Emil Pagliarulo Appreciation Thread

[0wing]

He actually bragged about how good a writter he was for the arrow in the knee line.

Phrase on itself while not poetry, fits into nordic setting of Skyrim. The repetition made it a meme, that's all. But that's another kind of problem.

 

[Walpknut]

There is also the fact that quests and NPCs were so bland that there is a mod just called Interesting NPCs.

 

[0wing]

So LGNPC for Morrowind exists. This problem just sticks with Bethesda in general, the Todd is game director and Bethesda employee; Close the circle.

I'm not adored in anything Emil ever wrote and will write, but at least he doesn't have (shown) an inflated ego. People like Michael Kirkbride, Pete Hines and Todd Howard are real monsters. Monsters of smug, like they know how they suck at what they do, how painful their actions are and they about it.

 

[Walpknut]

Calling them monsters kind of over dramatic.

 

[0wing]

Calling them monsters kind of over dramatic.

Are you so sure about it?

 

[Walpknut]

He is just an asshat.

 

[0wing]

He is just an asshat.

Close the circle.

 

[MercenarySnake]

Lul "Oblivion and Skyrim weren't written badly to an extent", they were both terrible in the writing department. Look at the thieves guild for example,

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=14422

Brynjolf walks up to me, a total stranger, and says, “You’ve never worked a day in your life for all that coin you’re carrying around.” This is a really screwy thing to say to an adventurer. (I imagine running over mountains and fighting through tombs is pretty labor-intensive.) I guess he’s supposed to be insinuating that I’m naturally a thief, but he says this to the player regardless of what gear they have or how much money they’ve got. It’s also odd because you can’t steal for a living until you join the guild, because you have no way to unload stolen goods. He’s implying you’re a thief, when by definition you can’t be one yet. So no matter who you are, he’s flat-out wrong. It’s also odd to be approached to join the Thieves Guild. I get that the guild has fallen on hard times, but this still feels awkward.

Yeah some real good writing there, “You’ve never worked a day in your life for all that coin you’re carrying around.”. That's some terrible writing to assume some adventurer is making all of his money by stealing especially if doing jobs for Thanes and such.

You have moments like

You can murder a civilian in broad daylight and allow the guard to take you to jail for a modest span of time. (Or just pay a 1,000 dollar fine.) But inadvertent food contamination with no victims is worthy of life in prison? It’s a worse offense than murder, even though it might have been an accident or sabotage? And the Honningbrew owner never points the finger at me, the mysterious stranger who he recently allowed into the distillery? He pulled a fresh batch of mead from the vat and never saw fit to taste it himself first?

It's silly how they never once assumed that the player which was allowed inside of the distillery before this event was the one to do this.
Then they allow Mallus to continue using the same place which just had an incident like this instead of shutting the place down.

I don't want to go into a long as detailed page of this shit but the point is the writing sucks donkey ass, you have this which is a big stupid ass bit of writing especially:

Outside, I am revived by Karliah. My character quite reasonably greets her with, “You shot me!”

“No, I saved your life,” she explains. See, the paralysis arrow she used on me slowed my heart rate so I didn’t bleed out. It took her a year to perfect the poison, so she only had enough for one shot.

Karliah dear, if you had shot Mercer Frey then my life wouldn’t have needed saving in the first place.

She shot the player instead of the person she was supposed to shoot with the arrow and then has the audacity to say that she saved your life.

Look you can think what you want about the writing but at the end of the day it's shit. Besides if I spent time pointing out every single terrible bit of writing in that questline alone we would be here for a long time, atleast long enough for Emil to learn how to properly use his brain and write atleast one good Fallout/Elder Scrolls thing in his life.

 

[0wing]

I'll be short and say, to an extend. Compared to his work on Fallout 3 & 4, where everything is upside down and makes no sense, Skyrim holds alot better, which you didn't disprove and never will since it's a fight against burning windmills. Yeah, still not a fan of half of the game, but still again, at least Skyrim has it's redeeming qualities and proper script pieces. Again, the core shit is in the design, like the forced dungeon crawling and 't000tal player freedom', but that's the question for toddie-boy and nu-TES target audience.

atleast long enough for Emil to learn how to properly use his brain and write atleast one good Fallout/Elder Scrolls thing in his life.

Todd must ask him first, which he won't since his ego knows better.

 

[BigGuyCIA]

I'll be short and say, to an extend. Compared to his work on Fallout 3 & 4, where everything is upside down and makes no sense, Skyrim holds alot better, which you didn't disprove and never will since it's a fight against burning windmills. Yeah, still not a fan of half of the game, but still again, at least Skyrim has it's redeeming qualities and proper script pieces. Again, the core shit is in the design, like the forced dungeon crawling and 't000tal player freedom', but that's the question for toddie-boy and nu-TES target audience.

Todd must ask him first, which he won't since his ego knows better.

Are implying that Emil is mostly a victim to a game director that has trouble telling the difference between an RPG and FPS? Emil was Senior Designer and Writer for both Skyrim and Fallout 4. I honestly think he's just as responsible for some of the shitty design decisions.

