You, you're finally awake - How to make The Elder Scrolls 6 great
A legacy of exploration should be augmented with more role-playing.
Core ideas
TES 6 must readopt its predecessors’ love for exploration.
TES 6 should use greater differences between playstyles, races, classes.
The hero should not be boxed into the role of savior.
Quests should offer multiple choices, potential multiple endings.
The hero should be subject to a basic reputation system. Reputation should affect guilds, locations, quests, people, progression.
The main story should branch based on choice.
The combat should take inspiration from modern action games for better feedback.
The writing should be naturalist, not sound completely like dialogue in our world.
Dungeons should not all be linear.
You, you're finally awake. Elsweyr, in a distant land, awaits a wonderful role-playing adventure.
This world stands on intriguing history, extensive mythology, a place where god-like entities mingle in mortal lives, for better or worse.
Its charms are endless - even when you have achieved so much, it feels natural to repeat the adventure, perhaps being the same brave hero or a malevolent assassin.
This could be The Elder Scrolls 6.
The charms of The Elder Scrolls
The charm of The Elder Scrolls is unbridled exploration.
There is nothing else like TES, nothing to rival its sense of exploration and desire to live in its world.
For TES 6 to be great, it must adopt its forefathers’ relentless instinct for exploration.
In abstract, the elements of great exploration are:
The open-world brimming with locations
A diversity of biomes
Interesting quests to provide characterization for the world
Guiding the player through the world with interesting landmarks
Minimal hand holding
Regardless of one's opinion of TES, since Morrowind, Bethesda games have consistently achieved most requirements for great trekking. Faulty their their writing or gameplay may be - TES and Fallout are mainstream classics thanks to the relentless pursuit of excellent open-world exploration.
Greater differences between play-styles
Post Morrowind Bethesda games tend to limit player personality.
Most players soon become the same character, often using the same abilities in similar ways.
Linear quests compound the issue by limiting choice, forcing everyone into the same role.
To improve:
Create greater differences between races: strengths, weaknesses, stats, abilities, traits.
Differences between races should matter during the game, and potentially diminish during the late-game.
Make more play-styles viable - let heroes complete quests in multiple ways, depending on their skills.
Make virtually-useless skills - like speech, pickpocketing, alchemy - more useful. Give players advantages and disadvantages in quests, combat and dialogue based on skill progression.
Mix a basic skill and reputation system, for different heroes to be accepted or denied in guilds, factions and cities.
Make skills and spells more useful early on. If a skill or spell is not useful in the early game, most players will ignore it going forward.
Clearer differences between races and skills allow heroes to specialize. Good specialization allows everyone to adventure at their own pace, and complete tasks in multiple ways.
Don't box the player into the role of savior
Stories use the cliche of the chosen one because it provides a clear reason to care about the world. Story-wise, the chosen one gives urgency to the story and a purpose to enjoy the main quest.
The role of savior limits role-playing in three ways:
In forces everyone into a set role.
Its urgency works against the freedom of exploration.
It makes the world revolve around the protagonist.
If TES 6 continues the tradition of the chosen, it should take inspiration from Morrowind and Oblivion.
In Morrowind, the protagonist is the chosen one, but his or her story is treated more gently, more relaxed. The hero has ample time to explore and not hurry along to postpone the apocalypse.
The story does gain urgency eventually, more naturally - the player's need to explore does not immediately fight the hero's job in saving the world.
Oblivion provides my preferred way of treating the theme of the chosen. Here, the protagonist is a hero, but not the ultimate savior.
The hero adventures across the world, accomplishes amazing feats, grows in power, but is not the supreme being to defeat the great evil.
A more relaxed main story with choice
Following from above, the main story could begin in a more relaxed manner, to let the hero explore and avoid the pressure of saving the world.
Morrowind may provide inspiration again. Though the main story will likely deal with saving the realm, the beginning hours should be more relaxed.
Otherwise, the shadow of narrative dissonance will fall upon exploration, breaking immersion and naturalism.
Multiple solutions, multiple endings
Bethesda games have rarely been consistent with complex quests.
