Xbox 360 Bethesda's lack of commitment

[Matt]

An excellent video, of course, but not necessarily meant for the topic of discussion here. This thread concerns the unfinished mechanics of the game's engine and programming, not the simplicity of the gameplay. As gamers, we can argue until we are all blue in the face about whether it was better to have difficult puzzles or no puzzles at all or whether Skyrim is too easy, but I think we can all agree that as far as making sure the game worked like it was supposed to, Bethesda dropped the ball.

 

[Coyote]

I'm not sure were any of this is coming from. I never noticed skyrim being incomplete, it was my favorite game until I bought minecraft. But I still love it sure their can always be improvements but no game is perfect. I always thought skyrim was one of the best, graphics are great. Combat is a blast. Moral choices in many quests. Storyline is wonderful. It's a great game and not flawed.

 

[Matt]

I'm not sure were any of this is coming from. I never noticed skyrim being incomplete, it was my favorite game until I bought minecraft. But I still love it sure their can always be improvements but no game is perfect. I always thought skyrim was one of the best, graphics are great. Combat is a blast. Moral choices in many quests. Storyline is wonderful. It's a great game and not flawed.

I'm happy you had a satisfying experience. That said, I refuse to call a game that repeatedly glitches out "not flawed". Furthermore, the hand-holding, laughably easy puzzles, simplified monetary system, and anemic dialog options make it one of the weakest entries in the TES franchise to date. It should be noted that the scale for ranking a TES system is different from most games; meaning Skyrim is still one of the better RPG's available on a console.

 

[JClarke1953]

It might all depend on what platform one is using. I know if one is playing Skyrim on a PC or Laptop, codes can be typed in. Also, if one is "daring", sneaker net can be used to manipulate some things by using a PC/laptop, then transferring that to an XBox (I don't know if that can be done with PS3).

On the XBox, even the "slim" 360, options are extremely limited, so when so,etching is bugged, it stays that way. No workaround or anything. Like trying to finish getting all of the Words, I'll never get the final six to finish that. Arngier is still stuck on Arcwind Point, and I've not seen a courier in, well, months.

Skyrim IS a "good" game, I just believe that if they had stuck to it better, instead of attempting to push it out for all three platforms while beginning on other games, it could have been more than "good".

 

[Raijin]

I'm not sure were any of this is coming from. I never noticed skyrim being incomplete, it was my favorite game until I bought minecraft. But I still love it sure their can always be improvements but no game is perfect. I always thought skyrim was one of the best, graphics are great. Combat is a blast. Moral choices in many quests. Storyline is wonderful. It's a great game and not flawed.

Are you honestly that satisfied with the concept that the civil war story ended with no ruler? That once you complete the civil war with either Imperial or Stormcloak victory that you still don't get to see who becomes the next Queen or King of Skyrim, and to be apart of the process by speaking or observing the Moot as he declares the new ruler? As Dragonborn you're suppose to be one of thee most important figures in the country, yet nobody congratulates you or celebrates your victory in saving the world from Alduin.

In the companion saga you honestly don't get to bond with other NPC members. You don't really get to thrived in your new ability as a werewolf. You would think that during night time hours you and your fellow members can get together, and do werewolf related things, but no. How much do we truly know Kodlak Whitemane to actually be apart of his funeral? I certainly don't because it was not given to me. All I had was his journal, nothing more. For me I had no reason to attend his funeral. In fact I found it to be hilarious considering the fact that he had it coming.

Skyrim at best was for the graphics, nothing more than that. The choices wasn't that great as their were no consequences that took place base on your course of action. For a prime example you can go and assassinate the Emperor of Tamriel, and still go off and join the Imperial legion.

Saying that Skyrim has no flaws is outrageously ridiculous. You should reconsider playing other games for a while (Like Dragon age) to see what a good RP game suppose to be, and then come back to replay Skyrim. I bet your opinions will change rather fast once you get to experience what a decent RPing game is suppose to feel like.

