UK's The Guardian Int. w/ Todd

[Axie]

Like, if anyone cares, there is a mini interview I just stumbled upon while reading MSM in their quest of provoking WWIII (because, why not), and here came Todd...

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2...odd-howard-pete-hines-elder-scrolls-starfield

“People look at Skyrim and say, ‘That’s a dragon-killing power fantasy,’ but the actual underlying theme was: do you take a nationalistic view of your own country, or look at the whole world? I think that’s still pretty topical today”

In 2010, Bethesda plugged the long gap between its own Fallout games by letting another developer, Obsidian, give the series a spin.
(...)
“I wouldn’t say never,” he says. “[But] now that our company is so big, it’s always better to keep stuff internal ... it becomes less likely, but I could never say never. I thought the Obsidian guys did a fabulous job.”

Rather short one, but I guess someone would still want to look at it.

 

[RNGsus]

but the actual underlying theme was: do you take a nationalistic view of your own country, or look at the whole world? I think that’s still pretty topical today

 

[Cross]

I can still remember sitting in my bedroom playing Ultima, really being transported, even though they were just little 16-pixel-high guys on the screen. That’s what I want our games to do: to transport people for the time they’re in it.”

But for something like Morrowind, my personal preference is not to remaster it. We [also] get asked a lot to remaster [1997’s] Fallout 1, and I usually say, if you have a PC you can play Fallout the way it was. I think that’s how it should be.

WTF I love Todd Howard now.

 

[RNGsus]

Todd do work in mysterious ways

 

[taxalot]

People have to distinguish Todd Howard's games from Todd Howard. I am quite certain Todd loves Fallout 1 & 2. I am quite also certain that he understands what makes them so special compared to FO3&4.

But Todd is in an important position in a company that needs to make as much money as possible ; what he likes, what he is doesn't matter. Todd is making an excellent job at what he's doing. We may not appreciate his products, but I'm quite sure he's still the kind of guy I would love to have a beer with.

 

[RNGsus]

That may be. He's gushed for Ultima and Fallout in the past.

Anyhow, looks like Skyrim got a port to the White House. We should all be thanking Bethesda, is what Todd wanted to say.

 

[Yosharian]

All it takes for Evil to triumph is for Todd Howard to do nothing/something

 

[Daemongar]

the actual underlying theme was: do you take a nationalistic view of your own country, or look at the whole world? I think that’s still pretty topical today”.

Wow, that's pretty deep: no matter if you are a nationalist, or a globalist, in the end, it doesn't make a fucking difference. You get the same crappy ending.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Wow, that's pretty deep: no matter if you are a nationalist, or a globalist, in the end, it doesn't make a fucking difference. You get the same crappy ending.

At least Ass Effect 3 gave you 3 colours of ending and different levels of how fukt your ship is :trollboy:

 

[Commissar Draco]

So Todd prefers games to his own products? Not very surprising you won't find architects living in ugly modern concrete houses they design neither or left wing politicians sending their kids to diverse public schools etc... etc...

 

[Cael]

So Todd prefers games to his own products? Not very surprising you won't find architects living in ugly modern concrete houses they design neither or left wing politicians sending their kids to diverse public schools etc... etc...

Here in Australia, leftards go one step further: Bring in all the economic refugees to leech off our welfare system, but don't let them into the inner city suburbs. Park them away from my backyard, thanks!

 

[CaffeineConquistador]

Never trust a guy with two first names as his full name.

 

[Cael]

Never trust a guy with two first names as his full name.

How about a woman with two surnames?

 

[unfairlight]

Todd does it for the money and that's fine. I think he could make a pretty cool game but it's probably Zenimax who wants him to make shit like Fallout 76.

 

[Fargus]

I can still remember sitting in my bedroom playing Ultima, really being transported, even though they were just little 16-pixel-high guys on the screen. That’s what I want our games to do: to transport people for the time they’re in it.”

But for something like Morrowind, my personal preference is not to remaster it. We [also] get asked a lot to remaster [1997’s] Fallout 1, and I usually say, if you have a PC you can play Fallout the way it was. I think that’s how it should be.

