By Hendrix

For quite some time on the forums, we've been having a competition for the Ideal Elder Scrolls V. Since nothing is known about Elder Scrolls V, there were some creative and interesting (albeit sometimes lore-breaking) ideas that came and went. Finally, I can present a winner, in fact, it's for  a two-person project. This came in second for both judges besides myself, which I thought was perhaps the most original and best idea out there, which also followed lore very closely. The other ideas were quite good, yet narrowly, this one won it. So, without further ado, I shall present the winner of the Ideal TES V Competition to the team of Kestheba and Slujs_Br.  Below is there idea for the next Elder Scrolls game.

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TES V: Crystal Tower
by Sluijs_br and Kestheba
 

CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS GAMES

Fast Travel
There is no point-and-click fast travel, however there are boat ports, horses, caravans and a mages guild in every city which allows transport for a fee.
Boat ports and mages guild offer instantaneous transportation with a loading screen, horse and caravans are "slow travel."

Compass
Compass shows NSEW, that's it.

Quest book
Lists all quests, which ones are active or complete, and the next objective to be completed, with suggestions on who to talk to for information. Every piece of information given to you by an NPC is stored here.

Journal
An editable book in your inventory.

Voice vs. Text
Voice acting is done with speech synthesis software and can be turned on or off to be text only. Characters in the MQ have voice actors. There will be a seperate textbox to check in order to turn of voice for main characters.

There will also be a much wider range of topics to pick from, and any NPC will be able to give accurate directions to any nearby city or important landmark. (But may not have directions to very far away places unless it's quest related.)

Your Name: When voice is turned on, the speech synthesis will be able to pronounce any word so NPCs can say your name. At the start of your game, you will have to hit a test button to see if the game can pronounce your name. There will be a box for actual name and a box for pronounciation. You tweak the letters in the pronounciation box until the game pronounces your name correctly. (Obviously MQ characters will not refer to you by your name.)

Essential NPCS
All NPCs are killable, although essential NPCs, when struck, will have a message appear saying that killing this person will force you to live in a doomed world. You can then choose to yield. (All essential NPCs will accept a yield no matter what, but you will still be reported for a crime.) If you choose to kill them, you will get a pop-up asking you to reload, but it is optional.

Note that "essential" is for characters in the main quest, or for guild quests. Characters from miscellaneous quests aren't tagged as essential.

Inventory
You have a key ring which is separate from your main inventory, although you can still drop keys. They are weightless so dropping them just means less to sort through.
Gold is weightless, lockpicks and torches are not. You can drop gold.

Level Scaling
Enemies related to the main quest will level scale. Others will not. All creatures are present in the game at all times.

Loot will NEVER scale. Rewards for quests are the same no matter what, with harder quests getting better rewards.

Resetting Containers and hand-placed loot
Containers in owned houses will have generated loot and resetting containers. A house in which you are the owner, is abandoned or ownerless, or the owner/inhabitants have been killed, containers automatically stop resetting. When you enter a house, the enter icon will be different to show whether it is owned or not. (And be red if trespassing, by the way.)

All dungeons/caves will have hand placed loot, but after being opened by the player for the first time, they will become resetting containers with randomly generated loot. (Unless the contents of the container are quest-related. This is to prevent items being lost in a glitch or if the player opens the container but doesn't take anything.)


LORE
There are plenty of in-game books and tons of new ones. Also, NPCs will have many topics about lore so that the player can learn the history and lore of Tamriel even without consulting books if they don't want to. Players will have a chance to ask questions about the world very early on in the game so they have a basic understanind of lore.


STORY

Main Quest
You start out as a prisoner who is being taken by caravan to a new prison. You talk to another prisoner who will fill you in on some lore if you wish. Then the caravan is attacked by bandits, and in the confusion you are able to escape. The other prisoner gives you the name of a wizard who might employ you, to help you get back on your feet now that you are free. You can choose to follow up on this or not.
If you choose to see the wizard, this is the start of the MQ. He asks you to run errands and eventually retrieve some artifacts from the crystal tower. When the last artifact is delivered he is revealed as the main villain and sets out to conquer the isles, and the player must stop him.
The wizard has a connection to the sea elves who are trying to conquer the isle. The artifacts are to strengthen the king of pyandonea.

