Grandpa Gamer
Scholar
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2006
- Messages
- 190
Hello! :D
This is my first post here at the Codex.
Since Fallout and Daggerfall are two of the games I've enjoyed the most, I ought to feel right at home here, wouldn't you think?
The early Ultimas and Ultima Underworld. Wizardry and Might and Magic. I liked those too.
As many of you fellows, I long for that holy grail, the true computer role playing experience.
I should feel very much at home here.
But then again, I might be too old for all this immature slinging of mud and other sticky substances.
Yes, even here. Most serious discussions soon deteriorate into playground antics.
Bear with me, please.
I never played computer games as a kid. There were no computers back then. That is how old I am.
And this gives me a certain perspective.
I played the earliest computer games as an adult. Hence, there is no childhood nostalgia involved when I remember them.
Then, those few clunky pixels were supposed to be a goblin? No problem. I could visualize the foul creature very well in my imagination.
Now, this three dee, bump-mapped, pixel-shaded, motion-captured, rag-dolled, plethora of lens-flared polygons is a goblin?
Well, it sure looks like a goblin, and a fine specimen at that. But why can't I chop it's limbs off? Blow it's nose? Smell it's pungent sweat? Engage in a polite conversation?
It looks so damn real!
Again, bear with me, please.
I believe Fallout was a bit of a fluke. The right people had the right idea at the right time. And, perhaps most important, technology had advanced just far enough.
It could be done, and Black Isle did it.
Now, I'm not saying that it can't happen again. It could. Just don't get your hopes up. And we should be thankful for what we recieve. Even if it's Oblivion.
Here I would like to offer some slight praise to Bethesda.
Daggerfall was horribly buggy. The convoluted dungeons was often a chore to navigate. You got stuck in the walls again and again. Every exit from an interior looked like a sewer exit, even if it was the front door of a castle. Always that same sewer exit, always with a skull. Just to mention a few of Daggerfall's shortcomings. Still, strangely, I enjoyed the game, possibly more than any other game I ever played. Bethesda was ambitious. The game world was huge. Bethesda did a lot of things right. And even more things wrong. The engine was flawed and the design was flawed. Still...
Still. I would like to offer some praise to Bethesda.
After Daggerfall I hoped that Bethesda would come up with an even better game in the same vein. One with all the stuff that made Daggerfall good, and less of the stuff that made Daggerfall ...frustrating.
Sadly, as we now all know, it was not to be. First, instead of playing to their strengths and make a true sequel to Daggerfall right away, Bethesda tried to "branch out" with Battlespire and Redguard, with little success. Later they got wiser and brought us Morrowind, which was better than Daggerfall in some ways, worse in some ways. Now we have Oblivion, which is better than Morrowind in some ways and worse in even more ways.
But I would like to offer some praise to Bethesda. For trying. For hanging in there. For giving us Oblivion, even if it's not really what we want.
Because, like Fallout, Daggerfall was a bit of a fluke.
Yes it was.
Look at all the things Bethesda got wrong. Like that sewer exit. What were they thinking? I suppose the exit-trigger was linked to that one texture. How much work could it be, to link the trigger to a few more textures? Never mind. Suffice to say, Bethesda were extremely amitious and extremely sloppy at the same time. And they struck gold somehow.
It's obvious from what followed that Bethesda never really understood what made Daggerfall so great. They stumbled in the dark with Battlespire and Redguard, found some of the pieces with Morrowind, lost a few pieces again with Oblivion. But they keep trying.
I really wanted to enjoy Oblivion, and to some extent, I succeeded. I played it quite a lot. It's not so bad. If nothing else, it's more stable and free of bugs than any other Bethesda game I've played. I'm thankful. And I do hope that the next game will be better. Since they don't really have a clue, Bethesda might get it right. They just might, as long as they try.
You see, Black Isle, who did know what they were doing in a way that Bethesda never did, produced some of the best computer role playing games ever.
And yet, Black Isle is not with us any more.
How unfair.
Well, I'm rambling now...
Please excuse an old man...
I'll continue playing Gothic 3 now. Piranha Bytes got quite a few things right with this one. I enjoy it immensely, though It's even buggier than Daggerfall ever was. Forces me to reboot my PC about once every 70 minutes of play or so. The fighting is frustrating as hell... Lots of little glitches... Must be the best game since... since perhaps Arcanum... Yes, definitely the best since Arcanum. And I'm thankful...
We should all play Gothic 3.
Because, frankly, what else is there now?
This is my first post here at the Codex.
