I’ve tried both of those, I just don’t like modding stuff. It’s always a fiasco, and by the time I get done following guides until I’ve gone nearly blind and worn my patience completely thin trying to figure out what is wrong with this specific mod then, or why the lighting is all screwed up when I enter a building, or why there aren’t any shadows or some such, I just don’t really want to play any more. Mods are amazing, for sure, but I hardly ever use them, unless they are little simple QOL stuff, like the SkyUI. And even then having to launch the .exe from a different one always trips me up the first times I try to play.
I would not count ESO because its not really the same kind of game as Fallout or the other ES games. In fact, I would consider ESO an ES ‘themed’ game.
I am also disappointed that Bethesda did Fallout 4. I always thought it as a third party one as well. I just thought F4 was a terrible fallout game although if you just looked at it as a very generic open world game, then it was decent.
Well, since I’m getting the PS4Pro in November, I think I’ll get this and MLB The Show 2016 as the first two games for it…
I know how you feel. A few months ago I took quite a long time trying to get a perfectly modded skyrim. Must have installed 80+ mods using nexus mod manager and a current guide that went through the whole process. I tested in-game every 4 or so mods. Everything was great until I started to play for real. There were a number of textures that were just black, and the game would hard crash at an annoying frequency. Trying to troubleshoot fixes for those looked a nightmare so I just quit. It’s a shame, hopefully the special edition will help.
Heh. Other than the homophobic bit at the end, pretty funny, and oh so true.
I’ve only put 155 hours into Skyrim, finishing it twice, probably started at least 5 times. Each and every time I’ve done stealth archery. No matter how I start a game, eventually I just get drawn back into sneaking around and shooting people with arrows.
All that being said, I think with the special edition I’m finally going to take the time and try out playing a stealth archer.
My one playthrough of Skyrim so far - at 150 hours - was a Breton battlemage of sorts. I’m looking forward to playing as a stealth archer (Bosmer, most likely) in the Special Edition.
When it came to archery, I always had a mod (I think) where I turned the crosshairs off. It made archery combat a lot more satisfying when lining up the shot without any guides and making it land on a patrolling bandit for instance.
Yeah, part of the “problem” is that the combat system makes combining the stealth bonuses with archer damage, plus the weapon/enchantment bonuses, stupid effective. That, and melee combat blows.
Bingo. You have the tension and fun of sneaking around, plus the getting that crosshair to line up just right, drop that arrow on that head, boom, dead, then hope to get back hidden before you’re screwed. Versus running up to people and smashing keys and flopping around in melee (blech). I’ve found the magic system super disappointing too.
Their combat system has always bugged me to the point of ruining their games for me. It’s fun to tool around and see the world building for a while, but the moment to moment gameplay I find to be just awful (for my tastes). If they could develop an engaging combat mechanic, and animations that didn’t look like they were all possessed by some sort of archaic nerve disorder, this would be the greatest game series ever.
At one point, I had my game modded with lock on targeting, and the ability to cast healing spells without needing to take up a hand for it. That made the game about 1000000000 times better to play as a mage character. It also made my dream of a 2h sword wielding paladin much more playable. Being able to cast healing spells, without having to switch out of your weapon is a huge game changer.
But they did develop an engaging combat mechanic! The only problem is that it’s in the Fallout games. What I wouldn’t give to have that system in Skyrim…
-Tom
I pretty much bounced off Skyrim, but I played a sword/magic character. Combat was too blah (especially compared to Dark Souls). Maybe I’ll give it another go and try a stealth archer when this comes out.
I plan on trying out the new edition. It took 3 or 4 starts before I stuck with Skyrim enough to get through the campaign. I agree with prior comments above - if they could make combat good this game could be awesome. I am glad I finally stiuck with it because they created such a cool world to explore in.
I will probably go archer-based this next time. I could also try using the controller but I think I’d find it too hard to be precise to line up shots.
Bethesda need to pull a rabbit out of the hat somehow. Their tech and writing are creaky. 4 years from now what will their competition look like? Probably stiff.
About the same as it now? The series has been around for over a decade and while there has been some great challengers (Two Worlds, The Witcher, etc) they still have their niche the no one else really fills. It would be nice if there was more games of this type, but the market has hardly been flooded with them in the past, I don’t know what that would change now.
Everyone’s technology is moving on. Deus Ex, Ubigames, Dishonored, Tomb Raider, The Witcher. If one of those studios says, you know what, we could make some adjustments and do a first person RPG and be beloved of all those Bethesda fans… that wouldn’t be too surprising IMO. And would be welcome :)
Leaving aside that 4 years is into another console generation which everyone will have to cope with somehow.
I agree with LeeAbe, they don’t really have much competition. It takes years of effort to make games of this kind, so there really aren’t many competitors.
Overall I enjoy their trajectory though. Morrowind was so beautiful and so detailed and just an incredible, breathtaking world. But the longer I played, the more reluctant I became to stay and explore that world. The fights became super easy with the ridiculously powerful I crafted and enchanted for myself, and the mechanics of the moment-to-moment gameplay weren’t that great to begin with. Then Oblivion sort of had two versions, the gamepad version on the 360 fixed the moment to moment gameplay problem. But eventually the game did become too easy, and it just took longer than in Morrowind. But something had to take a hit, right? In this case, the world wasn’t as interesting as in Morrowind, but I had more of an excuse to remain in it for longer. Then they had their other version, the mouse-and-keyboard version on the PC, where the moment to moment combat was still crap. Then in Skyrim, they kind of worked on both those things, I felt. The world was more interesting than Oblivion, and they added gamepad support to the PC version and improved the gameplay systems even more, giving even greater excuse to stay in their world.
Now, that’s a great trajectory, but it’s also interesting to include Fallout 4 in the mix here. They really worked hard on the moment-to-moment mechanics in a big way in that one, but the world is more bland and less interesting. Sort of like the transition between Morrowind to Oblivion. So it will be interesting to see what they ended up focusing on four years from now. I think the one consistent thing between the games is that gameplay mechanics have gotten better and better each time. So I think it’s pretty safe to assume that they’ll focus on that. But whether the world and writing will get as much of a focus, I don’t know.
I don’t think it’s been a consistent forward trend. They improve some things, sure, but they also eliminate other things that were fun, or reduce their complexity and interest value.