Elder Scrolls V - Part 7

[Iceman]

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/...ne-Teaser-on-Twitter--Fallout-4--Doom-4-.html

Not sure if this is anything or not as I can't see it at the moment. Some kind of Bethesda teaser for one of their future products.

 

[Soapy]

I'll say Wolfenstein.

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

I would say it will probably be much smaller than the jump between Oblivion and Skyrim. By doing that big two hundred year jump, it allowed them to change a lot of things about the fiction of the series and I think they probably want to play around in this current version of Tamriel for another game or two before they have to make a bunch of drastic changes again.

Yeah...this is my thought as well.

If they decides to go the Thalmor route next time,and i get the feling that they might, it'll be hard not to wrap up the current storylines with the Thalmor/Aldmeri dominion.And by doing so, they'll tie up a lot of loose ends...and then what's next?

 

[James]

I'm perfectly fine with no closure on the Thalmor business. Frankly, the stuff with the Thalmor shouldn't be resolved in Skyrim. It doesn't really make sense that the stuff with the Thalmor would come to a head on the opposite side of the continent. The Thalmor's only business in Skyrim is stirring things up as a distraction for their real enemy, the Imperials. They are certainly manipulating the events of Skyrim, but it isn't their main operation or anything.

I personally think the Thalmor is too big for just DLC. It deserves its own game. The next Elder Scrolls should be: The Elder Scrolls VI: Dominion. Set it in the Aldmeri Dominion. It can be set in The Summerset Isles (home of the High Elves), Valenwood (home of the wood elves) and Elsweyr (home of the Khajit). Each is too small to make its own game, but combined...it would provide a massive, diverse gaming word that spans from traditional landscape like Oblivion (Summerset Isles), tropical rain forests (Valenwood) and vast deserts (Elsweyr). It could be pretty damn impressive and I hope that is the route that Bethesda is planning to go.

That's a fair point, and I like your ideas for TES VI, however I still would have like some form of 'win' over the Thalmor. Skyrim built them up a great deal, it seems odd to me that there was no kind of conclusion to all of that effort. One could argue having the Stormcloaks win the civil war was a win of sorts, but that was more focused on the Imperials, and who knows which outcome is/was canon. Ultimately I'm just disappointed that they created a great enemy that was fun to hate, and we're going to have to wait four or more years to see any kind of resolution, if at all.

Regarding the next installment, one thing I'm really curious about is how Bethesda are going to handle the presence of dragons in a post-Skyrim game. I'm kind of hoping they've learned to live side-by-side with the humans, some bad, some good, some working with people. It's almost a must that dragon-riding is a (vastly improved) feature. With next-gen, we may even see some exciting dragon-riding aerial battles.

 

[Soapy]

Yeah...this is my thought as well.

If they decides to go the Thalmor route next time,and i get the feling that they might, it'll be hard not to wrap up the current storylines with the Thalmor/Aldmeri dominion.And by doing so, they'll tie up a lot of loose ends...and then what's next?

Personally, I would like to see a "Return of the Dwemer" storyline at some point in the series. Since Morrowind, they have been my favorite aspect of the fiction in the series and I would love to see them and their culture explored further.

 

[BrollySupersj]

So my only exposure to the ES series was with Skyrim. So I don't know too much about the universe safe for a few things. But I do have one question, how long is each Era? 1000 years?

 

[Brother Jack]

Sad and surprised that there won't be any more DLC for Skyrim. I thought for sure there would be at least one more big one involving Cyrodil since some sparse coding for that province already existed in Skyrim.

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

Personally, I would like to see a "Return of the Dwemer" storyline at some point in the series. Since Morrowind, they have been my favorite aspect of the fiction in the series and I would love to see them and their culture explored further.

Hmmm....i'm not sure i really wanna know what really happened to the Dwemer. I like the mysterious circumstances in which the whole race suddenly vanished...

 

[Iceman]

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news/news-14690-Skyrim--Legendary-Edition-Listing-Emerges.html

Skyrim GOTY style edition?

 

[Iceman]

Personally, I would like to see a "Return of the Dwemer" storyline at some point in the series. Since Morrowind, they have been my favorite aspect of the fiction in the series and I would love to see them and their culture explored further.

I'd like to see them also although I found those underground Dwemer missions boring after a while as they looked too similar to each other. Would love to see the race that built them though.

 

[Trainwreck2100]

I'd like to see them also although I found those underground Dwemer missions boring after a while as they looked too similar to each other. Would love to see the race that built them though.

agreed those dungeons were far too big if all we're going to do is kill falmer the whole time. The end payoff wasn't worth it.

