Failure not an option : V - Skyrim

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 11:55 am

Why do people say "it has 100 people in the team, it can not fail !!!!" ?
The amount of people working on a project just mean they can be more ambitious and do more stuff, but it has absolutely no bearing on the quality of the design.
On the contrary, the bigger the team, the harder it is to organize it.

And regardless of the size of the team, a single disastrous design decision can ruin a whole game.

Not that I hope it is ruined, on the contrary, but yes, they can still fail.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:20 pm

They could [censored] it up, its a possibility, but they shouldn't, I think it will be awesome.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:35 pm

Lets tar and feather this person!

Oooooooooooh not a good idea.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:50 am

They kind of haven't hyped it up as much themselves. Bethesda trickles out the information about the game without much pre-text from their benevolent teat of refined awesomeness and we lap and svck it up like the seemingly Elder Scrolls starved whelps we are.

It is the fans and media doing most of the hyping, which to me is a good sign. Unlike something like CoD *vomit* where Activision plasters it on every advertising space they can get their greasy, flabby, money grabbing fingers on.

For now at least Bethesda is focused on the game making art with the business side as complementary, not the other way around. Something I respect dearly and hope their recent expansion is a reflection of the success of this method.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:53 pm

Despite all my criticizm, I think Skyrim will be the best action-adventure of all time.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:33 am

svcks to be NOT them

they are making history

» Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:38 pm

My thoughts on this thread are that it is yet another slimeball worship thread.
New and original!

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:17 am

Why do people say "it has 100 people in the team, it can not fail !!!!" ?
The amount of people working on a project just mean they can be more ambitious and do more stuff, but it has absolutely no bearing on the quality of the design.
On the contrary, the bigger the team, the harder it is to organize it.

And regardless of the size of the team, a single disastrous design decision can ruin a whole game.

Not that I hope it is ruined, on the contrary, but yes, they can still fail.

Todd Howard, game director. It's his job to lead the team to success.
While BGS can still fail miserably at the end, it is more unlikely now than it was at the time of Oblivion.
Bigger team, more game design experience.

What are the odds?

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:00 am

Nah, Skyrim's just going to svck. They can have 300 people working on it. It will still svck. It will be the worst game of the year.

That's quite a bold statement considering DA2 was released this year. :teehee:

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:54 am

im not expecting a new genre defining masterpiece, I think it will be a great game that will keep me entertained for hours. I like to keep my hopes realistic, because the real thing is almost never as good as your amazing dream of what it could/should be

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:09 am

Just like Morrowind and Oblivion changed what was the standard of a good game, I have no doubt Skyrim will do the same.
They are always in a league of their own, far above the other games developers.
Skyrim is going to be awesome.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:53 pm

I thought the same thing about oblivion....

Me too and I think it is legendary. To each their own.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:56 am

That's quite a bold statement considering DA2 was released this year. :teehee:

I hate Dragon Age II with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. But not because it was a "Bad" Game, because it really wasn't.

I hated it, because it was a lie. A series that was established on the core of tactical PCRPG gaming, an experience as rare as they get these days. I bought (And subsequently resold) Dragon Age II under the assumption that I was going to get an experience like that again, because they're so rare, it's what I wanted, it's what a lot of people wanted.

Instead, I got the same experience I can get (And done much better) in Mass Effect 1-2, that's not what I signed up for.

For what it set out to be be, basically a Console tactical Hack'n'slash, Dragon Age II largely succeeded as a game, I just hate that it lied about it's motivation.

Now, more on topic, building on a lot of people pulling up the size of the Dev team. It's true, when used well, the sheer industrial power and manhour capabilities of a team that size is amazing. The problem comes, if they aren't working together effectively, towards the same goal. This is where the Game Director really comes into play. I'd imagine it's quite a task for Todd, communicating between so many groups, with such diverse backgrounds and skillsets, and keeping everything cohesive. Translating what an Artist wants, to a Programmer, and what a programmer can do to an animator, is incredibly difficult. When a game feels disjointed, it's largely a failure of the director to keep everyone under the same inspiration.

A Development team is a lot like a weapon for the director. If you aren't capable of wielding something with that much power, you wind up doing worse than if you scaled back to what you could handle.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:45 am

I think the game will be the best yet.

I like the confidence they have shown in the 11/11/11 release date... it kind of tells me that they are ahead of the curve and seem to have time to polish. Sure, it doesn't and won't have all the features we all want, but what does make the cut is shaping up to be outstanding, in my opinion. I'm much more optimistic than all the "PC is getting the shaft" whiners, the "My attributes are gone" pessimists, and the "What... I can't ride a dragon while battling werewolves with my spear" camp.

I'm totally psyched for a new all-time favorite right up there with the likes of Thief: Dark Project and Morrowind.

I guess time will tell...