 

[DrunkenMage]

For a prime example you can go and assassinate the Emperor of Tamriel, and still go off and join the Imperial legion.

You can easily write this one off as Talos Cult. Many of them are soldiers within the Imperial Legion and they plan to assassinate their own Emperors.

 

[jarif]

I'm not sure were any of this is coming from. I never noticed skyrim being incomplete, it was my favorite game until I bought minecraft. But I still love it sure their can always be improvements but no game is perfect. I always thought skyrim was one of the best, graphics are great. Combat is a blast. Moral choices in many quests. Storyline is wonderful. It's a great game and not flawed.

The game is very hand holding, Morrowind from I'v seen is a true TES and RPG (hopefully I can play it in the future or play Skywind, Morrowind with Skyrim engine). Want to find a cure for vampirsm? Tough luck you'l have to find it, you can't just go in ANY inn and ask ANY bartender which apparently if the all the bartenders know than all of Skyrim knows or even ALL of Tamriel, if that was true than vampirsm would have been gone by now. In Morrowind, their was no quest, you had to find it by researching in books and no? You probably didn't get a quest marker. Do you know how hand holding quest markers are? Read a book for 1 second and you and your character instantly know the location and what the quest is. Even the puzzles, are very hand holding, In Morrowind there was a puzzle that involved water, and the trick was to drown your self. Another example, killing essential NPC's is also hand holding, here's the answer if their needed, well don't kill them.
Another example, dialogue and relationships with NPCs are dumned down. If you wear armor of the opposite faction than you don't get attacked by the opposite faction. Dialogue is dumned down, the conversations are very shortened for the casual gamers. If you attacked someone, you should have a bad relationship but the game acts like nothing happened. If you have a good relationship for example than you could get some information out of them that you couldn't have before, some NPC's don't even have dialogue.
Another thing. The game itself is dummed down. Don't take any offense to this. It's fact not opinion. Though thankfully we have next gen (PS4 and Xbox One) but lets pretend they don't exist for the point I want to make. PS3 and Xbox 360 are VERY OUTDATED hardware. They mainly run 20 - 30fps, pretty outdated and nothing compares to the modern hardware and processing power of a modern PC. Well so what? They have to dum down the graphics and everything else to meet the standards of those consoles (luckily we have next gen). When you using a controller, they have less buttons than a keyboard, well what does this mean? Well why can't we block while dual wielding?

 

[Raijin]

For a prime example you can go and assassinate the Emperor of Tamriel, and still go off and join the Imperial legion.

You can easily write this one off as Talos Cult. Many of them are soldiers within the Imperial Legion and they plan to assassinate their own Emperors.

How can you easily write it off when the guards begin to acknowledge you of being one of the Dark Brotherhood members?

"Psst. Hey, I know who you are. Hail Sithis!" - Guard

"It ain't true what they say about you and... and the Dark Brotherhood? Is it?"- Guard

"Now, I know who you are. And... and I know your business... Just, please... These are good folk we got here. Mostly..." -Guard

"Hey! You're the one who killed Alain Dufont, up in Raldbthar. Oh yeah, word about that got around. Man was a piece of bandit trash, is what I hear."-Guard

"I heard you were at the wedding of the Emperor's cousin in Solitude. Gods, that must've been horrible."- Guard

"Wait, I know you. You went into the Emperor's Tower, just before... before his decoy was murdered..." - Guard

"I know who you are, assassin. I guess the rumors about your kind's "extinction" have been... exaggerated." - Guard

"The guards have been saying things about you... That you're the one that... Well... They say the Dark Brotherhood... Well. Never mind. Sir/Ma'am." - Guard

"You hear the news? The Emperor has been murdered! Right here, in Skyrim. By the gods, if the Dark Brotherhood can do that, nobody's safe..."- Guard

"By the gods. The Emperor's been murdered. On his own ship... moored in the inlet. It was... the Dark Brotherhood. There was nothing we could do..."- Guard

 

[DrunkenMage]

For a prime example you can go and assassinate the Emperor of Tamriel, and still go off and join the Imperial legion.

