Bethesda E3 2018: Waste Of Time?

     Bethesda decided to have another conference this year, this time lacking Morgan Webb, and Adam Sessler. While it could be said that decision helped to focus the conference a bit, and it was not as slow as previous years, there were still too many issues with what was presented. The main issue is that while it was one presentation after another, the pacing of each was slow, while being painfully cringe at the same time. While the a few of the announcements were good, if not great, they wasted too much time with tonal shifts and self-gratification, while being quite coy with the information they gave, even when they said they would deep dive into the information. 

     The beginning of the show was  a sign of things to come, the appearance of Andrew WK to begin the show off with information on Rage 2, while entertaining, was quite the non-sequitur. Which grouped with the lack of Rage 2 gameplay along with the song that supposedly was "perfect for the game" seemed kind of odd. And when the smoke was cleared, and the demo was shown, not much was really said that gave that more clear of a picture. A thankfully short presentation of Elder Scrolls Legends was next, that mentioned visual overhauls, and being available on consoles later this year, and a promise that progress transfers to console from mobile and PC, with the promise of unseen content, not much was learned, and felt forced.

     ESO was next, and after a stilted speech on community of the game, information, and not much else was given on the next most recent content drops for the game, Wolfhunter, a werewolf themed "Dungeon DLC", and MurkWater, a story "chapter" based in the Blackmarsh area of Tamriel. One of the great announcements of this conference, Doom Eternal, was really more of a tease, and a bit of a taunt, with "more information at QuakeCon," but with twice the amount of demons, and more powerfull Doom Guy, it is pretty Much Doom 2: Hell On Earth, without that being the actual name. 

Following that was another short "presentation" of Quake Champions, which showed off a few new characters, and apparently the "fastest and most fun multiplayer experience," with news of a free trial of the game available to all who wish to try it, and if you download it now, you get to keep it after the trial ends. There were a few Prey announcements, such as the free update, which includes "story mode," "new game+," and "hardcore mode," as well as the "Mooncrash" DLC, which is a roguelike simulation where you have to escape the moon, and if you die it resets, both are available right now. They also mentioned Typhon Hunter, where you and three friends have to discover who the typhons are, and not be killed by them. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus will be released for Switch on 29 June, with a new standalone game taking place in 1980's France with Bj's twin daughters being the protagonists. Which invariably means that you can play it co-op, and releases in "2019." A short VR segment mentioned Prey VR (releases with Typhon Hunter), and Wolfenstein Cyberpilot, where you can take over the robots and pilot them against the zombies, nothing was shown with no extra information given. 

     The part of the show that everyone was waiting for, Fallout 76; finally arrived, and it was....something. While there was a fair amount of information given, there was still a fair bit they were overly coy, or glib about. It is of course a prequel to the entire series, and is "4 times the size of Fallout 4," with new rendering, lighting, and landscaping tech, the story, is moved through six different regions of West Virginia. The game is entirely online, though it is possible to play it solo. It is what they consider to be "softcore" survival, where if you die, you don't lose progress, and when you play with friends, your progress stays with you throughout. The decisions you make will inform the outcomes of the game, and its story. Once again we will be building settlements, but this time you can move them to other locations, though not indicated really how that affects others, or how it really works. Endgame comes in the form of Dynamic Nuclear launch sites, where you will have to find launch codes which will fire nukes, that you can aim at specific locations. Doing this will require work, and probably with a team of friends, for when you do that, the affected area will spawn strong monsters, and rare materials. There is of course a collector's edition, which includes a map of the area; that glows in the dark, small figures (think green army men, just Fallout themed), and a wearable, power armor helmet with a working headlamp and voice modulator. If you pre-order the game you will get access to the beta (B.E.T.A: Break It Early Test Application, though no date for that), with a release date of 14 November. 

     Fallout Shelter will be making its way to PS4 and Switch, tonight, and Elder Scrolls:Blades was announced as well. A mobile "console graphics quality" game, that they want to release on everything, even VR, will release on phones first. Will include a roguelike dungeon crawling mode, a PvP mode, and a town building mode, you can pre-order it on your app store. Before they finished, they confirmed that Starfield is indeed real with a teaser trailer, their first original IP in 25 years, and finished it off with a "tease" of Elder Scrolls VI.  

     Overall, this presentation while better in many ways to last year, lacked something that Bethesda can not seem to get a handle on, getting to the point. While it is slightly improved to 2017, hopefully they can allow themselves to get to the heart of the matter quicker, or if nothing else, add a pre-show, so they can get all the "fluff" out of the way, and keep their conference more tightly focused.

~Koyuuki​°˖ ✧◝(○ ヮ ○)◜✧˖ °