Not now babe. A British guy just released another long form video essay about a game I played 14 years ago

1:03:10 "In Skyrim, you can just open the menu and chug potions anytime you're in danger, giving you an infinite get out of danger free card"
Footage shows himself down to 3 HP, opening the menu to find NO health potions, chef's kiss.

The Skyrim killers:

Skyrim Legendary Edition
Skyrim Special Edition
Skyrim VR
Skyrim Anniversary Edition

RIP Julian LeFay. You helped create a series so wonderful even you tried to return to its roots after some time. We will all miss you. Thank you for everything you've contributed to this world and others.

I also think people forget how well Skyrim (and other Bethesda games) nails the atmosphere. One of my favorite things about playing Skyrim is simply just BEING in the world. I don't even necessarily have to have a specific objective in mind; the world itself is so well crafted and the score so well done that the game is fun without doing anything story related.

Thanks for the Ardenfall shoutout — means a ton to our tiny team ❤
Totally agree: it’s that deep, thoughtful worldbuilding and exploration that makes these games stick. We’re doing our best to learn from the greats!

The hard truth is that even Bethesda can't copy Skyrim

ENDERAL MENTIONED🎉🎉🎉🎉 (I say, through the tears that have never stopped since I first played A Song in the Silence quest)

I like how the horse glitching on the fence was clearly shown at that point to show indie budget limits in regards to bugs but honestly that was the most Skyrim-like clip shown of that game lol

Nicolas Samuel Lietzau, the project director and lead writer of Enderal, has also written a really good book set in the world of Enderal, starring Jespar as the protagonist, called Dreams of the Dying. He's also going to be the lead writer in Gothic: Remake , which makes your conclusion about Enderal being more like Gothic even more spot-on.

A big part of why Skyrim is so successful is because it's a giant, immersive, detailed, and explorable canvas that you can apply any and every kind of mod to. Something like that would take a ton of workhours, manpower, resource and expertise to try and replicate.

What I love about skyrim is the freedom, ambiance, and the fact the for the most part the game is calm...until it isnt. The world comes first it seems then the combat.

Openly distributing mod tools to the community is one of the absolute most important features of Skyrim's enduring success. The game has been amplified, expanded, improved, and remastered in 1000 different ways by the community post launch. The large mod lists that exist now, like Lorerim, Tempus Maledictum, etc, are far beyond (by orders of magnitude) the level of depth & expansiveness of almost any other RPG game.

Creation Engine is practically a Ship of theseus, so many things have changed or been removed that it's practically not the same engine from like 2 decades ago. Bethesda doesn't want to abandon CE because they have a strange attachment to it, it's because it's practically the only engine suited for the type of RPG BGS makes.

14:11
I think they really started that trend with Daggerfall, and it's been a hallmark of their design ever since. In the Daggerfall manual, there is a page long description of what the game is about, and one of the first things the devs tell you, is that the main quest is completely optional, and the game was designed with avoiding it completely in mind

Tainted Grail has been exactly what I've wanted. Closer to Morrowind, enriched in Dark Fantasy and a dash/dodge button that makes combat feel way more fluid. I haven't encountered any of the early access issues mentioned here in the full release.

I took the time to toss my headphones on, talk to every NPC and read everything readable in the tutorial/asylum and became entrenched in the game.

Funny that you compare Enderal and Gothic, when the lead writer on Enderal was in part inspired by Gothic, and later worked as lead writer on the Gothic Remake.

on of the main things i think really makes tes games stand apart is with 99% of the npcs you can take exactly what they have on them, barely any if any other RPGs do this but its such a rewarding experience to slay an enemy and then be able to take the armor they had

43 seconds in and I'm jokingly thinking at the "Why is there no Skyrim clone"-etc question lines.

Probably because most developers find is difficult to replicate all the bugs faithfully.

The conclusion reminded me of a story I heard.
One man says to the other: "I wish I could play an open world RPG just like the good old times." The other replys: "I got just the thing." And hands him a bag. "But it's not just Skyrim again? I bought that game 3 times already" says the first.
The other chuckles and says:"It's a good game sir don't you worry."
The man goes home and opens the bag with high expectations.
It's Skyrim with a link to a mod.