The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I am surprised no one has created an entertainment discussion on Skyrim. I just saw the E3 gameplay of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and was astounded by how many changes Bethesda is making.

If you haven't seen the gameplay demo I'm talking about, here it is-


Is anyone else eagerly awaiting its release? I think the new gameplay is amazing! I never thought dual-weilding weapons would occur in an Elder Scrolls game, and I really want to dual-weild different spells and see how they mix . Also, messing around and testing the game's boundaries will be awesome! I can see so many ways to mess with wandering creatures and possibly cause them to kill other people.

I hope they change the AI dramatically in Skyrim. They already said they are making the AI better, but for anyone who played Oblivion, they know how difficult it is to get away with a crime. I'm hoping they change it to where if you steal while no ones around or murder someone while they are alone, the guards will not be aware and you won't get a bounty. I also hope for smarter AI that won't start walking into a wall, and will always defend themselves when attacked.

So to anyone reading this, are you wanting to get Skyrim? What do you look forward to that this game is offering, and what else do you hope the game will include or improve on? As for the main story line, take any guesses you want as to what you think will happen.

Well as for story goes heres my thoughts:

One obvious part of the story is slayingdragons and defending the cities but it seems your main quest will have to do with finding out where these dragons came from. It also appears the Nords are either at war with eachother or were at war with eachother recently.

Part of the story may involve this war in Skyrim. I could imagine the dragons being sent either to help one side and turning against everyone or even sent as something to stop this war. Maybe you find some mage that brought them or maybe by stopping this war you get rid of the dragons.

Im excited about the new duel wield system. I can now wield twospells . Fireball, Lighteningbolt; Fireball, Lighteningbolt. It just keeps getting better

Yeah, I'm definitely excited for this.

I've been a fan of the series ever since I discovered Morrowind all those years ago (I then went through Arena and Daggerfall as well). I remember my first trip outside Seyda Neen, the locals encouraged me to take a silt-strider as a transport to Balmora - but I said "eff that, gonna save my money instead" and decided to leg it. Of course, back in the day, there weren't any quest markers or dynamic maps so I got hopelessly lost and wandered into a bandit cave. After promptly getting my ass handed to me, I had to reload only to get lost in some ancient ruin and killed yet again by its denizens. In the end of the day though, after a long walk through some hills I managed to reach the city and noticed the fucking road leading to - something which I had totally missed. Such freedom I miss in games nowadays. Probably my best gaming moment ever.

Oblivion was amazing as well, the graphical quality was staggering at the time. I had just gotten a PC upgrade and continuously drolled at the screen for a couple of days. I remember exiting the prison in the beginning, making the journey to the nearby tavern and marvelling at the Imperial City which dominated the landscape. It was getting dark and there was only a single guardsman outside, probably taking a short break before resuming his patrol. Later, when walking with Martin and Jauffre towards the Blade's Keep, I once again found myself starring at the screen in awe. The northern forests were amazing.

Sadly though, the more I played the more I realised that the content was vastly stripped down from Morrowind. I missed the Imperial Cult and Legion, the Morag Tong, the different Houses which one could join. The guild requirements which you needed to meet in order to advance, which forced you to progress the game and made sure you wouldn't have instant-gratification. Whereas in Oblivion you could become an Archmage in one go, simply grinding the quests. Very weak.

Yeah, that brings me to Skyrim. It looks much flashier than everything so far, but a part of me just knows that the gameplay will probably not be much different than Oblivion, if even that. I hope I'm wrong, but it seems like RPG's are becoming much more simplified nowadays. A small proof of this is the armour system, which has merged all the pieces into one pretty much. Doing away with pauldrons and the like caused a huge outburst in the community for Oblivion, something which would make you think that they would bring them back for Skyrim. Nope, instead they had to go down the Fallout route (I think it worked well there...but it seems weak in a TES context).

Well, I'm still pretty excited for it, but I'm keeping more realistic expectations this time. Regardless, after the fiasco that was Dragon Age 2, Skyrim can't do much worse now, can it? Along with Deus Ex (coming out this month, hopefully) and The Witcher 2, these three are where it will be at for the RPG gamers this year.

My husband and best male friend have been pumped up for the game for as far back as I can remember. It really became annoying when I was trying to have a conversation about something else and all they'd talk about is Skyrim. Either way, they both got it on Friday and I haven't heard from my male friend since, lol.

