The Elder Scrolls VI

I always wait and see anyway, but yeah I might just wait for the inevitable GOTY edition.

I'm still waiting for ES VI to be a virtual machine that just runs ES V... or your intro to the game leads you through to Hammerfell where you trip, knock your head and wake up in the back OF THAT GOD DAMN WAGON.

It occurs to me that Daggerfall is the only mainline Elder Scrolls game where you don't start the game as a prisoner.

Arena: You're thrown into the dungeons by Jagar Tharn.

Morrowind: You start out as a prisoner before being released and shipped off to Morrowind.

Oblivion: You start out in a prison cell next to one of the biggest jerks in the series.

Skyrim: You're a prisoner being taken to the chopping block.

I wonder how VI will top this. Maybe we actually get executed this time only to mysteriously be revived in the opening.

Edited by M84 on Jun 11th 2019 at 6:51:00 PM

ESO already did that.

I avoided that game like the plague, so I didn't know that.

And in my defense, I was specifically talking about mainline games — I don't consider ESO to be one of those games.

Edited by M84 on Jun 11th 2019 at 7:33:41 PM

Who you get to assassinate for a quest.

In the next game your Player Character will be the one cutting heads off at the beginning

Hear me out here. We get executed. We get revived.

Then we get executed again.

Bethesda, I am available as a writer.

Considering that the motif and concept of "The Prisoner" is a major part of the series' more esoteric "deeplore" as I call it, we'll probably be a prisoner of some sort again, yeah.

Also you are technically a prisoner in Daggerfall if you stretch the interpretation, since the intro has you attending a secret meeting in the dungeons and the game proper starts with you "imprisoned" in a cave after a shipwreck, "guarded" by hostile wildlife and some bandits using it as a hideout.

Edited by Dirtyblue929 on Jun 12th 2019 at 9:59:42 AM

Plot twist, ESIV starts with you being the jailer.

I actually want something like that. You open ESIV in a cell. You can walk around, examine stuff, etc. There are possible escape ideas like a crack in the wall you can click on, but every time you find one, the game gives you a blurb about how it would be impossible to actually use that as an option.

Then, after a minute or two have passed, the guards come down and approach the bars. A conversation window opens up.

• Guard: You've been down here for three hours now, Captain. How is it looking?
  • "The cell is very secure. You'll be receiving full marks on the inspection report."
  • "The state of the cell leaves much to be desired, but at least nobody will be escaping."
  • "I'm not entirely convinced, but I couldn't find any immediate problems."

I had an idea that probably won't happen where you start the game as a PoW of the Thalmor, and your interrogation lets you choose the outcome of the civil war in Skyrim.

I'm expecting VI to be about the Thalmor. It might not be, but the Thalmor Empire consists of Summerset Isles, Valenwood and Elsweyr, all locations not explored since Arena, Elder Scrolls Online notwithstanding.

I am curious how they'll address the Skyrim Civil War. Giving you an option at the start of the game to decide what the outcome was seems likely. Also likely is that they might just not bring it up. Anything would be better than the way they adapted the ending to Daggerfall.

Given how they like to jump about with the timeline they'll probably set it long before the civil war

All the mainline games have gone in chronological order. The spin-offs have been set all over the place, but we've yet to have a mainline game set before the one that preceded it. I mean, it's not impossible that VI will be set before the Civil War, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Has there been any news?

At least an estimate for release? Any offers to beta test?

Nothing, as far as I know. Bethesda has been busy with Fallout 76, Elder Scrolls Blades, and presumably Starfield.

I wouldn't expect anything like a beta test for another year or so, honestly. Even trailers are probably something for next year.

At best, concept art during E3.

Starfield better be phenomenal.

I wouldn't expect much. Not only because things have been, let's say, complicated for Bethesda recently, but because Starfield will inevitably be compared to Outer Worlds, and honestly, I wouldn't want to go up against that game.

Outer worlds has been amazing but it also shows some strange weaknesses. I fully expect the sequel to be immensely superior now that the developers have had some experience with Unreal.

I still have some hope left for VI (Online and Blades notwithstanding). The Elder Scrolls IP is Bethesda's baby. They know that if they fuck this up they're done. It's like how Square made an effort to fix FF XIV to keep the FF brand from being ruined forever (it couldn't survive the double whammy of the FF XIII games being underwhelming and original FF XIV's shitshow).

Also, concerning that pondering of how the opening of VI will top other entries that was started a while back...I'm thinking VI will start with you being a prisoner that is being "interrogated". And by "interrogated" I mean "violently tortured". The customization process will be framed as your interrogator confirming info about you...except when you try to enter your own name, the interrogator stops you and says that you don't have a name anymore. You Are Number 6.

You only get to enter your name after the tutorial section when you escape.

And yes, one of the dialogue options will be a paraphrasing of this line:

"I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own!"

Edited by M84 on Oct 28th 2019 at 9:39:34 PM

I'd love to be proven wrong, but I really don't think we'll get any news, let alone any substantial news, until Starfield is either out or at least is close to being out. As is, we still don't really have any information on that game. I think they said a while ago that the game's in a playable state, but that's about it. I remember Fallout 4 was announced relatively close to release, so we could see something similar with Starfield once its release nears, but I don't know.

Honestly, I know the comparisons are kind of inevitable, but I do think Outer Worlds is pretty distinct from Bethesda's other, non-Fallout works. The Outer Worlds has an exploratory side, but it's not a full go-anywhere-anytime open-world game, and there's a bigger focus on solving quests in different ways than there is in Skyrim or the like. But then, I can't rightly claim I know what Starfield will look like. Hell, I believe they've said it's an RPG but I don't actually know if Starfield is open-world, or is open-world in the same sense as other Beth games.

For what it's worth, the PlayStation 5 should be releasing sometime during the end of 2020, and I think that means it's slightly more likely we'll hear something about Starfield, which in turn means we might start hearing more about TES down-the-line. But I think it'll be a long wait regardless.

Some new info.

The Elder Scrolls 6 is already playable in ‘early builds’ reveals Bethesda.