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As everyone knows by now, I'm sure, Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 6 at their E3 conference this year.
As much as I'm excited for it, I'm concerned about how they'll handle it and hope to see some of the features that I'll talk about in this post later. TL;DR will be at the bottom, I'll try to sum up all my points.
DISCLAIMER: I am in no way, shape or form saying that Skyrim sucked! For the time period it was released in, it was an AMAZING game. This is mainly just stuff that I hope to see them seriously improve on, especially considering how games are being made now.

First off, I want to go over some of the good and bad things about The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.

The first time that I played through this game, I loved every minute of it. I loved the world and the fact that I could join everything and do whatever I wanted. It had an extremely simple combat system that was easy for a player like me (who hadn't owned any consoles and had brothers who refused to share their consoles) to pick up and play right out of the intro. The world was mostly fleshed out and easy to get lost in, you had good bards and bad bards and songs that felt true to the world you were in. The second time I played through, I started to dislike certain aspects of it.

1. The fact that you can become Thane of every reach and lead all of the guilds you join bothered me. It doesn't make sense for certain Reaches to ask you to be Thane while guards are gossiping about your rumored participation in the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood. It doesn't make sense for the Companions to ask you to lead them while you're running around murdering and stealing from people. And it DEFINITELY doesn't make sense for you to be the Archemage at the College of Winterhold if you're mainly an archer/dual wielding swords battle type (me!).
It took away a lot of the replay-ability to me. There were no real consequences for your options and actions other than criminal fines and specific cities becoming angry with you during the Imperial/Stormcloak quest line (and, in the Dawnguard DLC, the choice between Dawnguard or Vampire Lord). Heck, there's not even a real way to refuse to kill Partharnax, the quest just sits there until you finally decide to do it because you're a completionist and can't stand a quest going unfinished. There wasn't a whole lot of "if you join this guild, you can't join this faction" going on, and being able to do most everything in one play through took away the curiosity of "I wonder what would happen if I chose this instead".

2. The game play was easy... But stayed easy. The combat system didn't really level up along with you. Trust me, I love being able to rush through dungeons and dwemer ruins and kill everything in one hit. But it gets a little boring after a while. If you want a challenge, you had to up the difficulty, rather than the enemies becoming just as strong as you are as you go along the game.

3. The world was full of stuff - but stuff doesn't add to the world. There is a lot of characters and a ton of books and many different personalities in Skyrim, but after a few times of interacting with people, they feel very 2D. They were given a name and a role, a flat personality, and they were dropped into the game. At the time, this was fine and did exactly what it needed to do. For the future game, I'm hoping for a bit more.

Now, onto what I hope to see in the 6th game.

1. More consequences/reactions. I don't want to be able to see and do everything in one go of the game. I want to have 3 different characters that are all choosing different options and thus, the world responds differently. Maybe have villagers react with repulsion or fear if you're known for killing and thieving. Have drunken dudes in taverns challenge you to a fight because 'I've heard about you, you must think you're tough.' On the other hand, have kids run up to you in awe if you're a known hero and have them ask about your adventures. Have an embarrassed mother apologize for her child's eagerness and pull them away. Give the guards MORE PERSONALITY! One that's proud to be fighting on the outskirts, one that's rude and happy he's inside stone walls because he's lazy, one that's a new recruit and recognizes you - maybe he acts just like the kids do! I know this is a lot of work, but I think it would be well worth it considering how long fans of TES have been waiting for another game.

2. More artists/music/writers! Skyrim had a LOT of books, which was very cool and considerably added to the lore of the world. BUT, I don't ever recall meeting someone who was a bookworm. I don't recall meeting a painter who does portraits of the Lords and Ladies and Queens and Kings. We had the Bards college, but there's only 5 lyrical songs in Skyrim and 13 instrumental songs (3 drum songs, 4 lute songs, and 6 flute songs). The instrumental music has a pretty good range, but where are all the tavern songs??? Bards are known for creating songs about legends or songs meant to mock people. We have only ONE mocking song, which is disappointing.
The one example I can think of that I would LOVE to see in the Elder Scrolls world is a song similar to "The Song of the Seven" from the Game of Thrones universe (it's missing a verse for the Stranger but oh well). A YouTuber by the name christocakes did a beautiful rendition of this song. As I listen to this song, I could only think about how incredible it would be to hear a child humming this in the square or a mother singing this to a crying child (as a comforting song). Perhaps when you enter a temple for one of the Nine Divines, you hear the priestesses singing a song for TES Divines among themselves occasionally.
Here's my point: Even if we never meet the authors or painters, it would be cool for some characters that we interact with to be 'fans' of them. EX: "I love (insert name)'s books! They're so brilliant, I wish I could meet them." "Have you seen (insert name)'s paintings? They look so serene and beautiful. M'lord has one hanging in his hall!" And of course, I am ALWAYS down for more music that fits the world. Music has a way of fleshing out a world that I can't explain.

