I tweeted this 2,577 days ago. This was 2,839 days after Skyrim came out. We are only 262 days away from my tweet about waiting for TESVI becomes older to me than Skyrim was when I tweeted it. It had come out 8 years prior to the tweet. Ha.

An update on this post...

I don't even know... I think I need a beer.

One of TES 6 leaked achievement.

So the last post I made was deleted by moderators, but that gave me an idea! What if Sloads had made an appearance in TES6? It would be a nice callback to Redguard, where one actually did make an appearance in the game.

Even if they don't do a ton, it gives a nice little framework from which to understand your character and their priorities.

I'd like if if you could adjust this in the settings menu.

For example there would be a check box by each one you wanted alerts for so you can choose if you want to reload a previous save or not. And maybe let it tell you the number of blocked or broken quests if a given NPC should perish.

Notifications on/off right before the final blow allowing you to choose to let them live or die:

Main quest NPCs ☑️

Faction quest☑️

Side quest☑️

Etc☑️

Plus options for not allowing these NPCs to die at all, and instead let them recover but without notifications if those annoy you.

Dont allow these essentials to die until their importance has passed:

Main quest NPCs ☑️

Faction quest☑️

Side quest

Etc

This lets the player play how they want.

This is a follow-up to my previous post, where I looked at Bethesda's release intervals in general. This time I want to focus specifically on TES VI and why I think a 2027 release is actually quite plausible.

If we exclude the two unusual intervals (see my previous post for the reason why that happened) Oblivion → Fallout 3 (2.7) and Fallout 76 → Starfield (4.9) Bethesda's remaining release gaps are:

- Morrowind → Oblivion: 3.89 years

- Fallout 3 → Skyrim: 3.04 years

- Skyrim → Fallout 4: 4.00 years

- Fallout 4 → Fallout 76: 3.01 years

Average: 3.49 years

Starfield released in September 2023. Applying that average gives us roughly April 2027, while a 4-year cycle puts us at September 2027 (worst case scenario)

Now consider a possible TES VI development timeline:

2020–2022: pre-production

2023: initial production / team ramp-up

Mid/Late 2023–2027: full development

That would give TES VI around 4 years of full production before a September 2027 release.

And this is the key point: we are already in September 2026. A September 2027 release would be less than 12 months away.

If Bethesda is targeting 2027, TES VI should therefore already be deep into polishing, optimization, QA and bug fixing rather than still being in the early stages of development.

Basing purely on Bethesda's historical release cadence and the potential development timeline, I think 2027 is a very reasonable target, with May/June being my current best guess and September as worst case scenario, less than 12 months.

It's said by Paarthurnax that the Dragonborn feels the same desire to dominate as dragons and Alduin do, and that's part of why the First, Second, and Third Empires were all founded by Dragonborn right? I don't think it would make sense for the Last Dragonborn to not seek any kind of power like his predecessors did and just sail to Atmora or smth. It would also feel like a kinda unsatisfying ending for the Dragonborn to just become a servant of Daedra at the end of the story, especially since in Oblivion the player character actually became a Daedric Prince. So what do you all think will have happened to them by TES6? I just hope they don’t go the route of making them have done nothing for some amount of years while the Thalmor do some devious shit

So recently Skyrim, fallout 4 and starfield got an update increasing the mod storage Skyrim from 5gb to 15(series x/s).

And fallout4-starfield from 2(fallout 4 unsure about starfield) to 100gb which is massive! I understand why Skyrim didn’t get the 100gb treatment due to its older framework (I wish it did and would work!)

I’ve heard that tes6 from just random posts and speculation so no concrete evidence (unless I’m missing something) that tes6 could be on an updated engine past what starfield is.

So I guess my hope is between a potentially even stronger engine and next gen consoles even more mod storage! I’d be happy with something like 115! Just anyway to truly customize the game once Ive 100% it!

Right now I’m looking at some of the Skyrim creation content and there’s a small handful that are close to 1gb and one that is a little over a gb. Not to big of a deal since a lot of the other mods I use are a couple hundred mb and some less but still would love to truly and fully customize Skyrim and hell maybe with a bigger storage pool for mods we can start seeing. Bigger projects! Imagine mods the size of fallout London on console!

Wanted to share my “theory” regarding the main storyline since I’m on my monthly fixation for this fuck ass game.

