36 replies to this topic

[quinlan]

This does it! I have an issue an issue with how this game - Elder Scrolls series in general - depicts several things, dragons being only one of my issues!

Anyway, it is not a matter of this thread so i will not go on about my personal issues!

Eleima, reading through you link, i am more convinced that the next game shouldn't be about Tamriel, but Akavir! Think about it! Vampire humanoids that performed genocide against humans and dragons? Some kind of tiger humanoids whose leader managed to become an immortal dragon???

[quinlan]

Granted they're a part of Tamriel history, but I wouldn't go as far to say they're "an elemental force". They got overrun by cliff racers on Vvardenfell, for crying out loud! They hadn't been seen since the Merethic Era. Besides, they're weren't technically extinct, they had been mostly killed and driven off, and some were still living in Tamriel, hidden from sight (Parthurnaax is one).

The origin of dragons is unknown. The College of Whispers has questioned dremora, who claim dragons just were, and are: eternal, immortal, unchanging, and unyielding.

It is a quote from elderscrolls wiki.

[Eleima]

I'm not sure I understand what you take issue with. It's Bethesda's world, and they'll craft it the way they see it, and I have to admit I kinda enjoy the deviation from the more classic fantasy setting (which I also enjoy, it's just nice to have some variety). As for the dremora... I'd take anything they say with a grain of salt. It's more hearsay and no fact. If you go down that road, it's also been said that dragons can shapeshift. We just don't know. That's part of it, I guess, dragons had always been mysterious, shrouded in enigma up til now.
But to get back on track, I think it'd be a mistake to go in that direction and focus on dragons, it'd be a disappointing direction for the franchise to take. The Elder Scrolls isn't about dragons. It's about... the Elder Scrolls!! And that's the one thing that links every game. And as Todd Howard often says, the main character of the game isn't the Player Character. Nope, it's the setting, it's the land you tread, the rivers you cross, the hills you climb, the mountains you scale.
So by all means, we can go to Akavir if it means discovering a new country and its culture. Or stay in Tamriel, and journey to the warm sands of Elsweyr, the Black Marsh, or the forests of Valenwood. But hopefully, they won't make it about dragons.

(Of course, I'm no dev', and Bethesda will do as they please, I trust them enough to deliver another great installement five, six years from now.)

[quinlan]

I don't want them to make it about dragons and it is interesting exactly because the focus isn't solely on the player. I agree with you on these things. I took issue with your disagreement on my assertion that dragons are more than another race, PC or NPC. So, when i found that wiki page i was mighty glad!
And while i am in love with the idea of dragons, I, too, wouldn't like an Elder scroll based on them. After all, i am playing Skyrim now, and it is exactly that, so there is no need for repetition!

As for the dremora, i - unfortunately - have to agree with you. I mean, if i judge from the intelligence of a Synod mage i met in Skyrim, those two new guilds are probably even less intelligent that the kid in the book that tried to bind a daedra and got killed in the end!

Edited by quinlan, 14 April 2012 - 12:34 AM.

[Eleima]

I never said dragons were special, I said they were a species, in their own right, same as any other, and discount the claim that they were "an elemental force".
I thought of another reason why Akavir wouldn't do: it's huge, an entire continent. I couldn't find any information on its exact size, particularly relative to Tamriel, but it's four distinct regions. It's purely practical, look at the time it took to develop and loving craft Skyrim, each rock, each bluff, each cow. That was just a province, imagine the time it would take to depict an entire continent. EIther a lot would get "lost in translation", as it is, or it'd take forever.
And yeah, daedra are cunning and dangerous. Any novice mage should know that!

Edited by Eleima, 14 April 2012 - 07:22 PM.

[quinlan]

Hadn't thought of that. Indeed, a new continent needs A LOT more of developing than Tamriel.

Thanks for the podcast. What they talked about is exactly why i like Skyrim. Skyrim is the 1st 3d game i have tried. I have a problem with 3d graphics; they look fake and i cannot let it go and play the game. That's the reason i stayed with BG, IWD, Torment series up to 2012. They are games that more or less have reached the maximum of their potential. Skyrim is the 1st 3d game i have encountered that realism is expressed with graphics good enough. Not perfect by a long shot for me, mind you, but good enough to make me interested to play the game.

