Game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Archive]

AOI_Tifa_Lockhart

Feb 24, 2011, 11:24 AM

I think it looks ok. Not really anything leaps and bounds ahead compared to heavily modded Oblivion on PC. Looks like it's the same engine just a bit tarted up, with better lighting and water effects etc etc which were aparent in New Vegas, they're definately more refined in this game, but it's not leaps and bounds ahead. But it's for the console market too so they can't go to town on the graphics thoroughly.

They've finally made human looking female faces and anatomically correct bodies...well I hope. The female bodies on Oblivion, Fallout 3 and New Vegas are just manly and it was only with heavy modding did they finally end up looking decent (Rens beauty pack).

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4431

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/Homicidal_Monkey/4431-1-1297114885.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/Homicidal_Monkey/4431-1-1288705310.jpg

Skyrim looks like it has nice fog and water effects which are a good improvement on the previous. I hope the sound effects are engagins and detailed too. The music on Oblivion was timeless and I hope it is just as enthralling and magical. Dragons are a nice addition and should be an interesting monster to hunt and slay. I hope for more content, more armour types etc. Skyrim seems to have paid attention to muscle definition which looks better (archer screenshot on PC Gamer) but looks odd in some places, such as the firecasting against that troll whilst holding a sword, the casting arms elbow in places looks dented?? When the dragon slides up close to the screen you can see the lack of texture definition imo.

Still I don't feel it holds a torch to QUARL's texture packs for Oblivion where he literally re-textured every bit of landscape from grass to rocks, trees and brick walls, doors etc etc.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18498

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/Homicidal_Monkey/18498-2-1239090616.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/Homicidal_Monkey/18498-1-1239090501.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/Homicidal_Monkey/18498-3-1239090501.jpg

But it's a Youtube Video, the proof is in the pudding so to speak but the screenshots i've seen don't look so impressive of course with a game this scale are you really going to go to the legnths that CryTek did with Crysis 5 years ago? Well 5 years on they should ><

Of course it'll be a decent game, lets hope it's a bit less buggy but for a game of this scale it'd be hard for it to be bug free. Also let's hope optimization is better than new Vegas which on PC can be problematic at best even with a system that far exceeds its requirements.

I hope, even though Skyrim is a frozen snowy tundra, that there'll be ample forested areas and various climates etc as snowy envionrments get boring and Bruma area in Oblivion was by far my least favoured environment.

Anyways we'll have to wait and see how it goes, let's hope they release the software so the modders can't get their hands on it and make it better

Tifa

Zyrusticae

Feb 24, 2011, 11:38 AM

Heh, can't expect a massive leap when the game is being built for the same console generation that Oblivion was several years ago. (Unfortunate, methinks.) Thankfully, we have mods for that!

I, personally, am looking forward to greatly improved animations (seriously, Oblivion's animations were TERRIBLE) and actual shadows that react to lighting instead of being static and only existing for characters. (It always killed my immersion when I passed by a torch and casted no shadow from it. Like, wut?)

Oh, and playing the game, of course. Heh.

amtalx

Feb 24, 2011, 11:45 AM

I couldn't care less about how pretty it is. Graphic fidelity doesn't make a game fun. The Crytek engine has been used for several games, and every last one of them is dreadfully boring. As long as a game doesn't look so bad that it tears you out of the experience, all is good.

The only request I have is to kill off the game-shattering bugs that have been a mainstay for the TES series.

Zyrusticae

Feb 24, 2011, 11:53 AM

Graphics might not equal fun, but they sure as hell make it easier to get immersed and easier to overlook a game's other faults (kinda the reason I stuck with PSU for so long, heh).

Unfortunately, Oblivion WAS one of those games where the graphics were bad enough to tear you out of the world. Static shadows, really bad faces, crap animations (seriously, why is there no diagonal strafe animation?), not to mention some of the obvious AI flaws that would immediately remind you this is a game.

So, yeah, really hoping Skyrim achieves what Oblivion could not. In more ways than one!

AOI_Tifa_Lockhart

Feb 24, 2011, 12:06 PM

I agree about animations. For a game which was melee orientated the animations were hideous. Dark messiah had a much nicer and cinematic combat system, take a leaf form their book Bethesda!! Let's steer cleer of VATS but perhaps some form of slow mo finisher moves would be nice. oblivion hd a few unlockable perks which helped but they need more I think (I loved the block hit back though). Even on New Vegas a lot of hit's don't connect and that annoys the hell out of me.

A problem I see with computer games is slopes, characters do not seem to react. They'll carry on runnin as usual, not being slowed down or changing run animation to a scarmble up the cliff etc. Unless they're falling with ragdoll effects. Red Dead did a nice stumbling affect when going down steep slopes etc. But often if you're on raised or lowered ground trying to hit something it used to confuse the hell out of VATS.

But fluid animations would help make it feel less clunky. And more impressive magic would be sweet. plus a Dragon mount. The mod for that on Oblivion was awesome but clearly wasn't meant for the game and the landscapes just looked stupid. but moving around so quickly makes a map feel smaller? Also why 3rd person mode? I think the lack of slope reaction, the hideous jump and attack animations make Oblivion, Fallout 3 and NV unecessary in terms of 3rd person view. Sometimes it's nice to check out your character but when everything looks so terrible in 3rd person what's the point? but please, after so many similar games of the Eldar Scrolls and Fallout series make a characters jump animation look realistic for goodness sake :P

Of course graphics don't make a game, but people expect progress and I don't think that's an out of this world request to have. Of course it's limited by the cuirrent generation of consoles but I guess that's life. i'm interested to see Battlefield 3 finally return to it's routes and prioritising PC development before consoles. Praise be de Lord :D

Tifa

Outrider

Feb 24, 2011, 01:02 PM

Y'know, I was going to post about how the trailer looked nice enough but that the animations were still crappy. Then I didn't because I figured it wasn't worth posting since I don't care too much about the games and I figured I would just be stirring up trouble.

Guess I was wrong?

If this game ups the fun factor versus every other Bethesda game I've ever played, I'd consider trying it. If it's the same buggy, aimless, clunky gameplay as ever, I'll pass.

DiMiTri

Feb 24, 2011, 01:21 PM

Whatever the case, that trailer was fucking AMAZING!

Also, to clear up any confusion: They have finally stepped up to a new engine (http://www.gameinformer.com/games/the_elder_scrolls_v_skyrim/b/xbox360/archive/2011/01/17/the-technology-behind-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim.aspx). No more Gamebryo.

Akaimizu

Feb 24, 2011, 01:31 PM

After the awesomeness that was Shivering Ilses. (Best DLC for a game, ever) I'm going to be in Skyrim, day one. This, I decree.

Ishia

Feb 24, 2011, 02:08 PM

Skyrim, Diablo III, and PSO2 will be the only 3 games I will play for the next 5 years, probably.

BIG OLAF

Feb 24, 2011, 02:13 PM

Skyrim, Diablo III, and PSO2 will be the only 3 games I will play for the next 5 years, probably.

I can see that happening for me, too. I mean, I played Diablo II for about 5 years, I played Oblivion for about 4 years (still play it sometimes), and I've been playing PSU for 4 years.

So, I would definitely understand if those three games take up just as much of my life, if not obscenely more.

Split

Feb 24, 2011, 02:13 PM

crap animations (seriously, why is there no diagonal strafe animation?)Probably my biggest pet peeve about Oblivion. There's no animation for turning your character while stationary, either. It was just like "...seriously? Fucking TLOZ Ocarina of Time managed to have a full suite of strafing animations in 1998 on the N64." It may have been acceptable if the game didn't offer a 3rd person mode, because you can't really tell your own character's animations are terrible from 1st person (although you would if you watched the NPCs and figured out that they're all built on the exact same template as you are). There are lots of 1st person games that actually look really bad in 3rd person because they don't need to look good, like Half-Life 2 or Mirror's Edge. But not only did it offer a 3rd person mode, it offered one with the worst possible camera angle and no crosshairs.

Apparently though, all that stuff is fixed in Skyrim. Bethesda said it was when it was first announced, and what I'm seeing in this trailer confirms it to some extent.

@Tifa: The animations really are a higher priority fix than the graphics, and Bethesda is delivering there in spades. You should look up the Havok Behavior system if you don't already know about it, it's the system they're currently using in their new engine, which is totally new and built from the ground up, for those who are saying otherwise in this forum. Bethesda said it was new in their very first tweet about the game.

That said, the graphics are also much better, and not just texture wise. They've been improved in ways that a community mod, even a very high quality one, couldn't really handle logistically. For example, weather effects that actually cause snow to build up on the ground, or branches on trees that are realistically tossed about by real-time in game wind. Also, there are marked improvements to how many characters and physics objects can be processed onscreen.

Mix all of that in with the new "radiant story" mechanic of story governance, all the improvements to the AI and the dialogue system (the camera doesn't zoom in on NPCs' faces when you speak to them, and if they're engaged in some other chore like splitting logs, which will often be the case, they won't even look at you accept for the occasional glance, maintaining a realistic flow of maintaining and breaking eye-contact. Also, you can look around while you're talking to someone), and I have to disagree with your slighting, Tifa, because Skyrim is looking to be a massive improvement over Oblivion. Also, we console players don't have access to all those mods, or even the unofficial patch that fixes quests like The Sunken One, so this is huge for us, especially.

DiMiTri

Feb 24, 2011, 06:41 PM

I can see that happening for me, too. I mean, I played Diablo II for about 5 years, I played Oblivion for about 4 years (still play it sometimes), and I've been playing PSU for 4 years.

So, I would definitely understand if those three games take up just as much of my life, if not obscenely more.

Have you played "Nehrim : At Fate's Edge" (http://www.nehrim.de/indexEV.html)? It's a massive Oblivion conversion mod (4 years in dev) that I've been playing, and I am absolutely impressed. Better than vanilla Oblivion IMO.

BIG OLAF

Feb 24, 2011, 06:54 PM

Have you played "Nehrim : At Fate's Edge" (http://www.nehrim.de/indexEV.html)? It's a massive Oblivion conversion mod (4 years in dev) that I've been playing, and I am absolutely impressed. Better than vanilla Oblivion IMO.

I played Oblivion on the 360, so no fancy mods for me. And my computer can't handle any kind of gaming.

xeku

Feb 24, 2011, 07:48 PM

Impressive trailer.
I hope the improvements Split has discussed are the real-deal so to speak, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

I admit being a TES fanboy, but I refuse to waste my time with the console versions (or maybe, being a fanboy is why I can't stand them). Heh, maybe I am just an elitist jack-ass, but if you have been following the series for a while, it's hard to shake the feeling that the series has fallen victim to mainstream success (the dumbed-down role playing aspects). But hey, developers have to make a living after all...can't blame them I suppose.

I've been using mods (and creating my own) for too long to ever go back to vanilla TES. The massive mod and fan community is half the fun. Don't like how something looks, sounds, animates or operates? If you are willing to learn, and invest the time, you don't have to settle for anything.

BIG OLAF

Feb 24, 2011, 08:25 PM

I don't know, I just read the big GI article on Skyrim, and it really sounds like they revamped everything. Combat, interface, NPC interaction, leveling up...it's all sounding delicious.

Split

Feb 24, 2011, 08:52 PM

I don't know, I just read the big GI article on Skyrim, and it really sounds like they revamped everything. Combat, interface, NPC interaction, leveling up...it's all sounding delicious.Yeah that article is where I got most of my info, I think they had it exclusively. I don't want to say it's going to be the best game ever, but...it's kind of sounding (and now looking) like it's going to be the best game ever.

Sord

Feb 24, 2011, 09:40 PM

The female bodies on Oblivion, Fallout 3 and New Vegas are just manly and it was only with heavy modding did they finally end up looking decent (Rens beauty pack).

To be fair, I would not expect the average women in either a medieval or nuclear holocaust setting to be beautiful. They probably would be a bit more masculine from having to work their entire lives (whether that be to pay a lord or scavenging a scarred waist land for scraps you have to fight for.) That said, I found everyone ugly in general, no matter gender (or societal class.) Cept Argonians, I love the lizard race.

I'm mostly just hoping the melee combat is more fun. While running around dual wielding spells is probably fun (as was blasting everyone in Oblivion with staffs or whatever,) hopefully melee will finally be fun as well.

Split

Feb 25, 2011, 12:25 AM

Just noticed that the character doing the spin-move at 1:36 is holding a dagger in his left hand and a sword at the same time. Sick.

BIG OLAF

Feb 25, 2011, 12:49 AM

Just noticed that the character doing the spin-move at 1:36 is holding a dagger in his left hand and a sword at the same time. Sick.

Yeah, in the GI article they said you can combine literally any two weapons in your two hands. You can have:

-two different weapons
-two different spells
-the same spell twice (makes it stronger)
-weapon and shield
-weapon and spell
-spell and shield

It's pretty badass.

DiMiTri

Feb 25, 2011, 12:49 AM

My god. I have watched this at least trailer countless times now (a few whilst high - I recommend it >_>).

Sub-par visuals/mechanics or not, Bethesda knows how to market their games. Such a quality trailer!

BIG OLAF

Feb 25, 2011, 12:54 AM

DiMiTri

Feb 25, 2011, 01:05 AM

Sub-par visuals? I've never seen a game look better. What games have you been playing?

I certainly don't consider them sub-par, but I've seen people complaining that it doesn't seem to be a huge step above Oblivion. People will complain about anything these days, it seems :/

BIG OLAF

Feb 25, 2011, 01:09 AM

I certainly don't consider them sub-par, but I've seen people complaining that it doesn't seem to be a huge step above Oblivion. People will complain about anything these days, it seems :/

Oh, I see. Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen an RPG look as good as Skyrim in the graphics/visualization department. I'm sure people will jump down my throat, but I don't think I've ever seen a game look this good. It's leaps and bounds above Oblivion, and everything else.

Zyrusticae

Feb 25, 2011, 01:23 AM

The graphics of Oblivion are technically inferior to:

Most next-gen MMOs
Unreal Engine 3 games
Cryengine 2/3 games
Frostbite Engine 2 games
The Witcher 2
Starcraft 2 (seriously, no joke)

Skyrim appears to be a step up from Oblivion in many ways but stuff like the textures and foliage (though, to be fair, no game will ever match Crysis in that area) are still noticeably primitive. Which is to be expected, since the game is being built for the same hardware Oblivion was.

The only thing the game has going for it is the wide-open vistas in terms of visual fidelity. And that is why the game will never look as good up-close as a properly built Unreal Engine 3 or Cryengine 3 game, because the game has to process huge tracts of terrain (nearly all of which you can explore on-foot) that few other games have to handle.

Mind you, I'm just talking on things like shader complexity, poly count, and texture resolution. Art is a subjective thing (to a point - poorly rendered humans will always be recognizable as such).

BIG OLAF

Feb 25, 2011, 04:09 AM

Oh, and just some lore stuff for fun:

I consulted The Elder Scrolls Wiki and found the translation to the song that the Nords are singing in the Skyrim trailer:

"Dragonborn, Dragonborn
By his honor is sworn
To keep evil forever at bay!
And the fiercest foes rout
When they hear triumph's shout
Dragonborn, for your blessing we pray!
And the scrolls have fortold
Of black wings in the cold
That when brothers wage war come unfurled!
Alduin, bane of kings
Ancient shadow unbound
With a hunger to swallow the world!"

From what I read, Alduin the World-Eater is the Nordic version of Akatosh (but resembles him only superficially), and he's quite evil. He's the king of all other dragons, and the harbinger of the apocalypse. And apparently Alduin is such a bad S.O.B that neither the Nine Divines nor the Daedric Princes want to mess with him.

AOI_Tifa_Lockhart

Feb 25, 2011, 04:36 AM

I genuinely can't see this new graphics engine enabling snow to collect on the ground. On a game when you see snow you'll see hundreds of snow flakes falling. I doubt even a very very high end PC with hardware far beyond that of consoles would be able to sit and calculate snow fall and allow it to build up on screen and remain there whilst calculating everything else from draw distances to characters moving on screen etc etc.

Consoles don't have proper physx capabilities and I think a frivelous addition like snow fallling or leaves falling off trees etc and remaining there (key point) would absolutely destroy the performance on a PC nevermind a console which would probably cook it or make the FPS look like a very poor quality student start stop animation show. Most debris will disappear once created in computer games, usually within several seconds. Physx enabled on PC's allows the debris to stay there for prolonged periods, clothe textures affected by wind etc, see something like Champions Online, Mafia 2 or Crysis.

Crysis had very advanced physx and that was 5 years ago and alot of PC's will still have trouble running it, and that was with debris, buildings being destoryed and the walls, celings remaining and in game wind that affected smoke and foliage. But a whole screen full of snow building up...I just don't see it happening at all. Sure the leaves moving in the wind may work, and perhaps rain affected by wind, such as seen in Shogun 2 but you can't expect an extremly physx intensive massively free roaming map to be availble for console gamers.

Anyways lets just hope they release this new engine for the TES community because I know Skyrim will be a great game i'm just very picky, but I love seeing how in depth modders can be when they get their hands on the game engine tools. For me it re-kindled my love for Oblivion and kept the game fresh interesting and exciting for many years.

Tifa

Split

Feb 25, 2011, 10:06 AM

I genuinely can't see this new graphics engine enabling snow to collect on the ground. On a game when you see snow you'll see hundreds of snow flakes falling. I doubt even a very very high end PC with hardware far beyond that of consoles would be able to sit and calculate snow fall and allow it to build up on screen and remain there whilst calculating everything else from draw distances to characters moving on screen etc etc.I don't think it's actually processing each individual snowflake as a physics object. I seem to recall some sort of clever system in place that makes it look like snow is realistically collecting on the ground without having to go that far.

Also, when some people comment that this game looks nice, we need to stop saying "NO IT DOESN'T CRYENGINE 800000.54 IS TEH ONLY THING THAT LOOKS GOOD." This game is built from the ground up for both console and PC, so no more gaming rig-gasms. It does look very good. Sure, perhaps it's not absolutely indistinguishable from real-life and capable of processing the entire population of Earth in real-time, but it looks as good, if not better than, Halo Reach, which is a very nice-looking console game with a high amount of graphical detail and horsepower when it comes to polygons, lighting, amount of action onscreen w/o slowdown, etc. It also has a much larger general scope than Reach, and its world is bigger than Crysis' and in a constant state of flux.

Yeah, in the GI article they said you can combine literally any two weapons in your two hands. You can have:

-two different weapons
-two different spells
-the same spell twice (makes it stronger)
-weapon and shield
-weapon and spell
-spell and shield

It's pretty badass.That's sweet. I wonder if you'll be able to wield two bows at the same time :wacko:

AOI_Tifa_Lockhart

Feb 25, 2011, 10:49 AM

Yeah it does look like a nice game I don't think anyone's diagreeing just for people who state it's the best looking game etc :P And PC gamers realizing it's not the biggest step up that many see it as, but I think when you spend so much on PC's people feel the need to state the benefits, allbeit too often i'm sure. Crysis tends to be referred to alot because of what it achieved 5 years ago and still sits pretty high on the podium for what's achievable in games.

