In a new interview with PressBoxPR, Bethesda veteran and Skyrim lead designer Bruce Nesmith goes over his time at the studio, addressing topics like why it wouldn’t make sense to switch to Unreal Engine, studio head Todd Howard’s habit of “seagulling,” and lore choices that had PCG’s Joshua Wolens despairing.
One of Nesmith’s themes is how Bethesda tweaks its games for mass appeal, even when this involves dialling back the complexity of certain systems. But when it comes to the studio’s future titles (Nesmith no longer works at Bethesda), he thinks one recent example in particular has shown a way forward.
“To look at Baldur’s Gate 3 and draw lessons from that smash hit… that part of what made it so popular is that it felt like all choices were meaningful because you made a choice and it made a big difference in your play,” says Nesmith.
Nesmith goes on to use a phrase that needs explaining: “put your toys away.” This is a design principle whereby, for certain levels of storytelling within a game, you want things to reset back at the end of the quest, so you’re not constraining what can be done afterwards. So with the huge story beats, that’s where you’ll see “sweeping changes” coming out of them but if, for example, you’re designing a sidequest for the thieves guild, you don’t necessarily want those world-altering consequences.
“Bethesda games have maybe pulled back from doing [those meaningful choices] a little bit,” says Nesmith. “The focus is on putting your toys away but in these games you do something in the thieves guild quest line that completely changes what becomes of the mages guild, for example. The world and the game is changed because of your choices. Have it make a real impact.”
Nesmith is obviously no longer at Bethesda, but “if I were in a position of being able to make the decisions, that’s something that I would look to be doing because I think the gaming community has spoken and said they want games like Baldur’s Gate 3 where their actions feel like they have impact in a broader sense.”
Nesmith gave the interview to promote the Loki Redeemed books, a trilogy of novels he’s written since leaving Bethesda. Elsewhere, he discusses his past work on The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, and has some other ideas about where both series’ could go next.
