Elder Scrolls The Elder Scrolls: Blades - free to play, first-person RPG for mobile platforms

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Now it's 1.8K for both.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Taxnomore]

This game has good graphics, a random dungeon generator, RPG mechanics, town management, quests and sidequests...

Imagine what could have come of it if they hadn't decided to merely build it as a dopamine-addiction inducing syringe with no actual gameplay whatsoever.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

This game has good graphics, a random dungeon generator, RPG mechanics, town management, quests and sidequests...

Imagine what could have come of it if they hadn't decided to merely build it as a dopamine-addiction inducing syringe with no actual gameplay whatsoever.

A thing that can be said of all Bethesda Games Studios games...at least from Oblivion onwards.

 

[Whipped Cream]

"And Todd came to us an he was like, well you know, let's make a rogue game mixed with like Fruit Ninja kind of thing. And everybody was looking at each other like uhh okay, how do we do this now."
- Veronique Bruneau, lead producer of The Elder Scrolls: Blades at Bethesda Montreal

Source:


TES 6 is looking more and more doomed every day.

 

[Delterius]

"And Todd came to us an he was like, well you know, let's make a rogue game mixed with like Fruit Ninja kind of thing. And everybody was looking at each other like uhh okay, how do we do this now."

 

[cvv]

Sixteen times the detail!

 

[user]

"And Todd came to us an he was like, well you know, let's make a rogue game mixed with like Fruit Ninja kind of thing.

 

[RNGsus]

"And Todd came to us an he was like, well you know, let's make a rogue game mixed with like Fruit Ninja kind of thing. And everybody was looking at each other like uhh okay, how do we do this now."

The real pay off here is realizing they can't tell him no. They have to make the game he wants.

 

[Whipped Cream]

The real pay off here is realizing they can't tell him no. They have to make the game he wants.

Fallout Shelter was primarily made by a team at Behavior Interactive, a mobile studio in Montreal. After that game's commercial success the team that worked on it was de facto bought by Bethesda and turned into Bethesda Montreal.

Although there is probably quite a bit of collaboration going on between Bethesda Game Studio's four studios, its quite clear that Blades was primarily made by Bethesda Montreal, Fallout 76 is primarily being worked on by Bethesda Austin (formerly BattleCry Studios), Bethesda Maryland (the main studio) is primarily working on Starfield and Bethesda Dallas is primarily working on VR stuff.

In other words, even though a number of people who worked on Blades and 76 would probably have rather worked on Starfield or ES VI, most of the people who worked on those games were people who formerly worked in a studio devoted to mobile games (in the case of Blades) or in a studio devoted to multiplayer games as a service-type games (in the case of Fallout 76). So I honestly think that most of them were perfectly okay with the type of game they were making. I don't think that Todd had to force people at their main studio to work on mobile games against their will. Instead they hired people who already worked at a mobile studio to make those games.

Edit: The main reason why I posted the quote, apart from it being hilarious, is that it is a perfect example of an aspect of Todd that most people on the Codex already know: He's actually a quite casual gamer. He loves mobile games. He loves sports games. He loves Forza. He likes the running around and chopping people with a two-handed axe part of Elder Scrolls, but does not care much for the RPG aspects of the franchise. Hence his "streamlining away the RPG elements" approach to Elder Scrolls and Fallout is not just a case of trying to reach a wider audience. It is also a case of his personal tastes being reflected in those games.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

It's still actually very impressive to me how they could turn a setting as distinctive as TES, into a yet another soulless bland high fantasy universe in just 1 game.

 

[illuknisaa]

Apparently they killed it.

lol xdddd

edit: oops i mixed up games. The card game got cancelled and not this.

 

[Neerasrc]

The game is now in early access and I just started playing. The menu design and interface completely reminds of "oblivion". (This is a detail I like)

Now I'm level 10. The game has a very slow progress and the game starts to open as you skip the lvl. You have to buy (diamond) something to move fast, but you don't have to. I have never cared about mobile before, but as I they play this game, I think some of my ideas have started to change. My phone felt like a game console.

If you get used to the cumbersome nature of the game, the game is really enjoyable. I am currently trying to establish a "workshop" in my city. The game has a balanced and enjoyable challenge. The most interesting part is that you feel that you are playing a new TES series game. Bethesda managed to make it feel to me. (really interesting) It offers an experience that will make you feel like you are really at the PC when you are away from the PC. For those who do not have time, it is perfect for those who want to play a "TES" game in "Darkest dungeon" mode.

I advise.

 

[Feargus Jewhart]

The game is now in early access and I just started playing. The menu design and interface completely reminds of "oblivion". (This is a detail I like)

Now I'm level 10. The game has a very slow progress and the game starts to open as you skip the lvl. You have to buy (diamond) something to move fast, but you don't have to. I have never cared about mobile before, but as I they play this game, I think some of my ideas have started to change. My phone felt like a game console.

If you get used to the cumbersome nature of the game, the game is really enjoyable. I am currently trying to establish a "workshop" in my city. The game has a balanced and enjoyable challenge. The most interesting part is that you feel that you are playing a new TES series game. Bethesda managed to make it feel to me. (really interesting) It offers an experience that will make you feel like you are really at the PC when you are away from the PC. For those who do not have time, it is perfect for those who want to play a "TES" game in "Darkest dungeon" mode.

I advise.

Hi Todd! I see this is where you have resorted to shill, since F76 ain't doing so well. No one here is dumb enough to play your little pay2win scheme. Except maybe Crispy. Hi Crispy, I hope you don't get Corona.

