Tag Archives: skyrim

In the latest internet news, everyone has been talking about the opening of ElderScrollV.com in anticipation of the latest installment of Elder Scrolls RPG series, “Skyrim”.

RPG’s (or Role-playing games) have gained popularity over the last two decades and the market or range of people you can find playing these games has never been so large and continues to grow everyday. These types of games allow the person playing the game to take on a different persona, hence the term “Role playing”. Players will assume the role of a custom made Avatar in the Skyrim world and act out in whatever manner the player chooses. The concepts are based on the randomness of dice rolls as most RPG’s have been based on since pen and paper creations – but the quality of content and gameplay gets more and more in-depth as we will see playing Bethesda’s latest game title.

Skyrim is a first and third person role-playing game due to be released on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and for PC. The world takes place in a Snowy region called Tamriel and is one of the most non-linear games we have ever seen. There is no set path – the path you take in the game is what you make for yourself. Evildoer or do-gooder – the world Skyrim has something to offer everyone. The game is both aesthetically pleasing as it is just downright fun-to-play and we would expect nothing else from the team of extremely talented developers at Bethesda.

Bethesda has recently been involved in many major recent title releases such as Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion. They are also responsible for all of Skyrim’s previous installments including Elder Scrolls III : Morrowind, Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, and Elder Scrolls Arena.

Skyrim will take various elements from its predecessor such as the Radiant AI system to make something bigger and better – a new game mechanic called Radiant Story. Radiant AI was a system to make NPC’s (Non player characters) encountered during the game seem more life like – reacting to hunger by eating, boredom by reading or drinking, ect.

Radiant Story is designed to make an entirely dynamic gameplay experience unique to each individual and will allow for greater replayability. The world will evolve or devolve based on the actions the player takes through the game. An entire town can crumble if the player interferes with the town’s economy or resources. Or, oppositely the town may prosper and become wealthy and successful if aided by the player.

Random dragon encounter abound the adventure and will be a primary side adventure to pursue skills named, “Dragon Shouts” as the avatar played by the player dominates the dragons throughout the adventure. These shouts are said to give a unique set of powers to the player unlike anything we’ve seen before and will be key if the player wants to become a very powerful avatar.

Not all of the dragons encountered are hostile according to rumors. Expect some friendly encounters and maybe even a little help from these giant scaled monstrosities. Rumors have also gotten out that the player may even encounter multiple dragons at once given the right instance – and all such encounters are expected to be completely random.

Improvements in gameplay are also to be expected. Interviews with Executive producer Todd Howard made mention that the sneak skills, dragon shouts, ranged weapons, and spell casting will all see significant improvements – tailoring the game to more than just the “hack and slash” crowd. While sneaking the player can expect to get one hit kills with a well placed backstab, or one hit kills with a well aimed arrow. Developers wanted some element of realism stating, “If a player can get that close to someone while sneaking, they ought to be able to deliver a very punishing blow.”

Other improvements besides the game mechanics include a beautiful world that will run on Bethesda’s brand new “Creation” engine. Many critics thought our current generation platforms wouldn’t have enough horsepower to play the title – that they would have to “dumb down” the graphics to a much less acceptable level.

The critics were incorrect.

As seen in the E3 Gameplay demo, the graphics run smoothly on our current gen console systems, proving that there is still plenty of life left in these now aging systems. Computer hardware enthusiasts may have the upper hand though with the latest and greatest computer and the ability to tweak the games graphics – but not without a cost. Many fans anticipating the release of the game have mentioned they are willing to invest upwards $1000 in new computers and equipment to enjoy the game to it’s fullest. The PC version is also expected to have modification available to add further content onto the already content infested 300+ hour campaign (as described by Bethesda developers).

The ElderScrollV.com Skyrim fansite was recently released and has proved to be a great resource and community for all kinds of Elderscrolls and RPG fans.
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has an announced release date of 11/11/11. In the meantime can expect to find the latest and greatest screenshots, wallpapers, content, updates, and can even preorder the game so Skyrim will be ready to play in your living room come release at ElderScrollV.com.