< The Elder Scrolls

The Elder Scrolls/YMMV


The following are Subjective Tropes relating to The Elder Scrolls.

  • Badass Decay: Mannimarco in Daggerfall looked like a lich from the darkest corners of Hell's castle. Mannimarco in Oblivion looks like a High Elf in a robe. Both Played Straight and Averted because the Warp in the West resulted in more than one Mannimarco, one being the Oblivion version and another ascending to become a god (the Necromancer's Moon).
    • Some have also assumed that Mannimarco in Oblivion is actually someone else and not the Daggerfall one. Or potentially a possessed mortal vessel.
  • Broken Base: Bethesda has a policy of building every new game from the ground up. As such, the gameplay and tone of each installment of this series is radically different. Some postulate that there is not really such a thing as an Elder Scrolls fan--just fans of one particular ES game or another.
    • Fans are also divided on how official the obscure texts should be treated.
    • The fans even manages to disagree about which game is the most Broken Base-causing.
    • The announcement of The Elder Scrolls Online led to this almost immediately. Either you think it's the best news ever, or you think it's sure to be a Franchise Killer.
  • Complaining About People Not Liking the Show: Will happen if you say anything negative about any of the games. The Fan Dumb for Morrowind, Daggerfall and Oblivion can be EXTREMELY touchy, especially if you compare (read: pan/denigrate) their pet release with a different one in the series. Even if you're being constructive, you'll be skinned alive.
  • Complete Monster: Molag Bal. Other Daedra, even seemingly entirely negative ones such as Clavicus Vile and Vearmina, have positive aspects. Not this jackass. There's a reason he's called the "King of Rape" despite only ever have committing one that we know of [1].
  • Crazy Awesome: Sheogorath. It's practically a domain of his.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: The main themes for each game were composed by Jeremy Soule, and they are epic.
  • Fan Dumb and Hate Dumb: Depending on who you ask, Oblivion was either the worst thing ever done in gaming, taking a great and epic story and making it into crap...or the greatest thing ever, and vast superior to everything before it in the series or even CRP Gs. And either side is quick to point out their take on the matter at every possible opportunity, as seen on this very wiki. As a whole the Fan Dumb is especially full of the Willfully Blind varieties, particularly when it comes to their favorite title. However, you can throw in some Old Timer's and Hipster's for good measure, depending on the title and how recently it was released.
    • Skyrim wasn't even out yet...and was ALREADY being criticized for not being "Oblivion" enough...by the same people who criticized OBLIVION for not being Morrowind enough...and who criticized Morrowind for not being Daggerfall enough back in 2003. Good lord.
    • People who are new to the franchise after Skyrim are either irritating newbs who should go and play Morrowind before they can be "real fans" or welcome additions to the franchise and a sign that the games are still going strong.
    • The Elder Scrolls Online has just been announced. On the basis of a few screenshots and a teaser, some fans have already decided that it will be a horrific Franchise Killer.
  • Game Breaker: Enough to get its own page.
  • Goddamned Bats: Cliff Racers in Morrowind.
  • It's Popular, Now It Sucks: This seems to have happened within The Elder Scrolls fanbase with the release of Oblivion. Hell, it goes back further than that. Prior to Oblivion coming out, it was Morrowind that was the symbol of all the bad trends in the industry. And mostly for the same alleged reason: "dumbing down" for console players. It is now considered the last good Elder Scrolls game by the same crowd. Don't be surprised if Skyrim gets this treatment next.
    • Shocking turn of events: it did.
  • Memetic Mutation: "We're watching you, scum..." and "STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM!"
    • FUS RO DAH!
      • "I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee."
    • The Adoring Fan, and the various ways Oblivions Wide Open Sandbox gameplay allows players to murder him.
    • By Azura By Azura BY AZURA!!!
    • The Imperial Guard Song.
    • Sa-WEET ROLL!
    • "Fallout 3 is Oblivion with guns", and its opposite "Oblivion is Fallout with swords" due to the two games coming from the same developer.
    • A certain play about a Lusty Argonian Maid written by a certain Hlaalu Councilor.
