The Elder Scrolls

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The Elder Scrolls
The Elder Scrolls Logo.svg
Lettering of the series
Original title The Elder Scrolls
developer Bethesda Game Studios
Zenimax Online Studios
Publisher Bethesda Softworks
First title The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994)
Last title The Elder Scrolls: Blades (2019)
Platform (s) MS-DOS , Windows , Xbox , Xbox 360 , Xbox One , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , N-Gage , Nintendo Switch
Genre (s) Action RPG

The Elder Scrolls (abbreviated TES , German: The Scrolls of the Ancients or The Writings of the Wise ) is a computer game series by the US computer game manufacturer Bethesda Softworks . The series, which consists mainly of computer role-playing games , currently comprises twelve titles for PC , game consoles and mobile phones , the most recent release is currently The Elder Scrolls: Blades for mobile phones , released on May 1, 2019 . There are also two novels.

Composition of the series

The series began in 1994 with the release of The Elder Scrolls: Arena . Two years later, the direct successor Daggerfall followed before 1997 and 1998 with Battlespire and Redguard, two titles deviating from the original gameplay, were published. Since then there has been a numbered main series, in addition to which there are other games in the game world Nirn.

Chronology:

Main series

arena

The Elder Scrolls: Arena was originally planned as a 3D gladiator game. The name Arena is derived from this on the one hand. On the other hand, the dimension “Mundus”, in which it takes place, is called the arena, in which “the bad” from Oblivion and “the good” from Aetherius meet again and again and fight against each other like in an arena. The plot of the game is to defeat the imperial battle mage Jagar Tharn, who betrayed and captured the emperor Uriel on Septim VII. With the help of the sorceress Ria Silmane and the Dunmer queen Barenziah, the player succeeds in defeating Jagar Tharn in the end and freeing the emperor who is trapped in the Oblivion Plains. The development of the game was influenced by the titles Darklands , Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss and Legends of Valor . Arena is also characterized by its huge game world, which is reached by randomly generating areas from given elements. This enabled a game world to be created that is larger than that of the modern successors Morrowind , Oblivion and Skyrim . Bethesda only produced 9,000 pieces - and had to produce hundreds of thousands more copies. The first part enjoyed a great reputation with role-players even then. To mark the 10th anniversary of the series, Bethesda Arena has made a full version available for free download.

Daggerfall

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
Studio United StatesUnited States Bethesda Softworks
Publisher United StatesUnited States Bethesda Softworks
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 North AmericaNorth AmericaSeptember 22, 1996 1996
EuropeEurope
platform MS-DOS
Game engine XnGine
genre Computer role playing game
Game mode Single player
control Mouse & keyboard
system advantages
preconditions		 66 MHz Pentium, 8 MB RAM, 50 MB free hard disk space
medium 1 CD-ROM
language English
German (fan translation)
Current version 2.13
Age rating
USK approved from 16
information Official website

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is characterized above all by the fact that it represents one of the largest virtual game worlds. The fantasy world, which was developed by Bethesda without a pen & paper background, offers an area whose area is, according to its own statements, twice the size of Great Britain. It can be explored both by horse and later by ship and it contains over 15,000 villages, 750,000 NPCs , 500 books and hundreds of items of clothing. The majority of the game world was not created manually by the developers, but is generated randomly.

Due to its complexity, the game was very buggy, which is why it was sometimes called " Bug gerfall" by players .

The character generation takes place here by answering questions and the "background story" is also created by further questions. Compared to its successor, Morrowind, Daggerfall contains a higher number of skills, such as climbing or dodging.

By completing orders, the game character can become the leader of many factions and guilds, even with the (small) chance of turning into a vampire. The game can be played through with a high-level character following the storyline; but that is expressly not the main concern of the game. Rather, partially level-based, randomly generated missions are offered in guilds, which repeat themselves from a certain level, but are rarely found in this form until today. Despite the randomly generated quests, failure to complete a quest can possibly have consequences for another person in a different location. B. Was related to someone to be saved. Such freedom of action has never been implemented in this genre, which is why the game has received many awards.

