Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Preview – Into The Dragon’s Den

83
Dan Webb

Welcome to Skyrim, the northern most province in Elder Scrolls’ fictional wonderland of Tamriel and the hunting ground for the upcoming and aptly named Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It’s apt because the name of the game is the same as the name of the setting... geddit? Anyway! The northern province of the mysterious land of Tamriel is a mountainous region that according to Bethesda Game Studios’ Game Director, Todd Howard, is “about the same size as Oblivion.” In other words, big! It’s a game world and an experience that’s not shy to take your expectations of what you class as true beauty in a video game and beat you to death with it. Luckily we got out alive, but only just.

Skyrim itself is a world ripe with life and brimming with moments that are so epic that it’d bring even the most unflappable man to his knees and render him a quivering mess. It took precisely three minutes – or so... yes, I understand that “or so” renders the word ‘precisely’ completely useless, but who’s writing this, me or you? – before that unflappable man was actually a bit speechless... That’s me if you couldn’t gather. Bit of background first before I tell all.

Built on Bethesda Game Studios’ “Creative Engine,” Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim tells the story of Dovahkiin, one of the blessed Dragonborn who will be called upon to defeat the almighty dragon, Alduin AKA World Eater. That’s all you really need to know for now in all honesty. In short: new engine, dragons galore, pretty looking game... Oh, and we saw it on the 360, not the PC. Stress, not the PC.

The demo that Bethesda brought along to its BFG Showcase in Utah last week picked up with our fearless protagonist stood at the top of a rather large hill, overlooking the vast mountain ranges of the region. Surrounded by towering pine trees, quivering ferns and bright blue Harvest Blue mountain flowers, our hero steps down the rocky path on his way to somewhere we’re not privy to.

Right... “wow” moment number one... As Dovahkiin rounds the first corner of the steep path, he’s faced with a scenic valley, divided only by the icy blue waters of the world which are as reflective and effervescent as they are haunting. But wait, what’s that? In the middle of the powerful current, a small school of fish fight their way upstream, taking in the fresh mountain air as they leave the icy waters with majestic leaps to gain ground and get to their final destination. Insert “wow” here. Sure, they may only be fish, but it’s a good example of the more interactive world that Bethesda is shooting for and it certainly took our breath away... I suppose it took the fish’s breath away too... you know, because they breath in water...

Traversing further up the path, Dovahkiin takes down a few bandits along the way with the new dual handed, mix-and-match combat – left trigger/L2 for the left hand and right trigger/R2 for the right hand – and from that moment alone, it was clear that Skyrim’s combat one-ups Oblivion’s in a heartbeat and with relative ease as well. Being able to mix and match spells and weapons to form various combinations makes for a much more tailored experience, that’s for sure.

Similarly, the inventory and menu system is a huge advancement for the series and the clean and easy menus allow you to not only work out surplus requirements in your inventory in an instant, but the constellation-orientated perk and stats screen is simply marvellous. Then there’s the 3D map of Skyrim, which allows you to pull out and see what’s what in the region. Oh, and fast travel.

From the mountain path, we’re zoomed forward into the town of Riverwood; a small community nestled amidst the snowy pine trees of the region with log cabins galore and friendly mountain folk going about their daily business, whether it’s in the lumber mill or at the blacksmiths on the corner. Even those who don’t add to the town’s economy go about their business, whether they’re sweeping the street or gossiping on the corner; from an immersion standpoint, Skyrim is right on the money. Hearing Howard say “if you can see it, you can go there” and “everything they can do, you can do” are claims that are as almost as ambitious as they are verbose. You could seriously sit here all day and soak up their daily activities and not get bored though, but being able to get involved and strengthen the town’s economy is almost a game in itself. Incidentally, if you’re feeling particularly sadistic, you can even cripple their economy by felling some of its most important townsfolk. You know, if being a murdering swine is what floats your boat.