Their only RPG - until Starfield - which tried to integrate multiple solutions as a core feature was Fallout 3. Even so, Fallout 3 stumbles in the end because of its creators' need to tell a particular story and make the hero partial to sacrifice.
Quests provide the means to know the world and its people in more detail, more intimately.
RPG series cannot survive without hefty worldbuilding.
Gameplay and exploration can be dull without lore and quests to give the world meaning.
The Elder Scrolls has some of the most expansive and intriguing lore in gaming. Now the lore should support and be supported by quests which offer multiple solutions and perhaps multiple endings.
Linear quests do not properly support an RPG because they limits the hero’s means to tell personal stories.
Boxing everyone into the same role turns heroes into copycats, an issue compounded by always having to be the savior of the realm.
Linear quests and tasks have their place, but as exception to choice and reactivity. They may be used to spice up the world and gameplay, but not to limit the hero into the same playstyle.
To improve quest design:
Let players solve quests in multiple way.
Use skills, items or dialogue only for extra options. Let players have advantages or disadvantages depending on skill progression.
Let players fail quests and continue the story.
Use different patterns for quests: linear, multiple choice, branching, multiple endings, leading to another quest, time-limited, skill-based, possibility for failure etc.
Introduce one different ending for each major choice.
Randomized design, procedural generation and AI quest creation may be used to different degrees. But the core principle should remain human-crafted custom-made quests. The three principles should be used to increase complexity and quantity, only to augment human-designed content.
The same principle supports the main story. Let players accomplish or bypass goals through different means, adjust endings based on major choices.
Considering the history of Bethesda, TES 6 will likely deal with another set ending, but this quirk should not affect individual quests.
Tactical combat
Combat in an RPG would be less relevant if not for TES being action-focused.
Combat in TES has improved gradually, with more dynamic movement, and heavier, punchier tactile feedback. Oblivion and Skyrim increased impact when engaging enemies, but combat remains dull because of lack of agile movement.
As always, to improve combat, take inspiration from modern action games:
Different weapons are better or worse depending on the enemy. Some are ineffective against heavy armor and magic protection.
Use stagger states after impact.
Different types of enemies should have different strengths and weaknesses.
Most enemies will not level with the player.
Enemies which level will have thresholds, to support the hero's sense of progression.
A basic reputation across the world
For the world to feel alive, it must react to our actions.
A world which does not react is more of a theme-park built for the player's enjoyment.
The design fits some games, but RPGs need by necessity include simulation aspects for a lively world, one that may exist without the hero.
For guilds and factions to make sense, they cannot accept anyone the moment they meet them. Factions should have requirements based on skill or the way the hero has dealt with other factions, characters, quests.
The player should be banned from factions when the situation makes sense. Re-entry should be permitted in some cases, if the offense is not grave. Guild and faction access may depend on the hero’s reputation with a competitor.
Examples of games which make factions into core gameplay are:
Fallout New Vegas. Major and minor factions, interacting or fighting for the same location. When the protagonist gains a high reputation with a faction, others may become hostile.
Piranha Bytes games make joining factions their own goals. Faction interaction is often strong and supportive of multiple runs, but the writing often lacks the strength for complex politics.
Simplify where it makes sense
But no more.
RPGs may be simple or complex, devoid of skills and choices, focused on combat or sim gameplay.
As universal rule, we need brevity to focus on consequential design, to discard superfluous or incomplete mechanics. For RPGs, brevity works in short bursts, because we risk removing too many role-playing elements, choice and reactivity.
TES is known for its focus on exploration and simulation features, less for choice and reactivity (though Skyrim has improved world reactivity considerably).
In the name of simplicity, Skyrim made changes which limit role-playing:
The differences between races are virtually non-existent.
The guilds will accept anyone, regardless of skill.
Spell creation does not exist because the designers could not balance it against powerful spells.
Choice in the main quest is inconsequential.
Some skills are virtually useless or underdeveloped, like Speech and Pickpocket
TES 6 should avoid simplification for its own sake and use brevity of design to augment its RPG complexity.
Mechanics and abilities should only be removed or simplified if their current state is incomplete or useless.
