“Hey, buy” – how Bethesda and Todd Howard Skyrim were sold
November 11th took place The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition – Another reprint of Skyrim, this time dedicated to the decade of the game. In fact, this is her third coming to the next generation of consoles: Creation Bethesda It came out under the sunset of the Xbox 360 and PS3 life cycle, so the console versions predictably lagged behind the PC in the quality of the graphics. Only on the PS4 and Xbox One, they were replaced by the long -awaited sign “equal” between the platforms – unless, of course, to leave fan modifications outside the brackets.
Around the same time, a new trend was born in the industry: reprints of the classics under the guise of remasters. Sometimes the graphics in them really became better, but more often the matter was limited to increased resolution and increased personnel frequency – It is enough to recall the reprints of the early Resident Evil With GameCube and Devil May Cry. Ironically fate, Capcom Back in the 90s, she was a pioneer in this matter with his multiple updates Street Fighter 2, Yes Resident Evil 4 subsequently ported to everything that you can.
Therefore, neither Todd Howard nor Bethesda were innovators. However, this does not cancel the fact that over 10 years of Skyrim has overgrown not only a huge fan base and countless reprints, but also memes. In today's material, we will briefly restore the chronology and tell you why the fifth The Elder Scrolls has acquired such a reputation.
Up the career staircase
Gamdoretor Skyrim far from immediately became a prominent figure in the game industry and the object of numerous jokes. Howard began his career in Bethesda in 1994, when the studio released The Elder Scrolls: Arena, put the beginning of the series. At first, he served as a producer, but soon began to be designed and managed to make an insignificant contribution to The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall. The first project, the creation of which was led by Howard himself, was the adventure action The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, which was supposed to be a response of the series popular at that time Tomb Raider. Fans, accustomed to immersion in the open world, met a game more like a three -dimensional remake Sid Meier’s Pirates!, bewildered, so the project predictably failed in sales.
The Elder Scrolls evolution from the first part to the fourth
But everyone has the right to make a mistake, especially since Howard fully made up her in The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind 2002. The new part had to wait much longer than usual, but there were reasons for this: although the technologies then developed with seven -miMI steps, the game in the open world required much more effort than linear action, so it was not worth a hurry with the release. Actually, Bethesda did not rush, but waited for the moment when the PC opportunities were already enough to embody the team's dreams into reality. Morrowind impressed the audience not only with technological frills, but also with gameplay, and therefore deservedly became a hit; In addition, it was the first part of the series to add completion and release on the consoles, even with a number of simplifications. Later, the situation was repeated in the fourth part, which Todd only produced again.
And then the most interesting. In the second half of the zero, Bethesda unexpectedly acquired the rights to another popular relic of the 90s – post -apocalyptic Fallout. The studio, who decided to catch everywhere and immediately, put Howard as a leader as Fallout 3, So the new The Elder Scrolls. And here the future star of memes began to give promises to the right and left, as if trying to surpass the notorious Peter Peter Molinhe.
Fortunately, the glory of the pathological liar Todd still did not gain, although he was very close. One of the first memes was the famous phrase “See that mountain? You can climb it ". At the presentation of Skyrim on E3 2011 Howard emphasized that Gamer will literally be able to climb on any mountain, implying that in front of him is not just scenery. This, of course, turned out to be not true, like many other loud statements: for example, about 200 endings in Fallout 3 and endless Skyrim quests. By the way, a meme with an unfortunate mountain later beat the main genius of the All -Industry Hideo Kojima.
It just work!
