• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Skyrim: Gigantic Info Flood And Screens [Update: Tons Of New Info In OP]

Van Buren

Member
Dreamwriter said:
One could hope, but I doubt it. Jeremy Soule in previous Elder Scrolls games has done mostly crappy ambient music, not the kind of music anyone would actually listen to outside of the game. The few non-ambient songs were good, though.

Compared to Witcher 1's ambient music, you might be right, but Witcher 2 features more "epic style" music (unfortunately) compared to the melancholic Celtic tunes from the first game. If there's one thing Jeremy Soule excels at, it's "epic" sounding music.

That said, while his Sons of Skyrim theme sounds great, his Morrowind theme still feels like his best TES contribution.
 
Heh, I was coding yesterday while listening to the soundtrack from TW2. Had to turn it off, it makes everything seem so... significant.

"Uncaught exception?! We're all gonna die!"
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Dyno said:
Don't know if this has been posted yet but Edge put up a preview that reads very nicely.

http://www.next-gen.biz/features/setting-out-skyrim

I enjoy their preview writing much better than their review writing.
This was an article from the last issue of Edge (the one prior to the Wii U cover). I was wondering when they were going to put it online.

As you said, nothing really new but a well written piece covering mostly familiar details.

Also, Blue Ninja is going to murder you for bumping this thread. :p
 

Dyno

Member
Deadly Cyclone said:
This gave me goosebumps.

"Skyrim’s mountainous landscape feels authored, dramatically rich – it feels like it’s there for you. Oblivion was simply vast; Skyrim feels epic."

Reading the whole article was like wrapping a blanket of gaming goodness around me.

So comfy!

GhaelonEB said:
Also, Blue Ninja is going to murder you for bumping this thread. :p

He would never harm a fellow console peasant, would he?
 
Dreamwriter said:
One could hope, but I doubt it. Jeremy Soule in previous Elder Scrolls games has done mostly crappy ambient music, not the kind of music anyone would actually listen to outside of the game. The few non-ambient songs were good, though.
I loved what he's done for ambient music in the game and also in KOTOR. To each his own but I thought Soule knocked it out of the park in Oblivion.
 
Hawk269 said:
Any mention of the PC version will have native 360 support? I mean, if they are not giving PC gamers higher rez textures and shit, at least give us the "OPTION" to play with a controller if we want.
I have not heard of any mention but both Fallout 3 PC and Fallout: New Vegas PC have 360 controller support so Bethseda should have no reason not to support it (unless they do a Bioware and think controller support for PC games is stupid or whatever their poor excuse to not have it in Mass Effect was).
 

ironcreed

Banned
I rarely spring for collector's editions, but this game is an exception. Hopefully it is announced soon, so that I can go ahead and put my pre-order in.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
The Lamonster said:
I loved what he's done for ambient music in the game and also in KOTOR. To each his own but I thought Soule knocked it out of the park in Oblivion.
Same. Watching my daughter discover Oblivion over the past few weeks has reminded me how much I loved the soundtrack, and how perfectly it coupled with exploration of the landscape. I would go out into the wilderness and just...sort of hang out, tranquilly.

I just hope they handle music transitions better.

*peaceful music*

*combat music cuts in*

Gah! Must be something attacking me.

*looks around, whacks attacking thing*

*peaceful music cuts back in*
 
ironcreed said:
I rarely spring for collector's editions, but this game is an exception. Hopefully it is announced soon, so that I can go ahead and put my pre-order in.
You should go ahead and put it in so you're first in line to choose the CE. At least that's how Gamestop works.

GhaleonEB said:
I just hope they handle music transitions better.
It was just like Zelda 64 - the sudden change in music made the combat too easy because you can never be surprise attacked.
 

Ulchie

Banned
Van Buren said:
Compared to Witcher 1's ambient music, you might be right, but Witcher 2 features more "epic style" music (unfortunately) compared to the melancholic Celtic tunes from the first game. If there's one thing Jeremy Soule excels at, it's "epic" sounding music.

