Skyrim - Quakecon Preview Overload

Dhruin

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Now that the site is back up, it's time to catch up on Skyrim previews from QuakeCon. We're a bit behind, so I'll highlight a few major previews and line-list a bunch of others (thanks crpgnut and CountChocula!).
IGN has Stomping Across the Snows of Skyrim:
The feel of combat is still far from that of an action game, but doesn't feel quite as floaty as Elder Scrolls games past. Weapon strikes rebound off of enemy shields with a noticeable springiness, and because of how the camera moves when readying a heavier weapon strike, it feels as though there's more force behind each swing. Magic in the demo area was limited to three spells at the start, but each had cool effects, particularly the flame spell that shot a jet of fire forward, capable of setting the ground and trees alight or cooking bandits before they even had a chance to land a hit.

While some of the adventuring resulted in random combat, and some directed me through easy to follow labels on the world map and compass to quest goals, at other times I wound up discovering the bizarre and unexpected. Take for example the black door adorned with a skull I found near a frigid pond in a rocky recess. When I approached the subdued soundtrack of a tranquil forest was joined by a faint, menacing drum beat. The door spoke to me in an otherworldly whisper while shimmering faintly, and asked if I knew the music of life. I ran through the conversation tree to exhaust all options, answering drums, screaming, some kind of choir. The door promptly declared me to be unworthy and refused to open. I don't know what the correct course of action was, but knowing that oddities like this exist in Skyrim is just as exciting as the knowledge that I'll eventually be able to fight dragons.
Eurogamer, who point out 60 minutes isn't a lot to "make sense" out of a game like Skyrim:
I've kind of been here before – in my haste to just pick a direction and explore, I've wound up following a similar path to the one Todd Howard chose when I saw Skyrim in April. But whereas Howard showed us what he tells me was "a greatest hits of that dungeon", I get to examine it in detail.
If it's representative of the average quest, the Bleak Falls Barrow is hugely promising, rich in varied combat, booby traps, puzzles and lore.
There are bandits to eavesdrop on and sneak around – the Khajiit are especially good sneakers, so I huddle in shadow and draw a longbow on the nattering bad guys from a few feet away. Later there are the skeletal draguar, who employ magic as well as swords and axes, and there's a mini boss fight with a giant spider.
There are door switches rigged to banks of arrows that need to be disarmed by observing your surroundings and rotating totems like tumblers in a lock, and there are pressure plates and levers that activate spike doors and swinging blades, which are great for making short work of draguar as their numbers increase.
Destructoid:
My favorite weapon has to be the bow. The revamped physics and controls made me feel responsible for every arrow shot. The trajectory of the arrows is realistic and not randomly determined by stats, but the damage is. A stealth arrow to the head is something I don’t think I will grow tired of during the many hours I plan to spend with Skyrim. If you aren’t a natural Legolas like me, unlockable skills will help you perfect your bow-and-arrow skills by slowing down time or providing a closer zoom.
The cavern itself was rather impressive for being such a hum-drum locale. The elements of Skyrim’s new Creation Engine are displayed to great effect. The lighting generates a haunting atmosphere, and a waterfall coming down the multi-tiered levels of the cave presents a spectacle that interiors in Fallout 3 and Oblivion lacked.
Fans of Fallout 3 will be happy to hear that lockpicking, NPC followers that you can direct and weapon crafting will return in Skyrim with subtle improvements. For example, NPCs will follow you based on their perception of you -- a mix of your karma, dialogue choices and quest favors all brought together through the new Radiant AI system.
The first GameInformer article:
Once players exited the character creator, they fo...More information.
 
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So far this sounds LOT better than Oblivion and back into my my "day one purchase" list!

I like the sound of 1, 2, 5, 7, 8,12 and 14. Need more info on 23.
 
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_lchwsINqM

That video made it impossible for me to resist the hype :)

Pretty much all my complaints about Oblivion seem to have been taken into consideration - and if not fixed, at least they've been dealt with. They're even doing something like what I'm doing with my own game - in terms of letting each skill have its own "talent/perk tree". I take that as a good sign ;)

Those 95 days will seem like an eternity now….
 
Sound more then promising, in theory that is.
Still very sceptic since missfire oblivion.

This time i will wait atleast 1 month before spending my money (of which i dont have much).
 
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I hate betheshda, I swore never to get excited about there games again.... but they are sure making it hard with previews like above.

Here is the million $ question though? how about random generated dungeons and environments? yes or no? after all the first dungeon in Oblivion was cool.. and then you realized that there'd be a couple of 100ndred dungeons more looking exactly the same... and stopped playing.
 
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I hate betheshda, I swore never to get excited about there games again…. but they are sure making it hard with previews like above.

Here is the million $ question though? how about random generated dungeons and environments? yes or no? after all the first dungeon in Oblivion was cool.. and then you realized that there'd be a couple of 100ndred dungeons more looking exactly the same… and stopped playing.

Their dungeons haven't been random-generated since Daggerfall.

But I seem to recall a quote somewhere saying they went from 1 "dungeon guy" in Oblivion to something like 8 for Skyrim.

Not sure if that's true or not, but that's what I heard.
 
well, okay randomly selected from a set list of possible level pieces, and randomly split from blocks. With random monsters and loot placed in a random way.

Add computer pre-generated random content to that…. and well it is pretty much as awful as it could get.

I don't mind some random in the games, but done in such an awful and boring and generic way as oblivion... no no no.
 
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well, okay randomly selected from a set list of possible level pieces, and randomly split from blocks. With random monsters and loot placed in a random way.

