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Oblivion gets better with time OR Gamespies are dumbshits

DarkSign

Erudite
Joined
Jul 24, 2004
Messages
3,910
Location
Shepardizing caselaw with the F5 button.
I dont think they are lazy...I think they want to play it safe. There's a difference.
They didnt go out on a limb with the combat....the writing leaves a LOT to be desired...and they decided to go with whiz-bang graphics rather than deep gameplay.

With the rising costs of asset production I see why they went with randomly generated stuff, but they should have put a lot more thought into getting the most variety into that system.

Really it would have been smarter to market it as "omgZ! the first fantasy FPS!" rather than an RPG. The game industry is all about hype. The dissolution of E3 is a cover-up.
 

oherror

Liturgist
Joined
Jul 29, 2004
Messages
357
Location
my own worst nightmare
kingcomrade said:
Doom 3 was dreck. It was a vehicle for its graphics engine, not the other way around. The enemies were all uninspired and boring (the zombies were the only things that managed to scare me (once), and that's because they're quiet), the pacing was most certainly not perfect, it was way too repetitious. The story isn't anything more interesting than that to the original Doom or Half Life (portal opens, shit comes through, you go through portal, kill shit king, gg). The weapons were utterly terrible, and an FPS can't survive without its weapons. Even the physics in that game sucked. You throw a grenade and it bounces around like those balls you get out of quarter machines on crack.

The first fifteen to thirty minutes of the game are really great, because you haven't found out what a lame game it is. The atmosphere builds well, the initial demonic invasion is orchestrated well, but after the 20th monster jumping out of a closet, and the 50th pitch black room, you realize there's nothing more to it.

I mean, how can you consider a game with crappy weapons, crappy enemies, a crappy avatar (zomg walking slow is scary!), a crappy, ugly environment, crappy level design, etc. to be good?
Click to expand...

sure its good ONLY and i mean ONLY if you use god mode and the chainsaw on everything including the main boss......

or spawning creatures in the first lvl... i spawned the cyber demon in the bathroom...hehe the game crashes if you spawn more then 6 in the first area....
 

Solaris

Scholar
Joined
Aug 4, 2006
Messages
173
Location
UK
Darksign,

You have a point there about the rising costs involed in games these days but I still think its laziness on their part not to have put the effort in. They could have cleaned up with Oblivion. Satisfied both markets, hardcore and casual gamers alike. Well, as much as you could satisfy both groups, since no game will ever be perfect for everyone...

So I don't think it was the safe option in the long run. If thats what they thought then its just another form of laziness, even from a cold and calculating business standpoint imo. I mock them for chasing the money, but they could of had that and tons of respect too.

Look at companies like Valve for instance. They are a good example of how you can bring all these things together. Mucho moola, and damn fine games to boot. Admittidly its fps games in this instance but said games have no pretentions....Oblivion is a wannabe RPG with no real substance or relevance at all for its supposed genre. You're right, marketing it as a fantasy fps /action game would have probably given Beth more cred.....well, for not bullshitting everyone at least.
 

talk2farley

Scholar
Joined
Mar 19, 2006
Messages
179
Solaris said:
You have a point there about the rising costs involed in games these days but I still think its laziness on their part not to have put the effort in. They could have cleaned up with Oblivion. Satisfied both markets, hardcore and casual gamers alike. Well, as much as you could satisfy both groups, since no game will ever be perfect for everyone...
Click to expand...

I don't think its laziness. I mean, lazy developers are still going to be failed developers, even in this shit market. What it is, is misplaced priorities (at least, by our standards). They put all their focus and effort into the engine and graphics, so that there is very little time and money left for everything else.

So we end up with a bunch of really pretty but shallow games.

I blame 3D accelerators. Before the 3dfx Voodoo, graphics were pretty much crapped, with "beauty" being a fairly subjective affair (was FO better looking than BG, or was Ultima 8 on top?). So good gameplay and art/style design (as opposed to sheer number of polygons or whatever) had to set your product apart.
 

Late

Novice
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Messages
25
Location
True North
Another thing. They should have just stuck with text. Make room for other more important things like actually having choices, branching dialogue, etc. This is the basic npc to npc conversation.

Beggar: I ran across a Mudcrab the other day, nasty creatures.
Guard: I'm done talking to you.
Beggar: Any news from the other parts of Tamriel?
Guard: Nothing I'd like to talk about.
Beggar: I ran across a Goblin the other day, nasty creatures.
Guard: Go away.
Beggar: Good-Bye.
Captain: Hello.
Guard: We better get back to work before, or the captain will have our heads.
Captain: I ran across a Mudcrab the other day, nasty creatures.
Guard: Hello.
Captain: Heard any news from the other provinces of Tamriel?
Guard: Nothing I'd like to talk about.
Beggar: I ran across a Mudcrab the other day, nasty creatures.

What a waste of space…
 

Nog Robbin

Scholar
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
392
Location
UK
Late said:
Another thing. They should have just stuck with text. Make room for other more important things like actually having choices, branching dialogue, etc. This is the basic npc to npc conversation.

Beggar: I ran across a Mudcrab the other day, nasty creatures.
Guard: I'm done talking to you.
Beggar: Any news from the other parts of Tamriel?
Guard: Nothing I'd like to talk about.
Beggar: I ran across a Goblin the other day, nasty creatures.
Guard: Go away.
Beggar: Good-Bye.
Captain: Hello.
Guard: We better get back to work before, or the captain will have our heads.
Captain: I ran across a Mudcrab the other day, nasty creatures.
Guard: Hello.
Captain: Heard any news from the other provinces of Tamriel?
Guard: Nothing I'd like to talk about.
Beggar: I ran across a Mudcrab the other day, nasty creatures.

What a waste of space…
Click to expand...

Priceless conversation! Just like real life... it's so god damned radiant, isn't it? I'm dazzled by it's radiance.
 
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