How the illusion and myth of Todd Howard as a good game designer came to be - Todd's Bethesda has never been a quality developer

[Butter]

He's made himself irreplaceable at Bethesda by directing all of their hit games and by being the face of the company for 20 years, and he could've leveraged that to make himself the American Kojima. "Here's my dream game, the game that's never been done before, and here's how I want it made."

We also have this upcoming dumpster fire to look forward to, which good ole Todd has been salivating over for many a year.

I'll reserve judgement because I don't know how you can possibly fuck this up. Even just copying nu-Tomb Raider should be enough to make it the best Bethesda product since Dishonored 2.

 

[I eat frozen vegetables]

He's made himself irreplaceable at Bethesda by directing all of their hit games and by being the face of the company for 20 years, and he could've leveraged that to make himself the American Kojima. "Here's my dream game, the game that's never been done before, and here's how I want it made."

We also have this upcoming dumpster fire to look forward to, which good ole Todd has been salivating over for many a year.

I'll reserve judgement because I don't know how you can possibly fuck this up. Even just copying nu-Tomb Raider should be enough to make it the best Bethesda product since Dishonored 2.

There's plenty of ways to fuck it up.

 

[Tyranicon]

I think the mainstream has, ever so slowly but still, been developing a smidge of taste over the past decade. Skyrim was the first RPG for many casuals, but since then, many RPGs have come out. I don't think a plan old Skyrim reskin would fare nearly as well.

While I sort of agree with your point about better taste, I'm pretty sure that if Skyrim 2 came out tomorrow (maybe with 2018 graphics like with Starfield) it'll sell a shit-ton of copies.

People want first person, open world fantasy RPGs with loads of mediocre quests and lame NPCs. Anybody who even approaches this in a halfway decent manner will make a lot of money.

oft bandied about here is the maxim 'devs can make only one good rpg' and 'incline is made by a small team', i facetiously must ask you, Tyranicon, is your upcoming vampire porno game going to be yours?

Modest answer: Hell if I know. Maybe it'll be good, maybe it'll be trash.

Shitpost answer: Maxims don't apply to me. I am a force of nature, sweeping aside the feeble efforts of lesser men. My vampire porno will not only elevate the gaming medium, it will transform it entirely, into a vehicle purely for my glorification.

Rejoice, for I have come.

I don't know how you can possibly fuck this up

Basically modern gaming in a nutshell.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I'll reserve judgement because I don't know how you can possibly fuck this up.

Have we been playing the same games? Are we posting on the same Codex?

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

OP is just mad because his name isn't being used to market new product(see Indiana Jones game). Todd is God.

 

[BruceVC]

Nobody actually thinks Todd is talented, it's just a meme. And he's charismatic.

I disagree, he played a massive role through the decades in the irrefutable success of Bethesda as one of the worlds most popular gaming companies

He made mistakes but everyone sometimes make mistakes

But he is very talented and understands what many gamers enjoy and appreciate. You dont have to like him but to suggest no one thinks he is talented doesn't reflect the reality of his success

You know, I always wondered if you just caught flak from people here for your GD political posts, but thank you for more than clearing things up for me with this post.

I dont know why you would think my political or ideological views have anything to do with why I like Todd Howard and Bethesda games?

Ideologically I basically believe in Constitutional Democracies, Capitalism and basic freedoms that all citizens are entitled to like freedom of speech

But that has almost nothing to do with what games I like and why I like Todd. I respect him because he has contributed in a huge way to one of my favourite gaming companies

Its as simple as that, nothing political about it

 

[Yosharian]

Nobody actually thinks Todd is talented, it's just a meme. And he's charismatic.

I disagree, he played a massive role through the decades in the irrefutable success of Bethesda as one of the worlds most popular gaming companies

He made mistakes but everyone sometimes make mistakes

But he is very talented and understands what many gamers enjoy and appreciate. You dont have to like him but to suggest no one thinks he is talented doesn't reflect the reality of his success

Counterpoint: Starfield

 

[BruceVC]

Nobody actually thinks Todd is talented, it's just a meme. And he's charismatic.

I disagree, he played a massive role through the decades in the irrefutable success of Bethesda as one of the worlds most popular gaming companies

He made mistakes but everyone sometimes make mistakes

But he is very talented and understands what many gamers enjoy and appreciate. You dont have to like him but to suggest no one thinks he is talented doesn't reflect the reality of his success

Counterpoint: Starfield

Yes and I admit Starfield has failed on many levels according to many commentators and gamers

I havent played it yet so I cant give you my opinion

But that doesnt mean Im going to write off Todd just because of Starfield, remember the disastrous launch of Fallout 76 and despite this bad launch Bethesda has improved on the game and peoples opinions have also got better on the game

https://screenrant.com/fallout-76-w...ary,microtransactions remain a constant issue.