Technically the game is based on DOS and offers 3D graphics and a weather simulation (snow, rain, fog). With the aid of the CD cache program Smartdrive it is possible under MS-DOS to get from one corner of the card to the other without noticeable loading time.

To mark the 15th anniversary of the series, Bethesda has made Daggerfall available as a full version for free download. To make Daggerfall available for modern platforms, there are several projects, XL Engine as an engine rewrite and DaggerfallSetup as an installer with additional patches and translations for modern Windows versions.

Morrowind

Morrowind logo

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was released in the original English version in May 2002 for Windows and in June 2003 for Xbox . A fully localized version followed on September 12, 2002. In November 2002 and June 2003, the two extensions Tribunal and Bloodmoon appeared .

At the beginning of the game, the protagonist of the plot is released from prison for reasons still unknown and taken to the island of Vvardenfell. This island is the game world of the game, which is supplemented in the expansions by the island of Solstheim and the capital of the province Morrowind, Gramfeste, outside of it. He gradually reveals secrets about the disappearance of the Dwemer (also called dwarves), a mysterious Nerevarine cult that awaits the rebirth of the hero Nerevar and learns what really happened in the first era at the Battle of Red Mountain. Later it becomes known that the release from prison was not accidental, but was obtained by the Emperor of Tamriel, Uriel Septim VII , (Tamriel, the empire to which the country of Morrowind belongs as a province). He is convinced that the threat posed by Dagoth Ur can only be eliminated by the reborn Nerevar and that the freedman himself is part of a much larger construct.

Oblivion

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion logo .

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the fourth regular part of the TES series and was released in 2006. The place of the plot is the province "Cyrodiil" on the continent "Tamriel" in the world "Nirn". Publisher is the Take-2 - label 2K Games . The game world is open again: a linear step-by-step approach is not or only partially necessary. The game is available for the Xbox 360 , the PC and from Ubisoft for the PlayStation 3 . Since 2007, Oblivion has had a "Game of the Year Edition" which, in addition to the "Mini" add-on Knights of the Nine, also contains the larger expansion Shivering Isles .

After the death of the emperor Uriel in Septim VII, the player receives the order to give the amulet of the kings to the illegitimate son Martin. It soon turns out that Martin has to close the gates to the dimension Oblivion again. The portals to this parallel universe , which is inhabited by the so-called Daedra (a collective term for the different species living there), opened after the death of the emperor. The task of the heir to the throne is difficult, so he asks the player for assistance. Time is of the essence as oblivion gates open across Cyrodiil, through which the daedra invade and bring death and destruction.

Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim logo .

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the fifth part of the TES series and takes place in the eponymous province of Skyrim (in German called "Himmelsrand"). The game was released on November 11, 2011. Like the previous titles in the series, the game was developed by Bethesda Game Studios and was released for the first time outside the United States by exclusive distribution by Bethesda Softworks .

The action of the game begins about 200 years after the events in The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion . There are also some references to the previous part. The location of the events is the province of Skyrim north of Cyrodiil. The background is a prophecy of the eponymous for the series "Elder Scrolls" about the return of the dragons. Since no one wanted to believe this prophecy, the people of Skyrim are completely caught off guard by the arrival. According to prophecy, however, there would be a person, the "Dovahkiin", also known colloquially as the "Dragon's Blood", who could be dangerous even to dragons. The player takes on the role of this hero and has to free Skyrim from the dragons in the course of the game.

The Elder Scrolls VI

The Elder Scrolls VI will be the sixth installment in the TES series and was officially announced by Todd Howard at E3 2018 . The game is under development at Bethesda Game Studios . The Elder Scrolls VI is unlikely to appear in the near future, however, as Bethesda will focus on its new Starfield franchise first .

