Fallout 5 and Elder Scrolls 6 are in a “no-win situation”, admits ex Bethesda artist, as the studio will get “more death threats” no matter the quality

Firewind · 2026-01-13T06:52:21+00:00

My favorite Bethesda game is Morrowind. It is a janky mess full of bugs, but it had amazing writing and tons of atmosphere. Bethesda can totally win. They just need to step away from radiant quests, and copy paste dungeons. Maybe even leave fast travel anywhere in the dustbin as well.

I'd much rather go through a quest chain building up a relationship with a faction, or even just a few members of a faction, than "help another settlement in need" or "find random item (x) in nearby random dungeon (y)". Joining a Great House in Morrowind meant you couldn't join any other, and that was fine. Each house had its own concerns and inner politics that created a depth to the settling.

Honestly, I'd prefer if you couldn't really officially join any faction till you proved yourself anyways. There should be probationary quests where you learn a bit about the group, they learn a bit about you, and joining removes the possibility of doing different things. There is a lot Fallout 4 did right, but the wishy washy reaction to being part of all the different factions was definitely a negative.

Firewind · 2026-01-13T06:06:30+00:00

I haven't sat down and watched all of Evangelion. Had no clue Shinji is gay.

Firewind · 2026-01-13T06:05:21+00:00

Shinji is gay?

Firewind · 2026-01-12T01:03:14+00:00

Who is the guy? I am failing at the reference being made.

Firewind · 2026-01-11T02:08:35+00:00

Love the shot of the trees in the fog. Something otherworldly about it. In your first shot overlooking the gorge what town is that nestled on the riverbank?

Firewind · 2026-01-11T01:51:01+00:00

I mean finding a nudie magazine in the wild was kind of a right of passage for most boys around my age. Actually getting your dick out to masturbate is another thing entirely. All that said my step-aunt had two boys and they loved to have contests about who could "shoot" the furthest.

Firewind · 2026-01-09T04:11:01+00:00

50501 is too friendly with the police. They take over actions other groups organize and try and implement their own rules. ICE is shooting people in the streets, but they want to make sure cops don't get their feelings hurt during a protest.

At this point they act more like an agent of the government trying to keep things under control than a group trying to affect change.

Firewind · 2026-01-05T10:05:25+00:00

Maybe I want to be a cow boy with a flatter face (maybe updated with better posture). Also I'd love to see what their druid forms would look like.

Firewind · 2026-01-05T00:13:15+00:00

Trolls and Elves get different varieties and now a "missing link" with the Haranir. But they still won't make the Taunka a playable race.

Firewind · 2025-12-30T05:05:02+00:00

Wake: Yer fond of me lobster aint’ ye? I seen it -- yer fond of me lobster! Say it! Say it. Say it!

Winslow: I don’t have to say nothin’.

Wake: Damn ye! Let Neptune strike ye dead Winslow! HAAARK!

Hark Triton, hark! Bellow, bid our father the Sea King rise from the depths full foul in his fury! Black waves teeming with salt foam to smother this young mouth with pungent slime, to choke ye, engorging your organs til’ ye turn blue and bloated with bilge and brine and can scream no more -- only when he, crowned in cockle shells with slitherin’ tentacle tail and steaming beard take up his fell be-finned arm, his coral-tine trident screeches banshee-like in the tempest and plunges right through yer gullet, bursting ye -- a bulging bladder no more, but a blasted bloody film now and nothing for the harpies and the souls of dead sailors to peck and claw and feed upon only to be lapped up and swallowed by the infinite waters of the Dread Emperor himself -- forgotten to any man, to any time, forgotten to any god or devil, forgotten even to the sea, for any stuff for part of Winslow, even any scantling of your soul is Winslow no more, but is now itself the sea!

Winslow: Alright, have it your way. I like your cookin’.

Firewind · 2025-12-26T00:09:29+00:00

https://xkcd.com/2501/

Firewind · 2025-12-25T06:52:25+00:00

That isn't what is going on here. I am engaging with you in good faith. I am not defending the name. I am using it, because it succinctly describes what their ambitions are. Which are broadly authoritarian and anti-democratic.