But in all honesty there's a lot of console games that excel in areas PC doesn't as more companies direct their games towards the console market. Such as Fight Night Round 4 that's got some of the most impressive anatomy detail i've seen. Close up the textures aren't as detailed as many games but the muscle definition and sweat/lighting is second to none, plus the reaction of hits actually connecting is impressive, but with a game with one sole purpose, boxing I guess they paid extra attention to what matters

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/Homicidal_Monkey/fightnight42.jpg

I think they should add projectiles from New Vegas, throwing items would be great, especially if, like arrows they could be collected. Now i'm not sure if it was a bug in Oblivion but often you could sink 5 arrows into an enemy, loot the body and only end up with 2 or some such. Now if they were trying to show that arrows broke, faire enough. but maybe, like new vegas they could add some form of repair allowing broken arrows to make new arrows, bit like ammo refinery. Also the option of upgrading armour. It wouldn't be so necessary with weapons...well how far can you upgrade a sword past sharpness and durability? But adding to armour might be cool, some form of additional customization past the different armour types etc. Such as the difference between leather and reinforced leather in New Vegas was a simple but satisfying addition.

Maybe crossbows too would be a nice addition, I mean I loved archery on Oblivion, it was so satisfying shooting several meters infront of the path and the enemy walk into the arrows path and collapsed. But maybe some form or tricks? Multi-arrows like Legolas, or the multi arrow magic like in Fable. The magic arrows were nice, and now they're adding an Enchantment skill tree I hope that magic arrows can be made in bulk because I often hoarded mine instead of used them if they were hard to come across.

There's numerous possibilities for them to do, they added to and refined many skills in Fallout so i'm hoping it'll be the same in Oblivion. Also something about Alchemy bugged me, it was easy to master but often I just found myself making potions for the sake of it, not sure how they could better the layout but i'm sure anythings possible.

Tifa

Zyrusticae

Feb 25, 2011, 01:37 PM

Also, when some people comment that this game looks nice, we need to stop saying "NO IT DOESN'T CRYENGINE 800000.54 IS TEH ONLY THING THAT LOOKS GOOD."
I was only responding to this

Oh, I see. Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen an RPG look as good as Skyrim in the graphics/visualization department. I'm sure people will jump down my throat, but I don't think I've ever seen a game look this good. It's leaps and bounds above Oblivion, and everything else.

Which, frankly, is a pretty absurd claim to make. :-?

BIG OLAF

Feb 25, 2011, 02:54 PM

Which, frankly, is a pretty absurd claim to make. :-?

Opinions are like buttcracks, buddy.

That's sweet. I wonder if you'll be able to wield two bows at the same time :wacko:

I think that might be physically impossible. :-o

Akaimizu

Feb 25, 2011, 03:03 PM

To tell the truth, given the specs it's running on, the Elder Scrolls series always impressed me with their graphical details. However, it isn't just in the idea of being in comparison with the best looking of other games, but with all the complexity with which those graphics cover. Elder Scrolls, unlike just about anything else, tends to take the late Ultima approach to gaming. A system in which every little object is tangible, able to be manipulated, and has a use (even if that use is nothing but picking it up and throwing it in a fashion where it eventually interacts with stuff in a way that seems to make sense for what size and weight it is.)

However, I never really saw it as something that consoles stopped the PCs from doing more. Even as nice as Sacred 2 seemed ported to consoles, they still didn't have a lot of graphical features of the PC version. They simply had to build hooks to turn on and off the PhysX stuff. The PCs got the PhysX-enhanced graphics where the consoles did not.

In a lot of ways, it's no different than a game designed with different hardware levels, and the game compensating for such. That stuff existed before Xbox. Even Dragon Age II has a totally different hardware featureset based on whether you want to turn on Direct X 11 stuff or not. Of course, the consoles will be stuck with DAII's medium graphics mode due to what they can do. It still looks pretty, just that it turns off the newest PC graphics-card only stuff.

amtalx

Feb 25, 2011, 03:18 PM

Seeing PC gamers piss and moan about how consoles have contaminated gaming never ceases to entertain me. It's as if the golden age of PC gaming was some kind of Shangri-La that was ruthlessly leveled by knuckle-dragging console gamers. I have one word for anyone that thinks the old days of PC gaming are unrivaled: himem.sys. That shit sucked.

In fact, the whole 'PC gamer' and 'console gamer' monikers don't make much sense to begin with. I have all three consoles and a respectable PC rig. I just consider myself a gamer. Forget the PC vs. console nonsense.

Zyrusticae

Feb 25, 2011, 03:38 PM

Whatever your persuasion, there is no question that console hardware is used as the baseline for many games made today. To deny this would just be willful ignorance. Many developers simply do not put in the effort to fully utilize PC hardware - and why would they? The money's on the consoles. (I am quite grateful to Crytek for being an exception - even if Yerli kinda pissed on us with his comments about piracy.)

I think exaggerated comments about the "golden age of PC gaming" don't help anyone, but it is simply undeniable that PC games have had a rather unfortunate tendancy to suffer from shoddy console porting, among other things (no prone in Bad Company 2? No server browser in CoD: Modern Warfare 2?). Playing the astoundingly poor PC port of GTA 4 was a real eye-opener...

Akaimizu

Feb 25, 2011, 04:11 PM

Well, considering that any and all 3D Grand Theft Autos were primarily console games, to begin with, is no surprise. I wouldn't use that as a model as there are still a number of examples we can quote, which were clearly PC games first.

Even Bioware tended to separate, more or less, what the source was within thier own company. Mass Effect being clearly console-based, and Dragon Age, the opposite. Though some of the streamlining of interface did seem to look a obit console-savvy in DA2, but I sort of consider that to be due to a better thought-out interface for a port, so that the missing tactical interface (of the first DA game for consoles) could show up, more or less, for all systems. It still is a tad more comfortable to use on the PC, though. and of course, all the graphical hooks that only higher-end PC folk used.

Still, to this day, most programmers have to deal with various PC setups in order to sell more software. More PC gamers today, unlike they heyday, are not hardcore PC gamers willing to upgrade lots or to the most expensive late or great hardware for optimal graphics. Alas, they make up a large majority now. So games are, not just thinking about consoles, they're thinking about supporting the average PC.

amtalx

Feb 25, 2011, 05:58 PM

Console ports to PC can be pretty sloppy, and that's a shame. However, the graphical difference between PC only games and console games has failed to impress me over the last several years. There was a point (pretty much everything before the early 00s) where the visual disparity between consoles and PC games covered light years, but those days are long gone. Everyone loves to fly Crytek's flag so they have a box to point at and say "Hey! This justifies my frustration!", but no one seems to argue with the mediocrity of their games either. Their games are like a beautiful car that has sugar in the gas tank. It sure is nice to look at, but as soon as you sit down at the wheel you realize it doesn't actually work very well.

The only potential argument for console games 'infecting' PC games is from a UI standpoint. Controllers have less buttons than a keyboard, so interface design needs to change. You either need to remove unnecessary actions, or find ways to complete the same number of actions with less input. That's not always a bad thing though. If it forces developers to think about their design and let me complete a four step process in one or two steps, so be it. There is a word for that though; It's called 'progress'. More buttons != more complexity.

Zyrusticae

Feb 25, 2011, 06:38 PM

Console ports to PC can be pretty sloppy, and that's a shame. However, the graphical difference between PC only games and console games has failed to impress me over the last several years.
That'd be because, other than Crytek, nobody cares to make the attempt anymore, and rightfully so - there's not that much money to be made from a game with a reputation as being a "tech demo" as opposed to something everyone with a modern GPU can play. For similar reasons, the hardware race has slowed down considerably from what it was a decade ago. (Damn, that makes me feel old...)

I can't think of a single PC game since the original Crysis that raised the bar. On the one hand, it's kinda a shame to not see progress. On the other hand, it's good for everyone who doesn't have a monster PC (and Crysis was waaay ahead of its time, anyways). Money talks, an' all that.

And for the record, I LOVE Crysis as a game. I STILL come back to it to this day because of the sheer freedom it allots me - freedom that very few games these days will provide. I can choose how to approach any situation with a huge variety of tools, so I have near-endless replayability. It helps that the game ages very, very well.

BIG OLAF

Feb 25, 2011, 10:27 PM

Steering the topic back....on-topic:

Apparently there's different "types" for each individual spell. For example, for fire-type magic (which would be under the Destruction school, obviously), there's standard fireballs, flamethrower-type spells, and even trap-like spells (you burn a magical rune into the ground, and it explodes when an enemy steps on it).

In related news, Mysticism has been taken out of Skyrim, and the spells that used to be under Mysticism have been dispersed throughout the other magic schools.

Kyrith_Ranger_Pso

Feb 26, 2011, 11:58 AM

I almost never used magic anyway, but that does sound cool.

BIG OLAF

Feb 27, 2011, 03:19 AM

Split

Feb 27, 2011, 01:51 PM

Also, for those who didn't know, the words that the Dovahkiin yells at the dragon in the trailer is "Fus Ro Dah!", which is one of the new "Dragon Shouts" that players can utilize by finding and learning draconian "words of power" (in the dragon's native tongue, as Dragonborn can speak and understand the language), which all have different effects. For instance, "Fus Ro Dah!" is a shout that stuns large enemies, and sends smaller enemies careening backwards.

Other types of Dragon Shouts include the ability to slow time for a short period, and to help aid your character's stealthiness (those Dragon Shouts are whispered, even though it's still called a "shout"). I think Todd Howard, Skyrim's lead game director, said there's 20 Dragon Shouts in all, and it takes three "words of power", which you find separately, to complete one shout. I really like the new stuff Bethesda is putting in Skyrim. I hope the presentation is as good as it's sounding.I remember in the GI article it said that how many of the three words you intone is based on howe long you hold down the shout button, and the power of the shout depends on whether or not you complete it. Pretty cool stuff, and I'm hoping the fact that your character has a voice actor for these shouts also means he actually speaks his dialogue lines. I remember in Oblivion there were so many badass Dark Brotherhood lines that I wish my character had spoken, like when you approach Caelia Draconis after you kill her mother and you're out to kill the rest of the Draconis family.

"...You look like your mother."

Zyrusticae

Aug 14, 2011, 08:14 PM

Holy crap, this thread is OLD.

Well, I hope you guys don't mind a bit of a necro, since there's not much point to opening a new one.

Anyways... RACES:

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7226/1313278087055.jpg

BIG OLAF

Aug 14, 2011, 08:17 PM

Skyrim looks more and more amazing every day. I've never been more excited for a game in my life. I know it sounds cheesy, but it really is true.

Randomness

Aug 14, 2011, 08:29 PM

So pretty.

Palle

Aug 14, 2011, 09:04 PM

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/2157/upgradeu.jpg

TES now playable on 360, no mods required! ;3

Blue-Hawk

Aug 14, 2011, 10:27 PM

No Altmer, Breton or Imperial yet?

-Crokar-

Aug 14, 2011, 10:50 PM

if there is no breton i will cry

yoshiblue

Aug 14, 2011, 11:31 PM

My guess was because bretons and imperials look like nords they didn't bother putting them in the picture. They should be in because oblivion ,and other games, said the imperial army were in skyrim

Zyrusticae

Aug 15, 2011, 12:03 AM

These were from screenshots of characters made by the press that was given a chance to make their own characters.

Nobody decided to make an Altmer, Imperial, or Breton, apparently.

Xefi

Aug 15, 2011, 12:13 AM

Holy crap, this thread is OLD.

Well, I hope you guys don't mind a bit of a necro, since there's not much point to opening a new one.

Anyways... RACES:

[spoiler-box]http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7226/1313278087055.jpg[/spoiler-box]

i'm liking the Orc new looks. Skyrim is so much more better looking than Oblivion so far.
and...need more Imperial Guard. :cat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_2Jduxc2P8

Split

Aug 15, 2011, 12:32 AM

Khajiits look 9001% more epic.

Zyrusticae

Aug 15, 2011, 01:30 PM

MOAR FACES.

No labels this time, sorry.

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/5417/1313427018940.jpg

Keilyn

Aug 15, 2011, 03:06 PM

I bought the QuakeCon Pack + Skyrim. Came out to around $110. Can't wait for Skyrim. ^_^

NoiseHERO

Aug 15, 2011, 04:09 PM

UWAAH! D:

They look like real people. D:

Outrider

Aug 15, 2011, 06:07 PM

They do look pretty good, although I find that a lot of times you don't notice the uncanny valley in games until you see the facial animation at work.

Keilyn

Aug 15, 2011, 06:15 PM

Hopefully they will have more than 5 voice actors because that was horrible in Oblivion.....

NoiseHERO

Aug 15, 2011, 06:57 PM

They do look pretty good, although I find that a lot of times you don't notice the uncanny valley in games until you see the facial animation at work.

Stop, my imagination is scaring me thinking about it.

Randomness

Aug 15, 2011, 07:31 PM

They do look pretty good, although I find that a lot of times you don't notice the uncanny valley in games until you see the facial animation at work.

Of course, that only applies to half the races. The other half look non-human enough for it not to apply...

Outrider

Aug 15, 2011, 09:48 PM

Of course, that only applies to half the races. The other half look non-human enough for it not to apply...

That's true - I don't think anybody is going to run into that problem with talking dinosaurs.

Sord

Aug 15, 2011, 10:17 PM

Can't wait to play the new Argonians. Man, I remember when I thought Oblivion and it's mods looked great. Few years later and it's all practically nothing. I wonder what the mod community will do, outside the obvious perverted stuff.

BIG OLAF

Aug 15, 2011, 10:28 PM

Randomness

Aug 15, 2011, 10:40 PM

Haha, I remember I made a prediction months ago that the Argonians would look like bipedal dragons. I was right. They look awesome.

But, I'm always a Dunmer in TES games. Hopefully I can make my character's nose a bit less pointy when I make him. It looks kind of dumb.

The only problem is, I can't see one of them looking concerned or something. Not those faces. Hopefully they have softer ones on some NPCs, or something, because damn those look mean.

Zyrusticae

Aug 18, 2011, 01:04 PM

BUMP WITH CONTENT.

Full screenies ahoy!

Argonian
[SPOILER-BOX]Argonian Female:
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/ArgonianFemale-noscale.jpg
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/ArgonianFemale2-noscale.jpg

Argonian Male:
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/ArgonianMale-noscale.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Dark Elf[SPOILER-BOX]Dark Elf Female:
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/DarkElfFemale-noscale.jpg

Dark Elf Male:
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/DarkElfMale-noscale.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Khajit
[SPOILER-BOX]Khajit Male:
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/KhajiitMale-noscale.jpg
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/KhajiitMale2-noscale.jpg
[/SPOILER-BOX]

Nord
[SPOILER-BOX]Nord Male:
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/NordMale-noscale.jpg
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/NordMale2-noscale.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Wood Elf
[SPOILER-BOX]Wood Elf Male:
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/WoodElfMale-noscale.jpg
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/WoodElfMale2-noscale.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Redguard
[SPOILER-BOX]Redguard Male:
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/RedguardMale-noscale.jpg

Redguard Female:
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/RedguardFemale-noscale.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Orc
[SPOILER-BOX]Orc Male:
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/OrcMale3-noscale.jpg
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/OrcMale2-noscale.jpg
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/209227-/OrcMale-noscale.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

And I will take a moment to remind you that Altmer, Bretons, and Imperials are confirmed to be in the game, and that the journalists apparently just aren't fans of them.

BIG OLAF

Aug 18, 2011, 01:34 PM

The Dunmer woman look scary as shit, but still sultry...in a weird way.

Also, screw those journalists. Maybe everyone else wanted to see the Altmer, Imperials, and Bretons.

Akaimizu

Aug 18, 2011, 02:28 PM

I wonder if they'll go back to the Morrowind voices for the Dunmer. You know back when (specifically for that race) the women sounded a lot like the men, to human ears. (I actually thought that was done on purpose, since everybody else sounded decisively different between genders). Oblivion changed that to a certain degree. I always thought the Dunmer women were to sound sort of gruff for women, while the men sounded less of it. That is, similar voices because the race more-or-less dictated it that way. I always enjoyed that almost alien exotic aspect. Just like how Elcor (in Mass Effect) were (by race) supposed to have very little emotional inflection in their voice, so they speak out their emotions before their speech as an aid to other races.

Blue-Hawk

Aug 18, 2011, 03:57 PM

My question is, are we able to have pets now? Look at the beautiful dog next to the Dunmer female.

Zyrusticae

Aug 18, 2011, 04:07 PM

That's an Irish Wolfhound (http://www.theanimalfiles.com/images/irish_wolfhound_1.jpg), and yes, companions are confirmed (and they can be a lot of different things, apparently).

Randomness

Aug 18, 2011, 07:49 PM

That's an Irish Wolfhound (http://www.theanimalfiles.com/images/irish_wolfhound_1.jpg), and yes, companions are confirmed (and they can be a lot of different things, apparently).

An immortal demon horse apparently doesn't cut it anymore, does it?

BIG OLAF

Aug 18, 2011, 08:21 PM

Ugh, I hated companions in FO:NV. Made the game so easy. I don't think I'll be utilizing the feature in Skyrim. I prefer to work alone.

Zyrusticae

Aug 24, 2011, 04:23 PM

All the default presets for Skyrim for every single one of the races has been released!

Here's your first glimpse of the Altmer (spoiler'd for HUUUUGE):
[SPOILER-BOX]http://cdnstatic.bethsoft.com/bethblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/HighElfCompilation1.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]
Because there's so many images and because they're fuggin' HUGE, I'm posting the link here: http://www.bethblog.com/index.php/2011/08/24/the-races-and-faces-of-skyrim/

Blue-Hawk

Aug 24, 2011, 05:21 PM

I also just read that if you kill someone, a family member might come and take revenge on your character. THAT sounds friggin' AWESOME!

Palle

Aug 24, 2011, 05:21 PM

Lookin' good. Actually want to try most of those races. Thanks for the update.

Split

Aug 24, 2011, 07:20 PM

I also just read that if you kill someone, a family member might come and take revenge on your character. THAT sounds friggin' AWESOME!Yeah I think they were calling that "radiant story" to complement the "radiant AI" introduced in Oblivion. To me, it sounds too good to be true, but if it actually delivers what Todd Howard and the rest of Bethesda have been promising, then it's the feature of the game I'm most excited for, to be sure. The replayability that could add is just unprecedented...

Seriously, this game can't come out soon enough. *Goes and starts a new Oblivion character"

BIG OLAF

Aug 24, 2011, 08:09 PM

I've also read about this "radiant AI" they're boasting. I've heard such examples as:

If you drop a weapon on the ground, someone might pick it up and try and return it to you. Or, two homeless men may find it at the same time and fight each other to the death for it.

If all of that's true, then Skyrim will take a front seat to my real life.

yoshiblue

Aug 24, 2011, 09:01 PM

Yeah I think they were calling that "radiant story" to complement the "radiant AI" introduced in Oblivion. To me, it sounds too good to be true, but if it actually delivers what Todd Howard and the rest of Bethesda have been promising, then it's the feature of the game I'm most excited for, to be sure. The replayability that could add is just unprecedented...

