New Oblivion Team Diary

[Bluebottle]

http://bethsoft.com/newsletter/devdiary_12.15.05.html

There's a new Team Diary, focusing on magik, on the Bethesda website.

It features a few interesting points on the differences they've added to the offensive spell effects, instead of the floating ball of fire/ice/gas they used in MW.

The most interesting part would have to be related to the CS though

...there is one brand new, very special magic effect that we hope will give modders a great deal of creative freedom. It’s called Script Effect, and using it in conjunction with the scripting system, modders will be able to expand the magic system and create spells that do things we at Bethesda haven’t even thought of yet.

You could make a spell that changes the weather, or forces the target NPC to find a bed and go to sleep, or places a special item in the player’s inventory. Just about anything that is possible with the scripting system is possible with Script Effect.

Sounds pretty nifty.

 

[bryce777]

So you can either cast a spell to make an NPC continually hungry so they eat all their food and have to sell you their diamond, steal the diamond, kill the npc and seize it, or else turn the NPC into a horse so he runs away to his owner.

 

[Lumpy]

Excellent. Really excellent. I love the fact that we can script new spells.

 

[Micmu]

Like spell stripping NPCs naked?

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

The Script Effect is something I've been dying to talk about for months & months. I'm very glad the "veil" has finally been lifted

 

[Lumpy]

The Script Effect is something I've been dying to talk about for months & months. I'm very glad the "veil" has finally been lifted

Great. But, how powerful is it? Can you make a Divine Intervention, or maybe a Levitation spell, as good as you could have made it?
For example, Divine Intervention. Will it work even after other modders place markers next to new temples?

 

[franc kaos]

Take my advice – lose the sword and replace it with a staff enchanted with a ranged spell. These babies act just like rocket launchers; when used

Score!

 

[Imbecile]

The Script Effect is something I've been dying to talk about for months & months. I'm very glad the "veil" has finally been lifted

Sounds fantastic. The name sounds a bit like a Shakesperian political thriller, but I'll go with it for the time being...

Almost makes me consider splashing out on the PC version

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

Script Effect is awesome. Our designers have come up with all sorts of surprising uses for it. I'm sure the mod community will, too.

 

[Quigs]

Oh, goodie! Yet aonther feature your target audience of Xbox users get the shaft on!

 

[ExMonk]

Hmmm. Never played as a mage before; but after reading the diary, they've got my attention. Granted, not much here about gameplay; mostly about graphical effects. Still, I may have to lay down the sword and take up the staff.

 

[Lumpy]

Oh, goodie! Yet aonther feature your target audience of Xbox users get the shaft on!

For your information, the XBox users don't even get to use mods. And how is modding in new spells dumbed down?

 

[HardCode]

The Script Effect is something I've been dying to talk about for months & months. I'm very glad the "veil" has finally been lifted

Did you work on it yourself (or in part)?

 

[Section8]

Script Effect does sound interesting indeed. To seize upon one of the examples provided, ie changing the weather, is there any actual gameplay effect to weather? From memory, only the ash storms had any real effect in Morrowind, and that was just a slight effect on character velocity.

I'd love to be able to walk up to a river, find that I need to cross it, and instead of casting something like water walk, I actually snap freeze the whole fucking river to walk across it. That's uber magery.

A question though, can it be integrated into the interface to any real extent? Could a determined modder could create a spell to dominate the mind of an NPC, and also enable a UI containing buttons to drive various generic commands?

I can't remember ever seeing a worthwhile implementation of mind control in an RPG, since it generally culminates in having someone follow you around, and attack anything hostile nearby.

Aside from that though, the newsletter seemed to be just gushing about visual effects. Especially troubling is the notion of mage staves, though that's hardly a revelation. A question or two regarding those:

What skill(s) do enchanted staves use? What factors influence accuracy, damage, recharge rates, rate of fire, etc? Is there a reason to be an archer in preference to a "rocket launcher" bloke?

 

[Micmu]

What skill(s) do enchanted staves use? What factors influence accuracy, damage, recharge rates, rate of fire, etc?

*click* *kaboom* skill, as far as I remember from some info from the past.

 

[Lumpy]

Script Effect does sound interesting indeed. To seize upon one of the examples provided, ie changing the weather, is there any actual gameplay effect to weather? From memory, only the ash storms had any real effect in Morrowind, and that was just a slight effect on character velocity.

I'd love to be able to walk up to a river, find that I need to cross it, and instead of casting something like water walk, I actually snap freeze the whole fucking river to walk across it. That's uber magery.

A question though, can it be integrated into the interface to any real extent? Could a determined modder could create a spell to dominate the mind of an NPC, and also enable a UI containing buttons to drive various generic commands?

