Oblivion Remastered added origins which allowed us to pick the region in the province we came from, this seems like an odd feature to add when other added features were to modernise the gameplay experience such as adding sprint and level rebalancing.
Fans have requested the feature for many years so they can play some of the different varieties of Khajiit fur stocks or types of Argonians.
Bethesda and more importantly Microsoft will want this game to have a broad appeal to be more successful, when data has been released by other RPG's like BG3, Human has been shown to be the most picked race followed by half elf and elf, this is because many players like to make a character that looks like them however this doesn't for work TES as the 4 playable human races only represent some real racial groups, Nord=Northern Europe, Breton=Western Europe, Imperial=Mediterranean, Redguard=Sub Saharan African and the Elven races look fairly alien. While there are other human groups that could be added like the akaviri this require large lore changes.
With the previous points in mind I think it's likely Bethesda could add several subraces which would require minimal lore changes to allow more players to create a character that looks like them. I imagine this would look something like Redguard getting an option to make more Middle Eastern looking character as they already borrow from several middle eastern cultures aesthetically, East Asian looking characters could be Rimmen a subgrouping of Imperial who are already stated to have akaviri ancestry in the lore.
I wrote an article on what I wish TES games went for when it comes to world architecture. I would really appreciate your constructive feedback:
I don’t like that every TES mainline games since TESIII:Morrowind has downscaled worldspaces. Let’s be clear, I know there were technical limitations. Also, I am not saying that I like TESII:Daggerfall world architecture (heavily relying on procedural generation, repetitive cities and structures, no incentive to travel, lack of dephthness...etc), but there has to be a middle-ground where Bethesda should be able to provide both depth and scale. As such, this article is my attempt at making this a reality for future TES games, starting with TESVI.
In TESV:Skyrim, you have what I call the “primary” worldspaces (the exterior open worlds of Skyrim, Soltstheim, Forgotten Vale, Soul Cairn) and the “secondary” worldspaces (cities). In both worldspaces, you also have the interior cells (caves, mines, larger camps, forts, tombs, houses, traders, longhouses, palaces...etc).
I will first start with the “secondary” worldspaces, namely cities. I am suggesting to make cities realistically scaled, and to make this possible, I am also suggesting that cities should be divided into multiple sections. Since the last mainline TES game was TESV:Skyrim and the most rememberable city is Whiterun, let’s figure out how big Whiterun would be if it was realistically scaled. There are multiple theories out there regarding the size of TES cities. One seems more convincing than all the others: https://youtu.be/DrnMACWp18M?si=_gojs6I2bIh13ufP
According to the author of the video, the city of Whiterun is about 1 km2 (0.4 sq mi), that’s ten times bigger than Whiterun in TESV:Skyrim, and has a population of 7,000-10,000. If you want to know how 1 km2 feels like in a game, well that’s like double the size of the city of Kuttenberg in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. In case you never played this game, the following article that I wrote will allow you to visualise how a 1 km2 city looks like in-game as long as you double its size: https://www.reddit.com/r/kingdomcome/s/PO1W5hHuKz
As you probably know, some cities in TES, like Imperial City, are huge. I will address the issue of huge cities a bit later. Don’t worry, I have a solution.
If you don’t like the idea of realistically scaled cities because you are afraid that it will turn the game into a walking simulator, then realise that most medieval cities were usually quite small (less than 1 km2). Not only that, horse riding in cities will most certainly be a feature in TESVI. If that’s still not enough to convince you, then look, besides fast travelling, I have another solution, but I will discuss it at the end of the article. I promise you, you will like it.
Now, because I am rooting for realistically scaled cities, it would be impossible to handcraft all the sections of a city. Therefore, I am suggesting that BGS handcrafts the important sections of cities (so those where there are traders, houses of unique NPCs, factions’ building, palaces...etc, basically, do exactly what they did in TESV:Skyrim), and rely on procedural generation for the sections where it mostly consists of the houses of generic NPCs. To give you an idea of what such a city would look like, here is a heavily edited screenshot of a map of Whiterun with all the important landmarks:
Now imagine that the area inside the red line (so the actual city of Whiterun in TESV:Skyrim) is divided in two sections. The top part with all the houses, the hall of the dead, the shrine, the Guild Hall, and the palace (Dragonsreach). The bottom part with all the traders and a couple of houses. The area inside the red line should be upscaled, meaning, they should make it a bit bigger and add more houses for unique NPCs (or they could be generic?) in order to make it realistically scaled. Like I said earlier, important sections of cities should be handmade. These two sections are important sections. Now, imagine you add around these two sections one or multiple procedurally generated sections. That’s what I drew outside the area inside the red line. In this/these section(s), not only will there be the houses of generic NPCs (guards and random citizens), there should also be generic traders, a market, religious building with religious NPCs inside, a cemetery…etc. With proc-gen, these locations don’t even have to be hand placed.
I said earlier that I will address the issue of huge cities. Well, now that you understand the difference between handcrafted and procedurally generated sections of secondary worldspaces, then you can imagine that with procedural generation, size isn’t an issue anymore.