You can easily write this one off as Talos Cult. Many of them are soldiers within the Imperial Legion and they plan to assassinate their own Emperors.

How can you easily write it off when the guards begin to acknowledge you of being one of the Dark Brotherhood members?

"Psst. Hey, I know who you are. Hail Sithis!" - Guard

"It ain't true what they say about you and... and the Dark Brotherhood? Is it?"- Guard

"Now, I know who you are. And... and I know your business... Just, please... These are good folk we got here. Mostly..." -Guard

"Hey! You're the one who killed Alain Dufont, up in Raldbthar. Oh yeah, word about that got around. Man was a piece of bandit trash, is what I hear."-Guard

"I heard you were at the wedding of the Emperor's cousin in Solitude. Gods, that must've been horrible."- Guard

"Wait, I know you. You went into the Emperor's Tower, just before... before his decoy was murdered..." - Guard

"I know who you are, assassin. I guess the rumors about your kind's "extinction" have been... exaggerated." - Guard

"The guards have been saying things about you... That you're the one that... Well... They say the Dark Brotherhood... Well. Never mind. Sir/Ma'am." - Guard

"You hear the news? The Emperor has been murdered! Right here, in Skyrim. By the gods, if the Dark Brotherhood can do that, nobody's safe..."- Guard

"By the gods. The Emperor's been murdered. On his own ship... moored in the inlet. It was... the Dark Brotherhood. There was nothing we could do..."- Guard

Guards in Skyrim are quite poorly done. They will call you the new member of the Companions who fetches the mead when you're the Harbinger.

I wouldn't say Bethesda has a lack of commitment though, they are doing what they can with what they got. Yes, some games will always have better things in the RPG element. But we're in a world where money rules all, it is all about sales. Skyrim cost a lot of money to make and it had to make that money back.

Skyrim is two years old now, it is outdated and people have put hundreds of hours into it. Saying there is a lack of commitment is quite harsh especially since it's kept many of us entertained for two years.

They created the world of Skyrim. Which is quite vast and it does have a lot of freedom, much more than many RPG's.

You can't expect game companies to please everyone. Especially when new generation of gamers are more interested in fast paced action. Games change, adapting to survive.

Dragon Age 2, while it does seem like a great game. Is it even close to the scale of Skyrim? Or is it set levels and you follow a certain path?

There isn't a lack of content within Skyrim. Role play is only as good as your imagination.

Of course we'll have issues with Skyrim... now... after two years. But post a thread like this say a year or two ago and it would be beaten into the ground by nearly everyone on the forum.

Bethesda is a Company. You can't have them focus on one thing for so long without working on other titles. They have bills to pay also, I would say they did quite well in a changing time.

Saying they lack commitment is quite untrue. They had a deadline to meet, before people go on about "They should of waited longer before releasing" If Bethesda told people the game is being delayed, nearly every single one of us would of been up in arms demanding Skyrim in our hands now.

They pleased a large number of gamers, you can't please everyone. Did I enjoy Skyrim? Yes, very much. Did I find flaws in it? Yes of course, there are flaws in every thing. Morrowind had great flaws, so did Oblivion.

But honestly saying Skyrim was nothing but graphics? After two years and hundreds of hours of playing, it seemed to keep you entertained long enough until they announced no more download contents. What kept you playing so long in a game that is just graphics.

At least Bethesda made an Elder Scrolls V, what other game companies are making things close to what TES is. Taking a single game apart is easy, but put them all together and you got the world that is Tamriel through a series of games. You take them all and you have one amazing series.

 

[Crooksin]

You can easily write this one off as Talos Cult. Many of them are soldiers within the Imperial Legion and they plan to assassinate their own Emperors.

