that makes RPGs with such massive, detailed worlds, and makes the actual game great. They don't have to worry about competition.

I'm gonna disagree with better RPG's.....

I have seen DA and thought it was terrible and have played Mass Effect and thought it got boring too fast.

As for development times, I have no idea. I hope they started after the Fallout 3 release. (Based on what I heard about the team separating for Fallout 3 and TES)

[Joe Alvarado]

Okay....
2 years of FULL production, no-doubt (unless they work on Fallout 4).
Most games took 3-4 years of production...

We will just have to wait... I have never been TESified on any other TES release... It will be exciting to watch this release coming...

[DAVId MArtInez]

Yet, I doubt simple DLCs require the whole developement team to be made. You can't just say "they've been working only on this at this time", in my opinion.

True, however my point was that they didn't just stop making TES stuff in 2006, they made DLC until 2007 after all.

I'm gonna disagree with better RPG's.....

I have seen DA and thought it was terrible and have played Mass Effect and thought it got boring too fast.

As for development times, I have no idea. I hope they started after the Fallout 3 release. (Based on what I heard about the team separating for Fallout 3 and TES)

I don't want to get off topic, but what I was trying to say is that while any given TES game is most definitely not the best RPG out there, especially if you compare them to older RPGs, the fact that each game contains a massive, detailed open world makes TES RPGs not have a lot of competition.

[Ron]

I don't want to get off topic, but what I was trying to say is that while any given TES game is most definitely not the best RPG out there, especially if you compare them to older RPGs, the fact that each game contains a massive, detailed open world makes TES RPGs not have a lot of competition.

I don't know, I get what you're saying and I love Dragon Age and Mass Effect, they're among the best games I have ever played (and proudly own) the TES series is my favourite series of games and OB is still, probably, my favourite game of all time.

[latrina]

Folks, if we could stick to speculation about the release of the next Elder Scrolls game, Rohugh will probably be much less grumpy.

[Darlene Delk]

I'm still of the opinion, that, professionally, 5 years is too long to wait between installments of a successful series. 1 year is too short for most games outside of sports franchises, Call of Duty, etc, 2 years is maybe fine for heavily storied games of lesser content, and 3 years is probably enough to make a decent Elder Scrolls game or similar. 3 and half if you want to go over things with a fine toothed comb.

The only games that take 4+ years to make are games which 1) have not been established as a series 2) have been met with limited success or other business related delays.

So even if TES V were announced this month, releasing it a year or two from now just isn't cutting it. Maybe Beth doesn't care. Maybe they'd rather just publish other peoples games, let their brains relax, and collect royalties on games whose success they are not particularly invested in.

Meanwhile, other innovative companies will continue to create new games and deliver them in a more timely manner. The biggest problem with 5 year cycles is that you are simply outdated. The technology you started the game with is no longer near the cutting edge, its at the back-asswards dull side. The gameplay, concepts, and style are similarly outdated. Other games have come and gone with new insights or innovations, such as Red Deads environments and random side quests, even they way they handle horses and combat from them, which can not be introduced into your game without more significant delays.

Also, there is less feedback. Oblivion was blasted for it's level scaling. Well guess what. I'm sure with this next installment, the solution will be similarly drastic to the problem that level scaling was meant to address. When you only release a game twice a decade, you cannot improve past mistakes quickly enough to avoid backlash from the new ones.

When I first saw the ads for Oblivion, I was beyond excitement. I'm now cautiously optimistic about TES V. What I'm really excited for is a new series, by a new company. The past 5 years have given us several Fables, Dragon Age, and Two Worlds. While none of these games are on par as far as openness, content, and polish, they are all VERY young franchises compared to TES, Zelda, Final Fantasy, and they show that there is a market out there for RPGs. While Beth sits on their property in behind a wall of silence, someone out there is making an Fantasy game of unrivaled scope and detail, and they can't wait until they have enough to show the world what they've been working on. My hopes are set on a cross between Rockstar and whichever two companies have been fighting over COD, they seem to have all the elements of sandbox style games with character customization and progression, with a possibility of online co-op with a small group of friends.

