The Official Elder Scrolls V Thread - ALL HAIL DRAGONBORN, DOVAHKIIN!

[mchapra]

Release: 11.11.11

Story:

Skyrim, the fifth game in the Elder Scrolls series, takes place in Skyrim 200 years after the Oblivion Crisis. A newly revealed language, the "tongue of the dragons", plays an "integral role" in the story.

The High King of Skyrim has been murdered, triggering a civil war among the province's people, the Nords. Many Nords wish to secede from the empire, which has been declining in power since the fall of the Septim Dynasty 200 years earlier, while others believe the empire is still worth preserving. A prophecy foretold by the Elder Scrolls is fully realized by this last event; dragons have returned to the land, and the Nordic god Alduin rises to consume the world. The player character is the last of the "Dovahkiin" (or "dragonborn"), who were dragon hunters. Esbern serves as advisor, himself one of the last of the Blades, who swore to preserve the Empire. This prophecy is also spelled out on Alduin's Wall, a stone wall at Sky Haven Temple, the secret hidden refuge of the last of the Blades.

Gameplay:

New gameplay features introduced include dual-wielding (assigning a weapon or spell to each hand), and new weapons that can be smithed at a forge from heated metal. Unique finishing attacks are used for each weapon. Players can challenge (and be challenged by) any NPC to a western-style duel in the streets. The third-person perspective has been improved, and the heads-up-display is optional. Stamina can be expended quickly by choosing to "sprint", and backward movement is slower than forward movement.

Character development has been changed as well; "class" selection is no longer used, and instead of the twenty-one skills in Oblivion (twenty-seven in Morrowind), Skyrim will feature eighteen skills (one of the removed skills is Mysticism). Faster player level increases can be achieved by increasing developed skills. Gaining a level also grants the player level-specific skill abilities and an increase in health along with an option for a greater increase in health, or an increase in magicka or stamina. Leveling is possible above level 50, although at a much decreased rate. Level-scaling will be used, but will be more comparable to Fallout 3's system than Oblivion's. Five magic schools are used: Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration, Restoration, and Illusion. Regarding the player's personal physical appearance; there will be ten playable races, the player character will still be very customizable, and beards and customizable body features will be among the new options available.

Player/NPC interactions have been improved. Conversations between the player and NPCs will not freeze the rest of the game world, and the NPCs will continue their activities while occasionally glancing at the player. A new system "Radiant Story" has been developed for quests; NPCs react to the player's actions in new ways, such as fighting over possession of an item dropped by the player or attempting to return it to the player. The shop of a killed NPC may be inherited by another NPC, who may then offer the items/quests of the first but may not have the same disposition toward the player. The player's actions also directly affect side quest creation, as well as altering parts of quests. Character creation also affects which quests are available, with some quests only being offered to those specializing in certain skills. Dialog options are also available with hostile NPCs.

The main quest will take an estimated 20 hours to complete in addition to the hundreds of hours of side quests to be completed.

Dragon Shouts

Many aspects of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will feel familiar to longtime fans. The exploration of a vast open world, first-person combat, and interacting systems of melee, magic, and stealth are all tent pole ideas within the franchise. However, Skyrim introduces something new into the gameplay mix: dragon shouts. This special new set of powers stand apart from the existing magic system, offering a broad range of powerful effects. The ability to attain these abilities is unique to your hero in the world, and the path to attaining them is a quest in itself within the larger tale that unfolds over the course of the game. Dragon shouts give the player the same overwhelming might that drives the resurgent dragon population, and the same source of power that launched the last line of emperors.

“It’s in the lore,” declares game director Todd Howard. “It was like the classic barbarian battle cry. I’m not sure if it showed up in a book in Daggerfall, but it’s definitely mentioned in this pocket guide to the empire that we did for Redguard. It was the idea that the Nords had these battle cries, and they would shout at their enemies.” As the team at Bethesda began to design The Elder Scrolls V, they latched onto this little piece of mythology, and the way it could tie back to the dragons – powerful creatures that had been absent from the world for thousands of years.

World:

Five large cities, comparatively larger than those in Oblivion, are available to explore (and to be attacked from above by dragons), along with a wider variety of caves and subterranean areas. Fast-traveling to locations already discovered has returned. Cooking, farming, wood-cutting, and mining, in addition to weapon-smithing, can be done in different towns.

The 130 dungeons in the game were created by a team of eight, whereas Oblivion's dungeons were all created by one designer.

Upon a giant mountain, the Throat of the World houses the home of the Greybeards, High Hrothgar, at the head of 7,000 steps.

Mounts have been confirmed as something the team is looking into. Hostile creatures include mammoths, giant spiders, elk, trolls, ice wraiths, zombies, sabre-toothed cats, giants, wolves, skeletons and dragons. Children are also featured in the game.

"Dynamic shadows" will be used and snow will fall and accumulate dynamically. Plants will move more believably with the wind, and the water in the game will actually flow along a course.

The faces of NPCs have been extensively overhauled and will show distinct differences between races and more varied emotional expressions.

Well that sums it up, I want this thread to be merged with the other one.

[Spiderpig24]

They finally announced it? Awesome! Can you give some info on it?

Edit: Here's what's been revealed:

According to a report from Eurogamer Denmark (and then translated by the Eurogamer UK branch), a source has confirmed that the game is already in production, and that it is far enough along to soon move to recording the voice actors.

