Teb said:
I'm not buying Oblivion for the fancy graphics but for the lore and world. Bethesda always make an interesting world, in my opinion, but that is something that is often ignored by those who say it is all about graphics.
Of course Oblivion isn't only about fancy graphics. Why, it has... um... lots of caves with a lot of monsters to kill!
Bethesda ceased to make interesting game worlds after 1996 (I think) when Daggerfall was released. Now they run along and pay people to write detailed crap about the geography in the game, just so the fans can say "Hey, it's not just graphics. You can, like, get involved in the deep lore of the world and stuff." But guess what: it's just generic crap that doesn't mean anything, and the little stuff that actually could've been interesting is so instantly killed by the game's (and we're talking Morrowind here) poor design that really doesn't make the lore useful. Caius Cosades encouraged me only once to read up on a subject. That was all I was encouraged to research in Morrowind, and fucking hell: I could've done without it.
I remember the days where a manual filled with all kinds of texts, back story and lore, was useful when it came to beating the game. Those days are over and while the lore might be transferred into the game itself, it isn't useful when it comes to play the game.
Why?
Why has no one critiqued the fiction released during the countdown? Instead, everyone is focused on looking for flaws in the videos and the pictures.
No idea, to be honest, but the reason why I haven't raised any eyebrows is because I found the texts boring and very "generic", so to speak.
Pure coincidence, I've done a story like that as well! It was called "How I became a fan fiction writer and learned to accept my shame."
You can claim that the gameplay sucks, that the roleplaying is just dress up, that the graphics are imperfect, that many aspects are bad, but the worlds always have more depth than most RPGs.
I actually enjoyed dressing up in Morrowind. Best part of the game, if I may say so myself.
You might not like their world or their fiction but how many RPGs have such detailed lore?
I believe you're confusing "detailed" with "surface dwelling, no-good, worthless" as in "surface dwelling, no-good, worthless lore". (Rhymes with "worthless whore", by the way.) Morrowind's lore wasn't detailed. Morrowind had a lot of books you could read and a lot of wikipedia topics to chose from whenever you felt the urge to find out about the geographics, but it wasn't anything you needed to give a crap about. I'm sure Oblivion will be the same, but I'll hold my pinky finger hoping I'm wrong.
Now, for an RPG that had detailed lore you actually can give a crap about...
Off the top of my head: Arcanum.
I'm sure I can think up a few more if you give me a night's sleep.