10 (11?) Reasons Skyrim Will Be the Best Elder Scrolls Game Yet! - Gamespy/BL

Here are 10 reasons why you are going to LOVE Skyrim!

I like the bit about rewriting the engine the best. It'll look better than Oblivion! Right PC Board people?!

Edit: Just announced:

11. The game even comes bundled with a copy of the movie Skyline!

GameSpy Oblivion preview:

"We're really focusing this time on how people in the world react to you, because that's the most fulfilling thing about being good or bad or in-between." The game sports a new "Radiant AI" system that Howard says is best described as a combination of Ultima 7 and The Sims. Rather than following pre-scripted paths, every NPC is given a set of general goals they'd like to achieve, but the details of fulfilling that goal is entirely up to them. If a citizen is hungry, they'll look for a way to get food. They might buy food, hunt it, or steal it, then find a place to sit to eat and so on. This means that every one of the game's 1,000 NPCs follows a full 24/7 schedule that continues whether or not the player is there to witness it. It also means that the NPCs react to each other, so a townsperson who decides to steal a loaf of bread in full view of the guards may find himself under arrest.

It also means that everything the player does in the game that's witnessed by NPCs is processed and remembered by them, who will then use that information to decide how to react to you. Interactions are governed by what the player has done to them, what groups or guilds they're both a member of, whether the player has messed with anyone in their family and what their general reputation in the Empire is. Players who just watch the NPCs going about their daily lives will often witness townsfolk in unscripted dynamic conversations gossiping about what's going on in the kingdom and what rumors and news is currently hot.
GameSpy

All the game's NPCs follow their own agendas and schedules and they all have relationships to one another that play out even while the player isn't around...An interesting element of Oblivion is the highly touted "Radiant AI" that the game's characters use to go through their daily schedules and fulfill their basic needs. In one respect, it's one of the things that makes the world seem so alive. In just one example, I had a tremendous amount of fun stealing all the food from a character's house and watching them try to get something to eat. The knowledge that the NPCs had lives apart from me goes a long way to making me care about saving their world from Oblivion.
GameSpy

Anyone who played Oblivion probably has memories of following a non-player character around to see what they did in their off-time. The answer was typically "nothing much." According to Bethesda, this isn't the case with Skyrim; NPCs behave more realistically, going about their business whether you're around or not, thanks to some new-and-improved A.I.
GameSpy

I'm pretty sure Oblivion promised quiite a lot of things --with only a fraction being present in the game. My faith in what Bethesda says is right next to my belief that pigs will fly.

I like how he considers it "jargon-y" to simply say he was impressed by the draw distances... WHAT JARGON!

I'm a bitter computer gamer and this is a console port so I hate it without rhyme nor reason. I feel no pity nor remorse for suckers who actually buy this lame excuse for a game because its going to be horrible because they are making it an action beat em up game with no RPG elements what-so-ever.

Oh wait, none of that is true at all. I can't wait for Skyrim, its my most looked-forward to game this year. Its looking to be awesome, despite what the haters might say.

1. It looks better than Oblivion, but it doesnt look that impressive. Environments particulary seem pretty bland. I just hope the draw distance will actually be good as they say, if so I will be pleased.
2. Even if animations are improved, I will still probably use first person mode. Animations being improved is a plus as they were awful in Oblivion.
3. Equipping/Wielding spells is the most idiotic concept I have ever heard, still, being able to dual wield weapons is nice however
4. Nice to know the inventory system is being overhauled, I like what I am hearing about this
5. I hate the user interface, it looks really impractical, this along with the fact that they wont include spears because they are too hard to animate are the reasons I think Skyrim will be an abomination.
6. Hmm just like with Oblivion... oh wait.
7. Why do you need perks to make stuff bleed with SHARP weapons anyway? Also, I hope there is a way to turn off finishing moves, I always found them annoying.
8. Hopefully this one is true, but I will judge when I see the dungeons myself, Bethesda are known liars.
9. I hate dragons, so overused in fantasy it isnt funny.
10. Being able to shout for combat bonuses is nice. This is one of the few things I am liking about Skyrim so far. Furthermore, since you cant buy these Dragonshouts might encourage exploration, to hunt those dragons just for those dragonshouts.

Looks like another dumbed-down console game. Thanks Bethesda!

