Hey guys,
First of all I'm a huge fan of your games and I have been for over ten years now. Since I’ve been a PC gamer since my potty-training days, I really appreciate your tendency to build games with staggering depth, complexity, and detail. I love the freedom present in the elder scrolls series; not only the freedom to explore the massive worlds you provide me with, but the freedom to build my character from the ground up exactly as I choose to.

I realize that in a world where not everyone is a hardcoe gamer; used to the arduous process of building a character in an RPG, it is necessary for companies that want to make good money to ensure that their games are accessible to a wider audience. That also means that many of the features we so-called “hardcoe gamers” love are painfully extricated from our favorite game franchises. For example, many item types that were in Morrowind were not included in Oblivion.

Throwing weapons, spears, crossbows, medium armor, the differentiation between long and short bladed weapons, and the axe weapon classification were all removed. I loved the complexity that those items brought to the game. I had to choose whether I would be skilled with long or short bladed weapons, whether I would prefer to wear light, medium, or heavy armor. Those choices gave me an immersive level of control over my character. I was a very sad fan when I installed Oblivion, only to find that my options were slightly fewer this time around.

“Okay,” I thought, “I can deal with this. I still have a helluvalotta customization options.” Then I took a look at the world map and realized I could instantly travel to any city with the press of a button. “What the hell?” said I. “I remember having to pack for my journeys, and walk for half an hour before I arrived.” It’s a sad state of affairs when I don’t have to worry about where I’m going, or how I’m going to get there in an elder scrolls game. And the level scaling doesn’t help either. I could walk out anywhere into the wilderness with full confidence that all of the enemies will be just easy enough for me to beat. It sure makes the game world a whole lot less enigmatic and threatening.

Don’t get me wrong, I played Oblivion and I loved it. But there was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind the whole time, that the game’s experience had been lobotomized for the sake of the paste gobbling, helmet wearing, controller gnawing, console gamers. The interface was designed for controllers, and as mentioned before much of the excessive depth was gone completely.
And then Skyrim was announced. I nearly went through the roof with excitement. And then I read that there were only three attributes.

What the hell guys? Are you making an action game now? I don’t want to be spoon-fed my gaming experiences, I want to build my character with the sweat of my brow from tens of attribute and skill options. And most importantly I don’t want to just “Jump into the action” in an RPG. I don’t know what sort of IP you think you’ve got on your hands with Skyrim, but it’s not the next installment of

My point is that the trend I’ve been observing here is one toward simple, easily digestible, spoon fed game-play. Maybe three attributes sounds like a staggering amount of choice when you’re coming from the land of, Call of Halo: Gears of Warfare 2. But having played Morrowind, I feel like I’m getting left out in the cold here. I’ve seen Todd say that all of the attributes that were taken out have been either distilled into the three that yet remain, or are taken care of with perks. I’m inclined to trust him with the perks thing, even though I really don’t like the idea. But as far as this whole idea of distilled attributes goes: I feel like you’ve taken away my piping hot, savory, delicious plate of steak, potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, and grilled onions, and replaced it all with a pile of re-hydrated nutrient powder, and a disclaimer of “Don’t worry, all of the nutrients you like so much in all of those foods are right here in this delicious paste!!” I feel like you’ve missed the point. The reason we liked the attributes wasn’t that they were efficient. It was because they allowed maximum customization, and provided a fantastic level of depth.

I really, REALLY, want to be excited about Skyrim. The graphics, conversation system, crafting, jobs/activities, dragons, radiant story system, and combat system all look fantastic. Just tell me I’ll be able to build my character exactly the way I want to, with a ridiculous number of customization options, and I’ll be able to overlook all of the game’s other amputations for the sake of those poor, poor, console simpletons.

Thanks for reading my wall-o-text,
-Kyle

Please don't take this the wrong way, but you should really go back and separate those paragraphs. I couldn't read the letter because it just isn't formatted very well.

I would love to read it, however, and to comment on the letter itself.

But have you played fallout 3? Thats the real question.

Platform bashing is not permitted on the forums.