A salute to Bethesda Softworks

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I have found, with extensive hours of enjoyment (that's what it's all about) that Bethesda Softworks is the ultimate standard for RPG gaming.

Bethesda has published many breakthroughs in RPG gaming - namely Arena, Daggerfall, and the recent Morrowind. The entire Elder Scrolls series is an infectious beauty to the industry of gaming, and I have decided that these games are the best I've ever played. They are intriguing, exciting, realistic, unrealistic, artistic, intelligent, creative, ingenious, and mind-blowing all at the same time.
Recent Morrowind raises the expectations of gaming companies with its mind-stuttering graphics - it's like walking around in a fully-interactive 3DMark world. On that topic, the world itself is a fully-explorable safe haven from the terrors of reality, a whole new life to live and person to be - with a world that, unlike in most games, actually seems real. It is intelligent gaming - its full enjoyment can only be obtained by those capable of individual thought; the main plot is simply a brother to countless other quests and explorations you can perform, personality-defining actions instead of mindless, generic chapter-playing. Why yes, there are even books in the game if you take time to read once in a while. Some of them are very interesting, some hilarious, and all of them as true to Morrowind as you and I are to Earth. Daggerfall was the same way, for its time - vast (moreover endless) with thousands of cities and dozens of countries to choose from to play out your part as a thief, mage, warrior, or whatever whenever and however you like. All of the Elder Scrolls games let you make your own classes and define yourself any way you want (even combination clothing) - and with the new Elder Scrolls Construction Set, you can create new races, skills, NPCs, bushes, trees, galaxies...you name it. It's all there. Perhaps it's just me, but these games present a unique feeling - you know, the same kind of feeling you get when you listen to the Baldur's Gate 1 soundtrack...pure wonder that such enjoyment is possible.
If you're looking for a review, I would say that the graphics are better than anything I've ever seen in this genre, the music and sound are excellent, the gameplay is flawless (although it takes a beastly computer to have this game run at 'normal' performance, although it's nothing to whine about; you pay for what you get, and what you get is worth what you pay), and overall, the fun level is near ecstasy if you can enjoy pure, perfect RPGs.
So I salute Bethesda Softworks for being the most competent, excellent designers of RPGs out there. Buy Morrowind. Find Daggerfall on eBay and buy it. These are such innovative, absorbing games that you could count up the hours you spend playing them watching the Sun float by in a peaceful Morrowind sky, or trace the constellations in Morrowind's night stars, or try to figure out Ngasta! Kvaka! Kvakis! the book by flickering candlelight inside the mushroom tavern of a great Telvanni sorcerer as you think of what you're going to do next in your quest to better yourself and to define yourself in Bethesda's unique, beautiful gaming worlds.

 

I and never even heard of them before I got Morrowind, but it is an absolutely amazing game, go Bethesda Softworks, go.

 

Xaelifer, Bethesda is one of the worst gaming companies in existence when it comes to customer support. Remember how buggy Daggerfall was? that game might as well not have had a beta period considering all the patches that had to be realesed. version 2.13 ring any bells? And what they did with Echelon...they paid the Russian developer $100,000 out of the 250,000 they were contractually obligate to pay for the finished game, and did not send them 1 cent of royalties (it sold about 50k copies in US, but i don't know about world wide). There was a bug in Echelon that made multiplayer unplayable, but it's been a year and a half and no patch because of the conflict between the developer and Bethsoft. Bethsoft=Satan. :/

 

I must say that I am disapointed in Morrowind, sure almost everyhing good that has been said about the game is true. But it doesnt matter when there is no depth in the game. I see no reason for my char to run around. I dont want it streamlined but I do want to have some reason for doing what I do. As it is know I just start it up play for half an hour finishe a quest or two and then I am bored because there is nothing that drives me on. The second biggest fault is the super crappy combat system, if I want to play a fps I start Quake or Unreal not what is supposed to be an crpg.

