Ok, so yeah Skyrim has its benefits, but as I see it, it's way too soon to have it appear, we've already seen the land of the nords in Solsthiem and several mods, why reinvent what we've all seen, why not set the land in a place as far removed as possible from anything we have seen before, I would not object to seeing High Rock or Hammerfell or Summerset Isles or Valenwood as we haven't seen them in a recent game, also Elswyr and Black Marsh appeal to me because the non human people living there offer cultures completely unique with architecture that is really interesting. In Morrowind the variety of architecture was what appealed to me, finding the lands in the east filled with mushroom buildings, ashland huts and buildings built into the hills, then the occasional Imperial style city and Vivec and the first place you go to which name starts with B and I can't remember it right now, all different architecture and all unique. I'd imagine the cat people would have various styles of buildings, they'd have their tents and then some caves and some imperial style cities and then places that look like Jerusalem etc, while black marsh would have Argonian underwater housing and hist houses and leyawin style cities etc. Skyrim seems so bland to me, with the buildings seen in Bruma and Solsthiem made of wood and their occasional stone barrow, I can't really imagine there'd be much difference between Skyrim and Solsthiem.



Second book? Interesting, let me know what it's called and when it's due to be released, please.

Stephen.

Well like i said, everything has its ups and downs. I actually think having Elsweyr, Layawiin and Black Marsh in one game would be great, lots of geographic and cultural diversity.



When I know you'll know.

Yeah, but they sure touted Radiant AI as the best thing since sliced bread! Even though the same thing was done (and done better) in a game released one year before Morrowind. I thought it was just kinda funny to see something 'advanced' like that in such an old game. And then, just to shoot itself in the foot, the Gothic devs had an utterly keyboard-centric (the mouse can't even be used for interface and the UI) prehistoric un-inovation. It's a quirky mix of genius and idiocy.

I guess that must a problem when you make video games for a living. Once you start working on them, you don't have time to play other video games and get ideas about what works and what doesn't work in terms of gameplay, story, user interface, and so on.

TESV should re-add the werewolf from Morrowind and make the vampires and werewolves not so evil. Either that or make an equally powerful good super-character. I get tired of the games that in order to be powerful, you have to be evil. What, us upstanding good people are wimps? Or, what could be even better: have the vampires and werewolves be able to be good, but it's trickier or requires a bit more work.

That and mixed bloods are so far my two suggestions.

This isn't some lame fantasy book, where you can be a vampire that falls inlove with a [censored].

Vampires in Tamriel are the scowl of the world, banished into caves. They're bloodthirsty, and that's why they're hated. As for werewolves, they're daedra. Servants of Hircine. No daedra is good, not even Azura.

Ok, whatever. I still think it could be possible. But at least give me some kind of good guy super-character like those golden saint things.

Part of the issue there is that what we got in Oblivion wasn't "really" Radiant AI. From what we were shown in pre-release demos it was indeed quite impressive, but they had trouble getting it under control (skooma addicts killing people for drug money, entire towns getting pulled into the resulting brawl). Since they couldn't get it working in time, it was pretty much just scraqed down to basic schedules and shoved out the door. I'm hoping that instead of abandoning the project, they've quietly continued to fiddle with it in the years after Oblivion's release, so that we can get real Radiant AI in the future.

Aren't all the more or less powerful people in the world at least a bit 'evil'? Giving names would be politics, where I dont want to go to. But think about it. But if you mean 'powerful' in a sense of 'having all stats at 100', forget it. My bad.

Then, I repeat what I said earlier: you don't get rich by doing honest work. The game should offer you chances to get rich and powerful, but only with risks. No one should keep buying bloody armor pieces from you for ever. There's a limit how much used loot people are willing to buy, knowing that they're ripped off from corpses. At least if they can't sell them forward with profit. But then, you only need to rob a bank once to have a wagon full of gold and jewels. Get away with it? Hooray! Get caught half a year later? Too bad. Half a year later so you can't just reload, but need to face the consequences!

AND if everyone carries 100 gold pieces or so, you only need to kill 1000 people to earn 100 000, which is a piece of cake in TES games. The game should be designed better, so not every character need to be mass murderers. What is your current number of kills in TES4? I surely had over 1000, but most were self defence. Stupid suicidal bandits...


