» Sun Oct 16, 2011 4:30 pm I have been a fan of Elder scrolls games for... Well since I was 6 or 7 years old. My first was Arena, I remember making the sounds of the doors opening and the goblins. Then came daggerfall, which my dad had as well. I remember my dad told me i had a "magic dagger" on my "snake guy" (which was an argonion) and I never put the dagger down. I would go and steal horses, and basically try to kill guards, or go out and wander until I came across some random mage tower/pyrimid thing, as far as I can remember anyways. Or I would load old saves of my dads and run around climbing houses and castle walls as a wereboar.
Then came the first elderscrolls game that I could fully comprehend and understand. Morrowind. Yes, the combat is lacking. Yes the graphics are very dated. However, morrowinds artstyle, and overall feel, endure with me to this day. I still get the same feeling when you leave the ship in seyda neen, even though I already know where everything is. People have said this before, Morrowind had something that alot of games, just lack. And I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it was. But its made it one of the most memorable games of my life, if I wished, I could play it again right now, and still enjoy it.
Then came Oblivion. I was so overhyped for it, that even while playing it for the first time, I thought it was amazing. However as time set in, and I played it more and more. I began to see how much of a failure in so many ways the game was. It failed to capture even a 10th of that feeling morrowind had. Not to mention a whole clutter of things that just made it so mainstream and easy, it cant even be considered an rpg in my opinion. Sure, oblivion had full voice acting, but that also made all the characters completly lacking in well... Anything. Those short lines were not enough to learn about or flesh out any character in the game. They were clutter, like throwing a bunch of oranges all over the map. There are many more gripes, but more than likely I don't need to say them, because you likely already know.
Fallout 3 came soon after. My dad, barely played oblivion, he doesnt get into hype. He played it for maybe a week, and never played again. He hated it, he said it was a huge disappointment. I agree. However, he loved fallout, and played fallout 3 for a long time, and played new vegas after it. Me however, I didnt. I had played so much of Oblivion, so when I played fallout 3, it was basically oblivion with guns. I played the game for 60+ hours, so I gave it a very fair shake.
Now skyrim is right around the corner, and some of the things I know to be true are things like constantly regenerating health, meaning no real reason to rest or use potions outside of combat. No spears or crossbows, likely because bethesda svcks so much at animations, that it would likely just look more idiotic and amateure than the duel weilding weapons they decided had to be put in. The dragons in the game are random, which means, they are not signifigant adversaires. I have no doubt in my mind, that little "dragonborn" at level 1 will be able to down a dragon with not much effort. And some of the other BIG problems? 4 factions? Are you effking serious? Thats an all time low. Who cares about story, this isnt a Bioware game? I hated the factions in oblivion, with the exception of the thieves guild. They all had a storyline where they tried so hard to make you the major player.
Oh wait, not to mention, ditching the entire elder scrolls formula in favor of something from fallout 3. Sorry, thats garbage to me. Keep Fallout where its supposded to be, and keep elder scrolls how it should be. I'm 22 years old, I have a ton of hobbies. Gaming is one of them, and when I take the time to play something, I want it to be something I enjoy. Skyrim is more mainstreamed out than Oblivion was. I didn't like Oblivion, I hate it in fact. There are more things wrong with it then the things it did right.
Bethesda will make a pile of money from a bunch of little kids who just became fans of the game, either through seeing a new trailer, or from old oblivion players. The more mature bunch of old players, will likely get into skyrim for the modding scene. Hopefully it won't devolve to the point where the most popular mods are women with briasts bigger than their heads for socially inept virgins, like Oblivions did. But I believe Skyrim, for me, is where I draw the line. I know in my mind that I wont like Skyrim at all. I don't really care what modders do with it. If I want to enjoy some real elder scrolls, I'll play morrowind. They had a chance to build on something great with morrowind. Instead they took steps back, so many in fact, that now were are here with skyrim.
Bethesda had a big chance to turn themselves around after Oblivion. They could have went back into morrowind and daggerfalls direction, and made the game way deeper, they already established a huge new fanbase with oblivion, so it would have worked. Instead, they made a game for all the kids who couldnt find caius cosades and quit playing. Bethesda won't change their direction now, this is who they are now. And I dont approve.
Long post I know, and I ramble a bit. But its how I feel, and I was wonding if anyone else feels the the same way. Do you agree with the choices bethesda has made up until now? Or are you like me, and think they have not only dropped the ball, but kicked it into the grand canyon.
Don't flame please, if you disagree, I am not a child, I can handle an alternative view, so post it respectfully, and I will post back equally as respectful. Please refer to this video if you feel angry : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c211yCCZdJY
