Slashdot Mirror
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."
What I like most about their games, are the detailed and different worlds they create. Morrowind so far have been the best, the overall theme is excellent made. Even common stuff is interresting like, say, the red dust winds. It wasn't as smooth running as Gothic when traveling large distances, but then I didn't have the fastest computer back then.
:)
:D
That being said, their games also suffers from the typical mistakes. Monsters practically everywhere, all bend on attacking you, and spawning after some time have pasted. It rather distracts from the game play* and the experience of the world. Increasing the world significant in the next game, and vary the monster a lot (more variation in missions and more real NPCs is probably to huge a task, to even ask them to do) would make the game even better. Monsters shouldn't lurk right outside heavy fortified forts, and rats/tiny creature should be clever enough not to mess with full plate armour (even less be able to damage with those ridicilus tiny teeth and claws).
Will I buy this game when it is released? I will in all likelyhood, I liked their previous games, and will probably like this one too. When this type of game is so far apart in releases, you can hardly resist. And for the love of gawd, make a Linux/Mac release
* Let's be honest here, like most computer "RPG" games, they are often just hack'n'slash thinly disguised. Esp. after you have cleared a few level and missions, it rarely differs, online or not.
P.S. The best 3D "RPG" is still Ultima Underworld 1+2
Carbon based humanoid in training.
I agree, but the scrolls were different for trying to make a whole world for you to explore rather then a tight plot for you to follow. I liked both for good reasons, but elder scrolls suffers from becoming boring.
The main problem for me has been the world looking too similar. In daggerfall you had just a couple city styles, snowy, desert, normal, volcanic ect. The dungeons were the same pieces slapped together differently.
Morrowind fixed this somewhat, but the whole world still looked dark and dreary. Building construction had the same style to it, sure it was "different" but still felt the same. I didn't play either expansion so maybe they fixed this.
I think they need to keep on the same path they are now and do a few more things to really help the game out. They need to vary the enviroments up a bit, I want to see a tree top town in one spot, a cave town in another, a few typical fantasy towns and outpost settlements, some squat dessert towns, a port town and whatever else they can think of. Make them all different in some way.
But bigger then that, is they need to breath more life into the world. But walking around morrowind for the most part felt dead. I'd like people to react to your character without having to talk to them. If it's been known that you are a violent killer, or maybe you can dress the part of a violent killer, I want to see people look your way and cringe, or notice you and turn and walk the other way.
The towns need a life to them. They already do a pretty good job with npcs and having some walking around at certain times and having a day/night cycle to the town. But if I break into someone's locked door I want them to scream in fright or run away and get help. Do it in a way that the npc has a bubble around them as they run to the guard station and anyone who hears her crys for help will try to protect her or head for the guards or try to knock her out and rob her.
I guess the more they can do to steer it away from what we know rpg's to be, the better. We don't need plot. We need to walk into a town and not have to talk to everyone, aquire some fetch/kill quests and get some rewards by going back to them. Breath some life into it the town somehow.
Easier said then done though.
My prefered method was boots with Jump 100, Slowfall 1, and Water Walking (Since you couldn't jump if you landed in water)
I called them Boots of Flubber.