WTF I love Todd Howard now.

Careful now. Thats how Todd gets to you. He says what you want to hear and the next thing you know you will be buying Bethesdas new game.

 

[RNGsus]

Many codexers have faced Todd, only to buy him a round at the bar.

 

[Thal]

So Todd prefers games to his own products? Not very surprising you won't find architects living in ugly modern concrete houses they design neither or left wing politicians sending their kids to diverse public schools etc... etc...

Have you considered that he might like both types?

Plenty of people even in the 'dex think Skyrim is good for what it is. Especially if modded.

But Todd is in an important position in a company that needs to make as much money as possible ; what he likes, what he is doesn't matter. Todd is making an excellent job at what he's doing. We may not appreciate his products, but I'm quite sure he's still the kind of guy I would love to have a beer with.

But as taxalot said, Bethesda grown so large that it will implode if they start making hardcore crpgs. There is only one way forward for them it's catering to the mass market.

With the way things are, the most important factors for a good Bethesda game are in fact quest lines, especially the plot and the writing that carries it, and mod tools. This is because modders can fix plenty of stuff wrong with the game mechanics themselves, but they can't touch the questlines. Now, in a perfect world Bethesda might be able come through with those, given how succesful The Witcher 3 was. Also with the release of the survival mode for Skyrim Special edition, it seems obvious that Betheda devs actually are aware of the best mods and play Skyrim modded. Who knows, maybe they can release a well written casual rpg, that can be modded to resemble a hardcore crpg.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Plenty of people even in the 'dex think Skyrim is good for what it is. Especially if modded.

This is the most pernicious lie here. It doesn't matter how much you mod Skyrim, it is still utter shiiite. Everything about it is utter shiiiite. The combat system, the story/writing, the quests, the world, the dungeons, the loot, the everything...

 

[Raapys]

Also, devs don't generally play games they've made.

 

[unfairlight]

Newspapers are a dead medium and all of the ones you listed are generally propaganda with occasional hints of decent journalism.

 

[Delterius]

WTF I love Todd Howard now.

Spoiler

 

[Thal]

Plenty of people even in the 'dex think Skyrim is good for what it is. Especially if modded.

This is the most pernicious lie here. It doesn't matter how much you mod Skyrim, it is still utter shiiite. Everything about it is utter shiiiite. The combat system, the story/writing, the quests, the world, the dungeons, the loot, the everything...

Did I say all people? The improving Skyrim mod thread has over 5000 replies and 500k page views, are you claiming that all of them hate playing it?

I don't actually have a very high opinion Skyrim. The quest lines are bland or bad, mages guild being the worst offender. Dungeons are mostly corridors with no verticality or secret areas and no resource management aspect. In fact the whole game has no resource management whatsoever and no real challenge either.

Requiem fixes combat to the point where it's pretty fun but only for low levels. But once you reach something like 75 skill level it becomes even easier than the base game due to lack of high level content. Vanilla loot is shit, but this is somewhat remedied by Requiem or Morroloot. The problem is that the best stuff like Mace of Molag Bal is still very easy to get. It puts a bandaid on the gutted spell system by making spells actually interesting, but at the price of making the player overpowered in the end. Combined with Frostfall it also has some sort of resource management. You still end up playing through the same dungeons and the same quests, which were designed for casuals in mind. Hence, the not a great game even while modded. However, for a low level open world with challenging combat and resource management, good for what it is.

Even modded it's a flawed game in my estimation, but I've played it plenty in the past. Doesn't mean it's Ultima Underworld, why is this so hard to get?

 

[Delterius]

Did I say all people? The improving Skyrim mod thread has over 5000 replies and 500k page views, are you claiming that all of them hate playing it?

As a matter of fact, that would be a reasonable point of view. The Improving Skyrim thread is basically Requiem central, a desperate attempt to mod Skyrim into Dark Souls. Further, DraQ is responsible for 95% of all posts in the thread, and he sure as hell hates Skyrim as much as he loves Morrowind.