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The Elder Scrolls IV Formally Announced
war3rd writes "Bethesda Softworks recently announced the development of the next game in The Elder Scrolls Series, (and follow-up to the game Morrowind) Oblivion. The next issue of Game Informer will have a 12 page spread with all the details and tons of screenshots."
The elder scroll series (particularly the first two) are amazing RPG's. There is so much depth that they are unreal. You can literally play for months just doing side missions with out even touching the main plot. The ability to join guilds in Daggerfall was one of the coolest features. Of course the one rather annoying thing is that bethesda seems to have problems ironing out bugs before a release, but hey...you can't get everything you want. ;) I have always wished that someone would do a remake of daggerfall with like the quake 2 engine. If you are reading this bethesda...release the source!!
A plot doesn't count as depth either. While the bethesda games relied on the player to progress the plot they had much more depth in terms of historical and cultural backgrounds, mythology and world detail than any of the games you've mentioned. I'm a fan of all of them, but they're are distinctly different.
While the BlackIsle-era RPGs are very, very well done, they are ultimately limiting in their progression and prefer to progress the player through an intriguing story (which is not bad). However, don't hate the Elder Scrolls series for its desire to simulate a living world instead of bringing you a hollywood-level entertainment production. It has an entirely different goal than the aforementioned RPGs, and one that make's it very unique and very good.
Let's look at what we're saying here, though. The whole big issue.
There are two basic polarities for game design. Only two! And this is more than just for RPG's. There is the closed, tight, event and trigger driven storyline. Then there is the open ended methodology, where the player is left to decide what things to do and which places to go.
This is really more like an axis than two seperate directions. Many storyline driven games will include set "choose-your-own-adventure" decisions that branch off into slightly different pathways. Many open-ended games will have a plot that the player can choose to follow if they want to. Many simulators include scenarios that steer the direction of play.
You can't bag a game because it sits on one or other end of the "open-closed" gameplay axis! Some people will like an open-ended game. Other people like to be led through the story.
I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.