I can't remember ever seeing a worthwhile implementation of mind control in an RPG, since it generally culminates in having someone follow you around, and attack anything hostile nearby.

Aside from that though, the newsletter seemed to be just gushing about visual effects. Especially troubling is the notion of mage staves, though that's hardly a revelation. A question regarding those, though.

What skill(s) do enchanted staves use? What factors influence accuracy, damage, recharge rates, rate of fire, etc? Is there a reason to be an archer in preference to a "rocket launcher" bloke?

Well, that brings up another matter - Can we have keyboard imput in scripts?
The best implementation would be being able to add new keys, which could be set by players to what key they want, so conflicts would be avoided.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Oh, goodie! Yet aonther feature your target audience of Xbox users get the shaft on!

For your information, the XBox users don't even get to use mods. And how is modding in new spells dumbed down?

Woooooooosh!

 

[crpgnut]

To me, it'd be logical that a staff made of better materials would carry more charges, fire faster etc. The creator's skill should determine damage and mana reservoir levels. I don't remember whether character's can create staves or not. If not, then the staves should be labeled something like apprentice fire staff, Staff of the Journeyman fire mage, etc, and have differing levels of effect. A fireball staff of the Archmage should be nearly godlike in effect and be protected by Daedric princes.

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

Staffs don't require any skill to use, unless you're blocking with them. They're like scrolls in that effect, though they of course can be used multiple times. Rate of fire is based on the duration of the animation. They have a certain max amount of charge, and each time you use it the charge is drained by the cost of the attached enchantment. Once you've exhausted the charge, the staff is useless until you recharge it.

Of course each staff only has one spell, so you have to make sure it's not one an opponent is resistant to. And if the target has Reflect Magic you could be in trouble.

Overall staffs are pretty rare -- and some are unique artifacts.

Archery has lots of advantages over staffs: arrows are relatively easy to obtain, you can enchant bows (the enchantment gets applied to the arrows you fire), you can poison shots fired from bows, you can do more damage and gain skill perks as your marksman skill increases, you can't get an undetected sneak attack bonus with a staff, etc.

 

[Lumpy]

Staffs don't require any skill to use, unless you're blocking with them. They're like scrolls in that effect, though they of course can be used multiple times. Rate of fire is based on the duration of the animation. They have a certain max amount of charge, and each time you use it the charge is drained by the cost of the attached enchantment. Once you've exhausted the charge, the staff is useless until you recharge it.

Of course each staff only has one spell, so you have to make sure it's not one an opponent is resistant to. And if the target has Reflect Magic you could be in trouble.

Overall staffs are pretty rare -- and some are unique artifacts.

Archery has lots of advantages over staffs: arrows are relatively easy to obtain, you can enchant bows (the enchantment gets applied to the arrows you fire), you can poison shots fired from bows, you can do more damage and gain skill perks as your marksman skill increases, you can't get an undetected sneak attack bonus with a staff, etc.

But, why not have staves the traditional way, as simple Blunt Weapons? Why turn them into rocket launchers?

 

[Jason]

I'm glad to hear that enchanting a bow carries over to the arrows it fires. In Morrowind, there was almost no point in enchanting a bow because you would have to enchant every individual arrow.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Staffs don't require any skill to use, unless you're blocking with them. They're like scrolls in that effect, though they of course can be used multiple times. Rate of fire is based on the duration of the animation. They have a certain max amount of charge, and each time you use it the charge is drained by the cost of the attached enchantment. Once you've exhausted the charge, the staff is useless until you recharge it.

So, you can't beat the fuck out of some gimpy little critter with them? I mean physically beating them with the business end of one or the middle or even the back side of the staff.

 

[Quigs]

Oh, goodie! Yet aonther feature your target audience of Xbox users get the shaft on!

For your information, the XBox users don't even get to use mods. And how is modding in new spells dumbed down?

Woooooooosh!

+1

In cause you missed it lumps, that as the sound of the comment going right over your head. twice.

 

[Lumpy]

Oh, goodie! Yet aonther feature your target audience of Xbox users get the shaft on!

For your information, the XBox users don't even get to use mods. And how is modding in new spells dumbed down?

Woooooooosh!

+1

In cause you missed it lumps, that as the sound of the comment going right over your head. twice.

Huh???

 

[Quigs]

Make that the three strike.

 

[Deacdo]

Reflect Magic...is a pure mage screwed if a lot of enemies use it? One assumes that there are multiple ways for a mage to break down that defense...but you never know with devs these days. Nerfing a class or two isn't uncommon.