The Elder Scrolls take place on the mythical continent of Tamriel, in the mythical world of Nirn. Tamriel is where all of the Elder Scrolls games take place, even though three other continents exist on Nirn. Tamriel is broken up into 9 provinces, each with a native race. Cyrodiil, is at the center of Tamriel, and holds the capital of the Cyrodillic Empire, which at the time of Arena, Morrowind, and Oblivion (later games in the series) controls all of Tamriel. Cyrodill's native race is the Imperials, humans off medium stature. Black Marsh is south east of Cyrodiil, and is home to the Argonians, a reptilian race with humanoid stature. Due south of Cyrodiil is Elsywere, a tropical land, home to the Khajit, a feline humanoid race. West of Cyrodiil is Valenwood, home to thick walking forests,which are inhabited by Bosmer, (Wood Elves). Wood elves are small, and have a greenish hue to their skin. Far off the coast of Valenwood is Summerset Isle, home to the Altmer, (High Elves). These tall people have a gold colored skin. Back on the continent, North West of Cyrodiil is desert land of Hammerfell, home of the Redguards, a dark skinned human race. North of Hammerfell is High Rock, native land of the Bretons, a half elf, half human race. Due north of Cyrodiil is Skyrim, the icy and mountainous home of the Nords, the oldest human race on Tamriel. Finally, Morrowind is north east of Cyrodiil, and south east of Skyrim. Morrowind is home to the Dunmer (dark elves) a purple, blue, or gray skinned people with red eyes. Though not a true region of Tamriel, Orsinium is important because it is the home of the Orsimer (Orcs), a race of large green humanoids related to elves. It is important to remember that none of these races in the Elder Scrolls is inherently evil, think of them as different countries in the modern world. The entire Elder Scrolls series is set in a kind of Middle Ages, and all combat is done with swords, axes, knives, bows...However magic exists and can be used for almost anything. Magic to kill exists, along with magic to heal. Magic to alter the world around you exists, along with magic to illuminate minds and dark areas. And finally, magic to conjure demonic warriors or raise the dead exists too. There are multiple guilds that the player can join, including the Fighters Guild (combat trainers, and mercenaries), the Mages Guild (trainers in magic), the Thieves Guild (to learn how to steel, and make money), and the Dark Brotherhood (a organization of assassins). It would be impossible to write about all the features of the Elder Scrolls series, so check out the link to the wikia, at the bottom of the page, and learn everything you want to, including information on vampires, werewolves, wereboars, and werebears.
The first game in the Elder Scrolls series was Arena (1994), and was massive.
The game took place in all the regions of Tamriel, and featured a fast travel system because the player had to walk in 1:1 ratio with the 12 million square miles of Tamriel, so it could take 3 days in real life to walk from city to city. The player creates their character from any one of the ten races previously mentioned, and adds some basic customizations like hair color, and facial features. The player then creates a name, and a birth sign. Based on the race the player has chosen, and the birth sign, a play style is determined. If a player chose to be a Nord, under the sign of the crusader, they would be a warrior. If a person chose to be a High Elf, under the sign of the battle mage, they would make a great wizard character. Of a person chose to be a wood elf under the sign of the hunter, a great archer will have been born. However the player must be careful to not mix an incompatible race, and sign because an orc can't be a mage, and a Nord can't be an archer, and A Breton can't be a warrior, the play styles don't mix, and the character is week. A leveling system is established based on skills that are built up by use. The story of the game follows the betrayal of the Emperor by his Imperial Battlemage, and the player must retrieve 8 pieces of the staff of chaos, and complete 17 dungeons. Arena also had hundreds of miscellaneous quests, that are usually simple in nature, and the guild quests given when the player joins one of the guilds. Arena is unforgiving to new players, and is quite an action packed game. Arena was also one of the first games to have day and night cycle, stores close at 8:00 pm, people go to their homes, and monsters wander the streets. Arena is a great game, that immerses the player into the world. However upon release Arena was very buggy, and contained enough glitches to make the game impossible to beat.The Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall (1996) was the second game in the series, and massive, compared to even modern games (smaller than arena). It is estimated that the game covers 63,125 square miles, over 15,000 towns, cities, villagers, and dungeons to explore, and over 750,000 non-playable characters (NPCs) to interact with.
