TES So what could Bethesda do different?

The Elder Scrolls: Other games and info

TheWharfMaster

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Really, lets ask ourselves, again, because I know you've all asked the same question. At least anyone with a care for what game they're wrapped up in has.
Lets start with the enemy encounters…why is it, that every time a round a corner in a Bthsda game, I can expect what ill see? Let me put it this way, no matter the fiercest, most terrifying beast Bthsda could whip up, all he would be doing is standing in a hallway or a room, facing some direction, waiting to be activated by your presence. Then when the battle begins ooh boy…wait, hes charging me! Oh no hes got a war hammer! Oh my god hes airily gliding around me now and swinging like a madman! Hes pummeling me with this war hammer and all im getting is a health bar going down and the sound of a man grunting.
See my problem here? While playing these games, there ceases to be one in-your-face encounter, nothing even remotely terrifying or dark, in fact a good portion of the games are laughable.
But hey, maybe thats not what Bethesda's going for, maybe they want a family-friendly, arcade-like health bar stamina bar noise, fine, the numbers sure show good things. But you know what, I feel like if players got one taste of a real game, a game made for them, made to immerse yourself in for hours, they wouldnt believe what they settled for from Bethesda. I mean come on, the technology is getting ridiculous! We can render such beautiful images today, and yet we're still stuck playing adventure games fighting characters that walk like they have sticks up their arses. I want dynamic encounters, random events based on my choices, I mean havent these people seen Lord of the Rings? Okay, imagine walking through a forest (another thing you dont see enough of in games, god damn FOREST) and coming upon a giant, sitting on a stump, chewing a branch. Now first of all, you have a realistic, believable encounter, not a wicked cool giant just standing, looking into the woods, you find this creature in its element, its natural environment. Now what if it took a few whiffs of the air, smelled your man flesh, and took notice. What if it got to its feet, and pounced on you, pinning you down and snarling in your face. Now thats an enemy encounter. And none of this 'Im just going to swing at your face and legs until you die' crap. Allow players to mount their larger foes. Allow options for climbing and free arm use, and match those controls with the command controls for getting out of situations and climbing large foes (slight example: Right trigger swings right weapon, well Right trigger should govern the right arm to an extent during interactive scenarios)
I realize I went off a bit on the enemy encounters and not so much the other areas of concern, but honestly my biggest problem with these Bethesda games are the stiff animations and characters. It looks stiff, but it also plays stiff. Too stiff if you ask me, wheres the option to approach a situation a million different ways, where the dynamic world that changes with you, wheres the option to live a different live without having to fight, and make a living and technically 'Beat the Game' through your own means, not just by the way the game makers allow. I just cant tell you people enough, I will be your savior; to put in the years and years of time, education and work to bring you the mightiest and only RPG. None will be left standing once my creation busts down the door. Thanks for reading, stay posted.
 
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A huge text, man...

Look, there is IMO only one thing Bethesda (could?) should do different next time and it's bugfixing. The game was selling like a cure, I still can't believe they didn't pay a team to fix if not all then at least 90% of annoyances.
 
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Still learning to compile information in a way thats appealing to the eye, lol thanks for the critique
I agree about the bugs, even though they never killed my experience too bad.
What im pointing at though, are the choices they've made as designers to make games the they way they make them. They have the funds, they have the equipment, and they have the seat of power so why are they dishing out mediocre roleplaying experiences? If I had the chair, id do a million things differently. As far as im concerned, its all what you choose to do with your resources.
A lot of people said it right though, as far as Bethesda themselves, rather than what We would do if we were them, and thats that Bethesda has already laid their mark, made their franchise, and the games sell, so we cant expect them to come out with the game buster. It would have to be another group. They would have to come from a completely different direction, not modeling their game after the competition, but after something completely different.
 
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Still learning to compile information in a way thats appealing to the eye, lol thanks for the critique..

I recommend that you split your text into smaller paragraphs, and insert a blank line between paragraphs. Makes what you write more inviting.

Welcome to the Watch.

pibbur who
 
If you haven't yet, I recommend that you give the Gothic series a try. They excel in atmosphere and succeed in creating a realistic world, unsurpassed yet IMHO.
 
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I would just like them to make the factions more realistic and exclusive. To rise to the head of the Mage's guild, for instance, you must not only prove yourself to be a good quest-runner, you must also be a powerful magic user as well. As it is now, you can lead the guild being a magic noob! Would a guild of powerful mages allow that? Does it even seem in the least bit sensible?
I dont think so.

You cannot also be the head of the Fighters and Thives guild too, there needs to be exclusivity, make the choice matter.
 
