Snowflakez;n9909811 said:That said, it's hard to deny that it's immensely satisfying to roll around in the shadows and stab people, too. It'll be a tough balancing act.
Sure! And why not? It's a perfectly valid way to choose to play. Something that's become blurred over time is the concept of "multi-classing". Originally (PnP D&D), only a fighter could realistically charge in and taking enemies out. Everyone else was support. A cleric might be able to do that with certain enemies (undead, demons, zealots of an opposing faith, etc.). A mage would hang way...way back and begin whipping up the proverbial fireball, but if an angry squirrel bit him on the ankle, he would lose the spell or go down. A thief would either run up a tree and loose a few arrows...or just slink off into the shadows and stay there. He might sneak out toward the end of the combat to finish off one enemy with a backstab. See, none of those other characters were meant for combat originally.
Then, we started doing the Fighter / Mage, Fighter / Thief, Fighter / Cleric thing. THAT'S where the image of a thief in leather armor, dual-wielding daggers came from. Or a cleric in full plate armor wielding a giant mace. Or the chain-mailed warrior with an axe in one hand and glowing ball of magic engulfing the other. That was bloody fun, and it made combat bloody fun.
Now, every option has become Fighter / XYZ. I miss the days of the mage saving everyone from a group of bandits by throwing up an illusion and letting then just walk by. Or the cleric summoning a holy light to scare the snot out of a bunch of goblins and send them screaming for their holes. Or the thief telling everyone to stay put while he ran off alone into the woods, making little clicking and chittering noises to draw off a bear (only to make his way back later and explain that he led it to a nearby river and it was busy hunting fish.)
Snowflakez;n9909811 said:For all of their problems, I believe Bethesda is one of the few developers that still take pride in their work, and don't simply try to maximize profits for the publisher portion of Bethesda. They may try to adjust their games to appeal to a "wider audience", but they still care about making fun, immersive worlds for us to explore. You might not share my optimism, but I honestly believe that the stealth mechanics will only get better over time.
I hope they learned their lesson with the lackluster response to FO4. Personally, I didn't really care for it. The story was okay, but I found both the world (which was absolutely beautiful) and the gameplay to be incredibly monotonous and unfulfilling. I agree with you completely that the team is passionately driven, and it shows. I simply think that they've developed some bad habits over time. Maybe they're just tired of making inherently the same thing over and over again. Hm...maybe, they should try something totally new...! (I mean that with 50% of the snarkiness it seemingly carries.)