Skyrim Official Thread - Dawnguard Expansion Announced - First Details!

RELEASE DATE:

11/11/11

NEWS:

6/2/12- The Dawnguard DLC has been announced. It will cost $20. NeoGAF has some details from the newest Game Informer.

11/8/11- Bethesda released a new trailer today.

10/17/11- New previews and screens! - 1up, Gamespot, IGN

Here are the achievements for the game.

The voicecast has been announced.

Details on perks.

Huge gameplay walkthrough video!

The first two DLCs will be timed exclusives for the 360.

8/5/11-Bethesda announces $150 collectors edition for Skyrim

6/16/11 - There are rumors that romances are in the game.

6/8/11 -Full 14 minute gameplay video straight from G4, New screens posted:

6/6/11 - E3 Gameplay Demo!

4/18/11 New Previews today, as well as the first screens of Kajit and Orc characters.

Gamespot

Destructoid has a great writeup on what they saw.

Computer and Videogames

Eurogamer's article

http://www.videogamer.com/pc/the_elder_scrolls_v_skyrim/preview-2974.htmlVideoGamer

RockPaperShotgun has 20 reasons to be excited about Skyrim

Joystiq has an article up.

IGN interviewedTodd Howard from Bethesda on the evolution of the Elder Scrolls series. Here are the details and some new screens:

- Bethesda's using Havok's animation system (Havok Behavior) in their game

- The .nif file extension used for mods is still used in Skyrim

- Alongside the Fast-travel system from Oblivion will be a Carriage-system that takes you to other cities for a certain fee. This includes cities you haven't visited yet.

- There will be areas that are too hard for low-level characters.

- There is no set amount of Dragons in the game, they're placed pretty randomly, like other creatures

- The conversation system, while now in real-time and without the zoomed-in view, still functions similarly to Oblivion's

- The new combat system is also supposed to help players differentiate and develop their characters into a specific form: "You can't be everything at once."

- There's crafting for each archetype (Magic, Combat, Stealth). The magic crafting system, as we know, is Enchanting, and allows you to enchant items and tinker with their effects.

- There are more unique armor sets than in Oblivion

REVIEWS

Gamespot- 9.0

IGN- 9.5

Giant Bomb- 5/5

Joystiq- 5/5

Eurogamer- 10

Edge-9.0

Game Informer- 9.5

PC Gamer- 9.4

Gametrailers-9.3

Gamespy 5/5

Destructoid- 10

VIDEO

Huge gameplay walkthrough video!

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Official Trailer

GS's interview with Todd Howard

SCREENS

Those aren't new screens. It's good that modding will not be completely different despite the new engine.

Those aren't new screens.

6_Dead_360s

I think I just came looking at those screens :o

Lets See for November Skyrim, Uncharted 3, Battlefield 3? , Mass Effect 3? Good thing I don't see myself picking up a full priced game until Gears 3 in Sept

*goes back to playing massive backlog*

Ugly console game, blury as hell.

[QUOTE="6_Dead_360s"]

Those aren't new screens.

rragnaar

The fast travel system from Daggerfall is back! In other words, we have a GOOD fast travel system now.

Im wondering if they changed archery in anyway. I found the archery in oblivion to be awkward and have a wierd drop point/arc.

Im so hyped for this game, can't wait, thanks for the info.

Some are new but not most. Cant wait for this game though.rangegear

the landscapes look like they will behave well. in oblivion (atleast on consoles), the bigger views looked barren. it was one of many little "see but dont touch" graphical hitches.

also, that mage is ripped. id be more worried about a punch than that ball of flame hes gripping.

Ha! I was just reading it before I saw this thread. :P

Crafting for the stealth class has made me even more excited.

Ha! I was just reading it before I saw this thread. :P

Crafting for the stealth class has made me even more excited.

LikeHaterade

Skyrim is looking better and better as more information is released. I can't wait to play it.

[QUOTE="LikeHaterade"]

Ha! I was just reading it before I saw this thread. :P

Crafting for the stealth class has made me even more excited.

LoG-Sacrament

Only game I am truely hyped for this year. Sounds magical and engaging.

[QUOTE="LoG-Sacrament"][QUOTE="LikeHaterade"]

Ha! I was just reading it before I saw this thread. :P

Crafting for the stealth class has made me even more excited.

rragnaar

Yeah, I recognize some of the shots, like with the wolves. Those were used in the Game Informer issue awihle back.

