Interview with Todd Howard?

[Forest Dweller]

I know this is probably setting me up for ridicule, but if Bethesda allows it and the staff here are cool with it I'd totally be down for doing an interview with Todd Howard. I have about ten or so questions about Skyrim floating in my head right now. We could use this thread to compile and edit all the questions to send his way. If this gets approved I'd be happy to.

No, this is not a joke.

Now, I know such a thing wouldn't be possible back in the Oblivion days (or even today with VD as the interviewer) but years have passed since then, and we DID give them our prestigious Most Improved Developer award back in 2008. So I don't think it's out of line to conduct an interview with them now. As for Bethesda allowing it - well if I do it it would be done seriously, and with courtesy. What do you think? Would they be okay with it? Also if my user name is an issue, I could use a different and/or my real name, or send my questions through one of the staff members.

Thoughts?

 

[King Crispy]

How do you propose to get a hold of him? Through TESF? Like that'll work. Or do you have some legit in somehow?

Besides, I don't think he'll do it anyway. Codex' reputation has driven it from the circle of trust of most developers, probably forever.

List your questions for the lulz anyway.

 

[Forest Dweller]

You're probably right. Still, I was thinking maybe DU or someone else from the staff could send an email to them saying, "Hey, we have some questions for Todd Howard, would he or someone else with the proper knowledge be interested in answering?"

If they refuse, we could also make a news post along the lines of "The Questions Todd Howard Refused to Answer" and then give commentary per question on what we think the real answers would be. Kind of a win-win.

 

[Sceptic]

I know this is probably setting me up for ridicule

Wouldn't be the first time

As for Bethesda allowing it - well if I do it it would be done seriously, and with courtesy. What do you think? Would they be okay with it?

Honestly? no, I don't think they'll be OK with it. Even if the questions are the most polite we can come up with (and good luck sifting through the thread to find polite questions; if I were you and could get DU to approve I'd compile all the questions myself with no outside input) they know the place and its history, and they know that just about any answer they give will get them ripped to shreds in the forums here. Their designs speak for themselves; if the answers confirm the designs they'll mock them, and if they don't they'll be called out as liars. It's a lose/lose situation for them. Why would Todd ever bother when he has his own playground? There's no amount of guarantee you can give them for seriousness and courtesy either - you can guarantee that for the questions, but not for the locals' reaction on here.

Still, if you have the questions and have some channel to contact him, you have nothing to lose. Definitely use your real name though (in contacting him at least) if you want to be taken seriously.

 

[Jaesun]

The will not even talk to you if you even mention the codex.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

PM me your questions.

 

[ortucis]

Maybe posters here can keep in mind Dragon Age 2 before ripping apart Skyrim or Todd Howard. I mean BioWare DID make a GDC presentation telling everyone how cinematic DA2 is compared to Skyrim previews which are actually more promising for an RPG sequel.

Even if half of the features for Skyrim are implemented, even half heartedly, it'll be a considerable improvement over Oblivion or DA2 (plus Fallout 3 was fun and also gave us Vegas).

 

[Forest Dweller]

I thought I'd post them here first, in case someone thinks of something to ask that I didn't. Also to make sure I'm not asking something that wasn't already answered in one of the previews. 'k?

Anyway give me a couple of hours. I haven't written them yet.

(Btw do you think there's really a shot?)

 

[Excommunicator]

I think you would have a shot, simply because of the likelihood that he would be professional about it and answer them.

But you aren't going to get some amazing insights, especially when he is in pre-release hype mode. They will be stock-standard answers to questions that lead on into how awesome a game Skyrim will be and how much they thought about the fans when they designed it the way they did.

 

[laclongquan]

You're probably right. Still, I was thinking maybe DU or someone else from the staff could send an email to them saying, "Hey, we have some questions for Todd Howard, would he or someone else with the proper knowledge be interested in answering?"