Thanks to the Radiant Story System, the game is further tailored to your experience, choosing locations and regions you’ve not explored and sending you there to complete certain quests. Kill a quest giver and chances are a family member or another appropriate individual will step in to give it you. Drop a sword, for instance, and you could either cause a squabble in a street over its ownership or you could have it returned to you. It’s all about creating your world and pushing you into the unfamiliar. After all, familiarity breeds contempt.

The majority of the demo consisted of Dovahkiin’s mission into the mountains to a place called Bleak Falls Barrow – which incidentally is a Nordic temple – in search of the Golden Dragon Claw for Lucan, one of Riverwood’s traders who had recently had it pilfered from his possession. Speaking to Lucan, and his sister Camilla, we get a glimpse of the less wooden and zoom-and-lock-less conversation system that offers flexibility in not only where you look, but allows the character you’re speaking to, to get on with what they’re doing. In other words, it’s a hell of a lot more natural.

Running across a stone bridge and into the mountains – leaving Camilla wandering behind talking to thin air – we come across our next “wow” moment. Howard notes that not all creatures in Skyrim are hostile and some won’t attack on-sight, and as he said that, he proceeded to crouch in the bushes off to the side of the path as an 8-foot tall ogre of some sort rocked past. With the earth quaking under his every footstep, the bushy bearded, tatty ogre stomped past with his huge club resting on his shoulder without a care in the world. He makes Shaq look like a dwarf and truly gives you a sense of scale of the world. As he passes and as Dovahkiin proceeds up the path, Howard points out that the snow that has just started to fall accumulates naturally on the ground as well, as opposed to having two different texture skins for where it falls. Impressive to say the least.

Further up the path, after dispatching a frost troll with a fire spell, Dovahkiin uses a ‘Detect Life’ spell to spot two guards at the base of a stone tower embedded in the cliff side. Rather than attack head on, he uses an ‘Illusion’ spell to make the one guard so aggressive that he turns on his ally. After quickly nipping in to mop up the agitated guard with a few carefully aimed arrows, our brave adventurer continues on. By this time, there’s a thin layer of snow on the ground.

All that stood before our slayer and his intended destination was a temple door... oh, and a huge 50-foot dragon who sat perched on a ginormous stone archway. Dropping down, Dovahkiin sprints – yes, you can sprint now – forward towards the temple door, taking a breath of fire from that pesky scaled creature on the way in.

Into the dungeon we go and what proceeds is a journey through a number of hugely diverse environments in one of the game’s many dungeons. In fact, Howard notes, “We have at last count, some 120 'dungeon' dungeons and then we have another 100-plus points of interest,” so you’ll never be short of things to do.

Your ultimate goal, Arvel, the thief who stole the Golden Dragon Claw, is buried somewhere deep within the maze like passage ways; something you find out when dispatching a couple of bandits at the dungeon entrance. With improved shadow and lighting, the ability to play stealthily from the shadows is now a possibility, but unfortunately, the one blip in the demo happens at this very moment in time. Now I’m not sure what’s in the water in Skyrim, but the reaction to seeing your friend take an arrow in the face should be more drastic than “Hmmm, I thought I heard someone” – I’m paraphrasing of course, but it was a fairly weak AI reaction that was hard to ignore.

Further in, after Dovahkiin solved a simplistic puzzle with his powerful mind and killed a rabid dog who crossed his path with his trusty sword, and not before contracting Ataxia in the process thanks to a nip from the blighter of course, he reached a cobweb ridden cavern, where a Giant Frostbite Spider awaited, with a trapped Arvel close by. Making quick work of the spider and after to-ing and fro-ing with Arvel to give up the Golden Dragon Claw before he cut him down, the inevitable happens... he cuts him down and then... poof! The bugger sets off to escape from our fearless warrior.

Off like a dart, Dovahkiin sets off on foot after Arvel until the passageway opens up, and making use of two perks for the bow and arrow – a slow down time perk and a zoom perk – our feared dragon slayer is able to dispatch him with an arrow to the head. A quick loot of the body – and a glance at Skyrim’s 3D book system; a unique way to represent the in-game text if we say so ourselves –  and Dovahkiin decides to venture further into the dungeon to learn of the lost treasures in the Hall of Stories.

