All the footage of Quakecon is taken down in a few hours. So to save me time of editing the OP every hour or so, just follow the damn thread.
Before anyone says anything, I felt like all the current Skyrim threads were a bit to bland. They showed some pictures, some cool features about the game, and that was it. In this thread im hoping to go a bit more into details.
About the game
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a role-playing video game being developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls action role-playing video game series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It is scheduled to be released on November 11, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Skyrim is set two hundred years after the events of Oblivion, in the land of Skyrim. The province has erupted into civil war after the assassination of its king. Concurrently, the god Alduin, who takes the form of a massive dragon, has arisen to destroy the world. The player character is one of the last living Dovahkiin (Dragonborn), and must fend off Alduin and save Skyrim from destruction.
About Skyrim: The Province
Skyrim is the northernmost province of Tamriel, and is a cold and mountainous region. Although it is one of Tamriel's less hospitable provinces, it has been home to both elven and human civilization since time immemorial. It is currently inhabited by the human race of Nords. The Aldmer and Falmer occupied Skyrim until the late Merethic, when the final wave of Nordic immigration, led by Ysgramor, finally drove out the Mer.
About Skyrim: History
Skyrim is a rugged, ravaged place, the site of many past battles. The Nords believe that they were created here, on the mountain known as High Hrothgar. Settlers from Atmora made landfall here many times before claiming the region as their own. These spaced-out migrations often resulted in clashes with the Aldmer. "Out of this time also rose one of the most legendary of all Tamrielic figures, Ysgramor, from whom all Nordic kings are descended." His clan expanded their territory, and it continued to expand and contract by winning and losing territories in Morrowind and High Rock. After quarrels from the rivalries of the Ysgramor clan however, Skyrim weakened and separated into multiple states during the War of Succession. Thenceforth it would only be united for brief periods. Skyrim engaged in multiple clashes with High Rock over its western Reach, a civil war involving The Wolf Queen of Solitude, an invasion of Cuhlecain's kingdom of Cyrodiil, and wars with Hammerfell and High Rock during the Imperial Simulacrum.
Gameplay
Skyrim retains the traditional open-world gameplay found in the Elder Scrolls series. The player is free to roam the land of Skyrim at will, either on-foot or on horseback. Within Skyrim lie five major cities and numerous smaller towns, and expanses of wilderness and mountain ranges. Each city or town has its own economy, which the player can either stimulate by completing jobs such as farming and mining, or harm by sabotaging industrial buildings. The player can train in eighteen different skills, and the player character is leveled up by raising skills. The class system traditional in role-playing games, which had been present in Oblivion, is removed to allow the player's play-style to develop naturally. Perks are skill-specific abilities, organized in a system of branching groups called "skill trees." The player can choose from one of 280 perks each time their character is leveled until the player character has leveled fifty times. Leveling is possible past level fifty, but the rate at which the player levels is significantly reduced. The on-screen heads-up display only appears when the player's health, stamina, or magicka are being depleted. Items and equipment layouts can be saved to a quick-access menu, and the pause-screen inventory menu is presented in a compass-style overlay; while in the inventory, the player can rotate and zoom in on acquired items.
Weapons can be created by the player at a forge, and are assigned to each hand individually, allowing for dual-wielding. At the cost of stamina, the player can sprint and jump. Shields can be used with a bashing attack, and timing is required for blocking with a shield. Blunt, bladed, hacking and stabbing weapons each have specific advantages and roles; as an example, the player is granted the ability to perform finishing moves. There are over eighty-five spell types, which can be used in ranged and close combat forms. Spell types have specific qualities; a frost spell slows and drains stamina, while a fire spell causes prolonged damage through burning, and may also ignite the environment. Players can equip one spell per hand and will be able to charge up spells before casting for greater power. When practicing archery, arrows take longer to draw back than in previous Elder Scrolls games, but do greater damage. Because of this, arrows are expensive and considered rarities. A player equipped with a bow can use it defensively in close combat, in a charging counterattack. The player can sneak, and non-player characters (NPCs) become alerted if the player's movements are detected.
Skyrim makes use of the Radiant AI artifical intelligence system created for Oblivion, which has been updated to allow NPCs to "do what they want under extra parameters". The updated system allows for greater interaction between NPCs and their environments; NPCs can perform tasks such as farming, milling and mining in the game world. NPCs can interact with the player character through conversation, and can request favors and training for the player, or challenge the player character to a duel. Events such as dueling are randomly-generated encounters, taking influence from Bethesda's previous game Fallout 3. Skyrim introduces the Radiant Story system, which governs quests and how they function. Side-quests are dynamically altered based on the player's actions, and are tailored to the player's abilities and progress within the game. As an example, the player might be sent off to a dungeon that has not been previously explored, and face enemies that are defeated most effectively with the player's preferred combat style.
Plot
Skyrim is not a direct sequel to Oblivion; rather, it is a new chapter in the Elder Scrolls series, set two hundred years after the events of Oblivion. In the preamble to Skyrim, the Empire began ceding territory to the Elven nations it once ruled, because there was no heir to the Emperor's throne. The Blades had no one to defend, and gradually died, were murdered, or secluded themselves from the rest of the world. After the king of Skyrim was assassinated, a civil war broke out amongst the native Nord race – the majority being those who wished for Skyrim to secede from the Empire, and the rest being those who wished for Skyrim to stay in the Empire.
As with previous Elder Scrolls games, Skyrim begins with the player character as an unknown prisoner, on the way to their own execution. The player eventually learns that Skyrim's civil war is last in a sequence of prophetic events foretold by the Elder Scrolls, which also foretell of the return of Alduin, the Nordic god of destruction.
