The Elder Scrolls 5 ● Analysis of Todd Howard's published notes on Skyrim.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda tweeted the first page from Todd Howard's Skyrim notebook. The post is dated June 20, 2007, and in it the developer listed the main elements of the future cult RPG. Let's try to figure out what was implemented, what was not, and what was the inspiration for Todd Howard when composing these sketches.

I would like to clarify right away that I am far from a lore scholar, and I do not even claim this title, I am a simple amateur player, and therefore I do the analysis based on my knowledge of the series, perhaps far from extensive, and I would like to ask you to treat this with understanding.

Well, let's start. Well, firstly, as we can see, Todd Howard clearly presented how the logo of the game will look, nothing new and quite familiar for fans of the series. Above the heading, below the line, under it a large Subtitle, according to this principle, the logos of the past parts were compiled.

Next, Todd clearly demonstrates the development of the series with each new part, and its progress, as well as what more emphasis was placed on. In every new part. As we can see, everything is shown in the form of circles with marks. The arena is depicted with an empty circle and the caption Mir.

Since it was in this part that the foundation was laid, Nirn himself was invented. But the whole game was mostly roguelike, endless dungeons and the destruction of monsters. The hero himself was rather impersonal, about which little was said, Unknown hero, Eternal champion.

But in the next round Daggerfall has the signature of I. And accordingly this is an explanation to the fact that in addition to the world, there was also a personal story of the protagonist, on which and the plot is twisted and has as many as 6 different endings.

But here is the world, albeit quite large, but very monotonous, without memorable locations. Oldfags do not be angry, these are the sketches of the creator, and he probably knows better. And that is why, already in the circle of Morrowind, the signature of the Place appeared.

What is most likely meant is the fact that this part of the series used an improved physics engine and the developed artificial intelligence system Radiant AI, which made it possible to make the behavior of non-playable characters much more complex and believable.

And unlike previous games in the series, Oblivion all dialogues with non-playable characters are voiced. Well, the last circle is Skyrim, which includes everything that came before, but the signature of the Link appeared. As I understand it, Todd Howard meant that it is necessary to improve interaction with non-playable characters, namely the influence of the protagonist on them, an improved companion system, as well as the consequences of the choice of the main character on non-playable characters, for example, to kill Cicero or keep alive , surrender Sadia to the Redguards or believe her, as well as many other things connecting the main character with the characters in the world.

And this begs the question, what can be in the 6th part of the Elder Scrolls, to this circle, which has the world, the main character, the place, the characters and connections, what can be added. Write your guesses in the comments, it will be interesting to read.

Further in the notes there are points in which Todd Howard makes sketches and a certain development plan, and immediately determines that the events of the game will take place about 100 years after the events in 4 parts of Oblivion. And so it happened.

Further, notably, Todd made a note that the empire was destroyed, but in the end the protagonist was given a choice, to support the empire and establish its rule in the region, or indeed to destroy it in this province, bringing Ulfric Stormcloak to power.

Howard's idea, the right decision would be to support the Stormcloaks. The answer to a question that has tormented many players around the world for many years. further, a note that the action should unfold in the Fourth Age. Further in Todd Howard noted that in the game it is necessary to develop interactions with non-playable characters and their free form, which I spoke about earlier, and Howard also made a note of randomly generated quests.

Radiant quests. That was later successfully introduced into the game. An interesting point in my opinion, this is brutality, as an example, "Conan" and the decoding, what "bloody / dirty" means - epic realism is given. That is how Todd Howard represents the Nords, and in fact it was done as intended, really Nords look like barbarians, fight dirty and mercilessly.

Well, the main feature of the game Todd Howard, of course, also pointed out, namely Dragons - noting what should be battles with large creatures and large indicating what it should be - EPIC. Further, Todd Howard noted that The Elder Scrolls in the game are an absolute McGuffin - By definition, it is an object around which the plot twists.

It is a source of conflict between the characters, but itself does not participate in the plot. Which actually happened. also Todd Howard wished that the Scroll could be used on dragons to manipulate them. And as we know, all this has been implemented.

Like the next point where Todd Howard wished the player was actually a secret deity / hero who learns and uses the power of the screams, Howard cites examples as a secret / Jedi technique. For examples, he also offers to look at the famous board game Dungeons & Dragons and sets as an example the literary character Muad'Dib, who in the narrative was perceived by the local population as the messiah.

And this very accurately reflects what we saw in practice, Dovahkiin, the messiah, familiar? at the expense of the main Quest, Todd Howard strongly decided not to bother in his notes himself, but left it, as I understand it, to the scriptwriters, indicating that it must be stated in free form, giving only such key elements that it would be a war, a change in alliances.

Saw, and so it happened. Perhaps the beginning was made, since the Temple of Heavenly Harbor was created, but they apparently decided to abandon the idea of ​​hiring and submission in the final version. Well, the final point and perhaps the most far-sighted is the mod, Todd Howard made a note that each player could share them with others players, create a so-called bridge between the game and modding, so that they exist together.