Support NeoGAF

[Blue Ninja]

I believe temporary companions were mentioned already, but nothing permanent ala F3's or New Vegas' cast of characters.

There'll be companions, but indeed, none that are as 'deep' as those in, say, New Vegas.

 

[soultron]

Seeing these new screens makes me want to punch my one friend out.

He saw some screens and video and said, "Meh. Oblivion looks better." He's even a PC gamer.

I mean, from both a technical and artistic standpoint, this looks much better than Oblivion. Then add a year's worth of the PC community modding the visual end of things? It's gonna look so good.

 

[KKRT00]

Sounds about right, actually.

Based on what? :> Oblivion was selling well on PC, so i dont believe that console sku sold 9 times more. There arent that many games that sells so many times better on consoles and its definitely not RPG genre.

 

[momolicious]

They should call this DRAGONS SOULS

 

[Maximus.]

This game looks great, I am just worried about how it will look on 360/PS3

 

[bigboss370]

This game looks great, I am just worried about how it will look on 360/PS3

the trailer is 360 footage..

 

[Houston3000]

This game looks great, I am just worried about how it will look on 360/PS3

Aren't all these screenshots and videos from the 360 version?

 

[water_wendi]

Sounds about right, actually.

i can not believe that at all. That would mean that the PC version of Oblivion didnt even crack 500,000 sales years after original release. No fucking way.

 

[Gamer98]

I'm so fucking ready for this game.

 

[poisonelf]

i can not believe that at all. That would mean that the PC version of Oblivion didnt even crack 500,000 sales years after original release. No fucking way.

I remember the Witcher being at 1,000,000 pretty early on, who knows how much it's at now, and Two Worlds 2 over 2,000,000 while being mostly PC-centric. These are games with zero advertisement compared to Bethesda marketing, and (at the time) non-existent franchise recognition, especially in the US.
It's ridiculous to claim that the much-hyped, award winning, Oblivion, part of the legendary PC RPG franchise that is Elder Scrolls, sold less than 500,000 all these years.

 

[Dr. Chaos]

Looking forward to taking my albino argonian back on the open road.

Good times ahead. Hopefully you can talk to atleast one of those sullen giants.

 

[water_wendi]

Todd Howard had to be either exaggerating or perhaps the 90% audience refers to 90% desired/potential audience.

im pretty sure that any Bethesdas gaffers cannot talk units sold but can any of you at least confirm whether or not this 90% figure is accurate or just an embellishment?

 

[Barberetti]

Roll on November 11th!

That’s not to say that there wasn’t plenty of work to be done to get the systems in place to create the caliber of game that players expect from this period in the current-gen lifecycle. As Howard explained:
“We wrote the entire renderer. We have full shadows and everything now. We wrote all the pathing, the AI systems, the quest systems, the dialogue, the interface, the animation system. We’re using Havok Behavior, which is one of the most advanced animations systems out there. And by the time we were done, we had rewritten all the gameplay and all the graphics in our engine, enough that we’ve now branded it, the Creation Engine, and our editor, the Creation Kit.”

No wonder they rebranded it. Sounds like there's nothing left of the old one. Can't wait to have a play with the Creation Kit.

Edit:

Todd Howard had to be either exaggerating or perhaps the 90% audience refers to 90% desired/potential audience.

im pretty sure that any Bethesdas gaffers cannot talk units sold but can any of you at least confirm whether or not this 90% figure is accurate or just an embellishment?

Bolded sounds more likely.

 

[Dyno]

No wonder they rebranded it. Sounds like there's nothing left of the old one. Can't wait to have a play with the Creation Kit.

Yeah I was looking at those screens and was incredulous that they could still be using the same engine. If the engine has been mostly re-written then all bets are off. It's going to be a very new experience.

Edge online has a Preview article, they gush over many things including menus and what sounds like a constallation based character leveling system.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Just to be clear, Bethesda's confirmed everything we've seen so far is the X360 version.

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

Just to be clear, Bethesda's confirmed everything we've seen so far is the X360 version.

I'm surprised they haven't used PC shots to make the game look even better.

