[General Battuta]

So you are complaining about a cinematographic camera?

after the publicity for oblivion, i'm going to treat everything we learn about skyrim as a lie

[Topgun]

So you are complaining about a cinematographic camera?

after the publicity for oblivion, i'm going to treat everything we learn about skyrim as a lie

fair enough

In Oblivion, the devs made the mistake of talking about the things they tried to implement before they actually managed to get it right.

[Nemesis6]

I remember something about "Radiant AI" in Oblivion. "Radiant" is not the word I would use to describe the AI in Oblivion, though.

[zookeeper]

So you are complaining about a cinematographic camera?

I wasn't complaining.

[Topgun]

I remember something about "Radiant AI" in Oblivion. "Radiant" is not the word I would use to describe the AI in Oblivion, though.

Yeah, its the thing that schedules npc's actions and decides if they like you or other npcs or not. It was originally a lot more but they had to scrap a huge bit of it because they just couldn't get it to work. According to Todd Howard, its back and they fixed the problems they had before.

[Topgun]

OK, Im really disappointed with the stuff I am hearing now. looks like we will still have fast travel like oblivion and not morrowind's system. The world is STILL leveled to the player, but not as much as oblivion. And todd howard supposedly said in a magazine interview that they are having trouble mixing spells and that if they can't get it to work it won't be in the game. I have found confirmation to everything except that last part which is what they are saying on the forums but I haven't seen a link.

Looks like skyrim will still need a mod like OOO to be great.

EDIT:
While oblivion's fast travel will still be available for places you have already visited, we will have the option to use paid travel services, so it isn't too bad as long as they don't make the game world expecting everyone to use fast travel

[MP-Ryan]

Morrowind's system was painful for anyone who likes to spend less than 300 hours on an RPG.  Good grief.

Oblivion's is fine.  Let people choose not to use it if they prefer walking.  Or implement both.  But returning to the endless monotony of Morrowind's fast travel (one of very few things I disliked about it) is a step backward.

[Zacam]

Well, just like with Morrowind, don't like the fast travel? Wait a while, somebody will mod something.

[Topgun]

Morrowind's system was painful for anyone who likes to spend less than 300 hours on an RPG.  Good grief.

Oblivion's is fine.  Let people choose not to use it if they prefer walking.  Or implement both.  But returning to the endless monotony of Morrowind's fast travel (one of very few things I disliked about it) is a step backward.

I strongly, strongly disagree. Oblivion's world was boring and not well though out. I blame fast travel. Why spend so much time developing the land scape when people can just skip it?

[Scotty]

Because some people don't, and you shouldn't punish the people who do want to skip it by making it take so damn long too.

But maybe that's just because I walk/run/swim EVERYWHERE.

[General Battuta]

I'm still most excited about the MEN in the trailer

[MP-Ryan]

**** me sideways, if the game lives up to this article it's going to be amazing:  http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/18/20-best-things-about-skyrim/

ME3 and Skyrim in the same holiday season.... ****, I'd better clear my backlog fast.

[Topgun]

OH MY GOD


For the first time ever I want to play as a kajiht, and I freaking hate kajiht.

[Grizzly]

I also heard that oblivion was going to be amazing/ is amazing

I really did not like it.

[General Battuta]

khajit no like you

skuuuuuuumaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Topgun]

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/skyrim-is-looking-like-the-elder-scrolls-evolved/3048/

tons of info

I also heard that oblivion was going to be amazing/ is amazing

I really did not like it.

level scaling killed oblivion for me. I could deal with all the other little screw-ups, level scaling just totally annoyed the heck out of me.

[BlueFlames]

I also heard that oblivion was going to be amazing/ is amazing

First of all, this, a thousand times over.  Oblivion and Fallout 3 got hyped as being the greatest thing since fermented hops, and when they came out, they were garbage.  All the hype was either focused on incredibly minute aspects of the game (tree-rendering!) or turned out to be outright lies (Radiant-AI totally is ready already, so it totally won't be stripped down to the point of being laughably stupid!).

That said, let me inject some cynicism into the RPS hype-piece for Skyrim:

1. Killing a dragon involves knocking the enormous thing out of the sky, with a combination of arrows, magic and whatever else you can think of.

Either one specific spell is going to instantly knock the flying lizard down, or any spell is going to do the job.  Either way, once you figure it out, it will happen so frequently as to become a boring routine.  Archers and melee warriors, incidentally, will be screwed.

2. A new questing system means randomly-generated stories.

There will be a small pool of rooms and characters used to populate a world that will wind up feeling exactly like the copypasta from Oblivion, despite being more technically complicated and demanding.  That is a good way to introduce more bugs to the game, though.  Minecraft-style chunk errors would seem fitting.

3. While the game’s pretty much the same size of Oblivion in terms of land mass, the inclusion of huge mountains – all of which you can climb to the top of, as well as often venturing within – means Skyrim has significantly more world to explore than its predecessor.

In other words, the world is the same size as Oblivion's, and a few strategic side-steps and jumps in the mountains will lead to explorers accidentally bypassing critical plot-related quests.  (Alternatively, there will be ****ing insipid invisible walls everywhere.)

