Not sure if this has been posted , came out yesterday.

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/09/5-more-things-ive-learned-about-skyrim-murder-and-encumberance/

Good read.

The way he says 'this character can control animals' makes me think it could be a racial ability. Wood Elves, maybe?

Yeah, there's a thread on it already.

Ok sorry about that.


But seeing as this is still page 1, i hope people notice this bit of the article -



There is much more loot to get in this game, Howard told me, and the brave player who ventures into areas too hard for him or her to have sensibly entered, will at least be rewarded with rare and special loot. If they survive their dangerous excursion, of course. “If you’re in over your head, we want to reward you for that,” Howard said.


So that basically confirms that loot doesn't scale like in oblivion? We could get awesome tier swords at lower levels if we go to the right places. That's awesome.

It's a dragon shout I believe

Thanks, i haven't seen it.

I'm not sure I really understand that. At first, he says that if you venture into an area that's too hard, you will get rare and special loot if you survive. So... that insinuates we actually have a chance to defeat creatures that are too hard for us. Wouldn't that then mean that they aren't too hard for us? Or is this saying that if you cheat and defeat stuff too hard for you, you will get rewarded?

I don't know, it's a weirdly worded statement. I don't know of any games that reward you for being in over your head. In most games I've played, being "in over your head" means you are rewarded with a "Would you like to load your last save?"

can we take control of mammoths i wonder?

He stated that high-level dungeons will have better loot (Reward). And that a new player can get that Reward if he defeat such High-Level creatures. (In Resume: The Loot will be approximately in the level of the creatures that guard it). Then yes, "if you venture into an area that's too hard, you will get rare and special loot if you survive"
At least that's my interpretation.

His character was probably a bosmer.

Think of it this way: It's an Elder Scrolls game. You think you gotta play it one way? Nope. Let's say you're level 3 and go into a mountain far into the north. You shouldn't have done this, because the vamps inside are level 10. How this plays out from here on is going to be different for mostly everyone. Yes, you can turn around and say screw that. But Todd wonders, "Hmmm, what if we should reward those who wanna stick this place out and not just turn around and come back at a later time." Out of 10 different players, you could be the one with like 3 badass invisibility potions with you. You come across a chest deep into the heart of this mountain grotto, not fighting any enemies from fear of death and using the potions to guide you along the dark damp cave walls. If the enemies in here were low-level, of course you'd expect to find just an iron sword. Now that your puny level 3 Bosmer spent a little more careful and extra time not trying to die, you're going to find Frost-splinter, an ancient Nordic dagger.

This scenario could play out differently. What if the low level managed to kill some vamps in direct combat without dying? Perhaps even cooler loot on their bodies rather than if they were a fair match fight.

Now you see where I'm coming from here, and I'm personally very excited for this addition. See, Todd thinks that if you have to sacrifice something (in this last situation for example, the player could have used all his health potions up to beat the higher levelers), then you should be properly rewarded. And even more rewarded if you managed to go through unscathed. This is what Radiant Story is all about. :tes:

PS. Let me know if I confused someone lol.

Dragonbones! Cant wait to decorate my home with dragon skulls and other trophies.

Pretty sure it's just the Bosmer daily power..

Yeah that part I get, because it's a chest inside a higher level dungeon, bigger challenge, so the loot is better if you can obtain it. That's fine for chests and loose loot.


This is the part I don't get. How would it even be possible to defeat something well above your level? The article seemed to suggest that it was possible, unless Mr. Howard was actually referring to your example of chests and loose loot. From the games I'm used to playing, including past TES games, you weren't going to kill a level 10 creature at level 1. You were going to be reloading a save.

So that's what got me curious. I like the challenge, and was a little worried by the suggestion that I can kill high level stuff at a low level.

He played a Bosmer and he used the "Command Creature" spell

Not exactly news to most but thanks anyway.

And yes the Bosmer's racial power is the ability to control some animals.

Out of curiosity, when you finish the Game and choose a New Character, must you do Everything again

Not if you had the right potions, or just posses a lot of personal skill (not character skill), or if you are smart enough to trap your enemies, or to bring two NPC enemies together (like getting a guard to chase you, go into the cave, make sure the high level creatures agro the guard and then they kill each other while you snatch the loot later). It's not like it's impossible to defeat higher levels than you, it's just hard and may cost you valuable stuff, or at least a lot of time.




No, you 'must' not do everything again, but you 'can' do everything again, Elder Scroll games are non-linear so skip the stories/quests that you don't like. The world will get reset to the starting position is what you want to know.

That's what I'm afraid of. That's pretty much exploits: getting a guard to kill your enemies, and by "trapping," I assume you mean taking advantage of the AI and environment by getting them stuck. I wouldn't want better rewards for that kind of thing. It's already proven too easy to get stuff in previous games, don't need to reward me for cheating/exploiting.

I'm hoping that what you've said isn't really the intention of what Mr. Howard had in mind.

This is what I'm having trouble explaining to him because Elder Scrolls can take a turn for anything just depending on something extremely small. Player skill could alone have it to where you get past certain enemies. I'm pretty much gonna go out on a limb and say in an Elder Scrolls game, something like defeating a higher leveled enemy or any tough situation can be accomplished somehow. Always a combination.

Every game has exploits. If I have 100 health potions I should be able to get through anyway. I remember getting the Zodiac Spear in FF XII about 20 levels and 20 hours earlier then I should have

You won't be able to get through those areas without exploiting at early levels i'm sure, so as long as you don't exploit you'll be fine.

Eh, not always, although the more recent titles have definitely been way easier. BTW, I'm pretty familiar with Elder Scrolls games.

But I'm also used to other hack'n'slash games and pen-and-paper RPGs where you simply don't go up against enemies well above your level by yourself, or the outcome is inevitable. MMOs are very much geared this way as well.

The key phrase there is of course "by yourself." I don't have any idea what the companion system is going to be like, but if it's a vast improvement over previous installments, then I can see how you could take on at least certain challenges. A group of level 5s against a level 10 wouldn't be far-fetched, but against a level 20, it still seems like you'd be reloading a save.


I understand. I just was concerned that it could be interpreted as, "we set the game up to reward you for exploits," which I hope is not the case.

That part on the guards... it's actually something I enjoy. A lot. NPCs duelling it out and I happen to be there to reap the rewards of their conflict. What a wonderful display
Especially with spells such as charm and frenzy. I don't see it as an exploit, more of an opportunity... an intentional opportunity (people installed mods to have more dynamic NPCs that would battle each other by chance, and Todd said he was following after this).

But yes, standing on a rock where the enemy can't path to you is an exploit of poor AI. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be rewarded for defeating impossible enemies. We are given wayshrine buffs, heaven stones, rare potions so that, for a limited time, we'll be able to take on enemies we wouldn't have dreamed possible before. We sacrifice something valuable to gain something else (better experience and better loot). Standing on a rock though... that can be fixed with better AI, right?

Or better map design.