Morrowind

Gameswelt Interview with Todd Howard

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Recently, an interview at Gameswelt (I believe its German) with Todd Howard has him talking all about the Elder Scrolls. Todd says in the first twenty seconds that the feeling they were going for with Morrowind was that you were a stranger in a strange land. For Skyrim, he says that feels wrong. After Morrowind, they wanted to go back to a more “classic fantasy game” for Oblivion. He then goes on to explain how between Arena to Oblivion, Morrowind is the odd one out; the alien in the series. And, the reason that they love Morrowind so much is that the wonder of discovery is present throughout the whole game, and is delivered in ways you wouldn't expect. With Skyrim, they’re going for the “traditional” look at first glance, but then the alien things are present throughout the game. The Dwarven ruins are back in Skyrim, and the way that the Nordic cultures view things are different; similar to how the Houses in Morrowind viewed things.

During the interview, Todd says that nothing will be as alien as things in Morrowind. Going on, he says with the new HD graphics, they can make things the way they want to look. The bigger cities still have walls, so you’ll have loading screens at those. After Fallout 3, they had a list of improvements going, and then says they got the list done, and more. Even traps have gone a long way in Skyrim; Todd says traps are a lot of fun to work with. Spatial puzzles will also come into play. Points of interest, as Todd says, are in the game, such as Necromancers around an altar. Well over a hundred points of interest are present, from his last count.

The natural creatures, such as wolves or deer, roam and do things they’d do in real life. Giants will often be with mammoths, according to Todd, and in the future, he claims, they’ll show more creatures. Also, he goes on to say a lot of the Divines and Daedra will be making an appearance in Skyrim as well; a big part of the world is still around Oblivion. Regarding Oblivion, the land is about the same size. The ten races of Oblivion are in Skyrim, but they’re focusing on making those as different as possible, instead of adding more generic ones (See Orc picture for example).
Since Skyrim is referred to as the original home of men, Nords don’t like elves much. The stealth system is upgraded quite a bit from Oblivion as well. As you are detected the eyeball gradually opens giving you time to hide, unlike Oblivion where you were instantly detected, which they want to avoid. Radiant AI is back as well, and animations made to add to the AI are present. If they’re a cook, then there’s an animation to make them cook. Jobs NPCs do you can do as well, such as mining, making armor or weapons, cooking, and working leather. For cooking, a menu will open that tells you the food you can use, and what you can cook it into. Raw food is used to be cooked into cooked food.

He then goes on to talk about some other things, such as crafting. Magical crafting is enchanting and crafting for warriors is smithing. The most interesting items come out of your own making, according to Todd, and all experiences are trying to be made as diverse as possible. Dungeons can range from fifteen minute heists to epic two hour dungeon crawls. Alchemy hasn’t been explained to much, but it will be a lot different than that of Oblivion.

25 comments

  1. WarRatsG
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    Glad to see my original comment brought up alot of discussion

    I was never seriously comparing anything from TES to Runescape, but it's funny to see some messages i've received since then :L

    I played Runescape when I was 9, so did alot of my friends. But then we grew up and stopped liking it. So yes, it's mainly kids who play it. As for simplicity, it seems like Oblivion has got less complicated since Morrowind (ie enchanting) and from what i've heard, Skyrim is going to be less complicated again (ie removal of attributes)

    I realise that there is a difference between simplify and streamline, so please, no more messages.

    And no, Skyrim will not be a console version of Runescape
  2. utts007
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    @Zaldiir

    I started playing Runescape when it was rather new I believe, and I haven't noticed any difference if the game has gotten any harder, if anything, it has gotten me more involved into the world. I don't play Runescape anymore, but I do frequent it from time to time just to earn myself millions with the Grand Exchange. Elder Scrolls just isn't as hard as Runescape for one reason I will write below.

    Saving
    You can easily just quick save in Oblivion and then quick load whenever something goes bad. In Runescape however, if you're about to die, nobody is going to save you. You died? Congratulations, you lost 90% of your gear. It takes away the fear of dying in games because you can just quick load back to safety.

