#might get the dlcs for oblivion

[sternenhimmel-mond]

The way the guards wear his face. None of them are over him, are they.

[funpolishfox]

So, madness in Elden Ring only affects player-type characters, which means you can only proc madness on Gideon, when it comes to main game bosses. Of course, it's usually not a big deal, since frenzied flame is still good damage source and there are plenty other things you can proc on bosses. I don't think, there's specific lore reason as to why bosses as such Malenia or even Morgott cannot be frenzied (probably being able to proc frenzy animation on such bosses would make fights easier). But I was thinking- what if Frenzied Flame could affect other bosses? I'm speculating now more in lore way than gameplay way. After all, Frenzy Flame is all about despair, pain and misery- we can see it with Edgar after Irina's death and with merchants. It's about wanting to end all the pain, about wanting to burn down everything, so you cannot be hurt any further. It plays on emotions, especially love and care, as such case was with Vyke. Thinking about it, UndeadHumor was onto something when he made sketch with Morgott and Frenzied Flame- some demigods could be greatly influenced by it. Or rather, a specific child of Marika. Messmer. Others could probably combat it to some degree- Morgott was sealing Three Fingers away with Mogh, so it's obvious they were resisting it (and Mogh was influenced already by many other things). Radahn, Ranni and Rykard all have/had strong wills and couldn't be easily swayed. Miquella could probably be swayed, but once losing his emotions, Frenzy Flame couldn't really use him and Malenia is also strong-willed character, resorting to help from Outer Gods only as last-ditched effort. Melina obviously knows about Frenzied Flame and despises it. But Messmer? This man is already knee-deep in pain. He's been mommy's good boy for centuries long, doing war for her and getting nothing in return. Being abbanoned, scorned child, not having any place in his mother's new, perfect world. Forced to hide his serpent nature, something he couldn't control. And losing it all, once he sees his mother truly left him and choose some Tarnished over him. Why wouldn't he want to burn it all? He even states embracing oblivion in his second phase. His flame is already known as flame without honor or grace. He already brought so much pain onto everybody, including himself, he lost people important to him, he knows, he has no future outside of his crusade, which in the end, didn't earn his mother's love or favor. I might be missing some lore details, as I'm still trying to tie main game stuff with DLC revelations, but I won't lie- Messmer using both his red flames and yellow flames the same way Midra did, would be cool as hell. And yes, I am big fan of Messmer and Midra, how could you tell?

[dragon-communion]

Alright HEAR ME OUT. Crack ship incoming.

Elden Ring revolves around the very Arthurian motif of a beautiful princess (gender neutral) requiring a knight to murder everything between her and her goals. The Empyrean is the White Queen, the stationary and nurturing feminine counterpart to the Elden Lord as Red King, mobile and proactive.

I mean the queen also kills things with hammers, so don't take that divine feminine thing the wrong way, but I digress.

St. Trina qualifies as a damsel in distress, both because she's been mysteriously missing for a few hundred years and also the additional information we get in the DLC. She is BLEEDING and asks us to KILL for her. Textbook Arthurian princess. So who can we get to save her?

While Melina is potentially another Empyrean, what's more relevant to my interests is her status as a wandering pilgrim or perhaps an outright rōnin. She is burned and bodiless and can likely interact with the physical world only in limited ways, but nonetheless she is on a Quest, she does a little Stabbing, and she is arguably essential to Saving The World. We might technically be taking her on an escort mission, but she's far from helpless. She's just got memory issues.

Most relevantly: not only does she have memory issues, but she's a bodiless spirit. Miquella/Trina has some skill with memory manipulation, particularly if we take the Tonic of Forgetfulness as Miquella's work, and in addition to the Land of Shadow being a spirit-world it is arguable that Trina did most of her active participation in world events through dreams. Singing to the merchants, telling the albinaurics about the Haligtree, etc. People seek Trina in their dreams, which is a distinctly spiritual form of quest.

I think it is possible that both Trina and Melina have had dealings with the Fell God, too. Dreams are symbolically associated with mist, swamps, and water lilies, so it is intriguing and alarming that St. Trina's Torch uses fire of all things, and depicts her with a cyclops eye. Melina's connection to fire is obvious and repeated multiple times, though I do wonder if the first time she burned was blackflame.

Melina also has her connection to Destined Death, and if her eye does indeed mean she's the Gloam-Eyed Queen, that means she's got some sort of connection to night and sleep. Rogier compares death to falling into a sleep he'll never wake from, and to my understanding the DLC continues that metaphor. Sleep is oblivion, and also yet another form of death, linking Trina's affinity to the other various death-curses of Marika's children.

All of this is to say that Melina definitely has the means to find and assist Trina. As for motive? Melina wants the Erdtree to burn, and from the ashes something new to bloom. Trina is well aware that godhood is a living hell, and also wants the world to live in peace.

I am not sure if Melina would be at all opposed or even care about Miquella's goals. A new god is a new god, and the old order will burn the same. But I think Trina could genuinely understand her on a personal level, and have real compassion that other characters like Ranni and Marika fundamentally lack.

Melina does not want to be saved. Trina does not ask to be saved, either. But I think they would be better for knowing eachother, and that's important, even if they're both doomed.

[balketh]

Lol, sorry if I want clear: I'm not here to debate. If you disagree with my thoughts on Starfield because you still like what Bethesda are doing, keep it to yourself. Triple A gaming has gotten worse because of this acceptance of shit (aside from the CEO capitalistic nightmare in the industry atm.) I truly could not want to hear those opinions less; it's like hearing from sports video game fans that current gen sports games are fine being so utterly engorged with dark pattern microtransations. Have some fucking standards, please.

Skyrim was truly only worth a damn because of modding. Oblivion, Morrowind; only still relevant because they're moddable. Bethesda wouldn't have been the first company ever to successfully shoehorn PAID MODDING on CONSOLES if that wasn't 100% the case. Something literally NO other company forced through before them. Skyrim would not have been a mega success if players on PC couldn't fix their issues. It didn't last because of console players. It lasted because of bugfixing and pornmaking modders, and that's a goddamn fact.

Nothing else they've done since has been nearly as good or long lasting. That longevity - because of modding - is the only real reason they've had so many chances to make more games. It's the only reason they're such a big fucking company now. If it wasn't, they wouldn't have released the CK for Starfield.

They have not learned; their games keep getting worse, their sales keep going down. It might be slow, but it's a fucking fact. Reviews aren't everything, just as sales aren't everything, but Bethesda is, largely, on the decline, and that's not up for debate.

Jee, it's almost like headlines like "An All-Time Low For Bethesda Studios" re: Starfield DLC completely support my entire point that Bethesda is in a serious decline that they won't recover from because they keep making worse shit than the last thing they made, and it's been that way SINCE THEY JUST KEPT REMAKING SKYRIM.

I cannot be clear enough when I say it won't improve. A writer for Bethesda, Will Shen, (one of the better writers - responsible for all of Nick Valentine/Far Harbour in FO4, the best bits of FO4), left Bethesda after Starfield, because of how awfully run by upper management it was. That's 1000000% what I'm talking about. I could not be more correct. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but people inside the fucking company can see it, exactly as I said.

