UESP Forums

Discuss the uesp.net site and Elder Scrolls topics.
* FAQ    * Search
* Register    * Login
It is currently Fri Apr 26, 2024 10:47 am

Loading

All times are UTC

Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 78 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:28 pm 
Offline
Layman
Layman
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:36 am
Posts: 0
ES Games: Oblivion, Morrowind
Platform: PS3
UESPoints: 0
Here is ' The Crustacean's' hands on experience from Eurogamer I'll post more if i find them.

Quote:
Given the amount of people queueing up for the demo at Eurogamer today I guess I'm surprised that I'm not seeing more reports up here!

So anyway, here's my experience. The main plan was to get a dual wieldy Dark Elf (race powers Resist Fire 50% I think, alongside ancestor guardian who I didn't think to use) over as far east as possible; Windhelm the nominal target. I wanted to visit a bookshop and see if I could pick up much of a sense of where Nord culture's going in game. I toyed with character creation briefly to up my 'body size' which was more of a sliding scale than I expected. With my new hefty build I set out.

Most of my demo was spent running at high speed avoiding bandits wherever possible. Unfortunately 20 minutes just is not enough time; I could just have made it to Whiterun which I passed by, but any further is just too far away. I couldn't even reach the next signposted settlement after Whiterun. It looks like Beth has programmed 'roadblocks' into the demo too; a handler joked whilst I was in the queue about how another player had just been mauled by 'that bear' in one of the nearest dungeons. Another guy got taken down in a Bloodmoon style ice cave dungeon (complete with mammoth skulls on the floor) by an Ice Wolf (normal wolf but bigger and clearly meaner); my own journey was ended by a bandit chief and his lightning-staff wielding female mage companion as I tried to cross a 'toll bridge fortress' (completely open, no loading screens) over a chasm with a river.

But it really didn't feel like my adventure had been in vain, even if I hadn't reached my destination and had had only one real combat. Exploration in Skyrim is simply delightful - the mountains and twisted valleys of the best of Morrowind's exteriors were mixed with the epic views and beautiful graphics of Oblivion to create probably the single best designed gameworld I've seen in some time. (Just wait til you see Whiterun looming in the distance as you run down the twisty road from Riverwood - the thing is impressively tall, actually!) The landscape definitely dictates your path, but this just means that youre left with the feeling that some exterior dev has carefully thought about what he wants to be showing you. Think of a return to the controlled chaos of Morrowind's West Gash, and goodbye to the pretty but aimless 'plains' of Oblivion. The way rocky crags and mountains obscure your view make you always keen to see 'what's just round this one more corner!'

Combat was less exciting from what I experienced as a dual weilder. I am tempted to say that even though sure you look badass, it is probably the least exciting combat style to play. Magic has really recieved a boost in customisability and strategy, but the inability to block made my attempts at combat just button mashing (to be fair I was trying to just burn through battles and keep on sprinting out east) But the inability to combine attacks with the blades outside the power attack meant that for the most part I just stuck to my RT blade anyway, and perhaps would have preferred an empty left hand with which to block.


In terms of takeaway facts from what I saw:

Watching others play there was a lot of snow, combat, Riverwood and caves to be seen. The most interesting things in fact were the loading screens which contain beautiful 3d models of characters weapons and enemies, which can be rotated and zoomed in and out. The character shots were awesome, I saw the Dunmer thief who Beth released the screenshot of, and a supremely awesome Altmer mage, looking far less rugged than the presets and in a brilliant blue robe/cowl combo, wielding a Daedric sword of some kind.

Another loading screen highlight was the dragons, apparently green-skinned dragons (which look more serpentine, with an almost amphibious headcrest) are tougher than the white- and bronze-skinned versions.

Also spotted in loading screens, the thing about Talos worship being banned, as well as some shouting guy looking remarkably like a more withered Ezio from ACRevelations, presumably a Greybeard. You can pick up powers that equate to the old Birthsigns e.g. Serpent, Apprentice, at their respective Stones. Anyone else going, loading screens would be worth paying more attention to!

A nice feature of caves is that you just walk in and out, (w/ loading screen) rather than open a door or activate anything. On dungeons my mate went into a mine with Oblivion style log rolling traps, and a Morrowind style backstory provided through scattered notes.

On reading matter, one of my biggest disappointments is that after 200 years everyone's still reading the same books! 2920, Biography of Barenziah, Black Arrow; all clearly still in heavy circulation! The only new book I saw was 'Book of the Dragonborn', whose 3d object looks much like the box of Skyrim itself. It began talking about how 'we are of course ruled by an Empire of the Dragonborn', so presumably even the new books are 200 years out of date. :P Disappointing that from what I saw, aside from Talos, the world has not moved on at all! (The loading screen on the Dunmer spoke about Red Mountain as just 'a place in Morrowind' rather than anything specific, so presumably the status quo has been restored to a degree out East.) Reading the books looks lovely though!