Like Arena, Daggerfall uses a race, and birthsign character creation system, returns with the leveling system, and has thousands of miscellaneous, and guild quests, so many in fact, that I will not go into a single one for fear of having to go into more. The game limits players to the regions of High Rock, and Hammerfell, and the story is just as long as Arena's, the player must free the restless spirit of a dead king, and obtain the key to the Numidium a massive, humanoid automaton for the Emperor. There are multiple political struggles in the story, Iliac Bay, an area in High Rock has seceded from the Empire, and the Orcs of Hammerfell are rebeling, and trying to make their own kingdom. The Empire wants to regain control of Iliac Bay, and either crush the Orc uprising, or allow it to happen then annex the new Orc kingdom. Based on the player's choices, there are six possible endings. 1: The player TRIES to take control of the Numidium. 2: The player allows the Numidium to be destroyed by a magical wizard king. 3: The Orcs obtain control of the Numidium, and use it to make their own independent kingdom. 4: The Empire gains control of the Numidium and uses it to regain total control over Iliac Bay, and the Orcs. 5: One of the Iliac Bay rulers gains control of the Numidium, and uses it to destroy the other rulers of Iliac Bay. 6: A necromancer king gains control of the Numidium, and uses it to make himself a god. Because of the six different endings the writers for later games had to create a supernatural occurence, and dubbed it the Miracle of the West, in which all six possible endings happened at once. The player dies, one of the Iliac Bay rulers conquers the rest, and forms one Iliac Bay kingdom, the Orcs create their own kingdom, the necromancer king becomes a god, the Empire gains control of the Orc, and Iliac Bay kingdom, and the Numidium is destroyed. Daggerfall was well received and had slightly less bugs, and glitches than Arena, delivering a massive, game, with a great story.The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind (2002), was the third chapter in the Elder Scrolls series, and the first to limit the player to one region, Morrowind. Although Morrowind is 0.01% the size of Daggerfall as far as land area, location amount, and NPC amount goes, it had a bilion times more detail. Morrowind was the first real graphical step in the Elder Scrolls, and featured more individuality in NPC's, and explorable locations. Also there was more physical detail in everything from plants to monsters. The same creation, and leveling system is used in Morrowind, as is used in Arena, and Daggerfall. Like it's predecessors, Morrowind features a main campaign and multiple miscellaneous quests, along with the guild quests, and the ability to join the Imperial Legion. The main story puts the player in the role of a prophesied hero who will save Morrowind from a horrible doom. This is accomplished by killing the minor god who is causing a plague in Morrowind. The quest is long, and involves some interesting politics between the different Dark Elf clans in Morrowind, which the player can be involved with. Morrowind sprung two add on campaigns, the first was Tribunal, which has the player following a short story line, and killing a mortal Queen trying to become a god. Tribunal also introduces the Dark brotherhood into the series. The second expansion was Blood Moon, which adds the island of Solstheim to the map, slightly north of Morrowind, and east of Skyrim. The story follows the character as he ventures to Solstheim to investigate some werewolf incidents. This leads to the player having to fight to the death with three other warriors on a glacier for the entertainment of a demon prince. Once the player wins, he must fight the demon himself, and flee the island. Blood Moon also adds the East Empire Company (a naval trade company) as a joinable guild. Morrowind and it's expansions were the first of the modern Elder Scrolls games, that which are played on consoles, and feature extreme detail, right down to the grass, and fish.
Oblivion (2006) was the next Elder Scrolls game, and like Morrowind stayed in one region, Cyrodiil. The game has the same creation, and leveling system as it's predecessors, and took a major step graphically from Morrowind. Like all of the Elder Scrolls games to this date, Oblivion has a main story line, and countless guild and miscellaneous quests. The Dark Brotherhood, and the Blades are now joinable guilds, but the East Empire Company, and the Imperial Legion, are taken away from playability. This is also the last game to feature Uriel Septim VII (the Emperor in Arena, Daggerfall, and Morrowind). The story casts the player as a prisoner who escapes with the Emperor, and a few of his loyal bodyguards (the Blades) through a secret tunnel under the jail. You witness the death of the Emperor and a few of his bodyguards at the hands of a group of demon worshippers, who are trying to usher in their demon lord from his plane of oblivion to the surface world. All of the Emperor's legitimate sons are also assassinated, and the player (creation method for the character is still the same) is tasked with finding his last heir, his illegitimate son Martin. Once Martin is found, he and the player go on a harrowing adventure across Cyrodiil trying to stem back the flood of demon invaders.
