» Tue May 08, 2012 2:25 am Having recently traversed another breathtaking region of Tamriel, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you and your team at Bethesda on a job well-done as well as to offer a vision of what the next Elder Scrolls could look like. Not only did you push the boundaries of the fantasy-RPG genre but you showed us just how real and lively an open-world single-player game can be while utilizing great graphics and gameplay. Now, I ask that whenever you begin working on the next Elder Scrolls that you re-draw your attention to something that has yet to be fully realized in video games. I am of course, talking about the desire to see the full spectacle of medieval warfare.
What we all really want next in an Elder Scrolls game is something akin to the great battles of Braveheart, Troy, and The Lord of the Ring films. In the past, gamers have been exposed to person-to-person button-masher games that have poor graphics such as Dynasty Warriors and the like. Typically these games are short on narrative, using poor enemy-AI, lackluster, or over-the-top magic effects that deliver disproportionate death tolls. I’m confident that you and Bethesda can top those games. Imagine what it would be like charging into battle with hundreds of soldiers on horses and elephants where we are then met by a rainfall of arrows from the opposing enemy as well as their entire charging army. Who would that enemy be? Take your pick: Perhaps a massive Thalmor incursion or maybe a competing Redguard militant group trying to gain regional hegemony over the desert lands. The options are limitless.
In Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you effectively utilized the concept of companions whereby AI-controlled characters would assist on various quests. Now I would like to briefly suggest a way of taking this concept to a whole new level where the player goes from being the lone hero to the popular hero leading a race, group, faction, etc. This could involve a quest progression that starts with the player acquiring companions. The more the player uses them, the more other companions are willing to join-up and before you know it, the player has a small band of guerilla fighters. The next step might be forming a small military faction which could then exponentially grow into some sort of militia or small army. At a certain a point, you would only be able to use this small growing army for warfare quests as opposed to the normal individual quests where you can only have up to a few choice companions. Creating your own army would have to have some limitations but it is the natural evolution of the companion feature found in Skyrim. However, in this new scenario the player goes from being the lone hero to the hero-general leading the many.
Some will draw parallels to Fable 3 or various strategy games but the idea would be incorporating it perhaps as just a side option rather than a major driver of the game’s narrative. After all, Elder Scrolls is in many ways about having the option to be who you want to be. Obviously this was not completely possible in Skyrim due to the rocky, mountainous geography and the technical limitations of Xbox 360, PS3, and current-gen PCs. However, as you look to the future, I ask you to envision warriors, archers, and mages all fighting it out while beasts crush them beneath their hooves as they plow through crowds of soldiers within a fully destructible environment that can be laid waste by hot tar, catapults, burning fire balls, collapsing castles and trees.
Okay, that’s a lot! Now add to this, the ability to turn the tide of war sometimes single-handedly with your own character. Whole regions of the Hammerfell map could become essentially turf wars with other factions. It would be a difficult balancing act and there are plenty of strategy games to reference for something like this but the challenge would be retaining the core gameplay mechanics that make Elder Scrolls so great. Remember, you are encapsulating the experience of full military warfare where man, metal, and beast collide as dust/sand is kicked into the air. This has not been adequately accomplished in a video game.
Consider the gladiator arena from Cyrodil that was effectively utilized in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This is something that could be expanded on in Hammerfell’s rich history of gladiatorial combat. I would suggest using the film/TV show, Gladiator and Spartacus as perhaps an indicator of what to possibly emulate. The player could start in small community level arenas whereby they progress to mid-size town arenas, and then later to full gladiator arenas that are the main city attractions. Showing the intricacies of how these gladiator arenas operate would allow for the designers to create some of the market economies in the various Hammerfell communities surrounding the arenas which could be street vendors and bazaars. The gladiator arena would also give you an opportunity to show how a kingdom immorally exercises control over minority races through methods of slavery and corporal punishment. The effect on these minorities would have a natural spillover into the rest of Hammerfell and beyond where discontent breeds rebellious forces which grow into full-scale uprisings.
There are still plenty of locations for where the Elder Scrolls could go but the geographical diversity of Hammerfell allows for some rich visuals that could be unparalleled in gaming while also allowing you to push the medium to its technical limits. It was always a given that fantasy has typically derived its primary inspiration from medieval Europe. The next game would be a slight regional shift whereby the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean could be the primary inspirations for Hammerfell and its nearby islands. As you already know, Hammerfell has been used in the earliest Elder Scrolls entries but it has never been given the proper graphical stage to show off its region of arid desert lands and the Abecean Sea to the southwest.
Perhaps you’ve already thought about the prospects of finding foggy islands, hiding lush jungles with colorful birds, gorillas, and monkeys. Not to mention the many sunken treasures that lay hidden underwater. Or picture the Alik’r desert brewing dust storms that blow over the tombs of vampires. One can fully envisage desert mirages concealing a watery oasis steeped in a makeshift market of bandits and spice traders. I can already see the youtube videos now showing time-lapse of the lonely desert sun, setting upon a horizon eclipsed by Redguards traversing on camels which is then followed by a night showing all of Tamriel’s astrological glory while underneath the stars, wayward Bedouin Khajiit pitch their tents. More dramatically, perhaps something like the glory of Dwarven monoliths and their huge architectural anomalies in the desert.
And speaking of Dwarves… It’s time to bring them back, Mr. Howard. We’ve absorbed plenty of lore and history now, that we can’t wait to utilize them as characters while also seeing them as a fully realized race. Consider the narrative prospects of the dwarves returning as a race after thousands of years of exile, trying to reclaim their territory against end-less waves of Redguard soldiers. I’m talking hundreds of soldiers fighting on-screen as your character fights against them. Consider a gladiator arena with thousands of people in the stands cheering you on as a single dwarf taking down huge trolls. Or conversely, sharks waiting to feed as you and your dwarf-kin dive out of a sinking ship that has fallen victim to Redguard warships off the coast of Stros M’Kai. You get the picture.
Mr. Howard, I’m guessing that you are moving onto Fallout 4 at this point and that you might forget this post when you return to work on Elder Scrolls a few years down the line. Hang on to this post. Print it up and post it in your Bethesda office because I know I speak for many in my desire to see Bethesda push the technological envelope beyond the glorious dragons of Skyrim to full-scale medieval warfare in Elder Scrolls VI: Hammerfell.
Thanks for telling great stories, Mr. Howard and to all of you at Bethesda for continuing to make memorable experiences!
Your Faithful Wood-Elf,
Tahvoo