Using a ‘Circle of Protection’ spell – which stuns foes – along with a ‘Chain Lightning’ spell, Dovahkiin rips through the dungeons with relative ease, wiping out many Draugrs – undead skeleton warriors – along the way. In this short passage of play we get to see the effects of a double-handed and charged Chain Lightning spell – clue: it threw a foe tens of feet into the air – as well as hear about the effects of axe wounds over time – clue: they cause wounds that cause damage over time – and even see Dovahkiin chop down a pot of boiling oil onto a few pursuing foes. Magical stuff. To top things off, seeing a few kill executions that are merely down to luck – right place, right time, right weapon, right enemy basically – was the icing on a cake chock full of plentiful goodness. Incidentally, the enemies in Skyrim level up like those in Fallout 3, rather than Oblivion... thankfully!

It’s worth noting as well, that in the space of this 20 minute dungeon, we get a glimpse at its misty caverns, its tree-root ridden passage ways, cobweb-infested alleyways, claustrophobic tombs, wide open caves with waterfalls and stone bridges, as well as a few ice crevice passageways. Diversity at its finest. “That’s the kind of experience you’re going to get in a dungeon,” said Howard, talking about environments and the sort of gameplay, which consisted of the odd glyph puzzle and plenty of combat.

After using the Golden Dragon Claw and its inscriptions to open the door to the Hall of Stories, the final room of the dungeon saw Dovahkiin learn a new “Dragon Shout” – specifically, Slow Time – and defeat its protector, a Dragon Priest who awoke from his slumber. Dragon Shouts, of which there are currently 24, come in three flavours according to Howard which relate to the strength and sustainability of the effects. For instance, Unrelenting Force – which is like a Star Wars Force Push – can be weak, medium and strong, depending on how many of the words you have. With 3 for each spell, that’s roughly 72 to seek out and master. At this stage, each of the Shouts use one regenerative meter supply and for the stronger effects, it’s just a longer button press – this is subject to change though – but it does use up more of your reserves.

So yeah... Dragons! Let’s talk about them, right? After all, seeing as Dovahkiin’s next opponent upon leaving the temple is that pesky reptilian he met previously, it’d make perfect sense. According to Howard, the dragons – aside from a few key story ones – are all random and the game uses the Radiant Storytelling system to determine when and where you’ll see them. Yes, they are tough and yes, they are meant to drain your resources, so be prepared, but the payout is often worth it. In this instance, thanks to the Slow Time Shout, it’s that little bit easier and after swiping at him numerous times with his Elven Sword – made of a green tinted glass – and blasting it with Chain Lightning, the dragon is soon crashing to the ground, almost certainly damaged from the abuse he just received. Unable to take flight now, which is when he’s a pain to hit, Dovahkiin darts in to make quick work of him, devouring his soul in the process and ending the demo.

The rather lengthy game demo that Bethesda brought across to Utah for its BFG Showcase was, for want of a better word, epic. It’s like Christmas come early... well, it should be when November rolls around. Aside from the odd AI issue as previously mentioned, the one-hour long demo was pretty damn flawless and almost certainly provided more “wow” moments than I’ve had in a demo for quite some time... yes, it had even more than I had with Battlefield 3 recently! And that’s saying something. Not only is the game a treat on the eyes, but the gameplay refinements do the title a world of good and the whole immersion factor is incredibly high. I know it’s a little early to be lining titles up for that coveted Game of the Year award... so we won’t, but you know the score... You can read our minds, right?

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is scheduled for a November 11th release worldwide this year.

Note: If you have any questions – that I can answer – feel free to post them in the comments and we may do a follow up piece.

