SKYRIM, STEAM and the state of RPG Modding? Can it be done?

1. 71

   mobiasposted 13 years ago

   Skyrim!  Droool. Yes, I very much want this game…but I was reading some stuff that made me a little discouraged in the reviews online. I sincerely hope they  patch the concerns I've read about:
   1) Only direct X 9?? Really? Another sad casualty of consolitus! The old aging, technologically limited consoles are now LIMITING the games that we get ported over afterwards. With all the potential the pc has, Bethesda has now joined the masses of devs and aren't even bothering with the [admittedly pain in the butt] extra programming they need to accomplish to realize it.  It's still strange though, I remember Oblivion pushed ALL the graphical boundaries, including directX10 when It was barely the norm at the time, and most had to play with a lot less than full max settings…Now, we get basically the DX9 clone of the PS3/Xbox crowd!?? LAME. This game has/had SO much more potential to be even MORE beautiful if they work on patching up to DX11….I'll cross my fingers.
   2) the Menu and control scheme was also released obviously written and limited for a control pad, there are supposedly many menu functions that you have to do with keyboard controls [arrow keys, enter, esc etc] and even some that don't work when you click on them with the mouse! LAME. Some reviewers were so fed up they just plugged in their [xbox] game pads and played it that way, which for me, defeats the whole point of playing on the pc!! It's not just for graphics that I play PC games, but avoiding at all costs the [for me] constricted movements of analog controls.
   3) STEAM…now, the more I read about other people’s thoughts on steam, I admit that I have a love hate relationship with it. Yes you can get mad deals with the sales on games, but people are right…STEAM's original intent was as an in-house DRM and patching platform, and I've long since had a line in the sand with which games I would buy for it…I wanted a RPG like SKYRIM to be the one, but it seems even the physical disk forces you to run the game through steam!
   
   Apparently people have found a way to still mod the game, but if it had any multiplayer component at all, steam would ban your entire account for modding files etc. I wonder how they differentiate between games like this, and that modding policy.  I guess people have successfully modded Fallout 3 [and NV] as well as oblivion through steam. The folders are just buried within the steam folders…
   Your thoughts??

   replyreport
   1. 80

      j-u-i-c-eposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      1. The game looks great, even with DX9. It's not 'photorealistic' but the art direction is fantastic. Besides, mods will eventually upscale the art as they have for Morrowind and Oblivion. Before you take them to task for targeting console players remember than consoles make up > 90% of their profits and games like Skyrim are hugely expensive to make. If they don't make the console players happy, you don't get Skyrim; it's just not feasible.
      
      2. The menu is a little awkward to use at first, but after a couple dozen hours of gameplay I barely notice it anymore. Once you get the keyboard commands down it's not bad at all. Could it be better? Yes. Is it gamebreaking? Hardly.
      
      3. You can mod Bethesda's games with the Steam version no problem. The only difference is the directory location. Personally, I like the instant patching. I think it's going to improve the number and frequency of updates, which is worth the 'price of admission'.

      replyreport
      1. 71

         mobiasposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I agree, it does look great, but, one could say unrealized potential was wasted, per the restrictions of that console limitation. The graphics are effectively on par with Oblivion's graphic engine, from 6 years ago! I am fully aware of the situation with console's raising the market, with their 60 dollar release day averages...but that in no way should mean we can't have the 'option' of higher capability for the PC version! Like most games USED to be. You can make them happy, do a little more work, and make the PC gamers happy as well, which should still be a motivating goal. After all, with modding, we kept the games alive for MANY more years after release than any other title would have been.
         Your other two points I agree with...and is why I still buy games on steam...

         replyreport
         1. 80

            j-u-i-c-eposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I won't disagree with you: the capabilities are the same, though I think the modeling and texturing is much better. The character modeling alone is light years beyond Oblivion. They did have to rewrite the rendering engine, so I'm guessing you'll see more of the 'good stuff' in future games.

            replyreport
   2. 82

      SimeyCposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      1) The game looks fantastic regardless of the version of direct X - far better than the console version. As long as the quality is incredibly high (it's by far the best looking RPG on the PC) then I don't really care if they are not yet using the full capabilities of Direct X - what's more important to me is that the game is playable. I've had quite a few really nice looking RPGs recently that suck as games.
      2) The menus system is strange - but once you get used to it it's OK - as longas I can play the game without too many worries then I'm OK with that.
      3) Steam - still not sure about steam - really messed with me when I had Civ 5 on it, but Fallout 3, Skyrim etc don't seem to have problems (so far!)>

      replyreport
      1. 71

         mobiasposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the comments, SimeyC. Sounds good, I'm getting a better feeling about this whole thing now! heh I''ll still get the boxed version, when it's on sale, just because it's tradition with me for this series..and I'll just have to learn how to mod with Steam, without locking out my account! 

         replyreport