The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Andrew

Time to start the internet hype machine for the greatest RPG series ever devised by man.

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Also
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Apreche

Remind me again why people like this? You honestly could have showed me that official trailer and told me it was a parody of generic D&D fantasy crap, and I would have believed you.

Cremlian

Big open world to explore with non-linear questing and story stuff with lots of customization to your character (and how you deal with problems) as well as lots and lots of mods.

Andrew

The Elder Scrolls really pioneered the idea of an open world game. Not to mention that the lore behind the series is well developed and fascinating. It's also one of the few games which has first person action combat in an RPG anymore.

Rym

What percentage of the story consists of fetch quests?

Andrew

What percentage of the story consists of fetch quests?

If by fetch quest you mean gather X materials from slaying Y mobs, zero. However, there are a few quests in which you are required to enter some elaborate dungeon or area and retrieve some sort of artifact. Out of the entire game, it's a negligible amount though. The majority of the quests are unique and narratively compelling.

Jason

Aren't all video games fetch quests of one ilk or another? Our princess is in another castle...

Josh Bytes

I wouldn't consider saving the princesses a fetch quest. It's another type of quest of it's own. Now the quest that I find annoying are the escort quests. Mainly because the npc you have to escort is suicidal and bugged and will get stuck somewhere.

Clockian

I appreciate the Elder Scrolls Series for primarily the nostalgic feeling I receive while playing and the adventuring in the game. I have to say that the Elder Scrolls Series is so far nowhere close to being a true RPG like Burning Wheel, and is rather more like a Dungeons and Dragons 'fight the monster' game. However, they do have ton of background information and interesting circumstances, all of which is most exemplified in Elder Scrolls III- Morrowind, which had three major opposing native political factions with a foreign monarch with limited control over these factions and their territories. In addition to this, you could see that the world has a static economy, the land was diverse, the styles of the cities were varied upon the region you where in, and in addition to this, the game showed the problems of the society, which focused primarily on slavery.

Now, I can bitch all day on how Oblivion did not live up to my expectations, however, if Elder Scrolls V- Skyrim models itself after Elder Scrolls III- Morrowind and creates a more dynamic version of that world, like having a dynamic economy, hearing about events happening around you that are out of your control, yet at the same time affect you in some regard, and have a two-faced society, it would be the beginning of my idea of a perfect computer simulated role playing game. Of course, I would also like to participate in politics, have the ability to convince some people to follow you in some crazy idea, and anything else to get the series out of the rut of the 'fight the monster' game play that Oblivion created.

However, I have the creeping, chilled sensation upon the far reaches of my mind that warn me that the game will be another version of Oblivion.

Churba

I have to say that the Elder Scrolls Series is so far nowhere close to being a true RPG like Burning Wheel, and is rather more like a Dungeons and Dragons 'fight the monster' game.

PROTIP - No single player RPG is, because it's all but unworkable at this time. It's closer than it was, say, ten years ago, but it's still not a reasonable expectation.
Essentially, no Video game RPG is going to be the equivalent of a Pen and Paper RPG - Yes, Even D&D;, as long as you don't play it Scrym style, AKA, Like you're playing a spreadsheet - because a Pen and Paper RPG is only limited by the imagination of the players, whereas a Video game RPG has to work independently of someone coming up with all the game content on the fly, and dealing on the fly with all the weirdness your imagination can come up with.

DevilUknow

Every offline RPG I enjoy now are all Rogue-likes and I look forward to the day when they can approach the visual fidelity of something like Oblivion, or even Baulder's Gate.

My problem with games like Elderscrolls, or even Fallout, is that everything that happens (that isn't some random NPC with the same dialogue tree as every other NPC) was designed to happen (and things like economies don't really excit me, especially since money becomes worthless about 30% into any RPG). You can't actually "discover" anything that no-one else will see.

The dwarf fortress adventure mode, even with its punch you in the dick interface, constantly creates the illusion of stumbling onto something unique. For example, I've seen a quest to kill a Cyclopes named Nongnob who had killed 29 people in the village of Sharkcover, including the master of the League of Muscles, before being wounded and driven off. It turned out that the wound he received was a severed foot and when Nongnob was found he was just slipping in and out of consciousness so that all that needed to be done was to hit him in the head with a rock and drag his carcass back to town. None of those things, from the village to the quest to the League of Muscles to the anticlimactic encounter with Nongnob were put there intentionally by anyone but they were enough to seed the kind of unique story that probably won't happen in Skyrim. Also since the game is effing ruthless and there is the constant danger of being killed any victory feels like something you carved out of the world for yourself instead of an inevitability.

lackofcheese

That's why we need artificial intelligence, or ingenious large-scale ways to channel human intelligence into generating content.

DevilUknow

That's why we need artificial intelligence, or ingenious large-scale ways to channel human intelligence into generating content.

