According to the ZOS's current narrative.....

hcbigdogdoghc

Molag Bal, The Triad, and Dagon are literally invading Tamriel at the EXACT SAME TIME, 2E 582, right now. While the 99999 other bad guys are doing their own thing too.

5 (maybe more) daedric princes.....Poor Tamriel, it's open season for daedra right now T_T

Thannazzar

The problem is they led with a daedric prince as an initial protagonist, threatening the entire world. In subsequent chapters they now need to maintain that level of threat to keep the game impactful from a story level.

In addition the "play in any order* nature of the content means that players can experience events out of sequence and therefore they have to occur in close proximity for the personal narrative.

It's kind of suffered the same weekneses las the series" Lost" in that, if your going to construct a tale around a group of people trapped on a desert island or an epic heroes journey in Tamriel.... Make sure you know where its going before you start!

FluffyBird

Thannazzar wrote: »

In subsequent chapters they now need to maintain that level of threat to keep the game impactful from a story level.

Imagine the whole season dedicated to looking for a missing guar. I mean, ESO writers could totally pull that off

Lugaldu

Yes, it all happens in the same year, but amazingly we still celebrate the New Life Festival every year....

Narvuntien

In the Interregnum, there was no Alessian covenant with Akatosh to protect the world from daedric invasions. Sotha Sil tried to stop them with the Ga-vil-va-del compact forcing them to use mortal pawns but not all the princes agreed plus mortal pawns are easy enough to use.

If that is wondering why there are so many invasions. I don't think they all occur at the same time, just close together.

I like to think that the Morrowind --> Summerset story takes place before the base game just because The Queen is touring Auridon and the Morrowind gods are too busy with existential threats to bother with the war.

Spectacle Creep is definitely a real thing that results in more and more outlandishness you just sort have got to suspend disbelief and go with it.

tsaescishoeshiner

Thannazzar wrote: »

The problem is they led with a daedric prince as an initial protagonist, threatening the entire world. In subsequent chapters they now need to maintain that level of threat to keep the game impactful from a story level.

I don't think is true at all, and the first DLCs didn't even involve a new threat to the whole world—Orsinium, Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Shadows of the Hist (not sure about Imperial City). These were character-focused stories where we learned about a group of people and their problems. Orsinium in particular is often considered one of the best DLC stories, and the guild DLCs are popular, as well. I just finished the Dark Brotherhood quests, and they were great.

The shift to constant world-saving is unfortunate for those of us who find that uncompelling and over-the-top, but it's not at all necessitated by the basegame storyline having high stakes. Even the basegame is full of zone storylines that are compelling and interesting on their own, without saving the world.

And to the OP, some of the DLC/Chapter stories are dated as happening after the other stories, even though you can do them in any order. But it does seem like a lot of Daedric plots over a short period of time when you put it that way ... but I love Daedric Princes, so I'll take it 😬

hcbigdogdoghc

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

And to the OP, some of the DLC/Chapter stories are dated as happening after the other stories, even though you can do them in any order. But it does seem like a lot of Daedric plots over a short period of time when you put it that way ... but I love Daedric Princes, so I'll take it 😬

Well the new tutorial would say otherwise, it is implied there that everything is literally happening at the same time....

starkerealm

Originally, there was a progressive chronology, with each zone DLC happening after the events of the previous one, with varying time skips.

This model was abandoned with Morrowind, and since then, the official stance has been that it's all happening at the same time. The reason you don't see dolmens in Craglorn, or the only Dolmen in Wrothgar was abandoned while unfinished, is because the planemeld was over. But, that's no longer the case, and there's no reason we don't have dolmens in Summerset or Elswyer.

starkerealm

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

...(not sure about Imperial City).

Imperial City is the last gasp of the Planemeld, and Molag Bal's final stand. There's an attempt to pull White Gold Tower into the IC, effectively securing a permanent stronghold on Tamriel.

alanmatillab16_ESO

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

Molag Bal, The Triad, and Dagon are literally invading Tamriel at the EXACT SAME TIME, 2E 582, right now. While the 99999 other bad guys are doing their own thing too.

5 (maybe more) daedric princes.....Poor Tamriel, it's open season for daedra right now T_T

So? do you think the rest of the daedric princes form an orderly queue to invade? I would make sense for them to invade at the same point. There is no emporer, Cyrodill is in chaos, lesser Daedra are accepted in main population centres (Sorceror pets), Cults are spread all over and the 3 factions are fighting each other all over Tamriel weakening themselves and when they did finally work together they kicked Molag Bals rear end.

