Twinfalls
Erudite
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2005
- Messages
- 3,903
I've played around 35 hours of Skyrim thus far. It's clearly a small fraction of what's there.
I'll say this in full admission that I was one of the loudest screechers about Oblivion (and at times Morrowind, though I recognised later Morrowind was a very fine achievement in fantasy world-making and story-telling).
What we simply can not say any longer about Bethesda Softworks:
They have.
No. The graphics in Skyrim are outstanding. Yes Assassin's creed is impressive on a surface level. But consider the truly open world in Skyrim in conjunction with all the little details they've included. It is stunning. Solitude for example is a real city. It is magnificent.
I'm playing on the xbox. It's fast, easy to use, un-intrusive. It's good. Perhaps it sucks on the PC. I don't know.
Yes, removal of attributes is a flaw, and a pity. But it seriously pales once the game is actually played. Skill trees are a fine addition. Overall, the spirit of Daggerfall still shines in this game. There are real factions with real motives and real conflicts. No, there isn't constant C&C. But this is not Age of Decadence. This is TES. Immersion, the world and its stories are major building blocks of TES. Skyrim is a true TES game.
Nor is it Disney-fied. And there's a certain delicate melancholy draped around Skyrim's milieu. It's romantic.
I now view Oblivion in a new light. It was a first-day release game on new hardware. It was a first attempt at mainstream success. It was hamstrung by these two factors. As a TES RPG, on its own, it was a failure. But as a stepping stone for Bethesda, it worked. They were playing the long game.
To paraphrase George Will on Barry Goldwater - it took them nine years to make another Elder Scrolls game. And the Elder Scrolls won.
I'll say this in full admission that I was one of the loudest screechers about Oblivion (and at times Morrowind, though I recognised later Morrowind was a very fine achievement in fantasy world-making and story-telling).
What we simply can not say any longer about Bethesda Softworks:
They can't make a great RPG.
They have.
They do. Michael Kirkbride never held back on criticising Oblivion. Yet he said on a forum post somewhere recently, before Skyrims release: "We're going back to Tamriel". He was right.They don't care about TES, the world, lore and gameplay.
They do. And they've done a superb job of it here. Dialogue is not lengthy. But it is intelligent, well written, and mature.They don't care about politics and backstory.
He is not. Morrowind's success on the Xbox and generally was an impressive achievement for him. His work doing the PR rounds for Skyrim with ease shows seriously capability as studio head. Yet he has not compromised content to achieve easy sales.Todd Howard is a simpleton, a hack, a traitor to TES.
No. I've played on Expert difficulty. It's a serious challenge - but only when it should be. I'm level 14 and bandits are no real trouble (mostly). A giant spider on the other hand simply crushed me with ease (along with my summoned Fire Atronarch). I had to run away from his tunnel, perhaps to return one day.They make games that are easy.
They can't do graphics, their animation is laughable, etc etc
No. The graphics in Skyrim are outstanding. Yes Assassin's creed is impressive on a surface level. But consider the truly open world in Skyrim in conjunction with all the little details they've included. It is stunning. Solitude for example is a real city. It is magnificent.
Their interfaces suck.
I'm playing on the xbox. It's fast, easy to use, un-intrusive. It's good. Perhaps it sucks on the PC. I don't know.
Yes, removal of attributes is a flaw, and a pity. But it seriously pales once the game is actually played. Skill trees are a fine addition. Overall, the spirit of Daggerfall still shines in this game. There are real factions with real motives and real conflicts. No, there isn't constant C&C. But this is not Age of Decadence. This is TES. Immersion, the world and its stories are major building blocks of TES. Skyrim is a true TES game.
Nor is it Disney-fied. And there's a certain delicate melancholy draped around Skyrim's milieu. It's romantic.
I now view Oblivion in a new light. It was a first-day release game on new hardware. It was a first attempt at mainstream success. It was hamstrung by these two factors. As a TES RPG, on its own, it was a failure. But as a stepping stone for Bethesda, it worked. They were playing the long game.
To paraphrase George Will on Barry Goldwater - it took them nine years to make another Elder Scrolls game. And the Elder Scrolls won.