 

[astroturfing]

Just to be clear, Bethesda's confirmed everything we've seen so far is the X360 version.

i still won't believe that. game looks too good for an open-world game on current gen consoles.. but then again, RDR looked fucking amazing too. hmm.

 

[subversus]

I remember the Witcher being at 1,000,000 pretty early on, who knows how much it's at now, and Two Worlds 2 over 2,000,000 while being mostly PC-centric. These are games with zero advertisement compared to Bethesda marketing, and (at the time) non-existent franchise recognition, especially in the US.
It's ridiculous to claim that the much-hyped, award winning, Oblivion, part of the legendary PC RPG franchise that is Elder Scrolls, sold less than 500,000 all these years.

these games are made in Europe for european audience. That's all.

And:

1)Two Worlds II is a multiplatform title.
2)The Witcher sold best in Russia and Poland which makes it an exception because Sapkowski brand is strong there as the PC market.

So I guess these numbers for Bethesda's audience sound about right.

 

[Ickman3400]

I'm surprised they haven't used PC shots to make the game look even better.

I'm not sure we could handle that given the shock in the first trailer thread when it was revealed to be 360 footage.

 

[Throwaway123456789]

i still won't believe that. game looks too good for an open-world game on current gen consoles.. but then again, RDR looked fucking amazing too. hmm.

The demonstration we got was running straight from a 360 dev kit. It looked awesome. Way over anything they've done before.

 

[Night_Trekker]

Seeing these new screens makes me want to punch my one friend out.

He saw some screens and video and said, "Meh. Oblivion looks better." He's even a PC gamer.

There's your clue. Who knows how many Oblivion mods he's got running?

 

[Blue Ninja]

Bethesda wants console users to experience Skyrim mods as well, and is working with Microsoft and Sony to make sure that happens.

"We'd like to see it happen," Todd Howard said. "Because it works, it's how we made the game. I think it's something really cool about what we do, but 90% of our audience is on the consoles, so 90% of our audience can't even see this thing. So if we can solve that we'd like to."

However, even if their endeavour succeeds, he doesn't think the system would be up-and-running by the time the game rolls around.

Howard also talks about what Skyrim will look like on PC's: "besides higher quality textures and bigger resolutions, the PC version of Skyrim basically "looks the same" as the two console iterations."

"It's mostly a DirectX 9 game in terms of how the shaders work... [Of course], when it comes to DirectX 11 there are things they get us for free, like performance gains. You're going to get performance gains out of it versus an older version."

 

[Slayven]

So hyped!!
I'm glad this game finally gets dragons right.
Fuck Dragons with 6 Limbs (4 Legs, 2 Wings), that shit's stupid
Bat-like Dragons FTW!

Bat-like dragons are called wyverns.

 

[brotkasten]

Bethesda wants console users to experience Skyrim mods as well, and is working with Microsoft and Sony to make sure that happens.

"We'd like to see it happen," Todd Howard said. "Because it works, it's how we made the game. I think it's something really cool about what we do, but 90% of our audience is on the consoles, so 90% of our audience can't even see this thing. So if we can solve that we'd like to."

However, even if their endeavour succeeds, he doesn't think the system would be up-and-running by the time the game rolls around.

No way Microsoft will allow this.

 

[Boss Doggie]

But aren't mods "evil" according to the big console people?

 

[Dennis]

Howard also talks about what Skyrim will look like on PC's: "besides higher quality textures and bigger resolutions, the PC version of Skyrim basically "looks the same" as the two console iterations."

He is being nice to consoles gamers here. Better textures and high resolution is what usually make PC games much better looking the console version.

 

[momolicious]

90% of of Elder Scroll players are on the consoles?!

 

[Dennis]

90% of of Elder Scroll players are on the consoles?!

PC gaming close to death. Breaking news from Todd Howard.

 

[verbum]

If this game lives up to the hype, maybe I'll have to get the 360 version and then the PC version for the mods (if the mods are restricted on the console versions). Might have to move the PC out to the living room for this game.
With the HBO series "Game Of Thrones" having started, I am in the mood for some sword and sorcery this year.

 

[Geoff9920]

I wonder... are PC gamers going to have to wait for a mod to "fix" the UI this time around like with Oblivion? Has there been any mention if the PC UI will be different than the console version?

