» Tue May 03, 2011 12:14 am \Jumping salmon and rougher nature
The difference from "Oblivion" is immediately obvious. Gone away is the evergreen forest fields and instead there is a rough and rugged scenery that dominates, with mountains as far as the eye sees. A stone-clad ambient most of all reminiscent of the mound we live on, in reason. I also particularly noticed a small detail in the river that stretches across the path we walk on: the small waterfalls that truly jumps upward as salmon in a salmon ladder. Nice!
Technically, the game is a total overhaul from "Oblivion." Virtually everything is new, with a brand new Creation Engine in place that allows Bethesda have far greater freedom to change things the way they want. They also hope to have a Creation Kit, which allows people to make modifications and additional packages themselves, ready to launch.
Graphically, this is nicer than anything Bethesda has made before, on the Xbox 360 at least, that was the version we saw. Very Impressed I was not, so without further ado, but it certainly looked very smart out - and the PC version will be even nicer!
Immediately there were a few things that Howard wanted to show off. A trick they have added is that the eyes of the character would adapt to the shadows and dark room automatically, as they would in real life. So you can be blinded by running from a dark to a very bright room, and could get used to the darkness for a better look the other way.
Third mode has also been fixed, and the animations of guy you play is no longer the sort of horrible animations, but is on par with other games set in third person, even though Bethesda obviously not want you to play the game like that. A bunch of random on the path would have the dubious distinction of being the first to nedhugget - just to show the combat system, which is of things that have not been drastically changed.
How much life your enemy has again been moved to the top of the screen instead of being a barely visible dot in the middle of the screen, and the sword gets messy with more and more blood for every stroke you get into. New is also the cinematic "finishing moves" have been added. These triggered randomly depending on which weapon you have, what position you have in relation to the enemy and how much life he has left.
No strategic importance, we have explained, just an extra piece of eye candy.
Vibrant and detailed people
Howard explains further that each hand is configurable to whatever you want to remain in it, regardless of the other. You can have shields and swords, two etth?ndssverd, using each hand to elective spells, poles, axes and f?glarna knows what else.
The demo continues, and a bit further we go into a small village called Riverwood. A lady standing and chatting with an Imperial guard at the entrance, but there are people around Howard wants us to look at. These boards with their daily activities, they talk together, picking the bushes around the house or office as vedhogger or blacksmith. You can also take such jobs.
- Everything you see people around you are working with you can do yourself, "explains Howard.
- And take the life of a person who makes the equipment you can buy, you will affect the ecosystem directly. For example, you will no longer be able to buy arrows in the shops in a village if you kill he who makes them.
The people who populate Riverwood looks much more alive and are much more detailed than the people you met in "Oblivion", thankfully, and I note also on the block that the game looks so much better indoors in houses, but "Oblivion" ever did. Load times also seems to be shorter than before.
Another resident talks with neighbors about a theft in the local tavern. Some seem to have been built and fitted out with something valuable. This starts a little mini-missions you can choose to embark on. Once inside the store, we can now choose to ask the man behind the cash register about this alleged theft, and in contrast to "Oblivion" is not frozen when you choose what you want to say, but you can still see you around when the menu of options appears.
Holder explains that a file called Franciscans Arvel the Swift has stolen a golden drageklo, and that he located at a nearby temple. So clearly we shall find him! A lady in the store is happy to show us the way, and as you go along with her across she explains that there may be danger in anything Bethesda calls "Walk n 'Talk", one of many parts of the game where you wander with NPCs to other locations.
They do not want the player to just be walking around with someone without a word being said, and although it creates a better atmosphere, I think personally it's a bit unnatural that only one talking, and that the main character to shut up even when he is asked questions directly. Oh well.
Close encounter with a nonchalant forest trolls
We walk past a huge rock called the Throat of the World. Howard says that this mountain is the highest in the game, and is the place where one learns drawn young people, an ancient language that only few people can. During the game you will have to overcome one seven one thousand step climb to the top of the mountain and meet one of the game many kites there.
Suddenly the ground trembled very, usually a good indication that something is moving very, so we throw out the sword. A huge forest trolls stroll nonchalantly past without adding any significant attention to the player. Not all the creatures you meet is looking to fight all the time, it seems, he will pass on it too narrow trail.
We are approaching the entrance to the temple now, but in the distance we glimpsed two guards who keep order. Howard switches to a magic formula called Detect Life, which frame the guards with a blue tint. A Rage spell is the one to flip in total on the other, and after a small fight between them is the only one left.
This cabbage is done on a well-aimed bueskudd, helped greatly by the ability to hold their breath. Later in the demo demonstrated the ability to slow down time when you aim with the bow. Both of these upgrades are done to your bueferdigheten through a seemingly very well-perks system.
Perks added to the weapons controlled by a completely new skill system, represented in the menus as asterisks. As you go up in level at the various skill late you will be able to unlock more "stars" in the various Zodiac signs, and consequently more perks. An ax, for example, perk up to create the bleeding wound that kills over time, or a sledgehammer to get the ability to ignore armor and shield enemies have on. You also get more experience points to "main-level" when your going up in skill level of the tendon. It works much like "Oblivion", but this time it is not selected skills that make you go up, but rather the sum of all of them. Bethesda also has lumped together a number of the old skill sheets, so they are not too specific.
