Hello guys,

I haven't been on this forum for several years now, but I've just resetted my password so I can add my thoughts to the upcoming Skyrim game which I am so very looking forward to.

The thing I loved the most about Oblivion, but was sorely under-played and under-developed, was the hunting aspect of the game. So that there is no misunderstanding, I'm not talking about killing goblins, ghosts and minotaurs with the bow & arrow from 50 yards while back-peddling through the woods (although I do love doing this), I'm referring to silently hunting and bringing down game animals like deer. Did anyone else here share my interest in crouching, stalking then lineing up the bow above the head of the target and having the arrow arc down landing perfectly on the animal?

Am I alone here in wandering around the beautifully rendered forests of Cyrodiil to hunt down game animals?

Oblivion was painfully cursed with the god-awful level-scaling that broke this aspect of the game as the more you leveled up the scarcer deer become, or any other normal animals for that matter.

I would love to see more types of game animals such as:

Deers (of different types)
Wild Boars
Rabbits/Hares
Grouse/Pheasant/Quail type birds
Geese/Ducks
Mountain Goats
Foxes
Badgers
Elks
the list goes on..................

Having a game world with more animals (that you could hunt) and not just monsters would add to the realism of Skyrim tenfold. Oblivion was limited only to deer but that was still very satisfying, sadly at high level, deer became 'extinct' and were replaced by rampaging minotaurs and trolls. Imagine, now, that you can stalk, hunt, skin and sell the animals you kill in Skyrim. Or even use the animal hides to wear or trade. Imagine the side-quests you could generate from just this aspect of gaming alone. Red Dead Redemption got very close to perfecting this (but still had some flaws), surely Bethesda staff could elaborate on this aspect.

I am not sure if the Developers/Programmers/Designers peruse this forum reguarly, but if you do please don't forget about us hunters and this unique aspect of the Elder Scrolls game.

Thank you for listening

That's defiantly something I would like to see! I totally agree!

Absolutely! I do a lot of hunting and fishing in real life being from the country. West Virginia, to be exact. Far from the Wild and Wonderful Whites, thankfully! Haha! I am a huge gamer and LOVE the ES series. Oblivion has been my all-time favorite game since it's release and I did my fair share of hunting deer and wolves in it. I am soooo overly excited about Skyrim! I have a really good feeling there will be a big aspect on hunting in this game from what I've read and the things I've seen. But, you hit the nail on the head with your explanation of what needs to be done, man. So, no, you aren't the only one with high hopes on this topic!

hunting would be even better if 1) it was actually worth the trouble and 2) you couldnt outrun deer so it'd actually be harder to run up to it and punch it than to shoot it with a bow

YES, YES, OH GOD YES! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3N6C8UzhXo&playnext=1&list=PLD938B83A8D4B88E9 I do bow hunting like this guy in Australia, and its a ton of fun. Although i use compound bows rather than recurve.

More passive wildlife? On land, in the water and up in the air... hell yeah! OB severely lacked of that.

Unless there is a reason to go hunting, like trophies, fame for killing dangerous animals, etc I don't see the point of this. Also in OB once my PC was fast enough I could run as fast or faster then the deer making hunting a complere waste of my time.

Money, IE selling skins, making stuff out of the animal, etc... (and then selling it...)

Since there's always something you can do to make money...

Or even taxidermy so you can decorate your house with them.

Awesome idea... Especially after that Skyrim screenshot with the man hunting the deer in the autumn-like forest.

Just out of curiosity, could you please discuss the flaws that Red Dead had with its hunting and skinning aspect, and how would you adapt and improve it for Skyrim? Personally, the obvious addition of making the pelts and materials gathered from hunting have greater variety of use would be a start, ie, crafting armor/clothes, making food, selling pelts, etc.

Lastly, I look forwad to not being able to backpeddle faster than charging enemies, which will make hunting much more realistic and dynamic. Having to get close enough for the perfect shot, then maybe pursuing your wounded foe through a forest, to finally catch up, and administer the kill with your hunting dagger.

Armour and weapon making is confirmed so i guess the resources would come from animals for things like light fur skin armour.

