[Guy Pearce]

We all know that Skyrim was mentioned in Oblivion but I thought I heard talk about some crap going down in High Rock as well.

And Morrowind, Black Marsh and Summerset Isles. They were all mentioned by commoners in Oblivion.

[i grind hard]

Morrowind isn't Morrowind anymore though, right? I heard it asploded and became part of Black Marsh... lol. Or maybe it's now called Morrowargonia similar to Czechoslovakia or Argonia-Morrowind like Austria-Hungary. Or maybe they came up with a new name, such as East Tamriel or The Province With A Big Hole In The Top.

I wonder if it is now the Dunmer being enslaved by Argonians... lol!

I wonder what ruins might exist in Skyrim. Old nordic? Falmer? Even Ayleids if they when that far up north? Akaviri? Atmoric? French?

[Melly Angelic]

Morrowind isn't Morrowind anymore though, right? I heard it asploded and became part of Black Marsh... lol. Or maybe it's now called Morrowargonia similar to Czechoslovakia or Argonia-Morrowind like Austria-Hungary. Or maybe they came up with a new name, such as East Tamriel or The Province With A Big Hole In The Top.

I wonder if it is now the Dunmer being enslaved by Argonians... lol!

I wonder what ruins might exist in Skyrim. Old nordic? Falmer? Even Ayleids if they when that far up north? Akaviri? Atmoric? French?

Vvardenfell exploded, which is an island inside Morrowind, which retains its name no matter who conquered it... though if the game is set 200 years later then they could very well change the name and destroy the rest if they wish!

[DeeD]

If we go by what Todd has said, that they've been working on the new game for 2 years, then I don't think it will be two provinces. Or, if it is, it won't be out next year like we hope. Two years isnt long enough to create two whole provinces in the detail we would expect

True, but he did say (in the http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-16-bethesdas-todd-howard-interview?page=1):

One thing I can say is that from when you first hear about it to when it's out will be the shortest it's been for us. It's pretty far along. When we show it, we want to show a lot, because there's a lot of game there to play right now.

You know, if Pete Hines came in and said, "I want you to show it," I'd be like, "Okay, I'm ready to show it." But we've just decided for now not to yet.*

*Emphasis added

This means to me that they have done a lot in the time they've had. More than they usually have.
This means that perhaps they will not stick to the 4 year timeline that Oblivion, Morrowind, Fallout 3, and other games of theirs occupied.
When Paul Oughton said possible a TESV in 2010, maybe he wasn't all that off?

But one thing we can probably be confident about:

TESV probably won't have any ladders.

[Krista Belle Davis]

I think Bethesda has a lot more people under thier wing too which could explain why ESV is so far into production.

[Matthew Warren]

I think that when Todd was talking about a shorter time between announcement and release I think he was inferring that there is going to be a significant difference. Otherwise he would not have said it, right? I'm guessing that there will be a 6-10 month period of flowing information before release.

[Kat Lehmann]

I think that when Todd was talking about a shorter time between announcement and release I think he was inferring that there is going to be a significant difference. Otherwise he would not have said it, right? I'm guessing that there will be a 6-10 month period of flowing information before release.

Considering the wait for FO3 and Oblivion were 16-18 months, I'd say even if it's a bit more than a year that's a significant difference. My best guess is that it'll be released 9-12 months after the reveal.

[c.o.s.m.o]

This is just speculation but I've heard through a graqe vine that TESV will take place in Skyrim and another province.

Perhaps Skyrim and part of Morrowind... whats left of it that is. Either way there ought to be a bunch of dunmer refugees in Skyrim.. should make things interesting there politically, culturally and religiously.

[Kathryn Medows]

Skyrim, the northeastern part of mainland Morrowind, and Solsthiem. That's what I feel has the best chance of being in TES V, if it isn't only in Skyrim. Skyrim and High Rock doesn't make much sense because nothing interesting is going on in High Rock at the time of the book. Meanwhile, Vvardenfell exploded, and any survivors took refuge on Solstheim as ash rained down on northern Morrowind, as the seas surrounding it started to boil. So think about it. We'd get to explore Skyrim, and then to get to Solstheim, we'd have to cross through northeastern Morrowind to get there, meaning we'd get to see an ashy wasteland devoid of life, which would be a lovely contrast to Skyrim. We might even get to see some Argonian settlements. Then we could swim from there to Solsthiem and see what the Dunmer are doing with their new home.

