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[Ephemeriis]

But when you're not even compelled to explore the ruins they took the time to develop because you, almost psychically, know exactly what to expect.....the game has far larger problems than its lore retcon.

This is exactly how I felt after a while...

I jumped off the rails pretty quickly.  Ignored the main storyline.  Just went exploring.  And before too long, things started looking very familiar.

When it came time to do the main storyline I was just about sick of the cookie-cutter dungeons.  I didn't want to go through yet another Oblivion tower.  I didn't want to go through yet another necromancer's crypt.  I didn't want to explore yet another Aleid ruin.

I think, though, that this was exacerbated to some degree by the familiarity of the setting.

Morrowind wasn't amazingly diverse.  They had a limited number of tilesets in that game as well.  But the setting wasn't the same pseudo-mediaeval thing I've seen in every single swords & sorcery game since the dawn of time.  They were at least different and interesting tilesets.

The first time I walked into a dwarven ruin in Morrowind, or strolled out into the ashlands, it felt unfamiliar.  Like I was going someplace new and interesting - at least the first few times.

The first time I walked into an aleid ruin in Oblivion, or strolled out into oblivion, it felt like I'd been there before.  It felt like any other ancient magical ruin in any other fantasy game.  It felt like any other hellish setting in any other fantasy game.

[nenjin]

I jumped off the rails pretty quickly.  Ignored the main storyline.  Just went exploring.  And before too long, things started looking very familiar.

This is how I've played every Beth game since Morrowind. And it's had the same results three times now. You get burnt out on the content long before you get to the main storyline. You're horrendously over-powered at that point, the mechanics have stopped being fun to observe and play with.

And THEN you get to the sub-par main story and realize.....there's very little at the core of the game you like other than the structure: the FPS open world nature, the RPG elements, the exploration that turns out to be worth the time....but that's it.

[scriver]

I have to disagree with you there, Padomay is the primal force and Sithis is the 'soul' of the force. Although Sithis has no power himself he's the only being capable of controlling Padomay, and can use Padomay to reach his own goals.

Not really. While you are correct that Sithis can be called the soul of Padomay, Sithis is not aware or sentient. He, or rather It, has no agenda, just like his counterpart Anuiel. Their birth and interplay was not an active choice, rather more like a chemical reaction to each other. True sentience and sapience did not come into being until the et'Ada was born. One might even say it did not occur until the creation of Nirn, but that becomes a matter of semantics.
It is better to say that Sithis is the aspect of Padomay that receives worship and/or credit from mortals of the "main" cultures of Tamriel. This, because you have to keep in mind that other mythologies doesn't differ between Padomay and Sithis at all, for them they are one primordial being. The Elves does not have monopoly on history.

[Pakhawaj]

I think the Elder Scrolls (II & III) might be the only thing I'm a fan of, it's a little embarrassing how excited I get thinking about the lore and world. Naturally, I'm trying to avoid anything regarding this game, I can't imagine the new team have suddenly decided to read up on the lore books or -heaven forbid- write new books complimenting the game they've designed.
I encourage anybody interested to look up stories in the Imperial Library, the majority of the books were written by the Daggerfall and Morrowind writing staff and one can find interviews regarding lore and the development of ideas, I think it's pretty interesting.

If Bethseda simply decided to drop the "Elder Scrolls" nametag I'd probably be more interested in the game, otherwise it just seems like a bad emulation of an interesting world.

[Boksi]

You know, it took me a long time to realize Skyrim was called that because the Nord's considered it the sky's rim. I kept thinking about skyr instead.

[Tellemurius]

You know, it took me a long time to realize Skyrim was called that because the Nord's considered it the sky's rim. I kept thinking about skyr instead.

yogurt...... really?

[Cheese]

Well.. I guess to be a big healthy nord you need a good strained yoghurt meal..

[GaelicVigil]

The latest Game Informer is supposed to be on shelves today which is supposed to have a Skyrim preview.  Anybody have any news about this, or seen the issue yet?

[Cecilff2]

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/01/06/february-cover-revealedesv-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim.aspx

There's the cover of the thing.  People on the Bethsoft forum(myself included) tried to decipher it and we've concluded that the characters are not 1-1 to english and that some of the runes correspond to more than 1 letter.  Supposedly there'll be a key to translate it out later today.

[GaelicVigil]

I'm really interested to find out what direction they're going to take this.  I'll be really happy if they lean toward Morrowind/Daggerfall and really, REALLY angry if they're going to do something more like Oblivion.

I made a promise to myself to only buy a new desktop computer every time a new TES game came out, but only if it sounded promising (yes my desktop PC is a dinosaur from 2006).  So the preview today may just be what will determine whether I'm going to be getting my wallet out or not.

I'm not holding out much hope though...

[Nistenf]

Dinasour? My PC is from the ending of 2006/beginning of 2007 and I can still run any games. I have a small monitor though

[Rose]

the fact that they made a language and alphabet, and that said alphabet doesn't correspond 1:1 with the roman alphabet, tells me that they are putting a respectable amount of work in this, even if the grammar is still the same as english.

* Japa is translating that text right now.

[AntiAntiMatter]

the fact that they made a language and alphabet, and that said alphabet doesn't correspond 1:1 with the roman alphabet, tells me that they are putting a respectable amount of work in this, even if the grammar is still the same as english.

* Japa is translating that text right now.

Post the translation when you figure it out.

[Sensei]

Gah, I wish i still had the time to do that sort of thing. I had fun deciphering in Morrowind (even if a lot of people did it first). Of course, I only totally understood it when I downloaded the font for modding purposes.

Actually, now that I think about it, it'd be easier and less time-consuming (excluding being given a Rosetta Stone of some sort) to make my own secret-language font and watch people squirm. Thank god it looks like it forms English words and grammar- ever tried to write/translate the D'ni language from Myst? *shivers*

Actually, I might start a thread on this subject, hrmm...

Added: Hey, can someone who knows what the elder scrolls is called in another language look it up and see if the nordic text is the same? I can handle some french translation if someone knows what the elder scrolls is called there, by the way.

[ECrownofFire]

This is the full translation, stolen from the comments at the gameinformer site.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dragonborn Dragonborn
By his honor is sworn
To keep evil forever at bay
And the fiercest foes rout
When they hear triumph’s shout
Dragonborn for hunger blessing we pray

And the scrolls have fortold
Of black wings in the cold
That when brothers wage war come unfurled
Alduin, bane of kings
Ancient shadow unbound
With a hunger to swallow the world