Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[Krakalakachkn]

[SinisterDeath]

 

 

Saw this earlier today.

 

*Cranium Explodes*

 

I've heard it uses the same engine as Rage.

Only fear is, its not going to be as vast as morrowind/oblivion, but limited to not just the land of Skyrim, but one character/race/class.

[Werthead]

MORROWIND was far vaster than OBLIVION (and DAGGERFALL, in turn, was far vaster than MORROWIND), so SKYRIM being smaller would not be a surprise.

 

Apparently the new game doesn't use the RAGE engine, but a 'whole new engine'. Based on previous comments, it sounds like this might be a stripped-down-and-rebuilt version of Gambryo (which powered MORROWIND, OBLIVION, FALLOUT 3 and NEW VEGAS) rather than a 100% new engine. Still, encouraging news if it means better animations.

[SinisterDeath]

MORROWIND was far vaster than OBLIVION (and DAGGERFALL, in turn, was far vaster than MORROWIND), so SKYRIM being smaller would not be a surprise.

 

Apparently the new game doesn't use the RAGE engine, but a 'whole new engine'. Based on previous comments, it sounds like this might be a stripped-down-and-rebuilt version of Gambryo (which powered MORROWIND, OBLIVION, FALLOUT 3 and NEW VEGAS) rather than a 100% new engine. Still, encouraging news if it means better animations.

 

 

You got that wrong actually.

Aside from daggerfall, but thats a 'trick'.

 

Morrowind has more 'cells' than Oblivion.

But Oblivions 'cells' are larger than morrowind. IT works out, that Oblivion was something like 50% larger than morrowind.

 

Seeing how I modded for Morrowind, I can tell you for a fact, Oblivion was larger than Morrowind, it just 'appeared' smaller', for one thing, Morrowinds world that was actually 'there' was limited, but the world its self was unlimited.

MEaning you can go west for infinity.

Litterally, if you know how the cells in morrowind worked, you could go something like -50000,0,0 and keep going.

Oblivion just introduced walls, cause, lets face it, -50000000,0,0 which is simply blank sea, is kinda... immersion breaking. (specially if you consider morrowind is only the 'island' of morrowind, and west of that sea is actually the rest of that continent, and thats maybe what, 100 miles? (probably closer to 10) Or in easier terms, less than halfway from the first town to the first city in morrowind.

But, Oblivion you can have effectively, an infinite number of infinitely large 'worlds'.

Meaning, I could theoretically have say, Cyrodil copied 200x, each with an environment different, with different cities in the said place, or rather, each is a different 'year'.

 

Anyways, My main concern for Skyrim is, skyrim = very rugged/mountainous terrain, if you remember the 'few' mountains in oblivion, that basically cuts off where you can travel in half...

I'm half expecting Skyrim to turn out ArcaniA: Gothic 4, a very linear, no character/class creation game. Thus I'm hoping they dispel that with future updates. ;)

 

Last I heard though, Zenimax owner of bethsoft, bought out ID and are using there Engine for Rage in TES5.

 

WE just have to wait for more info on that...

 

Btw, the trick they used in Daggerfall was they basically continued to 're-use' the same 'data' for every 'cell' over and over again, thus it was 'refrence' data, and nothing unique... Escentially its like saying, you have to move west 500 units to get to something 'unique', otherwise you have something like 10 'tilesets' repeating for each 'environment' over and over again.

 

you could do exactly that in modern games, but it would look like you just copy-pasted the samething over and over again, and would look very very bland.

 

 

As for new animations. Hopefully they combine Oblivions combat, with fallouts limb chopping ability.

 

I also hope you can 'cut' limbs off people and still have them fight. (aside from decapitation)

I want me some peg legs!

 

If they do use Rages engine, mounted combat seems a natural thign out of that engine, given you have 'dune buggies' with 'gernade launchers'.

