Why do people like Elder Scrolls games?

[Rooster Cogburn]

Basically this. Your free to create any character you want, use any skill you want regardless of class, and progress the story at the pace you want. Bethesda forgoes the polish and ever changing worlds of linear games and decides to give the player a massive world to interact with and explore in anyway they see fit.

Combine that with mod support and you have a game that will almost never cease to be interesting.

And Bethesda has gotten better at making their worlds feel more organic, if they added a bit more depth, got a few more voice actors, worked on their narrative and RPG elements a bit, and made the world feel more dynamic the Elder Scrolls would be an almost perfect RPG.

It has always made sense to me that Elder Scrolls games would be a polarizing experience, with extreme haters and fervent defenders (like yours truly). It's just a more ambitious concept than other RPGs. Those of us who are enthralled by the freedom and open, realized world are willing to forgive an awful lot as a tradeoff. For those who aren't, well, they can get a lot of the individual elements delivered better somewhere else. I have never shied away from criticizing Bethesda titles, but it's usually not for things like animations and poor voice acting, though I consider those valid complaints. I will find it much easier to really trash Bethesda when someone else approaches a similar concept and does it better. Or half as well.

That said, their games are about exploration, and I don't think they realize how important a good complicated story is. The story provides the context for the exploration, turning what is merely a pretty looking dungeon or ruin into something that evokes wonder and sparks the imagination. If I had to identify one reason Morrowind is remembered so fondly, that would probably be it. Skyrim was an improvement over Oblivion, but they need to do more.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

People like Elder Scrolls games because of the unequaled freedom, roleplaying opportunities, modding opportunities, and realized world they offer. To my knowledge there is nothing else like it and I double-dog dare anyone to prove me wrong.

EDIT: Don't say Fallout.

Arcanum.
Fallout 1+2
Geneforge
The X series
The Guild series

That's just from looking in my steam library, and recent knowledge.

I don't know about all of those, but those first two aren't inspiring me to look through the others. I'm sure they're all wonderful in their own way.

 

[Xdeser2]

why do people find them fun?

The lore and story of the world for one, its easy to get lost in it (if your into that) it presents a nice twist on a tolkein-esque fantasy world

what also comes around is the complete freedom of the series, other then telling you quest location, it does not hold your hand. Sure, you might be destined to find plot device #316 to defeat evil demon horde # 21362 but if someone tells you to do that and you dont entirley feel inclined......walk 20 miles in the other direction and slaughter an entire town

Its also great series to do RP playthroughs of.

in the end, its all what you find fun. I personally love the series, but me loving it DOES NOT make it fact that its awesome, just like my dislike of Madden 0'whatever does not make me yell at my friends for buying the next 60$ roster update.

Its all about taste bro, and in the end there's no accounting for it.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

Arcanum: You can be whatever you wish. The skill set is massive. The crafting is massive, you can even build steam robots if you have the right skills. The history is great. Its steampunk themed, the soundtrack is great, and the game laments on human nature. Your choices have actual weight to them, even something as mundane as giving an interview to a local newspaper.

Geneforge: You are a wizard that creates life, and belong to a cabal of wizards that control the land. Couldn't get far, since my firewall was tossing shit about the game's .exe claiming its an "unknown file" even though its from STEAM.

X: You are in a full-on explorable galaxy with alien species, with full back rounds, and histories. Make your living however you can from running a corporation, being a pirate, soldier,independent contractor, delivery boy, bounty hunter, mercenary, etc. More time consuming than EVE, and twice as addictive. It has a full on economy you can contribute to. If you get a big enough corporation, you can effect prices of items across the galaxy.

The Guild: You are a family in the middle ages or renaissance. You get the choice of what your specialty is from craftsman to politician to criminal mastermind. You're goal is whatever you want. You also have to deal with other families. Its buggy, but fan fixes make it playable.

I don't think I phrased my dare right. I was looking for something similar in scope and concept to the Elder Scrolls. But you answered my challenge and clued me into some good-looking games. Well done and thanks!

 

[dancinginfernal]

snip

Nobody is forcing you to play them are they?

YES! I waited for you to start grasping at straws. I DO love this!

"Don't like it don't play it"
"You can't criticize unless you play through the whole game"
"You obviously didn't hate it if you played through the entire game"

Something along those lines, right? And Bethesda's former fans should just stay silent as their series slides to shit? Oh wait,

Spoiler

"It's Bethesda's game, they can do whatever they want with it.

Right?

So are you saying I'm not allowed to enjoy Bethesda games?

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

Why do I like Elder Scroll's games? Why do people like penguins? Fuck you that's why. Maybe my love of Elder Scroll's is down to some surpressed childhood issue like the result's of taping a "Come at me bro" sign onto my ass

 

[zehydra]

"After hating Oblivion because every quest story was boring and uninteresting and the game required 100+ mods to be fun, I decided to give Skyrim a try"

Lol. Well since you asked, I enjoy the Elderscrolls series because of the world design and the gameplay. Elderscrolls never really focused too much on cinematic story telling, and to a degree, I prefer to them to be that way.

The way I saw it, the Elderscrolls games were always more realistic in terms of world design than any other RPG out there, and the point was immersion. The games are more immersive than any other RPG series I have played.

If you play for characters and plot lines, then you're not playing the right game if you play these games.

Go play some Square games or something.

