Raz got mad at Feng-do for disobeying orders during the AD questline.

Thanks for posting this mALX.

You have restored my faith. Lets hope that Todd allows a larger team to participate in the quest writing for the next game. The online folk sound like they would be perfect to assist in the development.

I will have to try disobeying him sometime and see, lol.




Do you remember the Moderator over at the Official Bethesda Forums that used to read all of our FanFic stories and hang out with us all = Leydenne? Well, she was hired by Zenimax to do some of their quest writing for ESO; and I think that she/her input is one of the reasons for their quests going back to being Awesome like Morrowind and Oblivion's were. She was a ton of fun and there are many really fun quests/questlines in ESO that were so much like their old quests used to be. (Skyrim was so serious = it totally lacked fun; so I was really happy to see that back in the game).

And there is a huge amount of fun in ESO to be found in dialogue that you won't find unless you talk to some NPC's randomly. Example: On one boat trip you take, if you talk to the people that work on the ship before you take off on the trip; literally everyone on the boat has the hots for the guy who helped you get on board. (males and females both) and if you talk to them again after landing = they are all mad at him.

And some choices you make will determine how some NPC's act when they see you for the rest of the game = One lady will almost spit on you the whole rest of the game if you side against her in one quest early on; and she doesn't hide it at all, lol. Of course, the ones you sided with will greet you in friendship, but throughout the game there are people/quests where you have to make choices that affect more people than just you and the quest-giver (like when you choose between rulers or ruling factions your decision could affect all those that worshipped the ruier, etc). They won't attack you over your choice; but they will mutter things under their breath at you as you pass by them. (or hail you for making the right choice if you chose their way).

So you are not always the hero to everyone, even when you feel like you've done the right thing = very much like Fallout: New Vegas!

So I am really hoping they institute some of that into TES VI. Maybe Leydenne will write the quests for them too!

.

Oh, yes! Leydenne! That was the cat lady, was it not?


That is so spot on. In Oblivion there was insanity and fun all the time. Although that was partly because of all the antics that Maxical was involved in. Need I mention Pork Chop and the tsunami that flooded through the arena?


That is so awesome! That is what they need back in ES6.



Goody!!

How strange! Why don't I remember that choice? Surely I wouldn't have let him die! But that said = actually, I haven't seen or run into him since, I could have incurred his wrath too!





Yes, Leydenne with her cat Scout as the picture for her Avatar. Scout was a feral cat she took in; he even moved with her to Maryland when she went to actually work for Bethesda (not just Moderator) and then Zenimax. She met a guy there and they got married and are happy as clams now! (though I doubt Scout is still alive now, he was a full adult over ten years ago when that picture was taken).

As soon as I learned that she was writing the quests for ESO; I knew I was going to like them. Really like that they took real fans of the game to do the writing; that has to make a difference!

I like it too (that we are not always the uber hero) = and love that there are certain consequences to your actions; that is one of the things I loved best about Fallout: New Vegas!

So most def yes = I am hoping to find that in TES VI.

What the what? That's amazing!

Yes, she had to move cross-country to take the job; but she has been more happy there and so glad she moved = it was like her life took a huge upgrade; she met an Awesome man and they fell in love and got married; really Awesome for her; and she really deserves it so much. She is one of the nicest people you could meet!

Sometimes Khajiit really misses the old Bethsoft forums.

+ 1. No. Make that +10.

The old ones, yes. The new ones are totally different; they don't have the same feel at all.

And they are janky as all hell.

I miss the old forums' randomness. My favorite were the Oblivion forums. For several years, it was like every day,
you never knew what to expect. New gamers, always new gamers rolling through. Some would stick around, most would not. New threads, sometimes even old ones brought back to life. Friends, all of us. Occasional trolls, yes, but even these added to the random atmosphere.

I used to say these forums here at Chorrol are like a small, country pub. Come to Chorrol, and it's like you're going to that cozy pub where you see a close-knit group of villagers. Go to Beth's forums, and this was more like a roadhouse bar. Rowdier, but fun too. Go to the Skyrim forums, and now you're in a sports bar. Really loud sometimes, usually too much for me though!

Khajiit mostly just hung around the community discussion forum. Good times.

