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submitted 5 months ago by Donebrach@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

I know there’s great love for Oblivion (I never played it when it was new), and of course Skyrim is the gold standard for new fans (I played the shit out of that and it was my first entry into the elder scrolls back when it came out 14 years ago…) but I really feel like this shadow drop of a half assed remake is just priming everyone to lower their expectations for the likely dumpster fire that is The Elder Scrolls VI.

I know its old hat nonsense of a complaint but whatever Bethesda used to be it stopped being that 20 years ago and we’re all just stuck thinking they’ll put out some new masterpiece when in reality all the talent they had back in the day has likely left for other jobs and they are now just a shitty company among countless other shitty companies putting profit over anything else and stifling anyone who might actually have good ideas on how to make good games (how unsurprising).

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[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 118 points 5 months ago

Man the negativity. I'm so sick of gamers negativity. It's not even a new game, it's a remaster. you knew what the product was going to be. It's oblivion. We all knew it was oblivion. If you don't like oblivion, why did you buy it?!

I swear to God if they changed it too much I'd be commenting here on a post about how they had no respect for the original. Then we wonder why "they never listen to gamers". Because we bitch and moan about everything.

[-] overload@sopuli.xyz 19 points 5 months ago

100% agree. Pleasing Gamers™ is a Kafka trap.

[-] Donebrach@lemmy.world 13 points 5 months ago

Just musing on the fact that Bethesda doesn’t care about making games and instead just cashes in on nostalgia. I also think their finance bros realized their upcoming big IP drop is going to be an objective POS and wanted to prime people’s expectations by re-releasing a 20 year old game with some lipstick on it.

It would be neat if they hired some people who actually had innovative ideas about gameplay, visuals and stories to maybe make a neat new game within an existing or new IP, but they haven’t done that in literal decades so I think its pretty reasonable to not be incredibly excited about anything they are putting out or planning to put out in the future.

[-] torrentialgrain@lemm.ee 55 points 5 months ago

Imagine if capital G Gamers actually enjoyed playing games instead of nonstop bitching on online forums.

[-] Donebrach@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago

the internet would fall silent.

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[-] killeronthecorner@lemmy.world 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

As a long time Bethesda game fan I agree with you on almost everything you've said about Bethesda... But the remaster is a terrible example of your points.

The remaster does exactly what it says on the tin and they've been very upfront about how it was made and why it was made in the launch video.

It's hard to criticise them for cashing in on nostalgia when they've shown time and time again with Skyrim re-releases that do a fraction of what the Oblivion remaster does still sell like hot cakes.

Nostalgia is at the core of their business model. That's why they march Skyrim's corpse out every two years like clockwork; that's why they picked Fallout for a new franchise after ES; that's, frankly, likely why Starfield sucks so much.

[-] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 9 points 5 months ago

It's not even much of a remaster. They just slapped a coat of paint on it.

The Gamebryo/Creation Engine is still there running the game, it just uses Unreal 5 for the graphical elements. And they updated some of the levelling to work more like Skyrim, because the Oblivion system sucked in comparison.

It's still the same 20 year old Oblivion under the hood.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but calling it a remaster is a bit disingenuous.

[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 71 points 5 months ago

What do you think "remaster" actually mean?

[-] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

More than a coat of paint. They didn't actually port the game to Unreal 5, they just used it to make the graphics look better. The modding community could have done this years ago if that's all they wanted to do. Skyblivion is more of a remaster than this official one.

With all of the resources of the original development and sources, I expect more than the modding community is capable of.

[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 40 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Emm, no. If you build something from the ground up it's called remake.(Demon Souls, the Resident Evil series) Remastered is taking the old game and put on a fresh paint of coat and give it some modern QOL so it's much more accessible today.

Skyblivion is closer to remake than remaster.

Also i feels like you misunderstand why people like this game.

[-] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

If you're fine paying $50-60 for what amounts to a community graphical overhaul mod that's fine. I expect more from an actual developer with access to the source code.

A remaster should be releasing Oblivion with an updated engine and graphics, and bringing in some gameplay enhancements from newer games. Technically this meets those requirements, but only by the bare minimum and all of those can be achieved with community mods for free.

A remake would be completely abandoning the decrepit Gamebryo/Creation Engine that's clearly dragging all of their games down now, and has been for over a decade, and actually giving us something that doesn't feel like it came out 20+ years ago.

I love the Elder Scrolls, Oblivion is one of my favorite games of all time, and the only one I ever bothered to get every achievement for back on the 360. But I won't accept a half assed remaster for nearly full price just because it's what Bethesda wants to distract everyone from the fact that Elder Scrolls 6 isn't coming out anytime soon and they couldn't just release Skyrim for the 12th time.

Don't accept paying for mediocre products just because you're desperate for content.

