Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim announced

[Omniscia]

Technically, Fallout 3 already has swords.

[Telefrog]

All I know is that I am really excited by the thought of Fallout 4 using this engine.

[RobotPants]

The screenshots I’ve seen suggest they are no longer using Ugly Face™ Technology, so that’s good.

[instant0]

Bethesda should incorporate hunting into their ES games. I mean, why wasn’t someone offereing a bounty for Cliff Racers? I could have made a ton of money in Morrowind that way.

falls off chair

[DragonPup]

Somehow I’ve never played an Elder Scrolls game. Can one just grab one and go, or are you missing a lot by not playing the previous ones?

[Kunikos]

All I know is that I am really excited by the thought of Fallout 4 using this engine.

This. Although, I’m not sure what would be a cool area to do the next game. California would be cool but probably by this time-line is too recovered from the apocalypse. Maybe if they dropped another bomb and set everyone back again…? :)

[Phydeaux]

Bethesda probably wants to stay away from the west coast, considering all the other Fallout games. I could see them doing New York, though.

[nKoan]

Somehow I’ve never played an Elder Scrolls game. Can one just grab one and go, or are you missing a lot by not playing the previous ones?

Grab any and go. The timelines the games are all a couple of hundred years apart.

Furthermore, the games were all released roughly 5 years apart IIRC, so each one is a significant upgrade in engine tech and game design.

[awdougherty]

Just play an archery-based character. That’s the only way I like playing Oblivion, as sneaky-as-shit archer who refuses to use magic except for healing in emergencies. There’s something HUGELY satisfying about taking down some puffed-up mage who thinks he’s all that with an arrow from the darkness.

This is how I play as well. I will say that in Oblivion, it was a lot of fun, but some parts were extremely hard for me.

[Skipper]

I hope they improved the UI for the PC release. I do not want to scroll through huge lists for inventory, spells, etc…

I … um … I’m not sure what to say. Did you mean better than the improvements shown in that video?

Understand that there are scores of spells, weapons, items and skills in game. Previously you had to pull up the mini-spreadsheet, scroll through worksheets, I mean tabs, along the bottom, then scroll through the rows, I mean spells, to select what you wanted. Inefficient, even for PC.

The new UI was simplistic, easy, and fast. What more did you want in the UI?

[Sarkus]

This. Although, I’m not sure what would be a cool area to do the next game. California would be cool but probably by this time-line is too recovered from the apocalypse. Maybe if they dropped another bomb and set everyone back again…? :)

Bethesda probably wants to stay away from the west coast, considering all the other Fallout games. I could see them doing New York, though.

Bethesda has a history of hinting at the next game in each game of their series. People knew Skyrim was next for Elder Scrolls well before it was announced, for example. And the one big hint in Fallout 3 that was never expanded on via DLC was “the Commonwealth,” which is pretty widely believed to refer to the Boston area. So that’s most likely where Fallout 4 will be set.

[Omniscia]

And the one big hint in Fallout 3 that was never expanded on via DLC was “the Commonwealth,” which is pretty widely believed to refer to the Boston area. So that’s most likely where Fallout 4 will be set.

Yeah, but isn’t Virginia also referred to as “the Commonwealth?” And also where a significant portion of Fallout 3 happens to be set?

[Fugitive]

I don’t remember exactly what they called it, but The Brotherhood of Steel referred to an area where they stopped for a while as they were moving east before moving on to where they meet up with you in F3. That’s probably what they’re implying is the next setting.

[tomchick]

Tom, anything else happen of note in your time with the game that you held back to share with just us? :)

Let’s see, how about this: The woman who was confused by the hide armor in her inventory was Morgan Webb. TRUE STORY!

I wish I could remember who said it, but when I was talking to a couple folks who’d played the hour-long demo, someone noted that we all sounded like a bunch of little kills telling a story. “And so then I went down the road and there were these wolves and then I was a wizard and I shot them with a bow and arrow and then I fought these giants and then there was this castle and there were fish in this waterfall…”

-Tom

[nKoan]

Let’s see, how about this: The woman who was confused by the hide armor in her inventory was Morgan Webb. TRUE STORY!

