In defense of the later two, Morrowind was for pc and not a console port iirc, while the later 2 were console ports.
My issue is they weren't ports. Morrowind was ported too(and was the best rpg on) the original Xbox. The only noticeable flaw was the occasional "disk read error" which had nothing todo with the actual disk -.- It played amazingly and all aspects of what I had come to love in PC RPGs existed in it without compromising the console experience. Tons of spells, customisation, stats, equip screens etc. etc.
As for Oblivion/Skyrim, the PC/Console versions were developed simultanously therefore don't really qualify as "ports" as they were designed with both platforms in mind, which is why I feel so shafted by what certainly feels like a console port -.-. These game had obviously taken a more console oriented route as was evident by the consecutively dumbed down UI and now the infamous constantly regenerating health/mp. Something notoriously present in Console FPSs that PC versions tended to avoid. Amongst a plethora of other things I won't bother going into for fear of ranting.
I would not say Skyrim has a lack of content or far from it, it is nothing like as bad as a bioware sequal. The landmass is noticeably smaller than Morrowinds granted, but then not many games could boast a map so large anyway and it wasn't like there was soemthing to look at round every corner lol.
It is the things that worked in predecessors that have been removed that bother me. There are noticeably less spells. Is there any logical reason for this? Yeh there are shouts now, but why remove things like Chameleon? Or the ability to make your own spells, something I miss. Acrobatics, Repair, Athletics, I'm sick of running slow damnit. Radial selected hotkeys on the fly instead of the damn D-Pad pausing the game would be nice too.
Deep down I hoped to see the resurgence of the levitate and jump spells that the Oblivion engine forced the removal of and maybe idk, a bit more variety in destruction magic (wind spells would be nice). But at it's core, not very deep I might add, the game is obviously running on the same fundamental engine. Granted a refined streamlined version, but I can still see everything clear as day underwater if you only dip the tip of your crosshair in (even Morrowind had this ^^)
Despite what it lacks (imo), and the seemingly minute step forward in AI and disapointingly low texture quality on the PC version due to basically ignoring the now rather large gap between high end PC performance and console, Skyrim is the sequal Morrowind deserved. The more I imagine Oblivion never having happened, the more I appreciate Skyrim as a game lol.
Anywho no more about this, I already got flamed in another post for having an opinion beside "ZOMG!!!!" about Skyrim in another post. And this one is tenously on topic at best.
It is the things that worked in predecessors that have been removed that bother me. There are noticeably less spells. Is there any logical reason for this?
The answer is pretty simple. The more spells they add, the less likely you'll be to use all or even most of them, the more time it takes for them to iron all the bugs out, and most importantly, the more OTHER things they can add in the game. It's great that Morrowind had something like 5 million different spell combinations, but if you only end up using 10 or so during a whole mage character, what's the use? As it stands, every spell in Skyrim is useful.
Same can be said about spears in Morrowind. No one used them so there's no reason for Bethesda to waste weeks or months on balancing them to have them not used again.
And as far as Jump and Levitate go, Todd Howard has said on multiple occasions that they were INTENTIONALLY removed. You can't build an enthralling world if you can just fly up in the sky and land wherever you want to avoid enemies, plot points, etc. Plus, Oblivion and Skyrim cities are separate cells that you could just levitate into and break the game.
As far as Oblivion goes, it was an amazing game as well. Sure it cut a lot of stuff from Morrowind, but none of it was really even worth remarking about in Morrowind in the first place.
The point of all of this, is that the less crap they add in a game, the more space there is for stuff you actually want to do, and that's never something to complain about.
In defense of the later two, Morrowind was for pc and not a console port iirc, while the later 2 were console ports.
My issue is they weren't ports. Morrowind was ported too(and was the best rpg on) the original Xbox. The only noticeable flaw was the occasional "disk read error" which had nothing todo with the actual disk -.- It played amazingly and all aspects of what I had come to love in PC RPGs existed in it without compromising the console experience. Tons of spells, customisation, stats, equip screens etc. etc. As for Oblivion/Skyrim, the PC/Console versions were developed simultanously therefore don't really qualify as "ports" as they were designed with both platforms in mind. But these game had obviously taken a more console oriented route as was evident by the consecutively dumbed down UI and now the infamous constantly regenerating health/mp. Something notoriously present in Console FPSs that PC versions tended to avoid. Amongst a plethora of other things I won't bother going into for fear of ranting. I would not say Skyrim has a lack of content or far from it, it is nothing like as bad as a bioware sequal. The landmass is noticeably smaller than Morrowinds granted, but then not many games could boast a map so large anyway and it wasn't like there was soemthing to look at round every corner lol. It is the things that worked in predecessors that have been removed that bother me. There are noticeably less spells. Is there any logical reason for this? Yeh there are shouts now, but why remove things like Chameleon? Or the ability to make your own spells, something I miss. Acrobatics, Repair, Athletics, I'm sick of running slow damnit. Deep down I hoped to see the resurgence of the levitate and jump spells that the Oblivion engine forced the removal of and maybe idk, a bit more variety in destruction magic (wind spells would be nice). But at it's core, not very deep I might add, the game is obviously running on the same fundamental engine. Granted a refined streamlined version, but I can still see everything clear as day underwater if you only dip the tip of your crosshair in (even Morrowind had this ^^) Despite what it lacks (imo), and the seemingly minute step forward in AI and disapointingly low texture quality on the PC version due to basically ignoring the now rather large gap between high end PC performance and console, Skyrim is the sequal Morrowind deserved. The more I imagine Oblivion never having happened, the more I appreciate Skyrim as a game lol. Anywho no more about this, I already got flamed in another post for having an opinion beside "ZOMG!!!!" about Skyrim in another post. And this one is tenously on topic at best.
