Skyrim Information VI : V

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:51 am

SKYRIM
Unofficial Information Thread
(http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/286552-skyrim-information/)
(http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/topic/4159-skyrim-information/)
Release Date: 11.11.11
New Engine: "Creation Engine"
DirectX 11 Support (PC)
Requires Steam (PC)
ESRB Rating: Mature (17+)
Creation Set (SDK / Construction Set)

http://www.elderscrolls.com/skyrim/media/
http://www.zaldir.net/Skyrim%20Characters.html
http://www.bethblog.com/index.php/2011/08/24/the-races-and-faces-of-skyrim/
http://www.zaldir.net/Files/Skyrim%20Sources.html

Latest Information (Updated 10.13.2011)
28 days left!

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:37 pm

Quests & Dialogue

Radiant Story: Many quests are still completely governed by Bethesda, but the Radiant Story system helps randomize and relate the side quests to players to make the experience as dynamic and reactive as possible. Rather than inundate you with a string of unrelated and mundane tasks, it tailors missions based on who your character is, where you're at, what you've done in the past, and what you're currently doing. Radiant Story is also smart enough to know which caves and dungeons you've already visited and thus conditionalize where, for instance, a kidnapped person is being held to direct you toward a specific place you haven't been to before, populated with a specific level of enemy. Skyrim also tracks your friendships and grudges to generate missions. Do a small favor for a farmer and it may eventually lead to a larger quest. Some NPCs will even agree to be your companion to help you out in specific situations.
Main Questline is approximately 30 hours.
It's possible to play after finishing the Main Quest.
Taverns will play a large role in getting information, gossip and rumors from a town as it's naturally where most people go after working, and you can listen to peoples conversation and learn more about the town and/or Skyrim itself.
People will be more vague or specific when talking to you or giving you quests depending on how much they like you.
There are more ways to complete quests.

General Combat

An overhauled combat-system.
Inter-changeable dual-wielding with both weapons and spells. Dual-wield any combination, even staffs!
Staggering effects and camera shake.
Switching between loadouts on the fly is made easier thanks to a new quick-select menu that allows you to "bookmark" all of your favorite spells, shouts, and weapons for easy access.
There are non-lethal tavern brawls in the game.
There are more weapon and armor types in Skyrim compared to Oblivion.
Special kill animations: Depending on your weapon, the enemy, and the fight conditions, you may execute a devastating finishing move that extinguishes enemies with a stylistic flourish.
Specializing in a particular weapon is often the best way to go, as you can improve your attacking skills with perks. For instance, the sword perk increases your chances of landing critical strikes, the axe perk punishes enemies with bleeding damage after blows, and the mace perk ignores enemy armour.
You can poison your weapon with various types of poison.
There is decapitation.
There is no locational damage.
Equipment don't have a durability, so you won't have to repair it.
You can apply "upgrades" to your equipment.

Armor

Cuirass and Greaves are combined.
Common armor like leather and steel have a more Nordic feel compared to Oblivion and Morrowind.
Confirmed types of armor: Chain-mail, Steel, Dwarven, Elven, Orcish, Glass, Daedric, Ebony, Dragon, Leather, Hide.

Melee

'Magnetism' in your attacks draws them more towards enemies rather than allies.
You can bash your enemies with your shield.
~~Timing-based blocking system that requires players to actively raise their shields to take the brunt of the attack instead of simply holding the block button.~~
When backstabbing characters from the shadows, a dagger deals significantly more damage than any other type of weapon, making it the perfect tool for an assassin.
You can use Power Attacks by holding down the attack button, which staggers enemies, but drains your Stamina.
Torches can be used as weapons.
Hand to Hand attacks have a much improved gravity and physicality.
You can not block while dual-wielding.
Confirmed types of weapons: Iron, Steel, Dwarven, Orcish, Glass, Daedric, Ebony, Dragon.

Archery

Ranged combat has been improved by significantly increasing the damage bows deal, while making the draw-time longer.
Arrows are more rare than in Oblivion and Morrowind.
Confirmed types of weapons: Long Bows, Hunting Bows.

