Bruce Nesmith knows RPGs. A designer on Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion – and leadership Designer on Skyrim – He also wrote quests in Fallout 3. Not to mention, oh, the very commercial influence on Dungeons and Dragons. The list goes on.
Nesmith left Bethesda Game Studios in 2021, but he continues to speak highly of the company's past, present, and future. Now, via a recent interview that also included some pointed thoughts on a hypothetical Morrowind remake, the famed creator has weighed in on what he'd like to see from the long-running sixth entry in the Elder Scrolls' mainline series.
Drawing lessons
PressBoxPR is excellent A detailed interview with Bruce Nesmith that I urge you to check out in its entirety. Even if it means getting off the tab of the article, go for it, though as always, I'll do my best to offer my own insights! Nesmith has been asked some great questions about The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and gaming at-large.
Not to bury Lede, though; In my opinion, the biggest moment stems from the dev's vision that Bethesda should consider emulating in some broad-stroke ways. Asked how the company could “shake up the Bethesda formula to shake up expectations,” Naismith looked at a more recent game than Skyrim, which many of us hold in high regard:
“… look at Baldur's Gate 3 and learn from that smash hit, part of what made it so popular was that all the choices made sense, because you made a choice, and it made a huge difference to your game.”
He continues by analyzing that “Bethesda Games has probably shied away from doing that a little bit,” a sentiment that some of us would argue is an understatement. “The world and the game” in Baldur's Gate 3 “change because of your choices,” he assesses, so “it has a real impact.”
“If I was in a position to be able to make decisions, it's something I'd be doing because I think the gaming community has spoken and they want games like Baldur's Gate 3 where they feel like their actions have an impact in a broader sense.”
Actually, the community is spoken As of this past December, the 2023 TGA Game of the Year eclipsed 20 million points. To be sure, that's a huge achievement no matter how you slice it, it still trails Skyrim (a much older game, to be fair!) by quite a bit. But the Elder Scrolls 6 is going to sell like hotcakes unless something goes catastrophically wrong; Borrowing from the playbook of a completely and utterly critical darling—made by a very small developer with diehard fans!—sounds like a major game in my book.
Highguard recently got a much-needed 5v5 mode, but it's a “limited time” event
Props for being so quick, though?
