Please read before voting.

THIS ISNT ABOUT WHAT -MAKES- TES, TES.

IT ISN'T ABOUT WHAT FEATURE IS MOST IMPORTANT.

This also isn't about TESO.

TES is a very variable game and different people play it for different things.

I want to see with this poll, if there is a unifying element, or alternatively, the most popular element. I would give you the option to vote for multiple options but unfortunately the forum doesn't allow for that.

So please, select the one reason that is the -most- important to you in TES.

Option explenation:

Combat

Simply the combat. You enjoy TES games for swinging your sword at things or shooting fireballs at skeletons.

Dungeon Crawling

You play TES to explore its instanced dungeons, avoid traps and fight your way through enemies to the boss at the end.

Exploration (Discovery)

Be it for profit or fun, you enjoy setting out into TES to uncover new places, hidden secrets, interesting loot and items as well as quests (their story) and lore. (this is not about if you like the lore, secrets, etc, just that you like to discover them)

Crafting

You enjoy hunting animals, scavening dungeons, harvesting plants and mining to craft your own gear. You like to be resourceful and self-sufficient in the field.

Story

You play TES for the main story. You feel it has good writing and presents a good motivation to play the game. You enjoy the stories main characters as well as the lore surrounding it.

Side Quests

You enjoy TES for its handcrafted sidequests and events. You like joining the Blades or the Imperial Legion, fighting in the Arena or assassinating the Emperor. You think the side quests are what makes the world of TES alive.

Narrative/Mechanical Freedom

You like to create your own narrative and don't like to be bogged down by preset paths. You like being able to do things your way, play the game in all its facets however you like. You like to kill quest NPCs, defy the will of Daedric Lords or just help out in the world playing its hero. You enjoy creating your own unique character from bits and pieces without preset paths and goals.

Numen

This is a hard one to explain.

Numen is something that goes beyond game-mechanics or is describable and perceptible by just the senses.

Its a feeling that behind this matte-painting of a mountain there is actually other people living. Its the feeling you get where the world seems somehow "alive" or has its own "character".

Its when you start developing attachments to your characters and start subconsciously believing that they are "real", that the world in front of you is "real".

You don't see empty character-meshes running around the world, but actually people that have needs and desires, that live and die.

Its tightly knit into immersion, but in a different way, its past immersion.

Originally posted by Trudge34
One word: Freedom.

This.

And exploration

Tamriel feels like a world, where you are free to do whatever you like and to be whoever you want to be

At the moment it doesn't look like TESO is going to be focusing on that

I have a character in Skyrim with something like 80+ hours played (I know not that much) that has not done a single quest.

I also have a character in Skyrim with 100+ hours with lots and lots of quests complete as well as the main story, Companions, and Civil War major plot lines.

One is a stealthy, sneaky, back stabbing, bow-using thief / assassin.

The other is a brawn, sword+board, heavy armor wearing Soldier / Knight.

I like Skyrim because I can do so many different things in the game.

There is no one path to take, there are so many choices.

Freedom > All.

i didnt vote ..i stoped playing after morrow wind for my own reasons but i wont be one of those ppl that shoot down games just because they are doing something a lil diff or not the "norm" of what they have been doing for years ..why i liked playing TES franchise is because i liked their product..all of them..its simple..if they offer a good product to the consumer time after time..they / them or who-ever will get  my cash / effort and i wont shunn it down just because its diff or not "the norm"

You really need an 'all of the above' option. All of those things are equally important to me. I don't play TES games to just do one thing, what I decide to do depends on how I feel that day. That's what makes TES so great, being givent he choice to do whatever is possible within the game. Obviously I didn't vote, I don't wish to put one featue above the others when they are all important.

It really doesn't matter if TESO also has the most liked feature of the singleplayer games, the game isn't being made for TES fans. When it was first announced it sounded like something akin to SWTOR, now with recent news it sounds like the game has morphed into something more like GW2. This game is being made for MMO fans, it will slowly morph to be similar to whatever MMO is most popular before it's released. However, it will most likely never resemble the singleplayer games in any way other than graphical style and (loosely) the lore. Which is why my hype meter is below zero at this point, and I believe it's the same for many TES fans.

Originally posted by Entinerint
I need an all-of-the-above option, because if you take out even one of those, it's no longer TES.

The point of this poll isnt to figure out what "makes" TES, TES, its about figuring out what people -think- the most important aspect is for them.

I enjoy all of the above, but if I had to pick one (and i did) its the Numina that makes me play TES games, it certainly isn't the combat, but a TES without combat wouldn't be TES.

You get my drift?

There is no option for me.  I love the freedom of creating a character in a world and just going.   I usually avoid the main questline for the first 150 hours or so as I just run around exploring everything, doing everything, killing people who annoy me and stealing anything I feel like.  The first 150 hours I set out and wreck havoc on the world because I have the freedom to do whatever I want.  After my first run through of doing everything and anything I feel like I will usually start a new character, pigeon-hole him into a specific role (my first guy is usually a jack of all trades) and play the game through storylines and sidequests I may not have gotten to before.

So, in essence, I love being able to do whatever I want with no restrictions at all.  Morrowind gave me greatest sense of that, in my opinion, and that is what draws me to TES games.

Edit: I voted for discovery but its honestly a tie between that and numina for me.  They both create the atmosphere of TES games and are staples within the games.

Immersion.

Everything else is done well enough, but the immersion is what makes TES a different breed of game. That, and it's one of the few good single-player game franchises--seeing as how everthing is turning into an MMO.

Oh wait.

Also, mods keep the game fresh and devoid of annoying things. Hate something in the game? There's a mod for that.

Originally posted by AdamTM

Please read before voting.

THIS ISNT ABOUT WHAT -MAKES- TES, TES.

IT ISN'T ABOUT WHAT FEATURE IS MOST IMPORTANT.

This also isn't about TESO.

You have a list of features to choose from and your asking us to pick which one is most important to us, seems to me that the poll is about what feature is most important. For most fans of TES it's going to be all of the above. We don't play TES to do just one thing, there isn't one thing that makes us want to buy each game. Your poll really only caters to those who don't much care for TES, those who like just a few things about it and only do those things.

If it's not about TESO, then why put it in the TESO section? There is a general gaming section, if you put this here then people are obviously going to make a connection.

Pretty much what I was expecting, Freedom+Exploration.

I wonder if Zenimax understand the minimun requirements for a TES game

Bethesda should have developed this game

I bought every single TES game since TES:Arena, but sure I am not going to buy this mess.

SWTOR+GW2 is not a good combination

Originally posted by Stizzled

Originally posted by AdamTM

Please read before voting.

THIS ISNT ABOUT WHAT -MAKES- TES, TES.

IT ISN'T ABOUT WHAT FEATURE IS MOST IMPORTANT.

This also isn't about TESO.

You have a list of features to choose from and your asking us to pick which one is most important to us, seems to me that the poll is about what feature is most important. For most fans of TES it's going to be all of the above. We don't play TES to do just one thing, there isn't one thing that makes us want to buy each game. Your poll really only caters to those who don't much care for TES, those who like just a few things about it and only do those things.

 

If it's not about TESO, then why put it in the TESO section? There is a general gaming section, if you put this here then people are obviously going to make a connection.

You're not getting it.

I'm not playing the games just for one element of gameplay nor can I lift one feature above the others in such absolutes like a poll with only one vote.

It's not so simple anyway for me, for example the combat, I really like the FPS style targetting, but besides that the combat is way too simple.

Perhaps the only thing easy to name without having to explain anything, a major thing in the ES games that I love, is the world and lore.