[Mr. Ray]

Hmm, looks like I missed something...

In any event, I have recently added a whole slew of mods to my Oblivion game to see just how far I could push it away from vanilla, so a more rocky-road with a cherry on top. Granted it isn't an easy thing, but I just took inventory of what the game has become and it is a crazy mess that could easily take 400+ hrs to complete. This all being on the same tech that we will see TESV on. At first when Todd had mentioned it was going to be released on current tech, I was a little sad, because of the "wow" factor from TESIII and IV as they were using cutting edge tech at the time of their release. This leads me to wonder if they are going to make a truly amazing game, as it is certainly possible to do so with the current tech...

Well, the improvement from TESIV--->Fallout 3 was quite substantial in the short amount of time they worked to improve the engine. If they had equivalent amount of time for engine development this time around I would imagine we would see some much improved general world textures, view distances, creatures/people, and animations. A decent improvement in each of these areas would make a huge difference to the way the game feels. Hopefully they can tweak the unstable physics and lighting to give even more improvement to the game world.

[Gaelle Courant]

Well, I think this next game is going to "wow" us in a different way other than graphics (although to be honest I never found TES games to look that good anyway). Mr. Howard said in an interview that his team is no longer satisfied with their games just "working", that maybe they've leaned too hard on tech in the past. This tells me that they want to go the extra mile and whatever their working on now is probably going to be the most polished game Bethesda has released yet. It's going to be optimized much better than Oblivion and even Fallout, it's probably going to have the best animation we've seen in a Bethesda game, fewer bugs and glitches, more responsive control and action, etc.

This is exactly what I got out of the article, I think this is a game Bethesda's putting their best effort into to make a game will be able to look back on and in nostalgia in 5 years and remember the huge wow factor it had on us right away.

[Logan Greenwood]

TESV is going to hit one out of the park.

[Jerry Cox]

This is exactly what I got out of the article, I think this is a game Bethesda's putting their best effort into to make a game will be able to look back on and in nostalgia in 5 years and remember the huge wow factor it had on us right away.

They did say that they made more improvements to the engine than they did for Fallout 3. Its also supposed to look like a next gen console game. Awesome.

[louise tagg]

Pleased the game is quite far along. I would think the team is now putting all the crap into the game (quests, locations, creatures , people etc) and when thats done just the final testing then let it go. I remember todd howard saying during production of fallout 3 while the game was being made the concept art guys would come and play it to check for bugs etc. pretty time efficient really.

[Sebrina Johnstone]

I feel somewhat vindicated on hearing the news that "a Bethesda project" may be announced before the end of the year, and that it will be released in a shorter time span than has been traditionally followed.

I always thought that a two-year wait was ridiculous, especially considering some thought we would not hear anything until 2011. A 2012 or 2013 release would simply be a poor move on Bethesda part. They are either underutilizing a franchise, or over producing a product. More production time does not always make a better game, especially when you have a staff the size of Bethesdas. It would be better to release a finished if not perfect game, and then release a sequel 2 or 3 years down the road with any features you might have not been able to include before.

I just really hope that they've made design decisions leaning back towards complexity and away from mainstream RPGs. People play Elder Scrolls because they are less of the same. If you "dumb down" the content, you will only bring yourself closer to your competitors, and instead of attracting 100% of one population of gamers, you will be fighting for 50% of another.

[Petr Jordy Zugar]

I feel somewhat vindicated on hearing the news that "a Bethesda project" may be announced before the end of the year, and that it will be released in a shorter time span than has been traditionally followed.

I always thought that a two-year wait was ridiculous, especially considering some thought we would not hear anything until 2011. A 2012 or 2013 release would simply be a poor move on Bethesda part. They are either underutilizing a franchise, or over producing a product. More production time does not always make a better game, especially when you have a staff the size of Bethesdas. It would be better to release a finished if not perfect game, and then release a sequel 2 or 3 years down the road with any features you might have not been able to include before.

I just really hope that they've made design decisions leaning back towards complexity and away from mainstream RPGs. People play Elder Scrolls because they are less of the same. If you "dumb down" the content, you will only bring yourself closer to your competitors, and instead of attracting 100% of one population of gamers, you will be fighting for 50% of another.

I agree with most of what you said. They will not wait until 2013 to release the game I assure you. We all think that there is something in the way of Todd announcing the next game. Once that thing is out of the way then we will have less than 1.5 years to wait for the release.

