Fans of The Elder Scrolls series are eagerly awaiting any news on The Elder Scrolls 6, including what the newest title will add or change about the series. With how long it has been since Skyrim originally released, there are many opportunities for The Elder Scrolls 6 to improve on its predecessor, with every fan having their own hopes and wishes for the next RPG. While there are many aspects that could see improvements, one area in The Elder Scrolls 6 that would be great to see expanded is family features.
Players can start a family by marrying one of a few select NPCs using Skyrim's Amulet of Mara. They can move their spouse to one of their houses across Skyrim, and can even adopt orphan children they come across. This allows the player to start their own family in Skyrim, but it mostly stops there - players can only interact with their family in small ways like being given a piece of food when they return home. All of these aspects of player families in Skyrim are ripe to be improved upon in The Elder Scrolls 6.
Players Should Do More With Their Families
One of the most disappointing aspects of families in Skyrim is how little players can do with them. Players are able to talk to their spouse once a day to receive a home-cooked meal, use them as a vendor, and talk to their children to hear universal lines of dialogue. There is a lot of room for these interactions to grow in The Elder Scrolls 6. There are numerous ways for the developer to do this, but primarily the game should give players more options for what their family is doing when they are gone.
This could include having their spouse set up a shop, have them gather materials for crafting, make potions while, or run guild business while the player is gone. It would also be great for conversation options to be expanded. Family members could comment on where the player has been, or the tales they have heard about their travels. They could even travel to the nearest town during the day and either run into the player or fill them in on local gossip, leading to the player sometimes getting quest leads.
The Elder Scrolls 6 should also improve on the children found in Skyrim. This could be done by expanding their personalities to have more variation, while also helping them act more like children. There could even be disputes between them that the player has to solve.
Players Should Have More Options for Family Members
One of the most glaring issues with marriage and family options in Skyrim is how limited players' options are for spouses and adoptable children. While there are plenty of marriage candidates compared to children, players are completely unable to marry a khajiit or bosmer. It is an odd omission for the system, and this is even worse when it comes to children.
There are very few adoptable children available in the game, and all of them belong to the human races. There is no option for players to end up with an elf, argonian, khajiit, or orc child, which also feels strange in a series as free as The Elder Scrolls. Not only does this make the options feel incomplete, it also makes most of Skyrim's playable races feel incomplete.
To fix this, The Elder Scrolls 6 should double down on giving players as many options as possible. This would include having marriage options for every race, and with more variation between their personalities or how players have to win their hearts. Children should also have their available races expanded, and give players a choice between having a child with their spouse or simply adopting one so players can completely customize their families. This will help make sure all races feel fully realized in The Elder Scrolls 6, while also giving players a more natural experience.
Family Members Should Have Needs and Wants
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Another aspect of the family feature that aforementioned changes could feed into is giving players more reasons to interact with their families. In Skyrim, the only mechanical reason to return home is to get a home-cooked meal, to drop off the loot of a hundred draugrs, or to continue building up the home if the Hearthfire expansion is installed. The Elder Scrolls 6 should change this by giving family members needs and wants for the player to deal with. They shouldn't be too involved at risk of becoming distracting, but they should be more involved than companions in the Dragon Age series.
A way to manage this is having each member of a player's family have a dedicated happiness value. There could be negative impacts for getting too low, like decreasing store revenue or the spouse leaving. By getting the value higher, each possible family member could have a randomly chosen set of perks and benefits for players to unlock, such as increased skill gain or a minor power. The value could go up for visiting, giving gifts, or satisfying their requests and wants. Meanwhile, the value could go down if the player goes too long without visiting, does the opposite of what their family asks, is caught cheating, or for choosing someone else's side in an argument.
It would be an expansive system for the developer to implement, but could help the world of The Elder Scrolls 6 feel more alive than ever. The Elder Scrolls 6 is still in the design phase, so Bethesda should have plenty of time to explore options for expanding systems like these. It will be great to see what it comes up with when the game releases.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is currently in development.