- After Oblivion, the Empire as it's known goes into a steep decline, and that's one of the main things that brings about some of Skyrim's conflict. But we want each game to stand on its own, so time-wise, we're a good 200 years after Oblivion.
- Development started after finishing Fallout 3.
- It has about the same amount of geography and content as Oblivion. I say "about" because the scale always changes some, and things like mountains change how that geography feels, and the time it takes you to get to and from places. It has a different flow when exploring.
- If you've been to a location before you can fast travel back. We also have a carriage system that can take you to some major locations that you haven't been yet, so it's a bit of a mix. (No word on horses/dragons used for riding)
- Still some kind of auto-levelling system of enemies in it
- When you defeat a dragon, you absorb its soul. There are a few different types of dragons, with different powers, and they use the same shout powers the player uses.
- Fighting pace is slowed down a bit, more interesting choices. Dual wielding is possible.
Shields can be used to bash which staggers them. There are also finishing moves.
You can cast a spell and use a weapon at the same time, using the mouse clicks.
- The main change in dialogue is that it's all done "real time". The game world does not stop, the view doesn't zoom in, it's just another type of interaction you can do with the world. We wanted to remove the feeling that you were entering a different "mode." Even in its presentation, it's simply a list of things that appear from the screen cursor you can ask about.
- You can again forge your own magic, items and tweak their properties.
- Skill increase works like Oblivion, the more you use it, the more it goes up. The skill list is similar, but tweaked for the gameplay we have now. The big difference is in how you gain levels. All your skills affect leveling. The higher the skill, the more it pushes you to the next level. So it's a nice self-balancing system, you're rewarded for using your higher skills. It urges you to focus. Skill increases become the equivalent of our XP for leveling. The higher your level, the more you need. When you level up, you pick one of your main stats to increase, and then you pick a perk. Perks are where a lot of the power is, and it's what defines your character, more so than your skill numbers. So each skill has its own "perk tree". And, those perks range from doing extra damage with a certain weapon to all new things like special moves, disarming and critical strikes.
- You learn to shout at dragons by using certain words that then form magical attacks. You learn those words throughout the game by finding the words on ancient wall carvings or being taught them.
- More armour sets and weapon types than in Oblivion.
- Again both first and third person view.
- No multiplayer at all. (
- The release date is still very solid according to the developers. The PC version will support DX11, but will not really take advantage of the big new features of DX11.
- No unicorns and no levitation in Skyrim.
Full interview
He/them/IT does
