#elderscrolls #bethesda #elderscrolls6 #skyrim #rpg
I decided to close this year with a little Elder Scrolls 6 speculation video. As it’s set in Hammerfell (allegedly), let’s have a lighthearted, casual discussion about what it might look like. I’m no expert in Redguard lore, so I talk mostly about geography, flora and fauna, and a few other aspects that I find interesting. I’m aware of the fact that cynical attitude, negativity, and drama generate most views and engagement, at least here on youtube; shockingly, I still decided to offer an optimistic outlook.
Some key points and additional notes.
– Nothing personal against ESO but TES6 as a single-player game should be 100% autonomous. Meaning, it shouldn’t rely on ESO-specific lore and worldbuilding.
– Hammerfell could be the most biodiverse province on Tamriel. It’s not just a desert. Snowy mountains, pockets of coniferous and temperate forests, juniper steppe, grasslands, tropical jungles, deserts and exotic islands. I based a large portion of Hammerfell on the Atlas mountains of North Africa and Zagros Mountains of Iran and Iraq. Many scattered, remote villages, danger in the mist type of setting. Northeastern Hammerfell bordering Skyrim would provide rustic, hermetic woodland landscape and culture. Overgrown Imperial forts and humid caves.
– Aela’s dialogue about the “mammoth-sized bear” implying another Pleistocene-inspired creature? I pick Eremotherium. Centaurs were cut from Skyrim but could appear in TES6, alongside Minotaurs (rare encounters, mini-boss?) for a touch of cozy old-school rpg aesthetics. Also harpies in desert, giant snakes and plenty of goblin clans and trolls in the mountains.
– Meta-NPCs are unique, named characters that would quest across the province independently of the player. Raid ruins, join guilds, hunt or camp, trade, level up or even die, making each playthrough a unique experience. Timed quests seen in Daggerfall could also come back, but in limited scope.
– The Wayward Realms will be a totally different kind of a game, but will it inspire Bethesda in any way? Bethesda’s smaller-scale, handcrafted world vs a life-sized, procedurally generated open world without the traditional main quest.
– Alik’r desert combined with vast Dwemer ruins could provide for a Dune-like Kirkbridian sci-fi experience reminiscent of Morrowind.
– Unpopular opinion. Starfield has improved RPG mechanics/experience and better written side questlines than Skyrim. Could TES6 improve on that?
– TES6 should be set after the second Great War and resolve the conflict between the Cyrodiil Empire and Aldmeri Dominion built in TES5. Beyond that, discussing TES6 main plot and next big antagonist (besides Thalmor) is really pointless.
Finally, the question remains: is there a secret, underlying plot within the series? A Tower theory is partially true. My take is that Thalmor simply wants to enslave humans and bring another Merethic Era.
All in all, this is all just fun speculation. No one really knows what to expect, so don’t take anything too seriously.
Music
Kevin MacLeod – Nightdreams
Chris Zabriskie – Cylinder 9
TES2: Daggerfall – Shop
TES2: Daggerfall – Snowing
Starfield OST – Aurora
AURA – Dunmer 6
——-
00:00 Intro
02:38 Hammerfell’s biodiversity
08:16 Meta-NPCs
09:56 Make it strange – general rant
16:45 The Wayward Realms – new dawn of RPGs?
21:30 Final Elder Scrolls? The big picture?
source
My one and only Elder Scrolls 6 related video. I don’t think we’ll see or hear about it for at least a couple of more years, so it’s only a little fun speculation. What I’m really excited for is the upcoming Kingdom of Anvil. It’s scheduled for release in couple of days and I’ll be doing an extensive playthrough and review, so stay tuned!
Both provinces would be awesome, but I highly doubt Bethesda could do it right.
I just don’t have high hopes that Bethesda will do justice to both regions. That being said mods would fix that.
I just don’t want it to be up to modders to fix this one. Especially when they have had 10+ years to get it right (even though it’s only been in development for a few years at best)
The bit at the end about the decline of the empire, the regression of magical knowledge, the degradation of cities
It got me thinking, and maybe this is biased by my own taste in stories but, why do people like stories about societal decline so much? The turning over of an age, the death of the old ways and the birth of a new framework
You’ve got the aforementioned themes in the elder scrolls, similar themes in lord of the rings with the elves leaving middle earth and magic waning with them, you have pretty much any story set in the American old west that will often have underlying themes of the death of the Wild West as cities and infrastructure reach out from the east, you’ve got the endless discussion around the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, and many more examples
16:00 lynels
i hope they go full weird with it, we know the redguards have some crazy ass legends that make the dragonborn seem normal, well, as normal as a half man half dragon can be
Not a chance its going to be a borin arabian knights game
You can not separate ESO!?