Hype-meter: 5/10

1. It looks better than Oblivion, but it doesnt look that impressive. Environments particulary seem pretty bland. I just hope the draw distance will actually be good as they say, if so I will be pleased.
2. Even if animations are improved, I will still probably use first person mode. Animations being improved is a plus as they were awful in Oblivion.
3. Equipping/Wielding spells is the most idiotic concept I have ever heard, still, being able to dual wield weapons is nice however
4. Nice to know the inventory system is being overhauled, I like what I am hearing about this
5. I hate the user interface, it looks really impractical, this along with the fact that they wont include spears because they are too hard to animate are the reasons I think Skyrim will be an abomination.
6. Hmm just like with Oblivion... oh wait.
7. Why do you need perks to make stuff bleed with SHARP weapons anyway? Also, I hope there is a way to turn off finishing moves, I always found them annoying.
8. Hopefully this one is true, but I will judge when I see the dungeons myself, Bethesda are known liars.
9. I hate dragons, so overused in fantasy it isnt funny.
10. Being able to shout for combat bonuses is nice. This is one of the few things I am liking about Skyrim so far. Furthermore, since you cant buy these Dragonshouts might encourage exploration, to hunt those dragons just for those dragonshouts.

Maroxad

[QUOTE="Maroxad"]

1. It looks better than Oblivion, but it doesnt look that impressive. Environments particulary seem pretty bland. I just hope the draw distance will actually be good as they say, if so I will be pleased.
2. Even if animations are improved, I will still probably use first person mode. Animations being improved is a plus as they were awful in Oblivion.
3. Equipping/Wielding spells is the most idiotic concept I have ever heard, still, being able to dual wield weapons is nice however
4. Nice to know the inventory system is being overhauled, I like what I am hearing about this
5. I hate the user interface, it looks really impractical, this along with the fact that they wont include spears because they are too hard to animate are the reasons I think Skyrim will be an abomination.
6. Hmm just like with Oblivion... oh wait.
7. Why do you need perks to make stuff bleed with SHARP weapons anyway? Also, I hope there is a way to turn off finishing moves, I always found them annoying.
8. Hopefully this one is true, but I will judge when I see the dungeons myself, Bethesda are known liars.
9. I hate dragons, so overused in fantasy it isnt funny.
10. Being able to shout for combat bonuses is nice. This is one of the few things I am liking about Skyrim so far. Furthermore, since you cant buy these Dragonshouts might encourage exploration, to hunt those dragons just for those dragonshouts.

biggest_loser

Here you go.

11. The movie does not interest me at all, but I am not going to complain about it assuming the inclusion of the movie does not increase the price.

Looks like another dumbed-down console game. Thanks Bethesda!

Hype-meter: 5/10

morrowindnic

Truth/10

Bethesda is dead to me.

[QUOTE="morrowindnic"]

Looks like another dumbed-down console game. Thanks Bethesda!

Hype-meter: 5/10

Remmib

Truth/10

Bethesda is dead to me.

Skyline was meh, I am not interested in seeing it again honestly... But the game is interesting me, of course once it goes down in price, well after it launches lol.

I'm a bitter computer gamer and this is a console port so I hate it without rhyme nor reason. I feel no pity nor remorse for suckers who actually buy this lame excuse for a game because its going to be horrible because they are making it an action beat em up game with no RPG elements what-so-ever.

Oh wait, none of that is true at all. I can't wait for Skyrim, its my most looked-forward to game this year. Its looking to be awesome, despite what the haters might say.

Grodus5

You seem to have a very simple view on others opinions/thoughts. You think "if someone doesn't like something they must be a h8r and just hate to hate."

Your logic is false. People want to see computer games play and feel just like computer games, not consoles. I am sure we all own a console system so when I play a PC game I want a unique experience that is full of depth and immersion. This doesn't mean I know "hate my own console" or that I somehow "feel inferior" whenever I fire up my xbox 360.

It simply means I want more options in the gaming industry.

I am sure we all own a console system so when I play a PC game I want a unique experience that is full of depth and immersion.Jakejack

People want to see computer games play and feel just like computer games, not consoles.Jakejack

What does that mean? How do computer games feel differently than console games? Obviously they play differently, but using a kb/m will always feel differently than a controller.

Anyway, I am looking forward to Skyrim, but I am definitely going to wait on it. I am sure some things they are saying won't be as awesome as they make it sound (or even make it to the game) and as such I will wait until it is on sale.