It's a surprise I can get my husband out of the house, but I've managed a couple of times now. He's been playing a lot and I've been debating if I want to give it a try. The only problem is, I don't think I can get it away from him long enough for me to even create a character, lol. We'll see what happens.

You should try it out Lunar; it's an epic game. I only had it for the weekend(rented it from Redbox), but I had a lot of fun. Reached level 16, got the Mace of Molag Bal, Azura's Star, the Wabbajack, kicked the butt of a couple of dragons, laughed when a dragon attacked Winterhold and froze the guards, etc.

I'm gonna actually buy it this coming weekend at Gamestop. After that...I probably won't be around often.

I think the hubby has a paper or two to get done, so maybe while he's distracted I'll steal it for a while. He's been praising it since he's started on it, so I might as well give it a shot.

Best thing to come out of Bethesda Studios ever since Morrowind, hands down.

Agreed. I enjoyed Oblivion, but Skyrim is just on an entirely different level of amazing.

Blackrock wrote:Best thing to come out of Bethesda Studios ever since Morrowind, hands down.

I very much agree!

Everyone seems to be talking about this game, which makes me want to be interested, but at the same time, I played Oblivion and didn't like it. I think I just don't get into open-world, sandbox-type games. I get too overwhelmed with everything you can do and can't manage my time in a way that makes me want to stay focused and captivated. I just end up boring myself somehow. I don't know if I'm alone in this and am just really weird or not. I bet Skyrim is a kickass game for the folks who can get into that type of genre.

...You're right; I have so many darn quests in my quest log right now.




SPOILERS FOR THE MARKETPLACE ASSASSINATION IN MARKARTH






Anyway, ran into my first bug of the game. In Markarth, I was looking around for information on the attack that happened in the marketplace for this guy in the Chapel of Talos. Find out information on everyone, and when I get back to the guy to give him this information, he's dead, with two guards and a Legate occupying the area. The quest marker points to where he was leaning at originally. Apparently, after every little piece of info I got, I was supposed to go back to him. Now the quest is not completable and I'm stuck with 2 or 3 journals that have 1 weight each that are quest items. Curse you game; I'm forever stuck with these stupid journals.

Fayt Fyre wrote:Everyone seems to be talking about this game, which makes me want to be interested, but at the same time, I played Oblivion and didn't like it. I think I just don't get into open-world, sandbox-type games. I get too overwhelmed with everything you can do and can't manage my time in a way that makes me want to stay focused and captivated. I just end up boring myself somehow. I don't know if I'm alone in this and am just really weird or not. I bet Skyrim is a kickass game for the folks who can get into that type of genre.

(Hey guys, its been a long time, just been busy lately.)

Hey Fayt (nice new username btw) I ran into the same problem. I had no trouble with the gameplay, story, or anything of that sort, I just found the world to be too huge. The game was too massive for me. Every once in a while I'll spend a few hours on Oblivion, inching closer towards the end of the game, but its just way too expansive for my tastes. I can't play it over and over continuously.

Speaking about the topic at hand, I'd love to get Skyrim for Christmas, it looks like an awesome game.

Yeah, Bethesda's games are a love-it-or-hate it deal. I've been a fan of the series ever since I discovered Morrowind (the best one so far, in my humble opinion). After that I went back to the roots of the genre and checked out both Daggerfall and Arena; and of course, I eagerly played through the lackluster Oblivion as well.

The beauty in Skyrim, in this age of "on-rails" experience, is that its a nod to all those RPG's of old, which really just let you loose in the world to do as you please. It's, sadly, a dying genre - people prefer to have some clear goal in mind, like a BioWare RPG (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, etc) But for me, there's a unique beauty in being able to do as you please in this huge, amazingly-detailed world. Not to mention the mods that will follow....the Elder Scrolls have got a huge following of talented mod-makers and with those in mind, it truly becomes a playground of one's imagination.

Yeah, it doesn't have the same intricate writing of a more story-focused game, again such as what BioWare does, nor does it manage to build up the same character relations; but, as I said, that's never been the goal of the series. It's more of a relationship between the player and the world, rather than a relationship between the player and the story. It's closer to the spirit of writing and RP'ing that we do. You write your own tale, rather than guiding someone else through theirs.

In other news, still playing this whenever I get some free time, I'll post my thoughts on the gamelpay and overall feel once I feel confident I know enough about the game.