 

AMaster - bugs were the problem with Daggerfall, but did you even play the game at all? And who cares about Bethesda's pocket budget?

joacqin - You're right - it's kind of aggravating with the whole real-world travel feel, but if you're smart you can change that by using silt striders, guild guides, boats, and the Mark and Recall spells to get around easily, with minimum exploration time (although that's one of the best parts). If there's "nothing to drive you on", I hate to say it, but it's your own fault - the game depends on your ideas for what you want to do next, unlike a Go Here, Do This, Then Do This, Beat Bad Guy, Go Here storyline like Diablo or something. I haven't noticed anything wrong with the combat system, although there's something wrong with EVERY combat system after playing Unreal or Quake. There actually IS a combat system, I should say.

 

Xaelifer, yes, I did play Daggerfall. And Morrowind. I love both of them but my point was that Daggerfall was unforgiveably buggy. See, you were talking about Bethsoft being one of the best companies around, and I was trying to point out that while they make some good games, they screw their customers and other companies over far too often. TES: Battlespire sound familiar? Morrowind is much less buggy than Daggerfall, but the whole Echelon situation shows that Bethsoft hasn't really changed.

oh yes-the truly unforgivable thing about the Echelon release was that Bethsoft provided exactly 0 servers for multiplay. There was no matchmaking service either. No Gamespy. Nothing. It was Bethsoft's responsiblity to setup servers, and they didn't do it. #@%$ the customer. Again

Xael, it seems to me you're just saying Daggerfall and Morrowind (and Arena) are two of the best roleplaying games around. I agree with that. However, you also say Bethsoft is a wonderful company, which I think I've shown is a ridiculous idea.

 

I don't give a damn if Bethesda didn't 'provide' services for the greedy consumer or Daggerfall had lots of bugs that got FIXED or Bethesda 'screws' their customers (I haven't been screwed - why have you? And who cares what goes on in the hierarchy of commercialism for such a market?) - they make good games, and therefore they are a good gaming corporation. At least in comparison with other companies - they've as many flaws as Bioware, for example, just in different places. What they lack in customer support and rumored spend-thriftiness they give to the public in the form of the best games around.

 

Xaelifer, I have neither plaied Quake nor Unreal very extensively, I loathe FPS. That is why I have a problem with the combat system in Morrowind, as soon as you get into combat you are playing a FPS. One of the reasons I like CRPG's instead of FPS' is that I dont like to click click and aim aim. I am neither good at nor do I enjoy it. I like to develop my char, see him grow in power etc etc. I like to decide the tactics and such but I do want my char to do the actual hacking and aiming for himself.

About not being immerged I see your point, but I still think that there should be some plot that is making me intrigued and that will make me 'just play another second' all the quests I have done so far have been fedex quests. Go there kill/fetch that. Not very stimulating.

I dont agree with you on travel, of course I use the silt riders and mage transports when possible. But quite often it isnt possible. Just now I had to go the fishing village south of Balmora, it took me 5 minutes real time with nothing to do. I can swallow this if I hadnt been forced to press my W key all the time and navigate through stones and bushes. Travel takes energy and it isnt very stimulating.

 

well Tal, you said everything I was going to say to Xael (though much more eloquently than I would have managed).

Joacqin, do you like strategy games or wargames? Give 'em a try if you haven't already

[This message has been edited by AMaster (edited July 02, 2002).]

 

I love strategy games, teh Civilization series is the best game series ever made. Blizzards RTS are also great. But I like RPG's as much.

 

I totally agree with Tal. Games that are so buggy that they are almost unplayable are not classics and the company that makes them shows that it doesn't have any respect for the customers

 

What I'm saying, and what I've been saying all along, is that Bethesda makes excellent games and that I don't care what AMaster has to say about their multiplayer servers and bugs and whatnot - the bugs of Daggerfall were expectedly fixed, and the Echelon bug...? Well, apparently there was a "conflict between the developer and Bethsoft". It'll take more information to judge anything about that.

The "greedy customer" is simply an extension of that fact - some people are so utterly irritated by the fact that there were bugs and things that they probably don't remember much about the actual games, and they judge Bethesda, not the games, without knowing anything besides what they supply to the customer and when. You say the games weren't playable because of bugs, but I played them, and there weren't any bugs after a few patches, right? So what's the matter?