I've been off forums cause I play Dragon Age. Bethesda needs to focus more on believable NPCs and interaction between them. There's an amount of realism in the dialogue only never seen in TES games. They talk like people, not like NPCs. And I'm not meaning the voice acting, which is great, too.

Golden Saints (or Aureal) are also Daedra, as are Mazken (Dark Seducers). The fact is that any super-powerful good guys (blessed by the Gods, or whatever) would not fit into the world at all, one of the things about TES is people fear things that are different from themselves, so even if there were a kind werewolf, he'd never get a chance to prove it, as everyone would try to kill him on sight. Also, if there were something similar to them that were believed to be good, they'd be both feared and revered, not giving them much chance to do any real good.

In addition, half bloods won't work as in the TES universe you get almost all of your traits from your mother, so it wouldn't show that you were a half blood in any way.

I'd like to see an equal opposite to the werewolf and the vampire, perhaps a disease you get that turns you into an angel of Julianos or some such and gives you moon damage instead of sun damage, or you turn into an angelic beast to be the equivalent of the werewolf, and while you're one of these creatures people actually like you more while bandits who might be friendly to a werewolf or vampire character would treat you with hatred. Your idea is a good one and I'd like to see some thought out discussion on the matter.

Stephen.

Nothing other than another werewolf or vampire would ever react favorably to a werewolf or vampire, not even bandits.

The idea that a God would infect someone is..... revolting, and an act better suited to a daedra. There is no lore friendly way to fit that in.

Speaking of beast, I would like to see transform spells. Like a spell that transform you to a raven sp you can escape foul creatures, or a typical "bear form" spell that gives you healt and fatigue boost, and damage boost.

A lore friendly way to fit that in: Talos and Mehrunes Dagon are duking it out in the temple of the one, as they clash some of their blood mixes and hits a commoner on the face, the commoner licks some of the blood from his lips and the infection starts, it is a combination of a God who has mixed with other Gods for hundreds of years and a Daedric Prince who has mixed with other Daedric Princes since the beginning of time. The effect of the contact with this blood is that the other gods see that this man is now diseased with daedric influence and is likely to be transformed into a beast at regular intervals, Mara shows some compassion and gathers all the 8 Gods together to bless the blood of Talos that this man has tasted, now instead of turning into an evil daedric beast he turns into an angelic beast with great strength, sight and speed. This man is still infected as it is a disease he has not a blessing, so he finds himself transforming and is afraid, he leaves the city heading for X province (X being wherever TESV is set) and starts his own temple to the divines, soon he has followers, and soon they too are diseased. In the course of 200 years or so several temples start up around X province and it is now possible for the player to find these temples and catch the disease, the cure to the disease can only be found in the land of Oblivion by talking to Mehrunes Dagon himself, or by killing the original man who was infected.

Stephen.

Okay, so let's say that, for some crazy reason all of that happens. These people will not be revered, they will be feared. It would be like a whole other sub-culture, which would not be in regular contact with outsiders, for fear of being infected.

Only the truly faithful would join the cult, and many might even view it unfavorably,.

I think that there should be some better beginning and end to that, but the middle is okay...

Vampirism and lycanthropy are commonly thought of as "cursed." There can be nicer vampires (case in point, the count of Skingrad), but it depends on individual ability (and desire) to control the bloodlust. Meaner vampires are likely going to turn someone if they think they'd be a good ally/follower, i.e., someone of the same mindset. Nice ones...are probably not going to turn anyone at all. Why would they want to? Werewolves are an unfortunate case, as people know they're still the same person between transformations, but during it they are simply murderers. Doesn't much matter if you're nice.

The obvious counterpart to a curse is a blessing, but what kind of transformation are you expecting from that? "You have gained my favor, and so I give you my blessing...to turn into a totally cool monster!" It could be argued that heroes, themselves, are the ones with a blessing. They're certainly favored by fate, tending to succeed in all endeavors and be strong enough for any challenge, winning fame and wealth and powerful artifacts whilst vampires and werewolves are crazy people living in the shadows. What we need are more choices in gameplay, so that every character type does end up doing the exact same quests in the exact same way regardless.