In someone else's game, noticed that wilderness initiated misc quests are back in, as per Morrowind. Some Nord perched on a log was injured/ill and wanted a potion to recover. The player seemed to have a bunch of response options. Along with the carefully designed exteriors, it really feels like the wilderness is going to feel like an extension of the world again, unlike Oblivion's sandbox RPG playground.

Finally, for me another slight 'really, are they taking this 200 years thing seriously' moment, but which I know might excite many here: on the road to Windhelm I met a hooded Khajiit. "M'aiq has no time for you." He is, apparently, back! I kinda hope it's just an egg for the demo given how prominently he's placed on the road and how ludicrous the idea of his continued presence in the world is, but there ya go. I'm surprised I haven't seen this mentioned before too; so, sorry if I'm late! Unfortunately I was nearing the end of my time and more concerned about storming on with my journey than sticking around to see if he had any catty comments about fan requests to make, so that's for others to try out!

Anyway, there you go, my Eurogamer experience! I could probably answer a few specific questions bit I've said the main stuff. :)

_________________
One of the two Skyrim information/compilation heroes of UESP!
Steadily maintaining my 0 post average!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:44 pm 
Offline
Apprentice
Apprentice
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2010 8:08 pm
Posts: 171
ES Games: Oblivion, Morrowind, Skyrim
Platform: PC
Status: The Truth is out there
UESPoints: 0
Glad that M'aiq is back, but not glad about the books. I was worried that there won't be many new books and now it's seems that again we will be reading about Barenziah and 2920 (which are good books, but we need new ones!). At least we have spell tomes.

_________________
Twice and twice shall he be marked, twice to live and twice to die.
Once the heron, to set his path. Twice the heron, to name him true.
Once the Dragon, for remembrance lost. Twice the Dragon, for the price he must pay.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 8:14 pm 
Offline
Modern Major General
Modern Major General
User avatar

Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:27 pm
Posts: 1709
Location: Sedn.
ES Games: Oblivn Goy, Morrwnd, Skrim
Platform: PC
Status: Buying oios or someng retad lie th.
Other Profiles: Steam: The_Nanza
UESPoints: 8
Talos worship - banned? Why?

M'aiq!! (Or his great great great great great great great grandson?)

Seems like there's gonna be a nice variety of dragons.

_________________
I made a fakémon name generator because I was bored


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 9:08 pm 
Offline
Warder
Warder
User avatar

Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:44 am
Posts: 477
UESPoints: 0
Yeah, I think M'aiq used sv_cheats 1 and god in the console.
Also, the fact that the caves don't all have doors sounds pretty cool.

_________________
it is a mystery


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 9:56 pm 
Offline
Layman
Layman

Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:47 pm
Posts: 4
ES Games: Oblivion
Platform: PS3
UESPoints: 0
I didn't play morrowind, what exactly does he mean by:

Think of a return to the controlled chaos of Morrowind's West Gash, and goodbye to the pretty but aimless 'plains' of Oblivion.


Also, I very much doubt he had enough time to see even half of the books that are in the game, I'm sure there's plenty of new ones


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:05 pm 
Offline
Journeyman
Journeyman

Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2011 12:32 am
Posts: 269
Location: Imperial City, Cyrodiil.
ES Games: Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim
Platform: PC, Xbox 360
UESPoints: 0
I am at Eurogamer on Sunday! Any requests while I'm on to try and find out stuff specifically?

_________________
Officer of the Imperial Legion. Loyal to the Mede Empire, Devoted to the Memory of the Septims!

Affiliate of the Blades. Talos guide you.

Long live the Emperor, Long Live the Empire!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:18 pm 
Offline
Initiate
Initiate
User avatar

Joined: Tue May 24, 2011 2:17 am
Posts: 39
UESPoints: 0
MathiasFlynnias wrote:
I am at Eurogamer on Sunday! Any requests while I'm on to try and find out stuff specifically?

Sweet! I would like to humbly request that you check out a city, perhaps Markarth Side? I for one have heard enough about Riverwood and caves. Whatever you do, make sure you have fun!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:20 am 
Offline
Novice
Novice
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:34 am
Posts: 87
Location: Helsinki
ES Games: Daggerfall, Morrowind GOTY, Oblivion GOTY, Skyrim (+DG)
Platform: PC
UESPoints: 0
Why does he think it's weird that people are still reading books that have been popular for a long time? :D After all the most sold (*cough*story*cough*)book in the world is like 2000 years old.

Just cause he said he only saw only one new book means nothing. I don't think Bethesda would forget that many fans adore the books and what they add to lore, they wouldn't disappoint on that front.

Also the fact that caves no longer have doors is a nice addition (or removal :D). I mean that just gives it a more wild appearance than if it looked like some kind of cavehobbit had made a home in there...