Comments
83
  • looks good
  • Top o' the World ma!
  • i have a question , how do i get to have a lil go before November like you guys :( Novemeber is just to far away and every new screenshot makes it even further away!! atleast ive got MK to keep me occupied for the moment . . .
  • How was the frame rate? Sorry if you mentioned it and i just missed it.
  • Holly Molly, Thats a lot of bethesda news...... OT this looks marvelous.
  • fxck this game looks cool as shxt! can't wait
  • Shits about to get real.
  • All this bethesda news and nothing on new vegas dlc! OT this is looking very good, will definately be a serious contender for GOTY!
  • 11-11-11 cant wait :)
  • Can't wait!
  • The home page with all the Bethesda news
  • "Kill a quest giver and chances are a family member or another appropriate individual will step in to give it you" A quick fix will set it right, other then that this game looks and sound very impressive
  • I have a 17 page paper to read before class this morning on Landscape Urbanism but here I am rereading a Skyrim demo. This is the power of the Elder Scrolls
  • My life for the dragonborn
  • This sounds promising! :D
  • @5 - wait... do you mean Molly Holly, the retired wrestler?! o.O
  • Elder Scrolls rocks!
  • @16 I think he meant 'Holey Moley' Awesome article! OK, so for questions First. Did they say, or do you have any idea, what affect improving or ruining a settlements economy has, if any? It sounds like improving the economy should make things visibly better, cleaner, tidier, perhaps with better stock in shops, and hurting the economy should mean that the settlement becomes dirty and shops have less stock. Second. That weak moment of AI in the dungeon. Did that get mentiioned at all? Third. A slow time shout, right after he's already used a slow time perk? seems pointless to have a shout for it when you already have it as a perk. Did this get mentioned at all?
  • this looks excellent i can wait until november now.
  • My GOTY
  • Holy Bethesda news x360a! All you see on the main page is the Bethesda logo. More to the point, Holy shit! As if I could want this game any more than I already do. I think it's pretty fair to say I'll have to write off hundreds of hours of my life for this one. How much more time do you want to take from me Bethesda!
  • @#18 - I can answer all those. When I get 5 and get a few more questions, I'll respond to them =) If people want me to go into more detail on stuff as well, just ask...
  • More detail on EVERYTHING please :D How is the new Havok engine working? Does it have the cloth dynamics included with it? Does it work on hair? What sort of finishing moves did you see? Any magic ones? Did they lop off any limbs? Was there any noticeable damage or wear and tear to weapons/armour/clothing? Does your character sport any noticeable scars from battle. What can you tell us about the 18 skills? Do you know what they are? Do different weapons have different perks? Axes have different perks from maces, 2 handed sword different from 1 handed sword different froma dagger? You mentioned the zoom perk for a headshot. Are headshots with bows insta kills? Can you still get headshots with the same effect without the perk? Do bows get finishing moves too? Strange one, but did a sword have less effect on skeletons (they really should), did they bleed? (I hope not) Is M'aiq the liar making a return in any way? Did you see a big doggy in the settlement? Did it bark? Was there a character called Nigel? ARE THERE CHEESEWHEELS? For the love of God tell me about the cheesewheels!!! I'll leave it there, otherwise I'll be hear all day asking more questions :D
  • You kept referring to the hero as Dovahkiin this doesn't mean we are stuck playing a predetermined character right ?
  • The 'weak AI' in this game isn't anything new, in Fallout 3 you could stealth kill an enemy in a conversation and not alert the other enemy. I'm not disappointed by this at all. It would be nice if the guards/townspeople are no longer psychic. If I kill someone in the woods and no one sees or hears anything, who's to say I killed them. Noticed the bloody sword, no bloody faces like Dragon Age are there?
  • I have a question if you dont mind, did you see how the repairing system works is it still repairing hammers or maybe it ties more into blacksmiting?
  • Now this looks a game and a half to play
  • @#24: I would think not; your hero in Morrowind was always the Nevarine, but he or she could be any class or race you wished him or her to be.
  • What is the current political stance on skooma? Still illegal? Legalized? "De-regulated?" ;) SKOOMA!
  • i have only 2 question: is there ANY way to jump around like idiot? and did they talk anything about houses and possible how much they would be? (like 1 house = selling 20 swords etc.)