I agree about the spells, I think they should have added more spells(wind one is a good one I was wishing aswell) and not take away. I guess their mentality was strengthing spells and dual wielding spells was more than enough. Perhaps a way to cut corners on whatever guidelines/limitations they had. While I know this was all done on a new engine, I think someone mentioned this engine was being developed/indevelopment back in 2006 which my explain a few things.
I have to disagree about the levitation spell, from experience in morrowind that was broken(or potentially for people exploiting 100% levitation + blinding boots)I think they took off jump/levitation for this game for the reason of the environment they designed for it. They want you to climb those mountains and enjoy the view and not just fly up there lol, Im fine by that.
If that becomes a chore for people, theres a horse to cut the time, or if youve been to that destination once before, theres instant travel(personally I dont use that unless Im buying from markets to make items, ie my -pause- of the game).
I agree with chameleon/invisible I miss those spells. Making spells was nice too. Paying people to enchant/make spells for you was also a bonus.
I enjoy the perks that they added and allowing you to level when you wanted. I hated the old method, of after 10 major skills you could level up, and only after sleeping. Here I can level up midfight, owsum.
I can see how hp/mp/stamina regening automatically could make the difficulty of the game less, but honestly the only difference is letting it do that or just standing still and pushing the sleep button and waiting 7 seconds.
One thing I liked about morrowind that I wish they brought to skyrim is the different guard armors around the cities. Here they all have the same with only colour varying among them?
Ubisoft: I Am Alive skipping PC because “it’s not worth it”
After going off the grid long enough to generate cancellation rumors about its cancellation rumors, I Am Alive leaped back into the spotlight with Uncharted-esque climbing antics, enough shades of gray to power an entire ethics debate, and no PC version. And now, Ubisoft finally has a – frankly astonishing – statement for PC gamers who feel they’ve been left out in the cold: quit “bitching.”
“We’ve heard loud and clear that PC gamers are bitching about there being no version for them,” creative director Stanislas Mettra told IncGamers. “But are these people just making noise just because there’s no version or because it’s a game they actually want to play? Would they buy it if we made it?”
“It’s hard because there’s so much piracy and so few people are paying for PC games that we have to precisely weigh it up against the cost of making it. Perhaps it will only take 12 guys three months to port the game to PC. It’s not a massive cost but it’s still a cost. If only 50,000 people buy the game, then it’s not worth it.”
We recently spoke to Ghost Recon Online producer Sébastien Arnoult about Ubisoft’s piracy concerns. He views the free to play model as a good way to counter piracy. Previously, Ubisoft have experimented with severe and incredibly unpopular always-online DRM. That didn’t go down too well. The comments of I Am Alive’s creative director suggests that if the company can’t find a viable solution, they’re likely to consider skipping PC altogether.
And yet somehow, Skyrim managed a record-breaking first day on Steam and Portal 2 sold the majority of its copies on PC. Oh, and you know that Steam sale going on right now? The one everybody’s flinging heaping gobs of Christmas cash at? Need I go on? You heard the man, though: No one’s buying anything on PC. Clearly, my facts must be wrong. link
Quite honestly, the only game they've made recently that's worth owning (much less paying for) is Assassin's Creed, and I'm convinced that's just a fluke. I've actually sworn off Ubi games for years now, after many horrible experiences.. Far Cry 2 was the last straw, I've always had very poor customer service with them, takes me a week to hear back from them, and when I do they ask the most ridiculous questions (even though I anticipated them and had already answered them in the initial email, they asked them anyways, the answers they got to the questions they asked were literally pasted from my previous email.) then after everything is said and done I get basically "Well I dunno what to tell you, good luck!".
They really have no one to blame but themselves. They push out shit games, then offer customer service I'd expect from someone like this:
