Emil Pagliarulo has been writing for Bethesda for many years and has been the lead writer since Fallout 3. For about the same length of time, the quality of ...
I clicked through to the video, and then immediately changed my mind. The thought that had occurred to me was that good critics rarely, if ever, call out a specific member of a creative team by name. Even if the quality of Bethesda’s writing has gone to shit, laying the blame for that entirely on one specific person misses the incredible complexity of what writing, especially video game writing, actually is.
Good critics generally criticise the work, not the creator (cases where the creator crosses the line from “unskilled/incompetent/tried a thing and it didn’t work” to “bigoted and hateful” are the most common exception) because art is complicated. Just because you can see how and why something doesn’t work, doesn’t mean you know how and why it got that way.
These problems are not new and he is/was/will-be lead writer+lead designer for decades worth of Bethesda’s games. Sure you can blame Todd, but beyond that it seems like saying it wasn’t Emil’s influence is a bit of a “so you agree” situation (as in still his fault) relating to his public admissions (lack of design document and saying that players don’t care about story).
Oh I am so here for this because I’ve been arguing this ever since Fallout 3!
I literally said to myself while playing Fallout 3 the first time:
I clicked through to the video, and then immediately changed my mind. The thought that had occurred to me was that good critics rarely, if ever, call out a specific member of a creative team by name. Even if the quality of Bethesda’s writing has gone to shit, laying the blame for that entirely on one specific person misses the incredible complexity of what writing, especially video game writing, actually is.
Good critics generally criticise the work, not the creator (cases where the creator crosses the line from “unskilled/incompetent/tried a thing and it didn’t work” to “bigoted and hateful” are the most common exception) because art is complicated. Just because you can see how and why something doesn’t work, doesn’t mean you know how and why it got that way.
These problems are not new and he is/was/will-be lead writer+lead designer for decades worth of Bethesda’s games. Sure you can blame Todd, but beyond that it seems like saying it wasn’t Emil’s influence is a bit of a “so you agree” situation (as in still his fault) relating to his public admissions (lack of design document and saying that players don’t care about story).