How can you easily write it off when the guards begin to acknowledge you of being one of the Dark Brotherhood members?

"Psst. Hey, I know who you are. Hail Sithis!" - Guard

"It ain't true what they say about you and... and the Dark Brotherhood? Is it?"- Guard

"Now, I know who you are. And... and I know your business... Just, please... These are good folk we got here. Mostly..." -Guard

"Hey! You're the one who killed Alain Dufont, up in Raldbthar. Oh yeah, word about that got around. Man was a piece of bandit trash, is what I hear."-Guard

"I heard you were at the wedding of the Emperor's cousin in Solitude. Gods, that must've been horrible."- Guard

"Wait, I know you. You went into the Emperor's Tower, just before... before his decoy was murdered..." - Guard

"I know who you are, assassin. I guess the rumors about your kind's "extinction" have been... exaggerated." - Guard

"The guards have been saying things about you... That you're the one that... Well... They say the Dark Brotherhood... Well. Never mind. Sir/Ma'am." - Guard

"You hear the news? The Emperor has been murdered! Right here, in Skyrim. By the gods, if the Dark Brotherhood can do that, nobody's safe..."- Guard

"By the gods. The Emperor's been murdered. On his own ship... moored in the inlet. It was... the Dark Brotherhood. There was nothing we could do..."- Guard

Guards in Skyrim are quite poorly done. They will call you the new member of the Companions who fetches the mead when you're the Harbinger.

I wouldn't say Bethesda has a lack of commitment though, they are doing what they can with what they got. Yes, some games will always have better things in the RPG element. But we're in a world where money rules all, it is all about sales. Skyrim cost a lot of money to make and it had to make that money back.

Skyrim is two years old now, it is outdated and people have put hundreds of hours into it. Saying there is a lack of commitment is quite harsh especially since it's kept many of us entertained for two years.

They created the world of Skyrim. Which is quite vast and it does have a lot of freedom, much more than many RPG's.

You can't expect game companies to please everyone. Especially when new generation of gamers are more interested in fast paced action. Games change, adapting to survive.

Dragon Age 2, while it does seem like a great game. Is it even close to the scale of Skyrim? Or is it set levels and you follow a certain path?

There isn't a lack of content within Skyrim. Role play is only as good as your imagination.

Of course we'll have issues with Skyrim... now... after two years. But post a thread like this say a year or two ago and it would be beaten into the ground by nearly everyone on the forum.

Bethesda is a Company. You can't have them focus on one thing for so long without working on other titles. They have bills to pay also, I would say they did quite well in a changing time.

Saying they lack commitment is quite untrue. They had a deadline to meet, before people go on about "They should of waited longer before releasing" If Bethesda told people the game is being delayed, nearly every single one of us would of been up in arms demanding Skyrim in our hands now.

They pleased a large number of gamers, you can't please everyone. Did I enjoy Skyrim? Yes, very much. Did I find flaws in it? Yes of course, there are flaws in every thing. Morrowind had great flaws, so did Oblivion.

But honestly saying Skyrim was nothing but graphics? After two years and hundreds of hours of playing, it seemed to keep you entertained long enough until they announced no more download contents. What kept you playing so long in a game that is just graphics.

At least Bethesda made an Elder Scrolls V, what other game companies are making things close to what TES is. Taking a single game apart is easy, but put them all together and you got the world that is Tamriel through a series of games. You take them all and you have one amazing series.

The fatal bugs/glitches alone show the lack of commitment on Bethesda's part, but I do agree that they can't cover ALL bases. However, those are pretty important, I'd say.

 

[Raijin]

DrunkenMage The guards in Skyrim aren't the only one that's poorly done So is so many other things that went wrong.

