zenimax the next ea

[norseamd]

so everyone has noticed that the elder scrolls game have gone downhill from morrowind. and that they are getting simpler more and more. that skyrim is more complex than oblivion is surpising.

but now zenimax is trying to gouge people out of money with a box price subscription and microtransactions. not to mention the likely dlc or expansions coming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZeniMax_Media

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Altman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Weaver

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Howard

read this stuff and you relize that there is a lot of stuff that has happened with bethesda. mr. altman has a background in banking and lawyering. the worst of two of the most horrible worlds. was involved in huge legal issues. then he went to managing online websites. and then he got the founder of bethesda to make a corporate organization with him. and then he kicked mr. weaver out. is it any surprise that this stuff is happening. do you notice how eso is made by zenimax online studios instead of bethesda or bethesda online studios. like he may be thinking about closing down bethesda to put the spotlight on his own company.

do you guys also remember about zenimax trying to make human head studios sell out to them. and shutting down all development on the game and then putting out press releases like nothing was going on.

so i was already thinking about making this thread but the eso thread got me to make it now.

this stuff will not get any better in the future.

thoughts

 

[surfsatwerk]

Don't we have a thread for this?

 

[norseamd]

not exactly unless there is an older thread. this is about the company and the practices where the eso thread is about a single game and the potential outlook for it.

 

[Lil Frier]

downhill from morrowind . . . they are getting simpler

skyrim is more complex than oblivion

I'm not sure I understand. Unless I am missing something obvious here, TES goes:

Morrowind
Oblivion
Skyrim

What you are saying is that the games have gotten simpler since Morrowind, except Skyrim. Doesn't that just mean Oblivion?

 

[gothamhunter]

Nope.

 

[norseamd]

no because skyrim is still less complex than morrowind. they do have some nice features though like no classes. the next step would be to get rid of leveling and bring back attributes. a skill system like dungeon siege. except no leveling. and have parks be trained form npcs or gain perks when you get a skill or attribute at a certain level. or you could get them when doing certain things in the game like finishing a quest or defeating so many enemies.

 

[norseamd]

Nope.

you mean they will do better than ea while outdoing all the monetary and business workings of ea

 

[gothamhunter]

you mean they will do better than ea while outdoing all the monetary and business workings of ea

Nope

 

[norseamd]

then what

 

[Bateluer]

not exactly unless there is an older thread. this is about the company and the practices where the eso thread is about a single game and the potential outlook for it.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2366817

 

[norseamd]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2366817

not exactly unless there is an older thread. this is about the company and the practices where the eso thread is about a single game and the potential outlook for it.

they are about two different topics. one thread is a lot more narrow in scope. the other thread has a lot more material to cover.

 

[norseamd]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/...cusations-in-vr-technology-ownership-dispute/

not sure what totally is going on

will have to read more

 

[Moe Zart]

so everyone has noticed that the elder scrolls game have gone downhill from morrowind.

You understand this is completely subjective?
Most people, if you tell them to play Morrowind and Skyrim today for the first time, they will enjoy Skyrim more because they're not blinded by nostalgia. They just don't give a damn enough to go ranting all over the internet about it like Morrowind lovers do.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Personally, I have started morrowind a couple of times and could never get into it, while I loved sky rim and to a lesser extent oblivion.

That said, I was very said to see elder scrolls go online. Despite what anyone says about it not taking away from single player development, one only has to look at what happened to bioware /ea after they went the mmo route to see a very disturbing parallel. I am not holding out much hope for another quality single player elder scrolls game, which is disappointing, because I refuse to play mmos.

 

[asteldian]

I played Morrowind upon release, it was....meh. I had hoped it was going to be as good as Daggerfall, but it wasn't as fun. I will assume it was because Daggerfall was my first and so I had nostalgic bias. I also assume the same with why some people believe Morrowind was a great game - they were too young to have enjoyed Daggerfall.

All in all it is an overrated series of games anyway, it amazes me that anyone would want to spend 100s hours being a hermit - though to be fair it is probably the same people who actually like in game fishing. Ironically what everyone hates most is an MMO version, yet I think it is probably the best thing for the stale series.

Course, no surprise, my view is a very different one to most, but then, everyone has their own opinions. Have the games gotten worse? Very subjective. Was the MMO a disaster for the series? Again, very subjective.

It is what it is, some will like decisions, some will hate them, but I am not going to assume a terrible fate based on subjective 'facts'.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I hate to be that guy but it looks like I have to. The solution is to not buy their stuff until it meets or exceeds your expectations.

