Peekaboom

Live another life, in another world. Thats been the philosophical approach (at least on paper) to the TES games, and I contend that Beth applied that same philosophy to Fallout 3 and New Vegas as well. Unfortunately there appears to be a lot of disagreement about how to best reach that goal of immersion in another world. Some contend that it is preferable to diminish the importance of stats/numbers (i.e. classic hard-crunchy RPG stuff) so it doesnt get in the way of the experience. Others contend that the stats/numbers make it more immersive because your characters can be more specialized/unique (aiding the role-playing elements) and that attribute/skill levels create immersive limits to your abilities. This is of course a matter of individual preference. And certainly Oblivion + Morrowind drew criticisms on the leveling system from both sides of the fence, as the systems lent themselves to being gamed in order to min-max your character. Whether this was necessary to do is yet another matter of preference (I myself played quite easily through both games without powergaming my character). ---------------------------------- But what disappoints me most about Bethesdas trends is the lack of ingenuity shown in the evolution of the design and the game mechanics itself. Modders had fixed most of the leveling issues (see the plethora of smooth leveling mods) in Oblivion + Morrowind in ways that combined the best of both worlds … high immersion (i.e. I can just play the game and not worry about having to game my skills) while still retaining character specialization and depth. But apparently the easier design solution was just to lobotomize the advancement mechanics. Similar lobotomies seem to appear to be made in other arenas, including fewer weapon skills, less unique enhancing options, no spell crafting, smaller set of magical effects, etc. etc… Its pretty hard to come up with any justification for these changes in lieu of more ingenious solutions beyond appealing to a wider range of potential buyers while minimizing development time. Interestingly, the current success of the TES franchise was built on games that were ultimately more crunchy and hardcore than the games are now. What I find surprising is that New Vegas, developed by Obsidian primarily and not Bethesda, DID have more innovations in the base gameplay. It is pretty obvious to anyone heavy into Fallout3 modding that many 3rd party mods were incorporated, in spirit, into New Vegas. They even included a hardcore mode for people who wanted a more immersive experience that required them to think more about things like eating, sleeping, weight, etc. ------------------------ Bethesda has always been masters at building another world. The storylines, the landscapes/scenery, the design of the world, etc. has always been top-notch, and I think thats what keeps people coming back to their games. But the underlying gameplay mechanics have been transitioning over the course of their games to be more streamlined and frankly present players with less choice. And that is the heart of the my worry about the direction of the franchise. Choice, for many gamers, and particularly fans of sandbox games, is critical to their enjoyment. To qualify choice, the choices presented to player have to be interesting and they have to have a significant impact on the outcome of an action and/or on the gameworld itself. The choice between learning to use an axe or a sword should be interesting and have an impact on how I have to actually play the game and the tactics I employ in combat. The choice between taking one factions side over another should have significant consequences on the gameworld and how the plot unfolds. If I go down one path, it may mean I cant go down the other path later. There isnt really a choice between light vs. heavy armor if when I get high heavy armor skill the weight and sneak penalties are eliminated. For me, choice adds greatly to the replay value and immersion of the game. Folks have berated the more class centric system of prior TES games, but the choice of going in one class or another creates a different game experience, opening up some courses of actions and closing others. And even then, you can still choose to train up other skills. If Im a fighter and I want to learn to use magic, why not allow me to go off into the woods and shoot fireballs at tree stumps for hours on end until I get good at it? Thats my choice and the choice exists. Ideally, choice manifests at a large scale (i.e. what quest lines are open to me, what quest rewards are given out) as well as at the small scale (i.e. how do I deal with this encounter). Morrowind did a good job with this. Your choice of skills/specialization had a huge impact on what guilds you could join, how far you could advance, etc. You actually had to be really good at magic to become the master of the mage guild. Imagine that. Few things are more immersion breaking (for me) than being able to do a few quests and become the master of a guild while at a pitifully low level. Implicit in having choice in a game is the need to actually think about what decision to make. By removing choice the game has removed the need to think. At that point, one is really following along a scripted series of events, with curious diversions along the way, but with no genuine interaction and influence on the game world. From my perspective, this crosses the line from being a sandbox-RPG to being an Action-Adventure game. But whos splitting hairs over this right? ------------------------------ I havent yet played Skyrim, although Im sure I will. As others have mentioned, its unfortunate that so many feel the game has to be modded to get the kind of experience out of the game they desire. I cant help but feeling that the amount of modding needed with each successive game grows larger and larger. At the same time, the available avenues for modding gameplay mechanics seem to get smaller and smaller. With the Steam requirements and controlled executable, it may be that no Script Extender can exist for Skyrim, which would be a huge blow to the modding community that greatly limits what is possible. Likewise, by removing attributes and further reducing the number of skills that are hardcoded, even fewer pathways exist for tweaking the mechanics via mods. As an old-school gamer, I do feel a bit like a dying breed. The number of games that require thinking and present real challenges these days is dwindling. That isnt to say games are bad or not fun, they are just different and are intended to appeal to a broader demographic. I just wish Bethesda wouldnt forget its roots and the kind of gameplay experiences that got them where they are today.