Personally i am done with that company now, had enough of their BS. Be a hell long time until i have any trust in them again.
Yeah... pretty much same here. I love their older games. Put in a ton of time in FO3, Oblivion, and Skyrim. Those games had issues, but also a lot of merits. And then from FO4 onward it was like they decided to move in favor of those issues. Old problems often didn't go away and sometimes got worse. Meanwhile new problems came about, while things that were good got abandoned. And amidst this are side-mouthed promises and poorly placed hype.
Though honestly, it's not Bethesda I really mistrust. I mean, I don't trust things coming from them. But that has more to do with them becoming a puppet of their own financial machination, Zenimax. They would bring mobile strategies into Bethesda's feature releases if they could. They only know/care about brand. Everything they do is branding and monetization. I think people at Bethesda, Todd included, are able to see what they built with their games... the communities and fandoms brought about. And at one point that's all they wanted in their games. They put the love into it and it looks like they got it back. So they know how that goes. It would probably kill me to work for them and witness all of this, knowing how things used to be. But at this point it is like their hands are tied. A lot of their words are not their words, you know? They're stuck doing the stuff passed down to them. I'm sure 76 was still their idea, but I'm betting they didn't have that much say in whether they did
something like it or not, let alone how much time they would have, or whether it would have certain 'bonus' features... and the handling of the problems has that similar 'passed-down strategy' vibe. Like, you know they could do better, so why can't they? Indeed. Limited budgets and timelines... expected margins and demands met. Strategies rolled out. That's daddy Zenimax talkin to brother Todd and his Bethesda boys, who can only play the hands they're dealt by 'the family'.
Does that mean I forgive the things that happened? No. I just think that given the nature of things looming over top of all of BGS, they probably could not succeed with all of their effort. Of course when Todd talks of direction, he's going to talk with excitement, as though they're doing all of the things they want to do. Doesn't mean that's actually the case. When I watch interviews I often wonder what is really on his mind. I get the impression there are a lot of things he can't say... things that may not be as attributed to Bethesda as he's looking to make them out as being. It's been strange... I have a hard time getting a sense for how much control Bethesda has really had over everything. The disclosure isn't there. What used to be out of character is now more the norm. Something has changed and they don't act like themselves, while trying EXTRA hard to talk like they are. Tinfoil hat territory, for sure. But I do find most of their decisions and presentations suspicious. It's like things are slowly fading out and being replaced to avoid the shock, but at this point the revamping is already far along. I don't think people realize that possibility that there is no new Bethesda coming... that this may be the new direction fully realized.
Even the way they make and put out stuff is different. They're not known for churning things out that aren't even normal for them. And unsurprisingly they are very bad at it. They work a long time on games with very predictable aspects that people have come to expect. This whole 76 thing... it's not really what they do at all. In that light, there may still be hope for the next ES, given the time they're putting in and having dropped other stuff. That's more like how they used to do things. But that's where the issues are. I think behind the scenes, Bethesda doesn't necessarily get to operate in the way that it's been accustomed to doing well with. It's hard to say what's really going on there, but the leadership direction has obviously changed a lot over these past few years, with no sign of letting up. I highly suspect that there have been some major shake-ups in their decision-making lattice between Skyrim and FO76. It looks like Bethesda is gradually being gutted for its brands and titles. When you have what they had with these games and their unique presence, you wouldn't give that up willingly. And yet, given the reaction from the communities who supported those games heavily, it's hard to even see them as the same company. They may have a lot of the same people, but in terms of how it functions, they can't do the same things.
How does this happen? It's a complicated problem... one you only get when leadership in big companies mutates.
It just weirds me out because that's not how they're presenting themselves. They act like they're the same old company, while nearly everything about what they do is acutely different. I keep coming back to the question of how any of this could've been what they wanted to do. I have a hard time believing that it was. But they throw themselves on it, so... what's going on there? I think a lot of other people who mistrust them feel the same, even without reading that far in. It's just a vibe you get. What they say and what they do keeps shooting them in the foot. The lack of forthcoming info with regards to their decisions and goals makes them hard to trust. They're so bent on it, it's kind of surreal. Most companies, you would think, would course correct if they had the power. I really wonder if Bethesda has that power. I don't think they do... and maybe them acting like they do is just part of the plan for moving 76 along. It makes them look to me, like a dancing monkey. You only see it dance, but never do you see its time in the cage. It's safe to say the monkey doesn't run the show... people don't think about that because it IS the show.
The theme I see with them is blocking avenues. They're shutting themselves out to the things that used to pull people in and becoming generic. They've already been behind on team development, if technical and design shortcomings of their games are any indication - hard to think they have the capacity to meet modern standards. They were probably feeling dug-in. I seriously wonder if they've low-key been totally bought off. Probably hoping to get enough movement to get back on track for those GOTY titles... many a studio has lost their way on that path. Hard to consider Bethesda hard up with GOTY titles under the belt, but their whole ethos was free creativity back then. I think a lot of budget and time was lost to their amicably lackadaisical approach to making their games. From the top down they were dreamers, not business people. So making successful games isn't necessarily enough for them to be able to continue. Only a matter of time before business snatches up the leadership driving that and winds up corrupting the yields. This is not a business where studios can sustainably make AAA games and yet operate like a big indie. That's why Zenimax is where it is in relation to BGS. Trying to build a platform for doing things they want to do, on things that aren't related, and being consumed by that growth. Funny how that works. You try to free yourself from the financial/practical side and wind up imprisoned by what was supposed to keep you separated from it. Usually it's musicians who go through this the most, but game studios aren't immune either. What is a studio but a team of artists with ambitions for art? Shit happens when that mixes with 'the biz'.
Really kinda sad if I'm right. At some point there were good intentions. But I think they've largely been snuffed out by the churning machine at this point. We've all seen it happen before. And people always say "They used to be the BEST."
Its like they just can't help themselves.
