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[Mastperf]

What console would you guys say this will probably run better on?I have it pre-ordered on the PS3 btw.

Well, all of the videos have been the 360 version. It looks to be running at 720p with 4xAA going by released pics.

 

[ajb1888]

In other news, with the game now as good as finished, Bethesda held their traditional speedrun competition through the game. The champion representing Bethesda was Jeff Browne and the champion representing QA was Sam Bernstein, the same two people who faced off against each-other as Fallout 3 was nearing release.

You can read more on their epic battle here.

I love when companies have fun like this

 

[Luthos]

Yeah, I always feel like I'm the only one who plays these games vanilla. I'e sunk hundreds of hours into Morrowind, Oblivion, and FO 3 (and New Vegas) and I've never used mods. I tried using a vegetation mod I think it was for Oblivion, but it didn't look right, so I uninstalled and that was that lol.

I think mods are often too amateurish. There are some major exceptions... but they're rare. Often the "improvements" in most mods are heavy handed and lack any real artistic continuity. You can often tell these people aren't artists. The visual mods are pretty hit or miss.

Most mods are just tweaking values... and this can be really great sometimes... but you rarely get an overhaul of anything.

Holy crap there are more out there like me? I usually just don't talk about it, because it seems like everyone and their mother only ever plays Bethesda games with mods.

I didn't use many mods if at all in Oblivion. And most I did use were purely aesthetic like the capes and cloaks mod. And even then, most mods just feel like they don't "belong" in the game. It counters any immersion I get.

 

[Wallach]

Holy crap there are more out there like me? I usually just don't talk about it, because it seems like everyone and their mother only ever plays Bethesda games with mods.

I didn't use many mods if at all in Oblivion. And most I did use were purely aesthetic like the capes and cloaks mod. And even then, most mods just feel like they don't "belong" in the game. It counters any immersion I get.

I'm the same way. I can't use them.

 

[The Lamonster]

I've never used a mod on a Bethesda game. Vanilla experiences are full enough for me.

That said, I may end up modding Skyrim in a couple years.

 

[bengraven]

Coming from a more console background, I love my PC but I still don't buy into the "modders make the game the developers couldn't" attitude.

I played Morrowind vanilla for a few months on my old PC, but later took to using just very basic mods like the sign changer and NPC replacer - my PC couldn't handle things like Better Trees.

I played Oblivion on 360, but that was before I had a gaming-quality rig. When I got the PC version I did mod quite a few things, but I stayed away from the very popular but IMHO unneccessary "balance" and "improvement" mods. I didn't mind the level balancing.

Fallout 3 was played on my new PC but I still played it vanilla for the first 10 hours, then installed a bunch of purely visually aesthetic mods like Fellout and Project Beauty. NV I modded as soon as I could with those same mods as well as Darnified UI because with the introduction of different kinds of ammo, my lists were waaaaaay too long to read.

Skyrim will be no different. Change the UI if a better one comes out, change small visual things if they're annoying. But I won't change the core gameplay.

I love mods, but I don't want a mod to change the way the game is played.

 

[spirity]

I always have a first runthrough completely unmodded, save for the essential Darnified UI's.

Once I'm done there, I start adding mods. The first tend to be 'pillar' mods - in Oblivion's case it was Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul and Martigen's Monster Mod. For Fallout it was Martigen again and stuff like grenade hotkeys, bullet time, slower leveling, ironsights etc. I understand why people prefer to play vanilla, but for me the ability to mod Bethesda's games makes them the ultimate playground. It can add so much, fix any part of the game you view as broken, and potentially adds 100's more hours of enjoyment.

I believe Obsidian borrowed from the Fallout 3 mod scene with some of New Vegas' features too - weapon mod kits and primary needs immediately spring to mind.

 

[Woorloog]

I love mods, but I don't want a mod to change the way the game is played.

