Ragebait headline. The guy does say that a proper remake or a new game set in the Morrowind region could be good. Just a remaster like the Oblivion remaster, with modern graphics slapped onto the original gameplay wouldn’t work too well.
'Go Back and Play Morrowind and Tell Me That's the Game You Want to Play Again' — Former Bethesda Veteran Delivers His Verdict on Potential The Elder Scrolls Remasters - IGN
Submitted 3 weeks ago by iamthetot@piefed.ca to games@lemmy.world
Comments
Ephera@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
M137@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The Oblivion remaster is a lot more than just modern graphics though… There are a ton of completely changed mechanics, new ones and others that are just tweaked. It’s very much not just a graphical refresh.
Ephera@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I would still call it virtually the same game, especially since they didn’t even bother to fix lots of awful bugs.
But I think, we can both agree that Morrowind would need a significantly larger overhaul, if you wanted to make it feel ‘modern’. You’d need voice acting. Perhaps optional quest markers. Well, and the combat system would basically need reimplementing from scratch.
athatet@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
I have gone back and played Morrowind. Multiple times. Because it is, in fact, a game I want to play again.
It’s almost like that’s the reason people are asking for a remaster.
marlowe221@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah, Morrowind is my favorite game of all time.
These days I play it with higher res textures and a mod to make the wildlife less insanely hostile via the excellent OpenMW.
BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
did you read the article
lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
No need. Either the headline is accurate and they disagree with the premise of the article or the headline is rage bait in which case they don’t deserve clicks.
Montagge@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Well fuck me and my heavily modded OpenMW
Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
Ok I did. And I’ll play it again, too. It was the best Elder Scrolls game to date.
kureta@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Morrowind was my favorite. I couldn’t play Oblivion for more than an hour and I have tried multiple times over the years. Something about that game just bores me to death. Skyrim was good though, after getting some used to.
HumbleExaggeration@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Same for me. In the moment I left the starting dungeon I lost all interest in exploring the world. Tried it 3 times over the years and never progressed further. I am wondering if the remake might be different and worth another try… I heard so much good about oblivion that I really see me enjoying it.
Linktank@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
What? You guys don’t have phones?
justsquigglez@leminal.space 3 weeks ago
God, I immediately thought of Blizzard talking about how “No one wants to play Classic WoW” and yet… here we are…with like 7 versions of WoW Classic because, yes, people do want to play that shit.
Jaysyn@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Is he high? There are thousands of people still playing & modding Morrowind.
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Well for him, thousands of people is basically nothing. Skyrim has sold over 60 million copies.
One of the problems with growth in popularity is a growth in expectations. A Morrowind remaster that sold even 1 million copies would be considered a failure.
If they revisit Morrowind, they need to go ALL IN on it. Keep the setting and themes but redo everything else. I love Morrowind as a world to get lost in but the combat gameplay in particular is quite bad, possibly the low point of the entire Elder Scrolls franchise.
I enjoy the combat in Oblivion, Skyrim, AND Daggerfall more than Morrowind, simply due to the feel of weapons connecting with enemies. Daggerfall probably feels the best, due to the crunchiness of it and the way you can do different types of swings in rapid succession.
The exploration stuff in Morrowind is just amazing though. Some of the dungeons are like Russian dolls of awesomeness! Also just love the music. So relaxing!
noxypaws@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
I have played Morrowind many many many, many times. hell I’ve played multiplayer Morrowind a few times
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I regret not to have played these Elder Scrolls games when they were new. These are really special games. At the time, I wasn’t a fan of western RPGs and leaned heavily into JRPGs. But man, I regret it.
noxypaws@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
Morrowind is undoubtedly better today than when it was released. The thousands and thousands of mods, thundreds of mod lists, dozens of tools, and hell even the complete, open source, crossplatform reimplementation of the core game engine and its crazy good multiplayer fork, all add up to today being an even better time to experience the game and the community!
I highly recommend picking up the base game and then playing it through OpenMW, with minimal mods the first playthrough (tho unofficual bugfix patch and the like are still probably a good idea)
lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
Then there was me bouncing between Morrowind and Chrono Cross depending on who’s turn it was with the PC.
