I really hope they bring back the things in Morrowind that weren't in Oblivion. Especially the skills, travel options, lore, and no hand-holding. (I'm looking at you, quest marker and lack of [or extremely vague] NPC directions to places. :stare:)

1. hardcoe mode. Many Elder Scrolls players take it upon themselves to play this way. But I think Fallout: New Vegas is really onto something by actually making it an option with set rules in their game. How about forcing the player to get sleep, eat & drink, etc? Fallout 3 offered a 10% bump to stats if the player slept in their own bed. Here's hoping Todd Howard takes it a step further.

2. A greater focus on lore and politics. Force the player to consistently deal with centuries of tension and mistrust between races rather than one occasional NPC rant per hour. Reinforce the unique backstory of the Elder Scrolls by having race and class act as a subplot in many quests. This adds a touch of realism to the "good guy versus bad guy" and "fetch" quest elements. Have the lore seemingly come alive by visiting extraordinary areas alluded to in books and conversations. Offer a greater incentive to read books!

3. A constant, dynamic NPC "friend" to talk to at the player's choosing who has firm opinions and lets the player choose several different dialogue options. A butler, a buddy met early on, a shopkeeper/neighbor, etc. One NPC to have continually evolving conversations with after quests would be almost as nice as having actual choice in the quests themselves. If the story cannot change, how about putting the afterword in some form of context by giving the player an outlet to debate/rejoice/scream/scapegoat/etc?

4. Minigames for variety. Give those inns something to do besides offer rooms and purchasable food. How about gambling? Or a place to make three-way trades with multiple NPCs? Or jobs to make money? In other words, how about a way for the player to improve their stats besides pressing the same button over and over again? (Cast spell, cast spell, cast spell, etc.) I'd love to wander around late at night and just do enjoyable, productive minigames until the morning to increase my money, stats, reputation, etc. It could be both more realistic and more involving.

5. Jeremy Soule - Great music is of the utmost importance in a fantasy game.

6. More puzzles, specifically in dungeons. Make the player think.

7. Cursed people. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc. A way to introduce new gameplay variety (should the player become cursed), and to better enhance story-telling via myths and town legends. How about a town (not just one quest) where everyone is oddly afraid of....something they won't discuss outdoors. Maybe then a surprise reveal as to the identity of the monster after several quests have been completed in the town.

8. Differing moods for quests. Have some quests be incredibly tragic, others mysterious, some uplifting, and some blatantly hilarious. The series does a good job of this on the whole.

9. More people in towns. Make the towns come alive. More people, more noise, town-specific festivals, etc. Its hard to sell a living, breathing city when there are just ten NPCs walking around doing nothing but having two-sentence conversations with each other.

10. More customization of the player's home, possessions, etc. Let the player continually upgrade paintings, statues, plants, furniture in homes. Allow the player to alter the color of clothing/armor material, etc. This is obviously a small thing, but it would be a nice way to sell the comforts of home if the place actually felt like the player had some say in its appearance. Fallout 3 did this to a lesser extent.

WEREWOLVES.....Please?

These are just some very rough thoughts that would require polishing if not for the nature of this thread. Bethesda (and co.) by all means reserves the right to creative license.

1.) Lore - It was established; abide by it, or it better be a darn good retcon.

2.) Story (Premise/Theme/Plot) - All three must be well written and fit well into the entirety of the game

3.) Location - Location, location, location. Must be believably grand in scope and appropriate for the setting.

4.) Cityscape - This goes hand in hand with location; must be appropriate for setting.

5.) NPCs - More intelligence wanted. Need I say more? Ridiculous that City Swimmer was murdered over a loaf of bread.

6.) PC Interaction - gameplay mechanics. I would like to see a level of interaction not done yet with an Elder Scrolls RPG (scaling walls and roof-tops, shaking hands, etc.)

