What do YOU want in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim?

Title says it all. Don't be afraid to share what you think! . I'll start with my views.

I think Skyrim should be more like Morrowind. Oblivion's only aspect which was better than Morrowind was its graphics, but Morrowind can easily counter that with graphics extenders. I would like the combat system to be improved from Oblivion, and more monsters to summon with the Conjuration skill would be ace. Mods like Deadly Reflex and Unnecessary Violence already being in Skyrim would be nice, adding some gore and making the combat MUCH better for me! I want quest markers to be removed. In Morrowind, I only went by what people said and what my journal said. It meant I discovered many more places than if I had one specific place to go to, and it was marked on a compass. Oblivion's graphics, perhaps a bit better, would also be nice in Skyrim. I imagine there'll be alot of white

Say your wishes for Skyrim below

Oblivion had some advantages that I wouldn't want to miss, such as the AI doing things all day.

After playing Mount & Blade, I guess I'll be most annoyed about the combat system. Morrowinds wasn't good, Oblivions was awful - what I want is character stats mattering not for damage mainly, but for speed/precision etc, I want full control over my characters actions in combat, and a bit of realism... Basically, M&B.

Gore: Only as storytelling element, like the bloody plains of Oblivion in TES IV. Keep it rare, keep it shocking.

Graphics, I really don't care. I hope they don't put too much time into that. Warband looks good enough for me. Fill the world with life, and you need no fancy visuals.

Then, what I think would be really needed would be a proper difficulty slider making it possible for me to have a realistic experience. No quest markers, no fast travel, no hints, no potions in combat, no carrying more than a real person could carry, no surviving more hits than a real person could survive, all that stuff is merely immersion breaking. Even a realistic saving mode like in M&B would be great, with death being final.

And: Non-combat solutions. Many of them. Less, but a lot more deadly combat. Being afraid of combat. Not taking risks when there's a better choice. I want a role playing game, not an action game.

More interaction. More NPC talk, more politics, more discovery, stealth, surrender.

If only a game would manage to bring the spirit of ACTUAL role playing; that is, P&P and LARP, into a computer game. I've never played anything that got close to the real experience.

Spec wrote:Oblivion had some advantages that I wouldn't want to miss, such as the AI doing things all day.

After playing Mount & Blade, I guess I'll be most annoyed about the combat system. Morrowinds wasn't good, Oblivions was awful - what I want is character stats mattering not for damage mainly, but for speed/precision etc, I want full control over my characters actions in combat, and a bit of realism... Basically, M&B.

Gore: Only as storytelling element, like the bloody plains of Oblivion in TES IV. Keep it rare, keep it shocking.

Graphics, I really don't care. I hope they don't put too much time into that. Warband looks good enough for me. Fill the world with life, and you need no fancy visuals.

Then, what I think would be really needed would be a proper difficulty slider making it possible for me to have a realistic experience. No quest markers, no fast travel, no hints, no potions in combat, no carrying more than a real person could carry, no surviving more hits than a real person could survive, all that stuff is merely immersion breaking. Even a realistic saving mode like in M&B would be great, with death being final.

And: Non-combat solutions. Many of them. Less, but a lot more deadly combat. Being afraid of combat. Not taking risks when there's a better choice. I want a role playing game, not an action game.

More interaction. More NPC talk, more politics, more discovery, stealth, surrender.

If only a game would manage to bring the spirit of ACTUAL role playing; that is, P&P and LARP, into a computer game. I've never played anything that got close to the real experience.

Basically that. I'd love a bit more Roleplaying. I'd like to have decisions. Stories... more talking to people (Maybe without voices, or really good voice actors. I loved Morrowind.. it felt somewhat like a book. You talked to people and you read what they said, alot space for your imagination, would he say that angry, nice. But maybe thats because Im a girl and I'm alot into story and imagination if it comes to Roleplaygames.) In morrowind I could entertain myself for hours without doing a single quest. I bought a house, had alot of plugins installed and travelled around to buy furniture and stuff. It was epic. I could really feel myself into that.