Emil Pagliarulo, lead writer on - let's see, Bethesda's four worst written games, games known for having shitty stories that people actively disregard in favour of just playing with the game like a sandbox full of toys - FO3, Skyrim, FO4, and Starfield, (with known shitty contributions to Oblivion) claims that Starfield is Bethesda's best work yet. The guy who wrote the Dark Brotherhood storyline in Oblivion, which, to be clear, is dogshit. Not the 'kill creatively' gameplay, not the lore from TES at large, the actual writing, dialogue, and in-game narrative surrounding your actions; go and look it up right now. It's contrived slop, and this was his 'big win'.

The man who openly stated that he doesn't like using design documents in his work. On massive, sprawling, open-world narrative games. The man literally responsible for every single bad story Bethesda has released since Oblivion - yes, all of them, because that's what lead writers do, they approve and direct the writing of their team. The awful non-protag from-birth-fInD-uR-dAd of FO3. Skyrim's utterly generic dRaGoNs-R-bAcK! Go shout at them until they stop! and the god awful lol-all-sides-are-shitheels-but-whatever Thalmor, Legion, and Stormcloaks. FO4's hilarious improvement on FO3, 'SHAUN, WHERE IS MY BABY SHAUN', with the most obvious fucking minute-one twist imaginable, and now, his pièce de résistance, an entire universe of uninteresting, themeless, cookie-cutter sci-fi drudgery with no real reason to explore or be invested. A man so anti-protag in singleplayer games that rather than make you the protagonist in Starfield, they used the restartable ending to write off your singular importance by having there be infinity of you.

The fucker responsible for Shattered Space's absolutely dogshit reception, and its terrible writing and narrative direction. That lead to article headlines like 'Bethesda Honcho says Starfield is "the best game we've ever made" in massive bout of amnesia', something that would only fly if, oh, I don't know, we were generally all aware of how dogshit Bethesda's writing and dialogue have been for a decade. He might not have done the genuinely fucking bland, soulless gameplay, or riddled the game with fucking BETHESDA MENUS, but he's responsible for the most unfixable thing in all of these games: the writing.

That's who will be doing ES6, probably with Todd backing him.

People didn't buy Skyrim 17 times (yes, that's how many discrete versions of Skyrim you could have bought without buying the same game on the same console twice) for the fucking story. They bought it because it's a fucking fantasy sandbox that did not have a competitor of similar scope for years. Starfield is a bad sandbox, and it shows.

Yeah, no, Bethesda's a fucking goner if he does ES6. It won't flop, because people will fucking RUSH to buy it day 1 without knowing a thing about it, but the reviews that follow will eviscerate it. ES6 will be the downfall of Bethesda. Both of them need to fuckin' retire, and let some actual talent do the writing for once in this decade.

I can only wish it would drop sooner rather than later, so they could just fucking stop.

[falmerbrook]

Updating my ESO base game zone list (from roughly most to least favorite), adding the EP zones I'm done with (up through Deshaan), and elaborating on my thoughts for each zone and on the writing overall because I like yapping. Moving on to DLC now.

TLDR:

Grahtwood

Rivenspire

Coldharbor

Auridon

Glenumbra

Stros M'kai

Malabal Tor

Alik'r Desert

Betnik

Reaper's March

Greenshade

Stonefalls

Bangkorai

Bleakrock Isle and Bal Foyen

Khenarthi's Roost

Stormhaven

Deshaan

More detailed thoughts below (spoiler warning for these 10 year old quests):

1) Grahtwood - I would say Grahtwood and Rivenspire are tied for my favorites, with Grahtwood being all over strong while Rivenspire has a particularly strong environment and main quest. While for me most other zones maybe had a few standout quests if any, the side quests in Grahtwood were very consistently getting me invested and were fun/interesting (stand outs include: The Grip of Madness, Bosmer Insight, Keeper of Bones, The Wakening Dark, and The Unquiet Dead). The environment is just stunning too. It's one of the few base game zones where things truly feel grand and huge. I love the giant trees in this game and Grahtwood is full of them. The Bosmer towns are really cool too, and Gil-Var-Delle was very cool. I appreciate all the Bosmer lore and culture fleshed out by all the Valenwood zones, and it feels very unique compared to the other cultures fleshed out (in the base game at least).

2) Rivenspire - I love the main quest for this zone so much. The characters are more memorable, the story doesn't feel as forced (and the player's inclusion feels less forced) compared to the other zones, and the twists and emotional connection to the events are stronger. I love all the Ravenwatch characters. Verandis alone boosts my opinion of this zone. The scenery of this zone is probably one of the strongest in the base game too. Entering the zone to see the Doomcrag (A+ name btw) with the red lightning in the distance immediately got me excited for what the zone had in store (especially after the bore that was Stormhaven) and the way it sorta hangs over everything on that side of the map makes it such a strong set piece. Even beyond it, I love the gloomy and lightly gothic vibes of the zone and the Main Quest. The main reason I put it below Grahtwood is that I really didn't get invested in any of the side quests I did.

3) Coldharbor - I actually didn't realize this was going to be an entire zone, so when I first got to it I was a little put off, especially because my experience with planes of Oblivion in past games was mostly annoyance (the Deadlands and Aprocrypha), but I ended up really liking it! I liked how pretty much everything in it related to the main quest, so it made for a nice focused change of pace, and every quest relating to the same goal made me more invested in them. A lot of the quests felt more unique than the rest of the base games ones too. The scenery was really grand and cool and impressive, and the environment paired with the sound design really made the place feel uneasy and unsafe to explore (even if it wasn't really that much more dangerous than the other zones)! I also found a lot of the characters fun and likeable. Some stand out quests for me were Vanus Unleashed, The Endless War (and its follow-up quests), Special Blend, and The Soul-Meld Mage.

4) Auridon - I ended up spending a ton of time in this zone so I became pretty familiar and fond of it. The environment is so pretty and picturesque. I also liked how a lot of the side quests either related to/built on the main conflict with the Veiled Heritance or helped to elaborate on the current context of the Aldmeri Dominion. It helped the whole zone feel more cohesive. I certainly remember the quests of this zone better than most others. Razum-dar and Ayrenn are absolute treats as well!

5) Glenumbra - (bumping up) I might be a little biased in liking this zone more because it was one of my first, but I'm also pretty fond of Glenumbra. The biggest negative of it for me is that I barely followed the main quest storyline at all. It felt kinda all over the place and like different parts of it barely connected to others. However, the vibes and aesthetic are great. I love all the marshes and fog and general moodiness, which really fits a lot of the quests in ghost towns and cemeteries. I enjoy going back to Glenumbra for events and antiquities because I just like running around it (although it really suffers from having enemies on every square inch of the map, but that's an issue I've noticed to a lesser extent everywhere with the game so far). The environment is just very pretty, and a cool touch is the huge moving vines everywhere. Also, gotta say, I hate Daggerfall's layout. It's a really cool looking city and it feels more like a large city than most others in the base game, but it sucks for doing daily crafting. Overall I just had fun here.

