ExMonk said:
Do you read carefully before you post? Try it sometime
Yes, I did. Plz don't flame me!
Did I say that game developers don't have time to think about good gameplay and what makes it? No, I didn't. I did say that they may not understand what makes a good rpg gameplay, no matter how much time they spend.
Let's take a look at the original post:
"Not everyone spends virtually every waking moment thinking about what makes good gameplay, like you do"
So, you were saying?
Many a company that is full of trained professionals do not know how to do this. Where did you get the idea that understanding and implementing good gameplay is as easy as riding a bike? If it was as easy as you think it is, we would see many more good games.
First, it's easy, it's just not profitable sometimes. Second, hopefully, for the last time, they have Daggerfall to look at. So, even if they don't understand how to make a decent game from scratch, they don't have to - they have the bible, the manual, the "how to" guide for that type of RPGs they are trying to make. Do you get it now?
But you're right. Let's put the worst construction on Bethesda and other companies and paint them as greedy, shallow, sell outs.
They are a business. They make money. They make games to make money. Why does that come as a shock to you?
You are extrapolating from the end result. You are ASSUMING that because features were cut from Daggerfall for Morrowind that it was because of greed.
I didn't say that. MW was a different model from DF. The company tried to make a game that would feature incredible visuals, and they succeeded. Why? To sell more copies. Understandable. The price to pay was less content comparing to DF. Now that this winning formula of trading depth for visuals had worked splendidly, they are doing that again. Even more visuals, even less depth. What's not to understand?
But you do not know this. But, the all-knowing VD, with his amazing extrapolotory skills thinks he knows all this from (a) the way Morrowind turned out and (b) from all the previews and interviews on Oblivion that he has read. That enables him to judge people's motives.
A 5-year old would be able to judge these motives. I'm surprised you can't. Here is another question for you to practice them extrapolotory skills on: why do you think Bioware is focusing more on console games then on PC ones? Mystary!
Come on, VD! Let me also remind you that when Beth made Morrowind, they had no idea it was going to sell well.
Of course not, nobody knows that, but they bet on the visuals, and it paid off. It's not a secret to anyone that graphics is the area that's being praised the most in previews/reviews, and that focusing on that area would create that "holy fuck! will you look at that?!" effect.
They made the game they wanted to make.
True. They wanted to make a game that will sell a lot.
Right. right. MSFD is a programmer and as such is completely isolated from the game design. Right. The designers at Beth all intimately know what good gameplay is. But the programmers are robotic drones who never, ever are involved in gameplay design. Again, you know this how?
Common sense plus some quotes from MSFD. He's not a drone, but it's not his job. He may be the best game designer in the entire company but that's neither his job nor responsibility. I assume when he was hired, indepth understanding of RPG design wasn't a must have skill. Good programming skills were.
But none of this will make a dent because what drives you is that in your mind YOU unlike OTHER people, don't suck up to game companies.
Whoa! Looks like you have mad extrapolotory skills yourself. Quite a journey into my mind that was.
Now, the correct answer: I just don't think like that. I don't give a flying fuck whether I'm completely unlike other people or exactly fucking the same. That doesn't matter to me at all. I have some opinions and I discuss them with people. That's all. I don't suck up to nobody, but I do respect some game companies and game developers. I respected Troika for trying and actually making Arcanum - the game they wanted to make. I respect Dave Gaider and Steve Meister, for different reasons, etc. Never said a bad word about either of them. I respected old Blizzard for taking their time to release polished games (balance is another issue), not sure about both new Bliz and ex-Bliz. Remains to be seen. Etc
You CRITICIZE them, which is FAR, FAR more noble than defending said companies. That makes you objective and independent. You're not like the millions of game buying sycophants. Not VD. No way. Not him.
You know, you have issues. Really.