To those who blame Todd Howard

[O'Connell]

Your argument is shallow when Howard stands behind a lot of solid titles and a lot of good years with Bethsda Softworks.

If you are looking to cast blame, then I invite you to look a little deeper at the general culture of games today and then join me in looking in the mirror.

First off, I am not enjoying this game and I harbor some distaste with Vault 76 or Fallout 76.

Look at our degenerative peers who think dying armpit hair is creative and that they should be paid for it.
In addition to lack of creativity, what more is lacking is any kind of personal accountability.

Yesterday another great talent I personally know retired from XBOX.
The great talents from the days of YORE are leaving daily.
Todd Howard will leave the game industry and you will stand up and cheer.
While talent leaving on a daily basis for retirement is not a problem,
the problem is ...
There is a shortage of creative people with work ethic.
It doesn't just impact gaming.
great screenplays reduced to Netflix, modern literature is reduced to manga porn the list can go very deep but until we take a hard look at what is wrong with us instead of opting to an easy way out we aren't going to see good material.

Or, might as well blame Donald Trump for video games sucking too. as long as we don't look at the real problem we can be angry and offended all the time as a defense and then attack everyone else.

Take aim at me all you want, because I believe I am just as culpable.

This gentleman makes better points than anyone I have met in the industry. My views aren't reflective of his but pay close attention to his remarks of "passion" about the project.

https://youtu.be/LMVQ30c7TcA

[McDeath]

There's tons of people to blame for starfield the people that approved the writing the direction etc there's to many to blame so blame the whole damn company for not taking accountability ♥♥♥♥ BGS i will never ever buy one of your games again plus they add the paid shop backin like back in 2015 15$ for horse armor screw you

[PeaceMaker]

True, it's not just Todd, but Todd is also the FACE. he SOLD the game. He LED people to the slaughter. it's not like he didn't know what he was doing.

He also deserves blame.

[Tommy Wiseau]

He hyped up the game. If it wasnt hyped to the moon i wouldnt hate on it so much

[GrimDogGaming]

Every development decision had to be approved by Todd. That's why he gets the blame.

[Sprocket66]

If he takes the credit then he takes the blame.

[Jarsonne]

What many players fail quote is passion or not doesn't change a core problem, dev of AAA games cannot make games purely for themselves. This lead to guesses on what can be fun enough for enough players looking sometimes absurdly wrong, and projects goals and hopes are never fully satisfied, and releases can't be indefinitely delayed, meaning that concessions need be done.

For dev not defending their game, the only solution is not allow them any public comment, they can't make com and agree their game just released or soon released is a crap.

[WildStargazer]

Game industry simply became mainstream entertainment, and as in any other entertainment industry there'are a lot of garbage produced, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ TV series like Bat Girl or She-Hulk, or ♥♥♥♥♥♥ mumbling rap music. You need to be more cautious about new entertainment products and read some reviews from people that you trust before buying.

[Ommamar]

Originally posted by McDeath:

There's tons of people to blame for starfield the people that approved the writing the direction etc there's to many to blame so blame the whole damn company for not taking accountability ♥♥♥♥ BGS i will never ever buy one of your games again plus they add the paid shop backin like back in 2015 15$ for horse armor screw you

I have no inside incite to that situation I have always imagined though a conversation where it was proposed and everyone said nah people would never go for that. Then some said bet so it became kind of an experiment to see how far they could get with it. Amazingly it sold well even though it did nothing other then make a graphic change that only the solo player could see. You can blame BGS but also save some for all the foolish consumers who invested in silly thing to make companies see them as profitable.

Originally posted by Tommy Wiseau:

He hyped up the game. If it wasnt hyped to the moon i wouldnt hate on it so much

What did you expect from him? It has been his method of operation since he became the "Face" of the company. I personally don't care for Morrowind, he did the same thing on that game. Of course he wasn't as well known but you can look up to see how he presented it in the media. I just moved on after trying it with no hurt feelings as I realized I am not going to like all games even if I liked the previous ones.

[Razör]

He was in charge of the games development. He oversaw all the design choices, from level to gameplay. His signature is on forms that were submitted to him for approval of such things. He also gives his input and decided based on his interests. He is most certainly to blame, not entirely, bur 80% to blame.

Hope you enjoyed Todd and his teams "dream game" lmao

[Mooman]

Todd is to blame.

Bruce Nesmith interview.
Jeff Gardiner interview.
Emil Pagliarulo[www.polygon.com]

What seems intimidating is not always that there are too many cooks in the kitchen, but many separate kitchens. What were the narrative responsibilities? How was Todd involved?

Basically, it was up to me to create the lore. Todd had the game idea, and I would create the lore. And every time I would create it, I would pass it through Todd.

[Jᴧgᴧ]

The Cap'n always goes down with the ship, mate. The success of the voyage and the endeavor rests in their hands, and theirs alone.

[Jarsonne]

Originally posted by Mooman:

Todd is to blame.

Bruce Nesmith interview.
Jeff Gardiner interview.
Emil Pagliarulo[www.polygon.com]

What seems intimidating is not always that there are too many cooks in the kitchen, but many separate kitchens. What were the narrative responsibilities? How was Todd involved?

Basically, it was up to me to create the lore. Todd had the game idea, and I would create the lore. And every time I would create it, I would pass it through Todd.

Quickly check the first, noticed the comment you quoted in the post.

Except that it can't work that way.

How many times Todd refused him his writing or gameplay proposals?

How many time Todd could find any time to write anything?

Is there zero QA and testing past Todd?

Do you believe Todd decided area procedure generation must not have more POI inserted in procedure generation?

Why he has zero comment on the extra year forced by Microsoft?

Consider it also like questions, I won't bother listen English interviews without any subtitles, or even not sure I would have the patience.

[Sharkon]

I'm not against Todd as a game developer but he is really bad when it comes to interviews and marketing speech. reminds me on new Blizzard. they don't give a damn about ther audience either.

[Jarsonne]

Originally posted by Nokrahs:

I'm not against Todd as a game developer but he is really bad when it comes to interviews and marketing speech. reminds me on new Blizzard. they don't give a damn about ther audience either.

I don't know, quite possible, but people knowing manipulating players don't make better games, just make believe it a time.

[[Box]]

People who blame one singular factor as the source of problem are missing the point. Tons of reasons Starfield took a bump this bad

• Complete lack of design document which is a disaster move for a game of this size.
  
  
• Inefficient workflow as confirmed by Bruce Nesmith that everything had to be run by Todd and that created a massive line of ideas being pitched with no design document to hold everything down.
  
  
• Scope creep that exceeded their tech which they didn't develop in key areas to accommodate features needed by a game set in space. They got too ambitious in too short of a time without considering the drawbacks.
  
  
• Emil Pagliarulo's weird tendency to not look at negative reviews cause he thinks they're not worth his time so he never improves his writing skills. And also him being the only credited writer which is never a good idea for a game this big.

Todd was leading development when they were releasing hits after hits so logically he didn't just forget how to make good games. But mismanagement can affect anyone's vision.