ICastFist@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
JRPGs have their charm and, depending on your age, will feel a lot more relatable and “easy to get started” than most western RPGs. I don’t remember when I started caring more about WRPG over JRPG, but I think it happened when I was 17, I suspect Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft played a significant role in that.
Zahille7@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Morrowind Online is one I still have to try. I fucking love Tamriel Rebuilt, and I’ve only explored a small fraction of the mainland.
Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Why not go and make something new?
Because it’s too risky. Shareholder want reliable income not a gamble. Remastering old shit is more or less guaranteed money.
whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Morrowind would be a GOTY release if it came out today and made it so 1. running stamina loss only happened in combat, 2. low combat skills caused lower damage instead of lots of misses, and 3. draw distance was further than 10 feet away then fog.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Yeah, make the combat not suck ass as a newbie trying the game out for the first time and it’d be awesome.
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The combat doesn’t suck. Morrowinds combat is good, you just don’t understand how it works when you are new to the game.
The weapon swing animation tells the game to roll Attack dice, just like in a Table Talk RPG like Dungeons and Dragons. Then, if your Attack Roll (with modifiers like current fatigue, weapon skill, etc) beats the enemy’s Armor Class (with modifiers like their current fatigue and enchantments, etc), its a hit. Otherwise, its a miss.
The one thing Morrowind could have done better with combat is communicating the feedback to the player better. Because the game can get the result of the roll immediately, it can then change what animation plays back to the player, so rather than always playing back the same weapon swing animation regardless of result, it should instead choose different animations based on the result. Missed? Play an animatiom that looks like the player missed. Hit? Play an animation that looks like a hit. Hit but damage was blocked? You get the idea.
Perhaps it would be helpful if the game displayed a UI dice result to better communicate this, who knows. I like the game better without floating damage numbers, but they could be helpful to reduce frustration of new players that don’t understand how the game works.
Passerby6497@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yes, I do, and I have recently. Next question!
makyo@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yeah combat aged very poorly but it does a host of other things someone should take and expand on.
brsrklf@jlai.lu 3 weeks ago
Morrowind was a terrible action game, and a fantastic hand-crafted world to explore.
Oblivion felt like a huge step back to me. Sure it looked a lot better, it was technically bigger, it was entirely voiced over, and its physics… err… existed.
But it was so bland. Completely generic environments, copy-pasted dungeons and buildings everywhere, almost any encounter a leveled rando with no personality.
And then everything they did to make the game more modern only made it more boring. Voiced over? Sure, enjoy everyone having one sentence of dialogue. Looking for stuff? Nobody’s got time for that, just follow the magic compass.
I understand why they did those. But despite how janky Morrowind could be in some aspects, nobody can convince me Oblivion was the better game.
Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The combat is great. It just doesn’t sit right with people that it’s not as action RPG as it looks (swing and miss) and it never tells you how important stamina (fatigue) is.
Zahille7@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Idk, there’s the loading screen tips, one in particular says “if you’re entering a new or strange area, be sure to walk to conserve fatigue” or something along those lines.
Maybe an NPC tells you in Seyda Neen?
Agent_Karyo@piefed.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah combat aged very poorly
I disagree, it’s a matter of what you are looking for and your taste in gaming.
I prefer combat like say in Morrowind or even the original Deus Ex. When I am playing an RPG, I want the combat to be challenging from a gameplay experience perspective (it’s difficult to shoot when you start out in the OG Deus EX) and reflect the fact that you’re a low level character and that you need to learn the game and understand how combat works.
Many modern RPGs almost play like an FPS with RPG elements tacked on. If I want to play an FPS, I will play a real FPS.
General UI/UX improvements are a must, but it’s not wrong for combat to be on some level unintuitive when you start out.
It’s sort of like saying Jazz has aged poorly just because it’s not mainstream in the way it may have been 70+ years ago.
themeatbridge@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Combat always ages poorly, because anything happening in real time requires muscle memory. As developers develop new combat mechanisms, it is constantly getting incrementally better. It’s like trying to compare a modern performance car to a Model T, or an '89 honda accord. The 65 Shelby Cobra doesn’t have bluetooth or antilock brakes or passenger airbags, but there are many enthusiastic fans of the car today. The modern Shelby Mustang is essentially a remake with modern tech trying to capture the spirit of the original.