 

[Yosharian]

That's very forgiving of you, personally I hope Beth's offices get burned to the ground by some disgruntled enployee

 

[BruceVC]

That's very forgiving of you, personally I hope Beth's offices get burned to the ground by some disgruntled enployee

Really? Do you honesty dislike Bethesda that much you would prefer the studio to be closed

What about ES6, its going to be epic

 

[scytheavatar]

He's made himself irreplaceable at Bethesda by directing all of their hit games and by being the face of the company for 20 years, and he could've leveraged that to make himself the American Kojima. "Here's my dream game, the game that's never been done before, and here's how I want it made."

We also have this upcoming dumpster fire to look forward to, which good ole Todd has been salivating over for many a year.

I'll reserve judgement because I don't know how you can possibly fuck this up. Even just copying nu-Tomb Raider should be enough to make it the best Bethesda product since Dishonored 2.

You answered your own question, Indiana Jones is so influential and has spawn so many copycats in the gaming industry that it is not clear to me how you can make an Indiana Jones game that isn't a shit version of Uncharted.

 

[Beastro]

Nobody actually thinks Todd is talented, it's just a meme. And he's charismatic.

I disagree, he played a massive role through the decades in the irrefutable success of Bethesda as one of the worlds most popular gaming companies

He made mistakes but everyone sometimes make mistakes

But he is very talented and understands what many gamers enjoy and appreciate. You dont have to like him but to suggest no one thinks he is talented doesn't reflect the reality of his success

You know, I always wondered if you just caught flak from people here for your GD political posts, but thank you for more than clearing things up for me with this post.

I dont know why you would think my political or ideological views have anything to do with why I like Todd Howard and Bethesda games?

Ideologically I basically believe in Constitutional Democracies, Capitalism and basic freedoms that all citizens are entitled to like freedom of speech

But that has almost nothing to do with what games I like and why I like Todd. I respect him because he has contributed in a huge way to one of my favourite gaming companies

Its as simple as that, nothing political about it

Completely missed the point there, buddy.

 

[BruceVC]

Nobody actually thinks Todd is talented, it's just a meme. And he's charismatic.

I disagree, he played a massive role through the decades in the irrefutable success of Bethesda as one of the worlds most popular gaming companies

He made mistakes but everyone sometimes make mistakes

But he is very talented and understands what many gamers enjoy and appreciate. You dont have to like him but to suggest no one thinks he is talented doesn't reflect the reality of his success

You know, I always wondered if you just caught flak from people here for your GD political posts, but thank you for more than clearing things up for me with this post.

I dont know why you would think my political or ideological views have anything to do with why I like Todd Howard and Bethesda games?

Ideologically I basically believe in Constitutional Democracies, Capitalism and basic freedoms that all citizens are entitled to like freedom of speech

But that has almost nothing to do with what games I like and why I like Todd. I respect him because he has contributed in a huge way to one of my favourite gaming companies

Its as simple as that, nothing political about it

Completely missed the point there, buddy.

My bad, what was the point?

 

[Lyric Suite]

It's a combination of Todd Howard being a Jew with suspect media connections and LARPing being naturally attractive to normies and Bethesda was and still is for some reason the only one creating LARPing simulators.

 

[luj1]

The terms 'design' and 'Todd Howard' should not be used in the same sentence. The man has been pushing out industrial algorithmic garbage since Morrowind, which was his last hand-crafted game and last PC game.

Skyrim and FO4 are the lifelong culmination of algorithm-centric game design (wet dream of Todd Howard). Read the Morrowind development history. The guy hated everything that was original and hand crafted. Real heroes in Bethesda were Rolston, Kirbride, Noah Berry and Mark Bullock. Educated artists who saved Bethesda from bankruptcy with Morrowind.

Only imbeciles think highly of Todd Howard. Those are the same people who think Bethesda type of "design" (ship a broken game with a toolset to fix the game) is the best thing ever.

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

Todd saved gaming when he started the Fallout franchise with the release of Fallout 3.