I would be surprised if they didn't all attack at the same time to take advantage of the situation.

Thannazzar

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Thannazzar wrote: »

The problem is they led with a daedric prince as an initial protagonist, threatening the entire world. In subsequent chapters they now need to maintain that level of threat to keep the game impactful from a story level.

I don't think is true at all, and the first DLCs didn't even involve a new threat to the whole world—Orsinium, Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Shadows of the Hist (not sure about Imperial City). These were character-focused stories where we learned about a group of people and their problems. Orsinium in particular is often considered one of the best DLC stories, and the guild DLCs are popular, as well. I just finished the Dark Brotherhood quests, and they were great.

The shift to constant world-saving is unfortunate for those of us who find that uncompelling and over-the-top, but it's not at all necessitated by the basegame storyline having high stakes. Even the basegame is full of zone storylines that are compelling and interesting on their own, without saving the world.

And to the OP, some of the DLC/Chapter stories are dated as happening after the other stories, even though you can do them in any order. But it does seem like a lot of Daedric plots over a short period of time when you put it that way ... but I love Daedric Princes, so I'll take it 😬

Hence why I used the word chapter not dlc.

Vevvev

FluffyBird wrote: »

Thannazzar wrote: »

In subsequent chapters they now need to maintain that level of threat to keep the game impactful from a story level.

Imagine the whole season dedicated to looking for a missing guar. I mean, ESO writers could totally pull that off

Indeed they could! And they could have the boss fight be against some kind of man/woman with incredible amount of political power who took the Guar to humiliate their political rivals in a move to secure them a new holding so they could impress NPC-of-opposite-gender into marrying them thereby permanently securing their dynasty's rule for generations to come!

Karm1cOne

There's always the convenient "dragon break" excuse that ZOS could pull out if it gets too wonky from a storytelling standpoint.

Elsonso

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

Molag Bal, The Triad, and Dagon are literally invading Tamriel at the EXACT SAME TIME, 2E 582, right now. While the 99999 other bad guys are doing their own thing too.

5 (maybe more) daedric princes.....Poor Tamriel, it's open season for daedra right now T_T

Yup, and the year 2E 582 isn't even over, either!

Jackey

Meh 🤷‍♂️
The timeline can be adjusted later to make sense. I doubt future TES games is going to mention "that one year in the second era" where everything happened all at once.

alberichtano

FluffyBird wrote: »

Thannazzar wrote: »

In subsequent chapters they now need to maintain that level of threat to keep the game impactful from a story level.

Imagine the whole season dedicated to looking for a missing guar. I mean, ESO writers could totally pull that off

I would love that. Honestly, the Bad Guy of the Year is getting a bit old and stale. I would have loved more personal drama, but that would be hard considering that every chapter and every new region is open to newbies, thus having to be grand and not supposition the knowledge of (or the caring for) any of the important NPCs.

I understand that it has its advantages, the chosen solution to the game world, but it also has its drawbacks.

alberichtano

Jackey wrote: »

Meh 🤷‍♂️
The timeline can be adjusted later to make sense. I doubt future TES games is going to mention "that one year in the second era" where everything happened all at once.

Maybe we are actually in the middle of a Dragon Break? :-O

hands0medevil

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

Molag Bal, The Triad, and Dagon are literally invading Tamriel at the EXACT SAME TIME, 2E 582, right now. While the 99999 other bad guys are doing their own thing too.

5 (maybe more) daedric princes.....Poor Tamriel, it's open season for daedra right now T_T

Welcome to the virtual world called game. Meantime this big invasion I chill and pvp in lagged cyrodiil. Not sure if this lag is Molags work or just bad coding and bad servers...

Jackey

alberichtano wrote: »

Jackey wrote: »

Meh 🤷‍♂️
The timeline can be adjusted later to make sense. I doubt future TES games is going to mention "that one year in the second era" where everything happened all at once.

Maybe we are actually in the middle of a Dragon Break? :-O

Then I'll quit TES lore for good

Elsonso

alberichtano wrote: »

Jackey wrote: »

Meh 🤷‍♂️
The timeline can be adjusted later to make sense. I doubt future TES games is going to mention "that one year in the second era" where everything happened all at once.

Maybe we are actually in the middle of a Dragon Break? :-O

Not even close to being necessary.

