Gaming: The act of playing games
Gaming: The interactive electronic media
Gaming: An entertainment market that creates a viable economic resource
Gaming: An art form
Gaming: The infusion of action and choice towards a medium
Gaming: The pursuit of competition

2011: Gaming: RPG: Let us best Oblivion, Mass Effect, Red Dead Redemption...

Let us live today where the BBS does not exist, where the market does not favor the pen and paper world of traditional D&D.... let us see the evolution of the "term" Gaming...

Where does this take us when to remain viable you have Dragon Age and Mass Effect and even Rockstar taking stock in the Western RPG?

Life continues to live because it can adapt to the world around it...

Bethesda makes a viable contribution to the life of an RPG by evolving towards the needs of a world who wants to value the past, and breathes the life of the future.

Gaming: The pursuit of Joy.
Gaming: The escape from Life.
Gaming: The strengths and ills of man upon display, for action, and without consequence
Gaming: Work

Reality dictates that we step back from our feelings about each game, and it tells us that these games are so many things to so many people, and that no single person can be wholly satisfied. What can be said, with much assuredness is that the "times" can be satisfied, for they exist as a cumulative whole.

Game Of The Year

It is a time-stamp, but a revelation and a truth.

No one can expect Skyrim to be Daggerfall, nor can they expect it to be Morrowind, nor Oblivion...

They must expect that when we press our ultimate Play, that in that moment and in that time, that we will say, "This is the definition of Gaming"

And praise be Akatosh, and all of the Divines!

This sounded like a religious sermon, no offense.

But yes, Skyrim should be better than the other ES games. Should. Probably won't top them all, but it will be good.

I do not think it will be the best game ever, however.

It will be while I'm playing it.

I'm a little bit confused here.

I will say I'm sure Skyrim will win some game of the year awards, but it's going to be stiff completion this year.

Mass Effect 3, Portal 2, Rage, L.A. Noire (new Rockstar game), Crysis 2, Deus Ex, etc.

My point really is that this game needs to stand against the games coming out this year, like ME3 and the others, and the previous titles did that as well. Regardless of the awards that it garners, the Game evolves in every iteration to meet the changing definition of gaming.

When Skyrim stands against ME3 there is a competition there... and those who adore Morrowind, and ask that Skyrim simply become a Morrowind 2.0 they lack the foresight that BGS needs to stand against ME3 (and the others).

The game will never be Morrowind, Daggerfall, etc. It will be what the future needs it to be, i.e. when the next TES comes out it will be some other iteration that meets the standards of the times, and if all holds true, will actually tell the standard of the time what to be.

instead of saying, "How can Skyrim possibly stand against ME3 and DA2?" We should ask "How can ME3 and DA2 stand against Skyrim?" :rolleyes:

Seriously though, I don't think you can really compare Dragon Age, Red Dead: Redemption, Mass Effect, and The Elder Scrolls... they're all extremely different with their seperate sets of pros and cons.

For me it was Daggerfall, Oblivion, and then Morrowind (mostly for its weird style). But they are going more and more from Role Playing into Action Adventures. None of these, not even Daggerfall, has been able to svck me so completely into it like Realms of Arkania Blade of Destiny did back in its day. Maybe I grew older. Maybe it's the dice approach, especially to character generation. Maybe it's the sheer size (expect countless camping sessions going from one place to the next, in an area the size of europe, but not in 3D naturally - this was the day of the floppy ).

Travels is to me one of the most important aspect of role playing, now replaced fully with Click & Appear interface with no focus on survivalism at all. In Blade of Destiny you hoped like crazy you wouldn't end up in battle during a week long trip. Looking for camp sites, hunting for food, getting water, setting up guards etc. In OB you're guaranteed a fight every 100 meters. Wtf happened? Although there is lots of things in Blade of Destiny that could never apply in a 1st person 1 character approach, the complete lack of focus on travels will not make me give my vote for best RPG - maybe none deserve my vote anymore, I don't know.

