I think breath of the wild did a good job with the directions part for shrines, specifically with kass and his somgs which gave hints to shrine locations
If I could give one reason why I find recent Bethesda games less satisfying, it's because exploration is no longer an important gameplay mechanic. In Morrowind, finding people and places is part of the gameplay, whereas in later games it doesn't really require any effort on the part of the player. See an icon on the compass and walk in that direction until you find the thing being referenced. This is not how a character would actually travel in Tamriel. They would take roads, follow signs, look for landmarks, ask for directions, etc. Which is how you have to navigate in Morrowind if you don't want to get hopelessly lost. It's an actual gameplay mechanic alongside combat, dialogue, and character building. And it's most definitely not how they would explore. They'd look around with their eyes and senses, not stare at a magically populating compass. In later games, it's just not important for the player to learn to navigate properly. And that contributes to the overall increase in "theme park feeling" that Oblivion and onwards have. Now I'm sure Daggerfall fans would say the same about Morrowind as the former is more of a sandbox fantasy life simulator, whereas the latter is more limited in scope and is player character-centric in comparison. But for me, Morrowind strikes the right balance. Very good video, hopefully it gets a lot of attention. Quest markers kind of dominate the discussion with regards to holding the player's hand in recent Bethesda games, but compass markers might be even worse.
You made the whole video without mentioning Elden Ring once which does exactly what you are describing/requesting here. And while the game got a lot of positive responses from players (me included), some were quite mad at those missing map markers - they feel forced to use guides and walkthroughs. In Gothic I feel like this was less of a problem - but idk why, I only played Elex which had a radar turned on by default (pointing to the next mission). Turning it off didn't meet with my goal to complete it within a week (I'm a game dev after all, can't play the same game for months). Deus Ex Mankind Divided also had the feature to turn off the minimap and then characters would get additional dialogues, telling you house numbers / apartment numbers / places. I still had to look at the map every now and then but when I was able to find something, it felt quite cool. Gothic / Elex / Deus Ex did this for main story missions (as well as side activities of course) - and people keep saying the same things about this design choice (missing out on things, guides are required and so on).
Wait. A video essay thats funny, is well edited, and is less than 3 hours long? Sign me up for more.
Thats a really good point. I think this has been a massive problem in a ton of games like cookie clicker and clash royale.
"Map Markers Ruin Funtiers"
That is an interesting point of view, i never even thought of. I will put a piece of tape over my screen to try it out without mapmarkers🤯
I think breath of the wild did a good job with the directions part for shrines, specifically with kass and his somgs which gave hints to shrine locations
If I could give one reason why I find recent Bethesda games less satisfying, it's because exploration is no longer an important gameplay mechanic. In Morrowind, finding people and places is part of the gameplay, whereas in later games it doesn't really require any effort on the part of the player. See an icon on the compass and walk in that direction until you find the thing being referenced. This is not how a character would actually travel in Tamriel. They would take roads, follow signs, look for landmarks, ask for directions, etc. Which is how you have to navigate in Morrowind if you don't want to get hopelessly lost. It's an actual gameplay mechanic alongside combat, dialogue, and character building. And it's most definitely not how they would explore. They'd look around with their eyes and senses, not stare at a magically populating compass.
In later games, it's just not important for the player to learn to navigate properly. And that contributes to the overall increase in "theme park feeling" that Oblivion and onwards have. Now I'm sure Daggerfall fans would say the same about Morrowind as the former is more of a sandbox fantasy life simulator, whereas the latter is more limited in scope and is player character-centric in comparison. But for me, Morrowind strikes the right balance.
Very good video, hopefully it gets a lot of attention. Quest markers kind of dominate the discussion with regards to holding the player's hand in recent Bethesda games, but compass markers might be even worse.
That's exactly why I love morrowind, there's nothing to guide you where to go, you figure it out yourself.
Never knew you could do that with the horse, lol.
You made the whole video without mentioning Elden Ring once which does exactly what you are describing/requesting here. And while the game got a lot of positive responses from players (me included), some were quite mad at those missing map markers - they feel forced to use guides and walkthroughs.
In Gothic I feel like this was less of a problem - but idk why, I only played Elex which had a radar turned on by default (pointing to the next mission). Turning it off didn't meet with my goal to complete it within a week (I'm a game dev after all, can't play the same game for months).
Deus Ex Mankind Divided also had the feature to turn off the minimap and then characters would get additional dialogues, telling you house numbers / apartment numbers / places. I still had to look at the map every now and then but when I was able to find something, it felt quite cool.
Gothic / Elex / Deus Ex did this for main story missions (as well as side activities of course) - and people keep saying the same things about this design choice (missing out on things, guides are required and so on).
Yeah I still need to get around to playing Elden Ring, I just need to get it on a sale.
Another reason skyrim VR is a fantastic game. The compass is out of your view until you specifically look up for it
I agree so much its really annoying