Any gamers around here?
Re: Any gamers around here?
Bethesda is dead to me unless they put in some major work to shift back to the RP in RPGs. For years now, they've been making Gs. On a technical level, Fallout 4 is an excellent game. And Fallout 76 looks nice in screenshots, I suppose. However, they are not excellent RPGs. Choice and reputation had better come back in a big way in their next title or I'm gone.
Re: Any gamers around here?
I'm (cautiously) hopeful that the reason for TES VI's setting is as a signal that it will be an attempt to return to basics, returning to what made TES II: Daggerfall special. That game is practically the opposite of Skyrim in every way, although not always in a good way. Skyrim is fun in terms of its mechanics and graphics, but pretty weak in terms of roleplay. Daggerfall had a skill for everything. Quests had time limits. You could catch the plague and get softlocked in a dungeon. The overworld was realistically huge, to the point that no one was actually expected to manually move from A to B, but to use fast travel. You had to pay taxes, and gold had weight. So, if you didn't want to be weighed down by it constantly, you had to drop it off at a bank. In-game books were comparatively huge compared to later games. Like, where did they find the time to write all that? You could buy a boat and sail across the bay. It's extremely immersive, but maybe a tad too much.Hydra009 wrote: Fri Aug 07, 2026 12:19 am Bethesda is dead to me unless they put in some major work to shift back to the RP in RPGs. For years now, they've been making Gs. On a technical level, Fallout 4 is an excellent game. And Fallout 76 looks nice in screenshots, I suppose. However, they are not excellent RPGs. Choice and reputation had better come back in a big way in their next title or I'm gone.
Morrowind was an awesome middle ground between the two. The landmass wasn't realistically huge, but it was handcrafted and felt realistic. You could use fast travel, but you could realistically travel between A and B. There were no quest markers telling you exactly where to go, but characters would give you directions, and you'd have to follow them carefully to avoid getting lost. Choices had consequences, and you could even kill important quest NPCs. The game would warn you that you'd be essentially locking yourself out of content unless you reloaded, but you could do it. In-game books were shorter, but fun reads.
From that point on, roleplay and immersion kept getting stripped away to make the game more accessible. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I think they took it a bit too far in that direction. We lost several skills and spells. We lost spellcrafting, which fans have been BEGGING FOR since Skyrim first released. No attributes meant every character basically played the same. You could go from being a new recruit to the guild leader in every guild super quick, with no ranks in between. Choices rarely mattered, and it seems like every other NPC is marked as essential. You could switch from werewolf to vampire whenever you want. In-game books were rarely more than five "pages" long. Most NPCs would have one thing to say to you, and then they'll switch to their default, "Yes?"
Many people played Oblivion Remastered as their first experience of The Elder Scrolls outside of Skyrim, and the general sentiment was, "Wow! This is so much more fun." I really hope Bethesda took the hint. We need more creative quests. We want our choices to matter, including our builds. Spellcrafting needs to return. We need old skills back. If we can sail across the seas like in Daggerfall, that'd be cool. Especially if we could hire a crew to manage the sails, the canons, etc. Maybe we could become a pirate, and lead our crew into battle?
I don't want to get my hopes up, but Bethesda has to know how important it is for them to impress us. Especially after such a long wait. I'm hoping "transcribe the past and map the future" means they're taking notes from past successes to make the ultimate Elder Scrolls, but we'll have to wait and see.
Re: Any gamers around here?
I hope so, too. Though I'd push back on the "need" for realism. I don't want a completely realistic travel or inventory or durability system. I also don't want to teleport directly to the quest location and get the best sword in the game in under an hour. I think Oblivion and Morrowind mostly hit the sweet spot between frustrating and trivially easy.
One thing that Morrowind gets right is that you start off as a dirt poor nobody. And I mean dirt poor. Unless you're a sneak-thief in the Census Office, you are the mud that everyone walks on. You practically have to join a Guild just to survive. That just makes it all the sweeter as you steadily grow in power to the point where you've surpassed everyone.
And the quests sometimes threw curveballs to keep you on your toes - like that nice woman who asks you to retrieve her ring from a lake. Then, when your back is turned, she and her friend attack you. Or the witch and naked nord who both insist that they were wronged and ask you to pick sides. Morrowind had so many quests that actually require some thought (like "solving" the disappearance of the dwarves) or to pick sides between rival factions and not just fetch or kill quests, though it had plenty of those, too.
