General:Don Nalezyty's Posts

Don Nalezyty's Posts
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Interviewee(s)	Don Nalezyty
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These are a few notable comments from Don Nalezyty on The Elder Scrolls setting.

1996

On TES2's eminent release (1996-01-06)

Don (I may not be Lonewolf, but hopefully just as wise! :^) ) from Bethesda here!

Anyone remember this sucker's supposed to be out at the end of the month. No one is even talking about it anymore. Lonewolf, if you're still out there, drop us a hint on how things are going.

We've had many issues to resolve and rather than shove something out the door which nobody, including us, would be happy about, we've put forth the effort and time to make sure Daggerfall is everything we all want.

That said, here's your hint on how things are going. We've got the entire world up and running, inside and out. We're working on getting a full blown beta out to our testers in the coming week. 8^) Once in full beta testing we want to make sure, that we remove all the bugs before shipping.

What does that mean? What's the bottom line? Well I can't say for sure, because it depends on the beta period. What I can tell you is that it will not be out at the end of this month. As Lonewolf posted earlier, there will some intense meetings in the next few days and during the first weeks of full testing, to figure out just when we can get the best product possible to you.

On TES2 getting delayed (1996-01-23)

Hi there, don from Bethesda here.

This could be a problem. Folks on this newsgroup seem to be real good-natured and understanding about these delays (now it's LATE April),

Actually as far I'm aware of, (unless I slept through the last meeting without realizing it,) DaggerFall is still slated for release on April 1st, 1996.

but I think this sents the wrong message. By the time this thing comes out the technology (which didn't look like a quantum leap over Arena to begin with) could seem quite antiquated.

I have to partially disagree with this. : - ( While the DaggerFall demo may not have seemed a "quantum leap over Arena," Xngine definitly is leaps and bounds beyond the Arena engine. Take a second at Arena and then take a good look at Terminator: Future Shock. (I mention T: FS, because it's a finished product as opposed to a limited demo.) I think you may re-evaulate your opinion. As for seeming antiquated, I will openly admit it's possible, but I highly doubt it. 8 ^)

Sure we can't do anything about it either way, but I think the assumption that delay is a good thing because it assures few bugs is a bit misguided.

I agree that this can often be very true. Of course, I can't give any examples ;-) but I'm sure you can think of a few! In this case though I believe that it's not a misguided assumption. For those who own Arena, especially those who bought it when it was first released, I think it's clear that it was more than just a few bugs. There were no less than seven fairly major upgrades to Arena after the intial release. This is certainly something we're not proud of and that's why we want to make sure we do Daggerfall better. I think it is a good thing, we've delayed.

DaggerFall has been in the works for nearly 2 full years now. Everybody on the project wants to see it finished and out the door, but no one is willing to sacrifice what we know is a stellar product, just so we can that. We want to release the best game possible and I firmly believe that we will do it as soon as possible.

On TES2's Dungeons (1996-10-23)

Don from Bethesda here and I thought perhaps I could address this one. One of my largest concerns for TESIII is to overcome the tedium of the dungeons. There are a few ways to address this.

1. In general, the dungeons are too big. Some big dungeons are nice, but a good range of sizes between the crypts and the average dungeon are in order.

2. Most of the dungeons seem to be endless winding corridors with no recognizble order, if there are going to be corridors, they should lead somewhere or to something.

3. IMHO, the whole concept of "the dungeon" is flawed. There are thousands of these odd underground structures that serve no discernable purpose throughout the landscape??? There should be an overall purpose or functionality behind the design of a dungeon, even if that purpose is thousands of years old and no longer valid.

4. There are actually a number of different dungeon types, (18 I believe,) but unfortunately I think the distinction between the various types has been lost... I have established 6 types thus far, which I hope will be very distinct.

These are just my current thoughts on the subject, I welcome any input or suggestions.

On TES3's possible beta (1996-11-04)

I do read as many posts as I possibly can... I have to admit I can't even imagine when beta will start for TESIII. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say fourth quarter 97. We're still in the very early design and blueprint stages of TESIII, I would guess in a few months I'll have a better idea of exactly when we expect to start the beta period.

On the inability to repair magic items in TES2 (1996-12-05)

Actually, the removal of the repair objects repairing magic items was to conform it to the design decision made before releasing the game of taking out the ability to repair magic items. The designers found out there was no fair price they could charge that would make repairing magic items a challenge for the players. So they removed it. Getting replacement magic items is far more challenging than having to cheat your way through $$$ to get it. This was documented in the last minute notes and changes files which as instructed in the installation notes can be read with the installer. However, they forgot about the repair object item maker advantage when they removed it from the game. When the routine was fixed to prevent it from reducing the number of arrows, that loophole was closed.

1997

On mark and recall (1997-01-30)

Nalezyty (of Bethesda), the Recall anchor is a small piece of your soul left behind at some location to draw your body back when you so desire. It would be very confusing to have many small bits of your soul all calling out to you at the same time. Not to mention what would happen when you ran out of soul.