History will tell the tale of 2E582 from the perspective of someone in the world. If they experienced all of the events of ESO, then they all happened in a definite order. If they even tried to suggest that it all happened at the same time, readers in the future would probably assume a fanciful imagination or embellishment. Future revisions of the tale will "fix" whatever problems exist in the narrative, tell things differently, and maybe even add stuff that never happened or subtract stuff that did.

RaddlemanNumber7

I prefer things the way they are. It feels like the passage of time really is subjective for the Player Character. Much more lore-friendly.

alberichtano

Elsonso wrote: »

alberichtano wrote: »

Jackey wrote: »

Meh 🤷‍♂️
The timeline can be adjusted later to make sense. I doubt future TES games is going to mention "that one year in the second era" where everything happened all at once.

Maybe we are actually in the middle of a Dragon Break? :-O

Not even close to being necessary.

History will tell the tale of 2E582 from the perspective of someone in the world. If they experienced all of the events of ESO, then they all happened in a definite order. If they even tried to suggest that it all happened at the same time, readers in the future would probably assume a fanciful imagination or embellishment. Future revisions of the tale will "fix" whatever problems exist in the narrative, tell things differently, and maybe even add stuff that never happened or subtract stuff that did.

...and that's when the whining will ensue. :-P

But yeah, I imagine this will all just be ignored in future TES games. I even heard someone mention that ESO is in a "parallell universe" or some such. That would, in a way make sense. What with the whole "no one has seen dragons for thousands of years" in Skyrim, when they were very much seen in Elsweyr mere centuries ago... Also with the whole oblivion crisis lacking many of the tell-tale signs from Blackwood.

Reverb

It’s Tamriel’s 2020.

Elsonso

alberichtano wrote: »

But yeah, I imagine this will all just be ignored in future TES games. I even heard someone mention that ESO is in a "parallell universe" or some such. That would, in a way make sense. What with the whole "no one has seen dragons for thousands of years" in Skyrim, when they were very much seen in Elsweyr mere centuries ago... Also with the whole oblivion crisis lacking many of the tell-tale signs from Blackwood.

I see no indication that TES 6 will ignore ESO. My impression is the opposite, actually. ESO has created a ton of backstory for TES 6. Part of the fun of TES 6 will be to see how the events of 2E582 are remembered and documented. Having "been there when it happened", it should be interesting to see how the narrative changed over hundreds of years.

VaranisArano

Elsonso wrote: »

alberichtano wrote: »

But yeah, I imagine this will all just be ignored in future TES games. I even heard someone mention that ESO is in a "parallell universe" or some such. That would, in a way make sense. What with the whole "no one has seen dragons for thousands of years" in Skyrim, when they were very much seen in Elsweyr mere centuries ago... Also with the whole oblivion crisis lacking many of the tell-tale signs from Blackwood.

I see no indication that TES 6 will ignore ESO. My impression is the opposite, actually. ESO has created a ton of backstory for TES 6. Part of the fun of TES 6 will be to see how the events of 2E582 are remembered and documented. Having "been there when it happened", it should be interesting to see how the narrative changed over hundreds of years.

I'm expecting a few Easter eggs here and there if TES 6 comes after Skyrim. Maybe some expansion on the lore explored in ESO without much reference to the events.

I doubt we'll see much more than that because there's really no accounting for how none of ESO's events impacted the 3rd Era at all, but suddenly is super impactful in the 4th Era+.

Master_Fluff

FluffyBird wrote: »

Thannazzar wrote: »

In subsequent chapters they now need to maintain that level of threat to keep the game impactful from a story level.

Imagine the whole season dedicated to looking for a missing guar. I mean, ESO writers could totally pull that off

Well, there is a missing guar on Morrowind whose owner asks if we've seen it. Would be nice if we could get a quest for it.

tsaescishoeshiner

VaranisArano wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

alberichtano wrote: »

But yeah, I imagine this will all just be ignored in future TES games. I even heard someone mention that ESO is in a "parallell universe" or some such. That would, in a way make sense. What with the whole "no one has seen dragons for thousands of years" in Skyrim, when they were very much seen in Elsweyr mere centuries ago... Also with the whole oblivion crisis lacking many of the tell-tale signs from Blackwood.

I see no indication that TES 6 will ignore ESO. My impression is the opposite, actually. ESO has created a ton of backstory for TES 6. Part of the fun of TES 6 will be to see how the events of 2E582 are remembered and documented. Having "been there when it happened", it should be interesting to see how the narrative changed over hundreds of years.

