roll-a-die
Magister
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2009
- Messages
- 3,131
Roll-A-Dice;1061118299 said:Because I remember when Bethesda used to be good and not focused on the casual market. I remember when selling a modest amount of copies was considered a success. When games didn't have to debut at redonkulous numbers. And I just get so angry at the constant strive for more money, and the creative sapping that's come from it. Daggerfall was generic as all hell, but it still did fantasy and story better Oblivion and Skyrim.
It's just over the years, I've played so many better games, and I've watched the quality of level design, of gameplay design, of story design, of everything just slowly slip, and the more I think about it, the more I get angry. At the fuckers who want games to be considered an art form, but haven't grasped the fact that to be art, you need subtlety, skill, and message.
Even modern art, it has message, and a fair amount of subtlety and skill. You look at games in the past like Planescape Torment, or Morrowind, and the game oozed all three of those, the world was exquisitely crafted, there's message and symbolism everywhere, and subtlety in bounds. Even the architecture conveyed a message in Morrowind. As I've pointed out in this thread or another.
In a game like Skyrim, I see everyone praising, oh it's such a good game. But it lacks elements that have been at the absolute core of the series. Character customization, dress up by combining different armor pieces, the ability to be an absolute power gamer if you want an easy game, or the ability to completely gimp your character if you want to have a hard time. Difficulty was scaled in the Elder Scrolls, scaled by by player knowledge as well as by a difficulty meter. The attributes system with each stat affecting large amounts of things. Random chance. Things that were pulled from PnP games. I don't think in my 28 or so hours of play, I ever encountered a disease
The fact that they are a company that has betrayed their origins, is what makes me so angry.
Every other company left, is either new, or has been doing it so long, that we've gotten dead to it. Or has been doing it since the origin of the company.
Bethesda has been doing it since oblivion which was only what 6 years ago.
The fact that them and Bioware are the only ones left producing RPGs despite the fact that they are the most casual of RPG developers. Bioware's likely going into the shithole after TOR goes bust, and then we'll be left with Bethesda as the lone old guard of RPG development. Interplay's gone bust, several times over now. Origins been gone for who knows how long, Sir Tech, the majority of people nowadays haven't even HEARD of Sir Tech. Betheda's really the only people we got left, and that's what makes me angry. Bioware always marketed to the lowest common denominator, Bethesda, didn't used to be that way, they were one of the few heralds of, of, it's hard to describe, Politics making high fantasy. Games with heavy politically oriented storylines, but the storylines going towards making High Fantasy adventures more believable.
Now what's the plot been reduced to, BOWSER(Alduin) IS ASSAULTING THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM(Skyrim), FIGHT OFF HIS CLONES(Dragons) BEFORE BEATING HIM IN A COLOSSAL BOSS FIGHT OF EPIC PROPORTIONS AT THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE MARIO. Every SINGLE other BETHESDA game, EVEN OBLIVION ITSELF, had a political sideplot go into making its high fantasy gameplay a reality. This one really is Bowser assaulting the mushroom kingdom, and that's about as much as it makes me care. It's just another generic fantasy slogfest now. It almost makes me even more angry when I think about all the other plots they could have done. Did they have to set it after the novels? Why not have those just be future sci-fi, and the games exist in their own worlds.
Why not set it in Summerset, where the factions are the empire, the elf faction in this game,
You know, this is another point, the game didn't even make me care about the politics it did show, I can't even recall the name of the political faction of high elves. I don't have to google to find out the names of the morrowind factions, despite the fact that I haven't played that in 2 years,
I've just stopped playing Skyrim last week. I literally care less about this game, than I do about the Star Wars prequels because I can remember the trade federation guys are nimoidians.
Or how about the major races of Star Trek, a show I haven't even watched since college 10 years ago, Klingons, Romulans, Volcans, Borg, Q, Human, Andorian, Cardassian. I remember more about Vulcan BREEDING habits than I do about a game I played less than a week ago(Once every few years they go and psychicly attach themselves to someone generally another Vulcan, if they don't they die a horrible horrible death.)
