I was at Barnes & Noble (bookstore chain), earlier today, and I saw the latest edition of the PlayStation magazine. Last month's had a huge Skyrim article with new screenshots, but this month's had something of its own... Todd Howard's comment on six different aspects of Skyrim. Some of the information seems overlapping with the recent Q & A and previously-known information, but there was some new stuff in it, as well. I don't have a copy of the magazine with me, so this is all from memory (hopefully someone else could go into more depth):



He commented on the merging of armor pieces [said Norse style armors resulted in the pants/greaves (specifically used the word pants :shrug:) resulted in pants ending up making up only 5 % of the viewable armor, so they merged it due to it being superfluous, so nothing new there).

On the topic of PC modding, Todd mentioned how important he felt it was and how they liked seeing the community do such things. He also said that bringing it over to consoles would be quite simple as the code for modded materials would easily translate into the console versions and he mentioned how he would like to get that done, but mentioned that it will not be possible on release due to the standard problems with third-party content on consoles, so, again, there's nothing new there.

On the topic of balancing such an enormous game, Todd mentioned everyone on the team playing the game a lot and seeing what worked and what didn't work (something a long those lines). He also mentioend something about a "heat" system that tracked what everyone did and where they went when they played it, so that sounded kind of cool for a possible manner of seeing what most interested the developers playing it. Todd didn't say anything regarding if they used the data for anything or how, but I got the impression that they did pay attention to it while developing and polishing the game. I can't remember much more than that, but there was no new information about the game, there... just an interesting discussion on the game's development.

I only remember a fourth topic of the six (Sorry, guys/gals. I wish I could remember more, but it's not coming to me, right now.) and this is the only one where I believe we've gotten a new piece of information about the gameplay (or it's new to me, at least). Todd mentioned that they looked at the attack and defend system of melee combat and decided to apply it to the magic system, in Skyrim. Skyrim has specific types of spells called wards that function as a pure mage's shield, in a way. They can deflect magic, but can be broken through by a powerful enough spells and successfully breaking through a ward causes the ward's user to stagger.

The little bit saying only 5% of the viewable armor were greaves. Regained my confidence in the merging of the cuirass and the greaves.

The console modding was interesting, and also the ward spells sound cool

Thanks! Interesting bit of info about magic in combat. Perhaps shield spells won't be so passive anymore?

I think we've heard about the wards earlier on... But either way, I'm very excited :foodndrink:. But, that bit of information about only 5% of the viewable armor being greaves gives me hope that people will start to act more rationally about all of this.

Don't quote me on this (again, all from memory), but I believe Todd specifically stated they required maintenance (keep holding down the spell casting button/key) to be used and you only stagger if you attempt to keep the ward up for too long in a hopeless (as in your enemy is powerful enough to break through your ward) situation and it gets shattered.

Thanks, man. Really nice.

Oh I do love that alteration is getting some attention.

As for the armor, I'll just hold onto my faith that smithing will increase customization, and roll with it. On my latest playthrough I've noticed that the dwarven grieves warn with the blades chest piece hide so much of the actual grieves that you can't see much of them. I...think I can live with this, as long as there are other avenues for customization.

But really, alteration sounds like its really going to be my favorite skill even moreso now. Loved it before, but now it sounds downright epic, given that you are correct of course. Hate to poke at your mind even more, but did it say if things such as flames will warp around the shield if the spray is large enough?

No, he mentioned nothing about that.


Oh, and please ask questions. It might jog my memory on the remaining topics or specific parts of the mentioned topics I may have forgot to include.

Did he mention anything about how the 'wards' looked or anything like that?
And do they only block magic?

I don't believe he said anything about how they look, but I only remember him mentioning about how they block magic and how powerful enough magic can break through them, but didn't say anything about their relation to melee/stealth combat in either direction.

I wonder if there will be any online heat map stat tracking for players, or if this is strictly a development thing.

It sounds like it could be interesting... provided it's optional or optionally an offline thing. Bethesda spying on every single thing I ever do for a few months following Skyrim's release makes me uncomfortable.

Hmm, well, hopefully it warps around instead of just kinda disapearing. It should be possible with havok physics right?

Was there any mention of combinging spells? I remember something a while back about combining a shock spell and a shield spell to create a lightning wall that damaged enemies as they ran into it. You'd probably remember if such a thing were mentioned, but any word?

I don't know, for the first question (havok physics) and no for the second.

Oh, and about that ward stuff and spellcasting, Todd related the whole thing to wand-wielding wizards dueling each other.

he did mention how they look, but I kinda forgot his exact wording, he said it was kind of a circular thing that cover your whole body, I'm thinking similar to Morrowind's look. And he only mentioned it blocking magic.

So, are pants combined to shirts or not? It sounds like you're saying that they are, but someone said they were relieved after reading what you said. I'm confused :ahhh:

I have no idea. His example was Elven armor.

Thanks for the heads up, Seti - had a good idea about most of this stuff already, but not the true nature of ward spells. I thought maybe they'd function like the area-of-effect ones in Warcraft III and Guild Wars, but a user-sustained shield makes much more sense. After seeing how well that sort of concept functioned in Magicka, I'm curious to see how these will help make magical battles more tactical.

There was actually a ward spell used at E3. The Turn Undead Ward, where he made that circle around him and all of the Draugr ran away.

Duel weild shield with ward .....unstoppable.

the ward thing seams cool, I wish they would start talking more about how the new magic system works, like how the same fire damage spell can be a flamethrower, a rune on the floor, and a touch/target spell ect. Thanks for the new info though :goodjob:

Very good info loved the bit about sheild spells, thanks!

I wonder if you can dual wield wards (and combine them), as well.

good info, and mods on consoles would be so awesome if they ever got them to work.

The problem with saying hey its only 5% viewable makes it seem like the only reason for items is aesthetics.

So you cant see them but what about the effects?

In oblivion i could mix

Crystalline Cuirass with Greaves of the Sun for one situation and then mix Greaves of Grace with Cuirass of Fortitude for another situation


Now your stuck

You have one option and thats it, there goes my 25 endurance or my 10 agility or my 10 alchemy