Valve waited 6 years to put out Half-Life 2 and they didn't have as much content to develop as Elder Scrolls. They did a fairly fantastic job in my opinion.

[Irmacuba]

Sure Shivering Isles wasn't "simple", but it's nothing but new landscapes, NPCs, scripted quests. No deep changes to the game, I think progammers did have time to do something else. They're not the ones placing trees and whatnot.

Exactly. I'll take it further than that. As soon as the programmers finished scripting the engine and working in Gamebryo and the middleware for Oblivion, they could go on to working on TES:V's. They would have to update it, sure, but they could have started work as early as 2004-2005. By then, I assume, the programming would have been done for Oblivion's engine (for the most part). This is what takes the longest in a dev cycle, creating/rebuilding the engine; this may not be true for TES because of the sheer number of assets but still.

[ijohnnny]

http://www.overclock.net/pc-games/766376-elder-scrolls-v.html
Yet another thread following.

[Judy Lynch]

http://www.overclock.net/pc-games/766376-elder-scrolls-v.html
Yet another thread following.

Seems like, if this isn't TES V, many more people not registered on this forum will be sobbing along with us.

Possibly only a few more days until we start living in a world where TES V has been announced. What a wonderful world that will be.

[Jessica Stokes]

Folks, if we could stick to speculation about the release of the next Elder Scrolls game, Rohugh will probably be much less grumpy.

Grumpy can't be less than grumpy.

Possibly only a few more days until we start living in a world where TES V has been announced. What a wonderful world that will be.

It'll cure aids, cancer and war.

[cosmo valerga]

It'll cure aids, cancer and war.

But then they will charge more for the game.

[cutiecute]

I don't want to get off topic, but what I was trying to say is that while any given TES game is most definitely not the best RPG out there, especially if you compare them to older RPGs, the fact that each game contains a massive, detailed open world makes TES RPGs not have a lot of competition.

I will also try to stay in topic by first saying that I agree with you that TES games don't have a lot of competition which is probably one of the reasons why Bethesda are taking their time with the development and announcement of TES V. Bethesda are known to be a shrewd developer and they have purposefully chosen to bring open worlds to a relatively niche market and as a result they have this market cornered all across the three platforms for years now. But saying that "any given TES game is most definitely not the best RPG out there" is a very bold statement which I am sure that many people would probably disagree with. There was a poll in the Bioware forums for DAO only a few months ago and most people voted Morrowind as the best RPG ever.

[:)Colleenn]

i still say the cost of the game is the issue
red dead redemption
cost over $100 million to make
and with the current
eceonomy... unless the get a great game out there this is not happening any time soon
the earliest 2012

falout 3 especially for the ps3 was a bad joke
nearly unplayable, constant freezing
then some of the games they have published
such as rogue warrior.... really bad game

and obsidian is making the new fallout new vegas
they also just made
alpha protocol- not a very good game and that may keep others from geting the new fallout

money is always an issue
and they neede money to make a good game

[NIloufar Emporio]

unless the get a great game out there this is not happening any time soon

So unless they get a great game out there, a great game is not happening any time soon?

[Casey]

So unless they get a great game out there, a great game is not happening any time soon?

I am just as confused as you are.

lighthouse, please refer to Riveon's avatar.

[Samantha Pattison]

It would be unholy to let us down now.

[Ricky Rayner]

I have Monday off in observance of the holiday, and since I do, and Bethesda Softworks has a contact number, I will call them tomorrow just to see if they are open. If they are open, then there is a chance that we'll get an announcement, and if not, then the chance is severely diminished (though I often have to work on my days off so that doesn't necessarily preclude them from posting the announcement just because the offices themselves are closed... but one would think they would want a staff available to handle the massive influx of media inquiry that would result from an announcement... this is the longest parenthetical statement I have written in a long time and neither its use nor my use of ellipses are correct...)

[Robert Devlin]

I sort of check in every few months to see if there is anything new of TES V (I figure this group would notice it first)

Same old stuff, nothing really new. ------- Sigh --------

Storm