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:26 am 
Offline
Warder
Warder
User avatar

Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:44 am
Posts: 477
UESPoints: 0
MathiasFlynnias wrote:
I am at Eurogamer on Sunday! Any requests while I'm on to try and find out stuff specifically?

Look through all the skills, and write them down.
Do one quest.
Show off the magic.
Record a video of it.

_________________
it is a mystery


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 6:25 am 
Offline
Layman
Layman
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:36 am
Posts: 0
ES Games: Oblivion, Morrowind
Platform: PS3
UESPoints: 0
This from Myke013 with thanks:
Quote:
Myke013
Yesterday, 09:15 PM
OK so I just got in from the Eurogamer Expo in London where I played Skyrim (twice!) and I feel like I should share what I saw.

Crafting:
Obviously not enough play time to find out how levelling affects it but it seems simple enough. When you've selected the item you want to craft it lists the ingredients at the bottom of the screen and if you have them, you craft them. I think that you just get more recepies as you level up.

Guards and Children:
This may not prove true to the full game when it comes out but when I tried talking to a child and a Whiterun Guard they just said a random bit of dialogue and continued with their day, kind of like Megaton Settlers ect from Fallout. Although the child wasn't nameless.

Fast Travel:
You can't fast travel anywhere you haven't discovered, including major cities like in Oblivion. I managed to get a carriage from Winderhold Whiterun (the next town on from the first one you come across) to Solitude for 10g. You talk to the driver, and he says "hop on the back", and you walk round and press A to get on. It skips to the location, so no scenic cab rides like in GTAIV (D: for me, but oh well).

Weapons:
Equipping pick axes is back. Hopefully this means more less obvious weapons can be wielded so. I wailed on a dude with a pickaxe for a good 2 mintues towards the end of my first demo. The game crashed at that point, which one of the Bethesda guys said had only happened once before today (I was in about an hour and a half after doors opened for early entry) and that it seems to only be a problem with the old Xbox using this build. He said it should be fine on Elite and the new one.

Settings:
I found the default camera sensitivity to be a little heavy and slow, but just turning the senstivity up solved that well enough. You can disable floating icons in the settings. There is no difficulty slider, instead there are something like 5 options. I know the first and last where Novice and Master, respectively but I can't remember what the intbetweeners where.

If people are still annoyed that there is no paper doll (or whatever) in the inventory menu, switching to third person and rotating the camera (no longer need to hold the change view button down to view yourself from the front as long as you aren't moving) and then opening the inventory is a really easy way round it.

Combat:
Speaking of difficulty, I found is better this time around, in my opinion. I the default difficulty for the demo was the easiest one, so I thought I'd try it. The combat still took a few swings to kill an armed opponent, so I think the harder difficulties will be quite challenging. It seems less of "give 'em more health, and make 'em hit harder" more of an actual improvement on the combat AI.

I tried holding a shield in my right hand and a weapon in my left, but sadly I wasn't able to. I didn't find an option to enable left handed...ness in the menus so I think this is something that might have to be covered by mods for those who want it.

Futher notes:
While in Solitude I witnessed an execution. Someone was being beheaded. I decided I'd go up to the guard to find out what was happening but when I got onto the stage he started yelling something at me, so I drew my sword and all hell broke loose. I managed to see the executioner chop the guys head off before the fight really started and theres a decent amount of blood splatter from it for all you gore fans.

I hope some of this is new for you guys, and apologise if I'm just listing off stuff that's already been covered.

I might come back and add some more if I remember. I'm giddy and tired now, so I'm finding it hard to remember all the details.

EDIT: I keep trying to edit this for mistakes but I'm constantly being logged out, so a few might still be in it when you read.
This post has been edited by Myke013: Yesterday, 09:36 PM

_________________
One of the two Skyrim information/compilation heroes of UESP!
Steadily maintaining my 0 post average!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 6:33 am 
Offline
Journeyman
Journeyman
User avatar

Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:27 am
Posts: 250
Location: Colorado
ES Games: Oblivion, Morrowind, Shivering Isles, KotN, Skyrim
Platform: PC, Xbox
UESPoints: 0
So executions, more complicated dressing if one is dressing for appearances, better difficulty settings, unexpected weaponry, and simple crafting...
With the exception of the second item, this sounds pretty darn good to me. I didn't really understand the FO3 reference, so I'm skipping over that.

_________________
To see the world in a grain of sand
And heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.


Proud Owner of Skyrim


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 8:15 am 
Offline
Modern Major General
Modern Major General
User avatar

Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:27 pm
Posts: 1709
Location: Sedn.
ES Games: Oblivn Goy, Morrwnd, Skrim
Platform: PC
Status: Buying oios or someng retad lie th.
Other Profiles: Steam: The_Nanza
UESPoints: 8
I'm hoping you can hit people in the face with shovels.

