Not much about it was groundbreaking though, was it? Just a more polished version (in terms of weird levelling and combat systems and visuals) of Oblivion with simplified quests and in a different setting. I enjoyed the hell out of it, don’t get me wrong, but there wasn’t intrinsically novel about the concept of the game
I think groundbreaking in the sense of visuals and scale not gameplay and story. Oblivion, fallout 3 and skyrim were impressive looking games at the time they came out which was a lot of the appeal at the time. Well it was for me, now Skyrim can run on a phone its not so novel and exciting. Although being able to play the games on a portable device has its own novelty.
There’s never been anything groundbreaking about it, it managed to be just the right amount of dumbed down for console audiences while also solidifying the core “quest>dungeon>loot>sell loot >quest” loop that turns it into the addictive hole that people fell into when they played it for the first time.
edit: also helps that it’s not fundamentally busted and ugly like Oblivion (which really doesn’t even have much to offer over Skyrim besides its goofy and inept charm)
Skyrim was absolutely groundbreaking when it came out in 2011. It was significantly less so in 2021.
Not much about it was groundbreaking though, was it? Just a more polished version (in terms of weird levelling and combat systems and visuals) of Oblivion with simplified quests and in a different setting. I enjoyed the hell out of it, don’t get me wrong, but there wasn’t intrinsically novel about the concept of the game
I think groundbreaking in the sense of visuals and scale not gameplay and story. Oblivion, fallout 3 and skyrim were impressive looking games at the time they came out which was a lot of the appeal at the time. Well it was for me, now Skyrim can run on a phone its not so novel and exciting. Although being able to play the games on a portable device has its own novelty.
There’s never been anything groundbreaking about it, it managed to be just the right amount of dumbed down for console audiences while also solidifying the core “quest>dungeon>loot>sell loot >quest” loop that turns it into the addictive hole that people fell into when they played it for the first time.
edit: also helps that it’s not fundamentally busted and ugly like Oblivion (which really doesn’t even have much to offer over Skyrim besides its goofy and inept charm)