» Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:17 pm I have been a long time lurker on this forum and never really felt compelled to post anything. However, there is one topic that has been bothering me a lot and I'd like to share my thoughts on it. I'm going to generalize a lot because I honestly don't feel like policing every single sentence to make sure nobody is getting offended.
Hopefully this will generate a discussion. Please read everything before you try to attack on me.
It seems that a lot of people around here seriously believe that there is some sort of "conspiracy" on the part of the developers to "dumb down" the elder scrolls games for the " 12 year old xbox kid", or that gamers these days are just plain dumb so Bethesda has been simplifying their mechanics in order to "sell out" to the mass market. Some people even go as far as making ridiculous statements, like saying that Bethesda is now targeting Call of Duty fans. It's always the same thing, pretentious posts from elitists claiming that games these days are stupid, gamers these days are all lazy, Bethesda is literally Satan, consoles are peasant tools for the simple minded, get off my RPG lawn.
I'm not attacking old fans in particular, just old complaints I keep seeing over and over again. Let me break down common arguments I see around here and other ES communities and give my 2 cents on it:
"Quests markers have been put on games because 'the masses' are way too stupid and lazy to find things on their own"
Oh yes, because only those who think at higher levels of complexity can follow simple instructions. The problem is that directions were a lot of times broken, and you had to either be a psychic or just lurk around until accidentally stumbled into the right place. I'm not saying that the system we have in Skyrim is the ideal, but to give good instructions in Skyrim you'd have to take into consideration all deformities in the landscape and make sure they are not just straight-up broken like some in Morrowind. It's great to be immersed into the game and having more organic ways to navigate through the map, but as games get bigger and more complex, having to follow instructions like those are just frustrating. Games get bigger and more complex and sometimes things just have to get axed for convenience.
"Bethesda is changing to appeal to younger gamers"
Why would they do that? Just why? It's not like heir old fans are dying of age and now and they need to substitute their fan base with young kids. They could work to expand their fan base, but they would most likely do that through marketing, not through demolishing mechanics. There are plenty of young people out there who like high fantasy, who like RPGs and are willing to put the time into games that are not just "drop and play."
"Conversations in Morrowind had more depth"
Now this one I don't hear quite as often but whenever I see it I always have to re-read it as a joke, and I can only think that people saying this are likely just nostalgic about older games. So you mean, scrolling through a list of topics to read a copy-paste text is equal to more depth? It's not even like the dialogue in Morrowind was great, other games were already doing it better (like Panetscape: torment). Few characters in Morrowind actually had personalities. Boot up Skyrim, walk to any cities and talk to NPCs; You won't be able to ask them about anything you want like some creepy person obsessed about other people's political opinion, but at least they have distinctive personality and have their own little stories.
"Some NPCs can't die"
That svcks, but there are very good reasons for it. Imagine you are walking with the companions to Ysgramor's Tomb, a dragon comes by and kills every last of them. That's it, the Companion's quests are ruined for you, and the player is doomed to play the rest of the game without finishing that quest line. Or worse even, Imagine if Esbern gets his ass handed by a daugr; you'd never be able finish the main questline. I'd take radiant AI over "killable" NPCs any day. Of course Bethesda could, and probably will do something so NPCs are smarter and don't just get randomly killed, but that isn't to say that they didn't because they are lazy or because they are hand-holding in order attract evil casuals.
"Players can participate in all guilds in Skyrim because they don't want casuals to feel sad if they couldn't"
I think role playing is something that is very up to the player. For example, I don't need the game to tell me that I can't be part of the companions if I'm part of the thieves' guild, I can do that by myself. If I want an honest, good character I don't go into the Dark Brotherhood with him. Also, how the hell are the other NPCs supposed to know what guilds I'm in? Is there some kind of gossip tabloid in Tamriel, spying on the Dragonborn and telling everyone what he is doing? Is the player putting bumper stickers on his horse? It's very unlikely that anybody would know what factions you are part of. If you want consequences for your faction choices, try dressing as a Stormcloak and talking to Imperials in Solitude. Just make sure you are ready to take a whole army.
"There are no classes in Skyrim because they don't want the poor, dumb angry-bird casuals to regret their choices."
This is very much my personal opinion, but I like the way Skyrim is. You just play it, and the games shapes itself according to you. No need for classes or attributes or anything like that. You might think differently about classes, but it's clear that this change was made so game was more intuitive and organic rather than some dumb conspiracy to screw older players over and get the "Xbox kids" to play ES.
"I hate fast traveling"
Then don't fast-travel, it's that simple. Some people don't have the time to walk everywhere all the time. Oh, and please, don't even give me the "Then you shouldn't be playing RPGs" nonsense, trying to force everyone to play the way you play just because you think is more immersive is pathetic and childish. And I say all this as someone who tries as hard as possible not to fast-travel.
"Combat now is dumbed down to just hack-and-slash"
Morrowind got backlash for having combat the way it did. But hey, if you like that particular, more traditional RPG kind of combat, then that is up to you, but I think the vast majority of people would agree that missing an enemy right in front of you is just frustrating and immersion-breaking in a modern, first-person RPG. Sure, Other games have done first-person melee combat better, but the ES series has only been improving over time.
These are only some complaints, I can't address every single one of them because I honestly can't remember all of them right now.
People need to understand what the Elder Scrolls is, or tries to be with every installation: The ultimate epic high-fantasy RPG. It isn't supposed to be "Morrowind with more features and bigger world." Every game is purposefully different from each other at some level. For instance, if we look at Morrowind, it had a "stranger in a strange land" kind of vibe. Everything was alien, and it was a very different kind of fantasy compared to more traditional "elves, orcs, man" kind of fantasy. Skyrim, however, has a "bad-ass viking" kind of aesthetic. They are different kinds of games trying to invoke different feelings into the player. Most players seem to treat each installation of the ES like it's just a straight-up sequel like assassin's creed: change the setting, keep/polish older mechanics, introduce new mechanics, the end. Every ES game is a game on it's own, and it's "core-concept" (at least the way I see it) is just "ultimate high-fantasy game." What kind of fantasy it is, what mechanics it uses and how it wants the players to feel varies depending on what the developers want the game to be. I think it's unfair to just make a list of features from Skyrim, Oblivion, Daggerfall, etc., count the number and say "Ok, X game is inherently better, period." They share the world, the lore, but they are games on their own, and no game on the Elder Scrolls series is EVER going to be like the older games.
Also, Bethesda is very much listening to your complaints, guys. People kept saying that all characters, specially followers in ES are shallow and dumb. Then, we got Serana in the Dawnguard DLC, one of the most well-developed characters in the Elder Scrolls series. People keep having nostalgia dreams about Morrowind and we got it on the Dragonborn DLC. "No spears" - we got that too. "Can't build houses" - Hearthfire DLC.
That isn't to say Bethesda's games are perfect, and that common complaints aren't valid, but a lot of times it seems like every change "hardcoe" players don't like is simply because they are trying to "dumb-down" their games, when there are a lot of technical, and more rational reasons why they changed things thorough the years.
If you like older games better, more power to you, I'm just tired of all this whining and circlejerking about how everything got dumbed down to fit the masses nonsense, how Morrowind is literally the nectar of god and Skyrim/Oblivion is "literally everything that is wrong with gaming these days".