6) Stros M'kai - So given this was the first zone I ever experienced, and I had just started Redguard right before earnestly starting ESO so it was fun going "like the one in Redguard!", I might have a bit of bias on how much I like this zone. But I am very fond of it! I found the characters of the main quest endearing and memorable (even if they and their story wasn't relevant almost at all to the rest of the DC) and the player's inclusion in the story didn't feel forced. I like the aesthetics of Port Hunding, and the desert around it just felt warm and big despite how small the map actually is.

7) Malabal Tor (after thinking about it more I'm bumping this one up a little) - I didn't really care for this one while doing it, but in hindsight, it's grown on me. I really like the lore and development of the Silvenar and Green Lady that they do in this zone, and I like how so many of the side quests help to flesh out those lore concepts and backstory beyond the main quest. It makes the storyline of the main quest for this zone feel more developed and worth getting invested in. However, I didn't really get invested in anything else very much. The scenery was pretty beautiful too.

8) Alik'r Desert - I was surprised how beautiful I found this zone given that it is a desert, but I really loved the scenery! I also liked the quests here fine enough. They weren't my favorite, but I didn't necessarily dislike them either. I liked the old Redguard temples you got to explore, and the way they implemented and introduced the Yokudan religion/gods. It was fun to engage with. This was a perfectly middle zone.

9) Betnik - I like the setting of Betnik. The rocky and foggy beaches are pretty. The history of the island is pretty interesting. in hindsight having done the first zones for the other alliances as well, I now appreciate that the characters from the Stros M'Kai main quest are here and the story is continuing with them, it feel more natural for why my character is invovled. However, I barely remember anything else from this zone, and in hindsight the environment isn't as pretty or as impressive as later zones, so I don't care too much more for it.

10) Reaper's March - This zone was very hit or miss for me. The scenery was nice, and the music stood out to me and I really liked it, but the quests and character writing was either something I really liked or something I really didn't. I loved Shazah and Khali, and while the whole concept of of the Moon Hallowed felt super contrived, I like that it gave us an opportunity to really get to know them and get invested in them. They were both charming and likeable, but it is for that reason that I was not a fan of how the main quest in this zone ended. I was looking forward to how they would handle which twin would be the Mane (or maybe push against tradition and make them both Mane or some other compromise...), but one ultimately dying felt like a stupid way to solve that issue. They could've been so much more creative with it. This feeling of enjoying parts of a questline and disliking others from some reason continued through the quests of this zone.

11) Greenshade - I wasn't a fan of the scenery in this one. Not only was it just not as cool to me, but I think I've developed a bit of a pet peeve over how everyone kept refers to it as a forest when it was clearly some kind of savanna woodland. Sorry Bosmer, that is not a forest to me. Anyway, the story and side quests for this zone didn't stick out to me at all with the exception of a few MVP characters. I liked the Wilderking quest, in part because the idea of the Wilderking is interesting (in theory, it's ok in execution) but mostly because I really liked Aranias and the story we see with her (I think it's kinda weird that the original Wilderking and her are Altmer, especially in the context of the politics around the formation of the Aldmeri Dominion, but besides that I enjoy the idea). I was got a little emotional over the very sweet short quest, The Flower of Youth, and it has really stuck out in my mind. And finally, I liked Indaenir. I found him very charming. To the extent that I was sad at his sacrifice at the end of the main quest and hyped for him when he becomes the Silvenar. Mid zone with some stand out moments.

12) Stonefalls - The story for this one baffled me a bit too much, in the sense that there were several moments where I feel like I didn't get enough explanations as to why what was happening was happening. I was truly just along for the ride. There weren't really any characters that stood out to me either. Like, I recognized them and remembered them as the kept popping up, but I wasn't invested enough in them, which is a shame, because I think the last few quests of the main zone quest would've been a lot stronger if I actually liked or felt endeared by Tanval, Garyn, and their relationship. The second half of the main quest felt drawn out and I think the writing was just kinda bad for this zone tbh (more than usual). Now, saying that, the scenery and environment for this zone was gorgeous, and the music stood out and really accentuated the mood! One of my favorites so far environment-wise. I think it felt very Morrowind-y, and I loved the mountains and the volcanoes and the land coral and the ash effects. I also love the look of the Dunmer architecture in this game, and I think it fits them well. I took so so many screenshots in this zone. I genuinely enjoyed just wandering through it.

13) Bangkorai - Nothing about this zone really caught my attention. I didn't care for the main quest, I didn't get invested in any side quests, and for me this zone feels more frustrating to navigate with how many areas as controlled entirely by enemies. It also does nothing new or interesting with the Reachmen, unfortunately. The scenery is pretty, but it is similar to everything else we've seen in the Daggerfall Covenant, so by the time I got to it it wasn't anything special. My opinion on this zone was also probably colored by the fact that at this point I just wanted to get further in the main quest. I also want to highlight this one quest, Freedom's Chains, which has a super interesting basic idea and hypothetical choice at the end, but is so horribly buggy and terribly written that it is one of 2 quests I've done so far in this game that made me angry.

14) Bleakrock Isle and Bal Foyen - I did the entirety of these in a little over an hour each, and really nothing stuck out to me. Not the characters, not the setting, not the quests, nothing. The only thing of note is that I was running around Bal Foyen at sunrise and it was very pretty, and there was a guar in Bal Foyen named Rollie.

15) Khenarthi's Roost* (I did it slowly over a few months while my hands were in pain and nothing about it stood out to me) - So there is an important context to this one, which is that I started this zone in January after the New Life Festival, but soon took a break from the game because my hand pain was really bad and I couldn't play. I attempted to play every few weeks (in this zone) and every time my hands hurt really bad, and I had forgotten what was going on. It took me months to finish this teeny zone, and I just don't have a great association with it. Outside of that bias, I just wasn't invested in the plot or characters (outside of Raz, of course), and I feel like the Maomer were uninteresting and a waste of potential. The aesthetics of the island were pretty nice, but I didn't find it as cool or pretty as most of the other zones.

16) Stormhaven My dislike of this zone was mostly circumstantial when I first played it, but in hindsight having gone back to it for other random things, I continue to dislike it. The wayshrine placement sucks. Somehow by the time I got to this zone I was already a little burnt out on all the Daedric prince involvement, and the involvement of Vaermina and her cult did nothing new or interesting. I could not bring myself to care about pretty much any quest in this zone, with the notable exception of the part at the end where you enter Emeric's dream and talk him off the ledge. I like Emeric, and I feel like this detail made it make more sense for why he can trust you so much. But other than that, it was a very mid zone. The scenery was Glenumbra but less cool in every way.

17) Deshaan - This is only below Stormhaven because of that one quest with Emeric (and maybe I'm a bit jaded right now). In a game where it feels like the Daedric Princes are invovled in every other quest, you're telling me that a questline focusing on an organization creating a plague had nothing to do with Peryite? Justice for Peryite! Speaking of, the main quest for this zone was so... what? The writing for this alliance so far has been really weak imo and this quest really exemplifies it. It's just antagonist doing miscellaneous antagonist things without a solid connection between their actions. Despite building up to the main antagonist's backstory throughout the zone, I still don't understand her motivation for just about anything she did until the last 3rd of the story, and the kinda interesting conflict of her backstory was written in the least interesting way it could be. None of the other quests stood out to me, and the environment, while fine, didn't catch my attention either. I did like that Mournhold felt larger than most of the cities in the game, and I loved how the temple looked and loomed over everything.