If they refuse, we could also make a news post along the lines of "The Questions Todd Howard Refused to Answer" and then give commentary per question on what we think the real answers would be. Kind of a win-win.

Now that is properly a journalist's approach. I like. Do it.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Fuck, this is taking longer than I thought.

On question 10 at the moment.

 

[zeitgeist]

There's really not a lot to gain by doing an interview with a currently active industry figure nowadays. At best you'll get a bunch of non-answers sprinkled with a bit of hype for the newest title, and one or two wink-wink nudge-nudge answers that show how hip and with it the interviewee is.

Historical personae (inactive developers, or sometimes even active developers interviewed in a historical context) are much more interesting, but they too will avoid any meaningful discussion about the current state of things.

 

[curry]

Ask how it feels to be the crackwhores of game industry

 

[Forest Dweller]

Alright, here they are. Looking at it now I think I may have gone overboard.

Anyway:

• 1) First off, why Skyrim? There are a lot of unexplored regions in TES lore, particularly in the south. What made you decide to return to the north?
  
  2) How does the game start off? Are you in prison once again, or is it something different? Also, as far as the main quest is concerned, does it start off with a bang, like Oblivion’s, or is it more of a slow build-up, like Morrowind’s?
  
  3) One of the prominent phrases here at RPG Codex is C&C, which stands for Choices and Consequences. It’s something we value highly in RPGs. What it basically means is that based on the decisions you make, certain options will be opened up and others will simultaneously be closed. In an interview prior to Oblivion’s release, Pete Hines once said that a major element of the Elder Scrolls series was the fact that you could never be locked out of anything – in other words, no C&C. This was certainly true for Oblivion. However, if one looks further back, it was not always the case. Morrowind had various guilds who were at odds (for instance the Thieves’ and Fighters’ Guild) and had some mutually exclusive quests, as well as three competing houses. Daggerfall had choices throughout the main quest that cut off certain things and influenced the game’s ending.* So my question is: in regards to C&C, will Skyrim be like Oblivion, or will it be more along the lines of Morrowind and Daggerfall - or perhaps even Fallout 3?
  
  *Needs confirmation from someone who has played Daggerfall
  
  4) Similar to the above question, what can you tell us about factions in the game? The monologue in the trailer hints at a civil war and opposing factions. Can we expect such in the game? If you can’t answer that yet, can you at least tell us whether there will be more than the four guilds that were present in Oblivion?
  
  5) Perhaps my favorite quest from Oblivion was the final Thieves’ Guild quest, due to its length and the number of steps involved. Will Skyrim have its fair share of EPIC quests as well? Also what about the general number of quests compared to Oblivion – is it the same, more, or less?
  
  6) One of the big criticisms of Oblivion over at the Codex involves what we view as a setting inconsistency – the fact that there is this very obvious demonic invasion going on, but for the most part people go about their daily lives oblivious (pun intended) to this and are very happy to give you (comparitively) meaningless quests to their hearts’ content. Morrowind also had a threat, but it was in the background and most people didn’t know about it, so the behavior’s of normal NPCs made more sense. How does the main quest of Skyrim fare in comparison? Obviously we know it involves dragons returning. Will dragon attacks be on the same level of prominence as Oblivion gates opening right outside towns, or will it be something rarer and/or not as big of an immediate threat?
  
  7) From previews, we know that the main character is “Dragonborn” and that he is the prophesied hero that will defeat the dragons. What specifically is it about being Dragonborn that will allow him to succeed? In the trailer we can see that he appears to be immune to fire. And then obviously there are also the dragon shouts. Is there anything else to it, or it basically just a matter of him having skills that make fighting dragons considerably easier, and thus giving him an edge over normal men?
  
