Game News The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Announced

[oldmanpaco]

Who knows maybe it will be OK. I'd like to at least be able to anticipate something next year.

 

[The Ninth Circle]

Have they had enough time to develop or even license a new engine? There's no way they're using Gamebryo again, right?

Nothing officials, but they've made comments they're using GameBryo again. "Significantly upgraded".

Only crashes every 15 minutes?

 

[Lingwe]

November 11th? Only one day after my birthday. I guess we'll be able to tell whether it will be an Oblivion redux or a 'good for what it is' based on what sorts of things old Petey stats to hype up - soil erosion and celebrity voices, vs choice (of the Bethesda kind) and 200 endings (of the Bethesda kind).

 

[Crispy]

Nothing officials, but they've made comments they're using GameBryo again. "Significantly upgraded".

EDIT: here
Eurogamer: Is it fair to say then that it's based on existing technology?

Todd Howard: The technology is ours and it is inspired by the technology we have. We have a lot of it. But that's our starting point - the Fallout 3 tech. It started with Morrowind, we went to Oblivion, we did a lot between Oblivion and Fallout 3 because now we had final hardware - with Oblivion we had six months on final hardware, so Fallout 3 technically does a lot more than Oblivion. The new stuff is an even bigger jump from that.

I can say it is on the existing platforms, which we're really happy with. You almost feel like you have a new console when you see the game.

Thanks, BN.

So, unbelievably, it is Gamebryo again. I don't care how much they modify it, it's still a shitty, shitty engine. The microstutter alone, which has never been solved, might be enough to turn me away, and I'm a pathetic TES fanboy.

Fuck.

 

[CrimHead]

it is Gamebryo again.

 

[Metro]

it is Gamebryo again.

Fuck.

 

[StrangeCase]

One of Morrowind's expansions took place in a primarily Nord land, and IIRC it was pretty decent. I didn't play it very thoroughly, though, and Bethesda's too next-gen to take stock of anything fun about Morrowind and apply it.

I hope they continue to support the modding scene, too. 90-99% of mods are trash (I'm sure someone can dig up playable furry races or whatever) but they also let decent modders soften the edge of Bethesda's really awful decisions. Plus it's fun to mess around in the Construction Set sometimes, in that free-building Lego kind of way.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Have they had enough time to develop or even license a new engine? There's no way they're using Gamebryo again, right?

Nothing officials, but they've made comments they're using GameBryo again. "Significantly upgraded".

EDIT: here
Eurogamer: Is it fair to say then that it's based on existing technology?

Todd Howard: The technology is ours and it is inspired by the technology we have. We have a lot of it. But that's our starting point - the Fallout 3 tech. It started with Morrowind, we went to Oblivion, we did a lot between Oblivion and Fallout 3 because now we had final hardware - with Oblivion we had six months on final hardware, so Fallout 3 technically does a lot more than Oblivion. The new stuff is an even bigger jump from that.

I can say it is on the existing platforms, which we're really happy with. You almost feel like you have a new console when you see the game.

I don't like the engine either, but I'm not going to bitch about it because (aside from my complete lack of interest in playing the game) engine and tech re-usage is pretty much the one GOOD thing about consolisation of games. Fixed hardware strength means that in the latter parts of the console cycle, game developers have to create interests through means other than graphics and sheer movie-dome.

There would be more good crogs if more developers were willing to shoot for mid-grade tech and get as much use out of each engine as they could, with multiple developers producing different modules/campaigns using the same engine and toolkit - ala the infinity engine games, goldbox games and even FO1-2. Yes, I know that the greatest era for the crpg market didn't work that way - the Ultimas, for example, each had a new engine built from scratch, but the costs of modern development are such that re-using engines and toolkits, squeezing as much as possible out of each tech iteration, makes more sense than ever.

 

[BeholderX]

All the dumbfucks waiting for the death of Gamebryo don't know what they're asking for. PC copies are already becoming a smaller and smaller part of Bethesda's overall sales. Even today, the toolkits are only being used by 0.01% of their customers to create content for another 2-3% of their audience.

We only got Morrowind's toolkit because customizability was one the game's major selling points. If they end up creating a whole new engine, you can bet your ass they're not gonna waste thousands of man hours developing a community toolkit that's even remotely on the same level as their Gamebryo games.

