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I dropped an item on the ground while I was managing my inventory. A passing imperial patrol took notice and started fighting over it ("That's mine now!", "Not if I get it first!"), they are so busy with their brawl that I can pick it back up unmolested. One person died. Then the captain arrives(he was a little behind them for some reason, probably fighting a wolf or something), checks the body and says "Oh, what happened?". Then one of the soldiers (maybe the murderer himself) says "I'm gonna catch the one who did this". Radiant as fuck
If Shippey is correct in his assessment of the non-existence of Anglo-Saxon literature and history within popular culture, how and why can Anglo-Saxon tropes be used so effectively within Skyrim to develop an engaging fantasy narrative? The main answer is appeal. The appeal of such a timeline and frame of reference is understandable from the perspective of both the developer and the player: Anglo-Saxon and Norse value systems appeal to the combat-oriented aspects of typical RPG gameplay (as will be seen later in the thesis) and provide a cultural backdrop that is relatable through its iconography yet far enough removed from our own sensibilities to operate successfully as a fantasy culture and narrative.
This point is correct though not quite in the way he is hoping since you can just fight your way through everything regardless of what guild you are a part of.
The post-apocalyptic science fiction Fallout series, for instance, justifies the player’s unique abilities and advantageous position in a desolated world through the use of the vault system, a project established by the United States government which ultimately allowed for several members of the human race to survive the destruction of civilization and continue to progress over the period of a century (“Fallout”, Bethesda).
I hate this kid so much for not mentioning Black Isle.
tl;dr: Beowulf/Odin/Tolkien references, Norse mythology, blah blah blah Skyrim is Nordic inspired game. Nothing that wasn't obvious but he did his homework.
To be fair he's got a point. Skyrim had only a few quests that went beyond the GO TO DUNGEON, KILL STUFF, FIND THING. The Sheogorath quest comes to mind, and some of the master level magic quests.
Oblivion on the other hand had a quest where you sleep in an inn which is a ship, and as you sleep it is hijacked by pirates and sets sail. You have to beat them in order to save the crew and get back to shore.
To be fair he's got a point. Skyrim had only a few quests that went beyond the GO TO DUNGEON, KILL STUFF, FIND THING. The Sheogorath quest comes to mind, and some of the master level magic quests.
Oblivion on the other hand had a quest where you sleep in an inn which is a ship, and as you sleep it is hijacked by pirates and sets sail. You have to beat them in order to save the crew and get back to shore.
To be fair he's got a point. Skyrim had only a few quests that went beyond the GO TO DUNGEON, KILL STUFF, FIND THING. The Sheogorath quest comes to mind, and some of the master level magic quests.
Oblivion on the other hand had a quest where you sleep in an inn which is a ship, and as you sleep it is hijacked by pirates and sets sail. You have to beat them in order to save the crew and get back to shore.
To be fair he's got a point. Skyrim had only a few quests that went beyond the GO TO DUNGEON, KILL STUFF, FIND THING. The Sheogorath quest comes to mind, and some of the master level magic quests.
Oblivion on the other hand had a quest where you sleep in an inn which is a ship, and as you sleep it is hijacked by pirates and sets sail. You have to beat them in order to save the crew and get back to shore.
I'd have to really sit down and look over quest lists to figure out if I agree with that or not. I remember both having about the same handful of unique stuff but mostly being standard fetch/kill/dungeon questing. To be fair most RPGs fall into that category, and it's all about the world and context making you overlook it. Skyrim has a better world and context for me, Oblivion is too simplistic. Actual better quest design though? Like I said, I'd have to sit down and analyze it.
Morrowind had muuuuuuch better world and context, though arguably the worst quest design ever. New Vegas had probably the best quest design, and great context, but the world was iffy. Why can't shit be perfect!
Climb into the well and drown because of a fucking cursed ring I dropped in there for no other reason than tipping everyone in the guild that I'm not just pointe lessly evil but also retarded, as are all the other necromancers because.