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I would just like them to make the factions more realistic and exclusive. To rise to the head of the Mage's guild, for instance, you must not only prove yourself to be a good quest-runner, you must also be a powerful magic user as well. As it is now, you can lead the guild being a magic noob! Would a guild of powerful mages allow that? Does it even seem in the least bit sensible?
I dont think so.

You cannot also be the head of the Fighters and Thives guild too, there needs to be exclusivity, make the choice matter.

In my opinion, becoming master of these guilds is more of a political aspiration, rather than a skill-based one. Yes, there should be some skill involved, but if you are the guy doing all the leg work for the guild, building yourself up within it's ranks, and cleansing the world of the imminent evil, then you should also be the one leading the guild in the end. Doesn't matter if you're the most skilled or notl, you are still the most worthy because you did all the hard work and saved the day. That's how I look at it anyway.

Think about this. What sense would it make to save the guild, and then be told, "oh, but your skill with long blades isn't high enough to become Grandmaster, sorry about that". Dude, I Just saved the guild from a certain doom, I should be rewarded as such. I think anyone displaying the fortitude to save the guild from whatever is threatening it should eventually become the leader of that guild as well.
 
To address the main post in this thread-

I like what you have to say. However, Bethesda's games are more about exploring a vast open-world where you are allowed to go anywhere and do whatever you want. Enemy encounters are important and I think Bethesda has done a pretty good job in their games of making them interesting, but I imagine that current technology limits their games all the way around. I'm sure they would love to make encounters like you described in your text, but really, think about it. Instead of seeing a giant chewing on a stick sitting on a stump, you have giants patrolling the tundras with their mammoths, sometimes in camps, etc. You have to use your imagination too. Imagine what the giant is doing in that camp, where he is walking to, what he's eaten that day, etc. Bethesda games are 100% better when you use your imagination.

But what you're saying is you want less imagination, more actual game reflecting these things. Well, that will probably happen down the line, when technology gets better, or another company comes along and does the little things that Bethesda doesn't. We'll just have to see. But in the end, they are games, and using your imagination with them makes them so much better.

But I do see what you're saying. By the way, the mounting enemies you speak of exists in another open-world RPG, Dragon's Dogma. You can mount large enemies and attack their weak points to bring them down. I haven't played it yet, but it sounds like it has some of the dynamic encounters you may be looking for. Although enemies in that game probably still just stand around waiting to be killed :D.
 
I would just like them to make the factions more realistic and exclusive. To rise to the head of the Mage's guild, for instance, you must not only prove yourself to be a good quest-runner, you must also be a powerful magic user as well. As it is now, you can lead the guild being a magic noob! Would a guild of powerful mages allow that? Does it even seem in the least bit sensible?
I dont think so.

You cannot also be the head of the Fighters and Thives guild too, there needs to be exclusivity, make the choice matter.

This is what I would like to see.There should be quests that exculude one another,I didn't like the fact that you help young lovers in name of Mara during day and spill blood for Sithis during the night.Many don't like it but I think that bit tweaked karma system from fallout would fit TES series(Morrowind and Oblivion had infamy system but it had too little effect).
 
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In my opinion, becoming master of these guilds is more of a political aspiration, rather than a skill-based one. Yes, there should be some skill involved, but if you are the guy doing all the leg work for the guild, building yourself up within it's ranks, and cleansing the world of the imminent evil, then you should also be the one leading the guild in the end. Doesn't matter if you're the most skilled or notl, you are still the most worthy because you did all the hard work and saved the day. That's how I look at it anyway.

Think about this. What sense would it make to save the guild, and then be told, "oh, but your skill with long blades isn't high enough to become Grandmaster, sorry about that". Dude, I Just saved the guild from a certain doom, I should be rewarded as such. I think anyone displaying the fortitude to save the guild from whatever is threatening it should eventually become the leader of that guild as well.

I disagree with this.Why would mage guild let some warrior that knows only spell that is required to get in to lead them them.It's not logical to let someone that is clueless of magic to lead mages.
 
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If you haven't yet, I recommend that you give the Gothic series a try. They excel in atmosphere and succeed in creating a realistic world, unsurpassed yet IMHO.

Totally agree, their factions system, alignment and choice is probably the best that I have seen (Fallout New Vegas is a very close contender if not equal though).
 
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I disagree with is.Why would mage guild let some warrior that knows only spell that is required to get in to lead them them.It's not logical to let someone that is clueless of magic to lead mages.

Yes it is logical. I will explain why, briefly.

