2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Lewis White)
Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout series is beloved for its simple approach to player choice, so much so that the series is likely inspiring The Elder Scrolls 6 right now. Following the release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, we caught up with ex-Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Starfield designer Bruce Nesmith to discuss the future of RPGs.Speaking to VideoGamer, Nesmith, who played Dungeons and Dragons during the Satanic Panic and designed modules for the series for over a decade, explained that the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 proves players want deeper, more impactful story choices in games.
While Fallout may have been the bastion of player choice in video games for a while, the new benchmark is now Larian's RPG.Baldur’s Gate 3 sets the benchmark for player choiceIn an interview with VideoGamer, Nesmith explained that Baldur’s Gate 3’s streamlining of the Dungeons and Dragons formula allowed the game’s deep player choices to become front and centre to the game instead of the more “fiddly character sheets” of real tabletop Dungeons and Dragons.“Larian Studios picked up on that for Baldur’s Gate,” Nesmith explained.
“A game that has tonnes of actual choices throughout. You can make all kinds of morality choices, all kinds of story-flow choices, and players really liked that.”“'I’m going to go with the most current game, which is going to be Baldur’s Gate 3, and say, yes, that is what the players want.
"EX-ELDER SCROLLS, FALLOUT, AND DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS DESIGNER BRUCE NESMITHNesmith explained that, for a game to become overwhelmingly popular like BG3, a level of mechanical streamlining is still needed. While Baldur’s Gate 3 is more complex of an RPG than, say, Fallout 4, it’s a more approachable way of bringing Dungeons and Dragons’ dense gameplay to the modern gamer.“'I’m going to go with the most current game, which is going to be Baldur’s Gate 3, and say, yes, that is what the players want,” he explained.
“They want that instead of complicated mechanics.”When asked if players prefer the dense mechanics of games like Planescape or the more approachable nature of BG3, Nesmith explained that choice of action and choice of consequence is more satisfying for a larger audience. While mechanical complexity is certainly popular with some audiences—simply look at Dwarf Fortress, making players feel like they have an impact on the world around them is more gratifying for more players.
“Now, Baldur’s Gate [3] is a Dungeons and Dragons game...
they did an amazing job of implementing D&D in there because that was the directive,” the veteran game designer explained. “That’s what the game had to be. So, personally, I would say story choices over game mechanics [is the way].
”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYZpR51XgW0Nesmith explained that the “drive in gaming, in general, the broad sweep of gaming is to simplify and streamline”, which is a method of development that Bethesda adopted for decades.
However, with the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, the veteran game designer explained that there is a “movement to look back nostalgically at games that are more traditional RPGs” and find a middle ground.While Larian Studios is moving away from Baldur’s Gate 3 to focus on its exciting new RPG, Bethesda is hard at work on The Elder Scrolls 6. As for Nesmith, the game designer has largely left game development, instead focusing on novels like Mischief Maker and physical LitRPG series Glory Seeker that also focus on player choice.
For more from our chat with Nesmith, read about what the game designer wants to see from the alleged Fallout 3 Remaster. However, it may be a while until we see what the team at Virtuos is cooking up for that re-release..
