Bethesda‘s official Elder Scrolls account has recently posted a stunning quote from Oblivion, but gamers are completely dismissing it. The quote was taken from the character Armand Christophe, who said that the Gray Fox was protecting the poor waterfront district. Even though the post did not start nostalgic debates among gamers, the tweet definitely opened the door for the criticisms of the recent technical issues with the remaster of Oblivion and the calling for Elder Scrolls 6, which were already in place. The community’s reaction shows that the fanbase is getting more and more impatient with Bethesda’s current strategy.
How did the tweet characterize the technical issue? The quote declares: “The people of the waterfront are very poor. By tradition, the city has not extracted taxes from them, though by law, they could have done so. The amount of money the city would collect would hardly offset the cost of collection. The Gray Fox has always given protection to the impoverished of the waterfront.” It is a typical Elder Scrolls scenario, the deep lore that Oblivion made unforgettable back in 2006. Nevertheless, players pointed out and quarrelled with the sarcasm contained in Bethesda’s tweet about not having to pay when most of the gamers feel that they received an unfinished product.
The reactions uncover the real tale. User BradleyB56 outrightly expressed “would have loved it if the game was fixed,” while Bitraxius was even more straightforward: “too bad it runs like crap.” Lee Robinson added “All it needs is a little known thing we call OPTIMIZATION!” These are not mere individual complaints; the sentiment is actually found in a lot of replies. Martin from RetroForGame succinctly stated: “Many flaws and crashes and stuff going on with this game…. But I still love it and it looks amazing.” That is the Bethesda experience — broken yet beautiful.
Apart from performance problems, players are also complaining about other issues. The comment section is not only flooded with requests for Elder Scrolls Online but also fills up with players calling for it. User dew_kellan1 said it in a straightforward manner “If it’s not elder scrolls 6 then don’t post it,” while MAKEOUTKLL just insisted “Elder. Scrolls. 6.” Greggs_ put forward the question “Can you finish and release Elder Scrolls 6 so they can fully focus on Fallout 5?” The excitement around the next major Elder Scrolls release is evidently taking a toll on the community, especially after the mixed reception of Starfield.
The PlayStation Switch 2 releases remain a hot topic of discussion among users. Team Respawn, TroySoprano, and several other users have claimed Oblivion on Nintendo’s next-gen hardware. Goomba even shared a photo with the text: “We’d like to remind you that we would love to explore the land of Cyrodiil on the Switch 2!” However, TexasBBQDallas was skeptical and answered, “that shit can’t run on top-notch pcs let alone on a switch 2.” Given the current performance challenges on high-end systems, the Switch 2 discussion might be premature anyway.
The critical comments become even more elaborate in some people’s responses. CombosNKills lamented about “20 YEAR OLD BUGS THAT STILL HAVENT BEEN FIXED” and disparaged the remaster as “straight garbage.” Mroldsnake90 observed that “Its not a remake its the original game with unreal engine handling the graphics,” and this could be a reason why some legacy issues remain. Mike Mills expressed wider concerns about the future of Bethesda, saying “Seeing how bland, soulless and ‘Safe’ Starfield was makes me dread ES6 and Fallout 5. They will likely be hollow husks of their forebears’ glory.” That’s a really severe criticism.
Still, there are some users like playrevived who responded to the lore content. They stated, “So basically, the Gray Fox is the original neighborhood watch with a moral ledger.” Similarly, Jade_Knightfall made a reference to other long-awaited sequels and laughed, “We got ‘blank’ before GTA6!’ is now gonna be ‘We got ‘blank’ before Elder Scrolls 6!'” Which, to be honest, feels pretty accurate considering how long we’ve been waiting.
The long-term view that the situation reveals is of a community that still loves the Elder Scrolls universe but is increasingly frustrated with the quality of the current output from Bethesda. With the troublesome Oblivion remaster, the never-ending wait for Elder Scrolls 6, and the studio’s concern over its creative direction after Starfield, the players are using this lore tweet as a channel through which to voice their much broader complaints. It is really not about the Gray Fox or impost taxes — it is about the patience of a fanbase wanting the quality and ambition that made them fall in love with Bethesda games in the first place.
