The Elder Scrolls

[Bob Barbas]

Tbh always felt Oblivion was the perfect medium between Morrowind and Skyrim where things were streamlined but not so streamlined that it ruined the experience like in Skyrim.
Like with just a couple of mods to address the more glaring issues with its systems Oblivion is honestly kind of neat.

Like for instance one thing I sorely fucking missed in Skyrim was being able to still use magic with items equipped instead of having to sacrifice a weapon slot just to cast a quick heal spell on myself or something.
Or shit like agility, being able to increase your run speed and jump height or stamina actually having a fucking purpose beyond just sprinting and power attacking, ect.

Man, looking back Skyrim is way more confusing than I remember in terms of design choices.

 

[Mr Bunny]

Combat was better in Oblivion. Both light & heavy attack cost stamina, jump attacks, underwater attacks, fling out a quick spell of destruction or healing & you could even dodge.

Archery wasn't as engaging, the stagger/recoil animations could have been sped up a tad bit to maintain the fast pace action & level scaling was it's weakest point but the actual melee combat mechanics was better overall and offered more to the player.

 

[GratsTheat783]

One criticism Zaric Zhakson made of the games was of the Dragon Breaks (for those unaware, Akatosh, God of Time, rests and every possible timeline occurs, before becoming crammed into a single timeline once he resumes, creating a mess of events. TES II Daggerfall is confirmed to take place during one as all endings are considered canon and some players think every game takes place during one to account for the different choices the player can take), calling them "lazy writing". He believes it's done to avoid outraging players who would feel their playthrough was invalidated by them making non-canon choices, but doesn't work out very well for the story. Would you agree with that?

Do you believe each MC became the leader of every guild in each game? I always had the headcanon that the events in each guild occur, though aren't necessarily done by the same person.

 

[Übertroon]

He believes it's done to avoid outraging players who would feel their playthrough was invalidated by them making non-canon choices, but doesn't work out very well for the story. Would you agree with that?

Making specific choices canon is gay.
It's only acceptable if the player gets to choose what is canon like in Kotor 2.
Just going, "fuck you, the last hero was a woman named Glurb Shitto, and she loved munching carpet" is bullshit every time it occurs

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

One criticism Zaric Zhakson made of the games was of the Dragon Breaks (for those unaware, Akatosh, God of Time, rests and every possible timeline occurs, before becoming crammed into a single timeline once he resumes, creating a mess of events. TES II Daggerfall is confirmed to take place during one as all endings are considered canon and some players think every game takes place during one to account for the different choices the player can take), calling them "lazy writing". He believes it's done to avoid outraging players who would feel their playthrough was invalidated by them making non-canon choices, but doesn't work out very well for the story. Would you agree with that?

Well, Fallout had some canon choices between 1 and 2.
I believe more than "lazy writing" is just "justify all the endings in one single movement".
You have the Underking dead, the apoesthosis of Mannimarco, all the provinces in 3 major kingdoms and the loyalty of the Empire, the resurgence of Orsinium and so many on.
It's interesting.

Do you believe each MC became the leader of every guild in each game? I always had the headcanon that the events in each guild occur, though aren't necessarily done by the same person.

But that's the canon.
Sheorogath in Skyrim comments about the thieves guild, the dark brotherhood, the entire Oblivion main quest and Shivering Isles, assuming is the same MC from Oblivion.
The guild events are canon. The leaders of them are not.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

Making specific choices canon is gay.
It's only acceptable if the player gets to choose what is canon like in Kotor 2.
Just going, "fuck you, the last hero was a woman named Glurb Shitto, and she loved munching carpet" is bullshit every time it occurs

I agree with the sentiment, but on the other hand I don't see another way. If you just ignore the events of the previous game or say "something big happened and neither side won," it's going to invalidate player choices just as much. It seems like an unwinnable situation for the writers to me.

