E3: Skyrim

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Just a tiny nitpick, but the whole theme of Morrowind was the question "Is the Nerevarine-prophecy real?". That was no doubt the reason why your Morrowind-character never distinguished itself by getting awesome powers (well, apart from what was granted by the story), simply because the game left it up to the player to decide whatever or not the prophecy was true and the protagonist was the chosen one or if it was merely coincidence, some luck and lots of Humanoid ambition and skill that saw the prophecy throgh.

Either way, Skyrim is shaping up to be quite promising. In fact, I almost get the feeling that Bethesda is trying to make it quite a lot more advanced then anything they've done before. It bodes well.

 

[Klagermeister]

11/11/11: The day I say goodbye to society to play Skyrim forever in my basement.
Friends, activities, family, food... All meaningless distractions from the glory that is Skyrim.

 

[badgersprite]

The demo focused on the mechanics of Skyrim more than the story or setting, pointing out the key ways in which it differs from Elder Scrolls III and IV. One of the most immediately noticeable changes is in how it handles combat. Rather than restrict you to a specific kind of character or class, the game lets you fight however you like simply by choosing what you'd like each hand to do. You can do sword and shield, dual wield two one-handed weapons, hold a magical staff in one hand and an axe in the other, have a spell ready in one and a different spell in the other, or the same spell in both to increase its power - the options are plentiful and easy to swap out at will.

Rune magic also makes its debut. Runes work like a magical trap; lay one on the ground and lure your enemies into it - just be sure they're not immune to whatever you're throwing their way. That giant frostbite spider? Yeah, it's laughing at that frost rune it just ran through. Hope you've got a Plan B.

Skills have, thankfully, also benefited from a revamp, and now every skill you use counts towards your leveling, even if you use it sparingly. There's also a perk tree for every skill, which creates even more options for customization. There's so much choice, in fact, that I almost wonder if Oblivion devotees will fall back on what they know from that game, simply because the bevvy of new options is a bit overwhelming.

Unf. Keep talking dirty to me, Skyrim. ♥_♥

Everything about this game sound sexy and awesome. This game is so awesome that every time someone says "Skyrim" a ninja roundhouse kicks a burning shark into space and creates a new galaxy made out of burning sharks.

I agree on the interface, though, but, then again, that's such a minor thing that surely they can change that before release, right?

 

[Detective Prince]

What IS it about games being released in November this year?!?

EITHER way. I can't wait to get my teeth into a new RPG so I may as well be excited...yay...

 

[Ranorak]

E3: Skyrim



The one aspect of the demo that left me somewhat unsettled was the user interface. It's far less fussy than that of Oblivion, is much cleaner and easier to navigate, but it looks like it was ripped right out of Fallout: New Vegas. It's a little absurd to be bothered by a choice of typeface, but every time an alert popped up to let us know that a stat had improved or that we'd discovered some new location, I was forcibly reminded of Fallout. The lettering looked modern and out of place to me in Skyrim's setting, perhaps because Fallout has such a focus on mechanical and technological things. It seems reasonable to assume that it's the type of thing you'd get used to, though.



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If this is the only negative thing that the demo showed, I'm afraid I'm going to cry out of sheer happyness.

Thank you Susan, for making me cry

 

[Catchy Slogan]

Well done Susan. You have just officaily gotten me hyped for Skyrim. Something I thought myself immune to.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Even a lengthy demo would do little more than scratch the surface of a game like Skyrim, so there's still much to be learned.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be out on Xbox 360, PC, and PS3 on November 11.

Was it stable? Any noticeable drop in frame rate? Was it the X360, PS3 or PC version you got to play?

 

[C95J]

I can't express how exited I am for this game already, looks like this is going to be my game of the year.

 

[kyoodle]

Looks incredible, i can't believe some people are picky enough to complain about the font being used in the menus ¬_¬

 

[JasonKaotic]

No-one's mentioned how awesome the fights against the dragons looked yet?
If you're fighting an enemy, a dragon might swoop down, pick 'em up, fly back up and throw them away (the ultimate "GTFO"), then land in front of you and volley you with fire. If you have NPCs around you helping you, the mo'fucka can pick them up and mangle them. And on the part where there were two dragons it looked as if buildings will give a great tactical touch to dragon fights.
Give me this game. Like, now. Please.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Even a lengthy demo would do little more than scratch the surface of a game like Skyrim, so there's still much to be learned.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be out on Xbox 360, PC, and PS3 on November 11.

