[Tyrone Haywood]

That's actually a really cool idea. Or just being able to give others food, just not beggars. Good way for a thief type character to kill someone.


Imagine Solstheim, but colder. And Icier.

I hate beggars in Oblivion. I always play a noble character and every time I hear them ask for money(even if they don't ask me), I feel obligated by my character's personality to give them money. Now, I'm trying to justify not giving them money by the fact that they have asked for plenty of money and their lives haven't improved. As far as my character is considered, they may just be buying skooma or alchohol and my character knows they are the eyes of the Thieves' Guild, but he still feels sorry for them because Thieves' Guild members steal because they have to. I want the beggars gone from the series, or I want them to at least not keeping asking for money. Can't they just sit on the side of a building, being quiet and not asking everybody for money? I try to sneak around them and get far away from them quickly so I don't hear them ask anyone for money and so I don't feel like I have to give them money.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Solstheim is great, but only as the setting for an expansion, not a game. After being in Solstheim, I like going back to my tropical Vvardenfell.

[Lyndsey Bird]

I agree that Solstheim was rather boring in comparison to Vvardenfall. It was just a bunch of rocks and ice and... more ice. I'm positve that Skyrim will be a lot like Alaska or Iceland. There will be a lot of snowy mountains and glaciers, but there will also be hotsprings, large, grassy fields, pockets of forest, and everything in-between. Making Skyrim nothing but a snowy wasteland like Solstheim would be a very poor design decision by Bethesda.

[:)Colleenn]

I loved Solstheim. =/ My favorite part of any ES game. I just love the cold, I guess. The thick snow storms, so awesome. ^_^

[Louise]

Skyrim is not all ice, all the time. For one thing, Solstheim is http://www.darkrune.dk/the-elder-scrolls-4-oblivion/TamrielMap.jpg than very nearly all of Skyrim, and even Solstheim wasn't all snow. Skyrim has freezing and dangerous winters, and much of the country is mountainous, atop which there would presumably be snow. Naturally, those mountains have bottoms, and there are other, flatter portions of the country, and no reason to think the whole thing is just a giant iceskating rink. That http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/609/elderscrollsvshadowsofsfx1.jpg floating around, though fake, is probably a good indication of what the warmer parts of the country could be expected to look like.

At the very least, it can be expected that Bethesda will not make the whole game look identical purely from a gameplay perspective.

[Ana Torrecilla Cabeza]

I agree that Solstheim was rather boring in comparison to Vvardenfall. It was just a bunch of rocks and ice and... more ice. I'm positve that Skyrim will be a lot like Alaska or Iceland. There will be a lot of snowy mountains and glaciers, but there will also be hotsprings, large, grassy fields, pockets of forest, and everything in-between. Making Skyrim nothing but a snowy wasteland like Solstheim would be a very poor design decision by Bethesda.

I'm trying to imagine Skyrim being cold, but at the same time, very unique. Vvardenfell is very unique and so are(is, are?) the Shivering Isles, so I know Bethesda can create something unique. However, could they make Skyrim very unrealistic and alien, like Vvardenfell and the Shivering Isles, in a way that could make sense? I'm sure Bethesda can be very creative with frozen climates if they want to, but with Skyrim being the homeland of the Nords and the Nords clearly being made in the image of Viking Culture, would Skyrim having an interesting, magical landscape make any sense? The Nords aren't very magical and I personally don't find them to be nearly as interesting as the various Elves, so I'm currently picturing a frozen wasteland with some non-snowy(but still cold) areas, castles, architecture resembling Bruma's, mountains, pine trees, and Nords. I wouldn't be surprised if Bethesda turned Skyrim into an oversized Solstheim(with some of those areas you mentioned). Even with what you describe, Skyrim sounds boring. Didn't we have enough familiar landscape in Oblivion(at least Oblivion's was't all frozen)? Couldn't Bethesda have some familar areas and some alien areas in Skyrim? I could live with the forests, swamps, meadows, and snowy mountains of Cyrodiil as there was some variety, comfortable and warm variety(waterfalls were stunning in Oblivion). If Skyrim is like Alaska(still mostly frozen), then it will be quite boring and uncomfortable. Deciduous forests and swamps in Oblivion are boring, but comfortable, and nice to look at. Snow with some forests and grassy fields would be boring, bleak, and uncomfortable. I just can't stand snow and with the current picture I have Skyrim that I have in my mind, I'm thinking Oblivion will be more varied.

Rhekarid, I said Skyrim is frozen(frozen soil), not entirely snowy. That Nord I mentioned failed to mention any non-freezing parts of Skyrim, he just implied that Skyrim is freezing.