[Werthead]

Nope, it's 'all new', not ID Tech 5. If for no other reason than Bethesda's tech team began working on it the second The Shivering Isles shipped (apparently FO3's iteration of the engine didn't have as many huge changes), which was some time before ID was acquired. They have, however, sought tech advice from Carmack and his team during the development of the new engine, so things like lighting and shadows should be much-improved.

[Red2111]

meh. i tried Oblivian ... didn't like it at all.

[SinisterDeath]

Nope, it's 'all new', not ID Tech 5. If for no other reason than Bethesda's tech team began working on it the second The Shivering Isles shipped (apparently FO3's iteration of the engine didn't have as many huge changes), which was some time before ID was acquired. They have, however, sought tech advice from Carmack and his team during the development of the new engine, so things like lighting and shadows should be much-improved.

 

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106063-Bethesda-Ditching-Old-Tech-for-New-Elder-Scrolls-Game

 

Yea, just saw that myself.

They claim its based on gamebyro (BOOOOOoooo)

and there own internal work.

 

on the upside, for modders, hopefully this means they can actualy RELEASE mod tools for things like custom models/textures that aren't HACKS for gamebyro ".Nif" format.

[Imperium]

I really wasn't expecting to see this game anytime soon until they leaked that they had been working on it a month or so ago.

 

And now they have said that at present they have a release date of 11/11/11...

[Werthead]

I really wasn't expecting to see this game anytime soon until they leaked that they had been working on it a month or so ago.

 

And now they have said that at present they have a release date of 11/11/11...

 

They've been cleverer about it this time. They were talking about OBLIVION for close to three years by the time it shipped, as they announced it shortly after MORROWIND shipped. This time around they appear to have split into two teams, the tech team working on SKYRIM whilst the content team worked on FALLOUT 3 and its expansions, and then the content team switched to SKYRIM well over a year ago when the last of the expansions was released. They then used Obsidian and NEW VEGAS as a stopgap release before SKYRIM comes out. This means only a year of people talking about it, though they'll have been working on it for about four years when it does come out. I suspect they'll be pursuing a similar strategy next time around for FALLOUT 4 as well.

[OptimusPrime]

I liked Oblivion when it first came out, mostly for the fact that it was first person hack and slash. Loved it. That, and the fact that you could become head of all the Guilds, and make your own magic weapons and armor. I made a couple of good suits on mine, a full chamelion set of armor making me invisible, and a second with 100% spell absorption meaning any magic at all that came at me gave me mana. The grinding for it was hard work though, but I thought it was awesome how you could do that kinda thing.

 

Another good thing I remember were the Gladiator tournaments. They were great fun

 

Playing a full game only to WATCH the end fight take place, though, and simply run past said fight, was all it took for me to decide not to play the game again.

 

That was the first Elder Scrolls I ever played, back when I had a 360 when they first came out. Would be interested to see what the new ones like.

[Imperium]

at least u got to the end fight.

 

Think I put 140 hours into the game and was like on story point 7 out of like 20...

 

i also only got to head of the fighters guild.

 

there was just so much to do...

[Canis Rufus]

Just started a replay of Oblivon.... Might be done by the time this one come out

[Werthead]

My first ELDER SCROLLS was the second one, DAGGERFALL, shortly after it came out. That game was astonishingly vast and, setting a precedent, was heavily bugged on release (walking through a dungeon only to plunge screaming through the floor was not uncommon). It was also weird in that when you 'got on your horse' the creature materialised out of nowhere and you leapt on it, and then it vanished when not needed like some kind of magical entity. Plus you could ride through the cities, which was something even OBLIVION couldn't do (though mods allow it).

[OptimusPrime]

at least u got to the end fight.

 

Think I put 140 hours into the game and was like on story point 7 out of like 20...

 

i also only got to head of the fighters guild.

 

there was just so much to do...

 

Yeah I liked having so much to do, there were always caverns to find and demon gates to close.