In TESV:Skyrim, all interior cells (including those in cities) are 3D empty shells, hence why many of them don’t have windows (e.g. some taverns) and if they do, you can’t actually see the inside from the outside (see image above) nor the outside from the inside. What do I mean by 3D empty shells? Well, imagine you were just in front of the door of the building that you see on the in-game screenshot above and imagine that you pressed E to enter. After the loading screen, you don’t actually teleport inside that building, you teleport to an isolated interior cell somewhere in the world. Basically, it is an illusion that makes you think you entered the building when in fact you didn’t. In other words, it is fake, just like the lit windows. Therefore, I am suggesting that buildings that belong to unique NPCs or factions (houses, taverns, smith, alchemist, palaces…etc) are accessible without having to go through a loading screen. In other words, they won’t be 3D empty shells anymore. How is this possible? Well, cities were divided into multiple sections, allowing BGS to make them part of the secondary worldspace they’re in and therefore, get rid of these loading screens.
Similar to TESV:Skyrim, some NPCs will be unique and therefore will have a deep schedule (like Jarl Balgruuf The Greater in TESV:Skyrim), while others will be generic and have a simple schedule (like guards). However, here is the twist: I think TESVI should still have buildings that are 3D empty shells. Why? Because in TESV:Skyrim, generic NPCs like guards don’t have a house. Giving them a house (the procedurally generated ones I mentioned earlier in the procedurally generated sections) would make the game more immersive. It would be very simple to make their schedule slightly deeper by having them head “home” after their shift. Basically, you would see them opening the door though inside it’s just black, and just after that, poof, they despawn because they “entered their house”. Now here is the thing, I am divided between either keeping these houses inaccessible for performance reasons and for keeping the loading screen count low, but of course this is not a fan favourite since every buildings in TESV:Skyrim are accessible (contrary to Fallout 4, which came after TESV:Skyrim, and yet no one seem to complain about that), OR making them accessible but players will have to go through a loading screen. If BGS goes for the later, then I suggest BGS to also rely on procedural generation for the interior of these houses as it would be impossible to handcraft all of them. Basically, the game would generate the placement of the clutter as well as the NPCs.
Now when it comes to primary worldspaces, I am also suggesting that primary worldspaces, which I will call provinces, should be realistically scaled, and to make this possible, I am also suggesting that each province should be divided into multiple sections. Again, there are different theories out there regarding the real size of Skyrim. I picked the one that seemed the most accurate. According to the following theory, Skyrim is about 1,000,000 km2 (386102.16 sq mi): https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/s/kDq14fSA5R
That’s almost 27,027 times the size of Skyrim in TESV:Skyrim (37 km2, or 14.3 sq mi) and its almost 6.2 times the size of TESII:Daggerfall (161,600 km2, or62,394sq mi). According to the same Reddit post, Hammerfell is the same size as Skyrim. Since TESVI is most likely to take place in Hammerfell, I suggest that BGS makes Hammerfell 1,000,000 km2. In case you think that’s impossible or too big to your liking, know that Starfield has 1437 walkable planets and moons, and with the average size being 325,000km2, we get a total surface area of 467,025,000 km2 (8.8% smaller than our planet Earth), and that’s without counting space.
Because of the realistic scale I am rooting for, it would be impossible to handcraft all the sections of a province. Therefore, I am suggesting that BGS handcrafts certain sections, and rely on procedural generation for other sections. Sections with important locations, mainly those with unique NPCs (same logic as for cities, and that’s because unique NPCs are related to the handcrafted main and side quest), should be handcrafted and relatively small (less than 1 km2), while “filler” sections, so those sections for those who like travelling and survival mode, should be procedurally generated and large(r) (at least 5 km2).
Similar to TESV:Skyrim, there will be improvised camps, outposts and villages in sections of primary worldspaces. However, contrary to TESV:Skyrim, instead of caves, mines, larger camps, forts or tombs being interior cells and you only see the entrance from the outside, they will be part of the primary worldspace they’re in and therefore, be accessible without having to go through a loading screen. How is this possible? Well, the primary worldspaces were divided into multiple sections, allowing BGS to make them part of the primary worldspace they’re in and therefore, get rid of these loading screens. Of course, the bigger and more complex the primary worldspaces will be, the harder it would be to do that, but PCs and consoles are more powerful than they were in 2011, Creation Engine 2 proved to be capable of making large worldspaces (tiles are believed to be 57 to 64 km2), and BGS will use Creation Engine 3, which according to Todd Howard, is more efficient at processing data.
Similar to TESV:Skyrim, primary worldspaces will have the usual generic NPCs (generic meaning nameless) that spawn at the different POIs (improvised camps, outposts, villages, caves, mines, houses, larger camps, tombs…etc) or that roam the world, though of course, some will be unique.
Like I said, I have a solution for those who fear that all these suggestions will turn the game into a walking simulator, here is my suggestion: BGS should give the players the possibility to deactivate procedurally generated secondary and/or primary worldspaces. Since among those who don’t like realistically scaled worldspaces, there are people that like survival mode, this setting shouldn’t be something that activates when you activate survival mode. Make these two separate things.