Magic

5 Magic Schools: Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration, Restoration & Illusion.
There are over 85 spells usable to the player.
Spells needs to be equipped to be cast.
You can dual-wield similar spells to double the damage at a higher magicka consumption.
Some spells can be learned by reading spell tomes, while others can be bought from merchants.
If you cast a frost spell, you'll see the effects on the enemy's skin. If using a flame thrower, the environment will catch fire for a short while and burn anything that comes into contact with it.
Fire deals the highest amount of damage, shock deals less damage, but drains the enemy's magicka, while frost deals the least damage, but drains stamina and slows down enemies physically.
Light magic sticks to walls.
There are robes which will increase your magic capabilities.

Way of the Voice (Dragon Shouts)
"A long practiced spiritual form of Nordic magic, also known as the Tongues, that is based on their worship of the Wind as a personification of Kynareth. Through the use of the Voice the power of a Nord can be formed into a thu'um, or shout - which has a large variety of applications (anything from sharpening blades to a long range weapon). Master Voices (known simply as Tongues) have legendary, and often unbelievable powers, including talking to people of hundreds of miles away or teleportation. The most powerful masters must even be careful whenever they speak, as their voice can cause great destruction and they are commonly gagged. During the Conquest of Morrowind, the Nordic war chiefs were also Tongues (Derek the Tall, Jorg Helmborg, Hoag Merkiller). They needed no typical siege weapons when attacking a city as they merely used the Voice to break down the city gate and allow their armies to storm in. The future of the Tongues was forever changed by the most powerful Tongue, Jurgen Windcaller, also better known as the Calm. Jurgen converted to a pacifist and refused to use the Voice for any martial purposes. In a confrontation with 17 other tongues he reportedly swallowed the Shouts of the 17 for three days until they lay exhausted, later to become his followers. Today, all Tongues live secluded lives on the highest peaks of Skyrim in tough conditions and contemplation, and have only spoken to announce the destiny of the great Tiber Septim (who later created an Imperial College of the Voice in Markarth, returning the Voice to the art of warfare). Those known as Dovahkiin, Dragonborn, can use a type of magic known as "Dragon Shouts." Dragon shouts are spoken in the Dragon Language, and can manipulate dragons in a variety of unknown ways, as well as performing other kinds of magic, also undocumented."

You will be able to use Dragon Shouts.
There are 20 different Shouts, each with three levels of power.
You collect words for these shouts around the world, either from ancient runes or by slaying dragons.
One shout lets you slow down time, another lets you move stealthily close to an enemy in a mere instant and one shout will even let you summon a dragon!
Shouts has a cooldown time.

Confirmed Dragon Shouts

Fus Ro Dah (Force Balance Push):
Force wave that damages and pushes away enemies.

Liz Slen Nus (Ice Flesh Statue):
Level 2: Summons a wave of ice crystals.
Level 3: Freezes and traps enemies in a block of ice.

Strun Bah Ao (Storm Lightning Wrath):
Summons a lightning storm to damage nearby enemies with lightning.

Yol Toor Krein (Fire Inferno Sun):
Breath fire upon enemies.

Tild Klo Ui (Time Sand Eternity):
Slows down time around the player.

Lein ??? ??? (Whirlwind Sprint):
Grants the player the ability to spring at incredible speeds.

??? ??? Dovah (Summon Dragon):
Summons a dragon that aids the player.

??? ??? ??? (Teleport):
Teleports the player behind the enemy.

AI, NPCs & Creatures
New, updated Radiant AI: You won't find townspeople loitering aimlessly in town squares anymore. Each NPC performs tasks that make sense in their environment. To impart the towns and cities with a greater sense of life, Bethesda has populated them with mills, farms, and mines that give the NPCs believable tasks to occupy their day. The improved Radiant AI technology is also more aware of how a citizen should react to your actions. As you perform tasks for them or terrorize them by ransacking their home, the NPCs develop feelings about you. If you're good friends with a particular NPC and barge into his house during the middle of the night, he may offer you lodging rather than demand you leave the premises. If you swing your weapon near an NPC, knock items off their dinner table, or try to steal something of value, they'll react with an appropriate level of hostility given their prior relationship to you. If you drop an item on the ground near NPCs they will react to that as well, such as a child might try to give you the sword back, two men will fight over it or someone might even try to kill you with it if they dislike you. When NPCs think they see or hear something, they go into an alert state, instead of instantly attacking you. Players with a higher sneak skill will have more time to duck back around the corner or find sanctuary in the shadows.