Bethesda lack of commitment to their costumers is fact. They've not fixed the game-breaking glitches and bugs. It takes third party mods to fix what Bethesda could not. Skyrim is only fun (To me that is) because the mod writers out there made it happen. Bethesda only gave us this graphical virtual world while the mod writers gave us quality and the freedom that Bethesda could not. As a PC gamer I feel grateful that I have access to unlimited files of mods that makes my Skyrim experience much more satisfying, and it kept (prior to me getting heavily involved in Dragon Age) me playing the game for those hundreds of hours. Had I been a console player I would've gotten rid of Skyrim because without mods this game would suck royal.

While Dragon Age 2 did get a bad rap from BioWare consumers IMO the game was far better game base on the story than Skyrim. At least you get to know your companions while in Skyrim you do not. I mean how much do we truly know who this Lydia is? Where did she come from? All she tells you when you try talking to her “I'm sworn to carry your burdens” in such a loving tone of voice that makes you want to feed her to a fudging troll.

 

[Reaper0021]

This thread need to die. A slow, horrible death. "Sweet Mother Sweet Mother Send Your Child Unto Me For The Sins Of The Unworthy Must Be Baptised In Blood And Fear". Your all marked.

 

[Raijin]

This thread need to die. A slow, horrible death. "Sweet Mother Sweet Mother Send Your Child Unto Me For The Sins Of The Unworthy Must Be Baptised In Blood And Fear". Your all marked.

May the Maker bless and keep you. May His smile grace all the days of your life and His light guide you to His side.

 

[jarif]

This thread need to die. A slow, horrible death. "Sweet Mother Sweet Mother Send Your Child Unto Me For The Sins Of The Unworthy Must Be Baptised In Blood And Fear". Your all marked.

you cannot mark a brother of the brotherhood for such is the wrath of sithis

 

[Mr.Self Destruct]

While Dragon Age 2 did get a bad rap from BioWare consumers IMO the game was far better game base on the story than Skyrim. At least you get to know your companions while in Skyrim you do not. I mean how much do we truly know who this Lydia is? Where did she come from? All she tells you when you try talking to her “I'm sworn to carry your burdens” in such a loving tone of voice that makes you want to feed her to a fudging troll.

Using Dragon Age 2 as a comparison in a discussion about commitment and dedication to a developer's product is erroneous when you consider the fact that Bioware cranked out the game in under a year. Dragon Age 2 speaks volumes about how far Bioware has fallen, and has become a poster boy for EA's money grubbing practices and actions.

While I do agree with the majority of the claims here concerning Bethesda overlooking and taking shortcuts with many aspects of Skyrim, Dragon Age 2 was a rushed, hastily made mess of a game.

 

[Raijin]

Using Dragon Age 2 as a comparison in a discussion about commitment and dedication to a developer's product is erroneous when you consider the fact that Bioware cranked out the game in under a year. Dragon Age 2 speaks volumes about how far Bioware has fallen, and has become a poster boy for EA's money grubbing practices and actions.

While I do agree with the majority of the claims here concerning Bethesda overlooking and taking shortcuts with many aspects of Skyrim, Dragon Age 2 was a rushed, hastily made mess of a game.

It's hard for me to say that Dragon Age 2 is a plopsty game considering the fact that intrigued me a great deal to invest in the 3 books plus Dragon Age Origins. I fell in love with the storyline. How can I say that this was one of BioWares worst games when this game attracted me to potentially invest in the future series? I am looking forward to invest in Dragon age Inquisition while on the other hand I'm frighten to see how much more damage Bethesda can inflict on the next Elders scrolls game? Or perhaps they've learned their lesson? I don't know.

Bethesda insulted me by giving me an incomplete game with no closure. In Dragon Age 2 if you side with the Templars you become the next new Viscount of Kirkwall... In Skyrim after the civil war plus dealing with Alduin... ???????? nothing. No closure.