(Sidenote: I highly suggest listening to his other renditions of GOT songs; The Bear and the Maiden Fair, and The Dornishmans' Wife are both perfect examples of songs that I would LOVE to hear in Taverns more often!)

3. A world that levels up with you. They pulled this off very well in The Elder Scrolls: Online. You can go back into dungeons with lower level friends and still have a hard time fighting alongside them: The enemy may appear as level 10 for them and level 40 for you in some areas! It kept the game challenging and it kept me interested. Now, I won't go into the Online game, as that's a rant for another day, but the enemies continued to be a challenge throughout your exploration of the game.

4. Believable NPCs. Drawing an example from the Online game again, my favorite NPC in the game was in the Aldmeri Dominion: Razum Dar. He was so funny and charismatic, and you meet up with him so often throughout your quests that he truly feels like a friend and companion. Without going into spoiler territory, I ended up adoring this NPC and it broke my heart when he became angry with me over a decision that I made. I was so sad because from that point on, he's very cold towards your character. (AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD CONSEQUENCE USAGE!) He doesn't just blindly follow whatever you pick, he dislikes certain things you do because it clashes with his own morals and personality. This is something that I wish to see in the upcoming Elder Scrolls game. I know they have NPCs that don't agree with you in Fallout 4 but even those characters only respond in distaste directly after or only in reference to that decision; they don't continue to scold you or answer you in a scornful way.
Not every vendor has to have a back story, but if you're going to give us quest companions and constant interactions with an important NPC, they should have a little more personality than the vendors and random children running around do. When I marry someone in game, I want to be able to be affectionate with them, I want to have more conversation options where I can learn about them and actually grow attached to the character.
This is one thing that Dragon Age does VERY well. Inquisition actually made me cry at the end during my first play through, and it was because the person I chose to romance - and developed a genuine interest in - broke my heart. I want to FEEL SOMETHING! My favorite male romance options were Solas, Blackwall, and Cullen, in that order. They made me feel so many things and that was because the closer you got to them, the more you learned. BioWare has an amazing system for relationships and it's what makes their games so very special.

5. FIX YOUR BUGS. The biggest complaint I have is that Todd made fun of the fact that Skyrim has game-breaking bugs. I would have laughed along with it if it weren't for the fact that I can't complete about 10 quests in my quest log because they're bugged out - and have been bugged out since the original release. When they announced the "remaster" of Skyrim, I was thrilled. I thought that not only were they going to give Skyrim a beautiful graphics overhaul, but that they'd throw in some patches for those buggy quests that have been giving players problems since the start (these are problems that pop up with multiple forum threads where people are asking for help, so they can't feign ignorance to specifics). I was so mad when I ran into the SAME BUGS that had frustrated me before. Bethesda gave us a great game, but they failed to give it any TLC after it came out other than a money-grab "remaster" edition, and then proceeded to release this version of the game on every console they could think of while STILL not attempting to fix any of the bugs.
Now, I don't mind the occasional stable master that's chest deep in the cobblestone road bugs, or the saber tooth that flies up to the heavens after you hit it with your sword - those are humorous and don't stop you from completing anything. What bothered me were the quests where you couldn't talk to the NPC you needed to, or the NPC that you had to escort out of danger refused to follow you OUTSIDE. I can't explain the frustration that came with leading someone all the way to an exit only to run outside and, once the loading screen went away, you found out that the idiot went back to the spot you just led him away from.

TL;DR:
That's about it. Skyrim came out in 2011 so it's completely understandable that its starting form was exactly what it was, and I'm not saying that Bethesda made a bad game. Skyrim was one of, and still continues to be, one of my favorite games. It felt like it wasn't Bethesda's favorite game though. It didn't get the TLC from the developers that it deserved and I think that, in the long run, that ended up hurting the game more than they expected. To sum it up, this is what I hope to see in the new game: 1, World/local consequences/reactions that actually stick and matter. 2, More artistic influences in TES universe, ESPECIALLY bard music. 3, Enemies that 'level up' with you, to keep it challenging and fun. 4, More 'fleshed out' NPC's, especially when it comes to companions/romance options/kids. And 5, GIVE THE GAME SOME TLC, don't just drop it and never try to fix bugs that don't allow players to complete things.

OKAY, now that my rant is done, what do you guys think? What are you hoping for with the upcoming TES game? I've got high hopes but I'm keeping my expectations in check. I'd love to discuss other aspects in the comments with y'all!