NPCs

When you approach an NPC, they will engage in dialogue with you, while continuing to do their task or making gestures or pacing around, depending on what their personality is.
If you kill a shop owner, their family member will inherit the shop and will be angry about you, but still give you missions, which could then improve your relation with them.
Main-Quest Givers are Essential.
You can make friends by doing quests for people, thus making them act differently towards you, and they might even join you on an adventure.
Male and female characters will have some different animations, and beast races will have unique animations.
There are NPC Children.
Even minor NPCs have much more complexity and depth compared to Oblivion.
You can persuade various random NPCs to accompany you and they feel like fleshed out, interesting companions.
There are bards in taverns, who plays tunes, and you can pay them to play another tune.
You can hire companions to join you in your adventures.
You can have animal companions.

Creatures & Mounts

Confirmed creatures: Zombies, Draughr, Skeletons, Trolls, Giants, Ice Wraiths, Giant Spiders, Dragons, Wolves, Horses, Elks, Mammoths, Saber-Toothed Cats, Dwemer Centurion Spheres, Dogs, Skeevers, Boars, Rabbits, Horkers, Glow Worms, Bees, Torch Bugs, Luna Moths, Spriggans, Mud Crabs, Bats, Foxes, Frost Atronach, Ice Golems, Salmon, Vampires.
Random spawns are scaled (stronger enemies appear at higher levels), but weak enemies aren't written out of the system, just become less common.
A single spawn at lower levels can have enemies spawning in pairs at higher levels.
Stronger enemies exist in the world at the start of the game, but you're usually given enough warning if you don't want to fight anything too strong.
Giants herds mammoths, and travels together in packs, ignoring the player if undisturbed.
You can mount horses, which are more detailed than ever before!
Some insects can be killed. One example is the bee.

Dragons
For more detailed information on dragons, check out http://skyriminfo.weebly.com/dragon-info.html!

Dragons respawns just like other creatures.
There are different kinds of Dragons.
You can not mount & fly dragons.
Some Dragons are scripted, while others appear randomly.
Dragons can pick people up from the ground.
When dragons are critically injured, they can't fly, and will land or crash to the ground.
Dragons leaves scars and marks everywhere: when they crash or land on the ground and when they breath fire upon the environment, etc.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:37 pm

Plot & Lore (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Fourth_Era)
TES V takes place 2 Centuries (200 years) after Oblivion. The King of Skyrim is dead, which has sparked a civil war. You are the last Dragonborn, a group characterized by their ability to hunt dragons. You are a prisoner. 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, named Esbern (Voiced by Max Von Sydow.) 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.

First Century
4E 0 — End of the Oblivion Crisis
The banishing of Mehrunes Dagon from Tamriel by the Champion of Cyrodiil, Martin Septim, and the avatar of Akatosh ends the Oblivion Crisis. The Septim bloodline ends and the Amulet of Kings is destroyed. The Third Era ends, marking the beginning of the Fourth.
The Fourth Era begins with no Emperor on the throne of Tamriel. High Chancellor Ocato, the Elder Council, and the Blades try to maintain order. The provinces start to take advantage of the Empire's weakened state.
4E ?? — Red Mountain erupts; Vvardenfell is destroyed.
In Vivec's absence, the Ministry of Truth becomes unstable. Vuhon creates an Ingenium that uses at first dozens of dying souls, then a small number of living ones to stabilize the rock. The soul of Sul's wife Ilzheven was among them. In a fight to free her, the Ingenium is destroyed and the rock crashes into Vivec with all the energy it originally had. The impact causes Red Mountain to erupt and destroys the entire island of Vvardenfell, as well as causing massive destruction to the rest of the province.
4E ?? — The Empire Collapses
Black Marsh secedes from the Empire; it is soon followed by Elsweyr.
The Thalmor seize control of the old Aldmeri Dominion (Valenwood and the Summerset Isle).
The Argonians invade and conquer Morrowind after the eruption of Red Mountain.
4E ?? — Titus Mede is crowned the new emperor by conquest.
4E 18 — Prince Attrebus Mede is born.
4E 23 — Anna?g Ho?nart is born.
4E 40s — The Infernal City
Umbriel, a floating city, appears on the coast of Black Marsh, heading toward Morrowind. The city of Lilmoth, Black Marsh, the home of Anna?g, is destroyed in the process.
Third Century
4E 200s — The High King of Skyrim dies.
4E 200s — The Nords of Skyrim engage in a civil war.