I do miss the old forums, even if I was a relative newcomer to them. I really enjoyed discussing what we ideally want to see in the next TES game and just discussing the series in general in the TES General Discussion Forums. Even if some of the personalities there could be a bit bothersome at times. Community Discussion was great too.

I haven't gone on the new forums in months (save for one post, and then I hadn't been there for months before that either). But it isn't the new forums themselves that keep me away. It can be janky, but for the most part, the forum technology didn't bother me greatly. I just haven't had the desire to, there isn't enough time for me to get even moderately invested in discussions about the next TES game, and even when I was it just wasn't very fun anymore. Some of the personalities (with a couple from the old forums) just made it frustrating sometimes. And even when the forum-goers weren't a problem, there are just SO MANY POSTS to sift through about what people want to see in the next game that it is just impossible to keep up.

Not to mention the topics we can still discuss outside of TES are limited. I'm one who really likes to see what people, whom I have at least something major in common with, enjoy outside of that thing that primarily brought us to the forums in the first place. I want variety in discussions.

I hope to pop into the new forums every once in a while though.

Bold: Yes, that is exactly why Kobby started "The Everything Thread" = so people at this site could discuss just about anything without a Mod cracking down on them. (unless it gets heated, which really happens so rarely at this site anyway).

The fact that I devolved into trolling myself shows how much i cared for the old forums lmao I like the new ones even less tho

Anyways, on the subject of ESO's tone, while I'm glad it didn't follow Skyrim's edgy tone, I will say that it sometimes goes a little too far in the other direction. I definitely prefer it over Skyrim's tryhard serious tone, but I feel like ESO could benefit from having more serious characters like Luciana Pullo or Jaxsik-Orrn to balance out the "quirky" characters.

Overall, though, I agree. ESO is a lot better than the other TES games in making memorable characters, and I think it originally being more linear played a part in that. The story part ended up benefiting from it, and I think it's the reason the main games don't have as good a story.

Yeah, the new Beth forum is unappealing. It also seems like you have to give it more time than you should for it to load. Anytime I hit the bookmark to visit the site, I usually count to 5 when the website starts to load. It has an annoying tendency to jump around, or load things in weird orders.

https://www.player.one/skyrim-grandma-immor...crolls-6-125133

Speaking of which, I watched a nice documentary on the lady the other day. Was unsure where to link it here. You've given me the excuse I need.

Goodness. She's got a dual-screen setup even! .... (2:50-ish in that video)

Supposedly there’s been a leak!

High five Khajiit! I knew it'd be High Rock, at least.

Ugh. 2024. Well, did I expect it any sooner? I do like the sound of dozens (if not hundreds) of NPCs on screen during battles.

Travel by ship, I am assuming they mean real time travel.

Spell crafting returns. Yes, I knew this would return. That was the #1 complaint about Skyrim. I knew that one. Did I predict it? I forget what the OP says. Probably so.

"A side quest is being planned in which we can babysit a trio of Khajiit children (kittens?)" ... "A speech check can calm her down..." That sounds fun. Also, Speechcraft seems confirmed.

Yeah I know... I'm getting overexcited about everything except the release date. Go on and shoot me down. That's why I am Renee, ha ha!

I'm starting to think that they've built up expectations to the point that nobody could make a game that meets them.

So this may be a genuine "leak" in the sense that it's a trial balloon set of features to which Beth wants to gather reactions. With the release date among them. They want to know if folks would wait that long, or if it should move up/back. The detail level accords with that. Vague hints mean "what would users expect?" and more concrete ones are "you asked, but do you want it like this?"

There's probably a lot of factual stuff, such as the region and name. They did register the name, so that can be checked, and of course the lore references are accurate, if they aren't necessarily part of the plans. High Rock is adjacent to Wrothgar, and that's already established. If High Rock is the setting, then the Orcs are your neighbours. Breton/Orc struggles are a recurring historical theme.

I haven't watched the video yet but I'm not buying any leaks until we get more concrete info. I might watch it anyway, but given how the Internet is with this kind of stuff I'm remaining skeptical until something clearly from Bethesda comes out (although I guess even then you have to be wary).