 

[Caddo Cobgang]

Tbh always felt Oblivion was the perfect medium between Morrowind and Skyrim where things were streamlined but not so streamlined that it ruined the experience like in Skyrim.
Like with just a couple of mods to address the more glaring issues with its systems Oblivion is honestly kind of neat.

Like for instance one thing I sorely fucking missed in Skyrim was being able to still use magic with items equipped instead of having to sacrifice a weapon slot just to cast a quick heal spell on myself or something.
Or shit like agility, being able to increase your run speed and jump height or stamina actually having a fucking purpose beyond just sprinting and power attacking, ect.

Man, looking back Skyrim is way more confusing than I remember in terms of design choices.

agree, the recipe Bethesda should go with for the most part with TES VI gameplay wise with some exceptions is Oblivion, aside from things leveling and questing Oblivion had some real quality to it.

 

[God of Nothing]

One criticism Zaric Zhakson made of the games was of the Dragon Breaks (for those unaware, Akatosh, God of Time, rests and every possible timeline occurs, before becoming crammed into a single timeline once he resumes, creating a mess of events. TES II Daggerfall is confirmed to take place during one as all endings are considered canon and some players think every game takes place during one to account for the different choices the player can take), calling them "lazy writing". He believes it's done to avoid outraging players who would feel their playthrough was invalidated by them making non-canon choices, but doesn't work out very well for the story. Would you agree with that?

Do you believe each MC became the leader of every guild in each game? I always had the headcanon that the events in each guild occur, though aren't necessarily done by the same person.

Dragon Breaks were some insane lore fuckery to justify Morrowind originally.And I love them.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

Tbh always felt Oblivion was the perfect medium between Morrowind and Skyrim where things were streamlined but not so streamlined that it ruined the experience like in Skyrim.
Like with just a couple of mods to address the more glaring issues with its systems Oblivion is honestly kind of neat.

Like for instance one thing I sorely fucking missed in Skyrim was being able to still use magic with items equipped instead of having to sacrifice a weapon slot just to cast a quick heal spell on myself or something.
Or shit like agility, being able to increase your run speed and jump height or stamina actually having a fucking purpose beyond just sprinting and power attacking, ect.

Man, looking back Skyrim is way more confusing than I remember in terms of design choices.

The only thing i liked from Skyrim was the crits from swords.
More than that, it was a huge downgrade: no movement speed, no higher jumps, no spell custom.

 

[Super Hans v2]

One criticism Zaric Zhakson made of the games was of the Dragon Breaks (for those unaware, Akatosh, God of Time, rests and every possible timeline occurs, before becoming crammed into a single timeline once he resumes, creating a mess of events. TES II Daggerfall is confirmed to take place during one as all endings are considered canon and some players think every game takes place during one to account for the different choices the player can take), calling them "lazy writing". He believes it's done to avoid outraging players who would feel their playthrough was invalidated by them making non-canon choices, but doesn't work out very well for the story. Would you agree with that?

Do you believe each MC became the leader of every guild in each game? I always had the headcanon that the events in each guild occur, though aren't necessarily done by the same person.

I think the dragon break was a creative way to keep every player happy, not invalidating the choices they made in Daggerfall. The problem with Bethesda is that the do this every game. Dragon break in Morrowind. Then Vivec CHIM'd so hard he disappeared and MoT destroyed Vvardenfell. Then a 200 year gap and a couple massive wars that destroyed Cyrodil. TES6 is obviously going to have a set of events happen that will make everything in Skyrim not matter either.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

I think the dragon break was a creative way to keep every player happy, not invalidating the choices they made in Daggerfall. The problem with Bethesda is that the do this every game. Dragon break in Morrowind. Then Vivec CHIM'd so hard he disappeared and MoT destroyed Vvardenfell. Then a 200 year gap and a couple massive wars that destroyed Cyrodil. TES6 is obviously going to have a set of events happen that will make everything in Skyrim not matter either.

The only one thing which gonna make it no matter what is The Last Dragonborn appearing in some sidequest from Herma Mora.

