It's not Todd's job to talk up a game's problems. In fact that's not anyone's job. The closest you get to admitting there are problems from any game developer is them saying they are working on a patch, which they have already said.


Well you really went out on a limb there predicting that the DLC would sell less than the main product. I for one went with the safe bet that the DLC would sell MORE than the main product, there will be plenty of people who didn't buy Skyrim that would still want the DLC right?

RIGHT?!

Most of the 'bugs' come from messing with the ini files.

Only PS3 players have legitimate greivance.

He hasnt said anything because the amount of people that complain is tiny compared to those that are happy.

For the first part, agreed. For the second part, lol.

well if it is cumulative DLC sales then it could sell more than the game

Arrr...excuse...me? More, you say? Would you be implying people who obtained the game through ilegal means would be willing to actaully pay for DLC? I'm not following.

It is a relevant issue. You get a figure - objective, factual, indisputable - that is able to illustrate the satisfaction ratio, especially when compared to Oblivion.
Say OBlivion DLC sales represent 30% and Skyrim's 60%.
If its the other way around, it has an entirely different meaning altogether.

Overall sales figures in the first month are mostly indicative of marketing and PR performance.
DLC sales figures are mostly indicative of how bad people who bought the game really liked it.

We'll see.

I think that lots of people don't buy DLC's due to issues having nothing whatsoever to do with original game.

I loved the Fallout games, and i've never bought a single DLC for them.

Why? Because they are fantastic, but I was done with them. I might go back and replay them, but I would start from scratch and feel no need for that bit of extra content.

I figure there are probably a decent amount of people who feel the same.

Now, a full xpac is different.

I think Todd said they were aiming for ?full xpac?. I could be wrong though.
Anyway, that's why it is relevant to compare Oblivion's to Skyrim's precentages.

It is true that they do listen to the community and it have been said that they do read the forums - but as the OP asked earlier, the team rarely directly responds to written criticism. I haven't yet seen one for it on Skyrim.

Stardock

No, it will not be at all interesting; it will be more meaningless noise. If the figures are low (in proportion to the main sales, compared to the same figures for other games with similar sales volume, play length, and dlc content.... good luck finding those), you can either interpret that as "nobody wants to throw good money after bad" or "nobody sees the need". And if they are high, it can be interpreted as "wow, people really saw a need for that to fix the game" or "gee, I guess the game is worth every penny they charged and then some, since people will pay extra for add ons."

Kerberos? Bioware? Valve?

eww, the attitude of people towards "complainers" is utterly disgusting, marginalizing, downplaying and labeling people having issues as "trolls" and saying since More people are happy than are sad, the sad can go stuff themselves in a corner. I have a question, If the Happy people are happy shouldnt we start addressing the people having problems? its not like the happy people have anything more to offer, we have their money already and they are satisfied, how about we tend to the unhappy customers?


Beth doesnt owe us anything? *COUGH* You paid money for their product, if your Product is not delievering are you REALLY going to keep the mindset that they don't owe you anything? really?


I'm sorry that is just utterly disgusting.




Yes it is an elephant in the room, because 3 patchs and the majority of the fixes are Book shelves, Marriage and undoing the damage of a previous Patch. not to mention they tried to make a joke out of it this time? the days of "funny bugs" are over Beth use to have a predispositioned Character of some jolly folks just making their way around and releasing games, their near anonymous existence prior to Skyrim Made these Bugs laughable and tolerable. but now that "Beth" is gone going on many years now, AND the lime light is on them, time to stop smirking and get things done.

If you had any sense at all you would notice the VERY FIRST topic on the forum is a statement from beth addressing these issues and stating when they are going to fix them.

This

Skyrim is selling above and beyond expectations and the gaming media is showering it with praise. Oh, and I think the game is awesome.

Why would he bother? Anything he'd say would just get over anolyzed and subjected to even more criticism just for the sake of it.

To the OP -

Do you honestly think that Bethesda doesn't care enough to read criticisms and work with the community to better their game? It's been a little over a month since the games release and it's been patched with three (albeit small and relatively pointless) patches, and they've released a number of statements that they themselves aren't happy with a number of issues present in the game.

It's as if you expect Todd Howard to be sitting on these forums all day responding to each and every criticism, despite the fact that 75% of them are from players with little to no understanding of what they're talking about.

That being said, there are definitely some things that need to be addressed.

1) The faction questlines are probably the most glaring issue, although I highly doubt that any major overhaul will occur. The Companions, the College, the Bards College and the Civil War were a disappointment. Perhaps a DLC will continue these questlines, or a major update will address this, but I wouldn't hold your breathe.

2) The crafting skills are entirely too powerful and easily exploited.

3) The radiant AI is inconsistent and rarely seems to convey your accomplishments (one small example is, say, Razeem - the nobleman in Whiterun - constantly talking down to you even after achieving Thane status in town), and certain major accomplishments have no affect on the game world whatsoever.

Issues like these are worthy criticisms that I can assure you have not fallen on deaf ears at Bethesda. Crying about how "I'm a max ranked archer and my level 23 destruction skill is useless!!! THE GAMES BROKEN!!!" and other such gems are, unfortunately, drowning out the serious and constructive critiques. It's unfortunate that in today's online world every idiot with a keyboard seems to think he's entitled to an explanation from developers. If you don't like the game, don't play it, if your only excuse is "I spent 60 dollars for a game I think is garbage", maybe you should do more research before making a major purchase.

That's how I feel.

It's fascinating how often people around here feel compelled to pigeonhole others either on the hater or fan-boy factions. And them some even proceed to advocating the curious idea that their complaints are fine and reasonable while the rest is just nitpicking and complaining for the sake of complaining.
Fascinating.

I'll move past your assumptions about what I expect or don't and get down to the core issue:

#1 Journalists, sorry, entertainers failed to press Todd for comments on the wave of criticism, namely at the VGAs ceremony. Todd chose to indulge them.

#2 He eventually did say DLC is aimed at making the game better - as opposed to making the game bigger, which is what DLC is typically for.

Full quote from Joystiq ( http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/11/skyrim-to-have-multiple-dlc-releases-powerful-buckets/ )-

Howard couldn't yet share plans for DLC, but he says it will be focused on "ways to make the game better, not just have more, because the game is so big. So we're going through ideas right now, and processing everything people are doing in the game, and trying to think of ways that we can improve it."

Just how would you interpret this statement?

Funny how you label it ?meanigless noise? and then proceed to discontruct your own statemetnt, precisely by establishing the usefulness of those figures.

Easy job: compare Oblivion's to Skyrim's percenbtages.
Done.

Those who defend the multimilion-dollar corporation are so pathetic.

Browsing these forums I honestly think they could package a brick and some people here would claim it's the best brick they've ever played.

Any criticisms I could have about the game are offset by the fact that the game is really big and complicated and the developers are only capable of so much when it comes to keeping all these things from going wonky in places.

You have to bear in mind that the complaints, although valid for the people making them, are far, far outweighed by the praise. There is simply far more positive than negative as regards the public reaction to Skyrim, and given that Bethesda's stance is usually one of quietness in any case, I should say that it's not surprising

Let's face it 90% of the complaints, while not about game-breaking things, are legitimate.

Most of the people saying that it's just haters whinging don't come up with any resons why the complaints are unreasonable.

EDIT: And if Bethesda would rather mainstream praise over praise from their old fanbase, that's dissapointing but it's their choice

We don't know if he's holding our lord.