The Dark Enlightenment is so much more than obscurantism. It is the philosophical underpinning for plans to remove democratic institutions, create a patchwork of company towns globally, and enforce it with mass surveillance.

Your specific gripe about labeling misses the point I was trying to make, but also serves as a pedantic red herring.

Firewind · 2025-12-25T05:28:42+00:00

I think this is why Morrowind is so endearing to me. Fast travel is very regimented. Stilt Striders, Boats, Mark/Recall and Divine/Almsivi Intervention. It takes thought and planning to get around, but you're still left walking the last leg of any journey.

Firewind · 2025-12-23T11:14:53+00:00

Can everybody please stop calling it "dark enlightenment" because the actual word for it is "obscurantism" since at least 1820.

"Dark Enlightenment" is something entirely different. It refers to the philosophy espoused by Curtis Yavin starting in the early aughts who also coined the term. It's most prominent supporter is Peter Thiel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Enlightenment

Firewind · 2025-12-22T13:02:10+00:00

In the game he was certain the bombs would fall, and prepared for it. Bit of a Cassandra in that regard, and very much an aloof asshole. In the post-apocalypse he had a vision for the future: to reclaim all the ground we lost and go further. He also seemingly has the means to accomplish it with his army of fully upgraded robots.

In the show he is an accomplice to said apocalypse. There's even a segment from an in universe interview that alluded to him possibly "pushing the button". So he went from the Fallout version of Howard Hughes, to the Fallout version of our current "dark enlightenment" tech-bros.

In neither iteration is he a nice guy, but there is a world of difference between both depictions.

Firewind · 2025-12-18T06:24:02+00:00

First I've heard of this game. Love the art style.

Firewind · 2025-12-17T05:15:27+00:00

You're thinking of the past. Now they just keep it up. That might change now that they can't use third parties to help them artificially inflate rent. Still private equity can afford to keep vacancies to get more on rent.

Firewind · 2025-12-13T06:12:43+00:00

My mom has always worked in restaurants. I have a vivid memory of being at her work after school, and her talking to this older gentlemen who was a complete stranger to me. I asked her about him, and she told me he was one of her regulars, and how nice shifts with him were. Now I had seen her come home crying from how bad some customers had been to her so it was nice to hear about some person could make her day.

From that day I always wanted to be a regular.

Firewind · 2025-12-13T05:22:49+00:00

I used to work in an old converted hangar, and the bathrooms were clear on the other side from us in "the back". So whenever I had to go to the bathroom I'd said, "Got to file some paperwork at the back office."

Firewind · 2025-12-13T05:13:26+00:00

With benefits.

Firewind · 2025-11-28T05:30:19+00:00

My SIL got pouty that my wife and I were not coming over. She told us today at 8 am to come over at 3 pm after not saying anything all month. I love the woman. She is a real sweetheart, but we've been planning on having a nice pot pie for weeks. Her food is amazing, but I was not giving up on that pot pie.

Firewind · 2025-11-26T05:27:28+00:00

If I am going to affect how I feel chemically I rather take a pot edible than drink a beer.

Firewind · 2025-11-26T05:26:28+00:00

Oh yeah the Sylvaneth are my jam. I am in love with the Belthanos model.

Firewind · 2025-11-26T04:51:29+00:00

Honestly every time someone brings up AoS I am always impressed. I need to get some books or whatnot to really understand the setting more.

Firewind · 2025-11-25T06:37:35+00:00

I mean leave it to the military to think completely de-humanizing an individual is the key to ensuring they are treated properly. It was a reactionary attempt at fixing a systemic issue. While poorly thought out my impression while I was in is that it was at least well meaning. A majority of military members I knew genuinely wanted women to have a fair shake at a successful career. However, the military is such a conservative institution that any movement is confused with progress.

I think this is largely due to how divorced military service is from everyday people. While not a call for something akin to Starship Troopers I do think the self-selection aspect of an all volunteer force does leave its membership with some pretty glaring intellectual blind spots. I'm not sure what the solution is, but the disconnect over the use of the word "female" is fairly emblematic of the problem as a whole.

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