_________________
I made a fakémon name generator because I was bored


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:13 am 
Offline
Master
Master
User avatar

Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:48 pm
Posts: 1080
Location: UK
ES Games: Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Online
Platform: PC
UESPoints: 0
Damn you over 18 people. I'll be at Eurogamer tomorrow and I can't play it. Ludicrous. Still, I'll mention anything that does happen.

_________________
"All right people, we created this multi-billion dollar facility under Cheyenne Mountain so that we can use this thing. Anyone know how?"


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:35 am 
Offline
Modern Major General
Modern Major General
User avatar

Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:27 pm
Posts: 1709
Location: Sedn.
ES Games: Oblivn Goy, Morrwnd, Skrim
Platform: PC
Status: Buying oios or someng retad lie th.
Other Profiles: Steam: The_Nanza
UESPoints: 8
Note to future Skyrim-playing self: go towards Windhelm and find M'aiq.

_________________
I made a fakémon name generator because I was bored


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:49 am 
Offline
Associate
Associate

Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 8:58 am
Posts: 24
UESPoints: 0
There's over 300 books in the game. How many did this guy read? Like three?

They are doing like with oblivion and bringing some old books back into the game, but then adding new books on top of that. How many books were in oblivion?

_________________
Not changing this until Skyrim comes out, and even then, I'll probably be too busy... playing Skyrim...


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:50 am 
Offline
Associate
Associate

Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 8:58 am
Posts: 24
UESPoints: 0
There's over 300 books in the game. How many did this guy read? Like three?

They are doing like with oblivion and bringing some old books back into the game, but then adding new books on top of that. How many books were in oblivion?

_________________
Not changing this until Skyrim comes out, and even then, I'll probably be too busy... playing Skyrim...


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:55 am 
Offline
Modern Major General
Modern Major General
User avatar

Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:27 pm
Posts: 1709
Location: Sedn.
ES Games: Oblivn Goy, Morrwnd, Skrim
Platform: PC
Status: Buying oios or someng retad lie th.
Other Profiles: Steam: The_Nanza
UESPoints: 8
I think I read somewhere that about half of those 300 are new books.

_________________
I made a fakémon name generator because I was bored


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:08 am 
Offline
Goatmom/Moderator
Goatmom/Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2011 9:58 pm
Posts: 1650
Location: Where the beats never end
UESPoints: 88
The first person doesn't seem to be thinking too critically :P

His points on books are invalid. He only read 3 of 300. The book that didn't seem to "take 200 years into account" could have been written at any time and no one knows if the Mede's are Dragon born anyway.

_________________
Boss makes a dollar
I make a dime
That's why I'm forum posting
On company time


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 11:03 am 
Offline
Journeyman
Journeyman

Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2011 12:32 am
Posts: 269
Location: Imperial City, Cyrodiil.
ES Games: Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim
Platform: PC, Xbox 360
UESPoints: 0
Dracomagne wrote:
MathiasFlynnias wrote:
I am at Eurogamer on Sunday! Any requests while I'm on to try and find out stuff specifically?

Sweet! I would like to humbly request that you check out a city, perhaps Markarth Side? I for one have heard enough about Riverwood and caves. Whatever you do, make sure you have fun!


I'll try my best, been wanting to do that myself.

_________________
Officer of the Imperial Legion. Loyal to the Mede Empire, Devoted to the Memory of the Septims!

Affiliate of the Blades. Talos guide you.

Long live the Emperor, Long Live the Empire!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 2:52 pm 
Offline
Layman
Layman
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:36 am
Posts: 0
ES Games: Oblivion, Morrowind
Platform: PS3
UESPoints: 0
Another on this one is from SammiiDoogles. Its pretty long!

Quote:
I was at Eurogamer yesterday, had a great day and tried a lot of stuff - no matter where I went and what I tried though, I always found myself coming back to Skyrim. Three times I queued up to play that game, THREE TIMES! It's certainly addicting.

The way the lines were set up, is everyone queued around the booths (4 rows of about 12 60" screens) so as you waited you could clearly see how everyone else played and what everyone else got up to. I wrote down some notes on my phone while waiting and then on the train home jotted some more down so I wouldn't forget, so as I could make this thread.

These points are made up of things I both played and saw other players do:

