You know a franchise is really good when its critique gets as much attention as its accolades. Bethesda's Elder Scrolls is on of the most hated and loved franchises. I for one love all their games but its not difficult the differences between the games. These differences lead to in fighting among the fan base many saying that Bethesda is "dumbing down" the franchise. I want to unpack this idea by detailing out the attributes each leveling system. I think the combat mechanics and the overall challenge provided by the game has improved from version to version. I dont think the franchise will get better by determining which version of combat and challenge is best. Instead diving in the worst and best of each system is a better way to understand the experience. We can then take the good from all systems, leave the bad and make the next Elder Scrolls the best one.
Morrowind has a large selection of weapon choices only to be rivaled by Darksouls. Morrowind also has a very free magic system allowing you to grab any any spell from the beginning and create custom spells of an almost endless variety. All this selection and freedom is great but execution is poor. Weapons may be different but they all feel the same. The magic isnt far from the weapon feel, its mostly the same but with different look and sounds. I mostly blame the movement animations. The AI is dumb and both players and NPCs movement is stiff. Combat in general feels the same no matter what weapons or magic is used. Many people complain about the dice roll mechanic where contact is not guaranteed. Even at higher levels with a good weapon skill and good agility consistent connections doesnt make the combat better just simpler. I would boil down Morrowinds combat system to lots of variety given to the player to imagine interesting combat. The challenge leveling itself is done well with obvious places having obvious challenges. I think the tailored challenge route is best, Im not sure why generic global leveling is ever desired. Having particular places have stronger enemies gives the locations a unique feel.
Oblivion took a step back in the variety category but up the quality in combat all around. The visual experience and the AI makes the combat much more interesting. Im particularly impressed and angered by mage AI, why wouldnt a mage run away and spam spells. Not only focusing the skills that the player could use but also adding symmetry to the overall system by having 3 skills assigned to each attribute I feel is a good approach to organizing the players relationship with character creation. Not only the combat but general leveling received quality improvements with perks. The general leveling overhaul made character building much more interesting and complex. Where Morrowind's weapon variety was shallow (just different in look) Oblivion generated real variety by depth of mechanics. The global enemy leveling gets a little annoying and seems lazy. Im not sure why certain places could be designated as easy and other as difficult. I would also be nice to be able to focus a particular location to try to get a good piece of armor or powerful weapon early. Instead it doesnt matter, every place is the same level as you always. The extreme implementation of this is really off putting. It makes different locations just shells of enemies instead of unique locations. There's enough variety in enemy type to off set this problem but just barely. The players skills and attributes cap at 100 when it comes to damage calculations. In the end this doesnt seem to add any value to the combat system and only constrains customization. I feel a soft cap would have been better with diminishing returns from any points over 100. Oblivion to a streamlined the combat focusing on quality over quantity but I feel a little over engineered. Some parts should be unique and not constrained by a ubiquitous system.
Skyrim seemed to take a very similar approach to improving the mechanics of Oblivion opting to focus on quality over variety. I think they had a very good approach and I think the current system is a great foundation for the future. Separating health, magicka and stamina pools from skills allows for more freedom in play styles and character creation. The focus on perks allows each skill to be even more stylized and interesting. This combined with the dual hand mechanics compounds the options given to the player. In one sense they removed options given to the player combining weapon skills and removing mysticism from the magic tree. I feel this decision was made thoughtfully. The perspective is that if you are good one handed then you will be good with a mace or axe in your hand which seems reasonable. Consolidation is good if its meaningful, it doesnt seem to be a change just for convenience. This variety was also added back into the skill tree with different branches for different weapon types. This is a good start just need to add more weapon types. I would like to see a little bit more variety in the magic department and some way to make custom magic spells. Not being able to have custom spells greatly reduces the unique quality of playing as a mage. Skyrim has a good approach to character build focusing the player on using the skills to gain extra abilities but also giving the player the freedom to use other skills for support. Now that the system is good the variety needs to be added back in. Custom spells must be a thing on some level, and hopefully I dont have to join a guild to make it possible.
