GamesRPGThe Elder ScrollsThe Elder Scrolls 6Elder Scrolls 6 won’t return to “fiddly stat sheets” due to Baldur’s Gate 3’s success, says Skyrim lead: “Through Skyrim, Bethesda has wanted to have the game get out of its own way"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesRPGThe Elder ScrollsThe Elder Scrolls 6Elder Scrolls 6 won’t return to “fiddly stat sheets” due to Baldur’s Gate 3’s success, says Skyrim lead: “Through Skyrim, Bethesda has wanted to have the game get out of its own way"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)
Former Bethesda dev Bruce Nemith doesn’t seeThe Elder Scrolls 6ditching Skyrim’s minimalist UI and going back to the RPG series' early days of “fiddly character sheets” despite the popularity of more technical games like Baldur’s Gate 3.
Skyrim made a big shift away from the traditional Dungeons and Dragons-based RPG format when it overhauled and in some cases straight up abandoned many of the Elder Scrolls series' core mechanics, most notably its leveling and attributes systems. Looking at the trajectory of RPGs, Baldur’s Gate 3 is something of a reversion back to classic tabletop mechanics, and although it was an indisputable and gargantuan success, Nesmith doesn’t reckon Bethesda will take any massive cues.
“I don’t think [Baldur’s Gate 3’s success] necessarily presages a complete change over back to more numbers and more fiddly character sheets and things like that,” Nesmith toldVideoGamer. “Whether or not the rest of the industry will follow suit, I don’t know. I’m not smart enough to say that, but I think that through Skyrim, Bethesda has wanted to have the game get out of its own way.
“You see that everywhere in Skyrim,” he continues. “Todd [Howard] is a big proponent of the interface vanishing if you’re not doing something that needs it to be visible. So all you see is the world. That’s it. You just see the world.”
Nesmith is a bonafide RPG legend, having served as creative director for original D&D publisher TSR and then moving to PC game development in 1995 for The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall. He went on to become senior game designer atBethesda Game Studiosand have a heavy hand in the direction of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion and, of course, Skyrim. He retired from the studio in 2021, so it’s likely he isn’t as privy to The Elder Scrolls 6, but he’s definitely still an authoritative figure in RPGs.
He’s also been pretty vocal about his time at Bethesda and specifically his relationship with Howard, recently revealing thatHoward would sometimes work on “two dozen” projects at once and saying he’s the face of Bethesda partly because he’s “incredibly photogenic”.
Even more recently,he admitted “Bethesda games could have a higher degree of polish”, but some jank “could be forgiven” because of how much you can do in the RPGs.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1
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2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
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4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”
4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”
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5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”
5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”
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Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”
1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
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2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
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3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4
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