While waiting I saw one player break into a house and on one of the counters was a book, when the player approached the book it had the option "Press A to forge business numbers" - part of a quest?
Sometimes, the last kill in a group may trigger a slo-mo kill cam, similar to the kill cam in Fallout where the camera focuses on the dying enemy.
Whiterun is gorgeous, lots of fountains and pools.
Akatosh and Talos have these tiny shrines found around the provice, they appear to be portable shrines or something that followers carry around with them.
Found some Thalmor Soldiers - clad in some very cool black armour.
'40 bounty added to Falkreath' from attacking Imerial Solider, 1000 for killing him.
Underwater is a lot like Fallout, but worse to be honest. You know how in Fallout you can rest the camer directly on water level and see everything clear as day underwater, but if you go under there's a green tint? Exactly like that in this; although the shift is actually more noticeable, that 'clear as day' thing is visible every single time you dive, looks incredibly ugly - I just hope thats one thing they're workig on still. On the surface the water looks good, but the ripples are the exact same as in Fallout. At one point I also saw the 'shimmering' from the sun pop in on the water, as though it's a texture.
Saw a cool takedown where Dovahkiin shield bashes someone, which puts them on their back foot, then impales them with the sword (Third person).
I watched one play walk up to a deer in the wilderness, the player got out his axe and hacked at it's face; the deer did absolutely nothing and stood there until it died. Similarly another player cast a flamethrower on a chicken in Riverwood which did nothing until it flopped down dead.
Physics are similar to Oblivion, on player was shooting arrows at a cart full of cabbages and each one went flying with each shot, easily flying higher than the surrounding buildings (Riverwood).
Nords have something called Battlecry which makes enemies flee.
Sleeping in a bed gives you rested, sleeping in a player owned bed gives you well rested.
Argonians have something called ____ Hist King (Sorry, terrible with names - it was something about the Hist King, it's a racial power like the Nords Battlecry) - it allows them to regenerate health quickly.
Double handed flamethrower is beyond awesome, easily the most powerful thing in the demo - wiped out a trio of bandits in seconds.
Stumbled upon a small funeral ceremony going on in a tiny, isolated graveyard in the woods. Was being held by a Priest of Arkay.
No Dragons in the demo. Bethesda staff said it's because they would totally destroy any unexperienced player, and the only reason Todd could handle it was because he had a really souped up character.
Some NPC's are just generic race NPC's - found a few called just 'Imperial' etc.
Fighting a Necromancer; he summoned a magical shield that covered his front - while this shield was up he was still able to cast magic and attack.
Rotating pillar puzzle in a cave, similar to the one later on in Uncharted 2.
Mentioned in one load screen are Penitus Oculatos; they are the organization protecting the emperor, the Blades have long been disbanded.
The Oblivion crisis is mentioned on a load screen, when mentioning Mehrunes Dagon; Daedric Prince of Destruction.
When standing on a high up rock, I noticed that models in the distance are very low poly and the ground had very noticable repeated textures.
Some screen tearing present.
The demo actually locked up on me once, I was attacking some people in an inn; as I turned to get out the door, I was stuck in an infinite load loop and a Bethesda staff member had to reset the console.
Some very random framerate drops, saw one player walking for like 20 seconds at what looked like 5fps.
Demo was running at 1080p according one Beth staff member.
Found a small cottage belonging to an old woman living alone in the middle of nowhere, I killed her and was able to sleep in her bed. Waking up gave me 'rested', a golden aura swirled around Dovahkiin upon awaking, like a cross between absorbing a dragon soul and something out of Dragon Ball Z. Sparkles too.
There's a Bosmer Archer in Riverwood who will train you in Archery.
Caves are a lot more complex, with multiple levels and paths. One I found had several bridges lowered with levers and the whole place was being patrolled by Bandits, perfectly set up for stealth or archery.
Stealth is actually a lot better than seen in the demo when the NPC's are given a couple seconds to react. Two Bandits in a cave, one walking down the same pathway as me, facing away, and another walking along an adjacent catwalk above but further back. Shot at the one on the first floor, missed - the eye opened slightly, #1 shouted what was that, then #2 shouted down asking what the problem was? #2 ran down and #1 ran up, so they met eachother halfway and then stuck together, checking the place out and investigating the area the arrow came from with weapons drawn, the eye opening slightly.
Mountains, sadly, DO guide the player. On my first play, I tried to turn around and head back past the start point and head North East - hit a bunch of unclimbable rocks and tried pushing around them. Before I knew it, I was entering Riverwood from the back on accident; totally unintentionally.
Magic is bought as 'Spell Tome' books; each has a different model/cover (each school does at least, didn't see enough to know for sure).
Potions have different bottles; Red = Health, Blue = Magicka, Green = Stamina. Posions are the same, but with a tattered white label around them; eg. Poision of damage fatigue is green for example. Not sure about any other types outside of hurt health, magicka and stamina.
Alchemy Stations, Forges, Anvils and workbenches all play a canned animation of Dovahkiin working while a menu overlays with what you can make and what you need to make it. The animation of Dovahkiin working plays even if you're not making anything/have no ingredients. Quite dissapointing.
Wood mill; take a log from the pile (same animation for Dovahkiin as the dude seen doing it in the demo), when its on the track, pull the lever to the right and it moves down the track to the now moving saw, which slices it in half and it falls off the back onto a log pile; not sure what you do with it from there, there was a 'Press A: Activate' on the cut log, but pressing it told me there is no log in the mill.
As mentioned before; doors do animate when you open them - nice touch, looks a lot better.
The load screens are cool, but long. One cool one featured a very muscular Orc who had no upper body armour whatsoever and was covered in blood, screaming at the screen (looked like a battlecry or something).
Daedric sword seen in a load screen is bad ass.
Giants are relatively hard to kill, high HP.
Group of mercinaries/soldiers attacking a Giant. They had a cool name but I don't remember it is (sorry, I'm terrible with names. I just know it wasn't storm cloak). Offered me to join when I helped them kill the giant, "we'll take our offer elsewhere then..." she said as I pressed B and walked off without answering.
Quite a lot of people found that Black Hand door.
Broken Tusk Keep is an abandoned fort, housing Bandits - seems like some sort of safehouse.
Paying the fine to guards immediately throws you into a load screen and you then appear in "Dragon____" (Another name I forgot, Dragonclaw Hall? something along those lines) - it seemed like a courthouse or something, grand, high ceilings and big pillars. Didn't get to check it out though as this happened when I was told time was up.
Death is like fallout, you fall down dead in 3rd person slomo.
Horses are super hard to control, seemed like the left and right stick control the direction? I couldn't keep it straight at all. Maybe I just need to get used to it, but it's definitely not like RDR where you can hop on and you're used to it pretty easily. The sprint button is gallop for the horse.