Bethesda should take that to heart. No matter how much players say they want horse armor and their own house and to be the guildmaster of every guild, what most people truly want are engaging quests, atmospheric environments, and the freedom to build characters with different strengths and weaknesses (i.e. good at playing a particular role).
One thing that Morrowind gets right is that you start off as a dirt poor nobody. And I mean dirt poor. Unless you're a sneak-thief in the Census Office, you are the mud that everyone walks on. You practically have to join a Guild just to survive. That just makes it all the sweeter as you steadily grow in power to the point where you've surpassed everyone.
And the quests sometimes threw curveballs to keep you on your toes - like that nice woman who asks you to retrieve her ring from a lake. Then, when your back is turned, she and her friend attack you. Or the witch and naked nord who both insist that they were wronged and ask you to pick sides. Morrowind had so many quests that actually require some thought (like "solving" the disappearance of the dwarves) or to pick sides between rival factions and not just fetch or kill quests, though it had plenty of those, too.
Bethesda should take that to heart. No matter how much players say they want horse armor and their own house and to be the guildmaster of every guild, what most people truly want are engaging quests, atmospheric environments, and the freedom to build characters with different strengths and weaknesses (i.e. good at playing a particular role).
Re: Any gamers around here?
WoW Ascension is officially shutting down
Even though Blizzard is 100% justified in taking them down, that private server introduced a TON of new features and really expanded them in very unique and creative ways and I'm sad to see them go.
My favorite thing was their mix-n-match abilities, which allowed for a ludicrously high level of freedom in terms of character customization, along with special "mystic enchants" that radically change the way you play your character. For example, one transforms your character into a serpent-like creature who sprays poison everywhere. Another transforms you into a demon, transforming a lot of warlock abilities into fel magic abilities that often deal massive damage at the expense of your own health. Another hugely improves your rage bar and rage-generating warrior abilities. Another vastly improves your arcane and hunter abilities, allowing a sort of fusion between spellcaster and ranger. You get the idea. Also, they were active for many years before Blizzard finally put the hammer down. I'm half-tempted to conclude that Blizzard's main motivation is a sort of jealousy at seeing someone else take their base idea, put more polish and effort into it, and attract a smaller but more enthusiastic following. Very much a "Disney lawyers at a quinceañera" sort of vibe.
What I won't miss is that this was one of the most overtly toxic and racist communities I've ever seen outside of Twitter and 4Chan. Chat was moderated sparingly, if at all, so lots of people's first - and only - thought was to spam general chat with the most garbage, unworthy thoughts, treating chat as a cesspit for all their worst impulses. Bear in mind that this is a 20+ year old game, so much of its core demographic is at least 30 years old now - grown adults who should know better, not just from age but from experience - personally watching a slide to fascism that was at its core centered very much around racist ramblings on the internet. What I definitely won't miss about this fictional world riven by war with previously war-loving people struggling to turn a new leaf and build bridges with other peoples who are different from them that they've wronged in the past is real people gleefully calling for violence on people who look different from them. Media literacy is dead and spinning in its grave imho.
So between Blizzard and its infamous reputation as the "Bill Cosby Suite" of game developers and the well-meaning unpaid developers at WoW Ascension whose labor of love became infested with nazis because no nazis were ever kicked out, it's very difficult to pick sides without needing to wash your hands afterwards.
Oh well, at least plenty of other online games have had a revival in recent years, remain active, didn't have lawyers siced on them, and boast some of the best communities I've ever been a part of. I guess I'll just have to console myself with that.
Even though Blizzard is 100% justified in taking them down, that private server introduced a TON of new features and really expanded them in very unique and creative ways and I'm sad to see them go.
My favorite thing was their mix-n-match abilities, which allowed for a ludicrously high level of freedom in terms of character customization, along with special "mystic enchants" that radically change the way you play your character. For example, one transforms your character into a serpent-like creature who sprays poison everywhere. Another transforms you into a demon, transforming a lot of warlock abilities into fel magic abilities that often deal massive damage at the expense of your own health. Another hugely improves your rage bar and rage-generating warrior abilities. Another vastly improves your arcane and hunter abilities, allowing a sort of fusion between spellcaster and ranger. You get the idea. Also, they were active for many years before Blizzard finally put the hammer down. I'm half-tempted to conclude that Blizzard's main motivation is a sort of jealousy at seeing someone else take their base idea, put more polish and effort into it, and attract a smaller but more enthusiastic following. Very much a "Disney lawyers at a quinceañera" sort of vibe.
