Monday GI Hub Update! : V - Skyrim

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:32 pm

I think they mean avoiding GTA:IV pitfall of having a bunch of crappy random missions that were essentially stuffed down your throat.

"No, I do NOT WANT TO GO BOWLING WITH YOU!"
*hang up*
*ring ring*
"Eeyyyyy, cousin! You want to go bowling with me?"
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:27 pm

Wow, this is definitely my favourite update so far... Goodbye real world, hello Skyrim world! :drool: :drool: :drool:

:celebration:

I do apprichate the information and screenshot in consensus about the engine.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:49 pm

In previous games the team licensed the SpeedTree middleware to render the forests. For Skyrim, they've created their own platform that allows artists to build whatever kind of trees they want and to dictate how they animate.

No more flat leaves facing you no matter how you turn!

In reality, the technology driving NPC behavior wasn't overly sophisticated. Bethesda could only assign five or six types of tasks to the townspeople, and there wasn't a lot of nuance to their actions. In Skyrim, the characters have much more defined individual personalities.

You won't find townspeople loitering aimlessly in town squares anymore.

I like how only now that they have a better version coming up they're mentioning the flaws of Oblivion's AI.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:13 am

Just watched the Havok video on their website. Which other games use Behavior for there animation?? I know GI said that Beth is the first big game to use it, but which smaller ones have??

Some Wii Six Flags thing. That's it.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 12:30 pm

Soooo happy they ditched SpeedTree. That was the one thing that could not be done with other software in Oblivion. Hopefully the new tech is included with the CS (or as a separate application) and incorporates some of the stuff speedtree for OB was missing (roots, fonds...).

A bit less thrilled about the Havok inclusion. I had been hoping that the new engine would mean they could release an exporter themselves, but I can't see that happening if Havok is part of the package.

All in all it looks fantastic

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:36 am

hahaha very good question... I fear for these men's afterlives. But its not good marketing to stratify your consumer base, by making general statements like "everything has shadows", just to later recant and say "only PC versions have dynamic shadows".... most people will buy this on the console. Not a good idea.

So in saying that I assume both versions have dynamic shadowing. For some reason it is hard to make out in that screen.

Well, I mean that the article starts off by saying Oblivion was an amazing graphical experience that fully utilized the 360's power and was a work of technical genius, but then the article goes onto describe how the new engine blows the [self-censored] out of Oblivion's engine... and runs on the same, exact hardware. Either Oblivion's engine was very, very impractical and very unoptimized, hence the article lied, the new engine isn't nearly as good as they claim, hence the article lied, or Bethesda sold their souls to Mehrunes Dagon. It's the only logical conclusion.

The only thing about this article I didn't like is this:

"With all this technology at its fingertips, surely Bethesda could put players on the back of a woolly mammoth or a fire-breathing dragon, right? When we ask, for the first time during our visit Howard clams up. “We're not talking about mounts yet,” he says coyly."

To me it seems to really suggest there will be Dragon Mounts...
And Dragon Mounts are heresy.

I won't argue with dragon mounts.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:26 am

The screen shot looked amazing, much better then in the mag. I liked the details it gave too. this game is looking very good. Can't wait.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:31 am

Also, it's pretty much implied that the combat skills are just "One-hand" and "Two-hand" now.

Where ? :huh: Didn't see it. And what do you mean ? One-handed weapon, two-handed weapons ? Mind you, using a halberd, a claymore or an axe, they're all two handed, kinda not the same moves, tho. Same for shortsword and dagger, if you go by that.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:06 am

The only thing I wanted to know more about was water

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:43 am

sounds amazing, i cant wait til 11/11/11 :yes:

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 1:17 pm

The name of the ruin at the screenshot is; Markarth, anything important ?

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:42 pm

Best article yet. BTW, don't know about anyone else, but if that is a city, I'm living there. If it is a ruin, I am clearing it out and living there. One way or another, it's mine!

Oh, and I think our fears about level-scaling can be allayed. It mentioned ruins with enemies at a certain level, which implies there are once again places in the world not safe for low-level characters.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:52 pm

While that screenshot is beautiful, (anyone confirm if that was PC, 360 or PS3, reading a few conflicting posts) I am a bit worried. I am afraid we are going to have the "Cyrodill" effect. While the land maybe more massive it will feel smaller.
Morrowind felt HUGE so much more bigger than Oblivion. When I got Morrowind for my laptop working and installed MGE, now I see how "Small" Vardennfall is. Part of the "magic" or "mystery" came from the fog. With Oblivion having
hardly no fog at all you can see for Kilometers away. Now with Skyrim improving this having more detail in the distance, could this make it worse? Will Skyrim actually "feel" small?

I hope Bethesda has a work around this and make Skyrim feel "grand" or "massive" just like the original Morrowind did. I think having all those mountians, like Morrowind did, may be able to give us this "massive" feeling agian with walking
through "mazes" to make it longer where we want to go intead of a "straight line" or "bee lining it" like in Morrowind.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 1:39 pm

The name of the ruin at the screenshot is; Markarth, anything important ?

As has been stated earlier...
http://uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Markarth_Side

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:59 am

Very nice update, just when I thought I couldnt get anymore excited about this game than I already was too. :drool:

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:05 pm

Where ? :huh: Didn't see it. And what do you mean ? One-handed weapon, two-handed weapons ? Mind you, using a halberd, a claymore or an axe, they're all two handed, kinda not the same moves, tho. Same for shortsword and dagger, if you go by that.

Second page under Radiant Story

If you're really good at a particular skill, like one-handed weapons or destruction spells, a stranger who knows of your reputation may ask for training, challenge you to a duel, or beg you for a favor that will require you to show off your skill.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:31 pm

And we finally have confirmation that conversation occurs in real-time.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:50 pm

Seems like we may be able to use weapons on left or right hands as the animation engine allows mirroring.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 4:55 pm

Mehh... if the devs thought riding dragons is appropriate, then Id like to believe em. If anything, at least we will get a bird's eye view again

And yes, weapons can go in either palm

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 8:42 am

And we finally have confirmation that conversation occurs in real-time.

We already had that.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 4:43 pm

Seems like we may be able to use weapons on left or right hands as the animation engine allows mirroring.

We've known that since details of the GI magazine poured out.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:13 am

Seems like we may be able to use weapons on left or right hands as the animation engine allows mirroring.

The GI article confirmed we could put magic, shield's or weapons in any hand. I guess your GI hasn't shown up yet.

Ninja'd :ninja:

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 12:45 pm

Welcome back from the dark side!

lol. Well, I'm technically still there until Bethesda confirms the deal about attributes, but this article has really changed my overall perspective so far.

So I guess you could say I'm on the light grey side... :tongue:

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 12:13 pm

Engine and stuff look and sound good so far bit we have to see if it all works perfect and how the game really is when the game gets released.

EDIT: I'm still very worried how the game will end up.

» Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:30 pm

We already had that.

Not quite. People misunderstood what it said in the magazine and assumed conversation was in real-time. But now we know for a fact.