I'm pretty stoked for this game. I think this will be my birthday gift for this year. Can't wait!

Bitgamer has a new preview of the game in which they talk a bit about the new menus and taking down massive dragons.

Though recognisably dragons, these beasts are weirdly long-limbed and impressively heavy compared to games' usual take on them. When the beast's vast bulk is finally brought to earth by a barrage of spells and arrows, it hits the ground hard then skids a good 100 feet like a crashing plane. Even then, it gets back to its feet and continues to fight from the ground, dragging itself along on its hole-pocked wings like a bus-sized bat. These creatures don't die easy.

They do die, though. As the hulk finally breathes its last breath, its body catches alight from within, flames scorching it down to the bone. The reason? Well, you've just devoured its soul. Why and to what end is one of the many mysteries that still remain in Skyrim. Also yet to be unveiled are the game's guild and faction systems, its five cities, whether rideable horses will return and just how powerful those Shouts will get.

bitgamer

Eurogamer's article

- Puzzles will involve levers, switches, all kinds of traps, and even tiny visual hints left on objects which you can examine in your inventory.
- Running water will often be used as a visual indicator of the way to a dungeon exit.
- "There's a new conversation system in Skyrim. You still listen to someone and then choose options from a list, but the selections are nicely arranged and you can look around the shop while you listen, rather than staring intently into each other's eyes in the tunnel-vision fashion of Fallout. (There's no persuasion wheel, although a speech skill remains.)"
- There's bats.
- "We also learn there is no set level cap, but levelling is faster in Skyrim than in either Oblivion or Fallout 3, so you accumulate more perks. (Don't worry though, you won't max out too quickly.) A new take on the skill system means that every skill effects your levelling, which Howard says will encourage you to use a broader range of them - although the slick interface already does a neat job of that."

RockPaperShotgun has20 reasons to be excited about Skyrim

Joystiq has an article up.

- There's fish in the rivers, which sometimes "jump their way upstream".
- Dovahkiin can pick flowers.
- "Dovahkiin actually looks as if he is firmly planted onto the earth."
- The game map is actually an in-game POV high above the gameworld.
- The level cap is supposedly set at level 25, but this is refuted by Eurogamer (see above).

Here are some new screens, including a Kajit and an Orc!

I'm sure these last two shots were in that Game Informer, but they are new for the interwebs.

I'll edit this thread into some semblance of order when I get back from this delivery I'm about to go on.

Hmm, despite my low standards for this I am disappointed by the 20 reasons to be excited for Skyrim link. Looks like we will have even less character customization this time. I am definately passing on this game.

No primary/secondary skills, no attributes, even less skills, all I have seen so far are forests, Bethesda is making the game (meaning bugs), equiping spells, apple inspired UI (this is by far the worst UI I have ever seen from a game, completely impractical), Bethesda hyping up their new engine despite being in fact only a updated Gamebryo I wonder what else they are lying about, the gameworld is even more based around the player than before, quests that may be randomly generated which will most likely mean that the quests will also be of really poor quality. I just hope the mods can fix this game.

By the way, I think the other 2 crafting skills are most likely Smithing (look in the right side of the skills screen) for melee and either Woodworking or Alchemy for stealth. Just to say something positive I will say that the character models have improved dramaticly, I really really like the Khajit.

Holy Satan, the Khajiit look badass. And such damn gorgeous graphics. I hope I don't have to spend a fortune in PC upgrades for this...Darkwanderer000

LOL, that is what I was thinking. The Khajiit have indeed been improved upon in such a fashion that they just look more intimidating. Which is how they should look. The game itself looks fantastic and sounds like it will deliver in spades. Absolutely cannot wait.

I updated the thread to make it a bit cleaner and I added the previews posted by Gamespot,Destructoid,Computer and Videogamesand VideoGamer. I also added GS's video interview with Todd Howard.

Amazing stuff! Keep up the good work!

Am I the only one who isn't hyped for this?

It is pretty sweet to see how far they've come since Oblivion.

I've never played an Elder Scrolls game, but this one looks great.

Can't wait.

PC Gamer just published a Q&A with Todd Howard.

Have Bethesda hired more than four voice actors this time?

Yes, thank goodness. "It used to be an issue with disc space," says Howard. "On Oblivion we were literally running out of room on the disc for voice. 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."

