The talk about the 'moving on' on TES team, it's not really a bad thing.

[e***@gmail.com]

It seems to me the official dead of Skyrim is not really a bad thing. After one and a half years since released, the graphics, presentation and the engine of the game (well I mean all those original ones , not with any player-created mods) seems now a bit less competitive to other main stream games.

The mechanics of the game is a good heritage, regardless its similarity to the other elder scroll series. But after such a long time, people should already get familiar with it and perhaps a bit bored with it. The other thing is the graphics. Remember when TES4 came out, one can not really run it smoothly with a good system at that time (2006, I think). I think this is really what B team should achieve in the next game. They should really work on some nice and up-to-date game engines but not just using the one from old fallout 3 like Skyrim does. They should lead the trend in this field.

It is really time for them to move on rather than drowning in the transient victory of "best game in 2011". I would say the best time for the next TES game to come out would be late 2016, 2 and a half years later from now. During this period, they have maybe a new fallout to work on, also some technical works about TES Online.

People would like to think they are developed by the same team but they are wrong. TESO was developed by another team so I reckon there is not much work for Todd's team (who mainly creates the TES games we know) but maybe some background discussions, artistic works and game mechanics consulting. I really do not like the online version but it seems nowadays this is the trend in the game industry, especially after the success of WoW. So maybe I will join the online game and give it a taste for about one/two months, but eventually I know I will return to the familiar Tamriel with myself alone, as an adventurer. Let's just hope Todd's team will give us a big Xmas present with brand-new engine and smarter AI in 2016. I really look forward to it.

BTW I think the next game should be in hammerfell, the story of the BADASS redguards.

[William McNee]

Post by e***@gmail.com
It seems to me the official dead of Skyrim is not really a bad thing. After one and a half years since released, the graphics, presentation and the engine of the game (well I mean all those original ones , not with any player-created mods) seems now a bit less competitive to other main stream games.
The mechanics of the game is a good heritage, regardless its similarity to the other elder scroll series. But after such a long time, people should already get familiar with it and perhaps a bit bored with it. The other thing is the graphics. Remember when TES4 came out, one can not really run it smoothly with a good system at that time (2006, I think). I think this is really what B team should achieve in the next game. They should really work on some nice and up-to-date game engines but not just using the one from old fallout 3 like Skyrim does. They should lead the trend in this field.
It is really time for them to move on rather than drowning in the transient victory of "best game in 2011". I would say the best time for the next TES game to come out would be late 2016, 2 and a half years later from now. During this period, they have maybe a new fallout to work on, also some technical works about TES Online.
People would like to think they are developed by the same team but they are wrong. TESO was developed by another team so I reckon there is not much work for Todd's team (who mainly creates the TES games we know) but maybe some background discussions, artistic works and game mechanics consulting. I really do not like the online version but it seems nowadays this is the trend in the game industry, especially after the success of WoW. So maybe I will join the online game and give it a taste for about one/two months, but eventually I know I will return to the familiar Tamriel with myself alone, as an adventurer. Let's just hope Todd's team will give us a big Xmas present with brand-new engine and smarter AI in 2016. I really look forward to it.
BTW I think the next game should be in hammerfell, the story of the BADASS redguards.

Well I for one am still playing Skyrim as much as ever. Now over 600
hours played. I just like trying out each race at least once. Now on my
5th char (an orc warrior) and have only just finished Dawnguard (or at
least one possible side of it). Not even started Dragonborn yet but that
should not be long in happening.
I would have to agree with you on the game engine being improved with
the next title(s). After all with the PS4 and XBone just round the
corner it would be silly not to take advantage of the extra power these
consoles offer. Of course, I would still make the PC the ultimate
platform to play such games on.
I am much looking forward to ESO. It will enable us to explore the whole
of Tamriel, not just the areas we haven't seen yet.

[Xocyll]

Post by e***@gmail.com
It seems to me the official dead of Skyrim is not really a bad thing. After one and a half years since released, the graphics, presentation and the engine of the game (well I mean all those original ones , not with any player-created mods) seems now a bit less competitive to other main stream games.
The mechanics of the game is a good heritage, regardless its similarity to the other elder scroll series. But after such a long time, people should already get familiar with it and perhaps a bit bored with it. The other thing is the graphics. Remember when TES4 came out, one can not really run it smoothly with a good system at that time (2006, I think). I think this is really what B team should achieve in the next game. They should really work on some nice and up-to-date game engines but not just using the one from old fallout 3 like Skyrim does. They should lead the trend in this field.
It is really time for them to move on rather than drowning in the transient victory of "best game in 2011". I would say the best time for the next TES game to come out would be late 2016, 2 and a half years later from now. During this period, they have maybe a new fallout to work on, also some technical works about TES Online.