Oblivion gave birth to two DLCs, Shivering Isles, and Knights of Nine. Shivery Isles transports the player to the deadric plane of oblivion Shivering Isles, ruled by the daedric prince of madness, Sheograth. The player can choose to join the Golden Saints, or the Dark Seducers, both of whom guard half of Sheograth's realm. Once the quest with the side you have chosen is completed, you become the duke or duchess of that half of the realm. The DLC culminates in a battle with Sheograth's other aspect Jyggalag. Knights of Nine puts the player back in Cyrodiil, and starts with the player investigating recent murders at the temple of one of the nine gods of the Imperial pantheon. The player then receives a prophecy telling him of his destiny to reform the Knights of Nine (an ancient order of knights dedicated to serving the gods), and kill the sorcerer king responsible for the murders. To reform the Knights, the player must find the 8 relics sacred to the order (Helmet, boots, gauntlets, cuirass, shield, mace, and sword of the Crusader.). Along his quest he meets NPC's who assist the player, and join the Knights. Once the player is in possession of the relics (He will be wearing all the armor, using the shield, and fighting with either sword or mace) he and his knights kill the sorcerer king. Oblivion was extremely well received, along with both expansions, and like Morrowind, received game of the year from multiple sources.The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim (2011), is the latest title in the series, and probably the most impressive. Skyrim takes place over 400 years after Oblivion, and multiple political shiftings have taken place. The Empire now only controls Cyrodiil, Skyrim, and High Rock due to the secession of Black Marsh, followed by an Argonian invasion of Morrowind. Summerset Isles also seceded along with Valenwood, and formed the Aldmeri Dominion, an empire equal in power to the Cyrodiilic Empire's, and an empire where elves are superior (high elves in particular). The Aldmeri Dominion enticed the region of Elsywere into seceding, and becoming a political ally to the Aldmeri. The Empire,and the Dominion then went to war, which lasted many years and the promptly named Great War ended with some changes to Tamriel. Part of the Aldmeri's peace terms were that the Blades be disbanded, the god Talos be considered un-devine, his worship be illegal, and policeable by the Dominion, and that half of the region of Hammerfell be granted to them. All of these demands were granted by the Empire, but the people of Hammerfell refused to let the Aldmeri take over, and the Empire was forced to abandon it as an imperial province. Thirty six years later, the region of Skyrim rose up in civil war, because the Nords wanted to become independent of the Empire. This is where the player steps in, but the war isn't the main story line, it's a secondary story line, a new type of story line that is smaller than the main quest, but larger and more flexible than guild or miscellaneous quests. This is only one of a few new features in Skyrim. Another is dynamic weather, which is randomized by the computer, mounted combat (the ability to ride a horse was included in Oblivion but the player couldn't fight from it) along with a new creation system. Instead of choosing the sign the player wants to be born under, they choose to take the blessing of one of thirteen magical stones. The stones must be found, and can be switched at the players leisure. Some stones even grant special powers. The leveling system is also overhauled to be made more streamline. Now each skill type has a level, and the levels of all the skill types make up the player level. Skill level is built up the same way as before, and every time the player level is increased by 1, a perk is granted. A perk grants specific abilities to any skill tree. For example the overdraw perk is used to grant 60 70 80, or 90% more damage by bows. Skyrim also introduces a duel wielding system, which the player can use to wield a one-handed weapon (sword/axe/mace) in each hand. The final addition to Skyrim is words of power. These are a type of dragon magic, that are made of of words in their language. Three words can be combined into one large word to make it super powerful. Dragon shouts (as words of power are calles) range from fire breath, to slowing time, to freezing a person in a block if ice. Back to the story line, the main quest follows the player all across Skyrim as he must fight the dragons which have returned from the past (yes, full blown flying, fire/ice breathing dragons), and are being brought back to life. The quest is epic, and includes many of the dragon shouts (the rest can be found at dragon shrines/word walls) included in the game. Skyrim is graphically better than Oblivion was by lightyears, and has some of the most detailed plants, animals, sky, and water of any game. Containing over 300 hours of quest based gameplay, Skyrim has guild quests, from the Companions (the new fighters guild), the Dark Brotherhood, the Thieves Guild, the College of Winterhold (a school of magic replacing the mages guild) the Blades (now a secret organization with a handful of members devoted to dragon slaying), and the East Empire Company. There is also the civil war quest line, during which the player either joins the Stormcloacks (as the Nord rebels are called) or the Imperial Legion, and fight in an epic war, culminating in victory for whichever side the player chose. Skyrim has three DLC's the first of which is Dawguard. Dawnguard allows the player to either join the Dawnguard an ancient guild devoted to vampire hunting, or the vampires themselves, and fight with the other for control of multiple artifacts of power. Dawguard adds new dragon shouts, new locations, a new type of magic devoted to vampire hunting, and two new species of dragon. The second DLC is Hearthfire, which gives the hero the ability to build custom houses, and adopt children (marriage was included in the base game). The most recent DLC was Dragonborn, which sends the hero to the Island of Solstheim (Morrowind: Blood Moon) to defeat a dragon priest who is returning to life to rule the world. Dragonborn's quest was critically acclaimed, and added new dragon shouts, many new locations, a new species of dragon, and the ability to ride dragons. Skyrim won game of the year, and is probably the most immersive of all the Elder Scroll games.
Overall, the Elder Scroll series is gaming Nirvana (not in reference to the band). I believe it deserves the perfect score because it incorporates immersive gameplay, great graphics, fantastic soundtracks in all the games, and some of the most amazing stories in video game history. The only discrepancy on the Elder Scroll report is issues with bugs, but Bethesda has been very good at producing game patches to fix the issues.
Overall 10:10
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