Setting
Skyrim's game world is the province of Skyrim. It is a northern province of Tamriel, the continent on which all the games in the series have taken place. Skyrim is roughly the same size as Oblivion's game world Cyrodiil, which is around 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in area. Within Skyrim lie five cities, larger than Cyrodiil's cities, as well as smaller townships and expanses of wilderness. Much of Skyrim's topography is mountainous, and dragons are frequently encountered when exploring the wilderness. There are over 150 dungeons scattered across Skyrim, and when the player enters a dungeon for the first time, the monsters within lock to the player's level permanently, even if visited later at a higher level. Fast-travelling is a returning feature, allowing the player to instantly travel to any marked location that has been previously visited.
What we know (Copied from the other thread)
- Skyrim is set two centuries into the future, after the events of Oblivion.
- In Skyrim, you’ll fight dragons repeatedly in single combat. The game’s antagonist is Alduin, a dragon otherwise known as the World Eater.
- You play the last of the Dragonborn. You are the first of the Dragonborn seen in centuries.
- You can dual wield magic, weapons, a shield or both. You can combine different weapons, and different magic spells.
- There are 18 skills you can raise to as high as 100 points.
- There are no classes. Instead, you’ll improve skills by using them, and choose perks as you level, similar to Fallout 3.
- The higher a skill, the more it contributes to leveling. You can slow down the pace of leveling by practicing a wide spread of skills, instead of just your most important few.
- Gaining a level lets you choose a perk, improves health and gives you the choice to increase either your health (some more), magicka or stamina.
- Standard leveling will stretch from 1 to 50, with leveling beyond 50 possible, but much more time consuming to achieve than previous levels.
- Combat is based around staggering your enemy and looking for openings, a mix of offense and defense, rather than all-out offense.
- There are cinematic finishing moves unique to both your weapon and the target you’re hitting.
- Bows take longer to draw, but are much more powerful. Stealthy players will be able to kill targets in one hit from long-range.
- The magic system has dozens of spells, and five schools of magic. The school of Mysticism has been removed, and its important spells merged into the other schools.
- Backwards movement has been significantly slowed to prevent back-pedalling in combat.
- The ‘Radiant Story‘ system ensures the game-world reacts to your character and play style in both grand and mundane ways.
- Quests can be awarded dynamically, set to a location you’ve never visited and populated with enemies appropriate to your level.
- Your version of Skyrim is dynamically customized to how you like to play.
- NPC dialogue scenes will trigger fluidly in your normal view, rather than in the portrait-style zoomed-in view used in Oblivion.
- NPCs will have the ability to move around and continue with their chores while they speak with you.
- The game features a significantly increased number of voice actors over previous titles.
- Secondary conversations can be overheard and add notes to your Quest Journal.
- There are a number of new activities available in towns, such as smithing, alchemy to make poisons and potions, enchanting, and mundane professions like farming, mining, woodcutting and cooking.
- As one of the last Dragonborn, your character can learn and use ‘dragon shouts‘. There are over 20 unique shouts in the game, each formed from three words of power. One of the ways you can learn dragon shouts is by absorbing dragon souls.
- Some of the dragon shouts have been described. One hurtles foes away from you. One slows down time. Some are whispered and used for stealth. One shout speaks the true name of a dragon, summoning it to battle for you.
- Characters can now sprint by expending stamina.
- The game’s menus have been redesigned with simplicity and usability in mind. Todd Howard has said the team’s guiding philosophy for the UI was “What if Apple made a fantasy game?”
- Hitting the menu button will open a four-point style compass overlay, similar to the ‘before your eyes’ menus of Dead Space. Options are (clockwise) Skills, Inventory, Map and Magic. Skills are accessed by hitting up. You’ll look at your skills by looking at the sky, and each skill is represented by a constellation. New perks will light a new star in the constellation of the relevant skill. Skills are divided by areas of the sky representing melee, magic and stealth skills.
- Your inventory is accessed by pushing right from the compass menu. Weapons and armor can be tagged as favorites for easy access. Books appear as three dimensional objects you can open and read. Every item in the game has a zoomable 3D image you can examine.
- Pushing left accesses your Spells. There are a number of variations on core spells and spells can be combined.
- Pressing down will access the Map. Your character will look down, then the camera will zoom out to show you a topographical map of the world, viewed from a great height.
- You can fast-travel to previously visited locations.
- Like in Fallout 3, there will be children in Skyrim.
- Levels will scale like in Fallout 3, not like in Oblivion.
- Faces and facial animations have been greatly improved, with NPCs more expressive than ever before.
- Creatures and enemies confirmed: Bandits, wolves, Dragons, horses, Elk, Mountain Giant, Frost Troll, Giant Spider, Draugr Undead, Specter, Werewolf, Ice Wraith.
- Locations confirmed: Five major cities, and a settlement called Riverwood.
- Spells confirmed: Fireball, Ice Spike, Lightning Bolt.
- There are 10 playable races in the game. You can customize your character’s body as well as their face.
- Male characters will be able to have facial hair.
- The game has been built with an all-new game engine.
- Skills confirmed: Alchemy, Conjuration, Destruction, Restoration, Illusion, Alteration, Enchanting and Smithing.
Interviews
Want to hear more about the game from the lead designer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db-o_HrpC-0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic6dKnv3WdUMore will be added later.
EyeCandy
[/list]
(All images are links to larger versions)
Nord
Breton
Argonian
Dark Elf
Imperial
Khajiit
Orc
Redguard
Wood Elf
High Elf
Poll