Elder Scrolls V: Skeerim

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I really should ignore this thread until we're closer to the release date. I just can't wait.

[Ruki]

Same

[Ruki]

The Radiant Story system also helps deal with untimely deaths. Predicting player behavior in an open world is tough, as many often stray from the main quests and get into trouble by murdering quest givers. In Skyrim, if you kill a shop owner who had a few quests to offer if you spend the time to get to know him, his sister may take over the shop and offer the quest that was formerly ascribed to him. The quest logic automatically picks up with pre-recorded voice work because Bethesda already assigned her that contingency role. Tread lightly though, because she's not oblivious to your dastardly actions. She will still recognize you killed her brother and perhaps even try to exact revenge later in the game.

...jesus...

I need to stop reading about this game! November is too far off.

[EddieRuckus]

I'm just reading that story myself, this game sounds AWESOME.

[TKz]

Can we at least fix the stealing system? I can't remember how many times in Oblivion that I was completely out of view of the shop owner and they somehow knew I'd taken something.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Can we at least fix the stealing system? I can't remember how many times in Oblivion that I was completely out of view of the shop owner and they somehow knew I'd taken something.

It's cos you're the shiftiest looking person I know.

[apsham]

The expansive Oblivion and Fallout 3 settings created a wonderful sense of place, but the robotic and unrealistic character animations sometimes betrayed the sense of immersion the environments imparted. Aware of the disconnect, Bethesda has enlisted Havok's new Behavior technology to endow Skyrim's characters and creatures with a proper sense of movement.

"We looked at a bunch of [animation solutions], and this is about the tippy-top state-of-the-art stuff out there," Howard says. "I think we're the first real big game to use it."

Havok Behavior is a flexible animation tool that allows the developers to rapidly prototype and preview new animations and blend them together seamlessly with a few mouse clicks and minimal code support. Bethesda is using it to create more nuance in character and creature movement, govern special effects, and even to control how characters struggle to move when trapped in environmental hazards like spider webs. Characters now transition more realistically between walking, jogging, and running, and the increased nuance between animations has allowed Bethesda to better balance the combat in both first- and third-person perspective by adjusting the timing values for swings and blocks depending on your perspective. "We definitely have made a significant jump in how it plays [in third person perspective]," Howard proclaims.

The increased animation fidelity and diversity has enabled Bethesda to ditch the awkward dialogue camera perspective that paused the game and presented you with an extreme closeup of the person with whom you were speaking. Now camera stays in the same perspective used during combat and exploration, and players are free to look around while engaging in conversation. Rather than drop their activities to give you their undivided attention, the NPCs continue to go about their business while in discussion. For instance, a barkeep may continue to clean cups while talking, and even move from behind the counter to a seat. A mill worker chopping wood may engage in conversation without turning away from his duties, only occasionally glancing toward you during the exchange.

Perhaps the most impressive use of the Behavior technology is how Bethesda is using it to create the dragon animations. Bethesda has worked meticulously to make sure the beasts look powerful and menacing when banking, flapping their wings, gaining altitude before making another strafing run, and breathing fire on their hapless victims. None of the dragons' actions are scripted, and Behavior helps make the movements look non-mechanical, even when the dragons are speaking/shouting.

With all this technology at its fingertips, surely Bethesda could put players on the back of a woolly mammoth or a fire-breathing dragon, right? When we ask, for the first time during our visit Howard clams up. "We're not talking about mounts yet," he says coyly.

Radiant Story

Before they started planning missions for Skyrim, Howard and his team reflected on what they liked about their older projects. They kept returning to the randomized encounters in Fallout 3 and Daggerfall. To build off the success of those models and improve the experience so the random encounters feel less forced or arbitrary, Bethesda undertook the ambitious task of constructing a new story management system dubbed Radiant Story. Many quests are still completely governed by Bethesda, but the Radiant Story system helps randomize and relate the side quests to players to make the experience as dynamic and reactive as possible. Rather than inundate you with a string of unrelated and mundane tasks, it tailors missions based on who your character is, where you're at, what you've done in the past, and what you're currently doing.