Graphics, Sound & Interface
Graphics
Havok Behavior - Havok Behavior is a flexible animation tool that allows the developers to rapidly prototype and preview new animations and blend them together seamlessly with a few mouse clicks and minimal code support. Bethesda is using it to create more nuance in character and creature movement, govern special effects, and even to control how characters struggle to move when trapped in environmental hazards like spider webs. Characters now transition more realistically between walking, jogging and, running, and the increased nuance between animations has allowed Bethesda to better balance the combat in both first- and third-person perspective by adjusting the timing values for swings and blocks depending on your perspective. Perhaps the most impressive use of the Behavior technology is how Bethesda is using it to create the dragon animations. Bethesda has worked meticulously to make sure the beasts look powerful and menacing when banking, flapping their wings, gaining altitude before making another strafing run, and breathing fire on their hapless victims. None of the dragons' actions are scripted, and Behavior helps make the movements look non-mechanical, even when the dragons are speaking/shouting.

Wind will whip up the surface of bodies of water.
Dynamic Shadows.
Snow falls dynamically, painting the ground texture with snow.
Believable water physics.
Faces and models are improved.
Draw Distance is greatly increased, allowing for little to no grid pattern or low resolution distant land.
SpeedTree is not used: they've created their own platform that allows artists to build whatever kind of trees they want and to dictate how they animate. Artists can alter the weight of the branches to adjust how much they move in the wind, which is an effective way of, for instance, actualizing the danger of traversing steep mountain passes with howling winds violently shaking branches.

Sound

Jeremy Soule is composing the music.
Voice Actors: Max Von Sydow (Esbern), Brandon Ellison (General), Anthony De Longis (Mercer Frey), Rob Locke (Commoner / Additional Voices), Lani Minella (Dark Elf / Night Mother / Nocturne), Wes Johnson, Lynda Carter, Craig Sechler, Jim Cummings, Gideon Emery, Michael Mack (Male Redguards), Jonathan Bryce (Male Khajiit/Argonian), Reese C. Hartwig (Young Male), Christopher Plummer (Arngeir), Joan Allen (Delphine), Lynda Carter (Gormlaith Golden-Hilt), Michael Hogan (Imperial General Tullius), Vladimir Kulich (Ulfric Stormcloak), Claudia Christian (Legate Rikke), Diane Louise Salinger, Renee Victor, George Coe.
There are about 70 Voice Actors.
Approximately 60.000 lines of voiced dialogue.
Your character will shout, laugh and make combat grunts.

Interface

In first-person, the HUD comes and goes when needed.
Third-person have been improved (Even with Cross-hair now!).
When opening the menu, instead of returning you to the last page you visited as it did in Oblivion, you are now presented with a simple compass interface that offers four options. (Right: Inventory | Left: Magical Items | Down: Map & Quests | Up: Skills)
Instead of relegating players to looking at an item's name and stat attributes, each possession is a tangible three dimensional item with it's own unique qualities.
Mapping: Anything from your spell library or item inventory can be "bookmarked" to the favorites menu with the press of a button. How many items appear on that menu is up to each player.
The map is a zoomed out version of the game world.
Quest Markers can be turned off.
The Health-, Stamina- and Magicka bars is hidden when full.
HUD Opacity can be turned down to zero.

