Elder Scrolls V - To Be Direct Sequel To Oblivion

Sierra Oscar

Or so Kotaku are reporting anyway. It sounds like development of the game is well advanced!

According to a report on Eurogamer Denmark, Elder Scrolls developers Bethesda are already hard at work on a fifth episode in the storied role-playing series.

Monotype

Why don't they just hire an extra 500 developers to get it done? :pac:

this will be the chronological sequel to what happened in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

I'd be expecting that. You'd imagine that you'd get a few references about incidents and possibly meet a few people that were in TES IV. It doesn't really mean it would be set in the same location.

"I can say it is on the existing platforms, which we're really happy with. You almost feel like you have a new console when you see the game."

I really hope that they didn't/don't hold back too much on the PC version in favour the consoles.

Wolfe Tone

OHHH I cant wait, I loved Oblivion!

Chefburns

FINALLY!!!!! They must have been working on it for a few months now at least...

Sierra Oscar

Chefburns wrote: »

FINALLY!!!!! They must have been working on it for a few months now at least...

I would say a team has been working on it ever since Fallout 3 went into the final stages of its development.

Chefburns

Really u think that far back? I would have said from about half way through fallout new vagas!

Can't wait!!

But I have to agree with the first comment:

Here's the thing. I loved Oblivion, I really did. I spent 300+ hours on it and played through all kinds of player mods and paid for every official DLC.

Morrowind was the better game.

There, I said it. I truly did enjoy Oblivion, but there was something very obvious missing from it. Maybe it was the repetitive story quest (kill this gate, now this one, now this one), or maybe the unchanging scenery (aside from the mountains). But Morrowind just... got to me the way Oblivion didn't. The fantastic story, the hugely varying landscapes (The entire city within trees and giant mushrooms versus the floating pavilions of Vivec), the ability to slay what really felt like a god as opposed to the generic daedra.

I could go on for ages about how every city was different, with one completely made out of dead strider husks (Gnisis) versus Balmora, the massive one you spent days working through the intrigue of. And everything surrounding the gloom and destruction of Red Mountain.

The varying types of factions (religions versus guilds versus dwemer etc etc etc) and the fantastically magical elements of the game (a floating prison of rock anchored above Vivec and an entire set of manses that had to be navigated by levitation - Sadrith Mora). My god, I must have sunk 500-1000+ hours into Morrowind simply because of how much effort clearly went into making me feel part of an entirely different world.

Something about how that game was done was simply magical, and while I felt that Oblivion was good, Morrowind was by far Bethesda's best work. In fact, I think I'm going to go dig up my old copy and play it soon.

Bethesda, if you really are working on TES V - please follow the style of Morrowind and not that of Oblivion. For the love of all that is holy, please.

(Also, remove quick travel, bring back striders, and get rid of the whole repetitive story line [gates]) Reply

AlmightyCushion

Chefburns wrote: »

Really u think that far back? I would have said from about half way through fallout new vagas!

Given that Fallout: NV is meant to be the last game using that engine, then Elder Scroll 5 should be using a new engine. Development on this would take a long time.

Chefburns

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Given that Fallout: NV is meant to be the last game using that engine, then Elder Scroll 5 should be using a new engine. Development on this would take a long time.

a whole new engine??? =O hope they don't mess it up!!!

Monotype

Not a whole new engine.

Howard wouldn't be drawn on many details about the game, but said the technology was derived from the engine that powered Fallout 3, albeit with significant modifications.

"Fallout 3 technically does a lot more than Oblivion. The new stuff is an even bigger jump from that," he said.

BrerWolf

Just looked up the official site and there is no news about it on there....
I reckon if we don't get an official update by monday then we can ignore this rumour as just another lie.....

TPD

Monotype wrote: »

I really hope that they didn't/don't hold back too much on the PC version in favour the consoles.

Modders will pick up the slack soon enough if the PC version isn't up to scratch.

Monotype

TPD wrote: »

Modders will pick up the slack soon enough if the PC version isn't up to scratch.

True, but the modders shouldn't be doing the job for the developers (although not everyone is going to be happy no matter what they do) and modders usually don't go to the same depth as to rewrite the engine!

papajimsmooth

If they put vats into an elder scrolls game someone will have to die

Sierra Oscar

papajimsmooth wrote: »

If they put vats into an elder scrolls game someone will have to die

Egh, I hope Beth leave the Fallout stuff to Fallout . . . anything else would just feel cheap.

Skerries

more voice actors please and change the levelling system
i loved Oblivion and do hope they change the engine as Oblivion was ground breaking

Funglegunk

NERDGASM.

Nothing about Skyrim in there, was it not confirmed the next game would be set in Skyrim?

Monotype

No, just rumous that it could be Skyrim or the Summerset Isles. This doesn't actually confirm location, so we don't know yet.