That’s what we want. We want Morrowind, but better. The classic is still the classic, so we don’t need that again. Modders can reskin the game with better graphics.
Mist101@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Is this the same
guyperineum who told WoW players they didn’t want to play the original?Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
IMO, Morrowind is one of the greatest games ever made. I play it regularly and it holds up. The problem is that it’s not intuitive if you don’t know how it works.
Scio@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I sure would. And I didn’t even want to play Skyrim all the way through the first time.
lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
Yeah, I never finished the main quest or all the factions in Skyrim. I did everything in Morrowind. That game is the most immersive game I’ve ever played. Nothing has gotten close since. Even with the shitty combat system.
dukemirage@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
If they don’t have the code anymore they could just fund OpenMW with 100k $ and take that.
Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 2 weeks ago
It’s already extremely good and basically finished.
But now each minor new version of the engine would be a new re-release of the game.
frongt@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
I would rather they build a quality engine before any game.
PapstJL4U@lemmy.world [bot] 2 weeks ago
A friend of mine does this monthly. He has invested more time in MW than my group of friends in FO4 and Starfield.
yakko@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Skywind is going to be the last Bethesda game I ever okay lmao, get fucked
Abundance114@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I mean I want a modern version of it with the jank removed, but I want the same systems, same story ya.
Oblivion and Skyrim constantly disappointed me with the simplification of the RPG systems.
I should be able to cast a jump spell that sends me to the moon; and the spell runs out before I reach the moon, where I die terribly.
MellowYellow13@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I played through Morrowind. I did fuck all in Oblivion and Skyrim. So yeah, it is.
BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I play it repeatedly, every few years or so. It has it’s flaws, but it’s still one of the best games ever made.
Etterra@discuss.online 2 weeks ago
Morrowind gave me motion sickness, so if it’s remastered I could actually play it.
Zahille7@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Lol that’s not the gotcha he thinks it is.
So many, and I mean thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of players/Elder Scrolls fans would give up their left testicle just for a true Morrowind remaster. Like honestly, so many people have a love and fondness for that game, even if it wasn’t their first ES title, that I truly believe almost everyone would tell him he’s wrong.
paultimate14@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Morrowind only sold ~4 million units. I think you’re overestimating how big the fan base is. The fan base is loyal, opinionated, and vocal, but small.
Zahille7@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
As of 2010 according to your link. And that was before it went digital/backwards compatible on Xbox One with a whole announcement.
I know I bought it for my One as soon as I could back in 2018. And I bought it at least one other time since, when I got my PC.
Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Elder Scrolls 1 or 2? Abso-fucking-lutely not.
Elder Scrolls 3+? Hell yes.
Elder Scrolls 6 would be the release that I much prefer.
zikzak025@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I think if they did a ground-up remake/reimagining of Arena or Daggerfall, it could still be compelling. Not a simple remaster, though.
That being said, there is apparently a Unity port of Daggerfall that appears quite decent, and goes a long way towards modernizing an otherwise ancient game.
marlowe221@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The Daggerfall remake is more of a source port…. But it’s amazing.
Daggerfall needs a certain degree of modding but the source port makes it super easy to install mods for it.
justdaveisfine@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
I somewhat agree. I think Morrowind would need a proper remake (not just graphics remaster) to iron out some mechanics but also expand on some of the content/areas where stuff got a little thin.
Even so, there’s a 95% chance they’ll face a lot of disappointment unless they nail it perfectly, and I don’t know if they can capture that lightning in a bottle again.
bless@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Ok, that’s the game that I want to play again
ICastFist@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
I last played it to completion in 2021 I think? Via OpenMW, too, so with a lot less bugs and glitches. Yes, I want to play it again
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Everything they make new is complete shit, so they just remake the good stuff from back in the days. I mean, I get it. Bit lazy though, and what are they going to do after all the remastered editions? Re-remastering the remastered editions?
blomvik@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Nah, that’s Spiderweb Software.
LostWanderer@fedia.io 3 weeks ago
I think Morrowind is one of the best games that Bethesda has made in terms of being the following: Weird, has a fairly strong story that makes you think about what it means, characters misremembering directions, hand placed loot. It's a game that I keep revisiting and love it to bits, I still need to explore some storylines; combat might be the weakest part of the game, but, I adjust after starting yet another replay. It's also one of the amusing games to pull off serious cheese in, as there is no upper limit. It also makes combat trivial if you cheese just right, but I consider that part of the fun.
