this would either make all the options half arsed or take ages to dev

Brilliant,made me chuckle...

The consumer doesn't know what he wants.

I know it sounds a bit too general, but it's true. We're talking about a game development that's limited on resources, time being one of the most gripping constraints. Videogames are heavily reliant on balance for gameplay to be rewarding, and reward is the feeling to be evoked by this particular media.

If you present the player with too much options, you can't focus on a single setting and develop AI, damage calculation, etc properly. You're left with a general template that will never present an adequate level of challenge. While some may say "hey, it's a single player game, difficulty doesn't matter", I must disagree. Increasing your damage input while decreasing damage output, by themselves, is a cheap way to make the game harder, and all it does is turn an enjoyable experience into an exercise into patience.

I say leave it to the modders when it comes to gameplay options and the due balancing. I want a cohesive, inegral gameplay experience that's properly balanced.

lol there's an option in there for "Food makes you fat"

Well, I laughed first, then I started crying a little because I know somewhere, some immersionist actually wants that

Wow... how imaginative. Just make every possible solution then disable them. To be honest i dont wat to be disabling things that the developers have spent time on. It becomes a waste of dev time.

I want the game how Bethesda intends it to be... because that will be the most tried and trusted version after multiple playthroughs by the team. They make great games and i dont, so i trust their judgement.

I hate toggles.
Beth shouldn't include toggles!

Just let them bicker, if they want to influence the game they will have to put in a job application. I know where you're coming from though sometimes I read the forum and wonder if we're even going to end up with a fantasy game or some sort of oxymoronic reality simulator.
I like talking about different game mechanics in a plethora of stuff but, I think people just end up looking ridiculous if they sit around making demands.

Elder Scrolls nords or real nords? I think spears fit in either, that is if you stab hard enough.
Jokes aside what was that one book the ice prince or something sure the spear was a dark elves but they're a big part of Skyrims history with the invasions and stuff and one of their own cities in Skyrim territory. I don't see why a nord wouldn't use one especially if they were poor spears tend to be easy to make and cheap economically.

Aye, dynamic gravy that falls realistically onto the potatoes. Definitely on top of my wishlist!


They could add an option to turn the toggles off.

Just quoting Povuholo for the link.. comment directed to the OP


As funny as the link provided by Povuholo is, as it's been mentioned many times before, Bethesda does give the consumer the ability to toggle such settings in the form of the construction set. May be that a learning curve is involved, but for those pesky balance settings and removing 100% chameleon, it's just click click and done. And there is also the command console, if yo want too bypass the construction set and do changes on-the-fly.

And yes, I know xbox and PS3 players don't have command console access, but that, to me, is like complaining your Yugo doesn't have a Cadillac's suspension. You want a Cadillac's suspension? Get a Cadillac. You can't afford it? Oh, well...

As a general rant, and speaking of the comments and bickering on the forum, some of them I just don't understand, like...

1.- "I saw this thing in that game, I want it in this game".
That cool thing is what makes THAT other game, it is within the story and setting of that game. Things like climbing, romance, families, jobs, cooking, etc etc etc. Sure some of those may be funny, cool, actually useful, "immersive" (whatever that means anymore); but they are THAT other game. I mean, you don't go to, say, an Italian restaurant and tell them they should serve tacos because you loved the tacos this other restaurant serves. Tacos are food just like ziti is food, right? Why can't the Italian restaurant not only serve tacos but serve tacos the way you want them?

2.- Players who want to be constrained in an RPG.
The whole idea of an RPG is that the player is given choices to do or not to do, or to do the way the player sees fit.
So there are things like fast travel, "exploits" like 100% chameleon (yes, I will beat the dead horse, as this is the first thing that pops up on any conversation about "exploits"), etc., in the game. You know the complaints: "I don't want to use fast travel, but if it's there, I must use it", or "100% chameleon ruins the game because it makes the game too easy". Well, it is an RPG. Make a freaking choice to do, not to do, or do as you see fit. But no, no... these players must be constrained to what they think is the "right" way to play a game, which by the game's very own nature, has no right way of playing.

3. "Balance"
Like beauty, "balance" is in the eye of the beholder. And the "balance" complaints are usually directed to combat. Well, life is unbalanced. I know people who can beat the carp out of you with a stick, or their bare hands, with you wielding a sword, because if their ability to fight with a stick or bare handed... on a side note, that is what is is wrong with the show Deadliest Warrior, it only accounts for weapon damage, not the ability of the wielder, but I digress... So, when I am playing an RPG game, and I get killed by a guy wearing a loincloth wielding a knife with my character donning armor plate, I think to myself "oh, he's good with that knife"... but again, the constructions set takes care of that.

Well, I suppose that could work. I just don't want the game to assume that I want toggles enabled.

This.

Made me chuckle so hard. Yes. Toggle "toggle" on/off. Aye.

Too many options can kill the game. Your gonna have people that don't know what they're doing (as Skyrim is attracting many new fans) and will turn everything on or off- completely changing the game play. Plus it changes the actual game, which I don't like the idea of. I trust that everything that's going to be in the game will be in it because Bethesda thought it would be the better option, for whatever reason. So I'm just sticking with their version.

Nice idea, on paper. Wouldn't hold up in reality though. Someone had the same idea a while back, and did a mock-up of what the "options" page would look like: it had about 90 checkboxes on it, and was labeled "Page 1 of 40."

Yea, it's just not feasible.

Yes, definitely! I love this idea!

Mods are a lie. Not an option. Let's not leave it to the modders and say we did.
I like the concept, but as others have said, I'm not sure how practical it is. I'm pretty certain I'll be satisfied with whatever they churn out this time. If they strike a balance between Morrowind and Oblivion, I'll be happy.

But then people are going to complain because their wanted tweak isn't on the list, or it wasn't implemented the correct way, stuff like that.

It's a good concept, but impossible in practice.

You can't please everyone. Bethesda tried that with Oblivion, it failed.

What you have to do is make the best game you can within the genre you are making it. If you are making an RPG, make the best RPG you can and it will sell..... even to those who don't play them. Why? Because no matter what kind of game you make, if it's the best people will buy it.

Too many options won't work. 1) way to long to implent them all correctly. 2) At what point is the game just a list of options instead of the devs own view of how an RPG should be.

Tell that to my current 100+ mods Oblivion installation which I only had to unzip correctly and run BOSS to re-order them.

I think if it's just close to what TES usually is like, that'll be fine for most. A lot of people want really specific nitpicky things that have no chance of making it in anyway. That's why the good lord invented mods.

nah:

1) those whose requests have been left out will still bicker
2) Those who have theirs selected can still complain because it wasn't put in the the "propper" way
3) Some will bicker at making things optional, since that takes away from developing other ideas
4) I can't boost my post count if I'm not bickering

Actually all the options has to be tested this will generate a lot of extra work; you will also run into lots of problems with this. In addition functions like spears and levitation has to be coded in anyway now add a new function to remove it.
Now how do you do something as simple as remove a daeric artefact? Disable the quest location would be easiest however you also have to remove rumours and references to it.

And as Sleign says many people will simply enable it and then complain anyway.