Summary
When it eventually releases,The Elder Scrolls 6is sure to be one of the biggest games of the year, if not its generation. In the long wait sinceSkyrim, plenty of fans have created wish lists for features they want to see improved, discussed lore theories, and even started whole careers based on exploring the long-running fantasy IP. Although there has been no main game for 14 years, Bethesda and Zenimax have not sat idle, supplementing the series withThe Elder Scrolls: Onlineand other spin-offs, each fleshing out various core features of the IP.
More recently, though,Oblivion Remasteredwas shadow-dropped, immersing many newer fans in an older game. For the first time in a while, there was renewed discussion about what featuresObliviondid better thanSkyrim, and vice versa, and it seems to have successfully whetted the appetite for the next installment. However, there is one core feature, executed differently in each game, that has never quite lived up to what it could be, and ifThe Elder Scrolls 6is going to be a big game, it needs to remedy it once and for all.
The Elder Scrolls 6 Needs to Make Gold Matter
Gold, money, Septims -currency inThe Elder Scrollsgoes by many names, but it sadly doesn’t have many functions. While it can be found in chests or obtained by selling items, there aren’t enough uses for it to truly matter in any playstyle, and the way it’s balanced, Bethesda has created the problem of players being too poor early on, and too rich in the late-game. WithTES 6likely to be the largest game in the series, it would be a good opportunity for Bethesda to nail down some of the worldbuilding and gameplay systems like gold, giving it real value outside of producing insanely expensive potions for fun.
The Two Biggest Problems With Gold in TES Explained
There are two major problems with gold. The first is that acquiring it is very unbalanced. In the early hours of a playthrough, players will often be selling even expensive items for very low asking prices, while buying basic necessities such as arrows is difficult due to the high costs. As a player levels up, the gold comes rolling in, and having gained a frugal mind for their money, a lot of players end up not buying much from shops, instead only selling looted armor and gems. Eventually, they’re richer than theBlack-Briars and Silver-Bloodsput together, and there isn’t any useful purpose for all the acquired money.
The second problem is that there isn’t anything good to buy. Outside of player homes, of which usually only one is needed, regular merchants simply don’t sell useful items. There are a few exceptions, of course. Players can power-level alchemy andsmithing inSkyrimby purchasing the entire stock of a merchant and selling the crafted wares back, but it’s unlikely that anyone will go to Madesi in Riften to buy a ring when rings are plentiful in chests.Obliviondoes try to make merchants more desirable to purchase from, with the persuasion system improving prices, and many of them stocking a uniquely enchanted item. Unfortunately, these items are often too expensive in the early game, and after a certain level, players can easily find or make better versions.
The Argument for Gold Being Scarcer in The Elder Scrolls 6
One of thegreatest assets toThe Elder Scrollsseries is immersion, and there is little more immersion-breaking than being a millionaire through selling ten stacks of iron armor to an alchemist each time the player enters a city. When a bed at an inn can be bought for ten gold, and a house for 5000, it makes having hundreds of thousands of gold pointless, and buying huge stacks of the most expensive items trivial.
There is an argument to be made for making gold scale less aggressively. While some players likely loveSkyrim’s broken alchemy system, creating potions worth more than a house with ingredients that cost 100 gold, balancing this system better would help the late-game income scaling a lot. Similarly, gold itself should be rarer, rewarded in smaller chunks, available less in chests, making it feel like an asset to have. It’s a much more immersive experience to feel like a character is living within their means instead of being rich enough to buy all the homes in a city.
The Elder Scrolls 6 Needs to Make Gold Matter in More Circumstances
Bethesda has created the problem of players being too poor early on, and too rich in the late game.
It shouldn’t just be scarcer, it should also matter more. Merchants need to offer desirable and affordable items to players that are worth the investment, and a rebalance of certain loot could help with that. For example,Orcish Boots are a strong mid-game item, and having them available for purchase at an orc blacksmith for a high, but attainable, price could offset them being very rare in random loot chests. Merchants could even have certain quests tied into how much a player spends with them, as favored customers could be hired to help with specific problems, perhaps retrieving shipments or sabotaging another merchant.
Being Rich Could Be a Genuine Playstyle in TES 6
As players will inevitably find ways to make obscene amounts of money, Bethesda could lean into this aspect, allowing them to roleplay as merchant lords. This kind of playstyle would see a player pay for mercenaries to protect them, using their wealth to influence local politics, bypass certain quests, and pay off local guard barracks. By investing very high sums of money in one community, a player could become a lord of sorts, recruiting NPCs to do their more menial tasks.Skyrim’s Creation Club experimented with the idea by adding player farms, andFallout 4’s settlementscould offer a similar experience.
Player Housing and Settlements Should Only Be Maxxed Out by Very Wealthy Players
Speaking of which, it seems likely that Bethesda will addsettlement building inThe Elder Scrolls 6, as it has been a feature ofFallout 4,76, andStarfield. This brings with it a huge perk for players with lots of gold, as it allows them to roleplay as a settler, start a mining operation, or perhaps build a castle. The investment required to get a settlement to the highest tier might be enormous, so only characters with the right perks would be able to afford it, making gold feel valuable again. Similarly, these could allow merchant roleplayers to set up streams of income, meaning dungeon-delving isn’t necessary for a late-game aristocrat player.