-

Daggerfall Covenant Overall Thoughts:

These zones were my starting zones so I was learning how the game works and doing the big main quest while going through them. I straight up can't remember whatever the overarching plot of these zones was, but I remember each zone as its own individual thing better. At the time I felt sorta meh towards it, but having done the other alliances it has grown on me because of the characters and pacing. The way you get invovled with the leader in this faction feels more natural and less contrived than the other two (and the build up to getting to that point is longer and more developed) since you have to prove yourself and work your way up the High Rock leadership to finally impress Emeric and get him to entrust you with things. You don't just do him one favor and he goes "ok I trust you with alliance secrets now", but compared to the AD it felt like the over arching story of the alliance is much much weaker and less developed. it feels more like each zone has its own story only loosely tied together with "WAR IS HAPPENING" (EP is sorta the same). The antagonists weren't memorable, but the side characters like Emeric, Darien, Gabrielle, Skordo, the gang on Stros M'Kai, Lady Laurent and Stibbons, etc. were fun! I read on Reddit that the team that made the DC also made Coldharbor, which is why so many DC characters feature in it, which definitely helped me feel connected to them more. Overall, not the most striking alliance, but I liked the characters and am probably more fond of it because it was my first one

Aldmeri Dominion Overall Thoughts:

I appreciate that there are overarching storylines between the zones (beyond just "[other alliance] is attacking!") between the Veiled Heritance, the death of and new Silvenar and Green Lady, etc. The other two factions' zones can sometimes feel too disjointed from each other or the way they are connected feels contrived, so the reoccurring characters feel more random (like, why are you here too??) or there are way less of them, while in the AD you meet a lot of the reoccurring characters in the first two zones and then it makes sense why you keep running into them. It makes the relationships you build with them feel more genuine, and there were a number of stand out characters for me. I think for this reason, having one small starting zone as opposed to 2 might've helped with that feeling. On the other hand, I feel like the build up to how you get invovled with the alliance leadership was way more rushed (in a bad way) compared to the other two zones. Like, you happen to be picked out as competent and trustworthy by one of the right hand men of the queen (no offense to you, Raz, you are one of the highlights of this alliance) and then you save the queen from an assassination attempt in the first story point of the next zone and she just trusts you immediately (once again, no offense to you Ayrenn, you are also a highlight). But once we're into the main storyline, I enjoyed it and followed it a lot better than the other two zones. I also appreciated how the antagonists had motivations that felt like they actually informed their decisions and related to the political and interpersonal dramas going on. It made them more memorable. I felt in general that the side quests were a little stronger here as well.

Ebonheart Pack Overall Thoughts (so far)

I've only done Bleakrock Isle, Bal Foyen, Stonefalls, and Deshaan, and hopefully I'll come back to do the rest later, but I'm a little sick of the base game and would like to move on to DLCs. With that disclaimer out of the way, I've found it so far lack luster compared to the other two. So far the zone stories aren't that connected (although that may change), and there seems to be less reoccurring characters. The one that I do know for sure shows up repeatedly, Naryu, didn't actually make her first appearance until Deshaan (not a fan of her so far tbh... why does she neg me so much??). Altogether, none of the characters so far stood out to me, and they've been overall less endearing and less memorable (so far). None of the quests have either. Generally in this series, but particularly in this game, and even more so in this alliance for some reason, the player's involvement in a quest or situation feels really contrived. The one positive for this alliance for me is that I think the environments are consistently pretty strong (so far). Finally, the antagonists have been weak in the sense that they aren't memorable or interesting (similarly to the DC). These ones frustrate me a bit more because they feel much more like wasted opportunities. So far there's a theme of family or parent-child relationships going on, but it's really shallow and I'm not sure it's purposeful. Like I said, maybe I'm just jaded with the base game zones because they are pretty same-y (and it makes sense why tbh), but this alliance has been my least favorite so far and I don't feel bad about skipping the rest of it for now.

[landgraabbed]

hi Cat, can you share your thoughts/criticisms of DATV? i think the game is gonna flop.

hey nonners, idk. this is a complicated question. i mean, game's not even out yet so it's unfair to pass judgment on it. i can only judge bioware's approach to pre-release marketing. and i got a lot of thoughts on that.

honestly i think it will be a perfectly serviceable game and technically it will run well (i mean, it has been steam deck verified which tells me that performance was a big concern for devs). i don't think quality has much bearing on the love people can have for a game. and vice-versa. the people who are hyped to oblivion and want to preorder will like it. the people who hate it bc it has poc and queer and disabled characters will still hate it. people who analyze the game's mechanics and writing will dissect the game and be predisposed to finding things they dislike. over time opinions will mellow out and we'll see how the veilguard will be remembered.

i can't trust bioware to make an rpg that i will want to play after their last failures. different people will differ on where the string of failures started. from a quality standpoint my line is dragon age 2. me3 to me failed to deliver on the promise of the first 2 me games save for shining exceptions like the citadel dlc and javik. from a numbers standpoint the last successful game was inquisition which won goty in 2014 due to a serious lack of competition mostly, especially since witcher 3 was pushed back to 2015 (which pains me personally as that put it directly in bloodborne's path to goty in that year). thing is bioware seems to be doing all they can to avoid a flop. veilguard is bioware's hail mary after a string of failures. they are ditching the ea app to capture as many people as possible. the combat has fully careened into action, and although they keep telling us these will be the best companions ever, really, guys, the gameplay is more and more focused on the protagonist alone. the crpg roots of the series are getting cut down to attract a broader audience. perhaps at the cost of ostracizing some like me who enjoy the party-based, party-building mechanics like me.

how well this will go i don't know. on one hand i think bioware has been historically bad at showing the full scope to new and returning players. empress celene has been haunting the edges of the world since origins. the full grasp of her character is locked behind books. afaik some companions have been introduced already in supplemental materials. this sort of move didn't go well for ff15. on the other i think this game missed its window. the gaming landscape of today isn't the same as it was in 2014, and in 2014 the skyrim at home open world design was already outdated. i've been hearing about the crpg renaissance since 2016. i accompanied it. it remained a niche part of gaming until it didn't: baldur's gate 3 released last year to audience and critical acclaim. going forward i expect mainstream rpgs to take cues from bg3. and the mission based almost extraction shooter-esque design that veilguard seems to have might not land as well in 2024 as it would have in 2020.

eta: or it could go well, idk. morrowind and final fantasy were bethesda's and squaresoft's hail maries and saved those studios.

right now the marketing has missed the mark on me. it is patronizing and seemingly needs to punch down the previous da games to prop this one up. it concerns me that the game may be releasing in 2 months (as per jeff grubb) and we quite frankly haven't seen shit. just bioware telling us that trust me, these companions are deep. trust me, the combat is good. trust me, the city built on slave labor is totally the coolest one you've seen. everyone copies fromsoftware but they don't seem to learn to drop a trailer and shut up until they got more things of substance to show. and this isn't just a bioware issue.

