Dutch cover story: Interesting Info

Post » Mon May 09, 2011 5:38 am

The Dutch Power Unlimited dropped in my mailbox today. Highlights of the 4-page article:

"You can use fast travel to revisit places you have visited earlier."

"Skyrim is approximately as big as Oblivion."

"Five big cities and more than 130 dungeons."

"Low-Fantasy" (Meaning the game does not look as vibrant, vivid and weird as Morrowind did, more like Oblivion) -> "Oblivion was for sure not over-the-top in terms of its style, but Skyrim should be considered low fantasy even more than its predecessor. Much of the locations look realistic, and could easily exist in our own world."

"The overarching narrative of the Dragons is less prominent than the Oblivion Gates were in Oblivion, which does not give you the feeling that you are doing 'useless' quests when you lay aside the Main Quest."

"Dragons are not rare."

"Dungeons will be locked at their level once you have been there."

"Even in third person, animations look really good. There has been a lot of progress since Oblivion."

"You can read in-game books in 3-D."

"Every item has a 3D-preview in the Flash based inventory, which you can twist, turn, rotate, etc. Sometimes you will solve puzzles by anolyzing these 3D-previews. Not only armor and weapons can be explored in great detail, also small rings and herbs can be investigated from all possible angles. Every single item in the game can be previewed in the inventory screen." "

"The Dark Brotherhood is back."

"Active blocking."

"More traps and puzzles."

"Main Story is approximately 20 hours."

The article also describes how the game starts:

Spoiler Warning

Spoiler
"This time, the game does not start in a prison. This time you witness your own execution, approximately 200 years after the events of Oblivion. Luckily, it seems like you are more than just a helpless convict."



There's also an interview with Todd Howard in the article. These are the highlights of that interview:

"There are special animations for sneak kills with daggers." (The way it is written in Dutch does not imply that there are no special animations for other weapons btw...)

"We primarily look at how we can improve facial expressions and animations, graphics-wise."

"The game won't support Kinect. It takes too much memory."

"It is not yet possible to combine forms of magic. It is difficult. Frost magic makes an enemy move slower, and fire does damage over time, and the fire remains on the ground for additional damage. If we would allow the player to use fire magic in one hand, and frost magic in the other, it becomes much more complex. Maybe we will implement this though, but for the time being, 'No'."

"Someone modded Oblivion by changing the physics of shooting an arrow. It made you shoot slower and you almost had to remain stationary to shoot, which increased the arrow's impact. We liked this mod so much, that we implemented it in Skyrim by default."


There are nine screenshots that seem new to me. I will briefly describe the screenshots. No new screenshots, I'm sorry.

#1 A warrior with a big two handed axe approached a HUGE orange/brown tarantula (spider).
#2 A Dragon looms over the sky atop of what looks like the roof of a ruin.
#3 In a snowy cave, a warrior with a big two handed sword on his back approaches a Ghoul that wields an two handed axe (it might even be a two handed spear, because I only see the stick itself, and not the sharp metal. It's impossible to see because the ghoul is really small and the screenshot is quite low-res.)
#4 A warrior wearing a shield and a sleeveless vest walks through a city that looks like a pastiche of Bruma and Thirsk. He approaches a man who is walking his dog. A young woman is on her front porch, leaning with her hands on the wooden surroundings. On the left side, there's a smith, which is indicated by a metal Smith sign (the sign is metal, not wooden as in Oblivion).
#5 An archer approaches his prey, seems like a deer. The leaves are yellow, like it's autumn. It's my favorite screenshot, because it is so different than the forests in Oblivion. The trees are white with brown spots. There are also trees lying on the ground in the lower right corner.
#6 Three skeletons prepare to attack inside a cave. They all wield two handed axes. Their eyes are blue. One wears a helmet. Their armor is rendered impressively. Their bone structure is really detailed.
#7 This one is weird. It seems like Thu'um, the shouting power effect. The background is faded, and there are three white frightening dragon carcasses flying around the picture. If you've seen Lost, think Smokey, but then white, and with a dragon carcass.
#8 Someone casts a spell that looks like its "Holy," (like in World of Warcraft) really bright. Two white wolves stare at the main character. He has a mace equipped in his right hand. The veins are visible in the arm of the caster.
#9 Looks like a cinematic shot, maybe even a V.A.T.S. shot, from a warrior slashing his sword, and killing a NPC. The NPC falls backwards, and there are a lot of blood spatters in the sky. Just as the previous screenshot, it is taken in a tundra-like environment.

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Alex [AK]
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 8:32 am

You got the PU already?
Don't have it yet over here... Maybe tomorrow...
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Charlotte X
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 9:43 am

Yes, maybe it is because I am a video game journalist myself, but it arrived pretty early today :P
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keri seymour
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 6:33 am

"Skyrim is approximately as big as Oblivion." Thats the only thing that bothers me. If it is the same size I will be pissed off. How can you do those kind of mountains justice with that little space?
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Kathryn Medows
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 4:49 am

Thanks for posting this - interesting info!