 

[Jaesun]

FUCK YEAH! GAME OF THE YEAR!!!111!!!11

1987409857203984620375428937542/10

 

[random_encounter]

Have they had enough time to develop or even license a new engine? There's no way they're using Gamebryo again, right?

Nothing officials, but they've made comments they're using GameBryo again. "Significantly upgraded".

A larger snow texture library, new skins, and dragon models? I hope that isn't what Bethesda passes for upgraded.

Also didn't expect Max von Sydow to narrate the trailer. If he shows up as a shitfaced king named Osric, it could be the greatest sequel evar.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Very eager to see a game where the guy who once acted this part will be featured prominently

Man wouldn't it make an awesome fantasy game. Sadly Bethesda's games are about 1/100th as deep and intelligent.

 

[deuxhero]

Don't blame Gamebyro guys. Civ 4 doesn't crash every 5 mins, it's clearly Bethesda's modifications/world design (read the error messages sometime, it supports this), not the base.

 

[Rohit_N]

I was never around during the Oblivion prerelease hype. I'm glad to be a part of this.

 

[Serious_Business]

FUCK YEAH! GAME OF THE YEAR!!!111!!!11

1987409857203984620375428937542/10

Sans aucun doute

 

[nFn]

"Snow is the new destruction" Todd Howard , Executive producer Oblivion 2 : Skyrim

 

[Twinkle]

This will be a return to Morrowind I'm sure of it. The environments will be much better than the generic plains found in Oblivion, and I'm sure everything won't be so awkward and stilted.

Funny, because Cyrodil was supposed to be a tropical forest IIRC, yet that didn't matter to Bethesda's team. Expect generic planes with snow.

Not really. Here are some Arena shots from Imp. City area.

Note that it's mostly populated by dark elves.

 

[KalosKagathos]

I thought the wooden dragon breathing wooden fire was a neat effect and that the chanting at the end was pretty catchy. Would be nice if they made combat fun. That's all I got.

 

[Sceptic]

Not really. Here are some Arena shots from Imp. City area.

Arena had no real lore to speak of. That started to get established in Daggerfall. Battlespire established most of the daedric lore, the Redguard established most Tamrielic lore (the game being one big history lesson for the setting, and the Pocket Guide being the lore of the various provinces, including establishing the Imperial Province as half-jungle)

 

[Data4]

Maybe they'll finally get some decent animators and...

...oh, who the fuck am I kidding?

 

[Deneidez]

Dragonborn? DRAGONBORN?!

Looks like dragons are in.......
.......
.......
Fuck

 

[CrunchyHemorrhoids]

I was never around during the Oblivion prerelease hype. I'm glad to be a part of this.

11 months of blunt weapons, here we go again oh joy...

 

[baronjohn]

No scaled leveling this time around. And I'm sure Bethesda has learned a thing or two from Obsidian and their experience with Fallout 3.

This will be a return to Morrowind I'm sure of it. The environments will be much better than the generic plains found in Oblivion, and I'm sure everything won't be so awkward and stilted.

Well one thing we know won't return for sure is Morrowind's UI. Expect lots of primary color and shiny icons and shit because it's the only way consolefags can distinguish things on their 1990s TVs.

 

[Black]

TES V will suck.
You can quote me on that on 1111111111 or whenever it's released.

 

[ortucis]

Oh god fucking dammit.. not the fucking DRAGONS AGAIN!!

OK, so here's the thing with Dragons in RPG's. Developers think they are cool (esp. for those next-gen platform audience I bet) and I have yet to play a single fucking game except for Drakan, that has made them look and sound exciting in any way possible.

I think a perfect example is Dragon Age. In Divinity 2 at least it was cool to jump off a cliff and transform into a dragon.. where, of course, the designers managed to kill the fun in one blow by not letting the player target ground units (though I managed to find bugs where I could target ground units with dragon breath every now and then.. it was fun for a few seconds).

Blah!
/rant


Well at least I am not really worried about Gamebryo. From what I have seen in Fallout 3, Bethesda made a massive jump in quality for PC and gave PC gamers all those nifty sliders to tweak quality around.

Say what you want about Bethesda and their RPG's, you HAVE to admit that where a company like BioWare still hasn't given us more than a few options to turn shadows on/off or change resolution, Bethesda learned from Oblivion and added major ini settings in a handy config utility. Kudos.