Seriously, this game can't come out soon enough. *Goes and starts a new Oblivion character"

Was odd. I started a quest from a dood. I come back to finish it only to see him grow the stones to attempt to pickpocket a guard then watch the whole town do a beat down on him. All I could say was "Well shucks" and walk away.

prowler_

Aug 29, 2011, 12:43 PM

I also just read that if you kill someone, a family member might come and take revenge on your character. THAT sounds friggin' AWESOME!While I don't see anything like this happen but it would be cool if say, you killed someones mum or dad, when the kid grows older and more stronger he will come kill you (depending on how he grew up (Warrior, Assassin, Mage, etc) that's the way he will try to kill you)

Split

Sep 12, 2011, 06:28 PM

This is the Quakecon demo. A good amount of it has already been seen, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xwboyafbwc&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7WohnlLEQo&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt7IeycKJKQ&feature=player_embedded

BIG OLAF

Sep 12, 2011, 06:32 PM

Split

Sep 12, 2011, 07:50 PM

I can't help but watch it either way, even if I've seen it all before.

This might sound stupid, but I literally get chills watching the gameplay. Or, at least, the parts where the character is just walking around the beautiful landscape, and interacting with civilians.

No, really. I seriously shuddered from excitement when I saw that the river in part 1 actually splashed up onto the rocks, and made a real rushing water noise.Same here dude, I totally eat up whatever footage I can find and just get goosebumps every time. Can't wait to just play this for 24 hours straight during my Christmas break... :wacko:

Here's the unedited (but off-screen) version of what I just posted. Still pretty good quality, and seamless. Gameplay starts out around 5:00, and there actually are a few things I haven't seen before in it (just bits and pieces though)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TNjjC9QHGg&feature=related

Blue-Hawk

Oct 10, 2011, 08:23 PM

Sorry about the bump but I saw news. The world map is up.

http://cdn.gamefront.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/skyrim-map-big.jpg

Nice. Going to take a while to explore. Lets hope they made it like Morrowind and didn't level things. I hated that about Oblivion. I loved going to areas I'm not supposed to survive in and getting a Daedric Dai Katana, for example, at level 1. :P

BIG OLAF

Oct 10, 2011, 08:28 PM

There's also been a metric fuckload of new screenshots and coverage (from magazines). For those who haven't seen (I've kept one of the screenshots out of this listing, as I feel it contains spoilers for a certain questline):

Mudcrab:

[SPOILER-BOX]http://img.elderscrolls.net/news/gi-nov-01.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Magic Bow:

[SPOILER-BOX]http://img.elderscrolls.net/news/gi-nov-02.jpg
[/SPOILER-BOX]

Skyrim Citizen (a barmaid, apparently):

[SPOILER-BOX]http://img.elderscrolls.net/news/gi-nov-03.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Double-wielded flamethrower spell:

[SPOILER-BOX]http://img.elderscrolls.net/news/gi-nov-05.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Frost Atronach:

[SPOILER-BOX]http://img.elderscrolls.net/news/gi-nov-06.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Dragon Attack:

[SPOILER-BOX]http://img.elderscrolls.net/news/gi-nov-07.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

"Sanguine, my brother..." (Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary entrance):

[SPOILER-BOX]
http://img.elderscrolls.net/news/gi-nov-08.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

By Azura, by Azura, by Azura! It's Azura's shrine!

[SPOILER-BOX]http://img.elderscrolls.net/news/gi-nov-09.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Making potions:

[SPOILER-BOX]http://img.elderscrolls.net/news/gi-nov-10.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Elven armor frontal view:

[SPOILER-BOX]http://img.elderscrolls.net/news/gi-nov-11.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Torture chamber:

[SPOILER-BOX]
http://img.elderscrolls.net/news/gi-nov-12.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

This shall be the longest 30 days of my life.

Split

Oct 10, 2011, 08:58 PM

Nice. Going to take a while to explore. Lets hope they made it like Morrowind and didn't level things. I hated that about Oblivion. I loved going to areas I'm not supposed to survive in and getting a Daedric Dai Katana, for example, at level 1. :PYou mean didn't scale loot/enemy levels? There is some scaling, but I've heard it's similar to Fallout 3. If you haven't played that game or haven't bothered to look into how its leveling system works, what happens is areas are assigned "encounter levels," that stay a certain distance away from you; for instance, if you're level 5, and an area has an encounter level of 15, the enemies and loot there will be level 20, and when you gain level 6, those enemies and loot will gain level 21.

However...

The levels only tether in that manner until you enter the area. After that, they become locked in the place. So if you're level 5, and you enter the place mentioned above with the encounter level of 15, all the enemies and loot there are locked at level 20. That means when you first enter the area, you still get the outmatched feeling that helps give an RPG world a true sense of scope, but when you go there later when you're level 57, those monsters will still be level 20 and you get that great feeling of all the progress and development your character has gone through paying off as you completely annihilate the enemies that used to push you around - like going back to the Forest 1 on Normal mode in PSO to relieve some stress after getting pushed around in the Ultimate mode Seabed.

It's definitely a much better system, no question about it.

TL;DR: Oblivion's scaling system is gone, but the game is still balanced and enemy/loot levels are still fluid based that of your character.

EDIT: @ Big Olaf: Those screens are freaking amazing! I can always use more confirmation that Skyrim's NPCs don't look totally fugly anymore, and it looks like most of the helmets actually look cool as well (Out of every single helmet in Oblivion, the only one that was even remotely cool-looking was the Dwarven Helmet, and even that is debatable).

BIG OLAF

Oct 10, 2011, 09:15 PM

EDIT: @ Big Olaf: Those screens are freaking amazing! I can always use more confirmation that Skyrim's NPCs don't look totally fugly anymore, and it looks like most of the helmets actually look cool as well (Out of every single helmet in Oblivion, the only one that was even remotely cool-looking was the Dwarven Helmet, and even that is debatable).

I agree that most, if not all of the armor in Oblivion looked pretty shoddy. That's why all my character on that game wears anymore is the Priest of Order set from the Shivering Isles. Looks badass, and isn't chunky n' clunky like the other stuff.

I was reading about how seemingly in-depth the armor/weapon smithing is going to be. It sounds pretty cool, but it might get old and/or taxing after a while. Skinning a wolf or two for it's pelt, mining some ore, smelting the ore, forging the armor/weapon, using the forge tools (like the grindstones) to maintain their damage output, etc. Sounds like a lot of work, but I bet it's a hell of a lot of fun to do.

(there's so much more I want to discuss, but I honestly don't know where else to begin; there's so much awesome shit in this game, it's almost unreal)

I get more and more excited the more I read and see. It's a double-edged sword, though, as it makes the wait quite psychologically painful. That's why I ordered the two Elder Scrolls novels, The Infernal City and Lord of Souls a couple of days ago. I need new reading material anyway, and it they should help sate my desire for TES content for a week or so.

Split

Oct 10, 2011, 10:03 PM

I agree that most, if not all of the armor in Oblivion looked pretty shoddy. That's why all my character on that game wears anymore is the Priest of Order set from the Shivering Isles. Looks badass, and isn't chunky n' clunky like the other stuff.

I was reading about how seemingly in-depth the armor/weapon smithing is going to be. It sounds pretty cool, but it might get old and/or taxing after a while. Skinning a wolf or two for it's pelt, mining some ore, smelting the ore, forging the armor/weapon, using the forge tools (like the grindstones) to maintain their damage output, etc. Sounds like a lot of work, but I bet it's a hell of a lot of fun to do.

(there's so much more I want to discuss, but I honestly don't know where else to begin; there's so much awesome shit in this game, it's almost unreal)

I get more and more excited the more I read and see. It's a double-edged sword, though, as it makes the wait quite psychologically painful. That's why I ordered the two Elder Scrolls novels, The Infernal City and Lord of Souls a couple of days ago. I need new reading material anyway, and it they should help sate my desire for TES content for a week or so.Oh yeahhh I forgot about that set, the Priest of the Order helmet/mask thing is dope. My Dark Elf knight/tank-ish character (I know, weird race to choose for that class) just wears the Helm of the Crusader from the Knights of the Nine with a Blackwood Company cuirass and gauntlets and Dwarven greaves and boots. Stats be damned, that's the only thing I could think of that looked decent on him.

I concur with those coping tactics. The guy who made this amazing one of a kind compilation of every single in-game book in Oblivion needs to get it mass-produced sometime within the next week or two so I can stop counting the seconds til Gamestop calls me about my Skyrim preorder:

http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2011/09/xlarge_oblivion.jpg

http://kotaku.com/5843257/every-virtual-book-in-the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-is-now-one-epic-leather+bound-reality/gallery/1

I didn't even know there was gonna be legit weapon and armor-crafting in Skyrim. It looks like potion-making is a similarly arduous process from that screenshot you posted, too. I'm always wary when crafting in video games includes a physical aspect (as opposed to something like Final Fantasy X where it was all done in what was essentially a glorified pause menu), but I suppose if they can make it pay off well enough, it becomes that much more rewarding when you know you slaved away hunting resources and hammering them into a badass sword yourself. I'd say Bethesda is one of only a few major RPG-making companies that I'd trust to make a system like that work, another being Blizzard.

BIG OLAF

Oct 10, 2011, 10:18 PM

Oh yeahhh I forgot about that set, the Priest of the Order helmet/mask thing is dope. My Dark Elf knight/tank-ish character (I know, weird race to choose for that class) just wears the Helm of the Crusader from the Knights of the Nine with a Blackwood Company cuirass and gauntlets and Dwarven greaves and boots. Stats be damned, that's the only thing I could think of that looked decent on him.

Man, I always run a Dark Elf warrior in every TES game (Skyrim will be included), so don't feel weird about that. I just do what I like, and don't really give half a shit about meta-game stats or what's "best."

I concur with those coping tactics. The guy who made this amazing one of a kind compilation of every single in-game book in Oblivion needs to get it mass-produced sometime within the next week or two so I can stop counting the seconds til Gamestop calls me about my Skyrim preorder

I would love to have my hands on that. Even more so if I hadn't already read every single in-game book Oblivion has to offer. That's what happens when you've literally done every-single-thing the game has to offer. I went to the bookstores, guild halls, and all the other places, snagged up all the different books I could find, went and rented a room at the inn in Anvil, and read them all. I found "The Real Barenziah" series to be very good, actually.

I didn't even know there was gonna be legit weapon and armor-crafting in Skyrim. It looks like potion-making is a similarly arduous process from that screenshot you posted, too. I'm always wary when crafting in video games includes a physical aspect (as opposed to something like Final Fantasy X where it was all done in what was essentially a glorified pause menu), but I suppose if they can make it pay off well enough, it becomes that much more rewarding when you know you slaved away hunting resources and hammering them into a badass sword yourself. I'd say Bethesda is one of only a few major RPG-making companies that I'd trust to make a system like that work, another being Blizzard.

Yes, I have a very good faith in Bethesda to make sure that their new crafting and laboring (cooking food, chopping wood, etc.) systems are just the right mix of taxing and rewarding, without to much monotony or aggravation involved. Todd Howard did say that they spent a massive amount of time making sure that players wouldn't get bored of anything for a long, long time.

The thing that baffles me the most is how people can still give this game hate, and say it's going to be "bad." From what I've inferred, Skyrim has taken out 98% of the problems (at least the visual ones and/or the ones we can notice without actually playing it) of the previous games. It may not be the best game in the history of mankind, but it's sure as shit going to be amazing beyond belief. Hell, apparently when Dark Souls came out, there was some sort of pseudo-war going on GameFAQS between fans of that game and Skyrim fans.

EDIT: This will seem a bit random, but it's kind of funny. When I watch my dad play Oblivion on the PS3, I notice that he just swings at the enemies like a madman until they're dead. Today I told him, "You know, you won't be able to fight like that in Skyrim. The enemies are smarter, and you'll actually need to block (something he doesn't do, mind you), parry, and time your counter-attacks fairly well to survive." His response was simply, "What?! Shit. I hate the game already." I lol'd.

LK1721

Oct 10, 2011, 10:43 PM

EDIT: This will seems a bit random, but it's kind of funny. When I watch my dad play Oblivion on the PS3, I notice that he just swings at the enemies like a madman until they're dead. Today I told him, "You know, you won't be able to fight like that in Skyrim. The enemies are smarter, and you'll actually need to block (something he doesn't do, mind you), parry, and time your counter-attacks fairly well to survive." His response was simply, "What?! Shit. I hate the game already." I lol'd.
Exactly what my Dad does. That was the reason I couldn't get him to play PSP2, and I'm going to be snickering in my little corner while he gets mad because he doesn't use the game's mechanics.

Randomness

Oct 10, 2011, 11:15 PM

Exactly what my Dad does. That was the reason I couldn't get him to play PSP2, and I'm going to be snickering in my little corner while he gets mad because he doesn't use the game's mechanics.

Waiting for enemy attacks so I could block and counter got old... so I went and abused the horribly broken potential of Oblivion's custom spells. It's pretty stupid to be able to cast invisibility+damage+healing+other for effectively nothing (until you stop casting it, and then wait for MP to recover)

SpikeOtacon

Oct 11, 2011, 01:43 AM

Been modding Oblivion to hell and back all weekend. I haven't even finished the modding part yet. I just want Skyrim already fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Split

Oct 11, 2011, 09:51 AM

Man, I always run a Dark Elf warrior in every TES game (Skyrim will be included), so don't feel weird about that. I just do what I like, and don't really give half a shit about meta-game stats or what's "best."Good shit dude, glad I'm not the only one. I always just did it because I thought they were the coolest-looking race and had the most interesting lore.

I would love to have my hands on that. Even more so if I hadn't already read every single in-game book Oblivion has to offer. That's what happens when you've literally done every-single-thing the game has to offer. I went to the bookstores, guild halls, and all the other places, snagged up all the different books I could find, went and rented a room at the inn in Anvil, and read them all. I found "The Real Barenziah" series to be very good, actually.Haha that's hilarious, I really ought to do that at some point as I've probably not even read half. On all of my playthroughs so far it's been one of those things where most of the time I'd come across a book and be like "sounds intriguing, but I'm on my way to an awesome Thieves' Guild heist (or something else cool) right now," and it would go neglected; however, whenever I did pick one up, it usually ended up really holding my interest. I remember one book called The Begger Prince that is one of my favorite ideas for and execution of a "creation myth," and at the same time provides the story roots for a key mechanic in the aforementioned Thieves' Guild quest line.

Hell, apparently when Dark Souls came out, there was some sort of pseudo-war going on GameFAQS between fans of that game and Skyrim fans.Yeah I saw that, except on IGN rather than GameFAQS. IGN posted some stupid article called 5 Reasons Why Dark Souls Will Be <9000x Better Than Skyrim or something to that effect. None of the claims they made had any real basis; for example, they said Dark Souls will be better because it has multiplayer, as if tacking on a few deathmatches would somehow make a game with as much single player content as Skyrim better by half. Everyone knows that the reason Elder Scrolls games don't have multiplayer is because Bethesda pours all of its resources into making sure the single player is as epically large (in terms of breadth of content and also just sheer size of the game world) as it is meticulously detailed.

In my opinion, it's not a comparison that deserves to be made, and that's not saying Dark Souls isn't a great game - it's saying that it's vastly different in too many ways to be held up as a primary competitor that targets the same audience as Skyrim. Sure, its world is more open now than that of Demon's Souls, but its unforgiving challenge is still more appealing to a Super Meat Boy/Ninja Gaiden/Devil May Cry 3 demographic of players who love conquering ridiculous challenges as quickly and efficiently as possible, whereas Skyrim is tailor-made for those who want to go through a massive game at a measured pace as they take in every little detail the game has to offer about its story, fantistory, and gameplay.

Naturally, people saw right through this thinly veiled attempt at trolling on IGN's part, and the article was met with many justified posts of, "You can't spell 'ignorant' without IGN!"

BIG OLAF

Oct 11, 2011, 07:28 PM

BIG OLAF

Oct 17, 2011, 01:51 PM

(I know this is a double-post, but this is also serving as a bump so people can see the information)

As I'm sure most of you reading this know, many gaming sites released new hands-on details of Skyrim today. For those of you who haven't seen them, here are the links:

IGN's article. (http://pc.ign.com/articles/120/1200474p1.html)

Gamingtruth's "Veteran" article. (http://www.gamingtruth.com/2011/10/17/skyrim-three-hours-by-the-veteran/) (He's played Morrowind and Oblivion)

Gamingtruth's "Rookie" article. (http://www.gamingtruth.com/2011/10/17/skyrim-the-rookie-playthrough/) (He's never played a TES game before)

Wired's "Journal-style" article. (http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/10/skyrim-hands-on/)

x360a's article. (http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/10/skyrim-hands-on/)

Gamespot's article. (http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/news/6340446/side-quests-and-crafting-in-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim?sid=6340446&mode=previews)

Only about 3.5 weeks to go! The excitement is palpable.

joefro

Oct 17, 2011, 02:23 PM

It's getting hard to wait for this game. I'm just ready to lose myself in Skyrim.

yoshiblue

Oct 17, 2011, 02:24 PM

I never played one race. Always had a file for every race. Twas interesting.

BIG OLAF

Oct 17, 2011, 02:33 PM

It's getting hard to wait for this game. I'm just ready to lose myself in Skyrim.

I know the feeling. The wait is maddening, and ~3 weeks seems like so long right now.

I never played one race. Always had a file for every race. Twas interesting.

The only race I've ever played for more than five minutes before getting bored is Dark Elf. I just find the other races boring, both appearance-wise (though, I will admit that many of the females in Skyrim are quite attractive) and ability-wise. That's just me, though.

Randomness

Oct 17, 2011, 04:56 PM

Here's a brighter, more legible version of the Skyrim map (http://i.imgur.com/diEgL.jpg) that I found earlier today.

Fun Fact: Apparently someone counted all those little red Xs on the map, and got 17 of them. There are 17 Daedric Princes (yes, including Jyggalag. It's been 200 years since SI, I'm sure he's started getting his own following by now). Food for thought.

(I didn't actually count them myself, so I'm just going by what someone else said)

EDIT: Fun Fact #2: "White Pass", located at the bottom of the map (Southeast of Falkreath), is indeed "Pale Pass" from Oblivion. The different translations come from different languages between Cyrodiil and Skyrim.

Now the real question is if there's a Sheogorath shrine...? That could be interesting, all things considered... Did they say anything about the history of the hero from Oblivion after sealing the gates? For that matter... I suppose the Isles would have been cut off again, being a plane of Oblivion... hmm... how does that bode for a Madgod in Cyrodiil?

BIG OLAF

Oct 17, 2011, 05:07 PM

I suppose the Isles would have been cut off again, being a plane of Oblivion... hmm... how does that bode for a Madgod in Cyrodiil?

The planes of Oblivion are only locked out of Mundus if their purpose is malicious. Sheogorath's portal to The Shivering Isles violated no pact or contract, as Haskill states when you first go through, so it was allowed to stay open.

So, since Sheogorath and Jyggalag are separate entities now, they should both have a shrine. It would be good attention to lore and/or detail on Bethesda's part if so, and they're usually good at keeping all of that in line.

Randomness

Oct 17, 2011, 09:18 PM

The planes of Oblivion are only locked out of Mundus if their purpose is malicious. Sheogorath's portal to The Shivering Isles violated no pact or contract, as Haskill states when you first go through, so it was allowed to stay open.

