cvg

The Elder Scrolls 5 is an amazing RPG, and is definitely worth your time if you're into all that fantasy lark. It's just a shame that it's marred by a wealth of bugs and glitches. PS3 users are hit the worst, what with the stuttering bug that renders the game practically unplayable and that..

So in between our Skyrim sessions, we've been thinking about what we want from The Elder Scrolls 6 (or VI for all you Roman numeral obsessives). Perhaps have a think about it yourself and share your thoughts in the comments below. After you've read ours first, of course...

More voice actors

Considering the vast amount of NPCs populating the world of Skyrim, you'd think Bethesda would invest in more than just three voice actors. Alright, so there probably were more than three voice actors, but we have a hard time recalling more than three.

We got tired of hearing the same voices over and over again, especially from the guards. Yes, I know a knee injury ended your career as an adventurer like me, just shut up already! Or at least say it in voice different from the last 500 guards that said that exact same line. Also, buy some knee guards for gads sake.

It just breaks the immersion. We get that Bethesda couldn't possibly create unique, original NPCs for every single person in the game, but putting a little more work towards making them more varied wouldn't go unnoticed.

Multiplayer

Yeah, yeah, simmer down now. We're expecting you readers to give us a good kicking for even suggesting this but hear us out.

Firstly, competitive multiplayer is definitely out of the question. We have no desire to see this any more than you do, but we reckon co-op could have the potential to be fun. Obviously it shouldn't be forced, but the option for a co-operative experience would be nice, especially if it meant we could get up to mischief with friends doing guild quests.

Many players of Skyrim end up sharing their stories with friends or telling them about a hilarious glitch they've found, why not let them share those moments? Let them go on quests together, let them slay dragons together, let them put buckets over NPCs heads and loot their houses together.

The players wouldn't even have to stay together if they didn't want to. We imagine it to be much like the co-op found in Saints Row; two players are dropped into the world and they can both go off and do what they want. In fact, it could be more interesting to be travelling the world and see the things that have happened as a result of your co-op partners' actions. Perhaps play a game of 'who can take over Skryim first', or the most epic game of hide-and-seek ever.

Co-op doesn't have to detract from the game, or take anything way from those who still love a single-player experience. It's just an option there for the gamers who love deep, immense RPGs but also like to game with friends. Nothing else out there offers the experience that we imagine players could get out of Elder Scrolls co-op, so we think it would be a worthy addition to the series.

Besides, Bethesda have said that multiplayer is one of the most requested features from the fans. So we're not alone. Put away the pitchforks now.

New engine

Bethesda claims that Skyrim runs on all new engine called the 'Creation Engine', but as the bugs found in the Fallout games and previous Elder Scrolls titles return for Skyrim, it suggests that either it's not a whole new engine at all, but rather a modified Gamebryo engine, or Bethesda are extremely incompetent when it comes to creating an engine.

We don't mean to sound so harsh but something is up here. The same stuttering problem that appears in the PS3 version of Skyrim first appeared in Fallout 3, then again in Fallout: New Vegas. Bethesda have suggested some workarounds like turning off auto-save and clearing some space on your hard drive, but that just doesn't cut it.

It's clear that the engine is getting old and bit creaky, and as it's riddled with bugs, so how about a whole new, not broken, engine for the next game? We can wait while you make it, Bethesda.

Bug test it

We understand that the Elder Scrolls games are typically massive and that hunting down and ousting every singe bug would be near impossible, but we would appreciate it if Bethesda actually put some effort in to testing and bug fixing before they released the game, rather than after.

The developer is notorious for releasing buggy games, but Skyrim is something special. I mean, you only have to take a look at the 'Bugs and Glitches' page on the Skyrim wiki to see that. It's huge.

It's well known that many PS3 users are suffering from frame-rate issues due to the size of save files. This couldn't have gone unnoticed during development, and if it did then Bethesda need to hire a new QA team. Even 'patches' brought out introduce new bugs such as backwards-flying dragons.

Maybe that's a testament to how good Bethesda games are when you look past the glitches, but it's just a shame that we do have to look past the glitches in the first place. In future, make sure your QA testers are actually getting on with their work instead of doing speed runs, eh Bethesda?