 

[Ickman3400]

I'm a little baffled by the DX11 comment as every game I play that uses it cripples my fps.

Unless he meant using DX11 with the DX11 features off to boost performance like in Metro 2033. That works great.

 

[Dead Man]

If this game lives up to the hype, maybe I'll have to get the 360 version and then the PC version for the mods (if the mods are restricted on the console versions). Might have to move the PC out to the living room for this game.
With the HBO series "Game Of Thrones" having started, I am in the mood for some sword and sorcery this year.

Why bother with the 360 version if you will be getting it on PC anyway?

 

[Ledsen]

I'm a little baffled by the DX11 comment as every game I play that uses it cripples my fps.

Unless he meant using DX11 with the DX11 features off to boost performance like in Metro 2033. That works great.

That's what they said in the recent Bombcast. All effects are DX9 only but you can use DX11 to get a performance boosts.

He is being nice to consoles gamers here. Better textures and high resolution is what usually make PC games much better looking the console version.

And in the case of ES, view distance and pop-in.

 

[water_wendi]

I wonder... are PC gamers going to have to wait for a mod to "fix" the UI this time around like with Oblivion? Has there been any mention if the PC UI will be different than the console version?

Well i guess since PC gamers are only 10% of the audience so we'll get whats appropriate. In other words, im betting its a console UI again.

 

[Ickman3400]

That's what they said in the recent Bombcast. All effects are DX9 only but you can use DX11 to get a performance boosts.

That's great news then. Raises the chance that I'll be able to max the game.

 

[IonicSnake]

Who need companions when you have...

 

[LCfiner]

That's great news then. Raises the chance that I'll be able to max the game.

ditto. I don't have a beefy GPU but it seems like the way they've built it, I can run it on my machine and still have it look cleaner than the console versions.

 

[brotkasten]

I'm a little baffled by the DX11 comment as every game I play that uses it cripples my fps.

Unless he meant using DX11 with the DX11 features off to boost performance like in Metro 2033. That works great.

I might be wrong, but I think DX10/11 can process DX9 effects faster/more efficient.

 

[IoCaster]

Roll on November 11th!

No wonder they rebranded it. Sounds like there's nothing left of the old one. Can't wait to have a play with the Creation Kit.

I'm right there with ya. I can't wait to get started on building my frontier fortress ski lodge.

I would think that the problem with mods on consoles is the potential for cheating-up achievements/trophies. They would have to create a workaround so that there's no reward system enabled with mods installed on the respective console...or something.

 

[Blue Ninja]

I like the tidbit in the 1UP article where they're talking about spell combo's...

The most interesting combination that Howard casted was a circle of protection paired with a chain lightning; this caused any foe to be instantly zapped whenever they attempted to close in for a melee attack. Until we get a deeper demo or some hands-on time ourselves, we don't quite know how deep the spell combination system can get, but it already looks pretty snazzy.

For those who haven't read it yet, Howard tries to assuage some of the fears people might have about "dumbing down".

We stripped the attributes to the core health, magicka, and stamina. Before you tell me, 'you took away Intelligence!' I would say, 'but why are you raising Intelligence? Probably to raise your magicka, right?' It was just a trickle-down effect. So now, instead of raising attributes to raise other attributes, you focus purely on the core three you were raising anyway.

 

[Ranger X]

Jesus Christ, like I wasn't sold already, the more there info popping out, the more I drool!

 

[water_wendi]

For those who haven't read it yet, Howard tries to assuage some of the fears people might have about "dumbing down".

This removal is so far the only thing thats giving me cause for concern. Seems like a serious misstep.

 

[Baller. PhD]

I want this game to stick it's dick in me.

 

[Zaptruder]

There's no way I can be impressed with Skyrim when I keep clicking on Witcher 2 and seeing similar, but much more awesome fantasy screens.

Which is too bad, because Skyrim seems like a good step forward for the Bethesda crew.

... But you know, I'll probably end up getting both, just coz. But if I don't, it won't by skyrim that I'm getting.

 

[LCfiner]

This removal is so far the only thing thats giving me cause for concern. Seems like a serious misstep.