The focus must be on redesigning a more complex RPG, not on feature removal.
Examples:
Races should have clear differences between them, for different play-styles. The differences may be reduced during the late-game, or through powerful perks.
Guilds and factions should be selective. Entry should be permitted based on skills, reputation, or quest choices.
Reintroduce spell creation. Balance it by adding negative effects on low magic skills, but make the spells effective. Introduce powerful spells the hero may not be able to create, balance them with counter mechanics.
Use choice and reactivity in the main story. If the quest remains linear, allow the hero to complete tasks in multiple ways.
Make all skills and play-styles viable. Make Speech options lead to different results and include combat advantages. Make Pickpocket useful to gain powerful items and complete quests. Make most skills usable in dialogue with clear advantages.
Good writing
Video games may be perfect with virtually no writing, as they rely first on gameplay. Even RPGs can eschew good writing by resorting to minimalist functional prose.
But expansive open-world games lack substance without good prose and worldbuilding. Bethesda games rarely excel at writing, the result of a lax attitude toward storytelling and choice.
TES 6 should focus on its heritage of exploration. To support overall depth, it should adapt to the new breed of RPGs like Cyberpunk and Baldur’s Gate which understand the importance of writing and storytelling, and how they sustain immersion.
In-world travel means
Opening the map and teleporting without any consequence is convenient but immersion-breaking. For immersion and convenience, we can combine in-world diegetic travel with interface teleportation.
TES 6 should follow Daggerfall and Morrowind, and combine their travel means for maximum trekking immersion: carriage or giant strider, ship, guild services, recall and location spells.
Add random encounters during fast travel. The encounter may stop the trek or play out as a choose-your-own-adventure based on player character.
Less linear dungeons
The model for linear dungeons was tested in Oblivion, popularized by Skyrim, and became a tedious staple in Fallout 4.
Basic usability - linear design allows heroes to move conveniently through dungeons, never lose their way and return to the beginning fast.
Basic design template - linear dungeons made of prefabs are faster to assemble. Depending on how many premade and custom parts we have, devs may fill a large map with dungeons, sometimes bland and repetitive.
The design is efficient for resource use and player convenience, but works against immersion and naturalism. With random and procedural generation, linear dungeons should not be the norm, but a layer of design supporting gameplay and quest diversity.
It makes sense for some dungeons to be linear. It also makes sense to encounter various types of design:
Single-room
Labyrinthine
Multiple entry and exit points
Dungeons which can be completed in various ways - stealth, magic, diplomacy, puzzle, non-combat means.
Dungeons where difficulty gradually decreases.
Dungeons with various puzzles, some easier to solve depending on skills and choices.
When designing dungeons, don't just think in terms of accessibility.
Combine accessibility with organic design, especially for naturally-created spaces.
Make dungeons with multiple entry points, labyrinthine hallways, multiple objectives, well-hidden secrets, multiple bosses, complex puzzles, spaces which can be accessed through different means etc.
Speculation: procedural generation
Two games point to TES 6 using procgen to augment its size: Daggerfall and Starfield.
Procedural generation in Starfield is a hit and miss, because it tried to supplement its 1000 “planets” with repeatable environs. If TES 6 does get us to Hammerfell, it may be a spiritual successor to Daggerfall, and use proc gen to enlarge the map.
Regardless of procedural and AI generation, TES 6 will reign over Starfield thanks to its uninterrupted map, devoid of loading screens between regions.
Looking back to move forward
TES 6 only need to understand its legacy to be the best iteration.
With care and attention to detail, Bethesda has all it needs to surpass every past TES adventure.
Make TES 6 a combination of the best Bethesda games:
Exploration has been the foundation which carried the series from the beginning.
Complex quest design has been done in Fallout 3, and to various degrees in all other games.
Instances of good writing are present in most games - the main quests in Oblivion and Skyrim, the Dark Brotherhood faction, and peppered throughout Morrowind and Fallout 3.
Looking back at Bethesda games, they've all done something that, combined, would result in a classic RPG.
And may the land of The Elder Scrolls suit you, and welcome you freely, outlander.