[Avril Churchill]

Started this back up so we can consolidate all our Game Informer discussion in one place.

The Skyrim issue of Game Informer will be available for sale in stores around the 14th of January.

Copied from the previous thread:

Spoiler

The February Game Informer Cover Thread XIV


http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/01/06/february-cover-revealedesv-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim.aspx

"And yeah, once people read this, heads will explode." _{- Andy McNamara, Editor-In-Chief of Game Informer}

When responding to a question asking how the game looks:

As most of us know the February issue of the Game Informer magazine will feature 14 whole pages of Skyrim information/pictures/awesomeness.
The prestigious cover of the mag will also belong to Skyrim!

This thread is for thoughtful discussion and speculation of the topic and what we think will be revealed. Once the cover has been revealed we can keep all discussions to this series of threads so the mods don't have to spend all their time redirecting people's rants about how the cover is "zomg cool". Once the Mag is shipped to subscribers we can post small bits of information to share with other forum members who don't subscribe to GI.

For information on the rules of posting info on the magazine click on this http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1149624-do-not-post-magazine-scans-transcripts-or-links-to-either/.*
It seems people keep missing the above Magnificent http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1149624-do-not-post-magazine-scans-transcripts-or-links-to-either/ GO READ THAT BEFORE POSTING ABOUT THE ARTICLE PLEASE. It covers the forum rules on Scans, Transcripts and Links. Thank you - Outlander

*

As announced earlier this week, in a few weeks, the first details on Skyrim will be shared in the February issue of Game Informer. We can't wait for you to see the cover story, BUT....

Not here! We do not allow magazine scans or links to scans on other sites on this forum. Not for Game Informer, or any magazine preview thereafter.

Likewise, we will not tolerate anyone transcribing the article* and posting that, or posting links to a transcription.

Our moderators will be keeping an eye on these and removing links, handing out warnings, suspensions, and so on. So be good, and don't do that.

*To be clear, if you've read the article, you're free to discuss it in the forums.

Fortunately Todd Howard has already stated that "when we show it, we want to show a lot, because there's a lot of game there to play right now." http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-16-todd-howard-working-on-two-new-games

Here is the link to the Game Informer article on the matter: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/12/13/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-coming-next-issue.aspx

Here is the link to the Bethesda Podcast in which Todd Howard touches on the subject: http://www.bethblog.com/podcast/
(They start talking about GI around the 6:50 mark in the podcast if anyone just wants to skip to it.) - Wahoo

"They saw a lot [Game Informer visited the office of Bethesda last week] and I think, I hope, everybody is surprised with how much stuff were showing. It's... it's a lot. We wanted to sorta compress the amount of time that we talked about the game. It's still eleven months, it's a long time, but traditionally we're going on like two years talking about a game, so we start out very slow and we wanted to come out of the gate with a lot of... A lot of STUFF. So I think the fans will be excited." - Todd Howard


"And wait until you see what this game is all about! Mind...blown..." - Andrew Reiner

"Our Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim coverage has expanded from 12 pages to 14, making it our largest game-based cover story." - Andrew Reiner http://twitter.com/#!/Andrew_Reiner


If anyone has any other information then post it here and I will add it to the first post.

What we have learned so far (copied from MrTamarian's Got The Magazine thread):

Spoiler

Confirmed Features:

-2-handed weapons and duel wielding confirmed.

-A variation of level scaling.

-18 skills.

-Perk picking at every level-up

-Finishing moves, unique to each weapon and enemy you fight.

-Dynamic Shadows

-Kids

-Overhauled Combat-system Example Dual wielding spells, able to pick diffrent spells for each hand, or put the same in both for a more powerful effect.)

Radiant story

-5 Major Cities

-Improved Faces/Improved Models Example: Faces have been dramatically overhauled. Characters now exhibit more emotion show of distinctions between different races and just plain looks better.


-Radiant AI

-Updated Engine Snow falls dynamically (not as a basic texture on the ground)
Trees and branches move independently with the wind
Water flows and huge draw distances !

