Admit it: You are going to buy Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.

[DraQ]

Details like all the samey voice actors and inane conversations of Oblivion or the wikipedia style conversation topics of Morrowind

Wikilogue was neither actively intrusive, nor actively retarded - unlike oblivious herpaderp.

Hiking simulator or whatever, I expect Skyrim to be enjoyable for the same reasons the past TES titles were even if it's not a great RPG.

My main problem is that with the release of oblivious their trend of being enjoyable suddenly stopped.

 

[Karmapowered]

I didn't buy, or pirate Fallout 3.

I didn't buy, or pirate Arkania.

I didn't buy, or pirate Two Worlds 2.

I didn't buy, or pirate DA2.

Nowadays I only have so much "gaming time" in a week, and I refuse to waste it (and money) with shit.

From the looks of it, I won't buy, or pirate Skyrim.

Patiently waiting for TW2, and maybe Deus Ex HR.

 

[Secretninja]

I will play it. But I certainly won't buy it. I bought morrowind twice, and got suckered into oblivion and fallout 3. They have seen the last of my money.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Details like all the samey voice actors and inane conversations of Oblivion or the wikipedia style conversation topics of Morrowind

Wikilogue was neither actively intrusive, nor actively retarded - unlike oblivious herpaderp.

Well, I didn't find it difficult to run past the crowds of NPCs in Market square talking about mudcrabs and lockpicking in Oblivion and generally ignore them whereas looking through a list of identical conversation topics and trying to pick out the one or two new or unique ones in Morrowind is a pain in the ass. I sometimes wonder if they'd have been better off just adding a text parser for MW conversations like in early Ultimas.

Hiking simulator or whatever, I expect Skyrim to be enjoyable for the same reasons the past TES titles were even if it's not a great RPG.

My main problem is that with the release of oblivious their trend of being enjoyable suddenly stopped.

I disagree. I think there are things OB did better than in the past, though there are features that make it a worse RPG such as combat not being as tied to character skill as opposed to player skill when determining whether or not an attack lands.

 

[MajorNova]

Unless gameplay videos turn out to be complete shit , will torrent it once there is nice scene release with all inevitable patches.

 

[Qwertilot]

I do have a notable weakness for hiking simulators, but not I think this one until folk have got round to either some sort of major level scaling removal patch, or say the next gen of Nehrim.

 

[DraQ]

Details like all the samey voice actors and inane conversations of Oblivion or the wikipedia style conversation topics of Morrowind

Wikilogue was neither actively intrusive, nor actively retarded - unlike oblivious herpaderp.

Well, I didn't find it difficult to run past the crowds of NPCs in Market square talking about mudcrabs and lockpicking in Oblivion and generally ignore them whereas looking through a list of identical conversation topics and trying to pick out the one or two new or unique ones in Morrowind is a pain in the ass. I sometimes wonder if they'd have been better off just adding a text parser for MW conversations like in early Ultimas.

Really? Topics are in alphabetic order so searching is quick, while recognizing any unique dialogue is also easy enough. Beats special school acting class assaulting your eyes and ears whenever you even come close to more than one NPC.

And parsers are good and naturally suited for wikilogue, they would need to redesign the technical implementation of the system, though. Not that the game wouldn't benefit from that - the implementation of the topic system was a disaster waiting to happen, it's pretty surprising it didn't have more dialogue bugs.

I think there are things OB did better than in the past

I would probably find one or two, if pressed hard enough.

 

[Sceptic]

I agree, but I still think that this kind of self-praise may leave bad impression.

I was talking about The Barbarian, commie, and others :/

I believe in immersion. While I certainly agree with you that graphics can add/detract from a game's immersiveness, good graphics are neither necessary nor sufficient to render a game immersive.

This.

See, that's what I mean! Mangsy has barely been here a month yet every post he's made has been distilled

Graphics and certain aspects of presentation (FPP) and mechanics (RT) may help here, but those details are relatively unimportant as, as any bookworm will testify, plain text can be perfectly sufficient means to achieve immersion.

