402 réponses à ce sujet

[cap and gown]

I just discovered VGcharts and took a look at the rpg genre. I was rather bemused to find that Bethesda games far outsold the Mass Effect games. Now I like Skyrim a lot. I liked Oblivion too. I did not care for the Fallout stuff. But one thing about Bethesda games is the rather large number of bugs, particularly in their quests. Quests that can't be completed because of some bug, quests that can't be started because of some bug. Stuff getting stuck in your inventory. Stuff disappearing. Just a lot of bugs. And while the stories are fine, they don't really reach the level of Mass Effect. Sure, there are a lot of problems when it comes to continuity, consistency, and logical failings in the Mass Effect stories, but the writing is generally quite good and the stories are engaging. Plus, I have been quite impressed with the quality of the games. Yeah, I got stuck on ME2 maps occasionally. Some missions don't clear from you journal. Other oddities pop up here and there. But overall the games have run very smoothly.

I guess the biggest thing for me, however, is that ME really hits the spot in being an rpg. In a game like Skyrm most of the time your rp choices are to either do a faction quest line or not. Warriors do the Companions, not the College. Good guys destroy the Dark Brotherhood, evil guys play through the quest line. But there really isn't much else available for defining who your character is. In fact, it seems as though the game designers had the idea that every character would simply do every single quest line. ME is the first game I have played (admittedly, my experience in rather small) where I actually thought about who my character was, and where they were coming from to determine the choices I would make.

So why wasn't ME more popular?

[Bruce M. Shepard]

name recognition, sandbox games, great hype machine.

Also, since bethesda games are less story oriented, they probably appeal more to casuals and newcomers alike. Any game is a "great time to jump in"...something bioware/ea advertised with ME3.

With ME, since it is plot/story driven and encompassing 3 games, it might seem a bit overwhelming to a lot of people. a game/series you have to invest yourself in, doesn't appeal to most.

At the same time, when looking at the ME2 and 3 adverts, people might think it's just another run of the mill shooter, and since it's not halo/cod(played by everyone they know), it can't possibly be worth their time/money.

We probably don't realize it, being so entrenched in the series, but ME is something of a niche product/game.

[Chala]

Matches T. Malone wrote...

name recognition, sandbox games, great hype machine. 

This and the modding community.
Seriously, the stuff those guys do is amazing... 'cept when they make the game a porn simulator

[Han Shot First]

Matches T. Malone wrote...
 
Also, since bethesda games are less story oriented, they probably appeal more to casuals and newcomers alike. Any game is a "great time to jump in"...something bioware/ea advertised with ME3.

I think that is a large part of it.

Many people that buy sandbox games like GTA or Skyrim don't do it for the story. They just want to turn the game on and run around killing things.

[dreamgazer]

[Violation of Rule #6 removed.]

Modifié par Ninja Stan, 03 décembre 2013 - 02:13 .

[spirosz]

LESS STORY = MORE CASUALS?

[I SOLD MY SOUL TO BIOWARE]

Because they're good.

[Rusty Sandusky]

spirosz wrote...

LESS STORY = MORE CASUALS?

Pretty much, I have a casual friend who loves Skyrim so I recommended DA:O to him. He didn't like it because there was "too much talking"

[dreamgazer]

El_Chala_Legalizado wrote...

Matches T. Malone wrote...

name recognition, sandbox games, great hype machine. 

This and the modding community.

Seriously, there's your answer.

[spirosz]

ThisOnesUsername wrote...

spirosz wrote...

LESS STORY = MORE CASUALS?

Pretty much, I have a casual friend who loves Skyrim so I recommended DA:O to him. He didn't like it because there was "too much talking"

HOW CAN YOU HAVE TOO MUCH TALKING?

[dreamgazer]

spirosz wrote...

ThisOnesUsername wrote...

spirosz wrote...

LESS STORY = MORE CASUALS?

Pretty much, I have a casual friend who loves Skyrim so I recommended DA:O to him. He didn't like it because there was "too much talking"

HOW CAN YOU HAVE TOO MUCH TALKING?

Gets in the way of the killing. Keep up, Spyro.

