Skyrim - Five More Things I've Learned
 

Kotaku has a Skyrim preview titled Five More Things I've Learned About Murder, Encumberance and other Stuff, with input from Todd Howard. A snip on immortal NPCs:
Thanks, MMA!
More information.

Respawn? :(

As for encumberance: I think having a small pool of equipment that one can access while in combat or in a dungeon whilst being able to carry anything you want all the time is perhaps a better idea than being able to pause and access everything you own, as well as having to make several trips back and forth to loot a dungeon.
Dungeoneering is fun, but so can be the preparation. Let us choose what to use, and what to stash.

As far as I am concerned save and reload is Re-spawning if you are trained to hit the quick save/load key without thinking about it :) It may be less annoying if you are on a low end system where load times are an issue.

Encumbrance was painful in Oblivion and I took lot of strength on my mage so that I can carry things about. However it was needed else the economy will be broke in no time. Unlike other games, TES games allows you to loot pretty much anything on the body. If you are allowed to carry all those loot then you will be rich in no time and that ruins the game. So they either limit how much you can carry or limit the loot on the mobs. I prefer they limit how much you can carry (so I have the choice to what to pick up) even though it can be super annoying sometime.

yeah i like that STR limits how much you can carry, it's also nice that its useful for something else than combat.

The no right-handed shield thing is odd because they said the opposite in an interview with Pete Hines.

I think that if he thought about what he wrote he would have said reload.

Since many people don't do manual saves anymore and exclusively rely on autosaves it will feel like they respawn. Athough that term should only be used in multiple-player games or games where the world goes on (meaning other players still in the game while you are out/dead) and you can see others 'spawn' while others see you 'spawn'.

In a single-player game there is no one to see you 'spawn' and you're the only one so it technically isn't even you that is 'spawning' as the whole world gets 'respawned' with you when you load a save.

People wondered the same thing at the official forums. Answers from Pete or Todd (I don't remember which): Shields are setup by default in the right hand, but you can hold it in your left hand if you know what you are doing (he didn't explain how).

Even if it was planned to be in the game at some point, and now isn't anymore. Is it really a crime if somehow during development it was decided to remove a feature?

Bethesda is already very conservative with some information (no comment anwers etc.). If they can absolutely not tell any lie (beside the point but it isn't a lie because to me failing to live up to a promise is not a lie), they can't talk about a game until it goes gold which is often several weeks or a month before release, meaning they are too late to the marketing party. But if they have the game at gold status several months before they release, so they can marketeer based on the final product, a 'leak' gets all the more likely as the release date approaches.

I was never a 'quick saver'. I always do a regular, full save before important events/encounters.
If I get my ass handed to me and die, I reload and go elsewhere for a while until I'm stout enough to handle the situation. Better a live dog than a dead lion. Live to fight another day.

huh?

By the way, the game isn't gold. In fact, they are still adding features right now…and they claim they will make the 11.11.11 date (expect a really buggy game).

I'd be doubtful they are still adding features. They would be long past lockdown and probably a long way through beta…what is the source and is it possible it was misunderstood?

Source: A thread on the official Skyrim board composed mostly of "Todd says".
Could they be misunderstood: They are "Todd says". :/

Short version: Todd said at Quakecon (early August) that they were still adding features to the game and still in alpha. But he also said that they have an automated system that play the game 24 hours a day. Also, the game is rated now (ESRB: M, UK: 15+, PEGI: ?).

Personally, I'm not worried that much, they use the Agile dev cycles, which mean that a large part of the game have already been tested and debugged.

That (good) idea would require for a game significantly less shallow and hollow than Skyrim, or any Bethesda game, for that matter, will ever be.

I seem to recall Todd (or some other dev) saying you could equip anything equippable in hands (sword, spell, shield, etc.) in either hand as you choose. The comment about "knowing what you're doing" seems strange, but could just mean that you need to be adept at controlling of your character - I presume the PC controls will be left and right mouse buttons control your left and right hands (on XBox it'll be the triggers) - OR that you'd need a perk (like dual-wielding does, IIRC).

Regarding encumbrance, I really like there to be a limit to what you can carry (based on your STR). I think an ENC limit is especially relevant on games like the ES series, where you can pick off nearly every item in the world and loot anything your opponent had on him. The limited ENC is a great way to try to preserve some balance in the game's economy (along with limiting vendors' money for purchasing your loot, of course). If you cannot haul five sets of plate armor along with dozens of different weapons back to town for selling, for instance, then you'll most likely not end up filthy rich by the first quarter of the game, which seems to be a problem in most ES games. At least ENC limits will discourage hauling a mountain of stuff with you.

Also encumbrance limits give you more choices in perks. There was mention of a thief perk that increases encumbrance.

As for equipment haulage…you can have a spouse now, who can drag around your loot…right? So choose someone with high strength! Aloota continua!

My wife will be named Ima Caravan from Skyrim province. She will look like Arnold, except with a blonde mustache :D

Mine will be named Helga, will have a large backpack, and a spare pair of coconut shells. ;)

I guess lots of people will marry Orc. ;)

Maybe that's why they made them look a little less like mr. and mrs. potato-heads with green spraypaint. No point putting the most horsepower in one model of lawfully wedded packmule\fry-cook\gopher but having it look like a 1988 Yugo when they could make it look like a sexy 1970 AMC Gremlin.