Bethesda's games have been getting dumbed down since bloody Daggerfall.

Morrowind already did away with bunch of (pretty innovative at the time) mechanics. Both in terms of gameplay and game design. But at least it had unique graphical presentation.

Borelivion was borelivion. Cardboard characters and even more simplified game mechanics.

Snorerim... before I found out about Requiem, couldn't play for longer than 30 minutes before turning that crap off. If I wanted a "walking simulator" experience, I'd be outside.

At least Fallout 3 (and New Vegas) had some pew-pew entertainment value (particularly the slow-mo VATS killshots), and did not rely on combat mechanics from early 90s (hell, even Daggerfall at least had some innovation in how different moves with the mouse resulted in different strikes). Unless you went for melee weapons, in which case gods help you.

Still not a true Fallout in any shape or form, either.

Didn't get anything after that, but from what I read Fallout 4 was even more dumbed down. Also, paid mods. Er, I mean "totally not paid mods Creation Club content!"

That dumbfuckery alone would've make me avoid their titles.

Bethesda doesn't make good games. They make good base engine. Once they get patched enough times, anyway.

They have long sacrificed innovation for the sake of garnering the largest "casual" customer base possible.

This ^

If they really were smart they would get back to the isometric view and the fans would "love" them.

Problem there though is that Bethesda was not involved with the Isometric games, they were made by Black Isle published by Interplay. Bethesda acquired the Fallout IP from Interplay when they were having financial issues so I'm not sure if they would want to go back to a style they themselves did not create.

I know. I need to correct myself; Bethesda has never made a good modern game. But I think IF they did, it would be ground-breaking by them. But you're most likely right, as they seem to pretty much dumb down every game and make kids hooked on like it was sugar.

NO! What's next the END OF THE WORLD?

Fallout 76 is a pretty good example of the truism that Bethesda games only succeed because of mods.

They make solid terrain engines. They absolutely suck, and not in a good way, when it comes to characterization. Did not help that whomever's making the decisions on gameplay decided that "bland" and "easy" gets most sales, either.

If Bethesda somehow merged with the old, now nonexistent, Bioware (say what you will, at least the old team knew how to make vibrant characters), and let folks like Overhype (of the Battle Brothers) design the actual RPG/combat aspects of it... now that'd be a game to remember.

Or a complete financial flop, because gaming is so mainstream nowadays it's all about "iWin button" mechanics. "Damn gamers, they ruined gaming!"

So, if the terrain is supposed to be solid, why do I keep falling through the floor? As long as this keeps happening, I wouldn't call them "solid terrain" engines.

Here is a video about the Atomic Shop in Fallout 76 talking about how they are selling assets that were available free in Fallout 4 and how some items cost as much as a single piece of story DLC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWHT3k1YHFI

I purchased 4, mainly because I like building things. I did not, however, pay full price for it, and too late, I found out just how hackneyed the settlement building and management actually is. Thankfully, mods improved all of it with free content additions, as well as multiple added mechanics that should have been common sense to any dev with a pair of brain cells to rub together. I purchased some of the DLC at a reduced rate, and I will say that Far Harbor was actually pretty good, but every other piece was pretty much utter crap.

As for 4 itself? It's wide as an ocean, but deep as a puddle. Mediocre writing, cliche'd and derivative, uninteresting factions, even with the Brotherhood making a roots return to their core values, and some of the most memeworthy radiant quests ever given. Like worse than Skyrim's.

As it stands right now, New Vegas is still the closest thing to a proper "modern" Fallout game that we have, in my opinion, even despite being hampered by its engine. (I'm not an "isometric," despite the original Fallout's not actually being in isometric at all, but rather oblique POV, purist. I don't mind a first person experience, as long as the writing, characters, universe, etc, is consistent and makes sense with the actual established lore.)

I've been trying to get a viably modded setup for New Vegas for the past two weeks. I would pay for a service that setup modded versions of some of these games, dealing with that crap is a pain in he arse.

Don't forget that Wolf2 was a relative not success as well. I loved the game, but I understood the criticisms. And the DLC were buggy as hell.

Ya this hasn't hit rock bottom yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iZPeNIJzAo

So essentially do to a bug or glitch Bethesda just leaked customer credit card info, addresses, and more of people who ordered the power armour edition of Fallout 76

It seems every corporation after they get to a certain size lose what made them good, and they should crash. Unfortunately Bethesda isn't yet at the point where it will start really hurting.

No, you have to be like Disney and destroy the golden goose.

Though with Lootboxes getting more attention by countries as gambling, EA and a lot of other companies may be seeing very difficult times ahead.

News flash: Water is wet. (Well, there *is* such a thing as "dry water", but that's not the point here.)

In any case, it is not surprising that there is a bug in Bethesda software; in fact, it would be a surprise if they released any bug free software. There is a reason the company earned the nickname Bugthesda, and why a certain TES game got the nickname Buggerfall.