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Skyrim - Previews @ Kotaku, Destructoid

Here are a couple of Dawnguard articles, starting with Kotaku who use a bullet-point summary:

Quote:

The main quest has two different tracks, one for Vampire Lord and one for Dawnguard.
Dawnguard will offer 10-20 hours of gameplay, depending on how you play.
Even though the two story tracks are separate, they'll come together at various key points in the story. "Whatever the Macguffin is," Howard told me, "both sides come together around that point, and then it diverges afterwards."
The demo I played was partway into the Vampire Lord track. The plot involved helping a woman vampire named Serana find her mother, Valerica, who had fled Tamriel to a plane of Oblivion called "Soul Cairn." We performed a ritual to open a portal to Soul Cairn.

…and Destructoid, whose previewer proudly points out he didn't play much Skyrim:

Quote:

The third-person view of Skyrim was a vast improvement over previous Bethesda games, but you’d still be hard-pressed to find players who prefer it to first-person. It’s baffling to me, then, why the vampire form restricts the player to third-person combat. When I asked the developers about the decision-making process behind this, they sheepishly replied, “Well … it’s what we did for the werewolf in Morrowind.” Making the same mistake twice is a defining trait of Bethesda, so maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised.
No matter what, third-person will be less immersive than first-person, but that doesn’t mean it has to be bad. Dawnguard is bad because the animation, combat, and movement of the vampire is incredibly awkward — a few steps back from what Bethesda achieved in Skyrim. The vampire shuffles forward with his hulking body obscuring most of your view; his hand-to-hand combat has a considerable amount of lag on it; and transforming in and out of vampire form is awkward. Then there are other annoyances, like losing the ability to check out your map or manage inventory in the form. Because, you know, vampires are just too evil to stop and read maps.

More information.

It's weird how it gets reported, but from the actual interviews "10-20 hours" is the addon main quest length; the reporting makes it sound like that's the range for the total length of all the content.

That Destructoid preview isn't very encouraging. Yet another case of Bethesda excelling in world building and sucking at gameplay. Still, it's nice to see the return of full-fledged expansions.

True that Destructoid preview makes things sound bad. The one reason I never played third-person is because the character blocks your view of the world. I see they have not fixed that yet.

I don't know what he's talking about - I prefer 3rd person. Unfortunately, I have to keep my sword out to keep it a decent angle.

The only time I switch to 1sr person is for conversation and bow targeting.

Now, Bethesda sucks too huh? Is there any game companies you guys like?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rune_74 (Post 1061148003)

Now, Bethesda sucks too huh? Is there any game companies you guys like?

Care to elaborate?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ragnaris (Post 1061148005)

Care to elaborate?

Allow me. :)

It's ok to criticize games here as long as they're not from a developer than rune_74 is a fan of. That would include Bethesda, Bioware, and 38 Studios. Any criticism of the aformentioned developers usually results in him dropping by to tell us how we're just being "haters".

Still no mention(or maybe I just missed it) of difficulty balancing current system doesn't work very well(http://gaming.stackexchange.com/ques…play-in-skyrim current sysytem)I complete 3 playthroughs so far on master difficulty with 3 very different characters and on all of them game become easy somewhere around 20 level and become joke around around 30(for example my 1h+shield warrior could kill elder dragon in less than 10 power attacks)I think enemies need group tactics(buffing one another etc.), healing pots need cool-down and some skills like backsmithing need nerf.

I never prefer third person. I always feel less in control in any game it uses.

I even think werewolfs and vampire lords being third person is kind of acknowledging phylosofically you're not 100 percent in control when you're in those forms.

Quite frankly I wish all 'finishing moves' were first person instead of some going to third person.

Balance Schmalance. I don't care about that. After 60 hours I want to feel insanely powerfull. I can however, see how it sucks for people who do care about that stuff.

I play 99.9% of the time in 3rd person. Funny thing is I feel I have greater control of my character and surroundings that way. I guess it's good they included both perspectives.

As for balancing if you use them there are plenty of mods to address that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakichop (Post 1061148042)

As for balancing if you use them there are plenty of mods to address that.

I know but we given our money to bethesda so I think it's their job to do it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nameless one (Post 1061148043)

I know but we given our money to bethesda so I think it's their job to do it

They balance for what they find to be the majority of players, people who don't necessarily enjoy the kind of balance we might enjoy. In my case, I'm only having fun when I die and reload all the time, so the game gets to be a bit too easy on Master at higher levels. After installing Deadly Dragons, Deadly Combat, Real Wildlife, PISE, Frostfall, Dynamic Injuries, NPCPerks, etc., I'm getting my ass kicked and having a ball.