This. I can use additions (additional guilds, quests and areas), some changes (open cities in Oblivion) but usually i want to keep core gameplay the same. That said, I don't like Oblivions scaling and there exist some quite hard overhaul i did use but one that doesn't ADD anything to OB, unlike OOO or Fransesco's, merely overhauls the scaling and some sneaking and damage etc adjustments. That is one thing i hate, a mod that doesn't do just one thing but has to add a gazillion things i didn't ask for. I remember seeing some mod for Morrowind that seemed interesting but the fucktard creator had changed some item and other stuff merely because he liked them that way and didn't release a version without the additional changes.

 

[Snuggles]

I'm the same way. I can't use them.

I haven't used many mods with the Elder Scrolls games on PC just because I always fuck it up somehow and have to delete/reinstall the entire game.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Yeah, I prefer playing on console for the same reason. I've played Morrowind and Oblivion on the PC and have modded both (especially Morrowind), but I try to keep the core game intact when I do.

 

[TheKurgan]

My first play through is always un-modded. After that is when I start to play around with mods. I find mods can add a lot of replayablitiy to a game, while fixing some of the bugs/gameplay/performace/visuals of the original.

 

[Wallach]

I haven't used many mods with the Elder Scrolls games on PC just because I always fuck it up somehow and have to delete/reinstall the entire game.

The last time I tried mods was that giant Morrowind mod pack we had a thread about at some point maybe last year. Shit was like video game cancer.

 

[Lionel Horsepackage]

That's understandable. I wouldn't criticize a game for not having something it never had to begin with. My problem is when rpg devs continually take things away for no other reason than to streamline it for non rpg people. There's no logical reason for them to take degradation away other than appealing to a crowd they think is too lazy and/or dumb to handle it.

There's a fairly fundamental difference, though, between "streamlining" something, and "dumbing it down" -- in the context of gaming, to "streamline" is to increase the fluidity of, and better organize, a given construct.

In other words, taking something that is needlessly complicated and/or irrational (which -- let's face it -- was what comprised at least 75% or so of the previous armor-repair system) and restructuring it in a slightly more lucid, cogent fashion.

To "dumb-down" is to strip out a component entirely without at least attempting a replacement. Does physical item degradation occur in real life? Of course, but to insist that Bethesda is "watering down" Skyrim with the new smithing system is to not give the new system enough credit.

One should consider the question:

If, by replacing a halfway-unrealistic degradation system with a smithing system that is probably 75-80% more "realistic" (actually introducing new steps to the armor-smithing process that were never available beforehand in any previous game), is the true "essence" of what an Elder Scrolls game *is* somehow harmed? Will you even notice? This is a series that has grown and evolved since day one, and has dropped out elements from game to game ever since Daggerfall.

It's not as if Bethesda took out armor-degradation and left nothing behind in its place. What is taking its place looks to have some serious depth and meat to it, based upon recent first-hand impressions. Hardly "dumbing-down" the franchise, by any rational measure.

I've never used a mod on a Bethesda game. Vanilla experiences are full enough for me.

That said, I may end up modding Skyrim in a couple years.

I've never been big on mods. The Morrowind graphical revamp notwithstanding, I've downloaded a few cosmetic things for Oblivion and the various Fallouts, but I usually stay away from mods that change a game in any significant, non-lore-friendly way. Bug-fixes, improved textures, that sort of thing.

Subtleties, in other words -- not the big, flamboyant, arrogant, "I'm-so-much-more-awesome-than-Todd Howard" drastic world-changing stuff. Where possible, I prefer to play the games as the developer intended.

 

[spirity]

Subtleties, in other words -- not the big, flamboyant, arrogant, "I'm-so-much-more-awesome-than-Todd Howard" drastic world-changing stuff. Where possible, I prefer to play the games as the developer intended.

Most of mod authors, especially the larger ones, have the utmost respect for Bethesda's games and would be insulted by what you've said there. Some have even gone on to be hired by Bethesda.