[aedyre]

to be honest, the biggest issue with eso’s writing, and one i really hope they finally address and get their heads out of their asses over, is how badly integrated the main character has become into the story ever since they switched to their chronological nightmare philosophy of “everything can happen at any time”.

compare how much more grounded the pc feels in the alliance stories and main story vs the xpacs, where it is becoming increasingly more egregious how you’re treated as just a random mercenary/adventurer/what have you because you might be doing stories out of (release) order... meanwhile you may have beaten molag bal in single combat, ruined the plans of the daedric triad and saved summerset and vvardenfell, stopped a dragon invasion as well as the gray host returned and beat back mehrunes dagon into oblivion twice. and that on top of everything you do in the alliance stories.

and then you get to high isle and... are once again Random Adventurer #1534, with lady arabelle saying you’re “on retainer” and pretending she hired you (???), like you aren’t an eye of the queen/the king’s arrow/emeric’s champion, and close friends with the alliance leaders, and very likely involving yourself with the situation for that reason.

this works if you are still Random Adventurer #1534 because in the utter confusion that is starting eso these days, you started with the peace talks instead of the alliance stories (despite anyone who does that being able to clearly tell that they played out of chronological order, no matter what zos says), but if you actually played the story in order? no amount of “hello my friend :)” or random side characters from side quests you may or may not have completely forgotten about will fix the vast sense of disconnect created by who you are supposed to be, and who you are treated as.

the alliance stories don’t do that. the alliance stories build up over each zone, creating an actual narrative, with your character at the center. the dc will even pull the main story into it with the repeated references to your soulless status. as a result, the alliance stories make for a much more cohesive and enjoyable story experience, despite the fact that i think the writing quality in some of the xpacs and dlc is vastly improved over the vanilla content. admittedly not high isle’s though, that one is a lost cause either way. at least ayrenn and emeric got fancy new looks???

[demonfox38]

Completed - Costume Quest

…Dad?

I was worried that my generation would ruin Halloween like my grandparents ruined Christmas. You know what I mean? In the love of the holiday, Christmas became an overblown mess, with family mandates and stress over gift-giving sapping the quiet affection one could experience on a dark winter’s night with their family. I thought Millennials would go too far with Halloween, put up one too many giant skeletons, spend hundreds of dollars on candy and booze and get blasted into oblivion all in the name of having a good time.

I can’t say that I saw a worldwide pandemic burying it. Could have seen Stranger Danger doing it in, though. Maybe it would help if my neighbors ever participated in handing candy out. Or, if a bag of good candy cost less than $20.00 a pop. Or, if it was ever over the freezing threshold here on Halloween.

The point is, Halloween in Iowa has become a raw deal. You should probably pray for all of the Iowa City college girls with their butts hanging out the bottom of their costumes. At least, if you are the praying type.

Is it too early to think about Halloween? Wal-Mart doesn’t think so. Neither does “Costume Quest.” As I was cycling through my Steam library, trying to pick what to work on next, it managed to boot itself up and go, “LMAO, loading drivers, idiot.” Which, fine, whatever. I’m behind on my quota of games to beat in a year. Might as well knock an eager one out.

“Costume Quest” is a turn-based, button-prompt style RPG set on a nostalgic Halloween night. Ya know, the kind of magical night where simple pieces of junk turn a child into a gigantic missile-launching robot or a vampire or a unicorn or whatever this sentient fry monster thing is.

Using the power of imagination and their smart mouths, protagonists Wren and/or Reynold (whichever you pick) sets off on a mini-journey around their suburban hellscape while their sibling (dressed as a candy corn, of all the indignities) is kidnapped by goblin-esque creatures. They pick up two additional teammates who also manage to get into trouble by their own personalities (being too brave and being a little science nerd, respectively.) Along their way, they discover how and why these monsters invaded their little town, as well as the motivation for all of their candy thievery. You know. When the adults aren't just freely handing it out, mindless of who is at the door.

In addition to the main game, a DLC bonus story called "Grubbins on Ice" is included with the game. This takes place a few months after the original adventure, following up on the twitterpation of Wren/Reynold's party members and the homeland/culture of aforementioned monsters. It mostly serves as a teaser for "Costume Quest 2" (and an ad for "Stacking", if you find it), but it does tack on a couple more hours of gameplay, for what that is worth.

Am I glossing over a bit with the writing? Probably. "Costume Quest" isn't on par with something like "Psychonauts", in terms of depth or ingenuity. It's not to say the game is entirely without charm or a few chuckles. It's just exactly what you'd predict for a story like this. Some Halloween nostalgia, lots of modern era cracks at mid-century suburban living, adults being unobservant dingdongs. That kind of stuff.

The gameplay systems are relatively standard as well. Most of your exploration boils down to knocking on doors, seeing if you are going to get treated (receive candy) or tricked (get into a monster fight.) Equipped costumes affect what attack styles and special abilities a character has in combat, to mostly predictable consequences. Except for the fry monster. That's definitely unique! Additionally, some costumes allow you to take special actions while exploring, like using a plastic lightsaber to light up dark areas, skating over ramps with roller blades, or luring people to new destinations using the scent of…french fries.

Look, the fry thing was really creative, okay? Maybe it's not the most impressive costume, but it is super unique. I'm trying to give credit where it's due. That, and using the power of liberty to restore health.

The nearest thing I can ballpark that to is "Parasite Eve"'s Liberation mode, and even that is in name only. (Although, someone should really have a deeper talk with these kids about the underlying and disturbing implications of "Manifest Destiny"…)

In terms of input style and numbers, this is very much a "Paper Mario" / "Mario & Luigi" style of RPG. Your health and levels will seem low-capped, although that is not without some humor as well. (Your max level is 10 in the main game and 14 in the DLC, which corresponds well to ages that kids often stop going out for Halloween. At least, that seems like the joke to me, at the risk of ruining it via dissection.) You will also have to time button presses, tap madly, or wiggle sticks to maximize both your offense and defense.

One to three hits are enough to take out members on either side of the field. So, don't be too surprised if your kids drop like flies early on. You can always bolt on a battle (even final ones), if you don't feel prepared to tackle it. Any time you exit a battle, you will fully restore everyone's health. So, get aggressive. Get cowardly. Do whatever works with your flow!

“Costume Quest” isn't the most complex of games. Like, I completed the game and its DLC within 8 hours, and that was including leaving the game idle while taking dogs out. The reason for this may be… not shocking at all, if you hang around the same circles of gaming journalism that I do. To make a short story shorter: AAA publishers suck; Double Fine needed some fallback game ideas for when their more lucrative deal fell through; an idea jam session resulted in the creation of a couple of games (including "Costume Quest.") So, this game didn’t have the kind of budget more renowned Double Fine games might have had. It was more born out of a need to do something small to keep the lights on. Which, hey. Understandable. Respectable, even.

Having said that, a little polish on the game’s levels could have been helpful. I’m not running the most cutting-edge gaming machine known to man, but it’s more than strong enough to handle games from over a decade ago. There feels like several spots where the game is lagging due to what I’m assuming is bad level occlusion or excessive detail rendering (I’m thinking tree leaves.) Additionally, some of the side quests are redundant, particularly the apple/eyeball bobbing mini game. I can’t say I was enraptured by the music at any point either, but that’s a matter of taste. The battle victory/defeat music could have wrapped up a little faster though. Like, chop chop. We’re out of that mode. Let’s go.

