While we all knew this from some older interviews Bethesda did a long time ago, its interesting to see Pete restate it in regards to Fallout 4.

http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a656742/nothing-is-sacred-at-bethesda-game-studios-says-ceo-pete-hines.html#~piPejeMZgNvAg4

Speaking to Digital Spy, Hines said that there are no sacred pillars when developing games like Fallout and that the team instead chooses to 'blow up everything and start all over'.

"I think these guys really do believe in the idea of every time you make a game you've got to blow up everything that you did and start all over," he said.

"Because if you start with some base assumptions like, 'Well of course we have to have this', pretty soon you're going to find out that you're not really breaking new ground, you just end up iterating, because you're going to find all these sacred pillars.

"I think Bethesda Game Studios has this culture of, 'Look, there are no sacred paths. We don't have to do anything, so what should we do?'"

Hines said that this approach leads to new experiences in games, like Fallout 4's world building and item crafting.

"If you make too many assumptions to begin with, I don't think you ever make that leap, so I think [Bethesda Game Studios is] very good at playing without a net, and letting go and taking a chance."

During the same interview, Hines said that the company is aiming for shorter release campaigns, after deciding to announce and release Fallout 4 in a five-month period.

The Bethesda cycle:

1. Fan gets introduced to a Bethesda game, this game becomes his or her favorite.

2. New Game in that series comes out, it's not as good to the fan but is still enjoyable.

3. One more new game in that series comes out, fan is bitter and is forever mad at Bethesda for ruining their favorite game.

Forever and ever until Bethesda goes under.

Edit: Stop quoting me and telling me how you are different. This was a half truth posted largely for comedic reasons. No group of people can ever be accurately stereotyped, obviously.

"Nothing is scared". Oh boy, this should be a fun thread to read.

I disagree Red-Rogue, I tried Oblivion and eventually stopped playing due to boredom, but thoroughly enjoyed Skyrim. Maybe you will be right when I play FO4, but I doubt it.

I must be going against the grain then since I'm not one of those fans.

same i have liked every game since morrowind .

It actually sounds more like the cycle for movie trilogies.....first one good, second one okay and third one, well lets forget about the third one

Started with Fallout 3, then went back to Oblivion. Their games have improved, even while also becoming increasingly simpler.
But hey, "simple" is easier to get right

But yeah, maybe, just maybe, they could try improving something for once, instead of reinventing or removing it. Just give it a shot.

I was saying that in a general sense, fellas. You'll notice that a lot of people, not necessarily on these forums, will say things like "RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE TES ACTUALLY MEANT SOMETHING IN MY DAY".

It's what I like to call "Dad syndrome".

Naturally, us here on the forums woudn't fall into this, as we wouldn't have signed up to discuss the games otherwise!

I have enjoyed each Bethesda Games Studios game since Morrowind based upon their own merits and noted the flaws of each with hopes that they will improve those with the next game. Sometime they do, sometimes they don't. Still love the hell out Bethesda games.

In my book its a solid strategy, tho naturally none openly admits it, but sometimes a games fanbase can be its worst enemy, dooming a franchise into becoming a stagnant swamp. So hearing the fact Beth "doesn't hold anything sacred" sounds like a good way to avoid that.

I feel the best example for this is Metroid 2D versus the Metroid Prime games. There are people who only like one or the other and there are people who like both.

Personally I feel Prime is vastly superior but I know of plenty of people who disagree with me and wish for a new 2D version rather than Metroid Prime 4.

Edit: Besides, since Morrowind, hasn't each game been GOTY contender/winner. I'd say they're going up rather than under.

This. And that's why BGS is my favourite game studio ^^

I have problems with Skyrim but I enjoy the game. Same with Fo3. I sure I will enjoy Fo4 as well.

They have all been GOTY winners. New Vegas really SHOULD have been a GOTY, but including New Vegas under Bethesda is debateable.

One might argue that the GOTY has been riding off of new fans discovering the games. The majority of people get "Dad syndrome" and leave to play new games, they get replaced by new fans.

Obviously, we won't see this as much because it's the Bethesda forums after all. It does happen even here, however. Not too many veterans are still poking around. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Pseron Wyrd.

Bethesda makes the most entertaining games ive ever played. You have no clue

I played morrowind and liked it. But fallout 1, 2, arcanum was better. Then bethesda buys the rights to fallout and im hoping for a good game.

Best game ive ever played.

Until fallout 4 i bet.

And im an old school gamer. I dont play other new games because there are other things in life more fun but there is one company that still can compete against luxury hotels or whatever else i can chose to do for fun. And they win easily.

Ive taken months off from work to play fallout 4. I bet its going to be the best game ever.

It's just a bunch of talk. I know how each game has taken steps forwards and backwards.

I said it before and I'll say it again, Bethesda doesn't care about creating sequels, they care about creating reiterations.

Fallout really is dead as a series, because you can't have a "series" if each part is going to be completely reiterated.

Eventually the next new thing coming out won't bear any resemblance to the original one that started the whole thing.

Besides, a good writer respects the pillars and work with them or works around them but he never ignores them or tries to tear them asunder.