 

[James]

I didn't mind killing Falmer. I wasn't big on fighting the robotic creatures, though the centurions were impressive.

 

[Matt]

That's a fair point, and I like your ideas for TES VI, however I still would have like some form of 'win' over the Thalmor. Skyrim built them up a great deal, it seems odd to me that there was no kind of conclusion to all of that effort. One could argue having the Stormcloaks win the civil war was a win of sorts, but that was more focused on the Imperials, and who knows which outcome is/was canon. Ultimately I'm just disappointed that they created a great enemy that was fun to hate, and we're going to have to wait four or more years to see any kind of resolution, if at all.

Actually, quite the contrary. The Stormcloaks winning would be a win for the Thalmor, who manipulated the Stormcloaks into rebelling by making a condition of their treaty with the Imperials, outlawing the Nordic god, all for the sake of getting the Nords to rebel. The Thalmor is trying to weaken the Empire by causing splits (they did the same thing with the Redguard) so that the Thalmor can divide and conquer.

 

[James]

Are you sure about that? I don't know, my impression was that the Thalmor were using the Empire in order to take over. A tool as a means to an end. If they were trying to insight a rebellion against themselves, that wouldn't only be a wildly convoluted plan, it would be counterproductive to their ultimate goal.

I mean if what you're saying in canon then alright, but it's still an ass-backwards plan.

 

[Matt]

Are you sure about that? I don't know, my impression was that the Thalmor were using the Empire in order to take over. A tool as a means to an end. If they were trying to insight a rebellion against themselves, that wouldn't only be a wildly convoluted plan, it would be counterproductive to their ultimate goal.

I mean if what you're saying in canon then alright, but it's still an ass-backwards plan.

Yep, it is canon. At the beginning of Skyrim, the Empire had only recently ended a war with the Thalmor, quite the long war at that (more or less started around the end of Oblivion when the Thalmor used the Oblivion crisis to regain power in the Sumerset Isles and rebuild the Aldmeri Dominion). The war reached a stalemate where neither side was gaining ground. So the Thalmor negotiated a treaty with the Empire (The White-Gold Concord). The treaty was designed to piss off the non-Cyrodill races of the Empire. For example, the treaty ordered the Nords to stop worshiping their god (which led to the Stormcloak rebellion), it gave parts of Hammerfell to the Dominion (which caused the Redguard to break away from the Empire), etc. The Empire agreed to these terms out of necessity. The war depleted them. That is why it seems like the Empire are the Thalmor's puppets. The Empire is kissing Thalmor ass to prevent the fragile treaty from falling apart.

The Thalmor's plan is pretty brilliant. The Thalmor are dividing the Empire while they rebuild their forces from the war. The Empire can't rebuild their forces because they are busy dealing with various rebellions in the provinces, such as the Stormcloak Rebellion and the newly independent Redguard attacking Orsimir (Orc homeland). Then once the Thalmor is rebuilt and when the Empire is even more depleted, the Dominion plans to strike again.

 

[James]

Ahh, I see.

The biggest problem I can see with that plan is, by the time the Thalmor are ready to pull off their take over maneuver, there will be rebellions all over the place. Not an issue if the rebellions remain as splintered groups, but if they get organized and join together as a singular force it's going to be worse than tackling the full strength Empire. Either that or they'll be fighting a war on numerous fronts, which is never a grand idea. I guess even the greatest plans aren't completely flawless.

That's interesting though Matt, despite the hundreds of hours I've put into Skyrim I never knew that about the Thalmor.

 

[Matt]

Ahh, I see.

The biggest problem I can see with that plan is, by the time the Thalmor are ready to pull off their take over maneuver, there will be rebellions all over the place. Not an issue if the rebellions remain as splintered groups, but if they get organized and join together as a singular force it's going to be worse than tackling the full strength Empire. Either that or they'll be fighting a war on numerous fronts, which is never a grand idea. I guess even the greatest plans aren't completely flawless.

That's interesting though Matt, despite the hundreds of hours I've put into Skyrim I never knew that about the Thalmor.

But the Empire is the one putting down these rebellions. In other words, the Thalmor is letting the Empire fight the Dominion's war for them so that when all is said and done, the Thalmor can basically conquer several broken, war-tattered nations and replace the Empire.

As for never learning all of this, most of it is found out through subquests, dialogue and the in-game books. It is never explicitly stated in the main quest (but it is heavily implied during the main quest, think about what the Thalmor did to the Blades). You have to dig a bit deeper to find all of this info.