I kinda feel like this is a Peter Molyneux game. The hype around it sounds just like the hype for a sequel for Fable. They talk about new streamlined features and awesome openess and AI and all the crap that an improved engine and dev experience can provide... from my experience this sort of stuff never becomes true.

At least PC gamers will have the consolation that modders will fix/enhance everything.

[QUOTE="Grodus5"]

I'm a bitter computer gamer and this is a console port so I hate it without rhyme nor reason. I feel no pity nor remorse for suckers who actually buy this lame excuse for a game because its going to be horrible because they are making it an action beat em up game with no RPG elements what-so-ever.

Oh wait, none of that is true at all. I can't wait for Skyrim, its my most looked-forward to game this year. Its looking to be awesome, despite what the haters might say.

Jakejack

You seem to have a very simple view on others opinions/thoughts. You think "if someone doesn't like something they must be a h8r and just hate to hate."

Your logic is false. People want to see computer games play and feel just like computer games, not consoles. I am sure we all own a console system so when I play a PC game I want a unique experience that is full of depth and immersion. This doesn't mean I know "hate my own console" or that I somehow "feel inferior" whenever I fire up my xbox 360.

It simply means I want more options in the gaming industry.

Skyline was meh, I am not interested in seeing it again honestly... But the game is interesting me, of course once it goes down in price, well after it launches lol.

Lach0121

It would be really embarrassing if Skyrim didn't improve on the Oblivion formula in some ways.

God knows there was a lot to improve.

Not really hyped for this game. But i think it will be good.

So much pessimism geez.

I've loved all the TES games, so I'm obviously excited for this game. Even if its not the greatest one in the series, I highly doubt it would be anywhere close to sucking. Hell, I'd get the game just for the eyecandy environments.

Aside from the pretties, I'm mostly excited to see the new combat. While its always been fun, I've always felt the TES games were lacking in the realism department when it came to combat. Being able to just swing my sword over and over at the same pace in combat was always kind of a let down.

Things I'm excited for:

• The new skills/perks system. Should make creating a unique character much easier than it was in Oblivion.
• Removal of character attributes. Todd Howard is right, these were mostly redundant and/or obtrusive.
• Right/left hand system and finishing moves. I'm glad that combat is going to be more intense and less clunky.
• Taking jobs such as woodcutting or gold mining. EXCELLENT addition to benefit real roleplaying.
• Crafting. Now we can finally do something with all that arbitrary refuse that's lying around everywhere.
• Visuals and the landscape. Haters be damned, I think the game looks fantastic.

Things I'm NOT excited for:

• Shouts. What the hell, is every character supposed to be a warrior now? And isn't that what we have magics for?
• Dragons. The new "Oblivion gates" it seems. They're basically forcing you to take up a combat skill here. No, no, no!
• Removal of birthsigns. Might not be so bad, but it really makes me wonder about the character generation process.

Overall though, looks like it's going to be a great game. I can't wait!

Is the Skyline movie on DVD or Blu ray? Also I don't think graphically the game will much different from Oblivion. nutcrackr

Kidding aside, I really do think its a terrible movie, so I don't know why its being bundled with the game, nor do I really care.

But the game.....I'm looking forward to it. What's with all these people throwing a hissy fit? I see no reason to hate on the game? Everything seems improved.

[QUOTE="nutcrackr"]Is the Skyline movie on DVD or Blu ray? Also I don't think graphically the game will much different from Oblivion. lettuceman44

Kidding aside, I really do think its a terrible movie, so I don't know why its being bundled with the game, nor do I really care.

But the game.....I'm looking forward to it. What's with all these people throwing a hissy fit? I see no reason to hate on the game? Everything seems improved.

1. Improved Graphics - Did Morrowind look better than Daggerfall? Yes. Did Oblivion look better than Morrowind? Yes. Will Skyrim look better than Oblivion? Probably, and if it was to be judged solely in regard to its predecessors then Skyrim will most likely be the best looking Elder Scrolls game to date. How it compares to other games, however, is another matter entirely. Against what other games can it be fairly judged? Other RPGs, or games across all genres?

2. Animation. If it really is improved, then that's great, but I'd have to the game in motion myself for a while, rather than take someone else's word. Unfortunately, there's been hardly any gameplay shown so far in all the media released to the public.

