Why can't Bethesda make quality linear game / lesser scale

It seems like the only thing they ever develop is either open-world like Skyrim or Fallout or some MMO stuff. They use other developers working under their helm to publish different kinds of games, from RAGE to Evil Within, but they never seem to develop anything more linear on a lesser scale on their own. What gives?

@Salt_The_Fries: Stick to what you are good at. When it takes 5+ years to make a game on the scale of Skyrim or Fallout, then you can't really change the formula that much. People expect a specific type of game from Bethesda Game Studios, and lets face it, they are good at it, relaly damn good

So, Game Studios focus on the big hitters and other devs provide the variety which Bethesda as a company need. Most if not all Bethesda produced games are top notch, so don't quite see the issue here?

Every developer has its own style that makes them unique. At least they aren't putting guns in The Elder Scrolls to bring in Call of duty audience. On other hand you've Capcom who gave guns to zombies in Resident evil 6. I'd say let them do what they do best. Want linear roller coaster ride? There is Naughty Dog.

Have you tried the combat in Skyrim?

Because people like the idea.

Have you played hunted the demons forge? thats quite a good linear dungeon crawler in my opinion.

Those are the type games they like to make. I feel like it's not that weird.

Bethesda delivers what they are good at and what their fans want. To see them do differently is like seeing Valve make a console exclusive, Nintendo make a cinematic cover based shooter or BioWare make a game with good gameplay again.

I thought they already did that with The Elder Scrolls 4.5: Capital Wasteland :P

Bethesda Game Studios makes a unique type of game and people love them. i dont see why they would change their formula

Damn, what a stupid question.

@Salt_The_Fries: it's their "MO" to make non linear open world games and people love them for it, why change that?

What I want to know is why can't they add better loot variety to their elder scrolls games? No spears, lances, mounted combat, morning stars, throwimg daggers, chakrams, flails, cool mysterious weapons from other provinces, etc.... All we ever get is daggers, swords, axes, mace, and the 2 handed versions... If modders can easily make this stuff so could Bethesda.

I think they could be as good in something more confined. Even something as toned down as Deus Ex: Human Revolution or Dishonored. But then again they have studios for hire for that.

@millerlight89:

Its a perfectly okay questions. Dont be mean.

Engine limitations (joking). But seriously, most players go with swords in RPGs, sadly. I almost never go with swords, and tend to use the most exotic (but believable) weapons I can find. I use the Immersive weapons addon, and quickly found myself using a quarterstaff.

@Maroxad:

Lol, well said.

I don't think Narrative is their strong suit. Narrative is tough to pull off for long stretches of time. Others try to find ways to keep people occupied while its going on by adding QTEs (The Order) or allow people to skip the cutscenes. Even in JRPGs they are cutting back on the narrative because unless the player is riveted to the story its nothing but a hinderance. Its why FFXV is focusing on the combat so much.

Great world builders. Terrible with gameplay, storytelling and loot. Dark Souls does loot right, dragons dogma had the gameplay and baldurs gate had the storytelling.

Because they do what they are good at, making best big scale rpg

I think they foumd the combination of games that they enjoy making and sell.

Considering how bad Bethesda writing is, making a linear story-focused game probably would end badly for their reputation. With a big open world game, a poor story and characters are easier to overlook.

Because Bethesda absolutely sucks at storytelling and pacing, even their world building is shit right along with their gameplay. The only thing they have going for them is massive land masses which give the illusion of a wide open world where the player can do anything.

Their flaws would be even more apparent without the crux of the open world playground.

TES has some of the best world building in the gaming industry. It is a shame they (Bethesda) never truly capitalize on it. Maybe a more linear spinoff of TES could allow for a story to truly capitalize on TES lore. Baldur's Gate 2 scope, would be great.

Baldur's Gate 2 also had excellent loot and gameplay (that encounter design is some of the best I have seen in the entire RPG genre, only beaten by Dark Sun: Shattered Lands).

Bethesda has some of the worst world building and lore execution ever. They stopped being good at it ironically enough with their last great game, Morrowind.

Straight kindergarten writing has overtaken the elder scrolls series ever since oblivion. Skyrim did very little to change that.

True, the world building has been incredibly weaksauce ever since Pete and Toddler got too much power within Bethesda and made Oblivious and the other TES fanfic that is Skyrim. But the lore established in previous games was very much excellent.

