Multiplayer

[Odai]

Made this on the FB discussions a while back.

 

The concept being that Multiplayer in Skyrim, may be acceptable, but only if we were able to not lose these 10 core attributes. These are the reasons we play and love these games.

 

The 10 things people love about the game:

1:Open world with limitless possibility

2:The ability to actually look and play how you want to

3:The ability to choose based on your own moral principles

4:The ability to accomplish and complete multiple questlines and receive some symbol of office

5:The ability to discover what you want, when you want

6:The ability to challenge ones own patience, limits and skill and feel like you get better

7:The fact that the game can be played multiple times and it is ALWAYS different

8:That you can seek out and collect a multitude of rare treasure

9:The ability to waste time and roleplay however you choose to do so

10: The Modding Community

 

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All 10 are affected severely by the addition of multiplayer should ANY form of the word exist.

 

1: This gets restricted. You are tied to your friend and neither can go outside of X distance from the other. There would be restricted loading cells. The "teleportation" from Halo would exist.

 

2: You may be able to choose how you look... but if your friend plays and is level 40 while you are level 6 either they get stripped or you just hide behind him. The level scaling would become either based to you, based to him... or an average. In either case it is too hard for one player and too easy for the other.

 

3:If you want to save a person... you can... but then your friend kills them. Why? Because that is what THEY want. Sure its fun at first, but the world Judges you based on things like that and eventually you wont enjoy playing as much.

 

4:There cant be 2 leaders of the thieves guild. There cant be 2 Dovakiin. There isnt a prophecy requiring 2 people to save the world. A story just doesnt work and isnt fun like that. Who gets the benefits? The rewards? If its the host, then why would the guest join at all. A questline can take days to complete... just to have to do it again.

 

5:You want to go find a rare ring in a certain cave. Your friend already has the ring and says the dungeon is long and boring. So instead of trusting your thrill of adventure and thinking about the fact that every playthrough is different, you skip it. You dont play the game to YOUR wishes and demands, you tailor them to others.

 

6:You fight hard bosses, you challenge yourself with puzzles and long grueling quests. But as soon as you add another person, you are either waiting on the person to catch up, you are baby sitting them, or you are the one who is hiding behind the other. Only cowards want multiplayer... according to M'aiq.

 

7:If a game like this is made for co-op they have to force certain events to happen in order, and they have to restrict the rewards and the dialogue needs to be changed so that it is no longer level specific. In fact they probably would need to remove the skills and levels all together. You just buy better spells and can cast them, or find better armor and can use it immediately. No need to become better beyond equipment.

 

8:Who would get goldbrand or umbra? What if you both... or heaven forbid all 8 of you want the same thing. Either there would be theft and fighting or nothing would be unique. Or you get thrown into a task or role. (Engineer, Recon, Support, Healer)

 

9:You want to go fishing... then go fishing. But your friend wants to go murder a town with a pick axe... one of you has to wait. You lose the role, you lose the down time. You lose the soft little staring into the sunset because you are judged for it.

 

10: If only Co-op then modding may lead to some bugs, but otherwise modding might benefit from multiple people building a city at once... but then you can lose sight of your vision. It is no longer YOUR masterpiece. Also if a different form of multiplayer ends up existing mods may find itself removed in its entirety... I mean nobody wants to play against cheaters.

 

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If you can find a feasible solution to these 10 problems without dumbing down the game by changing its 10 core attributes, then please reply here. A lot of people like to compare TES games to Fable, DA, and Borderlands. But look at how each of these 10 core things are different between TES games and these ones.

 

For example... Borderlands

1. Huge loading areas... but there are loading areas that teleport you and your partner no matter where you are in respect to the door. If they push the button you got three seconds to finish up what youre doing.

 

2. It says the difficulty right on the bounty board. Trivial for one might be difficult for the other.

 

3. They removed choice. You can only kill "bad NPCs". "Good" ones are just decoration or the source of missions

 

4. The game doesnt acknowledge that there are multiple players. You find the tool kit, yet I can fix the claptrap.

 

5. Rare stuff is randomized. So really you just hope that what you find is for you.

 

6. I like to challenge myself, so I like to do hard missions. My girlfriend doesnt like spending money on dying. Because of our dichotomy we often do easier missions, or when we do go on a hard mission I constantly have to heal her.

 

7. All quests are straight forward and linear. TK is fine. TK dies. You have to fight harder enemies, you buy better guns. Enemies have better guns, you buy better shields. No skill beyond aiming and ducking required. To prevent players from being abusive to the game environment they restrict your ability to use many things until you are certain level.

 

8. My girlfriend gets the good shields because she is always up close. She gets good guns too... well sure thats okay, but really what would be the harm in me getting a hold of that shield or swapping out for a close range weapon when I see fit? You get thrown into a role.