Will Skyrim be a great game? Yeah, I'm sure of it. It has a backbone and lore depth it's hard to neglect. It will have stunning graphics and game mechanics. But as everything now have to be visualized, it can never become the full depth of a true RPG. I'm no longer able to fully "connect" with my character. It's only someone I play, not someone I really become. Not sure what to point my finger at. I think even FO3 made me connect better, probably because I saw my character grow up. In Blade of Destiny there was a massive story (230 lines wrapped at 80 char per line), or diary, on what had happened. In TES games, all we get it a short introduction that says "go do that". Compare it to another favorite "role playing game" of mine, Elite Frontier II. It came with a separate booklet filled with short stories. In TES, the story is hidden within the game itself in the form of lore (good one too, better than anything I've seen elsewhere even). But there is little that defines my character. Make up my own background? FO3 had a little of it, Daggerfall had a tiny fleck of it, and I've seen nothing since.

Sorry for the rant. Had to get it out, lol. But I don't expect to see my worries fixed anytime soon by BGS.

It's going to be more like Skyrim VS The Witcher 2 assassins of kings. I think those are the only 2 cRPG's coming out; me3 and dragon age are more like action games.

Its all a matter of opinion really.

But I can tell you one thing of truth.

I am anticipating Skyrim more than any other game that is coming out in the next 2 years.

Dragon Age is the most pure RPG to come out in years. Certainly more than any Elder Scrolls game.

:facepalm:....really?

Yeah. It's got more tabletop style combat, real dialog, more choice in the main quest, etc.

Not necessarily saying it's a better game, just more pure RPG.

Seriously? So the Witcher 2 is scrapping it's predecessor's mouse click spam fest controls and fixed camera perspective? If not then it won't even be a contest. The Witcher was far from being GOTY material and honestly i don't know how they managed to make enough money on the first to warrant a sequel. And like Mango said DA is closer to being pure RPG.

Its a good game, but I found myself skipping through most of the boring crap to actually get to play. It seemed more like an action game to me. Morrowind was the first game(Besides D&D) That I actually did some roleplaying with. I don't think anyone roleplays with Bioware games...too much dialog to leave you any breathing room.

There's a difference between cRPG and a game that you can roleplay in. You can roleplay in Saints Row 2 but it doesn't make it a cRPG.

For me, RPG's consist of two things

Leveling and Roleplaying. That's all you really need. Technically you don't even need leveling, hence Roleplaying games.

More like roleplaying in a game in that case.

Sure it needs roleplaying, but it doesn't mean you have to create the role you play, it also means you can be given a character and roleplay him or her.

I think a defined role with more freedom of choice (and I mean meaningful choices as they relate to the story of the game not like "I want to pretend to be a forest ranger") is better than a blank slate character with only one path through the story and no way to really talk to the people in the game.

Stiff competition indeed because people compare games like ME and TES when really they shouldnt. Mass Effect has had incredible success because it is a ACTION-shooter RPG carrying elements from Biowares previous starwars and jade empire linear rpgs, it has stayed true to its roots in ME2 and improved, polished, tweaked their game as best they could. And everyone expects them to take the next step towards ME3 while remaining STILL true to its origins.

TES has more of a D&D background/origin, free roaming. Unlimited customization. No boundaries. Thats what TES was. Thing is RPGs are divided in only two categories(western rpg, jrpg) when really theres a lot more. Like Todd says himself in his interview, rpg elements are being more and more popular in gaming. Whether its in sports games, shooters, action/adventure games etc.. etc.. and sadly more and more shooters and action/adventure games are getting classified as RPGs giving less spotlight to true RPGs.

Take Fable 3 for example. That game is as much an rpg as Assassins Creed is an rpg. Only its not. It is an action/adventure game.

Just try comparing now games like Assassins Creed and TES. I love the elders scroll, I really do. But theres no way a true rpg will ever win game of the year against a title like Assassins Creed Brotherhood. AC:B simply appeals to so much more people. So obviously if Bethesda is trying to compete against games like that... what bethesda should do even if it wont (because its a company and has to make money). Is try and compete against its previous games. Beat Arena's innovation, Daggerfall's scope. Morrowind's fantasy. And then you will truly have the best RPG in years.