 

I do hope there is a bigger scale to it though. I remember in Oblivion you could become head of the Assassins and have one stalk around behind you out of sight. I would have LOVED it if you could get a little adventuring group going with a member from each area of completion. You, a Fighter, a Wizard, an Assassin and a Gladiator. Would have been awesome.

[Krakalakachkn]

If you've enjoyed role-playing games in the last decade or more, you've probably had the good fortune to dig into the work of Todd Howard. As the chief architect behind many of the Elder Scrolls games as well as Fallout 3, Bethesda's game director stands at the forefront of western role-playing game design.

 

During our visit to Bethesda's headquarters last month, we had the chance to talk with Howard about his career, the growth of the Elder Scrolls series, and his thoughts on the state of video game development.

 

The three videos that follow are divided up by subject area. Watch any or all that catch your interest.

 

Video 1: Todd Howard tells the story of how he got into the industry, recalls his earliest gaming habits, and offers advice for those looking to follow in his footsteps.

 

Video 2: Learn about the evolution of the Elder Scrolls series and the lessons of the past that led the team to the creation of Skyrim.

 

Video 3: Todd Howard reveals his favorite games of this generation, his thoughts on current trends in the gaming industry, and his perception of the difference between eastern and western role-playing games. He also discusses his impressions of Kinect, Move, and 3D technology, and whether we'll ever see an Elder Scrolls game on mobile phones.

 

The videos can be found here:

Todd Howard Interviews

[Vemynal]

http://pubvo.com/2011/01/elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-gameinformer-details/

 

A bunch of stuff about the next game, some we knew and some we guessed at. Some things we had no way of knowing O.o

 

I'm a little sad they are removing mysticism but I've seen from trusted leaked images that apparently they are replacing it with Enchanting from Morrowind (which I'm excited about). Also makes sense since mysticism was an intelligence skill so they are replacing it with another magic based intelligence skill.

 

What I'm curious about..."Esbern - one of the few surviving blades"

 

sounds to me like the empire in this storyline has gone to complete shit

[Jock who reads]

check out the Gaminformer mag for a good sneak peak of Skyrim. They have a good 5 to 6 pages on it with full details on how the scaling system will be. check it out.

 

My link

[Canis Rufus]

Yeah I got it and read through it. (Got the subscription with my gamestop membership) it is a great spread.

[ineedfourberfs]

Looking very forward to this. Been playing ES since Daggerfall. Lord I miss robbing every bank on the east coast and riding out of town, never to return...

 

The Class system looks to be interesting. You sort of fall into it, rather than pick it, based on the skills you use the most.

 

Super keen. And stronger bows, with single shot kills if conditions are right! Woo!

[Canis Rufus]

You could get single shot kills in Oblivion. Last night, while sneaking with a 'Dragon Bow' and some 'storm call' arrows I killed four bandits in one shot. It was actually really funny to watch because the physics got sort of hairy, they flew around the room like a snow shaker. You could hear their weapons bouncing all over the place. It was a really satisfying result.

[Imperium]

Errr it was really easy to single shot in Oblivion

 

It's called sneak with a high powered bow and arrows....

[SinisterDeath]

Might be that you don't need a high powered bow in skyrim. ;)

[Krakalakachkn]

In a game as large as the open world RPG The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, comprehensive menus are a necessary evil. Though they may not be pretty, players need a way to easily manage items, review skills, and map out directions to their next dungeon crawls. The menus in Oblivion functioned, but they were essentially a cumbersome medieval equivalent to Excel documents. For the sequel, Bethesda is striving for a friendlier user interface.

 

Rather than refine the pre-existing menu system from Oblivion or Fallout 3, Bethesda decided to toss them on the scrap heap and develop a new, streamlined interface. Searching for inspiration, the team kept coming back to Apple, and for good reason. Over the last decade the company has revolutionized how consumers interact with software and hardware moreso than any other tech outfit.