Werebats! I wanna fly!

I found a pic of the wereboar from Daggerfall. THAT was ugly. In the best way possible.

Well, how about the abilities of this good beast transformation are that you heal people, rally them to give courage, cure diseases such as vampirism and lycanthropy and bless them with divine armour, you don't catch the disease by gaining any of the blessings from the temple priestbeasts, only by eating their food or actually touching them or some such... Maybe an initiation ritual.

Stephen.

Lol, Golden Saints are daedra as well. You must have found a liking for them, huh? Golden Saints definitely aren't any type of good-guys, though. If you played Morrowind, you've likely been killed by one. They're nasty in Morrowind. Though every time I see one, I got a grand soul and a glass/daedric weapon, so we'll call it a wash.

This

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoGOl9xwajA&feature=related

and this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R4OoLmCTSA&feature=related

and probably a few others that can be found thereabouts.

Stephen.

That would be great. No omniscient guards, no visible bounties. You knock over a noble's home and, if someone spotted you doing the deed or noticed you selling the goods (people usually don't accost thieves, they go to the police; and merchant can't tell if a good is stolen unless the original owner or a friend of the owner notices it in the merchant's shop), several in-game weeks later the law catches up with you for your crime. Maybe you escape from jail and the word slowly trickles out until a month later a ranger recognizes you as a wanted criminal.

They should also get rid of the thieves-guild-removes-all-bounties thing, and that every crime can be paid off. If you steal from someone or attack a guard they might just hold a grudge against you and won't care that you paid a few coins to an outlaw group who passed some of those coins on the authorities.

Ah, I'm rambling, but your post got me thinking. None of this will every happen however, and the best we can probably hope for is a reduction in psychic guards.

I don't want a faction to suddenly become friendly with me after I attacked them and they hated my guts for 3 days, but after 3 days they suddenly become friendly again. I can't count how many times I killed someone in Megaton and had the whole town shoot at me, or stole something in the Imperial City and had every guard chasing me, then for them all to love me again after I waited for 3 days. If I kill someone in a town, I shouldn't be able to go back in there without a fight. I want consequences for my actions, I don't want the line between the world loving me and hating me to be as thin as a measly 72 hour wait..

On the topic of NPC reactions, I want certain NPCs to run away and find shelter if I start attacking people. An entire town shouldn't be filled with people ready to kill me. The guards should fight and the civilians should go inside and protect their families, not risk their lives when they have guards for that. This happened to an extend in Fallout 3, but only with children. I want advlts to do it too.

Please comment, this took a while too write. This is a compilation of all of the 'good' suggestions I've posted, plus several more.
GUILDS:

Magical: You can only join one. You will get access to special spell affects through these, and there is no way to join all of them.

Synod:
Donations: Like imperial cult donations in Morrowind, except you can, depending on your personality, get donations from anybody. They range from Gold (Which you keep a share of) To powerful weopons (Which you keep altogether). Focus on personality.
Battle: Do the the dirty work of the divines. Focus on Conjuration and Destruction
Espionage: Spy on other Religius Orders. Focus on Illusion and stealth
Priest Work: You have to deal with curses, reversing magic, and healing. Focus on Restoration

Collage of Whispers:
Alteration/Mysticism: Getting Magical Artifacts.
Illusion: Dealing with situations In which it would hurt the collage to physically attack.
Restoration: You have to deal with curses, reversing magic, and healing.
Conjuration: Dealing with the realms of Oblivion, as well as learning how to conjure items from other parts of the game-world.
Destruction: Battle Mage work basicly. clearing out mines, protecting caravans, etc.
Necromancy: Reviving the dead to either acompany you to battle or to guard a certain area. always permanent (Unless you kill them again.) Highest Level ability is actual resurrection: you can talk and buy stuff from then again)
Research: Working as a lackey to people in the collage. You can get very powerful spells and rewards through this.

Mages guild:
Deskwork: Basically like research in the Collage of Whispers.
fieldwork: Assasination, bribing, and political moves to re-secure a place for the mages guild in the 4th Era.
Knights of the Lamp: guarding non-violent mages from attack.