That right there would be my ultimate TES V. I'll be perfectly happy with Skyrim by itself but what I just described sounds like it would be awesome. To me at least. Though in all likely hood if they include anything they'll simply make a boat to go to Solsthiem from Skyrim, but passing through post-apocalyptic Morrowind would be great.

Also, on the topic of what the Argonians are going to do with Morrowind, I'm hoping and praying it gets integrated into Black Marsh and the province doubles in size. Black Marsh + mainland Morrowind in one game and in one huge province would be a great setting for a future game.

[lauren cleaves]

Do new AAA titles ever get announced during the September through December months? I thought this time of the year was always devoted to what's coming out now (huge AAA titles, new consoles, new console accessories) rather than what will be coming out in a year.... Seems to me the entire calendar year builds to the climix that is the holiday shopping season. Every console has some hit exclusive coming out to out-do their competitors and we see a hugely disportionate number of multi-platform AAA releases during quarter 4.

I just don't think the thick of the holiday shopping season is a legitimate expectation. Bethesda knows the gaming public's attention will be focused on what's about to come out, what came out last week, and what will be released in two weeks. To say nothing of the gluttony of newly-released theater films, dvds, books, music, etc.

We won't hear news about Bethesda's new game until early 2011. I say the announcement comes in February with a tentative release date of "Fall 2011" that narrows down to an exact date at E3 2011, just in time to rev up pre-order sales and announce collector's edition pack-ins.

[Mark Churchman]

Do new AAA titles ever get announced during the September through December months? I thought this time of the year was always devoted to what's coming out now (huge AAA titles, new consoles, new console accessories) rather than what will be coming out in a year.... Seems to me the entire calendar year builds to the climix that is the holiday shopping season. Every console has some hit exclusive coming out to out-do their competitors and we see a hugely disportionate number of multi-platform AAA releases during quarter 4.

I just don't think the thick of the holiday shopping season is a legitimate expectation. Bethesda knows the gaming public's attention will be focused on what's about to come out, what came out last week, and what will be released in two weeks. To say nothing of the gluttony of newly-released theater films, dvds, books, music, etc.

We won't hear news about Bethesda's new game until early 2011. I say the announcement comes in February with a tentative release date of "Fall 2011" that narrows down to an exact date at E3 2011, just in time to rev up pre-order sales and announce collector's edition pack-ins.

Sure they get announced during the fall. For example, every year at the VGAs (Spike TV's Video Game Awards) they announce a handful of games. Arkham Asylum 2 (forgot the current name) was announced there. So were a few other AAA titles if I recall correctly. And my memory isn't good enough to remember any other announcements in the last few Fall seasons, but developers don't just stop announcing games during that time.

But even assuming they actually are planning on waiting until the beginning of 2011, you have to remember that January-April is still a busy time of the year for video game releases. Those are the dates during which the previous year's titles that couldn't go gold in time for the holiday season are released, and while the beginning of 2011 is already starting to fill up (Portal 2, Gears of War 3, Dragon Age 2, Bulletstorm, etc all coming out before the end of April), if the beginning of 2010 is anything to go by, it will just get even more crowded.

The point I'm trying to make is that there is no "not busy" time at the beginning of 2011 for them to announce it. September-December will be really full of new releases, but January-April will still see the the release of a lot of AAA titles too. Bethesda isn't going to wait for all these popular titles to come out just to announce it. They'll announce it when they're ready to announce it.

That said, I personally expect them to announce it close to the end of the year. Todd's comments indicated that they're ready to show it off if they have to, and they have a lot to show, but they've just decided to wait for now. September or October seems too close, and January or February seems too far away. November or December, 3 or 4 months after Todd's comments, seems just right to me. 5-6 month afterwards would make it seem as if they ran into a snag that didn't allow them to announce it earlier, imo.

[Matt Gammond]

Considering the wait for FO3 and Oblivion were 16-18 months, I'd say even if it's a bit more than a year that's a significant difference. My best guess is that it'll be released 9-12 months after the reveal.

But since they said that they are ready to announce but pete said no. So that probably means that it is likely to be annoucned before christmas. I dont think thats a stretch. So even with a 9-12 month wait it will be here before christmas. Biggest selling point of the year, correct? Just a thought

[Horse gal smithe]

Considering the wait for FO3 and Oblivion were 16-18 months, I'd say even if it's a bit more than a year that's a significant difference. My best guess is that it'll be released 9-12 months after the reveal.