Those "best game" awards are pretty meaningless since it all depends on
what the competition was. Kinda like a beauty contest - the plain girl
next door type will win if the competition is ugly/fat/otherwise
unattractive - doesn't mean the plain girl is beautiful, just that she's
the best of the lot.

Part popularity contest and part sales numbers - neither really says
anything about the actual quality of the game.

Skyrim is the first of the Elder Scrolls games I have felt to be
unworthy of any award.

Post by e***@gmail.com
People would like to think they are developed by the same team but they are wrong. TESO was developed by another team so I reckon there is not much work for Todd's team (who mainly creates the TES games we know) but maybe some background discussions, artistic works and game mechanics consulting. I really do not like the online version but it seems nowadays this is the trend in the game industry, especially after the success of WoW. So maybe I will join the online game and give it a taste for about one/two months, but eventually I know I will return to the familiar Tamriel with myself alone, as an adventurer. Let's just hope Todd's team will give us a big Xmas present with brand-new engine and smarter AI in 2016. I really look forward to it.

AI would be nice, but what I would like is a return to the depth the
older games had - Skyrim was such a shallow game - very much a "we're
just going through the motions" feel to it rather then the "labor of
love" the earlier games were. They just don't seem to care anymore.

They made an entire "country" that's supposed to be hundreds of miles
across fit in 4 miles.
Broken spell system, broken enchantment system, retarded quest system
interface with undroppable quest items for quests you don't even have,
and you magically know that the person who would have given you the
quest wants this item and skip right to the "I'm back with your stuff"
dialog despite this being your first meeting with this person.

Guards that detect you via script when you come in range if you have a
bounty even if they are unable to detect you in the game.
It's pretty stupid when a guard tells you to surrender, you say no, and
the next thing he says is "where are you?" because he can't detect you
at all.

Storylines that violate the lore established in the previous 4 games
(skeleton key artifact - which they also couldn't even be bothered to
make functional in the game.)

Lazy, Sloppy work.
When you violate your own established game lore, you obviously don't
care anymore.

Post by e***@gmail.com
BTW I think the next game should be in hammerfell, the story of the BADASS redguards.

Or one of the Elven Homelands.

I wouldn't mind playing in the Bosmer forests.

If and only if they actually return to the care they took with previous
games - if they continue the trend they took with Skyrim, they couldn't
pay me to take the next game much less get me to buy it.

Xocyll

[David]

Post by e***@gmail.com
It seems to me the official dead of Skyrim is not really a bad thing. After one and a half years since released, the graphics, presentation and the engine of the game (well I mean all those original ones , not with any player-created mods) seems now a bit less competitive to other main stream games.
The mechanics of the game is a good heritage, regardless its similarity to the other elder scroll series. But after such a long time, people should already get familiar with it and perhaps a bit bored with it. The other thing is the graphics. Remember when TES4 came out, one can not really run it smoothly with a good system at that time (2006, I think). I think this is really what B team should achieve in the next game. They should really work on some nice and up-to-date game engines but not just using the one from old fallout 3 like Skyrim does. They should lead the trend in this field.

That would leave me in the dark as I have an old machine but enjoy
playing games.
--
Regards
David Simpson
Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Don't read everything you believe.

Please, help defeat spammers!
Do not share your friends' email addresses.
Delete all old addresses.
Send bulk emails as BCC:
Many thanks.

[Xocyll]

Post by David

Post by e***@gmail.com
It seems to me the official dead of Skyrim is not really a bad thing. After one and a half years since released, the graphics, presentation and the engine of the game (well I mean all those original ones , not with any player-created mods) seems now a bit less competitive to other main stream games.
The mechanics of the game is a good heritage, regardless its similarity to the other elder scroll series. But after such a long time, people should already get familiar with it and perhaps a bit bored with it. The other thing is the graphics. Remember when TES4 came out, one can not really run it smoothly with a good system at that time (2006, I think). I think this is really what B team should achieve in the next game. They should really work on some nice and up-to-date game engines but not just using the one from old fallout 3 like Skyrim does. They should lead the trend in this field.

