The name of the game has changed. Its no longer about shoving stuff in a big world. Players of the genre want their choices to matter in an adaptive world. Bethesda didn’t get the memo they were so caught up in their empty dream sandbox.
Edit: I should also add expected AI behavior is evolving. After Rain World, I notice bland AI.
It used to be that if you wanted an open world game you had a handful of options, and for RPGs Fallout and Elder Scrolls were really the only options. Nowadays we have more open world games than you can shake a stick at. Bethesda doesn’t seem to realize that the rest of the industry has caught up with and passed them in a lot of ways
20 years ago this was Bethesda’s style. They were the open-world rpg simulation. Now and Indie Dev can drop 6 character models and 6 objects into a game engine and have similar functionality in maybe a month. Two weeks if its hunkering down like a game jam. Technology has surpassed their products. They need to do something to spice it up or ES 6 is gonna bomb.
The name of the game has changed. Its no longer about shoving stuff in a big world. Players of the genre want their choices to matter in an adaptive world. Bethesda didn’t get the memo they were so caught up in their empty dream sandbox.
Edit: I should also add expected AI behavior is evolving. After Rain World, I notice bland AI.
It used to be that if you wanted an open world game you had a handful of options, and for RPGs Fallout and Elder Scrolls were really the only options. Nowadays we have more open world games than you can shake a stick at. Bethesda doesn’t seem to realize that the rest of the industry has caught up with and passed them in a lot of ways
20 years ago this was Bethesda’s style. They were the open-world rpg simulation. Now and Indie Dev can drop 6 character models and 6 objects into a game engine and have similar functionality in maybe a month. Two weeks if its hunkering down like a game jam. Technology has surpassed their products. They need to do something to spice it up or ES 6 is gonna bomb.
I’m convinced I’ll still be playing Skyrim in 2035 when TES6 is released. There are so many mods due to come out in the next 3 years.