In anticipation of some sort of official unveiling in the next couple of months I thought it might be fun to put down a few predictions about TES 5. In particular I'd like to speculate about the level of graphical fidelity the new game will have. Since these are predictions, I've noted down the probably or belief I have in each one from 0% to 100%. Based on the limited information that has been released by Bethesda about their new tech, and educated guesses about level of optimization that can be achieved, what do you guys think?

General engine capabilities
[70%] I suspect that there will be approximately twice the number of polygons on screen at any time.
[70%] I think there will be dynamic shadows outdoors
[80%] The game will feature screen space ambient occlusion (or some AO variation)
[50%] I think that the texture resolution will be the same as Fallout 3

Outdoor graphics
[70%] Water will feature better texturing, refraction and Fresnel effects.
[50%] 3D water surface
[90%] I think trees will have static foliage (as opposed to the speedtree floating foliage)
[65%] Dynamic skybox (clouds changing shape as well as moving across the sky)

City graphics
[70%] I think that cities will increase in size, to 2 or 3 times as large per loading area as Oblivion cities.
[80%] Cities will be more populous (up to twice as many NPCs on screen at any time)
[80%] There will still be a loading screen when entering houses

Animation: will likely be the biggest change from Fallout 3.
[90%] Entirely new animation system, at least comparable to recent games like MW2.
[40%] Dynamic animation interaction (like in GTA4/RDR and AC2/3)
[10%] Dynamic facial animation (detailed facial animation that reacts to in-game player action)

They already have some of these in Oblivion or Fallout 3. If you take out a weapon people lose the intensity of their smile (or get more angry). In Fallout 3 the animations for walking can change with the terrain.

What do you mean by 3D Water Surface? 'Cause when you jump on it/move around it really does make ripples.

What I'm hoping for (graphics-wise) is effects.

Different running animations for wading in water to just regular running. Splashing of water as you run (visually). Burn marks on things you burn with spells (they already showed they can with Fallout 3). More realistic tree canopy shadows. Adaptive falling animations so you reach out for things (and maybe even grab) if you press the grab button. Animations accompanying actions like putting a hood up/down, carrying an item, drinking a potion, eating food, using a scroll, etc. More NPC facial expressions and emotions. Maybe even beams of light working like God Rays.

Those are what I'm hoping for...

By dynamic animation interaction I mean the sort of animation that was present in GTA4 and Assassins Creed. If you bump in to NPCs they move in non predetermined and realistic way.

3D water surface would be for waves, rapids, and interaction with the player. (Oblivion and Fallout had 2D ripples).

By dynamic facial expressions, I'm thinking along the lines of L.A. Noire technology, which I think is unlikely, but possible.

Ohhh, gotchya.

I'm with you on all of them. They'd be great additions.

I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but I think it would be cool if the animation for walking with sheathed polearms (staves, spears, etc...) was holding it in one hand and using it as a walking stick. Of course, such animations would greatly benefit from the implementation of a mocap studio in the development process.

Also the ability to get a haircut from commoners who are barbers or something. (maybe this should be left to modders)

Basically more character customization, including height/weight and build.

I wonder at thread # 186 what has NOT been mentioned....?

I guess any experienced player who loves TES can spend some hours playing *each* of the series and have a good grasp of what is better in one system and why.

These are the basic and most important ones:

Sneak attack criticals need to be changed. Rather of giving all one handed blade weapons a x6 bonus, making long sword the most powerful sneak attack, you might do this:

Dagger x8
Short Sword x6
Long Sword x4
Claymore x2 (it is x1 in IV?)

Also I think the enchantment should be limited to the weapon, I mean I think it is silly in a way that you can enchant a dagger with an equally powerful enchantment as you can give to a claymore, only attacking much faster and making the dagger better. The dagger should in V be truly more a stealth weapon, for example: sneak attack critical would double the magical effect of the dagger, which is less powerful as a claymores and claymores wouldn't get a bonus to it at all.

Enchantment powerfulness:
Claymore 100%
Long Sword 90%
Short Sword 80%
Dagger 70%

lol and u should be able to grow/shave beards

Daniel_Kay has a fantastic list of skills. He should put it in his signature:

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1117711-tes-v-ideas-and-suggestions-181/page__st__40__p__16428126&#entry16428126

TBH...way way way too many skill and over complicated. half of those can be merged into one and some of them are just plain silly.

Your character will be far far too specialized, to the point were theyd' have to give alot of extra skill points to make you capable.

i think morrowind had the best amount.

It is rather superfluous in some areas. The ones that I like the most are skills that haven't been in the games before, skills like crafting and fishing and music, etc... With so much diversity on what skills people want to see in the game, I think it would be terrific if the construction set gave us the ability to add new skill slots. We can already rename existing skills in the CS.

Forgive me for not using the suggestions topic, but I have a rather complete vision of the next elder scrolls that goes way beyond a few suggestions, as such I feel its worthy of its own topic. It is a work in progress that I plan to fully write during this week. If I fail to update it, feel free to move it to suggestions, but please give me a chance to explain it all fully.

It all starts with character creation, so I will start with how I picture that for Elder Scrolls 5.

The visual part of creating a character has never been very impressive in Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout 3 which are all the Bethesda games I have played.
I really feel that more attention is needed for this. Considering the world is also filled with NPC's, it would make sense if not all bodies are the same. Body sliders would of course make it much more difficult to design armor and clothes, but I think there can be a good middle ground. Several body shapes could be chosen.

