My strategy for testing new-to-me podcasts is to look through the back catalog and find recent episodes about a topic I already enjoy. If I don’t have fun listening to the hosts talk about what I like, there’s almost no way I’ll have fun listening to them talk about things I find less interesting. As a result when I stumbled across the Dev Game Club podcast and saw they had a Morrowind series. I decided to jump in right there. I love Morrowind, and after nearly 300 episodes, the hosts ought to have learned what works and does not work for them. If I hated these episodes, the entire podcast would be unsalvageable. Luckily these episodes are great and I am having a good time.
The hosts, Tim and Brett have worked as game developers for years and they lean into their experience. Of course they are fans of video games, but being developers allows them to talk about the mechanics of games in a way I find more clear than other video game podcasts. Often they will describe a concept or design choice and explain why or how it would have been made, referencing similar decisions they’ve made in their careers. Most fan-hosted or media-hosted podcasts about gaming will discuss these aspects and reference developer interviews. There is nothing inherently wrong there, but hearing it from a developer reduces the chances of losing nuance and detail.
Back to Morrowind, Brett actually worked for Bethesda for Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. He has a couple of good stories about his experience playing Bethesda games to get ready for his job interview. In my favorite anecdote (so far), he talked about how Bethesda had internal speed running competitions of their famously broad open-world games. One of the hallmarks of Bethesda games is that the main quests are usually quite brief, most of the game is side quests and exploring. According to Brett, these competitions pitted the development team against the quality assurance team and the QA team would always win.
About the game itself, something I am enjoying is their play style. I have played Morrowind off and on since it was released 20 years ago. To me the game is meant to be broken and my character to be maxed. Brett and Tim came to it with fresh eyes, they had never played before. As a result, they seem to be playing it more like it should be played. They are not trying to do every quest in every guild and find every piece of legendary equipment. Vvardenfell truly feels like terra incognita while listening to them.
The most interesting aspect they discussed from the design and development side of gaming is the overlapping quest structure. This is something that I never noticed because I was too young when I started playing and by the time I was mature enough, I knew 90% of the game by heart. They compare Morrowind’s quest and story structure to a giant web. There is a singular critical path that will lead to the center, but players can find that path in any number of ways. The guilds and guild quests exist to send the player to all sorts of different places. Eventually they will hit on an NPC that will guide them to a part of the critical path. It is an elegant design philosophy. I don’t think Morrowind does it perfectly, but it does help build that sense of exploration the game is pushing.
Morrowind might not be your jam. Good thing Tim and Brett have covered lots of games. I can’t imagine video game fans not finding at least once intriguing series. I’m looking forward to hearing what they say about Mario 64 and Deus Ex.
The Keasy Depot 