Sierra Oscar

Monotype wrote: »

No, just rumous that it could be Skyrim or the Summerset Isles. This doesn't actually confirm location, so we don't know yet.

Aye - that rumour arose due to the fact that Beth trade-marked the name Skyrim . . . but thats about the extent of the basis for that rumour.

What I wouldnt be surprised to see would be the game being set in a province, such as Skyrim, with the Empire under threat of collapse after the events of Oblivion. We have already heard of talks of uprisings in Skyrim against the Imperial forces in Oblivion.

longwhitecross+

I hope for once people don't move around so utterly stiffly. The one thing thats stood out for me since Morrowind.

MultiUmm

Chefburns wrote: »

Really u think that far back? I would have said from about half way through fallout new vagas!

Obsidian developed NV, which would've left the devs at Bethesda plenty of time to focus on ESV.

Sierra Oscar

Anyone hoping for an announcement at the VGA's?

SemiMental

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRifj-2EEKs

Here is the trailer for Elder Scrolls V Skyrim!!
It's out 11-11-2011, so just under a year away.
No gameplay shown in the trailer, but I can't wait to play this, should be EPIC

Monotype

FFS. Do they need to announce it so early? I'll have it on my mind for a whole year now!

Their website must be getting a lot of traffic, it's soooo slow.

Right. Now I need to use that time to save for a new computer.

Sierra Oscar

Via Beth's twitter . . .

Seeing lots of speculation about #tesv game engine. It's brand new... and it's spectacular!

Funglegunk

Funglegunk 2 weeks ago wrote: »

NERDGASM.

Nothing about Skyrim in there, was it not confirmed the next game would be set in Skyrim?

Funglegunk in 2009 wrote: »

Here's hoping Elder Scrolls 5 is based in the Nordic continent (the name of which escapes me)!

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

longwhitecross+

Gonna be a loong wait till release, end next year..

Funglegunk

New article for those interested, apparently a lot of details coming in January.

"I hope everybody is surprised with how much stuff we're showing [in January]," Howard said, explaining the decision. "It's a lot. We wanted to compress the amount of time we talked about the game. It's still 11 months. It's a long time, but traditionally we're going on two years talking about a game. We start out very slow.

"We wanted to come out of the gate with a lot of stuff. So the fans will be excited."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-12-20-howard-were-in-our-groove-on-tesv

Icyseanfitz

Chefburns wrote: »

Really u think that far back? I would have said from about half way through fallout new vagas!

bethesda didnt develop new vegas so they have probably been working on skyrim full time since fallout 3 however id say they have had a team working away on the game since oblivion was released (small team anyway) as the elder scrolls is bethesda's bread and butter so to speak just like we all know rockstar have been working on the new gta for a good while now (even though we know nothing about it yet)

MultiUmm

I don't mind the long wait to the release of Elder Scrolls V, because there's nothing worse than when they rush a game that needs more time to add some finishing touches to make it the best gaming experience it can be. Fallout NV suffered from this big time imo, the amount of bugs in it speaks for itself.

Seloth

While some elements of the fallout games were good it just didn't have the same feeling or aspects of the Elder Scrolls games.

I hope they honestly do converge the best of Morrowind and Oblivion together!

First Post

I hope they pad out the leveling system some more and make a decent main quest line.

But mainly I hope they support it with significant DLC and keep the guild questlines.

Sasquatch76

http://www.gamingeverything.com/2011/1/elder_scrolls_v_scans

Monotype

200 years later? I wonder what kind of differences that will make?
Looks very nice. I really, really hope that this doesn't suffer from consolitis.

Sasquatch76

Monotype wrote: »

200 years later? I wonder what kind of differences that will make?
Looks very nice. I really, really hope that this doesn't suffer from consolitis.

Me too, although I'm already fearing the worst having heard talk about scaled levelling even more dumbed down that Oblivion

If true, I hope the modding community are able to sort it out!

Monotype

They won't go down the same road as oblivion with the levelling system, there was too much uproar - more than just a few complainers. There's nothing wrong with a little of a level scaling, like in morrowind you don't see golden saints on the pier when you get off the boat at the beginning. Oblivion took the p1ss though with everyone in the same armour and only the highest daedra hanging around after a few levels.

As for levelled loot. A little bit here and there can be ok, but one of my favourite things in morrowind was to beat all odds and get some sword or whatever that you cherish for a long time and are sad to see it go when something better comes along. With Oblivion, much of the rewards are slightly better than the one you have so nothing ever seems like a big reward.

Some areas should always be dangerous regardless even if you go there first thing and the rewards should be pay off for that amount of danger. Same that some places should always be easy. Now when I say dangerous, I don't mean that they scale with you unless it makes absolute sense that somebody is building an army and the quicker you act, the better.

