Jimquisition: How Skyrim Proves The Industry Wrong

[remnant_phoenix]

Thank God for you, Jim...someone who will tell it like it is.

It's easy to blame the industry big-wigs for not exercising wisdom about this stuff, but truly, it's the consumers buying into those ideas that is creating these problems.

I teach middle-schoolers. When they asked me if I was buying MW3, I said no. They asked why and I explained that the first thing I look for in a game is a good single-player experience. Their response?

"Oh come on, nobody plays single-player anymore!"

Yeah... Granted these are a small handful of pre-teens, but there's an example of someone thinking that "buy a new CoD each year, pay for XBOX Live Gold, play thousands of hours of multi-player, buy new map packs as they come out, rinse and repeat" is the quintessential gaming experience. And there more people who think that way than I'd like to admit.

Way to go, Bethesda for proving that that model of gaming isn't the ONLY model worth pursuing, despite the existence of millions of CoD-kiddies.

You know though, Jim wasn't hating on CoD really, it was just a point he brought up.

I know. Jim likes CoD, and I don't fault him for that, because he likes other sorts of games as well. I was just using CoD as an example of the industry woes that Jim referred to.

And when I say "CoD-kiddies," I'm not talking about all CoD fans, I'm talking about people who thank that "'buy(ing) a new CoD each year, pay for XBOX Live Gold, play thousands of hours of multi-player, buy new map packs as they come out, rinse and repeat'" is the quintessential gaming experience".

You know, CoD fans who "prove the industry right" while Skyrim's fans are "proving the industry wrong."

 

[Cousin_IT]

Felt like I was watching Kirby after swallowing the Dovahkiin at the end

 

[GonzoGamer]

Sadly, the only thing the Industry will take from the whole Skyrim thing is the following: "Wow, that game did really well, we need to make our own open world rpg game but we can add multiplayer, online passes and frivolous dlc!"

"And hell, we don't even need for it to work properly. It can freeze, crash, stutter, and lock up quests, and they'll still buy it purely on hype."
That's what I'm afraid of.

That's the thing Jim. Bethesda is one of the only companies I would be willing to pay an extra $10 to if they could promise that the game would actually work. EA and the rest of them can of course go fuck themselves with their $10 passes.

And yes, while I do regret buying Saints Row 3 (I had no idea it had an online pass or had half the game carved out for dlc before buying it: saints row 2 was so generous by comparison), I'm still glad I waited on Skyrim. I'll get it after they've patched it up a bit.

That's an epic ending too; I want some of what Jim's smoking.

 

[Lord_Gremlin]

Em, Skyrim is broken on PS3, so the example is far from flawless.
But overall point is... You don't need online passes and such if your game is actually good and fun to play. If it is actually shitty however, or a shallow, disappointing experience that lasts a weekend...

 

[Rack]

Oh look, Jim being wrong again, how surprising.

 

[Jiveturkey124]

Never watched jims show before, I have to say that was fan-fucking-tastic! Keep up the awesome show jim!

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

The only thing wrong with this episode is that it made me think about how much I wanted to play Skyrim D: My computer's broken...

And that gameplay footage was awesome! Frenzy on a chicken sounds like the best idea ever

Yeah, but on the downside, if the rest of the industry follows Bethesda's example, they'll release games that can't be completed if you look at it wrong with AI based on the survival instincts of a grape, a giant stupid grape that stands in doorways.

Wow. It is a game that has some flaws.

I would never have envisioned this.

Furthermore, developers will sue each other over the use of letters in any order, the use of concepts such a making a game in the visible spectrum, and having a sense of humour.

Since when did Bethesda Games Studios sue anyone?

Their lawyers are involved in two high profile litigations, one with Interplay over whether the license they bought encompasses all of the Fallout franchise, which is to say, the fiction, past fiction based in the fiction, as well as the names and trademarks. The other with Mojang.

Bethesda very publicly fired their lawyers during the litigation with Interplay, which was, if I remembered rightly, not the first time that had happened. I don't remember earlier examples of legal action brought against or by Bethesda (Softworks), but they must have happened for the earlier wash of the legal department.

Whomever provides the lawyers who work on behalf of Bethesda (Softworks) is inconsequential, each subsidiaries legal department represents that client first, not the parent company. Whether Vlatko Andonov or Todd Vaughn spearheaded either personally is irrelevant.

Not that that is nearing copious frivolous litigation territory, I was being a bit dramatic.

 

[faefrost]

This film is worthless without telling us WHERE HE GOT THE HAT!!!!???!!!!

 

[Aprilgold]

Another damn good one. Damn good.

Despite my hate for the Elder Scrolls because of all the repeating of quests. It proves some of the conventions of the industry wrong.

I really agree with your points, but I'm still having such a hard time getting past your cocky attitude and nasally voice...

