Like many, many people, I’ve played a lot of Skyrim. And then
watched as it got repackaged and released for various new consoles
(next gen consoles, the Switch etc). And waited for the next Elder
Scrolls game. And waited.
Skyrim came out in 2011 and there’s seemingly no prospect of the
next Elder Scrolls game coming out this year, so it’ll probably be
an eight year gap at best. Oblivion, the previous entry, came out in
2006/7 (latter year for the PS3).
I enjoyed both Oblivion and Skyrim a lot, but must admit I’m
wondering if the next Elder Scrolls game will stand up against the
competition. Videogame franchises can decline either due to making
poor changes, or standing still whilst the industry moves past them.
Plenty of new RPGs have come out since Skyrim. Many of them have had
a strong focus on your choices making significant changes to the
world (in Skyrim, the only real choice is in the civil war, with the
Dawnguard expansion choice of good/evil, although both choices have
similar paths).
The Witcher 3 and Kingdom Come Deliverance are particularly good in
this regard, as is Pillars of Eternity. When we look at the most
recent Bethesda RPG (Fallout 4) I think it surprised on the upside
when it came to companions, but there was, again, a lack of
significant choice. Most quests were simply run on train tracks
rather than presenting serious options that changed things in-game.
It is worth pointing out that there is no single way to make a good
RPG. Games might emphasise realism/survival heavily, as per KCD, but
The Witcher 3 takes a more traditional/softer/easier approach to this
aspect. Both styles work perfectly well. However, the old style of
quests, where almost all of them (including major storyline quests)
have one outcome and no player input beyond jumping through hoops is
beginning to feel as outdated as fetch quests.
A good example of how this could’ve been different in Skyrim would
be the Thieves Guild. At no point can you destroy this, or report it
to the authorities. You *can* do this with the Dark Brotherhood,
although that isn’t flagged up so most people were never aware it
was even a possibility. And the same opportunity (reporting
werewolves to the authorities, for example) isn’t possible
elsewhere either. You can’t side with the Thalmor, even if you’re
a high elf.
Now, it might sound like I’m having a go at Skyrim. I have sunk a
lot of time into it and really like the game. But if the next entry
doesn’t make some changes it’ll suffer by way of comparison with
recent RPG entries, many of which are really rather good.
I do have some optimism. The settlement system is overdone in Fallout
4, but the bones of the idea are sound. And imagine it in Elder
Scrolls VI. It’d be building your own castles, and that sounds
fantastic, if they take the good ideas from Fallout 4 and remove the
repetition, giving us fewer but larger sites.
Likewise, the companions improved substantially from Skyrim to
Fallout 4, from a huge number of people with little character to a
smaller number who were much more individual and had more depth.
Continuing that pattern for the next Elder Scrolls would be another
good, and obvious, step.
However, the key for me is choice in quests. And not just X or Y
which alters nothing (yes, Redguard woman in Whiterun, I’m talking
about you), but a choice that makes a meaningful impact upon the
world and/or my character. If I piss off a local lord, that should
have consequences beyond a line of dialogue.
The next Elder Scrolls game will sell like hotcakes regardless of
whether this change comes about. But in the long term, Bethesda can’t
just rely on churning out the same game when we’re seeing others
make more interesting RPGs that actually allow the player to make
choices that affect their game.
Thaddeus