Goes the same for anyone in charge of what the design of the game was going to turn out to be.

If you can't work 'with' the pillars, then you are simply bad at what you do.

The pillars are there for a reason, and they're only as restrictive as you make them.

Pretty insightful, I can agree with this.

You seem to be missing that not only do they continually bring in new fans, but many of the older fans continue to play and enjoy the games they develop. I'm personally on my fourth Beth game, 6 if you want to count Rage and New Vegas...both of which I'm perfectly aware were not developed by BGS.

In short, Beth ain't going nowhere, even with some of the questionable design decisions they've made over the years. They are a professional company who knows how to make a quality product, and turn a profit. Not everyone will be happy with what's been lost, I know, I'm one of them, but what we've gained does outweigh what we've lost.

YOU seem to be missing that I was primarily joking and poking fun at grumpy old timers.

That is like saying TES, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, and Megaman, are dead as a series for the same reason.

They aren't, because video game series are defined by more then just their gameplay. They are defined by their universes, lore, and in FF's case, simple thematic occurrences such as crystals and engineers named Cid.

Some of the best writing in not only games, but movies and media, are all about doing JUST that.

KOTOR 2 is often described as the best Star wars game ever, and one of the best RPGs ever, despite the fact it [censored] over everything the Star Wars universe stood for, by trying to make the light vs dark side stuff into grey morality stuff. So are you saying Obsidian are bad writers because they couldn't manage to respect the pillars of the Star Wars universe?

Pillars only exist to provide an easy means of easily appeasing people by providing them with consistent elements that they already know. However, this just leads to formulaic and derivative garbage like CoD, Halo, and Battlefield. The works, not only in games, but in all other forms of media, that are considered the best are considered so because they totally defy the idea of pillars, be they pillars of a specific series, or pillars of general game/movie/tv show/book design in general.

I'm curious to know the contrast of Fallout 4 as to what we've gained and what we've lost, in your opinion.

Or maybe...

1. A fan gets captured by the Bethesda franchise.
2. The franchise grows, and changes. The fan is still gnawed upon, but the franchise is clearly losing interest in them.
3. Lots of extra fans are captured by the franchise.
4. The franchise grows and changes even more. The first fan is cast aside, all nourishment drained from them.
5. Even more fans are captured by the franchise.

Forever and ever, with the franchise growing like a mutating behemoth with each new game, leaving an ever growing trail of bitter and broken fans in its wake, who mutter their endless discontent and, like lotus eaters saved from their dream, or Odysseus hearing the songs of the sirens fading away as his ear-stopped sailors row on, secretly yearn to be devoured once more.

Of course, like all little fairy tales, there is only a kernel of truth, and many different cynically humorous versions of the same story

[edited for more colour]

Ive been playing since I took a chance on Morrowind when I was in a EB games as a young kid in 2004. The reason why Bethesda has managed to stay on top over these years is that they don't just stamp out the same game every year or so. They spend many years to change things up as much as they can and provide a experience unique to the game itself. You can still quantify what makes a Bethesda game, Open World, Roleplaying, Player Freedom, but you cannot pin down much more than that. So much changes from game to game so that things remain fresh, and this is one of the main reasons why they are making billions with their games. Things have certainly gone wrong in various ways over the years. When Oblivion was released I was extremely dissapointed, but ive come to terms with it over the years.

Bethesda is one of the weirder things in the gaming industry. It is a AAA studio that proves exactly why AAA should exist in the first place: A means to pool together massive amounts of manpower, time, and money to make a true masterpiece that stands on its own merits, and is rewarded by the millions of sales, hundreds of GOTY awards, and massive positive reaction from everywhere in the world. Its the exact opposite of a game like Call of Duty, which is stamped out with identical gameplay every year or so to empty your pockets of 70 dollars to get mostly the same experience.

I wonder if Bethesda will ever go under. Bethesda has lasted the great RPG crash of the late 90s, and my own personal trial with Oblivion in 2005. Certainly not everything can last forever, but for a games company that's entire business model would make some executive suits weep at their short-term profits it is amazing that they've lasted this long. Maybe one day the dream will be over and Open World Roleplaying will be on its way out, but nothing truly dies in gaming. Just as my favourite space game X3 went completely horrible with X-Rebirth, indie projects like Limit Theory are popping up to fill the void with new games using new technology. I just saw a new game on my Steam coming out this September that bills itself as a succesor to games like Command and Conquer 3 and other traditional RTSes, which ruled the earlier part of my life just as much as Open World did. I have no doubt that if something major goes against Bethesda and nobody is buying these wonderful open worlds anymore, then something will appear to take its place. There seems to be no end in sight here in 2015, but who knows what it'll be like in 2025 or 2035.

Heheh, this will be a fun thread.

Anyway I support this philosophy. There are people against change and there are people for change. I for one am part of the latter group. I'd rather a series go through reiterations than become the same with every entry.

Oblivion is my favorite TES game, and I might not be a huge Skyrim fan, but I would have hated it if they just made TES IV: Oblivion 2.

The only people upset by this seem to be a vocal minority, and I'd rather they change the series up than pander to a few people with rose-tinted glasses.