» Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:04 pm As we all heard yesterday, Bethesda has decided that they are done with Skyrim after a year and a half of support and have moved onto their next major project. Although I am sure that I will love whatever comes out of the studio next (hopefully Fallout 4) I am severely disappointed by this news. Through various comments, articles, tweet-posts, etc, Bethesda had this loyal fan, and probably many others, convinced that there was going to be at least one more DLC for Skyrim. Pure over-hopefulness? Maybe, but lets look at what exactly was said.
When Skyrim first released, a big question was how Bethesda would exactly approach DLC. Todd Howard, the studio's lead, came out and stated that Skyrim's DLC would be more spaced apart and feel more like expansion packs with little freebies peppered in between. Here is exactly what Todd Howard said: "They’ll feel closer to an expansion pack", he continues, "Because that gap is going to be bigger, we want to put little things out for free in between". Now when I first heard about this, my imagination ran wild. The possibilities were nearly limitless! But now that the DLC train has stopped chugging, the question is; "did they hold true to their word"? Let's take a look at Skyrim's DLC record; there was Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn as the major DLCs. The freebies would then have to be horse combat, ranged/magic killcams, new killmoves, and legendary mode. I don't know about you... but this is not what I had in mind after hearing Bethesda's approach to DLC. Dawnguard was too small to feel like an expansion pack and had wasted potential in the werewolf skill tree, the Vale area, and in some faction/NPC elements. Hearthfire was basically a mod and should've been in the game in the first place, and as for Dragonborn? Well that was the only expansion that truly delivered on Todd Howard's word. As for the additions through updates... well, most of those (horse combat, ranged/magic killcams) should have also been in Skyrim from day one. So does all this due Todd Howard's comment justice? Dragonborn surely does, but the others... not so much. I had envisioned at least 3-4 meaty DLCs with 1-2 rivaling the Shivering Isles. I had also thought the freebie additions would be more along the lines of new ways to play the game EI spears, or weapon/armor packs equivalent to the Gun Runner's Arsenal pack in Fallout: New Vegas. That is of course what I personally thought of Todd Howard's comment. You may very well feel that they delivered on their proposition.
So what exactly alluded to more DLC? Well for starters, I found that Peter Hines and Bethesda in general came out with various statements in support of future DLC that they later claimed had to do with something else. The BethesdaBlog came out with a post titled "Dragonborn coming tomorrow to XBOX Live. Coming to PS3 and PC early 2013". The article says this; "The support from Skyrim fans over the last year has been amazing, and it’s driven us to support Skyrim more than any game we’ve ever released – including free content updates, modding tools like the Creation Kit and the Skyrim Workshop, and our add-ons, Dawnguard and Hearthfire". This sounds like a farewell to Skyrim right? Well the post actually concludes with this; "And we’re still not done – we look forward to sharing more Skyrim news next year!" Now what does that sound like to you? Bethesda representatives came out recently stating that they were talking about PS3 content (Dawnguard, Hearthfire) and Patch 1.9. Am I the only one who sees the fishiness around here? If all that were true why not simply end the post with "And PS3 players, we'll have information for you guys and gals on Dawnguard/Hearthfire next year!" Why all the ambiguity of a line that seemingly applies to ALL players of Skyrim? I also can't condone that they were implying Patch 1.9. I mean come on, all it added was a new difficulty and the ability to redo your skills with literally no reward incentive... so why would that be so heavily advertised? That's nothing and surely not "exciting Skyrim news".
Next I want to look at a tweet from Peter Hines of Bethesda. The tweet posted on December 3rd, a good bit after the release of Dragonborn for XBOX 360, reads; "As far as other DLCs, we’re not done working on Skyrim content. We’ll let everyone know when we have new details/info to share". This too was touted by Peter Hines as being an allusion to the PS3 Dawnguard/Hearthfire release and Patch 1.9. Are we seriously to believe that such a profound comment, once again seemingly addressed to all players of Skyrim, has to do with information about the status of PS3 DLC and one measly little patch? Well, I refuse too. There is more too this than meets the eye.
Another problem I have is that Bethesda was being way too quiet during all of this. Absolutely no comments on anything until the [censored]-storm that was sparked yesterday. What is the point of that? I dreaded how BioWare handed Mass Effect 3's DLC but at least they just flat-out said that the Citadel DLC was going to be ME3's final piece of content. Why not just say that Dragonborn is going to be the last major DLC? Is it really that hard? Or is there some agenda that I am not aware of? If so, please someone enlighten me. The same goes for the Redguard rumor. Peter Hines only recently confirmed that Redguard was renewed to protect the spin-off game. Why now of all times to confirm it and not when everyone was neck deep in nerdy speculation? The whole being quiet thing just doesn't make sense to me. Another clue to new DLC that I'd like to quickly throw in here is the infamous Reddit post about a DLC having to do with the Dwemer returning and choosing a new high kind. Peter Hines retorted to that post stating that it was "speculation and half-truths". See what I'm getting at here? HALF-TRUTHS. That means that although mostly false, there were elements of the post that were true. I admit, that may be pushing it in terms of legitimacy, but hey, I thought I'd throw it out there.
And finally, what about the Gamejams video? The vampire lord, buildable house, ranged/magic killcams, Kinect implementation, werebears, dragon riding, and rieklings all made it into the game, but what about everything that didn't? Peter Hines in a recent interview said that not everything in the Gamejams videos would come out for various reasons. I want some clarity on this as to why. Everything in the Gamejams video was built in the week Skyrim's release. You're telling me that there wasn't enough time, money, and energy to perfect the coolest things about that video? I call BS. The video had smooth and crisp spear animations that looked awesome and that never made it in? Why? What about the moving trees? The CONTROLABLE wearbear, THE FAT GIANT AND SKELETON BUTLER?! WHERE ARE THOSE?! (The last two were jokes... sorta.)
All in all I am just sad to see Skyrim go so abruptly. I feel like the game didn't exactly end. So many storylines from the Thalmor to the Falmer were left WIDE open and I don't see them being concluded in the Elder Scrolls 6 unless you are the Dovahkiin again. I loved all of Skyrim's DLC, most of which Dragonborn. My problem is that Dragonborn didn't feel like a proper ending to such a great era. I truly wish Bethesda had kept true to their ambiguous comments and released one final DLC that was a culmination of all things that made Skyrim great and was touted as the final DLC. I feel so let down that there is just so abruptly going to be no more Skyrim DLC. I longed for major content equivalent to the Shivering Isles and minor content like the Fighter's Stronghold or the Orrey. I guess I have to really on mods for the time being and get the Elder Scrolls Online to supplement my thirst. I really feel that all of this cannot just be coincidences and misunderstandings. There has to be something more to it. Anyway, thank you so much for reading if you read this all. Pardon any typos and the wall of text format. Please discuss and note that this is just how I feel about the situation and what not, once again, thank you for reading!
http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2012/02/17/todd-howard-talks-skyrim-dlc-%E2%80%9Cthey%E2%80%99ll-feel-closer-to-an-expansion-pack%E2%80%9D/
http://www.bethblog.com/2012/12/03/dragonborn-coming-tomorrow-to-xbox-live-coming-to-ps3-and-pc-early-2013/
https://twitter.com/DCDeacon/status/275684987905400833