Other titles

Battlespire

To Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire Logo

An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire , released November 30, 1997, was originally planned as an add-on to Daggerfall , but was then designed as a standalone action RPG . It had numerous bugs , which is why it didn't sell well and couldn't build on the success of its two predecessors.

action

Communication with the Battlespire training academy, where Imperial battle mages are trained, has been broken. It is on the border between the "normal" human dimension and Oblivion, the dimension of the Daedra. An agent of the empire was sent to the academy, but he did not report back. As a result, an unknown hero was sent out to find out what was going on on Battlespire and where the agent was.

Battlespire is the only The Elder Scrolls part so far that has a multiplayer mode. It is possible to wage war between different players.

Redguard

The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard Logo

The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard , released October 31, 1998, is an action-adventure game with strong RPG elements. Like Daggerfall and Battlespire , it uses the XnGine game engine , which Redguard was the first to add support for 3dfx graphics accelerator cards.

action

Rothwardon Cyrus learns through a letter that his sister Iszara is missing. Without further ado, he sets off to Stros M'Kai, the last known whereabouts of Iszara, to find out more about his sister's disappearance.

Cyrus finds his sister Iszara very soon, but while looking for her he is embroiled in a rebellion against the imperial troops on the island of Stros M'Kai and is forced to fight the imperial fleet and the imperial legion together with his sister record.

Gameplay

The Redguard game system is very different from the other The Elder Scrolls parts, as this is not an RPG, but an action adventure.

It is the only game in the series in which the player cannot create their own character, but is given a pre-made character. However, this gives the hero his own thoughtful personality.

The Elder Scrolls Online

On April 4, 2014, Bethesda Softworks released The Elder Scrolls Online , a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for the first time on the continent of Tamriel. The game was developed by the Zenimax Online Studios founded for this project under the direction of Matt Firor ( Dark Age of Camelot ). Unlike the main series, it is set in the previous second age. The Daedra prince Molag Bal tries to gain control of the continent, it is the task of the players to prevent this. To do this, they join forces in three factions, the Aldmeri Dominion of High Elves, Wood Elves and Khajiit, the Daggerfall Alliance of Bretons, Redguards and Orcs or the Ebonheart Pact of the North, Dark Elves and Argonians.

The Elder Scrolls Travels

As the name "Travels" suggests, these games were developed for cell phones and portable consoles such as the Nokia N-Gage . The following games have appeared in the Travel series:

  1. The Elder Scrolls Travels: Dawnstar
  2. The Elder Scrolls Travels: Stormhold
  3. The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey
  4. The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion

Construction sets

TES III Construction Set

The TES Construction Set (CS for short) is supplied together with Morrowind . It is a tool that allows the user to add extensive extensions to the game . From small changes, such as a self-made house or new tasks to completely new cities or even a completely independent game world, everything is possible with the editor . For this reason there are already a lot of fan projects on the Internet , with dimensions that in some cases come close to or even exceed the scope of the main game. It is also possible to construct a completely new world that runs independently of the actual game. Examples are Myar Aranath and Arktwend for the German version of Morrowind.

TES IV Construction Set

The Elder Scrolls IV Construction Set is the renewed and revised Editor for the game Oblivion . In contrast to its predecessor, Morrowind , the program is not supplied with the game, but is available as a free download from the developer's homepage, but in an exclusively English-language version.

The editor is an indispensable tool for so-called “ modders ” (fans who create additions to the game). With this program, so-called plug-ins (PIs) or modifications (mods) to Oblivion can be created, or translations of the game or existing plug-ins into another language can be done. The changes are saved in an * .esp file , which can be loaded into the game in addition to the Oblivion.esm (master file ). The program is very powerful and at first glance offers a bewildering variety of options. The popularity of the role-playing game and the free download option of the editor have resulted in thousands of different modifications for the game being freely available.

For the often criticized German translation of The Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion , plug-ins were created with Construction Set IV by various authors that fix translation errors and other errors in the game.

