The "Bethesda RPG"

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"Bethesda RPG" is a term which describes Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas,  Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

The term conglomerates the work of Bethesda Softworks on these particular games. Though Bethesda makes many other games, these are grouped together by their high degree of similarity. The term is useful when talking about RPGs or when looking for games to play. I'll focus on the three most important aspects that make up every Bethesda RPG: transcendent soundtracks, expansive worlds, and player-driven narratives.

I'd like to talk more about Bethesda games and sandbox RPGs in the future, so this post gives me a basis for those discussions.

1. The Transcendent Soundtracks

The sound design in Bethesda RPGs is second to none. Particularly outstanding is the music composed by Jeremy Soule for the Elder Scrolls franchise. Along with those exemplary entries, the soundtracks in all Bethesda RPGs are a mark of their quality. The attention to this detail demonstrates passion for their art and an understanding that success in the genre relies on a players immersion within their fantasy. The Bethesda RPG is able to connect emotionally with the player because the sound design transcends the medium.

Consistently, music from Bethesda RPGs makes its way from the game to other parts of life. The soundtracks offer such a strong emotional connection that they bleed their influence into the quiet and reflective hours outside of the game. The music has its place among the most iconic of movie soundtracks as it engages the listener's senses of wonder, wanderlust, and nostalgia.

If Elder Scrolls games can offer you nothing else, at least take their music with you.



The Fallout franchise offers solid original soundtracks, but the real treats come across the Wasteland through your Pip-Boy over the radio waves. Fallout games have repeatedly found golden oldies and forgotten hits that create the games' sensational aural repertoires.These weren't written for the Fallout franchise, but in another sense they absolutely were.

This playlist is far from comprehensive, but it includes a few of my favorites from throughout the franchise:



2. The Expansive Worlds

Taking place in huge sandbox-style worlds,  Bethesda RPGs are open to exploration and encourage non-linear progression. The player is allowed the agency to decide where they want to go and what they want to do. This has long been a selling point for these RPGs, as so many others offer more linear experiences.

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It's a two-edged sword: it gives the player unrivaled freedom for exploration and creates insurmountable design problems. Bethesda RPGs try to maximize the positives and minimize the negatives, but the issue is intrinsic to the design. Neither the impertinent, lackadaisical wanderer nor the pedantic, focused uber-gamer are left completely satisfied. For the significant swathe of consumers between those types, there's a lot to enjoy. Considering what Bethesda RPGs accomplish, there aren't other games to prove this can be done better.

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Even with flaws, the expansive worlds in Bethesda RPGs are in a class of their own.

3. The Player-Driven Narratives

The story changes in each Bethesda RPG, but they follow "the hero's journey". This core component of the story makes them comparable to many similar RPGs. There's still more to a"Bethesda RPG" game in terms of it's storytelling, but this trait is essential to making useful comparisons.

The story aspect of a "Bethesda RPG" can still be defined more closely than a single narratological term. "Bethesda RPGs" tell stories that expand the world in which they take place I'll call them "ambient stories", and they are one of my favorite aspects. . The environments themselves have stories to tell and these are some of the most artful and subtle touches I've ever experienced in games. For example, a player might find a rotten note on a desk--does it's message lead the player to treasure or ambush? It's up to the player whether they find out, but in a Bethesda RPG you can expect that there is something to find. None of this is followed as a "quest" and there's no game progress tied to whether or not you care to find out--it's just a small part of the world's story.

A "Bethesda RPG" can touch on your sense of imagination because it shows you in many ways that the game designers  care enough (and are clever enough) to understand the player experience in the moment. A "Bethesda RPG" proves to you that it can surprise you, and from there you begin to seek out those surprises. A hidden path leads to treasure, a trash can holds a letter of unrequited love--these are the ambient stories that the player might only find upon replaying the game multiple times. These special kinds of stories engage the "Bethesda RPG's" narrative with it's world in a way that many other games lack.

The player is also connected to the world by Karma systems that exist in each Bethesda RPG. This assigns meaning to the player's actions. The amount of fame or infamy you possess will determine how non-player characters interact with you and can make certain parts of the game more or less accessible. While Karma plays a role in every Bethesda RPG, Bethesda chooses to inoculate it in favor of keeping player choice less restrictive to the player experience.

