The Elder Scrolls
| The Elder Scrolls | |
|---|---|
The Elder Scrolls series logo
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| Genres | Action role-playing |
| Developers |
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| Publishers |
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| Platforms | MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, N-Gage, J2ME, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, macOS, Nintendo Switch |
| First release |
The Elder Scrolls: Arena 1994 |
| Latest release |
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition October 28, 2016 |
The Elder Scrolls is a series of action role-playing open world fantasy video games primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The series is known for its elaborate and richly detailed open worlds and its focus on free-form gameplay. Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim all won Game of the Year awards from multiple outlets. The series has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.
Prior to working on The Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda had worked predominantly with sports and action games. In the six years from its founding to Arena's 1994 release, Bethesda had released ten games, six of them sports games, with such titles as Hockey League Simulator, NCAA Basketball: Road to the Final Four ('91/'92 Edition), and Wayne Gretzky Hockey, and the remaining four adaptations from other media, primarily the Terminator series. Bethesda's course changed abruptly when it began its first action role-playing venture. Designer Ted Peterson recalls: "I remember talking to the guys at Sir-Tech who were doing Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant at the time, and them literally laughing at us for thinking we could do it." Ted Peterson worked alongside Vijay Lakshman as one of the initial designers of what was then simply Arena, a "medieval-style gladiator game."
Peterson and Lakshman were joined by Julian Lefay who, according to Peterson, "really spear-headed the initial development of the series." Peterson, Lakshman, and LeFay were longtime aficionados of pen-and-paper role-playing games, which greatly influenced the creation of the world of Tamriel. They were also fans of Looking Glass Studios' Ultima Underworld series, their main inspiration for Arena. Initially, Arena was not to be a role-playing game at all. The player, and a team of his fighters, would travel about a world fighting other teams in their arenas until the player became "grand champion" in the world's capital, the Imperial City. Along the way, side quests of a more role-playing nature could be completed. As the process of development progressed, however, the tournaments became less important and the side quests more. RPG elements were added to the game, as it expanded to include cities outside the arenas, and dungeons beyond the cities. Eventually it was decided to drop the idea of tournaments altogether, and focus on quests and dungeons, making the game a "full-blown RPG." Although the team had dropped all arena combat from the game, all the material had already been printed up with the title, so the game went to market as The Elder Scrolls: Arena. Bethesda Founder Christopher Weaver came up with the name of "The Elder Scrolls", and the words eventually came to mean "Tamriel's mystical tomes of knowledge that told of its past, present, and future." The game's initial voice-over was changed in response, beginning: "It has been foretold in the Elder Scrolls ..."
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Wikipedia