Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Revealed

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Regards the game - ok, dragons return

Divinity 2 Ego Draconis
Drakensang
Dragon Age

What's next with dragons ?

We clearly live in an Age Of Dragon Games (AODG) ...

I guess Unicorns wouldn't be bought because most gamers just don't like them. - Too cute …

 

[JDR13]

I hope Bethesda have learned from their mistakes with the two Gamebryo games they've done, and that they'll apply that knowledge to this new tech they're using and as such, make a beautiful game that performs well.

Morrowind, Oblivion, and FO3 all used the Gamebryo engine, so that's at least 3 game I know of that Bethesda made using it.

I haven't heard anything about any new tech. Afaik, Bethesda is using the Gamebryo engine for Skyrim as well. I assume it will be modified once again, as they've done each time so far.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Well, it really depends on the implementation. Dragons are a particularly generic fantasy trope though,

Unicorns are, too.

Yet no game ever inorporates them.


Dragons = raw, dangerous power = male Fantasy
Unicorns = subtle power and innocence/virginity = female Fantasy

That's a cliché I'd suppose. Especially as an explanation why there are so few Unicorns in games out there (not even in Drakensang ! - as far as I know).

And if they's be in games - then, I bet, only as slaughtered, blood-covered specimens - as a sign as how dark and gritty a world would be. Like slaughtering virginity.

... Like the "colour discussion" about Fallout New Vegas shows me that "male-oriented games" contain nothing into the direction of colourfulness, of bauty, of ... well, things people usually combine with what women might be wanting, especially in games, according to some clichés (just look at female-oriented casual games ...)

And I still guess that this is so because games are mainly done by developing studios that primarily consist of men.

Like ... "games for real men by real men", so to say. Not this ... "too-sweet women's stuff", to put it extremely.

That's why Dragons are so relatively frequent in games, I suppose. In stark contrast to Unicorns (hardly ever !).

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I haven't heard anything about any new tech. Afaik, Bethesda is using the Gamebryo engine for Skyrim as well. I assume it will be modified once again, as they've done each time so far.

It could be the ID engine. Remember what I wrote a few weeks ago about Zenimax aquiring a new developing studio making an "unannounced" new game ?

 

[JDR13]

It could be the ID engine. Remember what I wrote a few weeks ago about Zenimax aquiring a new developing studio making an "unannounced" new game ?

Perhaps, but everything I've read so far points to them using the Gamebryo engine again.

 

[Dwagginz]

It could be the ID engine. Remember what I wrote a few weeks ago about Zenimax aquiring a new developing studio making an "unannounced" new game ?

They've said it's not id Tech 5.

Morrowind, Oblivion, and FO3 all used the Gamebryo engine, so that's at least 3 game I know of that Bethesda made using it.

Two. Morrowind used the engine before it became Gamebryo, as I pointed out in a previous topic.

I haven't heard anything about any new tech. Afaik, Bethesda is using the Gamebryo engine for Skyrim as well. I assume it will be modified once again, as they've done each time so far.

It's been stated (I'll need to find a source) that TES V is on new tech.

Edit: Source - It kills two birds with one stone as it says no id Tech 5 and that they have a new engine for future (i.e. Skyrim and beyond) games.

 

[JDR13]

Dwagginz,

Morrowind used the Gamebryo engine. I posted a link to Emergent's (creator of the Gamebryo) official website in the other thread. You can believe what you'd like, but Morrowind was definitely made with the Gamebryo Engine.

*Edit* Technically, we're both right.

 

[Twotricks]

My only hope this one will not fall to the trend of dumbing down RPGs

 

[KayAU]

Well...I'm not too excited this time. I think Bethesda are somewhat overrated when it comes to making RPGs. Morrowind was pretty good, but even that had some major design flaws. Oblivion...well, I shouldn't need to say anything about that one. Fallout 3 was all right.

We'll see how this turns out. I think Bethesda has a lot to prove. But I'm guessing the media will go crazy anyway.

Kay

 

[Mithter Thibbs]

Loved Daggerfall, loved Morrowind, couldn't get into Oblivion except in the slightest way possible. Why?

The flippin' interface. That stupid, stupid console interface makes playing the game on PC an absolute chore. Crappy storylines I can deal with. Repetitive dungeons I can handle. Cardboard characters... not a problem (even preferable, at times; at least the card board characters don't have so many daddy issues).

But that interface makes what should be a simple one-button operation a three or four click-and-scroll chore that sucks the life out of that game every time I get the urge to play it.

If I've got one hope for this new game, it's that if the game is being released on PC, they design an interface that assumes more than three buttons. Considering that Fallout 3 was only marginally better than Oblivion in this regard, though, I don't know that I'll be holding my breath.

I found enough to enjoy in Oblivion before the control scheme drove me away that I suspect I would have liked it well enough, though, had I progressed to any significant degree.

 

[Brother None]

Morrowind used the Gamebryo engine. I posted a link to Emergent's (creator of the Gamebryo) official website in the other thread. You can believe what you'd like, but Morrowind was definitely made with the Gamebryo Engine.

It used NetImmerse. Just because Gamebryo is NetImmerse's follow-up engine doesn't mean you can equate the two. That's like equating all the id Techs in one engine because they all share elements. Gamebryo wasn't just a NetImmerse update. Though it wasn't a huge leap forward either, that's true. But practically, Fallout 3 used Oblivion's engine with tweaks, it's the same basic modified Gamebryo, while Morrowind's version of NetImmerse isn't that close to Oblivion's version of Gamebryo.

It's been stated (I'll need to find a source) that TES V is on new tech.

