Game News Oblivion article in PC Gamer

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

There is a short article on <a href=http://www.elderscrolls.com/home/home.htm>Oblivion</a> in the January issue (yes, it's from teh future!) of <b>PC Gamer</b>. The article informs the readers that Oblivion "will be a return to a more medieval-feeling gameworld, as opposed to the more fantastic sword-and-sorcery realm of Morrowind"
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<blockquote>Most impressive is the foliage and terrain of the forest environments. The developers have gone to almost absurd lengths to make it this way; for example, <i>soil erosion</i> is modeled in the game engine, based on terrain studies by geologists. Eureka!</blockquote>I'm pretty sure that Morrowind's gameplay was also suggested by geologists. They are a fun bunch.
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<blockquote>More importantly, the combat system is now based on a real-time "genuine hit" system. In other words, say goodbye to the old style of furiously clicking the fire button and hoping the behind-the-scenes dice-rolling scored a hit</blockquote>...and say hello to the similarly old style of furiously clicking the fire button and hoping that you hit something. Teh revolushun!
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<blockquote>What won't change is the focus on deep, ultra-customized character play. You'll have <u>expansive magic trees</u> and inventory options, and a new level of Barbie-doll individuality for gear and weapons.</blockquote>Expansive magic trees, huh? Is that the big secret, MrSmiley? Care to comment on that if you can? Anyway, opinions on the magic trees, please.

 

[Whipporowill]

Barbie-doll individuality

I thought Barbie's were clones... larf.

 

[jiujitsu]

Would the magic tree thing be like you need prerequisites for certain spells?

Like in Diablo2 and Arcanum?

That's... ok I guess..

 

[Kamaz]

Well, I think magic-trees [it sounds just crazy] means you pick spell A and the next level you can choose spells AA AB AC AD and if you had picked spell B last time, you get BA BB BC BD next level. Sounds pretty OK even if partially overlapping.

And erosion? Those guys are nuts? Do they realize how great computional power is required to modelate erosia? Its not trivial task, I mean. Considering its 3D problem it means hell of a resources only mainframes and computional networks can offer and even then not in real-time. What do they mean by the first statement? I bet there is something mistakened.

 

[Lemon]

Erosion is probably a function of the contruction set, auto generated terrain using proper Geologist Approved! algorithms.

I thought Barbie's were clones... larf.

Suppose he was trying to be clever, its rather dull though. [this space to be filled with a quite snide and perfectly rude bit of Menckin]

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Well, at least my Christmas wish came true and I finally got Daggerfall to work on my computer. And for those of you who might be having problems, mine was not one listed anywhere and the way I figured it out was almost accidently.

I am using an XP system and I had played DF on XP plenty times before. But whenever I installed it on my current rig, it would not run. No matter what I did. I tried every suggestion out there I could find to no avail.

Finally, last night, I was messing around and checking out the partitions on my system when I realized something. My XP install HD is NTSC while my main gaming HD is FAT32. I had been using my main gaming HD to try and run Daggerfall. So, this morning while kids around the world were opening their presents, I reinstalled Daggerfall onto my NTSC drive and... voila! I'm playing Daggerfall again! :D

 

[LlamaGod]

Daggerfall was just as lame as Morrowind.

Oblivion is sounding like Derek Smart's Morrowind or something.

 

[dunduks]

Erosion... what the fuck , who needs someting like that in a game, where the timeline covers a year at max, they should have better invested that time into making gameplay more fun and better NPC's.

 

[Vault Dweller]

You, sir, are no geologist!

 

[dojoteef]

Otaku, I think you mean NTFS instead of NTSC. Just to clarify for those folks who don't know and are running into the same problem you had.

Next, who says their erosion algorithm is intensive or even took a long time to program? There are millions of shortcuts that can be taken to make erosion seem accurate while not actually being computationally intensive. I personally don't see the point of including soil erosion in a game; then again I guess it "adds to the immersion" or some such silliness and hopefully makes their target audience even more impressed.

Oh, and MrSmileyFaceDude, I'm looking forward to see what you can say about the magic trees as well. Is there anything that differentiates them from Diablo style skill trees?