I'm expecting a few Easter eggs here and there if TES 6 comes after Skyrim. Maybe some expansion on the lore explored in ESO without much reference to the events.

I doubt we'll see much more than that because there's really no accounting for how none of ESO's events impacted the 3rd Era at all, but suddenly is super impactful in the 4th Era+.

The events of ESO impact the third era greatly, in that the Interregnum is prevented from stopping due to the events of ESO. For example, every quest to hold one of the alliances together prolongs the conflict. But I get your point, because it's not like they talk directly about the dragon invasion of Elsweyr or Rada's schemes in the other games, and the impact that's all had. But ESO has further fleshed out things mentioned or featured in the future—the Longhouse Emperors, the Interregnum, the Tribunal's history, Blackreach, the Reachmen, et cetera

And that's exactly how I see ESO impacting future games. They wouldn't necessarily be directly impacted by its events, but would have a huge amount of reference material to pull from. TES: Legends (a card game with single-player stories) references the events and assets of ESO heavily, particularly in their Return to Clockwork City storyline, where the player returns to Clockwork City in the time of TES: Skyrim (a lot has changed!). So a future game would reference things from ESO like: What moon gates do, the politics of Wrothgar, Lamae Bal, what argonian and redguard clothes look like, eclipses and the khajiit, stuff like that.

Or maybe not! The game is still several years away, so ... who knows. Maybe we'll see Stuga's final form.

Elsonso

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

The events of ESO impact the third era greatly, in that the Interregnum is prevented from stopping due to the events of ESO. For example, every quest to hold one of the alliances together prolongs the conflict.

We already know how the Interregnum ends, at least in general terms. ESO is not going to be changing that, as that would have direct bearing on ALL of the previously written single player games.

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

And that's exactly how I see ESO impacting future games. They wouldn't necessarily be directly impacted by its events, but would have a huge amount of reference material to pull from.

The TES single player games have traditionally built the next story upon parts of the previous stories, and I don't expect that this will change with ESO and TES 6. However, the distance of time between the two is much larger than anything we have experienced, I expect the influence to be minimal. The events of TES 5, being much more recent, will be far more prominent than references to ESO. Like I said above, my expectation is that ESO will be represented in TES 6 through books and dialog, and maybe a side quest somewhere that draws from something that happened in ESO. If you never played ESO, you would not know that it comes from ESO.

This should hopefully satisfy the ESO players who don't want to be shunned, while not poking the people who view ESO as a corruption, or hobby game, that needs to be forgotten when TES 6 comes out.

If we come across some distant descendant of Stuga, the game will need to be modded as necessary to remove any "essential" flags.

Tommy_The_Gun

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

Molag Bal, The Triad, and Dagon are literally invading Tamriel at the EXACT SAME TIME, 2E 582, right now. While the 99999 other bad guys are doing their own thing too.

5 (maybe more) daedric princes.....Poor Tamriel, it's open season for daedra right now T_T

Even if all of the bad guys and Daedric lords would combine their efforts, they would still not be able to defeat a single city guard, let alone all of them... So I guess it kinda evens itself...

Elsonso

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

Molag Bal, The Triad, and Dagon are literally invading Tamriel at the EXACT SAME TIME, 2E 582, right now. While the 99999 other bad guys are doing their own thing too.

5 (maybe more) daedric princes.....Poor Tamriel, it's open season for daedra right now T_T

Even if all of the bad guys and Daedric lords would combine their efforts, they would still not be able to defeat a single city guard, let alone all of them... So I guess it kinda evens itself...

Yeah, but those guards are pretty stupid. Even Molag Bal, towering 40 feet above the town, could lose them. And, if he had enough Counterfeit Pardon Edicts, they would all be like "Stop law breaker! ... Molag, hey, how you been? ... Stop law breaker!... Welcome, Molag, enjoy your stay... Stop! ..."

starlizard70ub17_ESO

FluffyBird wrote: »

Thannazzar wrote: »

In subsequent chapters they now need to maintain that level of threat to keep the game impactful from a story level.

Imagine the whole season dedicated to looking for a missing guar. I mean, ESO writers could totally pull that off

You could bring back several reoccurring npc's for different story parts. Hopefully the less used npcs could be employed. A missing guar sounds like something Rigurt would be involved in.