[Syaza Ramali]

I'm trying to imagine Skyrim being cold, but at the same time, very unique. Vvardenfell is very unique and so are(is, are?) the Shivering Isles, so I know Bethesda can create something unique. However, could they make Skyrim very unrealistic and alien, like Vvardenfell and the Shivering Isles, in a way that could make sense? I'm sure Bethesda can be very creative with frozen climates if they want to, but with Skyrim being the homeland of the Nords and the Nords clearly being made in the image of Viking Culture, would Skyrim having an interesting, magical landscape make any sense? The Nords aren't very magical and I personally don't find them to be nearly as interesting as the various Elves, so I'm currently picturing a frozen wasteland with some non-snowy(but still cold) areas, castles, architecture resembling Bruma's, mountains, pine trees, and Nords. I wouldn't be surprised if Bethesda turned Skyrim into an oversized Solstheim(with some of those areas you mentioned). Even with what you describe, Skyrim sounds boring. Didn't we have enough familiar landscape in Oblivion(at least Oblivion's was't all frozen)? Couldn't Bethesda have some familar areas and some alien areas in Skyrim? I could live with the forests, swamps, meadows, and snowy mountains of Cyrodiil as there was some variety, comfortable and warm variety(waterfalls were stunning in Oblivion). If Skyrim is like Alaska(still mostly frozen), then it will be quite boring and uncomfortable. Deciduous forests and swamps in Oblivion are boring, but comfortable, and nice to look at. Snow with some forests and grassy fields would be boring, bleak, and uncomfortable. I just can't stand snow and with the current picture I have Skyrim that I have in my mind, I'm thinking Oblivion will be more varied.

Rhekarid, I said Skyrim is frozen(frozen soil), not entirely snowy. That Nord I mentioned failed to mention any non-freezing parts of Skyrim, he just implied that Skyrim is freezing.

Well honestly none of us know what Bethesda is going to do. We can argue all day long about what they're going to do but in the end Bethesda will have the final say. :shrug:

[Hot]

Well honestly none of us know what Bethesda is going to do. We can argue all day long about what they're going to do but in the end Bethesda will have the final say. :shrug:

Bethesda listens to criticism. Was Oblivion's more generic setting a major complaint about Oblivion when it was released? I'm hoping Bethesda will come up with something creative for Skyrim, such as magnificent giant plants that can only survive in cold areas or something not resembling Alaska. However, like I said, Skyrim, being the home of the Nords, just doesn't seem like the most alien place. Have you read or heard anything in an Elder Scrolls game that mentions something alien in Skyrim? All I could put together in my mind is a giant Solstheim with castles, Bruma's archticture, mountains, and some grassy areas and forests with pine trees in them. Do we know anything about Skyrim(besides mountains, castles, and snow), something about creatures living there or about specific parts of its terrain? The Falmer are one part of Skyrim that interest me, but to my disappointment, they were nomadic and probably didn't leave any interesting ruins.

[Emmi Coolahan]

Suggestions not related to the ongoing discussion:

On Skyrim's coast, there are rather large bays between the three northernmost cities. What I'd like to see are bridges for the player to use to cross these bays. It seems silly to have the player walk along the coast or swim across the bays to get from city to city. It also makes more economic sense for cities to be connected via bridges.

http://i41.tinypic.com/2dwas7b.jpg

[Eliza Potter]

Suggestions not related to the ongoing discussion:

On Skyrim's coast, there are rather large bays between the three northernmost cities. What I'd like to see are bridges for the player to use to cross these bays. It seems silly to have the player walk along the coast or swim across the bays to get from city to city. It also makes more economic sense for cities to be connected via bridges.

http://i41.tinypic.com/2dwas7b.jpg

I like that idea.

[Emma Louise Adams]

On Skyrim's coast, there are rather large bays between the three northernmost cities. What I'd like to see are bridges for the player to use to cross these bays. It seems silly to have the player walk along the coast or swim across the bays to get from city to city. It also makes more economic sense for cities to be connected via bridges.

http://i41.tinypic.com/2dwas7b.jpg

Considering that such structures would need to be permanent, sturdy affairs, and being at the northernmost point would probably be very icy, the bridges could practically be minor cities themselves. Huge stone structures cutting through the ice, fires lit without need of any fear of wood to spread it, salesmen hawking at the many travelers, set the background of ice crunching in the semi-frozen bay. Of course, that may be wishful thinking, since if those are colder areas they're probably not the most heavily populated, either.

[Nicole Mark]

And being able to hide spells from your spellbook, it gets too cluttered too quickly.

Thank you!

Ive been griping about this lately when I play. As a Mage, ive gathered a rather large collection of spells and it is a royal pain in the [censored] going through all of them to look for the ones I like to use often.