-ESO has the largest amount of Lore of any game.
-Its the newest game and has hammerfell in it.
-bethesda loves to tease aspects of the next game in the previous
To all: Play ESO if you haven't!! Its a beautiful game that can basically be played like ever other elder scrolls. Exploring places only shown in areana with expanded lore. The only place to meet kothringi or Sea Elves. Dont sleep on ESO
For interesting mythical creature to add to the lore the devs should add their version of an Impundulu in African mythology its a giant bird associated with lightning and thunder
have you seen Kirkbride's art of the mask-wearing Redguard woman manifesting a soul sword? IMO they need to lean hard into the style of African and aboriginal Australian psychedelic dreamworld mythology. Masks, spirits, tribal Gods. Hell, even some esoteric Egyptian mythology vibes would be cool. But I fear they will take the easy 'Arabian nights' or Sinbad the sailor route. Please watch AllinAll's THLMR episode 6, we tried to do justice to Kirkbride Yokudan mythos in the aesthetic of this episode. Cheers!
Hammerfell just to make it more woke, oh yes land of blacks
Kidnap Michael Kirkbride and force him to write for this game!!!
I wish they would go to a non-human province like Valenwood or Elsweyr because the last two games have been in human provinces, and what we got were medieval fantasy and viking fantasy. I enjoyed both games immensely, but it's an entire continent with unique, weird provinces, and I'd like to explore some of the stranger things like I did in Morrowind.
I’m ngl I’m a massive elitist when it comes to rpgs. Elder scrolls was better when it was made for people who were fans of ttrpgs. Now everything has to be watered down to the point of absurdity just to reach a wider audience.
Bethesda haven't told us where the next elder scrolls game will be set so don't make titles like that.
Hopefully we get belly dancer outfits in hammerfell for dudes and ladies. My impression of hammerfell is that of Türkiye and mongolia but magical. Which is to say mountains covered in snow and forest and grassland that quickly give way to desert tundra and then the deserts. Circling back to the belly dancers, have most of them concentrated in Stross M'Kai and something sanguine… It would be nice if we got a mainline canon look at the orc capital as part of the malacath quest.
Some of the architectural reference images from that one guys account were really cool
It's so funny to watch people debate where TES6 will take place and what it'll mean for the game and the lore, it's blatantly obvious that the setting of Elder Scrolls 6 and every other Bethesda game is going to be the most focus-tested, generically-varied, vaguely-high-fantasy slop they've been putting out since Oblivion. They'll put as little creative work in as they can get away with, and people will praise it just like they did for Oblivion and Skyrim. They'll sacrifice every bit of lore and previous worldbuilding they've previously established because The Elder Scrolls is a series for the lowest common denominator and has been for almost 2 decades.
Starfield killed any excitement I had for this game, just gonna be a soulless cash grab to take advantage of what little fans have stuck it out all these years
TES IS NOT FALLOUT AND PEOPLE WILL BE SURPRISED AT HOW GOOD IT WILL BE. IT IS HAMMERFELL & HIGH ROCK AND ALL THE AREAS IN BETWEEN. STROS MKAI' MAY BE A FIRST DLC IF IT'S NOT INCLUDED.
THAT TEASER WAS 6 YEARS AGO??!!
I THOUGHT IT WAS 2
I was thinking the exact same thing about Dune. I'm a long time Dune fanatic (all 6 original books and all film/tv versions), and I am well aware of it's bit of influence on Morrowind. It's also true that Oblivion borrowed a little of Lord Of The Rings popularity during those films peak, and Skyrim borrowed a little bit from Game Of Thrones that was popular at nearly the same time, so it totally makes sense for the deserts of Hammerfell to borrow a little from the desert cultures of Dune all over again, coinciding with the popularity of the new films, and especially the 3rd installment due to come out in 2026 or so.
I just hope it actually has new mechanics and animations and not full of pronouns and Redguard lives matter bs
My prediction (from a graphic designers point of view)
It’s 100% going to be Hammerfell / high rock highly likely. My reason being the title graphic in the trailer resembles Arabic/ golden Type.
I also agree with most of what your saying on the video too.
I also think the Dwemer will play a big role in the story.
Small nitpick: Elder Scrolls: Arena (ES 1) wasn't set in just one province, it was set in the whole of Tamriel. But yeah, every ES game after that was set in one province.
I think that Hammerfell and High Rock could work if done right like the Beyond Skyrim plans to do with both provinces.
it will be a bad game
17:19 – I'm so so excited for The Wayward Realms. The scope is incredible and I can't wait to see how the amazing ideas are implemented!
Could definitely use Levantine Umayyad aesthetics for the built environment in the greener areas. Fits quite realistically.