So, since Sheogorath and Jyggalag are separate entities now, they should both have a shrine. It would be good attention to lore and/or detail on Bethesda's part if so, and they're usually good at keeping all of that in line.

Er... not quite. Sheogorath permanently reverted to Jyggalag, and the main character takes the title of Sheogorath/Madgod. It's not quite clear how much of Sheogorath's power you technically inherit, though considering what the staff does (TIME STOP!!!!!), and that it has a bottomless font of power in the Isles, I could see immortality as a new Daedric-like entity as a possibility...

You're right about the seal. It just blocks Daeda from manisfesting in Mundus, doesn't it? (Barring summoning magic) Because there are certainly books about people entering the planes of Oblivion on their own.

BIG OLAF

Oct 18, 2011, 02:48 PM

Just saw this earlier today. A nice little list from Gamesradar depicting 63 things they did in their three hours with Skyrim. (http://www.gamesradar.com/63-amazing-things-we-saw-and-did-skyrim/) Now, a lot of it is stuff we've heard about for the umpteenth time now, so I'll just put the things I found most interesting and/or haven't read about before here:

- We witnessed a murder in a town square, where a lady called Margret was viciously stabbed to death before our very eyes.

- We killed the assailant, and then went into a shop where people were talking about the noise outside. It was a scripted event (and that start of a side-quest), but happened in a brilliantly organic way.

- We killed an Elk with massive antlers (obviously head of the small group he was with). When he was dead we were able to keep the antlers, which we would no doubt have displayed in our house as soon as we'd bought one in one of the cities.

- We heard people shout for help in the wilderness in a fashion not dissimilar to Red Dead Redemption, except instead of needing to be defended from outlaws, they’re running from dire wolves or Orcs. Or dragons.

- We went into someone’s house and were asked politely to leave. Then firmly. Then they started calling for the guards. So long, old RPG tropes!

- We were happy to see that the “over-encumbered” message was gone, replaced with “You are carrying too much to be able to run,” which, crucially, still allows you to move, only very slowly. Very… very slowly.

- We learned the difference between riding on the road with a horse (they can gallop at full-speed) and riding in the hills on a horse (they can only trot, never building speed).

- We had the horse shot out from under us. Enemies will always attack your steed first before they start attacking you. Once your horse is down... you ain't goin' nowhere, son.

- We mistakenly alerted guards as we tried to sneak up on them by bumping into bones dangling from ropes on the ceiling. They made a clattery noise and we jumped.

- We passed a stone column with a sword, shield, and flowers laid at its base. We left them well alone.

- We broke out of our cell [after getting arrested for assault] by smashing through a crumbling wall, and then took back our stuff and fought our way out .

- We drank a potion and entered into an NPC’s memories. [part of a quest, assuredly]

- We read the letters in our inventory, which are 3D and unfold as you select them, revealing their written contents realistically written on the paper, not just as screen text.

- We missed several powerful swings of our weapon. The lunge [power attack] is easy to miss, though if it was too easy, the move would likely be overpowered. If you do hit, however, it knocks the hell out of them.

- We were randomly attacked by a woman while passing a village, but the only reason we noticed it was because we heard a “twang” and saw an arrow fall to the ground after striking a rock.

- We walked into a city we saw an executioner preparing to bring an axe down on a man’s neck. For no reason at all, we took out a bow and shot the executioner in the head – causing every guard in the town to attack us.

- We ran from the guards, turning on Assassin’s Creed mode. We led them on a chase across bridges, up narrow paths, and down rooftops before dodging them down an alley and escaping.

EDIT: Also, let me just toss this in here to keep the excitement going. It's got just a dab of remix in it, but it's nice, and not that noticeable.

[spoiler-box]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZQjZxUDNb4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZQjZxUDNb4[/spoiler-box]

The Daltony

Oct 18, 2011, 03:23 PM

If I have half as much fun with Skyrim as I did with Oblivion, I'll be ecstatic.

Might wait a while until a bunch of good mods show up, though. After playing the PC version of Oblivion with 'em after many hours on the Xbox, it was a much more fun experience.

Anyway, thanks for the info Olaf!

Flash Ranger

Oct 19, 2011, 09:32 AM

It's getting hard to wait for this game. I'm just ready to lose myself in Skyrim.

This.

BIG OLAF

Oct 21, 2011, 07:47 PM

Gametrailers.com's weekly show, Gametrailers TV, showcased Skyrim this morning for their October 21st episode. Geoff Keighley talked with Todd Howard about some never-before-seen content featured in the show. Here's the link:

GTTV: Skyrim. (http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/gametrailers-tv/137?ch=1)

Some highlights, if you don't want to have to sit through all the other segments on the show:

Four more Dragon Shouts were revealed:

- Ice Breath (encases the target enemy in ice for a moment, having it take damage over time, and be more susceptible to player attacks)

- Elemental Fury (bursts your melee weapon with wind energy, quickening your character's attacking speed momentarily)

- Ethereal Form (turns the player "ghost-like" for a moment, effectively making the player invincible. You cannot attack while in this form, but you take no damage from long falls, etc.)

This next one contains story spoilers, so I've double-covered it with black-out:

[SPOILER]- Summon Dragon (calls for a dragon that the player meets sometime "later in the main quest", according to Todd Howard. The dragon can be summoned anywhere outside, even to fight other dragons)[/SPOILER-BOX]

In addition, Todd Howard also said that there are six different types of dragons (along with "unique", one-of-a-kind dragons). We already know what two of them are: fire and frost. That leaves four more to be a mystery.

EDIT: Oh, and a footnote that some may or may not be interested in: in that GTTV episode, they revealed that one of the guest characters in Soul Calibur 5 is Ezio Auditore from Assassin's Creed 2/Brotherhood/Revelations. Not a bad choice, in my opinion.

.Rusty.

Oct 24, 2011, 12:03 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwfRZTSiFGE

Akaimizu

Oct 24, 2011, 01:04 PM

It's already paid off, for me. Just have to wait for release. A little over a couple of weeks away.

Zyrusticae

Oct 24, 2011, 05:30 PM

Hi thar.

Live action trailer go!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1AenlOEXao

Yata The Prophet

Oct 24, 2011, 07:55 PM

The haterade for this game is about 3 feet deep over at /b/ and GF CE.
So obviously this must be a **** awesome game.
Will atleast check it out.
Haters gonna hate.
Winners gonna LOL.

.Rusty.

Oct 29, 2011, 03:34 PM

Why are you drawing meat?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYcuyiMa-QY

Dwemer robots are back \o/

darkante

Oct 29, 2011, 04:02 PM

Oh man, haven´t been this excited for a long time.
It´s like punching nerds...uhh wait..*bonk*............beeeepp............

.Rusty.

Oct 30, 2011, 05:49 AM

a few SPOILERS :x

http://www.ripten.com/2011/10/29/three-hours-with-skyrim-two-brave-bosmers-and-one-lying-khajiit/

Talks a bit about companions and he fell in a river and got got carried downstream.

Now for big spoliers there is a video of the 1st 20 mins of gameplay floating about.Voice acting seems decent so far.
Also it looks like enchanted arrows get a fireball type effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSrMjdHSG18

Kyrith_Ranger_Pso

Nov 2, 2011, 07:15 PM

my Skyrim has officially been pre-ordered!

BIG OLAF

Nov 3, 2011, 02:26 AM

Just a little over a week to go, now. Ugh, the wait is painful. Good thing I've been spacing out reading The Infernal City and Lord of Souls nicely. Almost done the first one, then on to the second. I'm curious if there will be references to any of the happenings and/or characters from the novels in Skyrim anywhere.

Mantiskilla

Nov 3, 2011, 04:31 AM

Haha someone is extremely excited. To be honest I have both Morrowind and Oblivion for PC but I can safely say that i never did get through a good portion of either game. Still I plan on getting Skyrim at some point but not a day one purchase for me

.Rusty.

Nov 3, 2011, 12:36 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ7lmWc14uo

Zyrusticae

Nov 3, 2011, 11:41 PM

For those who enjoyed the music in the concept art trailer, you're in luck!

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Smr9Fpfnc

Katrina

Nov 4, 2011, 12:46 AM

I'm definitely looking forward to Skyrim. I've been purposely trying to avoid spoilers and general information about the game, aside from general game mechanics and such.

I spoiled myself with Oblivion, and ended up relying on the UESP Wiki much too often, holding my hand throughout a good portion of the game, and ruining a lot of the elements of surprise and mystery in just exploring and playing the game.

I'm trying to recapture that Morrowind experience, where I just plugged in and played, learning the game through trial and error instead of relying on forums and Wikis.

BIG OLAF

Nov 4, 2011, 01:34 AM

learning the game through trial and error instead of relying on forums and Wikis.

I'm with you there. I plan on not looking at any sort of spoiler for anything once the game comes out. I will, however, take coy suggestions for interesting quests or areas (meaning, someone could say "Hey, find *name of place*, because it's got some...interesting stuff there").

Oblivion was a bit too cookie-cutter for me to care that much about spoilers (meaning that I did indeed "cheat" and read up on certain quests before I did them, effectively ruining their intended surprise), but I feel Skyrim will be very rich in all aspects of story-telling, and I look forward to discovering everything about the game.

I always got this profound, dizzying sense of wonder whenever I first started out in any of Bethesda's open-world games (Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3/New Vegas). The best way to explain it is this feeling of being inundated and overwhelmed with all of these possibilities. So many things you can do and places you can go.

When I first got out of the Imperial Sewers while playing Oblivion, I got this tingling sensation in my chest as I saw the lush overworld for the first time. It pumped me full of such adrenaline and excitement, and no other game I've ever played hit me like that. I know the first hour or so of Skyrim will match, if not beat (i.e, completely obliterate) the feeling I got when first setting off down the road to Weynon Priory.

joefro

Nov 4, 2011, 02:07 AM

I found this video on Tumblr earlier today. It's a guy playing all (I think) of TES themes on piano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adlIBRAy6uM

.Rusty.

Nov 4, 2011, 09:19 AM

M'aiq doesn't understand why you would cheat but then M'aiq doesn't have a magic picture box.

As far as spoilers go i have only seen the 1st 20 min and a lil bit about the mercenary guild and Hircine's Quest. (they are both kind of related and they are awesome)

BIG OLAF

Nov 4, 2011, 11:22 AM

I haven't seen anything regarding any sort of quests, but I've read some stuff from some previews that I don't think the reporters were supposed to mention (like Azura's quest, etc.), but that's all good with me.

yoshiblue

Nov 4, 2011, 01:08 PM

So, is anyone else hoping for Marrowinds way of telling you were to go?

Split

Nov 4, 2011, 01:55 PM

So, is anyone else hoping for Marrowinds way of telling you were to go?I sort of liked Oblivion's use of objective markers, but I didn't play Morrowind nearly enough to remember its method - what was it, exactly?

yoshiblue

Nov 4, 2011, 02:03 PM

.Rusty.

Nov 4, 2011, 06:25 PM

You have objective markers but i think i read somewhere that you can turn them off.

Split

Nov 4, 2011, 07:37 PM

Kinda like going to a unknown place and asking someone where something was. Only to get a gratuitous amount of english in the process and you filling out the pieces on the way there.

Example2:
Your told were to go with details and isn't giving a marker or a guide to show you were to go like oblivion.Oh I like that. That's somewhat how it was done in GTA; there was a GPS in-game, but every time you went somewhere the mission giver told you the street name, so you could technically get around without it if you knew the streets well enough (just like a real city), and because of that there was an option to turn it off. I would really like that for a game like Skyrim, but it's not really in keeping w/ the hand-holding philosophy that has pervaded over the Western gaming industry for the current generation (especially in games like Dead Space or Uncharted). Not that I mind that either; I'd rather have the direction afforded players by current-gen games than the ridiculous trial and error of, say, the first Legend of Zelda, but too much hand-holding can get in the way of immersion.

BIG OLAF

Nov 5, 2011, 02:46 AM

You have objective markers but i think i read somewhere that you can turn them off.

Yes, I believe this is true. I do know for a fact that markers are present. But, since you can turn them off, that's why they put the "Clairvoyance" spell in for- so you can see where to go without feeling as if you're "cheating", I guess.

.Rusty.

Nov 5, 2011, 07:55 PM

BIG OLAF

Nov 5, 2011, 08:05 PM

Some people here might care about this

http://www.bethblog.com/index.php/2011/11/03/fallout-new-vegas-ultimate-edition-arrives-in-february/

Hope they dont fix the ammo hot key glich i just found out about it today and its so hilariously broken :3

Ah, nice. That's more or less the exact reason I didn't want to buy any of the DLC for New Vegas. I figured they'd come out with an all-inclusive edition sooner or later. I'll have to put it on my list of "wants", under Soul Calibur V.

On the subject of Skyrim, I listened to the "full" opening theme for the first time earlier today. Out of all the videos that have been posted in this thread, I don't know if this was one of them. But, who cares if it was? I'll put it again. The more times, the better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uud60o-JWgU&feature=colike"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uud60o-JWgU&feature=colike

If your speakers weren't blaring when this song was playing, you did it wrong. Try again.

Randomness

Nov 5, 2011, 09:04 PM

BIG OLAF

Nov 6, 2011, 12:27 AM

Are there actual lyrics to that, or is it just musical syllables? Of course, it could just be in swedish or something (Which would be rather appropriate, since Skyrim=Vikings)

Yep, there are definitely lyrics in there, but I can't make them out. Probably not English.

I believe that the lyrics are being sung in the language of the Dragons. So, it's not even a "real" language. But yes, there's lyrics and you can find them on various sites, both translated and not.

Split

Nov 6, 2011, 12:30 AM

Are there actual lyrics to that, or is it just musical syllables? Of course, it could just be in swedish or something (Which would be rather appropriate, since Skyrim=Vikings)

Yep, there are definitely lyrics in there, but I can't make them out. Probably not English.Actually they're in the dragon language created just for the game, and they rhyme and make sense both in English and in Dragon-speak. It's in this documentary-type thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ7lmWc14uo

Pretty much the coolest and nerdiest thing ever.

.Rusty.

Nov 6, 2011, 06:33 AM

Lol

[SPOILER-BOX]http://i.imgur.com/Zc5qM.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Mike

Nov 6, 2011, 06:47 AM

Lol

[SPOILER-BOX]http://i.imgur.com/Zc5qM.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

A sequel appears!

I have to wait until December to play this. :(

darkante

Nov 6, 2011, 10:22 AM

Yeah, it seems to be the dragon language since i couldn´t make it out in Swedish.

BIG OLAF

Nov 6, 2011, 11:30 AM

Lol

[SPOILER-BOX]http://i.imgur.com/Zc5qM.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

All I can say is...

http://www.digitalsmind.com/images/stories/homer_woohoo.jpg

Reading the books in Morrowind and Oblivion was actually pretty interesting. With all the stuff that's happened in the 200 years since the last game, no doubt there will be a lot to catch up on.

yoshiblue

Nov 6, 2011, 05:05 PM

Have a fishy stick?

Randomness

Nov 6, 2011, 05:37 PM

Just noticed in that background (for skyrim main theme) is the symbol for Oblivion.

BIG OLAF

Nov 6, 2011, 05:54 PM

Just noticed in that background (for skyrim main theme) is the symbol for Oblivion.

Yes, an Oblivion Gate, as it's etched onto Alduin's Wall, as it foretells part of the prophecy of the Dragon's return. Five things were to happen to herald the return of the Dragons:

All of this is based off of memory, and I haven't read up on it in months, so it may not be 100% spot-on:

- The reconstruction of The Staff of Chaos (which happened in The Elder Scrolls Arena)

- The rebuilding of the Numidium (which happened in The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall)

- The defeat of Dagoth Ur at Red Mountain (which happened in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind)

- The destruction of the Oblivion Gates; stopping Mehrunes Dagon's invasion of Mundus (which happened in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)

- The outbreak of civil war in Skyrim is the last sign, and that's already underway as the game opens, I believe.

.Rusty.

Nov 6, 2011, 06:03 PM

A Oblivion gate being there would make sense because the Oblivion Crisis is part of the prophecy for the dragons showing up.That figure on the left looks kinda like the Numidium.
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Numidium
Hmm wonder if the big stompy robot will show up or if its just a reference to the other games

Split

Nov 6, 2011, 06:09 PM

Totally calling the return of Oblivion gates as a critical path endgame plot twist. Five days.

Randomness

Nov 6, 2011, 06:12 PM

Ah, I see. I forget how much lore there is for the Elder Scrolls games.

Also, the last bit of that prophecy is kind of mundane compared to the previous ones (Which amount to the conclusion of the four prior games main quests)

Totally calling the return of Oblivion gates as a critical path endgame plot twist. Five days.

That would be interesting... the nature of the seal certainly changed as a result of Oblivion, and Akatosh most certainly has the form of a dragon...

But at the same time, Akatosh is among the most powerful entities in the series. The seal ought to be intact. (Or maybe some nutcase destroyed the "statue" of Akatosh in the Imperial City and that did something)

.Rusty.

Nov 6, 2011, 06:19 PM

Picking a side in the civil war looks like it will play a big part in the main Quest tho and after that there's that angry god trying to destroy every thing :p
[SPOILER-BOX]
From my understanding Akatosh is the god of time and most races worship him because of the creation and nurturing part of time.
But the nords call him Alduin and fear him of because of the destructive part of time.
So Akatosh/Alduin may have sealed the Oblivion gates because the planet's time is not up yet.
Now prophecy is filled its time for him to remake the world.[/SPOILER-BOX]

Personal theory about what will happen in the main Quest
[SPOILER-BOX]
Probably will end up something like this...
1.Sorting out the civil war
2.Trying to find out why the dragons are here and if the can be stopped.
3.Find out its Alduin sending them and then trying to find a way to stop/kill him.
4.And then finding a replacement for the god of time.Jyggalag the Daedric Prince of Order would be a good candidate and after the Shivering Isles he is not going to be doing anything.[/SPOILER-BOX]

Randomness

Nov 6, 2011, 07:16 PM

Akatosh=/=Alduin?

.Rusty.

Nov 6, 2011, 07:19 PM

Yup
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Gods

Randomness

Nov 6, 2011, 11:14 PM

Just seems odd, to have it go from the end of Oblivion, where Akatosh directly intervenes against Dagon to preserve Tamriel... and then now he's out to destroy it?

BIG OLAF

Nov 7, 2011, 12:19 AM

Just seems odd, to have it go from the end of Oblivion, where Akatosh directly intervenes against Dagon to preserve Tamriel... and then now he's out to destroy it?

He's not "destroying" it; that's not what Alduin does. He's more pressing a "reset button" on the world, if I understand it correctly (which I may not). Reversing time and ending Nirn (the planet), to start it anew, as he's done in the past. The only reason he didn't before was, once again if I remember correctly, is because part of the pact he made with Alessia when they made the Amulet of Kings prohibited him from doing his duty as "World Eater" and resetting time. But, since Martin had to destroy the Amulet to lock malicious attacks from the realms of Oblivion out of Mundus, the pact no longer holds true, and Alduin (Akatosh) is free to reset the world again.

That's my understanding of it, at least.

But, basically the Dragonborn (our character) in Skyrim is saying "No thanks, we don't want a new world. We'd rather keep this one. Piss off."