3. Left & Right? Not exactly a new concept, and if anything it's long overdue to allow 'lefties' a chance to wield a sword (or magic) with their character's left hand. The question is, how do you block if you have a weapon in both hands? Do you block with both weapons? Just one? How does dual-wielding blocking actually work? If at all?

4 & 5. Interface and Inventory. Anything that improves the use of an interface or inventory screen is welcome. It certainly sounds like the interface has changed a lot, but whether or not it has become more useful, ie, quicker and easier to do things so it doesn't get in the way of gameplay, is another matter. So inventory items are now rendered in 3D, and you can zoom into them. Is this useful? They've made it so you have to examine some objects in such a manner to glean extra information about it - but is this just a bolt-on mechanic to make use of what seemed a cool idea, or is it actually an improvement over the previous system? The same goes for the star constellations that track your perks. Is it more useful to see your abilities among the stars, or is it just a gimmick? Only some time spent actually playing the game can answer these kinds of questions, but right now they smell of 'gimmicks' to me.

6. AI & Activities. If they can make the NPCs come more alive, and better grounded in the game world, then that is to be applauded. But we heard a lot of great things about Radiant AI prior to the release of Oblivion, and it fell quite a way short of expectations. Hopefully they can actually deliver on some of those aspects this time around. The Gothic games come to mind when talking about NPCs involved in meaningful activities. As for your character being able to take part in activities like mining and smithing - well, these aren't radically new ideas in the RPG space. Fable comes to mind for chopping wood and making blades. Even Oblivion allowed you to grab gold/silver nuggets from rocks. How these activities are portrayed on screen, and what you get out of them, will go a long way to determining whether they are useful additions to the game.

7. Combat. It does sound as though they've managed to make combat more visceral. However I'm a bit dubious about 'automated' finishing moves - are we going to see the same things over and over throughout the game, because I have a feeling that will become quite tiresome and repetitive. But so far I'm liking what I've read about improvements to the combat overall.

8. Dungeons. Having learned that they have a team of eight dungeon level designers this time around, as opposed to the one dungeon level designer for Oblivion, I would expect to see some vast improvement in the layout and design of these areas. It would certainly be hard for an extended team to make 'worse' dungeons than Oblivion - and to be honest, I thought some of the dungeons in Oblivion were quite well realised. More than anything, though, I hope they've gone the Fallout: New Vegas route for entrances (actual gaping cave mouths) - and ditched those hundreds of rickety wooden doors that somehow everything from rats to minotaurs had put up at the entrance to their caves. O.o

9. Dragons? Total fantasy cliche that's as old and tired as I am. The random nature of them does sound a bit like the damned Oblivion Gates popping up all over the place - and I'm glad someone came out with a mod to radically reduce the number of instances of those in Oblivion. Maybe someone will be kind enough to do that again for these dragons...

10. Dragon Shouts. Sounds like an excuse to have Uber-powers in the game (which again is something that's making its way into a number of games these days, like Wolfenstein, Singularity, Crysis, etc.). Can't judge them until I've used them, but I will say that anything that can add a bit more tactics to combat and the game in general is probably welcome.

11. Please tell me that's a joke. If not, at least I'll have a shiny new coaster to use for my cups of tea. :P

11. ]Free Movie - Frisbee.

.madrocketeer

:roll:

There is no free movie.

[QUOTE="madrocketeer"]

11. ]Free Movie - Frisbee.

.GeneralShowzer

:roll:

There is no free movie.

I feel as if nobody here actually played Morrowind and is just yelling out at Bethesda.

What did Morrowind do right? Exploration, quests, story, character development. What did Morrowind do wrong? Everything else. Combat sucked, half of the skills were pointless, inventory was not that great, NPCs that weren't hostile were lifeless as hell.

For the record, Morrowind played perfectly fine on the Xbox. They didn't "dumb" it down specifically for consoles. With Oblivion they tried fixing many of the issues people had with the gameplay and tried to bring the world to life. They didn't do the best job. They learned a ton of stuff from Oblivion and seem to be making all of the right changes to the gameplay.

They've got rid of the redunded skills, they did away with classes (moving to the Fallout 3/New Vegas style of leveling, which is much more suitable for a single player, open-world, RPG), they are fixing the crap UI that Oblivion had (even after mods that thing still sucked), they are keeping mods in for us, they are really upgrading the graphics, fixing tons of techincal problems Morrowind and Oblivion had (especially Oblivion), are working more on the story, bringing back more exploration, keeping the terrain much more varied. The list of improvements is massive.

