Morrowind Remaster Not Going to Happen, Says Bethesda

[Elfgore]

Also looking at Morrowind's scores, it got two 10/10 scores so I'm not sure where you are getting your figures from: http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/the-elder-scrolls-iii-morrowind
Further on this topic, Bethesda themselves give a figure of "more than four million units" sold for Morrowind: http://web.archive.org/web/20100710090443/http://www.elderscrolls.com/news/press_081705.htm

I'll admit defeat when I see it in research. Wikipedia had only 9/10s and lower listed. My 2 million was mostly a guess since I couldn't find Morrowind under PC in the "Best Selling Games" page. Which means 1 million or more sales. I still stand firmly by that a straight HD Morrowind remake would not happen, nor be financially viable for the company.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

The disconnect between people in this thread and the rest of the gaming hobby is amazing. Morrowind was a great game for its' time and intended audience (me included) but it is an incredibly clunky, counter-intuitive game by modern standards and was to some degree even on release. From its' "dialog"-system that was basically just keywords to get intended response and the adjoined "persuasion"-system that meant you clicked a button and prayed to the counter-intuitive fighting system where you could see your sword connect but the game said you didn't hit to the lack of directions in many quests that led to a lot of people spending a lot of time just running around aimlessly hoping to find their destination. And let's not even get into the fact that to make the game somewhat manageable to playthrough you had to abuse alchemy and/or enchanting at some point so that you could get a long duration or constant levitation effect to spare yourself the trouble of backtracking up and down hills.

Don't get me wrong, I love Morrowind. I love it for a lot of its' weird flaws, but I also know that those same flaws is what made most of my friends give it a pass. Remaking Morrowind is not a cash-cow, at best it is a break even proposition or a minor profit. Morrowind never was and never will be a mainstream appeal game and there's absolutely no point in re-making it when the same team could be making the next TES or Fallout game, a game that is likely to sell at least twice or thrice as much as a Morrowind re-make.

 

[scotth266]

I like Bethesda, but most Morrowind fans would not trust them to do the original justice anyway.

I'm confused as to why people like Bethesda anymore. Yeah, they put out massive adventure rpgs, but they're also ridden with bugs and basic gameplay issues. Apparently the ability to mod it six ways to Sunday is supposed to make up for getting a half-baked game each time, but I'd rather throw my money at studios that put out complete/polished product.

It doesn't help that they keep making baffling choices, like the whole dialogue system for Fallout 4.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

I'm going to ask if those figures account for the entire gaming industry growing over the years and reviews suffering from inflation also. Plus by that point they had a marketing campaign.

Fallout 4 was only popular because of hype, as a Bethesda title it's the least inspired and most derivative game of the entire series, a box ticking exercise of what takes no effort to put in the game and can be sold as a gimmick.

Nope. But I don't think that matters too much when the most I can find Morrowind selling is around 2 million and Skyrim being in 20 million. That's an insane gap. I'm afraid I never heard of "review inflation", but I'm guessing it might have to do with the amount of reviews? Even if you cut the best Skyrim reviews on the wikipedia page to put it in the same amount as Morrowinds. Which didn't get a single 10/10 review, Skyrim creams it. It's quite clear remaking Skyrim would be much more profitable than Morrowind.

Never said Fallout 4 was a good game, I agree it's total shit and was over-hyped. Doesn't change that it sold like hot cakes. 1.2 million sales day one with digital on Steam and an estimated 12 million shipped, though how many of those sold I can't find.

That's not out of the ballpark for inflation. Oblivion has sold about 9.5 million copies so it's not like the series suddenly spiked in popularity with Skyrim.

By review inflation I meant the trend in reviews that has seen scores of 7 being "Average", over the years review scores have been pushed towards the higher end of the scale which makes it difficult to compare review scores over the years. (Also, review scores are not perfect, look up Play magazine's Sonic '06 review at some point for the best example of this)

Also looking at Morrowind's scores, it got two 10/10 scores so I'm not sure where you are getting your figures from: http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/the-elder-scrolls-iii-morrowind
Further on this topic, Bethesda themselves give a figure of "more than four million units" sold for Morrowind: http://web.archive.org/web/20100710090443/http://www.elderscrolls.com/news/press_081705.htm

Is there any reliable evidence to support this claim? To be sure, I've seen a lot of people make this claim across the internet, but is there any evidence to support it that doesn't simply come from people's subjective perception of review scores? After some light Googling I can't seem to find anything convincing to show that review scores have risen over the years. There are a few blogs, threads and articles talking about "review score inflation" in terms of sites using 7/10 as the average rather than 5/10, but there doesn't seem to be any suggestion that the average game is rated higher now than in the past.

 

[Barbas]

Well, a shame, but he's not wrong. And I have the Morrowind Graphics Overhaul installed, sooooo...honestly, I'm good.