Split

Nov 7, 2011, 02:06 AM

But, basically the Dragonborn (our character) in Skyrim is saying "No thanks, we don't want a new world. We'd rather keep this one. Piss off."Or he's saying "Fuck all this shit I'm gonna go into a remote village, murder everyone, and loot all their bodies so I can get into the Dark Brotherhood." :wacko:

yoshiblue

Nov 7, 2011, 02:19 AM

Skyrim is "Hey I just got out of jail and now is told i'm a miracle worker!"

BIG OLAF

Nov 7, 2011, 02:52 PM

Or he's saying "Fuck all this shit I'm gonna go into a remote village, murder everyone, and loot all their bodies so I can get into the Dark Brotherhood." :wacko:

....Or you could say that. But, from what I gather, that's not how you join the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim.

Skyrim is "Hey I just got out of jail and now is told i'm a miracle worker!"

That's basically how it is in every Elder Scrolls game. It's just kind of happened that way. Starting out as a prisoner is a staple in the TES games now.

Akaimizu

Nov 7, 2011, 03:54 PM

amtalx

Nov 7, 2011, 04:16 PM

It's interesting to me to see so many people heavily invested in the story. I usually invest roughly 200 hours in TES installments and rarely know what the main story line is. It just goes to show how two people can draw completely different experiences from the same game.

Randomness

Nov 7, 2011, 04:17 PM

Don't forget there's a return of another Daedric Prince back to his original position, in the Oblivion part of the time line. It would be interesting to see what ever becomes of him. :) Though we probably wont see any of him in Skyrim. He's probably too busy actually behaving for the time being.

Considering he's the Prince of Order... yeah. I wouldn't be surprised to see a shrine to him though.

I'm more interested in what becomes of Sheogorath's followers... and obviously, what became of the player character of Oblivion, since he/she becomes Sheogorath (to some degree, not really specified, but since you actually fight Jyggalag in single combat and win, it's quite possible that there's some kind of semi-apotheosis that goes on)

BIG OLAF

Nov 7, 2011, 04:32 PM

I'm more interested in what becomes of Sheogorath's followers... and obviously, what became of the player character of Oblivion, since he/she becomes Sheogorath (to some degree, not really specified, but since you actually fight Jyggalag in single combat and win, it's quite possible that there's some kind of semi-apotheosis that goes on)

I'm also interested in what happened to Sheogorath. I mean, since in my personal canon, my Skyrim character is the same man as my Oblivion character (well, technically he was a "boy" in Oblivion, only being 20-something years of age), I've made it so he gave the Staff of Sheogorath to Haskill and told him he was the new Sheogorath, and then he headed southwest towards Hammerfell, and wandered for 200 years (with only actually physically aging 10 or so due to the life-preserving armor he wore as much as possible), until being captured on the Skyrim border for suspected espionage, which is what I believe the charge with your character is in the beginning of the story.

Xenobia

Nov 8, 2011, 02:15 AM

Right. the relase is in the next days and im surely curious how it exactly turned out. As far as map size and dungeon is concerned (the most raw stat) i heard its 16 squaremiles with 130 dungeons, so its pretty much same such as Oblivion.

In Elder Scrolls i was more interested into theyr custom development than the story itself, but surely i like the game series as a whole. However, sadly they are trying to simplify to much. The original Elder Scrolls was out of sheer enthusiam in order to create a truly huge and complex world. However, in the new age days where it is mainly on consoles, they are trying to cut down its shape and even complexity, so i kinda feel like im getting a baby face trying to please a huge majority.

Anyway, i surely will have fun playing it and maybe pay even more attention to its story. :D Usualy the main plot is the very last stuff i play, since i want to reach master condition on any of the guilds and groups. So i think i can still learn from you about some story matters i didnt truly pay attention to. So im grateful to read some of it. Although, every Elder Scrolls is aswell a work on its own.

TES was already a fully customizable game able to adapt to an user, so any gameplay related stuff such as quest markers should simply be able to enable or disable. A gamer should be able to use any options available at theyr free will, thats how a real TES is like. Its no small, its not watered down, its simply everything and nothing.

That's basically how it is in every Elder Scrolls game. It's just kind of happened that way. Starting out as a prisoner is a staple in the TES games now.
I enjoy that, its simply some cliche which is belong to TES and it should stay that way.

The graphics of Oblivion are technically inferior to:

Most next-gen MMOs
Unreal Engine 3 games
Cryengine 2/3 games
Frostbite Engine 2 games
The Witcher 2
Starcraft 2 (seriously, no joke)

Skyrim appears to be a step up from Oblivion in many ways but stuff like the textures and foliage (though, to be fair, no game will ever match Crysis in that area) are still noticeably primitive. Which is to be expected, since the game is being built for the same hardware Oblivion was.

The only thing the game has going for it is the wide-open vistas in terms of visual fidelity. And that is why the game will never look as good up-close as a properly built Unreal Engine 3 or Cryengine 3 game, because the game has to process huge tracts of terrain (nearly all of which you can explore on-foot) that few other games have to handle.

Mind you, I'm just talking on things like shader complexity, poly count, and texture resolution. Art is a subjective thing (to a point - poorly rendered humans will always be recognizable as such).
Current state of art is in my view Witcher 2 (it really leeched my OC 6950 GPU but graphics surely was nice), but its still bit surprising that Skyrim cant match so many games, although totaly possible. Main reason simply is and we all know it, Skyrim isnt anymore tuned for PC, its mainly focused on consoles (which are 5-6 years of age) and thats the price we have to pay for. It is hard to beat Crysis in some aspects because simply we have another mentality. Nowadays, we arnt anymore pushing something to a PCs limit, thats something belong to the past. So i predict it to be very hard to have real changes on graphics and it will be in no way such a massive development such as we had in the past.

Tech count and art is 2 different things, i totaly agree and one of them doesnt necessarely include the other. So we just look at the technical substance.

Skyrim looks like it has nice fog and water effects which are a good improvement on the previous.

Tifa

Apparently its not the same engine such as on Oblivion but i dont know more details. Some advancement surely can be seen but most likely thanks to some optimations regarding the engine but aswell custom. The final outcome is with some exceptions probably rather marginally and most likely not truly "next gen". If so, i wonder how they gonna make it work with consoles. The difference between consoles and PC must be huge which is very unlikely, since they do not even fully focus on PC now. The weak spot a console got is RAM amount but aswell the GPU is just already catching dust and cant even nearly match low class GPUs as of today.

Although, stuff like this are making me suspicious... whats that on about and how much truth it is? Anway, in a few days we will see the truth. Interesting to compare.

Found the describtion fun to read:

In short and simple terms, Bethesda’s fangled new Creation Engine means that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is going to look swankier than a swanky three-piece suit worn by Swanky McSwankerson at a party held at No.1 Swanky Street, Swankersville, Swank Land.
http://raidingparty.net/featured/what-the-creation-engine-really-means-for-skyrim

Heh, can't expect a massive leap when the game is being built for the same console generation that Oblivion was several years ago. (Unfortunate, methinks.) Thankfully, we have mods for that!

.

May become harder because Skyrim is now bound to Steam (only). Reason for me to get the PS3 version this time (no hassle just play) and i will watch the possible mod development of Skyrim on Steam. In the past TES was legendary for its capability to have custom fan made mods, but it surely will become harder now, its a bad move. At least they should release 2 versions, thats the best way dealing with, so everyone can chose themself. They dare to say its advantage for users to have Steam but that cant seriously be the case, and we cant buy a already used game. So best stuff to do is to wait for the price to drop, then i get both at once; PC-Game and mods. In term i still move to PCs after which is currently uncertain (i may try to set up a totaly empty Steam-only-PC where no one can spy out my main PCs data and put install protection crap on it). No one know what kind of data Steam is taking from a users PC and i always have to open a hole for them. Another risk is that, in term i get banned, then all games from Steam will probably become unplayable. So i surely will handle the entire matter with a lot of care. Since Steam did now become close to unavoidable i may just try set up a discrete solution next year, then the issue is most likely solved (apart from the fact that the mod development may get weakened).

BIG OLAF

Nov 8, 2011, 05:08 PM

So, one of my friends went to the midnight release of MW3 last night/this morning at Gamestop, and he saw that they had a giant box full of Skyrim copies behind the counter. So, he casually asked if he could purchase one along with MW3, and they said he could. So, now he's flaunting it around everywhere like some sort of douche. I told him that if he spoils anything about the game, I'll never speak to him again. Now these last three days are going to feel extra long.

Gamestop employees are so retarded.

Zyrusticae

Nov 8, 2011, 09:11 PM

Bethesda is one of the few developers who can produce a trailer with minimal dialogue, minimal plot, and little-to-no action, and still have it be absolutely riveting.

Case in point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwMqpaDpaFU&feature=player_embedded"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwMqpaDpaFU

Blue-Hawk

Nov 8, 2011, 10:09 PM

Add me to the list of officially paid off and on the midnight release line for the pc version.

Randomness

Nov 9, 2011, 12:30 AM

Right. the relase is in the next days and im surely curious how it exactly turned out. As far as map size and dungeon is concerned (the most raw stat) i heard its 16 squaremiles with 130 dungeons, so its pretty much same such as Oblivion.

In Elder Scrolls i was more interested into theyr custom development than the story itself, but surely i like the game series as a whole. However, sadly they are trying to simplify to much. The original Elder Scrolls was out of sheer enthusiam in order to create a truly huge and complex world. However, in the new age days where it is mainly on consoles, they are trying to cut down its shape and even complexity, so i kinda feel like im getting a baby face trying to please a huge majority.

Anyway, i surely will have fun playing it and maybe pay even more attention to its story. :D Usualy the main plot is the very last stuff i play, since i want to reach master condition on any of the guilds and groups. So i think i can still learn from you about some story matters i didnt truly pay attention to. So im grateful to read some of it. Although, every Elder Scrolls is aswell a work on its own.

TES was already a fully customizable game able to adapt to an user, so any gameplay related stuff such as quest markers should simply be able to enable or disable. A gamer should be able to use any options available at theyr free will, thats how a real TES is like. Its no small, its not watered down, its simply everything and nothing.

I enjoy that, its simply some cliche which is belong to TES and it should stay that way.

Current state of art is in my view Witcher 2 (it really leeched my OC 6950 GPU but graphics surely was nice), but its still bit surprising that Skyrim cant match so many games, although totaly possible. Main reason simply is and we all know it, Skyrim isnt anymore tuned for PC, its mainly focused on consoles (which are 5-6 years of age) and thats the price we have to pay for. It is hard to beat Crysis in some aspects because simply we have another mentality. Nowadays, we arnt anymore pushing something to a PCs limit, thats something belong to the past. So i predict it to be very hard to have real changes on graphics and it will be in no way such a massive development such as we had in the past.

Tech count and art is 2 different things, i totaly agree and one of them doesnt necessarely include the other. So we just look at the technical substance.

Apparently its not the same engine such as on Oblivion but i dont know more details. Some advancement surely can be seen but most likely thanks to some optimations regarding the engine but aswell custom. The final outcome is with some exceptions probably rather marginally and most likely not truly "next gen". If so, i wonder how they gonna make it work with consoles. The difference between consoles and PC must be huge which is very unlikely, since they do not even fully focus on PC now. The weak spot a console got is RAM amount but aswell the GPU is just already catching dust and cant even nearly match low class GPUs as of today.

Although, stuff like this are making me suspicious... whats that on about and how much truth it is? Anway, in a few days we will see the truth. Interesting to compare.

Found the describtion fun to read:

In short and simple terms, Bethesda’s fangled new Creation Engine means that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is going to look swankier than a swanky three-piece suit worn by Swanky McSwankerson at a party held at No.1 Swanky Street, Swankersville, Swank Land.
http://raidingparty.net/featured/what-the-creation-engine-really-means-for-skyrim

May become harder because Skyrim is now bound to Steam (only). Reason for me to get the PS3 version this time (no hassle just play) and i will watch the possible mod development of Skyrim on Steam. In the past TES was legendary for its capability to have custom fan made mods, but it surely will become harder now, its a bad move. At least they should release 2 versions, thats the best way dealing with, so everyone can chose themself. They dare to say its advantage for users to have Steam but that cant seriously be the case, and we cant buy a already used game. So best stuff to do is to wait for the price to drop, then i get both at once; PC-Game and mods. In term i still move to PCs after which is currently uncertain (i may try to set up a totaly empty Steam-only-PC where no one can spy out my main PCs data and put install protection crap on it). No one know what kind of data Steam is taking from a users PC and i always have to open a hole for them. Another risk is that, in term i get banned, then all games from Steam will probably become unplayable. So i surely will handle the entire matter with a lot of care. Since Steam did now become close to unavoidable i may just try set up a discrete solution next year, then the issue is most likely solved (apart from the fact that the mod development may get weakened).

The steam version of Oblivion mods just fine you know.

It comes down to how the data is stored and such... Steam doesn't bother checking. At least, not for everything.

In any case, going to have to swear off this thread soon, since I'm waiting til Christmas/January break to pick this up.

.Rusty.

Nov 9, 2011, 03:05 AM

http://i.imgur.com/K3waA.jpg

http://youtu.be/k4GgjHoOYkU

Xenobia

Nov 9, 2011, 03:45 PM

In reality to impose others is unsuccessful. Didnt even work in PSU because none truly cared, at least not for more than 2 years, because at that point most i know have stopped playing. However... a legendary game will touch your soul, the whole life... since you will always remember. I cant remember the people i bragged to, but i can remember the legendary essence of masterpieces, 10 or even 100 years after. The game have to impose you, not others. ;) I even know people who call game a "mindless stack of bits for childrens toy"... but i dont care, i do appreciate what others dont. Its my nose not theyrs, most dont have a nose at all (no examples, the list of examples will fill a book). Most people like that lack a mind able to shapeshift into the level of fantasy, and cant shift to other entitys and its surroundings.

Well, i speak about reality here. However, i do not live in a real world in such a game. I kinda shape my mind to this world and then i lie the existence of the real world, its doesnt exist anymore. In such a mental shape shift, i then indeed feel proud impressing virtual monsters... virtual characters, because that world is belong to me and i am belong to this world. At that point i dont care reality, i dont even care if a monster could care. All i care is that my mental shape will care, and it does. That shape however isnt single minded, finally every little action and every little appearance is taking into consideration. Slaying monsters thats like going to the toilet... its not the essence of it. What truly matters is to life that new shape as a whole... for maximum experience. Compared to most other games, TES always had a high focus on exploration and aswell non fighting interaction, its a game more complete as a whole than most possible counterparts, if there is any at all.

Well, game should be out 10.11 and probably arrive at 11.11 from what i know. I will get me the german PS3 Version first and next year when all mods are out i get me the english PC GOTY for half the price including the dedicated Steam-PC, and i will be able to compare at that point. I aswell wonder if the localization quality got any better, so many reasons for me to do that.

Blue-Hawk

Nov 9, 2011, 05:56 PM

http://www.gamefront.com/watch-some-cool-skyrim-murder-animations-video/

New murder animations video. My bosmer or dunmer assassin idea now takes me to new levels. Drooling........

And to quote the end, funny quote, 'How are we going to kill a dinosaur with a toothpick?'

AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Xenobia

Nov 9, 2011, 06:05 PM

Man, I always run a Dark Elf warrior in every TES game (Skyrim will be included), so don't feel weird about that. I just do what I like, and don't really give half a shit about meta-game stats or what's "best."
.
I always picked dark elf or equal race. Altough the setup was always a assassin and i mainly focused on thief skills. it surely will be same for Skyrim. My main weapon was usualy a dagger or sword. And i like robes a lot.. so i usualy am a thief using a dagger or sword and wearing a robe... weird? No thats just me.. and its Elder Scrolls, where everyone can chose what they enjoy! Although Oblivion was less custom than Morrowind. In Morrowind there was good robes with stats beneficial even for thieves. But on Oblivion they tried to break the seal of freedom, and they attached almost any robe to mage related classes on theyr specs. It surely was a step back from the true purpose. I hope they noticed that fact, that everyone is free to choce theyr way of playing without lack of support. The only true issue is the common sense, it surely is impossible to have sneaky heavy armor "bam bam bam"... at walking.. Its indeed not possible using physical rules (which is implemented in TES) but that isnt the case with robes, a robe can be very sneaky and many assassins may be wearing it. However that is only affecting beneficial stats, so, a robe wont give strenght or endurance +, it however may give agility + and not only magic +. Although in Morrowind there was great robes who was beneficial for any classes or types. In Oblivion i kinda had a ugly lack. The whole design of those stuff was simply much better... not much love in Oblivion, im afraid.

And to quote the end, funny quote, 'How are we going to kill a dinosaur with a toothpick?'

AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I kinda got dirty things in my mind when you say such things.

Blue-Hawk

Nov 9, 2011, 06:58 PM

Forgot to add- Dwemer Centurions are back? I HATED THOSE THINGS IN MORROWIND!

Randomness

Nov 9, 2011, 07:34 PM

#1 curiosity about combat this time around... is there custom magic as insanely OP as in Oblivion...?

Split

Nov 9, 2011, 10:59 PM

Randomness

Nov 10, 2011, 12:21 AM

Mantiskilla

Nov 10, 2011, 02:53 AM

Yeah I'm just wondering about the modding for this game (sorry beating a dead horse) b/c of the whole fact that now the game is now GFW. I'm sure people will be able to do their thing but I hope it doesn't put to big of a damper into things. Elder Scrolls has always been a game that has great mods for all sorts of things and I'm sure a great deal of people who are much bigger fans than I would disappointed if modding roadblocks become apparent. It's a reason why I think if your a big fan of the series I just think you do yourself some injustice by not playing it on a PC. I understand though that people don't all have good setups to play the game but that's just my opinion

Mike

Nov 10, 2011, 06:59 AM

Preloading finished! Please let me play this with the rest of the world, Steam.

Xenobia

Nov 10, 2011, 07:40 AM

Already vaguely knew about the concept of radiant story, but...well...just read this article:

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/11/09/you-can-play-skyrim-forever.aspx

And in case you're worried that the game will run out of dungeons...there are 315 "play spaces" over 150 of which are dungeons. Oblivion had I think somewhere around 70 dungeons and I don't think I discovered much more than half of them...and these ones, apparently, are all much more unique than the asset re-arrangements that permeated Oblivion. I'm seriously wondering if this will be the last video game I ever buy...

There was always things like that in Oblivion, although its just a randomly generated and normalized "easy task" with near infinite amount over time. But its simply a task, thats it... its not a epic story line. Get me a egg... next day... get another egg, thats near infinite.

Oblivion had around 100 dungeons inlcuding addon content. Skyrim will have around 130, maybe up to 150 when addon content is added. Both is a big displeasure regarding the power from the 2 forerunners.

I do not enjoy the way TES is heading. Because instead of expanding its original purpose (Daggerfall but aswell Morrowind with its 300 dungeons is greeting you), they are now continuously providing rather cheap and cutted down TES games. Finally it will be able to please Uncle Playless... but not Sister Playmore. A hardcore will explore that stuff in no time... and its not the power of the true TES.

But no matter what, its still a TES and a great and fun game, thats the only thing i have no doubt about. It still a game comparable with other fine arts on a very high level and not trash such as "Arcania".