Guess what fucker, you're trapped in a copypasted dungeon inside a ruined fort on an island where hunters hunt people for fun and you are the prey. Now as you emerge from the dungeon, stand still listening to villain speech and then watching the guy you were sent to rescue and who was also helping you take an axe to the face, unable to intervene in spite of plenty of time because it's cutscene time, you're forcibly frozen in place and everything is scripted.
At least in Skyrim:
-fake urgency game doesn't intend to follow up with actual consequences has been dropped down a few notches. There is still plenty to go around but at least it's of the kind "dragons may attack any time, better hurry doing X" rather than "THE CITY IS ON FIRE AND PEOPLE YOU HAVE TO SAVE ARE CORNERED AND ABOUT TO GET RAPED WITH FLAMING DICKS!!!1".
-there is *some* C&C rather than particular choices/idiot mode being forced upon you because of teh story. If an idiot mode is forced upon you it's usually much lesser idiot mode than it was in Oblivion.
-if there is some scripted even't you'd reasonably want and be able to stop you usually can and the game will react. Cutscene paralysis, when it does occur, actually has in-universe explanation instead of just writer's whim.
Of course there are many in-game explanations for cutscene paralysis. Being pinned under rubble, getting injected with a paralytic poison, being held telkinetically, etc.
See the pattern here? They are all highly circumstantial and none of them involves standing there like a lemon for no actual reason.
At least in Skyrim:
-fake urgency game doesn't intend to follow up with actual consequences has been dropped down a few notches. There is still plenty to go around but at least it's of the kind "dragons may attack any time, better hurry doing X" rather than "THE CITY IS ON FIRE AND PEOPLE YOU HAVE TO SAVE ARE CORNERED AND ABOUT TO GET RAPED WITH FLAMING DICKS!!!1".
When the first main quest dragon shows up, you can just go to the other side of the map, remain there for months and then come back to fight the dragon who will still be there. I don't see an improvement here, it totally is Kvatch Part II.
-if there is some scripted even't you'd reasonably want and be able to stop you usually can and the game will react. Cutscene paralysis, when it does occur, actually has in-universe explanation instead of just writer's whim.
I thought this aspect was actually worse in Skyrim, mostly because there are more scripted events. The first time you visit Solitude you'll get to witness an execution scene, but good luck trying to stop it. If you try to interfere, everyone including the person whose life you just saved will attack you. The Thieves Guild questline alone has several cases of cutscene paralysis, only one of which is explained (fucking magic arrow that would be the most OP thing ever but which doesn't exist anywhere else in the game world). Some cases are explained a bit better (like getting stuck behind bars in that early Companions quest), but IMO it's a very clumsy storytelling tool that is used way too frequently considering how much emphasis the game supposedly puts on player freedom. I don't think there's any real improvement to be found here either.
In terms of thematic variety Oblivion's quests are probably the best in the series (lots of quests taking place in cities, more differences between guild quests, lots of twists here and there so that things aren't just straightforward dungeon crawling all the time etc.), but it matters very little when everything's on rails and you must follow the quest compass through all kinds of retarded stuff without having any kind of a say in the matter. Skyrim doesn't really fare any better, but the railroading isn't as annoying when the quests generally don't pretend to be anything more than they are (i.e. simple fetch quests where the focus is on killing stuff). However, when Skyrim does try to do something a bit more clever, it ends up being a complete fucking disaster. For example,
the Windhelm murder mystery is a curious quest in the sense that blindly following the compass leads to a "wrong" solution, which is really refreshing. The structure of the quest is a lot more open than in most of the other quests, and there's a lot more player choice involved. The quest is also broken in about a billion ways. The game gives you plenty of hints on who the killer might be (you can find out what the murder weapon is, and later you'll even visit a person who will personally show you a bunch of similar weapons), yet you can't do anything about it. You might pickpocket the suspect, take his key and use it to pick a lock in his secret chest, which is full of stuff that undisputedly shows that he's the murderer, but instead of being able to confront him or tell someone about him, you're supposed to just do what the game tells you until you can catch the killer red-handed when he tries to kill another person in front of half of the city's population like a retard. So much for being a detective.