 

[xantub]

I think Skyrim has more 'fluff' but is really less than the previous games. Particularly the removal of Spellcrafting is one that affected me personally, it was my favorite part of TES games, but they removed it from Skyrim. While I loved the previous games, I've started Skyrim twice and haven't been able to play more than 3 hours each time.

I don't know if it's the fault of the corporation management, or just simply a 'forget features, just give them lots of flashy explosions' movement that works so well for Michael Bay.

 

[imaheadcase]

No gamer cares as long as the game is fun, and the games you mentioned are fun to lots of people. Lots of people enjoy ESO and have pleasant game experiences from it.

Why do you care what goes on behind the scenes? Are you not going to see the new Xmen movie despite what the director is accused of?

 

[norseamd]

No gamer cares as long as the game is fun, and the games you mentioned are fun to lots of people. Lots of people enjoy ESO and have pleasant game experiences from it. Why do you care what goes on behind the scenes? Are you not going to see the new Xmen movie despite what the director is accused of?

want to guess how many hollywood movies i have watched in the past 10 years?

 

[JamesV]

no because skyrim is still less complex than morrowind. they do have some nice features though like no classes. the next step would be to get rid of leveling and bring back attributes. a skill system like dungeon siege. except no leveling. and have parks be trained form npcs or gain perks when you get a skill or attribute at a certain level. or you could get them when doing certain things in the game like finishing a quest or defeating so many enemies.

You must have forgot how stupid that leveling system was back in Morrowind.

If you were a min/maxer, wanting to make the best character, you literally had to wait to actually level up, so you could run around training skills that would boost certain stats.

If you wanted your Strength to go up, once you were ready to level by leveling 10 'class' skills, you had to go find trainers for things like heavy armor and spend a lot of gold to up that skill, so once you leveled up, your strength went up.

On top of that, you had to choose skills while making your character that didn't have anything to do with how you wanted to play, but to make it possible to raise stats when leveling. If you took all Strength skills for example, you couldn't train them up to raise stats when you levelled, because those skills would count toward another level up.

I highly prefer the Skyrim system over the old 'game the system' mechanic.

 

[BladeVenom]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/...cusations-in-vr-technology-ownership-dispute/

not sure what totally is going on

will have to read more

If you can't beat them, sue them.

 

[norseamd]

You must have forgot how stupid that leveling system was back in Morrowind. If you were a min/maxer, wanting to make the best character, you literally had to wait to actually level up, so you could run around training skills that would boost certain stats. If you wanted your Strength to go up, once you were ready to level by leveling 10 'class' skills, you had to go find trainers for things like heavy armor and spend a lot of gold to up that skill, so once you leveled up, your strength went up. On top of that, you had to choose skills while making your character that didn't have anything to do with how you wanted to play, but to make it possible to raise stats when leveling. If you took all Strength skills for example, you couldn't train them up to raise stats when you levelled, because those skills would count toward another level up. I highly prefer the Skyrim system over the old 'game the system' mechanic.

no i remember the whole leveling system of morrowind

and i agree

the inventory interface is also a rotting turd

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Bethesda hasn't released anything good since Daggerfall.

 

[norseamd]

Bethesda hasn't released anything good since Daggerfall.

have it installed

the swipe to attack interface is quite terrifing and has prevented me so far from playing any further

 

[Bateluer]

You must have forgot how stupid that leveling system was back in Morrowind.

If you were a min/maxer, wanting to make the best character, you literally had to wait to actually level up, so you could run around training skills that would boost certain stats.

If you wanted your Strength to go up, once you were ready to level by leveling 10 'class' skills, you had to go find trainers for things like heavy armor and spend a lot of gold to up that skill, so once you leveled up, your strength went up.

On top of that, you had to choose skills while making your character that didn't have anything to do with how you wanted to play, but to make it possible to raise stats when leveling. If you took all Strength skills for example, you couldn't train them up to raise stats when you levelled, because those skills would count toward another level up.

I highly prefer the Skyrim system over the old 'game the system' mechanic.

Odd, I'd say Morrowind had the better of the two leveling systems. The additional skills made almost every character you created different and unique. Compared to Skyrim, where every character eventually evolves into the same master of everything. Or compared to Oblivion's utterly broken leveling system where opponent levels would scale to your level, not your combat level. If you gained multiple levels from alchemy, enchanting, speech, or whatnot, you'd get thrashed by the same wolves you met at level 1 when you were level 30.

Morrowind, for its time, was a great game. But its engine is archaic. Skyrim is the better game, but only because of its modern modding tools. Unmodded, Skyrim is a mediocre game. When modded, it rises considerably. Morrowind's so old that even modding it requires a computer science degree these days.