Failure of Emil Pagliarulo, Starfield and Bethesda Game Studios: The Generational Disenfranchisement

Having been a long time fan of Morrowind and other Bethesda games, I quite enjoyed Starfield for all the wrong reasons. Emil Pagliarulo has recently spoken out about the kind of reception he's gotten regarding Starfield, and I thought I'd address that along with my personal view of the entire Bethesda Game Studios generational cycle. Bethesda alienating their previous fan-base has been a once in a generation spectacle going all the way back to Elder Scrolls 2. Now Bethesda's current fanbase gets to experience what countless fans have before. Let's talk about that.

[DivinityOfBLaze]

The funny thing is Emil is categorically wrong about players not caring about a good story and making paper airplanes out of it. And BG3 is the shining new example. If anything its because its built around "what will the player do?" Instead of "so who cares" which is why the BG3 quests can be done in so many ways. Its really a much better way to approach things. Bethesda has a bad habit of removing things that dont work very well instead of trying to make them work.

[TheGallantDrake]

Nobody is less invested in the Elder Scrolls than the Bethesda team.

[shioq.]

my favorite part of the story is when you go through the UC museum and see the more interesting stories that we don't get to play.

[misterprofessor]

"I'm over it. I'm shedding paperwork from back then now because I don't legally need to keep it anymore." is such a great line.

[DastardlyDistaste]

The biggest problem is that when players skip Emil and Todd's story, they sit astonished that the players would tear out the pages of the next great american novel- Instead of asking themselves if perhaps they had NOT, in fact, written the next great american novel.

Players don't ignore good stories, they ignore EMIL'S stories.

[dissident]

Emil be like "players don't care about your stories, they turn them into paper airplanes." Yeah, definitely explains the critical failures of God of War 4 and 5.

[RavixfFourHorn]

Imagine how Great Tim Cain and his team were or Julian Lefay and Ted Peterson for Bethesda to last this long riding on their greatness.

[soulslider]

The retcons hurt the most, imo. It's hard to keep a grasp on basic lore when it's changing with every subquent game. To the point where I've stopped caring and barely read books or letters in the games anymore.

[Cenotph]

Emil is what happens when management doesnt know what its doing

[NaZtRdAmUs]

Morrowind was the game that blew me away and made me want to know more about the lore and history. None of Bethesda's recent games made me actually care beyond just playing it seeing the ending and never bothering again.

[TheGlenn]

What modern Bethesda does genuinely well is make a beautiful world to explore. The landscape of Fallout 4 and Skyrim looks beautiful and is varied in biomes. There are lots of dungeons to explore, and many of those dungeons aren't JUST dungeons but also have little stories inside them or could even lead to entire quest lines. This is what people loved in Skyrim and Fallout 4. Finding Black Reach, wandering upon "The Miasma" quest, finding the buried church in the glowing sea, or the hotel vault in Far Harbor.
Starfield removed basically all of this and didn't replace it with anything equally good. That's why it's a critical failure.

[bigiron]

You nailed it when describing how each new release would alienate the fans who came before. My first Bethesda game was Fallout 3, I loved it and when Fallout new vegas came out I was only 12 so I didn't know it wasnt bethesda who made the game but actually obsidian. I felt like it was 100x better than fallout 3, so naturally I was over the moon at the fallout 4 announcement. when Fallout 4 released it was brutally disappointing for me. I had never been as hyped for a game before or since FO4, I went to the Midnight release and everything. I remember really enjoying the few hours I played that night obviously, I was really excited. After that though I remember playing it some more the next day and not being nearly as satisfied by the end of my session with the game that day. By the end of the launch week of FO4 I was asking myself while playing "when does it get good?" I felt like I must not be looking hard enough. Where are all the interesting NPCs? Why does everything I do feel the same? Where are all the Side Quests? (Not Radiant Fetch quests) then it hit me in the face all at once lol... This IS everything. I hope you enjoy picking up bent cans and desk fans! lol. I was so sad and Bethesda has been on ice to me until they release a game that is at least on par or better than fallout new vegas (ironically BG3 is the game that is scratching that itch after 10+ years of shit "rpgs")

[moorejim]

“If being wrong is beneficial to me, then let no ego stand in the way” 17:11-17:16

[GothaBillsAndDeath]

CRPG renaissance has slowly crept up and leapt upon a very new audience. Obviously, the chain comparison applies with CRPGs as well (BG1 to BG2 to Pillars to Pathfinder/D:OS1&2 to BG3) but the critical DNA of roleplaying and branching narratives still remained throughout. Even with the gains and losses along the way. If anything, this speaks to the evolution of CRPGs in the background than it does Bethesda's degradation, which really showed itself in 2015 when people started comparing Witcher 3 and Fallout 4.

[loCol]

A huge thing I think was Cyberounk is finally something similar to the game that was advertised. I know the RPG mechanics in CP77 are very very minimal compared but man dude. The difference is INSANE. Just one conversation with a NPC in both makes it so clear. Not to mention the no loading screens once your playing cyberpunk unless you actively reload a save or choose to fast travel not via hopping on the metro.

[kaiserschnitzel]

I've been playing Rogue Trader, and I don't think it would surprise anyone that Owlcat could pull off a WH40K CRPG with aplomb. But it did just make me think about a world where Bethesda buys WH40K outright and makes a 1st person action RPG where you become Archmagos of the Adeptus Mechanicus, a Rogue Trader, a Grandmaster Inquisitor, Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes, High Marshal of the Black Templars, and cap it all off by making it all the way up to the top dog of the local Underhive Gangers on some backwards-ass hive world out in the Segmentum Obscurus. In a single playthrough, of course.

[MrImarket]

I love how you summarize what you said for hours on stream in a well spoken and interesting way in this vid. Great commentary as always Zaric!

[ColonelBragg]

Emil Pagliarulo is the posterchild of why nepotism is bad

[Zoroasterisk]

I've been hearing a lot of "Starfield is badly written because Emil Pagliarulo doesn't keep a Design Document" which sounds suspiciously similar to "Fallout is badly coded because Creation Engine is Obsolete". Well yes, that's true, but there are also several other foundational issues at Bethesda that make it basically impossible for them to make a game like the ones we're all so fond of.

Also, BG3 is scratching that itch at least as well as MW/NV did, so how much do we need Bethesda, really

[seanhembree]

Dwarf Fortress is set to release Adventure Mode for the Steam version this spring. That's where you control a single Dwarf in a turn based exploration game mode. Talk about Emergent. 2nd, Dragon's Dogma 2 is going to blow Bethesda out of the water in terms of action. RP elements are scant but boy does it look fun.