    It's funny you should bring up simplicity.
    Daggerfall>Morrowind>Oblivion )) - 1>2>3)) 2 was easier than 1, 3 was easier than 2 and 1 was harder than both of them. Oblivion(3)(Or actually, it's #4, but I'm not mentioning the first one.) is the easiest Elder Srolls so far.

    My point still stands about Call of Duty and the "Mature" rating. People will buy the game regardless even if they don't meet the specific age required. I believe it's the same for Oblivion or any other game out there. Simply because the game has a mature rating doesn't mean it's hard. Hard is the last thing I think about when I play Oblivion, as the only thing I think of is poor gameplay decisions by Bethesda.

    There's no real reason to compare these two games to each other, as one is a free web browser MMORPG and the other is a singleplayer RPG.

    Also; when I said involved above, I meant such things like I'm getting involved with the economy of the game.

  3. Zaldiir
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    utts007, I would back up my claims if I had any way to back up my personal experience. Unfortunately, I don't.
    Now, my claim may be based on a few years back, but from what I've read about the game, it has become even more child-friendly over the years, with all the in-game help people get. I may have been a little rude when saying it's a game for kids, and I apologize that. What I meant is that it attracts too many kids, because of the way you play the game, and how easy it is, whereas The Elder Scrolls is a much harder series of games, and thus doesn't attract as many kids. (not saying it doesn't attract any kids, as I know there are kids who can be just as mature as an adult.^^)

    While The Elder Scrolls might not be for adults as I put it, it surely is for more mature people than Runescape usually is, because of what I said, the difficulty of the games.

    BUT, I don't think this is games that are comparable at all, as one is an MMORPG, while the other is an RPG. It's like doing what they do with those "Best game of all time" competitions, putting an RPG up against an FPS; the FPS is most likely going to win, because it appeals to more players, just like Runescape appeals to more players because of the simplicity and the fact that it's free to play.
  4. Thagan
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    @iLLGT3

    Complete agreement there. While the stealth system in Oblivion was fun, and pretty helpful, after I raised up in levels i eventually just ran at them with my sword and killed them. The only way i now use stealth is with Deadly Reflex, and i'm glad Bethesda is amping up the stealth.
  5. iLLGT3
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    New stealth system seems promising.

    ~ Jeff
  6. Jacars
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    @nb_nmare

    Yes, Ultima VII is the first one... methinks.

    And to this debate of the age rating; if you ask me, an M rating doesn't mean it's for adults. It's pretty much as utts007 said. I don't consider Skyrim a "game for adults", but rather as Pete Hines(I think it was him) said, a game for people who like good fantasy. A fifteen years old teenager can enjoy the game just as much as, say, 35 years old.

    And Runescape, it isn't even comparable with Skyrim. Not in terms of gameplay or pretty much anything.
  7. utts007
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    @Zaldiir

    "Considering Skyrim will most likely get rated M, I'd say it's for adults"

    Mature =/= Adult

    "Runescape does actually attract most kids, which you would have known if you'd read a little around"

    [Citation needed]

    I think you need to start backing up your claims. People will buy a game with a mature rating even if they don't meet the specific age. Just look at Call of Duty.
  8. EMT2010
    EMT2010
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    Ultima VII (or was it VI?) is the earliest game to my memory which had animated job skills, although of course there were even earlier MUDS and text adventures that featured them purely in descriptive form.


    how old are you? <img class=">
  9. Thagan
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    I don't think an Elder Scrolls game (or even a first person game in general) should be compared to Runescape ever. Because if you think about it, Fable 2 had jobs, but they were nothing like the repetition that Runescape offered. And I completely agree, Runescape is a game for basically kids, but some older players as well, its just mostly kids. Skyrim on the other hand sounds more violent than Oblivion, and will probably be rated M, but that will not stop kids from playing it(Call of Duty is a perfect example)
  10. Zaldiir
    Zaldiir
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    @Zaldiir

    Runescape is a game for 10 year old anyways
    No.
    Skyrim is a game for adults
    No.

    Reading through all the comments gives me a headache.


    Considering Skyrim will most likely get rated M, I'd say it's for adults, so yes.

    Runescape does actually attract most kids, which you would have known if you'd read a little around, so yes.It doesn't even have a ESRB rating... <img class=">