thras
Novice
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2006
- Messages
- 29
I got into Bethesda's games with Arena. I was a teenager back then, and thought the game was a lot of fun. I liked solving puzzles, I liked the combination of magic and swordplay, I liked being able to travel across a large and diverse area.
I bought Daggerfall when it came out. I played it for a while and hated it. First, there were more bugs than game. Second, the random dungeons were worse than godawful. They were all exactly the same, but jumbled up. The skill system was poorly thought out. It was like they had come up with the system independently of how it was supposed to play.
I then bought Morrowind when it came out. It had some interesting parts, but for the most part it was boring as hell. It didn't feel as adult and scary as Daggerfall. All of the dungeons were one or two room creations. The massive amount of walking just to get anywhere was incredibly boring -- there wasn't anything interesting for you to see, just lots of cliffracers. The skill system was again designed independently of how it would actually play. You aren't rewarded for trying new things, you're rewarded for doing the same damn thing a million times. Wonderful--if I were obsessive-compulsive. The artwork was dreary and uninspired. I couldn't stand looking at it for long. And for the pitiful size of the dungeons, there wasn't much to differentiate them from each other. Also, gameplay boiled down to killing things. No puzzles, no interesting spells (lots of boring spells), all the quests had one answer. Some things were interesting however, especially the mystery of the Dwemer. There was some depth to the game. (Not what I recalled from Daggerfall and Arena however. Shops didn't even close at night.)
Then Oblivion came along and I got it. The combat was better. Dungeons were better. (Still awfully limited, with three basic patterns and no real puzzles. It's horrible how little story depth there is to them. The closest I've come to feeling like I was in a real place was reading the inscriptions on the tombs when I picked up Uriel Septim's armor. So artificial.) The magic system was still boring. The skill system was still brain-damaged. The gameplay was still only about killing. The story and artwork were uninspired to say the least. The leveling system sucked the fun out of character progress. The developers nerfed enchanting and the only actual interesting spells from Morrowind (which didn't have a great magic system itself, just direct damage and damage over time spells -- boring -- but it did have levitation). I don't understand why developers were so concerned about making god-charcters impossible in a single-player game. I don't understand what levitation would have taken away from the game.
What I don't understand about Bethesda is the wasted opportunity at every turn. Their games are always 80% of the way to being interesting and fun. Why don't they go the extra step and make a masterpiece?
And why does everybody fawn over their games? I'd like to see how their marketing budget gets spent.
I bought Daggerfall when it came out. I played it for a while and hated it. First, there were more bugs than game. Second, the random dungeons were worse than godawful. They were all exactly the same, but jumbled up. The skill system was poorly thought out. It was like they had come up with the system independently of how it was supposed to play.
I then bought Morrowind when it came out. It had some interesting parts, but for the most part it was boring as hell. It didn't feel as adult and scary as Daggerfall. All of the dungeons were one or two room creations. The massive amount of walking just to get anywhere was incredibly boring -- there wasn't anything interesting for you to see, just lots of cliffracers. The skill system was again designed independently of how it would actually play. You aren't rewarded for trying new things, you're rewarded for doing the same damn thing a million times. Wonderful--if I were obsessive-compulsive. The artwork was dreary and uninspired. I couldn't stand looking at it for long. And for the pitiful size of the dungeons, there wasn't much to differentiate them from each other. Also, gameplay boiled down to killing things. No puzzles, no interesting spells (lots of boring spells), all the quests had one answer. Some things were interesting however, especially the mystery of the Dwemer. There was some depth to the game. (Not what I recalled from Daggerfall and Arena however. Shops didn't even close at night.)
Then Oblivion came along and I got it. The combat was better. Dungeons were better. (Still awfully limited, with three basic patterns and no real puzzles. It's horrible how little story depth there is to them. The closest I've come to feeling like I was in a real place was reading the inscriptions on the tombs when I picked up Uriel Septim's armor. So artificial.) The magic system was still boring. The skill system was still brain-damaged. The gameplay was still only about killing. The story and artwork were uninspired to say the least. The leveling system sucked the fun out of character progress. The developers nerfed enchanting and the only actual interesting spells from Morrowind (which didn't have a great magic system itself, just direct damage and damage over time spells -- boring -- but it did have levitation). I don't understand why developers were so concerned about making god-charcters impossible in a single-player game. I don't understand what levitation would have taken away from the game.
What I don't understand about Bethesda is the wasted opportunity at every turn. Their games are always 80% of the way to being interesting and fun. Why don't they go the extra step and make a masterpiece?
And why does everybody fawn over their games? I'd like to see how their marketing budget gets spent.