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Why do you play Elder Scrolls games? [Poll]

AdamTMAdamTM Member Posts: 1,376

Please read before voting.

THIS ISNT ABOUT WHAT -MAKES- TES, TES.

IT ISN'T ABOUT WHAT FEATURE IS MOST IMPORTANT.

This also isn't about TESO.

TES is a very variable game and different people play it for different things.

I want to see with this poll, if there is a unifying element, or alternatively, the most popular element. I would give you the option to vote for multiple options but unfortunately the forum doesn't allow for that.

So please, select the one reason that is the -most- important to you in TES.

 

Option explenation:

Combat

Simply the combat. You enjoy TES games for swinging your sword at things or shooting fireballs at skeletons.

Dungeon Crawling

You play TES to explore its instanced dungeons, avoid traps and fight your way through enemies to the boss at the end.

Exploration (Discovery)

Be it for profit or fun, you enjoy setting out into TES to uncover new places, hidden secrets, interesting loot and items as well as quests (their story) and lore. (this is not about if you like the lore, secrets, etc, just that you like to discover them)

Crafting

You enjoy hunting animals, scavening dungeons, harvesting plants and mining to craft your own gear. You like to be resourceful and self-sufficient in the field.

Story

You play TES for the main story. You feel it has good writing and presents a good motivation to play the game. You enjoy the stories main characters as well as the lore surrounding it.

Side Quests

You enjoy TES for its handcrafted sidequests and events. You like joining the Blades or the Imperial Legion, fighting in the Arena or assassinating the Emperor. You think the side quests are what makes the world of TES alive.

Narrative/Mechanical Freedom

You like to create your own narrative and don't like to be bogged down by preset paths. You like being able to do things your way, play the game in all its facets however you like. You like to kill quest NPCs, defy the will of Daedric Lords or just help out in the world playing its hero. You enjoy creating your own unique character from bits and pieces without preset paths and goals.

Numen

This is a hard one to explain.

Numen is something that goes beyond game-mechanics or is describable and perceptible by just the senses.

Its a feeling that behind this matte-painting of a mountain there is actually other people living. Its the feeling you get where the world seems somehow "alive" or has its own "character".

Its when you start developing attachments to your characters and start subconsciously believing that they are "real", that the world in front of you is "real".

You don't see empty character-meshes running around the world, but actually people that have needs and desires, that live and die.

Its tightly knit into immersion, but in a different way, its past immersion.

 

 

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Comments

  • AdamTMAdamTM Member Posts: 1,376
    the poll broke so here it is again

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  • Trudge34Trudge34 Member UncommonPosts: 392
    One word: Freedom.

    Played: EQ1 (10 Years), Guild Wars, Rift, TERA
    Tried: EQ2, Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Runes of Magic and countless others...
    Currently Playing: GW2

    Nytlok Sylas
    80 Sylvari Ranger

  • EntinerintEntinerint Member UncommonPosts: 868
    I need an all-of-the-above option, because if you take out even one of those, it's no longer TES.
  • Ice-QueenIce-Queen Member UncommonPosts: 2,483
    I've never played Elder Scrolls games, no option for me to pick. :(

    image

    What happens when you log off your characters????.....
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
    Dark Age of Camelot

  • ste2000ste2000 Member EpicPosts: 6,194
    Originally posted by Trudge34
    One word: Freedom.

    This.

    And exploration

    Tamriel feels like a world, where you are free to do whatever you like and to be whoever you want to be

    At the moment it doesn't look like TESO is going to be focusing on that

  • BadSpockBadSpock Member UncommonPosts: 7,979

    I have a character in Skyrim with something like 80+ hours played (I know not that much) that has not done a single quest.

    I also have a character in Skyrim with 100+ hours with lots and lots of quests complete as well as the main story, Companions, and Civil War major plot lines.

    One is a stealthy, sneaky, back stabbing, bow-using thief / assassin.

    The other is a brawn, sword+board, heavy armor wearing Soldier / Knight.

    I like Skyrim because I can do so many different things in the game.

    There is no one path to take, there are so many choices.

    Freedom > All.

     

  • odinsrathodinsrath Member UncommonPosts: 814

    i didnt vote ..i stoped playing after morrow wind for my own reasons but i wont be one of those ppl that shoot down games just because they are doing something a lil diff or not the "norm" of what they have been doing for years ..why i liked playing TES franchise is because i liked their product..all of them..its simple..if they offer a good product to the consumer time after time..they / them or who-ever will get  my cash / effort and i wont shunn it down just because its diff or not "the norm"

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  • AdamTMAdamTM Member Posts: 1,376
    Originally posted by Entinerint
    I need an all-of-the-above option, because if you take out even one of those, it's no longer TES.

    The point of this poll isnt to figure out what "makes" TES, TES, its about figuring out what people -think- the most important aspect is for them.

    I enjoy all of the above, but if I had to pick one (and i did) its the Numina that makes me play TES games, it certainly isn't the combat, but a TES without combat wouldn't be TES.

    You get my drift?

