As fans continue their new journeys through The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered after Bethesda Game Studios' surprise release of the refreshed RPG, former developers like designer Bruce Nesmith look back on the original.
Speaking in a recent interview with VideoGamer, Nesmith calls Bethesda and partner studio behind the remaster, Virtuos Games, "brave" for working to improve the original RPG's own controversial systems, including its leveling and world scaling. The former Oblivion dev, who also worked on various Bethesda projects like Skyrim and Starfield, explains that changes have made the remaster "more playable" for modern audiences.
"They actually went ahead and changed the game design underneath… some of the systems design," says Nesmith. "That's pretty much unheard of in a remaster because the whole idea is that they want that old experience, so I consider that to be a very brave thing and [it will] probably help the Oblivion remaster to be significantly more popular – assuming they have done what they said and bring it to a more modern understanding of things, that's going to make the game more playable for modern sensibilities."
While the OG Oblivion's leveling system wasn't entirely changed in the remaster, as proven by mods addressing the "disappointing" mechanic, it's a bit better. For instance, in the newer RPG, all skills give experience points that count toward player leveling – no more need for min-maxing leveling, as the game provides a comfortable 12 points to divide up as one pleases between the attributes.
Player leveling isn't the only awkward feature of Oblivion's overall scaling system, though – the world as a whole and any rewards earned also scale depending on a person's level. For example, a lower-level player might earn different rewards for doing the same task. Nesmith admits that this design choice, which he played an important role in crafting, "was a mistake" – one that was only truly fixed with Skyrim, years after Oblivion's release in 2011.
"I had a very substantial hand and voice in both leveling systems," describes the dev. "The nuts and bolts work, the mathematical mechanics, that was my work, and I'm intimately familiar with how both of those things work. I think the world leveling with you was a mistake, and that's proven out by the fact it did not happen the same way in Skyrim."
In the fifth Elder Scrolls entry, Nesmith says Bethesda implemented a "much, much better" system which offers a challenge while avoiding players feeling that leveling up doesn't matter since "'the dungeon went up in levels with me.'"
As a longtime Elder Scrolls fan myself, I can't say I'm too happy that some of the old leveling system has shimmied its way into the remaster – but as a PC player, I can thankfully rectify Bethesda's persisting early 2000s mistake with mods.
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