The CS IV was made available without integrated help. As a substitute, however, the Construction Set Wiki can be found online in English and German translation. The CS wikis are extensive, but too confusing for beginners to modding . Therefore, there are already various tutorials in German and English that make it easier to get started with different aspects of modding. These are partly integrated into the wikis, but mainly available on fan sites.

TES V Creation Kit

For The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim , Bethesda has developed a new "Construction Set" called the Creation Kit. It represents the modern counterpart to the Elder Scrolls Construction Set, as a new, specially developed "Creation Engine" is used for TES V.

Novels

Web links

Wikis
other

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official German sales packaging for Daggerfall
  2. ↑ The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn Trailer , accessed November 6, 2012 3:00 PM.
  3. ↑ a b Alexander "Ghostfig101" Belfiglio: 15 Years of The Elder Scrolls Series ( English ) In: Planet Elder Scrolls . IGN . July 9, 2009. Archived from the original on December 22, 2013. Retrieved on September 28, 2011: “ The main inspiration for The Elder Scrolls comes from games like Ultima Underworld, Darklands, and Legends of Valor. And of course, D&D. The whole idea was to do a grand RPG, where you could do pretty much whatever you wanted. "
  4. ↑ elderscrolls.com: free official download from Arena. ( Arena106Setup.zip ). Retrieved February 25, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Julian Dasgupta: Elder Scrolls 2 as freeware. In: 4players.de. October 7, 2009, accessed February 25, 2011 .
  6. ↑ crashtestgoblin: Daggerfall: The formerly planned translation . Daggerfall German. November 3, 2011. Retrieved September 24, 2013: “ Daggerfall - The Wise Men ' s Writings. This lettering was emblazoned on the packaging that appeared in Germany in 1996. The reverse announced the following: “Completely in German (over 250,000 words)” One might ask, “Are you really crazy that you are translating a game that has long been available in German?” The truth is that this is gross fraudulent labeling. […] And this version actually never existed. "
  7. ^ Rashid Sayed: Ten Largest Worlds in Video Games ( English ) In: Gaming Bolt . January 12, 2011. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
  8. ↑ Bethesda Softworks : Game Information: The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall ( English ) In: Official website . Bethesda Softworks . Retrieved July 25, 2012: “ No other game has such a huge world to explore. Travel around a land mass twice the size of Great Britain, exploring dungeons, castles, tombs, and even alternative dimensions. Just to walk from one end of the world to the other will take over 2 full weeks in real-time (we actually tested this!) Converse with over 750,000 characters that inhabit this world. "
  9. ↑ elderscrolls.com: free official download of Daggerfall. ( DFInstall.zip ). Retrieved February 25, 2011 .
  10. ^ Adam Smith: Mods And Ends: Daggerfall & The XL Engine . Rock, paper, shotgun . November 18, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2013: “ [XL Engine] […] it's a custom-built framework to run old games. Essentially, it totally overhauls them, with all sorts of visual enhancements and improved modding support, so it's almost as if they are being ported onto modern systems. "
  11. ↑ daggerxl.wordpress.com: DaggerXL. Retrieved February 25, 2011 .
  12. ↑ theelderscrolls.wiwiland.net: DaggerfallSetup. Retrieved February 25, 2011 .
  13. ↑ The Elder Scrolls 6 - Bethesda Announces Skyrim Successor , Gamestar, accessed June 11, 2018
  14. ↑ Review: Redguard . In: Maximum PC . March 1999, p. 84. ISSN  1522-4279 .
  15. ↑ a b bethsoft.com: Bethesda's press release on Elder Scrolls Travels. Retrieved April 24, 2011 .
  16. ^ Poll: Creation Engine and Kit
The Elder Scrolls
Computer games from The Elder Scrolls series
Main series

Arena • Daggerfall • Morrowind • Oblivion • Skyrim

Offshoot

Battlespire • Redguard • Travels • The Elder Scrolls Online • The Elder Scrolls: Legends