Bethesda hasn't commented about the future of the Elder Scrolls series, but one of the most common topics of speculation is where the next game will be set. Rather than trying to keep this in the official suggestion/discussion thread we've decided to give this a separate topic.

This discussion doesn't need to be tied entirely to geography; other setting details are also appropriate. However, let's keep this focused on the game world and leave other matters (such as gameplay mechanics or NPCs) in the main "http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1605002-official-beyond-skyrim-tes-vi-85/" thread

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1602936-tes-vi-location-and-setting-speculation-32/

I seem to be the first posting on this thread (also my first post all together). Just read through whole previous post - funny seeing change from E3 - and the idea of leaked document greenheart and it being in Valenwood. Thought it would be interesting for bethesda to explore not just Valenwood but also Elsweyr black march and maybe even parts of southern Cyrodiil. Could allow them to explore relations between provinces and races as imperials were made to seem like the labour party of Tamriel against the UKIP that were the Nords. Also could allow for exploring of the war that started in Skyrim and whether the affects that you decided affects the whole imperial campaign (making them stronger or weaker) allowing for diverging story lines such as siding with rebellious Khajits rising up against imperials or siding with dark brotherhood assassinating main figures or siding with imperials or even Thalmor and making it race dependent (I know slightly off track). The point is I think Bethesda could make borders work I mean it was sort of there in Skyrim with Stormcloak or Imperial cities.

First off, as is the sacred rite... http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/050/177/DarkFishyStick.jpg.

Second... That's a lot of area to cover, containing a very diverse range of cultures and identities. In principle, it's a good idea, but in practice any sort of cross-province game means we inevitably loose cultural distinctions within a province. Having to do both the Khajiit and the Bosmer means that less time can be committed to representing the cultural nuances of each individually.

Skyrim is a really good example of this problem, with the main cultural division being between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks. This seems to have been, in part, to make up for the absolutely atrocious showing of the Imperials in Oblivion, but the impact is very obvious. The main cultural element in Skyrim, it's Holds, have almost no individual identity beyond their architecture. Compare that to Morrowind, where each Great House feels distinct, despite being of the same race.

Focusing on a single province allows for greater development of that cultures identity, regional variation, political bodies and traditions.

Maybe this is a bit too much faith in bethesda but i think they can pull it off, a studio of there now growing size (that could grow more) with a growing string of games from other studios. I think they can do it just with some clever initiative that bethesda bring. The map size itself would be of a similar size to that of the witcher 3 which was made by a similarly small team as bethesda.

But the Great House cultures were not representative of the populace. With the exception of Sadrith Mora, the only ones that adhered to the house cultures- even in house-controlled settlements- were the rulers, their servants and associates, and the guards. The individual NPCs in most Morrowind cities were pretty much interchangeable, with nothing unique about them beyond generic town-specific dialogue.

CD Projekt Red was about twice the size as Bethesda's team when it made The Witcher 3, and has been on a hiring binge moving into full development of Cyberpunk 2077. Their stated goal as of May was to double their workforce before hitting peak development.

They're actually considerably bigger than Bethesda.

Agreed, and it wasn't perfect. But it was still considerably better than the representations of the local cultures we've gotten out of the last 2 games.

The point is, the more time spend fleshing out a single culture, the more room for differentiation, and cultural nuance within it. Of course, having an Anthropologist on staff just to design cultures would certainly help too.

But what if bethesda released the game in chunks first with bit of cyrodiil, elsweyr and part of velenwood and then add rgions within provinces to grow out the map also allowing them to tweak level design as fans comment on first part. Like hitman or evn destiny but bigger and free.

That's not Bethesda business style. Their business style is what they did to the F4 season pass price which is now red (not recommended by players) on Steam.

Cdprojekt can do free things (or underpriced for the value) because

1. It's their unique selling proposition, the "small and generous" studio that brings back the good old expansion style that's almost as lengthy as a full game . We'll see how long they keep this style when they're not "small" any longer

2. Cdpr is not paying American wages in the USA. It's easier for them to have big teams in Poland.

Say what? Wild Hunt's 2 payed DLCs were the only thing remotely approaching anything like a full game. Most of it's free stuff was little more than one-off hunts and cosmetic changes, stuff a great many studios implement automatically with games these days. They just drop them in regular updates rather than listing them as DLC.

The problem with that is the work involved. Making entire provinces, and then releasing them over time, takes a lot of work and effort. Releasing them for free would mean either charging full price of a barely made game, or releasing several full games of content for no charge. Neither are really doable, particularly not for a business that needs to justify its expenses, pay employees and taxes, and manage to turn a profit.

Even if they were to release them sequentially, based on the time it takes Bethesda to make games, you're looking at 2-3 years, minimum, between releases.

That's why I said "Cdprojekt can do free things (or underpriced for the value) because"

The free things are the cosmetic things

The underpriced things are the paid expansions.

All the gaming media are in awe with Cdpr's bang for the buck. This is hardly debateable, you're the first one I hear protesting to the sanctification of Cdpr for giving more than the others in the industry. Even their retail standard edition reeks of generosity.

And that's total poppycock. Even Activision offers free cosmetic things, they just roll them into updates instead of marketing them as DLC. They just give it to you, rather than pretending it's an extra marketable item. A perfect example of this is Mounted Combat in Skyrim. Bethesda just gave out an entjrly new mechanic, in a patch, without a lick of fanfare.


The only thing CD Projekt Red has done differently is market the free stuff they're handing out. Which, frankly, I think is a far more dangerous thing. Calling attention to your own generosity isn't exactly the best behaviour. It's like standing on a corner and shouting 'Look, I'm giving to charity, I'm clearly a a good person'. It sets a precidence that companies can play up the free things they have been giving out anyway to look better than their competitors. It's underhanded and dishonest. And the fact that the media is buying into it is disheartening, because once it becomes marketable, it become something they can charge for.


It is true, overpricing DLC content has become problematic in many parts of the gaming industry. But that's REAL content, adding new maps, new stories, new characters. Not giving Yennifer a new dress.


CD Projekt Red deserves a lot of credit for making a genuinely fun game (mostly) but it gets way more praise than it deserves. It's 'free' content isn't remotely as inspiring as some people make it out to be, and while it's actual expansion DLC is more reasonably priced, it's a far cry from releasing an entire TES province. Let alone releasing that province for free.


And that's the biggest issue here. If you're treating the Provinces as expansion content, you're either going to bleed Bethesda dry, or result in extremely cut down content. And if you either want, or expect that for free, well... That would be like CDPR releasing The Witcher, and then giving you II, Wild Hunt, and Cyberpunk for free.


If they do that, THEN they'll be deserving of the generosity praise they get.