Joinable Guilds/Factions
Thieves Guild, Fighter's Guild, Mage's Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Psijic Order, A knightly order, Imperial Cult, Imperial Legion, Arena, The Beautiful


GAMEPLAY ADDITIONS/CHANGES

COMBAT

  1. Fighting and magic are almost identical to Oblivion with a few changes:
  2. Dual Weilding (This means two weapons as well as two spells. You can also hold a shield in either hand.)
  3. Mounted combat/casting
  4. Hand to hand deals actual damage instead of fatigue. Also it's not just punching, it will look more like martial arts.
  5. There will be a kicking feature, so you can kick npcs out of high places to their deaths, or to spikes and other traps (spikes will hurt you if YOU are kicked. possibly lethal, depending on the health).
  6. the player can throw any clutter available as a throwing weapon, or use them as blunt weapons (or respective category. most fall under blunt tough).
  7. there'll be jars of oil that can be thrown on a certain location or npc. if a fire spell is cast at the oil-impregnated area, or a torch is dropped (or used as a weapon) then the oil-impregnated place/npc will go on fire.
  8. enemies will flee when low on health (with some exceptions)
  9. most of the enviroment is destructible, such as board making a walkway, or a table. they require a good strenght and a big weapon to destroy tough.
MAGICK
  1. expanded telekinesis: if the magnitude is big enough the user can grap npcs and creatures and throw them around. big falls or crashing against walls causes damage.
  2. usings spells also drain fatigue
  3. if the spellcaster is attacked as he casts a spell then the spell is aborted.


STEALTH
When you enter sneak mode and move in front of NPCs, they will be suspicious and ask what you are doing. Guards will tell you to cut it out. If a guard sees you holding a lockpick they will be suspicious.

Simply moving an item will not count as stealing, however if you are handling it too much an NPC may ask you to stop. Failure to stop will then get the guards called on you.

A stolen item will always be recognized by its owner. However when you sell to a vendor in the town from which the item was stolen, the chances of them recognizing it as stolen depends on your deception skill. Outside of that town the chances of recognition drops drastically.

When you commit a crime, only the guards in that town will be able to recognize you. If your bounty is extremely high, wanted posters with your face will go up and then all guards will recognize you.


PROVINCE/ERA
Summurset Isles. 4E 24, 15th of Mid Year.


WORLD INFO
-Tame goblins are used as slaves
-Altmer culture is divided by those who still feel the Altmer race is superior and those who question this belief.
-From the 3rd edition of the Pocket Guide: Cloudrest, atop Eton Nir, the highest mountain in Summerset, is a decidedly odd mixture of architectural styles, with buildings like strangler vines, built on top of other, older structures. The oldest of all ruins there, and in a few isolated spots throughout the island, are made of coral, which must have been carried many, many miles away from the sea. The material and the style of the ruins strongly suggest that the Sload may have once counted Summerset as a part of their kingdom of Thras. This is visible in the game.


SKILLS
Attribute and Skill Governed by Attribute

Strength
1.Blade
2.Blunt
3.Axe
4.Spear

Endurance
1.Armorer
2.Block
3.Heavy Armor
4.Medium Armor

Speed
1.Athletics
2.Acrobat.
3.Light Armor
4.Unarmored

Agility
1.Security
2.Sneak
3.Marksma
4.Hand to hand

Personality
1.Mercantile
2.Speechc.
3.Illusion
4.Deception*

Intelligence
1.Alchemy
2.Conjur.
3.Mysticism
4.Enchant

Willpower
1.Alteration
2.Destruct.
3.Restoration
4.Necromancy

Luck

*Deception is the ability to smuggle stolen items without being caught and the abilty to disguise yourself to infiltrate enemies.

Spell effects
*This is basically the same from Morrowind, with tweaking from Daggerfall and some switching around. See notes at end of list.

