I am remaining optimistic, though some of the information is a little disappointing. A little nervous? Yes, I am, but I'm going to have faith in Bethesda until I actually play it and can decide for myself.

To be honest I am more worried after reading the article, but i'm gonna keep my faith in Bethesda and hope they make the game right.

hadn't heard anything on Skyrim

at first, I felt disappointed, but I am feeling much better now, and optimistic.

Best thing to do is not bias yourself with a bunch of nay-sayers going off the basic first tidbits we have. Most of it is still speculation. (example: ZOMG THEY REMOVED MA SKILLZ!)

You'll know 11/11/11 if its good or not

ZOMG THEY REMOVED MA SKILLZ!

i have received the first tid-bits of info, now i shall nay-say!

Hm... I guess i just play the witcher 2 then...

Right there! :icecream:

Agreed

I am also cautiously optimistic. If the character models, meshes, textures (whatever - I don't really understand how it works, to be honest) are improved so that characters look less cartoonish (as they did in oblivion) and more realistic, I'll be very happy about that. Same goes for environment effects. Slightly concerned about the 18 skills, but I'll wait and see. Potential absence of attributes: Concerning, but wait and see again. Bullet time: In and of itself, this does not concern me, but if it is a portend of other action-oriented game things, I'll be disappointed. Jobs/professions/whatever: Good if not monotonous and repetitive. Dual-wielding: Eh. I'm OK with it, but not something I care overly about. That said, I'd like more shield tactics.

In regards to unmentioned stuff (as far as I can tell since I don't have the magazine):
Factions: I'm guessing information about factions is being saved for a separate article, so I'm not concerned here. It's a big deal though. More factions, with more depth (than Oblivion), and some competition between factions would be nice too.
Lore: There is definitely potential here if they delve into the Alduin World-Eater lore and do it right. I'm a bit concerned in one respect though: If the Hero is the Dragonborn and potentially becomes the leader of a new empire, how is that going to be treated in regards to canon with all the different races out there?

Wait you actually want to be able to fail casting a spell based on nothing but chance? No wonder Bethesda dont listen to their fans. Also Mark/Recall was rendered obsolete by fast travel, herp derp.

Well, RPGCodex is having a field day with this info.

Mark/Recall can work inside dungeons, herp derp.

Also, yes, some people do want to have their chance of successfully casting a spell to be based on *gasp* their skill in that magic school. I'm actually not one of them but they do exist.

btw Since you didn't join til after the made this forum for TES:V I can only trust you weren't around at all before it was announced to hear how many people loath fast travel, meaning you using fast travel as a reason for leaving out Mark/Recall makes you seem like a [censored], as if that herp derp crap at the end wasn't enough.

Thats what skills are for. Why have skills in a certain magic be a 1 and never fail casting it? This is how it was in Morrowind and I think it worked rather well. Regarding fast travel I honestly think it ruined immersion in the game so I am all for getting rid of fast travel all together and bring back transportation from city to city and mark/recall spells as well.

Don't see why not, other races have ruled the empire before. It's their lore and game anyways, anything that they do will be canon.


So wait a minute, you want developing skills in this game, yet you don't want to fail even the most complex spells while being a totally noob. "No wonder Bethesda doesn't listen to their fans".

Things I liked:

1. Combat - A far more relevant approach. More variety of tactics due to dual-wielding. Ability to approach combat the way you like it. Oh! And the slowed-down backward movement would ensure the foe doesn't miss me with every swing of its axe.
2. Variety in environment - Judging by the screens on the mag. there seems to be a lot more variety in the environment. No more "only-lush-forests". All in all, the environment seems to have made way for a lot more immersion.
3. Radiant story - Sounds like an interesting concept if it's implemented right.
4. NPC interactions - No more face zooms. More voice-actors. Something I particularly liked was that NPCs would continue going about their business even while you interact with them.
5. More activities - Seemingly, you can do more than just killing and marauding in the game. Crafting, woodcutting, farming and the likes. All these activities are a welcomed inclusion provided they supplement to a better gaming experience.
6. Menu design - Seems better than earlier adopted systems but I'll wait for more information on it.
7. Graphics - I'd say they're good. The draw distance has been improved as well. Not crysis-like but frankly, I wouldn't want them to be either.
8. Perks - A la Fallout. Might be good if done right. Albeit I'm still not quite sure how it goes with TES. Still, sounds appealing.
9. No HUD - This is find rather intriguing but it makes me more excited as well.
10. More enemy/ wildlife variety - Ice wraiths, giant spiders, towering neanderthals, hell yeah! On a side note I'm glad enemies have a greater size variance.


Things I disliked:

1. Dragons - Going to have to face them repeatedly in combat? NO!
2. Dragon Shouts - Rather unsure as to how does this bode for the story and combat.
3. Attributes - No attributes.
4. Travel - No information on alternate means of travel apart from fast travel. I'm worried there may be none.


Unsure of / No opinions (yet) on:

1. Skills - Only 18 now. If they're handled better than in the previous iterations of TES, this might be a great improvisation.
2. Enemy AI - Although the article hints at a vastly improved AI I wouldn't get my hopes too high until more on this is revealed.
3. Quests - Random quest based on the player skill is a great idea but I don't want to be given the same regurgitated quests. Although, I conjecture "tailored" side-quests are still there I'm not sure as to how Bethesda is going to implement this random-quest system.
4. World(in-game?) dynamics - I don't want the world to feel static as in Morrowind (or Daggerfall) or too cheery as in Oblivion. More importantly, I want for it to react to the way I take my decisions and to my actions. For eg. I attack a man and immediately start a conversation with him. I don't want him to say "Hello there!". I want him to resist my dialog and be defensive. Also, I don't want to the ubiquitous "guard-watch".
5. Factions - The article had nothing on them.
6. Loot/leveled items - Again no information on this in the article.
7. Decisions and consequences/ In-game politics - Not related to world dynamics but to general speech, interaction and story. In-game politics like faction rivalry, ability to join one but not another etc.


