Wirdschowerdn
Ph.D. in World Saving
Bethesda just never got their act together again ever since Ken Rolston left.
I hope they dont change the previous successful design of ES games. Its all about a large, beautiful game world and a true open world sandbox experienceI never thought about the staff at Bethesda because I always felt like their games are designed mostly by the public anyway. Fallout exists in a more competitive part of gaming so that's a bit different. But with Elder Scrolls games it seems Bethesda's goal is only to take their earlier products and redo them in a 'streamlined' way. So I always assumed they only had a few decision makers in the company and everyone else was just a techy doing what they are told. Either way the design is clear, reduction. Reduce the number of attributes, factions, spells, item slots, etc.
And I say the games are designed by the public because from Morrowind to Oblivion was a lot of reduction and it was a big success. Then Oblivion to Skyrim even more reduction and 22+ million sales. It's like a household staple now. So the staff are irrelevant, the public decided that reduction is the answer and they voted with their wallets. So the design of Elder Scrolls 6 is obvious, follow the clear pattern. Do the staff matter when that's all you are doing?
voted with their wallets.
The more money you have, the more you start spending – the moment a studio gets dozens of millions in sales, it'll double or triple its staff, move to better offices, expand marketing for the next game... It probably won't be quite as financially secure as one would think. And if it makes even more money, it'll start buying up other studios, etc. There won't be a situation where it'd just sit on massive piles of money and do nothing with them. And the bigger it gets, the bigger sales it needs to stay in black numbers...And it is not like financial considerations are much of an issue, once you start having sales in the millions (not to mention dozens of millions)
Would you guys recognize or accept that studios like Bethesda make millions because millions of gamers enjoy there games because they fun?voted with their wallets.
Greed (and financial success) is the death of art & entertainment. I mean art & entertainment in the sense that they have both breadth and depth. Beauty, complexity, variety, ingenuity. One would assume that with millions at their disposal, a developer could satisfy both parts of the potential buyers, both the casual players and those seeking complexity, depth and challenge. But no, it is always one side that ultimately is catered to in entirety. And it is not like financial considerations are much of an issue, once you start having sales in the millions (not to mention dozens of millions) it should actually encourage you to add new and interesting things to your games, instead of just dumbing it all down even more. But like I said, greed. It is not without reason that greed is considered a mortal sin by some religions.
I fully accept that there are millions of gaymers with terminally shit taste like you. I never argued otherwise.Would you guys recognize or accept that studios like Bethesda make millions because millions of gamers enjoy there games because they fun?
Thats why I buy all and every Bethesda game, I promise you thats the truth. Their is no other reason
Okay good to know, I was worried you didnt realize thisI fully accept that there are millions of gaymers with terminally shit taste like you. I never argued otherwise.Would you guys recognize or accept that studios like Bethesda make millions because millions of gamers enjoy there games because they fun?
Thats why I buy all and every Bethesda game, I promise you thats the truth. Their is no other reason
Would you guys recognize or accept that studios like Bethesda make millions because millions of gamers enjoy there games because they fun?
I just finished my second play through of modded Oblivion and I spent about 280 hours on the gameWould you guys recognize or accept that studios like Bethesda make millions because millions of gamers enjoy there games because they fun?
Of course, nobody questions that, and I would not be replaying Oblivion if it were otherwise. Fun is not the issue. It is a (needless) sacrifice of things which gave breadth or depth to their games, where fun is not even in any way negatively affected by those things previously existing, quite the contrary. For example, in Oblivion there is fast travel, which on the surface is very convenient, but objectively takes away from world-building. Why? Because you have games such as Morrowind, where there were numerous "fast travel" methods that were neatly and seamlessly incorporated into the word: traveling using Silt Striders, teleportation using Mages Guild services, Mark & Recall spell, possibly travel via boat (I do not remember if the last one was present). These things gave a dash of believable world-building, and they were not even expensive to use. And Oblivion and Skyrim? Just magically teleport anywhere without any in-game explanation as to how and why that is possible. And considering the size of these games, for example Oblivion, which is to say they are not really huge as one may think, it takes maybe 5 minutes of real time to travel between any two towns; with in-game transportation like boats and ships, horses and carriages, Mages Guild teleportation etc., that time could probably be reduced to under 1 minute. It is a shame, it is a simple dumbing down without real justification. Even I could make a simple mod that connects, for example, Imperial City with other towns via horse travel; all you need are several NPCs with a few simple scripts made in the Construction Set. In fact, there are such mods available already.
