Who cares? The community will have player made expansions in a year that will likely be free and of higher quality.
Regardless, BGS is a shell of its former self. Whenever I see people clamoring for TES 6 I just scratch my head and ask why?
Starfield was the final straw for me, I will never get excited for another Bethesda game again. They’ve shown that they refuse to truly shake up their game design. When people asked if Starfield would have the same magic as FO3 or older TES games, they said, “it’ll have the same DNA.” I assumed that meant it’d have fun exploration and interesting quests. While it has some decent quests, the exploration is utterly tedious and just unfun. I truly wish they’d had just focused on fleshing out 2 or 3 planets in one solar system, maybe some instanced, hand-crafted dungeons/whatever outside of it. I have zero interest in exploring proc gen worlds, it’s not that fun in No Man’s Sky and it’s not fun here. At least with NMS, it’s all relatively seamless.
FO4 is why I waited and ultimately didn’t buy starfield. I LOVED elderscrolls, and FO:NV is like my alltime favorite. I didn’t hate FO4, there’s some fun to be had, but you can see pretty clearly from it where FO:76 came from. From what I’ve seen and read, I’m not missing anything with starfield.
NMS is tough. They did an amazing job trying to salvage it, but it will always be a game that was never meant to be that big. It’s not bad but at somepoint in the loop you just go “wtf am I doing?”. I give that team all the credit in the world, but that game never belonged where it is.
New Vegas is notable for not being a Bethesda game per se. It uses something very close to the Fallout 3 engine, but the actual content has little to do with Bethesda. They did publish it, though.
Oh I’m well aware lol. The game is a godamn miracle. But thats the thing, Bethesda has been on this trajectory for a good lonnnnnng while. Like the whole “obsidian good bethesda bad” thing isn’t quite right, but what is true is Bethesda has been incredibly strategic about shittifying their games: there’s always just enough there to keep you going “ok… one more”.
Starfield is the first one I just didn’t even bother with.
For myself and many people Skyrim is the best game they’ve ever played. It was the first fantasy game I played since Runescape to have multiple cities spread out through an open world, with long narrative multi stage quests involving a number of locations and NPCs. Both games also have a leveling sytem based around you get better at what you use ie “skilling”.
I want “TES 6” in that I want another game that hits those marks, but I no longer trust Bethesda to make it.
Edit: note I know a lot of people dislike skyrim and think calling it a great game is absurd, and I get the criticism but I love the game anyway
To me that was oblivion, when I got skyrim I just felt burnt out because it felt so similar but at the same time missing some of the stuff I liked like the custom spells etc, then fallout 4 came out and I sort of shelved it but once I got into it I spent soo many hours on it. Maybe it’s like cod now where if you skip a few years it’s fun again but not every single game because they just aren’t that different
The fact that this is probably a fairly non-controversial pick in a year that arguably had a bumper crop of great games really underscores just what an amazing game this is.
As a writer, this is why I’ll never condemn cozy books with happy endings. This type of media, whether it’s games or books or music, helps real people get through crappy times intact, even if elitists sneer that overly happy stuff isn’t this or that. Usually people who are going through the worst times irl are the ones who need avenues of escape most. If you’re already living through crap, you don’t need media to remind you of the crap, you already know good and well that crappy things exist.
As a reader, that’s definitely why I do condemn overly negative books and other media. Even after reading all horror books available in the library as a teenager. Life’s complicated enough by itself.
As a reader, I say “not for me” and leave overly negative things there for others to enjoy. The way I feel better is not reexposing myself to a reflection of all the ills in this world that I’m constantly being shown can be awful. But some people find catharsis in it! One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, after all. I am sure some people would dismiss some things I like as too saccharine and not realistic aka gritty enough.
I’m trying to write a story, and I struggled with this, especially when confronting certain realities:
While fantasy, the story is meant to reflect some harsh political realities
Multiple villains are killed, but the heartfelt good guys live.
The ending has everything fixed and everyone’s happy.
I’m aware most stories don’t come anywhere close to a full happy ending like this. Every Batman story ends with Gotham still a miserable shithole. Every noir story ends with the case solved but everyone broken for it and the city still a dystopia. It generally has good reasoning, to reflect harshness of reality, but that’s a realm of fantasy I really want to venture into; one where things just work out.
I mean, I did partake in the “Skyrim in space” jokes but I didn’t know there’d be pickpocketing. Huh. So is it safe to say everybody’s builds are going to trend towards stealth sniping?
For people playing efficiently, probably. Everytime i play a bethesda game, i usually go out of my way to play some theme. Playes skyrim in stealth(after 2h axing most of it), oblivion with magic, melee in fo3, energy in fnv, luck maxed pistol/revolver only for fo4.
Ill probably look at the weapon list at launch and pick a weapon type from there
Less ‘Skyrim in Space,’ more ‘Fallout 4 in Space.’ They are really leaning into the “Build Your Own Trash-Fort” aspect, as with Starfield, you not only build them on every planet. You get to ride around in them between planets.