Anyway, the elf faction in this game, it's like the, you know what I'm going to have to google this, be right back, Thalmor, utterly generic elf faction name is generic.
Anyway, the Thalmor, and the vampires, who are in a kind of cold war for supplies, it's 2 years after the last emperor and the elves are starting to question the divine right of the Nord/Imperial fuckwits. The vampires are starting to leverage their eternal control over the night. Anyway, you are sent there by the empire as usual and are shortly there after arrested by the Thalmor, sent to prison for a bit, and given indoctrination, and then the vampires bust you out. You are thus torn between the original loyalty to the empire, the thalmor indoctrination(They were completely courteous and didn't really imprison you much beyond the whole being locked in a room for a few days/potentially till you died or fessed up to your entire life story(HINT: YOU COULD WORK THE QUESTION SYSTEM FROM DAGGERFALL INTO HERE.),) and the debt you owe to the vampires for them saving you. More over, there's a looming threat in that a psijic went crazy and the last time that happened the Mages Guild got formed and a new god was shortly thereafter formed.
Side factions would by Psijics(focusing first on the philosophy of the order, and the lessons and symbolism thereof, before then going into a political game with your fellow apprentices and eventually the eternal heads of the psijic order itself), the fighters guild(focusing on originally just general contracts, before starting you into an indiana jones style adventure.) the imperial church(Focusing on mostly what the Imperial Church focused on in morrowind, before heading into a certain area of lore that bethesda really need to focus on more, which is the godhood.), and the thieves guild(Focusing on what the thieves guild focused on in Daggerfall, with an increasing series of ever more complex heists ending with you eventually stealing the crown jewels of the empire, the main treasures of the thalmor, and robbing the entire vampire nation blind.) with the vampires also having the assassin's guild, the blood blade legion(basically being a less religious dark brotherhood. Ending with you getting told to kill every leader of the other factions, unnoticed) The vampires wouldn't care if you were a vampire or not, only that you were useful., and the only time you'd need to become a vampire is if you want to be the leader of their faction.
Look at that I've just outlined a plot that would by around 3 times more political, with a main threat that makes sense in the confines of the mythos, and not too many obvious betrayals to lore.
When I can spend 3 minutes and ponder and write those up. I get angry that the writers there probably haven't even perused summaries of the events that happened in the previous games. Hell, setting it 200 years in the future is probably an attempt to get rid of any need to reference events of previous games. The entire game just strikes me as the low hanging fruit. And that's what gets me angry, when I'm entirely apathetic about a game, because it's so bland and stale and wreaking of marketing making most of decisions, I GET ANGRY AS FUCK, because I can recall when as a company they didn't go for the low hanging fruit. When Ken Rolsten was there, to balance Todd's DUDE, IT WILL BE AWESOME(Nuke in the first 4 hours of gameplay, mininuke launcher, dragon in the first 5 minutes, no stats, Patrick Stewart as the emprah, whatsisface with the awesome voice that makes me question all sense of morals and want to skull rape my dad(in game of course), etc.) With general good design, good world design, good art direction, etc.
Hlallu, Redoran, Dres, Indoril, Telvanni, and Dagoth are Morrowinds great houses, did not even have to google those.
Note I am fairly sleep deprived due to a sleep study the doctor has me on, so errors in grammar beyond the norm are to be expected.
. Today graphics are expected to reach at least a certain, fundamental level. In the '80s it was much easier for such a game of indie origins to compete with AAA's of the time. Now mainstream offers costly bombastic features for the masses and you are forced to target niche audience. Simply put, there are barriers to entry. The number of man-hours required for a finished product now and then has increased tremendously. Fixed costs increase over time. Monopolies form. Gamer demands soar (and I mean relatively to previous decades; the fact that consoletards demand hats and colon rape is whole other story). And global economy kicks your arse harder year by year, especially now.
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