The Elder Scrolls

[Vergil]

I figured it's about time we had one of these especially seeing as how uncertain the franchise's future is considering Bethesda's era of "getting away with it" is coming to a close with the response to Starfield.
I'm currently playing Oblivion (modded, of course) which I will always dearly love but really was the beginning of the end when it came to things slowly getting stripped away with this series. Unless you're a real boomerfall player in which case that trend started with Morrowind

[rusty_shackleford]

[Oyster Sauce]

Give me an Elder Scrolls game set entirely within a big realistically sized city with Radiant AI 2.0 and little/no outside world or give me death

[wndrbr]

Hated Oblivion back when it came out after seeing how they've streamlined the RPG systems, added a quest marker, threw away a lot of armor/weapon types, and ditched the really cool alien aesthetics of Morrowind in favor of a boring generic fantasy.

However, now I see that for all its faults Oblivion was actually a step forward in terms of AI, NPC routines and such. People like to meme on the game for having stupid unnatural dialogues, but there are really no other game like it. Well maybe Gothic 1-2, and Stalker's A-life, but that's about it.

It's a shame how they dumbed Radiant AI down with subsequent games.

[Vergil]

Give me an Elder Scrolls game set entirely within a big realistically sized city with Radiant AI 2.0 and little/no outside world or give me death

Has bethesda ever made a big city that wasn't "eh" at best? Vivec is fucking horrible in Morrowind and Mournhold is extremely barren and empty.

[KnightoftheWind]

Fans of Soygerfall tend to, ironically, be zoomers who want to be contrarian and go for the whole quirky "OMG Daggerfall is the REAL Elder Scrolls!" thing. I don't buy any of it, the game is crap and has aged like old milk even with mods. Borderline unplayable.

Morrowind was a big step in the right direction, but it wasn't made all that well which is a common pattern with Bethesda games, and so didn't really get to shine as well as it could have. The combat is very sloppy and the polish is lacking. Improved with mods of course, but talking strictly Vanilla it's adove average at best, but it can't be compared to it's contemperaries like Gothic which really surprised me a while back. Oblivion is my personal favorite, it's the coziest and the most fun, but it's combat is probably the worst. Very unsatisfying. People tend to prioritize Magic because to focus on Melee means to focus on a very broken and unsatisfying combat system. Characters feel like sponges, to say the least, and fighting gets tedious. But the quests are memorable and the cinematic-style of storytelling made it stick with you more.

Skyrim is the most refined from a combat perspective, but lost any trace of the old RPG mechanics which some people really dislike, but it survives because it still has the Elder Scrolls magic of big open world with eyecatching scenery, and a stellar soundtrack courtesy of Jeremy Soule. But it's perhaps aged the worst, because unlike Oblivion the quests themselves leave a lot to be desired. It needs to be modded in order to be properly enjoyed, but at that point you might as well be praising the Creation Engine itself over Skyrim as a game.

Where do I think the series is headed now?, I'm about 70% sure the next game will be set in Hammerfell and features all sorts of black KANGZ. The cities and towns will be depicted as spotless and organized, and the main villains will likely be some flavor of Imperial, Nord and/or High Elf. Who are attempting to encroach on Wakanda and steal it's resources. And you, as a carbon copy of Marvel's Black Panther, will probably hail from some kind of royal background and will fight to reclaim your throne and shape the provnce in your own image. Do you side with the wypipo? (cringe), or do you become an Afrofuturist and kick them out? (ESG approved). If it's not set in Hammerfell, which will be shocking to me, it'll likely be in the Summerset Isles where they may attempt to piggyback off the storyline established in Skyrim. It won't mention the outcome of the Civil War plotline or anything, but the Thalmor will take centre stage nonetheless.

[rusty_shackleford]

morrowind is the rpg for people who hate rpgs, it's all style over substance

I will commend it for at least trying to break free from the tyranny of the dialogue tree however

[Vergil]

Fans of Soygerfall tend to, ironically, be zoomers who want to be contrarian and go for the whole quirky "OMG Daggerfall is the REAL Elder Scrolls!" thing. I don't buy any of it, the game is crap and has aged like old milk even with mods. Borderline unplayable.

I actually heavily enjoyed Daggerfall (Unity) when I played it. It's definitely the next contrarian go to though now that Morrowind has been unfunny zoom zoom and tranny infested.

Where do I think the series is headed now?

I'm absolutely dreading a Hammerfell setting. Before Starfield I was doubtful there would be much ESG nonsense since that's never really been Bethesda's thing but with 76, Starfield and being owned by Microsoft I'm sure there will be plenty of gay black tranny kanging. The plot will likely revolve around you being the Dovahkiin HoonDing and you collect Dragon shouts "sword songs" for some gay world destroying threat with a Skyrim civil war tier questline between the reguards and the Imperials/Altmer in the background.