I get that ‘Builder Games’ are big money, but dear lord…
Yeah this seems like a smoking gun of intent to reproduce the IP. Hard to claim it was done in ignorance if Sony has documentation on this licensing pitch.
My brain accepted this new piece of information and immediately tried to recalibrate my sense of wellbeing based on how much time I spend playing cozy games.
So there was a bizarre moment where I felt positively dandy.
Did anyone else get a mental health buff just from reading this headline?
Yeah I mostly agree with you. Except there was plot and lore in 2016, it was just minimalist as you said, but more importantly it was executed really well. It had the “doom” feel. In addition to awesome gameplay and soundtrack.
Eternal was great for the gameplay, and even an improvement in some ways. The lore and plot was ridiculous though. Way overdone, didn’t feel like doom.
I say go back to 2016 style with the gameplay improvements of eternal.
To me the essence of 2016 is the scene in the beginning where an info screen tries to dump exposition on you and you chuck it into a wall.
There is plot, but you don’t need to pay attention to it. Doomguy is angry and needs to kill demons.
To me a big fumble in Eternal was trying to explain why doomguy is angry and so good at killing. He’s like an inverse Cthulhu, terrifying, unknowable and mysterious. Trying to explain or understand him breaks the basis for the character.
On gameplay, I didn’t mind the changes, but I thought the embellishments were a little on the nose. The technicolor rainbow explosion of ammo when you chainsaw someone, and the increased focus on using abilities to replenish resources scream “This is a video game!” in a over the top way that I felt took away from the immersion and grit that I associate with Doom.
Agreed on all points. I tried getting into Eternal a couple times and still haven’t finished it. It’s more than likely a good game but it doesn’t have the flow of the first.
Yep, agree to agree here. I just thought the gameplay improvements in eternal were fun. But I agree the way you put it, kind of a departure from what doom should be.
I felt like the decision to make jumping and mobility more a factor in Eternal hurt it a lot. Jumping puzzles and jumping mechanics in FPS games don’t really work for a lot of reasons (see: Half-Life) and it made the levels feel much more linear than 2016, the arenas much more smaller and less mobile. id did invent this genre, and even they can’t make it work. What does that tell you?
Also the changing of the ammo metaelements to prioritize chainsawing felt dumb. Having to pinata every so often was the most obvious thing that felt straight up wrong compared to 2016, and that’s a sign of a garbage core loop.
The writing was pretty good, but I have the attention span of a summer ant when I play Doom.
Eternal actually made my hands hurt. Still haven’t gotten very far in it. Having to constantly cycle weapons, jump, dash, and do precision shooting, often all at the same time, was murder on my hands.
I got it for “free” with my new cpu purchase. I played about 5 hours. It was a total slog. Put it down and have zero regrets. Bethesda has been making some very boring games lately imo.
Skyrim was one of my favorite games for several years.
I tried watching my husband play Starfield but I kept zoning out, using my phone, or getting up to do something else. I’d rather do laundry. Starfield is boring A.F to watch, and I have zero interest in playing it
Fair point on Skyrim being more fun to play than to watch. I agree. And if you like Starfield as it is- then so be it! I’m not trying to shit on anyone’s enjoyment of the game
BUT…my husband likes to try to optimize everything. So we’ll spend time looking at different aspects- some of the graphics just infuriated me. Some things looked so amazing, but others… meh or… wtf. The facial expressions are way behind the times, and everything he showed me seemed lacking in one way or another. Like that Aurora nightclub. The NPC’s are talking about what an amazing experience they are having, meanwhile it’s like 15 of them badly dancing or just standing around. They certainly didn’t look like they were having fun and they moved around like a group of homeless methheads
He ended up playing some more of the game once I went to bed, and then conceeded that it’s lack-luster and moved on to something else
Yeah, I got about 150 hours in, did all the side quests I could find, went through NG+ did almost all the things needed to ng+ again but now I’m just like… Meh why?
I’m sure it’ll be a great game for modders, there’s already a good bit that help with some of the basics (UI, beth wtf) so I got pretty good moneys worth from the game and here’s to hoping I can take many more trips in like FO4 and Skyrim with mods to vastly improve things :)
On the Aurora thing, I mean… You ever been in a club with people on Molly? They look out of their minds so… Doesn’t seem too far off lmao
Bout to start a fresh run on New Vegas, been many many years so I’m excited :D
So far I’ve seen a lot of Bethesda typical bugs, but nothing game breaking yet.
Yes the first few hours of a play through are a slog, after it opens up more it becomes much more enjoyable. A live another life type mod would make me immensely happy.
That being said, Bethesda does a good job of making a platform for modding, and thats the KEY thing that keeps me buying, and playing again and again, Bethesda games.
For that reason ESO just never had the magic to me, I understand a lot of mods found for single player games would be highly unbalanced and its not an option for an MMO. That said, without mods Bethesda games are lackluster and I quickly lost interest despite trying to enjoy it a few times. I like MMOs too, don’t get me wrong, I’m not someone who only plays shooters being introduced to an MMO.