 

[MercenarySnake]

I'll be short and say, to an extend. Compared to his work on Fallout 3 & 4, where everything is upside down and makes no sense, Skyrim holds alot better, which you didn't disprove and never will since it's a fight against burning windmills. Yeah, still not a fan of half of the game, but still again, at least Skyrim has it's redeeming qualities and proper script pieces. Again, the core shit is in the design, like the forced dungeon crawling and 't000tal player freedom', but that's the question for toddie-boy and nu-TES target audience.

Todd must ask him first, which he won't since his ego knows better.

Okay, even if it is "better" shit is still shit no matter the varying degrees. To me I think they're all terrible with 4 being the worst out of the bunch.

 

[0wing]

Okay, even if it is "better" shit is still shit no matter the varying degrees. To me I think they're all terrible with 4 being the worst out of the bunch.

It's not like you have something to besides Thieves' Guild (yes, it's shit, move on), because Shamus doesn't have other material on his site. It's not like any other TES game, which is in Todd's domain, any better. It's not like you missed the point of the words 'redeeming qualities'.

Are implying that Emil is mostly a victim to a game director that has trouble telling the difference between an RPG and FPS? Emil was Senior Designer and Writer for both Skyrim and Fallout 4. I honestly think he's just as responsible for some of the shitty design decisions.

The final word is still behind the Todd, and if he appreciates the job done by Emil, they share the responsibility for the backfired decision.

Wasn't it an appreciation thread?

 

[Radiosity]

The trend I've noticed most with Bethesda's writing is that anything in the present tense, I.E. the main story, side quests, that type of thing, is always utter trash. But the stuff they write for terminal entries (like the really rather good backstory to the Raiders on the Libertalia in FO4) and similar 'in the past, nothing to do with real, living people' content tends to be pretty good.

So my guess is they have someone who's actually a decent writer churning out all the terminal entries and books/lore stuff, and Emil and his cronies churning out the godawful main stories. Honestly... at this point I think they should just drop the main quest type stories, it's clear they don't have the talent for that sort of writing. Just fill the world with side content and avoid NPCs at all cost. Not like we're getting real Fallout again, so why not play to their few actual strengths and leave the living 'present tense' stories to the big boys over at places like Obsidian?

But that would require Emil to actually have any sort of self-awareness as to his own level of suck as a writer.

 

[MercenarySnake]

It's not like you have something to besides Thieves' Guild (yes, it's shit, move on), because Shamus doesn't have other material on his site. It's not like any other TES game, which is in Todd's domain, any better. It's not like you missed the point of the words 'redeeming qualities'.

The final word is still behind the Todd, and if he appreciates the job done by Emil, they share the responsibility for the backfired decision.

Wasn't it an appreciation thread?

Well lets see you have this which can sum up the college of winterhold well but I'm sure I'm wasting my time:

https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/3rc2mv/an_essentially_accurate_summary_of_skyrims/

Dragonborn: Well sticking pots on random shopkeepers heads for 4 hours has been fun, but I think it’s time to actually do something constructive with this game, like joining the Mages guild. I mean college of Winterhold.

Ancano: Hi, I’m Ancano, the bad guy and ambassador for the Thalmor. Like all Thalmor in this game, I’m a 2 dimensional Nazi! I’ll be you bad guy for this quest line, not that guessing that in advance will do any good whatsoever!

Dragonborn: Oh well, at least I got an actual magic lesson just now. That was actually pretty cool Bethesda, and makes a nice change from yet another dungeon crawl.

Tolfdir: Right class, its time for a field trip, otherwise known as a dungeon crawl! Try not to find any world destroying Macguffin just lying around.

Dragonborn: ...

Tolfdir: Actually, there’s some fascinating lore behind this dungeon.

Dragonborn: Which is?

Tolfdir: Go read the wiki or something; you have a Mcguffin to find.

Psijic dude: Beware Dragonborn! That Mcguffin you have found probably means the end of the world! I’ll be honest, I dont know entirely what it is. But then I’m not sure the writers do either, so that’s fine. I’m actually from a lore established order, with some fascinating history behind us.

Dragonborn: Which is?

Psijic dude: Go read the wiki or something, for the purposes of this plot, I’m just walking talking exposition in a robe. Now I could totally solve everything right now, but I guess I’m just going to leave this world destroying macguffin with you, where any old bad guy can use it to destroy the world. Have fun!

Ancano: My, that orb you brought back looks like any obvious bad guy could use it to...oh I dont know...destroy the world! I’m sure glad it’s easily accessible for any old bad guy like myself! Well, that’s just me reminding you I’m the bad guy, so see you later.

Tolfdir: Well that Macguffin sure looks world destroying. Better just leave it out where any bad guy could get at it. In the mean time, why dont you do more research, student who arrived, like yesterday?

Dragonborn: Does this involve dungeon crawling?

Tolfdir: You know it!