As of writing this evaluation, the Steam price for this game is hanging around $9.99 USD, which…Sure? Am I gonna be that picky on the price? If you catch it under $7.99, that’s probably a little fairer to you, but I’m not the person to tell you how to spend your allowance. I guess it’s at least cheaper than actual Halloween candy. And it’s coconut free! That’s a point in its favor!

Sometimes, friendship and/or civilization is all about finding the people that like coconut and hate almonds so that you can trade with them and make both of your lives better.

[valthu-um]

TES Aesthetic Playlists (pt. II)

As promised, I’m delivering on more content from my last post, admittedly later than I planned. The Elder Scrolls Mixtape Project continues with purpose as I introduce some new additions that have been made in the past year(s).

Games / DLC

Morrowind

Factions

I’ll admit that the Blades playlist has actually been up since my original post, but at the time, it wasn’t finished, so it is getting shuffled in with the 2nd Era inspired factions.

Aldmeri Dominion (Skyrim)

Psijic Order

The Blades (Oblivion)

Clockwork Apostles

Dragonguard

House Ravenwatch

Dark Brotherhood (ESO)

Characters (mostly Morrowind edition)

Could possibly be receiving more updates as we go along, since I’m running a little behind on ESO characters to include. 

Sotha Sil

Almalexia

Vivec

Mannimarco

Voryn Dagoth / Dagoth Ur

Darien Gautier

Naryu Virian

Fennorian

Places

And I may have gotten a little carried away with the Clockwork City playlist. Not for lack of trying to hold back buuut I have a soft spot for Sotha Sil, so it really couldn’t be helped. Sorry. I don’t make the rules. You might notice that Skyrim is notably absent from this list, because I’m not certain I need to rehash all those places over again, especially since I have a playlist for Greymoor already. 

Valenwood

Elsweyr

Black Marsh

Alik’r Desert

Rivenspire

Stormhaven

Glenumbra

Summerset Isles

Vvardenfell

Clockwork City

Wrothgar

Hew’s Bane

Craglorn

Blackwood

Daedric Princes / Planes of Oblivion

There is a playlist for the Daedric Princes under my original post in the Factions category, which was very general. But, I felt that it didn’t do justice to describe the planes of Oblivion themselves, and that I needed a more tailored experience if I planned on traipsing outside Mundus, no matter the game.

Deadlands (Mehrunes Dagon)

Myriad Realms of Revelry (Sanguine)

Fields of Regret (Clavicus Vile)

Shivering Isles (Sheogorath)

Hunting Ground (Hircine)

Evergloam (Nocturnal)

Spiral Skeim (Mephala)

Apocrypha (Hermaeus Mora)

Aesthetic/Ruins

Ancient Nordic Ruins

Falmer Ruins

Dwemer Ruins

Ayleid Ruins

Lorelines

Sometimes a zone playlist just doesn’t do the current circumstances justice. 

Daedric Triad (Morrowind - Clockwork City - Summerset)

The Dark Heart of Skyrim

To Coldharbour and Back Again (Main Quest)

Alliance War (Cyrodiil)

Classes

The only of these that is unfinished/still receiving additions and edits is the Dragonknight playlist, because it’s the last class I got around to playing as, so I’m still forming an impression.

Necromancer

Dragonknight

Templar

Nightblade

Warden

Sorcerer

Pt. I here. ESO Trials + Dungeons here. I also do other aesthetic/character-based playlists for other series, although not as extensive as TES. You can find a list on my main blog.

[kyublivion]

Could Vitus Beat the MK1 roster? (plus a few others) based on my limited knowledge

Im copy-pasting this from my google docs and i don't know why I'm posting this here, but i am. Based on a Konvo between my friends and I on discord. Long Post incoming

Liu Kang- LMAO NO

Liu Kang (MK-Mk11)- No (legally maybe but he's the protag so no)

Sub-Zero- Bi-Han gets treated like the Noob he is, this Saibot tho gets the Angie Treatment and keeps his Ice powers.

Scorpion- Kuai Liang? Bye Liang.

Kitana- Yes probably but I wish he couldn't...

Johnny Cage- No (Legally Yes, unfortunately)

Kenshi- Yeah, unfortunately

Kung Lao- Hats off to Kung Lao. Literally. Vitus knocked his hat off and won.

Mileena- another unfortunate yes. GET TARKAT THOUGH IDIOT!

Raiden (mk1)- He may have gotten Liu-Kang's protag position but right now the answer is yes. Not without lightning burns tho.

Raiden (mk-mk11)- Not Sure actually, unlike God Liu this Raiden isn't the keeper of time so it's a possibility. I am leaning No tho.

Rain- Vitus makes Rain's actions in Seido look like he just made a swimming pool.

Smoke- This Thomas :handshake: Thomas Sr. Getting obliterated by Vitus

Li Mei- Probably? I don't know enough about her.

Baraka- GET TARKAT IDIOT. But unfortunately yes.

Tanya- Same problem as Li-Mei

Gearas- LMAO NO

Reptile- Syzoth deserves better, but unfortunately yes...

Havik- let's see you Out-Heal Oblivion wing, bitch.

Ashrah- Absolution denied. Also Possible Angie treatment.

Sindel- He'd lose his ear drums but probably would take it in the end.

General Shao- Again, Vitus was likely a warrior King, in reality, they'd probably work together, but the answer is yes. Not an easy fight tho, I'd imagine.

Shao Khan- See above but Vitus would likely have more broken bones and it's a possible No actually.

Reiko- We now know who hurt Reiko.

Nitara- *bored voice work* yes.

Shang Tsung- I'm more afraid of the team-up, but yes.

Titan Shang Tsung- Legally no for the same reason as God Liu, but we have to get Marcus somehow so yes (I'll stop with the joke if it gets old, Strike)

Omni-Man- No. Legally, however, it’s a possibility, because Vitus IS Death, it'd just be a matter of who could kill the other faster.

Cronchy (Quan Chi)- HA. HA. The idea of Quan Chi having even the SLIGHTEST chance of beating Vitus is HILARIOUS. Vitus bodies, hands down.

Peacemaker- I know nothing about him other than he is played by John Cena, and as much as that part alone makes me want to say no, Vitus could not win, I'm going to have to say yes because Death. Now this might change depending on what I learn about Peacemaker.

Ermac- Part of me wants to say yes because Ermac is a collective of Souls, another part of me isn't sure because Ermac is already dead. I'm gonna go with Yes though because I'm not sure how skilled at Kombat Ermac actually is.

Homelander- Yes. I do not care HOW strong Homelander is, if I get asked “Could X beat Homelander?” the answer is always yes. Jokes aside, the answer is yes, Vitus could, in fact, Beat Homelander. Future DLC Characters MAY be added as they are announced and if I feel like it.

[cyberpunkpizzaman]

Games I’ve been Playing - Elden Ring, Fallout 3, and Breath of the Wild

It's been a while since I put together my last post about what I've been playing, but I have definitely not been idle in the intervening months. Here's what I've been up to!

All links in this post are Humble Bundle affiliate links. That means I get a small portion of any purchase made after using them. If you'd like to learn more about the Humble Bundle affiliate program, click here.