[KnightoftheWind]

Fans of Soygerfall tend to, ironically, be zoomers who want to be contrarian and go for the whole quirky "OMG Daggerfall is the REAL Elder Scrolls!" thing. I don't buy any of it, the game is crap and has aged like old milk even with mods. Borderline unplayable.

I actually heavily enjoyed Daggerfall (Unity) when I played it. It's definitely the next contrarian go to though now that Morrowind has been unfunny zoom zoom and tranny infested.

Where do I think the series is headed now?

I'm absolutely dreading a Hammerfell setting. Before Starfield I was doubtful there would be much ESG nonsense since that's never really been Bethesda's thing but with 76, Starfield and being owned by Microsoft I'm sure there will be plenty of gay black tranny kanging. The plot will likely revolve around you being the Dovahkiin HoonDing and you collect Dragon shouts "sword songs" for some gay world destroying threat with a Skyrim civil war tier questline between the reguards and the Imperials/Altmer in the background.

There is something to be said about the impression you get from an overarching, online "community" altering your perception of a work. I still appreciate Morrowind and Oblivion because they still aren't mainstream games, you won't find your average redditor really mentioning them all that much, unlike Skyrim. But if anyone is expecting TES VI to be a return to form for the series, or to move the pendulum back to at least the Oblivion stage, they're dreaming. This franchise is now mass market, it's owned by a major corporation, and they will sand every edge they find down to a smooth, marble sheen. You can still expect quest markers and fast travel, you can still expect the Howard/Pagliarulo school of quest writing to be centre stage, the whole nine yards. The time for innovation and creativity has long passed for Bethesda, it's over and is never coming back.

The reason people like Elder Scrolls today is not the same reason it was circa 2002-2006 or before, people like it for the impression of an epic adventure Skyrim gave them and the sheer amount of customizability. I have no doubt Bethesda and Microsoft are fully aware of this. So they will cater to that by doubling down on the Creation Club, and ensuring the game is as accessible as ever. That will be the driving force behind the game.

[maidenhaver]

So many post 2010 opinions in this thread, I will have to make a new thread to cleanse my palette.

[Oyster Sauce]

Fans of Soygerfall tend to, ironically, be zoomers who want to be contrarian and go for the whole quirky "OMG Daggerfall is the REAL Elder Scrolls!" thing. I don't buy any of it, the game is crap and has aged like old milk even with mods. Borderline unplayable.

I actually heavily enjoyed Daggerfall (Unity) when I played it. It's definitely the next contrarian go to though now that Morrowind has been unfunny zoom zoom and tranny infested.

Where do I think the series is headed now?

I'm absolutely dreading a Hammerfell setting. Before Starfield I was doubtful there would be much ESG nonsense since that's never really been Bethesda's thing but with 76, Starfield and being owned by Microsoft I'm sure there will be plenty of gay black tranny kanging. The plot will likely revolve around you being the Dovahkiin HoonDing and you collect Dragon shouts "sword songs" for some gay world destroying threat with a Skyrim civil war tier questline between the reguards and the Imperials/Altmer in the background.

I'm fucking psyched for Hammerfell. Going to play a Redguard with 50% of his skin afflicted by vitiligo. Depending on the choices my character makes, I'm going to use the console to tilt the slider one way or the other.

[Vergil]

Fans of Soygerfall tend to, ironically, be zoomers who want to be contrarian and go for the whole quirky "OMG Daggerfall is the REAL Elder Scrolls!" thing. I don't buy any of it, the game is crap and has aged like old milk even with mods. Borderline unplayable.

I actually heavily enjoyed Daggerfall (Unity) when I played it. It's definitely the next contrarian go to though now that Morrowind has been unfunny zoom zoom and tranny infested.

Where do I think the series is headed now?

I'm absolutely dreading a Hammerfell setting. Before Starfield I was doubtful there would be much ESG nonsense since that's never really been Bethesda's thing but with 76, Starfield and being owned by Microsoft I'm sure there will be plenty of gay black tranny kanging. The plot will likely revolve around you being the Dovahkiin HoonDing and you collect Dragon shouts "sword songs" for some gay world destroying threat with a Skyrim civil war tier questline between the reguards and the Imperials/Altmer in the background.

I'm fucking psyched for Hammerfell. Going to play a Redguard with 50% of his skin afflicted by vitiligo. Depending on the choices my character makes, I'm going to use the console to tilt the slider one way or the other.

If you side with the Imperials your skin slowly gets lighter and lighter until your blackness is finally stripped from you entirely Joe biden style.

[maidenhaver]

I can't take any opinion about this series seriously but mine, because apart from the men who were there, I doubt anybody knows it as well as I do. Its dead.

