That's like asking

Will Skyrim be a good game?

and expecting Todd to say anything other than 'Yes'. Obviously he's going to say that.

The guy on the far left is kind of a dike.

That level of Heartland sounds really cool actually. If it were to be done right. Division 9 looked awesome as well. Too bad Todd didn't get asked about The Elder Scrolls Travels (I think that was the name). Its also a shame that Todd didn't really talk as much either. Geoff just seemed too tired and bored to give a crap in this one lol

Yeah I can't see him saying "Yes, we cut a lot of content but we made it a lot prettier, and you can collect flowers now!"

Is it really so bad that these guys who make awesome games actually get paid a decent amount?
Yes, they're appealing to a wider audience, but hey, that means more money and more TES. You're practically asking them to keep a tiny fanbase and earn no money for your sake.
I mean, if they stopped progressing and just made the same damn confusing hardcoe RPG game over and over for the sake of elitists who can't grow with their supposed favorite games, BGS would run out of money and TES would get scrapped. FOREVER. I would rather have a slightly streamlined TES than no TES.

That was the uber whittled down, paraphrased version without the DA context. In context though, he seemed genuinely confident that the fan's concerns were unfounded. At least that's how I interpreted it. :shrug:

I second this. Despite of it's flaws, I enjoyed Oblivion SO MUCH (playing on my 360) that I can't help but be excited for Skyrim. It'll be the greatest RPG ever!

Surely spellmaking, attributes, diverse armor slots, hand-to-hand skill, equipment destruction among other removed elements don't classify as 'hardcoe', right?

Ok. Right. So numbers equal hardcoe.
I'll never be a hardcoe gamer, then. :cryvaultboy:

Numbers? I don't know what you mean, it is a pretty straight-forward statement there.

There's an old saying "You go home with them that brought you to the dance." Bethesda was already in danager of running out of money and TES being scrapped forever. That was before Morrowind. They were on the verge of bankruptcy.

Ever heard the term "sell out?" It's most often used to describe muscicians, but also any other kind of artists. Basically, they take their original creations, and make them "radio friendly." Take out cuss words, remove "advlt themes" and otherwise castrate their creations to "reach a wider audience." I don't want a sell out developer. I want a developer that says "We're going to make this game for this set of gamers, the ones who've made us who we are today. If we can make that game incredible enough that other people want in, groovy."

@ grelf

LOL that guy has NO idea what he's talking about. He's just a total parrot, repeating the other inane counter arguments people have made, but totally out of context. "BRRRRAWWWWK numbers! Numbers! Polly doesn't want numbers in his RPG! BRRRAWWWK"

Too bad you mentioned nothing about numbers, only meaningful content that was scrapped for who knows why?

Good game developers know where the fine line between fanservice and http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PanderingToTheBase lies.

I really don't understand what "core" elements have been cut to appeal to the masses.

And I really don't understand how any game with 300+ hours of gameplay in an open fantasy world can't be a hardcoe RPG.

A very romantic view, unfortunately business and profit know nothing of romance.
I really do hope they have made an awesome game, but I'm with the other guy, better they remain in business than cater to a minority.

The only "core" element that has been cut is the spellmaker I say. I will mourn his passing but all that while I'll be rejoicing about the new spells we got instead. Spell I hope are a lot more interesting than the bland stuff we got stuck with since Morrowind.

Those are a handful of hard core, per the operational definition of 'hard core', features/options which I'll also kinda miss, but their *potential absence doesn't take into account any of the new stuff, much of which is not yet publicly known. The absence of attributes, for instance, could very well only mean that there's no way to keep track of it with the UI but the values are still tracked by the engine. I seriously doubt actor values are entirely absent. It's only been stated that upper and lower armor slots are merged, but that doesn't even touch the possibility that there are new slots like "Mouth Object" or "Choker" which were present in the Fallouts, lending even more slots than Oblivion had.

*only time will tell as some things confirmed as cut have since been restored like one hand melee blocking and, evidently, decapitation/dismemberment.

He stuttered. :sadvaultboy:

poeple forget that DA2's problems weren't born from it being streamlined but rushed. Bioware Rushed the game out the door and the shortcuts taken in level design and gameplay balance ruined much of the world. DA2's streamlining would have been a good thing if BW gave it the time and resources needed to make it work. Skyrim's production timeline is much more reasonable.

This this this this this this this.

I swear, this forum is the only place I've ever heard the word "streamline" used negatively.

For one, I don't think I'll miss looking like a complete [censored] while wearing daedric greaves clipping through a glass cuirass. Guess I'm really not "hardcoe"

haha Todd seemed a bit disappointed with Oblivion too "I assure you this is a better game than that"

The "identity politics" aspect of this argument is ridiculous. The labels are used so emotionally, classic nerd rage symptom.

Oh, okay. I suppose you also hate that linen shirt combined with those blacksmith pants. I bet you don't like the idea of mixing clothing with armor either. Or fighting shirtless. Why don't we merge gauntlets and helmets too? I mean, using different sets of those look ugly as hell, right? Less option is always a good thing!

That surprises me. Unless something is just idiotically convoluted (or if you're talking about a situation such as a system for a business, where the complexity and depth is a hassle rather than a means of entertainment), streamlining has always been a bad thing to me.

Cutting unnecessary elements in order to make things more efficient is always a good thing.