» Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:39 am Features of Skyrim:
Combat- The combat system has once again been overhauled. Now you may choose what you place in each hand, whether it be a sword and shield, dagger and sword, two swords or even a weapon in one hand and a spell in another. Assaulting with your shield is now apart of melee combat, being able to shield bash them to stagger them to give yourself an advantage in combat. The back-peddling speed when in combat has been slowed that you can no longer continuosly string alone an npc or creature in combat. Two-handed weapons ARE still in the game, that did not change. Spells can now be dedicated to a certain hand meaning you can fight with your left hand aflame while your right hand is charged with lightning. Ranged combat has been improved by increasing the damage bows deal significantly, so much so that it is possible for one to one shot an npc from stealth but also so the draw time of your bow has been increased. Ranged combat shouldn't be able to be abused from stealth like in Oblivion due to the fact that NPCs are FAR more intelligent than any TES game ever and possibly any game to date, we shall see.
Improved Radiant AI- The AI for Skyrim is a vast improvement over that of Oblivion. The AI will now react to you killing people. If you kill a shopkeeper they will react in a proper way to it. Also it is said that if you drop a sword on the ground near NPCs they will react to that as well, such as a child might try to give you the sword back or two men will fight over it. Also if you say, level your a few schools of magic to a high level, you may be challenged by a mage on the street that just might have been passing by in a western style duel. This event would not happen if you decided to have raised blade instead of Alteration. Even leveling skills has an effect on how the world changes around you. NPCs will dodge spells. When you approach an enemy, they will engage in dialogue with you from a far while continuing to do their task or making gestures or pacing around, depending on what their personality is. This is the replacement for what the NPCs do in Oblivion where the enemy would run up to you and then begin the zoomed in dialogue. The game world truly feels more real due to the fact that NPCs will talk to you from a distance if required and will continue smithing or washing dishes while talking to you and may even make cursory glances over their shoulder at you while talking for realism unparalleled. Also, the one thing that many people will be happy to know, Bethesda has confirmed that they have added many times the amount of dialogue that was in Oblivion and has hired MANY more voice actors to play NPCs. /rejoice all.
Environment- The environment is that of a mountainous range area close to that of Alaska. The north coast is icy and cold with glaciers, snow, etc. In the middle of Skyrim is a massive tundra (with several different environments in that one area) where you can see the mountains at the edge.- (Thanks to Reach and Riveon) There are numerous ruins spread through Skrim. Each of the dungeons and ruins are completely customized and unique, no one part of one dungeon will look like another. This area is also said to be inhabited by the usual wolves and other creatures but also trolls, Sabertoothed tigers and Mammoths. Also there will be giant spider(s) in Skyrim as well. The draw distances have been greatly increased allowing for little to no grid pattern or low resolution distance land. Also it has been stated that wherever you can see you can go in Skyrim.
Plot- The plot is that you are possibly the last Dragonborn, a group characterized by their ability to hunt dragons. The Septim line was a prominent Dragonborn line protected by the Dragonguards which eventually became the blades. After the death of the Septim line, the Blades were hunted down and killed one by one and now are almost completely gone. The return of the dragons was foretold in the Elder Scrolls and was ushered in by the destruction of the Staff of Chaos, the creation of the Numidium, the events at Red Mountain and the Oblivion Crisis. There is a blade you come across that will train and guide you through the game. The last event to unfold before the dragons return was the people of Skyrim turning against each other which is happening at the beginning of the game. Dragons start to appear in greater and greater numbers as the game goes on and will eventually culminate with Alduin possibly coming into the world, but we have no idea yet.
Graphics- Skyrim features True shadows, more hyper-realistic faces on NPCs and more distinction between the races. The normal creatures that you are used to have been updated graphically and look much more appealing (especially Trolls). There will be HDR and many other environmental effects that are at the cutting edge of gaming now and including greatly updated water effects. Dynamic snow, a first to my knowledge in gaming, in which snow truly falls from the sky and lands on objects and builds up. So in theory if it snows heavily enough you may have to wade through snow or even have mountain passes blocked by avalanches.
Creatures- So far it has been shown that we will have wolves, trolls, giant spiders and of course dragons. There are also Saber-toothed tigers, Mammoths, giants, Ice Wraiths, giant spiders and possibly werewolves. The most shocking creature of all is monstrous and unimaginable....Children!
