Ok, so i dont want to start a flame war of any kind here, i just want to give my opinion on how the relationship system works in Skyrim and how it could and should be improved, firstly i think the idea of having an amulet of mara is ok to show you are single, but there should be a more dynamic relationship development between characters, so for example if you wanted to ask a woman to marrage you would have to build up a relationship with her by giving her gifts, speaking to her about certain topics or maybe just doing quests or missions. The second area i wish to adress is the "Family", i believe this aspect was severely underdone in skyrim since i personaly and many others were looking forward to raising a family or just having a good relationship with our ingame wifes. What i mean by this is after marrage has occoured, you should act as a family, so you and your wife should actively be in discussion about many things, so as to talk about whats currently going on within the story, any doubts or concerns your characters might have. Also asking questions if you want to have children or ask her to cook you a meal, set up a job or for her to come to bed... These simple things can lead up to an increased rp element within Skyrim, having children is also a bonus element to this as that if you are able to have children, it would give your rp expirience the extra little kick which is needed to carry on the main story line. You might teach your children to become warriors or mages, yet when a dragon attacks your home town/city you feel obliged to defend not only the inhabitants, but your family. Unfortunatly with this aspect missing in Skyrim i feel very bored and sluggish after completeing one questline, and am dissapointed that this was not implemented, although if this was added as a DLC or maybe a patch (even better) i believe the community would thank gamesas dearly, i also understand that some maturity elements arise when taking into account the above, but this is not about maturity. This is about creating the rp element which needs to be told in an epic fantasy RPG. So please leave your ideas below or maybe even suggest some improvements to my initial ideas.

I agree, I think there is a lot of potential with relationships that Bethesda has not seen. I wanted to start a family also I believe Fable games have the idea that you must build up the reltionship with the person by giving them gifts etc. before marrying them.

Maybe a DLC idea for Bethesda?

I don't think I like the idea of my char being laid up for 9 months due to pregnancy. I wouldn't mind adopting some kid though.

I dont mean that, kids in skyrim would remain kids, it would be rediculous to have them grow up into fully grown men unless they would leave and take up a job like wood cutting or something in a village. if that was the case tho i'd say atleast 7 days ingame for the child to grow up, and what the child does after it has grown up will be based on how you treated it and taught it, so if you did sword practice and often told your child about tales of mystical warriors, your child may become a warrior, or a mage if you speak about magical tales. But if that child does not grow up then it should still allow you to socialise with your child and make you feel that it is part of your charater and story.

i think that they should add quests before getting married to get them X useful item (maybe a set of dishes or a certain type of clothing), then get them Y (a tpye of flower, by C amount of them), and finally gether them a rare and expensive jewelery item (based on your level, cheap jewelery for low levels, gold / emerald to gold dimond after level15-20) (this is of corse for a female)

for a man that you are courting, you would possably get a cooked meal, then an article of armor, and finally a weapon (armor and weapon type would be based on your level)

and then possably 2-3 more small quests, like deliving a package for them to a friend or family member, helping them pay off a debt [100-1000g based on level, but not a lot of gold], or even somethign as simple as escorting them to the temple of mara for your marrage

Have you played previous Elder Scrolls Games? If you have, you will see the "Freedoms" given to wander the world. This is the first game in which long term partnerships / followers / marriage has been used.

Being of the old school Elder Scrolls players, I do not mind the partnerships formed and enjoy the company, but I choose family life IN Real Life.

There are "Real Life" Simulators out there. I do not want Elder Scrolls to be that much of a Simulation Game, I like the Role Playing Adventure series it has been for 16 or 17 years.

One vote for "What is there is fine" and "No thanks, I do not want kids of my own in the game"

No, being laid up with be terrible, luckily thats not how pregnancy works, Its not a broken leg or an arrow to the knee. It would get problematic towards the latter months, but then as you are the Dovahkiin I don;t see that anyone would have a problem with your PC pulling a Xena.




Either an earnest question which is fair enough, or incredibly condescending.

Yep, first time we have it, so hopefully it will be expanded on in Fallout 4 and TES6.


However, surely the idea of it being an option isn't so terrible?