 

[Bob Barbas]

The only one thing which gonna make it no matter what is The Last Dragonborn appearing in some sidequest from Herma Mora.

Maybe, who knows. I mean we know the Nerevarine is still alive and out there somewhere since they're mentioned very briefly in Oblivion but we only get hushed whispers of what happened to them after the events of the game.
Might get something similar with the Dragonborn.

But that's me being
If anything they're just going to do what they always do and say "uhh, dragonbreak! Everything happened!" again.
Tbh, making the Hero of Kvatch, the new Sheogorath was one of the few actually genius instances of them doing this because think about it... not only did Oblivion take place 200 years ago but they're fucking Sheogorath now, you can't trust anything he says or does. He's the most unreliable of unreliable narrators just because he references quests and shit in Oblivion literally means nothing because he's a god of chaos, for all we know the fucker sees all timelines at all times. (Might explain why he's so crazy) so it's a genuine 50/50 whether anything he says is true or just some shit he made up.

It's honestly genius, it even handwaves away the gender or species debate because he's literally a shapeshifting god of chaos, motherfucker can be whatever he wants.

 

[Super Hans v2]

If anything they're just going to do what they always do and say "uhh, dragonbreak! Everything happened!" again.

That's going to be one hell of an ass pull, making it simultaneously happen that Skyrim won it's freedom and Talos becomes patron god again and the Empire held it and continues to allow Thalmor anti-Talos death squads to freely operate.

 

[Agarathium1066]

That's going to be one hell of an ass pull, making it simultaneously happen that Skyrim won it's freedom and Talos becomes patron god again and the Empire held it and continues to allow Thalmor anti-Talos death squads to freely operate.

Never underestimate the power of Bethesda to make the most dogshit choices. They'll find a way.

 

[CryptoHermit]

That's going to be one hell of an ass pull, making it simultaneously happen that Skyrim won it's freedom and Talos becomes patron god again and the Empire held it and continues to allow Thalmor anti-Talos death squads to freely operate.

Ever heard of hypernormalisation? All of these can be simultaneously happening, it's just a coin flip on which ones are glow-ops or not.

The word hypernormalisation was coined by Alexei Yurchak, a professor of anthropology who was born in Leningrad and later went to teach at the University of California, Berkeley. He introduced the word in his book Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation (2006), which describes paradoxes of Soviet life during the 1970s and 1980s. He says everyone in the Soviet Union knew the system was failing, but no one could imagine any alternative to the status quo, and politicians and citizens alike were resigned to maintaining the pretense of a functioning society. Over time, the mass delusion became a self-fulfilling prophecy, with everyone accepting it as the new norm rather than pretend, an effect Yurchak termed hypernormalisation.

 

[Caddo Cobgang]

That's going to be one hell of an ass pull, making it simultaneously happen that Skyrim won it's freedom and Talos becomes patron god again and the Empire held it and continues to allow Thalmor anti-Talos death squads to freely operate.

might as well just go with the Dragonborn canonically stayed neutral and the Civil Wars result regardless isn't mentioned in 6, it really shouldnt matter that much if they pull a Daggerfall then Todd Howard is the biggest fucking Nigger imaginable

 

[Love Is Blue]

Anyone got predictions for TES6?

it's gonna be shit

 

[Chieftain Coke Peanut]

I have a feeling that if they make an actual decision on who wins the civil war, they'll pick the Stormcloaks since it has more narrative potential.

It sets up a few things. First is that High Rock is completely isolated from the rest of the Empire. Will they even want to stay in the Empire at that point?

That could spell the end of the empire right there. Are you really an empire if you control just your homeland? I think Bethesda is going to go with the empire dying. After all an aspect of Talos told us it was time for that back in Morrowind. And what was the point of the lore of the Great War if it doesn't set up the fall of the former sole super power of Tamriel?