  • Speaking about the combat How reflective is the damage caused by a weapon/spell to the enemys themselves?, Will foes be knocked back after being hit by a blunt object? Will cuts show on the bodies? Will an enemy attempt to flee if badly wounded? Main thing that bugged me in oblivion was some of the poor combat and every enemy seemed fearless even in near death. As for these executions how graphic are they, Im not expecting like condemned or manhunt brutality but is it like haveing to pull your axe out of enemy body, limb removal/decapitation etc?
  • All this Bethesda news and still no news on new Fallout New Vegas DLC :
  • Looks freaking amazing! can't wait for november! I've got three small questions though, 1- You mentioned that "the enemies in Skyrim level up like those in Fallout 3, rather than Oblivion". I honestly don't know the difference since I haven't played Fallout 3. Could you maybe explain this? 2- In Oblivion I had "lag" when I was playing out of the city. If I'm correct, this was the case on every Xbox. Has this been fixed with the new engine? 3- You mentioned there were ~120 dungeons and ~100 points of interest. Do you know if this is the definitive amount? Or may this be expanded? And how many were in Oblivion? So I can compare it to something. I hope you have answers for most of my question! Thanks anyways!
  • Can't wait for it to come out. Loved playing Oblivion - The Elder Scrolls IV
  • @#31 The game would be shit if everyone you engaged with would run away if near death. Farming bandits is easy money and equipment. It was lots of fun hearing what the bandits would say when they were attacking you while boosting armorer, block, and armor skills. No chance of victory but they put up a good dagger fight :P.
  • one word EPIC
  • Can't wait to play Skyrim! 11-11-11 = No Life date for me!
  • @24 It's just the title that character is given. If you were the successor to Pellinal Whitestrake you were called "The Divine Crusader!" as such. The character you make will still be different. Although the main role is always Dovahkiin, I understand but hasn't it been similar roles to the other games and it's main character? My grammer sucks I know :p
  • The graphic will be far more superior then oblivions, and they were good although the terrain was randomly generated. I hope they still have daedric weapons in this as well...
  • Hopefully the leveling system isn't fucked up in this game.
  • Why is it that Dan always reviews RPG's? Hard to be constructive and what he finds excellent other can point out more than few flaws. Sounds amazing from what I read so far, but again coming from a biased player:-P
  • This is a pre-order for sure. Looks like damn fine work indeed.
  • Previews of Skyrim are killing my motivation to play other games. Nothing sounds fun compared to this. . .
  • Great read Webb, very nice stuff. Ok now for the questions (Sorry if there's any repeats but I don't want to bother reading the comments this time around) 1. You mentioned that they now have a sort of economic system in the game correct? Well would you know how deep this system goes, whether you can purchase shops or potentially even start a makeshift "career" as a merchant? 2. Do you know if perks and shouts stack? As you said at one point he uses a slow down time perk and then later a shout that does the same thing. Could you perhaps use the shout and then boost its effects by using the perk afterwards? 3. As far as the combat goes did you notice an improvement in the AI? I know at one point you said the AI was weak for not noticing his bludgeoned companion, but during combat do they use spells more prominently, block, parry, etc? Overall does it look more natural, challenging and fun? 4. How fluid was the demo in terms of keeping the gameplay fast-paced? You mention he uses plenty of spells during the demo, how did the transition look to you? As much as I loved being a mage it was annoying having to switch to your inventory every time you wanted to one that couldn't fit on your spell wheel. 5. A simple one here, what were the load times like? I remember them being rather long in Oblivion (Maybe it was just me) but was there ever a time when you thought to yourself "Is it done loading yet?" 6. Could you go a little deeper into the 3D book system you mentioned? It piqued my interest and i would love to hear more about the fancier menu systems. 7. Last one. When he fights the dragon you make it seem like he was just another enemy with a bigger health bar. In your opinion, did it really look like a challenging fight at all, or was it a matter of "hitting him lots of times" (Sort of relates to question #3) Anyways, that's all for now. (Sorry if I went overboard) Thanks for the preview Webb!
  • Some great questions so far folks and a lot I can answer. I'll cherry pick those questions (and the stuff that comes later on this week) and prep some weekend reading for you all.