 

[ProphetSword]

I think my favorite part is this:

If you get used to the cumbersome nature of the game, the game is really enjoyable.

You could literally change "the game" to anything and make a factual statement.

For example:

If you get used to the cumbersome nature of [getting kicked in the nuts], [getting kicked in the nuts] is really enjoyable.
If you get used to the cumbersome nature of [reading Neerasrc's posts], [reading Neerasrc's posts] is really enjoyable.

Go ahead, guys. You try.

 

[United Nations]

It's true that you can wrap a piece of shit in gift wrapping paper and put a ribbon on it, but it's still a piece of shit at the end of the day.

That's TES Blades in a nutshell.

The graphics are great for mobile (my Moto G Stylus can barely run it), it's somewhere between Oblivion and Skyrim.

The gameplay however is totally fucking awful.

You get one town to rebuild and decorate to your liking, which is about 20 empty lots or so, using a half dozen standardized building types (house, dwelling, workshop, blacksmith, alchemy lab, and enchanter).

There are also empty spaces to place random digital bullshit you collect during your "adventures:" banners, statues, wizard's rings, tombstones, etc... Even disgusting spider eggs I won from a quest that I sold immediately to the nearest vendor.

That's probably the dumbest part of the game overall, the plots that come in small, medium, and large to dump shit onto--some of which add to your town's prestige, some that do not.

I'm at level 17 and all of the quests and jobs that are assigned to you are all preset instances consisting of one of 5 environment types: dungeon, Ayleid crypt, forest, caves, or training arena (more like a sandbox enclosed by wooden stakes).

The tile sets are identical, the mobs are identical, the secret loot spots are basically identical, everything looks exactly the same.

In fact, the "secrets" are not so secret after all: the switch to access a secret area is glowing in yellow just like everything else you can interact with in-game.

Each time you level up, your HP automatically increases, you can increase stamina or magic, and you can dump points into one of three skill trees.

The race and customized look you picked at the start of the game doesn't matter because you can change it via an NPC in your town anytime you want to by spending gems, and you can reset your skill tree anytime as well by spending more gems.

Instead of a quest marker telling you where to go like other TES games, you follow a blue trail of ethereal light known as "clairvoyance," that can be toggled on/off in the game's settings.

The Abyss, or endless dungeon, is a completely stupid concept and is nothing short of pure laziness on the developer's part: it's one of 5 quest/job environments described above, minus secrets and special bosses.

You rush through floor after floor of sparsely populated identical mobs for gold, XP, and timed loot to win.

The loot is all random bullshit NPC's drop that consist of construction/crafting/alchemy mats, pots, emeralds, gold, scrolls, and armor/weapons/jewelry.

You combine emeralds and gold with mats to ramp up construction projects in your town or to craft armor, jewelry, and weapons for your toon.

You also collect rare leveled treasure chests, right now I can access wooden, silver, and gold chests that contain more of the above (basically the exact same thing as an NPC corpse drop, but with a greater chance for valuable items).

I came across what seemed like C&C, but the game is so fucking boring that I really didn't give a shit what random dialogue options NPC's offered to affect my relationship with them.

Everyday, you are given a free in-game "gift" which is basically random loot you would collect in-game anyways.

If you're stupid enough to spend real world cash on pay-to-win items, that's available too.

That $5 or $10 dollar bill that's burning a hole in your pocket might better be invested into a bullshit digital banner or moronic Ayleid fountain for your ugly ass town.

Of the 5 PvP matches I joined, two paired me with players half my level that I demolished, and the other three paired me with the same level 50 player that totally destroyed me in mere seconds... What a waste of time.

 

[United Nations]

Hi Todd! I see this is where you have resorted to shill, since F76 ain't doing so well. No one here is dumb enough to play your little pay2win scheme. Except maybe Crispy. Hi Crispy, I hope you don't get Corona.

My thoughts exactly, Feargus Jewhart. This is either Todd himself trying to catfish everybody or a fucking bot.

Crispy is the only one dumb enough to fall for it, he's #1 on the TES Blades PvP leaderboard in a sea of chinks.

I think my favorite part is this:

If you get used to the cumbersome nature of the game, the game is really enjoyable.

You could literally change "the game" to anything and make a factual statement.

For example:

If you get used to the cumbersome nature of [getting kicked in the nuts], [getting kicked in the nuts] is really enjoyable.
If you get used to the cumbersome nature of [reading Neerasrc's posts], [reading Neerasrc's posts] is really enjoyable.

Go ahead, guys. You try.

It's because Neerasrc is a bot deployed by Bethesda to sell their garbage game...

If you get used to the cumbersome nature of [sucking turds out of someone's asshole], [sucking turds out of someone's asshole] is really enjoyable.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Even disgusting spider eggs I won from a quest that I sold immediately to the nearest vendor.

Aw man, my wife is gonna kill me. Again.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

We never see pics of your wife?

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

We never see pics of your wife?

She's a natty bitch.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

The funniest thing about this game is they could've just ripped off something like Dark Dungeon and it probably would've cost them less than whatever this did, and it probably would've made them more money than this shit did. Like I'm sure they were expecting this thing to pull in crazy Fallout Shelter money for them, but it doesn't seem to have preformed anywhere as well as that game. Kind of surprised their Elder Scrolls iOS game wasn't basically just Fallout Shelter but with a dungeon crawling combat element.