this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2024
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So if lore is not explicitly stated, it is bad, becapse of guess work, unless it's in TES, because then it sparks "fan theories".
Look: Lore is really a "quality over quantity" kind of deal. I know that there are entire books in Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. But just because there's a lot of it doesn't make it great. And just because some author in Morrowind took some ketamine back in 2000, doesn't absolve the later TES games, where the whole world boils down to "the player is the most important being in the world".
TES games are basically a solipsism simulator, whereas DS drips with atmosphere and themes of decay, hope and even teaches you a bit of zen.
The fact that it's so vague but still makes people be so invested in the world speaks to the strength of the writing.
Yes, you will have nuggets of genius in TES games. But that's because
A) Morrowind's writing was really weird and actually good and they still reference that a lot B) they throw everything at the wall and then you're bound to have something good if you have some talent employed.
You still have to wade through so much trite, boilerplate fantasy shit, though.
I never said DS lore was "bad", I just said it wasn't really that deep, because most of it was based on guess work from fans and YouTubers who need a reason to keep making videos. I like DS, and I've played the whole trilogy, including DLCs, but a lot of the "lore" is actually fan fiction. Then I said that in comparison, TES is much deeper - or more "expansive"/"developed", if you prefer those terms - while also offering room for fans theories. That's all.
Basically, learning DS lore is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle that is missing most of the pieces, whereas learning ES is like reading history books, which can never give you all the answers.
Some people will like one or the other more, for different reasons; but I'd say TES lore is definitely deeper, since it has a lot more to dig into.