That said, while his Sons of Skyrim theme sounds great, his Morrowind theme still feels like his best TES contribution.
10000000000000% agree. The Morrowind theme is godly. It could sustain me for many many hours of play. So good.
 

Darklord

Banned
Dreamwriter said:
One could hope, but I doubt it. Jeremy Soule in previous Elder Scrolls games has done mostly crappy ambient music, not the kind of music anyone would actually listen to outside of the game. The few non-ambient songs were good, though.

Dreamwriter said:
Jeremy Soule in previous Elder Scrolls games has done mostly crappy ambient music, not the kind of music anyone would actually listen to outside of the game.

Dreamwriter said:
Jeremy Soule in previous Elder Scrolls games has done mostly crappy ambient music,.

Dreamwriter said:
Jeremy Soule

Dreamwriter said:
previous Elder Scrolls games

Dreamwriter said:
crappy ambient music

icksF2.gif
 
GhaleonEB said:
Same. Watching my daughter discover Oblivion over the past few weeks has reminded me how much I loved the soundtrack, and how perfectly it coupled with exploration of the landscape. I would go out into the wilderness and just...sort of hang out, tranquilly.

I just hope they handle music transitions better.

*peaceful music*

*combat music cuts in*

Gah! Must be something attacking me.

*looks around, whacks attacking thing*

*peaceful music cuts back in*
The worst is when you've attracted some enemy attention (cue battle music), look around frantically and can't see what the hell is after you, only to have the peaceful music cut back in after 20 seconds.

Its the video game equivalent of a Dungeon Master making a hidden die roll behind his RPG screen and laughing maniacally.
 
GhaleonEB said:
Same. Watching my daughter discover Oblivion over the past few weeks has reminded me how much I loved the soundtrack, and how perfectly it coupled with exploration of the landscape. I would go out into the wilderness and just...sort of hang out, tranquilly.

I just hope they handle music transitions better.

*peaceful music*

*combat music cuts in*

Gah! Must be something attacking me.

*looks around, whacks attacking thing*

*peaceful music cuts back in*
I agree. One of my fondest gaming memories is just walking along the Golden Coast outside of Anvil as the sun was just coming up while this music played http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki6LZaT0LMo
 

wit3tyg3r

Member
Dreamwriter said:
Jeremy Soule in previous Elder Scrolls games has done mostly crappy ambient music, not the kind of music anyone would actually listen to outside of the game. The few non-ambient songs were good, though.

I own and listen to the Elder Scrolls music outside of the game. The entire Oblivion and Morrowind albums are set to my alarm clock (on my phone), so not only do I listen to it out of game, I wake up to it every single morning. It's purely epic and just plain awesome!
 
Howard: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim voice acting much better than Oblivion



The voice acting in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was plagued by some small issues, and it impach on gamer's immersion in its incredible world. Bethesda however seems to have learnt from their mistake and so assured fans of the franchise that Skyrim won’t suffer from the same problems.



Todd Howard, executive producer at Berthesda Game Studios said, "The actors have gotten better at it over time,"

"They’ve done more videogames, and they understand this isn’t a back- and-forth scene – this is: ‘You’re going to read a bunch of responses that could happen.’ We’re doing a lot more in Hollywood now, recording over there.

There were technical issues as well that didn’t help the performances in Oblivion: “It used to be an issue with disc space; on Oblivion we were literally running out of room on the disc for voice, and we’ve since solved that – there are better compression techniques."

So we’re not really limited by the physical media as much as how long it takes to record it," Todd Howard told Edge. "And the issue actually becomes… you know we’re doing the games in five major languages? So the amount of time it takes to record in English and French and German and Italian and Spanish – it’s a pretty major undertaking."

