News

Skyrim 'less confusing', not 'more accessible'
Posted: 10.07.2011 04:39 by JonahFalcon Comments: 25
In an interview with Gamasutra, Bethesda wants to reassure fans that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim won't be "dumbed down", and not to mistake making the game "less confusing" with making it "more accessible" (which has become a code-word for "dumbed down for the masses".)

"We want to remove confusion, that's what I'd say," lead designer Todd Howard told Gamasutra. "As opposed to making it more accessible, we'd like to remove confusion for anyone who's playing. What happens in Oblivion is you start the game, play for three hours, and then think 'I want to start over, I chose wrong.' So we'd like to sort of alleviate some of that. I also think the controls work better ... it's more elegant.

"You look at Call of Duty, the most popular game in the world, and that's actually pretty hardcore. At the end of the day, it's a hardcore game, has RPG elements in multiplayer, making classes, picking perks. I think the audiences are there, and we tend to make our game more for ourselves and other people who play a lot of games."

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be released on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on November 11.
Source: Destructoid

Comments

By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Jul 10, 2011
SirRoderick
....did he just call CoD hardcore?

Oh dear lord, now I'm frightened.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jul 10, 2011
herodotus
I know. I see the Hardcore servers on "CoD" and cringe. They actually think it makes these lollipop games 'realistic'. Gimme a break.
These are games, dear devs, and as such should contain all the bells and whistles that come with games.
You want hardcore? Play a Turn-based Strategy or Flight Sim (the latter online) - those guys are serious. Believe me, I'm one of them:)
By Illusive_Serb (SI Veteran Member) on Jul 10, 2011
Illusive_Serb
Don't know much about dumbing down, but all I can say is:
"November can't come fast enough" :D

I am a little worried about changeing classes. I mean, if you chose a friggin' mage, then stick with a friggin' mage!

We'll just have to wait and see...
By djole381 (SI Elite) on Jul 10, 2011
djole381
I just hope Skyrim doesn't turn out to be another DA2.
By Illusive_Serb (SI Veteran Member) on Jul 10, 2011
Illusive_Serb
While I agree DA2 is not nearly as epic as Origins, I don't think it deserves to be synonym for "biggest disappointment" :D

Besides, look at it. Just look at it. Can't see a way it might turn out to be a disapointment.
By bosnian_dragon (SI Core) on Jul 11, 2011
bosnian_dragon
Skyrim will be nice because it's placed in the NORTH :) And it will have Dragons! :) Which is why I'll play it no matter what shyte comes in the package :)
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Jul 11, 2011
SirRoderick
But DA 2 WAS the biggest dissapointment in long, long time.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Jul 11, 2011
nocutius
Lol, i seriously hope you can't change classes in between, that would be a very deffinition of dumbed down game.
Oh you made a boo boo, here let me fix it for you so you don't have to plan ahead and actually think for more than 2 seconds about what you want to play as. An instant game killer.

I want my choices to have actual consequences in rpg games. You take the consequences away and the choices become meaningless. You kill the immersion, you kill the game.

And yes DA2 was one of the biggest dissapointments of the decade :). It just shows how good the first game was.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Jul 11, 2011
SirRoderick
As I understand it there are no classes to begin with. Which is perfectly in line with say, oblivion.

You get better at the skills you use, simple as that.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Jul 11, 2011
nocutius
so what do they mean by this:
What happens in Oblivion is you start the game, play for three hours, and then think 'I want to start over, I chose wrong.' So we'd like to sort of alleviate some of that.

It almost sounds like they want to give us some sort of a 'respec' option.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Jul 11, 2011
SirRoderick
No, what they're saying is they want to make it clear from the start what sort of effect decisions might have. That's how I read it. It has absolutely nothing to do with classes.

Hell, Oblivion didn't actually have classes either. The only reason to restart would be that you did not like your race or made a wrong quest-related decision.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Jul 11, 2011
nocutius
Well ok, if that's what they meant then fine.
I guess i panicked a bit :). DA2 and Gothic 4 must have left a bigger mark than i thought.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jul 11, 2011
herodotus
As long as it's completly mod-friendly I'll be happy (even if it has been 'dumbed-down', as most big sellers are nowadays).
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allanfaver
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By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Jul 11, 2011
SirRoderick
Oblivion was easily modded, let's hope they spent some points into that skill this time around as well.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Jul 11, 2011
SirRoderick
How did he get in front of me? I had a notice that someone posted after me.

Anyway, ban the spammer!
By Illusive_Serb (SI Veteran Member) on Jul 11, 2011
Illusive_Serb
Like "bosnian_dragon" said, it's in the NORTH. AND it has DRAGONS!
"What happens in Oblivion is you start the game, play for three hours, and then think 'I want to start over, I chose wrong.' So we'd like to sort of alleviate some of that."
Same goes for changeing race and quest related things, as for classes. It's just lame to change your mind in the middle of the game. Besides, you can play as something else the seccond time you start the game, and lets face it. Awesome game such as oblivion, was played many, MANY times by most of it's fans.

As for the DA2... It was hard to make a sequil, espetially if you make the first game as epic as the Origins. People expected it to be even more epic, so the lack of epic was only amplified by that desire. I admit, it was NOT what I expected. At all. But I can't say it didn't have it's moments. Everybody says the same. "Oh DA2 sucks!" "It's a disapointment" "It's gay" ect, ect... And they do it so much and so often I'm wandering if it's theier own oppinion or are they just rolling with the flow...
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Jul 11, 2011
SirRoderick
Well I assure you it is my own opinion. I formulated the myself before seeing them mentioned on the web.
By bosnian_dragon (SI Core) on Jul 11, 2011
bosnian_dragon
This will probably mark my doom on this site, but I actually never played Dragon Age (raises a shield and covers behind the trees)
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jul 12, 2011
herodotus
@SirRoderick
Spammers will be banned.
Reported.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Jul 13, 2011
nocutius
DA2 would be a good game if it weren't for DA, good but not great. On it's own it's not terrible, but it really had a lot to deliver if the fans were to like it.

I hope that Skyrim fixes Oblivion's pointless leveling mechanic. I really hated how low level monsters could have some epic armor and how they would level together with you. It's totally ridiculous and immersion killing. I absolutely love the original gothic series and their system, where you can get totally owned by some higher level enemy if you're not careful where you explore.
By Revan (SI Elite) on Jul 13, 2011
Revan
Well at least the chicks seem to look a bit more realistic this time around. :)
Oh wait, what was the current topic about again? Got a bit distracted there...
By Illusive_Serb (SI Veteran Member) on Jul 13, 2011
Illusive_Serb
@nocutius: Yea, like how a boar can just chain you up 'till you die in 4 hits... I hate them boars...

@Revan: Not just chicks, but graphics alltogether looks more... "Realistic". The more I look at it, the more expectations I have of this game. Also, yes, we do tend to get off topic...
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Jul 13, 2011
SirRoderick
The levelling system is fixed, yes.
By Krieger66 (I just got here) on Jul 13, 2011
Krieger66
"I just hope Skyrim doesn't turn out to be another DA2."

I actually wouldn't mind that much then...now if it was a Civ V or Fable III, uggghhh.:(