Games so buggy that their makers have no respect for customers, Uytuun? When they don't get fixed, I agree, but which Bethesda game are you talking about? The Daggerfall bugs were fixed...Battlespire just sucked anyway...I don't even know about the Echelon situation...Morrowind has very few problems...

Taluntain, I'm not saying that Bethesda should act like the arrogant three-year old you're displaying me as, but I'm saying that the games worked for me, the services Bethesda provides are fine, and that their games are the best I've ever played...if there was a problem with Morrowind which made it unplayable, it would be fixed by Bethesda. There is a to-the-point map inside the game box, a beautiful manual, and the game itself - no warez crap like Gothic or something...

I mean, I could go on and on about how Bioware totally screwed us over with the graphics of Neverwinter Nights, but it'd be the same thing as you telling me Bethesda screws their customers with bugs and National Sales Rumors and whatnot... just a different area. Like giving one company two stars in graphics, five everywhere else, and another company two stars in customer support, five everywhere else - the same kind of jip.

I think these comments earlier by AMaster about the money properties don't really matter, and thus I don't really care.

joacqin - You're right with the travel thing - it is definitely aggravating to walk long distances with nothing to do. I guess they counted on the monster spawns to keep you on your toes, but those just kind of piss you off.

 

Here's a point many might not have considered...

Getting a game which is bug free to start adds a lot of value to the game and to company that created it. Why?

Because not everyone can download a patch.

I have been buying PC games for quite some time, but my internet connection is only around two years old. I suppose that most households in the US and the European countries have an internet connection, but here, where telecommunications isn't as efficient (or cost effective) as the west and the other wealthier asian countries, majority do not. Many surf the web and exchange email via internet cafes, where they can easily pay around $1 an hour.

In fact, PC's here are for most, a tool for school and the office. I suppose having a "gaming machine" isn't rare, but a connection to the internet is uncommon. To add to that, most go by phone modems, and use prepaid services to go online, which aren't that fast. As such, most wouldn't want to blow their prepaid hours just unloading a patch for a game, especially when you need to research stuff for school.

So games which rely on patches subtract from the overall value. Most of the tech-support in the asia-pacific region are located in Singapore and Australia (at least the English based ones are) and last I heard, they aren't selling and shipping floppies of the fixes via the mail.





[This message has been edited by eveningdrive (edited July 03, 2002).]

 

Tal - you're right with everything you've said, as usual, but still that's not my point. My point is that there are some damn good games by Bethesda, and thus Bethesda is a damn good gaming company. I don't know how this got turned into a slam Bethesda/bug consumer screw/patch topic, but I really didn't mean to emulsify that I don't care if Bethesda 'screws' the customers.

If they had 'screwed' me, I'd care, but they haven't yet...they've just made a bunch of awesome games and their consumer support, even IF it is terrible, is less important to me than the games' sound, graphics, gameplay and whatnot - basically I'm in a rare state of optimist about this. If I seem like I'm making excuses for saying something stupid, I am... I do "give a damn if Bethesda didn't 'provide' services for the greedy consumer...", I just care much more about the factors in the game, instead of its consumer relations. See where I'm coming from?

 

Bethesda does make some great games, at least all the games they've done look terrific. I also hate the combat system in Morrowind, I wish it made more sense instead of swinging in the air and occasionally hitting someone. But, great game anyway.

 

and

Are two perfect examples of Bethesda Software's mistakes. Not providing multiplayer support for a game which should be able to be played in multiplayer is WRONG. This has nothing to do with the "greedy customer," this has something to do with what I like to call an "obligation." In this case the company's obligation was to provide support for a product they released, an obligation obvioulsy left unfulfilled.

 

let's not get on this topic again. Xaelifer has made his views known, and so have I. We don't agree, but at this point neither one of us is going to convince the other of anything. Xael, I understand where you're coming from and I do respect your views.

[This message has been edited by AMaster (edited July 05, 2002).]

 

Excellent, AMaster - you've won the argument simply by saying such a thing. I agree. End of topic for me, then.