They're spending more time and money on it this time around. The voice actors are better, there's more of them, and they're working with more voice directors in Hollywood this time around. In the presentation I saw, that showed in in your conversations.

"Are there any ideas from the modding community for Morrowind and Oblivion that have influenced the design of Skyrim?"

Yeah, the Oblivion mod "Better Bows". It made arrows more powerful, more likely to kill in a single hit, and balanced it by making it slower to draw the arrow back in the first place. Skyrim takes that pretty much wholesale, and the demonstration we saw had a lot of bow and arrow action.

Can the player ride a dragon?

Sadly not. There might be something "on the edge of that," said Howard during the presentation, but it's unlikely to fulfil your Neverending Story dreams.

Will Levelling work like in Oblivion? Will monsters scale up? /hopes it doesn't

Levelling works like it did in Fallout 3, not like in Oblivion. That means that some areas will scale, some areas won't, and the level of enemy's in each area will be fixed in place when you first visit that part of the world.

Will your inventory be able to show more than 3 items at once? And actually be made with the PC in mind?

Yes, more than three, though they're certainly not focusing on simply jamming more things on the screen at once. Skyrim's new inventory is designed to be slicker than that, and there are a few cool things about it.

The first is that every item in your inventory is shown as a 3D model, which can be zoomed in on and rotated. It's a nice, flashy bit of design that shows off the detail the art team are pouring into the items and weaponry. Which would be fine in itself. But in the dungeon we were shown, the player solved a puzzle by studying an item in his inventory for a set of symbols needed to unlock a door.

You can also bookmark spells and items in your inventory you use regularly, making them easy to find even when you're encumbered by pockets stuffed with calipers

Are dungeons as repetitive as they were in Oblivion?

Oblivion's dungeons were mostly designed by just two level designers. Skyrim has eight or nine, and while the dungeon we saw had plenty of the same rocky tunnels we've come to love, they also had moments of real beauty.

PC Gamer

Thanks for all the info Rag, this game sounds like a huge leap ahead from Oblivion.

How much do you reckon it will cost to cryogenically freeze myself till November?

I can't personally wait for Skyrim. Man, believe me when i say this, i am smothered in games that i am still yet to play.

My hope full Skyrim is mixed. It looks like a upgraded Oblivion, and thats not a good thing. (But it can't be worse then Oblivion, so..)

nice thread ragnar, its good to see people making threads about skyrim,

I love Morrowind, though it didn't feel alive. Oblivion is meh, but it felt more alive -- but its liveliness looked too fake. Skyrim looks like it'll finally solve problems in this area.

Morrowind is great even without mods. I NEED mods to enjoy Oblivion for more than a few hours due to the atrocious scaling, which makes enemies far stronger than the player character can handle. The scaling gives every bandit expensive, rare armor (which shatters some lore and any sense of realism). Places that had only rats or other weak animals before suddenly have land dreughes. I'm glad to hear that Bethesda is changing things up for this game. I want to never again have to voice grievances regarding scaling in Bethesda RPGs.

Hmm, despite my low standards for this I am disappointed by the 20 reasons to be excited for Skyrim link. Looks like we will have even less character customization this time. I am definately passing on this game.

No primary/secondary skills, no attributes, even less skills, all I have seen so far are forests, Bethesda is making the game (meaning bugs), equiping spells, apple inspired UI (this is by far the worst UI I have ever seen from a game, completely impractical), Bethesda hyping up their new engine despite being in fact only a updated Gamebryo I wonder what else they are lying about, the gameworld is even more based around the player than before, quests that may be randomly generated which will most likely mean that the quests will also be of really poor quality. I just hope the mods can fix this game.

By the way, I think the other 2 crafting skills are most likely Smithing (look in the right side of the skills screen) for melee and either Woodworking or Alchemy for stealth. Just to say something positive I will say that the character models have improved dramaticly, I really really like the Khajit.

Maroxad

In addition, Bethesda has not even released info on the cities, so the game is not going to be just forests.And from my impressions the Creation Engine is NOT just an updated Gamebryo, the CE is so much more powerful. I mean it renders individual snowflakes on the ground, better animations, better character models, better combat, way better draw distances. Add to that new radiant AI and radiant story.

I really dont understand how people still manage to criticize this game, when it seems Bethesda has gone out, actually listened to its customers (which is rare), and make right almost EVERYTHING that was wrong with Oblivion