Why the Ken Rolston hate?

I know game development must be taxing and nowhere near as romanticized as us gamers make it up to me, but at the very least, you'd think someone with his renown would be welcomed back to Bethesda with open arms. I basically consider Morrowind to be his game. Regardless of whether or not that's your favorite TES game, it's still something.

After Redguard, Bethesda was severely understaffed, and I think Ken's creativity is largely what helped the company to regain its bearings and take the series in a new direction with Morrowind, reminding everybody what the Elder Scrolls games should be all about.

Was Todd not there for Morrowind? And Oblivion? And Fallout 3? And now Skyrim?

How do you come to that conclusion. Now, I've made it very clear that I think Morrowind is the greatest game on the planet, but I acknowledge it's many faults, and the many things Oblivion does better. But never once in that game did I feel the quests (Pertaining to mostly faction-quests) were entertaining or deep.

I believe the main reason for that is they were very much insulated against the rest of the game world. No action or decision in Oblivion really carries weight with it. Of course, there's exceptions, especially hilarious is the Dark Brotherhood quest result for Killing that Bosmer Balin(?), his Nord Bodyguard frequenting the bar in and drowning the echoes of his failure.

But anyway, for the most part, every aspect of the game seemed so separated from the game world itself, even the Main Quest.

Personally, I'm not sure how Ken Rolston's abscence will play into the game Skyrim. They may have brought in a lot of new talent, and among them could be a new prodigy of game design. If we were just coming off of Oblivion, I might say we have a problem, but Fallout 3 fixed a lot of what was wrong. Looking at the game Ken Rolston is working on right now, I'm not exactly sure how much input he has, but it doesn't resonate with me in any way at all. But, I also generally hate Todd Mcfarlanes artistic style.

So many elements of Morrowind's culture overlapped, from the ever-escalating assassination attempts to how you would gradually gain reputation with the Twin Lamps as you freed slaves.

In Morrowind, you felt as if you were a part of the world - a dynamic, changing world. A world with a scope and scale far beyond your own actions. For instance, even when you weren't running an errand for a Great House, you could still feel its presence in the world, and witness the ways in which its actions, both past and present, have affected the setting of the game. Basically, it felt as if things were going on in the background that were completely detached from you. Ancient Dunmer customs you could not partake in, powerful factions and social elite you were detached from, and you felt the need to adapt to survive in a province where the rules were set down by those long before you. In Oblivion it feels as if everything that is there in the world was placed by the developers solely for your own entertainment and not to reinforce any sort of immersion.

This approach isn't necessarily worse - it succeeds at what it attempts to do - presenting things directly to the player, and its more unique and developed quests/characters show that. But Morrowind reads more like a novel than a game to me at times, a feel that seems to have disappeared since Ken Rolston left. :shrug:

I still think Skyrim will easily amount to my expectations and attain the best of both MW and OB, but I think that if Todd and Ken worked collaboratively the game could have an even more compelling narrative still. It's not "no Ken, the game will svck" but rather "no Ken, I hope his examples and approach have not been completely forgotten."

It's what I like to call "blinded by nostalgia".

Can't an industry veteran be praised for just being good instead of somebody playing the nostalgia card? :confused:

Rolston has a substantial resume behind him, plenty of PnP games from before the Elder Scrolls even existed.

I think Skyrim will be fine without Rolston. I mean we still have Todd Howard

He wasn't in Fallout 3, so I think they'll be fine...

And Matt Carofano! You know the lead artistic director from The Art of Skyrim?

http://www.imperial-library.info/sites/default/files/inter_beth_team.jpg

Yeah. That's him on the left circa 2001. He's been keeping the legacy alive too.

I'll always lament the loss of Ken being part of the team, as he was what I consider an "old school" crpg designer. But hey, new generation and new market.

But I'm pretty sure the game will be a huge success in his absence. BGS has a lot of talent and will no doubt deliver a fantastic game with hundreds of hours of play.




Personal speculation? It would be great to have him back though.



Who?

Vote Todd Howard for president.

There's no one else i'd rather have at the helm over Todd.

They're the Cyber-heroes of this era. Lets rejoice while we still have them, All Hail Bethesda! :rock:

Based on the interview and its manifest truths about Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout 3, I agree with Doug Goodall. I am not sorry Ken Rolston's gone. Maybe he was a nice guy to work with, but he's not what TES needs more of.

What did Doug say?

It will most likely have no effect on Skyrim. However, I'm looking forward to Big Huge Games RPG because after they did such a great job on AOE III: Asian Dynasties, I've had a new respect for that company.

The trailer for KoA looks really lackluster to me. The way people complain about graphics around here, I can only imagine how they will shred that game up.

For what its worth, the trailer was EA's fault

Anyways, yes, it will have an impact. Anyone leaving/joining has an impact, just because their opinion is added/removed. I don't think it will be positive or negative, or even noticed by anyone who is not looking.

HAVE YOU NOT READ THE STICKYS? INB4 LOCKDOWNNNN!!1!!!11

This thread is from January.

[

Next year. I am really looking forward to it. Another open world fantasy rpg.

was gonna post a response but then noticed that it was from january. :teehee:

When the sons of the Skyrim forum would spill their own blood!

We need 11.11.11 to come sooner.

yeah i was posting and i kept thinking that i had seen it before and then looked at the date. thread necromancy.