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 7:49 am

-Dual wielding yes
-Dark Brotherhood yes
-Completely new better engine that is also modder friendly yes
-Better game/performance optimization hopefully yes
-Improved combat physics, enemies react better then in any RPG ive seen when being hit, download a program that plays video at a steady slow speed or watch IGN rewind trailer. If you have not done that yet you probably haven't really actually seen the trailer. yes
-Fully dynamic advanced none scripted AI controlled Dragons, the best looking fully realized dragons in any open world RPG. yes
-Radiant Story (improved questing) yes
-Improved over all AI of all creatures & NPC's yes
-Improved dialogue conversation with NPC's allowing conversations to go on while still moving/walking yes
-Cutting wood yes, mining yes, destroying lumber mills and or economical things in general which can cause towns to buy there goods from another town and etc etc yes
-A team of 100 people developing the game yes, yes that is a crap load of people on a team for one game, no that does not include voice actors etc, yes there was a specific set of people working specifically just on dragons for 2+ years
-Level scaling more comparable to Fallout 3 & F: New Vegas so when you hit max level over half or more of the world is not pointless to you which allows for you continue wanting to play your character & explore the dungeons and places that you've yet been to & continue back later even after you've been to. It allows for spawning & re spawning of enemies with set a set min lvl x - max level x. yes
-improved archery yes
-improved stealth yes
-improved upon everything yes
-music improved yes
-improved economy
-bigger major towns
-improved magic yes, improved spell casting yes, spell graphics &animations etc, dual wield two spells at once yes
-you should read more about the game if you yourself have not fully grasped what is going into this game & what is involved and that there is many other things I have not listed. There is a ton of more information that will be released between now and Novemember. yes, if you are yourself fully are ackowledgable & aware about all the information regarding Skyim & still do not fill very hyped for the game you may fall under one of many symptoms and should speak to a professional immediately.

When was the dark brotherhood confirmed?

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 11:18 am

Even more important than team size is the length of time that they have been working with this console generation. it isnt like OB when they had a 360 dev kit. theyve put out multiple games on this platform and know the ins and outs of everything they can do.

im glad they didnt decide to put this game off until the release of the next generation, not because we'd have to wait but because of the experience and knowledge they have in working with today's equipment.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:40 pm

I think it's cool they have more people in the team now. Though, I wouldn't like if they had even more, i suffices like that.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:04 am

I love this topic. Skyrim will be legendary. I truly believe that.

It's a win-win situation bro! :intergalactic:

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:18 pm

When was the dark brotherhood confirmed?

It was revealed in the Dutch magazine "Power Unlimited" Which I have always found to be very reliable. :turned:

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 7:11 am

Even more important than team size is the length of time that they have been working with this console generation. it isnt like OB when they had a 360 dev kit. theyve put out multiple games on this platform and know the ins and outs of everything they can do.

im glad they didnt decide to put this game off until the release of the next generation, not because we'd have to wait but because of the experience and knowledge they have in working with today's equipment.

yeah, they started developing oblivion before they even had the 360 dev kit, so this should be a massively epic improvement over ob

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 11:33 am

It will have to be good to compete with some of the game that coming out at the same time. I have faith though

I really want to see the combat system

really like what, MASS EFFECT ?? Its Bioware thus trash by definition, sorry just hate those guys, but no other RPG coming out is even in the same league as bethesda, and you cant compare a shooter to a RPG, like comparing an apple to a watermelon, other then both can be good and both are fruits, they are nothing alike, and only one will feed you more then one meal lol

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:51 am

As it was said before, the size of a team is not always the secret of success (search for "The Mythical Man-Month"), and can even sometimes be an issue. Big teams - other problems.

My opinion is that Bethesda usually makes great games, filled with great content, but still unfinished, full of bugs and blanks. Fortunately, the modding community is there to fix that, improving things, extending gameplay and game longevity. Mods are also a great source of inspiration and experiment for Bethesda. A new tes may contains some of the work added by modders to the previous chapter.

Discover Skyrim as a flawless piece of work on 11.11.11, would really surprise me, even if a 1000-people team was on it.

Anyway, it will be greatly improved quite shortly, and that's ok for me.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:55 pm

It's something they're really focusing on. I expect great things from the dialogue variety and the new system.

well hopefully they assighn the actors there right people and race dont want to hear a bosmer that sounds like an orc or a high elf sounding orc or a imperial sounding khajiit or an argonian that sounds like a redguard. its gonna be all about who the actors are assigned to play as pick roles that match the voice

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:34 am

100 you say? hmm thats quite the team wonder how many voice actors they hired i know they said its alot but i wonder how many

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:35 am

100 you say? hmm thats quite the team wonder how many voice actors they hired i know they said its alot but i wonder how many

I seem to remember 80+ voice actors from some interview or other. Either way, better than Oblivion's!.. and why do i have a post with nothing on it above... weird.