Factions, on the other hand, are an aspect which the Bethesda RPG handles much better. Faction quests are independent from the main storyline, allowing the player to make progress in a variety of ways. Following a faction's questline can provide hours of game content without touching the core story of the game and allows for a variety of experiences between individual players and playthroughs.

The combination of these elements (the core story, the ambient stories, Karma, and Factions) is interpreted through the lens of the role-playing player. The games are renowned for their varied experiences, and serving this point is the character creation and development process. Beginning with an in-depth character creator, the player's play style guides their character's development. These processes vary between the individual entries in the series of Bethesda RPGs, but certain types of characters tend to recur.

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Conclusively, the Bethesda RPG is a player-driven, sandbox-style role-playing game with an immersion-enhancing atmosphere. Many similar games exist, but those similarities always come with stark differences. The Bethesda RPG isn't the type of game most developers could make due to how expensive they are to develop. It is the type of game that appeals to a relatively wide audience in it's genre and the type of game that engenders proliferous story-telling across a variety of mediums. They happen to be some of my favorite games that I've ever played and I always look forward to new entries in their respective franchises.

The Future of the Bethesda RPG

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Looking forward, there are two important new entries coming to the series of Bethesda RPGs: Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls VI. The latter was announced just a few months ago and a discussion of it only brings on speculation.. The former, Fallout 76, is presently between a short beta testing phase and it's scheduled release on November 14th. I've had the privilege to play in that beta test and what I've experienced deserves it's own post, but let me briefly discuss this game as it relates to the Bethesda RPG.

World: Fallout 76 does a few interesting things in terms of its immersive world. In fact, this is probably the area where you can see the most fresh ideas coming up. The game revamps the "quest hub" issue by removing NPC quest-givers. In fact, the game is devoid of friendly NPC's altogether except for a few robot vendors. As players are asked to fill those vacancies as vendors and villagers, the bugs, glitches, and exploits inherent to the design of Bethesda RPGs are greater issues. There is greater competition for space and resources than in any other iteration and that makes cheating more of a hindrance to every player's experience. As the world grows and continues to develop, these new ideas will prove to be either clever or clumsy. I remember having a dream of a game much like this one in the Elder Scrolls universe when I played Oblivion. The Elder Scrolls universe would introduce another set of unique challenges for a game like Fallout 76, but it is true that I want to see Fallout 76 prove the verity of this concept.

Music:What I've heard in the beta so far is a lot of repeats. It seems that the music from Fallout 4 is being re-used in Fallout 76. The original soundtrack is good, but the original soundtracks in Fallout games have never been their greatest feature (unlike Elder Scrolls games). While the music isn't bad or wrong, I find myself hopeful that there will be more that I haven't heard on the radio when the game officially releases. If the soundtrack's only addition is "Country Roads Take Me Home", I'll be sorely disappointed. For now, I'll wait to know more.

Narrative: If the narrative of other Bethesda RPGs is player-driven, the narrative in Fallout 76 is player-centric. New quests  are found as the player explores Appalachia, but these seem to follow in the vein of the radiant quest system from Fallout 4 in that they aren't necessary or important to the story. I hope that the joy of exploration will not wear off in Fallout 76 as the stream of new quests relies on it. For the moment, I don't hold that opinion because I haven't had that experience. Some early criticism of the game has focused on this point and I concur that there is a certain listlessness in the quest progression which comes from feeling like "oh, this is a fetch quest" or "oh, this is an escort quest". The questlines should draw in your interest, but there isn't much to offer in the way of Factions in a world without NPCs and Karma isn't much of a system at all except by way of bounties placed on players who steal or murder (which you can totally do by accident, by the way). It's a world lacking the feeling of progress and the substitute is leveling to unlock Perks and stronger equipment. Fallout 76's greatest shortcomings will likely be in this area. The game might be taking too much influence from MMORPG style games and losing its connection to the role-playing roots of the franchise. I discussed above why it's important for the story to be tied to how the game world interacts with the player, and in an endless-endgame MMO-style RPG this just can't exist. It remains to be seen, but as of yet I have not been feeling like I'm only grinding to farm and farming to grind.