That warrior who is clueless of magic, saved the guild from imminent disaster. If we use Skyrim's guild for our basis here, the guild was in serious trouble. Hell, the entire world of Tamriel was in trouble. Your character saved the world. Are you seriously going to tell me that a person who saves the world and the guild they work for, aren't going to be the one leading the guild in the end, regardless of their magical prowess? I don't buy that at all.

Not only that, but you did work your way up in the guild, and eventually were taking orders directly from the Arch-Mage. One could say he was already grooming you to lead the guild by trusting you with very important orders (once you earned that trust, of course).

And if you are a warrior who is clueless of magic leading a guild, all you would do is assign the most skilled magic user in the guild as your adviser and personal assistant. You could leave the magic-based duties in that person's hands, while you continue to lead the guild and do the political based things. Use your imagination a little.

But yeah, that sounds pretty logical to me. :)
 
Yes it is logical. I will explain why, briefly.

That warrior who is clueless of magic, saved the guild from imminent disaster. If we use Skyrim's guild for our basis here, the guild was in serious trouble. Hell, the entire world of Tamriel was in trouble. Your character saved the world. Are you seriously going to tell me that a person who saves the world and the guild they work for, aren't going to be the one leading the guild in the end, regardless of their magical prowess? I don't buy that at all.

Not only that, but you did work your way up in the guild, and eventually were taking orders directly from the Arch-Mage. One could say he was already grooming you to lead the guild by trusting you with very important orders (once you earned that trust, of course).

And if you are a warrior who is clueless of magic leading a guild, all you would do is assign the most skilled magic user in the guild as your adviser and personal assistant. You could leave the magic-based duties in that person's hands, while you continue to lead the guild and do the political based things. Use your imagination a little.

But yeah, that sounds pretty logical to me. :)

If you saved guild you would be handsomely rewarded but I don't see why would they make someone as leader who is who lacks knowledge about things they are actually doing.They might make position for non-magic buisness but give him authority over critical decisions that doesn't sound sound logical.
 
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Wow guys, some beautiful points and insight. Ill apologize for the chunk text first and foremost, and commend anyone who read it all, but this here is the mix of ideas of opinions ive been searching for, of course new to forums I had no idea what to expect :) and thanks Pibbur who, your the man

I love that the factions were addressed because theyre hugely important, I mean a lot of the big factions should be main stories of their own, because they are personalized; its more than likely that the player sought out that faction and wants to play the hell out of it, ya know?

Me and the gang had the idea for factions, and its like this: You provide a sort of moving timeline within the game, and it would work after completing a chunk of say, the Thieves guild. Actually cooler, one thieves guild known as the Rohir and another known as the Gondier. Well lets say you do a couple quests for the Rohir, you start to make a name for yourself, well the Rohir are rivals with the Gondier, so the timeline would 'Move everything forward' so to speak, making you unable to now join the Gondier. It would take you into a new stage of events within your faction, therefore moving every other faction in time with you, realistics 101. It could work for the whole world or maybe just relevant factions, I dont know yet, but if you were to work this system, it would allow for a dynamic swirling of content around the faction the players chosen. Players arent losing out on content this way, they are getting a richer experience doing what they want, and having so much more to do on later characters.

See, I just cant stand in the Bethesda games how, on your first character, you can run through the world and become master of every damn faction in the land. Most of the story content is washed through and you just have an Every-man, taskmaster sort of character, which is cool in its own right, but it should take much, much more work. Then by that point you have a character whos not so much part of the game world, but he owns the game world, and he marches across the land slaying all that cross his path. Cool, at level 40 or 50, but at 15? Come on.
I respect Bethesdas choice to make the games how they want, but if you ask me, players want a challenge, and they like to feel rewarded after surpassing a mighty foe. Im not saying make it Dark souls (though there is much to learn from that game, for anyone) but im saying Take away the health bar, take away all the bars, wound me! Make me have to hobble my way to the nearest town and seek a remedy, make it so when I slice a dude in the neck with sword he dies! Make a harder game, yes, but make a more solid rewarding game, make a better game ;)

I feel like William Wallace now, but yeah ive heard the Gothic games were pretty kill, I started to play the newest one but just wasnt feeling it for some reason, but I didnt even scratch the film of dust on the surface, should I give it another go?
Gothic 3 I believe it was

Thanks all, looking forward to hearing your opinions
 
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Its true what you say Fluent, I guess im looking for a simulation more, of a fantasy world, and thats just something Bethesda games arent so much of.
When I say roleplay with it, using your imagination is the underlying principle, and I agree 100 percent, imagination allows for great experiences to be had from these games. Thats why I wonder what people with no imagination do on those games :D

But yeah, they probably have the aspirations and scope, and im not educated enough on the technology to really rip at a company for what they do with it.
What I start thinking about, at that point, is resource management, and choices.
Perfect exmaple, look at Dark souls, I noticed this and just loved it. If you run around in the forest in DS and take a good look at the trees, youll notice that theyre nothing more then 2 2D sheets of tree, placed perpendicular on the trunk, yet DS can pull off epic, cinematic dragon encounters, all in game.
Now look at Skyrim, the trees are gorgeous, detailed, they move in the wind, but their character animations look like poop.
Now I love a good looking tree just as much as the next guy, but think if they broke it down and asked the customers, What would you rather have: Beautiful trees, or a better game? A better game with less than beautiful trees?