These people have teams of QA testers all working very hard and for free to offer Bethesda fans more content. It fucking grinds my gears to see anyone rubbish their hard work so knock it off.

 

[Lionel Horsepackage]

Judging by some of the remarks I've read from some of these folks over the years, they've got a real arrogance problem -- many of them are smugger than a Smug Thing on National Smug Day about how they're "saving" these games from their poor, incompetent developers, and about how Bethesda should "get rid of" Howard, most of his team, hire them on instead, et cetera.

Not all of them, to be sure, but goddamn...there's more than a few of them who give the modding community a bad name through their attitudes. I'm not referring here to creators of legitimate, game-improving mods who work with Bethesda to make all of our lives a little brighter, but the pompous troglodytes. The conceited bastards. The ones who think they're making the latest Elder Scrolls game "playable," and that Bethesda couldn't manage this to save their company.

Hubris has its place in life, but some of these nerds seem to think they're God's Gift to PC Gaming™.

 

[Blue Ninja]

It's not as if Bethesda took out armor-degradation and left nothing behind in its place. What is taking its place looks to have some serious depth and meat to it, based upon recent first-hand impressions. Hardly "dumbing-down" the franchise, by any rational measure.

You make a good point there. It's unfortunate armor degradation had to go (at least, in my opinion), but it's not like Bethesda's removing that entire aspect. Smithing has the potential to go a lot deeper than Repair ever did.

 

[Lakitu]

The word is that a Skyrim embargo lifts on Monday.

 

[Wallach]

The word is that a Skyrim embargo lifts on Monday.

Come to Butt-head.

 

[Wanace]

You make a good point there. It's unfortunate armor degradation had to go (at least, in my opinion), but it's not like Bethesda's removing that entire aspect. Smithing has the potential to go a lot deeper than Repair ever did.

Yes, when given the option of going out, finding ore myself, taking that ore back to a forge and crafting my own piece of badass armor, or clicking and hearing my repair hammers break until my dagger is at 100%, I'll definitely choose the former.

I won't let other peoples tastes dictate what I will and won't enjoy. I hope those who miss repair hammers will still find enjoyment in Skyrim and find themselves not even missing it after a few hours in the game.

 

[Mastperf]

The word is that a Skyrim embargo lifts on Monday.

This is gonna be tough. I really want this game now but we've seen very little and I want it to be new to me.

 

[BlueTsunami]

The word is that a Skyrim embargo lifts on Monday.

Well reading reviews are one way to pass the time. Monday come to meeeeee.

 

[Wallach]

Well reading reviews are one way to pass the time. Monday come to meeeeee.

There's no way it includes reviews.

 

[ChoklitReign]

I've never played a Bethesda game that wasn't modded in some little way (one exception would be the first hour of Fallout 3 - just one hour). Here's why I find some of them to be necessary on the PC:

Morrowind - Well you need a graphics overhaul if you have any taste. This is what many consider to have the best "options" in an open-world RPG, so the only things some might want to change are the combat hits and regenerating magicka.

Oblivion - This game, as critically acclaimed and enjoyed on the consoles, had three bigass issues: 1. The leveling enemies and loot took out any progression for your character and realism in the world, 2. The ugly ass NPCs, and 3. The cookie-cutter dungeons. This is just my opinion, but these flaws make me think this game was rushed in development. The "finishing what Bethesda started" mantra has some truth for Oblivion. It was actually the first RPG I played on a PC, so I'm not an old-timer nor do I hate it. It showed me that mods could be fantastic ways to express imagination or a vision kindled from the developers' idea.
P.S. the one area Bethesda neglects on the PC is menus which have been a mess since Oblivion and I have expected a PC-optimized version day 1 on their game releases.

Fallout 3/NV - These games are really addicting with mods. I don't know why, but little things like universal weapon mods, darker nights, and bug fixes exponentially make the vanilla game more fun. I just like the mod community (outside of the nude body perverts).