Does it contain any new artwork we haven't seen yet?
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lydia nekongo
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 6:31 pm

"You can use fast travel to revisit places you have visited earlier."

Allthough we already knew this, me heart sank when I read it :/

Also a bit bothered it wont be bigger
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Dan Endacott
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 3:25 am

The Dutch Power Unlimited dropped in my mailbox today. Highlights of the 4-page article:

"You can use fast travel to revisit places you have visited earlier."

"Skyrim is approximately as big as Oblivion."

"Five big cities and more than 130 unique dungeons."

"Low-Fantasy" (Meaning the game does not look as vibrant, vivid and weird as Morrowind did, more like Oblivion)

"Dragon stories (rumors of Dragons) are less prominent than all those Oblivion Gates were in Oblivion, which does not give you the feeling that you are doing 'useless' quests when you lay aside the Main Quest."

"Dragons are not rare."

"Dungeons will be locked at their level once you have been there."

"Even in third person, animations look really good. There has been a lot of progress since Oblivion."

"You can read in-game books in 3-D."

"Every item has a 3D-preview in the Flash based inventory, which you can twist, turn, rotate, etc. Sometimes you will solve puzzles by anolyzing these 3D-previews."
"The Dark Brotherhood is back."

"Active blocking."

"More traps and puzzles."

"Main Story is approximately 20 hours."

This can work for house customization. And still no word on werewolves or vampires? sigh. But this info is still good.
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Matt Bee
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 6:54 am

Great info, thanks for sharing : )
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Natalie Taylor
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 6:02 pm

yay dark brotherhood!! :flamethrower: haters
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Oscar Vazquez
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 5:34 pm

Awesome stuff. I like the idea of looking at items in 3d to solve puzzles.
Can't wait for the next magazine to come out with new info.
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^_^
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 11:10 am

Thanks for posting this - interesting info!

Does it contain any new artwork we haven't seen yet?


Yes. 9 new screenshots. There's an ingame dragon on one of them. There's also one of the main character walking through a street. There's also a screen of what looks like Thu'um. And there's a screen on which someone is casting a spell while he holds a mace in his right hand.
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Nina Mccormick
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 12:58 pm

"You can use fast travel to revisit places you have visited earlier."

Allthough we already knew this, me heart sank when I read it :/

But doesn't that suggest that we can't fast travel anywhere until we've already reached a location by other means?
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Dan Endacott
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 12:00 pm

"Skyrim is approximately as big as Oblivion." Thats the only thing that bothers me. If it is the same size I will be pissed off. How can you do those kind of mountains justice with that little space?


I didn't liked this, and

"Low-Fantasy" (Meaning the game does not look as vibrant, vivid and weird as Morrowind did, more like Oblivion)


this.

I hope this doesn't turn into an "Oblivion 2.0", and Skyrim has an unique style on it's own.
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Nims
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 5:39 am

"You can use fast travel to revisit places you have visited earlier."

Allthough we already knew this, me heart sank when I read it :/

Also a bit bothered it wont be bigger


Fortunately, it still didn't say we must use fast travel to get back in locations we've visited earlier.
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lauren cleaves
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 4:20 pm

But doesn't that suggest that we can't fast travel anywhere until we've already reached a location by other means?


Sounds like it.
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Jonathan Windmon
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 8:07 am

"Low-Fantasy" (Meaning the game does not look as vibrant, vivid and weird as Morrowind did, more like Oblivion)


:o
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Jason Rice
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 8:02 pm

But doesn't that suggest that we can't fast travel anywhere until we've already reached a location by other means?

Prolly will be like Fallout 3, so yea.. so that IS a slightly improvement over Oblivion, but it still makes it extremely unlikely that we'll see alternatives oh yea and Low fantasy? really? It better not be bland cut and paste medival fantasy like oblivion O.O
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Cagla Cali
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 4:10 pm

Happy list :):

- "You can read in-game books in 3-D." :)
- "More traps and puzzles." :)
- "Dragons are less prominent than Oblivion Gates were in Oblivion, which does not give you the feeling that you are doing 'useless' quests when you lay aside the Main Quest."

-----------------------------

Sad list :(:

- "Skyrim is approximately as big as Oblivion." (Very very sad. I was hoping for a bigger world, where dungeons and locations were spread between greater distances. I don't like a cramped up world. And with big mountains and longer view distance I think it would be weird to almost be able to look over the entire world from a single spot... :()
- "Five big cities and more than 130 unique dungeons." (I'm sad because if the world size is the same as in Oblivion and there are 130 dungeons... the world will be really cramped up. I'm very sad of this :( :()
- "You can use fast travel to revisit places you have visited earlier." (I'm very very sad here too :( :(. Should have been a Morrowind transportation system as a base; and Oblivion fast travel implemented as an option as well... so that people can choose. And people really want to choose.)
- "Main Story is approximately 20 hours." (I'm kind of sad here. I was hoping for a longer main quest. I don't remember how long Oblivion's was though. But... well I was hoping for more (but then again, the main quest shouldn't stretch out just to make it longer. The most important thing is, of course, that it's an awesome story). Kind of sad here, but maybe kind of happy if the main quest is good :unsure:
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Claire
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 6:53 pm

The Dutch Power Unlimited dropped in my mailbox today. Highlights of the 4-page article:

"You can use fast travel to revisit places you have visited earlier."