Witch Covens:
Gather artifacts.
Raid settlements.
Brew very powerful special potions.

PHYSICAL: Can only join one, besides for The Penitus Oclous and Imperial Legion.

Fighters Guild:
Guard Duty: Guard X person/object for Y amount of time.
Battle: A mercenary army basicly
Saftey: Clear out Mines etc.
Improvement: Secure a place for the guild in the fourth Era

Imperial Legion:
Saftey: Clear out Mines etc.
Guard Duty: Guard X person/object for Y amount of time.
Soldier: Get towns and villages to pay their taxes, and take it if necessary.
Artifact Hunt: Search for the weapons and mail of old.
Training: Get payed to train people through experience (For example, bring a weak underling to clear out an abandoned fortress, and make sure they survive.)

Penitus Oculous:
Political Assasinations: What it sounds like.
Interigation: Also what it sounds like.
soldier: Force towns and settlements to accept Titu Mede.
Detective work: Get to the bottom of crimes.

Local Police:
Guard Duty: Guard X area for Y time.
Detective Work: Figure out who done what.
Taxes: Make individual people pay taxes.

STEALTHY: You can only join one thief one and one murder one.

Thieves Guild:
Theft: planned theft
Freelance Work: Pay beggars to, in two days time, tell you a person's exact schedule. I wonder how this would be useful to a thief...
Fox's orders: Do what your Doyens tell you (Thieves Guild Main Quest)

Local gangs:
Freelance Work: Pay beggars to, in two days time, tell you a person's exact schedule. I wonder how this would be useful to a thief...
orders: Do what your Boss tell you (Gang Main Quest)
Murder: Kill a random NPC or make him pay his debt another way.
Protection: make sure that you own certain areas of your city
Skooma run: What it sounds like. Get from point A to point B trying to avoid a run in with the cops who are notified about your luggage.
Gangs are basicly the theives guild, but they traffic skooma as well as murder.

Dark Brotherhood:
Assasination: Assasination.
Invoking: Summon these services to assassinate any NPC. Doesn't always work.
Experiments: collect bodies of victims for use by the mages of Sithis
Orders: Non-assasinations that fit the guild.

Morag tong
Assasination: Assasination.
Invoking: Summon these services to assassinate any NPC. Doesn't always work.
Orders: Non-assasinations that fit the guild.

OTHER: these just didn't fit.

Imperial Cult: Same as Morrowind.

Daedric Cults: depends on Daedra in question. (Hircine would have you hunt animals and kill Hunter who weren't hounorable, as well as make Werewolfs do what they are supposed to; while Molag Bal would have you corrupt goverment officials, and sieze power. NO six

Arena:
One on one: Fight a single opponent.
Team Vs: Your Team Vs. Another Team.
Team Free For All: Your team in a free for all against all the other teams.
Free For all: You vs. a single representative from each other team. they fight each other too though.
Vs. Animal: Fight a creature.
Spread Word: Set up posters and talk to people about watching and betting on the Arena.
New opponents: Go to famed warriors and convince them to join the Arena.
Bet: Same as Oblivion
Collect Bets: collect bets, but money goes in/out of your own pocket. you can refuse to accept a bet.
Spectate: Just watch for a small fee.

Vampire Clans:
Fight another Vampire clan.
Get rid of a Vampire Hunter.
Secure more cattle.
Spread the Disease.
Find a cure.

Instead of limiting us to Three play types, why not add a fourth. Stealth, Magic, Bronze, and introducing PERSONALITY. Convincing other people to follow you around and help you out. This type would go into the hierarchies on governments and order soldiers around. They would go to major battles and tell individual troops of soldiers what to do. Also, you could set up a business this way, and hire a manager.

Spells

Collision damage through telekenisis, as well as like... hurling people into walls.

Conjuration should be able to summon food, water, other liquids, creatures, weapons, furniture, etc.You should be able to place a 'mark' on items, and 'recall' them when needed. Also, you should be able to have up to three different Mark locations at once as well as recall on target (so your companions can follow you)

Locking stuff , like in the old games, just didn't have any use. you were the only theif. Locking would have been awesome if there were other people with AI telling them to steal.