Psijic dude: Hi! Just teleporting in to remind you how doomed you all are! Bye again!

Tolfdir: That sure is concerning. I guess this means you’re going to have to go see an all knowing oracle type about this.

Dragonborn: Is this going to involve a dungeon crawl?

Tolfdir: Wow, are you an all knowing oracle type too?

The Augur of Dunlain: I the all knowing Augur must tell you...that Ancano is totes the bad guy and going to destroy the world with that macguffin. You should look into that.

Dragonborn: Well that was worth the trip.

Ancano: Guess what? I’m totes going to destroy the world with that macguffin!

Dragonborn: But why? You live in the world for Talos sake!

Ancano: Actually the Thalmor do have some fascinating theological reasoning in the lore.

Dragonborn: Which is?

Ancano: Go read the wiki or something, I have a world to destroy! And then puppies to eat! Also I killed Headmaster Dumbledore. I mean arch mage Savos Aren.

Mirabelle Ervine: Random pupil who got here, like yesterday, you must retrieve the staff macguffin to counteract this death orb macguffin.

Dragonborn: Say I have to go on another dungeon crawl and I will kill you.

Mirabelle Ervine: I’m still a plot important NPC, so that’s not happening. Have fun in the dungeon.

Savos Aren: Wooooo! I am the force ghost of Obi wan Kenobi! I mean Savos Aren. And as you dungeon crawl, you should know, I too once visited this dungeon and got some fellow students killed or something!

Dragonborn: That might be more shocking character revelation if we’d talked for more that 3 minutes ever. Why is this relevant?

Savos Aren: No idea. Wooooooooo!

Dragonborn: Oh well. At least I have the staff Macguffin now.

One Ancano killing boss fight later.

Psijic dude: Hi again! Well, even though a lot of people would still be alive if I’d just done this to begin with, I’m going to teleport off with the Macguffin for safekeeping now!

Dragonborn: But wait? Will we ever find out what the orb was? What was the point of any of this?

Psijic dude: No idea! I’m sure something awesome will happen with the orb, but like all interesting Elder Scroll lore, It’ll happen in-between games! Bye! Oh, and you’re the arch mage now I guess, even though I dont actually work here.

Dragonborn: But I got here, like, yesterday! I only learned one spell! That’s like Harry Potter being made Headmaster after saving the Philosophers stone!

Tolfdir: All hail the new Arch Mage who got here, like yesterday! Do you want to celebrate by doing some radiant dungeon crawl quests sir?

Dragonborn: ... I’m going back to sticking pots on random shopkeepers heads now.

Atleast the game gave you more dialogue choices.
Its only redeeming qualities would be modding, the unstable wacky physics, and the mindless stupid fun.
Anyways I'm done arguing about this nonsense.

 

[BigGuyCIA]

The final word is still behind the Todd, and if he appreciates the job done by Emil, they share the responsibility for the backfired decision.

Wasn't it an appreciation thread?

Egh, I see the difference between somebody producing shit, and the director signing off on it. Only, it starts in the hands of someone talented, handsome, and super-duper smart like Emil...

am I doing it right?

Anyways, watch dis:

 

[0wing]

Anyways, watch dis:

What a cringe inducing chore.

am I doing it right?

Yes-s...

Its only redeeming qualities would be modding, the unstable wacky physics, and the mindless stupid fun.

Which is pretty much what Skyrim was, fun, a step above Oblivion and Morrowind nonetheless.

Did you guys know Emil is the writer and designer for TES3: Bloodmoon DLC? And it also sucked?

 

[Jogre]

One thing I don't get is why Fallout 4 even needs a senior writer.

I mean, there's barely any dialogue or writing in the game at all.

Whenever you get attacked by generic bad dudes there's no build up, you never get to ask questions or talk about certain topics in detail, the dialogue is essentially a glorified distraction from the heaps and heaps of shoehorned combat.

Like, with a game with so little decent writing, why do they even need to hire someone as a senior writer?, Is it just like an honorary title like a knighthood?

 

[DR_LaZer]

One thing I don't get is why Fallout 4 even needs a senior writer.

I mean, there's barely any dialogue or writing in the game at all.

Whenever you get attacked by generic bad dudes there's no build up, you never get to ask questions or talk about certain topics in detail, the dialogue is essentially a glorified distraction from the heaps and heaps of shoehorned combat.

Like, with a game with so little decent writing, why do they even need to hire someone as a senior writer?, Is it just like an honorary title like a knighthood?

Nah man, you don't get it. You gotta read the terminals and listen to them talk to each other about stuff completely without your involvement. That's so deep mang.

 

[Cobra Commander]

Yesterday my comments on the Emil Genius were censored and some deleted on the official Bethesda forum.

I did not even lash out the guy, I just called him modern Shakespeare and then I said it was a joke, in fact he was the worst writer in history.

https://bethesda.net/community/topic/79773/hire-writers/4

So, yeah. Fell free to post in that forum, but only if you willing to open your butt for Bethesda.