Mods will fix it but these fundamental parts shouldn't need mods (until you get bored of the style, want to try something new etc.)

Sasquatch76

The next Elder Scrolls game, Skyrim, will be making some big changes to the way the series handles things like combat and levelling-up. Firstly, combat: according to a piece in the latest issue of Game Informer, you can now dual-wield weapons in the game. To many it will sound like a cheap take on a Halo/Modern Warfare staple, but where in those shooters it's a part-time indulgence, in Skyrim it forms the cornerstone of your approach to the game, as you can allocate which weapon or tool goes in which hand.

So, for example, you can put a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. Or two daggers. Or a staff and a shield. Or a shield and a mace. For magic users, a different spell can be cast from each hand, or for a multiplying effect, the same spell can be thrown from both hands.

Another change to the way Skyrim plays compared to its predecessor, Oblivion, is in how you gain new powers and abilities. This game does entirely away with the concept of class creation, Bethesda's thinking being it's a bit naff asking people to predict how they're going to play a game when they haven't played it yet.

Replacing this, then, is an organic system of attribute growth based on use: the more you do something, the better you get at it. While this has long been a staple of RPG games, even dating back to the Quest for Glory series, but in Skyrim it's not just complementing a class structure, it's replacing it. So you won't be cast in stone as a mage if you use lots of magic, you'll just be some adventurer with a higher magic number in their stats.

You level up according to how you progress your most-used skills. "Raising one skill from 34 to 35 is going to level you faster than raising one from 11 to 12", Bethesda's Todd Howard tells Game Informer. If you stick to what you like/do best, you'll level up quickly. Conversely, if you want to take things slowly, you can raise all or most of your skills, as not focusing on one or two in particular will mean a slower rise through the levels.

One wildly unpopular aspect of Oblivion was the fact basic enemies levelled up alongside you, meaning even the most powerful warriors could sometimes be undone by sewer rats or angry crabs. In Skyrim, though, your opponent's levelling is more like that found in Fallout 3.

Continuing Bethesda's work with Fallout 3, each new level you gain in Skyrim will also give you a perk, which you can apply to give you added bonuses relative to how you want to play the game.

The levelling sounds like an interesting experiment, one I like the sounds of since I always hate choosing an "archetype" in a game before I know how I'm going to play it. The combat also sounds like a welcome piece of customisation for the series, but how well they actually work in the game, we'll just have to wait until we get some time with it!

Source - Kotaku

Monotype

The dual spells sounds interesting. I'm not so sure about the progression pattern, we'll see. I don't think that the perks is a good idea. I like fallout 3, but I don't want to be be playing it when playing TES. They had a perks system in oblivion when you gained certain levels which I thought was generally a good idea but had a few weaknesses including that fortifications messed them up a bit.

namelessguy

The latest issue of Game Informer contains fresh gameplay details on Bethesda's next massive title, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, set for release this November.

Skyrm's story is set 200 years after the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and the world of Tamriel is in shambles. The empire has fallen to the elves, the Blades are gone, the Nords hate each other, and a civil war is about the break out. Oh, and that big dragon the Elder Scrolls prophesied about? Yeah, he's arrived, too. Players will take control of the last remaining Dragonborn, a dragon hunter anointed by the gods to help fend off the threat.

Bethesda's newest title features a brand-spanking new engine where every object in the game now casts a shadow as well as improved draw-distances. Textures are sharper and more detailed and the environments are livelier. There's also the addition of a HUD-less first-person view and "improved" third-person camera option.

There will be five massive cities that span Skyrim's environment, which ranges from frozen tundra to rocky mountain tops. There is also new wildlife, such as Sabre-toothed Cats and Wooly Mammoths.

The combat is getting a bit of an overhaul, too. Players will be able to equip any weapon or spell to either hand at any time and even duel wield two of the same weapon. A new customizable menu is being added to help swap load-outs easily in battle.

Bethesda has also done away with the character class system and reworked the game's leveling mechanic. Players' skills will level up the more they are used, contributing to your overall level growth. "Raising one skill from 34 to 35 is going to level you faster than raising one from 11 to 12," Bethesda designer Todd Howard told the magazine. Players can also level pass 50, but it becomes much slower after that point.

The team has also added Fallout 3's perk system, where each new level gained allows players to add special abilities to their character, including increase in damage to dagger stealth attacks or allowing your mace to ignore enemy armor.

Skyrim's NPC conversations are a lot more realistic. Aside from including even more voice actors, the AI-controlled characters will actually move about and continue on with the activities they were doing before being interrupted. Towns also include more activities to do, such farming, mining, woodcutting and cooking.

