Naturally, from forums to the live Twitch chat, there always seems to be a tremendous amount of competition between gamers who prefer different consoles. Sometimes it’s nice to see fellow gamers sticking up for their preferred systems but more often than not there are forms of bias, harsh words and annoying spammers present as well. For this set of E3 Evaluations, the plan is to comment and judge on the content and overall tone of the press conferences. Did they impress gamers and give their loyal fans something to look forward to or did they drop the ball this year? So without further ado, let’s start with the first of the group: Bethesda.
The Intro and Overall Length:
Compared to the conferences that followed it, Bethesda’s press conference was rather short. However, that doesn’t instantly make it a failure in any sense. The very beginning of the conference had an interesting vibe pointing back to the old 8-bit style computer system. With their first trailer for Quake Champions Bethesda keeps up their reputation of making trailers that are gorgeous to watch and fun to react to. The actions of the various warriors fighting during the trailer synced with the music perfectly.
Even though it was a gorgeous and well-made trailer Bethesda has proven in the past that their trailers sometimes are better than their products, like with Elder Scrolls Online. The discussion after the trailer about their planned tournaments focused mostly on those who love Quake and even go to the aptly named Quake-Con. This didn’t exactly resonate with me, but I’m sure those die hard Quake fans ate up that info.
Small Fillers and Not Much VR:
From there Bethesda headed toward smaller games and content. They revealed Elder Scrolls Legends, a card game system that seemed very similar to the Magic the Gathering card games of the past. Naturally, they covered their bases concerning Fallout with new updates for Fallout Shelter and showing off some of the planned DLC for Fallout 4.
They also went into detail about how they were giving all members of The Elder Scrolls Online full access to all races and areas in the game. It’s nice to see that Bethesda has finally fixed one of the big issues with the game: that of exclusive content that is taken out of most normal copies of the game. It’s a bit late, though, seeing as its been about two years since its’ release on PC. Bethesda also mentioned a little bit about their work on VR, but there wasn’t much said besides that there are games in the works.
Upswing Moments and Highlights:
It may sound like Bethesda didn’t do an impressive job this year from everything said so far but naturally, they had a few games up their sleeves that caught the attention of their audience and from yours truly. Bethesda had been keeping tight-lipped about Dishonored 2 since its sole trailer at last years’ E3, but they showed off some very impressive gameplay and plot points in their conference. Dishonored two will let the player choose to play as Emily or Corvo, although it seems that Emily might be the best choice as she seems to have a unique set of powers and abilities.
The gameplay shown off during the conference was impressive, to say the least with time travel, amazing senses of strategy and a plot that seems to have plenty of twists and turns. Bethesda also showed off quite a surprise: Skyrim Remastered for the PS4 and Xbox One. There wasn’t a whole bunch shown during its short trailer, but the environment and the detail given to the remastered versions just looked drop dead gorgeous. Finally, they had a short trailer for a new game in the Prey series. This trailer was the first of many trailers that seem to have an odd sense of confusion and mind-bending plot and setting in store for those who buy it.
Final Thoughts:
Bethesda’s performance during their conference had its highs and lows. There was enough there to make the Bethesda fans watching it live and from home to feel like they have something to look forward to in the future. But the conference seemed to have a focus on so many different games on different platforms that there were only a handful of games that got a strong reaction from the crowd. The conference seemed to be an overall jack of all trades situation: nothing was mind blowing, but nothing was cringe worthy or awful.
Seeing as more often than not it helps to give a grade for these evaluations I’d say the Bethesda Conference was a solid C+ or B-.
Do you agree with my evaluation? Any comments or arguments? If so, please leave a comment and stay tuned to GameSkinny for more E3 Evaluations and gaming news. If you haven’t seen the conference for yourself, check out the recording of it on Youtube.
