Let's get things back on track guys. The Devs at gamesas are actually reading this stuff you know (contrary to popular belief). So please, less Oblivion bashing and more ideas and suggestions for TES5.

Comparison checks between TES1-TES2-TES3-TES4 (even Fallout3) are fine, but please add it as constructive criticism on what you disliked and how it could be improved.


Thanks

Milt

I'd like to see fighting on horseback. Could that work?

Though it was probably mentioned a few times in other threads (it's a lot of posts to go through ...), I would like to remind the developers of the two misconceptions which would need fixing:

* "Dialogue" doesn't mean "just two people talking with each other"; that would be "duologue".

* Skeletal configuration of people - not only between males and females, but also within genders themselves - tends to vary. Not everyone has the same setup. See also "contortion" and "dwarfism" for extreme examples.

http://www.topnews.in/health/files/Playing-chess.jpg, doesn't correlate to being designed for children.

Anyways, to get back on topic.

Let me suggest advantages/disadvantages getting back into character customization. weaknesses is also something which makes a character, and provides challenge in the form that one has to change the way one plays, especially if one has a powerful advantage in some other area to even it out.

-I'd like it if horses (if we can ride them in TESV) would swim faster. In Oblivion they swam at a snail's pace, and while that may have been added for realism, I don't want realism, I just want to get my horse across water without having to hold down the joystick for 5 minutes.

-Like I said before, I would love it if you could somehow learn spells from the scrolls you use. I know you don't actually read them, but when I think of scrolls, I assume they contain knowledge, such as instructions on how to learn a spell. Maybe a different type of scroll could be added that did just that, but it would have to be much rarer than normal scrolls.

Doesn't Morrowind already do pretty much exactly that?


I never knew horses could swim at all. Upon looking it up, they do it with you on their back, which is...silly. It would be more realistic (and a good excuse to make it faster) if you could hold the reigns and lead them across. Although, this gives me the thought of enchanted horseshoes. Don't let your mount or its luggage get wet, buy Acme water-walking horseshoes today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um6YqB6tJmI shows a pretty good example of horseback swimming. Skip to 0:43

Well, yes and no. Most of that looks like water just shallow enough to wade through; it looks like they turn back when it gets deeper. As a sidenote, I knew horses in general could swim...it was the ones in Oblivion that I didn't know were seaworthy, since I never really bothered with them. It just seems like a bad idea to be sitting on the back of an animal not built for swimming as it crosses the river, for you OR the horse.

You have just confused me... What you said has absolutely nothing to do with what I said.

Well, if the devs are reading...

If you're not going to do much with the level system, at LEAST make it so that unused multipliers persist and skill use past 10 levels also carries over. It'd take the edge off the system. I mean, if you get 50 minor skill levels on level 1, you're somehow losing character potential. It really does encourage strange play. Go for something a little more seemless on that front.

Also, for the love of all that is holy and a few things that aren't, tell me we've got a new speechcraft system. Daggerfall had some interesting aspects to it (tone), but really didn't do much for you overall. Morrowind (and Oblivion) were more about bribery and corruption than the actual speech part. In Morrowind, it's too hard (as in low personality + low speechcraft = 100% FAIL with anything but bribe, so you went out and BOUGHT your way to a decent chance), and Oblivion was too easy (use easy minigame, use fame, or use overpowered bribes that people always take...) It's not hard to see WHY the system has changed, and I applaud trying different systems when one doesn't work out as intended. It's just, well, I'm pretty sure Oblivion's... didn't. I'd favor one where when you say "joke", you actually choose a joke. And not all jokes work equally on all NPCs. Not only that, but you should start with the worst joke, threat, boast, and compliment in the game. The rest should be learned through books, or earned through deeds, or should be taught by conversing with NPCs. It'd be something else to do, modders would add to it, and in a way, it's more immersive. You're not boasting about... something. You're boasting "I jumped clear over Greyfang's Maw Canyon." And if I'm Sophia Bambi-Killer, I'm either going to think "I did that when I was four" (it's not very hard, and she's a hunter), or "You must be one hell of an acrobat" (it actually is hard, and as someone accustomed to the wilds, she's well aware of that canyon. You just impressed her)

I completely agree. I always thought that through certain VERY POWERFUL AND MAGICA COSTING detect enchantment spells, one would be able to extract the enchantment from a weapon, armor, or parchment and learn how to use the ability themselves. Maybe it could be an extremely expensive service provided by the Collage of Whispers or something.