The report also claimed that the game will be a chronological sequel to Elder Scrolls IV, but whether or not that means it will be set immediately after the events of Oblivion, or just after the events in a later time period is unknown.

The report also clarifies something Bethesda had let slip back in August- that 90 members of its team had been working on a classified game for nearly two years. If that game is The Elder Scrolls V—which it appears that it is—it is sounding more and more like the next Elder Scrolls will be coming out sooner than anyone anticipated, perhaps no later than Fall of 2011 after it has had time to be displayed properly at E3 next summer. Plus, Bethesda has seen a huge amount of success with October releases of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, so October seems like a likely release target. Of course, that is all guesswork, and Bethesda could decide to take the Blizzard route and release it whenever they feel like it.

[alldreamsfalldown]

Maybe Bethesda will finally update their game engine.

[RoarShark]

Its about time.

[Ayron]

Oh god,this dropped my jaw 10 feet.

[Box]

My friend let me borrow his copy of Oblivion. It was so boring to me. The combat was really clunky, the graphics and voice acting were awful, and traveling was extremely boring.

It's an acquired taste, I guess. But I really want Elder Scrolls V to be good.

[Novus]

FUCK YES. Oblivion & Morrowind were amazing, I can't wait to see what they cook up now.

[Spiderpig24]

Supposedly this was just announced yesterday by Bethesda at a press conference:

"On 7 December 2010 Bethesda Softworks announced at a press conference in London a new entrant into the Elder Scrolls franchise, subtitled Alinor. Details are slim at the moment as Bethesda is remaining tight-lipped, but a few bits of information were provided. The game is due out sometime in 2011 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii and iPhone. The game is not a direct sequel to Oblivion, though it is an RPG in the Elder Scrolls series; Bethesda has said that you can expect the "same type of game" despite the fact that a different developer is working on it."

I'm not entirely sure about the validity of this one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls

[sd1833]

I liked Oblivion, not as much as Morrowind, but it was fun. Hopefully the game engine isn't godawful this time.

[MattStar]

We have 90 people working on it. Even in January 2009, you were already able to move across the world.

I also read somewhere that they are designing a new engine entirely from scratch. And for what it's worth, there was a 4 page article in GameInformer magazine that talked about Elder Scrolls history with a lot of quotes from Todd Howard, the lead designer of the Elder Scrolls & Fallout 3. They might b trying to get us hyped, or dropping clues. Why else would they have an entire article on a series that has been quiet since 06? I'm psyched personally. Can't wait for E3!

[HalfSwiss]

One the iPhone? I'll take some of that.

[Spiderpig24]

I think I'm the only one that doesn't like all of these iPhone/iPad/iTouch game adaptations. To me all iOS devices just seem like a small pocket PC/tablet/phone that just isn't meant for gaming, or handheld gaming for that matter. Now I understand the short pick up and play games like Angry Birds or PvZ, but I just couldn't seem myself playing something like this on it.

On the subject of a new game engine by Bethesda, it's about time. Oblivion wasn't too bad, but compared to games coming out now, it needs to be improved. I can't wait until this years E3, I'm highly anticipating an announcement.

[Flexx]

I think I'm the only one that doesn't like all of these iPhone/iPad/iTouch game adaptations. To me all iOS devices just seem like a small pocket PC/tablet/phone that just isn't meant for gaming, or handheld gaming for that matter. Now I understand the short pick up and play games like Angry Birds or PvZ, but I just couldn't seem myself playing something like this on it.

On the subject of a new game engine by Bethesda, it's about time. Oblivion wasn't too bad, but compared to games coming out now, it needs to be improved. I can't wait until this years E3, I'm highly anticipating an announcement.

I think it would be completely and utterly idiotic to buy something like this on an iPhone...I'd also like to meet someone who prefers mobile gaming over console/PC.

[MattStar]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was announced at the Spike VGA Awards! Release date: 11-11-11. That's 11 freaking months!!!!! Arrrghhhhhh!!!!!

[RoarShark]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was announced at the Spike VGA Awards! Release date: 11-11-11. That's 11 freaking months!!!!! Arrrghhhhhh!!!!!

11 long freaking months, I'm excited none the less though. I can't wait for more announcements about the game though.

[Spiderpig24]

Here's the premiere trailer:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/vg...-game-2/708369

[MattStar]

What will hold me off? I guess Gran Turismo for another month or so, then LBP2 maybe... IDK!

[RAiDeN-209]

Can anyone try to tell me what he's saying after "There's one they fear." It sounds like a bunch of jibberish to me.
This is what I have so far -

You should have acted. They're already here. The Elder Scrolls told of their return. Their defeat was merely delay. From the time after Oblivion opened, when the sons of Skyrim would spill their own blood. But no one wanted to believe, believe they even exist. And when the truth finally dawned, it dawns in fire. But, there's one they fear. (Jibberish, jibberish, jibberish)

DRAGONBALL!!!

[Spiderpig24]

Can anyone try to tell me what he's saying after "There's one they fear." It sounds like a bunch of jibberish to me.
This is what I have so far -

This is what was said in the trailer. This is from the Wiki:

You should have acted.
They're already here.
The Elder Scrolls told of their return.
Their defeat was merely delay
Til the time after Oblivion opened,
When the sons of Skyrim would spill their own blood.
But no-one wanted to believe.
Believe they even existed.
And when the truth finally dawns:
It dawns in fire.
But,
There's one they fear.
In their tongue, he's Dovahkiin: Dragon Born!

[RAiDeN-209]

I was pretty close...