[Dragonz Dancer]

Personally, I'd like to see Morrowind's journal make comeback. It felt far more immersive to have a journal you would write in, than just a menu. I honestly don't see people's problem with it. Options->Quests, and you'd have a more practical journal, like Oblivion, Tribunal and after, at least.

EDIT:

Skyrim, being the home of the Nords, just doesn't seem like the most alien place.

Niether did an island with a volcano that makes the whole place one big black smokey wasteland, sound like a good setting for a game, but we saw how that turned out?

You need to stop thinking about Oblivion. Skyrim will NOT look like Bruma (If Bethesda has any intelligence) Southern Skyrim will be full of life and have lots of unique plants, whereas northern Skyrim will be an icey dangerous place to be, full of blizzards and winds.

Personally, I'd like to see the ability to have land textures change, due to weather. Southern being usually not snow filled, but there would be some snow when it snows occasionally.

Anyways, Don't use past games as a solid reference to what Skyrim will be like. They changed the original intentions of both Oblivion and Morrowind, I don't see why they don't do it here? (In a good way though, unlike Oblivion <_<)

[Skivs]

Personally, I'd like to see Morrowind's journal make comeback. It felt far more immersive to have a journal you would write in, than just a menu. I honestly don't see people's problem with it. Options->Quests, and you'd have a more practical journal, like Oblivion, Tribunal and after, at least.

I dont know how many times I've suggested that.

[Claire Vaux]

Any story can take place in a different setting. Change Chimer to elves, Dwemer to dwarves, the heart of lorkhan to an engine, Numidium to some other giant robot, ALMSIVI into IVISMLA, Nerevar reborn into some other hero reborn, an angry god changing Chimer into Dunmer to an angry god changing elves into Dark Elves, and change Dagoth-Ur into random villain with really cool headgear. No story is truly unique to one setting. I like Morrowind's story much more than any other Elder Scrolls story, but it can be used in a different setting.

Speaking of settings, what should be expected in Skyrim? I'm expecting everything to be frozen(not always covered in snow, but still frozen) due to a Nord in Anvil saying Nords are sick of freezing their butts off in Skyrim. I really don't want an entirely frozen environment mostly covered in snow. Can we expect any warm areas in Skyrim(not chilly without snow, but actually warm environments)? I really don't like the idea of a frozen wasteland being the setting of TES V.

You've changed so many details that it's really not the same story anymore. Even if only the character's motives and politics are different but the overall plot is the same, that's still different. But whatever.

Wasn't it described in one or both of the pocket guides as snowy and icy in the North (think the northwestern corner of Solstheim) and also snowy on the mountaintops, but with fertile lowlands that get partially flooded in warmer months because of meltwater and coniferous forests in the far south?

I hope it is Skyrim, because that is the most human province and I think we need a non-elven perspective on the world (Imperials don't count because Nibeneans are Altmer-lite and Colovians are Nord-lite, and either way we didn't get a ton of fleshing lore anyhow).

[Kate Schofield]

I'd like to add, that due to the recent events in Morrowind, climate may have changed slightly? Parts of Skyrim could be warmer, although I wouldn't want a "Global Warming" quest. Perhaps a small, not serious quest, but I wouldn't want Nirn to turn into Earth <_<

[Amelia Pritchard]

I'd like to add, that due to the recent events in Morrowind, climate may have changed slightly? Parts of Skyrim could be warmer, although I wouldn't want a "Global Warming" quest. Perhaps a small, not serious quest, but I wouldn't want Nirn to turn into Earth <_<

I could see the far eastern areas as having been hit by an odd ash storm or two immediately after the blast, and just like the grazelands the ash became fertilizer that made the east more fertile than the west. And of course, any warlords not living in the effected lands want in, so you have land wars! YAY LAND WARS!

[Dalia]

1. New and unique races (i.e. dwarves, vampire, ghosts?, fairy...)

2. New, specialized classes (i.e. necromancer, bard, summoner, animal tamer...)

3. New guilds (i.e. secret guilds, guilds that practice forbidden arts...)

4. I wanted to become a lych in TES4, so maybe a ''becoming a lych'' subquest or something along those lines?

[Max Van Morrison]

If TES V is anywhere close to the size of Arena or Daggerfall, everything will have to be randomly-generated or spaced out to ridiculous lengths, making exploration incredibly difficult.