My point is that even with the limits on technology, the designers have all the choice in the world what to do with the technology they're given, thats resource management, and if they waste resources on things that matter less, than you end up with a worse game, at no fault of the technologies.
There is no limit on creativity and innovation.
 
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I feel like William Wallace now, but yeah ive heard the Gothic games were pretty kill, I started to play the newest one but just wasnt feeling it for some reason, but I didnt even scratch the film of dust on the surface, should I give it another go?
Gothic 3 I believe it was

I can't recommend it enough, just be patient in the first few hours and once you rid the first camp of the orcs and the game opens, you will see the sheer size and detail of the world and factions. The factions alleigance is as you described in that performing few tasks for one faction gets you gradually further from the other factions. There are many factions in this game and they all play into the riddle of the game.
 
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I can't recommend it enough, just be patient in the first few hours and once you rid the first camp of the orcs and the game opens, you will see the sheer size and detail of the world and factions. The factions alleigance is as you described in that performing few tasks for one faction gets you gradually further from the other factions. There are many factions in this game and they all play into the riddle of the game.

Agreed. Though, I'd say the huge open world to explore, the sheer size, is both a strong point as well as one of its biggest weaknesses. There is simply not enough content to cover it completely… But the atmosphere is top notch…

Just give it another whirl, and stick with it. Not much games have managed to immerse me like Gothic. Make sure to play the game with the Community Patch, though.
 
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I'm very biased in my opinion since I am closing in on 600 hours played (a lot for me as I have a busy schedule - that is over 14 months of playing) and adore Skyrim.

I do have to agree with the faction issue - In about 30 days game time I can become Harbinger, Arch-Mage, and Guildmaster. Just seems to unrealistic that a newb could take over all three factions even if they are saving the world. I would prefer to see more exclusivity in factions and more limits - the Companions certainly are not very keen on magic in general so having a mage guide them seems a bit odd.

I do see Fluents point though - in many ways it is more political then anything. Having the Dragonborn and savior of the world as your Arch-Mage goes a long ways in giving your faction respectability, fame, recognition and more.

My orc hero, Varg, is a master at Restoration and some other spells, but also excells at dual weilding blades and light armor, not to mention an expert sneak and lock picker. So I suppose I could rationalize it.

As for the monsters not reacting till you approach - I don't totally agree with that. Ignoring the fact that pretty much all games are like that to some degree, I would often watch MOBS in Skyrim chat, walk around patrol, cook, and do numerous things ... even when I was just sneaking around and they had not detected me.

My own wish list for the TES games is a merger of Skyrim, Morrowind, Fallout New Vegas and Dragon Age Origins. Plenty of exploration and large world with hundreds of hours of game play, deeper, better and more realistic factions, and much better character development for followers.
 
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I disagree with this.Why would mage guild let some warrior that knows only spell that is required to get in to lead them them.It's not logical to let someone that is clueless of magic to lead mages.

Why do modern day companies let outsiders who have no knowledge of their product fields lead them?
 
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I posted this over on a thread called "Why is there no challenger for Skyrim"
It belongs here too, brace yourself...


Everyone wants to cite exploration as being the cornerstone of these bum games, let me share my opinion of exploration: Exploration is most definitely the cornerstone of a great, open world RPG. Now what makes up exploration? First and foremost, the views and sights. And ill give Bethesda that, Oblivion looked great for its time, and Skyrim is even stunning at times, with the draw distance and the dynamic environment(s). BUT, why do we explore? To find things mostly, and I cant stand finding things in Skyrim
Seriously, consider, your one man (or two I suppose, give credit where its deserved) whos delving into a deep dark dungeon…and your going to kill everyone and loot the place dry…I cant stand it!
First of all, one thing I hate is a game in which 1) You can easily acquire so much money, like a fortune, and thatd be alright if it werent for 2) Nothing to spend that money on! Offer real entertainment, if your looking for immersion force the player to have to eat, and drink, its would give you a real reason to wander into a tavern and possibly find out something cool. Skyrim has this idea that their taverns are the Main hub of the town, and thats where players should go to find things out. Well the taverns are boring! Each and every one has a bard and couple quest givers. NOT ONE cool hooded guy sitting in the corner. Wtf right?
So you hit up 3 small dungeons, solo, on an easy difficulty. I can almost guarantee your gold problems will be solved. In fact, youll have so many generic, nameless (Know what I mean by that?) pieces of gear and treasure that youll end up giving some of the shit away to the shop keep!

