Swedish Gamereactor cover story

Post » Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:16 pm

First off, I'd just like to say that there is http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1165813-gamereactor-nordic-magazine-arrived/ that pretty much handles the same thing. Our magazines are the same, but with this is the Swedish version.
The reason I post this new thread is because there are some things the OP left out that I think should be mentioned in a thread of its own. I'm not mentioning anything that's already in that other thread (except for a few exceptions), because it would be annoying with two threads saying the same thing. If you wanna know more, you should read the thread I linked above as well. A few things may already be known by some, but it's kind of interesting anyway :)

I've underlined the main words in every sentence, so it should be easy for you to find what's important.
(I've put my own thoughts within parantheses.)




1. There is a kind of describing story at the beginning. In that story, there are some interesting things mentioned that I think should be underlined:

- The player had been following a thief for several days. The player had followed the thief's tracks. (Perhaps this means that you'll see your footmarks)
- The player has a fur cloak. (Perhaps this means cloak/capes will be in the game?)
- "It was then the hero heard the wings flap. Shortly thereafter, there was a roar that made the ground to tremble, the sky to open up and the snow to fall from the ragged temple ruins. And then… came the fire." (COMPLETELY real dynamic snow? And possible avalanches?)

2. Skyrim has been in development for roughly 4,5 years (since a few months after Oblivion started).

3. Instead of focusing on neon-blinking armors and swords that look like dinosaurs like some other rivals do, Skyrim focuses on a lot of atmosphere and mystery in a low-fantasy game. Skyrim is a very “Tolkien-like” fantasy, but still, of course, The Elder Scrolls. (Kind of hilarious (but true) how they describe their rivals I think :D)

4. There will be different kinds of dragons. They are driven by their very own intelligence. Dragons can be found anywhere at any time. There are no pre-determined meetings with dragons.
You might just see the dragon fly past you to the horizon, or you might stumble across a dragon slumbering in a cave...

5. When the writer asked Todd if Skyrim would have the same ground-breaking (graphical) impression that Oblivion had when it was released, Todd said that he hoped so.The writer himself, who saw the game in motion, agrees with Todd. But he also says that Skyrim maybe isn’t as big as jump (technologically) as it was between Morrowind and Oblivion. Still, the writer thinks it’s an incredibly good-looking game with great atmosphere.

6. The engine is COMPLETELY new.

7. “NO LEVEL SCALING”. Different enemies level up differently fast and different creatures have different “level-ceilings” (in other words, maximum level caps).

8. The environments are VERY detailed; to a microscopic level. There is dynamic snow, an updated physics engine and more realistic lighting effects. The world of Skyrim really feels like a living organism. Every society, every little village is like its own ecosystem with inhabitants like millers, smiths and fishermen. (Perhaps this mean that we can fish too? :))



10. There will never be an Elder Scrolls online; at least never made by Todd (so I guess never made by Bethesda Game Studios).

11. When the writer asked Todd how people thought about critics who fear that Bethesda’s new game will be dumbed down and that it would lose its depth in order to reach a higher audience. In answer to this, Todd said that Skyrim will continue to have “deep” games, but at the same time they’ll never exclude beginners. Skyrim will not be a game for a casual, nor will it be a game for the zealous roleplay-enthusiast. Skyrim will be a game for both.

12. New creature confirmed (I think). It’s “undead priests”.

13. The fights are a constant combination of well-thought strategies and swift reflex-maneuvers. (Basically what this means: no more mindless hack and slash :))

14. There are different finishing moves for nearly every weapon and enemy in the game (I guess this means that you can’t have this epic finishing move for a dragon as you have with… say a rat).
The finishing moves don’t have any gaming function or benefit. It’s just something that can happen when your enemy is near the final blow (Could this mean that you can’t control finishing moves, and they are automatic?).
They look wicked.

15. It seems that, when in third person, you’ll be able to see all the equipment that he’s having. In exact words, it says: "Great news for everyone who likes to see our adventurer and especially all the cool equipment he's wearing."
I’m not sure if this means that if you have an extra sword, you’ll see that on your body while having another one in your hand. It can be left for speculation.

16. The writer thinks that Radiant Story might change sandbox games forever. The writer thinks that if Bethesda manages to implement Radiant Story in the fantastic way they’ve spoken of, then Skyrim would have no boundaries. Then it’s not about an experience of over a hundred hours, then it’s about the never-ending adventure.



17. There's a "new" screenshot (that wasn't in the GI). It's a really really beautiful picture in the nature. It shows a big river (with small small islands in it), with pine trees and high mountains in the background. There's fog too of course :) The sky looks kind of odd though, to be honest. It looks like it has way too much HDR and is bright yellow/white. Still, it's the most beautiful screenshot I've seen, I think. The water looks realistic and pretty. Probably the most natural-looking color of water I've ever seen in a game, ever.