  • Answer me this, is he playing nightmare? 2 steps forward, there should be an axe at your feet, pick it up. Now swing it furiouly cause theres a fucking 10 foot spider in front of you.
  • Will there be diffrent races like nord,wood elf,orc.....
  • lmao @46 this game looks amazing next pay check ima pay off the fucking most UBER edition i can buy hahaha
  • Holy Roller!
  • Fuckin giant spiders. I will now have nightmares.
  • Game of the year!
  • Does this have an improved third person mode? The Oblivion/Fallout 3 third person is somewhat clunky.
  • I know you probably didn't see many item drops, but were they all the same generic stuff like in Oblivion? I loved Morrowind because all the items were unique and diverse, whereas it seemed in Oblivion there was just generic item after generic item and the occasional Legendary one. Same goes for the creatures, they were incredibly unique in Morrowind, then they just switched to 'Wolf', 'Bear', 'Goblin', etc etc, which was bloody tedious, so have they changed that too?
  • Are there any info about limited or collectors editions so far? *hoping for a Daedric weapon replica to be included*
  • I can answer a few of these myself to narrow your list down a bit @12 you say 'a quick fix will set it right' are you suggesting this is a glitch? If you are, then you're mistaken, this is meant to happen. It is part of the engine that lets you continue to acquire quests in some form or another even if you have killed an original quest giver. @24. No. We still get the 10 races to choose from, and we can still be any type of character we like, whether Mage, Stealth or Warrior, or a mixture of the 3. The Dragon Born is the storyline of the Main Quest. Yes, everybody will be 'Dovahkiin' and we will all get access to the Dragon shouts, but it is NOT a predetermined character. @25. I know what you mean, but Fallout 3 was running on a very dated engine (it was used in Morrowind!). Skyrim has a brand new engine built from the ground up and this is the sort of thing that shouldn't be happening, which is why Webb pointed it out. @26. Good question. Blacksmithing is in the game as one of the little jobs you can do in a town, as with woodcutting and enchanting. I would expect it now means repairing is a smithing job rather than something you can do on the road with a repair hammer. @32. I read something from Bethesda a few days ago about Vegas DLC, they'e got news about it in the coming month. @33. OK, in Oblivion everything scaled to your level to offer a constant challenge, that meant that there was technically no point in levelling up as you never felt more powerful. If you were level 20, Goblins, Wolves, Minotaurs, Bandits, Undead, all were around level 20. It al so meant that at level 20 or so you would see bandits running around in Full Daedric armour. Somewhat ridiculous. In Fallout 3, there was still matched levelling, but not Scaling. Different areas in Fallout 3 had different static level requirements, you were always going to meet Super Mutants in the DC ruins, and they were always going to be a certain level minimum, you couldn't just go there at level 1 and they would be level 1 as well. If you went there low level, you were likely to get owned. But the level matching also meant that you could walk around the wasteland and random encounters would match your level. If you were lvel 5, you'd probably bump into a few mole rats or a couple of bandits. At level 20 you were stumbling across Enclave, Supermutants and Deathclaws. also in Fallout 3, the level matching was adjusted so enemies didn't become ridiculous, Raiders, for eample, would never be wearing power armour, and would always be wearing raider armour of some sort and armed with a variety of basic pistols, melee and assault rifles, with the occasional heavy weapon thrown in. Also, the Enclave/Outcasts/Brotherhood always wore their power armour and lazer/plasma weapons. Fallout 3 also 'froze' the status of a cave/building interior. If you went into a random building at level 5 and got owned, it would stay matched to your level 5, meaning you could go back at level 10 and kick ass, it let you feel like you were progressing and getting more powerful. Everything was balanced right. That's what Skyrim is going for. Balanced encounters that match your level, but also some areas with set requirements, and of course they're using that 'status freeze' on dungeons. With the outdoor lag in Oblivion, did you notice the same lag in Fallout 3? I certainly didn't. It was improved for them, so it will definitely be improved here. What you must remember is that Oblivion was built about 90% for PC as Bethesda didn't get the xbox 360 kit until late in development, meaning that Oblivion is technically a