Mechanical Turks and micro-contracts.

lackofcheese

Hmm, you might be able to design a financially viable game on that kind of model. Still, it would be even better if you could get people to do it for free while playing the game.

Large scale player-controlled dynamics are one thing I'd like to see more of; that's why economic systems are typically the most interesting aspect of most MMOs to me.
The closest anyone has come to this sort of thing is probably EVE Online, but although the machinations of player corporations are cool, the game itself lacks appeal.

dsf

Elder Scrolls Games and the new Fallouts by extension are plagued by horrible glitches and bad AI systems because their basic engines are usually unsound. Let's hope this game is a departure from that.

Burning Wheel is not the be all end all of an RPG experience.

MMO's are money engines for software companies. They play off of addictive satisfaction elements to keep you playing without offering much else. BTW I still play an MMO(Eve).

my 2 cents..... didn't feel like articulating a narrative this morning so I just posted my points instead.

Rym

Elder Scrolls Games and the new Fallouts by extension are plagued by horrible glitches and bad AI systems because their basic engines are usually unsound. Let's hope this game is a departure from that.

The industry being what it is, I have little hope.

Burning Wheel is not the be all end all of an RPG experience.

We've never said it is. I have a whole library of different role playing systems for different types of games.

MMO's are money engines for software companies. They play off of addictive satisfaction elements to keep you playing without offering much else.

A-yup.

dsf

I wasn't really directing the burning wheel comment at you Rym, it was a reaction to the idea that a computer game was compared to it. I also get tired of Scojo championing it every time I see him.

dsf

it's raining, it's cold. I'm going to have to walk around in it and I'm in a bad mood. So if there is an edge to something I say this morning it's not intentional

Rym

I also get tired of Scojo championing it every time I see him.

I'll admit I've lost almost all interest in D&D; at this point. I would use almost any other system first for most all of my game concepts.

Cremlian

I also get tired of Scojo championing it every time I see him.

I champion good things :-p, I would also note that I said I enjoyed 4th edition D&D;.

dsf

I think Burning wheel is cool, I just have a negative reaction to fandom.

Apreche

I also get tired of Scojo championing it every time I see him.

I'll admit I've lost almost all interest in D&D; at this point. I would use almost any other system first for most all of my game concepts.

Yeah. I think at this point even if I were going to play a dungeon crawling monster fighting game, I would try out that Pathfinder thing before I went to WotC.

dsf

I would totally love it if someone ran a BW game around here. I just don't want to run it.

Rym

I would totally love it if someone ran a BW game around here. I just don't want to run it.

Make ScoJo step up. He needs to fight for what he believes.

dsf

pathfinder is D&D, just not tied to WoTC, it's the vision of 3rd ed played out by the many of the creators who left WoTC. Many call pathfinder 3.75 ed

dsf

well any back on to topic. I liked Oblivion. I didn't like how it crashed incessantly on my PC and then even on my PS3. Seriously, how can you be unstable on a console? Your technical specs don't change. I know, it's emulator running the PC version on the console so yeah...... but still seriously.... don't be lazy fix yo damn bugs. I really liked modding the PC version too. I still play my modded version even now.

Even now, I am playing fallout new vegas which is basically an oblivion mod.

Apreche

pathfinder is D&D;, just not tied to WoTC, it's the vision of 3rd ed played out by the many of the creators who left WoTC. Many call pathfinder 3.75 ed

I know what it is.

Cremlian

well any back on to topic. I liked Oblivion. I didn't like how it crashed incessantly on my PC and then even on my PS3. Seriously, how can you be unstable on a console? Your technical specs don't change. I know, it's emulator running the PC version on the console so yeah...... but still seriously.... don't be lazy fix yo damn bugs. I really liked modding the PC version too. I still play my modded version even now.

Even now, I am playing fallout new vegas which is basically an oblivion mod.

That's weird, Oblivion didn't have any trouble on my PC, of course this is also why I am waiting a year to play Fallout: New Vegas.

TheWhaleShark

I think at this point even if I were going to play a dungeon crawling monster fighting game

Old School Hack, fool!

Aiyakiu

I actually got into the Elder Scrolls around the Morrowind era, mostly because I heard how moddable the game was. I proceeded to create endless amounts of characters with various back stories (in my own head, at least), and sandboxed for hours. I recall having a particularly evil Moogle with Cloud's swords from Advent Children which caused me to fangirl quite a bit. I don't think I hardly played the main storyline.
Oblivion, though, I think it was well done, but it didn't quite have the same feel as Morrowind to me. I hope Skyrim does some things better than the other two, at least. It's true you can never have an RPG that is as broad and open as a pen and paper RPG, but for people like me who want and need the visuals and who are too impatient for your friends to stop arguing over gameplay... Well, the Elder Scrolls worked for me. That or I need new friends.

Andrew