That would leave me in the dark as I have an old machine but enjoy
playing games.

A newer engine does not necessarily mean one that is _more_ taxing on
the machine just one with more features than the current engine and
perhaps better optimization for an Elder Scrolls game.
The problem with the current engine is it doesn't support all sorts of
things that were possible in the earlier games.

IE Levitation spell - in all games up to Morrowind, then completely gone
from Oblivion - because the engine wasn't designed to do that I guess.
Various people tried to add it to oblivion but all they really did was
script in the use of noclip - you could "fly" but you also passed
through everything which could at times crash the game.

Used to be there was large difference between classes and how they did
things. Thieves picked the lock to get through a door or into a chest,
mages used an unlock spell, warrior types bashed it in. Now everyone
picks because they took out the other stuff.

If they wrote themselves a new engine, or added new features to the
existing one, they could put back all the stuff that's missing from the
latest couple iterations of the Elder Scrolls.

I want my stats back, all the schools of magic back, custom spell
creation back, proper enchantment back, etc.

Used to be Elder Scrolls was a serious RPG series, now it's been
stripped down and streamlined into an RPG-for-Dummies.

Xocyll

[David]

Post by Xocyll

Post by David

Post by e***@gmail.com
It seems to me the official dead of Skyrim is not really a bad thing. After one and a half years since released, the graphics, presentation and the engine of the game (well I mean all those original ones , not with any player-created mods) seems now a bit less competitive to other main stream games.
The mechanics of the game is a good heritage, regardless its similarity to the other elder scroll series. But after such a long time, people should already get familiar with it and perhaps a bit bored with it. The other thing is the graphics. Remember when TES4 came out, one can not really run it smoothly with a good system at that time (2006, I think). I think this is really what B team should achieve in the next game. They should really work on some nice and up-to-date game engines but not just using the one from old fallout 3 like Skyrim does. They should lead the trend in this field.

That would leave me in the dark as I have an old machine but enjoy
playing games.

A newer engine does not necessarily mean one that is _more_ taxing on
the machine just one with more features than the current engine and
perhaps better optimization for an Elder Scrolls game.
The problem with the current engine is it doesn't support all sorts of
things that were possible in the earlier games.
IE Levitation spell - in all games up to Morrowind, then completely gone
from Oblivion - because the engine wasn't designed to do that I guess.
Various people tried to add it to oblivion but all they really did was
script in the use of noclip - you could "fly" but you also passed
through everything which could at times crash the game.
Used to be there was large difference between classes and how they did
things. Thieves picked the lock to get through a door or into a chest,
mages used an unlock spell, warrior types bashed it in. Now everyone
picks because they took out the other stuff.
If they wrote themselves a new engine, or added new features to the
existing one, they could put back all the stuff that's missing from the
latest couple iterations of the Elder Scrolls.
I want my stats back, all the schools of magic back, custom spell
creation back, proper enchantment back, etc.
Used to be Elder Scrolls was a serious RPG series, now it's been
stripped down and streamlined into an RPG-for-Dummies.
Xocyll

That's because they've been designed to work on consoles. PC versions
should be better.
--
Regards
David Simpson
Wednesday, 19 June 2013

So you're back... about time...

Please, help defeat spammers!
Do not share your friends' email addresses.
Delete all old addresses.
Send bulk emails as BCC:
Many thanks.

[Xocyll]

Post by David

Post by Xocyll

Post by David

Post by e***@gmail.com
It seems to me the official dead of Skyrim is not really a bad thing. After one and a half years since released, the graphics, presentation and the engine of the game (well I mean all those original ones , not with any player-created mods) seems now a bit less competitive to other main stream games.
The mechanics of the game is a good heritage, regardless its similarity to the other elder scroll series. But after such a long time, people should already get familiar with it and perhaps a bit bored with it. The other thing is the graphics. Remember when TES4 came out, one can not really run it smoothly with a good system at that time (2006, I think). I think this is really what B team should achieve in the next game. They should really work on some nice and up-to-date game engines but not just using the one from old fallout 3 like Skyrim does. They should lead the trend in this field.

