Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim announced

Papageno · 2011-10-27T13:02:30.000Z

The reasons I’m inclined to wait are:
[ul]
[li]My preposterously large backlog.
[/li][li]Potentially game-breaking issues such as the leveling system w/Oblivion.
[/li][li]I’d really prefer to play it on the PC, and my current one doesn’t meet the recommended specs. Maybe by the spring I’ll have a new machine.
[/li][/ul]

Sarkus · 2011-10-27T13:14:27.000Z

I’ve only bought two games so far this fall (Deus Ex HR and Rage), so I’ve been clearing the backlog in anticipation of Skyrim. There is a list of things out now or coming soon that I’m interested in, but those are all post-Skyrim at this point. Its good for my budget as well!

Paul_cze · 2011-10-27T13:18:35.000Z

My backlog of doom is huge (just now I am in the middle of Dead Island, Bulletstorm, Portal 2, Hard Reset…) but I just watched video on G4 ( http://www.g4tv.com/videos/55960/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim-video-preview/?quality=hd ) and…

I probably won’t be able to resist. It looks great.

Btw who is the lead designer on this? For Fallout 3 it was Pagliarulo, but for this one he is not and I have no idea who is?

extarbags · 2011-10-27T13:20:47.000Z

Paul_cze:

Btw who is the lead designer on this? For Fallout 3 it was Pagliarulo, but for this one he is not and I have no idea who is?

Wikipedia says Todd Howard.

Scotch_Lufkin · 2011-10-27T13:21:35.000Z

extarbags:

Wikipedia says Todd Howard.

Eh?

No, it doesn’t - it says Bruce Nesmith.

en.wikipedia.org

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth main installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and was originally released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2011. The game's main story revolves around the player character's quest to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon who is prophesied to destroy the w...

extarbags · 2011-10-27T13:23:32.000Z

BleedTheFreak:

Eh?

No, it doesn’t - it says Bruce Nesmith.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_V:_Skyrim

Director(s) Todd Howard

However, it does call Nesmith the lead designer in the text. Good job, Wiki!

Scotch_Lufkin · 2011-10-27T13:27:13.000Z

Plus if you google it you get tons of “Lead Designer” credits for not just Bruce and Todd, but I found one for Pete Hines as well (which I know is wrong, he’s basically a mouth piece, if I recall correctly).

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news/news-8567-The-Elder-Scrolls--Skyrim-Q-A-With-Lead-Designer--Bruce-Nesmith.html

http://gogogamer.net/?p=4108

Elder Scrolls

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Q&A With Lead Designer, Bruce Nesmith

Games simply don't get much bigger than The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Arguably, it's the year's most-anticipated, biggest title and whether you're into fantasy or not, you'll no doubt be keeping an eye on the game. Having conquered Cyrodiil in Elder...

etc.

(edit - so basically I really have no idea who the lead is)

Paul_cze · 2011-10-27T13:27:53.000Z

Hmm, I suppose Nesmith is better choice for TES, he also worked on Daggerfall back in the day.

Sarkus · 2011-10-27T13:30:10.000Z

Paul_cze:

Btw who is the lead designer on this? For Fallout 3 it was Pagliarulo, but for this one he is not and I have no idea who is?

Bruce Nesmith, apparently. He used to work for TSR back “in the day” and then ended up at Bethesda where he was a designer on Daggerfall among other things. He was a quest designer (as was Pagliarulo) on Oblivion and on Fallout 3.

Cubit · 2011-10-27T13:32:04.000Z

Paul_cze:

http://www.g4tv.com/videos/55960/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim-video-preview/?quality=hd

Maybe I’m just in a bad mood, but the animation you see in the first-person combat sure doesn’t look radically better than that seen in Oblivion and Fallout 3. Still seems kinda clunky.

Scotch_Lufkin · 2011-10-27T13:35:27.000Z

The melee combat hasn’t been altered dramatically from what we’ve read, no.

I’m interested (mostly from all the Dark Souls and Witcher 2 I’ve played lately) to play in third person, actually.

soondifferent · 2011-10-27T13:50:45.000Z

Has there been any word on whether there is locational damage? It’d make archery a lot more interesting.

extarbags · 2011-10-27T13:52:46.000Z

BleedTheFreak:

The melee combat hasn’t been altered dramatically from what we’ve read, no.

I’m interested (mostly from all the Dark Souls and Witcher 2 I’ve played lately) to play in third person, actually.

Have they made that viable this time around, do you know? Oblivion and Morrowind were pretty poor in third person.

Alistair · 2011-10-27T13:55:26.000Z

Howard said it had been improved a bit but it was still basically a first person game.

kerzain · 2011-10-27T13:57:40.000Z

I read somewhere (some hands-on article) that third person was fun for traveling, but first person is best for combat. Dunno if that just boiled down to personal preference or not.

xahlt · 2011-10-27T14:04:45.000Z

Cubit:

Maybe I’m just in a bad mood, but the animation you see in the first-person combat sure doesn’t look radically better than that seen in Oblivion and Fallout 3. Still seems kinda clunky.

I am now quite sure that this is in no way a “new engine” in the way I hoped it would be, and is in fact a “new engine” in the way I thought it would be: significant graphic updates and changes to core mechanics, but I am completely ready for weird animation and things clipping through floors and microstutter.

Paul_cze · 2011-10-27T14:09:11.000Z

Well it is obviously built on gamebryo still, what with rain coming through solid material and loading screens when entering interiors/cities…

and yeah it is a shame. But at least the modding is still in, with completely brand new engine modding would not be such a sure thing.

And most important things seem rewritten, like pausing dialogues or horrible animations.

John_Reynolds · 2011-10-27T14:29:44.000Z

BleedTheFreak:

You’d think. Instead there is a freaking embargo - the reviews can’t go live until 11/11/11. Yeah, wtf, indeed.

I had no idea. That really makes me reconsider the $150 col ed.

RepoMan · 2011-10-27T14:42:47.000Z

It doesn’t make me reconsider it. The embargo is not because Bethesda fears bad reviews. The embargo is more likely for two reasons: 1) it prevents bullshit hasty reviews like this by people who care more about page hits than actually playing the whole game, and 2) it ensures that as soon as any reviews are available, lots of reviews will be available, so the overall average won’t be skewed by early outliers.

I’m fine with this. If I weren’t confident I’ll enjoy it, I wouldn’t buy it. But I played Fallout 3 for over 100 hours, and Oblivion for over 40, so I’ve got no qualms here whatsoever.

Besides, you can always order the collector’s edition, wait for the review wave to break in the first few hours of 11/11/11, and then cancel your preorder if the verdict is shit, can’t you?

John_Reynolds · 2011-10-27T15:35:09.000Z

RepoMan:

Besides, you can always order the collector’s edition, wait for the review wave to break in the first few hours of 11/11/11, and then cancel your preorder if the verdict is shit, can’t you?

Amazon will have shipped it by then.

My main concern is that despite the flood of gaming media coverage of Skyrim, no one has yet to publicly talk about being allowed to touch the PC version. So we have no idea on its UI, its controls, whether or not it even supports anti-aliasing, etc.