 

”You know in iTunes when you look at all your music you get to flip through it and look at the covers and it becomes tangible?” game director Todd Howard asks. “One of our goals was 'What if Apple made a fantasy game? How would this look?' It's very good at getting through lots of data quickly, which is always a struggle with our stuff.”

 

Like in Oblivion, pressing the B or circle button opens up the menu system. Instead of returning you to the last page you visited as it did in Oblivion, Bethesda now presents you with a simple compass interface that offers four options.

 

Pressing right takes you to the inventory. The interface is a clean cascading menu system that separates items by type. Here players can browse through weapons, armor, and other items they gather during their travel. Instead of relegating players to looking at an item’s name and stat attributes, each possession is a tangible three dimensional item with its own unique qualities. Thousands of items are fully rendered, and players can zoom in on or rotate each one. You can even get an up close view of the flowers and roots you pick for alchemy. “It becomes an interesting time sink,” Howard says. “You can look at and explore every single thing you pick up.”

 

Pressing left from the compass gives players access to the full list of magical items, complete with breakdowns of how the spells operate. As we mentioned in the Building Better Combat story, the world of Skyrim features over 85 spells, many of which can be used in a variety of ways.

 

In Oblivion, players could map eight items from their inventory onto the D-pad for easy access. Given the new two-handed approach to combat in Skyrim, Bethesda didn’t want to limit players to eight items. Instead, pressing up on the D-pad pauses the action and pulls up a favorites menu. Anything from your spell library or item inventory can be “bookmarked” to the favorites menu with the press of a button. How many items appear on that menu is up to each player. Bethesda isn’t placing a cap on the number of favorite items, so theoretically you could muck it up with every single item you own. Though you can choose how many items appear, you can’t determine the order; items and spells are listed alphabetically.

 

Pressing down in the compass menu pulls the camera perspective backward to reveal a huge topographical map of Skyrim. Here players can zoom around to explore the mountain peaks, valley streams, and snowy tundras that populate the northern lands. Pulling the camera as far away as possible gives you a great respect for the size of the game world. From the map view players can manage quest icons, plan their travel route, or access fast travel.

 

Finally, pressing up in the compass menu turns your gaze up toward the heavens. In previous games, astrology played a large role in character creation. Though Skyrim abandons the class structure in favor of a "you are what you play" philosophy, Bethesda is preserving the player’s ties to star signs.

 

Three prominent nebulae dominate the Skyrim heavens – the thief, the warrior, and the mage. Each of these represents one of the three master skill sets. Each nebula houses six constellations, each of which represents a skill. As in Oblivion, every player starts out with the ability to use all 18 skills – any player can use a two-handed weapon, try alchemy, or cast a destruction spell (provided you find or purchase one). As you use these skills in Skyrim, they will level up and contribute to driving your character's overall level higher.

 

Every time players rank up their overall level, they can choose a supplemental perk ability for one of the 18 skills. For instance, if you fight most of your battles with a mace, you may want to choose the perk that allows you to ignore armor while using the weapon. As in Fallout 3, several of the perks have their own leveling system as well, allowing you to choose them multiple times. Once you choose a perk, it lights up the corresponding star in the constellation, making it visible when looking up to the heavens while interacting in the world.

 

“When you glance to the sky after you’ve played the game for a while, what you’re seeing in the sky is different than what somebody else is seeing based on the constellations,” Howard says.

[Canis Rufus]

Might be that you don't need a high powered bow in skyrim. ;)

 

 

I don't think the Dragon Bow is that high powered I'm only level 10. (doing controled leveling) The storm call arrows are a large area effect but still not really all that powerfull. I think impy has the right of it. It's all about the sneak and getting that x6(?) (Haveing a brain fart right now but I think that is right) damage for the shot.

[Krakalakachkn]

All I know is that as soon as I turned into a vampire and realized I wasn't at a high enough level to complete the anti-vampire quest, I quit the game.