Morrowinds world was fanfreakintastic. Downhill from there

No doubt, it's a shame they have fallen so far from the amazing quality they were once capable of.

I'm fine with it. As many issues as there can be, I usually really enjoy them. I played Oblivion and Skyrim a shit ton.

Why don't Naughty Dog develope a City building TBS game?

@ReadingRainbow4: It warms my heart that people actually are aware of things like this. Skyrim comes out and it's fetch quests and way point chasing with boring template dungeons and I'm thinking wtf how is this getring good reviews.

Same thing with Dragon Age inquisition. A once masterful developer turning out an offline mmo, what the hell.

Because these huge open worlds are all the rage right now. Sadly, it usually devolves into games becoming SP mmos designed for people who like mmos but dont think they do.

I really dont see how Skyrim was so well recieved, considering the mess it was at launch. What I saw was gamebreaking bugs, boring content, terrible mechanics with smithing being dreadfully broken, forgettable characters and badly written quests.

That said, I would rather play Skyrim than Dragon Age: Inquisiiton. At least Skyrim had decent atmosphere.

Don't =/= Can't.

What a dumb complaint

Really weird question. Skyrim btw is incredibly linear and actually lesser scale as they have you jumping all over the map within an hour or two as they know modern gamers hate exploring, and good loot, and decent combat, and any vague challenge, and good characters, and a good plot. Yeah, they know all that so, Skyrim. Enjoy.

@Maroxad: grind grind grind. That's becoming the entire industry. Fetch quest 1.114b or fetch quest 1.114c, fun!

They can, they probably just don't want to. The studio is well experienced with open world games and if they want to keep making them then why not?

Because they have a good reputation for developing that type of game and they would be alienating their fan base if they made something completely different.

@Salt_The_Fries: Bigger = better when it comes to RPGs. Console kiddies at it again.

Why bring consoles into it? Way to go.

If this is a bash against RE6, it's the most pathetic one I've seen yet.

lol says the kid who loves dark souls.

I lol'd

Dark Soul's storytelling, as much as I dislike it, fully contributes to the atmosphere of the game, which consists in keeping the player in the dark about what he's supposed to expect.

If anything that's really the only thing one could say of negative about Dark Souls when speaking of open world games. Everything else in the game just absolutely, mercilessly and relentlessly crushes anything Bethesda has ever done.

@Salt_The_Fries: Why don't the Rolling Stones make rap?

lol no

What I want to know is, why can't they ever make a good black forest gateaux? Yeah yeah they make good open world video games but in terms of cake or even dessert in general they are seriously lacking.

I'm starting to wonder whether they have it in them to even bake a simple victoria sponge.

How so?

Bigger means the resources are spread more thin, which in turn may mean more filler content and less actually good stuff. Many if not most of my favorite RPGs werent or didnt feel like they were longer than 40 hours. Including BG2, which I recall beating in about 30 hours. The only truly long big RPG I would place on my top 10 RPGs of all time list would be Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant.

Quality>Quantity. If your first 10 quests suck, why should I bother with the rest of them? This bigger=better trend I am seeing for gaming is especially harmful, including RPGs. Which is now why we see such horrendous games like Skyrim and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Of course, Skyrim with mods <3. Requiem alone is good enough to make it work.

Edit: Just for comparison, compare the huge but empty and completely uninspired landmasses of Baldur's Gate 1 and the much more inspired and well thought out quests, areas and encounters of BG2.

Probably because they stick to what they're good at? They have those other third parties that let them have variety, but they themselves stick to the open world games because it's what they do best.

They can barely make their big titles work properly, let alone games they never make.

the lore if you read the books and crap scattered throughout the games is just as good as ever, but 95% of the player base tosses them aside like used napkins

That probably says more about Bethesda and less about the current fan base (Which I completely agree is horrible,) considering the only time you can find good writing is within a piece of text, the most basic and proven of delivery devices.

I love how the souls games handle world building, sure there's text scattered about on item descriptions and what not, but the real storyteller is the environment. How you traverse this broken world and the locations actually have character, they tell of the struggle that's come before and you just understand that this place you've been transported too had it's last bastion of hope snuffed out long ago without being solely told through text or a voice over just how fucked up it all is.