I wouldn't say they're unimportant, I'd say they're nonessential. You CAN do an equally good job with text only... but why limit yourself to good text if you can do both good text AND beautiful eye-candy? I think PST did a great job combining high quality text (and lots of it) with gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds. Would it still have been as good a game without them? maybe. Did their presence as I took my eyes away from the text increase my enjoyment of the game? absolutely.

I sometimes wonder if they'd have been better off just adding a text parser for MW conversations like in early Ultimas.

You know, that WOULD have been quite good... though I think that, of all the people who really disliked the system, you're probably in the minority that wouldn't have raged at having to take separate notes and keep track of keywords by themselves.

I disagree. I think there are things OB did better than in the past

Thing is you haven't disagreed with him. There are things that Oblivion did better. Being able to cast without having to put away your weapon was, IMO, a very nice change (it was also not even a real change, as it was a return to Daggerfall's system, but that's beside the point). I'm sure that if I think long and hard I'll come up with a second one, but the point is that none of these improvements made Oblivion an enjoyable game because they were completely drowned out by all the derp. When we say "Oblivion has no redeeming values" it doesn't necessarily mean that every single minor detail is complete shit, but it does mean that the few (way, way too few) good things are completely drowned out even within their subsection. So, cast-and-fight is great; but melee combat itself sucks, and magic itself sucks, so the point about being able to do both without switching interfaces improving the game is kinda moot.

 

[DraQ]

I sometimes wonder if they'd have been better off just adding a text parser for MW conversations like in early Ultimas.

You know, that WOULD have been quite good... though I think that, of all the people who really disliked the system, you're probably in the minority that wouldn't have raged at having to take separate notes and keep track of keywords by themselves.

You can always use a parser/wikilogue hybrid like the one implemented in Wizardry 8 - game keeps track of keywords list, you can also update it manually (add, delete), click *any* word appearing in dialogue (to use it or to add it to the list), as well as just enter keywords/se(nt/qu)ences directly using parser.

So it's basically Morrowind system, except with every word being blue, user-modifiable list, ability to chain words together and parser window.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I'm gonna play it, and probably enjoy it.

Then I'll play something else, and probably enjoy it.

Then I'll browse the Codex in 2015, see people still raging about it, and definitely enjoy it.

 

[DraQ]

I'm gonna play it, and probably enjoy it.

Then I'll play something else, and probably enjoy it.

Then I'll browse the Codex in 2015, see people still raging about it, and definitely enjoy it.

 

[MMXI]

I'm gonna play it, and probably enjoy it.

Then I'll play something else, and probably enjoy it.

Then I'll browse the Codex in 2015, see people still raging about it, and definitely enjoy it.

Yet behind the façade you'd be crying into your porridge, wishing you had a sophisticated taste in games so that you could join in with the rest of us.

There's always the Bethesda board for you. Take a hint.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Hi guize ! I'm replaying Daggerfall !

 

[crufty]

Am i imagining it or did arena / daggerfall allow for text input

If level scaling isnt totally lame i am in.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Daggerfall doesn't, I don't know about Arena.

 

[mediocrepoet]

When we say "Oblivion has no redeeming values" it doesn't necessarily mean that every single minor detail is complete shit, but it does mean that the few (way, way too few) good things are completely drowned out even within their subsection. So, cast-and-fight is great; but melee combat itself sucks, and magic itself sucks, so the point about being able to do both without switching interfaces improving the game is kinda moot.

Hm, fair enough. Though I don't know that I think the melee combat is that bad compared to prior TES games. Morrowind had point and click (repeatedly) to swing with stat resolutions and skill resolved blocking, Arena had press mouse button and drag the mouse around to simulate slashing and thrusting and Oblivion had semi-actiony click to attack kind of like Morrowind but with no stat resolutions, the animation was smoother and blocking is player controlled instead of rolled for.

