Yeah I read the UK edition that was posted here, and there seemed to be some stuff 'missing' in the points? At least compared to some of the things I posted in here. Anyways, I pretty much went into what seemed to be said differently, etc. and I know it's nice for people who haven't seen it.

As for the wolves, yes I read that quote, but as for the hostility I mentioned, it's basically concerning that there will just be a lot of creatures who will disregard you, not concerning their previous meal. The wolf part is still great, but yeah the point is that not everything in the wild is out to get your blood. It's nice to know that there are just some creatures that couldn't care less about some dude walking by- you know, unless you give them a reason.

That sounds pretty amazing, but I take all those quotes with a grain of salt. If there is one thing I have learned being a gamer, it is that developers are master marketers and know that the consumers will eat this stuff up. The nice thing for them is, no one can claim false advertising if there is nothing like this in the game, because it is a WIP.

I would love to believe that I can sit back and watch a pack of wolves exit a den, form up, go hunting, track and kill a deer, and then sit around eating and guarding it in real time before finally retiring back to their den for the night, but I don't have my hopes up. The AI and path finding involved in all those actions would be more taxing than most any of the NPC's in the game, and these are just one of hundreds or thousands of random animals you may never even encounter. Even RDR which had pretty amazing wildlife, was fairly simple if you watched them long enough. If what Todd says is true, Skyrim will probably have the most realistic ecosystem ever seen in a game.

I agree. Most likely we'll see nothing more than an augmented version of Oblivion's system.

Thanks, I've been waiting for info on features forever. UESP is vague and all the stuff on the forums is buried by newbies asking for some dumb BS dragon mounting or whatever.

sounds amazing.

So, about these "bad boys", how did they get there? "A small wooden door"? "Was just taking a nap for a couple of decades and I kinda grew up"? Or will there be other connections to the outside world? Like huge openings in the top/side wall they can fly out of but we won't have access to?

awesome thanks for the info sounds like i can have fun even after the 70th play through

To all you naysayers about "they are lying" and such things, you have to keep in mind that they almost had Radiant Story in 2006. They had progammed the system but then had to pull it out because it wasn't quite ready. They had already worked on it for 3 years or so prior to 2006.

What we are looking at is an A.I. system that's been almost 8 years in the making that is finally IN and finally tweaked and fine-tuned. The Radiant Story allows for quests to be given not only to players, but to the NPC's, meaning in addition to the general A.I. there can be a lot of quests designed for the animals and monsters for their A.I. situations. Each Quest would be an intelligence package for the animals to follow before returning to their default behavior lists. The example with the wolves hunting in packs is easy: Goal 1) Hunt for Prey.... 2) but don't wander too far from the other members of your pack ... keep at least one of them within X distance from you at all times. 3) when you spot a kill, make a battle cry. 4) If you are the one who hears a battle cry from your wolf pack, go immediately to that one's location (where the sound came from) and look for the prey to be killed. 5) attack the prey upon sight.

#5 is just a return to that creature's default "attack behavior" ... so now the "searching" behavior is over with and the attack behavior is loaded. When the battle ends, the Radiant Story assigns a "Cover Your Fallen Kill" quest to the monster which tells it now to 1) stay near the kill and 2) don't chase the PC if he wanders by... ignore him/her.

A Radiant Story assignmenet will supercede the animal's default assignments until the assignment is fulfilled or interrupted. I'm sure if you go and attack the wolves guarding their kill, the "Cover Your Fallen Kill" quest will now be dropped down in the queue and the "attack behavior" will be loaded as FIRST PRIORITY in the Queue.

If it was another random monster that attacked them and not the PC (you), then once the wolves dispatched their prey, if they won, then the previous item in Queue becomes FIRST PRIORITY again "Cover Your Fallen Kill" ...

After a set time limit for covering the kill, Radiant Story then assigns "Eat Your Kill". Later, once that's finished, it assigns "Return to Your Den" whose parameters are 1) walk back (don't run on a full belly), 2) stay close to the other members of your pack, and 3) don't attack PC if he/she wanders near... ignore them.

The system is beyond awesome, and I'm sure we'll see some very emergent and rare behaviors sets cropping up throughout the game that are not all entirely scripted in advance, allowing for some very interesting interactions we'll always remember.

This is the future of all games happening in 2011, folks. Take a note of this.

If it were as simple as you state, we probably would see this kind of animal AI in every game. They weren't talking about a scripted routine here, but a dynamic one. Not to mention the fact that this is simply an animal (one of thousands) in the game. You honestly believe they would place this complex of a script on some random creature that the player may never even encounter?

Say for example the wolf is starting its hunting script. The programmers have to give it a general location and a roaming range where it is allowed to search for prey. This alone requires pathfinding AI to ensure it doesn't get stuck on a rock, wander off a cliff, or bounce off trees like a pinball. It also has to work together with the other AI wolves to ensure they appear as "a pack" and not random zombies wandering aimlessly. Then, the creatures have to realistically detect and attack their prey (which would also have AI). This could involve a chase in which the wolves have to work together to follow the path of the other AI creature, outrun it, attack it and kill it. Everything would also require timers and triggers, so that if no prey was found, they know when to return home etc. They then switch to guarding mode in which the attack parameters would be set to a small perimeter around the carcass. They would then enter an"eating" animation for a set time, while maintaining the attack perimeter. They would then return home which again involves path finding their way back to their den and again changing attack aggression and proximity (I doubt they would allow the PC to play with them at this point, but the priority would be to return to the den). Finally, they would return home and enter sleeping animation. This would also have a guard perimeter and attack agression, in which the wolves would awaken once anything got within a certain range of them. This doesn't even go into the small things that we don't even see like how long and far they are allowed to chase the character or prey before giving up etc etc.

Overall, I would say that sounds fairly complex for a simple woodland creature in a videogame. Don't get me wrong, I would love for Bethesda to make me eat my words here, but I will only believe this is in the game if I see it with my own eyes. Would be damn impressive though!

and since they re spawned you could milk them for their belongings.

^ absolutely epic win. This will make the game so much more immersive than the typical world vs player scenario.

hopefully this applies to bandits as you level up, ie if you wearing full daedric armour they will think twice about ambushing you with their rusty iron dagger. Bandits are thieves, not suicidal savages.

I dont know if this is old info but I read this from Finnish GameReactor:

-You can use one handed sword as two handed sword to do more damage.
-"Answer to a dungeon puzzle may be found in the knights helmet"

Someone have any news? :sadvaultboy:

Haven't heard about this one yet. Can you give us an exact quote?

I am VERY interested in this feature aswell, sounds aweosme if it's true

Its in finnish:

"On esimerkiksi mahdollista k?ytt?? yhteen k?teen tarkoitettua miekkaa kahdessa k?dess? tuottaakseen enemm?n vahinkoa"

"its for example possible to use a sword that is meant for one hand to use with two hands to do more damage"