I’m excited to see what the modding community can do once the tools are released in 2024.
I love my Pro 2, best pad I've ever had, but I love it enough that I have no real need to spend $70 on an upgrade. This sounds excellent for anyone who doesn't already have one though.
Not sure I get the point of removing the face buttons though. You shouldn't need to physically rearrange them in order to remap them. I just use the Pro 2's profile switcher button to swap layouts, and I see that button is still present, so I don't see why I would want to do it the hard way.
As someone who switches between PC using an Xbox layout and a Switch, I like the idea of swappable buttons, assuming it doesn’t cause any issues physically with the controller in the long run.
Personally I would find this incredibly helpful when I’m playing games with someone who’s might need to look at the buttons. Especially if they aren’t much of a gamer.
I’ve tried rearranging the buttons on my pro 2 but They’re all unique shapes and can’t be swapped 😔
It’s more for people who look at the controller buttons while playing. I’ve had people use my controllers and get really confused when B is actually A and so on.
Yeah no shit AAA games are $80 going forward, games from the past few years are $70 if AAA. $60 was the sweet spot for AAA games but then the greedy companies began littering paid games with macro transactions.
Indie is the way forward for gaming, the prices are actually fair and the devs are willing to support them far past when AAA companies will. That and modding for games has only been getting better and better. Last year we basically got a brand new Fallout game from modders, meanwhile Bugthesda can barely wipe their own ass.
Almost like there’s some kind of deeper generational economic divide, almost like all the people who own all the stock are retiring and starting to live off investments, and thus companies are pressured to payout ether in buy backs or dividends, so prices are rising while quality and pay falls, and only those benefiting from the record profitability can afford the new prices.
Sort of like the allocation of resources and labor are being redistributed to a retiring and wealthy leisure class and the burden to support that is falling on the younger generation.
I swear gamers have the memory of a gnat. How many times has Bethesda pulled shit like this and people continue to support them? no one remembers the Horse armor all the way back in Oblivion? no one remembers the Skyrim paid mods in 2015? hell can’t even remember the SKYRIM PAID MODS IN DEC OF 2023!
This isn’t an outrage and no one should be upset AT Bethesda over this, but disappointed and upset with yourselves for yet again falling for their constant desire to nickel and dime their playerbase.
Nothing will stand in the way of getting their current precious. Not even their own complaints and bitching.
They’ll sit there and complain about how a company is evil, its practices exploitative, and how everyone should avoid buying from them so they can die in the fires of Bankruptcy.
Then the second the next game/expansion/DLC/Whatever is announced, they are immediately in line to preorder the ultra deluxe mega fuck you 500 dollar package. because it comes with a unique mount and a special armor skin, and they just cant miss those things! they’re rare! and they’ll never be able to get them otherwise! /s
And then they’ll go into the obfuscated-cash-shop and spend another 700 dollars on digital bullshit.
Then, when they are all done, the overwhelming majority of them will come back to the internet, and cry and whinge and moan about how a company is evil, its practices exploitative, and how everyone should avoid buying from them so they can finally die in the fires of bankruptcy.
Cause the majority of gamers are brain damaged fucktards who, at the end of the day, just love throwing their wallet at things.
I mean this is kind of true of all people everywhere. The marshmallow test has flaws but I think it’s still revealing. A lot of people are really bad at self control and delayed gratification.
Don’t know. Don’t play a whole lot of Bethesda games. Didn’t play Oblivion. New gamers join the ranks every day. Not everyone has been gaming since the 80’s.
Well most modern gamers are probably like 14 years old and probably never even played Skyrim. So I’m not surprised young kids are buying this creation kit garbage with Mommy’s credit card.
Bethesda just released an expansion for fallout 76. It’s a game that I’m fairly fond of, considering the amount of dislike I have for fallout 4, it improved on it in every way from the worldbuilding to building to the story, I could go on, point is, I like it.
The new expansion, the first map expansion and like 20 major updates in.
The new map is quite a large region. You’d expect a few side quests to unlock these other locations. Maybe some hidden gems. Maybe some cool NPCs outside of the main “expansion” right?
Its literally: A main quest that’s short (beat it in like 3 hours on the first day it dropped)
A single side quest that’s more of an optional objective on the main quest
A single new event
A single new boss.
Four things they added. Two of which can only be done once (bad formula for a game designed around repeating similar tasks)
They’ve just straight up gotten bad. There’s no love in their products anymore. It’s all taking the easiest way out, lacking any amount of real creativity.
I just want them to migrate from their shitty proprietary engine, buckle down on a good story and prioritizing fun.
The thing with those is that, while it was a small amount of content, it wasn’t just a mission, each was about an hour of repeatable content that was fairly fun to farm. At $2, they actually still felt worth it with as much fun as B2 was. If they had asked for like $10 each, people would have flipped out.
I’m not a Starfield player, but I would bet this is not even close to as good of a value proposition.
gamespot.com
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