New leveling system and Stat system- You no longer choose between Major and Minor skills anymore. Now there are 18 skills you can choose to level from but you now level from skill in a different way. You no move along to another level by leveling skills like before but the lower the level the less it attributes to the leveling process, for example, by leveling your Destruction from 9-10, it will give less to leveling than say leveling Destruction from 30-31. You gain perks as you get skill levels that give you bonuses like those in Oblivion, Daggerfall and Fallout. Each star in the sky of the menu is a perk. There may be a perk tree taking the form of constellations that will allow you to easily keep track of your perks. (perks information thanks to Orzorn.) Known skills are Smithing, Alchemy, Destruction, Alteration, Illusion, Conjuration, Restoration and Enchanting. You will be able to mine, farm, cook and cut wood but it has not been confirmed that these are skills are or just things you are able to do. Bethesda has said that they have given you things to actually do in towns so that the world feels even more real and immersive. You can smith your own weapons using ore you have mined or grow your own ingredients for Alchemy.
Level Scaling- Okay, this is the biggest thing I see. Level-scaling has been in every TES game in some respect. The level-scaling is more like Fallout's level-scaling meaning that this TES game will be similar to Daggerfall in most respects.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Content is explanation of Fallout Level-scaling. So please no more "OMG HE MADE EVERYTHING UP!" posts<<<<<<<<<<<<
All items have the same set stats, and all non-human enemies have the same HP and stats across all levels. Quest rewards are always the same. This makes it so it better than Oblivion's Level-scaling. NPCs are scaled in their equipment.
Random spawns out in the world are scaled (stronger enemies appear at higher levels), but weak enemies aren't written out of the system, just become less common. Unlike Oblivion where imps and boars become impossible to find at higher levels, A single spawn at lower levels can have enemies spawning in pairs at higher levels.
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After you enter an enclosed area, all enemies will be set to your level there for the rest of the game. You cant keep coming back to the same ruin to get better stuff as you level (especially since enemies usually don't respawn).
Stronger enemies exist in the world at the start of the game. You're usually given enough warning if you don't want to fight anything too strong. The fallout system was created from Oblivion's but Fallout was a testing ground for tweaking level-scaling from too easy from no level-scaling (Morrowind) to too much level-scaling (Oblivion).
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>End of Fallout level-scaling explanation<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Finishing Moves- Finishing moves are visual effects that happen when killing an npc or creature. These finishing moves are unique to each weapon and to each creature. This means that killing a bear with a long sword will look different than killing a troll with a long sword but also killing a bear with a mace will look different than killing it with a longsword. Thus it makes killing creatures and npcs even more exciting and gets rid of the repetition. It hasn't been confirmed that spells will have finishing moves but I can say it is almost certain to have finishing moves for spells.
Dialogue-
Conversations have evolved greatly over the TES series. Oblivion was the start of the true immersion into the gaming world with their voice over conversations and radiant conversations between villagers allowing for over-hearing information and then using that information to gain quests. In Skyrim the convesations no longer occur in a zoomed-in view of the person speaking to you. When an NPC talks to you they will move about, occasionally looking at you, or turn away to continue a task like woodcuttings or minding a counter. Secondary conversations you overhear also provide info without you ever needing to engage in dialogue. Townspeople might mention a missing item, or comment on an unusual situation and those details will automatically enter your log allowying you to explore those avenues at a later time if you so choose. Also when you walk within range of an enemy npc and they notice you they will begin dialogue with you from afar, making gestures or pacing back and forth as if they were a real person.
Extra Features-
Sprint has been added and drains stamina when used.
Dragon Shouts are abilities give you powerful effects to use in battle. There are shouts such as ones that are a "blink" effect (meaning that you teleport a short distance, like 60 feet or something like, that value is a guesstimate to show that it is a very short distance, not fact) and other combat effects. It's not quite certain how we acquire them other than absorbing dragon souls. It's also not certain if you can use them at will or only in dragon fights.
Random quests have been added in which you can get at random for being in an area at the right time (or wrong time)
Decent sized towns through out Skyrim that are open. Possibly Open Cities (I'd bet my life on it though)
HUD free first-person view and improved third person view. There may be an option to show a HUD but it has not been confirmed yet.
In-depth character customization that allows to change your character physique, give them a beard (possibly women with beards?
hmy: That's Nord women for you) and other more detailed changes to your characters body.Radiant Story in which if you kill a shopkeeper and he gave a quest, his daughter might inherit the shop and if she knows that you killed her father, she may not give you the quest that her father would have given you. If you killed him inside a secluded house and no one discovered you then she won't know you killed him and thus will be willing to give you the quest. All your actions in Skyrim will affect how the game will progress more than any other TES game. The people will truly treat you differently upon how you act.
85 unique spell effects, which is far more than most other TES games. -(Thanks to Raziel for the info)
Speculation- From screen shots of the menu in Skyrim, many have speculated that the attributes have been removed and repurposed elsewhere into the game such as in perks or racials. This cannot of course be confirmed as of this time. They have been instead replaced with straight value increases for Health, Magicka and Stamina for when you level.