[Vicen]

I have to say while Akavir would certainly be an interesting place to go I think they should let us visit most (if not all) of Tamriel before going to other places in the world. Personally...I hope the next game is in Valenwood...However Elsweyr and the Black Marsh are decent places for the next game as well. And like I have stated before, Summerset Isles would be a perfect expansion for Skyrim...

[Eleima]

Hadn't thought of that. Indeed, a new continent needs A LOT more of developing than Tamriel.

Actually, Tamriel would need a lot of development time as well, since it's all of the provinces of the Empire (Valenwood + Skyrim + Cyrodiil + High Rock + Black Marsh + Morrowind + Elsweyr + Hammerfell + Summerset Isle).

Thanks for the podcast. What they talked about is exactly why i like Skyrim. Skyrim is the 1st 3d game i have tried.

If you liked that one, you should definitely listen to the other Skyrim Developer Diaries that were released in October and November 2011, just prior to the game's release. The one on Mark Lampert and how he uses different, mundane sounds is absolutely astonishing.

I have a problem with 3d graphics; they look fake and i cannot let it go and play the game. That's the reason i stayed with BG, IWD, Torment series up to 2012. They are games that more or less have reached the maximum of their potential. Skyrim is the 1st 3d game i have encountered that realism is expressed with graphics good enough. Not perfect by a long shot for me, mind you, but good enough to make me interested to play the game.

Oh my gosh, sacrilege! Definitely give Jade Empire and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic a try. They have great stories, and the graphics aren't that bad. The story and character development will make you forget the 3D graphics.


Aaaand, after that little tangent, back on topic!!

And like I have stated before, Summerset Isles would be a perfect expansion for Skyrim...

I know!!! You're the one who instilled that hope in me, and I'm afraid I'll be terribly disappointed when they release Horse DLC! I'm kidding, apparently, they've been saying that the DLC they'll release will be the size of "Shivering Isles", something rather substantial (I loved Shivering Isles, that opening scene with the room dissolving into butterflies is absolutely ingrained in my memory).

[Isilven]

I don't really care where we go now, to be honest. I was pretty surprised when they announced "Hey, Skyrim is where we're setting the next game", because I was like "oh great, stereotypical viking crap, whoop de doo". Then I saw the E3 gameplay trailer that had "Song of the Dragonborn" playing over it and I about peed myself. I seriously ran outside and told my mom "YOU ASKED ME WHAT I WANTED FOR MY BIRTHDAY THIS YEAR. SKYRIM." Then my brother and I ran around with the song blaring on repeat over our speakers roaring "SKYRIM" like we were super cool. And yes, I am a 24 year old mother of two.

BUT I DIGRESS.

I'd love to go pretty much anywhere, just to explore it as it is in the present Era. I mean, I know that Elder Scrolls Online is going to be dealing with ALL of Tamriel, but it's Tamriel as it stood a kajillion years ago: Elsweyr JUST became its own country, for example. Black Marsh, I think, would be cool, because there's literally a race of ape-people that live in the woods and try desperately to emulate how cool Argonians are as a cultural thing.

What I really want to do is explore Akavir, but only well after I have gotten to run all over every country in Tamriel in the present era. And yes, I would utterly love to revisit High Rock and Hammerfell (what we got to see of it and not just the Illiac Bay) with the current engine and graphics.

Think about it, guys. You get too late to a city and the city gates are closed. So you turn around and start walking. Instead of walking into a never-ending wasteland full of spriggans and pixilated sprites of trees and what are either piles of rocks or poop... you walk into actual plains, actual forests, actual deserts. You can walk around the deck of your ship as you sail from Daggerfall to Wayrest, from Wayrest to Sentinel. Casting protection spells to protect you from the heat of traversing the A'likr Desert. I'm drooling, are you drooling?

[Eleima]

Yeah, this thread does seem to raise a moot point now that we know that TESO is going to allow you to travel the length of Tamriel. In fact, that actually makes the possibility of exploring Akavir in TES6 even more likely, in my mind.
But yeah, the potential is mind boggling, at least to me. We won't have to choose... The forests of Valenwood, the desert of Hammerfell, the Adamantine Tower in High Rock, colorful Morrowind (did you see the screenshot with the Ordinator?? Sqeeeee!!!!)...
One thing I'm curious about is how they're going to deal with the Knahaten flu. Are they going to set the stage before the outbreak, or close of fthe border to the Black Marsh to all but Argonians?... And yeah, meeting the Kothringi would be incredible!!!