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  • ZefireZefire Member Posts: 676
    FREEDOM!!!!!!
  • MavekMavek Member Posts: 138

    There is no option for me.  I love the freedom of creating a character in a world and just going.   I usually avoid the main questline for the first 150 hours or so as I just run around exploring everything, doing everything, killing people who annoy me and stealing anything I feel like.  The first 150 hours I set out and wreck havoc on the world because I have the freedom to do whatever I want.  After my first run through of doing everything and anything I feel like I will usually start a new character, pigeon-hole him into a specific role (my first guy is usually a jack of all trades) and play the game through storylines and sidequests I may not have gotten to before.

     

    So, in essence, I love being able to do whatever I want with no restrictions at all.  Morrowind gave me greatest sense of that, in my opinion, and that is what draws me to TES games.

     

    Edit: I voted for discovery but its honestly a tie between that and numina for me.  They both create the atmosphere of TES games and are staples within the games.

  • ThomasN7ThomasN7 87.18.7.148Member CommonPosts: 6,690
    Freedom to choose to do whatever I want. I can find my way on my own. I don't need a dev telling me where to go. 
    30
  • aphydorkaphydork Member Posts: 133

    Immersion.

    Everything else is done well enough, but the immersion is what makes TES a different breed of game. That, and it's one of the few good single-player game franchises--seeing as how everthing is turning into an MMO.

    Oh wait.

    Also, mods keep the game fresh and devoid of annoying things. Hate something in the game? There's a mod for that.

  • revy66revy66 Member Posts: 464
    Freedom mostly, I like the plethora of options you get. Also why I'm looking forward to TESO. It's gonna be AMAZIN'! Anyway, if this isn't about TESO then why is it in the TESO forums?
  • ste2000ste2000 Member EpicPosts: 6,194

    Pretty much what I was expecting, Freedom+Exploration.

    I wonder if Zenimax understand the minimun requirements for a TES game

    Bethesda should have developed this game

    I bought every single TES game since TES:Arena, but sure I am not going to buy this mess.

    SWTOR+GW2 is not a good combination

     

  • AdamTMAdamTM Member Posts: 1,376
    Originally posted by Stizzled
    Originally posted by AdamTM

    Please read before voting.

    THIS ISNT ABOUT WHAT -MAKES- TES, TES.

    IT ISN'T ABOUT WHAT FEATURE IS MOST IMPORTANT.

    This also isn't about TESO.

    You have a list of features to choose from and your asking us to pick which one is most important to us, seems to me that the poll is about what feature is most important. For most fans of TES it's going to be all of the above. We don't play TES to do just one thing, there isn't one thing that makes us want to buy each game. Your poll really only caters to those who don't much care for TES, those who like just a few things about it and only do those things.

     

    If it's not about TESO, then why put it in the TESO section? There is a general gaming section, if you put this here then people are obviously going to make a connection.

    You're not getting it.

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  • CrazylikeCrazylike Member CommonPosts: 89
    I like the freedom you have to do whatever you want. I love to just explore the world basicly, and find stuff. I'm just as excited when I stumble across a little hut in the woods, as I am when I find a dungeon somewhere. I hate games that direct you through a path and you have to follow it. Open worlds ftw!

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  • KuinnKuinn Member UncommonPosts: 2,072

    I'm not playing the games just for one element of gameplay nor can I lift one feature above the others in such absolutes like a poll with only one vote.

     

    It's not so simple anyway for me, for example the combat, I really like the FPS style targetting, but besides that the combat is way too simple.

     

    Perhaps the only thing easy to name without having to explain anything, a major thing in the ES games that I love, is the world and lore.

  • AnnwynAnnwyn Member UncommonPosts: 2,854
    Originally posted by Trudge34
    One word: Freedom.

    +1

     

    Essentially, it's all the reasons mentionned. The first-person combat makes the gameplay more engaging for me. Most of my time is spent exploring. How many times where I've seen something and thought "what's this" only for the same thing to happen 5 minutes later and before I know it's 2 A.M . I don't play TES game exactly for the main story though, as it's always been fairly average, but TES games shines the brightest in its side quests. Crafting never played a big part of the TES games however (ignoring Alchemy). And finally, FREEEEEEEDOM!.

    Another reason that wasn't mentionned : The modding community. It's glorious!

  • ZylaxxZylaxx Member Posts: 2,574
    the "ONLY" reason why I like TES games is for the open world exploration.  All the fluff like putting baskets over heads of shop keepers and craging corpses is silly and doesnt interest me.  The combat in TES is absolutely horrible, I hate FPS style and I hate left/right click even more.  I am not much of a crafter so couldnt care about that. 

    Everything you need to know about Elder Scrolls Online

    Playing: GW2
    Waiting on: TESO
    Next Flop: Planetside 2
    Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.

    image

  • ZylaxxZylaxx Member Posts: 2,574
    Originally posted by AdamTM
    Originally posted by Entinerint
    I need an all-of-the-above option, because if you take out even one of those, it's no longer TES.