I'm going to try to play Skyrim without mods because it looks like it fixes my biggest problems with Bethesda's games - crappy/buggy game engines and obvious game improvements left on the drawing table. I am very hyped.

 

[Old Gimlet Eyes]

Come to Butt-head.

Beavis, I have seen the top of the mountain and it is good.

 

[NBtoaster]

The word is that a Skyrim embargo lifts on Monday.

Did I miss news of the game going gold?

 

[Zep]

Never played a Morrowind game, but a friend told me I could ransack towns and peoples houses, take over castles and have muscle(front line soldiers)

I'm in.

 

[spirity]

Judging by some of the remarks I've read from some of these folks over the years, they've got a real arrogance problem -- many of them are smugger than a Smug Thing on National Smug Day about how they're "saving" these games from their poor, incompetent developers, and about how Bethesda should "get rid of" Howard, most of his team, hire them on instead, et cetera.

Not all of them, to be sure, but goddamn...there's more than a few of them who give the modding community a bad name through their attitudes. I'm not referring here to creators of legitimate, game-improving mods who work with Bethesda to make all of our lives a little brighter, but the pompous troglodytes. The conceited bastards. The ones who think they're making the latest Elder Scrolls game "playable," and that Bethesda couldn't manage this to save their company.

Hubris has its place in life, but some of these nerds seem to think they're God's Gift to PC Gaming™.

Name names. You're using direct quotes there, so I want to know which mod authors have said

how Bethesda should "get rid of" Howard, most of his team, hire them on instead, et cetera.

 

[Nocebo]

Oblivion without mods is unplayable to me. The mods make exploring far more rewarding and challenging. I couldn't live without the one that changes the UI font size nor the one that changes the leveling system either. Attributes being based off of your skill levels which are adjusted automatically as you go up in skill instead of having to chose multipliers etc.

Never played a Morrowind game, but a friend told me I could ransack towns and peoples houses, take over castles and have muscle(front line soldiers)

I'm in.

Good news! If you want to play Morrowind you already can! Not sure if it's on steam or not but you can probably order it from a online store somewhere super cheap.

 

[Concept17]

I think I'll be picking up the PS3 version. I typically go for PC, but in reality, if I'm on my PC, its for multiplayer, if I'm on my console, its usually single. I also can't really play on my PC during the day, but I can on my console. As for mods... any worthwhile mods will likely come out a year or so down the road, and a solid steam sale should do the trick if its worth it.

That and the fact that I've been having a lot of stuttering issues with my 4870.

Also - where the fuck is the media for this game?

 

[UrbanRats]

Good news! If you want to play Morrowind you already can! Not sure if it's on steam or not but you can probably order it from a online store somewhere super cheap.

It is, but it's not cheap.

 

[Nocebo]

It is, but it's not cheap.

I just looked it up. 20 euros for Morrowind + bloodmoon + tribunal doesn't sound like a bad deal to me.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Did I miss news of the game going gold?

You didn't. The review embargo ends November 11th.

 

[Lakitu]

It's too early for a review embargo.

It's going to be the online preview embargo lifting. I should have been clearer

 

[Blue Ninja]

It's too early for a review embargo.

It's going to be the online preview embargo lifting. I should have been clearer

Hooray for more screenshots.

I hope.

 

[NBtoaster]

You didn't. The review embargo ends November 11th.

Ah. I Didn't see he said "a Skyrim embargo".

Hope before release there's some more walkthroughs.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Skyrim will be the featured game on next weeks GTTV

http://www.gametrailers.com/show/gametrailers-tv

 

[Luthos]

If you want to see exclusive new shouts, enemies, and dragon-on-dragon action from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you must venture no further than back here to GTTV.

SOLD! (on watching next week's GTTV)

 

[Woorloog]

dragon-on-dragon action

Can we please keep that stuff in fanfiction?

