This is a fantasy role-playing game in which players assume the role of Dovakin, a prophesied figure with the power to combat dragons in the fictional world of Skyrim. As players traverse through mountainous open-world environments, they complete missions and quests that impact the eventual fate of their character. Players use swords, bows and arrows, axes, and magic attacks (e.g., fireballs, ice shards) to kill various enemies (e.g., wolves, dragons, human bandits and soldiers). As players engage in melee-style combat, some sequences are highlighted by slow-motion effects, particularly for decapitations. Large blood-splatter effects also occur during combat, and some environments are stained with blood or body parts (e.g., heads impaled on spikes). Some sequences allow players to injure/kill nonadversary characters, including prisoners chained to a wall; they scream in pain amid splashes of blood or fire. As the game progresses, the dialogue and on-screen text contains references to sexual material (e.g., . . . all the whores your heart, or any other organ, desires, She . . . raped the men as cruelly as Bal had ravished her, and Remember when you thought [he] was . . . intent on making you . . . into his personal sex slave?). Alcohol such as wine, mead, and ale can be purchased and consumed by players' character throughout the game; and in one sequence, players can engage in a drinking contest with another character, which eventually results in slurred speech (e.g., One more. No problemsh . . . Thash grape!).
Well I got to see the OXM screenshots properly, and they all look great. Cannot wait for this game. I like the look of their female Nord.
Anyway, brand new details from Swedish magazine Level, courtesy of Carnival on the Bethesda forums:
- With his sword drawn, the player approached a group of NPCs sitting around a campfire. Upon spotting him they all rose and drew their own weapons but they didn't attack. When the player backed away they sat down again. (So this time it seems NPCs will be more hostile towards you if you come at them armed...)
- The battle music doesn't seem to cue immediately when you enter battle; the reporter was ambushed by a wolf without noting any change in the music.
- The blacksmith in Riverwood can show you how to preform smithing after you completed a small task for him. He will demonstrate how to use the forge and anvil to make a sword, and he also taught the player how to make a leather shirt out of the wolf pelt he had in his inventory.
- Pete tells the reporter that apart from dragon armour you can also make weapons out of dragonbone. (Can't remember if that was confirmed before or not, might be kinda obvious I guess.)
- About the landscape: the south of Skyrim has dense forests, while the center has open fields and hills, and the most nothern part is completely barren and filled with cliffs. The buildings here are sparse and the sky is almost always dark - the reporter says he could see the aurora against a pich black sky in the middle of the day. (He also found a mammoth skeleton buried in the snow next to a fort...)
- The reporter gets ambushed by an unexpected enemy:
Minor enemy spoiler:
While approaching a derelict fort he comes across a tree standing in the courtyard. When he gets too close the tree suddenly attacks and flings a few magic spells which instantly kills the player.
- Markarath is described, and pointed out as one of Skyrim's wonders. It's worth to play the game just to see it.
Brief description:
Spoiler
The city is carved from the mountain side and a great waterfall runs down from the top, which then splits in two and flows through the city. Almost everything is made from stone.
- The reporter claims that Skyrim is a bit over 40 square kilometers. Which makes for roughly 15,4 square miles I think? (Oblivion was 16, right? So if this is true they are indeed around the same size.)
That's cool about the music cue. It would sometimes spoil surprises in Oblivion and Fallout when you are wandering around and the music suddenly picks up.