    The point of this poll isnt to figure out what "makes" TES, TES, its about figuring out what people -think- the most important aspect is for them.

    I enjoy all of the above, but if I had to pick one (and i did) its the Numina that makes me play TES games, it certainly isn't the combat, but a TES without combat wouldn't be TES.

    You get my drift?

    If TES games had a more traditional MMO style of 3rd person combat with hotbars and skills, it would be the best RPG ever made for me.  I have purchased every single TES RPG but have never finished them because the combat is the most boring.

    Everything you need to know about Elder Scrolls Online

    Playing: GW2
    Waiting on: TESO
    Next Flop: Planetside 2
    Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.

    image

  • raulaunraulaun Member Posts: 35

    In The Words of William Wallace:

     

    Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom!

     

    But what really happens..

     

  • KenFisherKenFisher Member UncommonPosts: 5,035

    Biggest positives:

    Freedom / Exploration / Discovery

    First person perspective

     

    Biggest negatives:

    Rubber-banding world (Oblivion)

    Only small amounts of discoverable content, with most tied to guilds/factions as quest hubs or long arc main storyline


    Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security.  I don't Forum PVP.  If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident.  When I don't understand, I ask.  Such is not intended as criticism.
  • muffins89muffins89 Member UncommonPosts: 1,585
    Originally posted by XAPGames

    Biggest positives:

    Freedom / Exploration / Discovery

    First person perspective

     

    Biggest negatives:

    Rubber-banding world (Oblivion)

    Only small amounts of discoverable content, with most tied to guilds/factions as quest hubs or long arc main storyline

    im curious,  you put discovery in your positive,  and also in your negative.  

     

     

    what i like the most is they are true RPG's.  i can be a murderer,  a thief,  a knight,  a traveler, a villager,  a blacksmith,  an alchemist,  an ass hole,  the games me the opportunity play a role,  in a virtual world.  something i think most mmoRPG's have missed on.  i guess that's why developers and fans just call them MMO's nowadays.

  • KenFisherKenFisher Member UncommonPosts: 5,035
    Originally posted by muffins89
    Originally posted by XAPGames

    Biggest positives:

    Freedom / Exploration / Discovery

    First person perspective

     

    Biggest negatives:

    Rubber-banding world (Oblivion)

    Only small amounts of discoverable content, with most tied to guilds/factions as quest hubs or long arc main storyline

    im curious,  you put discovery in your positive,  and also in your negative.  

     

    I like the concept of exploration / discovery as a game mechanic.  I feel it takes the game "off rails" and gives it more of an adventure feel.  That's the positive part.

     

    The negative part is that even though the game allows for exploration and discovery, most of the questing storyline content is still based on conventional quest hub design.  What I would prefer is more content where you wonder into a cave and accidently find your way into storyline content.

     

    Sure I can wonder into a cave, find vampires and kill them.  But why are the vamires there?  Are they doing something interesting?  By killing them, did I open up dialog content somewhere else in the game?

     

    Most of the time, exploration on it's own amounts to wonder in somewhere, get attacked, kill them and take their stuff.  I think it could be more than that.


    Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security.  I don't Forum PVP.  If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident.  When I don't understand, I ask.  Such is not intended as criticism.
  • BadSpockBadSpock Member UncommonPosts: 7,979
    Originally posted by muffins89

    what i like the most is they are true RPG's.  i can be a murderer,  a thief,  a knight,  a traveler, a villager,  a blacksmith,  an alchemist,  an ass hole,  the games me the opportunity play a role,  in a virtual world.  something i think most mmoRPG's have missed on.  i guess that's why developers and fans just call them MMO's nowadays.

    This is why in some sense I really, really miss open world sandbox fantasy MMORPGs.

    Sadly I think far too many of the l33t kid PK FPS junkie crowd have gotten into MMOs to ever make such a sandbox viable unless you completely seperate PvE and PvP.

    What makes TES (Skyrim specifically for me) so good?

    It's MY sandbox.

    What would ruin Skyrim for me?

    Exploring out in the wild, find a cave/dungeon and start clearing it - get to the end and.... dozen or so people standing around spamming /dance and making Chuck Norris jokes waiting to spawn tag a named mob respawn...

    Sneaking through a city, picking pockets and breaking into homes and shops, murdering the occassional shop keeper / villager... and having a naked half-elf following me around doing /yell and bunny hopping...

    Traveling through the woods looking for mines and hunting dear for leather to make and modify/enhance some more armor, pursuing my love of being a blacksmith... and having some kid PK me and then spawn camp my corpse after looting all my custom-made gear and items.

    Long story short - the reason sandbox games really don't "work" for me and so many others anymore -

    Most MMO players are idiots/assholes.

    Sure, you ca say "yeah but in a true sandbox you could kill the naked half-elf following you, bring your guildies and clear out all the players spawning the named mob, and bring a friend or two and hunt down and kill the PK who camped your corpse" - which is all true.

    But not good enough - MY sandbox and MY experience has already been ruined.

    And I am simply not going to pay to be someone else's content - especially when it's at the expense of my enjoyment of the game.

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