What struck you as particularly bad about OB melee combat? That it's not character skill-based? The ability to run forwards and backwards at equal speed? Or do you just dislike melee combat in TES altogether?

 

[RK47]

What struck you as particularly bad about OB melee combat? That it's not character skill-based? The ability to run forwards and backwards at equal speed? Or do you just dislike melee combat in TES altogether?

It doesn't really matter where you aim the weapon: legs, head, arms, it'll damage the same thing. Opponents will never drop weapon unless you execute a special move.

Once I learned that enchanted weapons deal better damage with its damage magic, I didn't even bother with powering up my swing. Dozens of mad slashes with added fire damage will overcome almost anything

 

[Elzair]

It is too early to tell, honestly. I would like to, but Bethesda has fucked me over before, so I need more information.

Who am I kidding? I will probably get it day one!

 

[Clockwork Knight]

wishing you had a sophisticated taste in games so that you could join in with the rest of us.

Joined: 28 Apr 2011

sup drog

 

[Varn]

Depends. If they bring in some of the Morrowind Magic™, including some or all of the following, it may be worthwhile:

- hand crafted unique and interesting world;
- memorable NPC's (crassius clay, scooma addiction questline, morag tong questline, great houses, etc);
- Hidden Shit™ (sweet loot in hard to find places / secret quests etc);
- Vaguely interesting dungeons, such as the Dwemer ruins or some of the bigger Daedric ruins (as opposed to Oblivion's sheer mind-numbing copy pasted brown dungeons);
- Unique and interesting towns, Eg the telvanni towers, the town that was inside a dead crab, Vivec;
- the sweet voice actor for Dunmer characters;
- cool atmosphere (caused mostly by the Dunmer voice actor, and good music);
- interesting places to discover on the map (this does not mean a hidden unicorn);
- unique items that have unique abilities which make them worth finding; &
- Cool Shit™, such as the advanced alchemy system, cool spells like levitation, or obscure skills Eg medium armor, spears.

Seeing as Oblivion pretty much omitted all of the above then I doubt Skyrim will be any good because it would require a massive backflip on what they've been doing so far. It is still possible for them to implement some of the above stuff I suppose, as they did create Morrowid after all.

 

[Sceptic]

Daggerfall doesn't, I don't know about Arena.

Arena definitely did not.

Speaking of level scaling, Arena did have it in full force. Was annoying as hell too. Unless you play a spellcaster, at which point it doesn't really matter because by level 10 you're god walking among mortals ants.

What struck you as particularly bad about OB melee combat? That it's not character skill-based? The ability to run forwards and backwards at equal speed? Or do you just dislike melee combat in TES altogether?

A combination of all of these, plus health attrition taken to ridiculous extremes, all aggravated by the level scaling (why hell there, bandit with glass daedric weapons and glass armor!). And the complete uselessness of the power attacks. I never liked Morrowind combat that much, but it didn't suffer from that many flaws combined. And Arena/Daggerfall's was alright, especially in Daggerfall where it depended on a pretty sweet skill system.

 

[Black Cat]

I don't buy things that don't have an actual physical existence, like clothes do. Knowing myself as well as I do, however, I can say I will probably download it as soon as it hits the scene, spend six to twelve hours making a character that actually looks somewhat like me, then play for one and a half hours, maybe two, before leaving with the actual intent to continue later but never actually managing to find enough interest do so.

Why do I never learn is anybody's guess.

 

[Fowyr]

Daggerfall doesn't, I don't know about Arena.

The only text input was in the riddles.

Speaking of level scaling, Arena did have it in full force. Was annoying as hell too.

Indeed. I remember what in the end I started encounter golems in the cities instead of humanoid enemies.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Why do I never learn is anybody's guess.

Mine :

spend six to twelve hours making a character that actually looks somewhat like me

Still, a larp confessed is half forgiven. And given the rampant hypocrisy regarding larping around here... make that 75%.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I'll probably buy it.