Add computer pre-generated random content to that…. and well it is pretty much as awful as it could get.

I don't mind some random in the games, but done in such an awful and boring and generic way as oblivion… no no no.

AFAIK, every single dungeon in Oblivion was done by hand. At least, that's what Howard said during previews.

From what I've heard - at least so far - the dungeons of Skyrim are much improved.

But I don't think it's realistic to expect 100 dungeons on par with Ultima Underworld or something like that. I'd be happy with some kind of middle ground.
 
AFAIK, every single dungeon in Oblivion was done by hand. At least, that's what Howard said during previews.

They also said radiant AI was revolutionary and really great, among a thousand other things which were not true :D
 
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They also said radiant AI was revolutionary and really great, among a thousand other things which were not true :D

I don't know if they used exactly those words about Radiant AI, but I don't think the dungeon thing is a lie. FWIW, I think Radiant AI was an interesting experiment - and I don't think it gets enough credit. It might not have been all that great, but it was a start.

Personally, I don't think these huge games can ever work without SOME kind of AI simulation - and AFAIK, Beth are the only people experimenting with it in the AAA gaming segment. I think they deserve some praise for that, honestly.

But then again, I'm not quite as jaded about Beth as you and many others seem to be. I think they suck at writing and game mechanics - but they excel at making open world freeform games. It seems they've improved since Oblivion - and I wonder if Skyrim might not end up the best TES game yet.
 
Huh so I guess they actually did listen to some of the more persistent criticisms about oblivion and fallout? Is this going to be the first elder scrolls game where NPCs aren't straddling somewhere between clone wars and the uncanny valley? They're also making it sound like exploration will be the most rewarding experience since Morrowind. Sounds promising. Fingers crossed.

Shaky cam footage:

"PC version looks way better" - oh I hope that's not just Todd placating the crowd there.
 
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They also said radiant AI was revolutionary and really great, among a thousand other things which were not true :D

It's great compared to just about any other RPG except maybe Ultima 7 and Gothic's 1-3.. With mods it was awesome imo, loved finding other adventurers roaming about dungeons and whatnot. Compare it to the static feel of a Bioware game for example, i can accept that they brag about such a feature.

The only thing i can remember that werent true were dynamic shadows for objects, which they had but had to remove, and it's still not in their FO games which is rather disapointing.


Anyways, this looked great. Sounds good that they have a whole team doing dungeon design, for Oblivion they had one person so i can understand they ended up kind of the same.

"PC version looks way better" … "with mods!" ;)
 
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It might very well be awesome with mods, as I didn't try oblivion with mods. I think that is why some people like Oblivion because they played it with lots of mods, while my opinions is based on the vanilla version. I didn't see anything interesting about the NPC's in vanilla version in fact I found them extremely boring and ugly. Sure some of them had some special things as related to quests but these were scripted anyway.

I suppose my opinion is that a game should be good in the vanilla version you bought instead of after a few years when it was modded enough.

If they fix the gameplay, dungoens and overworld desgin, writing, story, character ( especially face ) graphics, sound, bugs, AI, level scaling and balancing issues, loot problems, character development, guided and boring quests that was in Oblivion Skyrim might be a great game.
 
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The "more interesting npcs" and divergent quest solutions sound like some of the most promising developments. I do hope they're not too sparse but really them being in a bethesda game at all is a sign of listening to the customers and well... them actually playing other games and saying "i suppose we can do things better can't we."

It still looks like they haven't implemented item comparison into the inventory interface yet - but hopefully Todd Howard will make good on that promise. I'm sure there will be plenty of things for modders to improve, but the fewer gameplay and interface aspects that modders feel the need to tweak the more content we'll get to create. I've always looked forward to bethesda games as game-creation-in-a-box sets but this is one of the first where I'm even more excited about the potential of the vanilla game. I'm just hoping I haven't drank the hype-koolaid.
 
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My only real complaint on the game is right now

- the "dark & gritty" art direction (have you seen light, vibrant colours only once ?)
- that it is about "slaying dragons" by one "oh so mighty dragon slaying super master" again (that's just too much generic for my point of view. I just do not want to slay dragons - I want to cooperate with them !)
 
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(that's just too much generic for my point of view. I just do not want to slay dragons - I want to cooperate with them !)
Even if dragons are the embodiment of pure evil and Bethsoft aren't catering for evil styled playthroughs?
 
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that it is about "slaying dragons" by one "oh so mighty dragon slaying super master" again (that's just too much generic for my point of view. I just do not want to slay dragons - I want to cooperate with them !)

So far i can find only one fault in the game (MAJOR ONE in my opinion) and thats what is stated above.
But then again, perhaps that IS possible. Didnt saw any signs but still, one can hope.
 
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Cooperate with dragons would be way more interesting. "Dragon born" doesnt really sound like someone who'd slaughter them.

It'll be a great game i'm sure, but mods will be required for full enjoyment.. Looking forward to make flora etc for it, especially if it has the same problem as Oblivion, where the landscape looks "ok", but there's just way too little diversity.
 
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So far this sounds LOT better than Oblivion and back into my my "day one purchase" list!

I like the sound of 1, 2, 5, 7, 8,12 and 14. Need more info on 23.

#23 - you mean the separate reputation in each of the Nine Holds?

This was confirmed a while back, but it seems one of the journalists was able to test this out in practice.

The faction governing each Hold has a separate reputation system for the PC. So you can be a wanted murderer in Falkreath Hold, hop across the border into White Hold and they might adore you over there, depending on your local reputation.
 
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