What video games have you been playing III: You're gonna need a bigger boat.

[bhsup]

So... I guess I'll just suck it up and play Morrowind for the next 3 months or something.

Or Arena and Daggerfall. Totally free. Bethesda's gift to gamers.

http://www.elderscrolls.com/arena/

http://www.elderscrolls.com/daggerfall

 

[gay_Aleks]

They're.. a bit dated. Ya see, I have no problems with playing old games with no sequels, but rarely I do play games with newer sequels (that I can run..).

There's exceptions to the rule, of course. And for Christ's sake, I'll never ever play Rise of Legends. Like, ever. Good lord, that was a mockery of the original.

 

[bhsup]

- Have you been to cloud ruler district often?

You're next, Sigurd!

 

[cybrxkhan]

You mean the rest of the games aren't fun? Oh well. I guess I'll stick to my original plan of finishing NV with an Unarmed character, then hoping 3 graciously decides not to be slow as hell, and then eventually, storming an oil rig in 2. At some point.

It's really YMMV I think depending on your preferences. Besides the (definitely not generic) fantasy setting, the open world elements in TES are even more pronounced than in Fallout, which feels more like an episodic sort of affair.

You're next, Sigurd!

I work for Belethor, at the general goods store -


Oi, what about Heimskr? Him too, right?

 

[Wolfbeckett]

You mean the rest of the games aren't fun? Oh well. I guess I'll stick to my original plan of finishing NV with an Unarmed character, then hoping 3 graciously decides not to be slow as hell, and then eventually, storming an oil rig in 2. At some point.

Fun is 100% subjective. I personally find Morrowind very fun, because I don't mind the dated graphics or somewhat clunky gameplay systems, to me the setting is FAR more important than either of those things and just losing myself in a totally alien world is more than enough to engage my imagination even if I have to mess around a bit with fiddly stat systems while I'm there.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Well, I like Fallout (as if it wasn't entirely obvious), because it's open-world, but there's a storyline it's pegged to. Like, you can do side-quests, do stuff, look for that stupid unique weapon in a safe on the bottom of a mine, but the effects of the main storyline are there (notably, all those bastards wanting to kill you). Also, radio. And VATS. Nothing quite like uppercutting an enemy 15 feet in the air in slooow motion, I tell ya!

Did I mention the radio? Yeah, I think I did.

Then again, the first time I played Oblivion, it was also coincidentally my first time with a Bethesda game. Perhaps it came a bit too much all at once. Maybe now I might be a bit better accustomed to it.

 

[bhsup]

IOi, what about Heimskr? Him too, right?

A loyal servant of Talos?! You are dead to me...

 

[Arakhor]

I thought Oblivion's main quest, whilst copy-pasted a lot and quite tedious if you close all the Oblivion Gates, was unusual in that you're not a pre-ordained superhero like the Nerevarine or the Dragonborn. (I'm discounting the ending to Shivering Isles, for obvious reasons.)

That is, you achieve greatness through your own actions, rather than being born great (Akatosh and the Dragonborn) or having it thrust upon you (Azura and the Nerevarine).

 

[trader/warrior]

Morrowind

Cons:
- Outdated graphics

Wha? But Morrowind has the best graphics of them all!



Well, not exactly but there are a lot of awesome mods that try to bring the game more up to date while keeping as close as possible to the developers intended aesthetics and gameplay with tons of customizeability.

I believe I announced in this thread sometime in 2012 or 2013 that I was finally going to finish the main quest of Morrowind, one of my most played games ever since its first release, but I inevitably drifted off exploring and wasting time just observing the world as it just never seems to run out of that feeling of deepness and intrigue. But I'm back at it now and I think I'm finally getting close to finishing it.

 

[cybrxkhan]

So in Skyrim I made up for giving away too much to those Stormcloak fellows by attacking a fort. Also used that dragon shout where you call in Odahviing seriously for the first time and it was pretty sweet seeing him sweep down and roflstomp all of Ulfric's boys.

I think for the final battle for Windhelm I'm gonna use those shouts where you call in Odahviing and the Sovngarde heroes for the lulz and see all the hilarity that ensues.

