Ok so I am, as I'm sure many of you are, are excited for the newest Elder Scrolls game which is coming out supposedly in 11-11-11. Until then I figure we should compile as much information as we can. Pictures, Screenshots, Videos, What your excited for, what you hope it has, geeking out to it, figuring out your character's background, what style character you'll make (stealth, warrior, magic) and even general information in the form of text are welcome
What isn't welcome however, is bashing other Elder Scrolls games or Skyrim (e.g MEHH OBLIVION WAS SUCH A LETDOWN *FLAME* *FLAME*) any sort of extreme fanboy raging (being really fucking excited is fine) and general trolling.
With this being said, I give you:
The Megathread
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Plot
The King has died, the people of Skyrim are now divided on whether to secede from the empire or to stay a part of it, this conflict could spark civil war. The Elder Scrolls prophesied the return of Dragons. Signs of a shattered Staff of Chaos (Elder Scrolls: Arena), the appearance of Numidium (Daggerfall), the volcanic Red Mountain (Morrowind), the opening of the Oblivions Gates (Oblivion) and a Civil War were all precursors to the truth, the destruction of the world through fire, a dragon named Alduin also known as The World Eater will ravage the world.
You are guided by Esbern, one of the few surviving blades. He's been following the prophecies and knows that Tamriel is in serious danger. You belong to a dieing blood line, you are the only known Dragonborn in Skyrim, a blood line capable of facing dragons. Skyrim is set 200 years after Oblivion.
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Story of the Dragon Shouts:
"A long practiced spiritual form of Nordic magic, also known as the Tongues, that is based on their worship of the Wind as a personification of Kynareth. Through the use of the Voice the power of a Nord can be formed into a thu'um, or shout - which has a large variety of applications (anything from sharpening blades to a long range weapon). Master Voices (known simply as Tongues) have legendary, and often unbelievable powers, including talking to people of hundreds of miles away or teleportation. The most powerful masters must even be careful whenever they speak, as their voice can cause great destruction and they are commonly gagged. During the Conquest of Morrowind, the Nordic war chiefs were also Tongues (Derek the Tall, Jorg Helmborg, Hoag Merkiller). They needed no typical siege weapons when attacking a city as they merely used the Voice to break down the city gate and allow their armies to storm in. The future of the Tongues was forever changed by the most powerful Tongue, Jurgen Windcaller, also better known as the Calm. Jurgen converted to a pacifist and refused to use the Voice for any martial purposes. In a confrontation with 17 other tongues he reportedly swallowed the Shouts of the 17 for three days until they lay exhausted, later to become his followers. Today, all Tongues live secluded lives on the highest peaks of Skyrim in tough conditions and contemplation, and have only spoken to announce the destiny of the great Tiber Septim (who later created an Imperial College of the Voice in Markarth, returning the Voice to the art of warfare). Those known as Dovahkiin, Dragonborn, can use a type of magic known as "Dragon Shouts." Dragon shouts are spoken in the Dragon Language, and can manipulate dragons in a variety of unknown ways, as well as performing other kinds of magic, also undocumented."
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Here is some Information, both General and Specific on the Game:
(If you see duplicate information, please let me know and I'll be sure to fix it!)
*Skyrim will be available on PC, PS3 & Xbox 360.
*Scheduled to release on 11 / 11 / 2011.
*The creation kit will be available for download, making it possible to create mods.
*Mysticism is no longer a school of magic, but the spells under it have been moved to other schools of magic
*Acrobatics and Athletics skills have been removed (you now have a fixed jumping height and running speed)
*Skyrim will have a total of 18 skills ( Oblivion had 21, Morrowind had 27 )
*Enchanting is back
*No Major/Minor Skills. (every skill advancement will contribute to leveling up.)
*No Birth Signs.
*Advancing a skill from 30-31 will contribute more to a level-up than advancing a skill from 10-11.
*A soft level-cap at 50, meaning you can still level-up after this, but it will go extremely slow. A mathematical cap exists around level 70.
*Leveling is faster than in previous games.
*Eight attributes from Oblivion (Strength, Endurance, etc.) have been "removed." The effects from these attributes have been moved to other areas (skills and perks).