[Fluffer]

Personally, I like it when Bethesda takes a long time to develop a game. Don't get me wrong, I don't like waiting 4 1/2 years only to find out they've only been actually developing it for 2 years, but rather I like them taking as long as they need to to finish it. I would hate it if they started churning out a sequel every 2 years. The more time they have to develop it, the more time they have to flesh out the world and add as many unique locations as they can. I wouldn't want them to ever start releasing a sequel every 2 years unless their development team was much larger than it is today.

[Motionsharp]

You guys are all gonna be so gutted to find out that the secret project is realy a new IP.. woops I shouldnt have said that... [/troll]

[Pawel Platek]

Long periods between games adds to the value and experience. I like it that the TES series is older than me but I can still play all of the games without wasting my life away. Arena is an antique. I like that there are not 14 TESs like FFTSY

[Danielle Brown]

Hmm, I predict an announcement 12 am 21st December 2012, that'll be the day!

[CHARLODDE]

[troll] You guys are all gonna be so gutted to find out that the secret project is realy a new IP.. woops I shouldnt have said that... [/troll]

Everything the devs have said, combined with common sense, points to it not being a new IP. Hell even a new Fallout is more likely, despite New Vegas come out soon. :shrug:

[Marquis deVille]

Knowing game devs, they would have allready written up the design doc for the next fallout game by now.

[Emily Jeffs]

Well, the improvement from TESIV--->Fallout 3 was quite substantial in the short amount of time they worked to improve the engine. If they had equivalent amount of time for engine development this time around I would imagine we would see some much improved general world textures, view distances, creatures/people, and animations.

i have no doubt technically it will be a large enough leap. it's the big 5.0. pretty serious landmark

once you have explored MW/Ob/F3 modding to a high level, you see that the custom in house code they have developed to the nif format, and the additions/imporvements/changes to the editor and how things are structured, I really like where F3 took it. every change has made things so much better experience. < the only thing the screwed up was removing the mount system from F3. they way it worked in Ob was quite alright. <_<

the animations will be the key change imo. i'm really looking forward to see how that's done this time. I wonder about lighting as well. there are some things that might as well just be in the editor for Devs to play with. even if they end up having to cut them from being placed in the world very often, or at all. that way modders can still play with them.

i think they might bring in some new middleware/tech as well. < I keep saying a natural motion product. morphine. I doubt procedural animations. I be pleasantly surprised if it was.

[Evaa]

Knowing game devs, they would have allready written up the design doc for the next fallout game by now.

Well we don't know the games devs fully do we. ESV will be out when its ready.

[Trevi]

Well we don't know the games devs fully do we. ESV will be out when its ready.

"they will release the game when it is ready and not a minute sooner!!!!"


OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! :facepalm: I guess we can call off the speculation threads and just wait to see the game on the store shelves!

[Andrew Tarango]

I guess we can call off the speculation threads and just wait to see the game on the store shelves!

Do not tempt us.

Knowing game devs, they would have allready written up the design doc for the next fallout game by now.

Actually Todd recently confirmed that they have a second game in the early stages of developement.

[x_JeNnY_x]

themattbelknapp if they rily rily want o i think they can do it and do it good

[Tasha Clifford]

I think that they will announce the game once Christmas has passed and all of the holiday season excitement is over, giving gamers something huge to look forward to in 2011. They did say that the time from when they announce their next game to when it is in the consumer's hands will be the shortest for any game they have ever made. Fingers crossed that their next game is The Elder Scrolls V with no tacked on multiplayer. If they are going to have any type of multiplayer it should be like 'From Software's Demon's Souls. Their multiplayer was so perfect (best in any RPG I've ever played, and I've played a lot) it was unbelievable.

[Brian LeHury]

I think that they will announce the game once Christmas has passed and all of the holiday season excitement is over, giving gamers something huge to look forward to in 2011. They did say that the time from when they announce their next game to when it is in the consumer's hands will be the shortest for any game they have ever made. Fingers crossed that their next game is The Elder Scrolls V with no tacked on multiplayer. If they are going to have any type of multiplayer it should be like 'From Software's Demon's Souls. Their multiplayer was so perfect (best in any RPG I've ever played, and I've played a lot) it was unbelievable.