    • Being swarmed by Cliff Racers.
    • Curved. Swords.
    • I saw a mudcrab the other day!
      • Horrible creatures. I avoid them whenever I can.
  • Misblamed: Oblivion is sometimes blamed for changing a bizarre Tamriel into a Medieval European Fantasy. Much of these complaints stem from the fact that previous descriptions of the elven provinces, as well as Cyrodiil, had quite a few un-European traits. While those complaints may be justified, some seem to think that all of Tamriel lacked traits from Medieval European Fantasy - anyone who played Daggerfall would know that this is not the case, but many people at the time of Morrowind's heyday didn't, leading to the assumption that there was not supposed to be any medieval elements in the setting at all. People have cited the fact that the game has horses in it as a reason for the series being Ruined FOREVER, despite the fact that they were in Daggerfall.
  • Most Annoying Sound: Particularly in Oblivion, where NPC dialogue becomes very repetitive very quickly.
    • The cries of the Cliff Racers
    • For Daggerfall players, this honor goes to the guards' "Halt!" You see, when you commit a crime, the game will start spawning guards constantly, all of them who constantly yell halt, which results in a chorus of "halts!" If you linger around the area where you are wanted long enough, the game may spawn so many guards that it may freeze or crash in a chorus of "Halts".
  • Player Punch: The Dark Brotherhood quest line in Oblivion has a very nasty example.
    • And again in Skyrim.
  • The Scrappy: "BY AZURA BY AZURA BY AZURA!". To be fair, he was meant to be annoying.
    • Back in Morrowind, there's Fargoth, and its expansion pack introduces Gaenor, who's part Scrappy, part That One Boss
  • Sacred Cow / True Art Is Not Popular: Mentioning the It's Popular, Now It Sucks section above, Daggerfall as well as Morrowind in some areas.
  • Sequel Displacement: Each new game does this to the previous games in the series.
  • Special Effects Failure: The "magic item glow" in Morrowind is generally known to suffer from this, specifically that the glow makes the items look like they're covered in saran wrap. There are almost as many mods to replace/remove said graphics as there are mods improving the popular alchemy system.
    • Oblivion's lava is more accurately described as very painful tomato soup.
  • Seinfeld Is Unfunny: Daggerfall and Arena are a lot harder to pick up and play. One can pick up Morrowind and play it due to its still intuitive control-scheme but some of its glitches and poor design choices can make it a bit harder to than Oblivion. Oblivion itself now looks a little dated compared to Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas
  • Unfortunate Implications: Redguards (Black People) can run faster, jump higher and are physically stronger than the other humans, but have a lower intelligence score. At least in Oblivion, they also have a lower personality score!
    • Then again, the same is true for the "Aryan"-looking Nords.
    • Furthermore, the conversation scripting in Oblivion makes almost everyone use racial epithets if they dislike the other actor enough, e.g. "What do you want, Breton scum?" Cyrodiil, the land of casual racism!
      • And then there's all the slavery and torture chambers for the "beast races"...Yeah, Cyrodiil is a pretty racist place. It's like the Deep South of fantasy settings.
    • In Skyrim, a disproportionate amount of bandits are Redguards. Similarly, in Oblivion all criminals (bandits, marauders etc.) are non-Imperials, while all "cops" (guards and legionnaires) are Imperial.
  • Uncanny Valley: Oblivion has two features that were meant to improve immersion, automatic lip-syncing and facial expressions reflecting the NPCs' disposition towards the player. The former is rather wonky, while the latter is on all the time, even when the NPC speaks. Most NPCs' disposition goes up pretty quickly, so the result is a rather disquieting image of somebody laboriously trying to speak through a stiff, creepy grin.
    • The Argonians and Khajit in Morrowind seem to walk like they broke their ankles.
    • Morrowind itself has some Uncanny Valley mostly attributed to the aging of the game. Oh, let's just say it: everyone in Morrowind walks like they have a stick in their ass.
  1. ↑ And lets be frank-that rape produced the first vampire, condemning who knows how many people to a Fate Worse Than Death until Vile taught them how to pass for the living-and even then, most vampires are only kept alive by the thought of a cure
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