Muscular, slim, fat and a curvy shape exclusive for female characters.
This could help add personality to both the NPC's and the player, and it is something NPC's could react to since it would be a set status just like a race.
Some NPC's might feel intimidated by a muscular character, and others might think of a muscular character as a dumb brute.
Being slim could cause some to remark that your character should eat more food. Especially food vendors.
Being fat could be exclusive to NPC's although some players might like the option.
Being curvy could make female characters easier friends amongst men, but more enemies amongst (married) women.

Each NPC could have a prefered shape regardless of their own shape. At default all male characters could prefer the curvy shape and all female characters could prefer the muscular shape, but it is a status effect that could be changed. Muscular women might be better liked by warriors, and female wizards could prefer a slim man. Gender preference could also be set for NPC's perhaps, affecting their remarks to the appropriate gender. At default they could be straight, but there could be some exeptions.

But back to character creation. It is not only about the body, but also about the head. Having all the sliders is good of course, but there are a lot of games out there that did it a lot better if I may be honest. The skin should be clear, and it should not be a chore to make an attractive face. Perhaps presets could be in place to help players with this. Beards should of course be included in the next installment, but I am confident those will be back, along with a wide range of hairstyles.

An additional feature of adding scars or tattoos would also be welcome. Both for NPC's and the players. There could be the choice of several preset scars over the body, and several preset tattoos over the body. Perhaps a group in the story could have a unique tattoo they could be identified with.

Next to creating the visual part of the character, there is also the race. Perhaps the effects of choosing a race could be made stronger in a new installment, especially since the differences are much bigger than with our own human race. It should not just be a matter of a little +or- like/dislike in conversation, but about actual remarks, exclusive quests and choosing the native race of the region should have a larger impact as well. More might be expected from the character, but they might be easier trusted by rulers.

Birthsigns is nothing wrong with, I wouldnt be able to think of a way to improve that.

This evening, I will post an extensive update about picking a class and perhaps more about gameplay. Character creation is only just the beginning of a game after all, and I plan to share my vision over every single aspect.

Polearms or Pole Weapons back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_weapon

Skills for each type of weapon, sword skills, mace skills, polearms skills, bow skills, hand to hand skills.

All voice actors of Oblivion back to work. And new ones too.

The ability to choose good or evil would be nice.

Outfits that conceal your identity, assassination moves, the ability to grab ledges,tools that help you scale walls, more hand to hand combat moves, smoke bombs, powders and etc that you can throw at people, throwing weapons, concealable weapons, more customization of the character, and i'll think of some more later.

I'm sorry but I read Dracula by Bram Stoker (which I consider one of the first vampire books) and as far as I know Dracula wasn't described as an old, wrinkly, pink-eyed man who looks like a monkey without feeding for 3 days or something. Vampires are supposed to be charismatic and evil, not repulsive and zombie. I know that Tes has it's own vampire lore, but it still svcks. Especially with the bug that returns you vampire face to the default one when reloading a save from the main menu or quickloading. And I also don't mean that they should be 'beautiful', they should just have normal faces, maybe a little paler and red eyes.

And don't anyone dare mention Twilight again. It's bad enough it exists without you guys non stop talking about it.

Yes yes! And a chain weapon skill. Flails, nunchucks and such.

I like a more demonic vampire plus I would want there to be clans and quests and special outfits etc.

Also I want recognition of status, as in when I become someone important I want people to make mention of it and treat me with the proper deference rather than just saying "oh hey loser make me some damn pie".

You can choose good or evil. You can choose to be a knight and accomplish all of your quests or you can be evil and steal and kill your way through the game. But I assume you mean you would like a reputation system added. One where if you commit crimes, kill, etc, you gain a reputation and people will treat you as such? A reputation would be nice. But not like the karma system in fallout. You shouldn't lose reputation points if you are not seen. That way only crimes and speech related things can give you a bad reputation.

Yes but I want my actions to have more impact on the world around me in oblivion it just seemed like a job rather than a moral choice.

Seeing how I specificaly asked not to be sweeped under the rug here at this topic, I am not going to bother anymore with my further thoughts since it seems rather obvious my opinions are not wanted here.

Keep posting ideas. Thing is, we're at thread #186. Its rare to hear ideas that we haven't heard before, many, many times.

Nobody downed your suggestions, people are still replying to suggestions from a few pages ago so a suggestion is not always heard right away. But you have some good points. Body weight and shape add character that I think would be good for the game. Hard to work with as far as armor and clothing go, but I think it's doable. Scars and tattoos would also add the little extra bit. Give more suggestions.

I think that they should have some form of online multiplayer in TES V, something like attack the castle where there is two teams and one team is defending a castle and one team is attacking the castle and to win either the defenders have to defend the castle for a set amount of time or the attackers have to hold down a certain area in the castle for a set time. However the castle should not be one where if you open a door it brings up the ''LOADING'' screen, it should be like cloud ruler temple in Oblivion where when you go to enter the main gate, it just swings open for you. This would mean that defenders would be able to shoot arrows and magic at the attackers from the top of the castle. It should be also be able to support a lot of players in one match as standard 6 vs 6 would be boring but with a lot of players on each team ie 18, it would be a lot more epic.