 

[James]

But the Empire is the one putting down these rebellions. In other words, the Thalmor is letting the Empire fight the Dominion's war for them so that when all is said and done, the Thalmor can basically conquer several broken, war-tattered nations and replace the Empire.

Well, that's the most likely outcome. The one they're betting on, but it could backfire. Have to wait and see I guess.

As for never learning all of this, most of it is found out through subquests, dialogue and the in-game books. It is never explicitly stated in the main quest (but it is heavily implied during the main quest, think about what the Thalmor did to the Blades). You have to dig a bit deeper to find all of this info.

Ahh, okay. I don't read the books. Skim them, turn the pages so the character has 'read' them, that's about it. I enjoy the lore and all, but I obviously don't focus too hard on the finer points. I'm usually content as long I get the basic gist of what's going on.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

I wonder who your next character will be? I mean outside of Oblivion and Skyrim i have no knowledge of the ES games but i felt the Dragonborn was the far more "epic" lead role in comparison to Oblivion. I mean this unique individual with the soul of a dragon was really bad ass. Wonder if we will be that important to the following story?

 

[James]

I've been curious about shouts for the next game. Like, if we're not Dragonborn in the next one (and I kind of hope we aren't) then I guess we just go back to using plain old magic? The around that of course, is to have spells that do the same things as shouts.

I hope it doesn't start off with the character in custody again. Like you Pat, I've only played Oblivion and Skyrim, and twice is enough. Some new way to kick off the game would be nice the next time around.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

I've been curious about shouts for the next game. Like, if we're not Dragonborn in the next one (and I kind of hope we aren't) then I guess we just go back to using plain old magic? The around that of course, is to have spells that do the same things as shouts.

I hope it doesn't start off with the character in custody again. Like you Pat, I've only played Oblivion and Skyrim, and twice is enough. Some new way to kick off the game would be nice the next time around.

Yea i dont think theyll go the Dragonborn route again, i mean that was central to Skyrims storyline so im sure theyll go in a different direction. I would like if you could maybe have an option to have that referenced tho. Like i always role played that my character was a decedent of the hero of the Oblivion crisis, so i think itd be neat if that could be an option when creating ur next character. Maybe it adds additional powers or just some different dialog, thats all id need.

 

[Nathan]

 

[Matt]

I wonder who your next character will be? I mean outside of Oblivion and Skyrim i have no knowledge of the ES games but i felt the Dragonborn was the far more "epic" lead role in comparison to Oblivion. I mean this unique individual with the soul of a dragon was really bad ass. Wonder if we will be that important to the following story?

Well in fairness, the PC is no slouch in Morrowind either. The Nerevarine is more or less a reborn Dumner saint/god. In the post-Daggerfall era, the Oblivion PC is really the only hero who isn't special and that may be by necessity to the plot. After all, Oblivion's main quest isn't really the player's story, it is Martin's and he is dragonborn and half-god (as are all Septims). So I suppose the argument can be made that even the hero of Oblivion is special in that regard.

I've been curious about shouts for the next game. Like, if we're not Dragonborn in the next one (and I kind of hope we aren't) then I guess we just go back to using plain old magic? The around that of course, is to have spells that do the same things as shouts.

I hope it doesn't start off with the character in custody again. Like you Pat, I've only played Oblivion and Skyrim, and twice is enough. Some new way to kick off the game would be nice the next time around.

EVERY Elder Scrolls game starts with the player imprisoned. It is kind of a tradition of the series.

Yea i dont think theyll go the Dragonborn route again, i mean that was central to Skyrims storyline so im sure theyll go in a different direction. I would like if you could maybe have an option to have that referenced tho. Like i always role played that my character was a decedent of the hero of the Oblivion crisis, so i think itd be neat if that could be an option when creating ur next character. Maybe it adds additional powers or just some different dialog, thats all id need.

It would certainly be an interesting touch. I wouldn't mind something a bit like Mass Effect where you can build your character's history through various options and people respond to you accordingly.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I hope it doesn't start off with the character in custody again. Like you Pat, I've only played Oblivion and Skyrim, and twice is enough. Some new way to kick off the game would be nice the next time around.

It's been a staple of the ES games that you start out as a prisoner. Morrowind was the same, though in that you're pardoned by the Emperor and are free to do whatever immediately after. The opening quest isn't an escape.

 

[The Squirrel]

I actually love starting in prison at the beginning of the game.