[-] overload@sopuli.xyz 11 points 5 months ago

You're describing a remake, which isn't what this remaster is. A remaster is literally what this is, just like Diablo 2 Resurrected a few years ago

[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 6 points 5 months ago
[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 months ago

The only real problem here is the price. It should've been more like $30.

That's literally what remaster are, a new coat of paint

[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 9 points 5 months ago

They literally had a hour long stream explaining what they did, and then you could have watched any of the thousands of twitch streams showing it. There was zero reason that you should have bought this if you thought this. I knew exactly what I was buying, seems like pretty much everyone did.

You are describing a remake. A remaster is a fresh coat of paint. Todd Howard said verbatim "This is not a remake" and then talked about his reasons why. You're going on like they lied to you when they literally said everything you just complained about, and then you still bought it.

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[-] zerofk@lemm.ee 54 points 5 months ago

When I saw the post’s title I was hoping for a good, perhaps even balanced, critique of the remake’s choices, or the underlying engine’s shortcomings, or perhaps even the original designs.

All I got was “dumpster fire”.

[-] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 40 points 5 months ago

There‘s no Oblivion remake. Go to the Steam Page and carefully read word for word what it is you‘re talking about.

[-] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

I play Fantasy Critic with some friends. We allow remakes in our league but not remasters. This one counts as a remake for purposes of this site, with a flag on it to note that it was contentious. This game definitely blurs some lines on some definitions.

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[-] unused_user_name@lemm.ee 35 points 5 months ago

It might be nostalgia speaking, but I think the real issue is that a 20 year old game can actually be this good and popular. How can it be that it is more enjoyable than anything else I’ve bought over the last year (at least)? Doesn’t that say that game companies in general have dropped the ball on game design, focusing on graphics and money over content and gameplay? As I said, it might just be me stuck in my wonderfully comforting blanket of nostalgia…

[-] MudMan@fedia.io 16 points 5 months ago

I think it's almost definitely nostalgia speaking.

Granted, by the point Oblivion was made I was the nostalgia guy talking about how Bethesda games kept getting smaller and less ambitious. Most people saying that then did so because they were coming from Morrowind. Not me, I am a proper dinosaur and I was just pissed that after Morrowind dropped everything interesting about Daggerfall to make a console game they just kept moving further in that direction.

Was also not a fan of Fallout getting turned into Oblivion 40K instead of a proper turn-based CRPG.

Which goes to show this conversation isn't new and gaming is old enoung now that it has gone in cycles.

I mean, seriously, Daggerfall was continent-sized and was using procedural generation to make dungeons and build dialogue and quests and essentially reimagining how games could be made in ways that wouldn't resurface until what? No Man's Sky? Oblivion is bad Lord of the Rings. If anything it's the awkward middle child now, because man, the Imperial City in Oblivion feels hilariously tiny and basically deserted against modern RPGs. There are five people running loops and having canned conversations. Coming from Baldur's Gate 3 or Cyberpunk to this is... a bit of a shock.

[-] missingno@fedia.io 9 points 5 months ago

"Why is an old game good?" feels like an odd question. It would be silly to ask that of any other medium, wouldn't it? The most beloved classics being beloved isn't an indictment of modern stuff, especially when cherry-picking the greatest hits and ignoring how many flops existed back then too.

[-] pennomi@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago

Survivorship bias, essentially.

[-] Flickerby@lemm.ee 9 points 5 months ago

Clair Obscur came out the same time and it's probably the best RPG I've ever played, and I've played every noteworthy one in the last 40 years at least. GOTY at the LEAST.

[-] MummysLittleBloodSlut 5 points 5 months ago

You're just buying the wrong games.

Go play Split Fiction, Balatro, and Hades 2.

[-] prole 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

How can it be that it is more enjoyable than anything else I’ve bought over the last year (at least)?

Possibly because you're buying the wrong games? Don't get me wrong, I've got a massive nostalgia-on for Oblivion, and I picked up the Remaster, and it's cool....

But there have been a lot of great games so far this year. Just this month alone, Blue Prince and Expedition 33 have both been fantastic. Both better than the Oblivion remaster imo.

The Indiana Jones game is cool. I haven't played Split Fiction yet, but it looks really good as well. Just to name a few.

Edit: More that I remembered: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Wanderstop is pretty chill. Xenoblade Chronicles X was finally released on Switch (game map is like 5x the size of Skryim or something..). Atomfall. Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is pretty cool if you're into that kind of thing.

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[-] MellowYellow13@lemmy.world 26 points 5 months ago

It is literally not a remake, and how is it half assed? I have a low to mid range PC and the game runs smooth as hell, and it's gorgeous.

