http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QMRGLd5Nko&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL2B0B028DB3519F91

Oops, I guess Baldurs Gate music was every bit as epic as Skyrims.

Minecraft might be the closest thing to direct competition. If only because it's more sandboxey in nature.

No there is no one that makes games the way they do, maybe MMO's? Which is then different in of itself for obvious reasons.

Nobody makes open world graphically intense RPGs anymore, bethesda are in a class of their own. And they only do it because the series already has such a following, if they were to do skyrim as the first of a new franchise, it would be very different.

Even if they don't have competition they will still turn to casual gamers. That is not relevant.

It is known however, that with competition the quality of a game (from a technical standpoint) always increases.



Look at Battlefield 3. If Battlefield didn't have to live under the market shadow of COD, the series wouldn't improve immensely with every new title released. Battlefield 3 has set industry standards in terms of audio, graphics, particle effects, animation, shading, and processor efficiency. As did
Bad Company 2. As did Battlefield 2.

Look at Call of Duty. No competition, virtually the same game repackaged every year. They have a captive market of 13 year old [censored] but I'm sure they will dissipate over time when they realize that Call of Duty isn't the only shooter out there.

No direct competition, but RPG games like Mass Effect may be a competition.

Mass Effect isn't open-ended like Skyrim, but when people play an RPG game, they are not specifically playing it for its open-endedness. They are playing it for its RPG value, and you can accomplish that with either open-ended gameplay like Skyrim, or non open-ended gameplay like Mass Effect.

What makes an RPG game? The whole package. How well the story is told, through cinematics, quality of voice-overs, graphics, gameplay, etc. Open-endedness is merely a part of that package.

The only downside to Mass Effect 2 was that it was very short. Only 50 hours of gameplay. But those 50 hours are very high quality. It was basically, for lack of better term, sensory-gasm. Great graphics, interesting conversations, pretty good story, great cinematics, etc.

Bioware does trump Bethesda in story-telling. But this is something I don't understand. Bethesda has some nice stories written in the in-game books. They can create very intriguing lore like the disappearance of the dwarves. But they don't want to flesh them out and make them part of the game. I really don't get it. Why? The potential is there.

Mini-stories like the Mirror, Game at dinner, Thieves' Surfeit, etc can be made into short quests in the game, or even cutscenes and voice overs. It's just unfortunate that their potential is locked away in books, which most gamers don't read.

I don't see your point as valid. Medal Of Honor was a great series for it's time. Time marched on however. Guess what? I have an UNOPENED MOH collectors edition if anyone wants it...CHEAP!

The Witcher 2 is a pretty damn awesome game but it isn't quite on the same scale as TES series due to the fact that it's fairly linear.

I agree @Nubius. One of the very best aspects of film or games is the flashback or alternate reality perspective of storytelling. The quest "A Brush With Death" from TES-4 is a perfect example of this. I really enjoyed that quest.

Dang, ya beat me to it. I was going to mnetion Amalaur, I personally can't wait for that game to come out! It looks to be shaping up quite nicely, and has a decent shot at being gamesass biggest competition in ages.

3 words:

Guild Wars Two

You are wrong sir!

Every Devs game is competition.

Quit picking your nose!


LOL...just kidding. Awesome holiday theme Arrow. KUDOS!

I haven't played Dark Souls. All I have heard is that it is an RPG and it is very difficult. Does it take place in a big open ended world like Skyrim? I think I watched some trailers but it didn't seem to me like it was a sandbox type game (maybe I am wrong).

It disheartens me to hear people keep asking/referring to a 'sandbox'. type of game. IRL is NOT a sandbox. IRL has rules and everyone must abide by those rules. In fact the ONLY construct not bound by those rules is Schr?dinger's cat. Poor cat...

As far as I know, they are only having direct competition if they release games close to other anticipated games. In this case, MW3 and SR3.

But because their flagship series takes YEARS between each other, they have no real competition.

Arx Fatalis wasn't made by Troika, it was made by Arkane Studios... which is now owned by Zenimax/Bethesda. Are you referring to Arcanum perhaps?

Nah.

Bethesda definitely makes much larger games than the average developer. Do they make better rpg's in general? I don't feel so. Unless you judge an rpg purely on the size of the game itself, there are many games out there offering much more in terms of depth and character development.

Well not really

EA/Bioware have Dragon Age & Mass Effect that somewhat mirror TES & Fallout , but its not like we're not all just going to buy both.....

Kingdoms of Amalur : Reckoning , is supposed to be alot like Skyrim... but its not really competition when it comes out like 5 months after Skyrim you know?

I don't know. New Vegas gives me the impression that Obsidian isn't really interested in creating open world games, and still prefer more structured story focused ones. That's why there are deathclaws directly north of the starting area, so on every New Vegas playthrough you walk almost the same route through Primm, Nipton, Novac, etc. with some distractions on the side.

With what I have seen of Skyrim, they are trying to clone the Fable series in all aspects except the map and the default view (1st/3rd person).

It is a shame that the more popular a series becomes, the less enjoyable it becomes. But such is the nature of the lowest common denominator.

I read threads like this intently, and it's no wonder I only play games that Bethesda has a hand in creating. Obsidian too, I guess, but it's Bethesdas open world design that keeps me hooked.
I don't even bother with anything else, tho' povuholo and others recommended Deus Ex, once upon a time...I tried it and I couldn't get into it. It just doesn't have the same feel as a Bethesda game.
Red Dead Redemption looks interesting on my son's PS3, but I really stink without a keyboard and mouse.
Man, does Skyrim ever ROCK, and I'm not characteristically a whiner. I have the not-so-unique ability to ignore everything that I find wrong with it, and simply go on and enjoy it.

hardcoe Bethesda fan here...without a doubt.

No, not even close.



Nah

Beth games are the only ones that come close to a single player tabletop-esque medium. Therefore its the epitome of role playing. No games comes close, much less other RPGs.

None really, well none that are in Beth's league. Bioware has shot themselves bigtime by streamling their games with added features or lack of features that make their game dull or in DA2's case explosively bad so they aren't approaching Beth anytime soon, Obsidian is underrated but never can cross the finish line, CDProjeckt still has a way too go although they are one of the better fan friendly devs in the industry. The one to watch out for is Kingdom's Of Amalur Reckoning's Developer group 38 Studios/Big Huge Games, they are definitely under the radar and could contend in a couple of years, we'll see with Reckoning coming out in February and that game will certainly be good.

TES is a great open-world RPG series, but it definitely lacks complexity/depth. I would never consider it the "epitome of role playing".