There's this thing called 'sarcasm'. You should probably read up on it :hugs:

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1163991-how-bethesda-can-fix-tes-v/page__hl__sarcasm
A whole thread of people who have not read up on it.

Check out the spellmaking feature in Two Worlds 2. It sounds pretty awesome, despite the rest of the game seeming pretty... meh. The problem they were faced with was either removing spell-making, limiting the selection to pre-determined stock set but ensuring the magic system was balanced - or allowing players to combine spells and effects to their heart's content, increasing the level of interaction and enjoyability, but at the cost of balance. Some spells can be incredibly overpowered.

If the devs of Two Worlds can do it, then Bethesda certainly can. I bet they were faced with the same situation, and decided to make magic balanced, rather than overpowered, so as not to overshadow melee and stealth gameplay. It's a shame.

I think we're just detained to disagree here. I don't think Bethesda have 1. confirmed that spell making will be out. 2. Said anything to indicate they don't want it. I just think by advancing other areas of magic it has made it harder to implement the spell making. I can't find the exact bit but I'm sure in one of the Todd Howard interviews he says they want it in and are trying to make it work. (I don't think you can compare TES to a game you haven't played! Two Worlds was a terrible game! I know the sequel has had some ok reviews but you can't say TES needs to be like a game you haven't played!)

Edit: " can you combine more than one spell? “We're not talking about that,” Howard says with a smile. “We're not sure. We'd like to; it'd be awesome.”

Absolutely, that's what we call the Morrowind effect. Those whining about Skyrim not being bigger are people who haven't played Morrowind. Morrowind was quite smaller than Oblivion yet felt much bigger. So little cities scattered across pure wilderness really made Oblivion feel smaller. In Morrowind, there was tons of cities and you were always getting across something, add in quite different geographic areas, and the game world feel huge. Oblivion also lacked the variety of Vvardenfell, making the effect of feeling smaller much more present, and also had the hugeness of the lake Rumare and its surroundings, and a big portion of the map is actually shores, water and the Imperial City. Sure there will be the huge mountain, but the game world will still be pretty damn big and feel bigger. I'm absolutely thrilled about the 5 major cities and 20-something others, it feels like there will be MORE cities than in Morrowind, something I didn't even hoped to dream of.

And that's also part of why I feel so good towards Skyrim now, it has some of the best of Morrowind, some of the best of Oblivion and put all this with tons of new things.

I think there may be a minor mistranslation. It says there are 20 minor cities, and there were about 20 or so 'towns' in Oblivion (although few were more than 2 houses). They could just mean 'smaller settlements'. And this is GOOD, because they say they have 10+ houses, which (unless there is a mistake or generalisation here too) that there are 20 towns with 10 or more houses, many of which are small villages. Those that aren't will be some of the Skyrim cities that didn't make it as the 5 'massive' cities in the game, and those coulde be much bigger.

The info seems to suggest that you cannot "create spells". This could mean many things, such as not being able to combine multiple effects into a single spell like we could do in MW and OB.

This doesn't mean that "spell customization" is out. So there could still be the ability to customize a particular spell (like fireball with 100 area damage in 20 ft for 2 sec) but perhaps not the ability to combine effects to create an altogether new spell, if you follow. I believe that some spell customization will be included, but the degrees of freedom will be reduced in comparision to other games. This is likely due to them wanting to make each spell more awesome and balanced.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Cities_%26_Towns

From this page, excluding forts, camps, wizard towers and house strongholds (many of which were parts of bigger cities anyway), there are 21 settlements. The lowest number of houses in any village is 6 (I counted all of them). Skyrim will supposedly have a total of 25 (5 major, 20 minor) settlements, with a minimum of 10 in each. I think it's entirely possible we could be seeing a fair bit more content than Morrowind or Oblivion.

*fingers crossed*

about the "20 minor cities": it *is* a mistranslation. The article actually says "5 cities and at least about 20 inhabited settlements". Also, the number given for the dungeons is "about 120" and that's straight from Bruce Nesmith.

what's the difference from minor city and inhabited settlement?

in another Skyrim coverage they said that dungeons are about 130

I will formally say that most of everything sounds really really great.

I will also reserve judgment on the apparent lack of spellmaking. There is some reason to doubt that nothing is standing in it's place.

I always find pete to be quite rude to us fans, to be honest.

