Skyrim lead designer makes it sound like there’s gonna be loading screens in Bethesda games for years to come yet, bucko: ‘We just didn’t have a choice, really’

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Considering the time I’ve wasted on loading screens throughout my life, it might lead to a rather dismal and melancholic state of mind. As someone with substantial hours dedicated to multiple Bethesda games, could you imagine how many of those minutes were spent idly fiddling with Daedric artifacts during Skyrim load times or admiring Netch concept art in Morrowind?

In many instances, it seems inevitable that you’ll encounter lengthy loading screens when moving from an exterior to an interior in Bethesda games. Unfortunately, it appears this issue may persist in The Elder Scrolls 6 and future titles, as confirmed by Bruce Nesmith, a former Bethesda developer and lead designer of Skyrim.

Nesmith stated, “We didn’t choose to do it; we were required to. People often criticize us for not being up-to-date or lazy, but it’s more a matter of Bethesda games being incredibly detailed and graphics-heavy, making it impossible to have both aspects at their best simultaneously.

In simpler terms, it can be challenging to manage all those complex physics within Bethesda’s vast open worlds and remember where you last placed your cheesewheels if you don’t take breaks from the game sometimes. Also, making loading screens seem less noticeable, as suggested by Nesmith, reportedly led to significant performance issues.

Nesmith stated, “It’s impossible to display both the interiors and exteriors of multiple locations at once. If I try to use all the advanced techniques for streaming and loading, it results in laggy performance. It’s more effective to pause the game, show a loading screen, then resume.

Another option might be to create simpler games, but given Bethesda’s style, wouldn’t that seem unlikely, right? So, in a way, it’s one of those inevitable trade-offs… if we were to deliver the kind of gaming experience we envisioned.

As a gamer, I can see where Nesmith is coming from, and his thoughts about Starfield’s spaceflight loads have definitely made me look at the issue in a new light. However, let me be honest: the ability to pick up every item on a shelf in Bethesda games hasn’t really had much of an impact on my gaming experience. It can lead to some amusing consequences – like that infamous Skyrim trick where you rob shops by placing a bucket on the owner’s head – but most of the time, it just feels pointless. If I have to choose between that level of complexity and fewer loading screens, I’d go with the latter. Bethesda would need to put in a lot more effort into making their systemic quirks something I find interesting enough to keep around.

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2025-05-01 19:18