Let's be fair. It's more straight whiny than nasal.

Lets be truthful here, it can get a little irritating but funny as hell in some locations. Still did a good job if you actually made the video *theres apparently two Jims with the same last name, so, in theory, I may be responding to a impostor. In this moment..

WHICH ONE DO I SHOOT!!!*

 

[brazuca]

The Witcher 2 did this before, but it is a very less known brand then Elder Scrolss. Jim is totally right, we are paying to have less and less content in favor of the multiplayer component.

PS: on the other hand, count how many hours you have in TF2 or CoD or BF3. It's massive, just as example in TF2 I have 250 hours!!!

 

[Xman490]

I beat Saints Row The Third last night after 18 hours of gameplay (some sandboxing included, like buying all the stores and properties and playing about 10 minigames), so I guess it is rather short and underwhelming despite the epicness of every mission. I still love to make my enemies ETHICAL with the Octopuss Gun.

 

[Lhynn]

snip

what you just said makes no sense...
i mean, yeah they dumbed it down a lot. you could say that the only thing they improved are graphics and its a lot more inmersive than oblivion (and thats the key to its success).

and CoD? really? you are comparing it to a brown FPS shooter in wich you spend 90% of your time dying and retrying...

I was actually mad with bethesda because of FO3 (fucks sake that game was about the stupidest thing ive ever played). But they actually let Obsidian make new vegas for all those FO 1&2 fans and ever since then ive learned to love them again.

But back to Skyrim... Bottom line, this game is fun, its totally worth its price and more.

 

[JasonBurnout16]

While I do agree with him, I also believe credit has to be given to a great marketing team.

Their short gameplay clips, trailers and especially that one live action trailer really sld the game not just to fans of the Elder Scrolls Games but to the general public!

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

Jim, when you fist came on this site, I was completely skeptical. I didn't like your annoying, cocky attitude, and I thought yet another opinion show is exactly what this site had quite enough of. So I never watched a single episode of yours outside that of the first two.

But I recently had an argument with a friend of mine that was exactly like the issues you just brought up today. Now I see you for what you really are. The cockiness and smartass attitude is more in good fun and parody rather than certain other reviewers on this site who think they're here to "school" us while keeping a completely straight face. I won't name names [del](Bob)[/del], but it has only reenforced people's notion that the Escapist is a gaming elitist site.

Jim, you and I are on the same wavelength, and I'm sorry to have doubted you. It's time I started rooting around in your video archives. I've got some catching up to do.

 

[winter2]

Wow... Preach on, Brother Jimbo! PREACH ON!!

I have to confess that sometimes I just go up in the mountains and just look at the scenery and enjoying the sound and sight of the snow blowing. (As I can't do that in South Carolina)

Also, where can I get that plush helmet?

 

[geizr]

In other words, if you want to have a successful game, quit fucking about with the bullshit and just make a fucking good game.

Yes, that is a pithy way of putting it that does not convey all the additional nuances(as is typical of pithy comments), but, I think at this point, there has been more than enough discussion that we know what those nuances are and how they distill down to the above comment.

ADDENDUM: However, I should add that what one should do to make a game good depends on the game. There is no universal silver-magic bullet approach. Blindly copying another's success is the surest road to failure.

 

[CaptainOctopus]

Well said good sir, well said.

 

[Wolfram23]

It also helps that intrepid individuals can create all kinds of content for the game. Can't wait to see what they come up with - ever see the amazing Fallout (3/NV) mods?? Damn.

But yeah, multiplayer to me is rather "meh". I played maybe... 10 hours of BF3 online. Yeah, it's fairly enjoyable, but I'm already around 30 hours of Skyrim and practically drooling at the mouth to play more lol.

I wish it came out 5 years ago when I could game for 5 hrs a day (oh how WoW consumed me in my youth...)

 

[GraveeKing]

He's right, he's cute he- oh he just went OTT at the end, I was just about to take my pants off too.
Other than being OTT he has a point. And I think the truth is - ALL of the games industry know about this crap, it's just big businesses want their lovely money and budgets and all profit...
And um actually, I know the sales figures sounds impressive... but well GTA 4 sold 6million copies in the first week and to this day around 22 million total. I'm sure Skyrim will hit that figure or near enough it eventually, I'm just saying 3.5 million ISN'T that much compared to total shit other games like CoD.
It just depends on the audience - they add multiplayer to games when they don't rack enough profit. Then again with that said - who DOESN'T want Skyrim multiplayer?!

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Based on what I see in Skyrim Bethesda is greedily eyeing WoWs bleeding subscriber numbers and looking for a way to scoop them up.

Prediction 1: Bethesda will announce a future Elder Scrolls MMO to coincide with a major Skyrim expansion, possibly even a multi-player component

Prediction 2: The vast majority of the content will be procedural and user generated