ADD NECROMANCY

Spells should be sold by effects/clusters of effects. the potency should depend on your proficiency with that type of magic. However, if you held down the 'cast' button, your spell should be more powerful although more likely to fail. Different spells would be marked "long term, and holding as such would increase time. Long term spells would all drain your magica for the entirety of the spell, although barely (3 points fire damage for 1000 seconds would be unoticeable on your magica bar)

Services:I always thought that through certain VERY POWERFUL AND MAGICA COSTING detect enchantment spells, one would be able to extract the enchantment from a weapon, armor, or parchment and learn how to use the ability themselves. Maybe it could be an extremely expensive service provided by the Collage of Whispers or something.

Repair-ers should have different skills, and only high level (expensive) repairers can repair very nice weapons/armor to a high grade. Most weapons and armor bear the name of their creator, who can always repair the item to full strength.

Lycanthropes:
we need more Were-creatures. Were-wolf (speed, agility) Were Boar (agility, endurance) were lion (Luck, intelligence) were Bear (speed, strength) Were Croc (Strength, endurance)

Then there would be were-shark that transports you to the nearest body of water. you would both be strong and exceedingly quick.

Each attribute mentioned would get a 35 point increase. common to all lycanthropes is a 40 point increase in hand-to-hand and 10 points in all magical skills. Magica bar would go through a 1.5 multiplier (you can reach only the quest and magic menus) The were wolf, were lion, and were bear both get a 30 point stealth increase, while the crocodile and boar get an added 100 hp point. Atributes/skills are only changed while a lycanthrope.

Lycanthropes would turn into their animals:
whenever they felt like it (once a day)
When one moon is full, 50% chance
When both moons are full, 95% chance
Immediately before death, 100% chance at 5 hp
whenever you wish upon recieving the ring of Hircine.

When changing, your health and Magica are always fully recovered. No NPC will talk to you when you are in were-form, nor is it possible to purchase anything, since you can't access your inventory. Also, you can only be harmed by Daedric, Mythril, or steel weapons/ arrows as well as hand-to-hand from anyone who isn't a journeyman. Before gaining the ability to change back, you must attack and kill any creature with a 'greater' or 'grand' soul value. If you are seen turning into a Werewolf by anyone who doesn't have a 90+ disposition of you, they will either flee or attack you. If they flee, they will tell a guard. if this happens, you will be attacked by guards everywhere no matter what form you are in. Gaurds will always attack you Were form however.

NPC'S:
I think classes should include what they do for money and how they get food. Every day an NPC spends having not eaten, their health and fatigue go down a bit. the classes would be,
Food Farmer: Produces and harvests his own plants, such as wheat, corn, etc.; as well as cattle pigs etc. iff there is extra food, they sell it. And if they can afford it, they will buy a luxury.
Cash Crops: Harvests and produces cash-crops, like wine or tabaco. a traveling merchant would regularly trade him his crop for money and food. And if they can afford it, they will buy a luxury.
Hunter: most NPC's hunt, and is is the default if something messes up their original script. This would involve tracking down an animal they can easily kill, and killing them. the amount of meat produced is 3x what it would be for the player. If there is extra food, they sell it. And if they can afford it, they will buy a luxury.
Merchant: has the amount if money they are willing to trade, as well as savings in the back. other NPC's go to traders regularly when they have spare cash and need something, so their cash fluctuates. at the end of every day; if the trader has made money then they put the extra in their savings. if they lost money, they replenish their supply.
Traveling merchants: Tie in the the farmers. they have no savings, as they buy in massive amounts. They go from farm stead to farmstead buying and selling food and cash-crops, as well as some luxuries. Their loop starts and ends in a major city, so that they can sell all but food with the merchants their, as well as re-stock.
Rich people: They have massive amounts of money, like millions and millions, hidden in a cell that the player cannot enter. They draw upon that cash through scripts when they go shopping, and they buy not only food, but many luxuries.
Working man: They do their job at a loss of fatigue, or (in the case of the fighter's guild) health. However, they get payed in cash depending on what job(s) they have, and will go buy food from a merchant, and if they can afford it, luxuries.
Beggars: They will sell information to thieves guild members, and if other NPC's have more than 5x what they are asking for, they will get charity. Every $1,000 the player gives to charity is worth 1 fame point, as an incentive to do so. They mostly have low responsibility, and if they see something lying in the street will most likely take it. They only buy food, and store all their money.
Vampires: Don't eat food. however, they will break into houses and feed on other NPC's. Before feeding, they will cast a non-hostile version of Paralyze on their target, to assure that they don't awake with fangs in their neck.
Inn Keeper: a specialized merchant. most will only sell beer, wine, and bread and will only buy from Traveling Merchants. Every Inn NPC pays 5 gold to them every night for sleep, even if there are more customers than beds.

