Oblivion suffers from middle child syndrome. It is the transition from the weird and fantastic of Morrowind to the mass appeal of Skyrim and it doesn’t really do either of those things well. I liked a lot of aspects of it. Like the changes they made with vampirism were interesting, dimension hopping was a blast, the addition of skills providing special bonuses like running on water helped liven up the skills. There was a lot of garbage though like how the level design was a clunky mix of simplified vs. capturing what Morrowind did, UI switch to prioritize consoles but didn’t even work well for console, the overall distancing of mechanics and the world. I remember it feeling like they put a lot of work into streamlining while keeping things unique which I appreciate but they didn’t hit the mark and ended up with a lot of hollow concepts.
Skyrim never even attempted to be weird so I think it’s a lot more cohesive comparatively. Like there’s no pretending anywhere in that game about what it is and in that way they did a reasonably good job. Probably the biggest differences though is Morrowind is clearly a game made with incredible amounts of passion. Oblivion also has passion in it but there are a lot of areas you could see that were rushed or they kept the devs leashed. Skyrim’s rare flicker of care makes me feel sad mostly knowing the devs had the capacity to go hog wild with it but didn’t for probably a variety of reasons.
It’s been a good while since I played oblivion though I’d probably have to run through it again to give you a proper answer (and might change what I’ve said here as I reevaluate it fresh). What’s your belated revelation on Oblivion?
Morrowind is the reason I’m in the game industry and has impacted my life more than any other single piece of media. It’s been heartbreaking for me to see the treatment Elder Scrolls has gotten. I was so excited for Skyrim it was the only game I’ve ever preordered, it’s the reason I originally got a Steam account, and the whole game is a let down start to finish.
I was hesitantly optimistic for FO4 when I bought it, it was off-putting but I worked through the disappointment of running into invisible walls so often, and when I finally got the gear and the freedom to power armor my way to the roofs I was pumped until I discovered they put fuck all up there. Morrowind was designed with jumping and flying and they made a 3D world that was fascinating to explore, Skyrim is completely flat, FO4 pretends to have 3D space but it’s a contentless liar. I’m so jaded now I didn’t even get to the hesitantly optimistic step with Starfield I just assumed it was going to be empty filler
That’s fair, I figured I’d post here though since there’s been gaming related news before. This is helping show the state Unity is in: bidding off departments to other companies. I think it is relevant that way
My thing about it is designing for both an isolated feel and a cohesive co-op may be impractical, and I’d prefer they focus on the part of it that makes it really stand out. There are also things like how do you progress world events, can either player trigger them, do they have to be in the same area together, etc which all adds design overhead.
I also want more good co-op games they’re a lot of fun. Personally I don’t think this is the right series to target for it though, but also idk what direction they’re taking it so co-op may fit well with the new one.
A core part of the first game is how isolated you are though. I don’t usually say this with survival crafters, but for me coop would take away more than it would provide
This is exactly what I was thinking reading some of the comments. “Back in my day you could store everything as long as you trusted someone enough to keep an instance open while you throw valuable stuff at the ground and switch accounts”
I can’t talk on this personally because I do still really need this job’s insurance and am trying my best to not get fired for 6 more months, but also I’m just a grunt all I’ve got are contradictory rumors.