Anyone else getting really excited for Skyrim? I was looking forward to it but after watching some videos I'm getting excited as hell for it . First game in ages that looks really really good.
I know those at Bethesda Software are constant readers of the sc2sea.com forum and so I would like to say guys, I think you made some mistakes with Oblivion. It was a fantastic game with a few major flaws which really let it down. So I'm going to do you guys a favour and give you some pointers (^o).
My Skyrim Wishlist:
1) I'm going to hope the story of this actually tries to leave something to the imagination rather then the recent "blockbuster games" Hollywood style. Too many games these days Jam ridiculous scene after ridiculous scene upon you that it gets a bit dull
2) I want an option to turn off giant arrows telling me where everything is. Role playing games really aren't fun when you're playing the role of someone that has giant arrows in their field of vision telling them exactly where shit is. Is it that hard to read a damn map?
3) I want far less then 25% of the quests to be "get me 50 firestones. Ogres normally carry them". Just tell me to kill 50 ogres because you hate the bastards, it sounds cooler. More importantly the more quests where some sort of intuition or clever alternative can be found to just killing the bad guy, the more interesting the gameplay. And no, just choosing between saying "I believe you, lets do this" and "I don't believe you I'm going to kill you now" isn't intuitive or clever. It adds fun and choice, but this doesn't add the depth to the game which comes from the player outside the game being forced to think around a problem.
4) I want atmosphere. No epic, booming music doesn't count as building atmosphere. It builds suspense, an entire game can't be built on suspense (unless its a bloody well-made game, and definitely not a free-roam RPG). So yeah, basically I want the Morrowind soundtrack back :P.
5) I want darkness. Not like in oblivion where steadily 50% of the world becomes covered in these portals which turn the surrounding area into a burnt out monster-orgy. I want a darkness associated with the nature of the place. Whether it be a harsh desert often filled with searing sandstorms, or an ancient ruin that is broken and decaying yet has an aura of dormant power.
The Oblivion Portal thing clearly denoted an alien invasion sort of scenario where these were clearly bad guys you were at war at. There was nothing uncanny, nor ambiguous about these creatures. Nothing to fear, simply an enemy invader, announcing his presence through clear symbols of the outsider.
I hope the designers have taken a look back at the Daedric Shrine designs from Morrowind and why they were such freaky places. The architecture, the creature, the sounds, all of these were neither clearly evil nor good. Even the worshippers were sometimes friendly and sometimes instantly murderous. And so they were always a place of fear and awe. In and around these places of fear and awe the imagination works to create myth, myth builds upon itself and soon enough you have a real world behind the game. (Note this was aided by the fact the monsters here were friggin powerful, no silly scaling system (impossible to balance in free-roam RPG) allowed level 5 characters to go in and disarm a place of its fear.)
I agree with all of PiG's suggestions, in particular the creepy atmosphere of Morrowind being all dark and dangerous without trying while Oblivion was neither while trying very very hard. Also, the soundtrack of Morrowind. Yes. Just Yes. I'm going to play this again after i post this.
If we're having a wishlist, i'd like to add some things.
1. I want depth. I want Bethesda to stop the downward spiral of "free-roam" games, that actually lead you down a more linear path than any of us expected. Oblivion disappointed me greatly. You could play the game for 8-10 hours, and finish it without doing a single side quest. Sure, you knew they were around somewhere, but you were never coerced into doing it and the rewards weren't really all that great. You could do just fine in the game without doing any side quests at all. Don't tell me "oh Hellfyre, there were expansions though." No. Sit down. Shush. If i buy a free roam rpg game, it is not so i can finish it in less than a day and wait for expansions to come out. No. I want depth. I want story. I want something to rival Morrowind. Yes Morrowind had expansions, but the game without expansions was HUGE. You had to find your way around for one, which added hours. I could talk on this point for hours, so i'm just going to leave it.