In summation, the world is a fresh idea, the soundtrack is a repeat, and the story is shallow. This sounds like the game is 1 for 3, but my experience in the beta was wholly positive despite these shortcomings. I'm concerned that this is a game many will miss because of the state of the game maraket right now and how easy it is to nitpick this game to death. I'm looking forward to an extended and even-handed review of this game following it's release.

My Favorite Game Soundtracks

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of music from Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. In addition to it being genuinely fun music, it also draws me back to the joy of exploring the wasteland.

I wrote in an earlier post that sound is both a vital part of the gaming experience and something too often overlooked. Some of the biggest offenders in this area, in my opinion, have been free-to-play MMOs whereas indie games by one or two developers can be among the best. In order for a game to become an experience, quality sounds are vital.

Moreover, great music in a game can also inspire great music made by fans. When a theme is evocative in the right way, it can be reinterpreted again and again. Some of the most enjoyable game music comes from fans of the originals who reinspire the songs with their own energy.

But, I digress. After hours of big bands and crooners I decided that I would like to put together a few playlists of my own favorites and so, without further ado, here it is:

Fallout Franchise: A Sense of the Past

In addition to being just about the only country music I can enjoy, the music from Fallout takes the player back in time and into a world where art has stagnated in the wake of an apocalyptic war and a lasting strife. It both develops the world and draws the player into it. Some of the music is only vaguely familiar the first time you hear it, but as it becomes your soundtrack to the wasteland the two become undeniably linked.

While the game's original soundtrack is good, it's the radio playlists that really make Post-Apocalyptia special.




Legend of Zelda Franchise: The Power of Themes

It's hard to know for sure what it is about The Legend of Zelda that makes it's impact last for so long. I loved The Ocarina of Time, but since then none of the games have grabbed me in the same way. Even Wind Waker. And yet, the music is something which I have always deeply enjoyed.

This playlist includes a variety of ways to listen to this music. Symphonies, ensembles and dubstep remixes all founded on the same several themes and, like a jarred fairy, all possessing some of the magic of Hyrule4.




The Elder Scrolls Franchise: A Sense of Setting

I am a huge fan of The Elder Scrolls, so it is no surprise to find it here. I remember hearing the Skyrim theme before the game was released and listening to it endlessly. Too, the themes from Morrowind and Oblivion call me back to vicarious hours spent in another world. More so than in other games, the soundtracks of the Elder Scrolls put you back in a mood and in a place. Close your eyes, and the grassy valleys stretch out before you. The distant, cloudy mountains rise up and cradle you. The wildlife dances its natural dance through the shaded woods and across the sun-soaked plains.




Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag: A Sense of Character

I admit that I'd enjoyed a few shanties before I ever played Assassin's Creed 4, but ever since I sailed out on the Jackdaw they've held a new place in my heart. AC4 is another fine example of sound being used to draw the player into a world. While repetitive cut-scenes are a shortcoming of the game in many ways, the consoling presence of the crew's shanties makes up for a great deal. The songs allow your crew to feel like people rather than resources and I, for one, love to sing along.

Here is a playlist of all the shanties your crew knows so that you can learn them, too.




Tony Hawk's Pro Skater: The Power of Community

When I was growing up, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was a franchise to rival Madden NFL for popularity. I had it, my friends had it, and we all thought we knew the best trick. Beyond simply being a fun game, I still find today that the songs from the first three game's soundtracks hold a special nostalgia for me. Moreover, at the time and as a gamer, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was introducing and inviting me into a community. In those days, "skaters" were a clique unto themselves and this was especially true in their music. Punky, indie rock was a staple of their genre, usually sounding off on an anti-establishment theme of one kind or another. While I never would have identified myself as a "skater kid", the franchise and the playlists introduced me to the community and helped me to understand it.

Today, many of these songs still hold a special place in my memory and altogether they make for a pretty great playlist.





Assorted Others: The Sense and Power of Nostalgia

Throughout this post I have discussed how certain games and franchises can make effective and consistent use of music to strengthen the experience of their game. In LoZ, we see that musical themes can tie worlds together and, in the same way, THPS demonstrates how ideological themes can bring a greater depth of experience. In Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Assassin's Creed 4, sound is used to give the player a greater breadth of feeling all throughout their vicarious explorations. While these examples are favorites of mine, there are a plethora of games and franchises which have done and continue to do this same thing. Because I can, here is another list of some assorted video game songs that I really love, but which are not included in the above playlists.