There's much praise for the removal of Oblivion's "only Major skills increase your level" and "chasing +5 to 3 Attributes" (Morrowind has a similar system). Of course, there are mods that do this (and more), but many players are unaware of them, it seems. Galsiah's Character Development, a Morrowind mod, mentions "lasting character diversity" as a primary design goal. Some people think GCD makes a Jack-of-all-trades character too hard, and use other mods instead.

Also, the visuals will be improved. I hope that my manly Conan the Barbarian Nord will finally be able to get the pec size he deserves. However, at this point it seems unclear whether my muscular Conan will actually be any better at melee combat, or worse at stealth and magic, than any level 1 Altmer mage or Bosmer thief. He might just be another Jack-of-all-trades (albeit one with manly pecs) facing the same scaled-down opponents as every other level 1 PC. Maybe TES V will be not only classless, but also with purely cosmetic races, who knows?

If you played Super Mario Brothers in multi-player, you got to choose your appearance and name - Mario or Luigi. You also got to collect power-ups. You could increase your health points. I would expect much more from a 2011 game that has RPG elements. Come to think of it, Mario Kart has different stats for Mario and Luigi (or at least for their vehicles).

I hope there is some form of difference other then just cosmetics. I would hope that lets say theres the base player state of 0 for all skills and a base for the health magic and stamina. Then based on the race you chose it gives bonuses like lets say with a nord you have a strong resistance to ice since well your a nord. The type of special things that come with the race. Then you choose a birth sign that gives bonuses to health magic and stamina depending on what you pick. then you start devoloping your skills.

Who said certain races won't have a few extra points in a given skill. Extra points in a skill would make level progression easier, so if you want to get those first few levels out quicker pick a race that fits your play style. Depended upon the beginning of the game could make sense that your character has no established points in any certain skill.

Edit: Not to mention races will still have different traits and resistances.

I don't think we know enough to assume that's going to happen - but personally, I doubt each race begins the same.
Also, it's not that many players are unaware of the mods, it's that many players can't use them.

No one knows anything about character generation. In past games, you got to boost attributes by race selection and directly in chargen, but everyone had the same eight, and none were "major" or whatever. For all we know, race will still give you some starting skill bonus and you might still be able to pick a few to get a boost in at the beginning.

Personally I think they are going to do something special with racial distinction and abilities this time around but that is not to say that if you play twice and choose the exact same race that you won't start out with the exact same stats.

Oblivion's tutorial already did something like this. You play through a combat-oriented dungeon with a Jack-of-all-trades with only racial bonuses... In Morrowind, you can have a specialist character the moment you walk out of the Census and Excise office.

EDIT: OK, you also got to choose a birthsign before the end of that dungeon. I wonder what will happen to birthsigns.

Considering that in Oblivion major skill started at 20 and all the others were at 5, we still need something to "customize" our starting character. Otherwise all skills would start at the same level, too low or too high.

Picking X favoured skills at chargen would be a way of solving this.

Also, I believe racial skill bonuses are still in, the skills screenshot show a Dark Elve with a destruction skill of 56 at level 9, the other skill range from 21 to 30 (all magic related). In Oblivion the Dark Elves could start with 40 in Destruction (major + magic specialization + 10 racial bonus), the race only other magic skill with a bonus was Mysticism...

I highly doubt that all races will be equal. However, I think that all characters in a certain race should start out the same. I don't know whether I want to be a thief or a warrior or a mage until a couple of hours in. Why should that decision be forced on me during character generation? Because that's what RPGs do? Please.

Well, there's no need to force a race choice on you either. A Nord with a manly moustache should be fine.

I understand the concern. One thing I will miss about chosing classes is the skills that get a boost in the begining.
Then again, in this game you are starting from 0 experience which makes a little bit more sense...

Maybe at character creation allow people to modify their starting stats? Idk...

I had absolutely no problem with the Oblivion skill system, except for the level scaling which required metagaming. I would prefer to see a similar system without the level scaling.



What? It's not important how you start, but what the journey is like. I don't care if all level 1's are the same or not, as long as i can develop my character as i see fit. Purely cosmetic races? In a Bethesda RPG? They better not.



This isn't a game with RPG elements, it's an RPG! I don't consider picking between two characters and having powerups as having anything to do with a real RPG

The first few levels are also part of the journey. Of course, I don't expect everyone to share my opinion.

What about the birthsigns, then? Should they also be streamlined away?

EDIT: BTW, Game Informer writes "Action/RPG", not "Action RPG" or "RPG".

I thought you were talking about characters STARTING with the same stats, not the first few levels. Two completely different things there.

I'm opposed to streamlining any aspect of character creation.

They contribute to the TES feel. However, saying 'I am a thief even though I don't even know if being a thief is fun is this game' does not.

The birthsign is called "The Thief". Picking it doesn't mean you are a thief.

The first few levels by definition include the first level, i.e., playing with a level 1 character (which could take a while). Also, the first few level-ups won't necessarily change the character dramatically.

Um....why shouldn't you be able to further customize your skillset at startup? Just because the STORY starts at the beginning of the game, your CHARACTER has presumably lived many years already. He/she should have learned something along the way. I'd love to be able to allocate or redistribute some points at the beginning of the game. This was done fairly well in DF, but it could be improved on. I loved the bonus/penalty system that meant you had to give something up in order to gain something (although it was too easy to cheat the system they came up with).

Example: I start a dark elf assassin who has spent his entire life up until the beginning of the story sneaking around in order to survive. Granted he's not likely a master at sneaking, but he should be at least a little bit better than the same character who spent his entire life living in luxury (who may have a better speechcraft/mercantile skill).

Should it be required? No. However, you should be given the OPTION to redistribute points with diminishing returns (aka 1-for-1 swap for first 5-10 points, 1-for-2 swap for next set, etc.).

Lolwut? I'm in favour of birthsigns... I was talking about the 'thief' archetype, not the birthsign. Hence no capitalisation.

As opposed to forcing a grey character on the people who do know what they want to be? You get to start over, my experience is "ruined" (for me personally) from the beginning.

I'm a Morrowind fan, but I like Daggerfall's skill and leveling system the most. However I can understand the approach the devs took with Skyrim since here we will have a more specific character, kinda like the grey warden in Dragon Age (I gotta say, if it wasn't all foretold in the lore I would think Bethesda is totally ripping off other franchises). I just hope they know what they're doing and they won't keep simplifying stats in future games.

Well said. Hm, I hadn't thought about diminishing returns at chargen, even though skill point systems in some other RPGs use that.

Yes and Yes.

More info in my sig. Lots of info.