They could announce it now and I'd still look forward to 2011 for it. Speaking of Bethesda, sure is quiet on the bethblog.

[Strawberry]

They could announce it now and I'd still look forward to 2011 for it. Speaking of Bethesda, sure is quiet on the bethblog.

Yes, but I am assuming you are a hardcoe fan of the series like me. They could announce it at any time and I would rush down to GameStop to preorder the collector's edition so I could make sure I got my copy. I am just assuming that because they want to attract all of the people who got Fallout 3 that didn't get Oblivion/Morrowind and also attract new fans as well. If they try to do this whenever Halo: Reach, CoD: Black Ops, Fable 3, Fallout: New Vegas, LittleBigPlanet 2, and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood are coming out it might get temporarily overshadowed just a bit. I can pretty much GUARANTEE that they will not announced The Elder Scrolls V before Fallout: New Vegas comes out. They would never try to take thunder away from their own product (I know they aren't developing it, but they are still publishing it). It would make no sense.

[Shianne Donato]

I think that they will announce the game once Christmas has passed and all of the holiday season excitement is over, giving gamers something huge to look forward to in 2011. They did say that the time from when they announce their next game to when it is in the consumer's hands will be the shortest for any game they have ever made. Fingers crossed that their next game is The Elder Scrolls V with no tacked on multiplayer. If they are going to have any type of multiplayer it should be like 'From Software's Demon's Souls. Their multiplayer was so perfect (best in any RPG I've ever played, and I've played a lot) it was unbelievable.

There's an http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1085332-official-tes-multiplayer-thread/ for discussing multiplayer, it's fine to touch on the subject here but any elaboration or discussion belongs in that thread.

I think early 2011 is the most likely time as well. Unless Bethesda plans to announce it at PAX (which I think is unlikely) they'll have a very narrow window of opportunity before BlizzCon and then the gaming media will be turning its attention to the holiday season. While I think TES V could still grab magazine covers even when pitted against Diablo III or other Blizzard games it seems silly to compete against them when they could just wait a few months.

They could announce it now and I'd still look forward to 2011 for it. Speaking of Bethesda, sure is quiet on the bethblog.

There was a ton of activity following QuakeCon, it makes sense that things would quiet down afterwards. Several of the people who update the blog were also out of the country last week at shows.

I can pretty much GUARANTEE that they will not announced The Elder Scrolls V before Fallout: New Vegas comes out. They would never try to take thunder away from their own product (I know they aren't developing it, but they are still publishing it). It would make no sense.

This is something that's come up a lot in this thread. I do understand the sentiment but I actually don't think announcing TES V would harm New Vegas sales. It may overshadow it a bit but if anything it would get people more excited about open-world RPGs

[Mandy Muir]

Yes, but I am assuming you are a hardcoe fan of the series like me. They could announce it at any time and I would rush down to GameStop to preorder the collector's edition so I could make sure I got my copy. I am just assuming that because they want to attract all of the people who got Fallout 3 that didn't get Oblivion/Morrowind and also attract new fans as well. If they try to do this whenever Halo: Reach, CoD: Black Ops, Fable 3, Fallout: New Vegas, LittleBigPlanet 2, and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood are coming out it might get temporarily overshadowed just a bit. I can pretty much GUARANTEE that they will not announced The Elder Scrolls V before Fallout: New Vegas comes out. They would never try to take thunder away from their own product (I know they aren't developing it, but they are still publishing it). It would make no sense.

Its called competition. But just like Hungry Donner said "It wouldn't overshadow". Im all hyped up over ESV but isn't gonna stop me from getting New Vegas.

[Daddy Cool!]

Its called competition. But just like Hungry Donner said "It wouldn't overshadow". Im all hyped up over ESV but isn't gonna stop me from getting New Vegas.

Still, abczby has a point, it would be smarted to announce it after Christmas, but before games like Dragon Age 2, Star wars Knights of the old republic, rage (even though Bethesda publishes it) and other games.

[Ashley Hill]

I think we're good. Like they said, they have one game that has been in production for two years, and one in early production. We can safely assume one is TESV and one is Fallout 4. A good spread of a franchise would be that they let Fallout New Vegas keep the series on the brain for the public (much like the TES novels) while the Fallout fans wait, they release TESV, then work on Fallout.

That's why I'm reasonably sure we'll probably get TESV before Christmas 2011, and Fallout 4 by Christmas 2012.