Bethesda also revamped the game's menu system. Howard said the team used Apple's iTunes as inspiration and direction. Players will be greeted with a compass-style overlay with four options: Skill, Inventory, Map, and Magic. Weapons and spells can be tagged as a 'favorite' for quick selection. Every item is a 3D object than can be viewed and examined.

Source - IGN

Vegeta

I would love if they introduced a V.A.T.S like system for using ranged weapons in the series.

I love playing with a wood elf and using a bow. Currently if your sneaking skills are not high enough using a bow is useless as most enemies rush you. This favours melee type weapons in the series.

I know most people will instantly say they are against VATS as it is not old school Elder Scrolls but I do prefer the combat in the newer Fallout games and would like the ranged weapons to be more balanced

Monotype

It would be interesting to see it but don't think I'd really want it. It would be very out of place and dilute the games a bit much. You might find something in mods if engine material can be moved over, or with gifted modders.

GodlessM

Sounds brilliant. So as long it keeps the classic TES 'look' then I can get used to mechanics, especially ones that sound as good as the ones listed. Sounds like it will actually matter which weapon is in which hand also, kind of like in Dragon Age.

BTW, screenshots:
http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/83423/elder-scrolls-skyrim-details-and-screenshots/

Sasquatch76

Skyrim Q&A Podcast over at Game Informer. It's nearly an hour long, so I haven't listened to it all yet. But I am loving the opening music!

Useful.Idiot

http://www.gameinformer.com/p/esv.aspx

An absolute truck load of information about the game AI, Engine, Combat, Dragon shouts, Language and even stuff like the History of the Elder Scrolls games!

Haven't seen this posted yet and I'm what that podcast above covers but this is alot of info.

Gunmonkey

PCGamers latest issue has a good 6 page spread on Skyrim, will post up if they release the article on their website.

Main points that intrigue me:
-max level of 50, will use perks
-progression is based on using the skill (love this kind of progression) as opposed to just dumping points each level into the skill
-levelling is done by gaining ranks in your skills, but no favoured ones like in Oblivion that define your levelling
-also, ranking a higher skill grants more towards a higher levels than a low rank skill (so if you were a fighter, you wont be mauled if you focused on your magic for a short period as you wouldnt level like crazy with the lower rank increases)
-bows have been massively buffed, making them similar to sniper rifles (high power but hard to get many shots off quickly + accurately)
-backpeddeling is FAR slower so you cant jog backwards for 5 minutes to win a tough fight
-Dynamic Questing: the game assigns a dungeon/cave/etc when you take a quest from the areas you havent ventured into, so you cant "finish" a quest before taking it as you explore the world
-assassination targets could be chosen from people who you know well, as opposed to random NPC's placed strictly for the assassination. To make you weigh up killing them versus them being useful to you.

Gotta say, the more I hear (and see, graphics are pants tightening good) the more I want. 2011, year of the RPG.

riffmongous

Gunmonkey wrote: »

PCGamers latest issue has a good 6 page spread on Skyrim, will post up if they release the article on their website.

Main points that intrigue me:
-max level of 50, will use perks
-progression is based on using the skill (love this kind of progression) as opposed to just dumping points each level into the skill
-levelling is done by gaining ranks in your skills, but no favoured ones like in Oblivion that define your levelling
-also, ranking a higher skill grants more towards a higher levels than a low rank skill (so if you were a fighter, you wont be mauled if you focused on your magic for a short period as you wouldnt level like crazy with the lower rank increases)
-bows have been massively buffed, making them similar to sniper rifles (high power but hard to get many shots off quickly + accurately)
-backpeddeling is FAR slower so you cant jog backwards for 5 minutes to win a tough fight
-Dynamic Questing: the game assigns a dungeon/cave/etc when you take a quest from the areas you havent ventured into, so you cant "finish" a quest before taking it as you explore the world
-assassination targets could be chosen from people who you know well, as opposed to random NPC's placed strictly for the assassination. To make you weigh up killing them versus them being useful to you.

Gotta say, the more I hear (and see, graphics are pants tightening good) the more I want. 2011, year of the RPG.

Damn, I had some epic fights backpedalling my way across entire mountain ranges

It looks and sounds great though

Peculiar_Man

I wouldn't recommend finding anything more about the game it just makes waiting that much harder

Orichalcum93

So how many people started screaming when they saw the trailer???

Bacon and Cabbage

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-elder-scrolls/714851#comments_top

Smartly Dressed

Bacon and Cabbage wrote: »

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-elder-scrolls/714851#comments_top

I'm euphoric right now after seeing that.

He said fighters, thieves and mages guild were the 3 main factions in Skyrim? Presumably by saying ''3 main'' he was alluding to the fact that there are smaller factions? It would be a little disappointing not to see the assassins guild in Skyrim...

Bacon and Cabbage

yeah, hopefully there will be many factions like in morrowind. The water in that dungeon scene looked incredible :eek: