u/Jaufre

▲ 0 r/TESVI

TLDR: I think the procedural generation tech from Starfield, but if TES 6 is set in Hammerfell, it could work really well for the Alik’r Desert and the Abecean Sea specifically. Showcasing the vastness of these spaces while introducing a novel gameplay loop: expedition style gameplay.

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So we all know the 1000+ planets of Starfield came with a big downside of being procedurally generated and only featuring handcrafted points of interest, that were more or less randomly sprinkled on the planet surfaces.
And although procgen was already used vastly in Arena, Daggerfall and Oblivion, there are quite a few discussions whether this technique will also be used in TES 6, mostly with (mostly justified) negative resentments.

However, I think if TES 6 takes place in Hammerfell, there could be an opportunity to use procgen in a way that both enhances the visual presentation of certain regions, as well as offering new gameplay loops, in addition to the classic TES gameplay loops from Morrowind to Skyrim.
Now, the premise here is to only limit procgen to certain regions, not the whole province. The system could technically work similar to Starfield: handcrafted conditions, biomes and POIs are distributed on a procedurally generated landscape.

The two regions where I see a great use for this are: the Alik’r Desert and the Abecean Sea.

In a traditional handcrafted Elder Scrolls these two regions would face a big problem: they could end up much smaller than what they’re made up to be in the lore. Scale is always something TES (and BGS as a studio) have always struggled with. This becomes especially apparent in areas that want to convey a feeling of being big and vast, but ultimately fail due to the game’s scale being too small (Skyrim). On the other hand, where procgen was used, the landscapes feel too random and don’t convey being a proper place, everything in it felt rather disconnected (Daggerfall, Starfield).

In a desert or ocean area however, procgen could provide the benefit of solving both of these issues: first of all, the technique can provide the feeling of vastness easily.
Secondly, the theme of these areas is very fitting for procgen: just imagine a desert with different biomes, (Alik’r: sand dunes, rocky ground, dried out waterbeds, etc.; Abecean: shallow water, deep ocean, stormy sea, coral reefs, etc.) that feature POIs: islands, shipwrecks, (other ships?) in the case of a procedurally generated ocean; ruins, campsites, oases in the case of a procgen desert. The relative homogeneity of both environments is very fitting for procedural generation.

Thirdly, these procgen regions could embrace their identity: instead of pretending to be a substitute for a handcrafted world, they could offer another kind of gameplay loop, more akin to extraction shooters: Expeditions

Expedition gameplay could focus on having to plan them beforehand (again, very fitting for both areas, giving a sense of venturing into dangerous areas) and being more reliant on systemic gameplay. Maybe there are rare resources, special loot or artifacts that can only be obtained in these areas, that the player wants to actively seek out. The difficulty could also be scalable: the longer you stay or the deeper you venture into each area, the better the reward, but the more dangerous the environment conditions and encounters get.

All in all, I think a system like this could really be beneficial on multiple levels: leveraging existing tech, providing a new type of gameplay, giving a sense of vastness for these areas, without sacrificing a handcrafted world that provides the classic TES-experience.

The potential negatives I see are that a) the areas would have to probably be separated by a loading screen, which can be quite disruptive (looking at you Starfield) and b) the difference in scale of these two areas with the rest of a smaller scale handcrafted world could feel off. However, I think those negatives are outweighed by the positives and I think a too-small Alik’r or Abecean Sea has more negative impact than the other way around.

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u/Jaufre — 11 days ago