I have noticed a trend in the elder scrolls games. From Daggerfall to Skyrim. each game is different in many ways.

First and foremost let me get the illusions out of the way. Bethesda studios is a business. and a business's main concern is to make money. and it must do everything it can to make that money within legal means. ethics has nothing to do with it. Skyrim has shown me that they have come up with a system that works. every single annoying thing about Morrowind is in Skyrim. because players love talking about the annoying stuff, and it is memorable. if the game was not annoying, it would not grab your average persons limited attention span long enough. people in general tend to be masochists. they love subjecting themselves to traumas, like riding roller coasters. this is why they did not bother to fix the guards constantly saying things over and over agian. they had no intention of fixing that. they put that in the game on purpose. In fact probably a lot of the things that annoy you about vanilla Skyrim were things bethesda engineered to annoy you, because they know that's what you enjoy, and you keep coming back for more. when the CK comes out it will give you the chance to remove the things about the game that annoy you personally. but your mod that you make might not be fun for others because it fixes what bugs you, not them.

what are your thoughts?

Ever thought guards saying the same lines was because of...I dunno...the limited amount of dialogue that's possible when doing voiced dialogue?

They don't leave things in game because they "make people talk about them". They refine and change things over time based on what worked and what doesn't work. They add new things, take things that don't work so well away, and just make each new Elder Scrolls game unique in its own way.

Take your tinfoil hat off.

I think it's more just that Radiant Story is a bit bugged/borked. A good idea, but not always working as intended.

They removed several things from previous games that worked and replaced them with things that don't work or are very shallow.

to me they made a game that would produce the most amount of money,

not produce the best game that they could!

Are you calling me a conspiracy theorist?

Such as?

Yes.

Not sure if trolling...

No, Bethesda didn't do what they did to "intentionally annoy" the players as though they've made some psychological breakthrough and they're actually evil geniuses...

It comes down to one thing. MONEY. They're going for the most profit they can get.

More voice actors = more money spent
More dialogue options = more money spent
A combat system that isn't laughably bad = more money spent
NPC's that react to who and what you are = more money spent
Dungeon puzzles that vary and are actually challenging = MORE MONEY SPENT

You get the idea... I also blame the stupid 11/11/11 deadline.

good thing I don't care about your opinion then.

Such as?

The guards repeat stuff simply because...

Well, the story engine tracks all of your actions, and gives you quests or has npc comments towards you that reflect your status in the game so far. It won't say things that don't apply to you. But it doesn't keep track of when or how many times it's said the same thing. It seems like a pretty simple thing to fix. "If, then, but.." If I've said this to player, then don't say it again. It only knows to not say comment on things you've haven't unlocked or done.

Pretty much bang on.

I have to disagree. If this game really annoyed or frustrated me, I wouldn't be playing it.

Any minor annoyances (like slow horses, bad UI, etc) I've already modded out.

The People's Champ says what in the blue hell are you talking about?!

If ya smmmeeeellllllll what the Champ is cookin!

They apparently don't have staff members high enough on the totem pole who have any clue about branching and varied storylines that react to player choices.

Those making the decisions are terrible at making a solid RPG framework, so it was never implemented.

Considering they have different voice actors saying the exact same lines, no.

Butting in, but his comment cracked me up. Similar to Occam's Razor, there's Hanlon's Razor, Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Though I wouldn't call it stupidity, necessarily, but a combination of limits in technology and development time--and judgement calls by developers that may not entirely jibe with the user base.

Also, somebody who puts the game away after 60 hours doesn't have the same response as somebody who's still playing at 300 hours.

I wouldn't say evil geniuses. I would rather call them clever businessmen.

That is kinda what i was getting at really. the bottom line. But I don't feel they were trying to be ethical when they were trying to find new and exciting ways of making the money. and the 11/11/11 deadline might have had a major factor in it as well. but i swear I have played this game before when i was playing oblivion. The same kind of thing happens. people only remember the most annoying things about these games. I have seen whole cartoons written on the idiocies of the combat system. I personally think that Bethesda actually did find some things that work in making a game like this, and so they include those things.

There are very few games (non that I can think of) that having branching storylines that react to a players choice. That requires a level of AI, or scripting that many developers don't have.

that is the point. you are able to mod them out. but i can promise that everything that annoyed you somebody would probably not mind them being in.

Spell Creation is gone.
Disposition with NPCs is gone.
Having merchants re~charge enchanted weapons are gone.
Lock Picking spells are gone.
Athletics is gone.
Attributes are gone.
Several summon spells are gone.
Ability to kill anyone is gone.
Being able to do Alchemy anywhere is gone.
Repairing gear is gone.
The Arena is gone.
Several types of weapons are gone.
Several types of spells are gone.

I think the deadline may be related to the bugs in the game.

You forgot spears...