Thing is, TES has gone beyond the old 'enter a dungeon and kill things' build it used to be with Arena/Daggerfall and then Oblivion. We can wade in babling brooks and catch slamon. We can hunt. We can cook. We can mine. We can blacksmith. We can choose not to advance far through the guilds, and just do radiant quests to our hearts content.

TES is just as much a fantasy-world simulator and sand-box roleplaying enviroment as it is a dungeon crawler. These things are what personally bring me to the games. I can roleplay indepth and day by day, something not poissible in any other format except pen and paper.

Would things like a deeper roleplaying experance in the (currently) overly simple marriage system really bother you that much? When it would make the OP and other people happy? When you could just not take part in the features and be unaffected by it?

^ This is a good point. Whilst playing Skyrim I was thinking now and then, wouldn't it be fun to be able to decorate this house, create my own clothing and hair styles (before you pipe in mods; PS3), spend a day at home or in this village doing day-to-day chores? But then I thought, this is an Elder Scrolls game, not the Sims!
On the other hand, Beth has jokingly said they make their own life a nightmare by wanting to create a stealth/RPG/assasination/adventure/combat game all rolled into one. Why not add the simulation aspect? If you're going to create an open world in which you want to make people feel as if they are really there, you're going to need that aspect. Maybe not make it a necessary part of the game, but something people can indulge in if they want. As Alixen said, it seems strange that they have given us the option to spend all day chopping wood, but not the option to develop and maintain a relationship with someone.

I'm sure they'll get closer to the perfect virtual playground every time they make a new Elder Scrolls. Though I already cringe at the thought of the amount of hours I'll soak into a game in which you can simulate as well.

no thanks, ill play the sims if i want to start/run a family

buiding the relationship would be nice. you sort iof build one with Aela, as you do a bit questing together, but even that is not enough. you need to win their favour properly. take a look aty The Sims 3. you need to socialize and be nice to the person, and soon you become friends, the best friends, BFFs, and soon one will fall in love, and the other will soon follow suit. if the sims are in the BFF stage, i've noticed that once the relationship bar maxes out, get them to hang out, and have a long session of pvssyr, friendly hugs, jokes etc, until one of then gets a wish to kiss/fall in love with/hug amaorously etc. then continue, drop in the occaisional "Compliment Appearance, and soon both sims will get wishes, and go for gold.

obviously, in Skyrim that would be rather tedious, BUT something similar. a relationship ranking, not just 1-4, but say, -100 to 100 (for the sake of this example, i'll call them "favor points"). doing good things will add a bunch of points (dependant on what it is), doing evil things will cause them to plummet. -20 to 20 could be the "neutral" zone, below -20 could lead to dislike, hatred and eventually becoming arch-enemies. at 20 or higher, you become friends, then good friends, best friends, BFFs . and at around 90 favor points, the NPC will show signs of affection, at 100 it will be obvious (but thet attempt to hide their feelings).
perhaps it ccouldould range from -200 to 200. as long as there is enough room to become someone's enemy, yet slowly bridge the gap with goodwill, and to ensure that you build the relationships at a good pace, but not too quickly. perhaps an NPC';s personality would affect point gain/loss eg forgiving, kind characters will gain favor a bit quicker, while bitter characters could gain favour at a reduced rate, and lose it a bit quicker.
if quest prerequisites are needed, the relationship ranking is locked at 89 (1 point below afffection) until you complete it

I like the general idea, but that is perhaps too much information. In Skyrim they tried to make it as realistic as possible, so you'll never have a "press the square button now to win this fight" moment, or you wouldn't walk up to a person to have information appear above their heads. You'd have to find out their disposition towards you through conversation, just like in RL.

And that in itself is, perhaps, more options and more voice acting then the developers want to deal with.

i agree with the voice acting part, it would be a lot to expect of bethesda.
i meant that it should be a simple variable that you never see, and it could keep track of their disposition a lot more accurately, allowing you to build the relationship, and ypoou find their disposition through conversation (as you said) i wasn't talking about total Sims-like stuff, merely the variable. i don't think that seeing thought bubbles would be very RPG-ish. but if you can get a general idea of their feelings by observing their interactions, that would be nice. and it would give you a reason to do "good" things for people.