FUN FACT: I only asked 2 questions that I had pre-planned beforehand(excluding Q+A) That’s the beauty of following a loose structure, as the podcast just ended up going in a completely different direction than I intended, just by letting Dennis speak. I only occasionally interjected with a question which was prompted by what he was saying. This was also the last podcast I recorded in 2024.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – Intro
00:30 – Rivalry With Jonah Lobe At Bethesda
04:10 – Werewolf Was Almost Cut From Skyrim
08:40 – Dennis Broke Work Protocol To Get Things In Bethesda Games Resulting In Burned Bridges
12:40 – Work On NPC Eyes In Fallout 4 That Todd Rejected
17:03 – Dennis’ Thoughts On Todd Howard
20:48 – Creation Engine Has Been Rewritten Multiple Times/Misunderstanding Of Bethesda Development
24:00 – Difference Between Rockstar & Bethesda Games
26:00 – Bethesda Devs Agree With Fan Criticisms
28:48 – Modding Community
29:50 – Beauacracy Has Changed Bethesda/Staff Are Underpaid
34:30 – Fun Isn’t The Focus Of Games Anymore
37:05 – Todd Is In A Tough Position With Elder Scrolls VI Cause Of Microsoft
40:10 – No One Can Ever Replace Todd
42:00 – Q+A – What Were The Teams Feelings Towards The End Of Developing Skyrim
44:57 – Q+A – Why Heavy Gore Was Cut From Starfield
47:22 – Q+A – Which Model Changed Most From Concept Art To In Game
49:20 – Robots Age More Gracefully Than Humans
50:58 – 3D Models/Full Sentry Bot Robot Malfunctioning Story
55:20 – Fallout TV Show
57:16 – Closing Comments

@KIWITALKZ Try to get Gary Noonan on if you can. He was a fun and crazy Morrowind Dev back in the pre-Oblivion days, often posting in the lore and modding forums as Divayth Fyr. I believe he’s still at the company. I’m an older fan, and I’d really like to hear about his take on the early years. Kind of a retrospective.

I am now convinced that the entire staff of Bethesda are in some type of Crazy Cult. Where the detachment is just out of this world for what the gamer wants. For example, he says that no other game can allow you to put a bucket on an Npc’s head. Like it’s the next big thing and everyone is unappreciating that. When he will never actually admit that it was never a intentional gameplay design decision. There has never been a single person who has genuinely been happy with the fact that they can drop a bunch of junk in a room. That is totally The opposite of what the gamer is wanting from Bethesda. If they took this stubborn pride and put it into designing actual tangible gameplay elements, such as simply climbing a ladder or mantling over a fence. Players would be happy with the growth of The games

Game jounos taking quotes out of context for clickbait articles in 3… 2…

You should talk to the programmers 😀

Starfield is one of my top 5 favorite games ever, and it’s because I didn’t go into it with the expectation that it was going to cure cancer or create world peace. All of the hate for it and for Bethesda screams low-testosterone manbaby energy.

Starfield is either in my top 5 or orbiting in the sphere around it for all time games as someone whose gamed since around the time they could read. I really think it was over hated, but my point today is to say that one of if not my favorite thing about that game was the character design, and so it’s really awesome to get to hear a lot from Dennis. God bless you Reece may Jesus bless your 2025!

You know what, i like this guy

Excellent interview. I feel like the comments about Creation Engine, the comparisons between BGS games and other games and BGS devs’ perceptions and passions were especially relevant, and something I wish fans (and journalists/reviewers) considered more when providing their feedback.

Starfield is the worst game I’ve played in years the traversal and copy and pasted locations are worst then daggerfall.

Wow, these are very compelling points.
I need to rewatch the Will Shen video I think was on this platform 😬
and I wish I had came up with those ideas sooner.

I think a lot of criticism with Starfield comes from not comparing it to other games, but comparing to Bethesda ‘s own previous games. Starfield stripped away so many features that were part of BGS games since Morrowind–features that made their games fun. My biggest complaint was that you could be longer loot clothes and armor from NPCs. I don’t know why they removed that.

I’m loving this train of interviews you’re doing!
consuming tons of knowledge and piled up experiences is such an eye opener. Even if I think to myself having an idea of the industry I come out of your podcast with fresh new information

keep it up 🙏

A lot of long term people at BGS seem to have left during Starfields production lol

Great interview! 💚 If you haven’t already watched it, I recommend checking out Jonah Lobe’s Skyrim documentary, called: ‘You’re Finally Awake: Nine Developers Recount the Making of Skyrim.’

He interviews some of the key BGS Skyrim devs, including Dennis. It’s really good!

Best interview so far!

Dennis, thank you for improving the NPC faces / character creation between Oblivion & Fallout! 🙌 & also for creating the werewolves in Skyrim!

It would be amazing if you could get Todd on here

Absolute legend

How did you get all these BGS employees on your podcast? What kind of dirt you have on BGS huh?

Let’s go another Bethesda employee interview 🗣🔥