this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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Baldur's Gate 3
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)
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Not sure if I entirely agree with this; Bethesda has always made RPGs with mass appeal since TES IV: Oblivion. Personally I prefer RPGs with a stronger focus on role-playing and story, but I know many "casuals" that do not.
One thing I've personally disliked about Bethesda games since Skyrim, is their unrelenting willingness to dumb absolutely everything down; even at the cost of making the game world plastic, as if it's over-catering towards the player. There are no choices, just the illusion of choice and it makes the experience feel faker than fake.
I started with Oblivion and hated how dumbed down Skyrim was. I later played Morrowind and bounced off once (I was too young and stupid, having mostly experienced more "modern" games), but the second time I tried it I loved it. The amount of freedom they lent you made me realize what was wrong with all the later games.
They make roller-coaster rides now, with everything trying to get you into combat as quickly as possible, and the combat encounters being carefully crafted, then you're on to the next ride. My first several hours in Morrowind my second time included no combat whatsoever and the game didn't have an issue with it. You can also skip large portions of dungeons with the right skills, and you can also change how you navigate the open world with spells. It's a wonderful experience that I hope they eventually realize is better than treating players like idiots.
I started with Morrowind and the dumbing down from that to Oblivion puts the dumbing down from Oblivion to Skyrim to shame.
I'm sure those who started with Arena or Daggerfall would probably say the same about Morrowind, though.
Fallout was less dumbed down, believe it or not, but I will never forgive them for removing my ability to aim for the eyes or the groin.
The fact they removed the climbing skill from Daggerfall to Morrowind sucks. It gives an alternative to levitation (or buffed jumping) to non-magic characters. Then Todd liked barbarian characters and saw what magic characters could do, so they nerfed them to be about equal. In Skyrim magic characters are just worse in vanilla. You get so few options it's stupid. Skyrim is just a bad game that mods have turned into something you can play again, though even then they're worse than Morrowind or older in terms of options.
I'm really hoping Starfield is a return to form with procedural generation and references to the classic games, but I doubt it. It's possible it gives choice back to the players. I will absolutely praise them if they do, but if they're just pandering I will do my best to roast them.