I would like to see the weapons like spears, throwing knifes, and such like others have said. But what i really hope to see is the ability to own a ship( and a variaty ex. Galleon, Sloop, Cutter,) and plunder the oceans. i realize you cant really do that in cyrodill but that would be extremely cool. Me being a extreme pirate fan and all.

I like the idea of being able to learn spells from enchantments, but i disagree with it being an extremely expensive service, we dont want another MW enchanting fiasco do we?

I don't know about learning stuff directly from enchantments and scrolls...that's like learning to paint by looking at a painting, or knowing the inner workings of a gun by firing one. It would fit in with something I've brought up in the past, though, which is a concept of self-training. Less effective than regular training, but free, and potentially more effective with the right preparation. Mages would probably have a designated study area, and items you bring to it can help with those studies. Necromancers might have a body laid out on the table, enchanters could have artifacts or other powerful magic items, etc. Immediately getting something new seems like a bit much from that stuff though, I don't want a warrior mastering a new move the instant someone else uses it on him.

always? why? what if you wanted to knock somebody out or go for the back/heart?


its easy but you can still screw up, might press too light or maybe slice to high or low, or maybe theyre wearing a neckguard?

But paintings aren't magical, and don't leave a traceable path of glowing purple stuff wherever they are.

but http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:A_Brush_with_Death

Comparatively (with OB) I do want another MW enchanting fiasco. But I fall under the category of a nostalgic [censored] bag, so don't listen to this argument. Ripping enchantments is something I have thought about too.


I am actually posting with my first idea for maybe a year now; hopefully all goes well.

-Sneaking-

This is something I was thinking about in fallout just recently, and can be very easily applied to OB sneaking. The short of the issue is that I can sneak around with 250...lets go with pounds to keep it simple, TES units always confused me... 250 pounds of mostly unsecured load and this is completely unnoticed in the game play mechanics. It is something that I would like to see changed in a new TES or Fallout title. For instance I seem to be able to sneak just as well with a full load of teddy bears stuffed in my pack as I do with the same load of porcelain gnomes. (It took a while to do this)

-Now I would like to a note to the devs: If you are busy, I hope you understood. If you are bored and/or would like a link to some decent music, please continue reading.

I would like a system that takes into consideration the current stats, agility/dexterity strength, possibly speed, and weight. The biggest change would come, however, with a combrous rating, possibly tied to a system where one could secure a load as to be silent. But to start from the beginning.

- Agility - This would be the main stat in the sneaking system; A simple, 'can you control your movement in a graceful manner.'
- Combrous - Second to Agility. This plays a part when there is a misstep, while running, or carrying to heavy of a load. This simulates the sound others will hear (hopefully someday incorporated with the sounds you make when you hit that cluster of shopping carts.)
- Weight - Not as important as more cumbersome items but still a top contender in the stat calculation.
- Strength - Minimal effect. This would increase a base weight that you can successfully sneak with.
- Speed - Minimal effect. Similar to strength, the idea being a faster possible successful sneak
- Endurance - I did not state it earlier, but why not include duration, along with your huffing and puffing.
I have no idea what numbers to attribute to these stats, maybe some percentages. Sneak is obviously first and foremost, at close to 100 percent, what with luck.
However beyond the raw stat of sneak it would go as such. 35% Agility - 30% Combrous - 20% Weight - 5% (Conditional) Strength/Speed/Endurance, I do not much care for these, just another idea.

Now how to add this to items. First and foremost this should be added to coinage, less thieves running about jingling a small fortune everywhere. And by enlarge similar small clunky metal or ceramic items. Wood less so, and so on and so forth. More importantly would be a way to secure the load. A securable (word?) pack or a droppable rucksack for when things get dicey. Physical space to put things or to attach. Folded cloth, bolts of cloth, rope, enchanted underware :shrug: . Seriously, something that we can attribute to the dampening of noise. In Fallout I started to carry a few lunch boxes strapped to me with leather belts stuffed with a wanderer outfit. Looting ammo and caps can be noisy.

I would like to finish by saying that this is not a necessary feature for me to buy whatever new game comes out. It is something I have made due without. I am going to say, however, that as an RPG genre it is smaller things like this that become important. Little numbers and features that do not, and will never play out in any other game because it is deemed nitpicky. (Although, with much fear of flaming, I will point out that cod mw(2) has a dead silent and ninja pro feature to a similar effect.)

