Yes, I have played Bethesda games for decades, going all the way back to Elder Scrolls 1: Arena.

Yes, I play Elder Scrolls Online even to this day, though I am now reconsidering that.

That does not and should not have any consequence whatsoever when it comes to my, or anyone else's, opinion when it comes to how fucked up Bethesda/Zenimax are as corporations, and the corporate ownership at Microsoft for that matter.

My interest in Starfield has diminished significantly and the hype wave is already putting me off. Yes, it's only one individual's story and not the first from the company, but I'm not reddit-logo enough to LARP as a perfect logical machine that only does perfectly Rational(tm) calculations regarding whether I should care about something or not.

I expect Hexbear to have a lot of "let people enjoy things" discourse about Starfield in the upcoming weeks and months, and a lot of it will ride on the "everyone does these bad things in game development" thought terminating cliche that primarily serves as a palate cleanser so the consumer can avoid feeling as much guilt or disgust for what they're now consuming.

Fuck that.

And fuck that corporate empire.

  • Quimby [any, any]M
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Larian are also really good at figuring how to focus on the right things in order to deliver on an ambitious idea. They make sure that feasibility is a primary consideration, and also clearly have some smart people who can push the boundaries of what is feasible. But it seems obvious to me that they start from a place of only building systems that will work, instead of starting on something cool and then trying to find a way to make it work.

    That said, this should also be common sense, and I'm all for holding game studios to a standard of "build intentionally and make working stuff".

    • Vladimir_Slipknotchenko [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      That’s something I think the panel shows have highlighted: they focus on systems and reactivity as the mechanism which immerses the player in the role they wish to fill.

      There’s something about crpg brain that just loves a convoluted series of interlocking systems that allow the player to enjoy the illusion of being a figure the world reacts to in a realistic/believable manner.