» Sat Dec 26, 2009 6:16 pm
I said:
Better AI (dialog), and if that means losing the voice acting, I would accept that. Voice acting leads to canned responses that do not fit with the character. For example, the changing voices of the Imperial City beggars, the fact the the Imperial guards refer to themselves in the third person when asked about the Grey Fox. I realize voice acting (and pretty graphics) is the measure by which games are deemed a success or failure by the review community, but there must be some way to prevent the use of voices from actually subtracting from the game.
More attention to detail. Somehow the Imperial City Waterfront became land locked because the designers decided to block the river at Leyawiin. While the waterfront looks like it could be a seaport, Leyawiin does not, and should. Bravil does not, but would be if the river connected to Topal Bay. May I ask what designer put the pile of boulders next to the tunnel entrance on the Imperial Waterfront, blocking access to the main bridge off the island? What major port of commerce is going to have STAIRS on the main thoroughfare where cargo boxes and barrels would have to be lifted up and down the stairs? Yeah, I am focused on the Imperial waterfront, mostly because that is where my character is standing in the game right now and I am reminded of the flaws.
Cyrodiil is the center of the Empire? It looks like a place no one ever goes to. Forests are nice, but farms are necessary to feed people and if that is a measure, Cyrodiil is starving.. There is limited commerce in or out of Cyrodiil because there are no roads to neighboring provinces, the only functional port is Anvil, and most of the farm land has trees and rocks on it. Where the trees have been cleared there exists ancient ruins and a lawless land where farmers would be plagued by all manner of baddies. Cyrodiil is not the center of the Empire, it is a frontier province.
More quests, yes, but more than that, quests that make more sense in the context of actual play. The quest designers are so afraid, I guess that is the word, that players are going to miss something that there is absolutely no downside to being lazy about completing quests. The main quest simply stalls, for months, if the player chooses not to play it. You can run up and talk to Matius at the Oblivion Gate outside of Kvatch, leave, and come back a month later and they are still standing there waiting for you. As a matter of fact, just about every time the player is asked to commit to something, there is a "let me take a few minutes to get ready" option but no one seems to care how long a few minutes are. If a gate is not closed, when I come back a month later there are still just three Daedra huddled around it, never straying out of sight of the gate. Some invasion. If that is as bad as a gate is, it is hardly a crisis. The only time that the quest writers get uptight about completing a quest on a deadline is with the Bruma Great Gate. By the time we get that far, it just seems odd that suddenly they care. Even then, the generals on the Oblivion side are considerate enough to wait how ever long it takes for you to prepare for the invasion.
The game mechanics were not part of the poll, but Fast Travel is just wrong. There are better ways to handle this. It is not a matter of simply not doing it, the designers should have had alternatives. If Vvardenfell had public transit, it boggles the mind that Cyrodiil does not. Yeah, public transportation is "fast travel", but limited to routes and governed by NPC interaction. In Morrowind, one was forced to think about the different mass transit options available when going from A to B. In Oblivion, you either walk all the way or you just teleport there.
Please do not have compass markers to places I have not found. Places I have found, I have no problems with, but I should not be able to find a hidden entrance to a forgotten cave by looking at my compass. Yeah, I might miss something when playing. That's life.
More than anything, I would like the sense that I am not alone in the world, the only person out of thousands (well, dozens) of inhabitants who can close each gate, who can loot a dead body, who can solve all the problems. It feels like I am the only person in the world.
Extending that thought, all monsters are scaled to my character. Before I came along, Cyrodiil was a peaceful place with just a few rats and other lesser creatures, but now that I am here, an ever increasing force of ever stronger monsters are invading. If I were a true hero, I would commit suicide just to save the rest of the people from this influx of stronger monsters that are here just because I am. Even the daedra are ramped up to match my increasing threat to them. Who knows, if I had never come along, maybe they would have never needed the Xivilai.
Well, I got that out. Back to my nap.