Menus can be tricky to navigate without learning them first. Pressing B brings up the '4 point menu' - pressing left takes you to Magic, if you want to go back you can't press B as that just closes the whole menu and puts you back in game. To go back you have to press left again (the menu pushes right, on the left side, so pressing left is like pushing it back if that makes sense). This sounds relatively simple, but it's then entirely flipped for the other side, so it can be a bit clunky to navigate.
The Map goes very slightly darker when used at night, not by too much though. The local map is just like in Oblivion but it's now white on black.
Nightime actually felt safer than daytime, less animal enemies.
Killed a shopkeeper, went into a nearby inn (sword was still drawn), everyone inside attacked me - calling me a murderer. So I guess it was less about the drawn sword, and more about the murder they somehow know about from next door.
Weight slider affects muscle, not fat. Empty makes you super skinny, and full makes you quite stocky but very muscular.
Some awful, murky textures. Some slow texture load in the inventory, eg; bringing up a shield and it didn't have the fully loaded texture, the texture didn't load until it had been equipped and in gameplay for a couple seconds.
Didn't really have time to memorize perk trees, saw some of Destruction though and it was mostly stuff like "25% more damage from fire attacks", same for ice etc.
Bought summon zombie spell tome from a shopkeeper in Riverwood, didn't have enough Magic to use it though. He recommended I go to the College of Winterhold to learn some better spells; put the marker on my map.
The Swimming animation is the same as Fallout it seems.
'Studded' armour type at forge, along with Iron, Fur, Hide and Leather.
Most common races were easily Orcs and Nord. Encountered no Argonians or Dunmer.
Stamina runs out very fast when sprintng, slow to regenerate. It was quite annoying at first, but I guess it's why it needs to be levelled. I think Stamina is going to be a LOT more important this time around for those who want to travel on foot.
No light rays ('god rays') through trees or anything like that.
Slight delay when navigating perk tree - it's as though you have to wait for the 'camera' to follow where you want to go and need to drag it along. Moving around close by perks is pretty slow, but if you hold it down and want to move to 3 or 4 trees away its pretty fast and smooth. Good for moving across trees quickly, just not so good at moving within one tree.
Random Encounter: Young woman lost in the woods near Riverwood, asked me to help her find her way/escort her back to Riverwood. I was running out of time though so I just whacked her in the face with my sword, I predict it was likely an ambush though as there's a Bandit camp pretty close by.
Lockpicking works exactly like in Fallout 3, but is more difficult at lower levels. You can attempt any level lock at any level as in Oblivion, but it will be nigh on impossible. I tried an expert lock with a lockpicking skill of 1, even the slightest pressure snapped the pick so it was pretty impossible to find that 'sweet spot' unlike FO which gives you a lot of lenience to find the spot. Clearly this is a way of giving lower level players the option to try it, but making it hard enough that they'll still need to level the skill up - unlike oblivion where you could just be good at the minigame and cruise by.
Boots of Quickfoot in the inventory
Dogs can be 'talked to', they just bark and paint.
Kids are just like Fallout, couldn't find any beast kids - only found the 2 Nord kids in Riverwood.
People sometimes flee when you draw your sword.
Some similar racial effects as past games, Nords resist frost for example. Argonians no longer have water breathing it seems though, which is explained by this next point...
From what I could tell, there's no oxygen meter underwater. I was playing a Nord and was exporing underwater for a while (1 minute+) and suddenly realized there was no meter on screen and nothing had depleted (ie health, stamina). Dovahkiin gasped loudly when returning to the surface.
Spriggans are cool now, they have these tree like roots growing all over them, forming some sort of armour - very weak to fire.
Necromancers have some cool spells; one had something that looked like ice bullets and fired pretty rapidly, another had some red/blue/purple lighting attack.
Relatively generous when you fall from height. Jumped from some rocks that would kill you in Oblivion, but did no damage here.
Strange animal AI - saw someone attack an elk and it just fled and ran into the sea.
Food all had weight so I guess this was a relatively recent build.
The majority of finishing moves that I saw remain in first person.
Khajiit and Argonians run/move exactly the same as human race. Great body models though, look great in person. The people queueing loved them, heard a lot of people commenting on how good they look.
Could not enter Whiterun when in combat with the guards outside. Needed a key. I assume you can enter on peaceful terms and come and go as you please. or kill a guard for the key if not. Sort of like the Vegas strip in NV, except you don't need to pay for the peaceful option.
Load screens mention the Oblivion crisis, lyrics to the song of the night mother, the emporor and the baldes and general lore and tidbits - not many gameplay tips.
Compass is pretty bad, cluttered and unclear to use - icons are way too big.
Quest journal is now in the pause menu, no longer in the menu accessed by O/B/Tab.
Not sure how to check stats like bounty, days passed, people killed etc - or if you even can do so.
Console can remap buttons as usual.
Encountered a bug where every button made me dismount the horse.
You can still climb by just tapping jump.
Hold the shield up then press the attack button to shield bash.
The button for the empty hand (with sword in the other) blocks with the sword.
Third person was actually the preffered view for a lot of people - it's very easy to use and probably the best improvement of the game so far.
Speech still locks you in, just not the whole zoomed up to their face thing from before. Press B and you 'unlock' - they continue to speak and you can move freely but you don't have any speech options on screen anymore, press on them again before they finish speaking and you lock back on and your options come back on screen.
Player walks around with their hands cuffed in front of them in the prison.
You level fast: Saw someone get 3/4 of the way through level 3 during the 15 min demo.
Saw 3 different wood mills across peoples playthroughs, all looked identical.
Feels more like Oblivion than Morrowind, but more 'weighty'
Saw a really cool helmet on a load screen, made from either varying sized tusks, varying sized fangs/teeth or sharpened bone. I'm guessing 'bone helm' or something. It had one 'tusk' running down the centre, guarding the nose, then two tusks either side of the face, running along the cheek/jawline. The back of the helm was then made up from the tusks laid next to eachother. Coolest helm so far.
Money can be found as single coins or as coin purses which you pick up (as opposed to searching them) - saw them come in variants of 10, 15, 20 and 25 septims.
Tried rolling, don't think it's possible unless there's a perk I missed.
Hanging Moss, Lavender and thistle are alchemy ingredients I found - works just like fallout, press on them, hear a 'picking' sound and the flowers are gone from the world and added to your inventory.
Elven bow looks gorgeous.
Found something classed as a ruin - was a dusty hollow dome like structure, looked like something you'd find in Vvardenfell - forest had grown around it and overgrown it entirely - inhabited by a dead adventurer a lone Spriggan.
Saw a cool sword on a loading screen, looked like some sort of Scimitar.
NPCs converse a lot more naturally now, with full animations and gestures.
Some pretty bad pop-in - saw the water wheel in Riverwood load in completely when I stood next to it. Also shows that water isn't dynamic, it's animated around the wheel.
Another enemy type I read about in a load screen, some form of undead lich type creatures which use masks blessed with different magical properties - it showed a picture of what looked like a shrine to them, with their masks all over