But yeah, Akavir is looking increasingly likely as a setting for TES6 as a result of TESO's announcement.

And yes, I'm drooling.

Edited by Eleima, 07 May 2012 - 09:48 PM.

[Isilven]

I don't believe other beast races were affected by the Flu, so presumably Khajiit can get in? I also don't know if it affects Mer like it does Men... so it could be that the borders are just closed to the Redguards, Nords, Imperials, and Bretons.

If I get to straight-up play as a snake dude or tiger dude in TES6 and get to run around Akavir being some kick-butt samurai, I would be SO JAZZED.

Or... I know they covered it in the books, but that floating city that's actually a chunk of Mehrunes Dagon's Oblivion plane. THAT would be cool to have as an explorable city. I haven't read the books but, being the ES nerd that I am, I read up on it in the Wiki and it's pretty awesome-sounding. It'd be like a cross between Shivering Isles and the Oblivion Plane sections of "Oblivion".

Also, Eleima, we're going to find each other on TESO and go on a MIGHTY ADVENTURE to the Iliac Bay right? I wish mods were permissable in MMOs, I'd totally do a "Daggerfall" mod for TESO...

[Eleima]

Yeah, Akavir certainly makes a tempting candidate now that TESO has been announced. Or maybe it'll just be one of the four regions. If I had to choose, I'd pick Ka Po' Tun. Seriously, it's ruled by Tosh Raka, a tiger dragon. Yes, you read that right, a tiger dragon. Yeah, I'd be super excited too. Wait and see, though, I'm willing to bet TES6 is still at least 4 years away.

@Isilven; regarding the books... I read the first one, the Infernal City, and it was *awful*, the writing was just... yuck. It did have a certain appeal, with part of the story happening in Black Marsh. The city itself was interesting. Part of my dislike might have also stemmed from the fact that I was still in denial that a warlord had become emperor, and that Vvardenfell had been obliterated.
Regarding the Knahaten Flu, the wiki says it "completely destroyed the non-Argonian population of Black Marsh", so I'm sure any other race would be spared, but then it adds that "the most affected was the human population"... I don't know, maybe we're reading too much into it.
And yes, time zones and little monkeys willing, we'll find each other on TESO, definitely!! My goto character is always a Breton, so with luck, I'll start upin Daggerfall, Wayrest or Northpoint.

Edited by Eleima, 07 May 2012 - 09:51 PM.

[Isilven]

Ahaha, I would have chosen Ka Po' Tun too! I <3 you, Eleima.

And yes, little monkeys willing, we're going to Breton up and Daggerfall everywhere.

Okay, so for the Flu, we can insinuate that while it did kill off like, every non-Argonian, it REALLY hit the Men hard, so I'm assuming that all the Breton, Nord, Redguard, and Imperial ex-pats in Black Marsh were obliterated.

[Choo Choo]

Hey Eleima, Isilven - mind taking in a stray Wood Elf with you on your journey of Breton-ness?

[Isilven]

Choo Choo, we're going to party like it's SECOND ERA, THE YEAR OF AKATOSH FOUR THIRTY THREE. THESE ARE THE FINAL DAYS OF THE-

sorry there guys, I just got all Patrick Stewart on the thread.

[Eleima]

Of course, Choo Choo! Not sure how the factions will work out, though,if they'll allow cross factions alliances. Should get interesting. I'm also willing to roll an Altmer or Khajiit, anyway!
Isilven, someone's had too much coffee! Also, looks like we'll be dumped mid-era, and not in the final days.

[Isilven]

I'm interested in seeing how cross-factions work as well. I've only ever played World of Warcraft, and the whole "YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND THE ALLIANCE/HORDE" thing kind of got on my nerves after a while. I'd be pretty pissed if we go to hang out and we can't understand Choo Choo or anyone else because HERP DERP, ALTERNATE FACTIONS.