If story writing and efficiency of implementation of intended game mechanics count, I'd say I was horribly ripped by Skyrim. It's all taste, and games today may be half-baked but each packs it's own bit of fun, and there will always be someone that will find hours of stuff to do in any game.

Myself. I take note of game trailers and what developers say about their games but that's about it. It's best to form your own opinion on the game rather than automatically listen to a friend that is already set on a hype train with absurd expectations or a developer/publisher that is marketing their game with ridiculous live action trailers or public stunts. You're not incapable of forming your own thoughts. Is it that hard?

I would say Destiny and Watch Dogs were far from an actual flop. They didn't get the overrated critical acclaim treatment from reviewers, they had flaws, disappointments and questionable design, but that doesn't put it anywhere near an absolute failure (which is, a flop). Either way, quite the rebuttal you have there.

Again with the consoles, looks like you have a problem with setting your expectations too high. And I don't know why, as this has happened before when the newest consoles launch.

As for the comparison with Skyrim, never did I say any of the games mentioned were actually better; but Skyrim didn't necessarily do a good job in a lot of the areas you complained about with the said games either. You could have hours and hours of quest in your game, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're of the best quality and design. In which case, I thought Skyrim had the worst writing, guilds, and quest design of any TES game.

But if it makes you feel any better, I would probably agree with a point in your sentiment. I think I enjoyed Skyrim more than Destiny and that a lot of games releasing for next-gen consoles have come off as disappointing in certain aspects. But again, it doesn't make them "bad games" or an absolute "flop".

I agree with you that newer games haven't really excited me that much, I still spend most of my time playing Skyrim and Neverwinter Nights with the occassional venture into WoW. I am looking forward to Pillars of Eternity and Witcher 3 though, both look like lots of fun.

Opinions are formed by watching trailers, speaking to people and listening to interviews. Do you just stare at a blank wall and form an opinion?

Destiny was a failure in terms of gaming. Financially speaking however it was a major success. I'd suggest visiting the Bungie forums and taking a snoop around. It's not a happy place. Watch Dogs is a game that nobody even plays anymore due to its lack of long term appeal and besides the great story, there's nothing to do.

Skyrim did have the worst writing and guilds in any TES game. Still, it had much better writing than many other games out there now. Destiny, Mordor etc.

I don't think I set my expectations too high. The transition from PS2 to PS3 was huge.

Those games seem pretty cool. I might give them a try. I still however wish that more games would take inspiration from TES and just be truly open world.

Yeah, you and me both. Morrowind was really the start of the dynasty of modern Bethesda games, and their influence on the rest of the games industry with every release. Although TES existed in 1994, I dont really consider Arena to be anything like Morrowind, and although I haven't played Daggerfall I have a feeling ill find it lacking likewise in open world roleplaying potential.

That particular breed of space sim have been around for a long time though, since the 80s with Elite. The first space sim that I got really into was Freelancer, when I was a kid around 2003. You should also give that a play if you're looking for some open-world goodies. Its actually somewhat closer to a Bethesda game than the other two I listed, Freelancer is quite story focused, but during the plot you're given a quite a bit of wriggle room. The game doesn't end when the plot ends, you've got the rest of the universe to explore, and that when it kicks into full open world drive and you can do whatever you want. I dont think it would ever give you the hundreds to thousands of hours that Bethesda's masterpieces do, but its still a lot of fun if you're looking for a break.

Just a small nitpick here, but I think you've got your history wrong. COD1 was a PC only title way back in the early 2000s, and it really blew everyones mind back then. COD2 was a Xbox 360 launch title, although it was on PC aswell. COD3 was console only, but im pretty sure its multi-platform on those, and then COD4 came out for everything except the Wii.

As much as I really dislike newer COD, those first 3ish installments were really nice as a sort of 5-10 hours of shootmans fun. Again, nowhere near the same caliber as what we usually play, but it did break some very new ground back then.

Well, they can't be any worse compared to what there is. I'm waiting for Sunset Overdrive and ACU, but I'm honestly not holding my breath. In all honesty they sound really fun. I'm longing for a game that will give me some good playtime.

Never knew COD2 was 360. I thought only COD3 was on the PS3 and 360.

ha same here

So you want TES to go the Fable route? No thanks...crossbows are as far as I'd like to see firepower go in TES.

Well, never played fable, but say if there was to be a way to mod it in, i'm sure my ranger characters would love to carry that alongside the bow and sword. Im not sure id be comfortable with it being part of the base game, but then if it wasnt part of the base game it'd be very hard to mod in. Hrm.

Well, we have frickin robots in Dwemer ruins. Flintlock pistols would be cool, if they take almost a minute to.reload of course. It would be a cool extra attack, but only this. It wouldnt look like Alien.

Agreed. I'd hate it if there were guns in TES.

Hey, Next Gen games are good. The problem is innovation. W. Dogs is a good game. Destiny wasnt fully launched, according to Bungie, we only know half of the game (damn those release dates to Oblivion, they killed Ryse, a game that had everything to be awesome) What needs to be done is a cutting edge game. Like Mario, Sonic, GTA, Morrowind, Half Life... Games that use everything a console has to offer or modern videocards and processors. Then everything after them, has to be equally good or better.