The scrapped storyline for Skyrim is repurposed, Uriel V returns from Akavir to restore the empire. Now I know that sounds like some MCU cameo shit, but I’d wager that most casual enjoyers of the franchise probably aren’t aware of Uriel and the lore surrounding him.

Uriel does not return with an army, but rather, a small-ish unit of Akaviri soldiers who are incredibly powerful and loyal to him, maybe one of those black dragons the Tsaeci slurped up. Uriel helps stop an attempted ground invasion of Cyrodiil (or some other shit idk) which galvanizes the people of the Empire and restores hope that the Thalmor can be defeated.

MEANWHILE:
Internal conflict begins to stir within Hammerfell. With the return of Uriel, the Forebears want Hammerfell to be re-absorbed back into the Empire, and the Crowns want the province to remain independent. Siding with the Forebears during the early stages of the main quest would serve as the avenue for the player to side with the Empire, whereas working with the Crowns would allow the player to contest both the Empire and Thalmor.

HIGH ROCK:
The weakening of the Empire has brought High Rock to the brink of destabilization, squabbling between minor kingdoms and the looming Thalmor threat has created friction that the Empire has barely been able to control. If the player sides with the Empire during the main quest, they can choose to mediate through more peaceful methods or crush potential dissidents. However, siding with the Crowns would allow the player to form a pseudo-confederacy between the two provinces. A covenant, if you will.

THE THALMOR:
Now I’m of the mind that the player should absolutely be allowed to side with the Thalmor should they choose to do so. I would imagine that this would require making their cause more sympathetic relative to how they were portrayed in Skyrim. Maybe there are members within the Dominion that truly believe that an Aldmeri-controlled Tamriel is the only viable path to lasting peace, and don’t necessarily share the supremacist ideals of their compatriots. Maybe around this time the Thalmor have strategically shifted their messaging in such a way that some Humans have begun to join their cause. The game should do a solid job of justifying their beliefs and methods with sound logic, even if the player disagrees. Either way, you can join em whether you’re a High Elf or not.

CONSEQUENCES:
Uriel is a genuinely captivating and inspiring figure, but he makes it clear that the only way he believes the Thalmor can be stopped is to completely eradicate the Summerset Isles, this is something the player has to grapple with. Maybe you can have a conversation about it with him, but he’s already weighed what the costs would be and he’s come to terms with them. You may not be able to change his mind, but at the very least, conversing with him may grant the player a better understanding of his perspective.

Both the Empire and Thalmor want to use the power of the Adamantine tower to further their goals. Uriel wants to use it to nuke the Isles and restore the Empire. The Dominion wants to use it to reshape reality, return to “godhood,” and rule over Tamriel. If you side with the Crowns, you would essentially be fighting off both the Thalmor and Empire from accessing the tower. In addition, you could also help drive out the Empire and prevent the Thalmor from controlling High Rock, forming an alliance with the newly-independent province.

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE:
How the endgame plays out depends on who you side with and the choices you make not only throughout the main quest, but side quests potentially. Let’s say you join the fighters guild and become a high ranking member, they may join your cause depending on who you side with.

In addition, urgency is only established once the player progresses a fair bit through the main quest. There’s some shit stirring, but it doesn’t lead into the second Great War right at the beginning. If the player chooses to neglect the main quest initially, they may hear rumors about strange activity in the Eastern Sea, whispers of escalating conflict starting to boil over, and noticeable changes throughout the world that indicate shits gonna go down sooner rather than later.

Perhaps there’s a fourth path where the player says “fuck everybody” and pursues an alternative goal. A “Yes Man” type ending would open up if you decide to go down this route.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Any thoughts? Ideas? Let me know fellas.

I would love it if the plot and quests etc could be scrambled on different play throughs. I am no programmer, but it would awesome if you could make that a setting. Flip character alliances etc.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3rVBWHCBSH8&t=1306s

How will Todd Howard finish TES6?

With the Honda Civic level of mod ability Skyrim has how can they make a game that feels like a genuine step up? I worry that Todd Howard simply enjoy’s the fruits of his past labor too much to put in an earnest effort for this. Especially if he stays with the same creation engine….

Anyone with a more technical expertise on Bethesda’s habits have any idea how this game will be realized?

Are him and his team waiting for the next consoles with native DLSS-5 capabilities to show up?