Morrowind - Freaky weird ass isolated land, think Australia
Oblivion - More typical fantasy, not nearly as bizzare. Think Europe.
Skyrim - Harsh, brutal, cold. Think Greenland, Alaska, Norway, Siberia. So yeah, they are going for a Norse thing now.

You got it. :thumbsup:

I don't think anybody has this misconception. Personally, I've always seen the classic barbarian like this, but not a viking.

That's also what I see in Skyrim, not so much Viking culture, but barbarian culture, and yes, you're over anolyzing it.

:rofl:

Morrowind is ancient Japan.


And yes, Vikings back in the day haven't used horned helms, but Nords in TES do because most of those helms are fashioned around the skull of the trolls that tend to have horns. They're similar but not the same.

Uh, last i checked trolls didn't have horns...

alot of ideas for skyrim did come from games designers reading some viking and nordic cultures books, so there is a kind os sense of it feeling like a viking age where it is dark and grungy times.

So that's why the http://images.uesp.net//c/c7/MW_Armor_NordicTrollboneM.jpg has those big horns on it. Er...except that there are no horns on it.

Just like there are no horns on the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:OBCreature-troll.jpg. :blink:

I could've sworn some trolls had horns...

Morrowind...is not ancient Japan.......

Mass exodus to old land to escape persecutions? --- Neg

Shrines dedicated to old gods of following? --- Neg

Original civllization was a culmination of tribes not Fuedal -- Neg

Slavery of a completely different Race? -- Neg

Invasion of Imperial entity where the natives see conflict in - Neg

I could go on... get this notion of Earth and Nirn parrallels out your heads PLEASE :bowdown: they are not reflections of each other....

And people wonder why I cringe at the thought of so many newcomers brought in by Skyrim...

Seriously though, there isn't a fictional world around NOT influenced by the real world. This should be well understood by practically everyone who reads stories, plays RPGs, etc. etc. There's no need to even point it out, really.

And as for Morrowind being the most alien of environments so far, on my end I say that as comparison to other fictional places, not the real world. Cyrodiil and Skyrim are very LOTR-looking, not necessarily a terrible thing, but well-covered ground nonetheless. Morrowind looks much more like it's not even on the same planet as the aforementioned provinces. And that's to say nothing of the Dwemer ruins all over the place.

It's not "The Viking Age" though, just Nordic culture was written with influence from Norse, and other Scandinavian sources. There's still Magic, there's still Elves, there's still Daedra. It's still The Elder Scrolls.

I think you need to watch this http://www.boreme.com/posting.php?id=15067.

Chimer, Nerevar, War of Succession... other background lore stuff...

Daedric ruins

Ashland tribes

Khajiit, Argonian

The empire.

Now I think about it, I probably missed your original point, in that case sorry, I'm an idiot.
But yeah, Morrowind was influenced by ancient japan.

He was talking about the things you just listed, Bukee. He was trying to list things from Morrowind to separate it from Japan. Instead, if you believe Morrowind is influenced by Japan, list similarities. But really, Morrowind is whatever people want it to be. I must have seen it be connected to every culture ever.

Also, the Nords aren't completely based off the Norse. The Nords possess a cyclical view of time, which I don't think the Norse believed in (not sure, though). They believe Alduin eats the kalpa to start the next.

I never noted anything particularly Japanese about Vvardenfel, and on reflection, I still don't see it.

As noted, there was a certain amount of Egyptian influence in the architecture, particularly Hlaalu. I've always thought there was some notable Sumerian influence too, and particularly with the Dwemer, which seems appropriate as an early, advanced, then lost civilization. All in all though, I don't think it can be pinnned down to any particular epoch or culture. What inspiration there seems to have been from Earth cultures seems to be from a fairly broad range, with the common elements being things that were parts of many cultures - mud and brick as basic building materials, a relatively barren environment, simple cuneiform decoration. You can catch a hint of Aztec/Toltec/Maya sort of stuff, for instance. Just another bit of mud and sun and relatively bleak landscape.

But then you get out along the Bitter Coast and all that vanishes and instead it's like 19th century Louisiana bayou.

It's about impossible to create anything that's not going to have at least some parallels to something in Earth history. Even if they're not deliberate, they'll tend to sneak in, and even if they're not entirely there, people will tend to make assocations anyway.

Which is part of why I wish Beth hadn't taken to making the corollaries so obvious. A bit of that is fine, and to be expected. Too much of it is just sort of tedious and almost embarrassing.

It makes me cringe a bunch.

:tongue:

Truth.

Just like many pagan societies did and do, the Norse did too. Nothing linear or such, that's a relatively recent notion. Just think of Ragnarok, Fimbulvinter and such...

I'm glad I'm not the only one perceiving Vvardenfell as Mesopotamian.

I also always rather thought of Cyrodiil as Renaissance without gunpowder.

I wouldn't just say its viking based of armor. There bringing elvish back so it'l be a mixing pot of everything. I do personally think that we will see a viking tone to the game though which i look forward to. This will separate this game from oblivion which was Renaissance.

The viking age was the name for the age when Norse people carried out attacks against th christian priesthood,was they where seen as easy targets,and was a period of frictions between the two beliefs.

Norse culture was around far longer than that and to focus just on the Viking age whould have been limiting for the devs,so I think The Nords are based on wider Norse and Germanic culture.Only based however,they are a people set in a fantesy world,so there is some room for uniqueness.

Skyrim, to me, is more like a rugged region of what the rest of the world is. Solstheim did not seem to be a differant age than Vvardenfell and Skyrim seems like the same time period to me as that.

why so Serious ?

Skyrim has always been a more backwater place. But the ''roman'' empire just fell, the dark age has started so it makes sense that things look the way they do. But even if the Empire was still there I would expect Skyrim to look the way it does. It has been like it is for centuries, it is ever-lasting, frozen in time. They survive each winter in the harsh north, there is no time for a renaissance.

I'm not sure why people keep thinking the Empire fell. The Empire is going through a period of difficulty and several provinces seceded. Skyrim hasn't even officially seceded and that's one of the reasons for the civil war. I bet choosing a side will be a key part of the game.

The only question is if the player gets to choose whether or not Skyrim stays in the Empire how do they solve that with a sequel? That's the only thing that makes me a bit wary of that.