7.) Combat - Speed-kills and techniques please, based on the skill multiplier regarding combat (ala AC2? maybe, maybe not). Regardless, some believability.

8.) Magic - Difficult to use, but capable of warping reality if learned. Kind of miss Morrowind, but must be done on a much grander scale.

9.) Stealth - Definite speed-kill and interaction is a must (see PC interaction).

10.) PC customization and limitations - must carry a reasonable amount of weight, have acquired items either be stored believably in a pack or via magic, or must be observable as a part of costume. ie mace and sword strapped on back, potions are in containers, etc. That said, allow for a greater amount of PC customization. Hair customization would be a nice touch (must include facial hair if appropriate).

Edit: I ALMOST FORGOT!!!

11.) Navigation - completely important. Fast travel must be done away with unless through use of plot device or a form of public or private transportation. There should be 3D map and compass aspect to the next installment, similar to Far Cry 2, but be static and require the player to orient themselves. Landmarks would be added via scout, guide, or info gathered, and maps could be marked up, thrown out, bought, enchanted, and sold, along with compasses.

This http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1095751-maps-and-wayfinding/ deals with this aspect quite well.

1. THEME SONG. Words cannot express how beautiful the opening to Morrowind is, something that Oblivion could not compare to. I don't want a remastered version of the Morrowind theme, but I would very much like a new theme song just as or better than that piece. Hire the same composer if he left.
2. Deeper guilds. I don't want guilds to be this shell of quests, I want them to feel like a real place. Give me a reason for why there's a mage's guild in every town, don't just do it.
3. Storyline. The beautiful thing about Morrowind was although you could only go one route, the entire story anticipates Dagoth Ur to be the devil incarnate. But once you meet him you realize that his views are kind of noble. He wants to reclaim the land of the Dunmer for the Dunmer, very much like the Africans fighting for control of their land against the Dutch. But at the other end, you see that his actions have caused serious consequences, such as the Blight mutating people into the corprus abominations.
Although not terribly grey, they still showed both sides. With Oblivion is more one-sided, and we didn't get to see much of Mehrunes' side, other than him wanting to conquer Tamriel, and the crazy ass Mythic Dawn being insane.
4. Better magic system. I liked that Oblivion didn't force you to equip magic as a weapon, but it still needs to be improved. Lightning should be fast, not slow strings of green light. I'd also like to see new magic spells, or improvements of previously existing spells. Make shield create an actual barrier, and not this egg of energy. I'd also like to see Chameleon more like disguise in Team Fortress 2. Once you activate it, you look like an enemy. The higher your chameleon, the longer you stay phased in looking like whatever creatures surround you, be it goblins or mercenaries. Lower ends will cause space distortions as you warp out of your disguise.
5. Crippling system. Similar to Fallout 3's. If I get struck in the head enough times, give me a concussion. If my shield arm gets broken, make it so that I can't use my shield. Etc.

1. vampires
2. werewolves.
3. realistic nature and environments.
4. Engaging story
5. More factions.

What's important to me is to make sure PS3 recieves the same benefits as Xbox 360 and PC.

I'd like to see a more unique environment and beards for character customization. bliviongate:

I think we're losing the 'thread' of the thread here.

C'mon people - out of respect please - your top 5 preferences in DESCENDING order, short & sharp - easy huh!?

Anything else - go to the Ideas & Suggestions thread.... :swear: :nono:

Win! I love Soule's music. Fallout 3's music was almost non-existant (the environment music, not the GNR songs). Music is even more important to an open world game than just fantasy games. Red Dead Redemption had a fantastic world, but the music just bored me.

However, I hope that the music interacts with the game more (like Daggerfall, but better). For example, the music changes when it is dark, snowing, sunny, etc. If Bethesda used this again, it would greatly enhance the game.

