Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ~ Info

Furtively Altruistic Joined : 2008-05-21 Posts : 4384

Quote :: -The player is the dragon born and will gain access to a wide range of powers associated with that semi divine heritage. This includes being able to speak the word of power and use them to perform 20 or so dragon-born powers. You will become and have to become as powerful as the dragon born of tamriel's past - as you will be doing a decent ammount of one on one combat with dragons. They have also brought in a few giant or ettin like creatures as well- basically the foes you will fight in your normal wandering (and not just scripted/boss type encounters) will eventually be things far more impressive than in previous elder scrolls games.

-They got rid of face zoom for NPC conversations

-NPC behavior during conversations are more realistic. If you interupt a wood cutter chopping wood (which is now an actual animated activity along with cooking and forging and the like) he may occaisionally resume chopping while you ponder over the dialogue options. Characters no longer snap to you and stand a attention while you get up in their grill with questions. The guy a the bar will continue taking drinks from his mug and blacksmith will strike his anvil once or twice in between dialog (not breaking the conversation but also not standing like a statue waiting for you to say something.)

-As forging and woodcutting and other crafting activities are real animated activities for the NPCs so they are for the player as well. You can perform a myriad of crafts which are animated (including the old ones like alchemy - you brew your potions and you can see alchemists doing this in their shops as well). The ability to forge weapons rather than just enchant existing ones does mean that strange and rare ore you found in III will now have a real use in the game besides just being very heavy alchemy components or vender loot.

-NPC Faces look so much better that I'd swear bethesda got someone else to do them

-The menu system was completely reworked from the ground up and the interface from oblivion and the fallout games was not the basis for it.

-It actually is a completely different engine from what we've seen before.

-Monster and NPC animations appear to be built upon a different frame work - more fliuid and organic

-NPC bodies actually look like human beings. It's not the prettiest game out there in terms of realistic looking character models but they are of similar quality to mass effect but not quite as detailed (remember there's FAR more NPCs in an elder scrolls game.)

-Landscapes are, of course, beautiful. Rather than the over-exposed photograph feeling you got from Oblivion though these look far more organic and crisp. Water is not just a flat thing they've drawn across the land either, streams and small waterfalls look pretty convincing.

-Radiant AI has been overhauled and has been paired with a new system called Radiant Story. No this isn't procederally generated plot but rather a way to make the world more responsive to your actions. The example given is a player tossing a two handed sword of some sort on the road in town because they didn't feel like hauling it in their inventory to bother selling at a shop. Depending on where this is and other conditions you could have a small boy run up to ask if you dropped it or perhaps a leader of some burly drunkards picks it up and decides he doesn't like the look of you. The reason they used a claymore as their example and not a mushroom chunk is because they explain the system won't act as litter police.

-The most interesting way they say they use Radiant Story is in presenting a subset of the myriad of minor quests scripts. An old lady approaching a hero and asking them to rescure her daughter from bandits will direct you towards a dungeon of appropriate difficulty and type that you have not already visted. This serves as a way to encourage exploration. You also aren't going to be told to go rescue a girl from a cave you were just at and swore was empty. Nor is this kidnap victim sitting with extremely patient kidnappers throughout the entire game - they're an event rather than a static preplaced group of actors that sit around waiting to be foiled the entire game. This is somewhat remeniscent of Daggerfall except that the dungeons and quests are premade and not procedurally generated. SOME quests and events are flexible and use Radiant story to introduce them in ways that make sense. That's the goal at least - they do seem to be trying to make their world feel more alive and dynamic compared to Oblivion.

On levelling:

Totally revamped – no more class selection at the start of the game,
and every skill you upgrade contributes to your overall level. Also,
each time you level you get extra health plus the ability to get either
additional health, magicka or stamina.
Each level also brings you perks.
You can advance past level 50, but it’ll be extremely slowly.

On skills:

Mysticism is gone.
18 skills, down from 21 on Oblivion, and 27 on Morrowind.
The game tries to accommodate players who want to specialize in a
certain profession (like mage or thief), while at the same time giving
room for players who like to do plenty of everything.

On the story and lore:

Set 200 years after Oblivion in Skyrim, a region north of the imperial city, where the Nords live.
The dragons are returning, as it was prophesized. You are going to be trying to stop the wicked dragon god.
You are a dragonborn – a dragon hunter. Your mentor is one of the last blades.
Also, there is a civil war, since the king is dead.
Enemies include were-yeti’s, giant spider, and dragons.

On combat:

They want to make it more dynamic and tactical. You have to assign
each hand with a function; either magic, two weapons, a weapon and a
shield, etc..
You can also waste stamina by sprinting, allowing you to get access to tactical positions.
Emphasis on really improving the combat this time around.
They are also putting care into how each weapon feels in your hand.

Other:

Third person view has been improved
Five massive cities, more variation in caves and underground sections.

On quests:

Quests are much more dynamic now.
The quests are now more determined by how you build your character,
individual actions and overall much more dynamic. Examples provided: If
you are more of a magic user, some other mage may approach you who may
not have if you were just a melee character. Or if you killed someone
who owned a store that was going to give you a quest, his sister would
inherit the store, but she may resent you before giving you the quest.
Also, quests you are given will be modified by how you have played.

Joined : 2010-07-28 Posts : 149

Is there a rough date for this being released?

Furtively Altruistic Joined : 2008-05-21 Posts : 4384

The confirmed release date is 11/11/11, and I'm pretty sure that will stick, since its such a unique date that won't happen again for another century...

Joined : 2010-07-05 Posts : 168

we still have 12/12/12 lol

Furtively Altruistic Joined : 2008-05-21 Posts : 4384

Yeah, but I don't wanna wait 2 years for this, 1 more year is long enough...hehe

Joined : 2011-09-02 Posts : 1

Very nice summation of the details. This is tops on my "must have" list.

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