The Elder Scrolls series is known for a great many things, and while emergent gameplay and beautiful and expansive open worlds are probably chief among those things, the guild questlines also probably rank near the top. The Dark Brothrhood, the Thieves Guild, and so many others have become anonymous with the series over the years, while each new game brings its own exclusive questlines as well, specific to the region it is set in.
And while the guild questlines are among the best we’ve ever seen in any Elder Scrolls game, they are not completely without fault. Completing them and playing through them is a blast, but once you finish these self-contained side-stories, they just sort of disappear.
Upon completing these guild questlines, players are rewarded by being made the leader of the guild in question, but the series never really goes beyond that. Perhaps The Elder Scrolls 6 – whenever it launches – should reward players with even more quests that see you functioning in the capacity of Guildmaster, making tough decisions and actually performing the role that you were assigned.
While the title of Guildmaster had next to no value in previous Elder Scrolls games other than on paper, perhaps Bethesda should look to change that in the future. Maybe even have dynamic emergent quests depending on the choices you made to get to your post, or perhaps having some actual consequences or impact on the main story as well. Or, you know, maybe even something as miniscule as the people inhabiting the world, including the members of your guild, truly treating you like the Guildmaster you are.
Adding such dimensions and mechanics to the gameplay would make the entire experience even richer and denser than it has ever been, and that sounds like a truly mouth-watering prospect. Here’s hoping Bethesda actually make such improvements in the future.
This article is part of our series on Bethesda’s next big entry into the world of The Elder Scrolls. Through this series we take a look at the possible new features that Bethesda can add into the next The Elder Scrolls game, based on what they implemented in the previous entries and player feedback.
