With the success of Oblivion Remastered, it is clear that there is renewed interest in the Elder Scrolls VI. I think that the game is going to be taking place in High Rock or Hammerfell, more likely the latter as we haven’t really seen as much in the series. However, I think that the renewed interest in The Elder Scrolls Oblivion with the remastered edition is a sign of how Bethesda wants to gin up interest in the sequel to Skyrim. The snow peaks of Skyrim have were more popular than the Lord of the Rings inspired Oblivion for many years after release. However, the remastered shows that the Elder Scrolls series has greater appeal beyond the snowy homeland of the Nords. Oblivion Remastered success indicates that Elder Scrolls VI will be a better game and here is why that the hype is real for the sequel game.
1. Elder Scrolls VI will probably have better horses
The Paint Horse you see in this screenshot above shows the huge leaps in graphics from the 2006 version. The horses in the original game always seemed a little muddy in the textures. In the Elder Scrolls VI, they are probably going to have better horses not only in graphics but in the way that they are used in the game. Probably there will be calvary warfare. With some players saying that the game could take place in Hammerfell, I expect that that the game may feature camels as a mount avaliable to players.
2. The Graphics will probably look similar if not better than Oblivion Remastered Edition.
I think that the graphical upgrade of Oblivion Remastered is one of the best aspects of the game. Beauty is only skin deep, but it is capable of telling a story at the same time in the game.
Oblivion Remastered has made what I love about Oblivion even better. I think that Skyrim was always too snowy for me. Unlike Oblivion, Skyrim has this feeling of being a game that should be played in the winter for best effect. Even the music in the caves seems to have this lingering chill of the winter within the musical notation. This is something that is not present in Oblivion. The graphics in the original game were more diverse and more dreamy in character.
The Elder Scrolls VI is probably going to be as demanding as Oblivion was in 2006. With GTA 6 now having a second trailer, it seems that Elder Scrolls VI is going to have competition. While I do not expect that Elder Scrolls VI is going to have the graphical quality of Rockstar’s latest open world game, but I do expect that it will be using Oblivion Remastered as a base for what they want the sequel to look like so that it can compete with other AAA games.
3. We may see a new Arena system in Elder Scrolls VI
While Skyrim did not have an Arena system, I think that it may return in Elder Scrolls VI.
The Arena was always one of my favorite parts of Oblivion. Unlike the Companions in Skyrim, this questline was very useful in the early game for getting more gold to use in shops. The story also fit in the game world unlike Skyrim’s hastily put together questline for the Companions.
4. Spell Making
One of the best new features in Oblivion was the usage of spell makers at the Arcane University in the game. I think that having this feature in the game again will help to put some more variety back into the Elder Scrolls Series. Skyrim was too streamlined for some fans even if it was a great success. With the series having been incredibly succesful for them, they can probably take more risks with putting back in some complexity into the Elder Scrolls. The success of Oblivion Remastered is a clear sign that there is still an appetite for some greater complexity in games. This complexity has to be balanced of course. People want games that respect their time and are not just time sinks like in the past. Being an AAA developer means having to respect many audiences.
5. Bigger Cities
One of my biggest compliants with Skyrim was how the cities were so small. Whiterun was deceptively big and the castle took up too much space. Some of the cities in the game were way too small. It is time we have some larger cities in the Elder Scrolls franchise. Oblivion showed that it is possible to have big cities in a game within the confines of that console generation.
What I would like to see is more cities and also more alive cities. While I love the size of cities in Oblivion. They need to be more alive and have more characters in them. That would be a great treat and make for better role-playing experiences.
6. More varieties in the Art Style
One of the biggest changes to the Imperial City was these rooftops with the wooden shingles on them. They allow the city to become more sophisticated in comparison to the previous version of the game. This is why I loved Oblivion when I first started playing it. Unlike Skyrim, there is a greater variety of styles in the game. Each region has its own architectural style. Bruma has the art style of the Nords with their Viking Inspired houses. The city of Bravil has rustic looking shacks that seem more at home in Skyrim in some sense here. The city of Anvil is remind me of Ancient Rome with their roofs and masonry on the walls; the coastal city is remarkably attractive and looks quite different from say Skingrad or Chorrol. Such variety is what makes Oblivion in my view a better game than Skyrim in the architecture of cities in the game.
A more colorful Elder Scrolls
This picture shows how beautiful the Elder Scrolls games can be. One of the issues that I had with Skyrim was how gray and brown it was. The introduction with Helgen is rather lacking in color. There is little contrast in the colors like when one goes out of the sewer in Oblivion.
What Elder Scrolls VI needs is more colors. Skyrim was a great for shaking up the color palette in the series but I think it is time to go back to something has more beauty in it.
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