Alright, this idea came to me because I'm extremely tired. We have this wonderful radiant quest system, some hopefully decent AI, and some stunning graphics.

So I will start and say this is by no means neccessary, or a fully developed concept.

When you "rest" you should be granted the option to dream...

If you wish to it will take you to a random dungeon, house, town, meadow, cave, ruins.
Give you a random weapon and or spell (unlimited arrows for bows and mana for spells because its a dream)
When health hits zero, or the dream ends, you wake up.
Armor and clothes can also be randomized
NPCs will be random as well


the art style would be dreamlike, hazy or dark and contrasty for the fighting ones.. so long as it is noticeably a dream, this could appease those who preferred the whimsical style of Morrowind.

Combat dream: you run through the area, fighting random creatures. upon killing them all (or dying) you wake up.

Combat dream V2: Arena combat, creatures come in waves.. all kinds or types, doesn't have to make sense. succeed and wake, or die adn wake

Family Dream: You are in a random home, or on an estate with a random NPC from the game who is your "wife or husband" They need you to run to town and find a random object from a merchant, except he has run out, but says he dropped one somewheres nearby.. your dream is to search high and low for it. find it and return to your spouse and child where you will then wake up.

Family dream v2: You are in or around your home when you notice a person running towards you or your spouse child. They draw their weapon and attack... either save them, or fail and see them perish.

Other dream ideas:

You are naked in a town, and must locate your pants! (search and find them, location changes with each dream)

You are at a feast in Valhalla, and someone stole all the mead horns.. (like a clue game, the answer changes with each dream)

You are a dragon trying to burn a town (hehe, nice twist? this would appease those who wish to play as a dragon)

Sandbox, your just in a town, do whatever you want before you wake up.

Anyways, these dreams would have no bearing on the game or the direction it takes, and is purely for fun, like a minigame.

This would be a GREAT way to show off the radiant abilities of the game, and add something fun to explore.

A possible add to this, If you complete the dream, you wake welll rested with a slight boost to stam regen, and perhaps a small boost to your social skills. Not enough to make a big difference, but enough to help just a little.

(IMPORTANT EDIT: The dream sequence would be optional, and would not pop up ever time a player slept, would be a small to uncommon chance.. Also the style of the dreams can be random.. hazy, overly vibrant, even black and white.)



Heres a few of the concerns raised adn my response to them:

1. gets boring

No, its a rare event that is completely optional

2. Its a waste of game play time

No, its a rare event that is completely optional

3. I dont want to have to press a button to decline dreaming each time i sleep.

No, Its a rare event, of which can be fully disabled if desired.

4. Dev's have better things to do.

Thats their decision, this isn't just your game, this is their game. And soon many people will be playing it, If a dev comes in here and says "This idea wont work, its a waste of time" Then i will stop and concede.

5. It doesnt fit with the game

On the contrary it does, it takes place within the game, does not break immersion and can act is a rare, fun minigame.

6. Its pointless

Only as pointless as playing video games themselves. The object of the game is to have fun and enjoy it.. if its fun then it accomplishes its goal. There can also be a small reward, not game altering but minimally beneficial.

I like this. As long as it's an option.

But what if you...Well, you know...Dream of the female Nord next door?

*bops him on the head with a fishy stick*

Bad!.. down boy!... doooown...

I never said those dreams couldnt be included... theyd get a "well rested" buff but a "Messy" debuff... slowed movement until they found themselves a stream to bathe in.
((the above was a joke))

Have a fishy stick my friend. You'll probably be flamed slightly but this was an entertaining post.
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081112192241/tesfanon/images/c/c4/Fishystick.jpg

Sounds interesting but like FriendlyBear stated it should be optional. You don't want to force to much onto the player in a game like this or the whole immersion effect is broken. Great ideas though

As i said, it would be optional, the default would prompt at each rest. Though it could be turned completely off via the settings.

And thank you for the fishy stick

Spoiler;

The whole game is just a crazy dream.