Things common to all classes:
Scavenge; If somebody sees something lying around, they will most likely pick it up. If the item is owned (by the player or another NPC) then they might, depending on the object's value and their responsibility. High responsibility NPC's will pick up Player-owned objects and return them for a monetary reward.
Hunt; If they see a wild animal that they know they can easily best, they will kill it. if they see a non-fighting wild plant, they will harvest it. Friendship; If a poor NPC has a disposition of 90+ with a Rich NPC, they will most likely get a loan. The loan will be payed of in ten months with no interest, unless the Rich NPC falls on hard times or gets a 70- Disposition towards the other one. In those cases, there will be 5% interest.
Improvement: If an Innkeeper, Food Farmer, or Traveling merchant save up 1000+ gold, they will move into the closest abandoned farmstead, and become a cash-crop Farmer. If a Cash crop farmer or Merchant saves up 10000+ gold, they will instantly get 1 million in 'savings' and become a rich person. A Begger or hunter who has saved up 500 gold will become a Food Farmer or Innkeep depending on which institution is closer (an abandoned Inn or an abandoned house)
Deprovment: If a npc don't have enough food to survive two more days, they will either join the thieves guild or church depending on their responsibility.

Combat: Fighting will be more about your skills than your ability to click a button a lot.

Skills with weopons should determain
A.) skill perks
B.) likelyhood to hit.
C.) Aim for locational damage (hitting a very strong enemy in the arms, a stealth one in the legs, etc.)

Locational damage
head does extra damage to hit points, legs hurt speed, arms damage strength, chest does slightly more hit point damage as well as damages agility -- like being winded.

Block would be mainly in charge of reaction time.

Attributes would determine:
strength and speed would determine damage
agility would help determine reaction time (likely hood of dodge/block/parry)

Different weapons should have different fighting-styles, each unlocked as your ability with them increases. you would choose a fighting style in your menu. For example, Tempest Attrition with a longsword would give you more shock-time on an enemy who has just attacked and been blocked or parried, as well as a higher chance of parrying, but it would give you less damage on strike. However, Havoc Canol with a longsword would decrease your ability to dodge for added damage and hit chance. Pankratosword would be... unknowable.

Armor would slow down your dodge ability based on weight, however protect your body by giving enemies with a low weapon skill a harder time hurting you at all, and even those that could pierce good armor often would have reduced damage on their blows.

Arrest:

Guards shouldn't be all knowing. A guard should only know if you stole something if it was reported directly to him, or to another guard of that city 24 game hours ago. The ability to pay off bounties would get rid of the law, but whomever you committed the crime against would permanently like you much less.

You can only go to jail for B&E, Theft of over 400$, Assault, or Murder. Otherwise you must pay the fine or do hard labor (equivalent of jail without stat loss) NPC'S should be able to go to jail as well, so they don't all end up dead. During conflicts with the law, any sober NPC lacking armor and weapon should only yield.

Voice Acting:

Voiced Dialog took up all of one half of the Oblivion DVD. This is pointless. a rare few NPC's (meaning gods) should have voiced dialog, while others should just be written. However, conversations in the street should be voiced.

the game should collect and organize all information you read out of books or at least add it to your library in your house once you attain one

I would like to see the healer class fleshed out a bit more, I'd like to travel to various towns and find disease everywhere, I could focus on healing all the people of the land, have a higher chance to catch all these diseases because I visit these people constantly, and find some really interesting diseases in my travels, also people missing limbs would be realistic.

Stephen.