Bethesda Softworks - TES V in 2010

Dhruin

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Put your hand up if you hadn't already assumed this...publishing exec for Bethsoft Paul Houghton has commented that the next Elder Scrolls installment is penciled in for 2010. From GamesIndustry:
Fallout 3 publisher Bethesda has indicated that the next title in the hugely popular Elder Scrolls series will be released in 2010.
Paul Oughton, publishing executive for Bethesda, also said that although the market for the Wii and DS has opened up more varied publishing opportunities, the company doesn't have any current plans to release titles for Nintendo consoles.
"At the moment we've got Fallout 3 for this year and potentially there's a new Elder Scrolls title in 2010," said Oughton. "At the moment we're not that interested in the Wii. We're going to stick to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. We'll continue to pursue three or four titles a year and go for big titles," he said of the company's publishing plans for the future.
More information.
 
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I wonder if the new game will have a V in it? I liked how oblIVion worked out.
 
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That's funny, Ren. I am sure we won't have to worry about that. These guys made Arena, Daggerfall Oblivion and now the better-than-I-expected Fallout 3.

But. Please. No more Console-ish interfaces.
 
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But about a year ago Bethesda registered Elder Scrolls Online domain and caused quite a stir among gamers. They never officially announced any project related to the name though.

But the online branch (whatever it is working on) is a separate studio, IIRC.
 
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I hope TES V improves over Fallout 3.

By that I do not mean that Fallout 3 was bad, no. But it was an attempt to create a roleplaying game with the kind of mechanics that I expect from a roleplaying game, which TES IV didn't have.

I want moral choices. Real moral choices, not cliché good/evil. I want characterbuilding. I want proper NPC's with identifiable personalities. I want an environment in which the world contains more than me.
 
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You're saying you've already finished FO3??

No. But I know it have RPG content that TES IV didn't such as multi-ended quests, moral choices and social traits. Regardless if that content in FO3 is good or not is irrelevant, at least they promised and tried to include that kind of content and that indicates a change of direction that I personally see as good.
 
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That does not indicate a change of direction. That only indicates that it was the Fallout franchise that they developed a game to.
There's nothing to indicate that TES V will be a more complex RPG experience than TES IV. Not yet at least.

Bethesda has felt a pressure to make Fallout 3 a hardcore RPG because the series is hardcore RPG'ing. They don't feel the same kind of pressure around their TES series. Not that it is not there, Bethesda just doesn't acknowledge that TES IV was not a streamlined RPG.
 
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That does not indicate a change of direction. That only indicates that it was the Fallout franchise that they developed a game to.
There's nothing to indicate that TES V will be a more complex RPG experience than TES IV. Not yet at least.

Bethesda has felt a pressure to make Fallout 3 a hardcore RPG because the series is hardcore RPG'ing. They don't feel the same kind of pressure around their TES series. Not that it is not there, Bethesda just doesn't acknowledge that TES IV was not a streamlined RPG.

True, but one can hope that the intense preocupation with Fallout will rub off a little. At least it seems they get mostly good press on the more hardcore features. It's all moot at this time though. Like with FO3 I will try to become as little involved as possible.
 
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Indeed. It might influence positively on the development of TES V, but I guess it is too early to say anything. We'll have to wait.
And yes. We've learned the rough way (TES IV) that it is not a good idea to follow the development of Bethesda's titles too intensely - or perhaps just games in general.

I would also like to add that Fallout is cult. The mainstream gaming press knows this and that is the reason Fallout 3 is accepted even though it has hardcore elements (Presumably, I've not played it yet). Had TES IV had the same hardcore elements it wouldn't have received the same positive reviews as it did. They are clearly viewed as two different brands and also treated as such.
 
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I would also like to add that Fallout is cult. The mainstream gaming press knows this and that is the reason Fallout 3 is accepted even though it has hardcore elements (Presumably, I've not played it yet). Had TES IV had the same hardcore elements it wouldn't have received the same positive reviews as it did. They are clearly viewed as two different brands and also treated as such.
Have you checked the user reviews at major sites such as Gamespot and Metacritic?
Even console reviews are favorable. I think Bethesda is successful in keeping both some of hardcore fans and more casual gamers happy, at least, which is my impression after browsing some sites.
 
yeah, well the user score for the PC version at Metacritic is 7.4/10 whereas the review score is 94/100. I wouldn't call that great.
The same goes for TES IV. User score 7.5/10 and review score 94/100.

But this is not of importance. I tried to outline the difference in the media's reception of TES IV and Fallout 3. The two games are not treated alike. So you can't translate the success of Fallout 3 as a success for hardcore gaming. That was what I wanted to say.

I think you are right. Bethesda wanted to cater for both casual and hardcore gamers with Fallout 3. TES IV was only targeted at the mainstream market.
 
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PLEASE - no MMORPG.

I agree, I would not want to see an MMORPG replace the standalone TES series productions. But I always thought it would be awesome if I could invite , say 1 to 4 others to 'attach' to my world, or me to theirs. It's always great to share adventures and role play is certainly enhanced if it's more than you and your own imagination.
 
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yeah, well the user score for the PC version at Metacritic is 7.4/10 whereas the review score is 94/100. I wouldn't call that great.
The same goes for TES IV. User score 7.5/10 and review score 94/100.
...

There is a problem with user scores like this, at least as long as the number of votes is small: Who votes? Can we assume that those who like the game are just as likely to vote as those who don't. I don't think so. There's every reason to believe that samples like this are biased, very sensitive to for instance organized voting. (I hope this is correct Enlish). That goes both ways, of course - the average score may be too high just as well as too low. We really only know what those 127 who so far has voted for Fallout 3 think.