Environment

Skyrim hosts very unique landscapes and dungeons.
There are 5 major cities: Solitude, Riften, Whiterun, Windhelm and Markarth. (Windhelm being the largest.)
There are 8 or 9 smaller towns.
There are more than 130 dungeons, ranging from 15 minutes to 2 hours long.
There are over 100 points of interest across Skyrim. (including Giant camps, Necromancer lairs & Altars to different gods (Aedra and Daedra))
The areal is approximately the size of Oblivion's Cyrodiil, but the rugged landscape makes the world bigger, as you will need to go over or around mountains to get anywhere.
Traps and puzzles are used to make dungeons more interesting.
Fish jumps out of the water, and when swimming, you can even catch fish.
Birds flies in the air above you.
Every town has it's own Economic System. If you destroy a city's means of income, they'll need to buy from another nearby city, and prices in the city will go up or some products will not be available in that city at all.
Every big settlement has it's own unique culture & architecture.
Dwemer ruins are scattered across Skyrim.
High Hrothgar has 7000 steps.
Some locations will have enemies that are too strong for you, and you will have to come back when you are more powerful, while some places will have weaker enemies.
You can knock oil lamps to the ground or set fire to oil, which will then cause the ground to burn, and deal fire damage.
Butterflies will fly around flowers which can be picked for alchemical purposes.
The major cities are in their own cells, so to enter, a loading screen will appear.
There are hidden caves, hidden ships and secrets in the water.
The higher you climb, the more severe the weather gets.
There are rivers inside dungeons.
Some buildings can be destroyed, but are rare.
After picking flowers, they are removed visually from the plant
Flora: Nirnroots
Blizzards makes it really hard to see, even in cities.

Character

There is a soft level-cap at 50, but you can still level-up after this. (Highest possible level is mathematically estimated to around 75)
There are 3 attributes: Health, Magicka and Stamina - One of these can be increased by 10 each level.
Leveling is faster than in previous games.
You can Sprint, which drains your Stamina.
Backwards running speed has been reduced since Oblivion.
Sprinting while wearing heavy armor drains Stamina faster.
Your speed is governed by your stamina attribute and your equipment. Racial speed is the same, so a khajiit will initially run at the same speed as an Orc.
You can become a Vampire.
Magicka & Health now regens pretty fast out of combat, and slowly while in combat.

Character Generation

In-depth character customization that allows to change your character physique, give them a beard, and other more detailed changes to your characters body.
There are no Classes.
There are no Major/Minor Skills.
There are no Birth Signs.
You can apply face-paint to your character, and there is a myriad of different types.
There are over 50 beards to apply to your character.
There are dozens of sliders for customization.
Your settings are remembered when switching between races.

Races

There are 10 playable races: Imperial, Nord, Redguard, Dark Elf (Dunmer), High Elf (Altmer), Wood Elf (Bosmer), Orc, Khajiit, Argonian and Breton.
There are also a few unplayable races.

Racial Abilities

Argonians
Hist: Significantly increases health regeneration speed.
Histskin: 50% resistance to diseases.
Breathe underwater.
Breton
Dragonskin: Absorb Magicka of spells and resist shock.
Dunmer
Ancestor's Wrath: Surrounds player character in fire and resist fire.
Altmer
Regenerate Magicka more quickly.
Imperial
Voice of the Emperor: Find more coin when looting.
Khajiit
Night vision and claw attack (increased unarmed damage).
Nord
Battlecry.
Orc
Berserker.
Redguard
Adrenaline Rush.
Bosmer
Animal Allies: Command an animal to fight for you.
Resist poison and disease.