It's been a while so I can't remember: what other attributes did Intelligence affect. I can think of dialog options and influence/ bartering abilities. anything else?

I'm not sad to see acrobatics and athleticism go. simple because the way you could upgrade them by jumping in place for hours was silly and potentially game breaking. but I think you're right that removing intelligence could have more serious effects.

I guess they'll have speechcraft style perks in that extensive perk system of theirs.

 

[Blue Ninja]

It's been a while so I can't remember: what other attributes did Intelligence affect. I can think of dialog options and influence/ bartering abilities. anything else?

I'm not sad to see acrobatics and athleticism go. simple because the way you could upgrade them by jumping in place for hours was silly and potentially game breaking. but I think you're right that removing intelligence could have more serious effects.

I guess they'll have speechcraft style perks in that extensive perk system of theirs.

Intelligence only governed your magicka pool. Dialog options and bartering were influenced by Personality, and more specifically by the Speechcraft and Mercantile skills.

 

[water_wendi]

It's been a while so I can't remember: what other attributes did Intelligence affect. I can think of dialog options and influence/ bartering abilities. anything else?

i would think the better thing to do would be to involve them more in the game rather than cutting them completely. Then again this is the developer that took the rpg combat out of their rpg so who knows what theyll think up next.

I'm not sad to see acrobatics and athleticism go. simple because the way you could upgrade them by jumping in place for hours was silly and potentially game breaking. but I think you're right that removing intelligence could have more serious effects.

I guess they'll have speechcraft style perks in that extensive perk system of theirs.

Its not just Intelligence its the removal of all the Attributes. Sure you can link skills themselves to checks in dialogue but you could go a step further and add attribute checks like with what Obsidian did in NV (for example you might not be an [Explosives] expert but your [Intelligence] might be enough to get you partway out of a jam).

 

[GDJustin]

Bethesda's thoughts around simplifying the stats are mostly sound. The problem is that it limits flexibility. What if a player wants to boost their mana pool, but not their magical strength/potency for a few levels? Or what if a player wants to raise their HP but not their attack power, for a few levels?

With more stats to tweak, flexible character progression like this is possible. By removing them, you're taking away that flexibility.

Maybe it's not in fitting with the game's gorgeous menu design (which look truly great in Beth's defense), but they could have probably had the best of both worlds by having a normal and advanced stats screen. Just like many PC games have a normal setup screen, but then an "advanced" one where you can toggle occular shadows and tinker with things.

The normal stats screen would be what ES:V has now. Three stats. Dump your points into this. This would be enough for most players, and ensures you can't "break" your character. But the advanced screen would allow you to spend skill points more specifically, like the example I gave above.

 

[LCfiner]

Intelligence only governed your magicka pool. Dialog options and bartering were influenced by Personality, and more specifically by the Speechcraft and Mercantile skills.

Ah, thanks for the correction.

So, for Skyrim, have Bethesda said how they're going to handle speechcraft abilities? the three main attributes only deal with combat and traversal considerations.

I think it's perks only for speech now. am i wrong?

Its not just Intelligence its the removal of all the Attributes. Sure you can link skills themselves to checks in dialogue but you could go a step further and add attribute checks like with what Obsidian did in NV (for example you might not be an [Explosives] expert but your [Intelligence] might be enough to get you partway out of a jam).

I don't mind reducing the attributes if they're able to get that perk system to work the way they keep talking it up. that could allow for the kind of cutsomization that you want in a character without having to make those decisions in the first 30 minutes of the game, running around and then leaving a dungeon.

but if the perks don't work as intended, then I think there'll be a lot of frustration from players (and not just from the old school Elder Scrolls veterans) who can't customize like they want.

 

[water_wendi]

I don't mind reducing the attributes if they're able to get that perk system to work the way they keep talking it up. that could allow for the kind of cutsomization that you want in a character without having to make those decisions in the first 30 minutes of the game, running around and then leaving a dungeon.

but if the perks don't work as intended, then I think there'll be a lot of frustration from players (and not just from the old school Elder Scrolls veterans) who can't customize like they want.

From the descriptions of perks so far they sound like, you know, perks and not a suitable replacement for attributes (Destruction perks increase/modify fire based spells as an example).