I feel like that push (and then radiant quests, automated faction battles, structure of dungeons with a final chest and an exit, mini-bosses etc) came from Todd trying to optimize everything in production after the hell of making Morrowind. Let the game write itself as much as possible, let’s make places not Lego, but Lego Duplo constructors for our designers and generate trees\grass over them, and then - the leveling got too generalized to become awkward. Wide brush strokes and big ideas as a base canvas, with some select things painted-in afterwards intentionally.
You know, you could afford glass armor too, if you skipped the cup of soy ale every other day! Coin-to-coin, that’s how my business is going!
An article for an article: https://www.polygon.com/2019/3/27/18281082/elder-scrolls-morrowind-oral-history-bethesda
I feel like that push (and then radiant quests, automated faction battles, structure of dungeons with a final chest and an exit, mini-bosses etc) came from Todd trying to optimize everything in production after the hell of making Morrowind. Let the game write itself as much as possible, let’s make places not Lego, but Lego Duplo constructors for our designers and generate trees\grass over them, and then - the leveling got too generalized to become awkward. Wide brush strokes and big ideas as a base canvas, with some select things painted-in afterwards intentionally.