Regarding Redfall: That little teaser from a couple E3s ago sure looked like Hammerfell the most to me. Didn't get any High Rock vibes from it, though of course they still left it deliberately vague. Not like they are going to put Adamantium Tower in the video because that would be obvious. Regardless I still think it's Hammerfell, but I think we take it for granted that Redfall is directly related to the province name. For all we know, it could be a specific event, a place within Hammerfell, or a person, but it may not be Hammerfell at all.

The most believable thing just from reading your comments is a 2024 release date. I think that is realistic. I can see Starfield coming in 2021 since Bethesda has been keeping things close to their vests lately and we have not heard anything about it except that it is coming.

I hope spellcrafting comes back, but I think it needs a serious revamp. I have a lot of ideas that I'd like to see implemented this time around and how it would integrate with perks, the form and function of spells, etc. And taking some ideas for spells from ESO would be very beneficial in fleshing out and giving variety to spellmaking.

Like Rader I am extremely skeptical of everything on YouTube. Any one can get on there and yammer away, without reality ever impeding them.

As for ES 6, I have absolutely no expectations. Bethesda has pretty much cured me of that. If it ever comes out, we will see what there is to see. They might shelve it to make a sequel to Fallout 76.

Yeah the guy who did the video even said to take the leak info with a “pinch of salt”. I saw it and thought it might be fun to discuss it here. As for my opinion on the info, I’d be really surprised if they do the whole Iliac Bay region again, so I’m remaining skeptical.

2024 release date? Guess I'll have time to finish Oblivion then. If I'm quick I'll be able to get in some Skyrim too.

Or Bethesda might have gone out of business by then. You never know.

Heh, if they keep on with these misguided business practices that may very well come to pass. I feel that Starfield is going to be make or break for them.

Official acknowledgement that TES6 is still very far away.

“Official” but they didn’t seem to link the actual tweet.

I'm at a forum still waiting 4 Oblivion

Lol

Great news guys! In order to speed development Bethesda has hired topnotch author to write TES6 story. George Martin states that he'll get on it right away, soon as he's finished ASOIAF.

badum-tiss!

I heard that instead of GRRRRR, they are going to hire David Benioff and DB Weiss instead.

At least they actually did finish their work, rush job that it was.

This isn't so much a prediction as it is something I want to see. In fact, I don't think what I am about to propose would ever come close to fruition, but I at least hope Bethesda tries to do something along these lines.

Let's talk about the potential return of spellmaking. My memory is hazy on how it was done before and I didn't make all that much use out of it, but I think that bringing it back with a lot of revamping could really be something special. First, the types of attack (function) you can make need to be expanded a bit. I think Skyrim, for all its magic system flaws, did improve greatly on how the spells actually function. In previous TES games, it mostly amounted to touch and "fireball, then bigger fireball." For Destruction magic in Skyrim, you could launch projectiles, spray a gout of elemental damage in front of you, surround yourself with an elemental cloak, cast a targeted AoE (area of effect), cast an AoE around yourself, plant a "mine" of sorts that triggers when an enemy hits it, etc. Some of these were, of course, present in previous games, but not nearly as varied in this regard.

For TESVI, I'd want to see a list like this. This is mostly for Destruction magic, but almost all of it would apply to the other schools of magic as well:
-Self:: Self-explanatory
-Touch: For those enemies right in front of you
-Short distance "touch": Operates like a touch spell, but for enemies that are a little bit too far away from you; for those who have played ESO, think of something like the Flame Lash ability for Dragonknights
-Long distance "touch": Connects between you and the enemy but for distances that short distance spells can't reach
-Short distance projectiles: Self-explanatory, covers X meters/feet
-Long distance projectiles: Also self-explanatory, covers much more distance than the short distance counterpart
-Homing: Self-explanatory
-AoE: Can aim right at a target to cause a burst of damage than can also damage nearby enemies, or it can be aimed at the ground
-AoE on self: Self-explanatory; will not hurt you (at least if you are a competent spellcaster)
-Cloak: Operates like flame/frost/lightning cloaks in Skyrim
-Target through ground: Not sure how else to label this, but the only way I can think of to explain this is that a row of magical energy pulses through the ground in a straight line towards a target; for those who have played ESO, think of something similar to when trash mob spellcasters lay down balls of fire/frost/lightning on the ground and follows a straight line
-Chain: When you hit an enemy, these spells can reverberate from the targeted enemy to other enemies near them
-Proximity detonation: Places a "mine" on the ground that triggers when an enemy is within its radius

Obviously, the type of spell would inherently have varied impacts on damage and magicka cost for balance. Homing, for example, would generally be more costly since you don't have to worry about aiming. In-universe, it would require more concentration from the spellcaster.


