Usually I'd like to make a long blog to ramble about something like this, but I'm just tired of giving Bethesda attention. Fallout 76 has released to such vicious blow-back that a law firm is getting involved to decide if the game is a scam. I don't honestly believe the fault is with Bethesda, though; no, Todd's just doing what he's been conditioned to believe is best for the consumer. Joke all you want about how Skyrim is on every console, hell, even I bought the Switch port, but the consumer is the one pushing for this kind of treatment. For my part, I skipped the last generation ports as well as the "Special Edition" remaster simply out of the virtue that Bethesda deserves as little money as possible, but even in this glass house I need to throw a few stones over this mess.
Take the Obsidian debacle, for instance. Nobody talks about New Vegas much for some reason, and some websites skip over it when referring to the series as a whole, but that might be because Bethesda played dirty and screwed Obsidian over for cheap labor. Don't feel bad if you haven't heard this story before, because it certainly didn't circulate over the normal channels. In essence, Bethesda not only forced Obsidian to develop the entire game, including bug testing, in only eighteen months, but also kept them from receiving bonuses under the pretense that they needed to earn an 85 Metacritic score. Most platforms the game received an 84, and in many of the negative reviews you'll note that points were docked because of the game's performance. Poor performance, you may realize, was caused by Bethesda's Frankenstein game engine and Obsidian's insane deadlines.
Bethesda bought the Fallout franchise from Obsidian, dangled it over their heads like a carrot, then shoved them in a locker when they got what they wanted. Bethesda took Obsidian's hard work to the bank, and nobody batted an eye. For me, though, this was the moment I gave up on the studio. Okay, yeah, I bought that Skyrim port, but you know what? I accept that I was part of the problem.
But Fallout 76? That's on you. It's on you for criticizing criticizing Jeff Gerstmann for rightfully pointing out Bethesda's laziness on Fallout 4. It's on the game journalists for not doing their job and putting pressure on Bethesda for their treatment on Obsidian. It's on the mongoloid press for clapping their hands at Bethesda's mediocrity. Is Bethesda to blame for reusing a busted old engine from 2002? Of course. But if you want creators to improve, you have to vote with your wallet. I promise you, if the studio doesn't learn from this fiasco then Starfield and, later, Elder Scrolls VI will absolutely be just as pathetic as Fallout 76. And you can bet they'll point to sales figures as the first justifiable excuse for their half-assed attempt. Just stop giving them money. Just stop buying every shiny new thing without doing any research. Save your money. Please just stop.
Showing posts with label bethesda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bethesda. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Monday, June 13, 2016
E3 2016 Day One Wrap Up: EA and Bethesda
E3 is like a game enthusiast's second Christmas. A week-long Christmas full of frustration and hope. The stars aligned and somehow the two conferences I was looking forward to the least started the week off, meaning that--hopefully--it can only get better from here.
EA
I care very little for EA Games. While they're far less offensive in their activities these days, far better than the miserable two years they deservedly won the esteemed Worst Company of the Year award, they're still churning out terrible reboots and killing studios just like in their heyday. That said, their E3 conference this year wasn't so bad.
I'll say up front that I have no love for sports. They're just not for me, although I'll quickly show my derision for the knuckle-draggers that think they're so clever using the term "sportsball." I get it, you're an ignorant moron. Good job broadcasting it to the world. I'll also say that my opinion on EA was soured even further particularly because of their FIFA line of games and, more specifically, the microtransaction "FIFA Points" implemented in the game. Earlier in the year my PSN account was hacked, and the hacker changed my email address to his own. If not for my genius intellect and quick thinking I'd have probably lost that account forever, but against all odds I got it back. A few months later that hack ended up getting my PSN account banned, and the ensuing chaos caused directly by that hack was one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. And it's all because EA and their scammy microtransactions. So when I see how proud they are of the story mode implemented in their latest FIFA game and all the money they're pouring into their yearly lineup of low-quality sports games, I think I'm deservedly a little bitter.
So naturally, about half of their E3 conference was sports. Sports that I just don't care about, so by extension at least half of this show was stupid. However, they did make a point to say Respawn gained a brain and Titanfall 2 will be shipping with an actual single-player campaign this time around. I haven't bought a Call of Duty game in a while, but as far as I can tell those games haven't had nearly the innovations in parkour mechanics that the original Titanfall brought. Oh yeah, and mechs. I love mechs and so should you. If they're actually going to put money into that single player campaign I'll eat that game up, but since it's EA I'm sure it'll be stupid.
Speaking of stupid, Battlefield 1 is a stupid title. Why not Battlefield 1919 or something? It fits more in line with Battlefield's past naming scheme and doesn't look dumb. Pass.
