Hey all, long-time TES fan (albeit only since Morrowind), first-time poster.

Just started reading Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series and I was already hooked after getting through the first few chapters of the first book.

Has Bethesda ever given any thought to trying their hand at developing a game based on Book I of this series, 'The Eye of the World'? I mean they already have the technology available to develop the massive gameworld and there's a colossal amount of pre-existing arcana in the series, with great potential for developing even more. I think the key hindrance would be that the player's path (and perhaps even appearance) would have to be pre-ordained, as it is in the books (and as it was in Morrowind, unlike FO3) so this MIGHT be a bit of a turnoff.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Love the WoT series, it's incredible. But for Bethesda to make a game about it they'd need the rights.

Those rights are currently owned by Red Eagle Entertainment who are working long and hard hours to create an MMORPG that will make fans of the series weep in the streets and hurl themselves from rooftops, I mean, make fans of the series delight in being able to share their beloved world with all the mature and lore-loving players of this genre of game.

I haven't read the book, but I don't like this idea. The Fallout series takes up enough development time from TES series by itself. It's been four years since Oblivion's release, but there hasn't even been an announcement for TES V, yet. Adding another game series to Bethesda's to-do list might result in 6 years between Elder Scrolls releases and future announcements, and that wouldn't be tolerable.

Yeah but bethesda probably has something going allready. they've probably allready finished the core etc for TES5. Oblivion was announced just some months before release, right? they are not like normal gaming companies, Take Alan wake for example that game was announced like 2 years ago lol it still isnt released, i belive tes5 will be announced somewhere after summer, about winter.

I haven't read the book. I do not want to see such a game. Heck, if you ask me, they should let someone else develop all future Fallout games. I would much rather see them develop games in the TES series instead of wasting time on a setting i don't really find that interesting.

Haven't read the books. Also, what does this have to do with the TES series? :blink:

Oblivion was announced 18 months before it was released.

I read maybe 5 of the ~20 books before I got utterly bored. I wouldn't play the game.


It was years ago but yes, the start was good. Maybe you'll like the rest of it, too.

I don't like this idea either, If I had it my way Bethesda would not be developing any games asides from any in the Elder Scrolls series, don't get me wrong tho fallout 3 was really fun and they improved a lot of the game mechanics since Oblivion but I would have rather had them doing what they are now doing with Fallout New Vegas which I think is essentially publishing the game and letting the people who are developing it use Bethesda's modified gamebryo engine and construction set. It allows them to spend more time and care on the development of Elder Scrolls games while still making money from other series. And them spending more time on Elder Scrolls games would mean more fun for everyone!

You've read the first few CHAPTERS of a 13 book series and you're pushing for a game version already?

Very much true, Bethesda couldn't make it if they don't first have the legal rights to do so. Which would mean either getting the liscense, or, more likely, since I doubt the current holders are eager to give it up, or getting them to agree to let Bethesda make a game in the series, which may entail their creative freedom being limited by the people who can decide not to let them continue developing the game if they don't like what they're doing.

But while I wouldn't say no to Bethesda developing games other than the Elder Scrolls and Fallout, after all, as much as I like the Elder Scrolls, it's not realistic to ask a company to only develop the games I want them making, and moreover, as much as I want another Elder Scrolls game, if Bethesda only focuses on one or two franchises, there may come a time when getting something else from them would be refreshing change of pace, but if they were to do so, I'd prefer an original franchise, or for Bethesda to pick up whatever other gaming IP they can find that's up for grabs like they did with Fallout. I haven't read the Wheel of Time, so I wouldn't particularlty care what happens to the franchise, but the transition from some other medium to game can at times be unkind to certain works, and we already get enough angry fans complaining about every aspect of the game that isn't EXACTLY what they asked for from the Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3 fanbase, no need to add the Wheel of Time fans complaining about how Bethesda making a game based on their favorite books has somehow rendered even the original work RUINED FOREVER!!!

Red Eagle Games are working with Obsidian Entertainment to make a game based on the WoT series.

http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/02/12/news-obsidian-recruited-to-help-make-a-wheel-of-time-game.aspx

The book was... moderate... First it was good in the village. Then it began to get worse. Many times I was about to put the book down and stop reading it at all but something good caught my attention and then I continued again... and so it continued until a little bit back in the time when I finally stopped reading it at all.
Too boring and `Oh, the world is so sad and evil′ feeling over it. I do not like the big Woman/Man split either. Cmon, it isnt such a big difference between a woman and a man! Both can be evil, good, seductive, nice, liers, phsycopaths, crazies, hobbos, enviromentalists, satanists, christians... The list goes on!

(I read like 20 of the books... In Sweden they have made more books out of the few that exists... the first book becomes 2 books in sweden for example...)

Of course it would add a lot of time. But what if they didn't have that constraint... say, they got the backing to hire enough staff to develop a second, concurrent game? Considering their good reputation as a developer of outstanding titles I would imagine this isn't something that's outlandish to ask for.




Yep, i wouldn't doubt they already have something going.




It has nothing to do with TES except I think Bethesda has the experience and technology to pull off a game of such scale.