-The Hero has a mentor: His name is Esbern and Voiced by Mark Von Sydow (Surviving Blade)

-The game takes place 2 centuries after Oblivion

-Initiating a conversation between a NPC no longer zooms: Quote (Conversations aren't done in a zoomed in static shot anymore. Start a conversation with some and they will act like someone would in real life, looking at you occasionally and walking around a bit and also continue doing a task if they were doing one while talking.)

-Sprint is added !

-Randomly generated quests.

-Beards

- Dialog will pop up when you approach an enemy

- You can't run backwards as fast as you do forward.

- 10 races to choose from

- confirmed creatures: zombies, skeletons, trolls, giants, ice wraiths, giant spiders, dragons, wolves, horses Elk, mammoth, saber-toothed cats

- presumeably open cities (as dragons can attack)

- cooking/farming/mining/woodcutting/blacksmithing

-Hud-free first-person view and improved third-person perspective

-5 Magic Schools Destruction Alteration Conjuration Restoration Illusion. (Alchemy Enchant (now added) are not magic schools (?) )

-very unique landscapes! Also unique dungeons! In other words, lots of uniqueness!

-Character creation improved, body features customizable

-Radiant story

-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. 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.

-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. 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.

Have something new to add to the list? Post and I will try to add it.

Useful Links:

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1156095-february-game-informer-thread-xv/page__hl__february+game+informer
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1156392-got-the-magazine-iii/
http://www.gameinformer.com/p/esv.aspx

[Natalie J Webster]

Any info on sneak or security skills? I hope a lockpick game is back, but with a key/button you can hold to autoattempt to skip the screen.

[electro_fantics]

Any info on sneaking, or security? I hope a lockpick game is back, but witha key/button you can hold to autoattempt to skip the screen.

Didn't hear anything on Stealth related things, no. Mind you, I hope info on factions is soon, I really want to know what assassins we get - well, prolly the DB, but without the cowls/skull rings/crazed giggles, hopefully.

[Leonie Connor]

With the dual wielding magic can we use two magics at once? If I have fire equipped to right hand and lightning to left I can shoot both at the SAME time?

[Klaire]

I look back at all the 'Skyrim will be all boring snow' comments and laugh.

[TRIsha FEnnesse]

With the dual wielding magic can we use two magics at once? If I have fire equipped to right hand and lightning to left I can shoot both at the SAME time?

Yep. Combination will make interesting effects apparently.

[Kayla Keizer]

Also I'll move my information here as well since some of it was incorporated in the other thread. I still think one of the greatest things I heard about this game and probably the only thing other than combat that made my jaw truly drop and that is dynamic snow, that actually falls from the sky and builds up on objects instead of just being an pixels that float down the front of the screen instead of actually being in the game. I actually don't know of any other game that has dynamic snow. If anyone knows one that can do that other than Skyrim, lemme know so I can get my mind blown again.

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. 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.

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. 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.

Environment- The environment is that of a mountainous range area close to that of Alaska. 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. 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 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.

Creatures- So far it has been shown that we will have wolves, trolls, giant spiders and of course dragons. There is also talk of Saber-toothed tigers, Mammoths, Werewolves and giants. 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. I will update this section when I get the names of the 18 skills if they are all revealed and if not I will list the ones that are revealed so far.

Information that may need a source- There are talks of creature level scaling still in Skyrim but we will not know how well they will scale with the new leveling system. There are talks of becoming a werewolf and also becoming a vampire is a very likely thing but it has not been confirmed. I have also yet to confirm that there will be essential NPCs but I'm fairly certain there are though I think they will handle them better on the second go around. It also seems that the HUD may be completely absent while in first-person mode.

[jaideep singh]

With the dual wielding magic can we use two magics at once? If I have fire equipped to right hand and lightning to left I can shoot both at the SAME time?

omg uber mage

[luke trodden]

Anyone know how big Skyrim's game world will be compared to Oblivion?

[kasia]

Yep. Combination will make interesting effects apparently.