 

[vallorn]

Also looking at Morrowind's scores, it got two 10/10 scores so I'm not sure where you are getting your figures from: http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/the-elder-scrolls-iii-morrowind
Further on this topic, Bethesda themselves give a figure of "more than four million units" sold for Morrowind: http://web.archive.org/web/20100710090443/http://www.elderscrolls.com/news/press_081705.htm

I'll admit defeat when I see it in research. Wikipedia had only 9/10s and lower listed. My 2 million was mostly a guess since I couldn't find Morrowind under PC in the "Best Selling Games" page. Which means 1 million or more sales. I still stand firmly by that a straight HD Morrowind remake would not happen, nor be financially viable for the company.

Wikipedia has a 5/5 from gamepro which also shows up on that Metactitic page as a 100. So there's one 10/10 for you. And as to the latter: http://www.cinemablend.com/games/How-Morrowind-Saved-Bethesda-64515.html "More than four million sales in the first three years"

Aside from that, I provided sources and you didn't. So how did you do your research when just glancing at the pages you are referencing (wikipedia) invalidates your claims?

 

[Vern]

Yeah, remaking Morrowind wouldn't make sense. Either you update everything to be more like Skyrim and Oblivion and piss off all the old fans, or remake it exactly like the original and piss off all the new fans. Either way would be a tremendous undertaking on their part, and I don't think the end result would please anybody. Leave updating/upgrading Morrowind to the fans of the original game.

That being said... Skyrim just came out, relatively. It still looks pretty damn good, there's no reason to remake it, aside from, you know... it's easy. Remaking Oblivion would make more sense, as it's quite a bit older but still a modern game, and it could do with some enhancements. Shivering Isles was some great DLC. Not as great as Bloodmoon or Tribunal, but very satisfying.

Oh well, I still haven't finished Skyrim or Fallout 4, I'm pretty much worn out on Bethesda's RPG's at this point, and I don't have a few hundred spare hours to sink into them at this point.

 

[Doom972]

There are mods that make it look better than Skyrim. A remaster would be pointless.

 

[Signa]

I'm fine with this. OpenMW promises to be a far better project than anything Bethesda could throw together. I swear, it was a complete accident they made a game that good. Them trying now is like Square-Enix trying to make Final Fantasy VII all over again.

 

[Elfgore]

And someone didn't take the hint that I pretty much already said you won

So here, have an exact copy paste of what I saw on wikipedia. For some reason every upload site is refusing to upload my screenshot

Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
GameRankings (PC) 89.19%[68]
(Xbox) 86.97%[69]
Metacritic (PC) 89/100[70]
(Xbox) 87/100[71]
Review scores
Publication Score
Edge 6/10[72]
Game Informer 9.0/10[73]
GamePro 5/5[74]
GameSpot 8.7/10[14]
GameSpy 89/100[20]
IGN 9.4/10[75]
PC Gamer (US) 90/100[23]

No ten out of tens present.

Exact link to page I pulled it from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_III:_Morrowind]

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Really? This is what people are asking for?

Look. I'm all for tinkering with old games to get then to run on modern systems or even non-traditional devices (e.g., love KOTOR and Titan Quest for iPad). But I don't get how remasters can ever be a good thing. People who absolutely loved the old game will hate you for anything that deviates even slightly from their memory, and people who weren't fans will complain about old gameplay conventions that the world has since moved on from.

And I don't get why if you want to play Morrowind, you don't just play Morrowind. So the graphics are a little dated. Live with it. It's like going to a Seurat exhibition and asking for a pair of 3d glasses (actually, I might try that just to see what happens).

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Really? This is what people are asking for?

Look. I'm all for tinkering with old games to get then to run on modern systems or even non-traditional devices (e.g., love KOTOR and Titan Quest for iPad). But I don't get how remasters can ever be a good thing. People who absolutely loved the old game will hate you for anything that deviates even slightly from their memory, and people who weren't fans will complain about old gameplay conventions that the world has since moved on from.

And I don't get why if you want to play Morrowind, you don't just play Morrowind. So the graphics are a little dated. Live with it. It's like going to a Seurat exhibition and asking for a pair of 3d glasses (actually, I might try that just to see what happens).

An absurd comparison. Those paintings have a certain style that still holds up and wouldn't really be improved by modern technology. The dated graphics of Morrowind aren't simply a timeless artistic choice, they're born out of the extreme limitations of the time. I really don't think the developers, having the technology we have now, would opt for a terrible draw distance, triangles so blatant you can count them, blurry textures, hideous lighting, and all the other things that come with early 3D graphics. Look, even 16 bit 2D graphics can still look fine to this day, but the early days of 3D graphics look like complete and utter shit. They've not aged well at all.

As for this news, I don't see why anyone should be surprised, nor do I really care. Despite loving Morrowind, it would need extensive alterations in gameplay terms if it were to be brought into the modern era. Yeah, I know some people actually like the combat system in the game, and I'll never know what that feels like, but you're completely daft if you think the more casual audience Bethesda has surrounded themself with after Skyrim would tolerate such a system. Most of the fans don't even like Morrowind's combat. If they were to remaster it they would likely have to overhaul many aspects of the gameplay to make it more palpable, so why even bother with it? If you want better graphics then just mod it as everyone else does. They aren't exactly the kind of graphics that would impress anyone, but they're fine enough.

