Bethesda veteran says less RPG complexity in the Elder Scrolls series is good, actually: 'We got rid of attributes in Skyrim and you know who complained? Almost nobody'

In a new interview with PressBoxPR, Bethesda veteran and Skyrim's lead designer Bruce Nesmith talks at length about his time at the studio. Among the topics Nesmith addresses is why it wouldn't make sense to switch to Unreal Engine, and how studio head Todd Howard is an inveterate fiddler, even if he "desperately" tries not to be.

Nesmith has some pretty firm beliefs about decisions that have been made about the hugely popular Elder Scrolls series over time, at least one of which had my esteemed colleague Joshua Wolens despairing (it's a lore thing). He's asked about the idea of lowering barriers to entry for new players within the series, and whether it's a trend he expects to see continue with The Elder Scrolls 6.

"Absolutely, and I led the charge on that, to be frank," says Nesmith. "Obviously I had to persuade Todd, as he is the ultimate arbiter on these things, but I managed to do so. I did a lot of the character systems and one of Todd's philosophies early on in Oblivion, which I took to heart and why I pushed so hard for these things, is that he wanted an interfaceless game so ideally you just play the game. You just play it."

Hmm. I mean, as a philosophy fair enough… but I would not describe a single one of Bethesda's games as even approaching "interfaceless." If anything they seem interface-full. But Nesmith says it's not just about the menus.

"It was about getting the character system out of the players' way," says Nesmith. "You don't have your head buried in menus, stats and rules. Just enjoy the moment. It is a way to do that. In every version of the Elder Scrolls where I had any say in character systems, that is what I would push for.

"We got rid of attributes in Skyrim and you know who complained? Almost nobody. They hardly even noticed it. I love the whole idea that you do something, you get better at it. That's now a hallmark of the Elder Scrolls series because you play the character you want to play and you just get better at playing that character."

To be fair, the single best thing about Oblivion or Skyrim is pickpocketing people until you reach a level where you can basically stand in front of folk and take the shirt off their back without them noticing. Nesmith reckons this is the true expression of the "interfaceless" idea.

"If you want to change, just start doing other stuff," says Nesmith. "You don't have to worry about where you are going to spend your points or how you are going to do this and do that. Just play the game. Lets get the game out of your way. To me, it has always been one of the great things about the progression of the Elder Scrolls titles."

Nesmith says that players after that more traditional RPG experience should, basically, look elsewhere: because Bethesda ain't going back on this stuff.

"If you look at Fallout, for example, and that's another Bethesda title of course, they are embracing old school RPG features with that, and that is intentional," says Nesmith. "That's by the same studio, by the way. We're not talking about a studio that has a bias. It's all about how each game should approach it."

Apparently this is a thematic choice: Bethesda's designers want everything about Fallout to feel a little old-school.

"In Fallout, they want you to have that retro feel because everything in Fallout has a retro feel. It's a world based on 1950s super science. The game rules do that as well. They're very old school RPG game rules where you get experience points and decide how to manage your character at that level.

"If you prefer those old school elements, there's a wealth of other games out there for you. For the players who want, they will find games for that. Bethesda as a studio can be the best at doing both with two different titles but a single game can't be trying to do both."

Nesmith gave the interview to promote his Loki Redeemed books, a trilogy of novels he's written. Elsewhere, he discusses his past work on The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, and speculates about where both series' could go next.