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Post by Steve Farrelly @ 10:12am 10/01/11 | 38 Comments
The exclusive content hoarding magazine that is Game Informer will be unleashing a torrent of information regarding Bethesda's forthcoming The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, reports Joystiq, who also reveal themselves a few tasty nuggets of information.

According to the report, the game's levelling system has undergone a serious overhaul where players are no longer locked into a bound class based on set skills; you can fully drive your your own path up the ability tree, which is now 18 strong as opposed to the 21 from Oblivion and as usual, these will level up as you use them, and doing so will also unlock new perks along the way relative to said usage.

Moreover, it appears the game has borrowed much from Fallout 3 in that enemies now scale to better reflect your levelling and won't be nearly as hard as some were in the last Elder Scrolls. And finally, you're also now able to dual wield anything in the game in the way of weapons and spells; all representing a clearly more user-specific experience based on play-style and preference.

Apparently there'll be even more details coming off the next Game Informer, so as soon as those details surface, we'll post them here.



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Latest Comments
ravn0s
Posted 10:23am 10/1/11
Moreover, it appears the game has borrowed much from Fallout 3 in that enemies now scale to better reflect your levelling and won't be nearly as hard as some were in the last Elder Scrolls.


scaling enemies is lame. i was hoping they would get rid of that for this game.


Apparently there'll be even more details coming off the next Game Informer, so as soon as those details surface, we'll post them here.


14 page preview. i cant wait to see the pics. hopefully the characters dont look fugly like they did in oblivion.
Ivonin
Posted 10:41am 10/1/11
I agree with the above comment. The scaling was complete s***house, they shouldve taken a hint from Nerhim and have levelled areas or at least have the scaling system in dungeons. Still interesting to see where they go with it.
Pirroh
Posted 10:47am 10/1/11
So you haven't seen the scans yet, Rav? They actually look pretty good.

http://oi53.tinypic.com/2cpx93t.jpg
ravn0s
Posted 10:54am 10/1/11
didnt know the issue was out yet. does look pretty good.
Steve Farrelly
Posted 11:03am 10/1/11
Pirroh
Posted 11:06am 10/1/11
Here are the rest of the scans for those that are interested.

http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/286233-skyrim-gi-scans/
Shroud
Posted 11:06am 10/1/11
scaling sucks. not gonna play this if it does have scaling.
Khel
Posted 11:35am 10/1/11
How do they animate though, thats what always sucks in Bethesda games
Midda
Posted 11:54am 10/1/11
Yeah, Bethesda always has absolutely horrible animation. I have no reason to believe they'll be any better in this one.
3dee
Posted 12:02pm 10/1/11
Diagonal strafe animation please.

Apparently the levelling enemies are much more balanced so hopefully it won't be a c@nt to play at high levels.
Eorl
Posted 12:13pm 10/1/11
Lets just see how their animations go before giving it a thumbs up. They've always been horrible, and especially with their new "close ups" it will be more apparent then ever.
Tollaz0r!
Posted 12:40pm 10/1/11
Auto leveling monsters is lame. What is the point of leveling up?
Nerfington
Posted 01:01pm 10/1/11
I loved Morrowind, very unique, mature and captivating atmosphere.

Thought I loved Oblivion for a few hours, until I realised I didn't. The differences were not glaring, but they were there. It was at the core, in the atmosphere of the setting, in the (lack of) magic of the adventure, in the lack of exploring and anything interesting in the world, and the complete lack of character progression - in an rpg.

Judging from the scanned images, it looks like they're just aiming to recreate Oblivion with slightly improved graphics, appealing to the previous title's fans with more of the same. This is a shame, and I think possibly a flawed move, as I suspect Oblivion's success was out of how loved Morrowind was, and how hyped TES IV was.

I for one will not be buying.

edit: And yes Bethesda's animations have always been glaring on diagonal run/jump, though I could live with it. Their Oblivion PC UI was also a large part of what killed it for me.
Midda
Posted 12:57pm 10/1/11
Diagonal strafe animation please.

And jump.
Steve Farrelly
Posted 01:02pm 10/1/11
I just don't want the third-person movement to feel like you're skating on an ice-rink - what's the point in a full character creation system and the aesthetic involved in decking yourself out with new clothes etc if movement feels so s*** you opt for the first-person. It's one of my biggest gripes with the Fallout/Oblivion games. I'd actually prefer to play this game in third-person and not first
demon
Posted 01:05pm 10/1/11
i'll be interested... loved oblivion! spent many hours in it. tbh the lame npc models & animation didn't detract that much from the game for me coz i tend to play it fairly anti-social where i only talk to npcs when i gotta... n then i skip thru the convos to the information i needed. s'all about the exploring & assassinating npcs imo. especially when your character is a vampire lizardman assassin :p

imo what was awesome about oblivion was the cool atmosphere of the dingy ruins n dungeons... very creepy in some parts. also, of course, the open-ended nature of the game... i really liked stealing horses n then riding them around with a small band of soldiers n monsters following you around trying to keep up ;p
d^
Posted 01:09pm 10/1/11
I don't know why but I tend to love playing as a stealth character, this in turn makes the game so much longer but pretty damn rewarding. I'm keen for the next installment though I'm still wandering around in the previous games as there is so much to do and see. My flaw is i'm a perfectionist, i'll be playing these games for months.
Nerfington
Posted 01:14pm 10/1/11
You guys really liked Oblivion huh? Maybe it was just me, I thought it was only carried on hype.

