Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Some screenshots of the game:

They are improving the faces of the NPCs. Not bloated faces anymore:


They also improved the third person camera, it's more Mass Effect style now:





There will be more variety in locations in comparison to older Elder Scrolls:

Game will use a brand new engine:






Unfortunately level scaling returns. But, they said it's more like Fallout 3 not Oblivion.

Looks nice, but it's hard to judge from a static pic. I'll hold my opinion untill I see some actual gameplay footage.


Not sure if you should have linked to those scans though…

What do you think of the Skyrim map? Looks like lots of flat terrain to me:

Originally Posted by Turjan
What do you think of the Skyrim map? Looks like lots of flat terrain to me

Looks good to me. I was afraid it was going to be almost entirely mountainous.

3 to 4 "big" cities

not sure what "so the greater" note means

Originally Posted by Turjan
What do you think of the Skyrim map? Looks like lots of flat terrain to me

Yes, surprisingly flat given the previously available lore…

The map was slightly changed from the lore (less mountains, but then a few things happened since the Pocket Guide was written). Although The Reach look a lot more like the lore claim it does (canyons and mesas), than on previous official maps.

Somebody on the official forum re-created a the map as best as he could linky. Might not be accurate at 100%.

Originally Posted by azarhal
The map was slightly changed from the lore (less mountains, but then a few things happened since the Pocket Guide was written). .

What's this "Pocket Guide" that I keep hearing about?

PGE 1st Edition, came with Daggerfall (If I remember correctly).
PGE 3rd Edition, came with Oblivion Collector Edition (If i remember correctly).

You can access all the lore books on The Imperial Library that appeared in games, plus all of the games storylines and other pieces by Micheal Kirkbridge that are "officials", but haven't appeared in a game (yet). They also added notes about The Infernal City, the first Elder Scrolls novel.

(The Imperial Library is now back online.)

Ah… thanks. I actually have Oblivion: CE, and I forgot about the extra book that was included. I just checked, and yes it's the 3rd Edition Pocket Guide.

The map from Arena made Skyrim look especially mountainous.

Sweet. I like the look of it so far. I'm glad it doesn't look too stunning or revolutionary, I'd hate for it to look awesome but chug on the 360, or even worse have to wait for a next gen console. Sorry to all the gamers with high end PCs, I know how much you hate that graphics are nerfed just so the game will run on a 360.

Judging by the blonde the characters look a lot more realistic too.

Those undead and that giant look cool. Frankly I can't wait to play. I'm almost sorry someone posted pics.

This looks great. Haters will hate, but I'm really looking forward to this. I should have a new laptop by then, so I'm skipping the 360 version.

In my opinion, as long as the level scaling is tuned down it'll be fine. My main hope is that they don't force-rush you into the main story line, though I'm guessing they will. Have to give the big money reviewers something to write about after their one hour play session, right?

Personally, I'm not enamored of cold, snowy settings, but I can get over it. The art looks excellent. But here's hoping for a tropical themed Elder Scrolls VI.

Somebody extracted the little bits of the Skyrim Theme song from the latest Sound of Skyrim hubdate on Game Informer.

I can't wait for them to release it.

Pictures look awesome. I'm impressed - graphics have much more detail than Oblivion.

Originally Posted by azarhal
Somebody extracted the little bits of the Skyrim Theme song from the latest Sound of Skyrim hubdate on Game Informer.

I can't wait for them to release it.

That sounds like the Morrowind Theme.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
That sounds like the Morrowind Theme.

The melody is actually known as the Elder Scroll theme. It also appear in Oblivion theme, but without the drums.

Morrowind Theme
Oblivion theme

Is it November yet? No? Just checking.

One thing I fervently hope for is slower levelling, or better yet an option to determine the levelling rate in the game options. Every RPG should have this in my opinion along with a loot abundancy option along the lines of Plentiful, Normal and Austere. I'd play on Austere.

All of these type of games since Morrowind have you levelling up way, way too quickly but no matter how many times it's complained about on the forums, and despite the first mod that anyone makes is usually a level slow mod they seem to stick to their belief that levelling up as quickly as possible and getting rich as quickly as possible is a good thing. Maybe they think gamers will get bored if it takes you too long to level up or make money.

People mention the level scaling issue a lot and I'm not too bothered about that. I tend to agree about it somewhat defeating the purpose of levelling up but I find Oblivion plenty challenging so I don't mind that much. But after playing Vegas where giant radscorpions and deathclaws can be encountered at level one, I think it definitely should be at least relaxed somewhat in order to give the land a sense of danger. That was very present in New Vagas because you knew if you ran into a deathclaw and it saw you you were basically buggered. But in Oblivion at level one it was pathetic because all you could encounter out in the wilds were lone wolves, rats, crabs and imps.

But levelling rate is still far higher on my list of concerns than level scaling.

Looking at that blonde in the top picture, I kinda find myself hoping for the possibility to develop deep connections with other characters and possibly even romances similar to DA Origins and Mass Effect, even if the NPCs in question aren't joinable companions but just people you meet in the world and befriend. I think that would add a lot to the game and is tangibly missing playing Oblivion and Morrowind after playing games like Origins and Mass Effect.