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[-] lordnikon@lemmy.world 25 points 5 months ago

Just to clarify one thing while i agree with you on some stuff this is not a remake it's a remaster. the OG game engine is running underneath and UE5 for just the updated models and terrain. The fact they are charging so much for it is what kills me. What this should have been is a $30 game of the year edition and maybe an discount or a free upgrade of you owned the original like they did with doom and quake remasters that nightdive did.

[-] icecreamtaco@lemmy.world 24 points 5 months ago

Maximum dooming for a game that almost everyone likes. lmao

[-] Red_October@lemmy.world 24 points 5 months ago

You don't seem to know what a remaster is. Most importantly, it's not a remake and the two terms are not interchangeable.

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[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 23 points 5 months ago

I have no idea what's your complaint are though, and it's not a remake, it's a remaster that is significantly better than a lot of other remaster have to offer. They could've gave us widescreen support, some lighting change, some new horse armour and call it a day, but they somehow able to snap an UE5 rendering on top of gamebryo, some modern QOL, new character models, modern lipsync, while retaining the charm that spawned an entire genre of meme.

There's a reason Witcher 1 isn't getting a remastered but a remake. Gamer these day is so jaded and just can't seems to satisfied with anything, that a witcher 1 remastered will get hated forever.

[-] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 19 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

half assed remake

which is exactly why they called it a remaster. it was never their intention to remake the game.

Personally I think most of the stuff that went wrong with Starfield were design choices related to space travel and many many planets, which won't be an issue with TES of Fallout going forward. So if they stay in their lane I don't see any reason why they can't keep churning out decent titles in those series, even if they maybe don't reach the same heights.

[-] Supervisor194@lemmy.world 18 points 5 months ago

You think this is a half assed remake? To me this feels like a significant upgrade (and not just to graphics) while maintaining the core experience and I'm kinda shocked at how good it is.

[-] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 16 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I see a lot of people downplaying the remaster as a fresh coat of ue5 paint. I'm playing the game, having disliked the original, and I'm loving it. I'm kind of impressed with what they did with the game, basically remaking the world elements in ue5 and leaving the gameplay as it was with minor tweaks. Fresh coat of paint feels more like rip out the drywall and do it again. Just leave the structure alone. Like, the electrical and plumbing is still there and feels the same but it looks completely different.

Games like this dont come very often, so if anything, this remaster and BG3 should raise the bar on what we should expect from a new TES game.

[-] TommySoda@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

It's a remaster of a game from 2006 with a fresh coat of paint and some QOL changes and that's basically all it ever could be. 70% of the game did not age well and they honestly did the best they could. If they did a complete remake and "modernized" the game all the old-school fans would be pissed. If they kept it as true to the original as possible besides a facelift they'd make it harder for new players to want to pick it up. I feel like a good 7/10 was the best they could shoot for under most circumstances.

And if you ask anyone where Bethesda fell off, depending on which game was their first, they will all give you a different answer. For me Morrowind and Oblivion are the best in the series and that's with over 500 hours in Skyrim. They've been dumbing their games down with each new iteration since the 90s as they try to "modernize" the newest game each time and reach new audiences. Like, good luck playing Morrowind or Daggerfall these days without losing your patience in a matter of hours. And Morrowind especially is barely playable without mods these days.

I still hated Starfield, though. Gave it the old college try and left so underwhelmed I couldn't tell you a damn thing about the story.

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[-] Dr_Box@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

You're not going into depth on how it is half assed. The only thing I can complain about is some performance drops when travelling outside, but I imagine they'll patch that out at some point. If you're referring to the classic oblivion stuff like goofy npcs and most of them having the same voice actor tbh I'd be pissed if they changed that

[-] Makfreeman@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago

I personally don't really pre order or set up prior expectations for games these days. No matter the company's prior track record a game is only judged on its own, not because how good a previous game was. Oblivion is great because it is, In my opinion, better than Skyrim. It is dated by today's standards. Heck starfield was dated as well. Even when elder scrolls vi comes out I don't have any high expectations for it.

[-] Default_Defect@midwest.social 5 points 5 months ago

Listen, as long as ESVI ends up being highly modable and has a healthy community behind it to make the mods, it'll be good enough for me.

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[-] CaptnNMorgan@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

This is such a silly take. After Starfield, I was still excited, but had very little "faith" in the next elder scrolls. After this remaster, I'm even more excited, and I think there is a good chance ES6 will be an absolutely beautiful game that I will play for years after its release.

They weren't trying to reinvent the wheel with this remaster, they merely demonstrated its possible to have classic BGS mechanics WITH modern day graphics and animations. Starfield made it seem like they had to choose between one or the other for future games, but this shows us we can have both!

[-] Noerknhar@feddit.org 4 points 5 months ago

It's a remaster. What's the problem?

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this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2025
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