Was it stable? Any noticeable drop in frame rate? Was it the X360, PS3 or PC version you got to play?

It was actually a hands off demo, but it was the 360 version running. It ran beautifully, but this was also an orchestrated demo, so the chances of embarrassing whoopsies was pretty low.

 

[Gustavo S. Buschle]

over 300 books?
YESSSSS!!!!!!

Is it weird that I actually read the books in these games? They are actually great reading material. I was sad fallout didn't have readable books and was scared that Skyrim was going to be the same.

I read every book in the first fable

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

I predict this will be like every other Bethesda game since Morrowind.

It will be very pretty, wow console players, and get great reviews. Once you get past the eye candy you will see the gameplay and story are fairly generic genre tropes. After there is about a year's worth of community mods, bugfixes, and content patches the game will enter the "fun" or "finished" category. The initial interface will be unusable on the PC because Bethesda (and every other developer) does not consider that playing a game with keyboard and mouse at 18 inches is completely different than playing at 10 feet with a gamepad.

However to Bethesda's credit they do release all the tools the community needs to fix their game, unlike GSC not supporting STALKER modders at all.

Expect a bunch of really bland DLC shoehorned into the game in the months following release. And while the DLC will be lame by itself the assets will be effectively used by modders.

Maybe 6 months after the last DLC is released integrated "overhaul" mods will show up that transform the game from a pretty engine into an actual immersive substantial gaming experience. By then most of the people who care have moved on or were burned out on the buggy, unfinished vanilla release and will never experience the fruition of the great potential the game had.

 

[ultrachicken]

If you can point out five ways that Morrowind is superior, I will be impressed.

Spellmaking, enchanting, non-generic setting, great houses, and moddability*. But for all we know Skyrim will have some advantages over Morrowind too - I'm really curious to see how the magic system actually ends up working.

*no terrible voice acting = community can mod more seamlessly.

Spellmaking has been in the series two times now (I believe, I haven't played the first two games), so I don't think it's going away. Skyrim doesn't really look like other RPGs except maybe that it has trees and grass. It has a distinct Conan the Barbarian feel.

... I'm not quite sure what you mean by "great houses," but it sounds like pure opinion to me, so I'll leave it at that.

When was it confirmed that Skyrim would not be moddable?

 

[Jumplion]

I believe this is appropriate;


Holy shit indeed!

 

[brodie21]

im already predicting that this game will cost my a letter grade in college and much of my social life if im not careful. im so excited!

 

[Susan Arendt]

Looks incredible, i can't believe some people are picky enough to complain about the font being used in the menus ¬_¬

Well, it's not just the menus. The wording that comes up when you, for example, find a new location looks and behaves the exact same way that it does in New Vegas. It comes up the same way, fades out the same way, and uses the same typeface. If you play New Vegas for any length f time, that visual cue becomes ingrained in your head, so when you see it again, you think of New Vegas, which can briefly pull you out of the Skyrim mindset. It all depends on the kind of player you are. Some people won't even notice it,but others are definitely going to be a little bit thrown.

 

[DaHero]

Well, shit.
300 books?
150 dungeons?
Dragons?
Goddammit, there goes ALL the spare time I was going to have in the Christmas holidays.
It looks pretty, the gameplay, and especially the combat look very smooth, and the AI seem to have been drastically improved.
Also, random dragon encounters!

Fortunately, I'll be at my Girlfriends house during the holiday season, so no games for those 2 weeks. However, when I get back...going to be a straight week of Skyrim! =D

And then the Spring semester starts...

 

[Varya]

Though the game looks gorgeous, I'm still skeptic to one aspect, that has always bothered me about the Elder Scrolls games.

The elves always looks ugly as shit.

This bothers me more than it should, but as my avatar implies, I have a thing about elves. One of the coolest things in DA2 was the re visitation of the elves, giving them an unearthly feel.
But ES always made them look... ugly. Not cool, unearthly or fae-ish, just ugly. And by the glimpse given in the first screen, I'm not sure they've changed this.
I mean, they're elves, how hard is it to get them right?

 

[newwiseman]

Whatever problems there may be, that includes font choice, can and will be fixed by the modding community. Can't wait till I get my hand on the new Creation Kit.