port. The lag issues are down to it not being optimized for console. Fallout 3 and NV WERE, which is why there is no lag, or at least seriously reduced lag. There's no way that this new engine that is built and optimized for console gaming as well as PC gaming is going to have significant lag issues. Oblivion had around 170 or so different places you could visit, not including cities, maybe pushing 200. I never did an exact count, but I remember this being adressed on the ES forums prior to Oblivion release and we were told there it was topping out between 170 and 200. @47. Yeah, the same 10 races as always, no more, no less. @52. Much improved apparently. Todd howard has talked about this a great deal. He mentioned that 3rd person felt like you were skiing across the landscape and the combat was weak. That's been closely dealt with making 3rd person a more real and genuine option than weak add on. Apparently, although it's still a first person game primarily, the improvements to 3rd person are such that a lot of the Skyrim developers prefer playing in 3rd person, and almost none of them stick with 1st person all the way through, chopping and changing between the two when it felt appropriate.
  • i just can not wait for this game.... GOTY for me already and it hasnt even come out.:)
  • just got Oblivion, cant wait for this!
  • I will gladly murder children to play this game. (I don't care how many.)
  • Skyrim will EPIC
  • Games looking solid, loved oblivion, can't wait to get it :D
  • Yeah, this game will rock the house'
  • @58 They're in the game, so hopefully you'll get the chance!
  • @62 where there children in oblivion? because i dont think there was.
  • @62 No....I wasn't serious....I think I will wait...
  • this is gonna be SICK. cant wait.
  • i put so many hours and days into Oblivion, Im going to have to play all the other games on my list before tackling this monster. Looks good tho.
  • This look amazing. May I ask one question I've had on my mind for so long? What is the Skyrim armour going to be like? One of my favourite things about Morrowind was the huge customizability in armour! Pauldrons/spaulders/shoulder armour, the ability to wear two gloves or shoes from different sets, etc. It was slightly dumbed down in Oblivion, but Fallout 3 you just have body and helm! I really hope they bring it back!
  • WHY CANT NOVEMBER COME SOONER ARGGHHHH
  • @67 Agreed. Also I hope they change the glass armour in Oblivion back to Morrowind style, the Oblivion version was just horrendous.
  • Game of the year :)
  • Maybe I just didn't notice it or it hasn't been said yet. But are you stuck being just one race? Or can you pick your race like in oblivion?
  • Never mind I just found my answer. I should prob read all the comments first.
  • Most anticipated game of the year for me.
  • I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS GAME ! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH *sorry*
  • I know the game character wont be related but I was wondering if you could take a save across from Oblivion and some characters would mention events that you did. Or you could get some sort of bonus? Was the AI mentioned much? Did the developers comment on the lack of awareness from the NPC who's friend got shot with an arrow next to him? Also, when you walk away from characters you mentioned they carry on talking. Did they mention that they would break off and give an insult to you for being rude? :) One of the things I used to do when near death in Oblivion was jump on big rocks and kill them with a bow or spell. Is this possible in Skyrim or were there no opportunities to test this? One final thing. Is there any naked women in it? If not, will it be in any upcoming DLC :)
  • Does the left handed and right handed combat system mean that we can dual wield weapons, if so a nord with an axe and a sword would be perfect lol. If not it will be the only bad thing in the game. Cant wait for this!!!
  • That's it, I'm going to go ahead and pre-order this game. I can't take it anymore.
  • it better run perfect all the time or else screw this game bc i got oblivion awhile ago and it used 2 run perfect but kno it runs like a big piece of shit even if i install the damn game
  • This is probably going to be my favourite game of all time when it comes outeverything about it sounds jaw-dropping.
  • Awasome, cant wait for 11.11.11 :( This will be epic.
  • Awesome
  • Epicness AWAITS!
  • Absolutely cannot wait for this, I am getting this the first second it is released, and am still waiting for an announcement on any special/limited/collectors editions, because I will get those as well. Huge fan of the Elder Scrolls, just recently bought the 5th anniversary edition of Oblivion as well.
  • You need to register before being able to post comments

Game navigation