What it means to be a TES game

Post » Mon May 20, 2013 10:33 am

In my experience with The Elder Scrolls games, there exist a series of truths.

The game revolves around some core attributes that to be altered is to be a different game entirely. These core traits are what I believe to be the reason we play these games.

Elements of the world

1:Open world with limitless possibility
2:The ability to go anywhere in this open world at any time

3:The ability to do anything in this open world at any time

4:The ability to be anything in this open world at any time

5:The ability to play the game multiple times and it will always be different

Elements of the Player

1:The ability to look and approach situations based on your tastes

2:The ability to choose based on your moral principles

3:The ability to accomplish and complete multiple questlines and receive a unique symbol of office or recognition

4:The ability to challenge ones own patience, limits, skill and feel like you are getting better

5:The ability to waste time and roleplay as you choose to

Elements of the game

1:Modding Community

2:The ability to be a hero and villain at the same time

3:The history is written as if one from the world had witnessed it

4:Every NPC is a personality

5:Every location/ artifact has a story

If anyone disagrees that one of the pinnacle reasons you enjoy this series or that one of these traits doesn't accurately depict the series please express your concerns...

I am concerned with the TESO game's push into the MMORPG realm for the TES series. I would have hoped that the concept for a CO-OP, Horde, Arena, MMO or Objective-based multiplayer TES title would have waned, however; with the technology and memory boosts of the consoles, I fear that this thread trend will rise again.

These key elements are the reason that I believe a TES multiplayer game is such an affront to the series.

Specifically I will use Borderlands 2 and Defiance for my examples since they represent the two extreme ends of the spectrum.

Spoiler

Thanks for reading... just know that the future of TES games rests on these values being upheld. And NO, I am not "against MP", I am against having a game designed to be multiplayer. TES has always been a single player experience (with a single exception before TESO) and I play it for that experience. Borderlands and Defiance are made to be multiplayer and are great games, but that doesn't make them the same type of enjoyable experience that one gains from a single-player game.

User avatar
Hannah Barnard
 
Posts: 3421
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2007 9:42 am

Return to The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion