While a lot is still not known about whatThe Elder Scrolls 6will involve, it is expected that the tile will use several assets and features from past games in the franchise. With this in mind, there are many post-launch aspects of past installments that could be included in the base game for the nextThe Elder Scrolls.
In particular,The Elder Scrolls 6can look towardsSkyrimfor its inspiration behind launch content, especially a lot of the content thatSkyrimintroduced as DLC later on in its life cycle.Skyrim’s introduction of an adoption mechanic was a great way to bolster its RPG experience, and this element of the game could easily be introduced and adapted to fitThe Elder Scrolls 6’s larger scale of gameplay.
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Skyrim’s Adoption Mechanic
Skyrimintroduced an adoption mechanic with therelease of the popular Hearthfire DLC in 2012. This DLC was entirely centered around homemaking, allowing players to purchase land in a variety of locations, customize their home, and start a family.
Hearthfire opened up an entirely new aspect toSkyrim’s experience, greatly bolstering the potential playstyles and objectives of the title. With Hearthfire, players could adopt up to two children, opening up an array of opportunities. Adopted children can introduce pets to a household, play games with the Dragonborn, and even give buffs to the player in the way of making certain healing potions more potent.
WhileHearthfire’s adoption mechanic was an engaging element ofSkyrim, it was still rather limited due to the way it was implemented. There is a massive room for improvement for adoption in any subsequentTEStitles, andThe Elder Scrolls 6could easily expand upon it quite significantly.
The Elder Scrolls 6 and Skyrim’s Adoption Mechanic
With dominant rumors indicating thatThe Elder Scrolls 6will be set in Hammerfell, the sheer size of the province indicates a huge amount of content for the title. This would more than make room for the title to possess its own adoption mechanic, crucially giving it the space to be sensibly expanded.
Simple improvements would be to allow the player to adopt more than two children, but more complex improvements could take the mechanic to a whole new level.The Elder Scrolls 6could introduce questlines related to adopted children, or even implement a dynamic aging system to children.
Depending on how much effortThe Elder Scrolls 6puts into aging its environments and NPCs over time, adopted children could eventually reach maturity and becomecompanion characters that the player can explore with. The nature of these grown companions could also alter depending on how the child was raised, offering a fascinating dynamic in which the player can train children to be proficient at different skills in adulthood.
The Elder Scrolls 6could expand upon the child mechanic even further by allowing the player to have their own biological children, as seen intheFablefranchise. While this could use a lot of the same mechanics, biological children should not overpower the adoption mechanic, incentivizing the player to explore both avenues of family creation. Both of these forms of child-rearing could come with their own unique benefits and buffs, being one example of how these two mechanics could co-exist.Skyrim’s adoption was a very well-received albeit quite basic element of the game overall, andThe Elder Scrolls 6is in prime position to offer a much more vast adoption experience as a part of its base game.
The Elder Scrolls 6is currently in development.
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