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Other Games / Re: Elder scrolls V: Skyrim
« on: January 29, 2011, 04:05:57 am »
I'd like spears. They're not a peasant's weapon, they're a Greek hero's weapon. How many of the Iliad heroes used swords (don't actually answer that question. But I'm pretty sure they all chucked spears around constantly.) In general, I'd like to see a fantasy game that's set in a bronze or iron age period rather than medieval, just to mix things up.
Anyway, gameplay elements aside, the only thing that matters in terms of this game being good (imo) or not is whether the world is immersive. Morrowind was immersive because it was a really alien, original setting. Sure, it borrowed elements from all over the place - the province is sort of a "fantasy version of Palestine" as someone said earlier in the thread, mainly in its history. The setting is so analogous to the time and place of Jesus, its ridiculous - the Dark Elves' mythology even resembles the history as told in the Jewish bible. But they also mixed it up; you have nomads that look like Mongolians, you have ancestor worship as well as polytheistic demon worship and several established religions, you have Sumerian-like names, you have lava-flow canyons that serve the same geographical and logistical function as river valleys, and oh yeah, you have giant bugshells used as building materials and huge mushroom towers, and the Dwemer and Daedric architecture ain't bad either.
So go ahead and make Skyrim look like Norway or Alaska, but for Chrissake make it as bizarre and unearthly as Morrowind at the same time.
Then the other thing is to have a background and world that's as deep and complex as Morrowind. Just like in real life, you hear multiple different versions of past events and nobody's version is ever shown to be authoritative. The religious history might well be mythology and the prophecies could well be self-fulfilling. There's no established good guys and bad guys and everyone's motives are illuminated by their version of past events. And, there's tons of weird political and cultural nuances that are mentioned in passing and detailed in in-game books, that make the game world seem like it could be a real place in terms of its complexity and depth. Oblivion didn't have any of that (and that's all I'll say about Oblivion). But basically, those two things are the reason I still like playing Morrowind 9 years later and if attention is paid to them, Skyrim could potentially be the same kind of experience. It probably won't, but hey.
Oh yeah, the other great thing about Morrowind is how fun exploring was. That was probably the majority of the fun in the game - running around the wilderness, finding cool things, and the wilderness was actually packed with them.
Anyway, gameplay elements aside, the only thing that matters in terms of this game being good (imo) or not is whether the world is immersive. Morrowind was immersive because it was a really alien, original setting. Sure, it borrowed elements from all over the place - the province is sort of a "fantasy version of Palestine" as someone said earlier in the thread, mainly in its history. The setting is so analogous to the time and place of Jesus, its ridiculous - the Dark Elves' mythology even resembles the history as told in the Jewish bible. But they also mixed it up; you have nomads that look like Mongolians, you have ancestor worship as well as polytheistic demon worship and several established religions, you have Sumerian-like names, you have lava-flow canyons that serve the same geographical and logistical function as river valleys, and oh yeah, you have giant bugshells used as building materials and huge mushroom towers, and the Dwemer and Daedric architecture ain't bad either.
So go ahead and make Skyrim look like Norway or Alaska, but for Chrissake make it as bizarre and unearthly as Morrowind at the same time.
Then the other thing is to have a background and world that's as deep and complex as Morrowind. Just like in real life, you hear multiple different versions of past events and nobody's version is ever shown to be authoritative. The religious history might well be mythology and the prophecies could well be self-fulfilling. There's no established good guys and bad guys and everyone's motives are illuminated by their version of past events. And, there's tons of weird political and cultural nuances that are mentioned in passing and detailed in in-game books, that make the game world seem like it could be a real place in terms of its complexity and depth. Oblivion didn't have any of that (and that's all I'll say about Oblivion). But basically, those two things are the reason I still like playing Morrowind 9 years later and if attention is paid to them, Skyrim could potentially be the same kind of experience. It probably won't, but hey.
Oh yeah, the other great thing about Morrowind is how fun exploring was. That was probably the majority of the fun in the game - running around the wilderness, finding cool things, and the wilderness was actually packed with them.
