I'm sorry... No background to them? 'Cause every character in say, Fallout 3, had a background... Or maybe in Oblivion... Where the only background they had was worth a sentence in Wikipedia and the underlying paragraphs just detailed their schedule.

Backgroundtastic.

I think your spellsystem details exactly what I do not want and what I would consider to be lame.

To have the vast intricacies of spellmaking replaced by holding down the button for the same spell, but more powerful is just..
terrible.
Would be very Fable, or indeed Bioshock, but it wouldnt be close to the quality I expect from Elder Scrolls spellmaking.

They all had schedules, they all had names, they all did things with their lives. Their AI is very complex (and taxing to the system to boot). AC citizens don't even exist outside of seeing them in the streets, and if you killed one their brother certainly wouldn't hold a grudge (like they will in Skyrim). Sure, it would be nice to have thousands of NPCs, but where would they all live? There aren't enough houses (or interiors) for the people of AC to live. For thousands of NPCs per city, you'd have to have at least 250 houses per city, presuming the average family has 4 people in. BGS doesn't make games of that scale; they make small, detailed games. Maybe in 10 or 20 years and there's consoles that have the hardware to handle Bethesda's complex AI running on thousands of NPCs at a time, and maybe BGS will expand to 4 or 5 hundred members, so they have enough time in between games to make these massively detailed cities you speak of. Until then, I'm content with what Bethesda gives me, and would rather they start with less more detailed (and persistent) NPCs, and expand from there between games.

Have you ever tried making an interior?? It takes time, especially if you want to make the place feel unique. They just don't have enough time to make huge worlds with masses of houses with interiors.

Am I the only one worried that spells are going to be lame again?Or that these "Live Cities" are just going to be a bigger version of Fallout Towns? 10 or so Unique Named NPC's with 30 or so "Skyrim Travelers" walking around.Regarding cities, I want them to be like Assassin's Creed cities; Bustling with people and activity.Regarding spells, I was sort of hoping like a more detailed and complex Bioshock Plasmyd System for Skyrim.Sort of like:A. Normal Shot: 1. Fire - Fire Ball2. Frost - Icicle Launch3. Shock - Lightning boltB. Charged Shot: 1. Fire - Charged Explosive Fire Ball2. Frost - Multiple Icicle Shot3. Lightning - Chain LightningC. AoE: 1. Fire - Fire Explosion2. Frost - Icicles Sprouting from the Ground3. Shock - Lightning StormD. Close Ranged Spread Shot:1. Fire - Fire Shotgun2. Frost - Icey Myst Shotgun3. Shock - Short Range Lightning SparksE. Spell Streaming:1. Fire - Flamethrower.2. Frost - Icey Myst Stream,3. Shock - Electrical Stream.Then there'd be the ways you cast them.1. Standard One Handed Cast - Standard Casting.2. Dual Handed Casting - Quicker Casting. Dual Wielding Swords.3. Staff Casting - Stronger spells. Sort of like a two handed sword.Not just that but better summons, and over-the-top spells like friggin' tonadoes or something.I just sort of don't want them to repeat Oblivion... I mean, not that I didn't play the crap out of that game, but I Ioved yet hated so many things about it.I mean; who came up with Touch Spells? And for that matter... All those pointless named NPC's in Imperial City?

So what your saying is... That the mini schedule that made NPC's go to the bathroom at 2 and sleep at 9 was absolutely necessary?

It was just for Bethesda to show off their "Radiant AI" and their e-peen and programming prowess.

Even though most of the NPC's in OB only had a 'rumour' topic at least they had a proper name and their own houses for the most part. Fallout just had so many generic people that didn't even have a name it was just 'Megaton Settler' etc. I really hated that. If the NPC's in Skyrim just give a one line 'rumour' automatically if you try to speak to them I can live with that as long as they have a proper name, no 'Skyrim traveller' please. When you were exploring a new town in OB you spoke to everyone you met. Some would only have thr 'rumour' topic but you could have short converations with most NPC's but the point is you weren't sure how chatty an NPC would be until you spoke to them because everyone had a full proper name. In the Fallout games I know I can ignore the majority of the games population because they don't have a proper name and therefore won't even give you the 'rumour' topic but would rather say something like ''patrolling the Majave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter''. If 80% of Skyrims NPC's are gerneric named 'Skyrim Traveller' I'll be very disapointed, probably won't bother talking to anyone unless I'm told to for a quest, pretty much like I do in Fallout.

I'm saying that that's how Bethesda makes their games, and that's how I like them. It takes a lot longer for them to create individual NPCs with schedules and such than it does to make the generic NPCs in AC. I'm saying I'd rather have a realistic world (realistic in that every NPC has a house somewhere, and actually does stuff) rather than the generic NPCs that you see in AC. To me it seems you just want an AC game with a bit of magic and some skills thrown in. TES games aren't like that, and that's what sets them apart. For better or for worse, but I know which way I take it.

lol a powerful AoE paralysis spell would be hilarious.

I don't want them to be like AC... I want their Cities to be... See the difference?

AC did their cities the way no one ever did. Now Bethesda can't do anything similar?

The thing is it bothered me that Imperial City, a supposedly HUGE city only harbored 60 or so NPC's... And the so called final battle at the Oblivion Gate was fought by 9 people.

Do you see?

I just think they shouldn't waste their time creating schedules for named NPC's that are actually worth a damn; maybe a few that aren't worth anything for good measure but the rest should just be generic.

Well, if the game is as good as the gameplay trailer... I don't think we should worry.

You have no idea about game engines (or at least the Gamebyro engines used for the TES and Fallout series). The AI takes up a lot of the resources of the system, and we're still on the same hardware remember?? You simply won't get masses and masses of NPCs unless they are like AC, and disappear once you leave a city. Which is asking to change the whole game. Which makes it a different game.

It's not just time Bethesda is short of; they are limited by current gen technology. Even if it was PC exclusive modern hardware wouldn't be able to keep up with what you're after. Not the way Bethesda do things anyway.

I understand you want the best game you can get, and it would be great if they could implement the best of both worlds.

But they've made their decision, and they clearly consider a more intricate AI system of higher importance than lot's of NPCs on the screen.

You will not get what you're after from a TES game. At least not on this generation of consoles.

And here I thought they were using a new engine, not Gamebryo!

None of us know the limitations of the new engine and you're saying it can't? Hell it might not, but I just want them to live up to their so called "Live Cities".

Its important to note its very likely along with the new render engine and game engines the new ai system is designed to allow more boddies moving about under a given amout of system resources.

In short some of those boddies are taking up alot less cpu/mem then others.

Otherwise they simply wouldnt be able to have more npcs around.

lol a powerful AoE paralysis spell would be hilarious.

or a nice big Fu Ro Dah would be pretty fun, even better if you have the guards running after you first