"Skyrim is approximately as big as Oblivion."

"Five big cities and more than 130 unique dungeons."

"Low-Fantasy" (Meaning the game does not look as vibrant, vivid and weird as Morrowind did, more like Oblivion)

"Dragon stories (rumors of Dragons) are less prominent than all those Oblivion Gates were in Oblivion, which does not give you the feeling that you are doing 'useless' quests when you lay aside the Main Quest."

"Dragons are not rare."

"Dungeons will be locked at their level once you have been there."

"Even in third person, animations look really good. There has been a lot of progress since Oblivion."

"You can read in-game books in 3-D."

"Every item has a 3D-preview in the Flash based inventory, which you can twist, turn, rotate, etc. Sometimes you will solve puzzles by anolyzing these 3D-previews."

"The Dark Brotherhood is back."

"Active blocking."

"More traps and puzzles."

"Main Story is approximately 20 hours."


Great news that clears up some questions.
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herrade
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 8:58 am

To add to the 3D quote:

"Not only armor and weapons can be explored in great detail, also small rings and herbs can be investigated from all possible angles. Every single item in the game can be previewed in the inventory screen."
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Kyra
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 8:47 am

The Dutch Power Unlimited dropped in my mailbox today. Highlights of the 4-page article:

"You can use fast travel to revisit places you have visited earlier."

"Skyrim is approximately as big as Oblivion."

"Five big cities and more than 130 unique dungeons."

"Low-Fantasy" (Meaning the game does not look as vibrant, vivid and weird as Morrowind did, more like Oblivion)

"Dragon stories (rumors of Dragons) are less prominent than all those Oblivion Gates were in Oblivion, which does not give you the feeling that you are doing 'useless' quests when you lay aside the Main Quest."

"Dragons are not rare."

"Dungeons will be locked at their level once you have been there."

"Even in third person, animations look really good. There has been a lot of progress since Oblivion."

"You can read in-game books in 3-D."

"Every item has a 3D-preview in the Flash based inventory, which you can twist, turn, rotate, etc. Sometimes you will solve puzzles by anolyzing these 3D-previews."

"The Dark Brotherhood is back."

"Active blocking."

"More traps and puzzles."

"Main Story is approximately 20 hours."


Bugger.

The other facts sound fairly good though.

EDIT: Ninja'd by hlvr on all these points. :toughninja:
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Nicole Kraus
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 3:46 pm

The only thing that concerns me is...

Low-Fantasy" (Meaning the game does not look as vibrant, vivid and weird as Morrowind did, more like Oblivion)


What I HOPE this means, is that it's just very Earth-like aesthetically, but that there is still a more distinct and un-earthly sense of lore and culture in the game. If it means the NPCs feel as generic, familiarly western, and earthly as they did in Cyrodiil, I will be very disappointed. Reserving judgment until I see the NPCs interacting, of course.
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Dalley hussain
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 6:57 pm

Yes. 9 new screenshots. There's an ingame dragon on one of them. There's also one of the main character walking through a street. There's also a screen of what looks like Thu'um. And there's a screen on which someone is casting a spell while he holds a mace in his right hand.


Sweet! :drool:

Are there any images that show the HUD - I wonder if there is any sort of indication of a starvation/dehydration/sleep deprivation level.

After seeing the concept art for the meat in the Behind the Scenes video and learning there will be a cooking activity with custom animations, I'm hoping there is some kind of survival mode where the PC needs to eat, sleep and drink.

dank je wel!
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Chantel Hopkin
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 3:42 pm

That magazine didn't confirm over half of the info listed and most the dialogue from the magazine was taken out of context. The screen shots are same as GI along with the exact info in GI. Did all of you gather this info from GI? NO!
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Mark Hepworth
 
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Post » Mon May 09, 2011 11:44 am

Oh mother-

Same size as Oblivion, that tiny map? Sure Just Cause 2 was too big by far. But every other open world game is now bigger than Oblivion. GTA4 was 11 kilometers and was a single city. Heck the latest Assassin's Creed was twice Oblivion's size and was built in one year

I think I give up for this being Game of the Year for me already. This just isn't the ambitious, "let's step up to the competition" game I was hoping for. The graphics are still beat by a game that came out last year (Red Dead), the map is small, the game world is still separated into outdoors/indoors, they've continued the art of "streamlining" the skills/stats when it should have been expanded. I was hoping for something crazy, something overly ambitious and difficult. The same feeling I got when I was watching videos of Morrowind in highschool and was blown away. This game just feels, safe. In their comfort zone and not particularly new.

I'll still buy it. But I guess I can stick to be excited by Deus Ex 3 and L.A. Noire, it's always funner to have a game that's trying to push into a new area or seems crazy to pull off. Skyrim isn't either of those.
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Roddy
 
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