I don't think it is really that out of line. People on the forums are crying for murder because they think something they liked is gone in a game. They don't know what the new system is, how it will play out, etc, and spend their hours insulting developers because of a choice they don't even understand yet. That is kind of ridiculous to say the least. Not to mention the small minority of people on the forums think that they constitute the entirety of Beth's fanbase and have to be appeased at all times. The fact that you used the term "put at ease" is indicative of how messed up people's priorities are. It is ok to be excited for the game and hope that it turns out well, but people do need to take a step back.

to my previous post about Todd confirming spell making I was wrong I misread something and got too excited

A minor city is very specific. It's a smaller city than the major ones. A settlement could be anything: a couple of tents, a village, a small town and even a city.

I think that part of the reason there are many people worried about some of the issues is that there are certain parts of the previous games that really drew them to the series and to hear that the feature may be gone is troubling. What makes it worse, is there almost seems like a trend recently where developers take their current audience for granted and abandon them in order to go after whatever the popular target group of the day is (such as casual gamers). Personally I am concerned because of a series of dumb decisions made by a different company in another game that I enjoy. They took something that was shaping up into what could have been the best game in that genre yet, and ripped out local multiplayer, drastically changed the online system, and decided to go with pretty over functional even when it was clear that it would cause problems. Throw some false impressions in on top (that they arguably encouraged) and I was not too happy. All of this seemed to be a result of their determination to appeal to casual gamers

I am quite pleased with what Bethesda did in Oblivion and they have earned the benefit of the doubt from me for Skyrim. There are a number of changes that I am a bit concerned with, but at the same time if done right the changes could turn out to be better. Then again they could screw things up, and if they do then I will have to consider more carefully my purchases of future products (Elder Scrolls VI). At this point I have a positive outlook. We can't know until we get an actual working copy in our hands and get a chance to play for awhile and see how the changes feel when integrated together.

I am one of the people who really wants the ability to create custom spells, even if they are more limited in use than the standard spells (no special casting modes/side effects for elements for instance). But even if they are out I will give the new system an honest chance. If it turns into a disaster it can always be fixed, plus enchanting is clearly in so there would be something to work from.

I can make one prediction for certain though. Just as now there are people who argue that Morrowind is better, and others Oblivion, there will be a new set that like the changes and claim Skyrim is the best. For me, I will probably prefer Oblivion, but I am still hoping to be pleasantly surprised. So long as they think things through carefully (measure twice, cut once).

"-Skyrim size is equal to Oblivion's Cyrodiil"

Meh, not bad, not great. Oblivion's map was big enough I guess

"-the creation engine is totally new, it's not based on the game bryo"

Yay!

"-graphics look a lot better than the oblivion and fallout 3 one"

Kind of a given, but yay!

"-there are fishes that jump out of the water"

Fish is good Oblivion's waters were emptier than the void of space.

"-the hud appears only when you fight. you will see the three status bar and the compass (sigh)"

Meh, I think the whole hud thing they're messing with won't make that much of a difference, I'm glad the compass is inn though

"-the UI is really user freindly but it's not intended to be mouse-used"

Boo!

"-it appears that there are no birthsigns"

Meh, they never had a big impact anyway.

"-there is a separate control system for the pc"

Boo! Possibly a yay, depending on how they execute it. If PC controls turn out to be a [censored] conversion of made for console controls I'll be sad

"-there is a "local map" for every zone of Skyrim"

Just like in Oblivion? Meh or yay I guess.

"-there are 100+ subquests"

Yay, but also boo, see further below about quests.


"-it will be possibile to play after the main quest"

A given for Bethesda games in my oppinion, but yay!

"-Steam, not gfwl. they're are disappointed with LIVE!"

Resounding yay!

"-you can't create spells. WHAT THE HELL??"

Meh, never made spells in the first place really.


"-there are houses which you can buy"

Yay!

"-there are many puzzles in the dungeons"

Resounding yay! Spectacular yay!

"-cities, dungeons etc will be added to the 3d map as soon as you encounter them"

Not entirely sure how this will look or be implemented, but sounds really good, yay!

"-water physics"

Yay? Yay!

"-every town has an economic system"

Definitely a yay! Oblivion's economy system was horrible.

"-75% of the quests are dynamic. even the rewards and the quest giver are randomized"

Uhm... What? This could turn out to be a huge boo! If most of the quests are randomized fetch or save quests given by random people I'd be sad, some of the best quests in Oblivion and the Shivering Isles are the quirkily written sidequests with lots of backstory. But it could be a meh or yay, if done well.

"-you can set oil on fire"

Sounds cool! Yay!

"-there are birds"

Yay for birds Oblivion's wildlife, or rather lack there of, was pretty depressing.

"-the npcs which give us the main quests are immortal"

Boo!

However it's translated, you know they're at least villages or farms or something, since they all have at least 10 houses.