I'm not worried, really. I'm trying to approach Skyrim with the attitude of "Bethesda will do what they think is best for Skyrim. I trust them and won't make any judgments until I play the game."

No, I like the direction the series in going in. When info first started coming out and I was listening to Todd talk about his over design philosophy I was amazed at how much I agree with him. No other company comes close to making the kind of games I am into.

Daggerfall had so much less depth than Morrowind, it's not even funny in an ironic way anymore. Morrowind's depth is nuanced though, you have to want it, otherwise it'll be lost. I actually felt Oblivion was a step towards the more procedual/blandness of Daggerfall, than a step away from this perceived layer of depth, simply because the world was bigger, or there were a few more arbitrary skills.

Though, before Fallout 3, I would have agreed, and expected Skyrim to be Hurdur style like Oblivion/Daggerfall, but Fallout 3 returned the sense of persistence, culture and detail that was sorely lacking from Oblivion. Daggerfall I can't fault, because I don't think technology allowed the depth and detail of Morrowind/Fallout3, much less on such a large scale.

Over-designing games is something that worked when you had to compensate for the inability of technology to capture a player's interactions with the game. A perfect game will have just as much design as is needed, with no redundancy built in. New Vegas is a good example, it's not bogged down by the "RPG" just reinforced by it, I said good example, not perfect.

ME2 wasn't dumbed down. Crysis 2 was. In this case, no. Bethesda's learned from Oblivion.

Dumbed down? No. I'm confident that they received enough crap about Oblivion to not repeat that mistake. At least not to an utterly ridiculous degree.

Is it going to lure more people into the Elder Scrolls franchise? Most definitely. Skyrim's going to look miiiighty good to a lot of people, PC and console-users alike, who weren't always TES fans, or even fans of RPGs. That's the part that worries me, because with those new people comes a set of demands probably based around things like the presence of dragons in Skyrim. And as we know, Bethesda is not immune to the whole "trying to reach more gamers" tactic that every other developer loves so much. Confident as I am that Skyrim will make up for Oblivion in many ways, I remain wary of the precedent that will be set. This is going to sound elitest and almost childish, but I really, really don't like the sound of us ending up in High Rock or Hammerfell in the sixth game because the environmental transition will be seen as "easier to swallow" for more of the new people than say, Summerset Isle, Black Marsh, or Elsweyr, three provinces that by my measure are the most alien, next to Morrowind.

Of course, I'm sure there's no shortage of Arena and Daggerfall fans who've been loathing all the people brought in by Morrowind's Xbox port for quite some time. I don't blame them. But at least I already liked these types of games, it just took me awhile to come across TES.

That'd be a negative ghost rider.

Yes, I am a bit worried, but is it any wonder after Oblivion, I mean come on...

I don't care, I can just use mods to get rid of the Dumbed down things.

I don't think it's fair to say ME2 wasn't "Dumbed down" it was. They solved a lot of problems with ME 1 the wrong way. For example, cutting the inventory, equipment and mod progression entirely, instead of just rebalancing and refining the system. On top of that, galactic exploration took a huge hit. Another example of "Fixing a problem" in the wrong way. People complained about the Mako, so they cut the entire planetary exploration mechanic. And don't even say "you can still land on planets" that's not exploration, that's a level, and they're all practically the same thing.


As for Crysis 2, I actually thought it was a good parallel with Mas Effect 1 versus Mass Effect 2. Crysis 2 plays a lot better, but lost a lot of what made Crysis 1 special. The corroidor-style of New York just pales in comparison to the lush tropical paradise you get to tear up in Crysis 1. So perfect Crysis? Mechanics of 2 in the world of 1.

I have a better question we are all aware that a lot of people simply cannot play a full fleged tes game ie: daggerfall,morrowind wethher its because of intellegence or being brought up with the more go here do that games. So what level of dumbed down will you guys accept to be able to allow the fanbase to really grow?

No
Fallout 3 restored my faith in Bethesda somewhat after the disappointment that was Oblivion
Mind you the MQ in FO3 was pretty bland but the world-building and game mechanics were much better than Oblivion

This, though I think I'm easily impressed cause I liked the mq in FO3 even though everyone else seems to not.

This.

People may be saying they "learned" from some of their Oblivion mistakes in FO3 (which I completely hate because it's not isometric, and yes, that is reason enough for me to not play it), but what matters is that they learn from their mistakes while making Skyrim.

The removal of attributes kind of bugs me, adding perks sounds a little too much like FO (though it might work out, won't know until November), and the "talent trees" sounds like they are trying to attract MMO players.

No, but...... I also didn't think ME2 was "dumbed down". I actually thought the "roleplaying elements" were stronger in that game than in ME1. (by which I mean the dialogue / decisions / choices. Not trivial things like "OMG, no inventory management!")




It was good. Not quite as good as ME1, but close... like I said, I thought the "RPG elements" were stronger, but the overall story wasn't quite up to the level of ME1.

Why in the hell would you compare it to ME2?? Totally different type of game. ME is a story based shooter with RPG elements; TES is a fantasy, sandbox RPG that focuses probably on exploration, presentation, things like that.

With the removal of stats, birthsigns, and skills like athleticism, blade, and blunt, honestly yes. But, looking back at Bethesda's other games, there's nothing that their team has done that I haven't absolutely loved- Morrowind, Oblivion, & FO3 are masterpieces in my eyes. So I trust that they know what they're doing.

I have a few worries but nothing that dissuades Skyrim from being a day one purchase for me.

Little bit worried, but not enouph to say "yes". It's a fine line between making something more "user friendly" and "dumbing it down".

I think "user friendly" was what they were going for in Oblivion, they wern't purposely dumbing it down. Can you make a game more user friendly without dumbing it down should be the question these devs of so called RPGs should be asking.

Cant vote on this, theres missing the option maybe.

As long there is the possibilty to mod the game it will be great sooner or later.

If not.... be aware its the end of the gameing Industrie like we know it, and we will all have to get other hobbies then gameing, or we will be all DOOMED!!! to play boring [censored] whats designed for childeren of the age of 3 so they cant die or fail in a quest. :violin:

Modding is confirmed. We'll be able to with the Creation Engine.

define "dumbing down"...

:facepalm: :shakehead: :rolleyes:

Neither Morrowind or Oblivion were dumbed down to me, so, nope.

Im not worried, im certain. Look at my sig,

This.