The Elder Scrolls IV Formally Announced

war3rd writes "Bethesda Softworks recently announced the development of the next game in The Elder Scrolls Series, (and follow-up to the game Morrowind) Oblivion. The next issue of Game Informer will have a 12 page spread with all the details and tons of screenshots."

Comments

Already played it....

[cephyn]

TES:Oblivion -- thats the "world" in between the dungeon polygons in Daggerfall right?

Elder scrolls. A great series

[Anonymous Coward]

The elder scroll series (particularly the first two) are amazing RPG's. There is so much depth that they are unreal. You can literally play for months just doing side missions with out even touching the main plot. The ability to join guilds in Daggerfall was one of the coolest features. Of course the one rather annoying thing is that bethesda seems to have problems ironing out bugs before a release, but hey...you can't get everything you want. ;) I have always wished that someone would do a remake of daggerfall with like the quake 2 engine. If you are reading this bethesda...release the source!!

Enjoyable games

[Mathness]

What I like most about their games, are the detailed and different worlds they create. Morrowind so far have been the best, the overall theme is excellent made. Even common stuff is interresting like, say, the red dust winds. It wasn't as smooth running as Gothic when traveling large distances, but then I didn't have the fastest computer back then.

That being said, their games also suffers from the typical mistakes. Monsters practically everywhere, all bend on attacking you, and spawning after some time have pasted. It rather distracts from the game play* and the experience of the world. Increasing the world significant in the next game, and vary the monster a lot (more variation in missions and more real NPCs is probably to huge a task, to even ask them to do) would make the game even better. Monsters shouldn't lurk right outside heavy fortified forts, and rats/tiny creature should be clever enough not to mess with full plate armour (even less be able to damage with those ridicilus tiny teeth and claws).

Will I buy this game when it is released? I will in all likelyhood, I liked their previous games, and will probably like this one too. When this type of game is so far apart in releases, you can hardly resist. And for the love of gawd, make a Linux/Mac release :)

* Let's be honest here, like most computer "RPG" games, they are often just hack'n'slash thinly disguised. Esp. after you have cleared a few level and missions, it rarely differs, online or not.

P.S. The best 3D "RPG" is still Ultima Underworld 1+2 :D

Scans of the screenshots

[wan-fu]

Here's a Coral Cache link to some guy who scanned a bunch of the screenshots.

Re:Elder scrolls. A great series (cue laughter)

[obeythefist]

Let's look at what we're saying here, though. The whole big issue.

There are two basic polarities for game design. Only two! And this is more than just for RPG's. There is the closed, tight, event and trigger driven storyline. Then there is the open ended methodology, where the player is left to decide what things to do and which places to go.

This is really more like an axis than two seperate directions. Many storyline driven games will include set "choose-your-own-adventure" decisions that branch off into slightly different pathways. Many open-ended games will have a plot that the player can choose to follow if they want to. Many simulators include scenarios that steer the direction of play.

You can't bag a game because it sits on one or other end of the "open-closed" gameplay axis! Some people will like an open-ended game. Other people like to be led through the story.