Elder Scrolls/Fallout as an MMO?

[SquidWard]

I couldn't see any threads on this so far on the first 5 pages or so but if there is mods please delete this thread.

Anyway, this morning at work like I normally do each morning, I went onto Massively.com to read up on the news of various mmo's and this one article caught my attention.

http://www.massively.com/2009/03/11/zenimax-media-hiring-for-mmo-division/#continued

Now pretty much what the article is about, is Zenimax who owns Bethesda Softworks (creators of Fallout 3 and the Elder Scrolls series) are currently hiring skilled people for an MMO division.

Now I was just wondering, what would you guys think of an MMO with similiar features to both the ES & F3? Would you play it and most importantly, would you subscribe to it each month if required?

[WoeStorm]

Only if it had open PvP, as chaotic as that would be.

[SquidWard]

Darkfall has a similiar style to oblivion at the moment and complete world pvp. As long as penalties are put in place for going rogue then pvp in an oblivion styled mmo wouldn't be too chaotic.

[Trashcat]

No. Just no.

[Idioteque]

YES!

I said this in the Darkfall thread. If Bethseda or anyone made an MMO like Oblivion, it would work well. Yay :)

[JohnDoe]

The first thing I thought of when I seen this thread title was Darkfall. Now I haven't played it yet, but if Bethseda decided to make their own MMO it would probably destroy DF because 1. They seem to have the combat system and everything done right in their games and 2. Because it's an MMO made by Bethseda, everyone would buy it.

[Mike]

NO. MMO wuld ruin any of the two series.

[BKS]

No, absolutely not. If this happened, it would be utter shit.

[exetra]

Let's face it, if it was going to be multiplayer it would work much better purely as a deathmatch/whatever game rather than another half-assed persistent world MMO.

[ralizon]

When I first heard that there was talk that they might try making either of these into an mmo my reaction was as it is now.

There would be no purpose in doing an elder scrolls mmo, unless it is just a world setting, the fallout one might work for a time but not for too long.

The number one problem that arises in both of these is that the whole main point of the games are that you are the ONE hero that helped either the vault dwellers, or the world.

Let us point out TES 3 Morrowind how could you have a whole lot of fun knowing that you and 50 million other people were to become the reincarnation of GOD Nerivar, the Narivarine. I am not fully aware of the main story in 4 because when I played it it was a friend's system.

But personally I have a lot of trouble with mmorpgs unless there is no other purpose to it other than the grind like quests that mark them for what they are. No story other than tiny little canned plots of the quests themselves.

[Matterialize]

No. Just no.

NO. MMO wuld ruin any of the two series.

No, absolutely not. If this happened, it would be utter shit.

Mind explaining why, you dicks?

An ES MMO wouldn't be as cool as Fallout, just because there's already a million fantasy MMOs out there. A Fallout MMO, however, would be balls-to-the-wall awesome. I played in one of the "betas" for Fallout Online, a Russian community project. It basically took Fallout 2 and turned it into a multiplayer game. There was a gang of power-armored Soviets that would slaughter entire towns (with respawning NPCs of course). Me and some other english-speakers gathered what weapons we could and made a pretty impressive stand. It was fun, and would just require level zones and a large arsenal to be effective over long periods of time like other MMOs.

Keep in mind, MMO doesn't necessarily mean third-person RPG - it could also be isometric, like Runescape or Ultima Online. Or Fallout.

[ralizon]

Mind explaining why, you dicks?

An ES MMO wouldn't be as cool as Fallout, just because there's already a million fantasy MMOs out there. A Fallout MMO, however, would be balls-to-the-wall awesome. I played in one of the "betas" for Fallout Online, a Russian community project. It basically took Fallout 2 and turned it into a multiplayer game. There was a gang of power-armored Soviets that would slaughter entire towns (with respawning NPCs of course). Me and some other english-speakers gathered what weapons we could and made a pretty impressive stand. It was fun, and would just require level zones and a large arsenal to be effective over long periods of time like other MMOs.

Keep in mind, MMO doesn't necessarily mean third-person RPG - it could also be isometric, like Runescape or Ultima Online. Or Fallout.

Okay, point. I think the fallout one could work to an extent as long as there isn't a giant story line to it than how they got here, and not where they are going.

[NitRoDrivEn]

It simply wouldn't work unless they make a completely different game based in the same universe(s). Oblivion and Fallout 3 are designed exclusively to be single player only. It just won't work with the current system.

[Pachycephelosaurus]

There is already a Fallout MMO underway. Actually, it's been in the works for something like three years.

Interplay, the original holders of the Fallout license, found themselves suffering financially. In order to keep from going completely bankrupt, they sold the rights for the franchise to Bethesda. As part of the deal, however, Interplay retained the rights for a Fallout MMO game. The only clause is that they have to continually prove that they can afford to make the game.

It looked iffy for awhile, but as of last April the game had officially entered production. It's a whole lot more complicated than that, but it all boils down to the fact that Interplay is currently developing a Fallout MMO.

Wikipedia for details (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_(series)#Fallout_MMOG)

[ralizon]

Yeah, they have referenced it a couple of times on CAD, I have high hopes, but feel as if it can only fail.

[Pachycephelosaurus]

Yeah, they have referenced it a couple of times on CAD, I have high hopes, but feel as if it can only fail.