Overall, I really enjoyed my time with the game and I want to go back for more. There's some definite polish needed to be done, but it was great fun. Can't wait for 11-11-11.

_________________
One of the two Skyrim information/compilation heroes of UESP!
Steadily maintaining my 0 post average!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:04 pm 
Offline
Master
Master
User avatar

Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:48 pm
Posts: 1080
Location: UK
ES Games: Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Online
Platform: PC
UESPoints: 0
Turns out Skyrim isn't 18+ any more.

I'll let you know how it plays.

_________________
"All right people, we created this multi-billion dollar facility under Cheyenne Mountain so that we can use this thing. Anyone know how?"


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:09 pm 
Offline
Layman
Layman

Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2011 8:52 pm
Posts: 6
ES Games: Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion
Platform: PC
UESPoints: 0
Argonanza wrote:
Talos worship - banned? Why?


I admit that I haven't read the Greg Keyes book, but I understand that 200 years after Oblivion, the empire is no longer ruled by the Septims (the descendants of Talos/Tiber Septim). I guess whoever rules the empire now might want to suppress the worship of Talos because such worship might undermine their legitimacy as rulers (also, the Talos cult was implicated in various plots to overthrow the emperor even when the emperor was a Septim - there was a quest based on this in Morrowind). From the wiki: "The Talos Cult is a group of worshippers of the great Tiber Septim, founder of the Empire ... They have many followers in the Legions, conspiring to assassinate whoever the current emperor may be and replace him, so to prevent the Empire's decline."