That would leave me in the dark as I have an old machine but enjoy
playing games.

A newer engine does not necessarily mean one that is _more_ taxing on
the machine just one with more features than the current engine and
perhaps better optimization for an Elder Scrolls game.
The problem with the current engine is it doesn't support all sorts of
things that were possible in the earlier games.
IE Levitation spell - in all games up to Morrowind, then completely gone
from Oblivion - because the engine wasn't designed to do that I guess.
Various people tried to add it to oblivion but all they really did was
script in the use of noclip - you could "fly" but you also passed
through everything which could at times crash the game.
Used to be there was large difference between classes and how they did
things. Thieves picked the lock to get through a door or into a chest,
mages used an unlock spell, warrior types bashed it in. Now everyone
picks because they took out the other stuff.
If they wrote themselves a new engine, or added new features to the
existing one, they could put back all the stuff that's missing from the
latest couple iterations of the Elder Scrolls.
I want my stats back, all the schools of magic back, custom spell
creation back, proper enchantment back, etc.
Used to be Elder Scrolls was a serious RPG series, now it's been
stripped down and streamlined into an RPG-for-Dummies.
Xocyll

That's because they've been designed to work on consoles. PC versions
should be better.

Yeah but Morrowind had a console version as well and it had a hell of a
lot more features then Oblivion or Skyrim.

Working on a console doesn't have to mean it's crippled, that's just the
path they've chosen, making the game simpler and more kidified with each
release since Morrowind.

There's enough shallow rpgs out there already on consoles with the Elder
Scrolls games joining them.

Xocyll

[e***@gmail.com]

Post by e***@gmail.com
It seems to me the official dead of Skyrim is not really a bad thing. After one and a half years since released, the graphics, presentation and the engine of the game (well I mean all those original ones , not with any player-created mods) seems now a bit less competitive to other main stream games.
The mechanics of the game is a good heritage, regardless its similarity to the other elder scroll series. But after such a long time, people should already get familiar with it and perhaps a bit bored with it. The other thing is the graphics. Remember when TES4 came out, one can not really run it smoothly with a good system at that time (2006, I think). I think this is really what B team should achieve in the next game. They should really work on some nice and up-to-date game engines but not just using the one from old fallout 3 like Skyrim does. They should lead the trend in this field.
It is really time for them to move on rather than drowning in the transient victory of "best game in 2011". I would say the best time for the next TES game to come out would be late 2016, 2 and a half years later from now. During this period, they have maybe a new fallout to work on, also some technical works about TES Online.
People would like to think they are developed by the same team but they are wrong. TESO was developed by another team so I reckon there is not much work for Todd's team (who mainly creates the TES games we know) but maybe some background discussions, artistic works and game mechanics consulting. I really do not like the online version but it seems nowadays this is the trend in the game industry, especially after the success of WoW. So maybe I will join the online game and give it a taste for about one/two months, but eventually I know I will return to the familiar Tamriel with myself alone, as an adventurer. Let's just hope Todd's team will give us a big Xmas present with brand-new engine and smarter AI in 2016. I really look forward to it.
BTW I think the next game should be in hammerfell, the story of the BADASS redguards.

Xocyll does make a point on the 'stepping down' of Skyrim. It seems to me that it can be blamed to the marketing operations. Oblivion was sold for 3 million copies, Skyrim 10 million so far. That is really a commercial victory. But in terms of gameplay, for anyone that hasn't any experience in RPG, only a easy-learning, straightforward fighting-upgrading system can convince them to continue the gameplay after the first bite. I will not try to argue that the simplification Todd's team has done to Skyrim is good or bad, but I do agree with Xocyll that in terms of deepening the gaming experience (like the lock-opening scenario) much much more polishes can be done.

The quest marker can actually be turned off so that the dragonborn (player) will not look like a supernatural prophet who knows who to talk to or where to look for a long-lost treasure. But How can one realize this during one's first Skyrim experience? I think they should design the game in different ways, or try to make the tutorial more detailed. For an experienced TES player, surely one wants to play it rough, play it raw. But for newbies, floating markers does help for them to familiarize the game, which makes more copies of the game sold. So I would say more work should be done adjusting the system in every aspect, instead of just putting a 'Novice-Adept-Expert-Master-Legendary' system into the game.

Nothing is perfect. Otherwise they can't make money any more. :D