MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Jan 30, 2018 12:16:41 GMT
This week's game designer spotlight? Todd Howard (post-Daggerfall Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, etc.) So, what do you think of his works? Has he done a good job handling Fallout & Elder Scrolls? Would Bethesda be better off without him? Discuss.
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scipioafricanus
Swamp Ranger
Sega Does What Nintendon't... except the 32X
Posts: 3,566
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Post by scipioafricanus on Jan 30, 2018 23:43:47 GMT
Great vision of the games, but my lord HIRE SOME BUG TESTERS!!!
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cobretti
Vanguard Ranger
Strong Arm Of The Law
Posts: 1,728
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Post by cobretti on Jan 30, 2018 23:51:01 GMT
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cobretti
Vanguard Ranger
Strong Arm Of The Law
Posts: 1,728
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Post by cobretti on Jan 31, 2018 1:18:48 GMT
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Armored Core Raven
Vanguard Ranger
Radio: The test is over. From this moment on, you are a Raven!
Posts: 1,737
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Post by Armored Core Raven on Jan 31, 2018 2:47:00 GMT
his only idea of what a good game is seems to be literally a huge empty sandbox for him to play in, so I'm going for the toddler vote
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Jan 31, 2018 3:43:18 GMT
his only idea of what a good game is seems to be literally a huge empty sandbox for him to play in, so I'm going for the toddler vote "huge empty sandbox"? So a 37 sq. km map is your definition of huge? Daggerfall was over a 100 times bigger in size than any of the Todd Howard maps. I do agree that he's a toddler though.
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Jan 31, 2018 3:59:39 GMT
I have lost all respect for Todd Howard. He went from making deep, amazing games like Morrowind to retardedly streamlined RPG-vapid AAA titles like Skyrim and Fallout 4. Now I mean no harm to people who like those latter games of his, but the fact is that he and his team haven't made an ambitious title in a LONG time, and under his leadership the Elder Scrolls series in particular has seen a sizable portion of its signature features stripped out with each new title, like spell crafting, numerous skills, RPG mechanics (including attributes), and numerous spells (like levitation), as well as nerfing certain returning features (like how in Oblivion you weren't allowed to summon more than 1 creature at one time like you could in Morrowind). This particularly upsets me because I exclusively play as a mage in Oblivion, so you can imagine how profoundly dissatisfied I was with Skyrim's removal of everything that made magic awesome in Oblivion. It was so bad that I refuse to play Skyrim just because of that.
NOT a fan of this ass. Howard is nothing more than a puppet of a greedy-as-hell company, and I truly hope that if ES 6 is as dumbed down as Skyrim & Fallout 4 it will flop harder than a fish out of water.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,818
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Post by Cervantes on Jan 31, 2018 10:18:36 GMT
I spent a lot of time with Skyrim. I see it as a fun toy and a terrible game: most of my time spent on it was either looking at various mods (the community is really creative) or just messing around, but as a game, it was repetitive, meaningless and broken. To give you all an idea: my most played character was a mage; my "strategy" for every boss was to throw a lot of fireballs then keep running around a table (there was always a stone table) while my magic recovered. Every boss kept running in circles after my character. It was quite the view, these two super powered beings running around a table. Every "dungeon" was pretty much the same corridor and there was a single "puzzle" in all of them (you all know the one). It had zero effort on level design, it was definitely no Zelda as far as dungeons go. As for the quests, you all know how I absolutely loathe the very concept of modern quests in general - a checklist composed by random dots on your map, it just feels like busywork. It's particularly egregious in Skyrim as every quest sends you to the other side of the map, they really wanted to pad the game by making you walk (until you can just fast travel everywhere, which also misses the point of exploring the world). The world is very detailed but ultimately lifeless - unlike, let's say, The Witcher games, where every place has their own interesting quirks.
I have no intention of playing other games in its style, but I don't regret my time with it.
If every other game by Todd Howard feels like this, then I'm voting for "toddler": he creates fun toys that are shiny and make noises, but are barely games.
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scipioafricanus
Swamp Ranger
Sega Does What Nintendon't... except the 32X
Posts: 3,566
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Post by scipioafricanus on Jan 31, 2018 11:40:28 GMT
I spent a lot of time with Skyrim. I see it as a fun toy and a terrible game: most of my time spent on it was either looking at various mods (the community is really creative) or just messing around, but as a game, it was repetitive, meaningless and broken. To give you all an idea: my most played character was a mage; my "strategy" for every boss was to throw a lot of fireballs then keep running around a table (there was always a stone table) while my magic recovered. Every boss kept running in circles after my character. It was quite the view, these two super powered beings running around a table. Every "dungeon" was pretty much the same corridor and there was a single "puzzle" in all of them (you all know the one). It had zero effort on level design, it was definitely no Zelda as far as dungeons go. As for the quests, you all know how I absolutely loathe the very concept of modern quests in general - a checklist composed by random dots on your map, it just feels like busywork. It's particularly egregious in Skyrim as every quest sends you to the other side of the map, they really wanted to pad the game by making you walk (until you can just fast travel everywhere, which also misses the point of exploring the world). The world is very detailed but ultimately lifeless - unlike, let's say, The Witcher games, where every place has their own interesting quirks. I have no intention of playing other games in its style, but I don't regret my time with it. If every other game by Todd Howard feels like this, then I'm voting for "toddler": he creates fun toys that are shiny and make noises, but are barely games. Also when they re-release the game but it has MORE problem bugs than before.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,818
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Post by Cervantes on Jan 31, 2018 12:26:59 GMT
Also when they re-release the game but it has MORE problem bugs than before. Ha, that's true; I remember when they released a "definitive edition" for pc and it looked worse, had new bugs and broke compatibility with most mods (mods that had already fixed bugs from the original release). One great thing we can say about Bethesda's games: they have some of the most dedicated fanbases around. Modders will obsessively fix every problem, from bugs to terrible interfaces, and will make the graphics look much better and add plenty of new content. Unsurprisingly, Bethesda (with Valve's help) also tried to spoil this by adding those terrible monetization schemes to mods. They still haven't given up on that front, by the way.
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Dan E. Kool
Walking Trash Can Robot
Now With Extra Pulp!
Posts: 3,325
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Post by Dan E. Kool on Jan 31, 2018 16:32:30 GMT
The title says, "Game Designer of the Week", but the content says, "What's MeleeMonk mad about now?"
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Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,820
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Post by Balder on Jan 31, 2018 18:30:48 GMT
The title says, "Game Designer of the Week", but the content says, "What's MeleeMonk mad about now?" Lol, true. All of the programmers have been controversial. Give a good developer.
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Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,820
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Post by Balder on Jan 31, 2018 18:31:33 GMT
As for Todd Howard, Crowbcat says it best:
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cobretti
Vanguard Ranger
Strong Arm Of The Law
Posts: 1,728
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Post by cobretti on Jan 31, 2018 19:11:37 GMT
How can anyone take a man that short seriously?
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stratogustav
Supreme Overlord
Warrior with Bandana
Posts: 7,460
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Post by stratogustav on Jan 31, 2018 20:49:05 GMT
Does he really claim to be 6'2"?
Apparently Skyrim can be done 100%. I heard people saying it took them over 600 hours, but they say they did it. That guy they call The Completionist is one that says he did it, but I don't know what they base the 100% on.
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