4. The menus are pure sex, basically.

The menu code will not be optimised for the retail release, making them choppier than actual gameplay.  The issue will never be officially patched, as Bethesda lets MOD'ers act as their eternal crutch.

5. This time around [dungeons] have been built by a new raft of level designers, which promise a more engaging flow and diversity to each. There are over 120 dungeons in the game.

Except that like the "hundreds of endings" available in Fallout 3, these "120 dungeons" are actually 120 small rooms/corridors that get grouped together into a dungeon, such that you've only got enough content to see, at most, ten unique dungeons.

6. For a dragon, combat is debate.

Did you not just say that you were supposed to be shooting them out of the sky?  Did someone get stoned and mix up the combat and dialogue systems?

7. The world is so much more alive. You’ll see...

...none of this, because when the release date looms, the Skyrim AI will get slashed harder than Oblivion's.

8. Conversations with NPCs no longer involves an awkward zoom-in to their strange faces, a fixed perspective and an ugly text box. Now, it’s clean, sharp text floating directly onto the screen, and you’re free to look around as you please.

And to actually accomplish anything with a conversation, you will still need to defer to that insipid conversation pie.  At least you won't have to look at Bethesda's ineptly modeled characters the whole time.

9. The skill and attribute system has been rethought to make it more streamlined yet offer much more varied character builds. We’re down from 8 attributes and 21 skills to 3 attributes and 18 skills, which will probably cause gasps of horror in some camps, but actually the aim is to make character builds even more diverse while getting rid of redundant levelling.

We're going to make characters more diverse by removing mechanical means of diversifying characters!  Don't think too hard about it!

10. The Giant Frostbite Spider, in motion, may well be one of the most frightening things I’ve ever seen.

...but the way you say it makes it sound like you're making this assertion, based on a still image.

11. We won’t suffer the horrible voice repetition of Oblivion.

There will be half-a-dozen voice actors!  THAT'S HUGE (for a Bethesda production)!

12. You can dual-wield weapons and spells.

Skyrim - Boldly going where Baldur's Gate II already went, eleven years ago.  Stay classy.

13. Character creation only involves choosing what you look like and which of 10 races you are.

[See previous customization comment.]

14. Modding is fully supported...

...because we've been so focused on marketing that we forgot to finish the game, soooo....  You wouldn't mind doing us a favor (again), right?

15. The engine looks absolutely phenomenal in motion...

...except for all of the character animations, which make people walk around like plucked chickens.  We really got the swaying of the trees down pat, though!

16. You get to fight magic zombie vikings.

You know what?  I'll give you that one.  Zombie vikings do sound awesome.

17. There’s a real in-game economy.

There are two token quests that alter prices in an otherwise static economy.

18. There will be a few out-there quests, like entering the painting in Oblivion. “It’s good to remind people it’s a world of magic and fantasy.”

Todd took a hit of LSD and wouldn't let us edit out his "contributions" from that day.

19. The skills/perks system is presented as a vast, twinkling star field populated by stellar patterns in the shape of this world’s various gods.

LOOKATTHEKEYS!  *Jingle* *Jingle* *Jingle*  LOOKATTHEKEYS!

20. All this, and we haven’t even been told about the guilds, the factions, crime, the major cities, the conversation system and so much more.

All this, and the crap that Bethesda can't bear the shame of showing!

All supposition, of course, but suffice to say, I'll be passing on Skyrim.  I've invested in enough bad Bethesda games that, even if Skyrim is good, I owe them one.

[Topgun]

You really hate bethesda

[BlueFlames]

You really hate bethesda

Just their crappy games. 

[EDIT]

You know what?  On the subject of "innovations" that Bethesda got beaten to by absolute ages, Radiant-AI (as it was described, not as it was implemented) was basically the Black & White creature AI.  He would seek out food when hungry, find something to drop a deuce on some time after eating, and find a quiet spot to lie down when tired.  Beyond that, the B&W creature had motivations and biases that could be influenced by the player's training efforts.  Black & White was released March 25, 2001; Oblivion was released March 20, 2006, and Skyrim, which supposedly gets Radiant-AI right, is still pending.  Way to stay on the bleeding edge!

[MP-Ryan]

There's no pleasing some people.  I liked Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout 3 - all for different reasons.  Sure, there were some things I disliked in each game but in general I found the gameplay enjoyable - enough that I spent 100+ hours in each.  So I really can't complain.

If the previews are accurate, Skyrim is taking the better elements of those three, scrapping the worst elements, and trying some completely new ideas.  Maybe it'll be better than its predecessors (it's shaping that way), maybe it'll be slightly worse.  Either way, even if they do things as "badly" as Oblivion, it'll still be worth playing.  It's not like Bethesda is descending to the level of Capcom.

If you compare Oblivion/Morrowind/Fallout 3 to other western RPG/FPS-RPGs, they're in the company of Mass Effect, STALKER, Dragon Age, KOTOR, System Shock 2, and Deus Ex.  None of those are bad games.  There are some bugs in all of those, over-hyped features, and underwhelming gameplay elements.  Bethesda does some things extremely well (show me someone who does completely free-roaming RPG-oriented gameplay better, because I can't think of anyone), and other things less well, same as everyone else.  I'm really tired of all the RAH RAH BETHESDA SUCKS BECAUSE OF X RAH RAH.  It just sounds tired.