Board Thread:Future TES Titles/@comment-1470368-20190518204608

Obviously, this topic is making the grand assumption that the setting of The Elder Scrolls VI is Hammerfell.

When exploring the vast Alik'r Desert of northwestern Hammerfell for the first time in a single-player game since 1996's The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, there have to be ways in which traveling such a region can be made far more interesting.

Not counting the various geographical features that are sure to dot the desert's landscape besides there just being a seemingly-endless dunes, the dungeons that your character could delve and explore within the desert could regularly be vulnerable to exposure, only to be buried again by constantly-shifting sands. You would need to visit these locations at specific times of the day to hopefully get the chance to enter them.

Next is the "vast red mist" mentioned in this book; this mysterious phenomenon with an unknown cause (whether it's perfectly natural or caused by magic) hangs hauntingly over the desert every morning, and is known to have been around since at least the mid-2nd Era. Maybe it doesn't necessarily have to appear every morning, but how exactly it could affect the surrounding environment when it does appear would be interesting to find out (maybe it'll affect the rate of randomly encountering dangerous wildlife?).

Johads (dew collectors; tentlike rain-catchers) could be temporary structures built by Alik'r nomads encountered across the desert. While I'm personally not a fan of survival mechanics in an RPG, I think I can handle a "lite-survival" mechanic that allows your character to continue persisting in one of the most hostile & inhospitable environments found across Tamriel, which would involve maintaining a slowly-decreasing "Hydration Gauge" by using filled containers of water (similar to the Breath Gauge for going underwater). I came across an idea similar to this on Reddit a while ago, it's not my own idea.

And finally, let's face it; regardless of how "realistic" that travel in the Alik'r Desert turns out to be (even down to what kind of clothing you'd need to wear to protect from exposure to harsh sunlight), you gotta admit that horses would suck at desert-travel by comparison to camels. Camels have been seen in these games as early as Daggerfall, and appeared as optional mounts in TESO, so I don't see any reason why they shouldn't return as special mounts for desert travel in a Hammerfell-based game. Camels are simply better able to handle terrible conditions, can survive longer without drinking water, and are faster over longer distances in desert climates.

...So, what do you all think? I'm curious to hear your opinions and suggestions if you're also interested in the next game being set in Hammerfell! 