Preloading finished! Please let me play this with the rest of the world, Steam.

I still do breathe your air, so im with you, no worries.

.Rusty.

Nov 10, 2011, 09:16 AM

I hope the people in here who are planning to play on pc do not have ATI cards.

Akaimizu

Nov 10, 2011, 11:16 AM

I typically have machines with Nvidia cards, mostly because historically they had the best support. ATI has gotten a lot better with the Driver thing, these years, but there's so many times it just seems games are tested more on Nvidia setups.

Xenobia

Nov 10, 2011, 12:17 PM

That totaly depends, some games run better on ATI and some are running better on Nvidia. Because of the excessive support from the side of Nvidia they will have some higher support in a overall manner. Nvidia is even giving out free dev kits, thats totaly normal nowadays. Because the support is the most important stuff and they know it as good as me, so they are willing to even pay for it.

Anyway, ATI is bringing out new drivers every month, and you can be sure that ATI will give theyr best in order to optimize any TES games to theyr hardware. So it will surely aswell run very clean on ATI cards, i got no worry about. Although, Nvidia might have some advantage on the FPS side, as long as the ATI GPU is a strong piece, there is absolutly no need to worry. The game engine itself is a multi-engine which is providing support for ATI and Nvidia at once. There is no thing such as "Nvidia only", however; Nvidia certainly is paying some good bribe fee in order to have such comments on the package. Besides: The Xbox 360 is running on a ATI GPU, it will be same for the new Wii U, so the engine necessarely have to support it, there is no way around.

Split

Nov 10, 2011, 01:22 PM

There was always things like that in Oblivion, although its just a randomly generated and normalized "easy task" with near infinite amount over time. But its simply a task, thats it... its not a epic story line. Get me a egg... next day... get another egg, thats near infinite.

Oblivion had around 100 dungeons inlcuding addon content. Skyrim will have around 130, maybe up to 150 when addon content is added. Both is a big displeasure regarding the power from the 2 forerunners.I've read at least 150 dungeons everywhere I've looked, with some review sources even reporting around 200 dungeons (Oh, by the way, reviews are all popping up today, and they seem overwhelmingly positive). And no, this is not the same thing as going into the arena once an in-game week, fighting 3 minotaurs, then leaving, or going into the Fighter's Guild and selecting a dialogue that will earn you money over an in-game month, or anything else. Please look up Skyrim's "radiant story" concept.

Xenobia

Nov 10, 2011, 07:13 PM

Radiant Story? Guess you mean the Radiant AI? Right i just read about that radiant "story" concept but no matter how we call it, its simply the name for a certain AI. So there might be increased intellect and everything will be more dynamic according interaction which has always been a dream in every peoples mind. But its aswell one of the hardest stuff to create and if that truly can turn out, lot of honor will be received. It certainly will be the first step into another shape of games, and the way how we play non online games in the future.

Well yeah: Here to read (other link is rather confusing) http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Radiant_Story

Well if that AI truly turn out to be much higher intellect than everything we knew before, then Skyrim surely will move one step forward into the next level of offline games. But as i said... great AIs are a dream and i dont trust it until i played it. Until now i still lack the game. Some got it today already, and it has been out yesterday or so, at the retailer. Steam wont be unlocked until 11. Nov. (release date) so its already a lot of hype for those... ehm.. 1? days.

Just dont get it how it will create new quests out of the air because those quests does actually exist and are still not AI created. So there will always be a limited numbers of those, however, many stuff wont be accessible when bad reputation. But finally, a AI able to create quests from the ground is still science fiction, but we surely will be one step closer to it.

But mainly from what i read we can split the AI into 3 different sections:
-Data Log (influence on both story and main AI)
-AI adjust (adjusting the world according to data log). (story AI)
-Auto AI of certain daily actions (main AI)

Stuff like that has already existed previously but it was very raw and in no way proper or refined. Now what we get is simply a huge advancement in complexity and therefore probably a new level of how we change the world with our appearance and aswell how others interact toward the players and ofc the world.

Split

Nov 10, 2011, 07:46 PM

Radiant Story? Guess you mean the Radiant AI? Right i heard about that radiant "story" concept but no matter how we call it, its simply the name for a certain AI. No, that's incorrect. Radiant AI refers to the way NPCs adhere to their daily schedules (things like waking up at A.M., going to work in the fields, coming back and going to the bar, then reading an in-game book before going to bed) and how they dynamically adapt when said schedules are altered or interrupted by one of thousands of possible outside variables; mind you, this is vastly improved in Skyim's engine, which is entirely different from Oblivion and Fallout 3's Gamebryo engine.

Radiant Story, however, is a new system in Skyrim that actually generates new quests, and no, these are really, really not the same as the end-of-guild-storyline busywork in Oblivion. They're actual quests that task you to assassinate certain individuals, or require you to go to a dungeon you haven't been to yet and kill a band of necromancers to claim the treasure they're protecting. Kill a man's father, and he'll both try to avenge him when he finds out, and take over the store that his father used to run. You gain a quest to defend yourself against him. Similarly, the example that article gave where a woman comes up to you and begs you to save her children gains you a quest. Where Radiant AI simply refers to behavior and complex pathing, Radiant Story refers to the game's new ability to endlessly generate content, which is a huge innovation. Therefore, even though Radiant Story is related to Radiant AI, it is completely deserving of its own term.

Xenobia

Nov 10, 2011, 08:06 PM

Its still a AI...
But the difference seems to be that it kinda acts independant of the main AI, so its simply a AI entirely focused on story content, so guess thats why its named "radiant story".

Now, whats the actual difference, well, it simply can link up endless chains of actions with current emotions. And those emotions are linked with certain actions. So, the question is if that is a endless chain? The actions itself certainly arnt infinite, however, it will mix up in a very complex way until it may repeat certain actions. It surely is interesting concept but i still wonder how that will finally turn out. One is for sure, its not anymore a single task, its a chained up tasks of endless actions, which are attached to certain conditions. Surely a high level of complexity.

And ofc the Radiant AI may be vastly improved, no doubt. There is much room for improvements but AIs are still under construction. Thanks to the multi CPU power we are one step closer.

Ah yeah i worry about bugs like mad... if that stuff is true then the complexity may exceed the level of ability to control. But at least it is writting a new path of games never been in existance in a way like that.

Zyrusticae

Nov 10, 2011, 08:30 PM

Hi.

I has the PC version. No, I won't tell you how.

Some quick observations before I dive back in:

- Graphics are better than vanilla Oblivion, but DEFINITELY not anywhere near modded Oblivion (aside from the animations, mind you). However, that being said, the art is several times better than Oblivion, so that easily makes up for it. I can scarcely imagine the awesomeness good modders will be able to pull from this engine.
- People now comment on your nudity again! Highlight: "WHOA! Not even I'm that drunk!" It was a weird omission from Oblivion, for sure.
- Magic is awesome. Magic is AWESOME. MAGIC... is awesome.

That's all for now. I will comment more after I've put some hours into it. I've only gotten past the intro thus far.

Split

Nov 10, 2011, 09:26 PM

Its still a AI...
But the difference seems to be that it kinda acts independant of the main AI, so its simply a AI entirely focused on story content, so guess thats why its named "radiant story".That's actually not a bad way to think about it. Sort of like "the director" in Left 4 Dead that spawns zombies based on where you are in a level, how close you are to your teammates, how much health/ammo you all have, etc. Although the element of randomization involved could disqualify it from that role...

Let's use that lady and her daughter as an example again. Radiant Story, totally out of the blue, sets up the quest in the background by spawning the woman's daughter and her kidnappers (presumably randomized bandits, necromancers, werewolves, vampires, etc.) in a random nearby cave/dungeon, favoring caves/dungeons that you may not have visited yet, all while you're off somewhere else. Completely outside of any individual NPCs' AI, the game says "Okay, now this is going to happen to this lady," and then it imbues the woman with the power to give that quest to you, making it so the next time you come within a certain distance of her, she automatically runs up to you and delivers her dialogue lines asking you to save her daughter. That's how it works.

Basically, my point is that I don't think it's really fair to equate Radiant AI to Radiant Story as you did in your earlier post. They're two distinct systems that interact with each other.

I know I always post Game Informer links, but I highly recommend watching this one:

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/11/10/reiner-and-phil-play-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim.aspx

For everyone wondering just how many places there are to explore, this video shows the map with an incredible number of locations discovered after over a hundred hours of gameplay. There is one small spoiler that people who played the Dark Brotherhood quest line in Oblivion will spot. You should all watch it anyway, some awesome (non-spoilerish) stuff happens.

Blue-Hawk

Nov 11, 2011, 12:36 AM

WOO! Just got back from the midnight opening with my pc copy. Now to install and hope for the best. :P

And for the record, that was the first and last midnight opening I'll attend.

.Rusty.

Nov 11, 2011, 01:25 AM

Hey put this bucket on your head for a minute or 2.

http://youtu.be/rt5aUdijAN8

i totally ain't gonna steal your stuff

:EDIT: instaling now :D

Xenobia

Nov 11, 2011, 07:09 PM

Nice try but without proper thieves ability that stuff wont work.

Corpse animation is rather weak, same such as on Oblivion. Sadly to much gummi puppet and to less flesh physics and not truly taking mass and angle into account. In my view the second hardest thing to create complex physics engines. One of many stuff they will have to tackle for next TES.

From what i saw, the dragon battle AI is aswell rather weak or close to non existable, its kinda premade. They move out of range as soon as the player is damaged, so they heal up and ... same again. Apart from that, they dont try to move away theyr weak spot and are not trying to abuse a players weak spot, thats not advanced. I can understand if usual mobs do not have a true AI but a elder dragon should have it, to make a fight more lively and interesting. Instead they just fly in and out all the time... not the stuff i expect and abused very easy toward the players advantage. So for future i wish a more advanced way of how they interact in battle. They say, that the battle behaviour will be adjusted to the players capabilitys... well, that pumped up character with massive strenght is definitely not a target to show any kind of mercy, but its full of mercy. It could for example knock him far into the air... and then fly away while he will be landing and get massive fall damage. And then same again, while a weaker player wont be knocked into the air and have easyer time dealing with. In term they use Levitation, the dragon will knock them into the air and then massively attack them up and down, sidward and backward... with endless pushbacks so they barely can even breathe and hardly heal... there wont be a break between unless the player is weak. So there is hardly any heal unless they truly need it, thats adaptive difficulty level, on top of the adjustable one. Just to say, the battle complexity still is remembering at the older TES and didnt truly improve.

Randomness

Nov 11, 2011, 07:17 PM

Xenobia

Nov 11, 2011, 07:59 PM

Yeah but emotions doesnt only mean to make a certain hard lined actions such as "hey im gonna call my momy"... thats a fixed action regarding a current emotion. Now, the more detailed emotion will affect even the battle itself in a precise manner, such as how agressive they will attack. When they see a weak player they will show mercy, when they see a strong one, they will be merciless. So... there is still so much stuff we could improve, the AI is surely advanced regarding "Radiant Story" but the "Battle AI" is still a relict from the past. Maybe in the next console generation the hardware headroom will allow more easely for stuff like that. Because the hardware surely is already on its very edge and the loading times are sometimes massive, even using install option. Although, such a battle AI is still possible to implement.

But yes, Capcom is very good at programming a good Battle AI. Have to take into account, they had a very high focus on fighting (only) games and so they kinda got a good skill.

Zyrusticae

Nov 11, 2011, 10:43 PM

I AM A WEREWOLF.

BEHOLD MY BLOODTHIRSTY, SAVAGE FURY!

[SPOILER-BOX]http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/4473/screenshot143n.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Akaimizu

Nov 12, 2011, 10:30 AM

Hehe. I'm still early on. Learning how to make weapons and enchant. Also summon my ghost wolf from time to time. Trying to get a good start on the Hector (Castlevania Curse of Darkness) style of play.

Randomness

Nov 12, 2011, 01:28 PM

I found a daedric shrine. But I can't figure out for the life of me how to start the quest. I'm only level 10, but nothing happens when I trigger the obvious trigger in front of the statue... and there's nothing but burnt corpses around to explain it to me.

On the other hand, shouts are fun. Especially when you just yell and an enemy horde gets sent bouncing off walls.

LK1721

Nov 12, 2011, 06:17 PM

I'm really LOVING this game so far, the battle mechanics are even more fun with the MAGIC. But, I'm slightly disappointed in the dragons, I was expecting something similar to MH dragon battle AI, but on the other hand, it isn't completely horrid either. Shouts are ridiculously fun, the game's aesthetics are very nice, and the world is engaging. Hello Elderscrolls Timesink V!

Neith

Nov 12, 2011, 08:28 PM

Played it for a couple hours, can't see what the fuss was over if I'm honest. Mind, I never thought much of Oblivion either.

Problems I had were:
[spoiler-box]
- Dragons graphically on PC look way better than everything else, including your character
- Combat felt like it was a game from the mid-90s, HORRIBLE system
- Voice acting was atrocious
- Menus are not intuitive and a complete pain to navigate when you're new to the game.
- No way to skip scenes if you die (first time I messed up on the dragon in the beginning, had to sit through the whole cart scene again)
- Animation is one of the worst I've seen in years. Prime example: guy on horse in intro behind your cart. He doesn't move at all and the horse does. Also, running animations look awkward, and defeated enemies just sort of instantly go into rigor mortis and keel over. Terrible for a game of this calibre really.
[/spoiler-box]

I know a lot of people will love the game, but it wasn't for me. It had its good points but the negatives were way too frequent and way too obvious for me to ignore.

Neo Flint

Nov 12, 2011, 09:01 PM

I bought my pre-order copy at midnight after waiting in line and fell in love. For starters though, I'm surprised you can attack ghost with normal weapons now. Normally, you need an enchanting weapon of some sort. I also love how you can use carriages to get to cities you having been yet because Skyrim seems to be larger than Cryedil.

Btw, does anyone know were I can find merchants who skill Illusion spell books besides that magic collage? Particularly the ones that'll make you invisible?

BIG OLAF

Nov 12, 2011, 10:07 PM

I also am loving it so far. As for Neith's complaints, I have to disagree with the "bad combat" just because of how improved it is over the part installments. It may not be the best, but it's very far from "horrid." Also, I see nothing wrong with the voice acting. Not every game is Mass Effect, where voice-acting/dialogue is almost the entire game.

Daedric Artifacts I have so far:

Savior's Hide
Mace of Molag Bal
(I could've had the Skull of Corruption, but I decided to "do the right thing.")

EDIT: Also, just about every set of armor I've come across looks tits. I came across an Ebony helmet, and just from that piece alone, I can tell the rest is going to look immaculate.

Randomness

Nov 13, 2011, 01:54 AM

My artifact collection:
Wabbajack (Seriously, this made no sense. Did they retcon Shivering Isles out or something?)
Dawnbreaker (Okay, a fire sword. Cute. Undead chain reaction explosions? HELL YEAH)

Found Azura's shrine, so... time to get the best artifact in the game probably. (I mean, Azura's Star? Sell all soul gems, learn soul trap, spam enchanted weapons until the end of time)

I've found my first dragon of the second level I guess... Blood Dragon. Pain in the ass because it would only land in a narrow spot, but it died about the same as everything else when I hit it with the Marked For Death shout... activated Hirtskin... and then mashed left click. God, Argonian's power is so much win. I regenerate health faster than a dragon's breath can hurt me.

Oh, and I became a werewolf, and have access to the cure (But why? There's basically no downsides to it, unless you care about Valhalla or whatever).

joefro

Nov 13, 2011, 02:09 AM

My favorite book so far,
[spoiler-box]http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lul57h2YpD1qcr6c8o1_1280.png?AWSAccessKeyId =AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1321254467&Signature=QMK2qPyLwuYl2GMq1MX%2F7GFR%2FKw%3D[/spoiler-box]

BIG OLAF

Nov 13, 2011, 03:36 AM

My artifact collection:
Wabbajack (Seriously, this made no sense. Did they retcon Shivering Isles out or something?)

No, there's still a Sheogorath. Your character from Oblivion became the new Sheogorath, in order to be able to defeat Jyggalag. Simple. There's nothing to retcon.

Randomness

Nov 13, 2011, 10:57 AM

No, there's still a Sheogorath. Your character from Oblivion became the new Sheogorath, in order to be able to defeat Jyggalag. Simple. There's nothing to retcon.

He looks exactly the same, talks exactly the same. Yeah, I know that's the most plausible scenario... I suppose that means Talos isn't the only mortal to attain immortality.

BIG OLAF

Nov 13, 2011, 11:10 AM

He looks exactly the same, talks exactly the same. Yeah, I know that's the most plausible scenario... I suppose that means Talos isn't the only mortal to attain immortality.

Well, Daedric Princes are basically gods...we can't fathom what theyre capable of. Who knows, maybe he/she slowly transformed back into the "original" Sheogorath under the Staff's influence.

Oh, and as for the Daedric shrine you mentioned (I think it was you), you have to be level 30 to begin the quest, and have a follower "activate" the Pillar of Sacrifice so you can kill them for Boethiah.

EDIT: And I found M'aiq the Liar on one of the roads going through the fall forest area (near Ivarstead). Only thing I could get him to say was something along the lines of:

"Why would someone want to travel with others? M'aiq prefers to travel alone; less arguing about splitting treasure."

Ark22

Nov 13, 2011, 11:34 AM

I haven't talked to my girlfriend allllll day. Playing this game on my laptop while playing MW3 on my ps3

Randomness

Nov 13, 2011, 03:16 PM

Well, Daedric Princes are basically gods...we can't fathom what theyre capable of. Who knows, maybe he/she slowly transformed back into the "original" Sheogorath under the Staff's influence.

Oh, and as for the Daedric shrine you mentioned (I think it was you), you have to be level 30 to begin the quest, and have a follower "activate" the Pillar of Sacrifice so you can kill them for Boethiah.

EDIT: And I found M'aiq the Liar on one of the roads going through the fall forest area (near Ivarstead). Only thing I could get him to say was something along the lines of:

"Why would someone want to travel with others? M'aiq prefers to travel alone; less arguing about splitting treasure."

I figured that was part of the condition for triggering it.

Kind of dismayed about it though, since they're kind of handy.

And yeah, the staff of sheogorath, combined with the font of madness and such could result in the hero eventually becoming a Daedric Prince (Which is kind of ironic though). I should note, there was ONE difference. The eyes. Were not glowing yellow, but rather grey. So I guess that solves the question of Shivering Isles somewhat... though I'd like to see a shrine to Jyggalag. You'd think people would be lining up to worship the Daedric Prince of order.

I may as well ask, what's your favorite shout so far? Mine has to be Marked For Death, since any armor debuff (and DoT, too!) is handy against strong enemies... though Fire Breath is a close second. I wish I remembered where I got them though... so many walls in so many places I've come across... over half of them in dungeons.

BIG OLAF

Nov 13, 2011, 04:27 PM

Ice Form is my favorite shout so far (I only have 2/3 words for it right now, though). I knew I would use that one the most back when I saw it in the gameplay video. Freezing groups of enemies like that gives me an extra moment to get my health back, get my summons up, and plan my next move.