Now would you rather, have to scale a tiny pass, dodge a boulder, ya know have to treverse some treacherous terrain, steep cliffs, and all for one unique, powerful item. A real magical item, not another damn war axe with (X) enchantment. Or another necklace with (X) enchantment, unless it applies to your character your just going to sell it. Thats what I meant by nameless. The items are nameless, they arent personal and im quite sure most of the loot is randomized. I would trade 3 inventories (I hate that too, why the hell can you walk into a dungeon and walk out with like, 6 warhammers? Plus more! Realistic loot carrying anybody?)
3 inventories of crappy crap crap for just 1 item, 1 special artifact that I actually had to go through hell and risk my ass for, and what if it had a story? What if that artifact has 5 different, unrelated things you can do with it? How about a cool, unique item that has no apparent use? But after carrying it for a while you notice a change in your character or something? I dont know, but most and most importantly, all of these cool features and ideas wouldnt be limited by technology, because its a choice to use my resources on fewer, but much much richer elements of the game. If the resources dont go there, then they go here instead, towards something better.

See, I feel like these games are going for quantity over quality. I love the size and scale of the worlds, but its almost no use without the proper features and content.
I have had tons of fun with these games since I was a kid, and it was only when I got bored and finally detached, declared that I might actually not like the game, is when I found its greatest faults.

I feel like Bethesda might be catching onto this, and maybe we can hope for something better next time, but its still going to follow the ES model, which in my opin. is not the right direction. What theyre hopefully getting is the reality of this One-flavor Skyrim thing that made the game dull and boring after so long.
They criticized Oblivion for being Too general, following your typical European fantasy game, and its cool that we could explore another, very singular region of Tamriel, thats awesome, if I liked the world and the lore.

They dont realize that Oblivion kept so many people playing because it WAS so general, and thats the model you want! You just expand on that further, and you know, ive caught wind of the new Skyrim DLC and I have to say thats a great move to make, to allow players to travel other lands, break the one-flavor curse. Even with Skyrims wonderfully crafted world, with the different biomes (kinda) and all, its still just that same Skyrim flavor, equipped with the character binding Dovahkiin element (Playing my Dovahkiin was a blast though, I have to admit) and the same damn start to the game every time. Skyrim is a much better game than Oblivion…Oblivion had a better flavor. Ya know, it tasted better, and I hope you can all connect with that.

More on the lore though, honestly I always found it cheesy; laughable npcs, not a single bad ass voice on one of 'em either, and just the whole tone of whats going on, I never really wanted to be a part of it, id make up my own stuff. Now see thats a big thing right there: As a designer, you want to make a world that players Want to be a part of. It might sound obvious, but really think about that.

I know a lot of you still enjoy these games, and like their lore and world. I just dont like Cat people I guess Or lizard people, but you know what? Every wicked, mismatched beast race HAS a place, but its probably not in the towns, not as the shopkeep and probably not even a playable race, ya know?
In our world we have a reptilian race, but theyre nestled deep within our Great Bog, far away from any kind of civilized nation. We didnt do that on purpose or anything, to keep them far from the towns, we just thought it made sense.
Same deal with the orcs, if an Orc, or lizard man for that matter, found his way into the main country, the men would ruin this creature. Hell they wouldnt even make it past the Borderlands
I respect peoples decisions and tastes, you want to have a whole nation of cat folk? Go for it, but its not necessarily a world I want to be part of. Ill play it for the game it is, but ill never adopt its ideas or use them out of context, because they arent cool enough. But im one person and these games appeal to a very broad spectrum of people. And there you go, you have money getting in the way of good videogames. Should we make a game thats worthy of our name and who we are? No, make a silly stupid game that everyone will kind of love. Because that means sales! I say screw sales. Not really, BUT, hardcore games always get more respect and seem to have a smaller, but stronger fan base, those are the mof*cking sales I want.
I suppose ill wrap up, for the hardcore gamers out there, the RPG enthusiasts and all the tabletop roleplayers, you know the struggle. Not saying there isnt fun to be had here, because there is, but I am saying that theres 100% more fun to be had from another first-person RPG. By way of different features and innovative thinking.

Thanks for reading
 
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