Buy Skyrim
Before the fifth part of The Elder Scrolls, the studio was limited only to ports on the console – or (in the case of Oblivion) by the release of the Goty publication, which includes previously released additions. So at first it was with Skyrim: two years after the release of the original, the release took place Legendary Edition , where the fifth part included with three addons and the last patch. It would seem that that’s all, it remains to wait for the announcement of the next part, https://sister-site.org/slotonights/ but it was not there. Already in the first years of the PS4 and Xbox One life cycle, the libraries of both consoles were rapidly replenished with reprints of the old hits. And it would be okay that they left a dozen years ago, but no: updated versions appeared on PS4 alone in a year and a half alone God of War 3, The Last of Us, GTA v and trilogy Uncharted. Apparently, this led Howard to think that Skyrim could be sold again. At least in order for the console to finally receive a version that is not inferior to the PC-ORIGINAL in technical terms.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition for PS4, Xbox One, and even PC saw the light in 2016. And it was not just a port with graphics twisted on the maximum, but a well -tinted version with improved textures, effects and other bells and whistles. Of course, the age of the engine still reminded of itself even under such a layer of cosmetics, especially against the background The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. But for four years that have passed since the release of the original is a good reason to cross a masterpiece, and for someone to get acquainted with it for the first time. True, if the owners of the Steam version updated to Special for free, then the console had to fork out.
Everything is known in comparison: PS3 against PS4
One important detail should be noted here. Special Edition is a rare example of a console project that supports user modifications. Fashion in many respects became the elixir of eternal youth, who provided the game Longevity to the game. The creative of the community participants knows no boundaries: radical improvements to graphics, additional mechanics, quests, and sometimes independent games – which they just do not do on the basis of the vanilla “Skyrim” … Even if you throw aside all the little things, then the banal enumement of all modifications worthy of attention, I would have to devote separate material: take at least The Forgotten City, which subsequently grew up in a full -fledged independent project.
As for the next Skyrim reprints, then I did not have to look for a new occasion for them for a long time. There was a hybrid console on the way Nintendo – And, of course, the games of the Skyrim level have never been available in portable conditions, if you do not take into account Chinese PCs in the form of tablets. The opportunity to play somewhere on the road, between pairs, and then return home, sit in front of the TV and continue the adventure of the expensive one-just to match the prices for Switch games in Russia. But there is nothing to find fault with: such a port you definitely won’t call sucked out of your finger. But to the VR version, first released for the helmet Sony , It can be treated differently. Still, the console’s iron did not cope with the processing of graphics, and Skyrim itself in a new format was not particularly comfortable: the developers coped with the management adaptation that, coupled with a strongly trimmed picture, made not the best impression.
To the question of how much it is possible to transform the initial graphics through the efforts of fans
Around the same time, the famous meme "Hear, buy" appeared. Of course, he was not a literal quote: although Howard periodically allowed himself eccentric statements in public, in matters of business etiquette he was extremely accurate. Therefore, it was exclusively about fan folklore, since not every game possessed so many reprints. Eh, I would tell them who then about the "expanded and improved" reprint GTA v for PS5 and Xbox Series – perhaps there would be less jokes. Moreover, Todd himself later also joked: they say, finally stop buying Skyrim, and we will no longer reprint it. Compare this with how much negativity Rockstar has brought upon itself when declared war to the modders and authors of fan ports in connection with the exit Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition!
Loyalty to folk art and self -irony made Bethesda an object precisely as good jokes, although, of course, exceptions were still met. At a press conference in 2018, the studio preceded the story about Fallout 76 Announcement of the version for the virtual assistant Amazon alexa. This gag Todd winked at the players and made it clear that the team is obsessed with the idea of porting Skyrim in general for all devices in the world. Laughter laughter, but such a version really came out: using a smart column or an appropriate application for Android or iOS, you can play in text adaptation, where the voice assistant describes the events that are taking place, and the gamer needs to give correct answers. On YouTube, you can even find videos with a demonstration of gameplay. Well, what slaves in the end received the fallout 76, who was repae at the same presentation, everyone already knows.
You can laugh as much as you like at least the Todd himself, even over the whole situation with reprints, but this does not cancel the fact that Skyrim eventually became the most popular and discussed part of the series and, of course, the Magnum Opus of Howard himself. As, however, one of the greatest rolens in history, even with a number of reservations. It remains to just rejoice at BetSheda, because, in the end, the soaked reputation is still better than complete oblivion. And they remember Skyrim – and they will remember for a long time.
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