 

[Lakitu]

Hooray for more screenshots.

I hope.

Me too, I can take comfort in the fact that they still haven't revealed that much according to Pete Hines. Should be a good week for Skyrim news, online press got to play 3 hours of it. I want to hear more about the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines.

Also, dragon-on-dragon action? That sounds pretty awesome.

Some information on marriage:

"Mike, your question about marriage ended up yielding some fantastic feedback!

There are hundreds of people that you CAN marry, if they want to marry you. They can become your companion. Having a companion offers awesome perks. Your wife can fight by your side, helping you attack or defend. She can carry stuff for you increasing your inventory capacity. She can cook for you once a day increasing your health. There are many “Lovers’ bonuses” available. Possibly the BEST thing: you can delegate tasks and send your followers to do things for you, such as attack, collect food, buy weapons, and more… Unfortunately for you there are no “brown-chicken brown-cow” relationship animations."

 

[Huggy]

She can cook for you once a day increasing your health.

And once a month it's poisoned.

 

[Nocebo]

I wonder if food plays a bigger role in Skyrim's gameplay.

 

[bengraven]

Can we please keep that stuff in fanfiction?

Some information on marriage:

That's kind of dope actually. I always wanted a game where you aren't tied down to 2 or 3 romantic interests and could just pick a random villager to start a relationship up with. And if I wanted to play a more hardcore character I could just marry some psychopath and have her help me kill things.

I count Fable as the 2 or 3 choices because the Fable games only have 2 female models per village and everyone but the whores are ugly or matronly.

 

[Wag]

Can we please keep that stuff in fanfiction?

 

[Lionel Horsepackage]

Name names. You're using direct quotes there, so I want to know which mod authors have said

Wow, fella...getting a little defensive, aren't we, here? LOL. What's your big dog in this hunt? Way to take a trifling little, offhand, took-two-seconds-to-type comment and build a whole Spanish Inquisition around it. (Over gaming mods? I mean...seriously.)

Jesus, chill out.

It's not just the modders themselves, but certain members of the PC Master Race (I'm a PC gamer, incidentally) who proclaim that Bethesda's games can "only" be played using mods, or whatever. Also, using "direct quotes"? I was paraphrasing, but that's the gist of it, to be sure -- that Todd Howard and his crew "should be fired," etc. Standard hardcore-gaming-nerd forum boilerplate. Head to most any modding forum, and you'll find comments similar to these.

Oblivion without mods is unplayable to me. The mods make exploring far more rewarding and challenging. I couldn't live without the one that changes the UI font size nor the one that changes the leveling system either. Attributes being based off of your skill levels which are adjusted automatically as you go up in skill instead of having to chose multipliers etc.

I've never felt that non-modded Oblivion was ever unplayable -- we're spoiled, as a culture. Here, Bethesda designs this gorgeous game-world for us to sandbox in, and we bitch and complain that "it's not gonna be pretty until it's modded," or that the majority of the official quests aren't viable.

Was thinking about doing a non-modded Oblivion run, here, recently -- playing sans mods (or with minimal, non-game-altering mods) separates the men from the boys. Don't get me wrong, many of the gameworld-changing mods are stunning, and I use them (and there are always legitimate things to be fixed in any game), but sometimes I'm not certain about what that says about us as a people, not appreciating what we already have.

 

[hemtae]

Wow, fella...getting a little defensive, aren't we, here? LOL. What's your big dog in this hunt? Holy shit. Way to take a trifling little, offhand, took-two-seconds-to-type comment and build a whole Spanish Inquisition around it. (Over gaming mods? I mean...seriously.)

Jesus, chill out.

It's not just the modders themselves, but certain members of the PC Master Race (I'm a PC gamer, incidentally) who proclaim that Bethesda's games can "only" be played using mods, or whatever. Also, using "direct quotes"? I was paraphrasing, but that's the gist of it, to be sure -- that Todd Howard and his crew "should be fired," etc. Standard hardcore-gaming-nerd forum boilerplate. Head to most any modding forum, and you'll find comments similar to these.