 

[Saviordd1]

Wonder how long it will take for Anthraxus to turn up in this thread..

For me, having only played Skyrim, I love the complete freedom the game offers. See that mountain in the distance? You can climb it. Those ruins? Explore them. That big ass Dragon on the hill? Slay it.

Or if those don't appeal to you, you can turn around and go in a different direction.

Also the atmosphere and art design.

Shhhhhh, don't summon it!

OT: Because people have different opinions, that's the only real way to put it.

 

[Andrewtheeviscerator]

Wonder how long it will take for Anthraxus to turn up in this thread..

For me, having only played Skyrim, I love the complete freedom the game offers. See that mountain in the distance? You can climb it. Those ruins? Explore them. That big ass Dragon on the hill? Slay it.

Or if those don't appeal to you, you can turn around and go in a different direction.

Also the atmosphere and art design.

Shhhhhh, don't summon it!

OT: Because people have different opinions, that's the only real way to put it.

Nah he got suspended, but I'm sure he's lurking just waiting to jump in here and tell us how wrong we are for liking Skyrim, and also preach to us about the "decline" of RPGS and how none of them are "tactical. Oh and maybe put up that picture of that crap game he keeps advertising around here.

 

[Saviordd1]

Wonder how long it will take for Anthraxus to turn up in this thread..

For me, having only played Skyrim, I love the complete freedom the game offers. See that mountain in the distance? You can climb it. Those ruins? Explore them. That big ass Dragon on the hill? Slay it.

Or if those don't appeal to you, you can turn around and go in a different direction.

Also the atmosphere and art design.

Shhhhhh, don't summon it!

OT: Because people have different opinions, that's the only real way to put it.

Nah he got suspended, but I'm sure he's lurking just waiting to jump in here and tell us how wrong we are for liking Skyrim, and also preach to us about the "decline" of RPGS and how none of them are "tactical. Oh and maybe put up that picture of that crap game he keeps advertising around here.

*Shudders*
The idea alone makes me uncomfortable.

 

[Mirroga]

Oh as my final post in this topic. Why do people find it fun? It's because some, if not most, people don't want to be railroaded by very, VERY linear storyline. It is made even worse if they make it obviously linear in game design as well. FF13 being one of the worst offenders.

 

[EnlightendDead]

I like Oblivion and Morrowind, Skyrim was such a let down, made me want to cry.
Op, people like the games for the freedom, the fun, and the screwing around.
...And the modding, mostly that.

 

[NEMESIS 94]

Well in Morrowind (my favorite elder scrolls) people did care if you became archmage and stuff like that. For example you join One Great House all member of another great house would intermediately dislike you can you could not join the others. The world in Morrowind was much more alive and believable IMO

 

[Lunar Templar]

near as i can tell?

the mods

why else would some one play that crap

 

[Zburator]

Well in Morrowind (my favorite elder scrolls) people did care if you became archmage and stuff like that. For example you join One Great House all member of another great house would intermediately dislike you can you could not join the others. The world in Morrowind was much more alive and believable IMO

Yeah, it feels odd that I am the Harbinger of the Companions, Master of the Thieves' Guild, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, Archmage of the College and Hero of the Stormcloaks, and no one seems to care. I feel like a master cheating husband (or just an unloved one).

My biggest gripe is the illusion of the player having a choice and lack of reactions to what I do. Compared to the previous games and a lot of RPGs, it is extremely railroaded, I can't ever seem to say "No" to a quest, all I can do to refuse them is STAB them. Hell, I could go around, purge all the killable characters from Solitude to Riften (which is a lot more than any damn dragon did) and NO ONE would care.

Sure, the game basically gives me the freedom to stab who the hell I want, but society would refuse to acknowledge that I actually DID anything. The game is a great sandbox, I won't deny that, but it hardly feels like a living world with characters I give a crap about.

 

[bioject]

People like Elder Scrolls games because of the unequaled freedom, roleplaying opportunities, modding opportunities, and realized world they offer. To my knowledge there is nothing else like it and I double-dog dare anyone to prove me wrong.

EDIT: Don't say Fallout.

Actually Fallout New Vegas, while a crappy sequel to the Fallout franchise compared to 1 and 2 and at least superior to 3, was by far the best Elder Scrolls-like game ever made. The side quests were fun and interesting, story was great, needed about the same amount of mods as Skyrim, and virtually everything in the game you did actually mattered. Ironically a lot of people hated New Vegas. I don't get it.

I only say "Don't say Fallout" because that's Bethesda's other franchise. I liked New Vegas a lot more than Fallout 3, which I also liked. I thought New Vegas demonstrated an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Bethesda titles and made the best of the tools they had. But the best Elder Scrolls-like is Morrowind. =)

STALKER.

Someone always says STALKER lol. I kid, STALKER really is a good answer. I think Elder Scrolls gives you a little more to work with, but STALKER is the only thing I know of that tries to do something similar.

New Vegas was what I expected from Skyrim. An open world that accounted for your actions.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

New Vegas was what I expected from Skyrim. An open world that accounted for your actions.

I think letting the player shape the world is a good approach and I applaud New Vegas for that, but I don't necessarily think it's essential. I think New Vegas succeeded because the world was interesting and fleshed out. There was more to be gained from exploration than just seeing the pretty sights like in Oblivion.

 

[itsthesheppy]

Exploration, setting, and the ability to go on a fantasy adventure in first-person that's well done and looks great.