Skills

There are 18 skills.
Warrior-type Skills: Smithing, Heavy Armor, Block, Two-handed, One-Handed and Archery.
Mage-type Skills: Enchanting, Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration, Restoration and Illusion.
Thief-type Skills: Alchemy, Light Armor, Speech, Sneak, Lockpicking and Pickpocketing.
The higher a skill is, the more it will contribute to leveling up when increased, making it smarter to focus on a smaller range of skills.
The Enchanting Skill allows you to disenchant items with magical properties, destroying the item in the process. This will teach how to enchant another time with the magical properties of the item you disenchanted

Perks

You gain a perk point every level.
There's a total of around 280 Perks (Including Ranks).
Perks will among other things decrease the sound of your footsteps, Disarm enemies and give you access to Unique Special Moves.
You can choose not to spend perk points each level, and instead hold onto them.
Alchemy
???
Potions are 20% stronger.
???
Potions for restore Health, Magicka and Stamina are 25% stronger.
???
Poisons are 25% more effective.
???
Two Ingredients are gathered from plants.
???
50% resistance to all poisons.
???
All negative effects removed from potions and all positive effects removed from poisons.
???
2 effects of an ingredient are revealed when testing instead of 1.
Alteration
???
Cast novice (up to master) spells for 50% less magicka.
???
Alteration spells has longer duration.
???
Absorb 30% of magicka that hits you.
Archery
???
Bows do 25% more damage.
???
Zoom in.
???
Time slows down while zooming in.
???
10% critical chance.
???
Move faster while bow is drawn.
???
Recover twice as many arrows from dead bodies.
???
Chance of paralyzing enemies for a few seconds.
???
Draw bow 30% faster.
Block
Shield Wall (1 of 5)
Blocking is 25% more effective.
Deadly Bash
Bashing does more damage.
Power Bash
Able to do a power bash.
Bash Disarm
Shield Charge
Able to move faster with a shield raised.
Quick Reflexes
Time slows down if you are blocking during a power attack.
Deflect Arrows
Riposte
Elemental Protection
Conjuration
???
Cast novice (up to master) spells for 50% less magicka.
???
Dual casting overcharges for greater effect.
???
Bound weapons do more damage.
???
Bound weapons cast soul trap on target.
???
Bound weapons banish certain creatures.
???
Reanimate undead with 100 more health points.
???
Summon two atronarches or reanimated zombies.
???
Summon atronarches at twice the distance.
???
Summoned atronarches are twice as strong.
Destruction
???
Cast novice (up to master) spells for 50% less magicka.
???
More damage for each school (Fire, Shock and Frost).
???
Shock damage has a chance to disintegrate target if their health is below 10%.
???
Frost damage has a chance to paralyse target if health is low.
???
Fire damage has a chance of making enemies with low health flee.
???
Place runes up to five times farther away.
Enchanting
???
Enchants are 20% stronger.
???
Enchanted armor is 25% stronger.
???
Soul Gems provide magicka for recharge.
???
Health, Magicka and Stamina enchants become stronger.
???
Extra effect on already-enchanted weapons can be applied.
???
Fire enchants 25% stronger.
???
Frost enchants 25% stronger.
???
Shock enchants 25% stronger.
Heavy Armor
???
Armor rating 20% increased.
???
Unarmed damage increased by gauntlet's armor rating while wearing heavy armor gauntlets.
???
Half fall damage if wearing full heavy armor.
???
Equipped Heavy armor weighs nothing and doesn't slow you down.
???
Additional 25% armor if wearing a full Heavy armor set.
???
25% more armor if wearing full heavy armor.
???
50% less stagger if wearing full heavy armor.
???
10% damage reflected back to enemy if wearing full heavy armor.
Illusion
???
Cast novice (up to master) spells for 50% less magicka.
???