Wha? But Morrowind has the best graphics of them all!

Well, not exactly but there are a lot of awesome mods that try to bring the game more up to date while keeping as close as possible to the developers intended aesthetics and gameplay with tons of customizeability.

Yeah, that's true, but you'll need a lot of mods. I personally don't mind the vanilla graphics too much, while outdated they're not too outdated for me and the setting is also unique enough to compensate. However I do think it does turn some people off, though I think the outdated mechanics and gameplay are a more pressing issue, particularly the horrid combat (though for me I just downloaded a mod that ensures anytime I swing a sword it actually hits things).

 

[Civ'ed]

IIRC the morrowind graphics overhaul requires the same specs as skyrim on high settings

 

[Wolfbeckett]

I think I'll dive back into a game of Morrowind myself. Been trying to play Skyrim recently but the mods I want to use don't want to work together and just trying to get everything to work is such a friggin' headache. I like Morrowind cause the mods I want to use in it just work, you drop the files in the right place, enable them on the list, and that's it. No compatibility patches. No bizarre software that requires you to have a specific version of Java. No BS. Just plug and play.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I bought Skyrim on sale over the holidays, but have hardly touched it. I just can't get excited about another iteration of the same, tired, Western European setting, a blend of Robert E.Howard, J.R.R. Tolkein, and AD&D. When is someone going to make a game set in China Mieville's New Crobuzon or Saladin Ahmed's Crescent Moon Kingdoms?

 

[bhsup]

Try Koei. They used to do a lot of historical stuff.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

Yeah Bethesda is going to have to go somewhere interesting for me to really give a toss about the next ES game. Something really foreign and bizarre, like Elsewyr, Black Marsh, or Valenwood. Another generic Euro-fantasy environment isn't going to do it for me.

 

[Ajidica]

Yeah Bethesda is going to have to go somewhere interesting for me to really give a toss about the next ES game. Something really foreign and bizarre, like Elsewyr, Black Marsh, or Valenwood. Another generic Euro-fantasy environment isn't going to do it for me.

I was thinking the Altmer island myself (can't remember what it is called). The few hints they have dropped about it says it is an intensely conservative culture with thousand-year old cities, daedric ruins, and other cursed places.
If done right, it could very much evoke the exotic nature of Morrowind by sticking the player in an alien land as opposed to Cyrodil (aka, the rejected D&D world where you must save medieval Europe from an invasion from hell) or Skyrim (while better than Oblivion, it was still fantasy Vikings).

I would actually not like the Black Marsh or Elsewyr mainly because I can't stand playing as the 'beast races' their voice actors always annoy me, and to some degree I think they look silly.

 

[bhsup]

Summerset Isle be its name. And yeah, that could be interesting. I was actually excited about the idea of Black Marsh until you mentioned the voice. Have to agree, all the females sounding like 90 year old smokers would get old after awhile. Still, the Argonians are pretty interesting.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

The voices would need work but the lore that we know about Black Marsh is awesome, it sounds like a really hostile and bizarre place. And I want to know more about the Hist.

Elsewyr I mainly want because there are supposed to be like 20 different kinds of Khajit or something with a really bizarre kind of societal structure and I want to learn more about them. Plus I'm pretty sure their country is like half desert and half jungle, providing a nice contrast and variety of possible environments.

Summerset Isle could work if Bethesda has enough vision for it but I worry that it would turn into Oblivion 2 and just be a generic fantasy setting.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

I've started another playthrough of the Mass Effect trilogy. This time though, I am using a random number generator to make all my choices for me so I have no idea how it is going to turn out.

Probably pretty much exactly the same as all the other playthroughs, but you might get different coloured explosions

 

[Commodore]

Probably pretty much exactly the same as all the other playthroughs, but you might get different coloured explosions

I expect the most variation to come at the end of Mass Effect 2.

Spoiler :

Since I will be using the random number generator to pick which squadmates I assign to the special roles in the Suicide Mission, I expect some "wrong" choices to be made. The question remains: Who will die and who will live? Not knowing if I'm even going to make it through the Suicide Mission is adding quite a bit of excitement to this playthrough.