  8) Can you explain the dragon shouts a little more? Will they be tied to mana, or perhaps a DnD-esque “one-a-day” type thing, or something else? Will they be able to be used frequently or are they supposed to be rarer? Also, a preview stated that three runes make up a shout, and that runes could be gathered from defeating dragons and finding them in caves. Is it a matter of getting three runes and then getting to pick a shout, or are specific runes tied to specific shouts? Also, what is the ratio of runes gained from defeating dragons versus runes discovered on cave walls? (This is mainly to get an idea of how many dragons are in the game.)
  
  9) In TES lore, dragons are obviously intelligent creatures. With that in mind, are there any instances of conversation/dialogue with dragons? Perhaps even non-violent confrontations?
  
  10) Okay, let’s turn to the gameworld now. Most of us at the Codex were pleased to discover that, unlike Oblivion, Skyrim seems to be much more like Morrowind in terms of unique geographical areas, as well as cities with their own unique look and architecture. You’ve stated that there are five main cities in the game. Can you give a brief run-down of each one and what makes it special?
  
  11) Following up on the above question, will those five cities be the only settlements in the game, or will it also feature smaller settlements, such as the towns, fishing villages, and tribal camps that Morrowind had?
  
  12) One thing that is obviously new to the geographic design in an Elder Scrolls game* is the really mountainous landscapes that appear to be in Skyrim. In other games everything was pretty much open and you could go in any direction (more or less - Red Mountain excluded). With such rugged terrain, will we be likely to see certain areas that are less accessible/more of a chore to get to, or instances where you’re funnelled into specific passes? Some interesting locations could be designed around this premise.
  
  *Unless Daggerfall had them? Someone let me know.
  
  13) In regards to the level scaling, various previews seem to suggest that it is more like the scaling in Fallout 3 as opposed to Oblivion. Can you confirm if this is true or not? If so, are there any locations in the world that are designed to thoroughly rape a low-level character?
  
  14) Okay, let’s talk about crime in Skyrim. In Oblivion, the guards were often psychic, immediately running toward you if you killed someone on the other side of town. Also, when stealing something, you could put your sneak skill to work, but you often didn’t need to, as it was usually easy enough to simply run in, grab what you needed, run back out with guards chasing you, all the way to that one Thieves’ Guild guy, get your bounty taken away, and then the guards would magically stop following you. Are any steps being taken to address these issues? Also, is crime still global this time around, or is there any settlement reputation system in place?
  
  15) While viewing previews and reading things about being able to cook, chop wood and such, as well as seeing some of that in the trailer, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Gothic series. I was wondering, have you or any members of your team played any of those games, and if so, is there anything you have taken away from them in regards to Skyrim?
  
  16) From previews, it has been stated that Skyrim will be “classless.” This seems to imply that there will be no major skills, which in turn seems to imply that there will be no stat modifications when raising level. Are these assumptions true? If so, why strip away those customization options?
  
  17) Turning to the new feature in levelling – perks – you’ve said that players will have a variety of perks to choose from when skills reach a certain level, and that you can’t get them all in a single playthrough. Judging from that description, it sounds like perks will behave as an RPG-ish tech-tree of sorts. Is that true? That would be something new in an Elder Scrolls “be-all-you-can-be” type of game.
  
  18) Okay, just a few more questions. One of the screenshots in the GameInfomer* issue seems to show a picture of the skills screen – with skills being horizontally scrollable. That may be cool for consoles, but is there any chance that us PC players can get a proper list with everything viewable at a glance? Also, what about font sizes? Will we be able to change them? We’d prefer not to have to look at Xbox fonts for the visually impaired again.
  
  *It was GameInformer right?
  
  19) The Elder Scrolls series are obviously known for their strong modding community. I know this may be a difficult questions to answer due to the sheer volume of mods available, but were there any mods in particular for Oblivion that impressed you or caught your eye?
  
  20) And now the final question. Your most recent developed game was Fallout 3, which has similarities to the Elder Scrolls but also many differences as well. Coming out of that, do you think it influenced your development on Skyrim at all? If so, what do you think you took away the most from working on that game?

Okay, anyone point out any errors if they see them. Suggestions are welcome as well. And please answer my questions about Daggerfall.