 

9. The environment isnt exactly pretty, but say you want to go bandit hunting... well your friend wants to get going on the next mission. Either your friend helps you, or you get teleported mid shot.

 

10. There isnt a modding community to the extent Bethesda has. In fact beyond console commands, I dont think there is a modding community.

Edited October 8, 2011 by Odai

[Corakus]

Don't forget the fact that most games that have multiplayer are better played that way than with singelplayer.And people living in rural areas don't typically have a decent enough internet connection to play online.

[TroloWiseEared]

this list has proved to be INVALUABLE so many time! :)

thanks for posting.

[Odai]

Don't forget the fact that most games that have multiplayer are better played that way than with singelplayer.And people living in rural areas don't typically have a decent enough internet connection to play online.

 

The first is a matter of opinion. Personally, I hate Borderlands as a singleplayer game, but my roommate prefers it to multiplayer.

 

The second is a matter of consequence. Dont forget... Co-op and LAN are just as much a multiplayer as online

Edited October 8, 2011 by Odai

[Blu02]

Wow that's a lot of text.

 

For me there's just one reason why I dont wish any multiplayer in these games, and that's because it will take out all the fun with roleplaying, important decisions and exploring. At least with my coop-friends, things tend to get so rushed and sarcastic. Cooping Borderlands is an excellent example, where I could walk around in the cities, talking to everyone, searching all buildings and spending ages deciding what weapons I should sell and to whom. While my friends just wanted to run out and keep shooting stuff, not caring about what treasure or secrets they might leave behind. Even the stories/characters became quite fuzzy/uninteresting because no one cared to stay and talk to NPC's more than necessary. I'm never going to repeat that mistake and ruin another RPG :P Not a chance in hell I would do that to a TES-game.

 

And of course the modding is always hurt by multiplayer. Not cool.

[Cyberote]

I whole-heartedly agree. I felt a lot of this when I played RE5 for the first time. I played about half-way through co-op and I decided to stop and do something else because I felt I was spoiling it and the co-op was governing how I play. Same with Gears 3. I wanted to stop and take a good look at the graphics and go check things out, but my stupid friend was only concerned with blowing through campaign as soon as possible and laying everything to waste. I'm glad TES isn't multiplayer. It would just ruin everything like you said. I like to truly savor the game that I'm playing and it's really hard to do if you're playing co-op.

[hector530]

No

[Odai]

No

And that is what happens when you dont READ a post... let alone its subtitle.

[hector530]

No

And that is what happens when you dont READ a post... let alone its subtitle.

 

He's talking about mp ruining single player. Derp fail assuming. And I agree no to mp but I bet the ne tes will have co op

[Odai]

Been getting a few replies on the FB page.

 

They revolve around an external, detached form of MP...

 

My arguments to this...

 

2. The ability to actually look and play how you want to

 

If you are in a multiplayer arena one of a few things can happen.

You will either be able to import your character from in-game, or you will be forced to play as a predetermined class.

 

IF you are able to import your character, you would be placed against players with a similar level as you. Now, bethesda doesnt ever tell the player how they ought to play their game. You can choose to be well rounded, or just focus on one thing. In an arena, players who focus get better perks faster. These perks make players at the same level OP to the players of the same level who are just well rounded. (related to duals in Borderlands... one player has found the good stuff, whereas the other player hasnt yet). This kind of encounter makes inexperienced players form a bias as to what "good" and "bad" skills are. Lets be honest... when you like a certain gun in a FPS you stick with it... until someone who uses a gun you thought sucked completely destroys you... then you try out that gun.

 

If you are to select from predetermined classes, then you really arent showing any of your true play style and it defeats the purpose of a battle arena, which is to see whos player is better. This would be a small scale version of LOTR games.

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6:The ability to challenge ones own patience, limits and skill and feel like you get better

 

A battle arena is a different style of play than singleplayer. To add it is to draw #6 from the in-game and place it in hierarchy with online. In short it shifts your priorities. Getting better IN game is different from being better AT the game. Everyone has their own pace, and TES games respect that. Adding a multiplayer makes the game competitive and takes away from the idea that you are what you play. Because what you play might not be good enough.

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7:The fact that the game can be played multiple times and it is ALWAYS different

 

By nature all multiplayer games get repetitive. You fall into patterns and methods that are successful. As soon as someone breaks those patterns you fall apart. No matter the means, it will always be the same places, the same things, and the same results.

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8:That you can seek out and collect a multitude of rare treasure

 

What would be the reward to playing? What is the purpose? There is nothing but pride that doesnt get to carry over into the main game.

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10: The Modding Community

 

These are some of the most creative bugfinders in forever. They know the ways that the Devs like to style their games. They know where to look for glitches and bugs. But instead of focusing on fixing the singleplayer and making it more enjoyable for everyone, they get to spend their time exploiting flaws in the system and grievancing other players.

Edited October 8, 2011 by Odai