22nd October 2004, 12:33 PM
http://www.elderscrolls.com/codex/team_rpgnextgen.htm
Article/letter by the developers. Well worth reading.
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-elder-scrol...?fromint=1
Five-page preview.
About the article... this interested me.
Morrowind is a tiny fraction of the size of Daggerfall? Really? How small an area of the world does it cover? Arena covered the whole world. Yes, it "only" had the cities and surrounding areas and not the many miles in between, but each part of the world was represented. Daggerfall focused a lot more closely, and took one part of the game -- parts of two of the regions. So Morrowind is even smaller? Huh... still huge though, obviously. but Oblivion will be bigger than Morrowind... Arena's ease of travel? I guess that means that it'll have warping. (that is, that you can go to a Travel map and immediately travel to any city in the gameworld without interruption) Daggerfall has that too though so I'd think it would also be in Morrowind... anyway, it looks like another TES game, for good or ill (and there's some of both). They will always have problems with scale when making such a huge game, but as they keep improving it with each title it seems like the series should eventually get better on most of those aspects... though some things they just can't fully help, they are mostly things that are less important for what kind of game they are thinking of designing.
From the preview. This caught my eye... :)
Silly console RPG players...
It continues with
I don't know about this. I think that PC RPGs do it a good way... that this series has always had issues with its combat system is obvious, but I don't think that making it even more action-oriented is the right decision. But we'll see.
The rest of the preview is also definitely worth reading.
Article/letter by the developers. Well worth reading.
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-elder-scrol...?fromint=1
Five-page preview.
About the article... this interested me.
Quote:Now, we do change scale in each game, because certain things you do cause the game to flow differently. Even though Morrowind is about 0.0001% the landmass of Daggerfall, the way you play it makes it feel even richer. Oblivion's landmass is larger than Morrowind's, but you can fast travel around much easier. It still has Morrowind's feel of open exploration, but Arena's feel of ease of travel and, well, it's more fun
Morrowind is a tiny fraction of the size of Daggerfall? Really? How small an area of the world does it cover? Arena covered the whole world. Yes, it "only" had the cities and surrounding areas and not the many miles in between, but each part of the world was represented. Daggerfall focused a lot more closely, and took one part of the game -- parts of two of the regions. So Morrowind is even smaller? Huh... still huge though, obviously. but Oblivion will be bigger than Morrowind... Arena's ease of travel? I guess that means that it'll have warping. (that is, that you can go to a Travel map and immediately travel to any city in the gameworld without interruption) Daggerfall has that too though so I'd think it would also be in Morrowind... anyway, it looks like another TES game, for good or ill (and there's some of both). They will always have problems with scale when making such a huge game, but as they keep improving it with each title it seems like the series should eventually get better on most of those aspects... though some things they just can't fully help, they are mostly things that are less important for what kind of game they are thinking of designing.
From the preview. This caught my eye... :)
Quote:Combat is one of the major gameplay elements that's being completely revamped in Oblivion. Some of the most interesting feedback the team got from Morrowind players concerned the nature of combat. PC gamers are used to Western RPG conventions, most of which are derived from Dungeons & Dragons -- conventions that include behind-the scenes die rolls to determine success or failure. Those conventions aren't nearly as common on consoles, especially in first-person perspective games such as Morrowind. Howard described it this way: "It's amazing how many people played Morrowind and said (to us), 'Why is my character missing when he swings? The enemy is right there!,' or 'Why did that guy see me? I thought I was hiding.'"
Silly console RPG players...
It continues with
Quote:"We've realized how much combat people really do in a game like this and made it more of a priority to get it right," Howard continued. The Oblivion team actually developed three entirely new combat systems and did extensive testing on them all before settling on the one that will be in the final game. The basic idea of Oblivion combat is to impart the 'kinetic energy feeling' of guys bashing each other with swords. The game will have a number of special moves available and blocking is actively under player control, not automatic. As a result, timing moves, shielding yourself, and responding to the enemy becomes a key strategy in fighting. The team also didn't shy away from the gore either. It isn't over the top or gratuitous, but it does fall in line with the design philosophy of trying to make the game as realistic as possible. Basically, when you really smack someone with a sword, you expect a certain level of blood to come spewing out, so the team is trying to fulfill those expectations.
Action gamers, on the other hand, won't necessarily have an unfair advantage. As Howard himself pointed out, the combat system in every Elder Scrolls game has walked a fine line between RPG and action. They've all been first-person and players always controlled their sword arm in real time, but in prior games, the die rolls added an extra layer of randomness between the player and the world. While the combat system of Oblivion tries to remove those layers, RPG players can breathe easy knowing that their beloved stats haven't gone anywhere. This difference this time is that the player's stats determine what they can do, and how effective those things are, but they're now in full control of the "when." Blocking a blow is manual, for instance, but the effectiveness of that block is determined by your character's block skill -- things like how much damage the block absorbs, how much fatigues it causes and so forth. Striking an enemy with a sword is no longer random, but the amount of damage caused is a function of strength and weapon skill.
I don't know about this. I think that PC RPGs do it a good way... that this series has always had issues with its combat system is obvious, but I don't think that making it even more action-oriented is the right decision. But we'll see.
The rest of the preview is also definitely worth reading.