*At each level you gain a small amount of health, magicka, and stamina; and the choice to increase one of them by more.
*5 Magic Schools: Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration, Restoration & Illusion.
*There's a total of around 280 Perks (Including Ranks). - For instance, one perk will decrease the sound of your footsteps.
*It is possible to raise all skills to 100 but not possible to get all perks.
*The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is set 200 years after Oblivion. It's set in the region Skyrim, north of the Imperial Province of Cyrodiil .
*Dragons are returning as was prophesied by the Elder Scrolls.
*The Dragonborn is said to be destined to stop Alduin from causing the apocalypse.
*The Daedra and Dremora will certainly be in Skyrim, but is not known when, where or why.
*The mentor who will teach your character (The Dragonborn) is a former Blade from Cyrodill named Esbern.
*A civil war is taking place within Skyrim due to the King's demise.
*The 200 year period in between the events of TES IV: Oblivion and TES V: Skyrim has been a turbulent time which has been rife with civil war, turmoil, chaos and conflict all over Tamriel. This has occured due to the belief that the Septim Dynasty has ended, and there is none of Septim blood left to rule the throne.
*All attempts to crown a new Emperor (not of the Septim blood-line) after the events of TES IV: Oblivion have proved ineffective and have been rejected by the people. This as a by-product has result in the occuring chaos.
*Cyrodill is said to be on the brink of civil war and has become an unstable and dangerous place. Resulting in many citizens emigrating to other regions in Tamriel.
*Skyrim, at the time of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is itself in a civil war, with one side wanting to secede and become independent from the fractured and broken Empire, whilst the other side still believes that the Empire is worth being a part of and protecting.
*Quests are partially determined on how you build your character, individual actions and overall much more dynamic. Some quests will be randomly generated based on these determining factors thanks to the Radiant Story system being used in the game to create events fit for your specific playstyle and character.
*Many of the quests will be predetermined in the game and will not be player specific.
*You will be able to find jobs (smithing, cooking, farming, mining, wood cutting) around Skyrim so as to raise money.
*Your character will be able to cast Dragon Shouts. Which are essentially spells which are cast vocally rather than physically.
*Your character can get married.
*A totally new engine has been made for Skyrim.
*Dynamic Shadows
*Snow / rain will fall dynamically, no more static ground texture with snow.
*Trees and branches will move according to the wind.
*Water flow will be affected by the wind and obstacles.
*New blood effects.
*Draw Distance greatly increased, allowing for little to no grid pattern or low resolution distant land.
*No more SpeedTree: they've created their own platform that allows artists to build whatever kind of trees they want and to dictate how they animate. Artists can alter the weight of the branches to adjust how much they move in the wind, which is an effective way of, for instance, actualizing the danger of traversing steep mountain passes with howling winds violently shaking branches.
*Havok Behavior - Havok Behavior is a flexible animation tool that allows the developers to rapidly prototype and preview new animations and blend them together seamlessly with a few mouse clicks and minimal code support. Bethesda is using it to create more nuance in character and creature movement, govern special effects, and even to control even how characters struggle to move when trapped in environmental hazards like spider webs. Characters now transition more realistically between walking, jogging and, running, and the increased nuance between animations has allowed Bethesda to better balance the combat in both first- and third-person perspective by adjusting the timing values for swings and blocks depending on your perspective. Perhaps the most impressive use of the Behavior technology is how Bethesda is using it to create the dragon animations. Bethesda has worked meticulously to make sure the beasts look powerful and menacing when banking, flapping their wings, gaining altitude before making another strafing run, and breathing fire on their hapless victims. None of the dragons' actions are scripted, and Behavior helps make the movements look non-mechanical, even when the dragons are speaking/shouting.
*There will be 5 large cities. There will still be other villages/settlements. (Main cities will include :Solitude, Windhelm, Whiterun, Riften, Markarth Side)
*Everything you see is traversable.
*Unique landscapes & dungeons.
*20 Minor Cities. (Each Containing 10+ buildings)
*Over 150 dungeons.
*The map will approximately be the same size as the world in TES IV: Oblivion.
