Bethesda has made it clear thatThe Elder Scrolls 6is still a few years away and the company is not actively pursuing it at this time. When they do come around to finally working on the product they’re going to be facing the uphill battle of delivering to a customer base coming off ofSkyrimand hyped for what might be possible.
RELATED:The Best & Worst Things To Happen To The Elder Scrolls Franchise In The Last 10 Years
The smartest thing Bethesda can do is pay attention to what worked for them in the past and re implement some of those things in their upcoming game. Obviously they’ll want to reintroduce new features, but here are some things from the more popular games in the franchise they should consider using.
10Morrowind: Unique Scenery
Morrowindstood out in the franchise for having one of the most unique worlds for players to explore. From the desolate and eerie Ashlands to the Ascadian Isles with lush greenery and tall mushrooms there were some interesting places to see.
Even the architecture was fascinating with the clustered fortresses in Vivec City complete with floating moonlet, the mushroom towers of Telvanni wizards in Sadrith Mora, and the citizens living in large bug shells in Ald’Ruhn. Having similarly alien and interesting places to explore inElder Scrolls 6would be huge.
9Daggerfall: Size
Because of procedural generationDaggerfallis the second largestElder Scrollsgame ever made withArenabeing the largest. The later games adopted a more handcrafted approach and the sizes oftheir mapsbecame smaller as a result.
Elder Scrolls 6could take a page out ofDaggerfalland make parts of the map procedurally generated. Keep the main hubs such as cities in set locations and handcrafted but make everything outside of them procedurally generated to give the game a much larger space to explore.
8Morrowind: Independence
A major feature players liked aboutMorrowindis that it didn’t hold your hand and gave you free reign to do whatever you wanted. There’s wasn’t a pseudo-linear design to keep the players engaged and on task, it was an open sandbox with vague notions of what you could do and the space to do it.
Being tossed into the world with only a vague idea of what your intended to do fosters creative play and frees the player to try new things. With no real pressure to do anything the player would then be free to do whatever they wanted rather than following a set of directions that stifles creativity and exploration.
7Daggerfall: Spell Crafting
A feature that was incredibly fun for many players was the custom spells you could create inDaggerfall. The magic system has seen many changes over the years that have been both good and bad. The good is that there are new spells to be used, such as the entire school of Conjuration. But the bad is that the ability to create customs spells has all but disappeared.
RELATED:The Elder Scrolls: 5 Things Morrowind Does Better Than Skyrim (& 5 Ways Skyrim Is Better)
Granted this was to keep the game balanced and prevent the player from becoming over powered, but forDaggerfallhalf the fun was finding ways to break the game or accomplish unique things. Brining back that customization would be a major improvement for the series as a whole.
6Morrowind: Promote Exploration
Your primary goal inMorrowindwas to become the Nerevarine, to do this you needed to gain favor with the people and various factions, obtain powerful artifacts, and level up your character. This meant that any activity you pursued in the game was thematically part of you becoming the Nerevarine. The first thing the Main quest had you do after finding your Blades contact was to go out and get experience.
Having a main quest that promotes exploration would be a nice change of pace forElder Scrolls 6.Instead of feeling weird for taking time with some silly side quests while the world is ending those side quests could be important, thematically not literally, to completing the main quest.
5Daggerfall: Side Activities
As long as the main quest is asking you to go out and exploreDaggerfallgives a perfect example of the various things you could do. Sure there’s the standard side quests, dungeons, and other experiences found in every game. ButDaggerfallhad a whole host of activities.
You could buy a ship and fight pirates on the high seas, you could obtain a loan from the bank and purchase a home, you could become a knight, join one of 22 different factions, and a host of other secrets to uncover and rabbit holes to dive into.
4Morrowind: Complex Story
Morrowindwas a game with a truly deep and thought provoking story. The main quest set you up to be the hero reborn to overthrow the false gods and bring peace to the land, but not once was it ever confirmed that you were in fact this individual.
RELATED:10 Video Game Worlds Bigger Than The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
You talked the talk and walked the walk to meet the various criteria, but there was zero concrete evidence you were in fact Nerevarine reborn. You even had the option to admit as much when the villain asks you at the end of the story. This permits a ton of freedom to be whatever you want to be. A genuine good guy, a villain posing as the hero, or a something in between, it all fits and feeds into the complex narrative.
3Daggerfall: Roleplaying
Taking a page fromDaggerfallcould extend this one step further with genuine options for roleplaying. Thanks to the abundance of skills andtraitsyou could pick in character creation you could be whatever you want.
You could be a powerful knight, peaceful peasant, or a mage who could talk to dragons using Dragonling. You could even choose traits that placed limitations such as the inability to wear heavy armor. This optional form of character creation could be a lot of fun inElder Scrolls 6.
2Morrowind: Backdoor Path
Perhaps one of the best features ofMorrowindthat Bethesda should adopt is the backdoor method of beating the game. With this game players’ had the ability to kill off main characters and effectively close off the main quest line forever.
But you could still beat the game by pursuing the secret quest that gave you the tools necessary to still kill Dagoth Ur without going through the tedious process of proving you were the Nerevarine. It’s annoying to have characters who are invincible for plot reasons or forced restarts if you fail a particular quest, which makes this mechanic very desirable for the new game.
1Daggerfall: Procedural Generation
It was mentioned earlier, but it bears repeating that if done correctly procedural generation could be a real game changer for the franchise. Having the world, individual dungeons, and other aspects of the game be procedurally generated would create a new experience every time you play through the game.
The problem with games likeMorrowind, Skyrim,orOblivionis that once you know where the best sword is or where the next quest point is located you may breeze through the game and you lose that sense of wonder that comes from exploring. But if large portions of the game were randomized to some degree it would be a fresh experience every time.
NEXT:The Elder Scrolls 6: 5 Features We Want To See From Other TES (& 5 We Don’t)