I wish I could remember who said it, but when I was talking to a couple folks who’d played the hour-long demo, someone noted that we all sounded like a bunch of little kills telling a story. “And so then I went down the road and there were these wolves and then I was a wizard and I shot them with a bow and arrow and then I fought these giants and then there was this castle and there were fish in this waterfall…”

-Tom

Sold.

[Telefrog]

I wish I could remember who said it, but when I was talking to a couple folks who’d played the hour-long demo, someone noted that we all sounded like a bunch of little kills telling a story. “And so then I went down the road and there were these wolves and then I was a wizard and I shot them with a bow and arrow and then I fought these giants and then there was this castle and there were fish in this waterfall…”

-Tom

That’s the kind of thing that makes me love Bethesda RPGs, warts and all.

[Omniscia]

That’s the kind of thing that makes me love Bethesda RPGs, warts and all.

Your comment calls to mind the transcript from a lecture given at MIT some 11 years ago, entitled Games as Popular Culture, wherein Bethesda founder Christopher Weaver said the following:

We started getting letters. The first letter we got was from this woman named Mildred who was 79 years old. Mildred had osteo arthritis. Severe osteo arthritis and she lived in an old age home. She had been a world traveler when she was younger. She loved going on cruises, she loved exploring the world. And somebody in her family had given her Daggerfall and said here, grandma, try this. And grandma not only tried it, grandma fell in love with it. And the reason was that we had created a world in which there was no absolute expectation that you had to do anything. If you chose to walk the world and to simply interact with interesting people with whom you happened to come upon, that could be your world. And what she wrote us about was how she and a number of the other people in this home had been turned onto this game where they basically chose to be things like priests or they had some slight magical stamina to give them the ability to walk and do things. But they didn’t arm themselves and they didn’t strengthen themselves and they weren’t interested in slinging magical amulets at one another. They wanted to explore the world. And that’s what they did. We thought initially this is one very sweet old lady. Then we started getting other letters. We got so many letters from people who were over the age of 65 that we created a whole separate category in a file cabinet to look carefully at what these people were telling us. Because clearly what they were doing with our game was something we had never intended as the designers and yet were totally blown away of their interest. Mildred wrote us, I think, five or six letters. And in one of her letters she told us, and mind you, of course she was probably lonely and she wanted to write a letter, but nevertheless she knew so much about Daggerfall. You know, I went to the elfin cottage and I turned left and walked down the road and I came upon the most wonderful brook and I sat there for an hour and I watched the fish occasionally jump out of the water and the birds fly by. [LAUGHTER] I want to tell you something, it was an eye opener to us.

I have no idea what the hell version of Daggerfall he’s referring to in the sentence I bolded.

[Sarkus]

Yeah, but isn’t Virginia also referred to as “the Commonwealth?” And also where a significant portion of Fallout 3 happens to be set?

No, the Commonwealth is said to be north of DC and the guy you meet in Rivet City also refers to “the Institute” or something that is widely believed to be a reference to MIT. There is also a reference to the Commonwealth and Institute in Broken Steel because that is where the scientist lady (Dr. Li) who helps you in the main game has supposedly left for.

I don’t remember exactly what they called it, but The Brotherhood of Steel referred to an area where they stopped for a while as they were moving east before moving on to where they meet up with you in F3. That’s probably what they’re implying is the next setting.

That is a reference to Pittsburgh, already covered by the second FO3 DLC.

[Omniscia]

No, the Commonwealth is said to be north of DC and the guy you meet in Rivet City also refers to “the Institute” or something that is widely believed to be a reference to MIT. There is also a reference to the Commonwealth and Institute in Broken Steel because that is where the scientist lady (Dr. Li) who helps you in the main game has supposedly left for.

Ah. That makes sense, then.

Although a post-nuclear Boston probably isn’t any easier to drive around. It does have subway tunnels, though…

[Fugitive]

That is a reference to Pittsburgh, already covered by the second FO3 DLC.

It was? (my memory apparently sucks) Man, the Brotherhood are jerks for leaving it such a mess. I’m going to have to bill them for cleanup services.