 

[Mr.Self Destruct]

It's hard for me to say that Dragon Age 2 is a pl***ty game considering the fact that intrigued me a great deal to invest in the 3 books plus Dragon Age Origins. I fell in love with the storyline. How can I say that this was one of BioWares worst games when this game attracted me to potentially invest in the future series? I am looking forward to invest in Dragon age Inquisition while on the other hand I'm frighten to see how much more damage Bethesda can inflict on the next Elders scrolls game? Or perhaps they've learned their lesson? I don't know.

Whether or not Dragon Age 2 is a bad game is subjective, but the fact is that Dragon Age 2 had under a year of development time where as Dragon Age Origins had an on and off development time of around 8 years. It's hard for me to look forward to Inquisition, or any future Bioware installments, knowing what's become of the development team under EA's thumb.

Bethesda insulted me by giving me an incomplete game with no closure. In Dragon Age 2 if you side with the Templars you become the next new Viscount of Kirkwall... In Skyrim after the civil war plus dealing with Alduin... ???????? nothing. No closure.

To be frank you're giving Dragon Age 2 way too much credit here. The entire game is confined to a single cityscape, you're forced into the role of Hawke, and the recycling of dungeons and areas in DA2 is much more prevalent then it was in the previous installment. The "choices" you were given to make in DA2 were laughable compared to Origins, and DA2 hardly offers any closure whatsoever. Just look at the following links, one details the possible epilogues in Origins and the other details the epilogues in DA2.

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Epilogue_(Origins)

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Epilogue_(Dragon_Age_II)

To be honest, I'm not very fond of either Skyrim or Dragon Age 2. But when comparing the two titles, it's clear that more work and effort went into Skyrim.

 

[DrunkenMage]

The fatal bugs/glitches alone show the lack of commitment on Bethesda's part, but I do agree that they can't cover ALL bases. However, those are pretty important, I'd say.

The size of Skyrim, all the coding within Skyrim. Of course there is going to be bugs and glitches. All it takes is one tiny little error that can affect several things in different ways.

Bethesda released quite a number of patches. If they lacked commitment, they would of released none.

You'll never get a perfect game, especially one the size of Skyrim. Bethesda makes mistakes too, they're not Gods, they're allowed to make human errors in certain parts.

 

[DrunkenMage]

DrunkenMage The guards in Skyrim aren't the only one that's poorly done So is so many other things that went wrong.

Bethesda lack of commitment to their costumers is fact. They've not fixed the game-breaking glitches and bugs. It takes third party mods to fix what Bethesda could not. Skyrim is only fun (To me that is) because the mod writers out there made it happen. Bethesda only gave us this graphical virtual world while the mod writers gave us quality and the freedom that Bethesda could not. As a PC gamer I feel grateful that I have access to unlimited files of mods that makes my Skyrim experience much more satisfying, and it kept (prior to me getting heavily involved in Dragon Age) me playing the game for those hundreds of hours. Had I been a console player I would've gotten rid of Skyrim because without mods this game would suck royal.

While Dragon Age 2 did get a bad rap from BioWare consumers IMO the game was far better game base on the story than Skyrim. At least you get to know your companions while in Skyrim you do not. I mean how much do we truly know who this Lydia is? Where did she come from? All she tells you when you try talking to her “I'm sworn to carry your burdens” in such a loving tone of voice that makes you want to feed her to a fudging troll.

Modding a game and creating a game from scratch are two very different things. Mods are created on the back of what art teams and devs created.

Lydia actually has a fair bit of new dialogue, she doesn't always use sworn to carry your burdens.

Dragon Age compared to Skyrim. You can't compare those two, especially not in terms of commitment. Do you know how hard it is to create a game where the player can basically travel any path? Go any route, do things they didn't even think of.

 

[Ferrari32]

This thread doesn't make much sense to me. I've been playing the game since its initial release in November 2011, and I still have a plopsload of things to do in Skyrim, especially with the DLCs. And any game that can keep my glued onto my monitor for 2 and a half years, is a great game.