 

[Lemon]

Erosion... what the fuck , who needs someting like that in a game, where the timeline covers a year at max, they should have better invested that time into making gameplay more fun and better NPC's.

The game isn't tracking specs of dirt if thats what you read. It'll be part of the terrain generation system, they want to produce convincing maps without doing it by hand.

 

[freelance]

Heck, "soil erosion" does sound a bit fruity.
It’s an actual algorithm that kicks in when the player decides to play wood cutter for awhile, they'll take the concept a bit too far.
BUT it would be interesting to reduce Cyrodiil to a barren wasteland.

It’s most likely part of TES. So the editor will automatically modify the area based upon the amount of trees you place.

 

[z3r'0']

"Oblivion is sounding like Derek Smart's Morrowind"

:heheh:

 

[Fresh]

Pfft. Oblivion sounds like alotta PHUN. One of the real worries I still have though is the whole dialogue tree-thingie.

 

[4too]

Finesse Feature

Finesse Feature


This mention of ""soil erosion"" does it mean something more than another sophistication to clutter a game engine?

This seems like a yuppie's SUV having seven cup holders rather than six. No, this is an air grasping analogy, a cup holder has a more obvious use than a mud slide.

Am I missing the enthusiasm bus for more bells and whistles?

Wind and water effects don't seem like an essential part of game play. It's another cherry on top of a confection of visual design. Gets the graphics, and the mud slinging and the scat kicking crowd excited. Another warm layer of boredom to dress up the geological layering of dead rats necessary to level up, and earn more accessories, more stuff.

When the hit dice roll, the cry goes forth, "'Barbie needs a NEW pair of NIKE - plus 5 - Speed Boots (TM)"".


The next trilogy of 'must have' features will be, PAYING FOR THE PRIVILEGE to:

watch the grass grow,

the dough rise,

and the paint dry.



4too

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Otaku, I think you mean NTFS instead of NTSC. Just to clarify for those folks who don't know and are running into the same problem you had.

Ooops. My bad. I blame it on the drugs I'm having to take to fight my pneumonia.

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

Erosion's in the editor, not in-game. Basically you can quickly create rough mountains, then set up some parameters & let them erode to the level you want. Makes it much easier to create realistic landscapes without painstakingly adjusting every vertex (like was done with Morrowind).

I'm not entirely sure what they mean by "magic trees". That's not a phrase I've heard around the office :D As far as magic skills go, however, all I'll say for now is that they do play a much larger role than just determining casting success or failure...

 

[Vault Dweller]

Would players be able to cast Soil Erosion spell?

 

[Seven]

Would players be able to cast Soil Erosion spell?

Wasn't that one of the questions asked during the fan interview? :wink:

 

[NeutralMilkHotel]

No, it wasn't like that.

 

[Stark]

Would players be able to cast Soil Erosion spell?

LOL, My goodness, vault dweller has the funnies these days. Though I guess the real joke would be that a 30+ year old man is making these shitty jokes on the internet.

what? I tot VD's comment was rather funny given the context.

having said that some dudes here are really dumb. Even after Lemon pointed out the obvious (that soil erosion is a function of TES for more convincing terrain generation) there're still people jumping in and making silly conclusions.

As far as magic skills go, however, all I'll say for now is that they do play a much larger role than just determining casting success or failure...

err... I dunno what to make of this, MrSmileyFace. Do you mean it'll affect other attributes such as strength/damage and range of spells too? Hmm...

in anycase it's shaping up nicely and look promising.

 

[Ortchel]

Hey, uh, Mr. Smiley .. sir ..

Will playable Orcs make a return?

thx.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Would players be able to cast Soil Erosion spell?

LOL, My goodness, vault dweller has the funnies these days. Though I guess the real joke would be that a 30+ year old man is making these shitty jokes on the internet.

Why not, as long as morons like you are here to read them :wink: Supply and demand in action.

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

Hey, uh, Mr. Smiley .. sir ..

Will playable Orcs make a return?

thx.

Yep. All of the same races as in Morrowind will be playable in Oblivion. Orcs, Khajiit, and Argonians included.

 

[NeutralMilkHotel]

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