"Ultimately at the end of the day it’s time and money, and we’re spending more time and spending more money on it."

http://www.gamepur.com/news/4772-ho...skyrim-voice-acting-much-better-oblivion.html
 
Another preview, this time from The Wall Street Journal:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The last game in the Elder Scrolls series, Oblivion, was released in 2006, a year when the graphical and processing power of the Xbox 360 was defining the current generation of videogames and sprawling games like the PlayStation 2′s Ōkami were stretching the previous generation to its limits. Oblivion presented an open world, traversable for hours by foot; and a high-fantasy backdrop involving trans-dimensional gates, an ancient covenant, and magical things like that. The game was praised for its beauty, size, and ambition.

Skyrim, the fifth Elder Scrolls game, is about dragons. Set 200 years after Oblivion, its landscape is enormous and varied—Bethesda’s vice president of marketing Pete Hines estimates it is three to four times larger than the post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C. the studio built for Fallout 3—and its explorable dungeons number in the hundreds. But it’s apparent from Hines’ lengthy demo that this game is deeply about the appeal of slaying—and being slain by—flying dragons, which are returning in droves to the land. You play a Dragonborn, a hero gifted with the power of dragon speech (Shout Magic, they call it, arcane words spoken by dragons when they breathe fire and lightning) who thus has a special bond and fraught relationship with dragon-kind.

Toward the end of the demo, during which he has climbed mountains and careened through caves to battle wolves, undead swordsmen, woolly mammoths, a giant spider and a frost troll, a dragon swoops down from above, stealing a beast away in its claws before coming back for the climax.

That’s an event that has been scripted especially for this demo, to great effect; the dragon’s entrance wipes a somewhat busy slate clean and returns this sword-and-sorcery epic to the elemental fantasy of watching your big sword glance off a bigger lizard’s scale. The dragons in the final game will be entirely unscripted, meaning unpredictable: lost in the wilderness, you might watch the sky in the way that Red Dead Redemption players learned to watch their backs while riding through grizzly-bear territory. You might spot a dragon in the distance giving grief to some of Skyrim’s other wildlife. Before our demo ended, a second dragon made an unrequested appearance, perhaps overhearing the shouts of its cousin. Our Dragonborn hero slays both, and we watch their hides evaporate into embers as he absorbs their “souls,” gaining new powers for his exploits.

There are various moments in an Elder Scrolls game when the limits of technology challenge the game’s ability to top the imaginative heights of a Tolkien-esque or tabletop fantasy. The game either passes the test or is exposed as a contorted body of illusions, like a marionette whose strings are prone to tangling. In Oblivion, you might mistake chatting townsfolk for a pair of tape recorders, or wince as a character runs stiffly away from you, inexplicably, his body popping up and down on little rocks as it slowly recedes. The technology on display in Bethesda’s new Creation Engine is considerably more convincing, though it remains to be seen whether dueling dragons can feel much more dynamic, or naturalistic, than standing in place and mashing buttons.

But Skyrim is a subtle step forward in other ways. The demo still has bugs, but it feels aesthetically precise. An animation-blending system makes moving bodies look alive and muscular. A swung axe lands with a terrible, momentous thud on a troll’s forehead. Magic powers pop and crackle, frightening and forceful like oil in a cauldron. The game’s engine simulates weather and cloud movement, and one spell actually changes the weather as far as the camera can see, bringing down storm-clouds and rain and thunder on a now-harried dragon. And there are cinematic “kill moves,” in which the action slows down or the camera pulls back to show you finishing off a monster with a flourish.

Those kill moves may sum up the new feel of Skyrim, which streamlines normally clunky RPG conventions like inventory, dialogue, and dungeon crawling into a more fluid and seamless experience—even as it continues to expand in scope, so much that Bethesda admits the game is probably bigger than it needs to be. Rather than sifting through goods in a virtual backpack, you flick and scroll through elegant lists of your weapons, swords and spells, mixing-and-matching them in your two hands, and alternating or combining your powers with quick pulls of the gamepad triggers. Conversations with quest givers are handled similarly. A new feature called “Radiant Story” allows Skyrim to pull strings you didn’t realize existed—adjusting which characters give what quests, and deliberately sending you to dungeons the game knows you haven’t yet seen. As you play, little pop-ups continually apprise you of what skills you’re advancing, like subtitles to the main feature.