 

[Shannow]

Good idea.
I do think they might go with an email-interview if the questions are worded in a polite manner (haven read them yet, no time). But a real interview requires follow up questions. Otherwise it's just PR. If you want to give Zenimax more PR...

 

[Angthoron]

Good questions. I would suggest replacing "rape" in q13 to "destroy" or something though.

 

[Fowyr]

If you pissed off faction in the end of Daggerfall, it sends assassins after you, if you have good standing with it - it sends polite offer to partake with Totem for various favors. Who gets the Totem defines ending.
Can't remember mountains in Daggerfall.

 

[Tycn]

The standard nowadays is to away information at a trickle in order to build up hype and have fanbois drooling over every frame of your 30 second trailers. Yet here you are with questions (lots of them) that are revealing, specific, and on a site whose mere mention warrants a permaban... can't say I see it happening.

 

[ortucis]

I'd be suprised if all those questions get answered by him at all. Still, it's better than calling their game Rimshot or something in most threads.

Maybe ask them whether PC version will get Fallout 3 like advanced options. I loved how unlike Oblivion, F3 added GUI elements for all ini tweaks by default. Kudos to Bethesda for that itself.

 

[Kz3r0]

The only questions the hivemind has interest in:

Q:For your Fallout 3 expansions, Fallout:New Vegas and Dead Money,you employed an external studio, Obsidian, involving many of the original developers of Fallout, are you satisfied with the final result?

Q:The codex was overtly pleased by it, so, are you considering more collaborations with them in the future, as the Codex hopes?

Q:If so, will they be limited only to the Fallout franchise or will involve other Bethesda 's IPs?


Less important:
Q:What defines Tes as an RPG in your opinion?

Q:Are you planning to make TES more action oriented as the actual trend is or focus more on RPG's mechanics?

Q:In this case which mechanics will you like to implement and which will you think can be expanded further?

Thank you for your time.

 

[MetalCraze]

Q:For your Fallout 3 expansions, Fallout:New Vegas and Dead Money,you employed an external studio, Obsidian, involving many of the original developers of Fallout, are you satisfied with the final result?

The only original developer of Fallout that New Vegas had was one of its programmers.

I thought pretentious fucks on the Codex at least knew something about their games?

 

[Kz3r0]

Q:For your Fallout 3 expansions, Fallout:New Vegas and Dead Money,you employed an external studio, Obsidian, involving many of the original developers of Fallout, are you satisfied with the final result?

The only original developer of Fallout that New Vegas had was one of its programmers.

I thought pretentious fucks on the Codex at least knew something about their games?

Bethesda has just announced that we'll be getting a new Fallout from the folks who know it best - the original developers.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/ ... llout-Devs

 

[DwarvenFood]

I like question 20. Would not be a proper Codexian interview without mentioning Fallout, even though it had to be 3.

Question 5 seems a bit like trolling, and I would scrap question 6, I think it is a bit too edgy.


Good idea and there is always a chance, even though it might be extremely small. We did get questions answered on the cancelled Wizardy 8, did we not

 

[MetalCraze]

Bethesda has just announced that we'll be getting a new Fallout from the folks who know it best - the original developers.

You mean like

Bethesda has said that Fallout 3 will be a true sequel to an original game

circa 2007

So as soon as it came to the newspost that had "Obsidian" word in it Pete Hines suddenly started saying the truth and not just hype for Fallout baawwwing tards?



Where is Boyarsky? Where is Anderson? Where is Cain? I don't see them in Obsidian. And they are the original team pretty much - then of course Fallout got more devs and only Scott Everts I think is the only guy that was related to original Fallout in Obsidian.

Even Sawyer who is responsible for the retarded shit about romans fighting tribal cowboys and ww2 vets wasn't there when BIS was formed after Fallout.

 

[FatCat]

I believe CDPR guy's would definitely agree for an interview