As for my list...
1. Music
2. More factions (Fallout 3 was a step in the wrong direction, there weren't any factions at all!)
3. Varied environments
4. More variation for clothes & armor
5. Unique experiences as races (refused to be served at an inn for being Argonian, stuff like that)

1. More customization via skills, strengths, weaknesses, attributes etc. It's a single player game, let the gamer customize to their heart's content!
2. Fantastic Story. No specifics, just something epic with a real sense of mystery and history. Morrowind's was great as you tried to reveal the truth of something that happened thousands of years prior
3. More well defined racial differences / racism. There was clearly not enough hate in Cyrodiil. I liked how much the dunmer disrespect khajiit and argonians. It made the world feel real.
4. Intriguing and Fractured Political Landscape. I liked how the merchants didn't like me in Ald'ruhn if I was Hlaalu, but damn, I got some sweet deals in Balmora and Suran.
5. Morrowind style leveling / scaling. There has to be a reward to leveling up. You should be able to kill lowly enemies in 2 swings of a sword. Also, skill and attribute requirements for ranking up in factions.

1.Lore! Lore, lore, LORE!!!!:D +better MQ + interesting plot of Guilds(as good as TG and DB plots:d) More joinable guilds and organizations(such as Imperial Legion, Mercenaries etc.)

2.Artifacts from TESIII + TESIV + their expansion packs + many more. Artifacts shouldn't be only obtainable as rewards for quests but the player should also obtain them by exploration:d
Each artifact should have its history and have unique look:d

3.Morrowind type player customization(fragmented armor) with interactive Player Model with slots for each part of the clothing(I'm clicking a slot (palce on that model)and I see ALL possibilities for this slot)
Improved equipment with more bookmarks.Also misc. thing. at pause I should take items to my inventory (especially books)manually (by mouse : Drag'n'Drop)

4.Improved combat and 3rd Person Perspective Player Animations(Movement etc.). Added Horse combat, faster "horseclimbing:P" in 3rd... Decapitation and more gore.(enable/disable option)Added coup the grace specific animation(in 1st and 3rd person)

5. LOD performance improvement. Better engine, havoc etc.

6.More diverse dungeons, mines etc. More specal places like temples, ruins, shrines, quest specific etc.

7.More towns, villages, houses, stables, inns, shops, misc. buildings and "live" posts.

8.Bigger cities!!!! Much bigger(like ACs crowd of ppl:P Some of them should be modelled by designers(quest specific/important/funny/activity specific)but the rest should be generated by software.This should also be improved coz faces in Oblivion are sometimes very funny. The capital city should be huge and the numer of NPCs in it should also been counted in hundreds:P

9.Graphics.The should be Oblivionlike for the sake of ."8".^^.But if they can't do this, graphics should be as good as they can do.

10.Improved AI.

11.NO LEVELSCALLING!!!!!!

12.More weapons and armor types. New skills(some should have their return from Morrowind : M.Armor, Spear added to Blade, Crossbow added to Marksman, Maybe Prototypes of GUNPOWDER WEAPONS(like F2 pistols and rifles, and greandes) Remember, Dwemers has patents for this and after 200 years from OC some ppl would found this prototypes, blueprints etc.

13.A [censored]load of DLCs, Addons etc.

13.More modding options and long patch feedback.

14.The developers of TESV should discuss with us some game aspects before it would be released:d

15.TES V should go live this year:D

1) Improved AI - Especially in regards to stealth. I want multiple levels of awareness, rather than just totally aware or totally unaware of your presence. Have guards get curious ("what was that sound?" *goes to investigate*) and then suspicious ("I know you're there, thief! Show yourself!"). Binary stealth is outdated.

2) A lush, living world - Yeah, Fallout was great, but after the Capital Wasteland I'm way past ready to go back to a more vibrant world (if we go to Skyrim and it's a bleak, frozen tundra, I will be seriously disappointed).

3) Better leveling and level scaling - The most broken aspect of Oblivion. Pages could be written on the subject, but most of you already know what I'm talking about.