I really don't see anything to complain about. I loved Oblivion, especially after some mods, and I love the direction they are going with Skyrim.

Well Oblivion lacked there, where Morrowind was best... So i hope that Skyrim will be best of all...

[QUOTE="madrocketeer"]

11. ]Free Movie - Frisbee.

.GeneralShowzer

:roll:

There is no free movie.

[QUOTE="GeneralShowzer"]

[QUOTE="madrocketeer"]

11. ]Free Movie - Frisbee.

.madrocketeer

:roll:

There is no free movie.

I feel as if nobody here actually played Morrowind and is just yelling out at Bethesda.

What did Morrowind do right? Exploration, quests, story, character development. What did Morrowind do wrong? Everything else. Combat sucked, half of the skills were pointless, inventory was not that great, NPCs that weren't hostile were lifeless as hell.

For the record, Morrowind played perfectly fine on the Xbox. They didn't "dumb" it down specifically for consoles. With Oblivion they tried fixing many of the issues people had with the gameplay and tried to bring the world to life. They didn't do the best job. They learned a ton of stuff from Oblivion and seem to be making all of the right changes to the gameplay.

They've got rid of the redunded skills, they did away with classes (moving to the Fallout 3/New Vegas style of leveling, which is much more suitable for a single player, open-world, RPG), they are fixing the crap UI that Oblivion had (even after mods that thing still sucked), they are keeping mods in for us, they are really upgrading the graphics, fixing tons of technical problems Morrowind and Oblivion had (especially Oblivion), are working more on the story, bringing back more exploration, keeping the terrain much more varied. The list of improvements is massive.

I really don't see anything to complain about. I loved Oblivion, especially after some mods, and I love the direction they are going with Skyrim.

Wasdie

Your words are falling on deaf ears. All your well reasoned arguments are hitting against 1000 foot walls of fanboy concrete. Nothing is going to change their minds. They are just stuck in that time period. No game is going to be like Morrowind so nothing will ever be as good for them.

Same as the generation of fans that said Morrowind was crap compared to Daggerfall (Gamers were very few at that time so that group is not as vocal). Daggerfall drawfs Morrowind if you put them side by side considering Daggerfall is more than 500 x bigger. Had alt endings and alot more choices as well as mounts and ships you could purchase. Dungeons that you litteraly had to write notes about to remember the way through it. Thousands of towns. I remember it was claimed that daggerfall had litteraly well over hundred thousand npcs.

I heard all about it from an old co-worker. Personally, I enjoy the innovations and changes and look forward to the new games. Some people will forever be stuck in the past.

Co-worker was telling me about how dungeons would litteraly take hours to walk through all the cooridoors. You would get to a point where you would pull a level and it would opend a secret door some where in the dungeon but, you wouldn't know where. The dungeons were also randomized so they would be different every play through. The secret door that open may be in the next room or it could have opened back at the very begining. There was no way of knowing. You would have to search the whole place to find it. He enjoyed it.

I think most of us would think he nuts but, that was his generation.

I feel as if nobody here actually played Morrowind and is just yelling out at Bethesda.

What did Morrowind do right? Exploration, quests, story, character development. What did Morrowind do wrong? Everything else. Combat sucked, half of the skills were pointless, inventory was not that great, NPCs that weren't hostile were lifeless as hell.

For the record, Morrowind played perfectly fine on the Xbox. They didn't "dumb" it down specifically for consoles. With Oblivion they tried fixing many of the issues people had with the gameplay and tried to bring the world to life. They didn't do the best job. They learned a ton of stuff from Oblivion and seem to be making all of the right changes to the gameplay.

They've got rid of the redunded skills, they did away with classes (moving to the Fallout 3/New Vegas style of leveling, which is much more suitable for a single player, open-world, RPG), they are fixing the crap UI that Oblivion had (even after mods that thing still sucked), they are keeping mods in for us, they are really upgrading the graphics, fixing tons of techincal problems Morrowind and Oblivion had (especially Oblivion), are working more on the story, bringing back more exploration, keeping the terrain much more varied. The list of improvements is massive.

I really don't see anything to complain about. I loved Oblivion, especially after some mods, and I love the direction they are going with Skyrim.

Wasdie