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
The gameplay sucked but what made it a far superior game to skyrim and oblivion is morrowind was weird.
Bethesda is only capable of making boring big budget fantasy epic setpieces these days, gone is the feeling of going into a random shop and reading a random book, gone is the feeling of “what the hell is over the next hill!?”.
You always know what you are going to get with Bethesda, they won’t take ANY risks. Bethesda will never again present a vision of fantasy that doesn’t simply meet the expectations of well worn fantasy tropes, as far as they are concerned that would be bad for business.
Dojan@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
I wouldn’t say that Oblivion or Skyrim has much better gameplay, honestly. Yeah the weird dice-roll mechanic is gone, not that dice rolls necessarily make for a bad game (see the entire Baldur’s Gate franchise, including the latest installment) but the combat in Oblivion and Skyrim isn’t exactly good. It’s floaty and feels really weird.
Oblivion retains more of Morrowinds roleplay mechanics, too. Skyrim is just a flat, empty game. They leant really far into this garbage faux viking aesthetic, complete with rubbish accents (as a Swede, we don’t sound like that here in the Nordics) and there’s nothing really memorable about it. It plays and feels about as drab as it looks.
Like to-date, there are still aspects of Oblivion and Morrowind I recall fondly. One of my favourite wow-moments in Oblivion was the quest with the woman who tasked you with finding her painter husband. That’s a fun quest. Skyrim has nothing like that.
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 3 weeks ago
If you want a better viking game with much better Nordic sounding accents, Banner Saga is out there. Though there is only like 10 minutes of voice acting per game - but what is there is good! They used an Icelandic VA studio to make sure it’s authentic.
The best swedish accent I ever heard was that one blonde knight in Witcher 3 - Blood & Wine. Which is funny as I don’t think it makes sense for the setting at all, but accent voice direction in that whole expansion is a complete clusterfuck with zero consistency.
Goodeye8@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
I don’t think it’s just because it’s weird. It’s because it’s weird and immersive. Part of what makes it so immersive is that there’s no modern fast travel. There are in game fast travel options but they can only get you to major settlements, or fortresses that you’ve found and cleared, or whatever point you’ve marked that you can use the recall spell to. Beyond that your on your own two feet. You want to get to the Urshilaku camp? Better start walking because you can’t fast travel there. And at the start of the game you’re slow as fuck. I still remember it being quite an adventure to get from Seyda Neen to Balmora on foot.
And that’s to not even mention the quests. I don’t wish the for the Morrowind style journal, but the quests didn’t have a huge waypoint telling you exactly where to go. If you wanted to know where you had to go you had to listen to the directions you were given and then actually try to follow them. One of my more memorable side quests from Morrowind was where I misunderstood the directions, took the wrong left turn and kept searching for a farm almost all the way to Caldera. The actual farm was pretty much just around the corner had I taken the right turn. I don’t even remember what the quest itself was about. I only remember getting lost.
moonshadow@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
I remember getting a high enough acrobatics and enough skooma to “fast travel” by finding a high place to jump across the map from. Good times
ICastFist@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
A time honored tradition of getting lost because of misreading the journal. I don’t remember which quest it was, but it was one that asked me to find something heading south. The first time I went south I got pretty much to the end of Vvanderfell. Next time I tried doing the walk, I kept to the road. It didn’t take more than 1 minute from the city (Balmora? Can’t remember) to where I was supposed to go.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I disagree on it being weird the thing that makes it great. No, it’s because they cared. They wrote a deep intriguing story, and they trusted the player to treat the world as meaningful and to learn on their own. They expected you to read and to be interested.
Now, everything is dumbed down and simple, and it’s baby fed to the player. There’s little to discover that isn’t shoved down your throat. Sure, there’s (precedurally generated) loot to gather, but nothing more.
Morrowind was built as a world, and then they set a game there. The people, locations, and events make sense in that world. Starting especially with Skyrim, but even with Oblivion, it’s built as a theme park. The world is just there to entertain you, but there’s nothing behind the fecade.