Zyrusticae

Nov 14, 2011, 12:40 PM

Me, I've been using the breath powers a lot. Also Elemental Fury. Love Elemental Fury. Swinging a two-hander like it's made out of paper is just the best thing.

Oh, and I became a werewolf, and have access to the cure (But why? There's basically no downsides to it, unless you care about Valhalla or whatever).
Beast blood prevents you from gaining resting bonuses from sleep (though I've never actually bothered to check how substantial those bonuses actually are).

Also, transforming into a werewolf prevents you from gaining any skill-ups, which is actually a pretty big downside. If you use it enough, you can end up staying the same level for a very, very long time.

Randomness

Nov 14, 2011, 01:03 PM

Me, I've been using the breath powers a lot. Also Elemental Fury. Love Elemental Fury. Swinging a two-hander like it's made out of paper is just the best thing.

Beast blood prevents you from gaining resting bonuses from sleep (though I've never actually bothered to check how substantial those bonuses actually are).

Also, transforming into a werewolf prevents you from gaining any skill-ups, which is actually a pretty big downside. If you use it enough, you can end up staying the same level for a very, very long time.

Yeah, I know about the resting bonuses... Who even rests except to heal faster or pass time or trigger things (Like the Dark Brotherhood initiation)?

Also, daggers have such absurd sneak attack potential. Perk for x15 multiplier, gear for another x2 to all one-hand sneak attacks, plus all the one-hand damage mods (such as x2 from maxing the base perk, more from enchants)... It's like the game is begging you to go for instant kills with it... and then Sneak 100 lets you grab a perk where entering sneak mode makes everyone lose sight of you even in combat... I'm trying to make a sneak char JUST for this atm.

Also, werewolf is kind of fun, even if you get no XP from it. Besides, you can still buy skill levels (I gained like 20 ranks of smithing from the trainer in Whiterun - superior elven is quite nice)

Xenobia

Nov 14, 2011, 04:27 PM

I did now play the game for a while. But im not very far.

I play it on a PS3 with SSD inserted. Technically it runs better than Oblivion many years ago on XBox360. Loading ist somewhat shorter aswell, although i got hardware advantage. Im surely surprised how much they was able to push out of that console and it truly runs very smooth.

The biggest disappointment is the character creation... dirty cheap and truly without any love. The characters texture are cheap and even the hairs only got a few premade options... bad work on that term. Aswell the custom stuff is generally weaker than Morrowind, but not entirely weaker than Oblivion. Although, the spells are designed on a level never seen before.

Apart from that, the game is awesome and much better than Oblivion, i guess we are back on the level of Morrowind. Both got its advantage and disadvantage, sure, techically Skyrim is much younger and simply state of art. But the gameplay and the most important stuff its atmosphere is surely aswell much better than Oblivion so far. I hope it stays that way, i surely seem to have a fun experience so far and now im going back playing it.

BIG OLAF

Nov 14, 2011, 08:30 PM

I maxed out my Ice Form and Frost Breath shouts yesterday. Frost Breath is actually damn useful.

Oh, and I can add Dawnbreaker, Azura's Star, and the Oghma Infinium to the list of artifacts I've acquired.

I also have an Elder Scroll in my possession, too (you inadvertently receive it for doing Hermaeus Mora's quest). I can't read it though, because when I do, my character opens the scroll up, it glows briefly, and then I go blind for a moment, as (I'm sure most of you know that the Elder Scrolls are much too powerful for the eyes of most mortals). It says it's a quest item, so I guess I'm just hanging onto it for now.

Randomness

Nov 14, 2011, 10:08 PM

How's the Oghma function this time around?

BIG OLAF

Nov 15, 2011, 12:22 AM

How's the Oghma function this time around?

Same way as in Oblivion. Read it, pick your path, then it disappears. All the increases gave me a good 1.5 levels, too.

Randomness

Nov 15, 2011, 01:12 AM

Same way as in Oblivion. Read it, pick your path, then it disappears. All the increases gave me a good 1.5 levels, too.

I meant, what bonuses did you get from it? I'm guessing it's something like all skills of a given discipline go up by some amount.

Also, I'm loving this stealth/archer build. One of the early dungeons (at least, one I hit early) ends with progressively stronger undead rising from crypts to attack, ending with a minor boss zombie. I just sat in the doorway, sniping with sneak bonuses. Never got spotted, they died so fast (It helped that I had Lydia with me, and kept them from getting close enough to fully detect me).

Also, Shadowmere is back. Need to find out if he's the same immortal damage sponge he was in Oblivion, especially since it would be damned helpful for dragon fights (My current game plan is opening with Marked For Death 3, then sniping from near cover to avoid the breath). The Dark Brotherhood quests are much more interesting this time, if only for what you're actually doing by the end of them... the armor is godly too (Double sneak attack damage with one-handed weapons, silent movement, 50% poison resist, +20% bow damage, and some armor bonus for wearing all four pieces. If you're going to use stealth to fight, it doesn't get any better)

Neo Flint

Nov 15, 2011, 01:24 AM

Does anyone have any tips for melee dual wielding? I'm using a thief character and since I can't block while dual wielding, I keep dying on adept difficulty. My dark elf is lvl 25 atm.

SpikeOtacon

Nov 15, 2011, 03:54 AM

The three hit combo for holding down both left and right attack at the same time will be your best friend. Use the Unrelenting Force shout to provide knockback for tougher enemies and groups. Also, I suggest a bow of some sort and at least a basic heal and fireball on hand.

amtalx

Nov 15, 2011, 10:34 AM

If you're playing a thief, I would focus on ranged sneak attacks and backstabs. I'm running a Lv.29 Dark Elf thief and in the rare instance that I don't OHKO an enemy, they usually can't detect me before I fill them with enough arrows to kill them. If all else fails, I crush them with Destruction spells. Thieves are usually pretty frail, so dual weilding is playing to the weakest aspect of your build since you loose armor by not having a shield.

BIG OLAF

Nov 15, 2011, 11:40 AM

I meant, what bonuses did you get from it? I'm guessing it's something like all skills of a given discipline go up by some amount.

Ah. Yes, you pick a path, and all skills pertaining to that path goes up by 10, I think (I don't remember exactly).

I can add Wabbajack and the Ebony Mail to my artifact list now, too. (2/3 of Mehrunes' Razor, as well)

Zyrusticae

Nov 15, 2011, 02:10 PM

Posting to marvel at how utterly astonished I am that the game is actually stable at launch. I have had maybe one software-related crash since I started playing the game and I've put a good 30 hours into it so far, which is VERY impressive for a Bethesda game.

In fact, both Oblivion and Fallout 3 remain incredibly unstable for me even after both official and unofficial patches. I have actually counted an average session time of 1-2 hours in Oblivion before a crash, which just plain boggles my mind.

I don't know how Bethesda did it, but Skyrim is easily the best-made piece of software they have ever produced thus far. I am now looking forward to the Creation Kit and the wondrous (and also horrible) creations that will come forth from the masses.

Randomness

Nov 15, 2011, 02:33 PM

Ah. Yes, you pick a path, and all skills pertaining to that path goes up by 10, I think (I don't remember exactly).

I can add Wabbajack and the Ebony Mail to my artifact list now, too. (2/3 of Mehrunes' Razor, as well)

Best to grab it before a skill goes above 90 then I suppose. Where is the shrine for it?

Also, did you enjoy Sheogorath's quest?

BIG OLAF

Nov 15, 2011, 03:05 PM

Best to grab it before a skill goes above 90 then I suppose. Where is the shrine for it?

Also, did you enjoy Sheogorath's quest?

There is no shrine. I don't want to spoil anything, but I'll just say the location to start the quest is very far north, and the quest isn't what it seems when you first start (meaning that it doesn't seem like a Daedric Prince quest).

As for Sheogorath's quest, it was fun and quirky, as expected, but I was expecting more. I like how he mentioned The Shivering Isles a few times, though.

Randomness

Nov 15, 2011, 03:49 PM

There is no shrine. I don't want to spoil anything, but I'll just say the location to start the quest is very far north, and the quest isn't what it seems when you first start (meaning that it doesn't seem like a Daedric Prince quest).

As for Sheogorath's quest, it was fun and quirky, as expected, but I was expecting more. I like how he mentioned The Shivering Isles a few times, though.

Oh, is it the Lexicon quest? That load screen tip about Hermaus had a picture of it on its stand. It would make sense for him too.

Also, Shadowmere is, indeed, an immortal tank. He just laughed off the attacks of a dragon... followed immediately by a fireball spamming dragon priest.

Edit: Dark Brotherhood quests complete. Without spoiling anything, I have to say that my final target was... insane (No, I wasn't told to kill Sheogorath).

Neo Flint

Nov 15, 2011, 09:10 PM

Guys, I've also heard reports on another forum that NPCs could rob your house if you had one. I'd keep my valuables on my person just in case.

Oh wait, is that old news? ._.

Randomness

Nov 15, 2011, 09:49 PM

Guys, I've also heard reports on another forum that NPCs could rob your house if you had one. I'd keep my valuables on my person just in case.

Oh wait, is that old news? ._.

Seems stupid. In any case, I have Lydia waiting in my house, so random thief NPC would die anyways...

But really, no, I'm pretty sure your house chests are safe.

Edit: Kind of funny. Was exploring a cave. Reach the end, there's a obvious trap door (shiny metal in bare rock) between me and a the word wall. I jump it, grab the word (Kyne's Peace), and then decide to fall for the trap for the hell of it. So I fall through and land in a cage. Warlock cackles, goes on a monologue... and makes the mistake of passing in front of the cage. I steal the key from him through the bars, unlock the cage, step out, and backstab him (for 30x damage!). Poor fool never stood a chance.

Xenobia

Nov 16, 2011, 12:12 PM

Randomness

Nov 16, 2011, 12:40 PM

Im not that far as you guys/gals. But i have lot of fun playing it.

There is however many flaws:
I made a escort quest where a guy was coming along with me, and the AI was pretty stupid, he truly would kill himself very easy. However, somehow i managed to finish the stuff but i surely wasnt happy about.

There is aswell many bugs regarding owned items and sometimes a clear violence (killing a friendly target, stealing) doesnt count as a violence (no count for it at all) but a non violence action can count as violence, its pretty screwed up at times. Simply pretty buggy and always have to watch out for, in term you want to stay friendly to others, pay extra care. Some stuff does hurt them without you knowing about (kinda like my RL... mostly i hurt others without any intention), on the other hand not every hostile action does count as hostile. And then there comes the major weakness, you cant say "sorry", thats still not possible with current AI. Maybe in future it gets more complex and will be allowing for more room toward that kind of matters. And when a heavely damaged NPC is begging for mercy they are that close to death that they may not survive (it never worked for me and my compagnion keeps attacking), its kinda a useless act. So that kind of "mercy" interaction is still underdeveloped.

Good luck wearing all of it... i can only wear the items i currently use and maybe a second set, then i am already at my limit. Although i still lack the cash for buying a house, i think there should be possibility to lock your home. It surely sux when they are entering your home when you are away but thats what a key is usualy used for. In Skyrim they kinda increased its criminality potency, especially when it comes to stealing items from players which isnt truly fun. Although, i was dropping all of my stuff inside 2 friends houses and i didnt notice that anything of it has left theyr home...

So maybe it does only happen in term someone hates you... who knows. Skyrim is kinda complex on those matters.

If you actually leave them alone when they beg for mercy, or flee, they usually just come and attack again. Also, there's no way items in a house you own are vulnerable. They wouldn't make the game where you had no safe storage.

As for escort quests, I've yet to have anyone die on me (that wasn't supposed to). NPCs do tend to set off traps, but other than that...

In any case, I reached the summit of the Throat of the World last night. Major revelations of plot, including some interesting details on Alduin (It's not really hard, if you can get to High Hrothgar, you should be strong enough to complete the quests up to where you're sent up the summit. Also, opening the path there is not possible before that point in main quest, since the shout is taught as part of it... I suppose you might be able to climb over rocks and work your way up... but it's very unlikely)

I'm up to 70 sneak. I need to go do Hermaus Mora's quest now... since I intend to put it into my stealth skills (My pickpocket and lockpick need the help, plus better alchemy doesn't hurt)

Edit: How to crush a dragon: Mortal Finite Temporary Kill Maim Suffer.

Edit 2: Badasserry: One-shotting a Dwemer Centurion. Fighting two Blood Dragons at once and winning.

Edit 3:Anyone know if wearing armor penalizes your magic? I'm REALLY wanting to make some kind of silly heavy-armor wearing mage.

Zyrusticae

Nov 16, 2011, 07:30 PM

Pretty sure armor has no relation to magic use, aside from the intrinsic magica bonuses from wearing a robe (which can get pretty high - master robes give a +150% magica regen bonus).

I forced SSAO through Nvidia Inspector, and I gotta say, it's amazing how so subtle an effect can dramatically improve my appreciation for the game's visuals.

Have some example screenies.

[spoiler-box]http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/1715/screenshot424e.jpg
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/7238/screenshot414u.jpg
http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/3186/screenshot397c.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/4761/screenshot388.jpg
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9563/screenshot389.jpg
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/5943/screenshot428u.jpg
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/6594/screenshot429y.jpg
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1185/screenshot430k.jpg[/spoiler-box]

BIG OLAF

Nov 16, 2011, 07:47 PM

I can now add Mehrunes' Razor, Volendrung, Spell Breaker, and the Sanguine Rose to my list of artifacts.

I totally wasn't expecting Sanguine's quest to come about the way it did. I was completely blindsided when he revealed himself, but I felt stupid for not recognizing "him" beforehand, though.

Volendrung looks completely badass.

Spell Breaker is amazing, as it puts up this mini-ward spell when you hold it up to block (you actually see the air around the shield ripple) It's also inverted, so it looks like a satellite dish.

Also, got my smithing skill to 90+, so I'm clad in full Daedric with a shield and sword to go with it. Holy damn it looks awesome. Very demonic. Me gusta.

Kyrith_Ranger_Pso

Nov 16, 2011, 08:33 PM

Skyrim Story of Today: While being chased by a bear on a road through the woods next to a river, I was trying to free a storm cloak man being discreetly walked to his execution by imperial legionnaires. I was trying to free the prisoner but as with the imperial legionaries he was attacking the bear who killed 2 imperials and the storm cloak prisoner. I was at almost no health when i finally killed the bear with a fire arrow. I then walked past the remaining legionnaire crouched and sneak killed him, STORMCLOAKS FOREVER!. (none of this was scripted)

BIG OLAF

Nov 16, 2011, 10:16 PM

Oh, thought I'd throw this out there:

On a hunch, I went to the very tippy-top of the Throat of the World earlier today, just to see what was up there. At the top, I found:

- 2 Malachite ore veins
- 2 Ebony ore veins
- a pickaxe stuck into the top of the mountain that was called "Notched Pickaxe." It gives a bonus to smithing, and does shock damage. I can only wager that it's a reference to the co-creator of Minecraft, Notch. Fun little easter egg, I thought.

Randomness

Nov 17, 2011, 09:37 PM

Breezehome looks pretty good if you spend the money to max it out (It's like 1500 or so in the end to get all upgrades). Lots of chests too.

Who needs a more expensive house? It's also right between the blacksmith and general store in Whiterun... and right in front of the fast travel exit too.

Turns out, enchanting is stupid easy to level. Get some cheap trash weapons, buy some petty gems, enchant. I'm gaining more than 100% xp each enchantment right now.

Also, skill training gets EXPENSIVE after 50. I spent 500 gold to get 50. I spent 1520 for 52.

Kyrith_Ranger_Pso

Nov 17, 2011, 10:50 PM

im hearing about game killing lag on the PS3 version, is it true?

Randomness

Nov 18, 2011, 01:22 AM

Skill training as you near cap: 5k per level. Then again... a few runs of any repeatable stuff will net that. It's 1k for a easy dark brotherhood contract... (Get contract, meet client, kill target, repeat) First one was basically fast travel to Whiterun, fast travel to another town, crouch and stab.

The Winterhold College quests have a stupid boss in them. You end up eventually having to face a dragon priest. And he's wielding a godly staff of zapping you across the room. And destroying both your health and mana... He also can take over anything you summon. So you're expected to face down a tremendously powerful opponent as a mage... who utterly destroys you, your companion, and your mana. And you have to kill it to get the quest item you need. The only time I've ever killed a dragon priest it was with Shadowmere tanking it... speaking of which...

I think the game glitched on me.. badly. Shadowmere isn't showing up when I fast travel... which is strange, because it shouldn't be able to die. I mean, I've never even seen it crippled (Even when fighting Krosis, and his fireball spam from hell, directly after it tanked a blood dragon). The only time I ever had it die was from massive fall damage that just barely failed to kill me (I promptly reloaded).

amtalx

Nov 18, 2011, 01:41 AM

Some of the skills are far cheaper to train by buying the items to use it. I maxed Smithing simply by buying leather and leather straps and making dozens of Leather Bracers, which I then sold back to the smith I bought the leather from in the first place. For the cost of training one level, I could cover the material cost for five levels of farming bracers. Now I'm sporting a nice set of Legendary Dragonscale with Krosis' mask. Sadly, I'm not high enough to see any Daedra. So I'll have to wait to make a Daedric bow.

Randomness

Nov 18, 2011, 10:59 PM

Hell yeah! Sneak mastered!

And yes, the perk does mean you can just crouch mid-combat and instantly score a sneak attack... which means you basically auto-kill anything in one hit. No need to sneak since you get a couple seconds of invis whenever you crouch... Of course, this can be achieved also through use of the Cloak of Nocturnal power... for two minutes, once per day (You actually become invisible indefinitely whenever you crouch, making it THE most powerful power a dagger use can ever have. You have to complete Thieves Guild to get it)

I should warn you, you're invisible for only about one second, so you have to attack immediately after crouching... but almost nothing can survive it. It's the ultimate offense.

Edit: Oh that's nice Bethesda. The one enemy I most wanted to one shot, you make immune to sneak attacks. Even when I use outright invisibility.

Oh well, I think I have all 20 shouts now. Whee!

BIG OLAF

Nov 19, 2011, 12:42 AM

I can add the Ebony Blade to my list of artifacts now. It's got a nice health drain on it, and Mephala said that it "feeds on the blood of deceit" when I got it. Something about plucking delicate heartstrings and so forth.

So, naturally, I tried killing a follower, but nothing happened. I'm thinking I have to kill a spouse. Now, if only I could figure out how to marry someone, because the game isn't very clear on that whatsoever.

Kyrith_Ranger_Pso

Nov 20, 2011, 09:55 PM

i think there's something about an amulet in the bottom right corner city (which the name of escapes me currently)

BIG OLAF

Nov 20, 2011, 10:19 PM

i think there's something about an amulet in the bottom right corner city (which the name of escapes me currently)

Yeah, I figured it out yesterday after going to temple of Mara in Riften, since Mara is the goddess of love. I'm now married and such. Decided against killing my new wife, though.

Randomness

Nov 20, 2011, 11:05 PM

So guards keep making the various werewolf comments even though I'm cured. Bleh.
I forge the ancient nord armor, they ask if I'm grave robbing. I've never seen Draugr drop it (odd, since it's actually really bad, only as good as iron despite using steel. The weapons are all quite good on the other hand :disapprove:).
Guards are stupid.