So enemies will have to be stronger from the very beginning or we'll be completely over powered.

[Richard]

...due to the fact that NPCs are FAR more intelligent than any TES game ever and possibly any game to date...

really?

[Lavender Brown]

So enemies will have to be stronger from the very beginning or we'll be completely over powered.

humanoid enemies will have the same option

[Rob Smith]

Anyone else think radiant story is going to be really hard to pull off? What if you've been to every location? How are they going to handle dungeon loot with the radiant quests?

[Darian Ennels]

So enemies will have to be stronger from the very beginning or we'll be completely over powered.

I don't know, maybe the ability to cast two different spells at once will have to be acquired (perk or just plain having enough magicka).

[Sxc-Mary]

Didn't hear anything on Stealth related things, no. Mind you, I hope info on factions is soon, I really want to know what assassins we get - well, prolly the DB, but without the cowls/skull rings/crazed giggles, hopefully.

There is a cool "story" from the perspective of what is going on to a player. He mentions avoiding a Giant by hiding in the shadow of a boulder...but is detected by a troll instead and attacked. Also bows are MUCH more powerful.

*edit*
Also there is one shot with a guy wearing a hood and what looks to be cloth style pants, he is shanking the heck out of a Dunmer lol!

[Andy durkan]

humanoid enemies will have the same option

But normal, non humanoids should be dispatched of pretty easily with two spells hitting them at the same time.

[joeK]

Anyone else think radiant story is going to be really hard to pull off? What if you've been to every location? How are they going to handle dungeon loot with the radiant quests?

I was just thinking about that too especially like if you've already explored all the caves in the vicinity will the quest have you jog to the nearest dungeon many many miles away? Maybe after a certain number of days has passed or even weeks the cave will reset if left untouched and will be fit for questing again.

[Camden Unglesbee]

I wonder about the dual wielding combat even more.

What if throwing knives are back?

Throwing knives in left hand and a short sword in the right.....


That would be amazing.

[Kirsty Wood]

But normal, non humanoids should be dispatched of pretty easily with two spells hitting them at the same time.

With the better AI, they may have learned to dodge, who knows, I'm sure they've thought of this aswell.

[Jamie Moysey]

Anyone else think radiant story is going to be really hard to pull off? What if you've been to every location? How are they going to handle dungeon loot with the radiant quests?

Ugh, imagine it with Cyrodiil as an example.

"My child has been kidnapped in Anvil by ogres! He's been taken to a cave north of Cheydinhal!"

[Leah]

Does anyone know when GI subscribers will get the magazine? It's typically before it is released to stores if I'm not mistaken. I assume you can already get it at Gamestop since so many people seem to have it already.

On topic of Skyrim:

Things that concern me:
- Level-based system similar to Fallout (no more minor and major skills)
- Perk system similar to Fallout
- Overall feel of a more linear

Things I expected:
- Combat improvement (dual-wielding/finishing moves/ranged improvements)
- Overhaul of graphics and physics
- Better customization
- Better radiant AI

Things I like:
- Dragon shouts sound intriguing
- More unique environments
- Radiant story system (if done right)
- Open cities if true
- Adding blacksmiths and the like

So far so good.

[Katharine Newton]

I wonder about the dual wielding combat even more.

What if throwing knives are back?

Throwing knives in left hand and a short sword in the right.....


That would be amazing.

Even with darts or throwing stars... Eheheheheheh. Oh NICE !

[Cameron Wood]

Anyone know how big Skyrim's game world will be compared to Oblivion?

They are probably saving that for E3. My guess is it's going to be huge, way up and way out.

[Connor Wing]

Ugh, imagine it with Cyrodiil as an example.

"My child has been kidnapped in Anvil by ogres! He's been taken to a cave north of Cheydinhal!"

But what if you've been pretty much everywhere and what if you grabbed certain pieces of loot from a cave but a random quest was centered around that particular cave or loot?

[jason worrell]

All I know is that we cant have leveled uniques IMO.