*In the northern parts of Solitude is the Bard's College. The city is a busy port and there's event similar to bonfire night that has the burning of an effigy of King Olaf.
*Windhelm is the largest city. It has a palace that looks spectacular. This is also the Head Quarters for the Imperial Guards in Skyrim who monitor the path to Morrowind.
*Bleak Falls Barrows is a dungeon, with ancient Nord catacombs which features rivers, tree roots coming through the ceiling and light coming through odd cracks. A quest is said to take place here.
*Whole world is hand-crafted.
*More traps and puzzles.
*Every town has its own Economic System. Meaning that each town has their own distinguished way of making money. For instance, the town of Riverwood makes most of their money through wood and lumber.
*Every big settlement is unique. The city of Markarth Side, for example, is set into dramatic stone cliffs, with buildings teetering on the end of sheer drops.
*Haarfingar is said to be home to the largest trading port in Skyrim.
*The HUD comes and goes when needed.
*Improved third-person view.
*The Main Menu has gotten a more stylized look from Morrowind and Oblivion, and is said to look; "really fresh".
*When opening the menu, instead of returning you to the last page you visited as it did in Oblivion, you are now presented with a simple compass interface that offers four options. (Right: Inventory | Left: Magical Items | Down: Map & Quests | Up: Skills)
*The world map will be 3D, from a 3/4 persepective.
*Instead of relegating players to looking at an item's name and stat attributes, each possession is a tangible three dimensional item with it's own unique qualities. This will be needed to solve some of the puzzles within the game.
*Mapping: Anything from your spell library or item inventory can be "bookmarked" to the favorites menu with the press of a button. How many items appear on that menu is up to each player. bookmarked items will be marked with an asterix, and equipped items will be shown by a detailed arrow.
*Todd Howard earlier compared Dragons to Big Daddies, and now explains why: "In theory, you can engage a dragon whenever you see one simply by pelting it as it flies past, but make sure you're ready for the fight." It seems Dragons won't attack you on sight, then.
*Telekinesis is one of the 80 spells in the game. Each spell has more varying effects than the ones we found in Oblivion.
*The "Slow Motion"-shout is apparently the first Dragon Shout you'll learn in the game, or at the very least the first one the OXM crew was shown.
*The "Push"-shout is called "Unrelenting Force".
*There's a cooldown timer for Dragon Shouts, so you won't run around spamming a shout every two seconds. They're very powerful, but they have to be used tactically.
*Also, if you think you're the only one wandering around Skyrim with the ability to turn words into magic, think again." We don't know whether this refers to the Dragons or the Greybeards, or perhaps even both.
*More talk about how the new combat feels a lot more "real". Hitting a person with a sword is described as "really feeling like you're hitting the flesh with metal".
*Each hand has a quick menu you can access to quickly change whatever you have equipped. It was assumed earlier that the quick menu only allowed you to select loadouts for both hands at the same time.
*When wielding a two-handed weapon, the left trigger (on consoles) can be used to block. When wielding a bow, it can be used to zoom.
*No more wildlife that attacks you from the moment you see it. Creatures such as giants will ignore you, unless you decide to attack them first.
*They again reiterate the fact that every dungeon is designed by hand, and every dungeon will feel different. They mention certain "eye candy"-moments, such as an underground river or sunlight streaming in through holes in the cave roof.
*Dungeons now come equipped with far more traps, and even some puzzles. The OXM writer describes the dungeon they explored as having an "Indiana Jones-esque vibe".
*Not every Dragon will be found flying through the wild: some will have taken up residence in dungeons or other places. If you stumble upon one of these "bad boys", they won't be content to just let you run off again... You'll have to take them down, or die trying.
*Multiple types of Dragons.
*Further elaboration on the new Radiant A.I., which is a huge step up from the one found in Oblivion. NPC's now have jobs, like woodcutting or smithing, and you can perform these jobs too should you so desire.
*The new Radiant A.I. system also includes a "town economy" feature. Each settlement features its own economy, with a main source of income. The team talked about the settlement of Riverwood, whose financial state you could potentially ruin by sabotaging the town's sawmill.
*Wind will whip up the surface of bodies of water.
*Dwemer ruins are scattered across Skyrim.
