Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim announced

Matt_Bowyer · 2011-10-17T13:00:09.000Z

If Planescape: Torment were fully voiced, I’d still be on my first playthrough, eleven years later.

mkozlows · 2011-10-17T13:16:02.000Z

soondifferent:

Yeah, I think PST and the infinity engine games hit the sweet spot there. Having the first bit of dialog/or choice lines voiced is enough for characterization. I tend to skip the voiceovers as soon as I’m done reading anyway.

DA:O arguably had as much text as Planescape, and the voicing added quite a bit to it, I thought. Admittedly, that game is the exception.

soondifferent · 2011-10-17T13:39:53.000Z

mkozlows:

DA:O arguably had as much text as Planescape, and the voicing added quite a bit to it, I thought. Admittedly, that game is the exception.

Bioware games have great VO. I occasionally let their actors finish speaking. They also have humongous budgets; I’d prefer smaller RPG shops like Obisidian to focus on the story/tech/gameplay over spending a ton on voice overs though.

Come to think of it, the Personas also only had partially voiced dialog. Are most JRPGs the same way?

Mike_O_Malley · 2011-10-17T13:51:11.000Z

As developers add more VO for NPCs, I’d like to see them get progressively more pissed off as you skip through their dialogue. It would be a pretty natural reaction from someone talking to you while you keep waving your hands to make them move on to the next subject.

kerzain · 2011-10-17T13:53:04.000Z

Under that system Kanye would be killed on sight.

Omniscia · 2011-10-17T14:00:10.000Z

George Bush doesn’t care about Dark Elves.

Aeon221 · 2011-10-17T14:10:50.000Z

Omniscia:

George Bush doesn’t care about Dunmer.

Although Redguards would be more appropriate.

Jeff_Green · 2011-10-17T14:25:04.000Z

Best preview ever!

http://www.nowgamer.com/features/1095737/skyrim_preview_gameplay_locations_and_quests_revealed.html

Sample quote:

“What happens once the smoke has settled and the questions Bethesda deliberately doesn’t answer is where Skyrim becomes a master of conspiracy and fascination. Exploring the rogue magician’s tomb, it seems highly likely the man was performing unspeakable experiments on the Nordic race, dismembered bodies and blood littering the room.”

John_Reynolds · 2011-10-17T14:27:53.000Z

Jeff Green:

Best preview ever!

http://www.nowgamer.com/features/1095737/skyrim_preview_gameplay_locations_and_quests_revealed.html

Worth a click for the new screenshots, though.

Aeon221 · 2011-10-17T14:39:42.000Z

This is one hell of a poorly written review. Like, I didn’t give a shit at first because lol gaming journalism, but holy fuck.

If you want to be a pleb then so be it. Unfortunately for us, we soon realise we don’t have it in us to cause such rivets, breaking down in front of Camilla and confessing all. Thanking us for our honesty, she insists that we also inform Faendal who gracefully gives us a handful of cash and the use of his combat services should we ever need the help.

Why must you punish me with writing this bad?

As it transpires, the corpse was a woman named Breton, armed with nothing more than a note. The paper explains that she left her nearby village after an assembly of thugs stole her family’s pendant, and that she would rather die than see it in their hands. It’s a small, yet no less impactful, story that, again, many may never see.

I find it highly unlikely they named her Breton. Unless she was named for all Bretons everywhere, of course. But then that’d be like a white person naming their kid Caucasian.

Sarkus · 2011-10-17T14:43:22.000Z

Woot! Do I win the “how will it start” pool? ;-)

Omniscia · 2011-10-17T17:20:37.000Z

Aeon221:

Although Redguards would be more appropriate.

Struth. I was wondering who was going to correct me on that! ;-)

TurinTur · 2011-10-17T23:57:55.000Z

mkozlows:

When you look back at the great open-world RPGs of the past – your Ultima VIIs, say – what you see is that the characters in the game organically provided a lot of functions. They’d tell you about the world in conversation, they’d provide little hints to mysteries that weren’t labelled and called-out as such, they’d provide you with “quests” that weren’t really quests (“As I was going to sleep last night, I saw some bright blue flashes off in the woods; think I’m going to shutter my windows from now on.”), and they’d just… well, be characters.

That’s what Skyrim should be shooting for: A world in which each person feels like a real person, with a real personality and a real life, and who might tell you something about the world, or about history, or about something you’re looking for, or who might just have an amusing anecdote about working in the kitchens.

But… being honest, none of the Elder Scrolls games have been like that. Bethesda games are not about character, they are not people-centric games, we could say. They are about the untamed lands, the world, the dungeons, the loot, the enemies and your stats. The biggest “depth” introduced in their game world is just attached lore text in books, a pretty clumsy way to introduce it.

Sarkus · 2011-10-18T00:18:30.000Z

Fallout 3 added some companions, though, so maybe that’s the direction they are heading (and the preview linked above notes the possibility of a short-term companion in what they played). Fallout 3’s companions aren’t particularly memorable, of course.

TurinTur · 2011-10-18T00:33:00.000Z

Personally, I would like the direction that mkozlows is talking about, just saying it’s not the traditional style used in Elder Scrolls. Maybe Skyrim will be different, after their experiences doing Fallout 3.

Tony_M · 2011-10-18T06:13:54.000Z

mkozlows:

But the point is that it shouldn’t just be a difference between “I have a quest for you” and “I AM A PEASANT GOODBYE,” you know?

LOL. Now I’m going to be disappointed if theres not a character in Skyrim who says “I AM A PEASANT GOODBYE”.

Tony

Giaddon · 2011-10-18T06:16:36.000Z

I’m replaying New Vegas right now, and I wish they had introduced some mechanism that had characters with no dialogue trees just say a generic line rather than dump into dialogue mode where the only option is “Bye.”

“Yeah?”
“Bye.”

kerzain · 2011-10-18T06:30:51.000Z

Yea, they could have taken a cue from Fallout 1 & 2 for that. Dialog trees for VIPs and noninteractive textual audio for the mundanes.

WarrenM · 2011-10-18T06:39:38.000Z

Rage is fairly annoying when talking to shop keepers because it makes you sit through their opening line every time. I get it, Rusty, you’re my best spot for car parts … SHOW ME THE LIST!!

kerzain · 2011-10-18T06:45:00.000Z

Having worked in retail,and a couple call centers, sometimes you’ve said the phone/store greeting so many times throughout the day you end up repeating it even when answering the phone at home. You gotta feel at least a little bad for poor old Rusty.