4) Better animations - Again, not much needs to be said here. Animation is definitely the most lacking aspect of the visuals in Oblivion and Fallout 3.

5) No more repetitive forays into Oblivion - Thank the Nine! This probably won't be a problem. Oblivion's main quest became horribly tedious with all those Oblivion gates. Here's hoping the main quest is actually interesting this time around.

Firstly, hats off to whoever thought of this, it is much easier to read than other threads (thus making it more likely to be looked at by Bethesda)!!!

Some of the ideas that i have read on here were really good (like no fast ttravelling), whereas some were downright silly (flying mount). However, here are my top 5 (that i can think of at this moment)

1. Talking like Fallout 3 - It really annoys me how, in oblivion, you say one word, for most of ther time, and it sparks a response. I much prefer Fallout's 'actually saying what you are saying' sort of trhing, and think it would improve oblvion tenfold.

2. character diversity - Make there an actual point to class creation/selection. Surely a thief wouldn't be the perfect fighter, but on Oblivion, they can. Make it so that there's a point to specialising your skills so that you can't be the ultimate human being.

3. Make money/enchanted weapons and armour harder to come across - With the money, either make it harder to find and gain, or at least make everything more expensive, (like four or five times more), so that the game is ALWAYS a challenge. After all, what is the point of having an easy game. (i therefore think most of the 'change leveling' suggestions are silly, as i play games to be challenged.) As for the enchanted items, do one of two things (that i can think of off the top of my head).
Either, A. make it so no-one/very few people, actually have enchanted items in the first place (not the choice i would reccomend) or
B. Make it so that enchanted items are only enchanted for their owners (with the exceptions of some such as quest/buyable enchanted items,) so that, once the dead man drops his weapon, it is no longer enchanted.

4. Change NPC's in general, but in particular the traders - This really follows on from more expensive items, so, to balance it out, make them a lot tingier when buying items. Let them only pay a faction of the price of things you sell, again, to keep the game a challenge. Also, change buying/selling to make it more like Fallout's with several items traded over in one go, and a limited amount of money that increases/decreases with what you buy/sell.

5. Add Perks - In my opinion, perks will help make your character unique. But, with no level cap, what you could do is increase attributes two levels, and every third (for example) instead choose a perk.

1. Deeper questlines and more of them.

2. More NPC dialogue, and please, better rumours! (I don't care if it's text!)

3. More forgiving combat reactions when NPC allies are involved (I can't tell you how many times I had to reload because I hit an NPC and ruined a quest or became a murderer).

4. Less convenient Fast Travel. I miss Recall/Mark!

5. No more Quest or Undiscovered Location Markers on the compass. I want to explore, not be led by the hand!

Can't keep it to just five: I MISS LEVITATION!

1) First and foremost, Morrowind style adventuring. I don't want map markers of any sort. I want to have to read the journal and use the paper map that usually comes with the games to get around. I want to have to think at least a little.

3) More detailed environments. Do like Rage is doing with their artwork where you won't see the same rock twice; nothing in the environment repeats itself. All of the caves in Oblivion were pretty much the same.
4) Fix the telepathic guards. When I kill someone in a city who is home alone know one should know about it, and when they're dead I should be able to sleep in their bed and take over their house if I please.
5) I like how Two Worlds II is going with their custom weapons, spells, armor, and clothing. You can find dyes, raw materials, and elements to customize your gear.

Realism in every way possible, i.e:

better animations and physics,
enhanced graphics,
more lore focused,
more advanced AI
TES V should be a lot gorier, since in FO3 you can blow someone's head off with a pistol but in OB with a Claymore you can't do anything even close...

Also every decision you make should have a visible and deep impact and the quests and storyline should be better and more detailed.

