They really have. It's just been one disaster after another with this game. I'll be interested in how badly this tarnishes their studio's overall reputation with ES6 and that Star game coming out.
I'd say they need to make the Elder Scrolls game at least as good as Morrowind or Skyrim in order to recover their lost rep. Otherwise people are not going to forgive their mistakes this time.
So Zenimax better be prepared to open their wallets and shell out for some competent staff and a longer development cycle, because the dumbing down of both their flagship series and the technical issues are going to be scrutinized under a microscope from now on. Oh, and getting rid of predatory monetization like the Atom Store and the Creation Club is going to be paramount. The only additional monetization people are going to tolerate these days are full and proper expansions like Shivering Isles or Dragonborn. They won't swallow Horse Armor level bullshit any longer.
From what I'm hearing about Fallout 76 it probably should have been a f2p game.
I think they're going to have problems with their coming games, too, because they've already announced that they're going to continue using the current engine for them, which is already really showing its age. They really need to either vastly upgrade the engine or just use a new, modern one that can support more than 20 characters on screen at any given time or whatever shitty limitation the current system has.
Given the state it was released in, and what they are trying to do with it, I think even F2P would be a stretch.
The engine itself isn't the problem, it's that Bethesda has developed a bad habit of "Good Enough" to release now, and patch it later, which hurts them in the long run because they have a tendency to simply not bother patching known bugs that the community fixed years ago, and instead focus on building more DLCs filled with yet more bugs. They simply don't devote enough time and resources to finish QA testing and bug fixing before releasing. This, combined with the current nasty ass habits they are forming with the Creation Club and now with their Fee Too Pay economic ideas... People are saying "Thats enough"
A new engine, or a CK with substantial work put into it would be a welcome change, but given Bethesda's shown by now current philosophies of "Good Enough" I worry for the future...
Also, just as an addendum, STOP The dumbing down and casualization of the games. Seriously, while I loved the Dark brotherhood questline in Oblivion, Emil Pagliarulo's subsequent writings have gotten simpler and simpler as time progresses. To the point where Linear is no longer as applicable as single line rail storytelling.
They really need to think about rehiring Michael Kirkbride and grabbing Chris Avellone while their pockets can still afford them.
They are probably going to update the engine once again. But most engines have been updated from previous versions. I'm assuming the type of the engine they need to provide the same experience would roughly turn out the same if it was created from scratch.
And...Bethesda games are always buggy. Every single one them...this isn't something new.
So where does your nostalgia really begin and end.
I mean, I didn't have a PS1 until high school. Never owned a Genesis (Yet keep buying rom pack), didn't visit arcades much, got a Super Nintendo in that teen phase you stop caring about gaming.
My childhood console was an Intellivision, my computer was an Apple IIC (Battletech! And Lemonade Stand..) and I got my NES late.
In terms of nostalgia offerings, just about everything out there is AFTER my era. The closest I have is Atari/Intellivision Flashback carts and an Intellivision Lives PS2 disc.
The rest, I fill in by emulating Oregon Trail or Number Munchers on some site.
You see some "throwback" title, and I just think how that's great for people who had an snes when they were 8. Not 14-15.
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
Dunno where exactly to put this, but Nvidia just announced that they're going to start supporting adaptive sync (Freesync), starting with a select group of monitors. This is a really nice change for them because it means that in the future you won't necessarily have to pay extra for a G-Sync monitor to go with your Nvidia GPU in order to utilize adaptive sync.
When your rechargeable battery pack gets so loose, it falls out.
Been an ongoing problem. Gonna try a few strips of scotch tape, but I have a feeling that won't work for long.
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
Gender: Male Location: In Luna's mane, chasing STAAARS!
Am I the only one who doesn't care about the Xbox Scarlett? It doesn't seem long ago when Microsoft was boasting the Xbox One X having higher frames and faster load times and now look where we are.
I'm not sure Microsoft was boasting about load times with the Xbox One X. I just remember they mentioned higher frame rates and 4k...which the console does.
Both Sony and MS next gen consoles releases will probably be the same. I think Sony was touting similar features when they released information regarding the console.
However...at least with both brands, its fully backwards compatible.
This has been going on since Space Invaders clones like Space Armada, it's not a big deal. Gauntlet Legends was a clear knock off of Legend of Zelda, and it was still awesome.
As long as the game is fun, let the lawyers decide what's similar yet distinct.
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
EA announced today that starting with Jedi Fallen Order, it's going to be releasing games on Steam again alongside Origin. Apex Legends, The Sims and Fallen Order apparently won't even need to have Origin running if you buy and launch them through Steam.