» Tue May 08, 2012 8:48 pm
I will point out that criticising the choice to take out spell making is totally valid criticism and was offered back when that announcement was made. It is valid not because any player says so, but because of how Beth chooses to market their TES games. They cannot state one thing in marketing but undermine that in such a statement in the actual product. That is hypocritical at best, and deliberate misleading marketing to make sales at worst. They understand this quite well because they've heard it for many years.
I found it interesting to hear Todd Howard state in one interview that he doesn't really play Japanese RPGs because they do not meet his preferences in most cases. However, he also states that he was originally inspired by playing Wizardry (and other games of that period such as Ultima). I wonder if he knows that Wizardry is actually the inspiration for the entire role playing game genre in Japan.
Don't get me wrong, I like Todd Howard and spend tons of time anolyzing TES (and FO, too). However, my anolytical, academic mind cannot ignore such things when I hear them, see them, or experience them in some other way.
In any event, the point is that Beth needs to be far more accurate and conservative in their marketing claims, or they need to allow genuine player freedom to be who we want and do what we want, how we want. That's the only way to avoid appearing (or simply being) hypocritical.