edit: < and always plays the vastly superior stealth character, see avatar. ;)
d^
Posted 01:24pm 10/1/11
You guys really liked Oblivion huh? Maybe it was just me, I thought it was only carried on hype.

edit: < and always plays the vastly superior stealth character, see avatar. ;)


Yeah I thought it was pretty good, though it was hyped up a lot and many people who have played Morrowind prefer it. There's even some graphic mods which make that game look ace even on todays standards. I always thought it ran like s*** though (back in the day when it was a benchmark game).

Stealth win!
orbitor
Posted 01:39pm 10/1/11
with mods, oblivion was absolutely awesome. vanilla it got old quick and that's largely to do with the scaling.

Fallout 3 did the scaling much better, and hopefully skyrim will take what they learnt there and do it even better.
Dazhel
Posted 02:33pm 10/1/11
I must be one of the few people that thought Oblivion was great and wasn't too bothered by the level scaling. In contrast I only got a few hours into Morrowind before giving it away.
Fallout 3 I spent a huge amount of time on but still only got about 50% of the way through all of the main game content and didn't even touched the DLC packs. Fallout NV has recaptured the original Fallout spirit and I'm still loving it at the moment, 50 hours in.

Morrowind's graphics are cringe worthy these days. I've always been meaning to go back and find out whether I judged it too harshly.
Mantorok
Posted 02:42pm 10/1/11
Morrowind's graphics are cringe worthy these days. I've always been meaning to go back and find out whether I judged it too harshly.
I suggest following this guide: http://morrowind2009.wordpress.com/
Enska
Posted 02:58pm 10/1/11
Steve I think alot of people would opt to play in third person if the animation wasn't so painful to look at.
either way, they should take a few leaves from Nehrims book.

edit* - Some of those pics that show action going on give me hope for the animation too.
Bertis
Posted 08:08pm 10/1/11
Urgh I hate enemy scaling.
Crakaveli
Posted 08:23pm 10/1/11
Morrowind is so much better than oblivion. People who disagree are graphics whores.
rrrocket
Posted 08:52pm 10/1/11
will it be available on steam? if not I don't care
Sanguinicus
Posted 09:05pm 10/1/11
I hate scaling too. I tend to do as many side quests as possible before doing a main quest objective in all RPG's I play. This forced me to quit Oblivion as the enemies were just too f*****g strong.
reload!
Posted 09:15pm 10/1/11
why the f*** do those scans look like they were printed on a table cloth?

looks like s***.
Phooks
Posted 09:22pm 10/1/11
I am erect.
Phooks
Posted 09:37pm 10/1/11
also to anyone reinstalling morrowind, give morrowind 2011 compendium a go. google it

It's not popular with the modding community because he didn't ask the modders before putting them in the compenium. On the upside it has a lot of good mods.

i installed it yesterday, make sure you follow all the instructions.
fpot
Posted 09:39pm 10/1/11
Anyone who doesn't like Morrowind is gay and wrong.
Dazhel
Posted 10:07pm 10/1/11
morrowind 2011 compendium


Looks like it's been pulled down by angry mod authors. the wordpress site got pulled down and everything

Edit: Nevermind, it's up again here
Filefront link
Yerolo
Posted 10:34pm 10/1/11
Re the scaling, if its like Fallout 3's system it will be fine. ie The enemies in a zone are locked to the level at which you first encounter them. This will be a hell of alot better than Oblivion
demon
Posted 12:08pm 11/1/11
the 2nd time i played through oblivion i used a mod called 'oscuro's oblivion overhaul' which locked areas to certain levels rather than have any scaling. it was ok but not without probs.. sometimes an area would get a low level when you are already high level n it's a cake walk.

i used a heap of other mods too that made the gameplay a lot better... like the inventory mod & the keychain mod.
3dee
Posted 12:28pm 11/1/11
Morrowind with Oblivions graphics and the combat system (not the levelling).
cJay
Posted 09:20pm 11/1/11
Yeah Morrowind was one of those games that at a glance was pretty clunky and uninteresting however delving deeper revealed the culture and lore that this unique rpg had to offer. I recall when I 1st solved the murder in the first few quests I was so blown away with the sense of atmosphere that makes this one of the best RPG's of all time imho.


Oblivion blows..
Bah
Posted 10:00pm 11/1/11
Never got into morrowind, the load times killed it for me, open a door, wait a minute, see a room with a chair and a table, leave, repeat.
Computer just wasnt good enough at the time, too old now, cbf giving it another go really, do the mods really update it that much?
3dee
Posted 11:24pm 11/1/11
The problem with Morrowind *now* is that Oblivions just feels so much richer to play in, regardless of gameplay issues. Morrowind seems so... old. I'm hoping Skyrim is the best of both worlds. Richness in gameplay and richness in environment and graphics.
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