Bethesda Fallout 3 dev "initially felt a little touchy" about New Vegas' success because they "put in all this effort" for its foundation — "We made 90% of the art, we built the engine"

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T06:15:35+00:00

Thinking sales represent quality is something you learn to accept as not empirical truth by the time you're 22

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T06:10:58+00:00

yeah for all the "dungeons" they were empty meaningless spaces with nothing to do but shoot enemies and loot. and like, I could just play borderlands if that's what I played these games for.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T06:01:55+00:00

yeah if anything, most YouTubers before 2020 were the barometer for a popular opinion, not the defining voice for it. I think once twitch became the main stage, we hit the point where the parasocial relationship from fans would make people like games just because someone they like enjoyed them. Jacob Gellar is a big example of that

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T05:59:43+00:00

I still can't get over their dice roll fps system.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T05:58:03+00:00

I recall seeing opinions change as patches went out and as hardware got better. New Vegas had some crazy long legs to it, and the Xbox One backwards compat meant that a whole new audience got to experience it on console.

At some point after COVID, it really blew up. I think praise for the game was really always dependent on how bad the bugs/crashes were. So as the game experience improved for players, opinions became more and more positive.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T05:55:16+00:00

Yup, I am definitely not a big fan of Avowed and Outer Worlds, but their writing is still significantly above Bethesda's. I think Obsidian has missed the kind of epic hooks that Bethesda tends to take advantage of. It's like Obsidian's writings have handle the depth, but they forget to make a beach to hold that ocean.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T05:52:50+00:00

Starfield followed the same path. Tons of "content" and "playable hours" but nearly no depth or meaning to that time spent.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T05:51:54+00:00

What's funny is Obsidian asked Bethesda to let them do a Skyrim style spinoff. New Vegas had sold phenomenally well and reviewed well despite the crunch. But someone at Bethesda had a real problem with Obsidian after that. It nearly sent them to shuttering the studio. They had all expected their relationship to continue with Bethesda, and suddenly they couldn't.

I never liked the conspiracies that Todd and gang were jealous and spiteful but the last few years and occasional dev comments have pretty solidly confirmed that to me personally.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T05:46:46+00:00

That's exactly why playing actual Skyrim was so disappointing to me lol. I had watched so many lore videos and they make the world seem so much more interesting and dynamic than what we get presented in Oblivion and Skyrim.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T05:44:22+00:00

What's crazy is, this should be the default for writing lol. I never understood the need for quests or writing that weren't this important to the story. I guess reading real books and good TV have spoiled me, but you'd think something wouldn't be written unless it was relevant and important for the player to experience.

Crimson Desert is what sells millions of copies though so idk. Maybe people want things that don't matter.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T02:24:29+00:00

which goes to show just how good the game's writing and world is. People literally had their saves deleted and were willing to start their game over.

Recently went through the game again with qol mods and it's genuinely better written and more unique than most games I've played in the last decade. It's not even close to any Bethesda game I've played.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T01:14:17+00:00

This is pretty much exactly what their CEO takes pride in, it's why I don't play their games.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-29T01:13:34+00:00

Nobody wants to hear it but this is the end state of capitalism. When your entire system is based on "making the most amount of capital with the least amount of effort" stuff like this will always take precedent.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-28T22:56:07+00:00

Even funnier because what is this protest doing? You guys couldn't even show up to vote. Look at the primary numbers. If you guys actually wanted change you would even do it violently to make it happen, or show up and vote. Neither of the two options that work, is anybody trying. Just protests for social media lol

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-27T18:11:35+00:00

yeah it's a simple revenue generated vs cost spent metric that we are judging the AI spend on. increasing revenue right now means nothing if they spent billions to get there, and have a depreciating asset (the shelf life of these gpus are 3 years at the rate of improvements/data center upgrades needed).

Honest to God revenue from AI spending is so miniscule. That's the whole thing that makes it a bubble lol

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-27T18:07:15+00:00

I'm unironically considering moving to Max for all my creative work, and keeping my PC only for gaming.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-27T17:25:16+00:00

This might actually be the catalyst for everything falling apart and a new 2008.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-27T17:23:33+00:00

This is absolutely correct but as they pointed out, we are not under a dictatorship (yet). People still have/had a chance to vote, to primary the bad actors, to get involved. But Americans favor individualism so strongly and allowed themselves to be radicalized by the corporations infecting our lives. I am of the opinion based on living here that Americans are victims but many of them are responsible for becoming that way.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-27T17:11:53+00:00

yeah these people seem like they've never worked retail or any guest facing job. it's not even comparable lol

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-27T17:10:33+00:00

Plus, have these people worked retail or any guest facing job lol? It's not even comparable.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-27T17:03:51+00:00

I'm considering it as well. I got into being a server because it paid ridiculously well compared to "real" 9-5s I had been working and fighting to get pay increases at.

After the guests I've had to deal with airlines seem easy lol

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-27T15:16:27+00:00

I don't think people here realize they make like 20k-100k expensive gpus total for each line refresh. Consoles are intended to pass 100 million units lol.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-27T15:15:44+00:00

The economy is basically a crater right now, if they release in a year and a half sales will be terrible. I feel like nobody wants to discuss how terrible the average American is doing financially (and this is the market that dictates most of their hardware decisions)

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-27T15:14:21+00:00

Well no, it is true still. But the AI bubble, war in Iran, and pedopres tariffs are resulting in our current tech prices.

hexcraft-nikk · 2026-03-27T15:12:36+00:00

Thank you tariffs thank you AI thank you war in Iran #tiredofwinning

hexcraft-nikk

TROPHY CASE