Gameplay vs Depth

[DaHeckIzDat]

I was doing a little research on the Elder Scrolls games, and I found something that surprised me. While most people agree that Skyrim is the better game in terms of mechanics and gameplay, a surprising number of them say they still prefer Oblivion because the RPG mechanics are deeper. What do you guys make of this? Would you ever willingly pass on superior gameplay for the opportunity to make your roleplaying more immersive?

[mbd36]

I was doing a little research on the Elder Scrolls games, and I found something that surprised me. While most people agree that Skyrim is the better game in terms of mechanics and gameplay, a surprising number of them say they still prefer Oblivion because the RPG mechanics are deeper. What do you guys make of this? Would you ever willingly pass on superior gameplay for the opportunity to make your roleplaying more immersive?

Then the deeper mechanics amounts to better gameplay to these people. There's no such thing as gameplay vs depth. Depth is part of the game.

[DaHeckIzDat]

Then the deeper mechanics amounts to better gameplay to these people. There's no such thing as gameplay vs depth. Depth is part of the game.

Not according to these people.

If you asked me which game i'd prefer to play, i'd say Skyrim. If you asked me which game I had the best experience playing, i'd have to say oblivion. Sadly, for me, Skyrim's superior graphics and gameplay just blow Oblivion out of the water for those qualities. However, Oblivion was my favorite to play at the time because for me, the quests are much more imaginative and fun, particularly the factions. The factions of Skyrim are but a shadow of Oblivions, and to me, are a bitter disappointment. Aside from this, the second largest problem with Skyrim is the sparsely populated communities, Whiterun is about 15 buildings on top of a hill, with a pitiful marketplace, and is supposed to be the trading hub of Skyrim. And Morthal? The centre of one of the major holds, and it's just a bunch of huts in a swamp. For me this was a huge downside to the game. The imperial city alone has more going on than all the main towns in skyrim put together.

https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/199ok1/honest_comparision_oblivion_vs_skyrim/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_num_comments

[DrLitch]

I was doing a little research on the Elder Scrolls games, and I found something that surprised me. While most people agree that Skyrim is the better game in terms of mechanics and gameplay, a surprising number of them say they still prefer Oblivion because the RPG mechanics are deeper. What do you guys make of this? Would you ever willingly pass on superior gameplay for the opportunity to make your roleplaying more immersive?

The problem for these people is there is no way of having your cake and eating it. There is a reason why most, if not all, 3D RPG's tend to be more action focused with perpetual reuse of assets in questing with a few RPG traditional elements splashed here and there. If these folks want both action RPG and full blown RPG (as in the depth of a typical D&D point click turn based CRPG), then development times factor in, you develop a game not for this generation, but next generation, it comes out with dated assets all the while the vast majority of gamers are not RPG nerds either. The CRPG and JRPG genres do fairly well in sales (particularly FF) but nothing compared to a typical AAA blockbuster. It is what it is. I see this all the time online where RPG fans bemoan the lack of depth in 3D/first person RPG's but will pick an earlier game such as Fallout New Vegas and toot it's horn despite the game map being a fraction of the size of Fallout 4 (with Fallout 4 being much more action oriented and only marginally, if at all, an RPG). Elder Scrolls fans will point to Morrowind (2001/2) and Oblivion as being more RPG oriented - again, as with Fallout, playing out on maps fractions of the size of Skyrim.

There is no better or worse, just different. You cannot take the expansive CRPG genre, flesh it out in real time 3D with dynamic and moving plots, and expect the developers to get the project finished in any reasonable time span - particularly if under obligation to extend the size of the worlds while keeping download sizes manageable.

If you want to play a deep RPG with a kazillion endings, factions, and dynamically evolving plots based on every point of action, then the CRPG and JRPG genre will be the one to go for. Translating this to a game as large, if not larger than Skyrim, with fully immersive 3D environments (first and 3rd person), real time action, and real time plot updating based on every interaction with NPC, we will see the first 1TB game download, and a 10 plus year development cycle. Cannot have it all.

[noah98]

I could never get into Oblivion, but Skyrim is my favorite game of all time. I do think depth is a component of gameplay, so I don't see them as separate. I have more fun with skyrim and I enjoy the gameplay more than Oblivion, so to me, it is the better game. I've been meaning to give Oblivion a try again with heavy mods. The only thing holding me back is the someday to be released Skyblivion which would be perfect for me!

[ActRaiser]

I could never get into Oblivion, but Skyrim is my favorite game of all time. I do think depth is a component of gameplay, so I don't see them as separate. I have more fun with skyrim and I enjoy the gameplay more than Oblivion, so to me, it is the better game. I've been meaning to give Oblivion a try again with heavy mods. The only thing holding me back is the someday to be released Skyblivion which would be perfect for me!

Funny. I'm the opposite. I got sucked into Oblivion for 120+ hours. I'm pretty sure I gave up on Skyrim after 5 or so. Maybe, it had something to do with having a wife vs being on my own. Who knows? Oblivion was awesome though, that's for sure.

[Voor]

Cool topic.

Most of my Limited gaming time is spent playing Mario kart or smash Bros. I consider these games “quick hits”, that excel in gameplay, but a little light in depth.

When I have more time, I work on breath of the Wild , which feels like it has more depth, and while the gameplay is excellent, it does have slower moments (at least compared to the other games I mentioned).