And the dungeon we saw was more colorful and eventful than a cave ought to be, with a spider’s den leading into an ancient burial chamber, a hall of swinging pendulum traps, and a snowy chasm. Moving at a faster clip than previous games, one’s first impression of Skyrim might be that too many ideas—entire shelves of a wizard’s library—are being compressed into half-hour chunks of gameplay. The dungeon is a kaleidoscope of trouble, every other room having some backstory or evocative detail—a Dungeon Master’s fever dream. It’s a bright future where both the magic and math of dragon-slaying can be performed with a couple of buttons and levers.

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011...-v-skyrim-an-early-look/?mod=google_news_blog
 

Jonm1010

Banned
TheVampire said:
What I really liked about Oblivion was outside the main cities they had small towns/settlements. I hope they have that in Skyirm.

I just want cities and towns to feel more alive. That was my biggest gripe.

I felt that cities were more personal(if that makes sense) than most games i've played. But I see games like Red Dead Redemption or Assassins creed and just feel like Oblivion was so empty.

I feel like the sparsity in Fallout worked because its supposed to be an almost barren wasteland with pockets of civilization.

I would like a nice balance this time. Lots more people in each city but still keep that personal touch that Oblivion had.
 

Woorloog

Banned
wit3tyg3r said:
I own and listen to the Elder Scrolls music outside of the game. The entire Oblivion and Morrowind albums are set to my alarm clock (on my phone), so not only do I listen to it out of game, I wake up to it every single morning. It's purely epic and just plain awesome!
Dude... that's... that's...
Awesome.

Morrowind Main theme is stuck to my head forever, from the moment i started playing it. I think the rest of the music is not that memorable but very good anyway, fitting... nay, creating the atmosphere of the game.
Same with Oblivion.
 
wit3tyg3r said:
I own and listen to the Elder Scrolls music outside of the game. The entire Oblivion and Morrowind albums are set to my alarm clock (on my phone), so not only do I listen to it out of game, I wake up to it every single morning. It's purely epic and just plain awesome!

P6xfW.png


c'mon y'all

Also I definitely agree with the camp that thinks Mr. Soule is a bit... boring. I dunno, I love the Elder Scrolls themes but the music feels so sparse and delicate, even during combat. It usually sounds like a four person ensemble playing music designed for a full suite, if that makes any sense. It lacks texture.
 
TheVampire said:
What I really liked about Oblivion was outside the main cities they had small towns/settlements. I hope they have that in Skyirm.

Watch the E3 gameplay demo. The player enters a town called Riverwood without going through a gate (loading screen). Riverwood seems like it's pretty big too, at least compared to the small settlements/towns in Oblivion. So anyway, I think we'll be getting more of these small towns in Skyrim.
 

Evolved1

make sure the pudding isn't too soggy but that just ruins everything
BigJiantRobut said:
An alarm clock cannot and will not ever be epic.

unless it has Faith No More on it

What if it wakes you by reading you The Odyssey every morning...
 
What if it turns into a dragon and uses it's head to position you onto it's back and flies you away through your bedroom window and takes you over mountains and oceans and into the clouds where you find the god of thunder himself and battle him to death while shouting war cries and casting spells you never knew you knew????
 
The Lamonster said:
What if it turns into a dragon and uses it's head to position you onto it's back and flies you away through your bedroom window and takes you over mountains and oceans and into the clouds where you find the god of thunder himself and battle him to death while shouting war cries and casting spells you never knew you knew????