Since Fallout and Daggerfall are two of the games I've enjoyed the most, I ought to feel right at home here, wouldn't you think?
The early Ultimas and Ultima Underworld. Wizardry and Might and Magic. I liked those too.
As many of you fellows, I long for that holy grail, the true computer role playing experience.
I should feel very much at home here.
But then again, I might be too old for all this immature slinging of mud and other sticky substances.
Yes, even here. Most serious discussions soon deteriorate into playground antics.
Bear with me, please.
I never played computer games as a kid. There were no computers back then. That is how old I am.
And this gives me a certain perspective.
I played the earliest computer games as an adult. Hence, there is no childhood nostalgia involved when I remember them.
Then, those few clunky pixels were supposed to be a goblin? No problem. I could visualize the foul creature very well in my imagination.
Now, this three dee, bump-mapped, pixel-shaded, motion-captured, rag-dolled, plethora of lens-flared polygons is a goblin?
Well, it sure looks like a goblin, and a fine specimen at that. But why can't I chop it's limbs off? Blow it's nose? Smell it's pungent sweat? Engage in a polite conversation?
It looks so damn real!
Again, bear with me, please.
I believe Fallout was a bit of a fluke. The right people had the right idea at the right time. And, perhaps most important, technology had advanced just far enough.
It could be done, and Black Isle did it.
Now, I'm not saying that it can't happen again. It could. Just don't get your hopes up. And we should be thankful for what we recieve. Even if it's Oblivion.
Here I would like to offer some slight praise to Bethesda.
Daggerfall was horribly buggy. The convoluted dungeons was often a chore to navigate. You got stuck in the walls again and again. Every exit from an interior looked like a sewer exit, even if it was the front door of a castle. Always that same sewer exit, always with a skull. Just to mention a few of Daggerfall's shortcomings. Still, strangely, I enjoyed the game, possibly more than any other game I ever played. Bethesda was ambitious. The game world was huge. Bethesda did a lot of things right. And even more things wrong. The engine was flawed and the design was flawed. Still...
Still. I would like to offer some praise to Bethesda.
After Daggerfall I hoped that Bethesda would come up with an even better game in the same vein. One with all the stuff that made Daggerfall good, and less of the stuff that made Daggerfall ...frustrating.
Sadly, as we now all know, it was not to be. First, instead of playing to their strengths and make a true sequel to Daggerfall right away, Bethesda tried to "branch out" with Battlespire and Redguard, with little success. Later they got wiser and brought us Morrowind, which was better than Daggerfall in some ways, worse in some ways. Now we have Oblivion, which is better than Morrowind in some ways and worse in even more ways.
But I would like to offer some praise to Bethesda. For trying. For hanging in there. For giving us Oblivion, even if it's not really what we want.
Because, like Fallout, Daggerfall was a bit of a fluke.
Yes it was.
Look at all the things Bethesda got wrong. Like that sewer exit. What were they thinking? I suppose the exit-trigger was linked to that one texture. How much work could it be, to link the trigger to a few more textures? Never mind. Suffice to say, Bethesda were extremely amitious and extremely sloppy at the same time. And they struck gold somehow.
It's obvious from what followed that Bethesda never really understood what made Daggerfall so great. They stumbled in the dark with Battlespire and Redguard, found some of the pieces with Morrowind, lost a few pieces again with Oblivion. But they keep trying.
I really wanted to enjoy Oblivion, and to some extent, I succeeded. I played it quite a lot. It's not so bad. If nothing else, it's more stable and free of bugs than any other Bethesda game I've played. I'm thankful. And I do hope that the next game will be better. Since they don't really have a clue, Bethesda might get it right. They just might, as long as they try.
You see, Black Isle, who did know what they were doing in a way that Bethesda never did, produced some of the best computer role playing games ever.
And yet, Black Isle is not with us any more.
How unfair.
Well, I'm rambling now...
Please excuse an old man...
I'll continue playing Gothic 3 now. Piranha Bytes got quite a few things right with this one. I enjoy it immensely, though It's even buggier than Daggerfall ever was. Forces me to reboot my PC about once every 70 minutes of play or so. The fighting is frustrating as hell... Lots of little glitches... Must be the best game since... since perhaps Arcanum... Yes, definitely the best since Arcanum. And I'm thankful...
We should all play Gothic 3.
Because, frankly, what else is there now?
). oblivion wasn't a failed attempt at a good rpg. the only thing they failed at was a really working R.A.I. . everything else came out as they planned it. that just shows that they are bad at designing rpgs and at games that i would like. 
PWNT!!1!1!!!!11! 
