Good point. That would svck, because I like to explore right off the bat. I hope they've thought this through. I don't really understand the reason why they have to alter the enemy levels at all. Sounds like trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

[*] character creation gives you a set a choice of your features from a prebuilt set, then you can modify attributes

[/list]

What is this true?? Will we have attributes? And what is that prebuilt set?

Hmmm, seems lots of information is released in various places making it hard to get a good coherent list together, still... So far I think I am most disappointed by the changes to blocking but most happy about the inclusion of perks.

Don't get me wrong, block was slightly broken in Oblivion since you could get into a long time slug match, I just hate time based blocks or counters what I find annoying, unlike the broken blocking that wasn't that annoying. This having to time your blocks sounds a bit annoying, tho I guess it depends how long you can hold your block for. If you can hold it for say 5 seconds before the bash kicks in then that wouldn't be too bad since it stops the potential infinite blocking as seen in oblivion. Where as if you had to do it for only a second that would break blocking worse then in oblivion in my opinion... have to wait and see tho. Honestly tho, if you are in a sword and shield fight, would you not hold your shield in the way of the incoming sword most of the time? that is after all the reason and benefit of a shield.... you don't hold a shield to shield bash, you hold a shield to protect you, so I hope this change doesn't push things too far the other way.

if I were to suggest an alternative, it would be having it so that while blocking you have a chance to block what is the percentage of remaining stamina you have left, with each block draining stamina and holding the block stunting stamina regeneration, the longer you block the less effective it becomes, also adds a bit more importance on to stamina. As for Shield/2H-Weapon bashes could still have been implemented by having to hold up a block, release and then taping block within a second of originally blocking. In fact I am sure there was a game where light shields were flung around and heavy shields were just held in the way and massive reduced damaged taken, might have been Demon's Souls. So perhaps light and heavy shields could act differently to each other in Skyrim.

Perks sound good, I mean adding more abilities and skills as you go along does sound like a nice benefit. Since I don't think many perks are confirmed yet we can't really rate them, I hope they don't have the skill perks like they had in FO3 where you could get say +5 Medicine&Science... those kinda svcked. But perks like faster attacks, faster movement speed, more attack damage and bigger AoEs(on explosives) were nice. I'd prefer perks that do things rather then perks that just raise a few simple stats. The biggest overall disappointment to me is that you can't get all the perks, I know there is specialization in play, but in Oblivion you could essentially work towards perfection where you mastered every part of fighting but takes effort, it wasn't a quick simple process, it toke time and effort to get that kind of perfection, having 100 in every attribute and capping all skills. 50 is the currently declared soft cap and you get 1 perk per level, and there is 120 perks, now you can go above 50 but it's soft cap, I suspect that's to allow for future expansions (else why not hard cap?) which would likely add even more perks... but for 50+ so unless you get out the console and cheat, you'll never be able to get all the perks.

Another thing I did like in FO3 in regards to perks was that not all perks came from leveling, you could get perks from quests, like ant sight/might as one example for those that have played FO3, I am hoping that perks similar to that will again be implemented, since it gives a reason to go for certain quests, perhaps put them towards the end of major quest lines, like climbing guilds or what not.

I know these aren't new facts, rather opinions, but where else to talk about opinions of the things given =P?

Go play Condemned, I'm hoping that the new blocking will be like that as far as timed blocking. When I played that game (before Obliv came out lol) I was kind of disappointed when Beth did it the way they did.

Confirmed: PC version will have improved graphics by default. The game has been primarily developed on the PC.

You right, most of the work are done on pc, not only the creation kit but also texturing and 3d modelling, also far faster for the developer to just start the game and see if something look right.

Xbox is the primary platform as it's generates most sale and is also most limited, had been pretty stupid to design the game for pc and then find that it don't run well on xbox.

Higher texture quality makes sense as they probably get many from the designers in higher quality than they use.

Seriously... we need to turn a helpful thread into another bicker-fest about PC and console? Give it a rest.

I don't have a lot to add, but I didn't see it mentioned in the list that you start the game as a prisoner again.

seriously you guys, can you save the Xbox/PC argument for a diffirent thread, this is supposed to be what features are confrimed for Skyrim !

Since tree branches move with the wind, can you imply that as our arrows travel from point A to point B they will be affected by the wind?

Something to add, from Xbox magazine: Dungeons will not only be more detailed and unique due to a larger dedicated team of level designers, they will feature more traps and environmental puzzles.

I can't tell you how thrilled I am about this - most Oblivion dungeons were kind of a chore for me, but I got a small rush of pride every time I recognized a trap without stepping in it. With more traps and some actual puzzles, though, they will be a lot of fun to navigate! Promises of more unique dungeons, also, make the explorer inside me wriggle with glee.

I completely agree with the awesomeness of it, but how did these dungeons get traps and puzzles? I mean, I don't expect a pack of wolves to rig their cave with booby traps... Don't care too much, I'm just happy that we're another day closer to riding the world of dragons.

I think it's more for bandit-inhabited caves or dungeons. Then you have the dwemer ruins that are possibly booby-trapped, and any vampire cavern.

and..
smithing is confirmed as a skill in SS of the skill menu, on the official site. on the right side of the picture.
http://cdn.zenimax.com/akqacms/files/tes/screenshots/SkillsMenu_wLegal.jpg

so that's alchemy, smithing, 1h weapons, destruction, restoration, conjuration, alteration, illusion, enchanting, marksman

leaves 8 skills left kind of looks like the end of "speechcraft" at the left of that SS, and i'm assuming 2h weapons is a skill. so that leaves 6?