Sounds more like mod territory, but I could see this being really fun, if done well.

ouch, that was painful



Why leave it to the modders? what about those on the consoles? Bethesda can TOTALLY take this and run with it in some amazing directions!

I like this idea, alot!

Although, I'd say you should get a boost to the abilities you used while dreaming. If you cast Fireballs while in the combat dreams, you should get a temporary boost to the Destruction skill. If you successfully convinced a merchant to sell you an item you needed for your family dream, you should get a boost to your Speechcraft skill. For every skill you utilized while dreaming, you'd get a small and temporary boost. A good reward for time spent resting or meditating.

Regardless if it were optional or not, these dreams should be quick. The player should focus on the real world, and your dream should really focus as a minigame that offers a small bonus.

Alternative----Instead of receiving a temporary boost in skill level, perhaps a temporary boost in that skill's experience gain.

three fishy sticks!

Amazing idea, a slight increase in exp gain, thats a small yet helpful boost, PERFECT!

Loved the idea and will be adding you to my friends list.

What if that cute little orc girl down the street dreams about you? :wub:

Ya, I know, now you really like options, lol...

being a dragon in a dream would require too much work, doing all that work for a rare minigame

unless they do i tank like thing

and dont forgot the space

It's just that it would require some time and effort and doesn't really add anything to gameplay, just a pointless, but perhaps enjoyable, distraction. I'd rather the devs worked on things to add to the game instead.

not quite sure what you meant with the last too lines, but you have a point, the dragon thing may be too much..

but imagine, DLC content, new dream packs and addons, or perhaps when you buy DLC with new areas, the things get added to possible dreams... Hell if they sold horse armor they can selll dreams.

I actually like this. A lot of the threads recently have started to get boring or redundant, but this was interesting.

I think it should only have a small chance of being an option (maybe 25% chance of having the option to dream) since a lot of the time we dont dream or remember dreams when we sleep. I also think it should be relatively short, like 5-10 minutes depending on the type of dream it is.

I also would want there to be nightmares (maybe 1/5 chance). It could make you wake up with a minor 'unsettled' debuff for 5 minutes or something similiar. It would be cool if some of them started out as dreams but then get really freaky really fast (Like the family dream turning into a nightmare because they all turn into zombies or something).

as DLC i will support it :trophy: you now i have my support :thumbsup:

Edit. by the 2nd line a mean like how oblivion's third person was but its needless if its DLC
and for the third i mean they have very limited disc space but again this doesn't matter if its DLC

Make it rare and skipable(as it might get boring after a while) and I would love to see this. Also have a timer based on how long your character sleeps and the dream should end instantly if your body is disturbed while you dream.
I agree that this would be a great way to show of the radiant story in a larger scale.

Erm..... I really don't see this happening in this game. It just doesn't fit in imo

If you want to play around in you're own dreams I suggest you play inception: the game

If it exists

inception made me question life and started to make me think life never existed and it was a dream

i wish i never watched it

I think this idea has some potential, if done well. This would give the devs an opportunity to go nuts and create some very interesting (and weird) 'side quests'. I also wouldn't mind the chance to increase my skills so long as the dream sequences were short (could be completed in ten to fifteen minutes), and occured very rarely. My only concern would be that they might lose their charm after a while and become an annoyance, but I would only see that happening if they happened too frequently.

I think it would get repetitive and annoying if you dreamed EVERY time you went to sleep, especially if you're RPing (or playing in hardcoe mode?) and you're sleeping every night. I just wanna jump back into the game, y'know?

I do, however, think it would be awesome if, when dreaming was appropriate, it was interactive. Like the dreams when you're becoming a vampire. I think it would add a lot to the game if you actually got to play those dreams instead of having them described to you by the quest journal.

It would be cool if you could get some experience or something in them...

Very lame; Pokimon generation gone wild.

I think it's a great idea.

But it just be very clear it is a dream, maybe a pink cave i.e.