But since they said that they are ready to announce but pete said no. So that probably means that it is likely to be annoucned before christmas. I dont think thats a stretch. So even with a 9-12 month wait it will be here before christmas. Biggest selling point of the year, correct? Just a thought

[Eliza Potter]

long-term - quakecon 2011 announcement, e3 2012 debut, ride the hype train through quakecon, gamescom, gamecon etc. with an october 2012 release.

short-term - early 2011 announcement, e3 2011 debut, quakecon hype train, october 2011 release.

i very much believe it'll be the former.

[Rachie Stout]

We won't hear news about Bethesda's new game until early 2011. I say the announcement comes in February with a tentative release date of "Fall 2011" that narrows down to an exact date at E3 2011, just in time to rev up pre-order sales and announce collector's edition pack-ins.

Announcement on a new years eve, +- a day or two. That would be superb timing.

long-term - quakecon 2011 announcement, e3 2012 debut, ride the hype train through quakecon, gamescom, gamecon etc. with an october 2012 release.

short-term - early 2011 announcement, e3 2011 debut, quakecon hype train, october 2011 release.

i very much believe it'll be the former.

Such a late announcement doesn't seem reasonable at all - it's too far away from their style. Considering they've been ready to announce for a some time now, they won't delay the announcement for another year. I'll eat my hat if they do. :grad:

[sarah taylor]

long-term - quakecon 2011 announcement, e3 2012 debut, ride the hype train through quakecon, gamescom, gamecon etc. with an october 2012 release.

short-term - early 2011 announcement, e3 2011 debut, quakecon hype train, october 2011 release.

i very much believe it'll be the former.

I'm sorry but you don't expect it to be announced for a year? You read the recent interview with Todd, right? The game is ready to be announced already, they're simply waiting for now. But there's absolutely no way they're going to wait an entire year to announce it, unless they run into some serious problems with the development.

[Ron]

I'm sorry but you don't expect it to be announced for a year? You read the recent interview with Todd, right? The game is ready to be announced already, they're simply waiting for now. But there's absolutely no way they're going to wait an entire year to announce it, unless they run into some serious problems with the development.

It feels like we have been saying this stuff on the past three threads...

[Hearts]

It feels like we have been saying this stuff on the past three threads...

It's annoying because this is the best piece of info yet.

[Marnesia Steele]

I'm sorry but you don't expect it to be announced for a year? You read the recent interview with Todd, right? The game is ready to be announced already, they're simply waiting for now. But there's absolutely no way they're going to wait an entire year to announce it, unless they run into some serious problems with the development.

i read the interview, yeah. i also know that the jump from Daggerfall to Morrowind took six years, and the jump from Morrowind to Oblivion took four. they've mentioned numerous times that they're retooling the engine and working out the problems with it, and i'm expecting about as big a jump between Oblivion and this as there was between Morrowind and Oblivion (i.e. bringing the engine up to modern standards).

with history as a guide, do you really think they can actually churn out a game in three years? do you WANT them to churn out a game in three years?

[Rachie Stout]

i read the interview, yeah. i also know that the jump from Daggerfall to Morrowind took six years, and the jump from Morrowind to Oblivion took four. they've mentioned numerous times that they're retooling the engine and working out the problems with it, and i'm expecting about as big a jump between Oblivion and this as there was between Morrowind and Oblivion (i.e. bringing the engine up to modern standards).

with history as a guide, do you really think they can actually churn out a game in three years? do you WANT them to churn out a game in three years?

Considering that they've almost doubled their staff since Oblivion, I don't see how that's unreasonable at all. Previously they've had to deal with a completely new system. They've already built two games for this generation. And Todd did say they were ready to show it.

And your Quakecon theory is bunk -- they've never announced a game at a convention, I see no reason for them to do it now. It's not BGS's style.

[Laurenn Doylee]

Considering that they've almost doubled their staff since Oblivion, I don't see how that's unreasonable at all. Previously they've had to deal with a completely new system. They've already built two games for this generation.

two games using more or less the same engine with extremely minor upgrades, which still looks hilariously outdated even compared to other openworld titles (for instance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQqGrZW1lSI (hell even Gothic 3 managed to have dynamic lighting and diagonal movement and seamless indoor/outdoor transitions)). Oblivion to Fallout was like Arena to Daggerfall; with the "Oblivion with guns" thing and everybody complaining about how Fallout 3 and New Vegas look identical, i highly doubt they'll be able to get away with that again.