For me, the major problem with both games is that there simply isn't a lot of content you'd actually want to play through. Oblivion is mind-bogglingly retarded whereas Skyrim is mind-numbingly unimaginative and generally incompetent when it comes to quest design.
For me, the major problem with both games is that there simply isn't a lot of content you'd actually want to play through. Oblivion is mind-bogglingly retarded whereas Skyrim is mind-numbingly unimaginative and generally incompetent when it comes to quest design.
When the first main quest dragon shows up, you can just go to the other side of the map, remain there for months and then come back to fight the dragon who will still be there. I don't see an improvement here, it totally is Kvatch Part II.
Fair point, though at least you don't have a bunch of people with their assess to the fire waiting to be saved.
I thought this aspect was actually worse in Skyrim, mostly because there are more scripted events. The first time you visit Solitude you'll get to witness an execution scene, but good luck trying to stop it. If you try to interfere, everyone including the person whose life you just saved will attack you. The Thieves Guild questline alone has several cases of cutscene paralysis, only one of which is explained (fucking magic arrow that would be the most OP thing ever but which doesn't exist anywhere else in the game world). Some cases are explained a bit better (like getting stuck behind bars in that early Companions quest), but IMO it's a very clumsy storytelling tool that is used way too frequently considering how much emphasis the game supposedly puts on player freedom. I don't think there's any real improvement to be found here either.
In terms of thematic variety Oblivion's quests are probably the best in the series (lots of quests taking place in cities, more differences between guild quests, lots of twists here and there so that things aren't just straightforward dungeon crawling all the time etc.), but it matters very little when everything's on rails and you must follow the quest compass through all kinds of retarded stuff without having any kind of a say in the matter. Skyrim doesn't really fare any better, but the railroading isn't as annoying when the quests generally don't pretend to be anything more than they are (i.e. simple fetch quests where the focus is on killing stuff). However, when Skyrim does try to do something a bit more clever, it ends up being a complete fucking disaster. For example,
the Windhelm murder mystery is a curious quest in the sense that blindly following the compass leads to a "wrong" solution, which is really refreshing. The structure of the quest is a lot more open than in most of the other quests, and there's a lot more player choice involved. The quest is also broken in about a billion ways. The game gives you plenty of hints on who the killer might be (you can find out what the murder weapon is, and later you'll even visit a person who will personally show you a bunch of similar weapons), yet you can't do anything about it. You might pickpocket the suspect, take his key and use it to pick a lock in his secret chest, which is full of stuff that undisputedly shows that he's the murderer, but instead of being able to confront him or tell someone about him, you're supposed to just do what the game tells you until you can catch the killer red-handed when he tries to kill another person in front of half of the city's population like a retard. So much for being a detective.
Correct me if I'm wrong but actual cutscene paralysis (getting paralyzed because of cutscene and cutscene alone) still doesn't seem to be much of a thing in Skyrim. You either have *some* explanation or are already confined mechanically making paralysis or partial paralysis redundant (like with Farkas' setpiece).
The example with execution and investigation, while obviously just as grating, are more of scripting failures as they don't limit what you can do, they just break down at the point where game would have to react in a sane manner.
Yet another reason why less is more when it comes to scripting.
For me, the major problem with both games is that there simply isn't a lot of content you'd actually want to play through. Oblivion is mind-bogglingly retarded whereas Skyrim is mind-numbingly unimaginative and generally incompetent when it comes to quest design.
He aced it so hard you had to spend half of it with idiot ball rammed up your face.
Also had to hang out with an embarrassing bunch of retarded goth sociopaths, because the writer's brain has apparently blown a fuse when trying to come up with characters for assassin guild (that or he saw the face models before actually getting to work - I'd imagine it being hard to think with such visages stuck in your head, especially without emergency booze available).