Dual casting overcharges for more powerful spells.
???
Spells works on higher level animals.
???
Spells works on higher level people.
???
All spellcasting (From any school) is done silently.
???
Spells works on Undead, Daedra and Automatons.
???
Fear spells work on higher level enemies.
Restoration
???
Cast novice (up to master) spells for 50% less magicka.
???
Healing spells also restore stamina.
???
Healing spells heals 50% more.
???
Magicka is partially recharged with each healing spell.
???
Spells are more effective against Undead.
???
Once a day chance to autocast 250HP restoration when health drops low.
???
Magicka regenerates 25% faster.
Sneak
???
20% less chance of being detected.
???
Sneak attacks do 6x damage with one-handed weapons.
???
Sneak attack with bows do 3x damage.
???
Sneak attack with daggers do 15x damage.
???
Noise from armor reduced by 50%
???
You no longer activate pressure plates.
???
Sprinting while sneaking performs forward roll.
???
Running does not affect detection chance.
???
Crouching can make hostile enemies lost sight of you and search for a target.
Wax Key
Create a duplicate key for a lock you just picked.
Vanish
Attacker focuses on someone else when entering combat while sneaking.
Speech
???
Buying and selling price 10% better.
???
10% better price buying from opposite six.
???
Invest in shops and increase available gold permanently in invested stores.
Master Trader
Every merchant in the world gains 10.000 gold for bartering.
???
Buy and sell anything from any merchant regardless of what they normally buy and sell.
???
Intimidation attempts are twice as likely to succeed.
???
Persuasion attempts more likely to succeed.
Bribe
At a cost, guards forget your bounties.
One-Handed
One-Handed Prowess
One-Handed weapons do 40% more damage.
Hack and Slash
Attacks with war axes cause extra bleeding damage.
One-Handed Tactics
Charge!
Bone Breaker
Stand and Deliver
Savage Blow
Bladesman
Two-Handed
Two-Handed Prowess
Two-Handed weapons do 20% more damage.
Deep Wounds
Attacks with greatswords have a 10% chance of doing critical damage.
Skullcrusher
Attacks with warhammers ignore 25% of armor.
Two-Handed Tactics
Limbsplitter
Great Charge!
Devastating Blow
???
Attacks with battle axes does extra bleeding damage.
???
Power Attacks cost 25% less Stamina.
???
Standing Power Attacks does 25% bonus damage. Chance to decapitate.
???
Sprinting Power Attacks does double damage.
???
Sideways Power Attacks hits all nearby targets.
???
backwards Power Attacks has 25% of paralysing target.
Pickpocketing
Light Fingers
Pickpocketing bonus of 20% – Item weight and value reduce pickpocketing odds.
Night Thief
Pickpocketing sleeping people almost always works.
Poisoned
Place poisons in other people’s pockets silently to harm or kill.
Cutpurse
Pickpocketing gold is 50% easier.
Extra Pockets
Carrying capacity is increased by 100.
Keymaster
Pickpocketing keys always works.
Misdirections
You can pickpocket equipped weapons.
Perfect Touch
You can pickpocket equipped items.
Smithing
Steel Smithing
Create steel armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.
Arcane Blacksmith
Improve magical weapons and armor.
Dwarven Smithing
Create Dwarven armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.
Elven Smithing
Create Elven armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.
Orcish Smithing
Create Orcish armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.
Advanced Armors
Create scale and plate armor at forge. Improve by double.
Glass Smithing
Create Glass armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.
Daedric Smithing
Create Daedric armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.
Ebony Smithing
Create Ebony armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.
Dragon Smithing
Create Dragon armor and weapons at forge. Improve by double.