Description
As everyone knows by now, I'm sure, Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 6 at their E3 conference this year.
As much as I'm excited for it, I'm concerned about how they'll handle it and hope to see some of the features that I'll talk about in this post later. TL;DR will be at the bottom, I'll try to sum up all my points.
DISCLAIMER: I am in no way, shape or form saying that Skyrim sucked! For the time period it was released in, it was an AMAZING game. This is mainly just stuff that I hope to see them seriously improve on, especially considering how games are being made now.

First off, I want to go over some of the good and bad things about The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.

The first time that I played through this game, I loved every minute of it. I loved the world and the fact that I could join everything and do whatever I wanted. It had an extremely simple combat system that was easy for a player like me (who hadn't owned any consoles and had brothers who refused to share their consoles) to pick up and play right out of the intro. The world was mostly fleshed out and easy to get lost in, you had good bards and bad bards and songs that felt true to the world you were in. The second time I played through, I started to dislike certain aspects of it.

1. The fact that you can become Thane of every reach and lead all of the guilds you join bothered me. It doesn't make sense for certain Reaches to ask you to be Thane while guards are gossiping about your rumored participation in the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood. It doesn't make sense for the Companions to ask you to lead them while you're running around murdering and stealing from people. And it DEFINITELY doesn't make sense for you to be the Archemage at the College of Winterhold if you're mainly an archer/dual wielding swords battle type (me!).
It took away a lot of the replay-ability to me. There were no real consequences for your options and actions other than criminal fines and specific cities becoming angry with you during the Imperial/Stormcloak quest line (and, in the Dawnguard DLC, the choice between Dawnguard or Vampire Lord). Heck, there's not even a real way to refuse to kill Partharnax, the quest just sits there until you finally decide to do it because you're a completionist and can't stand a quest going unfinished. There wasn't a whole lot of "if you join this guild, you can't join this faction" going on, and being able to do most everything in one play through took away the curiosity of "I wonder what would happen if I chose this instead".

2. The game play was easy... But stayed easy. The combat system didn't really level up along with you. Trust me, I love being able to rush through dungeons and dwemer ruins and kill everything in one hit. But it gets a little boring after a while. If you want a challenge, you had to up the difficulty, rather than the enemies becoming just as strong as you are as you go along the game.

3. The world was full of stuff - but stuff doesn't add to the world. There is a lot of characters and a ton of books and many different personalities in Skyrim, but after a few times of interacting with people, they feel very 2D. They were given a name and a role, a flat personality, and they were dropped into the game. At the time, this was fine and did exactly what it needed to do. For the future game, I'm hoping for a bit more.

Now, onto what I hope to see in the 6th game.

1. More consequences/reactions. I don't want to be able to see and do everything in one go of the game. I want to have 3 different characters that are all choosing different options and thus, the world responds differently. Maybe have villagers react with repulsion or fear if you're known for killing and thieving. Have drunken dudes in taverns challenge you to a fight because 'I've heard about you, you must think you're tough.' On the other hand, have kids run up to you in awe if you're a known hero and have them ask about your adventures. Have an embarrassed mother apologize for her child's eagerness and pull them away. Give the guards MORE PERSONALITY! One that's proud to be fighting on the outskirts, one that's rude and happy he's inside stone walls because he's lazy, one that's a new recruit and recognizes you - maybe he acts just like the kids do! I know this is a lot of work, but I think it would be well worth it considering how long fans of TES have been waiting for another game.

2. More artists/music/writers! Skyrim had a LOT of books, which was very cool and considerably added to the lore of the world. BUT, I don't ever recall meeting someone who was a bookworm. I don't recall meeting a painter who does portraits of the Lords and Ladies and Queens and Kings. We had the Bards college, but there's only 5 lyrical songs in Skyrim and 13 instrumental songs (3 drum songs, 4 lute songs, and 6 flute songs). The instrumental music has a pretty good range, but where are all the tavern songs??? Bards are known for creating songs about legends or songs meant to mock people. We have only ONE mocking song, which is disappointing.
The one example I can think of that I would LOVE to see in the Elder Scrolls world is a song similar to "The Song of the Seven" from the Game of Thrones universe (it's missing a verse for the Stranger but oh well). A YouTuber by the name christocakes did a beautiful rendition of this song. As I listen to this song, I could only think about how incredible it would be to hear a child humming this in the square or a mother singing this to a crying child (as a comforting song). Perhaps when you enter a temple for one of the Nine Divines, you hear the priestesses singing a song for TES Divines among themselves occasionally.
Here's my point: Even if we never meet the authors or painters, it would be cool for some characters that we interact with to be 'fans' of them. EX: "I love (insert name)'s books! They're so brilliant, I wish I could meet them." "Have you seen (insert name)'s paintings? They look so serene and beautiful. M'lord has one hanging in his hall!" And of course, I am ALWAYS down for more music that fits the world. Music has a way of fleshing out a world that I can't explain.