Why?

And by fail do you mean not get made because of Interplay's spotty history? Not be a good game? Be more specific.

[SquidWard]

There is already a Fallout MMO underway. Actually, it's been in the works for something like three years.

Interplay, the original holders of the Fallout license, found themselves suffering financially. In order to keep from going completely bankrupt, they sold the rights for the franchise to Bethesda. As part of the deal, however, Interplay retained the rights for a Fallout MMO game. The only clause is that they have to continually prove that they can afford to make the game.

It looked iffy for awhile, but as of last April the game had officially entered production. It's a whole lot more complicated than that, but it all boils down to the fact that Interplay is currently developing a Fallout MMO.

Wikipedia for details

Bethesda Softworks owns the rights to the the Fallout IP, while Interplay retains rights to a Fallout MMO. However, those rights are forfeit provided Interplay is unable to raise $30 million and begin development of the Fallout MMO by April of 2009. (This is presumably Interplay's "Project V13" which involves other original Fallout team members.)


Interplay need to raise $30 million otherwise they forfeit the rights so there is a fair chance of that happening considering they had to sell fallout 3 when it was already well into development.

[El Zilcho]

It wouldn't be bad. Seriously, it's Bethesda. What have they fucked up thus far? Nothing.

[Pachycephelosaurus]

Interplay need to raise $30 million otherwise they forfeit the rights so there is a fair chance of that happening considering they had to sell fallout 3 when it was already well into development.

True, but Interplay's Fallout 3 was started when they were already well into a financial sinkhole. After selling the rights to Fallout, they made a good bit of money. Since then, they've been working on reviving a number of their franchises (Earthworm Jim for one) and have been doing some software for the Wii.

I'm not saying they're doing $30 million good, but they seem to be better. Also, they don't need the money itself by April, they need the money to be committed. Bethesda will let them carry on as long as they have the commitment of the money from various sources. I'm guessing they had that much (or at least close) when they went into production last year.

This is different because they're accountable to an entity outside of their own studio: Bethesda.

[Sieda]

I'm not sure. I really wouldn't be too appreciative of either an Elder Scrolls, or a Fallout MMO. For me, those games are about being a larger than life hero, not just another adventurer among millions doing random quests. That's what I've come to expect from each of their stories, and that's really what I look forward to when I play the game... the ability to take part in major world changing events, with a whole bunch of different ways to accomplish them.

I would however be interested if they decided to make an MMO in a different setting entirely, using their collective RPG genuis as a guide.

[Trashcat]

My main problem is I'm just sick of all my favorite franchises turning multiplayer. I'm a hardcore solo-RPG gamer, and I would hate if my single favorite franchise (Elder Scrolls) went multiplayer. It just seems like a betrayal of the genre.

Furthermore, it's not happening anyway. Bethesda's stated before Elder Scrolls will never be multiplayer.

[Pachycephelosaurus]

My main problem is I'm just sick of all my favorite franchises turning multiplayer. I'm a hardcore solo-RPG gamer, and I would hate if my single favorite franchise (Elder Scrolls) went multiplayer. It just seems like a betrayal of the genre.

This. I'm sick of single-player being neglected in favor of multiplayer.

[ralizon]

Why?

And by fail do you mean not get made because of Interplay's spotty history? Not be a good game? Be more specific.

see following response.

I'm not sure. I really wouldn't be too appreciative of either an Elder Scrolls, or a Fallout MMO. For me, those games are about being a larger than life hero, not just another adventurer among millions doing random quests. That's what I've come to expect from each of their stories, and that's really what I look forward to when I play the game... the ability to take part in major world changing events, with a whole bunch of different ways to accomplish them.

I would however be interested if they decided to make an MMO in a different setting entirely, using their collective RPG genius as a guide.

I quite agree with the entirety of this post. The key reasons that I can't see a TES mmo is for precisely that reason. I can see a fallout mmo, but I don't think it would be able to hold on for too long, because you remove the feeling of being the only person that the world is relying on. I mean who still remembers the Game Over screen from either of those with bone bleaching in the sun and an explanation that the world is going to die because you failed.

I think if Bethesda were to make an mmo the only chance of failure it would have would be all of the participants dying of starvation or other such unwillingness to leave their computers. I remember making the joke, when I was first playing Morrowind, (at what turn out to be potty break number two at the 18 hour mark) that it was times like this that I wished I was old enough to justify wearing diapers.

A friend laughed so hard he almost peed. Either way though, the games suck you in, because if you lose the entire world around you will die. I am not sure on the story of TES 4, or Fallout 3 my experience with these are both very limited at the current... But if they stayed true to the previous games then I can not foresee an MMO for either ending well.

[Gryffoleon]

I think Fallout would be a good franchise to bring something new to the MMO though, but at the same time you'd have to say that it couldn't be a game that went on for the time that fantasy style MMO's do, on the basis that, at some point the world would be rebuilt.

Slightly off point, but i think it'd be a good thing to have the community of online players responsible for the rebuilding of the cities etc.. not by spending hours of making them do hard labour of course, but there would be some way of implementing it.

But it would be a welcome change to the MMO genre for me i mean i played WoW for a fair while and i don't anymore because for me there was only so much i could take anyway.