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Post by Steve Farrelly @ 09:39am 13/12/11 | 22 Comments
There's no secret Bethesda are planning some hefty DLC (downloadable content) for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - game director Todd Howard told us, first and foremost, in our very own E3 interview earlier this year.

But in recent comments made to Joystiq, Howard expressed that the inevitable content would not just expand the game, it would "improve it".

"So we're going through ideas right now, and processing everything people are doing in the game," he told the site. "And [we're] trying to think of ways that we can improve it. [We are looking at] ways to make the game better, not just have more, because the game is so big."

"We [Bethesda] don't have a timetable. They won't be quick, and they'll have a lot of meat on them," he said.

Interestingly, it looks like the team has been following the internet explosion of memes, videos and gameplay glitches the community is finding (and exploiting), with the baskets on heads stuff being chief among them.

"I think our favourite really is putting the buckets on the heads," Howard told Joystiq. "It was, like, day two, and we went, what? Do we fix that? Our lead programmer is pissed and wants to fix it, and I said I'm not sure we should. That's one of those where maybe we leave it in."



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Latest Comments
Scooter
Posted 09:44am 13/12/11
They could improve it by making Melee combat actually interesting.
I know they probably have stats for weapon skill levels etc, I wonder if they have time spent in the different forms of combat.
kirkoswald
Posted 09:49am 13/12/11
I agree, i wish the combat system was a little more skillful
demon
Posted 09:51am 13/12/11
i rekn skyrim needs some underwater monsters! the slaughterfish is kinda lame... it's aggressive enough but it's pretty weak. i was exploring the north shore of skyrim where the water is really deep with awesome realistic icebergs... but no sharks or tentacled horrors of the deep?!?

though tbh i am not that keen for skyrim dlc. the game content level is already awesome & i don't like the idea of paid dlc. it just seems like a way to drag more cash outta their customers. i'm also fine with most of the gameplay bugs... leave em in.
scuzzy
Posted 09:53am 13/12/11
But how could you get any better than this?!

Eorl
Posted 10:09am 13/12/11
Demon, if DLC is done right, and it's a massive amount of content for a good price, I'm all for it. And knowing that we will be getting modders giving their own version as well, I'm more then happy with Bethesda's model.
orbitor
Posted 10:14am 13/12/11
I love so many of the bugs and glitches in skyrim. I'm glad they didn't get everything right :)
3dee
Posted 10:16am 13/12/11
Improve the UI, IMHO.


  • Use the entire height of the screen for menu items.

  • Show which apparel "slots" are filled on a character. It's a bit of guesswork to know you're completely decked out, with amulets and all that.

  • Fix the issues with the menu hover/clicking and the mouse.

  • Do something about the Favourites, or even just add number assignments.

  • Give the shop keepers more freakin' gold.

Deemsee
Posted 10:21am 13/12/11
An AC style combat system (in first person) would be kewl...big ask for programmers though.
deus
Posted 10:22am 13/12/11
@ 3dee, you can assign numbers to favourites, but it is a bit clunky, and I've read about people haing issues with it, though I haven't.

The rest is spot on, before DLC, improve the UI!
Dazhel
Posted 10:28am 13/12/11
It's not a TES game without a plethora of crazy bugs and glitches.

btw, I didn't want to bump the review thread again for this because it's already huge:
I finished the thieves guild quest line last night and it was bloody awesome. Highly recommended, after the mild disappointment that was the college of winterhold quest line.

Edit:
All good points 3dee, though even if they had more there's really nothing to spend gold on apart from houses. I used to sell stuff, but I've got 50,000 gold anyway so now I just chuck it all in the chest at Breezehome in case I want it later and then continue on.
Also:
Show which apparel "slots" are filled on a character.