I'd be late for work
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
BigJiantRobut said:
P6xfW.png


c'mon y'all

Also I definitely agree with the camp that thinks Mr. Soule is a bit... boring. I dunno, I love the Elder Scrolls themes but the music feels so sparse and delicate, even during combat. It usually sounds like a four person ensemble playing music designed for a full suite, if that makes any sense. It lacks texture.
Wtf is that Jack from MadWorld?
 

Neiteio

Member
I've read like a half-dozen preview articles now. One thing I want to know about Skyrim is how well will the PS3 version hold up? That's the system where I would be playing it. Do we have reason to believe the PS3 version will be just as pretty as the XBox 360? (Or better yet, confirmation?)
 

Seanspeed

Banned
BigJiantRobut said:
Also I definitely agree with the camp that thinks Mr. Soule is a bit... boring. I dunno, I love the Elder Scrolls themes but the music feels so sparse and delicate, even during combat. It usually sounds like a four person ensemble playing music designed for a full suite, if that makes any sense. It lacks texture.
Turn off the music. Immersive games are much more immersive when there's not some imaginary speakers following you around.
 

Ulchie

Banned
Seanspeed said:
Turn off the music. Immersive games are much more immersive when there's not some imaginary speakers following you around.
Ugh. No way. I could never play in virtual silence for that long. There really isn't enough ambient sound in Morrowind/Oblivion for it to feel immersive.
 

Neiteio

Member
Neiteio said:
I've read like a half-dozen preview articles now. One thing I want to know about Skyrim is how well will the PS3 version hold up? That's the system where I would be playing it. Do we have reason to believe the PS3 version will be just as pretty as the XBox 360? (Or better yet, confirmation?)
Anyone? I've never played a Bethesda game on PS3 (or any system) and I just want to make sure it's not like a Bayonetta situation or something. I'm really looking forward to Skyrim after reading all the previews and I'm hoping it looks as good on PS3 as, say, the trailer for it on PSN (which may or may not be made with actual PS3 footage).
 

NBtoaster

Member
Neiteio said:
I've read like a half-dozen preview articles now. One thing I want to know about Skyrim is how well will the PS3 version hold up? That's the system where I would be playing it. Do we have reason to believe the PS3 version will be just as pretty as the XBox 360? (Or better yet, confirmation?)

I wouldn't get your hopes up. I expect similar to their previous games; 4xAA on 360 and none on PS3, screen tearing on 360 and none on PS3 but worse framerate.
 

Ulchie

Banned
NBtoaster said:
I wouldn't get your hopes up. I expect similar to their previous games; 4xAA on 360 and none on PS3, screen tearing on 360 and none on PS3 but worse framerate.
Gah, I HATE screen tearing. Worst thing ever.
 

Neiteio

Member
NBtoaster said:
I wouldn't get your hopes up. I expect similar to their previous games; 4xAA on 360 and none on PS3, screen tearing on 360 and none on PS3 but worse framerate.
Hmm... The PSN trailer of Skyrim looks gorgeous. But that's not necessarily made with PS3 footage, is it?
 

Neiteio

Member
Gravijah said:
Nearly positive that it's 360 footage.
I wonder if, this being a new engine and all, all rewritten with more next-gen knowledge, if the two console versions will be more similar than best Bethesda efforts? At any rate, I just want to see what it looks like on PS3.
 

ironcreed

Banned
I can't get enough of this footage. It is the best look at the game we have so far and I know most have seen it, but it is very much worth watching again if you were put off by the recent batch of screens. Simply put, the game is a hell of an upgrade from Oblivion on the visual front. You can see here that even the menu and the detail on the items therein is top notch. The new 3D map is a rather sexy touch as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic6dKnv3WdU
 

NBtoaster

Member
Neiteio said:
I wonder if, this being a new engine and all, all rewritten with more next-gen knowledge, if the two console versions will be more similar than best Bethesda efforts? At any rate, I just want to see what it looks like on PS3.

I don't think it's a new engine, despite what the pr says.
 
Top Bottom