The Elder Scrolls

[Super Hans v2]

Did Bethesda intentionally make the population of bandits in Skyrim easily outweigh that of cities? I've seen some video titles suggest Skyrim is "apocalyptic" or something similar due to that.

That's an odd criticism for Skyrim specifically, because it was even worse in Oblivion with not just the bandits but also the supposed necromancer splinter faction for the Mages Guild being 95% of all sorcerers.

 

[scathefire]

Did Bethesda intentionally make the population of bandits in Skyrim easily outweigh that of cities? I've seen some video titles suggest Skyrim is "apocalyptic" or something similar due to that.

That's an odd criticism for Skyrim specifically, because it was even worse in Oblivion with not just the bandits but also the supposed necromancer splinter faction for the Mages Guild being 95% of all sorcerers.

Yeah I doubt it was some deliberate 4d chess move on Bethesda’s part, it’s just a weird consequence of their game design as usual. Same how there’s apparently a bloody civil war going on in Skyrim but you don’t really encounter much evidence of actual fighting outside that designated questline (though even that questline itself is just a truncated remnant of something originally intended to be a lot more ambitious).

 

[The Ugly One]

Did Bethesda intentionally make the population of bandits in Skyrim easily outweigh that of cities? I've seen some video titles suggest Skyrim is "apocalyptic" or something similar due to that.

No. Killing bandits is fun, and talking to NPCs is cities isn't. Thus the disparity.

 

[Super Hans v2]

No. Killing bandits is fun, and talking to Bethedda NPCs in cities isn't. Thus the disparity.

Fixed that for you. Talking to people in Skyrim is boring because everybody is fighting for the title of Most Boring NPC.

Todd whining in that one GDC talk about players slamming the Shut Up button to get the objective isn't a problem in competently written games.

 

[The Ugly One]

Fixed that for you. Talking to people in Skyrim is boring because everybody is fighting for the title of Most Boring NPC.

Todd whining in that one GDC talk about players slamming the Shut Up button to get the objective isn't a problem in competently written games.

I don't play games to read. I play games to stab people in the face.

 

[LovisXVI]

Fixed that for you. Talking to people in Skyrim is boring because everybody is fighting for the title of Most Boring NPC.

Todd whining in that one GDC talk about players slamming the Shut Up button to get the objective isn't a problem in competently written games.

Especially given that Morrowind dialogue is longer and yet, I don't feel the need to skip through, because it's either interesting or informative.

 

[John Egbert BD]

As you are sitting down to your evening meal of kwama eggs and scrib jelly,

I'm allergic to scrib jelly, do you guys have troll fat? If you don't I'm afraid I'll have to bounce.

everybody is fighting for the title of Most Boring NPC.

Exactly. I can name like 20 memorable NPCs from Skyrim and most are from whiterun. I remember like 100 characters from side quests in Morrowind.

Especially given that Morrowind dialogue is longer and yet, I don't feel the need to skip through, because it's either interesting or informative.

This is true as well. I was totally captivated by Morrowind and read every line of dialogue and book that i could. Even with objectively worse graphics, the art direction and the world building are, to this day, masterful.

I don't play games to read. I play games to stab people in the face.

While i totally get that, reading has been integral in every game since i think daggerfall. Morrowind and Oblivion made you read books to progress certain quests, and various twists in the story are present in some books that are imo required reading.
When i read for the first time that the tribunal temple may have killed Indoril Nerevar and framed Voryn Dagoth i remember being genuinely shocked and pledging to kill vicec. Haven't had a similar experience in any game to this day.