And instead of this dumbing down, a simple decision at Bethesda could have been made to allow players to use either fast travel or these various ways of transportation. It does not cost much of resources to implement and yet it would complement the world nicely, not to mention it would be consistent with their previous title which is Morrowind.
Fun is both a valid argument and a an argument of low value. Everyone has fun doing something, or can have fun. But I can assure you I do not have fun seeing sequels to some of my favourite games butchering these seemingly small details which gave variety to them.
You must use mods with Oblivion to balance the game and address flawed mechanics like level scaling so Maskars mod becomes a must
That's basically what they did in Skyrim. There is functional horse carriage in the base game. Then Dawnguard added boats to the ports and Hearthfire added a personal carriage at your steading. Then in Fallout 4 they did a survival mode which bans fast travel but you can call vertibirds. So while dumbing down things is the general direction Bethesda games are going, not every single aspect gets dumbed-down more and more, they do learn from their mistakes occasionally.a simple decision at Bethesda could have been made to allow players to use either fast travel or these various ways of transportation
The problem is that all of Skyrim's fast travel options are pointless apart from getting to a destination for the first time. So once you have actually visited a city, your options are:That's basically what they did in Skyrim. There is functional horse carriage in the base game. Then Dawnguard added boats to the ports and Hearthfire added a personal carriage at your steading. Then in Fallout 4 they did a survival mode which bans fast travel but you can call vertibirds. So while dumbing down things is the general direction Bethesda games are going, not every single aspect gets dumbed-down more and more, they do learn from their mistakes occasionally.a simple decision at Bethesda could have been made to allow players to use either fast travel or these various ways of transportation
Yeah and obviously a proper Bethesda player would always choose option one for immersion. I particularly enjoy the animation for getting in a carriage and the random comments from the driver.your options are:
1. Speak to an NPC, pay 20 or 50 gold, go through the animation for sitting in the carriage and listen to that snippet of dialogue, or
2. Click on the map and go there for free
I know this is a joke, but this attitude always annoys me. It's not "immersive" to jump into a carriage. Just let me click through some dialogue screens and teleport where I need to go with an appropriate time skip.Yeah and obviously a proper Bethesda player would always choose option one for immersion. I particularly enjoy the animation for getting in a carriage and the random comments from the driver.
Morrowind's web of transportation is of course far superior, I just think it's worth pointing out that after Oblivion's radical stance on fast traveling vs in-game transportation Bethesda actually took a few steps backwards in their later games.
Also I don't agree that adding a fee would make fast travel feel like the way it was in Daggerfall. First of all the fee was optional in Daggerfall, iirc you only need money to use a ship or stay at inns. Secondly when I fast travel in Daggerfall I never feel like the cost was an issue even if I choose all the fancy options since making money is rather easy.
Agreed on all counts. Travelling recklessly in Daggerfall also gives you a chance to catch a disease and arrive without full health, iirc, since you're roughing it in the wilderness. Fast Travel in Daggerfall is an actual mechanic that players need to think about, with options that carry meaningful consequences. Skyrim and Oblivion have teleport buttons.I think what makes fast traveling feel meaningful in Daggerfall is that you are clearly told how much time you will spend on the road and that the quests have timers so you actually care about time. Technically fast traveling in Skyrim is not that different from fast traveling in Daggerfall recklessly on foot, the game still advances the clock by the time you should spend in the background, but you are not told how much time that is and you have very little reason to care about time at all.
Yeah, that's not coming back. The modern gamer HATES timers with a passion. Any game that includes them in any form inevitably gets shat on. Hell, I remember reading some morons talking about how irredeemably shit the first fallout is... because the main quest is timed. You know, that timer that's so generous that there's absolutely no way it'd ever run out unless you actively tried for it.I think what makes fast traveling feel meaningful in Daggerfall is that you are clearly told how much time you will spend on the road and that the quests have timers so you actually care about time.
Numbers and promises help sell a game though, midwits lap that shit up. You see that mountain?Elite already did copy paste planets in the 80s, none of that's impressive today. 1000+ planets or dungeons would only be good if the thing you are copy pasting is good to begin with. If it's 1000 good dungeons in a good game with good combat and items and world, then that would be great. But if it's draugr caves with fish/bird puzzles copy pasted 1000 times then it's just shit x 1000.
On the one hand, this is a patently untrue statement. On the other hand, given that in the pastSo much blasphemy against Todd in this thread when new Todd games are always better than previous ones.