This picture can partly be seen in a german video (from their magazine). It looks really blurry though (you can't see much detail in the video). The colors are also WAY WAY off in that video. So don't trust the colors, or the video detail :)
Kudos to Killfetzer for pointing out the video-link: http://www.computerbild.de/videos/Video-CBS-Ausgabe-03-2011-Test-Michael-Jackson-The-Experience-5943802.html
The picture is at 00:23.



Finally, I quote: "[...] to what may be the biggest game of 2011." :celebration:
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Darian Ennels
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:25 am

sweet thanks
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Christie Mitchell
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:07 am

sweet thanks


No problem :D
Long live Skyrim!
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April D. F
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:00 am

Wow brilliant. thanks!

Some more nice juicy morsels of info in that. I love the bit about following the foottracks..this game is so gonna rock!!!
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Marlo Stanfield
 
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Post » Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:23 pm

most of this has already been said in some other gamereactor-thread. but about the third-person "all equipment visible" thing: i think some of the screens we've seen shows the pc with an axe (or sword cant remember) on his back. so i guess thats what they mean maybe
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Leilene Nessel
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:35 am

Excellent, thanks for posting it all!

Nothing major to comment on personally, but the whole picture the new information paints is starting to look very very good.
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Hairul Hafis
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:14 am

10. There will never be an Elder Scrolls online; at least never made by Todd (so I guess never made by Bethesda Game Studios).

This is reassuring, thanks :foodndrink:
I like the description of what they call "low fantasy".
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Tanya
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 10:59 am

10. There will never be an Elder Scrolls online; at least never made by Todd (so I guess never made by Bethesda Game Studios).


YES! :celebration: :celebration: :celebration:

And thanks for the info. :foodndrink:
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Adrian Powers
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:09 am

@ OP:
Thankyou :)
Good post.it's appreciated.
I liked how you picked out possible,tracks,cloaks,and fishing.
You may have a good point there .lets hope anyway :thumbsup:
I've seen that picture you talk about,and i think it looks exellent,especially if thats an xbox screen,bodes well for PC users.
On the sky.....the light is like that because....to me it looks like the sun is setting or rising,behind the moutains,which would make the sky look like that,in my view.
Anyway,thankyou :)
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Kanaoka
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:03 am

Wow brilliant. thanks!

Some more nice juicy morsels of info in that. I love the bit about following the foottracks..this game is so gonna rock!!!


I agree. Tracks would be really nice :D
Also the thief part makes me wonder if this was some Radiant Story thing...
Like a thief may steal something from you and you have to track him for several days... Haha would be so damn great if that would happen :)

BUT
Spoiler
the thief-part may also be referring to a part of the main quest. Because in that story, the player tracks is tracking the thief to the steps of Throat of the World.
It could also be said that the steps to the Throat of the World is described in the story as "... the great steps. They were clearly worn from battles of previous years, strikes and claw marks. Claw marks? The hero stopped his steps. What kind of bestial thing could ever cause claw marks on Nordic steps of stone?"

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Isabella X
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:19 am

No sunny screenshot yet? No info about mountains being as big as this, this or this?
(I kid, I kid :D )
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BRAD MONTGOMERY
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:17 pm

Great summary, thanks!

Really looking forward to hearing more about cloaks and the idea of seeing all equipment on the character model.
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lucy chadwick
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 10:34 am

Wow, I can't wait to see that picture in hi-res. :)
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Josh Lozier
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 2:50 am

16. The writer thinks that Radiant Story might change sandbox games forever. The writer thinks that if Bethesda manages to implement Radiant Story in the fantastic way they’ve spoken of, then Skyrim would have no boundaries. Then it’s not about an experience of over a hundred hours, then it’s about the never-ending adventure.


That's nice. Maybe SO nice that it's hard to imagine it won't be as hyped as Radiant AI was for Oblivion.

Time will tell...
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Deon Knight
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:03 am

17. There's a "new" screenshot (that wasn't in the GI). It's a really really beautiful picture in the nature. It shows a big river (with small small islands in it), with pine trees and high mountains in the background. There's fog too of course :) The sky looks kind of odd though, to be honest. It looks like it has way too much HDR and is bright yellow/white. Still, it's the most beautiful screenshot I've seen, I think. The water looks realistic and pretty. Probably the most natural-looking color of water I've ever seen in a game, ever.


Thanks for all the info! Well done!