It would be a retcon and a little bit fanfictiony but I could see Bethesda making Ulfric popularize the voice as an offensive tool again. A resurgent and independent Skyrim with a school to train people how to shout down walls would be a potent asset indeed.

TES6 is almost assuredly going to focus on resisting the Thalmor in Hammerfell, and if Skyrim becomes independent they've basically pulled the same trick as the Redguards. The Empire won't do anything about the Thalmor, so the Redguards/Nords step up, sweep the floor, and gain independence.

Granted I think the most likely decision is going to be a wishy washy middle ground where the war is destructive, but the empire eventually gains control of Skyrim at the cost of concessions to the Nords. Maybe allowing worship of Talos to keep the Nords in line is the spark that ignites round 2.

 

[Übertroon]

There's loads of interesting ways to revolve the lore question, but the most boring ones will be to just state that one side outright won.

For example the whole question will be easily sidelined by just having the empire collapse within a 40 year gap between TESV and TESVI.
The Dominion strikes at the Nibenay and the Gold Coast, the Empire defeating the Dominion near Anvil with the aid of Hamerfell, but half its legions lost in Blackwood and the region occupied by both Dominion and Argonian forces.
The tragedy emboldens factions discontenr with the White Gold tower, and Colovia declares independence and itself as the rigthful rulers of the Empire, Nibenay having no troops to oppose the rebels.

Before the Dominion can take advantage a cult of Daedra worshippers in the region bordering Cyrodil, Morrowind, and Skyrim rally support from the ailing populations from the three hardest struck provinces in recent history. A new Imperial Cult is born, one having replaced worship of the divines with that of the Daedra princes. The cult inflames imperial ambitions and revanchist attitudds among its followers, and having suplanted, infiltrated, or overthrown regional government begins a campaign to conquer lands from Argonia for the Dunmer, Colovia for the Imperials, and the border of High Rock and Hammerfell for the Nords.

Kind of like New Vegas then you have three factions vying for power in TESVI as Hammerfell attempts to assert independence while having the Mer supremacy Dominion pushing it from one end, and a host of daedra and legions from the New Empire pushing it from the other.

Took like 5 minutes to think up, completely sidesteps any issue about the canonical state of Skyrim while creating a interesting conflict for TESVI. Perhaps better to have a outcome that doesn't completely invalidate the civil war, but it isn't the first time. Like for example blowing up Vardenfell between Oblivion and Skyrim.

 

[Super Hans v2]

I can understand the want to make a good between-game scenario that allows Bethesda to sidestep the choices in Skyrim, but with the only notable people left at BGS being Todd and his pet retahd, the latter being the writer, it's only setting yourself for disappoint to expect anything but the worst. So, I think we should think of things that a retard whose so far up his own ass he can see daylight would sound Very Deep and Smart.

The decision-scenarios that I think BGS would have to address would be 1) the Civil War, 2) the Dark Brotherhood, and 3) Paarthunax. There's others, but Daedric artifacts don't matter since they're just partial aspects of the Lords that can be popped in and out of existence at will, nobody gives a shit about a tree, and the vampire/Dawnguard war didn't matter for a thousand years until it did, and it'll continue to not matter.

So, incorporating what @Chieftain Coke Peanut said about maybe The Voice becoming a popular fighting technique again after Ulfric and more significantly the Dragonborn proved its usefulness and Bethesda's love of fuzzy history and unreliable narrators, TES6 will be after a Dragon-Man/Mer war, a couple decades after Skyrim. The dragons are the aggressors, but only after warning again and again about the blasphemous use of the Voice. Paarthunax dies at an indescript time. The war was so devastating that both the Stormcloaks and Imperials are not the ruler, a third party in a king of the ashes scenario is. The time skip will be large enough to have Titus Mede II be dead for an indescript reason.

And also expect Emil to make very light of mental illness and moral inner battles by claiming he almost became schizophrenic and lost and gained his faith a dozen times during the writing, probably because of hackneyed analogies to Trump, Israel/Palestine, and capital r Racism.