PC Gamer DEC info

[River]

Quite a lot here with thanks to Daegor:

I just received my digital copy of PC Gamer - December 2011. I am going to read through and post anything interesting or new.

What I am excited about the most is they played Skyrim on this system:
Core i7-980X
6GB RAM
GTX 470 @ 1680x1050
7,200RPM drive

Updates start here...

PC UI
F is default key bound to "favorite" an item
There is apparently a sub-menu called favorites that opens when he does this (PC only?)
Send potions, spells, armor to favorites menu, then keybind those to the number keys
Autosave game intervals from 5-15 minutes


Sound
With 5.1 the sound was amazing
Dynamic music system. It doesn't just play all the time like Oblivion. It'll sleep for a bit, and then you do something important and it'll ramp-up


Graphical
Trees and wildlife look near photorealistic
Rocks and vegetation poke up through crystalized earth with little aliasing
Entering caves/dungeons takes seconds on a 7,200RPM drive
Performance is impressive on an old build


Gameplay
Female Nord with broken nose and jagged scars and war paint
Attempted to ignore the main path
Saw courier coming up the path, decides to kill him
Wanted to use dual-Flame, but since it's the first perk he couldn't use it
Without the perk there are two separate streams of fire that drains his mana completely
Draining all mana with a dual-Flame attack did not kill the courier (must be higher level)
Switched to longsword and iron axe, held both mouse buttons down to execute the fleeing courier with scissor-like finishing move
"You can also do a quick attack with both hands if you hold both buttons down and have enough stamina to do what we call a 'blender move'" - Todd Howard "Looks really cool in 3rd person too."
Heavy armor and sprinting resulted in a really fast empty stamina bar. Todd told him light armor or robes would help with that.
Stumbles on a pack of wolves attacking a dog
He equips longsword plus a shield he found from the dead courier above
Shield bashes and sword swings feel wonderful combined
While he's attacking the wolves one or two of them begin to flank him
By saving the dog from this attack he is able to have him as a companion! The dog had been following him, so he was curious and attempted to talk to him and the companion menu popped up. He could not use the dog to carry items though.
Possible Companion options:
Go attack guard
Go open this door
Go look in that
Go steal this thing

They won't always do what you ask due to their AI (e.g. asking a Priest to steal items)
Finds a crafting station in an abandoned camp. It's an animal hide stretched out between wooden rods. This one could be used to make leather strips.
Creatures generally get harder as you get higher into the mountains
He kills more wolves. Once dead his dog sniffs around their corpses
Enters a cave and can tell someone is there. Goes into sneak mode and his dog also sneaks! (or attempts to anyway)
Your companion can be detected through stealth, but you can succeed, and only they will be attacked
Cave is inhabited by vampires
Stealth bow shot at 10x damage does not take the first vampire down. He shouts panicked to his vampire buddy, but PC was still in stealth. Second arrow takes him down. But now 2nd vampire spots him. Vampire casts drain life and PC is afflicted with vampire disease. Needs to find a cure or turn into vampire.
"This is not where I expected you to be." - Todd
He attempts to jump down the mountain which results in two deaths.
Runs into a traveling pack of Monks, the Vigilants of Stendarr, and they heal him of the vampirism.
Travels to Falkreath and "harasses a local bard, operates a saw mill, stabs an insulting gate guard, attempts to steal a cache of magical staves (has to reload after getting clubbed to death for that one), attends a graveside service, sells loot, [&@%!] off the town Arl and then heads to a pub."


Screenshots
Most of them are the same things we've seen before. But the main article image is a PC in a brown robe dual-wielding a Flame spell and a dagger. He's torching a saber-tooth tiger. The tiger is a yellowish-brown, bearing its teeth, on its hind legs about to pounce the PC. It is large, the size of a bear, and a bit shaggy. Hard to see everything due to the flame spell that has enveloped it. It's hind legs are on fire. Lots of detail in the face though, teeth, gums, etc.
The one with the chick's boobs.
Orc wielding a 2H axe or mace. PC is dual-wielding fire and sword.
The one with the PC wielding the bound bow and attacking the bear.
Nord/Breton/Imperial in hooded robe dual casting Flame at the camera.
Fly-over of skyrim from trailer, but looks like a dragon or two flying around.
Almost all of the review characters from before are scattered throughout the article
A female in iron armor (Dovahkiin helmet) dual-wielding flame/sword against an orc
Lockpicking in action. Just like FO3, but with Skyrim art style
A picture of the map chronicling the player's exploits:
Pick up dog companion and name him Shaggy
Sees "aurora borealis"; stunningly gorgeous
Shaggy and I spend 10 minutes chasing a deer. It escapes
Stumble across high-level cave; infected with vampirism
Mudcrabs! Slaughter one needlessly
Kick back in a pub


Extras
They apparently designed the "level up during combat" on purpose:
When you level up your health, stamina and magic all go to maximum. So what you start learning to do is, 'Well, I'm gonna wait till the middle of a fight when I'm low, then I'm gonna level up.' It acts like a super potion." - Todd Howard

By the numbers:
Number of levels Skyrim is balanced to: 50
Max level (if you're insanely dedicated): 70
Total perks: 280
Number of hours needed to reach 93 of those perks: 1,000
Damage multiplier for sneak-attack backstab: 10
Number of caves and dungeons: 150
Times I died during my 3.5-hour play session: 5

[Argonanza]

Can't wait for that Saber-tooth screenshot to appear on the internet.

[Thunderstruck elf]

Oh my Todd...that is amazing. Skyrim is so close. Weren't they planning on a huge flurry of info closer to release? Only 35 days left.

[Mucro]

Running this game on full graphics hopefully. SO STOKED!!!!!!

[Knight]

Number of hours needed to reach 93 of those perks: 1,000

Challenge accepted.


Thanks for the update, River!

[Bonfy]

Number of hours needed to reach 93 of those perks: 1,000

This probably means that you still get a perk per level even after the soft level cap at lvl50. And the mathematical level cap is lvl74 like they said before. Awesome.

[777]

I can't read this stuff anymore, im gonna explode with excitment

[Rat Kiosk]

Number of hours needed to reach 93 of those perks: 1,000

Challenge accepted.


Thanks for the update, River!

Lol you realise thats well over a month of permanant play