That sentence wasn't even all that hostile. If anything, you brought the escalation. I won't suggest that Bethesda's games can only be played with mods, after all some people play and enjoy them on consoles. In fact, I always have at least one unmodded playthrough so I can see what I dislike then I get another playthrough with mods that adds content, bugfixes and some mechanic changes to make the game better. Also, most people in the modding community won't call for Todd Howard to be fired due to him supporting the modding community. If there's any widespread bravado among the modding community, it is their claim that they make the games better, which I wholeheartedly agree with.

I've never felt that non-modded Oblivion was ever unplayable -- we're spoiled, as a culture. Here, Bethesda designs this gorgeous game-world for us to sandbox in, and we bitch and complain that "it's not gonna be pretty until it's modded," or that the majority of the official quests aren't viable.

Was thinking about doing a non-modded Oblivion run, here, recently -- playing sans mods (or with minimal, non-game-altering mods) separates the men from the boys. Don't get me wrong, many of the gameworld-changing mods are stunning, and I use them (and there are always legitimate things to be fixed in any game), but sometimes I'm not certain about what that says about us as a people, not appreciating what we already have.

Appreciating what we already have? Really? We have one of the most moddable games in the industry and we appreciate that by using mods. It's not a "spoiled culture" or whatever to use that to fix whatever you disagree with in the vanilla game. It's not spoiled to find that the level scaling takes all the fun out of exploring or that the vanilla textures are too low res or whatever.

 

[Icefire1424]

Waaaaaaaaaaait a minute. COMPLETELY unrelated to Skyrim, but this picture just gave me a flashback to when I was about 10 years old. Wasn't there an animated TV show or something with this exact premise? I seem to recall having a bunch of Dinosaur toys as a kid where they all had guns and rocket launchers and stuff.

...or am I completely off my rocker, which is entirely a possibility.

 

[Lionel Horsepackage]

That sentence wasn't even all that hostile. If anything, you brought the escalation.

I posted:

"Subtleties, in other words -- not the big, flamboyant, arrogant, 'I'm-so-much-more-awesome-than-Todd Howard' drastic world-changing stuff. Where possible, I prefer to play the games as the developer intended."

Nothing too "flamboyant" there, or what passes for it anywhere else on these boards. Nothing terribly provocative, either. Anyone who gets butthurt and offended over that probably shouldn't be posting here.

He then proceeded to lose his shit on me for very mysterious reasons:

"It fucking grinds my gears to see anyone rubbish their hard work so knock it off."

Appreciating what we already have? Really? We have one of the most moddable games in the industry and we appreciate that by using mods. It's not a "spoiled culture" or whatever to use that to fix whatever you disagree with in the vanilla game. It's not spoiled to find that the level scaling takes all the fun out of exploring or that the vanilla textures are too low res or whatever.

It's not the moddability itself that I take issue with -- it's this idiotic notion that Bethesda's games are "unplayable" without them.

That's all I said.

I use mods, too -- many of them are wonderful, and add new layers to the gaming experience. It's the faulty syllogism behind that whole attitude that annoys me.

 

[mercenar1e]

I just contacted Amazon.com for the $10 promotional they have for the PS3 and 360.. but i pre ordered the PC version and the rep applied the amount to my account! i only paid a penny lol def worth it

 

[Gravijah]

has k-mart announced if they are giving gaming credit for skyrim yet?

 

[Emerson]

I just contacted Amazon.com for the $10 promotional they have for the PS3 and 360.. but i pre ordered the PC version and the rep applied the amount to my account! i only paid a penny lol def worth it

Nice. UPS are such cocksuckers about leaving packages at my house so I canceled my amazon order and paid at best buy. Probably cost me 15 bucks more but I cann definitely play on release day.