"Traditionally in an assassination quest, we would pick someone of interest and have you assassinate them," Howard says. "Now there is a template for an assassination mission and the game can conditionalize all the roles - where it happens, under what conditions does it take place, who wants someone assassinated, and who they want assassinated. All this can be generated based on where the character is, who he's met. They can conditionalize that someone who you've done a quest for before wants someone assassinated, and the target could be someone with whom you've spent a lot of time before."

The Radiant Story system also helps deal with untimely deaths. Predicting player behavior in an open world is tough, as many often stray from the main quests and get into trouble by murdering quest givers. In Skyrim, if you kill a shop owner who had a few quests to offer if you spend the time to get to know him, his sister may take over the shop and offer the quest that was formerly ascribed to him. The quest logic automatically picks up with pre-recorded voice work because Bethesda already assigned her that contingency role. Tread lightly though, because she's not oblivious to your dastardly actions. She will still recognize you killed her brother and perhaps even try to exact revenge later in the game.

Radiant Story is also smart enough to know which caves and dungeons you've already visited and thus conditionalize where, for instance, a kidnapped person is being held to direct you toward a specific place you haven't been to before, populated with a specific level of enemy. This helps Bethesda avoid repetition and usher the player into areas the team wants you to explore.

The story manager is always watching you, which can leads to strange random encounters as well. If you drop a sword in the middle of town, someone may pick it up and return it to you, or two guys may get into a fight over who gets to take it. If you're really good at a particular skill, like one-handed weapons or destruction spells, a stranger who knows of your reputation may ask for training, challenge you to a duel, or beg you for a favor that will require you to show off your skill.

Skyrim also tracks your friendships and grudges to generate missions. Do a small favor for a farmer and it may eventually lead to a larger quest. Some NPCs will even agree to be your companion to help you out in specific situations.

Radiant Story doesn't limit these new missions to encounters in towns. Like in Fallout 3 and Red Dead Redemption, a lot of random events occur while you're exploring the wilderness as well. "There are a wide variety of these random encounters," says design director Bruce Nesmith. "Many of them are things the player can interact with, some are not. You might save a priest who then tells you about a dungeon where there are people trapped that need saving. You might run across mammoth beset by a pack of wolves."

Some open world games go overboard with these side activities and stray too far from the main storyline. Bethesda is aware of this pitfall and is actively engaged in preventing the feeling of being overwhelmed by the Radiant Story missions.

Skyrim still has several months of development left, but after seeing the technology in action it looks like Bethesda's on track to set a new high bar for open world role-playing games.

Some text from GI.

Mmmm.

[TKz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3u9e0hwjWo

Wonderful. As if I couldn't wait already.

[Herr Matzat]

If thats OpenWorld ingame Grafik for some parts i fear most PS3s and X-Boxes might go YLOD/RROD just by the game disc being pressent in the room.

[Ruki]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3u9e0hwjWo

Wonderful. As if I couldn't wait already.

I got goosebumps.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

When's this out again? Tomorrow? If not, why not.

[gunnar hendershow]

So I'm gonna have to get this at a Target or Wal-Mart so I can buy a few new pairs of underwear and pants with it.

[Ruki]

Gameplay video....WANT

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah, I might as well book November and December as busy.

[rocksta]

Welp...I came.

[Herr Matzat]

I am reaching a point at wich i only beleif that this will work when i see it running of my PS3.

[Berober]

This is the reason I'm glad I'm staying close to home for Uni, unless I can trick my brother in to giving up his part-ownership in our PS3

[Cymbols]

Damn! This aint my style of game but this, this is wayyy different.

[Dan]

Skirim!

The best game!

[Herr Matzat]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-elder-scrolls/720518