- Both Athletic and Acrobatics-skill resources are out there, so now it's finally on spamming the jump button, "explains Howard.
Traces of embarrassing errors from "Oblivion"
Well up in front of the Temple Bleak Fall is the environment drastically changed. Up here at altitude is the snow storm and cold weather that prevails, and far more aggressive opponents. A Frost Troll (a huge gorilla-like thing) is slaughtered by a little flame magic, and we enter the temple itself, used by North breed to worship of the ancient dragons who once circled the country. These are now back, and the history of the game follows Dovahkiin in his pursuit of just why they are here.
Some fun (and certainly embarrassing for the developers) imperfections lingers from "Oblivion" the time when we enter the Temple and dive deeper into the cave systems beneath it. Two guards stood chatting in the shadows, and an arrow is in the mind of one. "I know I heard something!" Exclaimed the other, barely misses where the other stood, to much laughter in the courtroom. Hopefully, this black-and-white interpretation of what is shaded and not fixed to the release!
As the cave goes deeper, it is reasonably clear that Bethesda has put a lot of effort to make them look unique and more detailed than before. Here there are small bridges, flowing rivers and long roots that spices up the stone walls and floor. Many of the complaints of "Oblivion" was that all the caves you visited so for the same, and they've taken to heart.
- We have not drastically changed the way we make the caves, "said Howard.
- But it was former programmers who designed most of them, since we only had two level-designers. Now we have nine!
Eventually we caught sight of Arvel, the thief, who sprints inward. We bones flying by, but is hindered by several tjuvradder trying to stop us. These are no match for a well functioning sword, and from the loot, we find a soul gem. These are used to attach your gear timing capabilities, such as married on your sword in X number of strokes, or fire arrows.
One detail that was not mentioned or policies detailed in the aftermath of the demonstration is that you can be infected by disease and depravity when rodents and animal bites you, so I assume it will be a system for making antidotes or vaccines against this.
Eventually we left Arvel, now trapped in a giant spider web in a room full of tissues and huge edderkoppegg. One need not be a rocket scientist to understand that now is there something [censored], and sure enough, presto, a three meter high Frostbite Spider comes waddling into his wonderful detailed horror. Through clever use of magic, which can form traps on the ground if you use them there, it does not take long for mutant spider lies and wriggling.
Drageord with Momentum in
Arvel ask us to help him down, which only makes him once again trying to escape. A slow-mo-arrow in the old man puts a nice end to it! On him he has a journal, and more important: Kloa he stole from the store in Riverwood! Unfortunately, the killing of the big spider weight up the temple cave, for now the swarms of undead zombie people called Draugr everywhere.
These, Howard can tell, are the remains of ancient northern warriors who would protect the temple.
By means of another spell, Circle of Protection, which creates a bubble you take less damage if you are in, do we get past this obstacle also. A clever thing is that if you choose to have the same formula in both hands, you go taken this - but at the expense of that you can not have anything else to defend you in advance.
One of the bastards lose a magic wand that is not fully explained what to do, but I'm guessing will reinforce the formulas further.
- You can make all the Gandalf-thing if you will, "said Howard, who also point out that you can walk around with a stick in each hand if you want it.
Suddenly we arrived in a large and grand room, called the Hall of Stories. In the middle of the room is reminiscent of an altar to the dragons and a wall with the runes on. We go up to the wall and look at the runes, which form words - draw on the language.
This is a great (and new) part of the game. Being able to bark out words you learn through the Word Wall's, to the horror of your enemies. One of them we have learned is called Unrelentable Force and sending a wall of sound from what it is you're facing. A quick test on a table and a chair with some small items on instantly showed that the impact of these coated words, all wing wall.
The shouting is a separate button on the controller, and depending on how many you can (there are 60 + in the game so far) is it possible to assemble up to three pieces for a very powerful roar. It's a cool-down time on these, however, and the length of this depends on how many words you have combined. Does the button just a few clicks, you'll Caucasian out only a word, hold it a little in going all three. It's a bit like incantations, really, only far more powerful things. Plus they are always ready for use through the dedicated button, and costs you nothing of magick meter, which runs out if you are using regular spells.
Awesome Dragons
A small climb out of the cave in the history of the hall suddenly takes a bad turn when one of the game many dragons decide to meet. These beasts are huge, and not afraid to kick down with quantities of the same dragon cries you can learn (you can actually hear them talking when they send a fireball at you). Bethesda promises that the Dragons are not the script in any way, and that it is totally random when they appear - with the exception of a few that are important to the story.
It happens but not often, will Howard that when they are there, they will be just as awesome and give as much of an impression as did the dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park".
Unfortunately, the presentation stops here. Dragon provides tough resistance where it blows fire, flies away your arrows and swooping down at you, but you have to fall for dragon cry we just learned, that slows down time and that gives us plenty of time to strike with the sword when on the ground. When the dragons in the game dies, the player will absorb the soul, but Bethesda and Howard would not tell exactly what this means, other than that you get stronger from it.
It looks at all appeared to be a game that takes everything that made "Morrowind" and "Oblivion" to the great and magnificent game, adds a lot of yourself and pour in with better graphics, better sound, better everything. To say that I'm looking forward to the game the whole game is perhaps the all-time understatement