To speculate further, I suspect that the lack of a Dragonborn emperor might be a significant part of the plot in Skyrim. Apparently, the only thing that can stop Alduin is a Dragonborn, and the only Dragonborn left is your character. Past emperors would all have been Dragonborn by virtue of their descent from Tiber Septim and would have been able to defend their empire from the dragon threat directly, but I guess the current emperor is unable to do so. I wonder how the Talos cult would respond to some guy turning up with Dragonborn powers, single-handedly saving Tamriel from destruction while the emperor sits there doing nothing? If I was the emperor, I'd be worried and I'd probably want to crack down on the Talos cult and maybe eliminate this dangerous new rival, even if he/she is the only one who can save the world...


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:22 pm 
Offline
Layman
Layman
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:36 am
Posts: 0
ES Games: Oblivion, Morrowind
Platform: PS3
UESPoints: 0
And here is another thanks to Breakpoint.
Quote:
I presume you'll all have already watched the gametrailers Hd footage, as have i! So i decided to go off the beaten track as much as possible... not following the path towards the tall mountain, where in Todd's run through you encounter two guards at a tower (as he get off the horse).. after passing through the first little village and crossing the bridge i went right over some mountain outcrop, hugging the falling surface i ended up in a huge field area with a massive city in the far distance... the draw distance of the foreground ie grass and small details is slightly further than Oblivion... the draw distance for the far stuff seems around the same if not a little further!

On my second play through i went left straight away and managed to find a dense forest, gone are over-the-top disney greens which have been replaced for a more natural look, i found a camp with some bandits, the fur pelts covering their tent looked very realistic, i then came across a burned out cart, i didnt notice many people or animals in the forest, but again i decided to avoid everything i have seen before... (i think the demo was structured, rather than i am playing a build of the full game)

The water is beautiful... very natural looking and i managed to catch a salmon with my barehands (who needs a rod)... going underwater the near area is crystal clear which grades out nicely to the farther distance which is a murky colour and losses detail, which seems pretty realistic to me... the only negative was the swim animation was just as bad as Oblivion (although this might be better for the release)

Running is done with left bumper and soon degrades your stamina (fatigue), i noticed i could not jump whilst using the left bumper run, the 3rd person view looks much better than Oblivion (but i will still never use it)

The final fatal attack sequence doesn't happen all the time and in my 2x 20 minute sessions it happened twice, the second time was very impressive using the shield to pin the wolf to the left and then sword stuck into it's side... very nice.

The character detail was brilliant, glad to see that the cartoon look has been dropped, the dark elves and orcs look dark and sinister...

I noticed two very bad things... when i went miles away from where i guess they expect you to go the, it must of loaded stuff in the cache memory as the frame dropped heavily and there was some light screen tearing at a few places (i guessing its because it was pre-beta)

Stole a horse, right stick only re-centres the 3rd person view

You can catch butterflies... and no i am not joking...

When you look up when standing below trees and spin around, you dont get a spiralling effect like in Oblivion it looks much better

The loading time was long, but the 3d objects placed on the screen can be rotated and zoomed in and out of... one being a map which i zoomed in so much that it went blurred out

Overall the game looks fantastic, the sound and music are great and having spent over 300 hours playing Oblivion, i was not disappointed... The three friends that were with me werent massive elderscrolls fans (although one of them has done the MQ, All Guild quests, SI and KotN) all three were impressed and will buy Skyrim on release day

Quite tired, so i have probably forgotten a lot

Please feel free to ask questions

PS.. Trust me your going to LOVE it....
This post has been edited by breakpoint: Today, 04:18 PM

_________________
One of the two Skyrim information/compilation heroes of UESP!
Steadily maintaining my 0 post average!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:30 pm 
Offline
Modern Major General
Modern Major General
User avatar

Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:27 pm
Posts: 1709
Location: Sedn.
ES Games: Oblivn Goy, Morrwnd, Skrim
Platform: PC
Status: Buying oios or someng retad lie th.
Other Profiles: Steam: The_Nanza
UESPoints: 8
So we've got one guy who thinks the water looks great and another one who thinks it's bad. WHAT DO?

_________________
I made a fakémon name generator because I was bored


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Hands on at Eurogamer.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:54 pm 
Offline
Journeyman
Journeyman
User avatar

Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:27 am
Posts: 250
Location: Colorado
ES Games: Oblivion, Morrowind, Shivering Isles, KotN, Skyrim
Platform: PC, Xbox
UESPoints: 0
Ah yes, the wonders of opinion.

_________________
To see the world in a grain of sand
And heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.


Proud Owner of Skyrim


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 78 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next

All times are UTC


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  

Sponsored Links

Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group