[rusty_shackleford]

my favorite part of morrowind & oblivion was that niggers & snowniggers had the lowest intelligence and bretons had the highest intelligence

[Vergil]

my favorite part of morrowind & oblivion was that niggers & snowniggers had the lowest intelligence and bretons had the highest intelligence

Just accurately reflecting reality.

[maidenhaver]

Gortwog was a descendant of Tiber Septim. Nobody can tell me otherwise.

[Vergil]

morrowind is the rpg for people who hate rpgs, it's all style over substance

Do you have a real reason for this opinion or is it just because it's not an ugly isometric crpg?

Gortwog was a descendant of Tiber Septim. Nobody can tell me otherwise.

According to modern Kirkbride Tiber Septim was an orc one time so fuck it we ball I guess. Actually Kirkbride is an overrated hack and Tiber was a breton

[rusty_shackleford]

Do you have a real reason for this opinion or is it just because it's not an ugly isometric crpg?

Because if you stripped it of its setting it would have near zero appeal to anyone. None of its mechanics are particularly interesting, nor are any of the quests particularly well designed.

[maidenhaver]

Its true, I hate rpgs. Its taken me some trial and error, but I realize I hate rpgs. They don't make me happy.

[rusty_shackleford]

people who like morrowind just want game: the book

[Acrux]

Actually Kirkbride is an overrated hack

Yes

[Vergil]

Do you have a real reason for this opinion or is it just because it's not an ugly isometric crpg?

Because if you stripped it of its setting it would have near zero appeal to anyone. None of its mechanics are particularly interesting, nor are any of the quests particularly well designed.

Rusty's ideal RPG

[maidenhaver]

Actually Kirkbride is an overrated hack

Yes

:rolleyes:

[rusty_shackleford]

Do you have a real reason for this opinion or is it just because it's not an ugly isometric crpg?

Because if you stripped it of its setting it would have near zero appeal to anyone. None of its mechanics are particularly interesting, nor are any of the quests particularly well designed.

Rusty's ideal RPG

Ideal non-RPG of people who like morrowind:

[Vergil]

Ah yes a game that doesn't look, sound, play, or resemble Morrowind in any way besides having a plot that you can read.

[KnightoftheWind]

You can say that about most RPGs, they really are just subpar novels stretched out to a 50+ hour "game" (especially the Japanese variety). It's why I consider the pivot to Action-oriented RPGs to be a positive thing, because it actually makes these games fun and engaging in an active way. Only people with patience can play a game like Morrowind, Oblivion and especially Soygerfall (God help them), and there are much better games to play if you just want to 'get to the point'. Bethesda games have always been as deep as a puddle, but as wide as an ocean, even the ones before Skyrim. People call Skyrim shallow, but they must not have paid any attention to what came before. Skyrim is very much in that same mold.

Even in Daggerfall, despite it's supposed cornocopia of features, what do you actually do 95% of the time?. Just wander around towns and talking to NPCs who tell you to piss off, and attempt to navigate towards the nearest guild to do some menial quest, rinse and repeat. These aren't so much games as they are experiences, and they aren't for everyone. But one thing Skyrim did well was attempt to add in some real density to the game, something to do and see around every corner. The only problem was the content that was there just didn't have a lot of meat on it. Even an industy vetean/professional sodomite Tim Cain liked Skyrim, for what that's worth.

[rusty_shackleford]

Ah yes a game that doesn't look, sound, play, or resemble Morrowind in any way besides having a plot that you can read.

https://gamerant.com/dialogue-heavy-rpg ... o-elysium/

16 Dialogue-Heavy RPGs To Play If You Liked Disco Elysium

1
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind

[Vergil]

Ah yes a game that doesn't look, sound, play, or resemble Morrowind in any way besides having a plot that you can read.

https://gamerant.com/dialogue-heavy-rpg ... o-elysium/

16 Dialogue-Heavy RPGs To Play If You Liked Disco Elysium

1
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind

I'll be sure to filter all of my RPG opinions from this random journo on gamesrant.com from now on

[maidenhaver]

Look, Morrowind was supposed to be the happy medium between Daggerfall and Redguard. It turned into a formula, but that formula got less interesting the further removed from disaster BGS grew, and the more talent they bled. To the point modding kept the series alive, because the devs were clueless, and now they aren't just clueless: the devs are actively deconstructing their own employer. BGS are dead. TES is dead. TR is dead. Its all in the past.

[rusty_shackleford]

Ah yes a game that doesn't look, sound, play, or resemble Morrowind in any way besides having a plot that you can read.

https://gamerant.com/dialogue-heavy-rpg ... o-elysium/

16 Dialogue-Heavy RPGs To Play If You Liked Disco Elysium

1
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind

I'll be sure to filter all of my RPG opinions from this random journo on gamesrant.com from now on

Not my fault it's true, both are non-games for people who want to pretend to like games to seem cool on xitter.