Diary of an E3-Man 3

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The following are raw notes taken from E3 2018 Press Conferences. They are a mixture of details and opinions. The idea to post these is to show what it’s like to furiously write down notes in an effort to turn those notes into an article as well as whatever. It also portrays whatever gut feeling towards something was felt as it happened. The first section of notes are things I wrote down after the conference was over; what were the things/thoughts that stuck with me afterwards. The second section of notes cover the more play-by-play of the conference as things were happening what was being jotted down.

Bethesda- E3 2018

Things That Stood Out After the Show:

• The ending of this show was bizarre and almost seemed like Bethesda finally giving into the fact that Jason Schreier usually wins out over complete secrecy

• Announcing a game without a date and the next game after that is weird, but probably calms the storms a bit for the time being, fans can rest easy that a new IP in the vein of Fallout / Elder Scrolls and a true Elder Scrolls sequel are coming

• This was a really intelligent way to structure a show, they went through the well of their IP’s, so everyone watching probably got at least a little something from this show

• I had been nervous, confused, skeptical about Fallout 76 for the past few weeks since that initial teaser and Bethesda seemed to know that many felt that way and dedicated time and the right way to show what’s new here and what’s familiar

• I’m still skeptical as hell about this game with that said, but at least Bethesda knew how to approach their fans

• DOOM!!!!!

• DOOM!!!!!

• DOOM!!!!!

• There is a ton about Bethesda that I have not agreed with over the past few years (not game related) but they KNOW THEIR AUDIENCE (unlike some people) and anticipated what type of questions fans would have for Fallout as well as what teasers send them home happy

• Also, Andrew WK was there, and the audience looked terrified to honor his presence correctly

Re-Watch:

• I’m fine with the humanizing of the company video package at the beginning, this is at least the 2nd year they've done this, and it seems a little recruitment-y

• Part of Bethesda understanding their audience is tied into humor on the stage, which is incredibly hard to pull off in this environment

• Acknowledgment of Walmart Canada leak in the manner they did it was legit good

• The cuts to the audience during Andrew WK had to be on purpose right… They knew who they wanted to point out

• I mostly like Rage, I think the initial reveal of Rage 2 was up my alley, this showing I wasn’t vibing with as much tonelly, but the gameplay sold me pretty hard

• I may be wrong but I think there was some light reference to Just Cause in there as well as Aaron Paul playing Rage in Breaking Bad - good on them

• Rage 2 combat looks pretty similar to Doom IMO

• The Elder Scrolls card game section was a bit rough

• Stating it’s the presenters favorite card game ever in the same breath of we’ve undergone a full reset on the game is an odd choice

• Elder Scrolls Online still seems popular, I’m glad they were able to stabilize after a rough lead-in and start to that game

• This game is never going to be for me, but highlights the breadth of this show that everyone probably got something out of this Bethesda showcase

• It was essential and smart to quickly elaborate that Doom Eternal is in fact the sequel to 2016s Doom because it wasn’t clear from the name what was going on

• Please don’t fuck this up, thank you

• Quake Champions is still a thing and still in beta?

• As someone who played a whole ton of Quake 3 Arena in high school, this thing just never was calling to me

• Prey DLC is a departure

• Wonder how those serious supporters of the game are going to take to not a meaty story DLC thing

• Wolfenstein DLC is one of the more interesting DLCs I’ve seen, as someone who doesn’t dip into DLC, I really want to see what this is

• Much respect to Bethesda for supporting VR, even if the results have been shaky, no other big publishers are bringing established games and building new games for VR like them

• The Skyrim gag was enjoyable, laughing at themselves and being self aware goes a long way in ingratiating themselves with fans

• Bringing Todd Howard out for the Fallout 76 section was uber important, it attaches his face to that game, even though Todd is most likely knee deep in Starfield right now and Bethesda Austin seems to be doing most of the lifting on this game

• This is one of the longest E3 sections I can remember and it never felt overdone or unnecessary

• Though I could do without hearing Take Me Home, Country Road for a bit

• They seem to know what the worries with this idea would be from Fallout / Elder Scrolls single player fans and from people whom have had issues with the Rust’s of the world

• I really love the idea of Vault 76 and rebuilding the country / world - But still wish this was just a straight Fallout game

• My problem with Fallout 4 wasn’t that I was burned out on the idea of Fallout, but the story was so subdue and lackluster

• Bethesda deserves a ton of credit for trying new things with their famous IPs, they could keep churning out from the same blueprint but are trying new things with Fallout and Elder Scrolls

• I want to see this thing in action, but if it’s purely online there is probably no VATS and that turns this into a shooter and that’s just not what I’m looking for here - VATS is needed to make this a hybrid of a FPS and RPG

• Really, really curious how this ties in story-wise with the series as a whole

• Elder Scrolls mobile game is exactly what I don’t want

• Coming to consoles and VR?

• Wonder how this thing would play with a controller

• As mentioned before, those two drops at the end are so strange, I can imagine Starfield being next year, but Elder Scrolls 6 is probably 5 years out, at best

• I understand wanting to get ahead of the announcements though, strange but makes sense