[spirosz]

dreamgazer wrote...

spirosz wrote...

ThisOnesUsername wrote...

spirosz wrote...

LESS STORY = MORE CASUALS?

Pretty much, I have a casual friend who loves Skyrim so I recommended DA:O to him. He didn't like it because there was "too much talking"

HOW CAN YOU HAVE TOO MUCH TALKING?

Gets in the way of the killing. Keep up, Spyro.

I BET THE AMOUNT OF DIALOGUE IN SKYRIM = DRAGON AGE.  

WHAT IS WRONG WITH HAVING MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS ABOUT HOW MY GIFT WILL GIVE +15 TO MY FRIENDSHIP WITH MORRIGAN AND HAVE HER LOVE MY WARDEN FOREVER? 

[I SOLD MY SOUL TO BIOWARE]

Your game has less than 65000 lines of dialogue? Hah, what a filthy casual.

[Sanunes]

I have a hard time believing that it is because its modding because I doubt the PC version sold more copies then the console version and if it was because of modding I would expect the PC version to sell a lot more then the console versions. Don't get me wrong the game probably does have more PC sales because of the modding the game has done, but I know people that only get mods to fix the issues in the game that Bethesda doesn't address and wouldn't miss them if they weren't there.

I personally think it sells well for the same reason why a game like Grand Theft Auto V sold as well as it did and that is because of the design of the game, sandbox games attract the people that might just want to goof around in a game for a short time and not have to worry about remembering what is going on like you would with a BioWare game.

[spirosz]

Sanunes wrote...

I have a hard time believing that it is because its modding

I personally think it sells well for the same reason why a game like Grand Theft Auto V sold as well as it did and that is because of the design of the game, sandbox games attract the people that might just want to goof around in a game for a short time and not have to worry about remembering what is going on like you would with a BioWare game.

Not a lot of people can afford or I should say, want to invest the money to build a PC that could handle a lot of ENB mods for example, but the better experience is in the PC department and this is coming from someone who's played their games on consoles for 500+ hours, but I guess that is subjective anyway.  

Though, I do agree with your second point.  

[Rusty Sandusky]

spirosz wrote...

dreamgazer wrote...

spirosz wrote...

ThisOnesUsername wrote...

spirosz wrote...

LESS STORY = MORE CASUALS?

Pretty much, I have a casual friend who loves Skyrim so I recommended DA:O to him. He didn't like it because there was "too much talking"

HOW CAN YOU HAVE TOO MUCH TALKING?

Gets in the way of the killing. Keep up, Spyro.

I BET THE AMOUNT OF DIALOGUE IN SKYRIM = DRAGON AGE.  

WHAT IS WRONG WITH HAVING MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS ABOUT HOW MY GIFT WILL GIVE +15 TO MY FRIENDSHIP WITH MORRIGAN AND HAVE HER LOVE MY WARDEN FOREVER? 

Yes, but it's not as intrusive as Dragon Age.

[Rusty Sandusky]

J. Reezy wrote...

Games like Skyrim appeal to casuals? I thought casual games appealed to casuals.

[ObserverStatus]

Well, the gameplay is a lot more fun in Bethesda Games than it is in the Mass Effect series, that's one reason.

[rapscallioness]

Well, my 2 cents is that Bethesda has a certain stability in regards to its identity. They know what kinda games they're making. They know who they are, and players have a pretty good idea what kinda game they're gonna get.

The foundation is more stable and allows them to build their name recognition.

BW on the other hand---bless their hearts---seem to go thru these throes of self discovery. Trying to still figure out just who they are, and exactly what kind of experience they're aiming for.

For better or for worse, Bethesda has their experience locked down. I think that stable brand identity allows them to build and grow their audience. Players know what they're gonna get when they buy it.

Where as, BW wins some/loses some because players don't....always have a clear idea of what they're gonna get. It's hard to build on a shifting foundation.

That's my guess at any rate. I can't play Beth. games. They make me physically ill, and just give me this overall feeling of ickyness. I don;t know why, but they make me feel icky. For no good reason, either. Which sux cuz they look like fun. I wish I could play them.

Ah, well....