Illusion
Blind
Calm Creature
Calm Humanoid
Chamelion
Charm
Demoralize Creature
Demoralize Humanoid
Frenzy
Invisibility
Light
Night Eye
Paralyze
Rally
Sanctuary
Silence
Sound
Polymorph**

Conjuration
Bound Weapon/equipment/ect.
Call Bear/Wolf/other animal/ect
Summon Clannfear
Summon Deadroth
Summon Dremora
Summon Flame/frost/elemental/storm Atronach
Summon Golden Saint
Summon Scamp
Summon Winged Twilight
Banish summoned creature
Banish Deadra**
teleport**

Mysticism
Absorb Attribute/Fatigue/Health/Magicka/Skill
Divine Intervention
Detect animal/enchantment/key
Dispel
Mark
Recall
Reflect
Soultrap
Spell Absorb
Telekinesis

Alteration
Burden
Feather
Fire Shield
Frost Shield
Jump
Levitate
Lightning Shield
Lock
Open
Shield
Slowfall
Swift Swim
Water Breathing
Water Walking

Destruction
Damage Attribute
Damage Fatigue
Damage Health
Damage Magicka
Damage Skil
Disintigrate Armor/Weapon
Drain Attribute
Drain Fatigue
Drain Health
Drain Magicka
Drain Skill
Fire Damage
Frost Damage
Poisen
Shock Damage
Stunted Magicka
Weakness to disease/poisen/fire/frost/ect.

Restoration
Cure Disease/Paralysis/poisen
Fortify Attack/Attribute/Fatigue/Health/Magicka/Skill ect.
Fortify Skill
Resists Disease/Poisen/Normal Weapons/ect.
Restore Attribute/Health/Magicka/skill

Necromancy
Summon Skeletal minion
Command Creature
Command Humanoid
Summon Ancestral Ghost
Summon Bonelord
Summon Bonewalker/Greater Bonewalker
Summon Zombie
Revive Humanoid/creature**

The difference between summoning with conjuration and summoning with necromancy is that conjuration summons living creatures, necromancy summons dead ones.

**Banish summoned creature- Banishes any creature summoned with conjuration.
Banish Deadra- Banishes summoned Deadra, inside Oblivion this does not work.
teleport- teleports to any city or settlement you have visited. This spell requires a very high amount of magicka.
Revive Humanoid/creature- revive dead NPC/animal for specific amount of time.
Polymorph- ability to appear as an animal (hence illusions and not alteration, you don't actually transform.)

CHARACTER CREATION
Races
Startings stats will be simular to Morrowind

Birth Signs
The Atronach- Same as Oblivion
The Warrior- Fortify 10 pts to Strenght and Endurance
The Mage- Fortify 50 pts to Magicka
The Thief- Fortify 10 pts to Agility, Speed, and Luck
The Serpent-once per day cast Damage Health 3 points for 20 seconds on touch and simultaneously casting Cure Poison and Dispel upon themselves.
The Ritual- Same as Oblivion
The Lady- Fortify 25 pts Personality and Endurance
The Lover- Fortify 10 pts Agility, Lover's Kiss (from Oblivion)once per day.
The Steed- Fortify 20 pts to Speed, 5 to Endurance
The Lord- Lesser power Blood of the North, 25% Weakness to fire
The Apprentice- Same as Oblivion
The Shadow- Become invisible once a day for 60 secs
The Tower- Same as in Morrowind


OTHER/MISC

-Layered clothing and ability to mix boots/gauntlets, capes are available.
-Vampirism: In sunlight your attributes are damaged, but doesn't do damage to health. If you feed frequently the damage is lessened. Wearing a helm or hood also offers protection.
-Lycanthropy: EXTREMELY rare, but possible to become a werewolf or werelion. A cure is even more rare.
-You can own a dog. There are two different types of dog you can get, one which does not fight but will follow you, and another "attack dog" which has higher health and strength and will attack anyone who attacks you.
-Some horse come with saddlebags than can be accessed as containers.
-ruins and caves are dark. so a torch or light spell is needed.
-no low-gravity ragdolls as used in oblivion. the ragdolls are now realistic (no flying to the hoof because you've been hit by a big hammer)
-Certain things at the scenario (spikes, etc) can be harmfull, if the player/npc is thrown at them.
-rope climbing is possible. the player can also use "rope arrows" that can be used as a normal arrow, but when shot at a wooden surface they let a rope down to the nearest surface. ropes can be burnt down
-Vertical stairs can be climbed.
-Poles and other things can be used to stop a fall by grabbing them (auto-grab).
-Big tapestries can also have the above effect, but they only slow the speed at which one falls (needs fatigue)
-Walls with vines or similar things can be climbed.

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This is not to say that teams of two work better together, in fact often they can work quite poorly together, but slujs and Kestheba found a way to make it work! Also, a big thank you to aceball and julian for judging, as well as hypedupturtle, lettuceman, chris 07, and ninja_lord666 for contributing!