» Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:44 am Anyway, there are alot of things to be considered when complaining about TES/BGS. First, let's take a look at the size of the game. Skyrim is massive, and offers a plethora of content to the player(as do all TES). I'm suprised it was even possible to fit it all on an Xbox 360. This is one of the right directions that The Elder Scrolls series is going in, and there are few other games who do this. For example, let's look at Call of Duty. Do you know how much time the average Call of Duty player spends online? 51 minutes, according to Activision as of sometime last year. Do you know which was the most played game of 2011? Skyrim, even though it sold not nearly as much as Modern Warfare 3 did. I don't think Skyrim has been 'dumbed down' for 'casual gamers'. Does it cater to a broader audience? Yes. Has it been simpler? Yes, but it has also been made alot smoother. Complexity isn't always a good thing. And the game is still rich with Elder Scrolls Lore, etc. High sales aren't a bad thing either. High sales mean that the next game will be more immersive and hopefully an overall even better experience since BGS now has a higher budget. 'Dumbed Down' is an extremely crass and blatant term to label the game(especially as a whole).
This brings me to my another point. Are you a game developer? I doubt many(if any at all) of the forum users are game developers. I further doubt that anyone other than maybe certain administrators influenced the making of this game. That means that you don't know how the decision-making process of this game went. You don't know why Bethesda decided to scrap this mechanic or that weapon, why they decided to simplify this and implement this to replace that, or the sacrafices and benefits from these choice. Making a game is hard, paticularly when it comes to Innovation. If you try to innovate, there is a good chance it might not work out, because you are taking a risk from a development standpoint, and people will complain about it. Fans don't always like change, especially some hardcoe ones. However, if you take a more conservative approach, people will complain that the series is becoming stale(Call of Duty being another great example). Also, when you innovate, you are also most likely experimenting, seeing what works and what doesn't. A perfect example of this in Skyrim: The Perk System.
One final small issue: Graphics. A common complaint is that graphics/appealing visuals are another attempt at svcking in more gamers. Maybe they do, but this is not true. A game development studio has an interesting group of people called 'Artists'. These 'Artists' are responsible for creating the visuals and artwork of Skyrim. If you're an artist, working on a game like Morrowind or Fallout 3 may not be the most accomplishing experience. They made a game as beautiful as Skyrim because they had the ability to, and they wanted to test their new technology to its fullest, not to svck in newcomers for the purpose of sales'.
I feel that Bethesda and Skyrim receive alot more hate, harsh criticism, or whatever you want to call it, than they deserve. In my opinion, Bethesda are one of the best developers out there, few can rival the time they put in, the detail they create, and the passion they have for their games. I think it's because we can forget the game developers are people too, not genies who exist solely to grant our every wish and make the perfect game. People don't realize that making a game is alot harder than it seems. No game ever is or will be perfect. Skyrim isn't perfect but I think it's an amazing game, I think it's the best in the Elder Scrolls series yet(disputable of course). It's one of the best games I've ever played and I look forward to future titles by Bethesda.