You might wonder why large scale is so important to me, and the answer is simple: I don't want a game to spend dozens or hundreds of hours doing multiple playthroughs, I want a game to spend thousands of hours with one single character. I want to go deep in the wild to hunt and fish, and even lose myself. I want to explore dozens if not hundreds of settlements. Basically, I want the ultimate fantasy simulation.
I think it would be cool to be able to do this, up until we join them. And if we are able to become the leader of the faction, I think it would be awesome if we could send other assassins out on missions.
I've been thinking about this recently, and thought it would be interesting to discuss.
Personally I'd love to see it back in a different way.
I'm thinking something like, say you reach 60 Destruction, you could now fine-tune your spells for specialization, for example:
Changing from sustained spells (Flames from Skyrim for example) to the regular casting of one at a time, their DOT, AOE, range, projectile size.
Examples:
You could make a held barrage of little fireballs that deal more damage than an equal-cost single one would if they all hit, which would combo well with a Slow spell.
A charged jet of flame that would be cheaper in exchange of a stronger DOT, or a sustained Sparks that is too small to hit multiple targets in front of you but will deal a lot of damage in a single line (maybe even sacrificing health damage to deal even more magicka damage?)
You could make a long range elemental bolt or a ball that explodes soon but uses that spare magicka to deal more damage.
Imagine specifically enchanting a set of clothing with fire resistance until you reach >80% and you just cast powerful but melee-range explosions, or sacrificing the AOE in exchange of damage and silent casting.
Instead of these all being separate spells, you would only need to know the base spells of an element to twist them however you want.
Of course, it’s a lot easier to theorycraft for Destruction, but there could be options such as for example adding a trade-off condition that makes your spell cheaper, but you can only cast it in/out of combat, or choosing between investing magicka cost into quiet casting or needing to sneak for non-combat Illusion spells (I doubt people enjoy having their minds tampered with, it should be a crime to cast spells on someone else, even if non-aggressive).
It would also be cool if you had to research these settings at the game's equivalent of the Mages Guild and that costed you gold like how crafting whole spells in Morrowind and Oblivion did, but once you learned how to change a part of the spell, you could do it at a whim from the inventory menu (maybe at a cost of magicka and only in a peaceful enviroment).
Of course the regular bought spells would still have a purpose while leveling, as they would be your only choice before you unlock spellcrafting, and I'd imagine they would be cheaper until you reach 100 in the respective skill, then the custom ones would be equal/cheaper.
Any other ideas? Or a whole different perspective on the matter?
Given that they had at least a couple male / female / an androgynous voice per race (or at least different voices for human / beasts / elves), would you want the main character of TES VI to have voiced dialogue— kinda like how they approached it in fallout 4?
Birthsigns have been a unique feature of The Elder Scrolls, since Morrowind, and even manifested in the form of the constellations in Daggerfall’s class selection screen. In Morrowind and Oblivion, your birth sign was a character creation selection and was a permanent effect for your character’s entire playthrough. In Skyrim, Bethesda introduced the Standing Stones, which allowed players to have their birthsigns represented as a findable and swappable persistent magical effect. The effects of each constellation have more or less remained consistent across the entries in the series, regardless of the medium being standing stone or character creation. The reason I bring up the discussion is mostly to ask: How do you think birthsigns will manifest in TES6?
Will Bethesda revert to a character creation option? It would arguably be more immersive/lore-friendly as the birthsigns are associated with… your birthday, which should remain the same. Will Bethesda repeat the standing stones by a different name? Will the granted powers deviate from their historical norms? What do you guys think?
Personally, I really loved the ability to change your standing stone ability throughout a playthrough. To me, it served as a means to adapt your playstyle and represent a change in character as you leveled up. I do, however, really hope that if they keep swappable birth sign abilities that they do away with the thief, mage, and warrior style of abilities that exist to be replaced. They're very useful, but oh, so boring. Should they choose to go back to permanent birth signs, I also hope that those powers are strong and also carry with them a downside of some kind, like the attronach stone.
Curious as to what everyone would prefer for The elder scrolls VI protagonist, a Dragonborn style chosen one who was always destined for greatness, your coming foretold in songs and everyone who knows watches and waits for you to save them from peril, or a regular person who via luck/perseverance/skill becomes the hero(villain?), none knows you or cares about you yet, but as your story grows, so does your renown, this also doesn't mean that your character doesn't possess or gain some kind of unique power of legend, but that it was by your own actions and choices that you came to have it
I'm talking tiny ideas for mechanics that will get so little use they're not realistically worth the devs actually implementing, but you'd find cool all the same?
for me, I just had the idea if for Argonian characters, you had the option to input two names. One could be your Tamrielic name, the other would be your name in Jel. speaking with human characters could have you use your Tamrielic name, and when talking with other Argonians they use your Jel name. never gonna happen unless some modder who's equally autistic as me decided to make it happen, but would be really cool. additional points if they hire a conlinguist to come up with a bunch of Jel words and their translations to input into a generator, so inputting your Tamrielic name generates a recommended Jel translation for it.