On a side note, knowing what goes into printing and post processing for pictures in magazines, I'm going to reserve my judgement on colours in the game until I see a gameplay video. Who knows what they did to alter it. Also, it's very easy to mess up printing a magazine. Lots can go wrong.
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Jesus Lopez
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:53 am

That's nice. Maybe SO nice that it's hard to imagine it won't be as hyped as Radiant AI was for Oblivion.

Time will tell...

It's possible the writer is exaggerating about Radiant Story. I remember Todd said himself in the podcast something about "It's important not to oversell it."
In any case, I think Radiant Story may be a huge, great thing if implemented well. Just think about the replay-value...
We'll be stuck in Skyrim forever :D
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Chantelle Walker
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:58 am

This is awesome. Thanks for the info
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Budgie
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:36 am

We'll be stuck in Skyrim forever :D


This + mods = I hope so :)
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BlackaneseB
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:26 am

Very nice info indeed. I guess I'll go ahead and leverage in my opinions to some of these points.

5. When the writer asked Todd if Skyrim would have the same ground-breaking (graphical) impression that Oblivion had when it was released, Todd said that he hoped so.The writer himself, who saw the game in motion, agrees with Todd. But he also says that Skyrim maybe isn’t as big as jump (technologically) as it was between Morrowind and Oblivion. Still, the writer thinks it’s an incredibly good-looking game with great atmosphere.

These are exactly my thoughts on the current graphical situation. It looks very good for a console game, but it's not like "SUPER OMG AMAZING" impressive like Oblivion was when it first came out. And honestly, we won't see anything on that level again from Bethesda until the next generation starts.

6. The engine is COMPLETELY new.

Already known for the most part, but good to hear again anyways. Let's hope some of the annoying bugs with previous engine don't make their way to the new one.

10. There will never be an Elder Scrolls online; at least never made by Todd (so I guess never made by Bethesda Game Studios).

Not surprised. If the Elder Scrolls ever goes MMO, all it will do is ruin the "you are the ONE chosen hero" aspect and feeling of the game since there would be thousands of other "ONE chosen heroes."

11. When the writer asked Todd how people thought about critics who fear that Bethesda’s new game will be dumbed down and that it would lose its depth in order to reach a higher audience. In answer to this, Todd said that Skyrim will continue to have “deep” games, but at the same time they’ll never exclude beginners. Skyrim will not be a game for a casual, nor will it be a game for the zealous roleplayer-enthusiast. Skyrim will be a game for both.

Although this is ideally what I want so everyone can shut their mouths, I REALLY wish them luck with that. No matter what, you can't please everyone, even in those two categories. And I imagine their will still be plenty of people disappointed with Skyrim upon it's release.
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Alexandra Ryan
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:48 am

These are exactly my thoughts on the current graphical situation. It looks very good for a console game, but it's not like "SUPER OMG AMAZING" impressive like Oblivion was when it first came out. And honestly, we won't see anything on that level again from Bethesda until the next generation starts.


Yeah. It said in the article that Oblivion came at a good time, concerning consoles. From what it seems, based on the context in the article, Todd feels that the consoles are holding the game back a little. If next-gen consoles would be out, I think things would have looked even much much better :)

Although this is ideally what I want so everyone can shut their mouths, I REALLY wish them luck with that. No matter what, you can't please everyone, even in those two categories. And I imagine their will still be plenty of people disappointed with Skyrim upon it's release.


Yeah I wish them luck with that too. Pleasing both casuals and "hardcoe" fantasy people can be a really tough thing to do. My guess is that both sides will really enjoy the game. I'm guessing that there will be a few things that both are disappointed about, but that they think the game is amazing in general.
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Angelina Mayo
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:00 am

Yeah I wish them luck with that too. Pleasing both casuals and "hardcoe" fantasy people can be a really tough thing to do. My guess is that both sides will really enjoy the game. I'm guessing that there will be a few things that both are disappointed about, but that they think the game is amazing in general.

Yep, agreed also. Hopefully, Skyrim can strike a balance of disappointing the hardcoe and the casual players only a little, rather than disappointing one or the other group a lot to appease the other. Not that hardcoe/casual is that black and white a distinction, but it's usually pretty obvious what's going to appeal to each.
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Jessica Thomson
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:40 am

Alot of that info was new to me, thanks.
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Toby Green
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:28 am

Skyrim will be too good, just like Morrowind and Oblivion.

All the info released about the game so far is simply fantastic. Graphics fantastic.
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Sabrina Steige
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:42 am

Ohhhh me likey, thank you :liplick:
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Eileen Müller
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:41 am

Is that a pic of a giant spider in the video? (bottom right 0.44). Looks fairly freaky
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Alisha Clarke
 
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