I noticed that one of the user reviewers (who gave a score of 0) claimed that it was the worst game ever. Which makes it hard to take it seriously. "Plumbers don't wear ties", anyone? "Might and Magic 9"? "Arthur's Quest" (shivers).

Btw, I do hope that TES V will inherit some of the better features of FO3.

A piece of usless information from...
 
You can't rely on scores too much.

Quotes from people who gave score 0 to PC version of Fallout 3. To me, they sound quite familiar, somehow.
Forgettable, one-dimensional characters. Unoriginal and simplistic narrative. Short, linear and poorly-written narrative. Poorly-written dialogue. Poorly-voiced dialogue. No real moral ambiguity. No real choices and consequences. No real freedom (there are unkillable NPCs everywhere, narrative progression relies mostly on combat) No intellectually/emotionally complex quests such as in the previous games. Massive illogical contradictions and abuse of established lore. Atrocious animations, lackluster models, textures and art direction. Unoriginal and out-of-place LOTR-styled score more suited to Oblivion. Tactical combat removed. Importance of perks/traits removed. Traits removed. Claustrophobic, small cut-and-paste world. Poorly designed interface. Buggy. Failure to correct any of the issues with Oblivion. A mockery of and stain upon Fallout and Fallout 2. Bethesda's Fallout fails on all counts to emulate even an echo of the complexity and design achievements of the decade-old 2D games it fails to imitate. Even when removed from the context of being a sequel, it's an exceptionally simplistic, arrogant and incompetent game all by itself.

Take 1 good dead franchise, exhume it. Strap on some new grey graphics, leave all the flesh behind in the grave, add micronukes, and what do you get? FAILOUT 3. Bethesda -ruining your favorite franchise 1 micronuke at a time. Ignore all the reviewers comments, they have all been bribed. Just remember how bad the scaling in oblivion was? You build you character, and instead of geting better your enemies get so good that you might as well not have leveld up at all. This is the worst game ever made, it is grey, and by that i mean you will likely not even get to see another colour the entire game. Dogmeat? Yup, he only died in a forcefield 75 years ago, but WAIT! he's BACK! Mutants have become orcs, ghouls are now zombies. Yes, zombies. Not ghouls. Same thing if you are accustomed to making games like oblivion. When harold decides to eat my brain then i will tell these retards that they did not ruin fallout. Bethe$da are destroying fallout. Buy this game and kill a franchise. Oh, and there are mudcrabs too. and DRAGONS! YAY! I put on my daedric plate and my uber imba nuke launcher to fight a dragon with my 20 fire damage enchanted ammo. I think i will make a potion out of jet (only available in new reno, and only for 4 years or so) that i bought a few thousand kilometers from new reno. I will mix in some NOT heroin due to australian censorship, to get a restore fatigue potion and then repair my armour with a grandmaster armourers hammer. Dont waste your money.

PS3 seems to have technical issues and scores 7.5. Xbox 360 marks 8.3 with 237 votes with mostly favorable comments. Xbox players, who are regraded as more casual gamers, give higher scores than their PC counterparts but I'd recommend you to read comments. Just watching scores is not so helpful.
 
Though my disgust is palpable at this point, I have to admit that somewhere deep down I still felt a twinge of excitement while reading this announcement. I enjoy the sandbox approach, loved the original game, and wouldn't stop playing its sequel until I established a new benchmark for pathetic CRPG addiction.

What can I say? I'm a TES fan.

I suppose you couldn't blame Bethesda for considering the MMO route, but that would be a huge mistake, I think. Instead they should spend their cajillions developing a new approach to single-player, one that could leverage its technical advantages and appeal to WoW customers with another iteration of CRPG in a living game world.
 
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guest said:
Just watching scores is not so helpful.

That is exactly what they are. Accumulated scores give a quantitative measurement of a game's quality. If you accept the competency of the review pool, of course. I accept the competency of the accumulated user scores at Metacritic more than I do the accumulated review scores. In regards to user scores versus user comments then they supplement each other and should be seen in the same, singular context.
Scores give a general overview and comments gives a more detailed description of pros and cons. The problem with comments though, is that everyone got one and it can be difficult to decrypt the quality and useability of a person's opinion. Scores are immediately useable though. But also non-descriptive.

And you know. I could also extract some comments from people who have given the game 10 and call those comments familiar. You can't invalidate a user score/user comment just because it is negative or positive towards a specific game. It's just too convenient.

...and I expected the console reviews to be favourable. That is perhaps the most expectable thing about Bethesda's games. So to remark anything curious about the high review scores for the X360 version of Fallout 3 would be misplaced. Quite the contrary.

But all this does not matter. Mainstream reviews or general popularity/unpopularity does not necessarily say anything significant about a game's quality. In my experience you can only determine this by actually playing the game.

I'm not saying Fallout 3 is bad. I've not even played it. What I initially expressed was that Fallout 3's success is not automatically a success for hardcore gaming, because we need to take several factors concerning the Fallout franchise, Fallout 3's mechanics, the mainstream gaming press, the mainstream gaming segment and Bethesda's reputation into calculation when post analysing Fallout 3's success.
What this means to TES V is therefore yet to be seen.
 
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Those scores at this point mean absolutely nothing. The game has only been out for a few days, many of those people probably rated it after only a few hours of play. I remember Gothic getting low scores when it was first released.
 
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