Second up is perks. There's a lot you could do with this. Some ideas:
-Add secondary or tertiary effects to spells: Certain spells can have extra effects beyond the damage. For example, frost spells also decrease stamina in Skyrim, but here you could have to get the perk to add this secondary effect. Or we could keep the frost/stamina damage, lightning/magicka damage, and fire/extra health damage the same as it was in Skyrim and apply this to something else. Want to lob a fireball that also has a chance to stun or knockback or drain health? Get this perk and you can do it.
-Scale potency for spells with a specific level of difficulty: I think the biggest issue with Skyrim's magic is that spell damage does not increase the better you get at it. The damage always stays the same save for something like a destruction magic potion. This perk changes that. A Firebolt could start off at, say 15 damage per hit, but this perk makes it possible to go up to a maximum of, say, 25 damage per hit. For something like spell armor such as Oakflesh, the armor value can scale from 40 points at the beginning to a maximum of 60 points for armor value. OR the potency of spells is more likely to higher with this perk. Alternatively, the potency of spells could just naturally increase the better you get at the respective school of magic.
-Random chance to have reduced cost/no cost spells: In a fight with low magicka and you need just one more hit to kill the enemy before they kill you? This perk may save your life by letting you get that last spell off with less to no cost to magicka.
-Reduced cost for self-made spells: Self-explanatory; can be monetary or magicka cost
-Leech upon enemy death: Killing your target has a chance to give you back extra health/magicka/stamina


Thoughts?

I wouldn't mind seeing this applied to every spell attempted over one's level. Take away the level requirement for casting high level spells and apply an adverse reaction for attempting and failing spells beyond one's level.


This is a good thought, though I would limit it to spells that you create and personally name. My thinking is that when you create a spell you inherently tied it to your will. Subsequently as you gain level providing we don't get attributes, as you level up your personal spells will increase with you. The generic spells being taught by rote I would leave as is.

Or maybe do it like Morrowind and have the spell outright fail.

I'm not sure I want to see it for every spell, but I think for ones that are super-powerful and significantly beyond your level (like, I don't know, maybe 25 levels) this would work fine.




I see where you are coming from, and to an extent I agree. I still think there should be some scaling for pre-made spells, but perhaps ones you make have greater potential for level-scaling.

And since you bring it up, I want a clear discrepancy in the power of pre-made spells compared to what you can make in the beginning of the game. Same thing with pre-made weapons and armor and ones you craft. You're still wet behind the ears, so spells already made by more seasoned mages are going to be better. When you become the supremely powerful Hero you are meant to be, it's then the completely opposite way where what you make dwarfs what other mages can make in potency.




I'm personally not keen on how Morrowind did that (although a lot of that comes from the irritatingly slow wind-up you have to do for every spell that doesn't come from a scroll, so it might work out better with a system like Skyrim's). Maybe for the absolute most powerful spells or those that are considerably beyond your level, but I don't want to see it become a regular occurrence for spells at your level or only somewhat above it.

However, I do support having a more modernized "fail" state. Instead of it just not casting, I'd like the damage to be seriously mitigated and possibly even hurting yourself because the spell is way too strong for you. And/or it could cost extra magicka because you don't know how to efficiently cast it yet. (And in this way, we can bring back some more variety to spells like Sound from Morrowind). You wouldn't completely fail casting the spell because there is still an effect, but it could be more than you bargained for.

Rader: I agree about Skyrim's spells. I like the fact that lightning moves at light speed, fire is slower, and cold the slowest. And each effect has its own unique look onscreen.

And also all those options for spellmaking would be fun. I really don't have any strong opinions, because I also did not really use spellmaking in Oblivion, but in Morrowind getting custom spells made is just about mandatory to custom-tailor spells for those who use them.

I'm lurking this thread mostly. I know I get too overexcited about stuff. Sorry if I annoy you folks in the process!