Despite the direction Bethesda are going in I'd still rather they spent their time giving us TES6 than a remastering of a game I can already play.

 

[vallorn]

And someone didn't take the hint that I pretty much already said you won

So here, have an exact copy paste of what I saw on wikipedia. For some reason every upload site is refusing to upload my screenshot

Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
GameRankings (PC) 89.19%[68]
(Xbox) 86.97%[69]
Metacritic (PC) 89/100[70]
(Xbox) 87/100[71]
Review scores
Publication Score
Edge 6/10[72]
Game Informer 9.0/10[73]
GamePro 5/5[74]
GameSpot 8.7/10[14]
GameSpy 89/100[20]
IGN 9.4/10[75]
PC Gamer (US) 90/100[23]

No ten out of tens present.

Exact link to page I pulled it from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_III:_Morrowind]

From your own post, the very same score I keep telling you exists.

GamePro 5/5

Unless you want to start arguing that it doesn't count because they are using a different scale, 5/5 = 100% = 10/10.

I'm not even sure why this is such a bone of contention.

EDIT. Whoops... I misread your tone I think. The "I'll believe it when I see it in research" came across as defiant more than "you won", sorry.

Furthermore:

 

[loa]

If they think of it as an "xbox game" then it's for the best they never touch it.

 

[immortalfrieza]

I like Bethesda, but most Morrowind fans would not trust them to do the original justice anyway.

I'm confused as to why people like Bethesda anymore. Yeah, they put out massive adventure rpgs, but they're also ridden with bugs and basic gameplay issues. Apparently the ability to mod it six ways to Sunday is supposed to make up for getting a half-baked game each time, but I'd rather throw my money at studios that put out complete/polished product.

It doesn't help that they keep making baffling choices, like the whole dialogue system for Fallout 4.

People like Bethesda for the same reasons they've always liked Bethesda, because they make amazing games with dense worlds, good quests, well done and effective stories, and great gameplay, all together providing hundreds of hours of content on a single game, and when they make a sequel they go out of their way to address as many issues the last game had as is practical. That should be enough for any remotely reasonable person, but Bethesda takes it a step further by building the game and it's engine around making modding as easy as they can, which allows the modding community to allow the players to customize their game to their heart's content and provide even MORE value. Bethesda makes games that are far more intricate and involved than anyone else in the industry does, the inevitable result being a few bugs here and there (their reputation for bugs is way WAY overblown in my experience) THAT is why people like them. In short, Bethesda does better with a "half baked" game than most if not all of the rest of the video game industry does with a fully baked game.

 

[Recusant]

What exactly could a remake of Skyrim actually do? I'm not a console gamer, so the notion of "generations" is pretty meaningless to me; I'm assuming from the timing that Skyrim came out with the last round of machines, but is it really that hard to find a last-gen machine and just buy it? Compatibility aside, what's to be gained? I suppose you could make the graphics slightly prettier, but that's kind of like improving the resale value of a house that's on fire by mowing the lawn; a lack of graphical prettiness is not among Skyrim's problems.

Given what Skyrim did to the lore alone, though, I think it's time to admit that Zenimax isn't the Bethesda it used to be. As an Elder Scrolls horseshoe crab who watched the dinosaurs of Morrowind rise, I know how difficult it is to see the company shift to catering to a different fanbase. If it's any consolation, wait fifteen years and you'll be telling the same thing to the squeaky little mammals.

That said, while full-blown go-nuts approval is probably too much to ask, a simple "we have no intention of stopping the modder remake/updates, so long as they follow certain rules" (or something along those lines) would be very reassuring, Bethesda.

Perhaps an Oblivion sequel would be more likely?

We had an Oblivion sequel; it was called Skyrim. I think you mean redo (-make, -mastering, -whatever you want to call it).

 

[Ambitiousmould]

Who the fuck asked for a Skyrim remaster? It only came out in 2011. That is not old enough to warrant a remaster, especially when there's a metric shit-tonne of mods that do a better job of upgrading and updating the game than Bethesda probably could.

I thought the whole point in remasters were for old(ish) classics that people want to play with updated technical gubbins and compatibility with modern systems, not shit that's not quite 5 years old. Besides, as popular as it is/was, and as good as the mods are, and taking into account that, all things considered, it's not a bad game, it's still hardly a fucking classic is it?

I swear to shit that before long, we're going to see remaster available at the same time as the initial release.

Also, one of the reasons I've never played Morrowind is that I don't trust that it'll work on Windows 7 or 10, and if it can be made to work, I don't reckon that I'd be able to fanny about with it enough to make that happen. A remaster of Morrowind makes way more sense.