(Sidenote: I highly suggest listening to his other renditions of GOT songs; The Bear and the Maiden Fair, and The Dornishmans' Wife are both perfect examples of songs that I would LOVE to hear in Taverns more often!)

3. A world that levels up with you. They pulled this off very well in The Elder Scrolls: Online. You can go back into dungeons with lower level friends and still have a hard time fighting alongside them: The enemy may appear as level 10 for them and level 40 for you in some areas! It kept the game challenging and it kept me interested. Now, I won't go into the Online game, as that's a rant for another day, but the enemies continued to be a challenge throughout your exploration of the game.

4. Believable NPCs. Drawing an example from the Online game again, my favorite NPC in the game was in the Aldmeri Dominion: Razum Dar. He was so funny and charismatic, and you meet up with him so often throughout your quests that he truly feels like a friend and companion. Without going into spoiler territory, I ended up adoring this NPC and it broke my heart when he became angry with me over a decision that I made. I was so sad because from that point on, he's very cold towards your character. (AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD CONSEQUENCE USAGE!) He doesn't just blindly follow whatever you pick, he dislikes certain things you do because it clashes with his own morals and personality. This is something that I wish to see in the upcoming Elder Scrolls game. I know they have NPCs that don't agree with you in Fallout 4 but even those characters only respond in distaste directly after or only in reference to that decision; they don't continue to scold you or answer you in a scornful way.
Not every vendor has to have a back story, but if you're going to give us quest companions and constant interactions with an important NPC, they should have a little more personality than the vendors and random children running around do. When I marry someone in game, I want to be able to be affectionate with them, I want to have more conversation options where I can learn about them and actually grow attached to the character.
This is one thing that Dragon Age does VERY well. Inquisition actually made me cry at the end during my first play through, and it was because the person I chose to romance - and developed a genuine interest in - broke my heart. I want to FEEL SOMETHING! My favorite male romance options were Solas, Blackwall, and Cullen, in that order. They made me feel so many things and that was because the closer you got to them, the more you learned. BioWare has an amazing system for relationships and it's what makes their games so very special.

5. FIX YOUR BUGS. The biggest complaint I have is that Todd made fun of the fact that Skyrim has game-breaking bugs. I would have laughed along with it if it weren't for the fact that I can't complete about 10 quests in my quest log because they're bugged out - and have been bugged out since the original release. When they announced the "remaster" of Skyrim, I was thrilled. I thought that not only were they going to give Skyrim a beautiful graphics overhaul, but that they'd throw in some patches for those buggy quests that have been giving players problems since the start (these are problems that pop up with multiple forum threads where people are asking for help, so they can't feign ignorance to specifics). I was so mad when I ran into the SAME BUGS that had frustrated me before. Bethesda gave us a great game, but they failed to give it any TLC after it came out other than a money-grab "remaster" edition, and then proceeded to release this version of the game on every console they could think of while STILL not attempting to fix any of the bugs.
Now, I don't mind the occasional stable master that's chest deep in the cobblestone road bugs, or the saber tooth that flies up to the heavens after you hit it with your sword - those are humorous and don't stop you from completing anything. What bothered me were the quests where you couldn't talk to the NPC you needed to, or the NPC that you had to escort out of danger refused to follow you OUTSIDE. I can't explain the frustration that came with leading someone all the way to an exit only to run outside and, once the loading screen went away, you found out that the idiot went back to the spot you just led him away from.

TL;DR:
That's about it. Skyrim came out in 2011 so it's completely understandable that its starting form was exactly what it was, and I'm not saying that Bethesda made a bad game. Skyrim was one of, and still continues to be, one of my favorite games. It felt like it wasn't Bethesda's favorite game though. It didn't get the TLC from the developers that it deserved and I think that, in the long run, that ended up hurting the game more than they expected. To sum it up, this is what I hope to see in the new game: 1, World/local consequences/reactions that actually stick and matter. 2, More artistic influences in TES universe, ESPECIALLY bard music. 3, Enemies that 'level up' with you, to keep it challenging and fun. 4, More 'fleshed out' NPC's, especially when it comes to companions/romance options/kids. And 5, GIVE THE GAME SOME TLC, don't just drop it and never try to fix bugs that don't allow players to complete things.

OKAY, now that my rant is done, what do you guys think? What are you hoping for with the upcoming TES game? I've got high hopes but I'm keeping my expectations in check. I'd love to discuss other aspects in the comments with y'all!