I agree with the idea of Morrowind having a much more interesting political system and in some way they tried to incorporate that into Skyrim. I'm not a lore buff by any means but given the difference in cultures I would think that system in Morrowind would never work in Skyrim. Skyrim seems much more nomadic and isolated (as an area, but also at a town/village level) which would probably hurt any sense of politics. Even if that wasn't the case just the overall aggression of the Nords would probably turn any political arguments into a war as we see now.

I do think they dropped the ball with the Civil war, and I really liked the political nature of the houses. But in my mind the Dark Elves remind me of the Drow and that system in Morrowind worked well given their culture.


I listened to Ken speak on a couple of podcasts I listen to and it was surprising that he shared similar views to Todd. I'd never heard of him before as I'm not terribly invested in the TES franchise, but his roots seemed firmly cemented in old pen and paper RPGs and it was somewhat strange to here him express that he didn't like setting your decisions in stone from the beginning, given that he was the lead designer on Morrowind/Oblivion and was now creating KoA.

Creation Kit.

TES lives on forever.

No creation kit?

TES ends.

It's the mod community that makes this game. It's always been that way and always will be. If you're playing on a console, I feel bad for ya, but you pay for convenience.

Hi there Old Grog!

Unless a dev comes here and reports or a former Beth employee decides to spill the beans, the only thing you're going to get is speculative. On that thread, Todd doesn't strike me as an autocrat. To my eyes he appears to be the more balanced leader who listens and then acts. He himself has stated no one at Bethesda knows the entire game by heart, 70% at best, which leads me to conclude there are significant areas like art and soud design which, while contributing to Skyrim's success as a game, just don't fall under his direct guidance. So, in short, SKyrim is a collective effort led by Howard. I could be wrong but In that regard i don't think it is any different from past Elder Scrolls.

true story, and im a console guy.

But now KoA is out its as anti a beginning background for the PC as Skyrim was so we can guess Ken wouldn't 've have had any problem with that change from Oblivion to Skyrim

Todd's last four games have won GOTY's (Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim), and he's created some of the best expansions I've ever played (Tribunal, Bloodmoon, Shivering Isles, Point Lookout). Even if long-time players are disappointed in Skyrim, it's only because the bar has been set really high. Skyrim still deserved its GOTY.

A lot of the PnP games Ken Rolston was involved in like Runequest took a different attitude to D&D with regard to initial abilities. You had initial abilities from your background but no class and your background didn't have any effect on how your skills improved.

I think they need to hire a new lead dev because IMHO he already has trashed the TES series. Oblivion was bad enough and Skyrim is worse in many ways. I tried my hardest to like the game, but there is just something missing these days.

The main problem here is how can the man be convinced he's going a wrong way when the sales figures hit the sky with Skyrim.

Add -3 to that

I never understood arguments like this. Trashed TES series?! come on now, not even besthesda themselves know the lore of TES games. They develop games with ideas and features they think is fun. THAT"S HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE!

You guys on the PC think you know how TES should be handled and what should or shouldn't be added and developers has proven this to be inaccurate or not possible. It's users like you who'll bring down the TES series as a whole and I think the series has done a remarkable job each and every game. Sure i may not play morrowind right now due to how disgusting the graphics, animation and what not but at it's time of release it was remarkable.

Lame excuse for a thread.

No way! The series died after Daggerfall!

You didn't go back far enough. Daggerfall is better than them all.

I am a PC gamer and played the elder scrolls since arena but I agree with you lol.

If this is truly a "Todd Howard era" well, I like it so far!

Well, the way I see it, it's not bad to have fresh new blood in a company. TES games are becoming more beautiful in every installment but shallower and shallower as well.

Yes, well why don't you go play some right now, instead of wasting your time at the forum of such an inferior game?

Todd is the guy who keeps the game true to its concept throughout development, a hellish, herculean task with a series of this type. But he (and Rolston) aren't often behind the sort of spark that really draws me to TES, and have made some decisions that I absolutely loathe. So let's have a balanced view, and dispense with this lionization of Todd, in case there are still some of you who haven't swallowed the marketing.

Who was project lead before Todd?

Maybe you shouldn't open your mouth before you run it. I am not some PC elitist and this has nothing to do with the lore. I usually use my 360 and the fact is the series has become nothing but all fluff and no substance and most of the features that made it a great game series have been gutted from it....period!
Also they didn't do things in the game to make it fun, they made it streamlined for all the whinners who complain about games being too hard and complex for their brains to wrap around. If they did things to make the games more fun. They wouldn't keep ripping features from it. But instead find ways to make those same features better. BGS doesn't do this, instead they simply remove said features.

This gnashing of teeth and flying spittle pleases the Lame Thread Gods immensely.