I entirely agree with spec when it comes to gore and combats. I dont want it to be like casual to have shocking, bloody fights. I dont want a bandit every 200 Meter. Combat should be risky. Still its a Roleplaygame so basically they will have alot of combat in it. But when it comes to what I want: Not that much combat. Have alternative solutions like talking yourself out etc. I would like to have some good archery, complicated archery. Good Skilltrees (Anyone played Dark Messiah ?) and such. Stealth would be a sexy thing too. Pickpocketing and such, sneaking around houses... hmhmhm <3

Since this will probably be quite a popular topic, I've gone ahead and made a sub-forum for Other Games.


What I want from Skyrim? Morrowind's imagination and general brilliance in a modern engine.

I've been looking again at Daggerfall - it had randomly generated landscape - and its world map was many times greater than Morrowind or Oblivion, it also had more quests and featured some very interesting skills.

I'd like a move away from the modern RPG style, and a move towards pen and paper type RP. Skill checks were featured in Fallout NV, although there it was a set no. (if the check was 6 speech, you had to have 6 speech) it'd be cool to move towards the Neverwinter nights style of skill checks - although it did allow people to quick save and cheat. Also in Daggerfall were centaurs, giants, harpies and dragonlins - I'd really like some variety of monsters and I'd prefer mythological creatures to the made up (and somewhat samey) monsters of Morrowind. A more interesting magic system, with all the schools of magic being useful would be cool. Above all I want some actual classes, in Morrowind and Oblivion there was nothing to prevent you from being a thief/mage/warrior a system where every advantage had a possible disadvantage would be cool. Usable companions would be nice, they were quite good in Fallout NV.

I have really high hopes for this game, but I'm not convinced it isn't going to be disappointing - but I could be wrong as someone has already pointed out they've really taken their time with it.

Benfree, PnP and D&D 3ed in a modern RPG? Only in our dreams, unfortunately.

It puzzles me how cRPGs do not continue the development started in P&P, but take steps back.

An old example is combat. Why do I need damage rolls and health points? Why on earth do I need those in a modern computer game? They are an abstraction - required at the table, because it's hardly possible to simulate damage (or anything else that is complex and happens within a short time) with only pen and paper. But with a computer - Everything could be calculated in detail! Why is this only wasted on good looking graphics? Why not on all these things that could not be simulated with only P&P?

I wish games would take more steps forward. More realistic combat systems are only one aspect that the computer could be a great tool for.

Of course, a computer lacks the most important aspect of role playing; actual players. MMO's failed completely at bringing a role playing experience to the players, because only very few people actually role play when playing role playing games on the computer. It is a shame, a true shame.

Just today I had a session of a pen and paper role playing game, and in two months I'll be visiting a LARP. Things that are so simple, yet so much more entertaining than computer games.

And one of the main reasons that cRPGs never got close to P&P is that developers are afraid to develop a true role playing game.

They develop stories, they develop object-collecting games or stat-raising-games, but never do I actually play a role I created in a way that'd do todays technology justice.

That's why I wish that Bethesda go ahead and create a role playing game here, not just an adventure game.

Edit: I wish to add:
cRPG-Developers seem to misunderstand some basic principles of old-style role playing games.
Why do we, in every role playing game, see character stats for the sake of seeing character stats? Oblivion is an awesome example: Since the enemies level with you, it's not actual progression. It's just numbers! What is the joy in high numbers and fancy looking weapons?

Damage points, health points, attribute points - any points are just there to translate a character concept into something that works with rolling dice. I need a strength between 1 and 20 so I can roll a 20-sided-die to check whether my character could open a door - I do NOT need that value just to increase it more and more! Step away from numbers! They have no use - hide them from the players eyes, keep these calculations subtle and in the background! Roleplaying is NOT collecting points, money or fancy items! I have no idea who came up with that idea, but playing a role has absolutely nothing to do with that! How many movies do you see in which the main character is defined by his power and the cool stuff he has? He (/she) is defined by his CHARACTER, by his (/her) emotions, decisions, motivations, and his (...) flaws!

More characters, less collections of stuff that doesn't matter.