What I won't miss is that this was one of the most overtly toxic and racist communities I've ever seen outside of Twitter and 4Chan. Chat was moderated sparingly, if at all, so lots of people's first - and only - thought was to spam general chat with the most garbage, unworthy thoughts, treating chat as a cesspit for all their worst impulses. Bear in mind that this is a 20+ year old game, so much of its core demographic is at least 30 years old now - grown adults who should know better, not just from age but from experience - personally watching a slide to fascism that was at its core centered very much around racist ramblings on the internet. What I definitely won't miss about this fictional world riven by war with previously war-loving people struggling to turn a new leaf and build bridges with other peoples who are different from them that they've wronged in the past is real people gleefully calling for violence on people who look different from them. Media literacy is dead and spinning in its grave imho.
So between Blizzard and its infamous reputation as the "Bill Cosby Suite" of game developers and the well-meaning unpaid developers at WoW Ascension whose labor of love became infested with nazis because no nazis were ever kicked out, it's very difficult to pick sides without needing to wash your hands afterwards.
Oh well, at least plenty of other online games have had a revival in recent years, remain active, didn't have lawyers siced on them, and boast some of the best communities I've ever been a part of. I guess I'll just have to console myself with that.
Re: Any gamers around here?
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is getting a remake (not long after Olden Era was released and a major mod has greatly expanded the original game, keeping the playerbase engaged. Hell, we even got a board game)
The remake is supposed to change the graphics only, leaving the gameplay completely untouched.
Some things have definitely improved, such as the look of combat and the look of the town screen. I'm kinda mixed on the game map, where most of the gameplay takes place. It's definitely more modern, but that's not always a good thing. I liked the fantastical, whimsical feel of the old game, and looking at a heavy shadowed (or bloomed) map sprinkled with glowing resources is a bit of a downgrade from that.
Another big misstep is in the little details getting a "modern" look:
Which one do you prefer? Can you even read the first one?
And take a gander at the UI in general - what information is presented where. In the bottom image, I can tell at a glance how many towns I control, whether or not they've built anything this turn, lots of information about my hero and his army, how much time has progressed in-game (an extremely important piece of information around which one's strategies are centered). All with this nice gilded border to help sell the fantasy motif.
In the top image, that information is somewhat also present, but you have to dig to find it. Most of that stuff has been tucked away into little icons to make more room for bland and uninteresting terrain. Not a great trade, imho.
Is that the final look? No. Would it be a deal-breaker if it was? Also no. But I want to believe this stuff is being handled in sensitive, thoughtful way and this sort of thing is not very reassuring. This is a UI design goof akin to Daenerys Targaryen with a cup of Starbucks, not on a blooper reel, but in an actual episode.
Nothing is more important in a strategy game (besides not crashing) than conveying information to the player well. This ain't that. Hopefully, that's just a goof that gets fixed before launch.
Aside from these sorts of gripes, I'm genuinely excited for this release. I like all the new effects and animations.
The remake is supposed to change the graphics only, leaving the gameplay completely untouched.
Some things have definitely improved, such as the look of combat and the look of the town screen. I'm kinda mixed on the game map, where most of the gameplay takes place. It's definitely more modern, but that's not always a good thing. I liked the fantastical, whimsical feel of the old game, and looking at a heavy shadowed (or bloomed) map sprinkled with glowing resources is a bit of a downgrade from that.
Another big misstep is in the little details getting a "modern" look:
Which one do you prefer? Can you even read the first one?
And take a gander at the UI in general - what information is presented where. In the bottom image, I can tell at a glance how many towns I control, whether or not they've built anything this turn, lots of information about my hero and his army, how much time has progressed in-game (an extremely important piece of information around which one's strategies are centered). All with this nice gilded border to help sell the fantasy motif.
In the top image, that information is somewhat also present, but you have to dig to find it. Most of that stuff has been tucked away into little icons to make more room for bland and uninteresting terrain. Not a great trade, imho.
Is that the final look? No. Would it be a deal-breaker if it was? Also no. But I want to believe this stuff is being handled in sensitive, thoughtful way and this sort of thing is not very reassuring. This is a UI design goof akin to Daenerys Targaryen with a cup of Starbucks, not on a blooper reel, but in an actual episode.
Nothing is more important in a strategy game (besides not crashing) than conveying information to the player well. This ain't that. Hopefully, that's just a goof that gets fixed before launch.
Aside from these sorts of gripes, I'm genuinely excited for this release. I like all the new effects and animations.