1. A Wide Variety of Cultures - (mixes up gameplay)

2. Harder Gameplay - remove the OB fast travel luxuries and make it more like MW. This also means more realistic combat.

3. More Variety in Weapons and Armor

4. More Curses and Vampire-ish Diseases - BUT NONE OF THAT TEAM EDWARD OR JACOB NONSENSE

5. How about a brand new and unique sport and sports teams/stadiums? - Like a non-bloody Colosseum-type quest line.

Thanks. I occasionally have the odd good idea.... :foodndrink:

I thought it would work because it focuses people on what they REALLY want, and they have to state their preferences succinctly. Inspired by an old adage that a good idea should be able to be expressed on a napkin. It's a thread that is easy to dive into and get a reasonably quick impression of the pervading preferences of the community.

Thanks to all those who contributed, especially those who adhered to the "rules".....

Simple wish list:

- realistic combat ( dismemberment, physics, blood)
- NO guard telepathy.
- single player only.
- extremely expansive customization options.
- variety variety va-ri-e-ty

1. More lively cities - This includes adding more NPCs, making sizes more realistic and improving the so called, "Schedules" from Oblivion. (Apparently 90% of the Cyrodiilic population is unemployed)

2. Better physics system - Enemies bodies should be thrown realistically when a hammer smashes into them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bKphYfUk-M

3. Better crime and justice system - Crimes should be judged by evidence, witnesses and fame/infamy. One should be able to plead innocence and see if there is enough built against them to put them away.

4. Better fighting system overall - Someone mentioned earlier that fighting should consists of lots of blocking and counter attacks. A good clean hit should deal a lot of damage.

5. Unique landscapes - Make exploring worth it. I want to see cool and unique sights.

1. More Skills
2. More quests/ branching questlines, especially in factions
3. More joinable factions
4. Can sell a stolen item to ANYONE, except its owner
5. I can go anywhere and do anything right from the start, like the box says-

This means:
-I can enter any dungeon right out of the chargen
-Items and enemies are their appropriate level from the start ( no scaling) So, instead of I can get the super item at level 1, but it svcks, I can try to get it with it's full stats, but will probably get killed
-I can sleep in any bed
-I can enter any building by either magic, lockpick or bashing the lock/ door (No dungeons or buildings closed off until I take the appropriate quest)
-I can kill ANYONE at any time
-no dungeons that are empty until I take the quest just to keep me from selling a quest item because that's so super lame
-I can enter the opposing team's bloodworks

In order of most important to least

1. Multiplayer coop implementation (2 players preferred,....4 players absolute maximum)
2. Construction Set / Modding
3. World more densely populated - More NPCs in towns/cities, more wildlife in wilderness, and most importantly, more baddies all over the place.
4. More complex melee combat system
5. Better AI - harder battles and more realistic reactions to your actions.

1. more interactive gameplay, were you can see yourself doing actions, kinda like in mirrors edge.
2. more apparal customization, like in morrowind but more, i have 10 fingers why cant i wear 10 rings?
3. morrowind leveling, so everything isnt easy, if theres and uber-hard dungeon i try to raid at level 1 i dont want it full of level 1 monsters, its uber-hard i want level 80 people in there so i have to wait until im a higher level to raid it, its more satisfying when i do get to raid it.
4.different grades of armor, i.e. damaged, poor, good, quality, fine, master.
5. more joinable guilds, i want to be able to join every faction in the game (at one point, not all on the same char.)

1. worthwhile exploration (atmospheric, hand-crafted dungeons with interesting stories, hand-placed rewards and legitimate challenges)
2. politics and a say in them
3. a genuinely interesting setting (if it's Skyrim i'd like more than just VIKINGS and WE READ THE WIKIPEDIA ENTRY ON ASATRU AND RENAMED EVERYONE)
4. tying in the AI to the animation system more interestingly (more dynamic combat, enemies taking cover, people doing jobs, etc.)
5. dynamic lighting (i mean seriously come on)

if TES5 ends up being somewhere between Shivering Isles and Fallout 3, that would be more than enough for me.