A Better Mobile Game?

[AKB]

I've noticed a good number of negative impressions towards Legends, but this thread isn't focusing on that. Instead, I'll ask a simple question, what would you have done instead?

So you are an employee of Bethesda/Zenimax, and you're tasked with designing the next mobile ES game. What do you turn in as your project?

I would turn in something like Daggerfall, but even more free form, if possible. Your character simply travels to a region of Tamriel as an adventurer, and has some adventures. You explore dungeons, join guilds, perform quests, take part in politics, buy property, get arrested, basically everything you would do in a normal ES game, just with less meaty graphics, minimal voice acting (if any), and randomly generated world for most of the content. I think it would be great fun. Just a ton of meat and random questing, ideally no main plot, but I'm not entirely opposed to there being one.

So take inspiration from previous games or from wherever, and propose a better mobile game (to you) then ESL.

[legoless]

I wouldn't make a mobile game. The IP is much too "serious" to fit the current market, I feel. I don't think it would stand out quite like Fallout Shelter did.

That said, Legends has been receiving generally positive impressions. We haven't actually seen it yet on mobile, and if it can beat Hearthstone in file size alone I'd say it could make a pretty big splash on mobile. Small, AAA HS clone seems like a winning strategy to me.

[The SheoDovah]

That is a very good point, AKB and makes for an interesting game.

I would follow in the style of the spin offs. Predetermined character but very customisable and set it either during the Great War or the Oblivion crisis. Both have potential for stories. Would set the great war one as a tale of survival and one man/woman's quest to get back to his family. Would be an hour or so of defining the family and to make the player care about it before the Thalmor turn up and kinda do it like a Bethesda version of telltale's games. It's not fleshed out. Oblivion crisis? Political, choices of serving X, defending people from Daedra, Just showing what it was like as a normal person instead of a proper TES hero that is naturally badass and can take down foes without issue.

[Imbalance]

Alternate Reality Game: Where's Sheogorath?

Various GPS locations are shrines. Visit, bring an offering, receive a quest. Complete the quest, receive the mad god's blessing.

Offerings would be simple things - cheese, cabbage, yarn, etc. The app would recognize the requisite item(s) in a pic taken at the shrine location. Some would be posted in advance, others would be revealed via riddle.

Quests would be given via message. No, you don't actually kill anyone, but ARG versions of fetch, scavanger, delivery, and slay monster, etc. are all appropriate, with appropriate levels of ensuing insanity, of course. There might not be much of a story line to follow.

Rewards would be fine as digital points to spend on character upgrades or ARG-compliant items, but it would be way cooler if there were also real world, tangible items, such as an interactive fork or a bust that yelled obscenities.

Naturally, this is expandable to include the other Princes, but for greater immersion (and viral marketing) there would be an actor hired to show up at certain locations to portray the Lord of the Shivering Isles in the flesh. Spot him with the app, and instantly win an invitation to his realm, which would be some sort of gathering, or private room at a big convention or something, rife with dining, swag, and elbow rubbing with developers, voice actors, etc. If it sounds like an expensive, logistical nightmare, it is. But remember, successful mobile games are gold mines, and there is already an established fan base. If Go has proven anything, it's that the world is ready for these kinds of experiences.

[Crawldragon]

This is going to sound incredibly condescending when I say it, but making a good mobile game is really difficult (by which I mean making a mobile game I'll actually play for more than five minutes is really difficult) and you have to really innovate to make a game successful on any of the app markets. I can't really see an Elder Scrolls mobile game ever being very good. I know there have been four already, but honestly how successful were they?

The only way I could see it happening is if you stripped almost all of the roleplaying content out and made it into a Roguelike or other standard dungeon crawl. There are really good dungeon crawls out there that play great on mobile devices, and honestly I've been kind of praying for a Roguelike set in Tamriel. Some of the dungeons in the Elder Scrolls games are really above standard for the genre, honestly, so I'd rather like to see what they could do with a simple mobile game now that technology has caught up with their ambitions.

And I know that roleplaying games are technically a thing on mobile devices, but the platform really, really isn't suited for them at all.

Although now that I think about it, Tamriel is kind of ripe for a strategy game set during some of the big wars that took place there, with a campaign set during Tiber Septim's conquest or even the arrival of the Companions. There are some strategy games on the market (which I haven't played myself) which have been tremendously successful, so maybe if you had one with like a map screen where you can select a province to send your armies to and then do a sort of high-level management system with the troops I could see that being really good.

I'm still holding out until Legends becomes available to me to see if I like that before I pass judgement on any Elder Scrolls spin-offs.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

I just wouldn't. It's not needed. It can't live up to the integrity of the brand in any way, shape or form. I strongly feel that most mobile games are cancerous for gaming to begin with, because the people who perform the highest on those games are those who are willing to fork over the most cash, not the most skilled or most passionate players. Games should never be that way. It's against my religion.

[Imbalance]

I strongly feel that most mobile games are cancerous for gaming to begin with, because the people who perform the highest on those games are those who are willing to fork over the most cash, not the most skilled or most passionate players. Games should never be that way. It's against my religion.

Preach on, brother!

[Tingz0r]

A mobile Elder Scrolls is entirely doable. Arena and Daggerfall already look like modern mobile games. I wouldn't expect it to be of the same scope or visual quality as the rest, but I can see it. I've secretly hoped for something similar to come to mobile platforms to scratch that adventurous itch when I'm not at home on my computer.

There is, however, not a chance in hell that it could work with microtransactions and premium currency. They would have to just charge $5-$10 upfront for the full game.

[Crawldragon]

A mobile Elder Scrolls is entirely doable. Arena and Daggerfall already look like modern mobile games. I wouldn't expect it to be of the same scope or visual quality as the rest, but I can see it. I've secretly hoped for something similar to come to mobile platforms to scratch that adventurous itch when I'm not at home on my computer.

They might look like modern mobile games, but the games themselves are way way too complex. Daggerfall is barely doable on PC. The problem with Arena is that the sword combat wouldn't really work with movement controls, so you'd have to do it on-rails, and at that point you've basically made Infinity Blade again, which is good if you like Infinity Blade and not so good if you like dungeon crawls. Plus I'm not convinced the mobile market has the patience for Arena's magic system--much less Daggerfall's.

I could see it if you made the games more similar to Wizardry or other more traditional dungeon crawls from that era of gaming and then added an Arena-style town level.

[Tingz0r]

A mobile Elder Scrolls is entirely doable. Arena and Daggerfall already look like modern mobile games. I wouldn't expect it to be of the same scope or visual quality as the rest, but I can see it. I've secretly hoped for something similar to come to mobile platforms to scratch that adventurous itch when I'm not at home on my computer.

They might look like modern mobile games, but the games themselves are way way too complex. Daggerfall is barely doable on PC. The problem with Arena is that the sword combat wouldn't really work with movement controls, so you'd have to do it on-rails, and at that point you've basically made Infinity Blade again, which is good if you like Infinity Blade and not so good if you like dungeon crawls. Plus I'm not convinced the mobile market has the patience for Arena's magic system--much less Daggerfall's.

I could see it if you made the games more similar to Wizardry or other more traditional dungeon crawls from that era of gaming and then added an Arena-style town level.

I simply suggested they look like mobile games, not that they would actually make good mobile games.