As promised (though feel free to judge its worth) a little http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzCSR1kRp68


and really, if this did not convince you guys <_< really

EDIT: grammar, and an apology for the slightly off use for combrous, I had no other words.

A little take on strength, especially as your carrying capability.
It should be more that strength doesn't determine your total carrying strength, while it does play into it, it should NOT be the absolute total. Instead strength determines your maximum EFFECTIVE carrying capability. This generally means you can carry around 100 pounds of stuff but don't expect to be able to fight with it. In fact don't expect to be able to run or sprint with it or even carry it more than 50 meters without having to take a break and catch your breath.

However if you have about 40 pounds of equipment you can still move fairly well but loading up more severely reduces your gracefulness.
Also carrying a lot does NOT bring you down to a screeching halt, you could still move around loaded with 200 pounds worth of stuff but really more step by step rather than a constant walk. This might in effect bring you down to a halt as your character would have to catch his breath between each step taking several minutes to cross a short distance.

Playing into this is the idea that you should be able to quickly drop your backpack or any heavy bags you carry so you're not lost when getting into a fight or having to individually toss every single item out of your inventory.

For a little comparison, a "Bundeswehr" soldier is expected to march with up to 50kg of equipment but not to FIGHT with that equipment, when they get into battle the drop that load and only fight with stuff they carry on their body. If they can't drop it they don't fight but take cover.
However carrying that much (50kg ~ 110 pounds) and still be able to walk uninterrupted should already be in the range of a VERY trained character, this is actually no problem if they actually calculate weights correctly (they made weapons FAR to heavy) and overwork some systems (alchemy being more based on weight rather than just units).

I believe there should be more than one weapon slot for a character so that a character could have a sword at one side, a dagger on the other side, throwing knives around their waste on a belt, and their bow on their back instead of only being able to have one weapon equipped at a time. Those weapons are just examples, but I believe there should be several weapons slots so someone doesn't have to have their sword on one side, but can have a sword on the other side or on their back instead, and so several weapons can be on the player character at once, making them look cooler and more prepared for battle. In order to choose which weapon slot should be the dominant one at any time(the one that has the weapon that you are currently using), one could go their inventory menu and click on which slot they want to be the dominant one at the moment, or one could put each weapon slot on their hotkey and be able to switch in battle to a weapon from another weapon slot. This way, weapons that are hotkeyed don't have to just appear out of nowhere in battle. Instead, using the hotkey to make another weapon slot dominant would result in the player character sheathing their current weapon and unsheathing the weapon in the newly selected weapon slot. People have talked about more clothing slots, and I agree, but I also want more weapon slots.

I don't really agree on this. In normal life, okay. But this is a game, so it wouldnt be much fun te be held back with carrying stuff etc.
It would force players to choose high strength over other stats.

Though you do have some good views on the backpack, just a bit overdone, in my opinion.
If you should have to drop it before a fight, than my suggestion is to have the backpack highlighted whenever dropped, so you can find it back easily when wandered off during a fight.

In this case, it would be logical to have people stealing your backpack, but again: it would be quite bothersome if you couldn't trace them.

Uhm actually this system LESS encourages leveling strength as currently it's primarily leveled to carry a lot of stuff, with that system you can do that but you're just not effective if you're loaded like a pack mule, no matter how strong you are. What it would encourage is fighting with more strategic equipment instead of carrying your whole living room and half the kitchen with you.
It still doesn't hinder looting, in fact it would be easier since there's no "stopped to full halt" anymore and even if you couldn't carry bags ful lof stuff you can still drag them.

And the backpack thing was not just IN COMBAT, you should be able to drop it any time and of course pick it back up again.

I have always wanted to be able to do this, I get tired of having to drop a whole pile of junk everywhere and then come back and pick it up later, really it depends on how you play, but I think this is a good idea. The ability to drop a pack containing whatever you put into it, and buy more packs from shops, would greatly increase the realism of the game.

Stephen.

Ideall, this should also be coupled with not needing to carry so much junk around at all and having a "mobile base" of sorts (say, a pack mule or a cart) which you can use to offload some of the seldom-needed stuff to.

Reminds me back on my idea of "http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?s=&showtopic=1054161&view=findpost&p=15312610" where you can just pur a container in your inventory and it acts as a new sub inventory.