Elden Ring

I beat Elden Ring a month or so back, brute-forcing my way through the game with heavy armor and a greatsword. It's a massive game, and I feel like I've only just scratched the surface even after the many many hours I put into that run. I restarted almost immediately, playing as a mage and experimenting with glintstone sorceries. But in all honesty, I'm a bit burnt out on the game. As many discovered after an initial burst of enjoyment, the game really starts to drag after the fight with Morgott and I, like many others, was struck by an overwhelming sense of "really, there's more?" right about the time Crumbling Farum Azula popped up.

All of that said, I really enjoyed my time with Elden Ring. It was a real challenge, but I'm happy I played it. The world and the characters have intriguing depths and the moment-to-moment gameplay is tense and exciting. I just think the open world (and especially the addition of your trusty steed Torrent) breaks the tight pacing that does so much for the earlier Souls games. When most enemy groups can simply be avoided, it's often hard to tell how the game wants the player to approach situations.

Fallout 3

Playing on the Steam Deck! I first experienced Fallout 3 at a friend's house, watching him explore DC's irradiated subways on an XBox 360. Playing the game on the Deck is a wholly different experience, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. As a platform, the Deck promotes a certain kind of focus that I find incredibly compelling; multi-tasking isn't really possible, so the game takes center stage.

When I play games on PC, it's not unusual for me to have a podcast running in the background, or even a long YouTube video running on a second monitor. Playing on the Deck locks me in and focuses my attention.

I'm also having a good time with Fallout 3 itself! Much like my exploration of Oblivion last year, Fallout 3 feels like a clear first step toward the kind of multi-leveled, densely packed urban chaos we see in Fallout 4's Boston. The metro system's prominence feels more like a concession to technical limitations than anything else, with piles of rubble blocking progress along surface streets.

Tonally, the game's dialogue choices place the player at a remove from the game's world. You're encouraged to mess with the world and its characters, causing problems and drama wherever you go. You can, of course, avoid these options, but the game itself will essentially taunt you for being a good-two-shoes. It's a game that, despite the depth of its dialogue system and its world, wants you to engage with it as a game; to exert your will upon the world and its inhabitants in whatever way seems most entertaining.

Anyways, I'll likely have a longer write-up on Fallout 3 at some point in the future. I'm still fairly early in the game, and I've yet to tackle any of the DLC. More to come here.

Breath of the Wild

I have no screenshots for this one; I'll add some in the future if I can figure out how to get screenshots off the Switch

Breath of the Wild is my first Zelda game and I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. I'm partly playing it for my wife, so she can see the story without needing to play the game herself. But I think I might have played too many open-world games. I can see the game's strength and the excellence of its execution in every mechanic; the game gives me so many tools I sometimes can't tell if a cheesed a puzzle or completed it as intended, and the world design itself is both nuanced and beautiful.

But I think I've climbed too many towers. I think I climbed too many towers by the time I beat Far Cry 3, and I'd definitely climbed too many towers by the time I beat Assassin's Creed 3. I've filled in more than my fair share of maps and I just don't know that I'm that into it these days. Skyrim's old promise of "if you see a mountain you can climb it" feels more like obligation than exploration. And knowing that each new heart means finding and completing four shrines makes me feel like I'm completing checklist items.

I think I might just not be cut out for these kinds of games right now. I'm going to beat the game and give it a fair shake, but I'm definitely flagging and I have been from the start.

[alongtidesoflight]

for the mod you are making: would I be able to start a new game in Skyrim without doing anything else so I can play the mod and the mod only? I beat the game but never could get into it as much as I would have technically wanted to, given the lore and everything, because finding the roleplay kind of hollow. Which, again with the lore, I love the lore of the elder scrolls series so getting disappointed by the roleplaying really bugged me.

But from the look of what you are developing, you definitely are making something that looks really great and fleshed out. Especially with the companions and interactions you are showing, as so far the only good companion in the elder scrolls that I have found so far that feels more alive is just Serena. Who is from a DLC.

Would I be able to just head right away to start the mod, or would I have to likely wait until a specific level or any other condition to start?

in theory you can start the mod immediately after you've left helgen or skipped the tutorial there with an alternate start mod. you're not going to miss out on much mod content until you go to whiterun to warn jarl balgruuf about the dragon that has attacked helgen.

there's a small knapsack at the guardian stones that sort of works as a setup for the mod, as in you have to pick one of the tes: iv oblivion classes/professions you want to roleplay as (they unlock some dialogue options and quest shortcuts) and once that's done, you can venture deeper into skyrim (and beyond) and go recruit the companions.

now, you can play their recruitment quests at any time without having progressed through any of skyrim's main/dlc/side quests. the thing is that you're gonna have to do at least some questing in between recruitment and personal quests in order to get their approval up enough for them to confide in you.

the progression looks a little something like:

recruitment -> reach a certain approval threshold - > personal quest 1 -> reach a certain approval threshold -> personal quest 2

independent of that, their romances depend on approval and how much you flirt with them as they open up to you.

right now, i can think of one location that's unlocked with a recruitment quest and you can do a bit of questing there that's unrelated to skyrim's quests, and it'd probably be a good way to net some approval. but without looking right now, i'm not sure if it's enough approval to trigger any of the personal quests.

so yes, you can play some of the quests as soon as you initiate the mod, but there's approval thresholds that keep you from progressing through all of the mod's content immediately.

on top of that you're going to want to progress through skyrim's quests a little (at least until you're declared dragonborn) because it opens up more dialogue branches, at least one personal quest, and unlocks the quest to obtain the player home (and its garrison of unique guards).

the mod's been made with skyrim being very hollow in mind. it's here to enhance and immerse you in the game a little, with the companions commenting on your game progression almost each time you've finished one of the many main or dlc quests in order to make it feel, well, more alive.

so the tl;dr is, you can play some of the mod's content immediately after the mod's been set up, but you'll miss out on a lot of content if you don't want to focus on skyrim's plot and i don't want to make any promises and say you'll be able to get their approval up enough for them to want to let you in on their backstories without you having done at least a bit of questing in bethesda-land.

i'd say at the very least, progress the game until you're declared dragonborn and make sure to talk to the companions after any main quests or dlc quests you do in order to gain more approval. the overall mod (and hopefully game) experience will be better if you do. also, since the companions have history relating to game events, for example the civil war, guilds, daedric princes, and factions, you might stumble into one surprise interaction or another here and there.

if anyone would like me to write up quick approval guides/mod progression tips and tricks and offer that as an additional download when i release the whole thing, like this or comment below. (trust me i know just how frustrating it can be to miss out on content because you didn't get a companion's approval up in time and now the chance to interact with them has come and gone. no shame in wanting to look things up/plan a playthrough in advance.)

[juniperberries-canisroot]

Gonna play Oblivion and alter one of the default classes, def gonna play with Acrobatics and custom spells since those things aren't in Skyrim. I don't think I'm gonna do unarmed since that's in Fallout: New Vegas and I prioritize new skills over ones I can play in other games. Not sure what race I'm gonna a play as, I think just whatever looks cool. No face paint thou?

Got any tips, tricks, exploits, cheats, whatever? I'm not above cheating but I can't do any console commands or mods on an old Xbox 360. I do have Knights of the Nine & Shivering Isles DLC so I might get a little bonus from that similar to Skyrim's CC where good stuff is easy to find early on.