Factions
For more detailed info about factions, check out http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1204720-factions-of-skyrim-unofficial-guide/.

Thieves Guild (Joinable)
College of Winterhold (Joinable)
Companions (Joinable)
Dark Brotherhood (Joinable)
Riverwood Tavern Warrior Clan
Stormcloaks (Joinable)
The Shield-Brothers
Necromancer Faction (Not Joinable)
The Imperial Army (Joinable)
Battle Born

Crafting

There are six different stages to crafting items. The first two are: Refining crude ore and Assembling materials.
There's 13 different types of ore, which are used for crafting.
More realistic alchemy labs.
In addition to alchemy ingredients there are also reagents.

Misc Features

There's two types of Fast-Travel: Morrowind-style & Oblivion-style.
There is no Multiplayer.
There is no hardcoe-mode.
Soul Gems can be used like in previous TES games to trap souls.
You can buy properties.
Lock picking is still a mini-game, but has been improved.
There's a separate bounty for each of the 9 holds.
You can catch diseases.
After killing an NPC, you can sleep in their bed.
There will be less, but bigger (Expansion-like) DLCs compared to Fallout 3 & Oblivion.
There is a "sort" of Karma system in the game, but it's not governed by numbers. Instead, people will react to what you do, and you will have to base how bad you are on that, and not numbers.
Only possible to have relationships with certain NPCs - and "in some cases" marriage.
Aurora Borealis.
Same six Marriages.
Aside from Side Quests, there are also Misc Objectives.
There is at least 50 skill books.
You can collect Daedric Artifacts.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:55 pm

Very nice, a good job yet again Zaldir.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:21 pm

Nice

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:09 pm

great job! THNX A TON

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 2:38 am

Thanks Zaldir!

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 2:22 am

Awesome, thank you :biggrin:

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:24 am

Thank you Zaldir. Didn't see in the post, apologies if I missed it, but Vincent McCool confirmed that blizzards make it very difficult to see, even in a city.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:44 pm

The major cities are in their own cells, so to enter, a loading screen will appear.

I'm not surprised by this considering Skyrim has to fit in one disc for the Xbox 360, but I thought I read that they weren't? Plus will this happen as the character is walking into the city, rather than Oblivion's city gates?

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 8:22 pm

Thank you Zaldir. Didn't see in the post, apologies if I missed it, but Vincent McCool confirmed that blizzards make it very difficult to see, even in a city.

Ooh, that's cool - I'll add it to the list.

I'm not surprised by this considering Skyrim has to fit in one disc for the Xbox 360, but I thought I read that they weren't? Plus will this happen as the character is walking into the city, rather than Oblivion's city gates?

I am unsure about this. It may be that you walk directly in, then the loading screen appears, but I haven't played the demo, and I haven't read anything about that specifically, so I don't know.
But yes, there are loading screens for bigger cities.

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:10 am

Just a heads up, but you have:

?There is no decapitation.

AND

TWO HANDED
...
Standing Power Attacks does 25% bonus damage. Chance to decapitate.

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:37 am

Great job you did.

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:09 am

Also new faction Battle_Brothers(Confimred In New gameinformer) They hate the stormcloaks!

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:34 pm

Also new faction Battle_Brothers(Confimred In New gameinformer) They hate the stormcloaks!

I think it was Battle Born.

@Ziljan: Read the "no decapitation" line again.

(But that strike-through was hard to read, so I removed it.^^)

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:57 am

You said if you hold down the block button you'll attempt to bash but that isn't true... it was leaked in the manual that if you hold down the block button and tap your other attack button you will attempt to bash... so like Hold LT and tap RT

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:29 am

You said if you hold down the block button you'll attempt to bash but that isn't true... it was leaked in the manual that if you hold down the block button and tap your other attack button you will attempt to bash... so like Hold LT and tap RT

So, with the timed blocks, what happens if you hold down the block button?

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 2:53 am

yeeaahhh! i love your info threads. i have read all of your info threads.(this is the first one ive seen as a member)

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 2:44 am

I think it was Battle Born.

Oh yeah

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:25 am

So, with the timed blocks, what happens if you hold down the block button?

I read somewhere... pretty sure it was in a tweet... that timed blocks are gone... can't confirm that... but I know for a fact that the manual says Hold LT and tap RT to bash... i just checked...

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:40 pm

Okay, I'll add that then.

Was really looking forward to timed blocks though.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:58 pm

Okay, I'll add that then.

Was really looking forward to timed blocks though.

SO was I... i guess it just created more of a hassle and didn't make sense to actual reality...

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 8:46 pm

Very nice

» Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:49 am

28 days left, and I guess we can soon expect the TRUE system requirements, although we have quite a good image on that already.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:07 pm

I read somewhere... pretty sure it was in a tweet... that timed blocks are gone... can't confirm that... but I know for a fact that the manual says Hold LT and tap RT to bash... i just checked...

That really svcks. The combat system takes a few steps back yet again