My answer to the poll: Who the hell is Ken Rolston?

Reading many many interviews over the years, and a lot of this has been heavily discussed in the past. And in some ways the games speak for themselves the interviews just underline the direction

Where is the "I don't know" option?

Thanks Orcbait for the info, now I have a better perspective of what happened to all the greatness of Morrowind how it vanished in Oblivion all of a sudden.

There's a not-entirely-positive view on Ken Rolston's influence in this interview with Douglas Goodall
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/General:Douglas_Goodall_Interview

If Ted Peterson is doing some writing for ESV, I will be very glad.

So? Developers can be replaced. No worries about the game. Hell, there are developers being laid off at some companies, I'm more worried about those guys than peeps that just leave the company. It's not a biggie. The game will be alright, stop getting scared.

http://bighugegames.com/staff/ken-rolston.

ahh ok thx
seems like a pretty cool guy, hes been involved with some of my fave games

I'd guess some of each. Here's a link to an interview with him shortly after his retirement: http://consumer.hardocp.com/article/2006/05/23/oblivions_ken_rolston_speaks

I voted "other" because I think Todd and some of the others have been involved with TES for a long enough time to keep the legacy alive. But I do expect the game to be better for other factors like better processing/graphics power and any game dev knows they need to keep pushing the envelope.

But I guess time will only tell...

Interestingly thats the one that caused a hissy fit and is edited, he stated in the original interview that Todd likes going into dungeons with an axe, and that Douglas liked prying secrets from old tomes, a lot of that content was removed. Which I don't understand, Oblivion shows Todd's preference in spades, why try and hide it?

Thanks Lady Evenstar that was the interview I wanted to link too

Both these interviews do show the change in TES quite well

Oh here we go with the "Morrowind was the greatest game of all time and Oblivion svcked" cultist crap. Drop some of your fanaticism and open your eyes and look at Oblivion. What makes an RPG is Gameplay, lore and the world. Oblivion had better gameplay with the improved combat system, voice over and new AI. Morrowind had a insanely good main quest line but Oblivion had a better overall world with all the side quests being far more entertaining and in depth than those of Morrowind. I personally like Oblivion than Morrowind but I don't go about the forums and blogs screaming about how it was such a bad game because Morrowind isn't a bad game. You can have your opinion about which you like more, Morrowind or Oblivion but your just blinded by your loyalty to Morrowind that you only look at the few flaws of Oblivion and that's all you see of it. I could give you a huge list of problems with Morrowind and if I only payed attention to them then Morrowind would be one of the worst games of all time. This is just the typical talk when the series moves on because people can't move on from the game they have been playing for a long time. If any of you remember, these are the same comments people had about Morrowind when it came out, how it was such a bad game and Daggerfall was god. Daggerfall imo was better than Morrowind too but it has shifted to where everyone worships Morrowind.

So what I'm telling you to do is instead of insulting Oblivion, actually try to get into it. Morrowind isn't as great as you think it is, it's good but it has far more flaws than Oblivion does and if you count which game is better depending on the flaws then Morrowind loses by quite a large margin.

My major bone to pick with him is that it's my impression that he was the major proponent of heavy level-scaling, allowing the player to do everything at whatever level it occurred to him. Of course, my impression may be faulty, but the interview I linked to doesn't conflict with it.

Other: As summed up quite well:



Same here...if he'd been lead on Morrowind and gone for Oblivion, his not being present would worry me and I'd wish he were back. His having been lead on both makes my view decidedly "Meh, whatever."

So are you comparing the two by their flaws? and surely that's entirely your own opinion.

I played both extensively, and personally feel Oblivion fell short of it predecessor. That's my opinion.

Does that make me a blind fool?

Personal opinion.

People may actually like Morrowind more than Oblivion.

Other people may actually like Oblivion more than Morrowind.

Referring to people who may not agree with you as fanatics and cultists is considered flaming here. Don't do it.

Why am I reminded of an old phrase regarding a pot, a kettle, and coloration? :shrug:

Anyway, I've played the hell out of both games- and I find myself preferring Morrowind. Can't help it- neither is short of flaws, to be sure- but one feels decidedly more RPG and less FPS than the other in my experience.

I always felt Daggerfall was the best of the three TES games I played. (Oblivion, Morrowind, Daggerfall, in that order) There's just a certain magic to Daggerfall that it's successors never recaptured.

If people want to discuss the series as a whole they should stop by the Elder Scrolls Series forum. While a discussion Ken's involvement will understandably involve discussing old games a lot of people have drifted towards the latter with no discussion of Ken himself.

This also isn't an appropriate place to discuss the controversy around Douglas Goodall's Imperial Library interview.


Nothing has been said or suggested in this direction. I agree that it would be nice.

Picked other - I expect all the developers have thrown themselves at this game to make it the best they can using the elements of the TES universe that they know have worked well.

Who's to say that Ken would not have wanted to change direction himself - most artists, story writers, directors etc get tired of producing the same thing time over and want to explore new styles and themes - I'm hoping not for a re-rinse of the old and familiar but something fresh

Oh no, Oh no, Oh no, this game will be horrible now! Wait, who is Ken Rolsten?

Lets say Morrowind was done with Oblivions engine and graghics then compare them side by side it would be like a 10 beside a 4. The only thing holding Morrowind back is its age. Same cant be said for daggerfall or arena because they go to far back its like playing astroids when i could be playin fallout, but morrowind is just close enough to oblivion to be able to compare.

Its sad to see Ken go but if Todd leaves Bethseda might as well close shop.

Hmm...

I found Oblivion and Fallout 3 to both be painfully simplistic in their portrayal of Good vs Evil...

I hope Todd has learned something from Fallout New Vegas.

I get that he likes the action more than the intrigue, but I'm hoping he will be able to better balance the two now. Oblivion's combat was great but it's story was lacking and it's world was rather two dimensional. You combine Oblivion's combat with Morrowind's depth of world and this next generation graphics engine...that would be mighty fine.

Ken Rolston was a real visionary - with a great sense of humor. Along with Julian Lefay, I always felt as if these two really cared about the world Bethesda created and seemed to be a driving force behind much of the lore and intrigue in the older games.

I do dearly miss them. But my name is also Ken, so I'm hoping that their desire to find a replacement for him will aid my chances of working there someday.