Interview Todd Howard: 15 years of screwing up Elder Scrolls

[Dionysus]

That's not even comparable to the Fallout situation. We all know that the TES fans will get what they want AND an MMO.

 

[Luzur]

That's not even comparable to the Fallout situation. We all know that the TES fans will get what they want AND an MMO.

Have comments or criticism from previous games have had effects on how future games were developed? And can you give any specific examples you remember? (ex: Did comments about having to read lots of text in Morrowind lead to voice acting and lip-sync dialog in Oblivion?)
I guess the most recent example would be the static NPCs in Morrowind, going to Radiant AI in Oblivion. That was a major system we did to address that issue. Took us years and years to do it. In regards to voice, most hardcore fans didn’t complain about reading, fans love to read, it’s everyone else who hates it. And that’s something that fans should understand, that we take a very global view of things, and we may do things they don’t like because we’re also soliciting feedback they don’t see, from the 99% of people playing the game that don’t come to our forums. It’s a lot of people, and they just aren’t passionate enough to get online, register, and post, but that doesn’t make them stupid, or their opinions any less valid. There are things they want out of the games that would surprise people. In general, we take a very eclectic view of the gaming world. We’re fans of most genres, and try to cast a pretty wide net in terms of what we’ll try in a game.

unfortunatly, these new "TES-fans" will.

 

[Talonfire]

Thank you Todd Howard for trying to appeal to everyone except the RPG community. You are a beacon of light in the darkness that is the gaming industry. Even Skyway loves you Todd, and that's saying a lot. Hats off, the RPG Codex will always appreciate your taste and inability to listen to actual RPG players.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

I loathe how much the word "immersion" is tossed around... The Thief games were immersive, the Shock games (except Bioshock) were immersive, but Oblivion and Fallout 3 are NOT immersive.

It's like a guy with amnesia, waking up every day with no memory of the day before and looking at a word of the day calendar that has the word "Immersion" printed on it and he doesn't remember that he's said it over and over again for the last couple of years so he gets out of bed and uses it all day and then does the same the day after.

Sigh...

 

[Volrath]

When did Wyrmlord turn into a chick?

 

[Talonfire]

When did Wyrmlord turn into a chick?

It was a retcon in the latest issue of Codex Monthly.

 

[Avu]

Can't wait for the TES MMO. Sooner or later what goes around comes around. TEStards your time is coming. Immerse yourself along millions of people just as retarded as you. And if there is a god the mmo will be a failure too so Zenimax will hurt a little bit too.

And Ausir don't you know anything? If you want Fallout to remain true to its roots you are stuck in the past if you want TES to move on you are obviously a troll.

 

[JarlFrank]

Seriously, Luzur, I thought you knew better than that. What other legal means than ebay were there for Daggerfall? And why would you reference to anything with nudity in it? This is fairly normal stuff on other boards.

lol
Yeah, he posted nudity FROM A GAME THAT WAS DEVELOPED BY THE GUYS WHO OWN THE FORUM. So he gets banned. For posting something related to a Bethesda game on the official Bethesda forums. If you don't find this fairly normal, you're crazy.

Also, there's Amazon marketplace, too. Not only ebay. And you might always get lucky finding it in a shop.

 

[Murk]

Bethsoft forums - the place you CAN'T talk about Bethsoft games.

 

[Texas Red]

Jesus Christ at this nonsense that it is "easy" to get banned on other forums.

You people are out of touch with standards of behaviour that moderated forums have. End of story. Just because your self-determined standards do not match those of the forums does not matter; you are there on their terms and not yours.

Seriously, Luzur, I thought you knew better than that. What other legal means than ebay were there for Daggerfall? And why would you reference to anything with nudity in it? This is fairly normal stuff on other boards.

You guys just don't get it - you are not supposed to take any antagonistic stance on moderated forums. You're not supposed to come in with a chip on your shoulder, you're not supposed to relegate a man's thinking ability to his opinions on games, you're not supposed to start reprimanding people for their stance on anything; this is not how normal forums work.

Me and Jimbob were ESF refugees and could tell you stories that would put the hair on your back stand up. They crossed the line many years ago when even mentioning the Codex would get you banned. Don't know if you were "around" at that time but that's the dark of it, mention RPGCodex and you're banned. Not that you can even *do* that since RPGCodex is automatically converted in to "I love Oblivion" and overcoming this spellcheck will get you an IP ban.

 

[Tails]

Nice one Ausir though it's really sad that you get banned for few days, damn Bethnazis.

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

Your account has been temporarily suspended. This suspension is due to end on Aug 30 1955, 09:41 AM.

We got a mole, guys. Well, that account lasted too long anyway.