I would imagine, if the average person who purchased Skyrim turned on their game and it was like my experience, they would hate it.

That's the beauty of games with awesome modding communities, you can tailor the experience to precisely whatever kind of gameplay it is that you personally enjoy.

Quote:

The third-person view of Skyrim was a vast improvement over previous Bethesda games, but you’d still be hard-pressed to find players who prefer it to first-person.

This is simply the personal opinion of the author. Quite a lot of people prefer third person view at least part of the time. I think many enjoy the benefit of seeing what your character looks like with that cool new armor equipped, etc..

Lots of people switch back and forth, often using first person for firing a bow, etc. In my view, the melee animations for third person view look much better, as you can see the entire arc of your sword swing, etc. If I'm playing a vampire lord or a werewolf, I'd rather be able to see these cool character models.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nameless one (Post 1061148020)

I complete 3 playthroughs so far on master difficulty with 3 very different characters and on all of them game become easy somewhere around 20 level and become joke around around 30(for example my 1h+shield warrior could kill elder dragon in less than 10 power attacks)I think enemies need group tactics(buffing one another etc.), healing pots need cool-down and some skills like backsmithing need nerf.

Yes, I completely agree - even though I never exploited crafting skills (only used one crafting skill for each character and the skill was very low), previously I started over each time at around level 30. However, for my fourth character I finally installed some of the mods I mentioned above and now I'm having a lot more fun at higher levels. Also, as I mentioned in a previous thread, the USKP fixes a serious leveling bug that caused all the civil war quests to be too easy if you are above level 10 or so. You might want to install ASIS and Deadly Combat, which greatly improve the enemy A.I. (NPCs use potions, better spells and heal their allies, etc.)

Yea I am not keen on dying :p I prefer easier settings where I can focus on other things. Oh I like combat but more as another general activity versus some super tough challenge.

Still once I start to master something I do have to increase it. Just started a new game and set it up a notch since I am much more familiar with everything.

Well in imho, bethesda released the best rpg we have had in awhile…seems they would get a bit of slack, but instead we decide that what we don't hold other companies to a certain standard(risen 2 for instance) this sites readers tend to hold the bbigger north american companies to a higher standard. I have no problem with that as long as the aforementioned companies are held to the same standard.

I'm pretty much a fan of any rpg I can get at the moment. I see good and bad in all games, I guess that makes me a unreasonable voice on this forums.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakichop (Post 1061148042)

I play 99.9% of the time in 3rd person. Funny thing is I feel I have greater control of my character and surroundings that way. I guess it's good they included both perspectives.

Yup, I prefer playing in 3rd person as well.

About balancing: "balance" is like "opinion". Everybody has a different idea about just what it should be so Bathesda could never balance Skyrim exactly to everybody's liking. That's why mods are so useful because you can pick and choose balance level you want.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rune_74 (Post 1061148056)

“Critics are our friends, they show us our faults.”Benjamin Franklin
I completed game 3 times for man with full time job that is lot of time so I belive that pretty much says I am hugh fun of skyrim.I just belive that game is not perfect and many things could have been done better especialy for us more experienced players like putting hardcore mode like that on fallout new vegas (Hardcore mod makes Fallout challenging on any difficulty).Some time after release bethesda said on forum that master difficulty properly hasn't been tested.And you have to admit that some things like UI have just been done poorly(I find game to be pretty annoying without skyui mod).bethesda have army of good people so yeah I am going to hold them to highest standard because they could do it better if they wanted to.

btw sorry for unnecessary long post:)

I play like this:
Exploring outside environments and melee combat: 3rd person
Indoor/caves/dungeons and ranged combat: 1st person.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lemonhead (Post 1061148077)

I play like this:
Exploring outside environments and melee combat: 3rd person
Indoor/caves/dungeons and ranged combat: 1st person.

Pretty much the exact way I play, though I tend to stay in 3rd Per. view a bit more.

Currently enjoying my first time through the game with a Blademaster build. Currently lvl 11 and doing tons of side quests/missions and exploring :)

I mostly play in 3rd person. Just switch to 1st person for the true ranged stuff, like arrows and the bolt spells. There are a few other times I switch. I certainly appreciate being given both options.