opinion: Many role-playing games don’t exploit their crafting potential. Don’t think so? Then check out the swords of Bladesong!
Excalibur, Andúril or the Master Sword. Our histories are filled with notable blades that have led valiant heroes to victory. For this very reason, there is always something sublime about discovering a legendary blade in a role-playing game, or possibly forging one yourself.
But for my taste, the latter in particular comes far too short in most role-playing games. When I forge a weapon in Elder Scrolls, for example, I basically just throw a bunch of ores and material into a furnace and wait to see what type of weapon will spit out the other side.
While forging your own sword could be so much more! It could produce some wonderfully individual weapons that no one else but me carries. A newly announced crafting game called Bladesong now shows just what that could look like.
Bladesong will make you a master blacksmith
Not much is known about the game yet and it is still in a very early stage of development. But the vision is already very clear: I get to forge rows and rows of swords here and customise every little detail.
If the (videos and images on Steam) are to be believed, in this game I can not only decide on the material used and the preferred individual parts such as the pommel, the hilt or the parry bar, I can even dynamically adjust notches, length, width or curvature.
According to the developers, I can create any sword that comes to mind here. Whether they should look historically accurate or not is entirely up to me.
I want this in Elder Scrolls!
Taken on its own terms, this all sounds like an entertaining pursuit, though it’s not yet clear if Bladesong offers any form of gameplay beyond the creative process. At the very least, there already seems to be a lore of sorts about a world abandoned by gods and the last bastion of humanity where we manage our forge. We are even supposed to be allowed to meet companions here.
But I wonder why games like Elder Scrolls don’t take such a crafting marvel as a template? Just after seeing what Bethesda is planning in terms of building possibilities with Starfield I see no reason why I shouldn’t design my own swords in Elder Scrolls 6 too.
For firearms, after all, there is the possibility of exchanging and reassembling components in almost every shooter. It doesn’t have to go as deep as in Bladesong. But adjusting a few details here and there can only embellish the lame Elder Scrolls crafting!
Such a system would also provide much more variety when I take on bandits in the world. After all, the variance of murder tools that can be found would increase rapidly.
I’m already dreaming a little of my own Excalibur. And should Bethesda decide against it, at least I’ll still have Bladesong.
What do you think of all this? Do you agree that Elder Scrolls desperately needs more variety in crafting, or do you not really care about the look of your weapon? What else do you think about Bladesong? Are you looking forward to this new game or are you still too unclear how the game will motivate you in the long run? Write it in the comments!