Yep. also, I ended up finishing the first book and I'm almost done with the second.

My thoughts exactly and plus transitions to book to game doesn't always end well .

I don't care if FF7 HD is there, I WANT this to be real haha.

P.S. Also look below Bethesda Softworks, there is a game about 50 Cent? lol

I completely agree with this statement.

The wheel of time series may be one of my top 5 least favorite fantasy series of all times. And yeah, I read all of them. A roommate of mine was really into them, so I got them for free. They started off fine (generic, but fine), and spiraled slowly down the drain of toilet bowl fantasy. The characters are shallow, the world poorly conceived, the plot is dull and the progression maddeningly slow.

As an alternative, I would have suggested A Song of Ice and Fire, but it seems that GRRM may be heading down the path of Jordan with his latest offering (not that recent anymore), and his apparent inability to produce the final chapter that was supposedly nigh completion years ago.

from what I understand the later books (I'm on book 4 right now) really started to seriously drag on, but it's possible to condense the plots of several of the later books (if they truly are so slow in story progression) into a single film. some things about the author's writing style leave things to be desired, but on the whole I love the mythology he's created. that's why I enjoy this book series so much. and characters being shallow? are you sure? i think many of them are accurate reflections of real personalities, of real prejudices and paranoias.

^This!

I wanna play TES:V and possibly TES:VI before ALL my hair turns gray like some old maid. Lol

Well, it has been a number of years since I finished the series, but I do recall entire books that produced absolutely no plot progression. Somehow he managed to fill hundreds upon hundreds of pages of filler and, when the book was closed, the characters were left exactly where they started. Granted, this may be an exaggeration based upon the fallibility of human memory and my distaste for the author's style.

The Mythology I found to be extremely generic, and the "physics" of the magic changed drastically for no apparent reason - which was very irritating to me.

The characters seemed shallow to me, I felt that they had one or two traits that were continually hammered home, but never seemed to develop. And if Nynaeve (I think that was her name) pulled her braid once more I was going to vomit. Then again, this could just be my memory of a series that I found to be hugely disappointing.

Omg I hate the Wheel of Time series, I got through maybe seven of the books and they were all terrible.

Also whoever said that there was a big Male/Female split I adore you! That was one of my biggest complaints with the series (besides the dull, plodding and shallow characters). It constantly had the characters fixated upon each others gender and subsequent roles. It made me want to strangle them.

The Sword of Truth series is fantastic and a Song of Ice and Fire is even better. (I actually prefer The Sword of Truth but I think Ice and Fire has a more realistic and complex plot, ie more shades of gray)

I will never understand the appeal of the Wheel of Time.

Wheel of Time is not a good match for Bethesda: they have Tamriel.

In effect, the worlds are similar enough to be non-distinct. It would be "Oblivion with Aes Sedai", rather than something new.

If one insists on an epic fantasy setting, I heartily recommend taking a page from Glen Cook instead. What you'd get is a type of setting that can only pe considered alient to the Tamriel we know: characters are at best a light shade of grey, and only the select few approach black. Ancient evils lie defeated and contained seemingly everywhere, but what they are NOT is vanquished. If that's not enough, there's always some wizard or emperor who finds an old artifact and decides that absolute power is their destiny.

If one must suggest another Fantasy setting for Bethesda, this is where they should start the idea search, IMO. It would at least give the new IP a distinct flavor from TES. And that's what we want with any new IP they might start, right?


That said, I think that it might even be a great idea for Bethesda to "pitch" some ideas on what we'd like to see. It shouldn't be a "decide which game we'll make" type of fan interaction, but rather a "We're not making a new franchise at this time, nor do we plan to. We love TES and Fallout, and are committed to them. On the other hand, we're pretty sure that Zenimax is always looking for great new ideas. Here's some stuff we've kicked around the table at Applebee's on lunch. We know our fans are some of the most passionate, loyal, and demanding in the business, so have at these ideas. Tell us what you really think." type of statement. Because the forums would pretty much explode with fans arguing the merits of each idea. For one, it's a publicity firestorm. Timed right, it's a great way to draw attention. For two, it offers a real chance to guage where there's a "significant unfilled niche" clamoring for a sandbox RPG. Because that's what BGS does. And for three, inducing forum overload is probably cheaper than traditional market research. (A distant fourth: new franchises with a larger staff is the only practical way to grow BGS further. Given a release of X one year, X DLC the next, Y the next, and Y DLC the year after, you really can't shorten the dev cycle much...)

The male and female characters exhibit the same range of types that you say they should. As for the big Woman/Man split, the Enemy caused it, and society has been living with its consequences for 3000 years. I would expect it to have an effect on people's thinking.

I have already read the books, and played one or two Wheel of Time RPG's, and had fun with them, so I would prefer that Bethesda develop something else. As others have already implied, Jordan's universe doesn't have anything that makes it particularly better for an RPG than many another fantasy universes. If Bethesda were to do something new, I would prefer it be a world nobody has seen before. In the meantime, the Elder Scrolls needs some more loving care to help it reach its potential.

I'll be interested to see what Obsidian does with the Wheel of Time series. Through the years, we've received a number of suggestions to make a WoT game.