It has also been stated it uses Fallout 3's tech. Here.

Eurogamer: Is it fair to say then that it's based on existing technology?

Todd Howard: The technology is ours and it is inspired by the technology we have. We have a lot of it. But that's our starting point - the Fallout 3 tech. It started with Morrowind, we went to Oblivion, we did a lot between Oblivion and Fallout 3 because now we had final hardware - with Oblivion we had six months on final hardware, so Fallout 3 technically does a lot more than Oblivion. The new stuff is an even bigger jump from that.

I can say it is on the existing platforms, which we're really happy with. You almost feel like you have a new console when you see the game.

As far as I know, it's on Gamebryo. I certainly hope it isn't, or if it is that they actually fix it, but everything points to yes. Makes sense too, with existing tech they got plenty of time for making a huge game.

 

[k1000]

What excites me the most is to see how they could possibly dumb down Oblivion any more than they already did. To do so you need both skill and dedication. I am excited to see what the team came up with.

/sarcasm on
I vote for an autocomplete quest button. If folllowing the arrow to the next quest marker seems too hard, just press the autocomplete button and you'll automatically finish the quest. Or why not eliminate even more skills. You just need three, melee, magic, thievery. /sarcasm off
I'm also looking forward to this title. I've finished all the elderscrolls game except for oblivion (wich I played for more than 100 hours). Even though they dumbed down oblivion, I still found the game very fun, but not nearly as good as morrowind, wich was for me the high point of the series. What I hope they will change is the stupid autoscaling of enemies. There was no sense of danger in oblivion, and that's what bothered me the most. I also hope that they will stop the dumbing down of the series, but I can always dream...

 

[guenthar]

It looks like from the article Dwagginz posted that they are making their own engine this time. The article says "The studio's new engine built for its upcoming title" which if they had licensed the engine it would have said "licensed" instead of "built" so it probably is an internally built engine. Maybe with this they will take care of the problems like implementing proper streaming of resources, true multi-threading, and the ability to have cities in the same world space as the rest of the world.

Mithter Thibbs: There are mods that take care of the interface issues in Oblivion.

 

[Gokyabgu]

I hope they will hire some graphic artists to make some decent, human-like faces. I'm tired of bloated ones.

 

[JDR13]

It used NetImmerse. Just because Gamebryo is NetImmerse's follow-up engine doesn't mean you can equate the two. That's like equating all the id Techs in one engine because they all share elements. Gamebryo wasn't just a NetImmerse update. Though it wasn't a huge leap forward either, that's true. But practically, Fallout 3 used Oblivion's engine with tweaks, it's the same basic modified Gamebryo, while Morrowind's version of NetImmerse isn't that close to Oblivion's version of Gamebryo.

Gamebryo started as NetImmerse. You can view it however you like, but Gamebryo is a continuation of NetImmerse, and would not have existed without it. So, yes you *can* equate the two, it wouldn't really make sense not to.

 

[GothicGothicness]

Now they managed to make even their trailers suck…. when I saw Oblivion trailers I was really excited about the game….. perhaps by making sucky trailers they are hoping to lower peoples expectations so they won't be too dissapointed.

 

[guenthar]

From both articles linked by Dwagginz and Brother None it sounds like they are making a new engine based on what they have already done with the previous Gamebryo based games. This means that it would be a more advanced version of there previous games using their own engine while keeping the technology and structure similar to their previous games.

The construction set would be similar
The look and feel of the game would be similar
The technology they have made themselves will be more advanced
They create a new engine based on their modified version of the Gamebryo engine

 

[wolfgrimdark]

I am excited. I usually give a good company I like at least one bad game (bad in my mind of course) and they had that with Oblivion (level scaling sucked) but I adored their other games in the series. So I am hoping they will fix that in this new game and not dumb it down to much for the console.

As for Dragons, fantasy, medieval, etc ... I can never get enough of that so I have no issue there. Plenty of futuristic, modern day, etc., games anyhow. I love fantasy in my RPG's Been reading and playing fantasy games for over 20 years now and don't see myself ever getting tired of it.

 

[Brother None]

Gamebryo started as NetImmerse. You can view it however you like, but Gamebryo is a continuation of NetImmerse, and would not have existed without it. So, yes you *can* equate the two, it wouldn't really make sense not to.

id Tech 5 wouldn't exist without id Tech 1, and is a direct continuation of it, yet I don't think anyone will claim Rage is on Doom's engine. Or even Doom 3's engine. You can equate all engines in a family but what's the point? Fallout 3 and Oblivion are on very similar technology, with only modest upgrades, whereas Morrowind does not share that close tie. That's the relevant part of the comparison, saying Morrowind is on Gamebryo just obfuscates the picture.

Which segues into the interesting part of the existing technology question for Skyrim. Is the difference here similar to Morrowind to Oblivion, reworking from the ground up like the Oblivion version of Gamebryo? I doubt it. Todd only specifies it's a bigger leap than Oblivion to Fallout 3, but that was a very minor step. So will this be a new take on Gamebryo like IGN's interview indicates, or just another retooling of the Oblivion version like I figured from Eurogamer. That difference is actually significant, whether or not anyone wants to insist that the engine is the same since Morrowind really isn't.

 

[kalniel]

Unicorns are, too.

Yet no game ever inorporates them.


Dragons = raw, dangerous power = male Fantasy
Unicorns = subtle power and innocence/virginity = female Fantasy

That's a cliché I'd suppose. Especially as an explanation why there are so few Unicorns in games out there (not even in Drakensang ! - as far as I know).

Wasn't there a unicorn in Oblivion?