Okay, how would a Dwemer pistol fit into lore where their entire pursuit of technological gizmos was solely to further their purpose of building a machine god, which led to them having working steampunk-ish robots while still guarding the entrances to their strongholds with ballistae?

Now add the satchel charges used in the Mournhold add-on.

So, they had all the technology needed for guns but apparently didn't use it for that purpose since their intent was focused elsewhere.

At that point, adding guns is throwing out lore solely for the http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool. I'd rather stick with the lore myself. :shrug:

Do you contend then that only that which has already been shown to be invented by the Dwemer was? Is there no room for others working on other inventions?

You can say that adding guns is purely "Rule of Cool" but that does not make it so, it's simply a way of dismissing the matter without putting any thought into it.

When in Rome, y'know...

I can't tell if you're trying to be condescending or not.

Regardless, ones behavior should not be dependent on that of others.

If you're surrounded by people happily dismissing what you say you're not doing anyone any good by responding in kind.

Also, I like how that is the only part of my post you responded to.

You'll notice I said nothing about Dragon Age. I rather like their portrayal of elves as the outcast and downtrodden, though its hardly like the Khajiit and Argonians (I'd compare them to the Orsimer, if I had to).

Something which is cliche cannot, by its very definition, be unique. A cliche is "expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, rendering it a stereotype, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel." Unique, on the other hand, means "being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched." That is precicely why I used generic, as in "pertaining or appropriate to large classes or groups as opposed to specific," rather than cliche. What you mean to say, I think, is that all fantasy builds on the same tropes. However, uniqueness comes from how it differs from the trope, and it is still possible to say that something is "more unique" than something else. TES and Dragon Age's elves are certainly more unique (different from the norm) than the elves of D&D and its related universes, which have been been recycled by countless other IPs.

basically the OP just wants his fireballs to look like dragons. and his water spells to look like horses. kinda like in the mummy where he controls the giant wave. really its just a visual aesthetic, which imo isnt very interesting. but also i really dont think it goes against lore at all.

on the other hand. he wants to be able to manually control these spells after being cast. kinda like something from the last air-bender series. which IS against lore imo. and just not tasteful to TES. so if he wants that sort of thing maybe he should ask someone to create and avatar mod for skyrim.

Nothing is worse when the writers of a game contradict their own lore (for me anyways).

But then again I think some fans take the lore a bit more serious than the developers of the game. But it feels to some fans as if they've been stabbed in the back if the devs/writers just go against their own creations rule.

That come out right?

Yes, I understand that something can't be unique and cliche at the same time, my post was probably not too well worded. What I meant was that the cliche part is the building blocks used - TES has High Elves that are distant and very good at magic, Wood Elves that live close to nature, physical strong orcs, jack-off-all-trades humans (Imperials, specifically), mediveal-like setting, you being the Chosen One (in MW) etc. They use many elements that can, with just a glance and with little indepth knowledge about the lore, seem cliche. Because it's been done by many others. But when you get to know the world and the lore in more details, that is when you start to see the uniqueness, that their take on the well-known tropes are sometimes different. Or at least have some new twist to it. All fantasy worlds I've come across have that, in various degrees. (D&D and Tolkien doesn't really count, seeing as those were the ones who invented the cliches, so to speak).

A lot of games (among other forms of entertainment) out there these days show complete disregard for their canon that's already put out there. Why should the Elder Scrolls games follow that tradition, when it has one of the strongest RPG stories out there? Above everything, you'll find that the lore is quite flexible in some places. That means that new gameplay add ons probably won't have an effect on the lore.

From guns, space ships, nukes etc... YES. And for good reason.

*hugs Jude and screams: "THIS MAN IS A GENIUS!"*

Guns and spaceships and lightsabers in the context of Elder Scrolls lore are just stupid and have no place.

Summoning dragons of fire, horses of water and ethereal wookies from the Plane of Cool is also stupid.

On the other hand, manipulating and shaping the elements to achieve different results is not. After all, if you take a lake and mold it into the shape of a horse, it will still be a body of water but it will look like a damn horse.
Same goes for fire and all the other elements. If you mold fire into a dragon shape and hurl it at your foes, it will still be a big fireball and will not swallow your enemies or other crap like that. Leave that to the real dragons.

I honestly don't see any lore reference that prohibits the manipulation of elements. Hell, levitation is in essence the manipulation of air to allow you to overcome gravity (correct me if I'm wrong here).

Also the idea of guided projectiles does seem interesting. Think of it this way, if your magic talent is limited to throwing a lame fireball or ice ball then you might as well hold a bazooka in your hands, it will have the exact same effect.
In my opinion, the measure of a true magician is his ability to control the forces he is invoking and not blindly call them out. If you can shoot a huge fireball AND guide it towards your enemies, then you are a truly powerful mage.

Technology vs Lore ?

That's a really interesting question.

My opinion is: Technology is a essential part of lore and can't be seperated from it ... there's no point in comparing or even outweighting these two things against each other.
If you break one, you break both. And then you'll break the whole game.