SFF Chronicles News
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2013
- Messages
- 1,458
7th July 2011 09:48 AM
Darren Allan
Skyrim, the next instalment in the Elder Scrolls series (following on from Oblivion) is of course a massively anticipated game for role-playing types.
And some more juicy details have just emerged courtesy of a fan interview published on the official Bethesda forum.
Game Director Todd Howard, along with Bruce Nesmith (Lead Designer) and Matt Carofano (Lead Artist) fielded a number of questions, one of which touched on a topic we’re most interested in, the level scaling aspect.
Oblivion scaled monster difficulty and loot rewards to be appropriate to your level, so as not to overwhelm the player.
While on the face of it, that might sound like a good thing, to us it’s too much like hand-holding. Make the world real, thanks – it also removed much of the fun of exploring and trying to survive in higher level areas (and the challenge of securing better rewards than you technically deserve for your level).
Skyrim is apparently adopting a similar levelling model to Fallout 3, with enemies and loot based on a rough encounter zone difficulty – so there will be higher level areas you’ll find it tougher to survive in (and more rewarding). That’s what we wanted to hear, and although there will likely be some scaling within those boundaries, that’s okay by us.
The developers also revealed that relationships will play a big part in Skyrim, with friends offering to join your adventuring party on dungeon delving expeditions, plus you can take a wife (don’t take someone else’s though, they might get annoyed). Your spouse will even move into your house in the game (then possibly divorce you and run off with half your gold).
Masses of quests (and side-quests) are also promised, a strong main storyline (naturally), and decisions which have an effect on the world and repercussions with people. While there won’t be any overt “karma” rating depending on how nice or nasty you are, folks will react to your reputation.
Variety in the combat is the plan, too, with simple mob encounters and more involved boss-type fights featuring foes who switch from melee to ranged, intelligently use potions and so forth.
Interestingly, when questioned about whether the main character can change into a “certain creature”, Todd Howard said this is something that he’d prefer not to discuss.
“Don’t read anything into that”, he added, too late before everyone was imagining turning into a dragon and swooping down bringing a clawed and fiery death to their foes with a merry cackle.
Skyrim is due out on November 11th, an easy date to remember (11/11/11) and hopefully one that will remain memorable long afterwards. We suspect Bethesda isn’t likely to mess this one up.
Darren Allan
Skyrim, the next instalment in the Elder Scrolls series (following on from Oblivion) is of course a massively anticipated game for role-playing types.
And some more juicy details have just emerged courtesy of a fan interview published on the official Bethesda forum.
Game Director Todd Howard, along with Bruce Nesmith (Lead Designer) and Matt Carofano (Lead Artist) fielded a number of questions, one of which touched on a topic we’re most interested in, the level scaling aspect.
Oblivion scaled monster difficulty and loot rewards to be appropriate to your level, so as not to overwhelm the player.
While on the face of it, that might sound like a good thing, to us it’s too much like hand-holding. Make the world real, thanks – it also removed much of the fun of exploring and trying to survive in higher level areas (and the challenge of securing better rewards than you technically deserve for your level).
Skyrim is apparently adopting a similar levelling model to Fallout 3, with enemies and loot based on a rough encounter zone difficulty – so there will be higher level areas you’ll find it tougher to survive in (and more rewarding). That’s what we wanted to hear, and although there will likely be some scaling within those boundaries, that’s okay by us.
The developers also revealed that relationships will play a big part in Skyrim, with friends offering to join your adventuring party on dungeon delving expeditions, plus you can take a wife (don’t take someone else’s though, they might get annoyed). Your spouse will even move into your house in the game (then possibly divorce you and run off with half your gold).
Masses of quests (and side-quests) are also promised, a strong main storyline (naturally), and decisions which have an effect on the world and repercussions with people. While there won’t be any overt “karma” rating depending on how nice or nasty you are, folks will react to your reputation.
Variety in the combat is the plan, too, with simple mob encounters and more involved boss-type fights featuring foes who switch from melee to ranged, intelligently use potions and so forth.
Interestingly, when questioned about whether the main character can change into a “certain creature”, Todd Howard said this is something that he’d prefer not to discuss.
“Don’t read anything into that”, he added, too late before everyone was imagining turning into a dragon and swooping down bringing a clawed and fiery death to their foes with a merry cackle.
Skyrim is due out on November 11th, an easy date to remember (11/11/11) and hopefully one that will remain memorable long afterwards. We suspect Bethesda isn’t likely to mess this one up.