 

[NecroLord]

Todd's a Speech 100 slick dude who could probably sell sand to a merchant in the desert.
Yes, I think it's pretty cool that he likes to hang out and discuss stuff about his games and Bethesda and what not, but as Bethesda became firmly rooted in the Triple A industry, the decline followed.
Usually what happens when a studio strikes it big.
I do love the "Big Three" - Arena, Daggerfall and Morrowind, hell, even Oblivion and Skyrim have their merits, but the earlier games had deep rpg mechanics and dice rolls happening in the background. Daggerfall had gargantuan sized dungeons and was a proper dungeon crawling game. Morrowind is one of the most unique settings, not your typical high fantasy forests and castles and knights hunting fearsome dragons...

 

[Tyrr]

I'm not reading all that shit.
But I still agree.

 

[Bastardchops]

Todd's a Speech 100 slick dude who could probably sell sand to a merchant in the desert.
Yes, I think it's pretty cool that he likes to hang out and discuss stuff about his games and Bethesda and what not, but as Bethesda became firmly rooted in the Triple A industry, the decline followed.
Usually what happens when a studio strikes it big.
I do love the "Big Three" - Arena, Daggerfall and Morrowind, hell, even Oblivion and Skyrim have their merits, but the earlier games had deep rpg mechanics and dice rolls happening in the background. Daggerfall had gargantuan sized dungeons and was a proper dungeon crawling game. Morrowind is one of the most unique settings, not your typical high fantasy forests and castles and knights hunting fearsome dragons...

Although I though he didn't design any of those he was just the producer for Daggerfall and Morrowind.

 

[Hellraiser]

Although I though he didn't design any of those he was just the producer for Daggerfall and Morrowind.

In short:

 

[Ryzer]

He did design, he created the imperial legion faction and other questlines in Morrowind:

Sinder Velvin: Which of the game's factions did you work on?

Douglas Goodall: House Redoran, House Hlaalu, House Telvanni, Mages Guild, Fighters Guild, Thieves Guild, Imperial Legion, Tribunal Temple, Morag Tong, and a couple of random things here and there.

Giving credit where it is due, as best as I remember: Ken Rolston did the Main Quest, the Imperial Cult (which I wanted to save for an expansion, since I didn't feel we had time to do it justice--it turned out much better than I expected), and a couple of random things here and there. Mark Nelson did most of the "non-faction" quests and encounters, including the vampires. Mark was also responsible for most of the humor in the game, such as Fargoth, Tarhiel, and The Lusty Argonian Maid. Todd Howard took over the Imperial Legion later on (when I was getting behind schedule, having way too many factions to deal with). Most of the quests were written and in the editor at that point, but he added a lot of details to the Imperial Legion. Bill Burcham helped a great deal with all of my quests, particularly testing. He put a lot of details into his quests when he had the chance. The Fighter's Guild quest where Larienna helps you clear out the Dwemer ruin (Nchurdamz? Dwemer is hard to remember.) was one of his.

 

[Hell Swarm]

With Bethesda games, it's always and only ever been about the impressiveness of the virtual worlds they've created and the immersiveness of the emergent gameplay players have enjoyed in those virtual worlds; bar the odd cool quest here and there, pretty much everything else about their games has been negligible or mediocre (as clearly demonstrated by what a more talented team managed to do with the same engine in F:NV).

Fast travel killed the emergent gameplay elements and that's what makes the bethesdrones angry.

Honestly, all they have to do to enjoy massive success is another Skyrim, but with at least a little better combat, competent writing, and better dungeons. Mainstream market will buy a gorillion copies again and Codex will say that while the game is still shit, it's less shit than its predecessor, and therefore incline. The fact that Beth seems unable to do even that (as showcased by FO4 and Starfield) makes one wonder whether they're actively trying to be shit or something.

Bethesda can't make another Skyrim because Skyrim is already outdated in every way now. You can't be the only console open world RPG people care about when every major release is an open world RPG. There's no room for Bethesda to do Bethesda any more because bigger and better kids have muscled them out of the way.

 

[destinae vomitus]

He did design, he created the imperial legion faction

Yep, and the Imperial Legion is easily the worst written faction questline in the game with the very first quest standing out in being comparable in "quality" to stuff in later Bethesda games with how dumb it is, what a coincidence.

 

[luj1]

he created the imperial legion faction

No he didn't, but he finished it after Douglass Goodall left

 

[NecroLord]

He did design, he created the imperial legion faction

Yep, and the Imperial Legion is easily the worst written faction questline in the game with the very first quest standing out in being comparable in "quality" to stuff in later Bethesda games with how dumb it is, what a coincidence.

Never joined the Imperial Legion, to tell you the truth.
I go straight to that cave under the Ebonheart castle and grab the Lord's Mail from that thieving Imperial deserter.