This is exactly my thoughts: with the skill and imagination of the Bethesda Programmers/Designers I'm very confidant that they could incorporate an entire sub-culture into Skyrim for the 'Hunter' players.

You could make money from hunting, earn a living from meats and hides of animals. Include more game animals. Earn 'Fame' for dangerous or hazardous animals such as Dire-Wolves or Large Snakes. Quest for rarer animals and use heads or hides as trophys (Red Dead Redemption had the legendary 'Jackolope'). Have somewhere to display your kills. Dedicated stores that buy kills from you so you can bolster your income. Trade with other hunter NPCs. Generate random side-quests with Radiant Story. Customise armour and clothing with fur and/or feather.... I could go on forever, but I'll leave that for my fellow Elder Scrolls fans to contribute.

It seems the Mage and Warrior classes (I know it officially doesn't exist anymore) have been catered for elaborately, but don't forget that there are also many many players out there who like to go hunting in the beautiful immersive world that Bethesda built. We all don't just go in hacking and slashing, hoping to complete the game as quickly as possible. There are quite a few of us who like to take our time with the game. I would never be ignorant enough to say that "oh, I don't care much for magic users, so lets leave sorcery out of this game" so please don't leave out THIS aspect of the game.

Of course, to implement ideas such as this Bethesda need to address their flaws in Oblivion: ie. money was too easily earned in the game (I was soo rich so early on, money became useless), you shouldn't be able to outrun a healthy advlt deer no matter how much you leveled up (very unrealistic), animals can get wounded and effects their speed... etc.

Hey, just a few ideas... that's all

I would like there to be hides that are valuable or that could be tanned and the tanned hides are valuable. I have played a hunter character in MW and OB (the MW was a bit better because the hides of some beasts had a value in which you could profit from) but the only valuable beast to hunt I found was boars for their meat.

Yes to all of the above. Incorporate the ability to "set up camp" along with a wide variety of wildlife for skins, meat, trophies etc. Then add a job for making said items into armor, clothing, potions/poisons etc. and I would be one happy fella! :celebration:

'Setting Up Camp' is a fantastic idea. I second your motion.

Hell, I loved hunting in Morrowind, and the only reason to hunt in that was to sell pelts for money. Hunting in Skyrim will be ever better, because of the crafting system. So not only can we sell pelts, but we hopefully have a system to use them in as well.

I'm DEFINITELY going to make an "Everyman" character who hunts, cuts wood, and mines for a living. He won't be extra ordinary or anything like that. He just does normal stuff and tries to scraqe by. Axe, marksman, mercantile, speech, sneak, and hand to hand will probably be his most used skills.

Yes!! More hunting! You should be able to skin the animals, sell the hide, or cook the meat and use it for health. Also, I think if there is a hardcoe mode, hunting for food should be necessary!

Hopefully with the crafting skill we'll be able to use animal furs to create light armor and animals bones to make bows and arrow tips/shafts.

Maybe pelts should be worth a bit more, too.

This is actually the thing I'm most looking forward to. Seeing the scene where the archer was drawing his bow at the wolf, gave me a huge erection. Apparently there is a wolf companion, which I am loving, so bear with me here for a moment. I live in the woods, with my wolf. My food sources are dwindling, so I decide to go hunting. I take my long bow, a dozen arrows, and my skinning knife. I head out hunting, and collect meat with my companion. Now while this is all happening, I'm drooling over the new engine from things like graphics, and new animations.

Thirded.

They have a http://oi56.tinypic.com/fefnrr.jpg of a guy about to kill himself a buck, which leave a lot to speculate on. If I kill the buck, what could I do with it? I kind of like the direction that Hypno Toad is going with in the idea of making the animals we kill a little more useful other than just getting their pelts to sell

I will probably RP this after I complete the main quest IE, retired kick [censored] adventuring Dovahkiin, cuts wood, mines, hunts, etc etc....

(But will still have one handed, magic type stuff, and other adventurer type things >_> with the addition to the "Everyman" type stuff....)

so.... skyrim = oblivion + runescape ?

So anything with hunting = runescape...?

no, the ability to make and do everything yourself