Unimportant opinions:

1. Fatigue has been renamed and is now called stamina. Also, stamina is now more integrated to the gameplay. Looks like we might have restricted sprinting unlike in Oblivion.
2. Better faces and facial animations, finally!

I'm excited that I was somewhat correct about an ancient obscure race of Dragons returning to own everything half a month before anything official was said

I am certainly more worried now than I was before, but that might be because they only said what is new.
But I wonder what is actually left of The Elder Scrolls in Skyrim?

No attributes? No birthsigns? Even less skills?
If all of that is to be replaced with perks, there really would have to be dozens upon dozens of them.
- Dragons: Too many on the dancefloor.
- Thu'um: I don't want to see it becoming too important. It should be a very unique power.

Many things I care a lot about haven't been adressed at all.
- Character customization: Will we be able to change the appearance of our body? I don't want to look like Conan. What about beast races and orcs, what do they look like?
- Equipment: How many different kinds of weapons and armor will there be? Will we be able to mix them up like in Morrowind, or will there be just one piece like in Oblivion? What about spears?
- Factions: How many factions will there be? Any sort of religious cults?
- the engine: Will it support dx11? Are there other diffences between the PC and console versions?
- Will we start in prison?

There is hope they will reveal more information in the GI hub soon. But so far, my mind wasn't blown and my head didn't explode.

Even less skills, booohoooo 3 FREAKING SKILLS! Honestly people, and do people even care about Acrobatics and Running in the first place? I know I sure as heck didn't!

It really really wasnt, and as an argument that makes no sense, since Daggerfall also had teleportation.

Nothing is more annoying than having to backtrack through a long, windy maze when I couldve just had cast mark at the entrance, if only it existed.
It is also a constant irritator that I have to travel to Skingrad, walk the streets, enter my house, when all I wanted was to dump some stuff and move on. A mark in my bedroom wouldve been so much handier.

And even less skills is very, very bad for obvious reasons. Without attributes its hardly an RPG anymore as is and such few skills seriously hinder character building, roleplaying and freeform gaming.
I always thought that the 21 skills of oblivion were far too few, especially compared to the 27 of Morrowind and the 35 of Daggerfall.
So 18 skills? Very, very bad.

Jeez people for the sake of Bethesda stop being so criticising. I cant believe how naive some people are, Bethesda are the pioneers of open world RPGs and the only thing you want to see is a step back,
these boards are too conservative for their own good. When was it a bad thing to develop a system into something that is easier to use but still proved satisfying when played out in game, things evolve all the time people. I think its great that Bethesda is thinking outside the box, not getting stuck in a reactionary state of mind where only and attributes skills decide if a game is good or not. Go play never winter nigths please.



Seriously, unique landscapes, more voiceactors, factions, civil war, DRAGONS, what more could you ask for. Christ, so much ingnorance. So dissapointed, I really feel for Bethesda developers who have spent the last five years developing something that would feel fresh and new, but you people just basically [censored] on their effort complaining about skills that are removed and levelscaling, i mean come on. They bring us a game with a huge open world giving us playtime that no other game on the market will ever come close to achieving.

:shakehead:

worried about mysticism dying

potential compass? (hopefully not implemented the same way as oblivion if they have one)

the mention of level scaling really worried me, hopefully it's just for the random quests and not the world

possibly no other ranged weapons than bows?

a couple other things

lack of classes potentially worrisome? and perks


however I am impressed by the graphics

the combat sounds good

more enemies always good

magic sounds interesting

new leveling system potentially interesting?

I like the sound of it a lot.

I have no worries about the loss of three skills, although I am kind of presuming that these three will be melded into each other - athletics and acrobatics into some like 'fitness'

I like the introduction of perks - they add another dimension to levelling up

I have no worries about level scaling as long as it's implemented correctly - my main concern is loot, I just hope that it's harder to find the highest quality armour and weapons

Combat in general sounds fantastic (although I remember thinking that when Oblivion was coming out) dual wielding is good as far as I'm concerned again more variety.

The magic system also sounds great in particular the prospect of 'two handed spells' being extra special/potent - I think that's a very cool addition and something that would encourage me to play a mage class.

That fact that there is a no HUD option is very exciting, I'm hoping it will mean there is a no compass option, which would make finding locations more difficult a la Morrowind.

Conversations sound much better

Enchanting is back

It looks amazing

You get to fight sabre tooth tigers

Couldn't ask for much more

I don't like most of it, was my vote though that's not entirely true. It's way too early to make specific judgements as there is very little specific info out, but there are already signs of further streamlining (possible of attributes, streamlining charactercreation with no class selection, cutting down skills, every skill affecting leveling up etc) which I'm against of. The notion that the class system was "restrictive" (unless I misread) and thus cut out gives me the creeps about what other things have been considered "restrictive" and thus left/cut out or streamlined too.

The info overall sounds somewhat interesting, but there's not much to convince a cynic like me.

Cautiously optimistic.

"And you'll have to fight them [dragons] repeatedly in single combat" - Bottom of page 57 of GI.

Oh dear. Cliff racers anyone? :cryvaultboy: