Bethesda Announces Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

For those whom might not know what I'm talking about: The Elder Scrolls (by Bethesda Softworks) is an action RPG series started in 1994 with Arena. You play in the world of Nim on the continent of Tamriel. The series is both remarkable for its setting (9 provinces each with a distinctive story and topography. Also 9 races, but they're not spread one per province) and game play immersion (to quote the manual from the 2nd game, Daggerfall, the developers wanted to create a "book with blank pages" that a player fills out with their actions).

So imagine my surprise as I read through my RSS feeds this morning and come across this lovely trailer:





The nerdgasm was intense. But it has more to do with the settings in the games that draws me in that I am more excited about. I'll admit I never started playing until Morrowind (3rd game) but went back to Daggerfall to enjoy it for what it was worth. The announcement got me thinking about how to series has grown over the years:

• Arena
• I will take much hate but but this one was bunk in my opinion. Next to the later installments this is a ho-hum RPG with potential. It was also brutal as fuck, and possibly this is why I hated it soooo much.
• Daggerfall
• Trading off the absolute rape level difficulty of Arena difficult but playable game, Daggerfall was released 2 years later with a world (actually, just 2 provinces, Daggerfall and High Rock) that was twice the size of Great Britain (487,000 k²). But given computers of the time, and even today, there was a trade-off. Bland, uninteresting surroundings were the norm. Every dungeon looked the same and every building did too. Thousands of them. However if you could stomach that you find a world rich with history and gameplay that would last a lifetime. 
• Morrowind
• Here's where I first entered the series proper. Taking heed of the criticisms of a bland world Bethesda chose to take a smaller province. Only this time they paid attention to detail. Every single area of Vvardenfell (which is the majority, but not totality, of the Morrowind province) was carefully crafted as so to keep that big world feel on a small scale. Moreover the storyline in this game was superb; You actually felt like you part of the quest rather than just playing it. You also got even more of a lesson in the history of Tamriel through speaking with people or reading books. You could take college classes in this subject and they would be worthwhile.
• Oblivion
• Waiting a whole 4 years, half the time that laid between Daggerfall and Morrowind, for the release of the 4th installment in the game many were surprised at how well developed the game world of Oblivion was. And not just the province of Cyrodiil, the central province and seat of the Empire, but also a new realm. Oblivion proper might be though of as Hell by some, but it really is just a parallel world that can be access via gates that have sprung up as a result of the storyline. And that storyline, the main quest to restore The Dragon's Flame, was befitting of a novel onto itself. Nay, a whole book series; From the Battle of Kvatch, to the opening of the great gate in Bruma, and all the way to the end with the fight to retake the Imperial City from a 100ft tall Mehrunes Dagon you are thrust into and actively participate in the story rather than just play a game. Discounting sidequest and reading books you get the most engaging story just from the main questline.

So now we enter the lands again. Skyrim is another province, this time northern and influenced greatly by Norse mythology. And dragons. Epic, stone dragons. Absolute nerdgasm galore. Yes it will look the same (it will still be running on Gamebryo) but gameplay and storyline are the more important features in a game not graphics. If only other companies would realize that. I'm looking at you FF13 and FF14.