And Todd did say they were ready to show it.

bear in mind i did have an alternate release schedule lined out which is quite a lot more reasonable!

And your Quakecon theory is bunk -- they've never announced a game at a convention, I see no reason for them to do it now. It's not BGS's style.

QuakeCon is more or less their own personal convention, though. they've never announced at E3 because it would inevitably be lost in the mire of all the other stuff that comes out of that; there's no risk of that at all at QuakeCon.

[tegan fiamengo]

i read the interview, yeah. i also know that the jump from Daggerfall to Morrowind took six years, and the jump from Morrowind to Oblivion took four. they've mentioned numerous times that they're retooling the engine and working out the problems with it, and i'm expecting about as big a jump between Oblivion and this as there was between Morrowind and Oblivion (i.e. bringing the engine up to modern standards).

with history as a guide, do you really think they can actually churn out a game in three years? do you WANT them to churn out a game in three years?

TennysonXII said all I was going to say. I just feel like saying I'm very well aware of their history. A week ago I was content with the thought that it wouldn't be released until late 2012. But Todd Howard said it's ready to be announced whenever they want it to be, and that the time between the announcement and release will be their shortest ever, so shorter than a year and a half or so. A late 2010 announcement with a late 2011 release is now very possible. Do I want them to release the game after 3 years? As TennysonXII said, the fact that 90+ employees are working on it as opposed to the 50 people they had working on Fallout 3 (and presumably Oblivion) and as opposed to the 30 people they had working on Morrowind makes me confident that 3 years is actually plenty of time.

[Ron]

Three years? Assuming it's released in December 2011, that's 5.5 years since Oblivion... Three years since Fallout, but if you bring that into the discussion it will nullify your point either way:

- If you say, "it's only been 3 years since their last game" then I can respond with, "that game came out less than 2.5 years after its predecessor, and it was very well received," proving that Beth is capable of making a quality game in 2.5-3 years...
- If you say, "oh but Fallout had a different dev. team" then I can respond with, "then it seems logical to assume that the dev. team that worked on Oblivion began preproduction for TES V while Fallout 3 was still under development," establishing reasonable evidence that the game has actually been in development for 5+ years...


And even disregarding this conundrum you've created for yourself, Beth's team has nearly doubled since Oblivion (and nearly tripled since Morrowind), so they should be a lot more efficient in terms of time management. If Todd says the game is ready to be shown then I believe him. This game has been their priority for almost two years, and it's been in development for probably 3-4 years.

[P PoLlo]

On the subject of the landmass:
They have enough occasions to expand the borders of Skyrim itself, without having to resort to adding a separate province.
First of all, there's the war of Bend'r-Mahk (a good 30 years before the Oblivion crisis), which expands Skyrim territory into Hammerfall and High Rock territory and then there are of course the events of the book, suggesting Skyrim expands its influence to the east.

I don't know if only taking a part of Skyrim would work, as there aren't such logical borders as for Vvardenfell. I hope they simply include the canon expansions of Skyrim and really work on the feel of places like Dragonstar and Windhelm (and further east). Of course, not forgetting anything in between.
Oblivion showed that you don't need more than 1 province to fill a game, it even left out many features. If they want it bigger, I'd rather have them simply scale up the province a little, rather than having two small ones.


Also, a page back, someone asked what ruins we could expect. Falmer and Dwemer are what should be there, maybe Nedic, but I think those settlements would rather just been overbuilt by the Nords.

[Umpyre Records]

Also, a page back, someone asked what ruins we could expect. Falmer and Dwemer are what should be there, maybe Nedic, but I think those settlements would rather just been overbuilt by the Nords.

Skyrim expands and contracts it's borders many times throughout history, so I expect there to be a lot of battlefields and ruins along the edges of Skyrim. I also expect a lot of Nedic ruins. You're right that the Nords would have built over some of them but I can't imagine Bethesda would pass up an opportunity to include such ancient ruins. As for the Falmer, as has been said before they supposedly didn't leave any ruins behind, but I have a feeling that won't turn out to be quite accurate once we get there. Bethesda will probably want to flesh out Falmer lore some more, or at least I hope they do. I don't expect it to be like Vvardenfell where there were dozens and dozens of Dwemer ruins, but I imagine there will be a good amount, at least enough so that they don't seem like an afterthought.