The Elder Scrolls 6's Main Quest Has to Avoid Repeating a Skyrim Mistake

The Elder Scrolls 6's Main Quest Has to Avoid Repeating a Skyrim Mistake

• The Elder Scrolls 6 has the potential to surpass its predecessor by not losing focus on the main threat like Skyrim did with Morrowind.
• TES 6 can improve by focusing more on the big looming threat in its main quest, avoiding distractions like Skyrim's Civil War.
• Any cultural stories or non-immediate issues could be dealth with in side or faction quests, keeping the worldbuilding intact without letting it interfere in the story's pacing.

The Elder Scrolls franchise is known for having great main storylines. Morrowind had players fulfill the prophecy of the Nerevarine and work with the Dunmer’s gods to stop a superpowered tyrant. In Oblivion, the hero rallies against the forces of the cult of the Mythic Dawn to stop them from bringing the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon, from destroying all mortals who don’t worship him. The Dragonborn in Skyrim had players juggling between stopping Alduin from eating the world and picking a side in a civil war. While this main quest does offer a nuanced view of TES’ politics and different beliefs, The Elder Scrolls 6 can easily surpass it in a significant way.

The Elder Scrolls 6 was officially announced in 2018 with a teaser at E3, which generated a lot of hype. While there hasn’t been any big news about its development for over six years, fans haven’t given up on it. If anything, the The Elder Scrolls 6’s possible lore continues to be a major topic of speculation in the TES subreddit and other forums. When the game does release, it would be great if it learned from one of Skyrim's few mistakes and kept things more focused on the main threat instead of the player getting distracted like the Dragonborn did with the Civil War.

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How The Elder Scrolls 6s Main Quest Can One-Up Skyrims

Skyrim’s Civil War explored the racism and religious persecution that the Nords endured against the Aldmeri Dominion’s Thalmor. It also showed the Empire’s reluctant complicity in this matter, as they tried to quell civil unrest to uphold a truce they made with the Dominion after the Great War.

It’s a messy situation that’s handled with a lot of nuance, to Skyrim’s credit. Fans still have debates over which side of the Civil War was more morally correct. However, it undeniably takes some precious time and attention away from the game’s main storyline, which is stopping Alduin from ending the world. The Elder Scrolls 6 can sidestep this mistake by focusing less on cultural differences in the main quest.

The Elder Scrolls 6 Could Emphasize a Settings Culture Better in Optional Side Quests

TES 6 can show its setting’s culture in a more meaningful way through grand side quests and even faction missions. This way, the players can explore it at their own pace. Hammerfell is a rumored setting for The Elder Scrolls 6, and it would be interesting to uncover how it held off the Thalmor and had them agree to a second treaty. This could be explored in a mission with the Remnants, Hammerfell’s intelligence agents who continuously investigate the Aldmeri Dominion to ensure that they don’t make any moves to conquer the region again.

The game can also explore the aftermath of the decade-long war that Hammerfell had against the Dominion. Players could go on side missions to help the cities recover from the war. Two major factions in Hammerfell are at each other’s throats: the Crowns and the Forebearers. The former is a group of elitists who want to uphold their noble Yokudan ancestors’ culture and customs above all. At the same time, the latter descended from the more modern Yokudan military class, who are open to other cultures. The conflict between the two is best explored in a faction quest, like Skyrim’s Empire vs. Stormcloaks, but it should be optional or at least be unlocked after the player finishes the main quest.

The Elder Scrolls’ main story usually involves a world-ending threat like Alduin, Mehrunes Dagon, and Dagoth Ur. To emphasize the danger of the main villain in the Elder Scrolls 6 should focus its main quest on preparing the hero for their eventual fight. Getting caught up in a conflict between factions like the Forebarers and the Crowns could end up downplaying the bigger threat. Alternatively, these major events could be expanded on in a DLC to make them truly stand out without stepping on the toes of the main storyline.

The Elder Scrolls 6

Franchise The Elder ScrollsPlatform(s) Xbox (Original), PCDeveloper(s) Bethesda Game StudiosPublisher(s) Bethesda SoftworksGenre(s) RPG