2. I want atmosphere. I know PiG talked about music and sound atmosphere, but i mean the whole world. I don't mean dark and gloominess. I mean the little details. I mean giving everyone in the world a name. Books that tell me that the monster i just killed was a good person once. People hating me because i play an Argonian. Whatever. If there is one thing that Oblivion and Fallout lacked it was depth. Oblivion made me want to actually side with the demon thing over the patheticness of the people. Don't even get me started on Fallout. Atmosphere, Bethesda, atmosphere.
3. I want Bethesda to stop dumbing down their games. Slowly, they're taking a less RPG element and more turning into a dungeoneering Diablo element. The massive amount of skills and attributes from Morrowind might be a bit much, but that was half the fun. You actually had to think about building your character into a sorceror or a ranger or a warrior. You couldn't just pick up a big sword as a mage and kill something, it didnt work like that. Sure some of the skills were pointless, but come on, that forced us to go back into that damn mine to kill some more Kwama foragers so we could get that extra few points in destruction so we could kill that damn guy blocking the bridge. Oblivion got it right, but if the press releases are anything to go buy, be prepared for a mindnumbing experience of little to no intelligence.
4. Difficulty. Now i'm not saying the games should be impossible. I'm not saying they should be even very hard... I'm just saying that in Oblivion i think i died a total of once the first time i played it, and in Fallout it wasnt much more than that. Those two games pale in comparison to the shining light that was Morrowind, which i must say was one of the most frustrating things i have ever subjected myself to. Yet here i am, raving over it like a schoolgirl. It was hard. That made the achievement in completing it even more satisfying.
I am looking forward to this game, probably not as much as some of you are, but still i am. I won't pre-order it though, not because i can't afford it (though i probably can't), and not because i dont have hopes for it. I do. But with Oblivion being the biggest disappointment in my gaming life so far and Fallout getting high praise but not doing much to sate my thirst for a good, new rpg, i dont have any confidence in Bethesda's ability to buck the trend and actually make one of the only decent free-roam games to come out in the last 5 years.
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If we're Terran, let's fly our CC's away! If we're Zerg, let's MASS QUEENS! If we're protoss, let's MASS SENTRIES! EPIC MINDGAMES!
Some Ling-Roach-All-in-Fake-Expo-10-pooling from Jerry there - Dox's bauss casting
"I just found out tonight from a friend that skyrim has a grand total of 4 voice actors in it. 1 for the main character and 3 for everyone else in the game. Basically my wish 2 has been killed, with a severe crippling of wish 1 added just for fun.
Good work Bethesda... Good work. /sarcasm"
My bad, point proven wrong. Serves me right for trusting my friends and not looking first.
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If we're Terran, let's fly our CC's away! If we're Zerg, let's MASS QUEENS! If we're protoss, let's MASS SENTRIES! EPIC MINDGAMES!
Some Ling-Roach-All-in-Fake-Expo-10-pooling from Jerry there - Dox's bauss casting
Last edited by FaDeHellfyre; Thu, 22nd-Sep-2011 at 9:58 AM.
The graphics are awesome. I probably won't play it though. Can't have more than one game at a moment.
I played Morrowind to the last mission or nearly but disgusted myself out by farming and optimizing my leveling so much. So I barely played the extensions. I really fear to go on the same sort of thing. ><
Finally out ! Who else has picked it up and what platform are you playing it on? I got it for xbox yesterday morning and I haven't really stopped playing. I was doubtful that I would play it frequently before I bought it but I am hooked .
I was really worried that the fighting wouldn't be great but I think it is my favourite part about the game. The controls are really really tight too. I love this game
I've never actually played a elder scrolls game, when morrowind came out my pc couldnt play it, and then later I got oblivion..and I just did not like it. Not sure if I should try this....I still havent played the witcher..loved the first game, so the second must be played....when I get time
From what I've seen Looks like the elder scrolls games are more about customization and open worldness rather than story and atmosphere, that isnt my thing, or does it pick up later?
Last edited by Daboo; Sun, 13th-Nov-2011 at 8:16 PM.
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