Rediculous meaning realistic, right? Isn't exploration ment to be incredibly difficult, when we're talking about landmasses of entire provinces? Back in 1996 when Daggerfall's landscape was generated, they didn't have Speedtree and similair software. Spend a moment to imagine a big, (even 10% of TES2 is big enough), landscape, generated by a program that mimics land erosion and formation 1:1, with some hand created content and locations like cities, with great fast travel system like TES3's. You can't ask for a better gameworld for a sandbox CRPG. In TES3 everything is hand placed, giving you exactly one playthrough which was surprising: your first. In TES4 it's more random again, but it's still boring. Mix of random and handplaced is suggested ages ago, and there are great posts, even topics about it lying around.
If you want restricted areas, less land mass and more plot/dialogue/choices/roleplaying, Witcher, Dragon Age and such are games for that. But when TES is about open and free world, shouldn't it be done right, or not at all?
Realistic world means you can implement seasons, Daedra summoning days, calendar, holidays, all that was cut when we moved to close quarter worlds and rediculous time scaling.

[luis ortiz]

I don't think land should be randomised. A randomised world would be less detailed, because it would be difficult to associate meshes such as trees and buildings with the landscape. Also, every mod that adds a new city, or landmass would conflict with saves.

Random interiors, would be great, of course, I'd love it if I didn't know exactly what to do on every play through, which is yet another reason the quest compass svcks. I think, though, cities should be untouched by randomisation, I'd like to know where things are in cities.

[Code Affinity]

I don't think land should be randomised. A randomised world would be less detailed, because it would be difficult to associate meshes such as trees and buildings with the landscape. Also, every mod that adds a new city, or landmass would conflict with saves.

Outside lands could potentially be broken up into smaller zones. The nearest example that comes to mind would be Morrowind, where entering a new area (generally accompanied by a short load) cleared out a new "tile" on the map. I think more modern technology could put them together much more smoothly. The computer might create a forest made up of a hundred little zones normally marked to contain randomly generated terrain. A decent generator can be kept from doing things like clustering all the trees in one spot, to the point that the player wouldn't be able to notice when crossing into another zone. Obviously the entire overhead land map would not be random, so it would be easy to assign coordinates to those zones. A mod that adds a dungeon can simply specify that the zone at coordinates x/y be that dungeon instead of randomized forest. At that point it's simply up to the modder that the surrounding forest looks decent enough to blend in, same with any mod.

If it's being done so that things aren't always in the same spot, the forest might be set to have a total of 10 dungeons. Maybe some that are always meant to be found in that forest, maybe some random ruins, etc. When being initially created each zone might have a 5% chance to be a dungeon spot instead of a random forest spot. Instead of claiming a specific area, the modder could just add their dungeon to the list the game draws from when seeding the forest with dungeons. I don't think it would be difficult, either, for the programming to be made so that individual "things" could act as occupying multiple zones, always together. It wouldn't be any more conflicting than existing mod options, as far as I can see.

How decent the randomized land would look pretty much just depends on the quality of the technology and programming used to create it, which I can't peer into Bethesda's offices to comment on. However, the programs to generate landscapes have been around and steadily improving for a long time, so the detail isn't really something I'm afraid of.

[Adam Baumgartner]

Random generated landscape is a realllllyyyyy bad idea.

[Robert Devlin]

Just a thought. If TES5 is 200+ years after oblivion, should we be expecting any kind of technological improvements? I really hope there're no guns, but maybe some advances in magical abilities? Maybe necromancy is legal or someone finally invented the key ring.

That's a pretty cool idea. Almost like what Fable 2 did, but guns would indeed ruin it.

1. New and unique races (i.e. dwarves, vampire, ghosts?, fairy...)

As much as I wouldn't mind having a new race or two thrown in, there has never been anything in ES lore that would support the inclusion of a Dwarven race. Let alone the fact that there were already the Dwemer, which were essentially ES's dwarves. There wouldn't really be much of a point to it either, and besides, someone would make a mod for than in a heartbeat anyways.

IF, however, they do include new races, they would most likely be some of the Akaviri peoples. Who knows? As has been pointed out, it is 200 years after Oblivion, maybe there's been some prosperity? Or perhaps even you have to repel an Akaviri invasion as the main quest?

Just a thought.

[Krystal Wilson]

Random generated landscape is a realllllyyyyy bad idea.

Kind of vague. How so? I'm not talking randomizing everything, but that if there's an area that's always a forest, introducing random elements lets the player explore it more than once, always finding new and/or unexpected things, instead of losing all sense of mystery for every replay after the first.

[adam holden]

I was reminded of this in another topic; please put the Labyrinthian in Skyrim. From the piece of art shown in Arena it looked quite interesting.

[Racheal Robertson]

But when TES is about open and free world, shouldn't it be done right, or not at all?

Not entirely. There is a learning process they need to go through, in respect to what the fans like. Hopefully they can listen to our suggestions before, rather than after the game is made. But I would imagine that many problems in OB were because of 1 liners on the forum and little mutual understanding.

I don't think land should be randomised.

How about random variations added to a baseline topography.

snip

And could city boarders restrict randomized land, instead of claiming a whole cell. I am thinking of smaller settlements that do not show on the map.