[falmerbrook]

what are your tes 6 expectations?

hmmm interesting question.

Firstly, it sounds like it's basically all but confirmed to be in Hammerfell based on analysis of that one "please shut up about TES 6" trailer by people who know more than me, and the fact that ESO has kinda avoided dipping their toes too substantially into the province despite covering the rest of them pretty thoroughly. On one hand that's sorta meh because if so it'll be the third game in a row to focus on a human province, but on the other hand ESO and Redguard have kinda gotten me into Hammerfell, so I won't be sad or disappointed if it indeed is. I've seen some say they think it will or want it to focus on the the Iliac Bay (so both High Rock and Hammerfell), but I think that's a bit of a cope.

In terms of everything else, I'm gonna be honest, I don't really have any expectations. I'm by no means a gamer, and the TES games are pretty much the only ones I play, so from my time poking around TES communities, I don't think I have as high or complex of expectations for my gaming experience as someone who plays games beyond just being weirdly obsessed with a particular game series. I'll also admit that I can be a bit of contrarian, so seeing people get genuinely angry at things they assume will happen with TES 6 as if they have already been confirmed to be happening has made me sort of be overly optimistic about it by default. I think by not having expectations I'm less likely to be disappointed if it is disappointing (which, once again, it sorta hard to achieve by my low standards), and I won't be too burned by being optimistic since no matter what, I'll probably just enjoy running around a part of Tamriel either way. It'll probably be fairly similar to Skyrim, but hell, I'm not a game developer. Who am I to say what direction they'll take.

If Oblivion supposedly had a lot of influence from Lord of the Rings, what might TES 6 have inspiration from? Maybe they'll see how well BG3 did and lean in that direction (writing wise) more? The new Dune movies have come out right as its started proper development, so maybe they'll take from that (y'know, deserts)? Maybe they'll just do their usual of building off of new systems they implemented in their last game (which would be Starfield, which I haven't played and don't know what new things they played around with, so I don't know what it will be) and/or the DLCs of the last TES game (although maybe it's been too long since Skyrim for that).

The one thing I am tentatively hoping for is that these like 4 years of pre-development shows in the worldbuilding and writing. But like I said, I'm not expecting much. Just trying to be contrarily optimistic.

Also I made this post awhile ago about what I hope they change about Redguard history if TES 6 is in Hammerfell. Not the same topic but I thought I might as well include it

So tldr: I don't really have many expectations period, positive or negative, but I'm cautiously looking forward to it. I don't really know what to expect outside of the typical Bethesda open world structure.

[nerendus]

top favorite characters in all your fandoms, go ❗️

Oh! Okay, uhhhhh

I feel like I've done something like this before (where as I was writing it up, I got hit with the strangest deja vu), but I think that was on my old blog before I sniped it out of orbit about...a year ago? So yeah! Maybe there's some changes since then.

Rogue Trader: Most relevant one first, this might be quite surprising but it's actual Pasqal, and not Tervantias. I love the space elf, but nothing will ever beat a pretty robot man (unless the Theoretical DLC gives a romance option that is a robot, and therefore it would change to that robot)

Elden Ring: Nokstella the Eternal City Queen Marika the Eternal. I just....love women. I have a lot of thoughts about her that...go greatly against the normal consensus. She also just has nice tits.

Arcane: Jinx <3 I got into the show for her, and if for some reason she leaves, I leave with her. I've contemplated on playing League...just for her, but I'm also afraid of online only gaming, so that's never gonna happen.

Bloodborne: This....is a really hard one. I want to say Fake Iosefka because mad doctor woman, but....Queen Annalise is hot vampire, but..........Amygdala. I love all the women, and the more I think about it, it is almost definitely Amygdala. Specifically the one in the Unseen Village where you can get really close to her and see her heart beat. She's really hot.

Dark Souls: Doing the whole series with this one since I'm not...the most familiar with it, but it's definitely Sister Friede. I just like nuns.

Sekiro: Emma................... Please heal me, Emma.

Doom: Dr. Samuel Hayden <33333 I only ever replay the games for <3 him <3 and the moment he's out of the picture, I lose interest. I just....really like robot angel alien men in the middle of toxic yaoi divorce.

Cyberpunk: So Mi.......................................................

uhhhhhhhh I'm forgetting everything I've ever played, I got to boot up Steam

Morrowind: Almalexia <3 no one does it like her

Oblivion: Martin Septim, love you man.

Skyrim: Fuckin uh....Alduin I guess. But more so than him is just the general concept of the Dragon Priests. I love those hot dead dudes.

Episode Thirteen: Obligatory having to mention this book so people will read it <3 but Rashida my love......please come home

Dune: Lady Jessica.....please hug me like the cut footage of you hugging your son

D&D: It's a fandom to me okay, fuck you. And it's my first PC, Atheleisia <3 They are...so fucked up and a weird cultist mad scientist, I love her.

And for the ultimate character of all time, the only one that truly matters...

Signalis: Ariane Yeong............Words cannot describe how much she means to me. She's like a patron saint of just, generally feeling bad and having pain anywhere in the body (new followers: wait until I get pain in my wisdom teeth again and watch me talk like a maniac about her)

Thanks anonling, I like to think about my little guys. This was fun.

[lonewolf23k]

It's more like they're watching him try that bullshit and shoot himself in the ground, then take notes and go "Okay, so how do I try this in a way that won't end in me shooting myself in the foot?", before someone else tries a variation that takes longer for the foot shooting to happen, and the cycle repeats.

Remember, the first bit of DLC was Elder Scrolls: Oblivion's infamous Horse Armor, and it was PANNED when Bethesda first came out with it. Then someone else tried a slightly less egregious version of DLC, and someone iterated on that, and now it's considered perfectly normal to pay real money for digital items to add to the full-price game you already bought.

Those corporations might be competitors, but don't ever make the mistake of thinking they're on our side. They're ALL out to get our money.

I think the biggest problem that these big industry giants that had it good and fucked it all up is that they don't understand that there's no honour among thieves in their circles. Because that's the only way I can picture them imagining this would go down. Proudly announcing "hey we're going to make you pay for shit that none of our competitors do, fuck you", and then all their competitors would turn to look, all starry-eyed and in awe with their genius like "you can do that?" and then do the exact same thing themselves, holding hands and moving in lockstep, hearts full of mutual trust for each other, peacefully working towards their mutual goal of turning more profit by making everything shittier for us all.

Like, that's the only way I can imagine they thought that this was going to go. Some cool hero businessman CEO being the most brilliant adorably smart Special Boy to come up with a bold new way to squeeze more profits out of clients and customers, and being brave enough to be the first one to take the first step, and then every other business' lesser Big Boy CEO:s will see how cool that is and follow suit in a neat line, working together in unison, and the first Cool Hero Boss Baby will go down in Business History for being so brilliant and sexy.

Meanwhile in reality, the competitors will just calmly watch this grand giant of the industry boldly shoot itself in the foot, and deadpan say "oh no, how tragic for you", pick up their little basket and start sweeping up the clients, competitors and workers that are currently bleeding out of it.