Ken Rolston Lead Designer of Elder Scrolls 3 and 4 is now part of a team of the game Kingdoms of Amalur that wil be released soon in February. After spending 130 Hours in Skyrim i had frustations on many many boring side quests, maybe he was the soul responsible for a lot of good quests in Oblivion and Morrowind? I think i will try his new project to see if it feels a little like Elder Scrolls or something

Played the KoA demo, and it basically feels like a cross between Fable, Torchwood, and WoW. Not really impressed, personally. Of course, I also love Skyrim, so ymmv.

He was responsible for some of Morrowind's vibe all right, but there were more than just one man needed to pull that off. I'm not very impressed with Reckoning.

I read an interview of his and it gave good insights into what happened with Oblivion as compared to Morrowind. I am looking forward to his new game and will play it just to see what it is all about.

Played the demo today and i was not impressed. I am not saying it is a bad game, just not the sandbox type i like. I hate invisible barriers with a passion, and this has them everywhere.

Ugh. Me too; this is what ruined TheWitcher for me.

Did the KOA demo. And I even read an excerpt prior to that reaffirming that -ITS A DEMO- yeah sure but still...its not as open...ok let me say this I'm Spoiled on TES, and the....Openworldness is yet to be seen atm

It's funny how some games use the term "open world" very liberally. Reckoning is as open world as Ocarina of Time. If I start out at the southern tip of the map, I should be able to go due north without running into invisible walls or straight vertical cliffs. Morrowind and Skyrim has mountains, but hell they look like mountains and I could cross them. And the mini map in Reckoning is...lame...I was instantly reminded of WoW, in fact the whole game reminded me of WoW. What game designers should be taking from WoW is instance combat to fit more enemies on the screen and phasing, to implement a changing game world. That's it, not the graphic design, quests, or anything else.

Bland demo, bland world map, bland inventory, the silent protaganist again, etc. Reckoning started as an MMO and should have stayed an MMO. For all Skyrim's faults, it's a beautiful, immersive world, with the best combat in TES so far. The only open world game that will beat it is the next installment in the series or Fallout 4. Good luck Ken, you're gonna need it and then some.

To be honest I think Rolston got in the way with a lot of Morrowind's development strategy. But he was still better than many of his successors.

For the most part KoA doesn't appeal to me: I dislike what I've seen of combat, I find the aesthetics silly, and I have severe reservations about Salvatore. However I plan on trying the demo because Rolston, Nelson, and Zeleny weren't involved in this game I wouldn't give it a second thought. The combat mechanics don't appeal to me, the aesthetics are silly, and I really dislike Salvatore. But I still plan on trying the demo.

While these three devs brought some great things to the Elder Scrolls I don't think the series has suffered without them. I hope this doesn't come off as belittling because that is not my intention - I miss all of them. But I do feel that there has been plenty of other talent involved. Granted I enjoy Skyrim immensely, perhaps those who don't are missing something a former developer brought to the series.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1333487-kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning-thread-the-second/ If you wish to discuss the contributions of Rolston (and others) on the series you can continue discussing this in here.

Sigh, I miss Santa. Without his cheery face poking out of the press photos, It's not the same.

you guys do find the

"Lead to the hits TES III and IV" as just selling points right? I mean the same thing is said about Todd. so exactly who did what, with the why Skyrim turned out I suspect Ken only had grand influence for Morrowind. also in reference to that article about Ken in reference to what happened during Oblivion. I know I've read that somewhere. I can't recall fully what it went into :i

I wonder how different Skyrim would've been if Ken was still around. I for one love his current project with Reckoning which is going to be an amazing game.

My main memory of Ken Rolston, who I interviewed twice as part of the gamesas development team over the years...was that he really liked cheeseburgers. Even when they treated me to Maryland crabcakes, which was my first exposure to the delicacy, Ken got a cheeseburger.

In defense of a friendly guy, it was a very large and evilly rich cheeseburger.

Beyond that, I look forward to see what he does with the new game, but I'm not banking on his involvement affecting it positively or negatively. With very few exceptions, large games in these days of the Gaming Industry aren't auteur efforts. They're made by teams, who are led by...accountants. And everybody tries to imitate other successful games. Wait and see, and hope, in other words.

A game isn't made by a single man, Minecraft and other exceptions aside. http://www.ausgamers.com/videos/view.php/60583.

Your thoughts are like mine, It looks like his direction is what made tes games at least the ones he was part of really awesome. Il be able to judge better after playing his new rpg.

Personally visually I don't like Kingdoms of Amalur. It looks too uch like fable and to be honest it looks to childish.

If the writting is up to snuff however I think I will give it a go, I'll wait for some reviews from "real" gamers, not the magazines until I make a decision as to whether I purchase it or not

Rolston is definitely entertaining to listen too.