*Butterflies will fly around beautiful new flowers which can be picked for alchemical purposes.
*Male and female characters will have some different animations, and beast races will also have some unique animations.
*One shout lets you slow down time, another lets you move stealthily close to an enemy in a mere instant. One shout will even let you summon a dragon!
*There are over 85 spells to choose from, each with three different ways to cast.
*You can poison your weapon.
*Torches can be used as a weapon.
*You can use Power Attacks, which uses Stamina and staggers enemies, by holding down the attack button.
*Special kill animations: Depending on your weapon, the enemy, and the fight conditions, you may execute a devastating finishing move that extinguishes enemies with a stylistic flourish.
*Magnetism' in your attacks draws them more towards enemies rather than allies.
*Switching between loadouts on the fly is made easier thanks to a new quick-select menu that allows you to "bookmark" all of your favorite spells, shouts, and weapons for easy access.
*Inter-changeable dual-wielding with both weapons and spells. Dual-wield any combination, even staffs!
*There are over 20 different Shouts.
*Confirmed Dragon Shouts with names in Dragon language: "Yol Toor"- Fire breath, "Iiz Slen" - Ice crystals, "Strun Bah Qo" - Lightning Storm.
*Around 70 Voice Actors.
*Confirmed creatures: zombies, draughr, skeletons, trolls, giants, ice wraiths, giant spiders, dragons, wolves, horses, Elk, mammoth, saber-toothed cats, Centurion Spheres, dogs, Skeevers, boars, rabbits, Horkers.
*Stronger enemies exist in the world at the start of the game, but you're usually given enough warning if you don't want to fight anything too strong.
*You can not fly dragons.
*10 playable races to choose from.
*4 skills are removed: Mysticism, Hand-to-Hand, Acrobatics & Athletics.
*Taverns will play a large role in getting information, gossip and rumors from a town as it's naturally where most people go after working, and you can listen to peoples conversation and learn more about the town and/or Skyrim itself.
*NPC Children.
*Every Race have a unique set of armor.
*You can buy houses.
*There are non-lethal tavern brawls in the game
*Major Factions: Thieves Guild, College of Winterhold (Mage) and Companions (Warrior). (Their storylines are no longer unaware of other events in the world.)
*Other Factions: Dark Brotherhood
*There is no Multiplayer.
*Soul Gems can be used like in previous TES games to trap souls.
*There will be less, but bigger (Expansion-like) DLCs compared to Fallout 3 and Oblivion.
*You can catch diseases.
*There's 13 different types of ore, which are used for crafting.
*There is a "sort" of Karma system in the game, but it's not governed by numbers. Instead, people will react to what you do, and you will have to base how bad you are on that, and not numbers.
*You can have a Western-style Duel by challenging any NPC character to a life-or-death “Duel”.
*A new Inheritance system means killing a shopkeeper will transfer ownership to their family. This will anger them.
*Character creation has been greatly improved. Individual body features are now customizable.
*The game will now include level-scaling. For better or for worse. Enemies will be matched based on your strengths and weaknesses.
*You can run backwards but not as quickly as you run toward. Realism!
Collector's Edition Information:
It contains a:
"Alduin Statue – Created in conjunction with the IP Factory, this collector’s only statue stands 12″ tall and is made of high quality PVC. Modeled from actual in-game 3D digital files, it showcases Alduin, the World Eater. He stands perched atop one the game’s many dragon walls that teach the player the lethal language of dragons."
"‘The Art of Skyrim’ Official Art Book – Featuring over 200 pages of striking, full-color illustrations, sketches and models, this stunning 9 3/8″ x 12 1/8″ coffee table book showcases the characters, creatures, environments, and weaponry of Skyrim. With a foreword by game director Todd Howard and commentary from Bethesda Game Studios artists, readers will be guided through the game’s iconic visual style."
"‘The Making of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’ DVD – This documentary DVD contains exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage, including interviews with the Bethesda Game Studios team as they take you from concept to creation and provide insights into the story, gameplay, setting, legacy of the Elder Scrolls franchise, and much more."
See the "rockpapershotgun" link (link #6) below to see pictures.
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" to that, it won't hurt the game but it's kind of weird (x