Mass Effect 3 was the closest I ever want to get to having a crap taken on my chest, and even then I can tell you I wanted the experience to end as soon as possible. Terrible partners, RPG elements all but stripped away, very little exploration, and the most contrived plot twist to crop up in modern science fiction since LOST made for a game that can eternally burn in a dumpster fire. However, something about Mass Effect Andromeda piqued my interest. The returning premise of humanity being the new species among alien life, a concept almost entirely thrown out with the second game, could make for an interesting conflict. Moreover, unexplored worlds and exploration featuring the series whipping boy, the Mako, convinced me that maybe Bioware isn't entirely dead. I mean, it's been dead since Dragon Age II, but maybe this will be a return to form. Doubt it, but I'm optimistic.
Star Wars, because of course. A sequel to Battlefront was announced before the first game had its DLC finished, and I would wager it'll end up being either an annual series or take turns with Battlefield for EA's premiere cash grab. But wait--Amy Hennig and Jade Raymond are both working on a third-person action game with Visceral? Teasing us with Mos Eisley, too? Guys, I don't want to make this statement too early but my eye is very keenly focused on this new game. I don't care at all about any of this other crap, just please let me see much more of Visceral's Star Wars. It's the most I've been hyped about the series since 1313 was unfairly canned.
Wrapping the show up, EA announced several games being the focus of a charity drive. That's cool, I'm sure it'll be very helpful to the charities involved considering EA's player base. Other than that, EA announced EA Originals, an Indie development platform that reeks of following a trend. I'd love to see EA throwing open its massive coffers to support independent development, but you'll excuse me if I'm reticent of their good will considering all the developers they've bought only to shut their doors when sales were low.
Overall the games shown gave me a little bit of hope for EA, but with all the sports and prior knowledge of their business practices I have to wonder how much they'll actually deliver.
Bethesda
Someone once told me Skyrim is the best Action RPG of all time, and I laughed at him so hard he turned into a tree. Like EA, I don't care for the direction Bethesda's flagship series are taking; I still haven't picked up Fallout 4 and I don't particularly care to, either. This isn't a review of Bethesda games, but I wanted to make it clear that I didn't come into this show with any interest in Elder Scrolls or Nu-Fallout.
While Dishonored 2 shows promise, I never cared to finish the original game. It seems interesting and much better than the new Thief game as a successor to that series--although that's still not saying much. Hearing that this game will come with a voucher for a digital copy of the original game perked me right up though, so I might just pick this one up if only to get a two-game experience out of it. If it's exclusive to the Collector's Edition, which I'm sure it probably is, then there goes my interest.
Prey is about what I expected from the reveal, if only for the fact that it's a reboot. The original Prey came out years ago and dropping a sequel to a sleeper hit like that seems like a bad idea, so merely rebooting it and retooling gameplay ideas from the canned sequel might just be the way to go. I like the premise and setting, but then I also liked the original game. However, we got no gameplay out of it unless you consider "cinematic" representations to be gameplay. I need to see more, but it has potential.
I don't care at all about Fallout, but I'm a bit disappointed in the direction for Quake: Champions. I was hoping for another glorious reboot like Wolfenstein and Doom, and if this turns out to simply be a hero-based arena shooter a la Team Fortress 2 or Overwatch then I just don't care. I also don't care about Elder Scrolls Online or its card game, and Skyrim Special Edition is the most obvious remaster in history. That said, I lost interest in the original release so I might pick this one up. It's just a prettier version of the game on PC with mod support, but that might be alright. So long as it's at a reasonable price, at least. Then again I got bored of it so quickly that I can see it happening this time around as well.
Finally, I'm disappointed that Doom had no Single Player content confirmed, but I'm glad they're opening Snapmap to be more like custom .wads from the original games. It'll give players plenty to do for some time in the future, so let us have it.
Overall, I went into Bethesda's conference with my hopes very low and came away with a bit of information that I didn't entirely hate. The remastered games are annoying, but Prey and Snapmap options are very welcome.
Stay tuned this week for my feelings on the rest of the conferences!
EA
I care very little for EA Games. While they're far less offensive in their activities these days, far better than the miserable two years they deservedly won the esteemed Worst Company of the Year award, they're still churning out terrible reboots and killing studios just like in their heyday. That said, their E3 conference this year wasn't so bad.
I'll say up front that I have no love for sports. They're just not for me, although I'll quickly show my derision for the knuckle-draggers that think they're so clever using the term "sportsball." I get it, you're an ignorant moron. Good job broadcasting it to the world. I'll also say that my opinion on EA was soured even further particularly because of their FIFA line of games and, more specifically, the microtransaction "FIFA Points" implemented in the game. Earlier in the year my PSN account was hacked, and the hacker changed my email address to his own. If not for my genius intellect and quick thinking I'd have probably lost that account forever, but against all odds I got it back. A few months later that hack ended up getting my PSN account banned, and the ensuing chaos caused directly by that hack was one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. And it's all because EA and their scammy microtransactions. So when I see how proud they are of the story mode implemented in their latest FIFA game and all the money they're pouring into their yearly lineup of low-quality sports games, I think I'm deservedly a little bitter.