Heh, yeah a couple of times I've accidentally forgot to re-equip armor when shuffling the inventory around and it's not until I go into 3rd person view 2 hrs later that I realise I've screwed up.
Eorl
Posted 10:30am 13/12/11
I don't see the huge concern for the UI, but maybe that's because I've just gotten use to it. It all made sense to me upon release, I can tell what I have equipped by the lovely little white filled arrow to the left of the item. I favourite things with F, then press Q to go into quick menu, and press a number to assign to an item. Not THAT hard.
demon
Posted 11:47am 13/12/11
Demon, if DLC is done right, and it's a massive amount of content for a good price, I'm all for it.

yeh that's cool. i am sure there are ppl it works for.

i agree with all 3dee's points except the number assignment for favourites.. as deus says it's already there. also it doesn't bother me that storekeeps don't have huge cash... what do you need heaps of gold for? i got like 24k gold & dunno what to do with it :p

other improvements to the ui that i would like are :-
* "sort by" fields in your inventory like oblivion had so you can see exactly what is weighing you down by sorting the inventory by weight.
* drop all of one inventory type... so i can pick up all my alchemy ingredients... do my alchemy & then drop all the ingredient back into my satchel when finished.
* stop your followers from ALWAYS getting between me & the enemies... it's like they either want to get in there & have me shoot them in the back or they stand right behind me & shoot me in the back. !@$
* need to be able to rename potions that aren't single effect.
* stop a tap on the fire button from firing an undrawn arrow when holding a bow. a button tap should draw the arrow & hold & another tap to release.
DeadlyDav0
Posted 10:53am 13/12/11
DLC (downloadable content)

lol. Pretty sad if we dont know what DLC stands for by now.
orbitor
Posted 10:55am 13/12/11
man i'm level 33 and haven't even been to winterhold or riften yet!
carson
Posted 10:58am 13/12/11
Mounted combat.
3dee
Posted 11:07am 13/12/11
I don't see the huge concern for the UI

It's more just the lack of PCification. In other words, the mouse doesn't work well in the menus. I always have to scroll to see the items despite the fact that 2/3rds of the screen above is empty. Sometimes the mouse doesn't hover over menu items properly and clicking dialogue options is buggy.
Outlaw
Posted 11:22am 13/12/11
So they'll make it playable on ps3 now? fps are horrid :(
Eorl
Posted 11:38am 13/12/11
Ahh, see I just use WASD and E in menus. More fluid and a lot quicker.
Nathan
Posted 11:48am 13/12/11
The UI in terms of its functionality is s*** regardless of whether you're on console or not. I'm happy enough using WASD to navigate but they're just missing really basic functionality that seemingly every other RPG has.


Give the shop keepers more freakin' gold.
Maybe, but what for? I've got $20k now and nothing to do with it. Only reasonable use I can see for a large amount of cahs is spending it on the trainers.

I find it easier now to think of the shops as a bartering system with gold just there to faciliate the transaction. Give some buy a bunch of junk I dont want, take soul gems or health potions or whatever it is I do want.
slamma
Posted 02:14pm 13/12/11
dunno why but skyrim was running well till the auto updates now my mouse is f**** well f**ed.have turned down mouse response to zero and adjusted the setting in set point,but nothing seems to work.mouse is controlling like it set on 2 million dps??only but only in skyrim
Dazhel
Posted 02:27pm 13/12/11
i agree with all 3dee's points except the number assignment for favourites.. as deus says it's already there.
It's already there but it's a bit clunky. Switching between dual wield, single wield + shield & spells always feels like it's a juggling act.

"sort by" fields in your inventory like oblivion had so you can see exactly what is weighing you down

Heh, yep. I reckon at one stage I had about 70% of my inventory in stolen potions at once stage until I realised why I was overloaded I cleared it out.
demon
Posted 03:19pm 13/12/11
It's already there but it's a bit clunky. Switching between dual wield, single wield + shield & spells always feels like it's a juggling act.

ahh yeh good point. getting the right spells in the right hand is sometimes like playing a short keyboard tune for me :p
Heh, yep. I reckon at one stage I had about 70% of my inventory in stolen potions at once stage until I realised why I was overloaded I cleared it out.

i always overlook my ingredients list coz surely they won't weigh much right!? i was once weighed down with about 50 crab chitins, bear claws & other heavy ingredients :(

oh yeah i forgot about trainers... gonna save my ca$h for high level training :D
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