Idea #5: Epic fantasy game

I love the two Elder Scrolls games that I've played, Morrowind and Oblivion. The open worlds, the RPG mechanics, the stories... all combine to form games that really suck your time away (I've lost count of the number of times I've been playing one of them, and suddenly finding that it's 3am).

But the one thing that does annoy me is the lack of continuity between the games. Oblivion makes the assumption that the main quest from Morrowind was succesfully completed, but all references to events of the earlier game are very generic.

What I would like to see is an RPG series, where each chapter checks to see if earlier chapters have been played, and adjusts the game world appropriately. For example, if chapter 1 had the PC doing some heroic deed, in chapter 2, you'd find statues to your character that actually look like your character from chapter 1. Instead of vague references to "the Nerevarine" (to take an Elder Scrolls example), you'd find references to "Jim the Bosmer, who was revealed to be the Nerevarine".

Another example could be a strategic fortress, where the player in chapter 1 had a quest to (help) capture it. How well the player completes the quest (right down to abject failure) affects the strategic position of the world in chapters 2+.

Obviously, you would also need a "default" position, for those players who don't start the series at the beginning.

You could use the opportunity to create a true epic arc, for example, the little fishing village you start at in chapter 1 could be the capital city of a huge seafaring empire by chapter 5. Which does raise a salient point: how far apart should the chapters be set, geographically and temporally? I do like the idea of setting the chapters centuries apart, which gives a reasonable explanation for why you have to create a new character at level 1 each time, and gives you the opportunity to show how the world has changed since the last chapter. Geographically, you could take the Elder Scrolls route and set each chapter in a different part of the world, but I also like the idea of showing the change in the world between chapters. Possibly one solution would be for each chapter to be set in an area adjacent to a previous chapter's, expanding the world while showing the changes in the older parts.

Mentioning levels also reminds me of another problem in Elder Scrolls. In order to remain a challenge for the player, creatures level up along with the player: the wolf that gave you problems at level 1 still gives you trouble at level 10. This is whacked. At level 1, the wolf should give you problems. By level 10, the wolf should sense that you need to be left alone. By level 20, the wolf should be actively running away from you.