So naturally, about half of their E3 conference was sports. Sports that I just don't care about, so by extension at least half of this show was stupid. However, they did make a point to say Respawn gained a brain and Titanfall 2 will be shipping with an actual single-player campaign this time around. I haven't bought a Call of Duty game in a while, but as far as I can tell those games haven't had nearly the innovations in parkour mechanics that the original Titanfall brought. Oh yeah, and mechs. I love mechs and so should you. If they're actually going to put money into that single player campaign I'll eat that game up, but since it's EA I'm sure it'll be stupid.
Speaking of stupid, Battlefield 1 is a stupid title. Why not Battlefield 1919 or something? It fits more in line with Battlefield's past naming scheme and doesn't look dumb. Pass.
Mass Effect 3 was the closest I ever want to get to having a crap taken on my chest, and even then I can tell you I wanted the experience to end as soon as possible. Terrible partners, RPG elements all but stripped away, very little exploration, and the most contrived plot twist to crop up in modern science fiction since LOST made for a game that can eternally burn in a dumpster fire. However, something about Mass Effect Andromeda piqued my interest. The returning premise of humanity being the new species among alien life, a concept almost entirely thrown out with the second game, could make for an interesting conflict. Moreover, unexplored worlds and exploration featuring the series whipping boy, the Mako, convinced me that maybe Bioware isn't entirely dead. I mean, it's been dead since Dragon Age II, but maybe this will be a return to form. Doubt it, but I'm optimistic.
Star Wars, because of course. A sequel to Battlefront was announced before the first game had its DLC finished, and I would wager it'll end up being either an annual series or take turns with Battlefield for EA's premiere cash grab. But wait--Amy Hennig and Jade Raymond are both working on a third-person action game with Visceral? Teasing us with Mos Eisley, too? Guys, I don't want to make this statement too early but my eye is very keenly focused on this new game. I don't care at all about any of this other crap, just please let me see much more of Visceral's Star Wars. It's the most I've been hyped about the series since 1313 was unfairly canned.
Wrapping the show up, EA announced several games being the focus of a charity drive. That's cool, I'm sure it'll be very helpful to the charities involved considering EA's player base. Other than that, EA announced EA Originals, an Indie development platform that reeks of following a trend. I'd love to see EA throwing open its massive coffers to support independent development, but you'll excuse me if I'm reticent of their good will considering all the developers they've bought only to shut their doors when sales were low.
Overall the games shown gave me a little bit of hope for EA, but with all the sports and prior knowledge of their business practices I have to wonder how much they'll actually deliver.
Bethesda
Someone once told me Skyrim is the best Action RPG of all time, and I laughed at him so hard he turned into a tree. Like EA, I don't care for the direction Bethesda's flagship series are taking; I still haven't picked up Fallout 4 and I don't particularly care to, either. This isn't a review of Bethesda games, but I wanted to make it clear that I didn't come into this show with any interest in Elder Scrolls or Nu-Fallout.
While Dishonored 2 shows promise, I never cared to finish the original game. It seems interesting and much better than the new Thief game as a successor to that series--although that's still not saying much. Hearing that this game will come with a voucher for a digital copy of the original game perked me right up though, so I might just pick this one up if only to get a two-game experience out of it. If it's exclusive to the Collector's Edition, which I'm sure it probably is, then there goes my interest.
Prey is about what I expected from the reveal, if only for the fact that it's a reboot. The original Prey came out years ago and dropping a sequel to a sleeper hit like that seems like a bad idea, so merely rebooting it and retooling gameplay ideas from the canned sequel might just be the way to go. I like the premise and setting, but then I also liked the original game. However, we got no gameplay out of it unless you consider "cinematic" representations to be gameplay. I need to see more, but it has potential.
I don't care at all about Fallout, but I'm a bit disappointed in the direction for Quake: Champions. I was hoping for another glorious reboot like Wolfenstein and Doom, and if this turns out to simply be a hero-based arena shooter a la Team Fortress 2 or Overwatch then I just don't care. I also don't care about Elder Scrolls Online or its card game, and Skyrim Special Edition is the most obvious remaster in history. That said, I lost interest in the original release so I might pick this one up. It's just a prettier version of the game on PC with mod support, but that might be alright. So long as it's at a reasonable price, at least. Then again I got bored of it so quickly that I can see it happening this time around as well.
Finally, I'm disappointed that Doom had no Single Player content confirmed, but I'm glad they're opening Snapmap to be more like custom .wads from the original games. It'll give players plenty to do for some time in the future, so let us have it.
Overall, I went into Bethesda's conference with my hopes very low and came away with a bit of information that I didn't entirely hate. The remastered games are annoying, but Prey and Snapmap options are very welcome.
Stay tuned this week for my feelings on the rest of the conferences!
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