Illusion is stupidly easy to level. Even easier than Enchanting, actually. (Load up courage/calm spells and open fire on townsfolk) I hear Alteration is really fast once you get detect life, but I've yet to get it high enough to buy that spell. Restoration... I dunno. Wards maybe? Otherwise, Riverwood's forge you can burn yourself in. Conjuration... I haven't figured out whether the casting or the damage gives xp. Destruction... yeah, gotta fight.

You know, I think the game is actually subtly hinting to Shivering isles now. One of the lines Sheogorath has is about being there, and then he mentions "butterflies, blood, a Fox," and then one more thing I don't remember. Fox is capitalized so it probably means the Gray Fox. Butterflies has to refer to the opening of Shivering Isles (one of the best scenes in the game, imo). Blood, well... blood could mean any number of things... maybe it means the Mania ritual (In which you collect the previous duke's blood... though the dementia one involves taking a heart, so...). While the old Sheogorath was present for the ritual, more or less, you hadn't exactly made him notice you right as you entered. Blood could also refer to the gladiator fights I guess, or any number of other things. I wish I remembered the fourth thing... Actually, his disposition towards Martin could be another reference... I mean, Martin wasn't anywhere near insane... not on the level of Pelagius, so that's the only real reason for the Madgod to like him over Pelagius.

I suppose what threw me the most was the voice, since it's exactly the same. But then, we're talking a Daedric Prince, so he can sound however he wants to sound (Come to think of it, I'm half surprised there was never a scene where he used a woman's voice just to mess with you)

Also, in case my last post didn't make it clear, I've beaten the main quest (Because I really wanted to try and one-shot the last boss, and they made him immune to sneak attacks... for no good reason, considering how obscenely powerful Marked For Death is - I went from chipping away at his health to dropping 80% of it in three blows after it had finished it's work on him). I have also cleared Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, and the Companions (though not on the same file... not that my sneak character would have any trouble with Companions). I've yet to finish the College of Winterhold due to it throwing a dragon priest at me. Apparently the Bards College isn't a faction (but it sure tries to look like one). I also killed Ulfric last night (It's kind of sad how easy the war quests are - just a lot of grunts to kill. Could be fun with area spells I guess, or the sweep perk in two-handed). For Daedric quests, I've only done... Meridia, Mehrunes Dagon, Hermaus Mora, Sheogorath, and Hircine. Nocturnal sort of plays into Thieves Guild and there's no artifact (even though she is one of only two princes I've seen physically manifest - the other being Sheogorath, and neither exactly stepped Mundus proper), so it doesn't really count. She does have a shrine that gives blessings, which is rather unique (the only blessing not from the Aedra, to my knowledge). +10 sneak. Not bad really, except that you can get the utterly insane Cloak of Nocturnal power from the Thieves Guild questline (For two minutes, you become invisible indefinitely whenever you crouch. If you think Shadow Warrior is good...).

I'm currently seeing how making a conjuration-focused mage plays out. At the very least, it's stupidly easy to fill soul gems when you're using conjured weapons... I'm also considering a fist-fighting Khajit (Basically, take the heavy armor perk for gauntlets adding unarmed damage, throw on all the armor mods I can, and punch stuff to death. I think I can easily clear 60 attack power with just smithing and heavy armor)

Keilyn

Nov 21, 2011, 12:21 AM

Im focusing on full mage-character to tear apart everything. :) Its a fun game so far. Thank God for Nvidia Drivers that allow SLI to work.

Randomness

Nov 21, 2011, 12:30 AM

Im focusing on full mage-character to tear apart everything. :) Its a fun game so far. Thank God for Nvidia Drivers that allow SLI to work.

Destruction magic is a bit weak, since it never scales up... (In Oblivion, you could create new destruction spells as you went... but spell creation let you make such unbelievably overpowered stuff...) I mean, besides the elemental perks, I guess. (Or the vampire destruction spell).

On a side note, the hero of Oblivion gets a rather happy ending when you think about it. I mean, sure, you obviously eventually go completely mad, but... well, you also become immortal, and can live a life of utter hedonism without repercussion (and in fact, that's precisely what you're expected to do, interspersed with the occasional bit of keeping everything properly out of order).

Zyrusticae

Nov 21, 2011, 12:51 AM

I think Destruction gets really silly OP later on. Its main strength is its spammability; bows take awhile to fire due to having to nock your arrows every time (although I haven't looked at the perk tree to see if there's something speeding that up), whereas Destruction magic can be spammed rapid-fire.

I can kill just about anything by throwing Lightning Bolt at it enough times, while simultaneously keeping them permanently stumbled and draining them of all their magica. Once I get the expert perk, I'll be spamming Thunderbolt, which does 4.5 times as much damage (though with an accompanying massive increase in magica cost). That's absolutely massive burst - enough to kill nearly any non-boss monster in the game.

That being said, they really should have made some sort of mechanic for scaling lower-level spells, such as having their damage increase when you get the higher-level perks (apprentice, adept, expert, master), rather than just having their magica cost eventually drop off to nothing. Being able to spam 15 damage a second indefinitely is of questionable utility next to doing 150 damage in an instant...

Mantiskilla

Nov 21, 2011, 02:39 PM

Well installed some mods into Skyrim. Gotta say the Face texture mod and blood texture mod are pretty nice but the mod for your map is just kick ass. Makes the map full 3D and acts like Google Maps where you can zoom in all the way to city streets and various other places. Pretty sweet. I hear of another mod in which the stars at night actually portray the stars in the sky in real time so the constellations will actually move in the game as the time progresses. Don't hold me to that though just read about something like that somewhere. Just another reason why certain games are just more enjoyable on certain platforms like this one for PC. Here is a example from my game (not far at all by the way)

[SPOILER-BOX]http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f125/Mantiskilla78/Skyrim1.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Akaimizu

Nov 21, 2011, 03:16 PM

There are things to speed up Bow firing rates. I'm not so sure about the Archery perk alone, though. I wasn't looking that direction as I was looking at Enchanted gear that can speed up Firing rate for Arrows. So I'm familiar with the Enchanter's path to fast Arrow Fire rates. I may have to look up the Archery tree myself, though I guess an Archer person can score some enchanted gear to automatically fire faster.

Randomness

Nov 21, 2011, 05:38 PM

So, one upside of focusing on Conjuration early... I have so many filled soul gems I don't know what to do with them all (Conjured weapon=soul bind perk). Which basically means I throw crap enchants on all my loot before selling it.

Still deciding what I want to play around with besides conjuration though. I've taken perks into Alteration (Defense, obvious choice really. Plus, I'm trying to hit 100% magic resist, and it gives a healthy amount) and Illusion. Obviously, need to take the magic regen perk in Restoration. Nice thing about Conjuration is that Bound Weapon: Bow is easier on my mana than throwing destruction would be for poking away from range... even if it's dependent on Archery (Not that that's bad per se, since it means I can significantly power the bow up if I choose to, though the biggest draw is the Power Shot perk for staggering deep in the Archery tree, not quite as easy to get as Impact under Destruction). I'm probably only going to take the last two Atronach perks (strength boost and double summoning) and remaining cost reducers from Conjuration now. I need to play more with Illusion magic, once I get my mana pool large enough to support more than just Atronach+Weapon+Defense buffs at once. Frenzy and Calm could be fun. (To some degree, I'm trying to make a mage themed around being some kind of arcane general, as opposed to a straight up death dealing Destruction user).

If Resist and Absorb Magicka stack the same as in Oblivion, I should be able to get total magic immunity with just Dragonskin and all three levels of Alteration's Magic Resist perk (total: 25% resist from Breton, 30% resist from perks, 50% absorb from power=105% reduction). Sure, it's only sixty seconds, but sixty seconds of nigh-invincibility (Add in Dragonhide or Ebonyflesh for everything else) and no need to spend any magic to maintain it... Well, that ought to leave my pool free for just dropping Atronachs into my enemy's face... or anything else I want. With the Atronach perk, I'd be at 55% resist and 30% absorb normally, making Dragonskin (Seriously, why is there a power called Dragonskin and a spell called Dragonhide?) almost unneeded.

Also, I'm trying to avoid Destruction because the obvious ideal destruction build is to take 50% cost reduction in enchants, another 50% from perks... and just abuse Impact. I'm trying to be effective without using 100% cost reduction...

Also... magic is so much more expensive than stealth (key gear from Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood early on) or warrior (it's all in loot, or Smithing if you want to be absolutely invincible) setups. I might have to actually take a couple Speech perks. And use Zenithar's altar. And use a necklace of Zenithar. Or something.

Edit: Found a great way to make money (literally) as a mage. Transmutation. Buy iron ore, turn it into gold ore, smith it into rings, and sell em. (or enchant first, but...)

Edit2: Cool spell: Flaming Familiar. It's like a normal familiar, except on fire. And instead of biting enemies, it runs and jumps up on them (like an overly friendly dog)... and then explodes. Trying to find a situation it's worth using in, since it can kind of backfire if the enemy runs into range. And you REALLY don't want melee followers with you if you're going to use it. Also, it came with a Dragon Priest's mask... for Alteration, Conjuration, and Illusion. Unfortunately, it kind of backfires with Alteration's Magic Armor perk, since it's heavy armor. (But it's a damn nice effect... especially when there's some robes for 15% reduction to ALL spells (Arch-mage robes. Need to get around to college... since the dragon priest stealing summons doesn't matter much when the summon explodes five seconds after coming out!)

Oh, and I ran across someone who ASKED me to Wabbajack them. Rather humorous, so I obliged them. They turned into a rabbit. I should have killed said rabbit since the game apparently tracks how many bunnies you slaughter.

Edit3: Bard's college is still worth doing, as the three quests after the entry exam are like mini Oghmas. (Flute recovery:+1 all magic, Lute recovery:+1 all stealth, Drum recovery:+1 all combat) On a similar note, the reward for one of the quests for the mage college is a complete set of magic skill books (So, +1 to all magic skills when you read them).

Outrider

Nov 22, 2011, 02:52 PM

So as somebody who is just looking on from afar, I have to ask: did you hear about how somebody used noclip to go outside the bounds of Skyrim and found the rough geometry for most of Morrowind and wherever Obliviou took place?

http://kotaku.com/5861752/skyrim-contains-the-entire-elder-scrolls-continent-including-morrowind-and-cyrodiil

What's your take on it?

I think it would be pretty neat to make those areas available to you, but then again I also think revealing Kanto as a playable area at the end of Pokemon Silver/Gold may have been one of the coolest moments in gaming.

BIG OLAF

Nov 22, 2011, 03:59 PM

I think that Bethesda did it purely for the lulz. There's really no plausible reason to unlock entire continents in the game, let alone I don't think having that much information on one disc is even possible, but I'm no tech expert. I think they just did it for completion's sake, and to give intrepid souls (PC players) something interesting to discover.

Anyway, looks like I'm going to have to make an entirely new character for the "Oblivion Walker" achievement, seeing as Bethesda made it to where you must have all 15 Daedric artifacts on the same save/character. I honestly find that to be an incrediby shoddy development choice, but looks like I'll have to suffer through it.

.Rusty.

Nov 22, 2011, 04:44 PM

um skyrim is 3.8 gb if you install it on the 360 hard drive.If they reused assets they could easily make a dlc for morrowind or cyrodiil thats under 1 gb.or perhaps its there to encourage the modding community.

BIG OLAF

Nov 22, 2011, 05:03 PM

Probably just to encourage the modders. Even if they did make a DLC for Morrowind or Cyrodiil areas, I feel it would be a waste. Why would I want to go somewhere I've been before?

Well, granted that Morrowind is very different now. It's a wasteland of boiling seas and crazy Argonian tribal colonies. So, that would be kind of interesting. But, Cyrodiil is still much the same, there's just a few new towns scattered throughout the province. Not that intriguing to me, at least. But, I would be interested to see how the Aldmeri Dominion/Thalmor's presence affects the province, especially the Imperial City.

But, more or less, I wouldn't want a DLC for somewhere I've already been. My friend and I were talking the other day, and he had just completed Sheogorath's quest. He said he would like a DLC where the player revisits The Shivering Isles. I don't know why...we were just there. I'd rather have something fresh.

On another note, after completing Clavicus Vile's shrine quest, I felt disappointed. Not only because Vile's voice and appearance were nothing like they "should" have been ("should" being in quotes since I realize that he's a Daedric Prince, and can look/sound however he wants, but still), but the even bigger problem was that he didn't make any references or even the slightest allusions toward the Elder Scrolls novels, in which he was heavily, albeit a tad indirectly, involved.

My only thoughts could be that nothing was said since Lord of Souls, the second novel, wasn't released until September 29th, 2011, and that was hardly enough time for Bethesda to incorporate a reference or two. Hopefully we'll see some in future DLCs, though. I mean, shit, how can there not be a single scrap of history, like a book or something, talking about a flying city that processes souls like fuel and makes armies of the walking dead? You'd figure that would've been written down somewhere.

Xenobia

Nov 22, 2011, 05:08 PM

.Rusty.

Nov 22, 2011, 05:10 PM

Ysolda in white run says some thing about a flying island if you sell her some Sleeping Tree Sap.

:e: ^ i had that bug with Ice Spike i was runing around with a gaint ice boner

Outrider

Nov 22, 2011, 05:12 PM

So, I read a comment that seems to explain why they have so much of the other lands mapped out.

Apparently when you're way up high in Skyrim (the mentioned a particular quest that I don't remember off the top of my head), you can very easily see beyond the borders of the playable area. Since the character should be able to see into the areas features in Morrowind and Oblivion, they tossed in some low-res geometry.

Makes sense to me.

Although the random gate leading back to Morrowind that's blocked by an invisible wall still sounds weird (and annoying.)

Randomness

Nov 22, 2011, 06:11 PM

I got a annoying bug for my last saves. I noticed that the arrows shoted at the body, will keep stuck and they wont be removed anymore, no matter how many of them. Imagine how the char will look like when enough of arrows on it... just not so fun.

So i had to delete all the affected saves. Dunno how that did happen. Usual the engine is creating blood effects and arrows will be stuck for like half min, but then it will slowly disapper. In term its working proper, however, effects like that are vulnerable to bugs. I guess it can happen when such effects on you, and game will be saved at the same time,.. so watch out, else all saves might be infected.

Aswell save save save... cant tell enough times, TES is always like that and its important.

There's an easy fix for that actually. Open the console (` key), and use sexchange twice. Presumably, showracemenu would also work.

Also, I feel like I did when I first got the Shadow Warrior perk. Except this is at only 75 conjuration. Seriously, Dremora Lord should be a master spell. It's ridiculously strong... One of them took out half the HP of a Dwarven Centurion Master... and I had more than enough mana to just laugh and throw another out to finish it off. It reduces combat to: Summon Dremora Lord, hide, profit. It is rather cool to have watch it slaughter everything with its enchanted daedric greatsword though.

Back up to where I was with the mage college on my previous mage... but this time I think I can take the priest. If nothing else, I have 45% resist right now, so Dragonskin should let me take his spells... My only concern is I'm still stuck with regards to summons because he has Control Daedra or whatever... but that's why I went and got Flaming Familiar. They should blow up in his face before he can get it off, and hopefully he wastes time trying. Or I can take one more perk to get Oblivion Binding, summon anyways, and just fire a bound arrow to dispel anything he turns.

Also, I found an interesting (and useful) glitch (glitch-ish, because this basically functions the same way in Oblivion). If you're at zero magicka, and unequip/reequip a piece of gear with Fortify Magicka, it gives you that much magicka back. When you have something with like +70 Magicka on it, that's significant.

Xenobia

Nov 22, 2011, 06:29 PM

I dunno if there are things like that on PS3, im not currently using PC, but i might use as soon as GOTY is out (which is certainly following in a year).

Some more stuff i find, kinda weird. When i steal a carrot from the camp in front of White... then they will all attack me. Hey its a carrot, do you want to risk your live killing me because of a carrot? Common sense in your dreams. They could shout at me and maybe increase price from goods they sell.. or what else. Attacking is always a act a wise man is trying to avoid unless its absolutly necessary.

Oh besides, the game surely is tuned well on consoles, especially on a PS3 with a fast HDD or SSD. It will run very smooth, judders may happen occasionaly but rather rare. The viewing range is pretty high for a console. Some weaker PCs might even look worse than that. I think the graphic level on PS3 is about middle settings and thats actually pretty good. It got Anti Aliasing enabled, so the graphics truly is very outstanding and surely its going to the very edge the hardware is capable of. The only backside is many bugs and sometimes it may even freeze or loading can interrupt... the game simply is pretty buggy but that counts for absolutly any system. Overall there was no TES who did run better on a console than Skyrim. However, i talk about PS3 with fast HDD/SSD tuning, a Xbox360 will have harder time because its simply not the same hardware power. A PS3 with its XDR RAM, its 7 core cell CPU and its SSD possibility, simply can speed up the stuff a good margin, however, as usual, its a hardware very hard to develop on it. No matter what, the Skyrim engine can make use of the hardware power, which is a rather rare exception, and therefore great.

Randomness

Nov 22, 2011, 11:52 PM

Haha, capped conjuration. Did a really easy quest for the conjurer guy at the college and got access to the master level spells... Thralls. (Permanent summons, for zombies and atronachs)

Also, the Dual Souls perk applies to Dremora Lords. Who are basically the best summon outright except for their lack of ranged attacks (Storm Atronachs have lightning, the other expert level summon...). I mean, they're strong enough that double Dremora Lord is enough to cheese anything. Also, the other Atronach perks hit Dremora Lords, so hopefully that includes the Atronach power +50% one... heh.

Dead Thrall is fun. Find aggravatingly strong enemy (Master Necromancer, she had more health than a Dwarven Centurion, and spammed high level ice magic), kill enemy, raise as servant... (Said necromancer now slings the ice whirlwind of death rapidly at my foes) and if anything manages to off it, take that instead. You could have two NPC mages of doom following you... (I only have a bandit chief in the second slot, unfortunately) It doesn't work on dragons, sadly (Even though there is one undead dragon in the game).

Getting the Oghma remains a pain. Mostly, because it's just not easy to find Bosmer. Dunmer are uncommon too... Thankfully the other three aren't hard at all. (So many quests involve Thalmor as enemies, orcs are common in some places, etc)

But yeah, conjuration is now quite fun. Working on Alteration now (at 90) for Atronach perk. (I'm already up to like... 80% magic resist though, from Breton passive, Lord Stone, and all three ranks of the magic resist perk). I can have a Frost Dragon unload its breath on me and it barely scratches me. Of course, if it bites me, THAT hurts quite a bit if I don't have Ebonyflesh up (+100 armor, can be up to +300 with perks)... Can't wait for Dragonhide so I can wear dragon priest masks without losing armor (The multiplier on armor spells requires you to have no armor equipped... thankfully Dragonhide functions differently).

Oh, and for the record, Thralls are not only expensive (250+ magic even with the master conjuration perk!), but they take like 5 seconds to cast, during which you're stationary, and require both hands. But, unless they somehow die, it's not a problem, since they're infinite duration! And if one dies, you can just drop a Dremora Lord out in its slot to finish the fight. (I need to test just how strong Flame Thrall is, for instance, considering flame atronachs are apprentice level summons normally)