 

[KreideBein]

How did a news post about a Todd Howard interview turn into a group rant about the ESF? Yes, they sometimes go overboard in their moderating. Everyone already knows that; it happens on every forum that has a well-defined set of rules. It's not news. It's not a reason to go there and try to troll people.

Anyway, about the news item: I actually kind of agree with Howard's sentiment of not doing "+1" sequels, at least in the sense of not marketing something which is essentially an expansion with minor graphical upgrades as a full sequel. If you're going to release another game in a series, you should try to fix the broken mechanics and gameplay elements, as well as add something compelling to differentiate the new game from the old game(s). That's something that made FO2 kind of stale; the whole game felt like a glorified expansion (or even a mod) of the first FO, as pretty much everything worked the same as its predecessor. Of course, the ES implementation of that sentiment doesn't always work out (the changes in the combat and AI were pretty awful, as is their continued refusal to fix the utterly awful character system that the ES games use stand as testaments to that). As someone mentioned earlier, FO3 was in most ways better than OB, so hopefully Bethesda will transplant some of the ideas from FO3 to ES5, if it ever gets made.

And speaking of which, I really do hope that they make an ES5. There's a high probability that the Todd factor will make it a steaming pile of shit similar to OB, but there's always an irrational glimmer of hope that they'll finally get it right and make an ES game that combines all the best aspects of the previous games in the series.

 

[poocolator]

Jesus Christ at this nonsense that it is "easy" to get banned on other forums.

You people are out of touch with standards of behaviour that moderated forums have. End of story. Just because your self-determined standards do not match those of the forums does not matter; you are there on their terms and not yours.

Seriously, Luzur, I thought you knew better than that. What other legal means than ebay were there for Daggerfall? And why would you reference to anything with nudity in it? This is fairly normal stuff on other boards.

You guys just don't get it - you are not supposed to take any antagonistic stance on moderated forums. You're not supposed to come in with a chip on your shoulder, you're not supposed to relegate a man's thinking ability to his opinions on games, you're not supposed to start reprimanding people for their stance on anything; this is not how normal forums work.

You speak as if their forums were dignified and populated with the uppermost crust of "internet intellectuals." We're talking about Bethesda Forums; they bring it on themselves. Fuck forum etiquette, because they deserve none. And as far as "relegating a man's thinking ability to his opinion on games" goes, in this case I think it's excused: while I don't agree with many other a Codexer's opinion on certain games, I appreciate that they can enumerate valid arguments and reasons for its being that way, without resorting to bitchiness and 13-year-old-boy-speak.

 

[Black]

Priceless thread is priceless:

http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index ... 8904&st=80

I never thought you were such a good troll.

 

[Secretninja]

How did a news post about a Todd Howard interview turn into a group rant about the ESF? Yes, they sometimes go overboard in their moderating. Everyone already knows that; it happens on every forum that has a well-defined set of rules. It's not news. It's not a reason to go there and try to troll people.

Obvious troll is obvious.
Ausir, this is why you are my hero.
Wyrmlord, this is why everyone hates you.

 

[Talonfire]

Priceless thread is priceless:

http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index ... 8904&st=80

I never thought you were such a good troll.

Usually he's not; Ausir is generally very passive on the Bethesda forums. I think he's finally snapped. I'm quite amazed that he got banned before I did.

 

[denizsi]

suspension for deliberately introducing Fallout into a TES discussion despite specific moderator in- topic advice not to do so

Those fucks are creepy.

 

[toro]

TES mmorpg will be a failure as the mmorpgs market is already saturated with a dozen of generic rpgs and Bethesda is clearly not capable to go on uncharted territories like Eve or Tcos. By focusing extensively on the online project, they definitely increase the chance of an epic failure. This is actually great news.

 

[Secretninja]

So are their forums on lockdown? Because I tried to register and they haven't sent me an activation link yet.
Rofl at how super serial the thread got after Ausir was no longer "derailing"

 

[bhlaab]

BTW, Todd Howard announced at his QuakeCon speech that they have no plans for Elder Scrolls 5.
link

Bethesda PR translation: We're making Elder Scrolls 5 but don't want to talk about it until wet and new vegas are out

 

[poocolator]

Rather it means they don't have a direction for Elder Scrolls 5 and that they're just slapping whatever shit pops to mind into it. It's the same way they made FO3.

 

[bat_boro]

I hope they at least use the RAGE engine for their next project, I'm sick of that buggy ugly piece of shit they're using right now

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Bethesda PR translation: We're making Elder Scrolls 5 but don't want to talk about it until wet and new vegas are out

What does Wet have to do with this? Bethesda's just a publisher in its case. Good point about New Vegas though.

 

[Emotional Vampire]

When did Wyrmlord turn into a chick?

It was a retcon in the latest issue of Codex Monthly.

If Wyrmlord was a chick I'd totally hit him. Her.